Archive - Jul 2010 - Blog entry

The classic paradigm for thinking of the “American experience” involves the use of a “melting pot” or “patchwork” metaphor. The basic idea is that the US is a single entity comprised of a wide variety of ethnic/ social groups. This metaphor in turn is used to support the view that the US is a Democracy: a place where “your vote counts” no matter who you are.

However, to me, an examination of the real socio-political hierarchy in the US reveals that this entire “patchwork” ideology is a myth perpetuated in order to convince the general populace that they somehow matter or have an impact on the US political structure and proposed legislative policy

bcIMC is one of the largest Canadian public pension funds. Here is a brief look at its 2009-2010 results.

Everything's been solved!!!! (Oh, wait ...)

It is better to raise the hypothesis that the BP oil well is interacting with the Rigel field and have it debunked - or confirmed - than not to discuss it at all ... especially since Thad Allen has raised the issue himself.

Better yet, BP should answer Congressman Markey's questions, so that we don't have to speculate. (I know that it's a tough concept: actually responding to the demands of a U.S. congressman, but - hey - it would be good pr ...)

European banks are already struggling to collect from fellow defaulted, sovereign (allegedly) backed banks yet we are hearing that there is no need to model in default or restructuring in the European bank stress tests. Of Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and soon Hungary are all just one-off occurrences.

This will be a comprehensive review of gold technicals utilizing the SPDR Gold Trust (symbol: GLD).

The U.S. is in worse fiscal shape than Greece measured by the fiscal gap--the present value difference between all future expenditures and receipts. Will America have a Greek style debt crisis?

Asian equity markets were mixed last night, no real direction shone through. The Hang Seng was up +0.64%, while the Nikkei 225 was down -0.07%.

· European equity markets are up today. The Stoxx Europe 50 was up +1.2% at 0730ET. The FTSE 100 is up +0.83% at the same time.

· Commodities are mainly up this morning. Brazilian export problems push sugar to a 4 month high. Oil is trading slightly above $79 while Gold is struggling below $1200 as the risk appetite rises.

In the new deflation, the value of our income falls, while the prices of things we need to buy are going through the roof. Burning our candles at both ends. Rampant wage deflation means that recent graduates have a grim choice between taking a poorly paid job, or no job at all.

With global economic activity picking up steam, and global equity markets humming along, the only question I have is how long before we see a significant backup in global bond yields? More importantly, are pensions and other institutional investors prepared for a big bond hiccup? We'll find out soon enough.

Not much in the markets to write about. I need a crisis. Waiting for that to happen I focus on the CBO.

My discussion with an oil industry veteran engineer to shed some light on an apocalypse scenario at BP's Mcondo well

Well, let's take a not so anecdotal peek at the numbers behind the numbers...

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