Sunday, March 23, 2014

March 18, 2014 | A Pivot of History & the Ascent of a Multi-Polar World System

March 18, 2014 – Address of Russian President Vladimir Putin to State Duma deputies, Federation Council members, heads of Russian regions, Representatives of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, civil society representatives in the Kremlin, and to “The West”:

After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.

Vladimir Putin: Against the equality of good and evil.
 
[…] I understand those who came out on Maidan with peaceful slogans against corruption, inefficient state management and poverty […] However, those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine […] resorted to terror, murder and riots. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this coup […] We understand what is happening; we understand that these actions were aimed against Ukraine and Russia and against Eurasian integration […] We have every reason to assume that the infamous policy of containment, led in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, continues today. They are constantly trying to sweep us into a corner because we have an independent position, because we maintain it and because we call things like they are and do not engage in hypocrisy. But there is a limit to everything. And with Ukraine, our western partners have crossed the line.

[…] It is at historic turning points such as these that a nation demonstrates its maturity and strength of spirit. The Russian people showed this maturity and strength through their united support for their compatriots. Russia’s foreign policy position on this matter drew its firmness from the will of millions of our people, our national unity and the support of our country’s main political and public forces […] Obviously, we will encounter external opposition, but this is a decision that we need to make for ourselves. Are we ready to consistently defend our national interests, or will we forever give in, retreat to who knows where? […] Russia will also have to make a difficult decision now, taking into account the various domestic and external considerations. What do people here in Russia think? Here, like in any democratic country, people have different points of view, but I want to make the point that the absolute majority of our people clearly do support what is happening.

In his 2013 annual Presidential address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin clearly expressed:

[…] Today, many nations are revising their moral values and ethical norms, eroding ethnic traditions and differences between peoples and cultures. Society is now required not only to recognise everyone’s right to the freedom of consciousness, political views and privacy, but also to accept without question the equality of good and evil, strange as it seems, concepts that are opposite in meaning. This destruction of traditional values from above not only leads to negative consequences for society, but is also essentially anti-democratic, since it is carried out on the basis of abstract, speculative ideas, contrary to the will of the majority, which does not accept the changes occurring or the proposed revision of values. We know that there are more and more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilisation in every nation for thousands of years: the values of traditional families, real human life, including religious life, not just material existence but also spirituality, the values of humanism and global diversity. Of course, this is a conservative position. But speaking in the words of Nikolai Berdyaev, the point of conservatism is not that it prevents movement forward and upward, but that it prevents movement backward and downward, into chaotic darkness and a return to a primitive state.

The President of Russia is leading the global resistance against the Empire of Wall Street and the City of London. He stopped their genocidal depredation in Russia. This is why they hate him, why they attempt to kill him, and why the corporate media cheers thugs like Yulia Tymoshenko and Mikhail Khodorkovsky as if they were heroes of democracy. 
 
For 250 years, the imperial West has waged wars, destroying nation after nation, producing failed states, terrorism, chaos, and millions of casualties. This was the second NATO coup in Ukraine within a decade. The road to Moscow leads through Kyiv. But this time, Vladimir Putin’s Russia was prepared and not alone: After the latest coup in Ukraine, Crimea hastily joined Russia on March 18, 2014, before becoming subject to IMF looting or another ‘civil war’ orchestrated by NATO. 
 
The unification of Crimea and Russia is backed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This military and economic alliance was founded in 1996 in response to the globalizing savagery of NATO. Today, the SCO comprises six member states, five observer states, three dialogue partners, and three guest attendees from five non-Western civilizations (Russian, Chinese, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist—four of which are nuclear powers) from the South China Sea to the Baltic Sea and from the Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal. In terms of potential, production, infrastructure, economic growth, and prosperity, this is the most successful and promising alliance in recorded history. 
 
This is not an empire; it is an alliance of sovereign states, and their relations are governed by international law. This is the very opposite of the poisonous 'one-world' gospel of the globalists and the 'clash-of-civilizations' ideology of the liberals.

Pro-Russian protesters with banner reading “Odessa for referendum!”
in the center of Odessa, March 23, 2014.
 
China knows very well that it is next in NATO’s line for 'freedom' and 'democracy,' and that without the SCO and Russia’s energy supply, it would fall prey to the Empire. Therefore, China supports Russia, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and a new multipolar world system. 
 
The fascist regime in Kyiv has no legitimacy at all and won’t last. The EU has no means to sanction Russia. The EU is not a superpower; it is not the White Knight and won't rescue anybody. The EU is merely a deeply corrupted, pitiful, and bankrupt US protectorate on the brink of collapse and revolution itself. However, in this latest freedom-and-democracy scam, the EU is once again the colonial aid of the international banking cartel. And once again, they came to loot: Ukraine's gold was flown out to London and New York two weeks ago. 
 
