MTS Insights

Today is a big day for solar energy as the world's first solar-powered airplane completed its circumnavigation of the globe. The journey marked the first time a plane has circled the globe without the need for fuel. Solar Impulse 2, the name of the craft that made the trip, was flown over 21,000 miles by two pilots rotating in the cockpit. After layovers in five different continents, the lightweight plane landed where it started in Abu Dhabi. Despite being wide than a Boeing 747, the solar-powered craft weighs only 5,000 pounds according to WIRED . Four 17.4-horsepower motors account for most of the weight, but when equipped with 17,000 photovoltaic panels, the machine becomes capable of flying at an average speed of about 47 mph. Yes, this plane is still painfully slow, but it introduces renewable energy potential to the air. The motors generated well over 10 MWh of energy an impressive feat that compares to some systems on the ground. Proving that energy can be successfully creat...

In late June, the famed Bank for International Settlements produces their annual report for their financial year that ends at the end of March. The financial institution, based in Basel, Switzerland, is known for its international clientele and enduring history of excellent economic analysis. With 60 central banks included in its operations, the BIS has its hands in a group of nations that accounts for about 95 percent of the world's GDP. Hence, a report as extensive and in-depth as its annual publication is widely read and referenced among analysts. Its insights into monetary policy and the dynamics of the global economy are impressive. For that reason, I shall use the charts and graphs in the report to paint a picture of BIS's economic analysis as well as adding my own perspective along the way. Here is the global economy in charts. All images and quotes can be found in this report . "The global economy is not as weak as rhetoric suggests" The media, analys...

So far in our investigation, we've looked at the existing fundamental condition of the global economy to support the proposition that a crash is coming. Debt levels have continued to rise since the financial crisis in 2008, and companies and households continue to increase their leverage despite mini-crashes in August of 2015 and January of 2016. The declining health of corporate and governmental balance sheets has endangered the survivability of many national stock markets which are faced with the risk of crisis similar to the Greek debt crisis that happened a couple of years ago. These debt conditions are allowed to prevail because of the loose behavior of the world's central banks, namely the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan. Cheap credit has encouraged a growth in business loans, mortgages, auto loans, and credit card use that has surpassed the levels seen in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The conditions just described are not...