Trading Perspectives: An Economic Podcast

By John Norris: Chief Economist with Oakworth Capital Bank

News & Politics Business Investing

What's Trading Perspectives: An Economic Podcast about?

A podcast designed to provide listeners with education and a unique insight into specific factors that are currently driving our nation's economy. Trading Perspectives is brought to you by Oakworth Capital Bank.

https://www.oakworthcapital.com/
tradingperspectives@oakworthcapital.com

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The Assassination of Irania...

01.13.2020

On January 3rd, 2020 President Trump authorized the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Many have since made it clear that they are not in support of the US Military’s effort to eliminate the terrorist leader. One week later, stock ...

Trading Perspectives: An Economic Podcast episodes:

01.13.2020 The Assassination of Iranian General Soleimani On January 3rd, 2020 President Trump authorized the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Many have since made it clear that they are not in support of the US Military’s effort to eliminate the terrorist leader. One week later, stock ...
01.06.2020 A Look Back at 2019 After a rough end to 2018, many were worried about a volatile 2019. Although the bricks in the proverbial wall of worry didn’t change much, 2019 was anything but volatile. What made 2019 so different and what can we expect ...
12.23.2019 Unemployment Rate This week John and Sam talk about the unemployment rate and the different ways that it’s measured. Right now, the unemployment rate is historically low at 3.5%. Many people are saying the rate is below the natural rate of unemployment. ...
12.17.2019 Monetary Policy & Income Inequality This week John and Sam talk about the effect of monetary policy on income inequality. Many people think that monetary policy has led to a spike in inequality when it comes to wealth and income, but there is more to ...
12.09.2019 Chinese Trade Wars: What Game are We Playing? This week, John and Sam answer the frequently asked question, when will the trade deal get done? The answer: probably not anytime soon. Donald Trump and President Xi are not playing the same game. US politicians generally think in terms ...
12.02.2019 Socialism Slows Down Economic Progress How long can politicians hold back the inevitable? When people enjoy the rule of law, private property rights, and the development of human capital economic growth will happen. If you don’t provide these things or try to stop them, your ...
11.25.2019 Why is everyone so angry? Lately it seems the entire world is protesting about something, even in the U.S. But why? Inequality seems to be a hot topic across the board and many feel the “wealthy” are to blame. According to the recent Census, the ...
11.18.2019 Socialism: What is it and why are people for it? Socialism, a term with a historically negative connotation, has become somewhat of a buzzword lately as many democratic politicians consider themselves socialists. So, what exactly is socialism? Clearly Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren have a different view on socialism ...
11.12.2019 Longer Term Interest Rates Longer-term interest rates have been going up, and that is a good thing? John and Sam discuss how lower rates were supposedly the cure for what ails us earlier in the year, and how that has changed in November. Perhaps ...
11.04.2019 The US Labor Market Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the US economy created 128,000 new payroll jobs. So far, the participation rate is the highest it’s been since 2013. However, people are still talking about a recession. Should we be ...
10.28.2019 High Income and Corporate Taxes This week, John and Sam focus on the importance of taxation in order to boost economic growth and alleviate poverty. Dr. Abhijit Banerjee, a professor at MIT, was recently featured in a Bloomberg article in which he states that taxing ...
10.21.2019 The shift in Consumer Values There is no doubt that consumer buying patterns are evolving, but after driving by 2 fine jewelers that are going out of business, John and Sam notice that people are shifting away from luxurious goods. From fine china and silver ...
10.15.2019 Repo Market Stress With the rarely mentioned Repo market showing signs of stress, and the Federal Reserve being forced to pump more cash into the market, is the Fed losing control of monetary policy? Is the national debt maybe a bigger issue than ...
10.07.2019 Fair Pay to Play Act Last week, California signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law, a bill permitting college athletes in the state to hire agents and be paid for endorsements. The law is scheduled to take effect in 2023. If passed, how ...
09.30.2019 The Socially Conscious Investor With Juul gaining more notoriety as of late, John and Sam discuss what it would take for companies to change their core businesses. Will investors be willing to carve companies like Altria, one of Juul's major investors, out of their ...
