“What derailed the recovery of 1933 to 1937? The short answer is that it was a confluence of factors, a perfect storm of monetary and fiscal policy mistakes.”
Overdose is a must see ABC /Four Corners documentary on the current financial and economic crisis as it developed over the past decade and as it is expected to evolve over the coming decade. “This is the story of the greatest financial crisis we’ll ever see…the one that’s on its [...]
Aug 312010
Retail analyst extraordinaire, Davidowitz, comments on the state of the US consumer: “The consumer is out of money….They have no jobs. We’ve got 18-and-a-half percent unemployment and underemployment. The consumer’s debt is 120 percent of disposable income…The consumer is wrecked.” Share, Print or PDF
The following is inspired by the rumoured defection of China’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, over $430 billion in losses on a short US Treasury position. According to undisclosed sources, the governor was facing ‘punishment’ for the losses and fled the country. The rumor was false. True or not, as [...]
Freakonomics author Steven Levitt discusses the economics of drug dealing. When I think of drug dealers, I think of fast cars, slick clothes and well-jeweled people…however, this is not so. Contrary to popular myth, Levitt says, being a street-corner crack dealer pays below minimum wage. Share, Print or PDF
Aug 292010
A fantastic, and scary-to-depressing, article on how our food system is repeating the history of doomed civilizations. In an age of super-sized meals and obesity epidemics, food-shortage doomsday scenarios always seem a little surreal. Backed by half a century of agricultural abundance, it’s easy to imagine that cheap food will [...]
Aug 292010
BBC Newsnight guests Hugh Hendry and Dr Linda Yueh discuss the importance of the grey dust; BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp; the Chinese market’s dependence on potash imports and the world’s ability to feed itself. Share, Print or PDF
Aug 262010
Max Keiser talks economic chaos, financial fraud, death spirals, vanity trading, movie futures, facebook users union, oil. Share, Print or PDF
A graphical accounting of the limits to what one planet can provide
Enterprising? Desperate? National Inflation Association: As the unemployed and jobless become desperate in California many begin turning their homes into income generators. One house in particular caught my eye recently by turning their living room into a restaurant. In a sign that America is slowly becoming more like a third [...]
Aug 232010
When one thinks of financial and economic bubbles images of reckless speculation, lavish galas and luxurious consumables are conjured. Bubbles are tied to euphoria and new economic paradigms. Bubbles grow out of the expectation of permanent prosperity. Individuals are drawn into the euphoria with the assurance they won’t lose money [...]
Tight oil production, whether at a peak or not, will (has) cause(d) oil prices to rise. We saw this from 2004-2008. During late 2008, we also saw what happens to the economy when oil prices hit $145/bbl. Despite what many believe, peak oil won’t create a Mad Max scenario with [...]
Aug 232010
This classic speech is reminiscent of the problems we face today. Given that it was given in 1964, it goes to show that the Keynesian ‘end game’ can be pushed far into the future. Although Reagan makes many salient points, the US didn’t face a funding crisis until the early [...]
