This Weird Year in Charts

Welcome to This Week’s Leyendecker View

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. 
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
– Albert Einstein

THOUGHTS FROM DOUG

Once the Ukraine war is over, who is going to pay to rebuild the country? 

Perhaps 2022’s most impactful global development has been the ramp-up in military spending. You think this is a one-year anomaly or the start of a multi-year trend?

Russia is now a pariah to Western economies, so they must build a new coalition of trade partners. As more Western companies leave China, will a new good guys (West) vs. bad guys (Russia/China) trade dynamic unfold? Russia and China just signed another agreement on space exploration.

A quote from Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in 1929: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.”

Yikes!!!! Mellon was Treasury Secretary from 1921 to 1932. He experienced the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression. Can you imagine a politician or leader saying something similar  today?

When you mandate equity and equality of outcomes, does it take desire out of people? And if you take desire out of people, how will we progress?

At no other time in human history has ALL information been so ubiquitous and instantaneously available. At no other time in human history have we been able to “dialog” with virtually anyone in the world instantaneously. You think we “modern” humans are managing this information and communication overload productively and easily?

Is the relentless pursuit of innovation making being human a lot less fun?

Ahh…forget about all this Thoughts from Doug nonsense. Have a fun New Year’s weekend, and go out and kick some butt in 2023!

THE ECONOMIC VIEW

Home prices continue to fall
And mortgage rates remain high.
Will the remodeling boom stumble?

The bright future of US manufacturing
McKinsey is bullish on industrial tech.

The personal savings rate keeps falling
Time to ask for a raise?

THE INFLATION BOGEYMAN

Egg producers are minting money
How about a windfall profits tax?

Who suffers most from inflation?
Middle-income households

Glass recycling costs too much
Plastic needs to go, too
Get ready for higher drink costs.
The prosecco economy
It’s cheaper than champagne!

THE LABOR VIEW

Jobless claims edge higher
Yet remain historically low.

Another casualty of WFH.
Employees bonding over lunch

Contractors boost employment gains
Temp is the new permanent.

VC investments in supply chain
Are focused on eliminating human labor.

MEANWHILE IN EUROPE

Exxon sues the EU
They don’t have windfall profit tax authority.

Polish banks have a ticking time bomb
Mortgage holders may owe double.

Europe is short on antibiotics
Time for more reshoring.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Sudden Russian Death Syndrome
What happens if you don’t support Putin.

Over 1,000 Western companies
Have left or curtailed Russian operations.

Putin puts ban on oil buyers
Who comply with the EU price cap.
Japan about to take Russian oil
Russia is one of China’s big suppliers

GLOBAL

Climate reparations
End up in middlemen’s pockets

Cuba is depopulating
People are leaving in droves.

World economy headed to recession
Suggests this researcher.

THE FINANCE WORLD

Central banks are buying gold
At the fastest pace in 55 years.

Global M&A fell sharply
In the second half of 2022.

Pension funds are cash poor
This won’t help financial asset values.

A growing number of PE-backed companies
Are going bankrupt

TECHNOLOGY

Cybercrime expected to skyrocket
And its costs are expected to explode.

Insurance industry suggests
Cyber attacks may become uninsurable

We’re in a big chip glut
As we announce new factories

THE NEXT NORMAL

Has interest in weed peaked?
The US has a pot glut

US population growth keeps slowing
Is social media more fun than sex?

This weird year in charts
It’s been a wild one for sure.

THE WAR ON CARBON

A wind farm is bad for the environment
Suggests some government scientists.

Sri Lanka’s ban on fertilizer
Has put the country on a path to starvation.
As well as economic ruin

Rising power prices in Europe
Make EV ownership more expensive.

THE NEW ENERGY TRANSITION

Japanese are locking up LNG deals
Broader Asia wants more LNG
Europe faces lots of competition.

Green energy
Is making electricity less reliable

Hydrogen: The next clean fuel
Exactly what fuel is ever clean?

THE CHINA SYNDROME

Don’t come here with covid
Says the United States.
50% of Chinese travelers have covid

China’s real estate problem
Hasn’t gone away.

Carmakers pulling out of China
They want to make parts elsewhere.

THE WASHING-TONE

Title 42 stays in place for now
Will an immigration fix surface soon?

White House suggests a “soft landing”
We all want one, but…

The UK joins other countries
Criticizing the IRA’s green subsidies.
Maybe this is the workaround

MAKING A BETTER YOU

How anger affects the body
Try not to lose your cool.

Dads are much more important
Than we’ve recognized.

Random acts of kindness
Can be more powerful than we know.

HOW ABOUT A BREAK

Morning teeth brushing
Better before or after breakfast?

2022’s best science images
It’s a wondrous world.

Scroll through the universe
Be prepared for awe.

SONG OF THE WEEK

“Auld Lang Syne”
Rod Stewart does it up.
Lyrics are poetry, you know.
The song’s origin

CASTING AROUND THE PODS

JP Morgan says 2023’s theme
Will be deglobalization

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Babylon trailer.
The bigger the dream, the greater the fight.

2022’s most viewed TikToks
What is culture today?

What to wear?
In the coldest city on earth.

FROM THE HEADHUNTER’S KITCHEN

How breakfast became a thing
Especially the traditional English breakfast

What is Cowboy butter?
You’ll be using it soon.

The science behind cheese
It’s a yummy ecosystem.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Hope You’re Having a Wonderful Holiday Season!
December 23, 2022

The Dangers of Over-Tightening
December 16, 2022