Alternative Visions - US Job Numbers and Global Financial Bubbles - 10.06.17

 Dr. Rasmus in the first half of the show discusses today’s Labor Dept. job numbers, explaining how the total jobless today is not 6.8 million but closer to 15 million, and not counting the 8 million equivalent declilne dur to falling labor force participation. Rasmus debunks academic explanations like ‘It’s the opioid crisis’ (Princeton) or that it is due to workers staying home playing video games (Univ. of Chicago), or even due to the ageing population and early retirements. Other real causes are offered. In the second half of the show, Dr. Rasmus addresses growing financial asset bubbles in the US and worldwide—including US stock markets, US and Europe junk bonds, Leveraged Loans, Exchange Trade Funds, Europe Non Performing Loans, Bitcoin and crypto-currencies, China entrusted loans junk debt, NPLs, Emerging markets dollarized debt and hidden forex exchange derivatives recently warned by the Bank of International Settlements in Geneva. (Next Week: the Deutsche Bank Study just released on growing financial fragility in the global economy).