Rising living standards in the emerging world will support demand for commodities — and keep us paying through the nose. Faber observes that if you double someone’s income from $1 million to $2 million, their spending on raw materials “except maybe cocaine” doesn’t rise. Not so for someone on a few thousand dollars a year. They buy cars and the other trappings of middle-class living.

consumer sentiment is controlled by 80% of the population, just 1% of the population controls the money supply and fiscal deficits. The latter in turn largely determine the value of assets and exchange rates.

The inflation in the system is accounting for most of the supposed "growth" in the US economy. s to hold 25 percent of his assets in equities, 25 percent in real estate, 25 percent in gold, and 25 percent in cash. If equities, real estate, or gold drop another 10 to 20 percent, put more cash in

, they will take it away through inflating the economy and lowering the standard of living.

I have frequently told people that one of the best investments in the world will be farmland.

Jim Rogers' Keys to Success (taken from the titles and sub headings of each chapter of the new book, "A Gift To My Children"):

1. Do not let others do your thinking for you

2. Focus on what you like

3. Good habits for life & investing

4. Common sense? not so common

5. Attention to details is what separates success from failure

6. Let the world be a part of your perspective

7. Learn philosophy & learn to think

8. Learn history

9. Learn languages (make sure Mandarin is one of them)

10. Understand your weaknesses & acknowledge your mistakes

11. Recognize change & embrace it

12. Look to the future

13. “Lady Luck smiles on those who continue their efforts”

14. Remember that nothing is really new

15. Know when not to do anything

16. Pay attention to what everybody else neglects

17. If anybody laughs at your idea view it as a sign of potential success

http://www.gizmag.com/platemate-crowd-sourced-dieting/20365/

http://www.gizmag.com/silhouette-floating-lamp/20360/

1400 E

http://www.gizmag.com/aging-process-enzyme-identified/20359/

Although calorie restriction has been shown to slow the aging process, delay the development of age-related diseases and have favorable effects on health, researchers have had a hard time explaining why this is so. Using yeast as a model, researchers at the University of Gothenburg have successfully identified that active peroxiredoxin 1 (Prx1), an enzyme that breaks down harmful hydrogen peroxide in the cells, is required for caloric restriction to work effectively. mpaired Prx1 function leads to various types of genetic defects and cancer. Conversely, we can now speculate whether increased repair of Prx1 during aging can counteract, or at least delay, the development of cancer e research team's study showed that Prx1 is damaged during aging and loses its activity but caloric restriction counteracts this by increasing the production of another enzyme called Srx1, which repairs Prx1.

http://www.gizmag.com/nit-walking-robot-weight-propulsion/20321/

http://www.gizmag.com/first-manned-multicopter-flight/20345/

http://www.gizmag.com/economic-benefits-tobacco-control-tax-revenue/20319/

During the first 15 years of the Tobacco Control Program in California, which cost in the region of US$1.5 billion, the savings made in direct health-care costs amounted to US$86 billion. Read that sentence again. The $1.5 billion spent on tobacco control in California has resulted in savings in excess of 60 times that sum.

http://www.gizmag.com/ipad-3d-anamorphosis/20320/

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/02/does-democracy-make-us-richer-and-better-educated-or-is-it-the-other-way-around/

Using a data set going back to 1870, with statistics from 70 countries, they conclude that education (particularly increases in primary schooling) and, to a lesser extent, per capita income levels, are strong determinants of the quality of political institutions – not the other way around. So education and income first, democracy second.

We find that primary schooling, and to a weaker extent per capita income levels, are strong determinants of the quality of political institutions. We find little evidence of causality running the other way, from democracy to income or education.

Their findings re-affirm what Joseph Schumpeter declared in his 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: “Modern  democracy is a product of the capitalist process.” And which political sociologist Seymour Lipset, popularized as the theory of modernization: “[T]he more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy.”

The authors argue that primary schooling has been a “major trigger” of the democratic transition over 1870-2000, more so than GDP growth.

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/01/the-black-market-is-the-second-largest-economy-in-the-world/

In 2009, the OECD concluded that half the world’s workers (almost 1.8 billion people) were employed in the shadow economy. By 2020, the OECD predicts the shadow economy will employ two-thirds of the world’s workers. This new economy even has a name: “System D.”  