Last week, the EU showed up in Kyiv offering a multi-billion Euro credit conjured by Mr. Draghi out of nothing to support Ukraine. Nobody takes this seriously. The Ukrainians will overthrow Euro-fascism and join the Eurasian Customs Union or split the country. Any sanctions will only strengthen Eurasian integration and increase unemployment and misery in the EU.

The US will continue to play India as the continental dagger against China and Pakistan until an Indian Putin emerges and integrates the country into the SCO. Venezuela has been fighting imperialism since 1998. Without nuclear defense capabilities and strong allies in the region, the people of Venezuela may soon perish and see their oil, gas, and gold stolen once again, degrading them into poverty. 
 
However, with more than 60% of the world’s population, the momentum toward a new international system and future world trade and economy is intimately related to the SCO and the BRICS. All of them are building up gold reserves and are about to create an independent currency, a BRICS bank, and a BRICS currency reserve pool. The SCO and the BRICS could already destabilize the Euro and the US dollar by dumping them into the exchange markets. The FED and the ECB would not be able to arrange currency swaps with other countries large enough to buy up the dumped currency, causing exchange values to fall. Such an action could be a response to more hostile NATO activities.

If this is indeed the “beginning of the end” for the globalist Empire, it is still only the very beginning of a long and dangerous process: The next big NATO war will be the endgame for the absolute rule of a cynical world hegemon over 99% of the global population. Some empires die peacefully, destroyed by economic ruin, overstretch, and social implosion; others prefer to perish in an orgy of violence.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Moon and Stocks - The Four Lunar Month Cycle

Markets repeat directly or inversely somewhere between (+/- 2 days) the 4 Lunar Month Cycle (118.12 Days)
and the average synodic period of Mercury (116.88 Days). More on the Delta Phenomenon HERE - Please note:
Inversions of polarity oftentimes occur +/- 2 weeks around equinoxes and solstices (HERE)


Sunspots and Stocks - The Short-Term

Everything in the universe is constantly bathing in fluctuating electro-magnetic forces and fields that affect virtually every circuit in biological systems. Human physiological rhythms and global behaviors are not only synchronized with solar and geomagnetic activity, but disruptions in these fields can also create adverse effects on human health and behavior. Changes in geomagnetic activity are correlated with altered blood pressure, heart rate, melatonin levels, and increased occurrence of cancer, balance of hormonal system, reproductive system, cardiac and neurological disease, hospital admissions and mortality, as well as depression, fatigue, mental confusion, and traffic accidents. 

'Daily Sunspot Numbers' and 'F10.7 Flux' e.g. @ NASA's OMNIWeb
An important finding is that of all the bodily systems studied thus far, changes in solar activity and consequently geomagnetic conditions most strongly affect the rhythms of the heart. Of course electromagnetic fields generated by power supply systems, telecommunications, appliances, computers and other technology are extremely powerful and have similar effects on organisms.

In the late 1990s Jeffrey Owen Katz and Donna McCormick examined the effects of sunspots especially on the S&P 500 and Minnesota Wheat. They developed several profitable trading strategies generating entries and exits based on solar activity alone. However, they concluded: "We personally do not believe solar influences directly determine the market. We do suspect that they act as triggers for events that are predisposed to occur, or as synchronizers of already-present market rhythms with similar periodicities." Well ...

Sunspots and Stocks | The Big Picture

Most people think the Sun rests at the centre of the solar system, and
that the planets orbit it. This is almost correct, but not quite (HERE).
Historically, most cultures believed that their collective behavior was influenced by the Sun and extraterrestrial cycles. Since 1755, when continuous recording of solar sunspot activity began, a lot of research has been focused on possible impacts of the solar cycle on the climate, weather, agriculture, and consequently also on the financial markets. In the larger social realm, increased violence, crime rate, upheaval, revolutions, and the frequency of military attacks and the intensity of warfare have been linked to the solar cycle and the resulting disturbances in the geomagnetic field (HERE). 

