Stockholm Calling: How High Can Stocks Go?

“It is the producer who as a rule initiates economic change, and consumers are educated by him if necessary; they are taught to want new things.”

— Joseph Schumpeter (1934)

“Gross output, long advocated by Mark Skousen, will have a profound and manifestly positive impact on economic policy.”

— Steve Forbes (2014)

I was invited to Stockholm, Sweden, the home of the Nobel Prize, to give the prestigious Schumpeter Lecture last week on “GO Beyond GDP: Why Business is More Important Than Consumer Spending or Government Stimulus.”

Dr. Mark Skousen giving his lecture on GO (Gross Output).

The Schumpeter Lecture is an annual event sponsored by the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum, currently under the leadership of Johan Eklund. Past speakers have included Deirdre McCloskey, professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Philippe Aghion, a French economist at Harvard; and William Gartner, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College.

The lecture is named after the Austrian economist and Harvard professor Joseph Schumpeter because his work placed the entrepreneur as the focal point of a dynamic growing capitalist system.

Mark Skousen standing with panelists Johan Eklund, Lena Hagman, Erika Damsgaard, and Pontus Braunerhjelm (moderator).

Dr. Eklund invited me because he believes that gross output (GO), the macro statistic that I have championed for nearly 30 years since writing “The Structure of Production” (NYU Press, 1990, now in its third edition — click here to order), makes the entrepreneurial role central to national income accounting. Gross domestic product (GDP) measures the “use” economy, while GO is all about the “make” economy. And it is the entrepreneur-capitalist that is in charge of the production process that brings about new goods and services and a higher standard of living.

In my lecture, I contended that GO is a more comprehensive measure of the economy, serves as a valuable tool in analyzing the business cycle, restores the business sector (rather than consumer spending or government stimulus) as the major driver of the economy and deserves to be updated on a quarterly basis along with GDP. More recently, I contended that GO should be reported as the “top line” in national income accounting, and GDP as the “bottom line.”

GO and GDP are both important and complement each other, but GO is a broader and better measure of total economic activity. When GO is growing faster than GDP, as it has been doing after the financial crisis of 2008-09, it indicates a growing economy. Knowing this, I’ve been bullish on the economy and the stock market over the past eight years, and subscribers to my Forecasts & Strategies have profited handsomely.

However, when GO grows slower than GDP, or even falls faster than GDP, it spells trouble for the economy and the stock market. GO is a leading economic indicator. As David Ranson, chief economist at HCWE, Inc., has proven, GO can anticipate GDP as much as 12 weeks in advance.

From the analyst who beat the market over 15 years...
Dr. Mark Skousen's Top 3 Income Investments for the Next 12 Months

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You'll also receive Dr. Mark Skousen's weekly e-letter, Investor CAFE, at no cost, along with other associated financial content and special offers.

When will the economy and the stock market top out and head south?  I will be watching quarterly GO data very carefully and will issue my analysis when the next GO report comes out on Nov. 2. Stay tuned!

My lecture was well received. Several government officials and economists were in the audience and on the panel, and told me that Sweden now reports GO on an annual basis, and hopes to do so on a quarterly basis like the United States.

In case you missed it, I encourage you to read my e-letter from last week about my musings on my trip in Europe.

Upcoming Conferences

New Orleans Investment Conference, New Orleans Hilton, Oct. 25-28: I’ve spoken at this “granddaddy of hard-money conferences” since 1977! This year’s keynote speakers include Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer, real estate mogul Robert Kiyosaki and commodity guru Dennis Gartman. For full information, go to http://neworleansconfterence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NOIC2017_skousen.html or call toll-free 1-800-648-8411. Be sure to mention you are a subscriber of mine for a discount on the registration fee.

You Blew It!

Forbes Magazine’s Surprising Sin of Omission

I’ve always been a big fan of Forbes magazine, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Forbes is the oldest business magazine in the nation, and is in the forefront of making sure capitalism has a good reputation.

I consider it a feather in my cap that I was a columnist for Forbes for more than five years in the late 1990s. We celebrated Steve Forbes’ life and career on his huge 70th birthday at FreedomFest in July.

So I was surprised to see a couple of big names omitted in their 100th anniversary September issue, where they listed their “100 Greatest Business Minds.” They missed such names as Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Mavericks, and Kevin O’Leary, “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank.

Their list did include Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Paul McCartney, Oprah, Jack Welch, Steve Wynn, Rupert Murdoch, Carl Icahn, Michael Milken, Ross Perot, Charles Schwab, Peter Lynch, Michael Eisner, Ted Turner, Bono, Mark Zuckerberg, Martha Stewart, Jack Bogle, Richard Branson, Muhammad Yunus and a host of other household names. Many of them showed up at the 100th anniversary celebration in New York City that my wife and I attended.

Yet there couldn’t be a more deserving business leader that should have been included in this exclusive club: John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market. John already has had a hugely positive influence by leading the country with the natural/organic foods revolution and the popular campaign for healthy living. His talks on the Whole Foods Diet at FreedomFest always draw standing-room-only crowds.

Moreover, he has developed a creative new business model he calls “Conscious Capitalism” and champions a stakeholder philosophy where everyone – consumers, investors, workers and suppliers – wins. He has written a bestseller of the same name.

I am pleased that John will be returning to next year’s FreedomFest and will give us the latest update on Whole Foods Market and its new owner Amazon. See you there! John is co-ambassador, along with Steve Forbes, and attends all three days. The dates for next year’s big show are July 11-14, 2018, at the Paris Resort, Las Vegas. Just think 7-11 in Vegas. Mark your calendar now for the “greatest libertarian show on earth.”

From the analyst who beat the market over 15 years...
Dr. Mark Skousen's Top 3 Income Investments for the Next 12 Months

Your email is 100% protected. Read our Privacy Policy.
You'll also receive Dr. Mark Skousen's weekly e-letter, Investor CAFE, at no cost, along with other associated financial content and special offers.

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