09.23.2019 Drone Attacks on Saudi Arabian Oil Fields Last week 8 drones attacked oil fields in Saudi Arabia, ultimately causing increased tensions in the middle east. The attacks took out 50% of Suadi Arabia’s oil production and 5% of the world's global output. Crude oil, which is used ...
09.16.2019 Climate Change There has been something strange about recent weather patterns. Temperatures have been unusually high, even for those of us accustomed to them. It’s not surprising when you consider 7.7 billion people, requiring food to eat, water to drink, clothes and ...
09.09.2019 Negative Interest Rates in the United States Last week, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, said that it’s only a matter of time before negative interest rates spread to the United States. In this episode of Trading Perspectives John and Sam talk about why much ...
09.03.2019 The American Empire Throughout history, empires have come and gone, but they have all had some common characteristics. The American empire is a little different. This week John and Sam discuss economic growth of countries and how the US empire works on a ...
08.26.2019 Gross Domestic Product How strong is America’s economy? That really depends on who you ask. Since the Roosevelt administration, the most widely used measure of economic strength is in terms of GDP. Gross Domestic Product. This week, John and Sam compare GDP to ...
08.19.2019 The American Dream In this week’s episode of Trading Perspectives, John and Sam talk about an article written by Bloomberg columnist Noah Smith titled “It’s Gotten Too Hard to Strike it Rich In America”. The article suggests that big companies, institutional investors, tight ...
08.12.2019 The Effect of Major Events on the Economy In this episode John and Sam talk about the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio and the effect the tragic events will have on an already unsettled market. Do major events effect the market? How have local and global markets ...
08.05.2019 FOMC Rate Cuts For the first time in over a decade the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policy making arm of the Federal Reserve, cut the overnight lending target by 0.25% to an effective range of 2.00-2.25%. This week John and Sam ...
07.29.2019 Negative Interest Rates Last week, the European Central Bank decided to keep interest rates below zero and president Mario Draghi hinted at cutting the rate even more. This week, John and Sam explain negative interest rates. How do they work and who would ...
07.22.2019 Netflix Last week, Netflix announced its most recent quarterly earnings and needless to say, the markets aren’t happy. Earnings per share was down, user growth was less than expected and the number of US subscribers decreased by over 100,000 users. In ...
07.15.2019 Bitcoin is Back Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are back in the spotlight since Facebook announced the launch of the Libra, it’s own form of cryptocurrency. Why are cryptocurrencies back on the rise after what happened in 2018? Where is the value in Bitcoin coming ...
07.08.2019 The Gold Standard Last week, President Trump named Judy Shelton, a long-time advocate of the gold standard, as his latest pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. The US abandoned the gold standard in 1971 under the Nixon administration and many ...
07.01.2019 Student Loan Forgiveness Student loan forgiveness could very well become a major part of the democratic platform in 2020. This week, John and Sam explain the scope of the problem behind student loan debt and how it came about. Before we make a ...
06.24.2019 The Future of Banking Episode 44 of Trading Perspectives features special guest Scott Reed, Senior Managing Director of Oakworth Capital Bank. As Bernie Sanders and many left leaning politicians are making a push to break up big banks, John and Scott discuss how the ...
06.17.2019 US Military Involvement in Iran Amidst the rising tensions with Iran, John and Sam talk about US military involvement in episode 43 of Trading Perspectives. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo says Iran was behind last week’s attack on oil tankers and the US is ready ...
06.10.2019 Bernie Sanders Goes to Walmart Last Wednesday, Bernie Sanders traveled to Walmart’s annual shareholders meeting to demand that Walmart increase wages to $15/hr. In episode 42, John and Sam talk about the effect that would have on employers in areas that are not as wealthy ...
06.03.2019 Bernie Sanders In episode 41 of Trading Perspectives John and Sam talk about Bernie Sanders and his campaign to decrease pharmaceutical prices. Is it really that easy to slash prices like Sanders says? What would the average American have to do to ...
05.28.2019 High Deficits: Do They Matter? In episode 40 of Trading Perspectives John and Sam talk about the ballooning budget deficits and the ability to pay back the debt. With the United States still being the dominant economy, and its debt still desirable, the question remains ...