The tidal and electro-magnetic forces exerted on the Sun by the motions of the other planets – primarily by Jupiter and Saturn - are the cause for the cyclic solar activity. Outside of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn combined contain 92% of the total planetary mass and 86% of the angular momentum. The Sun's radius is 0.0044 astronomical units, while Jupiter and Saturn can move the barycenter as much ~2.2 solar radii away from the center of the Sun. The total angular momentum in the Solar System is constant, while the angular momentum of each individual part of the system referred to the Center of Mass is variable. When Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction with the Sun, the barycenter is far outside of the Sun. But when both of them are on opposite sides, the barycenter is inside the Sun. Jupiter's magnetosphere extends well beyond Saturn's orbit. If it were not for the presence of the solar field itself, Jupiter's magnetosphere would reach the centre of the solar system. Saturn also has a large magnetosphere, approximately about one-fifth of Jupiter's. The variation in the Sun's motion about the Center of Mass is charcterized by a periodicity of 178.770 years: Every 16 loops about the barycenter the Sun repeats a very similar path. The slight time derivative or torque to this 178.770 year cycle, a time dependant periodic function of +/- 1.05 years is called the torque cycle, determined by nine subsequent synodic periods of Jupiter and Saturn (9 * 19.858 years = 178.720 years) and used by Theodor Landscheidt to forecast sunspot cycles. 

Mikhail Gorbanev (2012): Probably, the earliest recorded hypothesis about the relation between the
solar and business activity was presented in a paper by German astronomer Wilhelm Herschel in 1801,
calling attention to an apparent relationship between sunspot activity and the price of wheat. In
1875 British economist and statistician William Stanley Jevons suggested that there was a relation-
ship between sunspots and business cycle crises. He reasoned that sunspots affect Earth's weather,
which, in turn, influences crops and, therefore, the economy. In 1934 Argentinian Carlos Garcia-
Mata and Felix I. Shaffner revisited the evidence about the links between solar activity and business
cycle in the US. They did not find support for Jevon’s theory about cyclical solar activity affecting
crops. However, they uncovered a statistically significant correlation between the fluctuations in
non-agricultural business activity in the US and the solar cycle.

























Mikhail Gorbanev (2012): Solar maximums are good predictors of US recession, effectively predicting at
least 8 out of 13 recessions between 1935 and 2012. Recessions occurred in the months around and after
the solar maximums much more often than in other periods. Out of 13 recessions in this period, 8 started
in the 2 years around solar maximums, counting from 3 months before until 20 months after them. What
about the remaining 4 recessions that occurred in 1935-2012, including the Great Recession of 2008-09?
The brief recession of 1945 was likely caused by reduction of the US government supply and military orders
in the end of the WWII. And the similar causes likely triggered the recession of 1953-54 after the end of
Korean War (historically, the recessions quite often happened after the end of major wars). The painful
recession of 1974-75 was caused by the oil price shock. And the Great Recession of 2008-09 was triggered
by the collapse of sub-prime lending in the US, which exposed massive overvaluation of the housing stock
and flaws in mortgage lending and securitization practices.

Mikhail Gorbanev (2012): In the 64 years from 1948 to 2012, all 6 periods of sunspot maximums overlapped
with minimums of the US unemployment rate. Moreover, each time the dynamics of unemployment changed
from the declining trend to a rapid increase, with the unemployment rate peaking 2-3 years after the sunspot
maximums.

George Bayer Forecasts - Food for thought

Nobody is perfect: Monthly forecasts of George Bayer from December 1936 to March 1937

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

SP500 and VIX - Intermediate Term Delta Projections

See also HERE



















Looks like the February 5 Low was a 10 Week Cycle Low

Monday, February 10, 2014

Long-Term Charts: US-Stocks (1789 to date) | Commodities (1770 to date) | Gold (1792 to date) | Elliott Waves in DJI (1920 to date) - Kress Cycles

Credits: H/t @Macro_Tourist through Tyler Durden on 02/08/2014 @ www.zerohedge.com

Credits: H/t @Macro_Tourist through Tyler Durden on 02/08/2014 @ www.zerohedge.com

Credits: H/t @Macro_Tourist through Tyler Durden on 02/08/2014 @ www.zerohedge.com




















Credits: Clif Droke @ www.safehaven.com - see also HERE & HERE & HERE & HERE



















Sunday, February 2, 2014

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

U.S. Stocks in 5th strongest and 6th longest Bull Cycle since 1900




















The bull market since March 2009 is the 22nd bull cycle since 1900. End of December 2013 it was in its 57th month. This is about the length of the current sunspot cycle 24. The ongoing bull market is now also the 6th longest bull cycle and with a performance of 154% (closing December 31st) the 5th strongest since 1900. 


