Weekend January 17, 2016
From a social mood perspective, a tv show or movie needs to match the mood of the public, that is why the public pays to see the show.
begins its fifth season, Here is description direct from the official site.
In the board rooms, barrooms and bedrooms of the power elite, corruption is business as usual and everyone's out for themselves first. Nothing is sacred in this scathing, irreverent satire of corporate America today. Outrageous, subversive and wildly funny,
The show began a year after the bull market resumed following the Financial Collapse of 2008-09. And so corruption and an anything goes attitude mirrored the corruption in stunts like Jon Corzine's MF Global which collapsed in 2011. MF Global was the first ever brokerage collapse in which investors could not obtain their money. Corzine never was charged.
Now Houses of Lies will be filming in Cuba a first for a tv series. Indeed that is appropriate as the House of Castro benefits from a reversal of US Policy.
The next financial meltdown has already begun. It will be interesting to see of the show can survive what is sure to another backlash against a second Wall Street meltdown.
As the Dow approached new highs last year, it must have seemed perfectly logical to build on the success of House of Lies with yes, Billions
Here is the official plot outline
Emmy and Golden Globe winners Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis star in a complex drama about power politics in the world of New York high finance.
Well who will need Showtime when such a drama will be playing out every day on CNBC and Fox Business?
I am not kidding, check out this worry list from Peak Prosperity
Oil in the $20’s (!!)
Copper under $2
Baltic Dry Shipping Index at the lowest ever at 383 and down ~50% in the past year.
Wal-Mart closing 269 stores, 154 in the US.
Business inventories to sales at new cycle highs
U.S. freight volume falls for first time in almost three years
US retail sales fall 0.1% in December
Empire State index weakens to recession lows.
South African rand hits new all-time lows in 2016
Brazil’s Real Falls Sharply Against Dollar
Brazil Unemployment Rate Rises to 9%
Canadian Dollar Hits 13 Year Low Against US Dollar
U.S. Energy Junk Bond Spreads At Record Width
Nigeria’s Currency Plummets On Open Market
Mexico’s Peso Hits New All-Time Low
Chinese Stocks Enter Bear Market (again)
European Stocks Enter Bear Market
Again it will be interesting to see if this series can endure while the real thing is playing out on Wall Street and in everyone's 401K.
Professor Elam 
Leave a comment