05.20.2019 Technology and Ticket Sales Ticket prices for the PGA Tour were down this year and turn style attendance seems be on a down hill trend. Even college MLB, and the NFL are reporting fewer people at games. What impact will this have on local ...
05.13.2019 Climate Change This week John and Sam talk about the sacrifices they are willing to make in support of climate change. Investors responded well to the IPO from Beyond Meat, the plant-based meat provider, earlier this month. Setting stock price aside, would ...
05.06.2019 The College Admission Scandal This week John and Sam talk about the economics behind “Varsity Blues”. On April 4, 2019, Caitlin Flanagan wrote an article in The Atlantic titled “They Had It Coming”. The article suggests that the parents involved in the scandal were ...
04.29.2019 The Perception of Retirement: Then and Now This week John and Sam discuss the generational differences in the perception of retirement. Statistics show the average age of retirement has been consistently on the rise since the 1980s. According to younger generations, people no longer want to be ...
04.22.2019 Bourbon & Business Episode 35 of Trading Perspectives features another special guest, Lincoln Lee Hammons from Mobile, Alabama. In addition to his role as Managing Director for Oakworth Capital Bank, Lee is a bourbon connoisseur. In this week’s episode, John and Sam get ...
04.15.2019 Big Bad Banks On Wednesday, April 10, 7 CEOs from big banks attended hearing held by the House Financial Service Committee. In addition to policy questions, many members of congress took the hearing as an opportunity to ask some hard-hitting questions about political ...
04.08.2019 The Future of College Tuition In episode 33, John and Sam debate the future of college tuition and the value of education. Over the last few decades we have continued to watch college tuition sky rocket. Now, specialized education is becoming more mainstream and countries ...
04.01.2019 Wage Disperity: The Gender Pay Gap Generally speaking, the women’s US Soccer Team performs significantly better than the men’s team. So why would the men continue to be compensated at much higher rate? In this episode John and Sam peel back the layers of the economic ...
03.25.2019 Brexit: An Irish Perspective Episode 31 of Trading Perspectives, features another special guest, David McGrath. Being part of a true Irish family primarily residing in Ireland, David provides his personal perspective on the effects of Brexit. Currently David resides in Mobile, AL and is ...
03.18.2019 Artificial Intelligence This week’s episode of Trading Perspectives features special guest Dave Driscoll. Dave is Oakworth Capital Bank’s Chief Technology Officer and an expert on artificial intelligence. We’ve all heard of Siri and Alexa, but AI is much larger than that. So, ...
03.11.2019 Universal Basic Income In episode 29 of Trading Perspectives, John and Sam talk about Universal Basic Income. Universal = everyone. Basic = base or floor amount. Income = money from the government. As the name implies, UBI is a predetermined amount of money ...
03.04.2019 Why Nations Fail This week John and Sam focus on the book “Why Nations Fail” written by: Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. Originally published in 2012, the authors argue that the key differentiator between successful and unsuccessful countries is their inclusive institution, suggesting ...
02.25.2019 Consumer Buying Patterns We all know that Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A, but what about healthier products? Investors were thrown for a loop on Thursday as Kraft Heinz announced that they would be impairing $15B in good will on a number ...
02.19.2019 Pot Stocks As legalization becomes more and more accepted in some states, many people are becoming interested in pot stocks. In this week’s episode John and Sam discuss the likelihood of our nation’s overall acceptance of Marijuana. Are pot stocks a good ...
02.11.2019 The Green New Deal On February 7, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others in the democratic party introduced the Green New Deal. Aimed to increase economic equality and climate change, the GND will require drastic changes. This week John and Sam argue the reality of the ...
02.04.2019 Crisis in Venezuela: Maduro vs Guaidó In the oil-rich country of Venezuela the battle for presidency continues. Once the wealthiest country in Latin America, the severe humanitarian crisis, caused by the United Socialist party of Venezuela, has forced millions of people to flee in an effort ...
01.28.2019 Reducing Inequalities In episode 23 of Trading Perspectives, John and Sam focus on a short story called Harrison Bergeron, published in 1961 by Kurt Vonnegut. In this story everyone is equal and everything is fair. Although unfortunate, not everyone is created equal ...

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