In 1820, 94% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%.

In 1820, 94% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%. https://t.co/mN2Z7uE0oa

— HumanProgress.org (@HumanProgress) June 20, 2018

If the media truly reported the important changes in the world, they could have run the headline NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN EXTREME POVERTY FELL BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY

Why won’t the UN tell us what really reduces poverty? https://t.co/cp15bzMExa pic.twitter.com/cmmdDnTT4X

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) March 15, 2018

If the media truly reported the important changes in the world, they could have run the headline NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN EXTREME POVERTY FELL BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY every single day for the last 25 years. https://t.co/izjadntivj pic.twitter.com/01VKn3ayBo

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) March 15, 2018

Poverty declined globally from 1.7 billion people in 1999 to 767 million in 2013, or from 28% of people in 1999 to 11% in 2013.

Poverty declined globally from 1.7 billion people in 1999 to 767 million in 2013, or from 28% of people in 1999 to 11% in 2013. The most significant progress was in Eastern & South-Eastern Asia, where the poverty rate fell from 35% in 1999 to 3% in 2013. https://t.co/DoWNE3g8De pic.twitter.com/1vGrKjSiNS

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) January 19, 2018

FRANCE: Marine Le Pen warned supporters of “2 totalitarianisms,” globalization and Islamism, that want to “subjugate France”

Marine Le Pen warned supporters of “2 totalitarianisms,” globalization and Islamism, that want to “subjugate France” https://t.co/Y159ysrlH4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 5, 2017

The world is more prosperous than it has ever been in the past. Prosperity is rising & global inequality decreasing.

The world is more prosperous than it has ever been in the past. Prosperity is rising & global inequality decreasing. https://t.co/N8gZnjF7Ja

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) April 26, 2016

Dollar has its best year since 2005

◼ The U.S. dollar ended its strongest year since 2005 with gains versus major rivals as investors penciled in further strength in the U.S. economy and diverging monetary policy paths between a more hawkish Federal Reserve and dovish European and Japanese central banks. - Market Watch vis Drudge

...Overall analysts are bullish on the dollar going into 2015, as a strong improvement in the U.S. economy is seen as pushing the Federal Reserve closer toward raising interest rates. Additionally, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are expected to keep monetary policy ultra-loose next year, which should weaken their currencies against the dollar....

"The brief resurgence of traditional Keynesian ideas is washing away from the world of economic policy."

◼ An Autopsy for the Keynesians - John H. Cochrane/CATO Institute

This year the tide changed in the economy. Growth seems finally to be returning. The tide also changed in economic ideas. The brief resurgence of traditional Keynesian ideas is washing away from the world of economic policy.

No government is remotely likely to spend trillions of dollars or euros in the name of “stimulus,” financed by blowout borrowing. The euro is intact: Even the Greeks and Italians, after six years of advice that their problems can be solved with one more devaluation and inflation, are sticking with the euro and addressing — however slowly — structural “supply” problems instead.

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne wrote in these pages Dec. 14 that Keynesians wanting more spending and more borrowing “were wrong in the recovery, and they are wrong now.” The land of John Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith is going with Smith.

Why? In part, because even in economics, you can’t be wrong too many times in a row....

Yes, there is plenty wrong and plenty to worry about. Growth is too slow, and not enough people are working. Even supporters acknowledge that Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare are a mess. Too many people on the bottom are stuck in terrible education, jobless poverty, and a dysfunctional criminal justice system. But the policy world has abandoned the notion that we can solve our problems with blowout borrowing, wasted spending, inflation, default and high taxes. The policy world is facing the tough tradeoffs that centuries of experience have taught us, not wishing them away.

The week the dam broke in Russia and ended Putin's dreams

◼ “It’s going to be worse than the default crisis in 1998. This time you have a situation where the West is against them,” said Mr Browder from Hermitage - The Telegraph UK

Gallows humour is back in Moscow. Asked what he would do to stop the rouble spiralling out of control, the former governor of Russia’s central bank replied: “I would pick up a pistol and shoot myself.”
This was the week when the country’s long-festering crisis turned virulent. A last-ditch attempt to defend the exchange rate by raising interest rates to 17pc failed within hours, yet the shock is surely enough to set off a chain of corporate failures and push banks over the edge.
Traders in the City watched open-mouthed as the dam broke on Black Tuesday. The event exposed the awful reality that the Kremlin does not have the infinite foreign reserves that many had supposed. “What is happening is a nightmare that we could not even have imagined a year ago,” says the central bank’s deputy chief, Sergei Shvetsov.
The currency has since stabilised at 60 to the dollar. But it has lost half its value in a year. Russia’s $2.1 trillion (£1.3 trillion) economy has shrunk to $1.1 trillion, half the GDP of California.....

Are We Reliving The 1930s?

◼ At the close of last week’s G20 Summit, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron warned that we’re on the verge of another global recession, citing problems like looming deflation, falling prices, and rising protectionist sentiment. This list evokes a sense of déjà vu: not about the Great Recession, but the Great Depression. - Tyler Durden/Zerohedge

That was the last time we ever seriously worried about disinflation, along with every practically other aspect of economic performance raising alarm bells today: low interest rates, weak investment, slow productivity growth, and chronic labor force detachment.

To be sure, this isn’t an easy comparison to swallow. The Great Depression is the ultimate measuring rod of economic catastrophe to which every other downturn is compared. But as time goes by and forecasts of full recovery keep getting deferred like an ever-fading mirage, it’s one worth examining. How does the Great Depression of the 1930s compare with the Great Recession of the 2010s? Let’s look at the GDPs of the U.S., U.K., and continental Western Europe from 1929 on and from 2007 on, using the base year as an index.... KEEP READING

Markets hold breath as China's shadow banking grinds to a halt

◼ Fresh loans in China’s shadow banking system evaporated to almost nothing from $160bn in January - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard/Telegraph (AFP image)

A slew of shockingly weak data from China and Japan has led to a sharp sell-off in Asian stock markets and the biggest one-day crash in iron ore prices since the Lehman crisis, calling into question the strength of the global recovery.

...Fresh loans in China’s shadow banking system evaporated to almost nothing from $160bn in January, suggesting the clampdown on the $8 trillion sector is biting hard.

“It seems that rising default risk has started to erode Chinese investors’ confidence,” said Wei Yao, from Societe Generale. “Together with continued regulatory tightening on banks’ off-balance-sheet activity, we are certain this slowing credit trend has further to go and will inflict real pain on the economy.”...

S&P Cuts Credit Ratings for 9 Euro Zone Nations

◼ "Today's rating actions are primarily driven by our assessment that the policy initiatives that have been taken by European policy makers in recent weeks may be insufficient to fully address ongoing systemic stresses in the euro zone," S&P said in a press release announcing the downgrade. - CNBC

Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany, in a Black Friday 13th for the troubled single currency area.

The credit-rating agency put all 14 euro-zone nations — Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain — on "negative" outlook for a possible further downgrade.

Germany was the only country to emerge totally unscathed with its triple-A rating and a stable outlook.

◼ Downgrade of Debt Ratings Underscores Europe’s Woes - NYT
◼ S&P Cuts Ratings on France, Italy, Other European Countries - FOX Business