The total value of System D as a global phenomenon is close to $10 trillion (the United States, with a GDP of $14 trillion, is numero uno). 

forecasters now predict that India will pass China in population as soon as 2030

The current population is over 4.6 million, and is slated to grow at 5.2 percent per year. In 2006, Newsweek  dubbed Ghaziabad as one of the top 10 most dynamic cities, and plans to build an international airport nearby will only increase its popularity

Kabul The city has 6 million inhabitants, and continues to expand at 4.74 percent a year

By 2050, the city will need six times the amount of water it currently uses in order to quench the thirst of its inhabitants.

The Malian capital has 1.3 million people, and is growing at 4.45 percent annually

Nigerian economic capital dwarfs its West African rival in size and vitality. The city proper had nearly 10 million people in 2010, and is projected to reach 15 million by 2015, with a growth rate of 4.44 percent. Within a couple years, it will eclipse Cairo as the largest city in Africa.

http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/

he unemployment rate is nine percent including discouraged workers and partially employed workers 16.5 percent including people in jail is 20 percent among young and minorities it is close to thirty percent , half of the unemployed are long term unemployed

euters reported earlier today that Sarkozy has been forced to challenge the idea that the EU would grant any particular concessions to China in exchange for investment in the EFSF, suggesting that self-interest via “global stability” ought to be the key motivating factor for China.

The Fed keeps the Federal Funds Target Rate at 0.25 percent as expected. The statement coming out from the FOMC meeting says:

• Fed will maintain exceptionally low rates through at least mid-2013
• Significant downside remains for economic outlook
• Evans dissents as the Chicago Fed President favours more accommodation
• The Fed expects moderate growth in the coming quarters
• Operation Twist continues

http://www.tradingfloor.com/blogs/steens-chronicle/the-grand-plan-for-europe-became-the-waterloo-of-the-eurozone-1293177370?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Trading-Floor+%28TradingFloor%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenfisher/2011/10/28/gdp-and-more-positive-data/?feed=rss_author

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenfisher/2011/11/02/read-the-tea-leaves-correctly/2/

We have never had a recession after the traditional leading economic indicator (LEI) index has been high and rising for five months. But that’s what is happening today on an absolute and year-over-year basis. For those keen on ­comparing 2011 with the ugliness of  2007–09, note that the LEI back then had been falling for three years.

is the yield curve. Bond investors keep a close eye on this as it illustrates the spread or difference between long-term interest rates and short-term ones. It’s always been low or gone negative before a recession. Now the spread is 220 basis points, or 2.2%. In 2007 it was negative. The Fed is foolishly trying to push the spread down by selling short-term bonds and buying the same amount of long-term, but it’s not working.

Since World War II we haven’t experienced a recession until after corporate profits per employee had declined for at least six months. Currently just the opposite is happening.

that job growth must come before ­economic growth tend to ignore this statistical evidence. But the fact is, profitability always comes first.

The ten-year Treasury yield minus the S&P 500’s dividend yield is near zero today—close to where it was at the bear market bottom in 2009. You won’t find a recession in modern history starting when this difference is below 2%.

, we are unlikely to have a major bear market in the next 15 months.

With 450-plus stores, Pittsburgh’s Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS, 39) is a leader in its niche. In a stronger economy, high-end consumer spending for activities like golf and water sports should drive returns at Dick’s and surprise analysts. This stock itself could be the real Christmas present. It sells at 90% of annual revenue and 17 times my expectations for January 2012 earnings.

Houston offshore contract driller ­Atwood Oceanics (ATW, 44)

China Eastern Airlines (CEA, 20), the country’s third-largest commercial carrier, with more than 250 planes. Its stock was selling for $65 four years ago and $33 last year. I think it may go back to its old highs. It currently sells at 18% of revenue and six times my estimate of 2011 earnings.

hina Southern Airlines (ZNH, 29). The last Chinese stock I will mention here is Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI, 2.8). It has big leverage on the global economy as the world’s leading independent foundry for logic chips. It sells for 44% of where it was trading last year.

France’s Lafarge (LFRGY, 11) is down 54% from its 2009 peak. As one of the world’s leading cement and aggregate makers, it is sensitive to macroeconomic factors and should take off with surprising growth. LaFarge sells for 50% of sales, and 13 times my ­estimate for 2011 earnings.