Just started reading The Baseline Scenario after reading Simon Johnson's great article in The Atlantic about the connections between the banking sector and the government.
His commentary on the ongoing G20 summit and what may not be happening there at all is among the many things on his blog I'm enjoying reading.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
waiting for the all clear?
Paul Krugman goes to the trouble to point out that a rally does not mean the end of the losses. No, it's still not 2006 yet/again.
When asked why I don't hold out a tremendous amount of faith that the American people as a whole are ready and willing to tough out the coming times, I don't usually have trouble coming up with reasonable answers. When many Americans are on the edge of financial ruin while still sliding down the tail of boom times, I then question what happens next when things actually get bad.
When asked why I don't hold out a tremendous amount of faith that the American people as a whole are ready and willing to tough out the coming times, I don't usually have trouble coming up with reasonable answers. When many Americans are on the edge of financial ruin while still sliding down the tail of boom times, I then question what happens next when things actually get bad.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Lost time roundup...
All apologies for the lapse in posts, had some personal business to attend to.
Anything happen while I was gone? :-)
In my off-time, I've had an especially good time reading Of Two Minds, where Mr. Hugh-Smith has begun serializing a new book that deals with our current situation. I'm not sure I agree with all of the premises from which he begins, but he's drawing some refreshing conclusions so far.
In national economics, I'm sharing Krugman's non-enthusiasm for the current bailout plan. I feel that this is a bit like trying to throw a baseball over a very tall wall. You either get it over the wall, or you don't. There are no "A's" for effort, and given the public's feeble fixation on the AIG bonuses (i.e. missing the cake for the crumbs), the Obama administration may not get another big swing at this in the near future.
An excellent segment on the Diane Rehm show this morning where Robert Glennon was on to discuss the looming water crisis and the myriad ways in which we're not addressing it.
Hopefully we're back to posting on a more regular basis.
Anything happen while I was gone? :-)
In my off-time, I've had an especially good time reading Of Two Minds, where Mr. Hugh-Smith has begun serializing a new book that deals with our current situation. I'm not sure I agree with all of the premises from which he begins, but he's drawing some refreshing conclusions so far.
In national economics, I'm sharing Krugman's non-enthusiasm for the current bailout plan. I feel that this is a bit like trying to throw a baseball over a very tall wall. You either get it over the wall, or you don't. There are no "A's" for effort, and given the public's feeble fixation on the AIG bonuses (i.e. missing the cake for the crumbs), the Obama administration may not get another big swing at this in the near future.
An excellent segment on the Diane Rehm show this morning where Robert Glennon was on to discuss the looming water crisis and the myriad ways in which we're not addressing it.
Hopefully we're back to posting on a more regular basis.
Monday, March 2, 2009
No time like 4 months ago...
Last year, John McCain suspended his presidential campaign to rush to Washington and fix the economy he didn't understand... so I suppose it's no surprise that now (in March) he's holding press conferences to announce (deep breath) talks that discuss plans to write legislation that forms a committee that will, after exhaustive research, figure out what the hell is actaully going on. After all, we need to find someplace to point all those extra fingers that aren't busy plugging holes in the dam.
Wouldn't our taxpayer dollars be better spent just buying him one of those newfangled radios? Or a television? Or a mirror?
Wouldn't our taxpayer dollars be better spent just buying him one of those newfangled radios? Or a television? Or a mirror?
Current decline mimics that of Great Depression.
via Cnet news:
It might not be the end of capitalism, but it may well be the end of certain aspects of our most recent approach to it.
LINK
In the here and now, the Dow has dropped 52.5 percent since its high of 14,279.96 on Oct. 11, 2007, to its low point of 6,779.62 during intraday trading on Monday. (Update 1:16 p.m. PST: At Monday's close it was 6,763.29, a drop of nearly 300 points from the previous close.)
And in taking a similar period of a year and five months in the late 1920s, it's a case of deja vu. The rate of decline is mimicking that of the Dow during the Great Depression.
Back on September 3, 1929, the Dow hit a high mark of 381.17. And over a similar length of time, it fell 54.7 percent to 172.36 on January 2, 1931.
"It's very troubling if you have a mirror image," said Phil Dow, market strategist for RBC Dain Rauscher & James...
..."There is an opportunity for a globally orchestrated recovery," Dow said. "This won't be the end of capitalism. At some point we'll reach the bottom in the housing market, people will start buying cars again, and inventories will be rebuilt."
It might not be the end of capitalism, but it may well be the end of certain aspects of our most recent approach to it.
LINK
You say "tomato," I say "hey, can I have that tomato? I'm awful hungry."
It's nice to know that whatever's happening, we won't know what to officially call it until much later, when a bunch of economists get done having an endless semantic debate.
DOW dips below 7,000
via Associated Press:
LINK
The economy definitely has deteriorated since November," said Sean Simko, head of fixed income management at SEI Investments. "It's just the fact that we haven't seen signs of improving or stabilizing, per se, which is adding to the morass of the market."
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 299.64, or 4.24 percent, to 6,763.29. The Dow last closed below 7,000 on May 1, 1997 and hadn't finished at this level since April 25, 1997.
The Dow's descent has been swift. It took only 14 sessions for the average to go from above 8,000 to below 7,000. So far this year, the Dow is down 22.9 percent.
LINK
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