Thursday, January 9, 2014

SoLunar Tidal Forces 2014


















[Eastern Standard Time (EST) -0500 UTC]

2013-12-26 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-01-01 (Wed) = SuperNewMoon = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-01-04 (Sat) = Earth @ Perihelion
2014-01-07 (Tue) = 1st Quarter
2014-01-09 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-01-15 (Wed) = Full Moon + Moon @ Apogee
2014-01-16 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-01-23 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-01-24 (Fri) = 3rd Quarter
2014-01-30 (Thu) = SuperNewMoon = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-02-06 (Thu) = 1st Quarter + Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-02-12 (Wed) = Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-02-14 (Fri) = Full Moon
2014-02-20 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-02-22 (Sat) = 3rd Quarter
2014-02-27 (Thu) = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-03-01 (Sat) = New Moon
2014-03-06 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-03-08 (Sat) = 1st Quarter
2014-03-11 (Tue) = Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-03-16 (Sun) = Full Moon
2014-03-20 (Thu) = Equinox + Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-03-23 (Sun) = 3rd Quarter
2014-03-27 (Thu) = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-03-30 (Sun) = New Moon
2014-04-03 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-04-07 (Mon) = 1st Quarter
2014-04-08 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-04-15 (Tue) = Full Moon = Lunar Eclipse
2014-04-16 (Wed) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-04-22 (Tue) = 3rd Quarter + Moon @ Perigee
2014-04-23 (Wed) = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-04-29 (Tue) = New Moon = Solar Eclipse
2014-04-30 (Wed) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-05-06 (Tue) = 1st Quarter + Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-05-13 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-05-14 (Wed) = Full Moon
2014-05-18 (Sun) = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-05-21 (Wed) = 3rd Quarter
2014-05-26 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-05-28 (Wed) = New Moon
2014-06-02 (Mon) = Moon @ Apogee
2014-06-03 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-06-05 (Thu) = 1st Quarter
2014-06-10 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-06-12 (Thu) = Full Moon
2014-06-14 (Sat) = Moon @ Perigee
2014-06-15 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-06-19 (Thu) = 3rd Quarter
2014-06-21 (Sat) = Solstice
2014-06-22 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-06-27 (Fri) = New Moon
2014-06-30 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-06-30 (Mon) = Moon @ Apogee
2014-07-03 (Thu) = Earth @ Aphelion
2014-07-05 (Sat) = 1st Quarter
2014-07-08 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-07-12 (Sat) = SuperFullMoon = Moon @ Perigee
2014-07-13 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-07-18 (Fri) = 3rd Quarter
2014-07-20 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-07-26 (Sat) = New Moon
2014-07-27 (Sun) = Moon @ Apogee
2014-07-28 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-08-03 (Sun) = 1st Quarter
2014-08-05 (Tue) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-08-10 (Sun) = SuperFullMoon = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-08-17 (Sun) = 3rd Quarter + Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-08-24 (Sun) = Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-08-25 (Mon) = New Moon
2014-09-02 (Tue) = 1st Quarter + Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-09-07 (Sun) = Moon @ Perigee
2014-09-09 (Tue) = SuperFullMoon = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-09-14 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-09-15 (Mon) = 3rd Quarter
2014-09-20 (Sat) = Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-09-23 (Mon) = Equinox
2014-09-24 (Wed) = New Moon
2014-09-29 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-10-01 (Wed) = 1st Quarter
2014-10-06 (Mon) = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-10-08 (Wed) = Full Moon = Lunar Eclipse
2014-10-13 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-10-15 (Wed) = 3rd Quarter
2014-10-18 (Sat) = Moon @ Apogee + Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-10-23 (Thu) = New Moon = Solar Eclipse
2014-10-26 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-10-30 (Thu) = 1st Quarter
2014-11-02 (Sun) = Moon @ Perigee
2014-11-03 (Mon) = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-11-06 (Thu) = Full Moon
2014-11-09 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-11-14 (Fri) = 3rd Quarter + Moon @ Apogee
2014-11-15 (Sat) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-11-21 (Fri) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-11-22 (Sat) = New Moon
2014-11-28 (Fri) = Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-11-29 (Sat) = 1st Quarter
2014-12-06 (Sat) = Full Moon
2014-12-07 (Sun) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-12-12 (Fri) = Moon @ Apogee
2014-12-13 (Sat) = Tidal Force @ MIN
2014-12-14 (Sun) = 3rd Quarter
2014-12-18 (Thu) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2014-12-21 (Sun) = New Moon + Solstice
2014-12-24 (Wed) = Moon @ Perigee + Tidal Force @ MAX
2014-12-28 (Sun) = 1st Quarter
2015-01-02 (Fri) = Tidal Force @ Zero
2015-01-04 (Sun) = Full Moon + Earth @ Perihelion

See also HERE

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Sunspot Cycle 24: "None of us alive have ever seen such a weak cycle"

Conventional wisdom holds that solar activity swings back and forth like a simple pendulum.  At one end of the cycle, there is a quiet time with few sunspots and flares. At the other end, Solar Maximum brings high sunspot numbers and solar storms. It’s a regular rhythm that repeats every 11 years. 

