Synchronized Global Not Quite Growth

This is a syndicated repost courtesy of Alhambra Investments. To view original, click here. Reposted with permission.
Going back to 2014, it was common for whenever whatever economic data point disappointed that whomever optimistic economist or policymaker would overrule it by pointing to ‘global growth.’ It was the equivalent of shutting down an uncomfortable debate with ad hominem attacks. You can’t falsify ‘global growth’ because you can’t really define what it is.
Japan was common then among the world’s various economies to be relying so much on it. As I wrote that September:
The curious part about that ‘pick-up in global demand’ is exactly what I am driving at. What he [BoJ Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata] is saying is that the economy in Japan will get better because some nebulous notion of the global economy will get better; or, if you want to be specific, they expect the economy to improve because the economy is expected to improve. While he (and those like him) will not admit to engaging such circular logic, that is what it really amounts to…
It became a staple of mainstream analysis because it was easy and non-specific. And in many ways it has become so again, in 2017 perhaps even to that much more of an impressive (sounding) degree. This time around not only is ‘global growth’ supposedly picking up, it is doing so in synchronizedfashion. Being applied to Japan again and more so China, it’s the first time in seven or perhaps ten years, apparently, that this has happened – therefore we are meant to be very impressed by it even if it still remains undefined.

This post was published at Wall Street Examiner on November 3, 2017.