Latest memo from Howard Marks: Political Reality Meets Economic Reality

[gzbkel]

Howard Marks's latest post is about populism and rise of anti-capitalism in USA.
If his fears become reality, will Singapore benefit from increased migration of rich people from USA?
Or will Singapore develop the same symptoms?

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/...arks-memos

[karlmarx]

Populism and rise of anti-capitalism has been occurring not only in US, but also in other developed economies, particularly in Europe. The main culprit is globalisation, where the transfer of jobs to lower wage economies resulted in structural unemployment in more developed economies, causing frustration/poorer standard of living from loss of income.

Singapore has also been experiencing these problems. But the government has been proactive in tackling the issues head-on by increasing spending on welfare and re-training. The people have also been willing (more or less) to equip themselves with new skills to perform 'new jobs.'

The continued emphasis on skillsfuture means that the govenment expect there will be more structural changes in employment in the future. And the continued welfare spending (what's after merdeka generation?) is aimed at mitigating the effects of growing income/wealth inequality as the owners of capital and valued skills continue to earn more.

This rise of anti-capitalism has been written 150 years ago, so it isn't unexpected. But jobs have always been lost to lower cost operators in developing economies, so it isn't exactly a new problem for US and other developed economies to deal with. They just have to work harder to create value. Singapore's desire to be a (fin)tech hub is a right step.

The masses respond when they feel they have been treated too unfairly. So somehow, for the system to maintain equilibrium, there will be transfers from the rich to the less rich. Will taxes in Singapore go up? I do expect so.

[Behappyalways]

Latest Memo From Howard Marks: Mysterious
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4297227...mysterious