Reality, however, is more complicated. Astronomers have been counting sunspots for centuries, and they have seen that the solar cycle is not perfectly regular. For one thing, the back-and-forth swing in sunspot counts can take anywhere from 10 to 13 years to complete; also, the amplitude of the cycle varies. Some solar maxima are very weak, others very strong (HERE). 

But "none of us alive have ever seen such a weak cycle [as the sunspot cycle 24]", said Dr. Leif Svalgaard of Stanford University and other prominent solar scientists at the 2013 Fall Meeting of American Geophysical Union (AGU), held on December 11, 2013 in San Francisco. This solar max is weak, and the overall current cycle conjures up comparisons to the famously feeble Solar Cycle 14 in the early 1900s (see also HERE & HERE).

John Hampson recently expected the "solar cycle 24′s flat top to end by mid-2014", and one of two possibities playing out: "One, equities peak out within the next 6 months, commodities don’t come again, and we thereafter enter the typical post-solar-peak recession (deflationary). Or, two, equities are peaking now and commodities are breaking upwards out of their large consoliation triangles since 2011 to produce a typical late-cyclical final rally and help tip the weak economy into that recession." (see also HERE).

Credits: John Hampson

Credits: Jan Alvestad
 

Credits: Jan Alvestad
























Monday, December 30, 2013

Solar Tides & Financial Markets | Al Larson

Astrophysics & Chaos [Mar 30, 1999]
"The Solar Energy System does affect markets. The Sun gives off radiation which varies by about 2 percent. These variations are caused by tidal forces that the revolving planets exert on the gases in the Sun.

These tides cause vortexes in the Sun’s surface leading to solar flares, coronal holes, and magnetic storms. The energy changes from these are carried to Earth on an ionized stream of particles called the Solar Wind.

When the Solar Wind reaches Earth it is deflected around the Earth by the Earth’s magnetic field. 

This creates a magnetosphere around the Earth. At the poles ionized particles can penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere. Changes in the solar radiation cause changes in the voltage in the ionosphere.

This in turn causes changes in the electrical currents flowing through people standing on the Earth. These emotional swings account for about 40 percent of price motion."
 
Al Larson a.k.a. Hanns Hannula [extracted from his "Cash in on Chaos Newsletter" @ www.moneytide.com - more HERE & HERE]
 

Hans Hannula (1991): A Lunar Chaos Theory; p. 14


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Skyscraper Indicator | Excuse me, while I kiss the sky ...

Cycles analyst Edward Dewey (1895-1978) was the chief economics analyst for the US Department of Commerce when he developed the "Skyscraper Indicator" in the 1940s: It correlates human optimism to the number of high-rise buildings under construction. When people are very optimistic, they tend to express their feelings in massive construction projects, especially very tall buildings, because they have a need to build toward the sky! Since this extreme optimism is reached at major market peaks, in the economy, severe economic downturns usually follow; not just declines in real estate prices. 

The world’s current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 m), nicely illustrates this process: It was built as a monument to the Gulf emirate’s boom in the middle years of last decade and opened in late 2009, just as the emirate plunged into financial crisis. These are the highest buildings in 2013:

World's Tallest Buildings 2013

And these are the tallest buildings currently under construction and expected to be complete before 2020:

Skyscrapers under Construction

It doesn't need a prophet to tell where the next bubbles are about to pop: Of all of the world's skyscrapers under construction, China is home to 53% of them and by 2016 China's highest buildings will exceed the 'One World Trade Center' (417 m) in New York by 200 meters. The boom is on though in mid 2013 the construction of the planned 838 meter Sky City in south-central China was halted by the authorities for not having a building permission. A similar craze for high rise has gripped South Korea and India. India just finished building two skyscrapers and has 14 skyscrapers currently under construction. However, having survived the Arab Spring miraculously, it is this decrepit royal kleptocracy in Saudi Arabia that is now giving thanks to each other by decorating Jeddah with a 1,007 meter high 'Kingdom Tower'.

Let's have a look at what happened during recent high times in different places: The construction of the Taipei 101 (508 m) began in 1999 and was completed in 2004. The duration coincided without the recession in the early 2000s and the tech bubble while in 2010 the completion of the Burj Khalifa coincided with the current global financial crisis. The Asian economic crisis, currency devaluation and speculation in stock and property coincided in 1997-1998 with the completion of the Petronas Towers (452 m), the tallest buildings in the world at the time. Now the Great 18-Year Real Estate Cycle will again be due to peak and pop around 2016.