How deep the rabbit hole goes…

(The purpose of this blog is to provide a perspective shift on global macro goings-on. The world is a fascinating place, when you get past the bullshit.)

A. Weed. Almost inevitable to be legal in all 50. Tax receipts are in dire need by every state in America. Legalize weed = new revenue stream. They can only increase property taxes so much… That will open the door to researching use as a treatment. Read more @ Real Vision:
* https://www.realvision.com/free-stuff/20-20/5-oct-2017/

B. Populism spells trouble for FANG stocks (Facebook - Amazon - Netflix - Google). The warts of these companies have been known for a long time, however populism is causing them to matter. These stocks markup a part of so many ETF's that if they break, the pain will be felt everywhere. Maybe that fact will keep them from breaking? Maybe not? From John Thornhill at The Financial Times via Jesse Felder @ The Felder Report:

C. Everyone is talking about the Trump / Kim Jong Un meeting. Its important of course, but its really all about China. Near the top of the list is their One Belt One Road project. There are so many levels to this that I am just gonna post a link featuring Dr. Pippa Malmgren with some great overviews:
"Let’s understand what we are talking about here, whatever we call it. It’s China’s effort to strengthen its connections with the world by land, air and sea. It involves the construction of highways, railways and airports that start in Eastern China and link China by land through central Asia into the Middle East and into Western Europe. Call it the new Silk Road. The Chinese have just completed the world’s longest railway link, which runs from Yiwu in China to London." - Dr. Pippa Malgren, via Foreign Policy Concepts.
* https://foreignpolicyconcepts.com/malmgren-obor-bri-international-security/

D. Next generation crypto. Maybe like the internet was with the first dotcoms, there will be a crash and then the Amazons and Apples will come out and blossom. One has to imagine this is what we are seeing. One of the more interesting areas is things being buit on top of Ethereum. Creating markets is an incredibly challenging process. Trust and verification are critical, as well as difficult to do. Augur aims to do this using the blockchain. If they can pull it off, I think it will be a seminal moment for the blockchain. Augur launches in July.
http://www.augur.net/about/