Free Market Fascism

Charts: The S&P 500 closed at 1211, up 1.1%. The index opened above the 1200 resistance level. In the morning it dropped and successfully tested 1200 and then rocked up, bullish chart action. Our next big Fibonacci resistance number is looming at 1240. This is also about where Goldman Sachs says fair value is for the broad index.

Specific Stocks: Singapore is led by a pro-capitalist dictator with a genius-level IQ (the Minister Mentor or MM). He only intervenes in the private sector to make individual companies more profitable. For instance, it is perfectly legal for Singapore Airlines to discriminate against men and average-looking women in favor of beautiful women when hiring flight attendants. But one day the MM noticed that some Singapore Girls weren’t properly filling out their uniforms, so he told the executives to hire even sexier attendants. The country needed a new airport and the only site was an ancient cemetery, revered by the locals. In a democracy the new airport wouldn’t get built. In Singapore the cemetery is bulldozed without fanfare. When western governments are making it quasi-illegal for banks to trade derivatives and slashing bank executive salaries, the MM sees an opportunity and builds a high speed electronic trading platform and offers overseas bank executives bonuses to poach talent from foolish rival countries.
Singapore’s government is a kind of pro-American Fascism. As was the case in Hitler’s Fascist Germany, Singapore practices Eugenics, the scientific breeding of people. Unlike Hitler, the MM doesn’t mindlessly select for eye and hair color, but intelligence, ambition, and multi-racial genetic diversity. Like the old school Fascists, MM spends more on his military as a percent of GDP than any other country and the result is an American ally with fearsome capability.
Does pure free market Fascism work? Last night Singapore announced its GDP grew in Q1 by a mind blowing 32.1%. Manufacturing output was up an unbelievable 139%. The Singapore index (EWS) was up 4% today.
It’s time to consider industrial late-bloomers, companies that will kick into gear at the mid-point in an industrial boom. Last time I broached this topic I mentioned GTI and HSC. Today let’s talk about Wabtec (WAB), a company that manufactures brakes for locomotives and railcars. WAB also makes entire locomotives and railroad signaling equipment. This is all stuff that wears out and needs replacing at the mid-point in a railroad boom. WAB has a big presence in China and India.