Archive - Jul 2010 - Blog entry

Why the G20 meets I don't know. They say lofty things, make empty promises, and go home and do what they were going to do anyway. But wait. There seems to be a huge rift between the U.S. and Europe and I'm not talking about the Atlantic ocean. Merkel vs. Obama. Deficit Reduction vs. Spend. What is happening? Is fiscal sanity breaking out in Europe?

There is no doubt momentum is fading, and that there is a downshift in private sector hiring underway. The BP oil spill is having an immeasurable effect, as thousands of oil workers, fishermen, and tourist industry staff were sent to the dole queue. A drop to a 9.5% unemployment rate was only achieved because 650,000 workers abandoned the labor force. At the current rate, it will take six years to recover the 8 million jobs that vanished during the Great Recession.

An American geologist-- Xue Feng--was sentenced to eight years in prison for gathering data on China's oil industry.

The world’s largest oil skimmer vessel arrived in the Gulf and has docked in Louisiana since June 30 awaiting U.S. official review and approval.
In addition to EPA's blessing, the Taiwanese-flagged vessel could have another hurdle. It may need a waiver of the Jones Act from the Administration.

"We saw in 2008/09 that the endowment approach is not immune to downturns, but these are some of the smartest minds in the investment industry and the high value of their investment proposition is obvious over the long term."

My recent article, "Inflation, Deflation, or Hyperinflation?" apparently missed another weapon in the Fed's arsenal for creating quantitative easing. And it's rather ingenious.

Should we be tightening our seat belts?

Sentiment in the crude oil market has been quite pessimistic lately with NYMEX front month dropping 8% in one week to $72/b. However, over the coming months, oil price should push higher reflecting the changing global demand/supply pattern resulted from some new development in the sector.

Let's go over a few myths on austerity, shall we?

Ho hum. What's another $34 billion. Chump change.....

I have a frequent nightmare: In the year 2011, with the full support and complicity of their shadow ally, Russia, the Islamofascist regime in Tehran announces that that they have developed a deliverable nuclear weapon(s).

What's driving bond yields to their lowest level since April '09? Could it just be an ominous 1930s echo...

Anemic but don't throw in the towel just yet....

I was all for it, until I started researching the issue ...

Richmond Fed economist Kartik Athreya recently penned a criticism of economics bloggers that has exploded over the blogosphere. Basically he says that professional, PhD-educated economists can be trusted because of their rigorous methodology. Bloggers (most), he says, aren't to be trusted. Econophile's rebuttal.