I am off to speak at a CFA panel this morning; meanwhile, here’s what I have queued up to read to start your week:
• Krugman: Those Revolting Europeans (NYT) see also Krugman Wishes He Were Wrong Amid EU Austerity Backlash (Bloomberg)
• A Flight to Government Bonds (Barron’s)
• Dan Gross: Renting Prosperity (WSJ)
• ‘Flash Crash’ Victim: Market Faith (WSJ) see also Stock Trading Is Still Falling After ’08 Crisis (NYT)
• The Art Market: What austerity? (FT.com)
• The (Real Estate) Investor Next Door (NYT)
• Shout it from the rooftops: Bank deregulation leads to disaster (Guardian) see also Occupy the regulatory system! (Washington Post)
• Don’t Like the Message? Maybe It’s the Messenger (HRB)
• Beastie Boys: New Slang (The Fader)
• Life after Seinfeld (Guardian)
What are you reading?
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European Banks Stash Their Cash
Source: WSJ
Category: Financial Press
Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
Why on earth would someone take a pill made of ground up and dried DEAD BABIES:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140702/South-Korea-customs-officials-thousands-pills-filled-powdered-human-baby-flesh.html
Every day something comes along to prove to me that the human species has gone entirely “round the bend” and won’t be coming back to sanity any time soon.
On a financial note:
Icelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness in Best Recovery Story
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-20/icelandic-anger-brings-record-debt-relief-in-best-crisis-recovery-story.html
“Icelanders who pelted parliament with rocks in 2009 demanding their leaders and bankers answer for the country’s economic and financial collapse are reaping the benefits of their anger.
Since the end of 2008, the island’s banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association.
“You could safely say that Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief,” said Lars Christensen, chief emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “Iceland followed the textbook example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that.”
I work on the money market desk of a bank in Europe. I have been seeing above figures on various research for the last 3-4 months (especially after the LTRO). Although there is some truth to that, the interbank deposit rates (especially the short term rates) are so low that most banks prefer to deposit excess cash at the central banks. Because short term rates are effectively the same as ECB deposit rates, so depositing at a CB or a commercial bank pays the same rate. Looking at the volume of cash deposited at CBs tell doesn’t really give you a clear picture of the situation and I think is misleading.
You all might want to hear this, though it’s long (almost 3 hrs):
Chris Hedges (new book, The World As It Is) is interviewed on the economy, society, politics, history, etc. and it’s well worth your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zotYU21qcU&feature=player_embedded#!
MIT Professor Has Been Running LENR Device Outputting Excess Heat That’s 14X Input Power Since January
May 7th, 2012
Via: E-Cat World:…”
http://cryptogon.com/?p=28977
btw, Fleischmann and Pons were ‘Jacked’, not ‘Cracked’..
http://search.yippy.com/search?query=Fleischmann+Pons+&tb=sitesearch-all&v%3Aproject=clusty
but, hey, what’s ~25 Years, you know, ‘among *Friends’..
~~~
• Beastie Boys: New Slang (The Fader)
~~
“You’re Blind”
[Run-D.M.C.]
Tenement buildings, and skyscrapers
[Run]
Are polluted and often invaded
with troubled hearts, and weakened minds
Living their lives and hoping to find
the golden key, to prosperity
Never have a grip on reality
This makes day to day living hard
Trumpin your fate, never peepin the card
You just goin through life without a trace
when the answers you seek are in front of your face
[both] You’re blind! [2X]
[Run] Tell ‘em D!
[D.M.C.]
You’re headed for the top, or so you think
But that’s not true for you, your life is on the brink
of self-destruction, total corruption
You better get out or die from consumption
Sweat for a dollar, to get nothin back
Cause at the end of the week, you still get taxed
You’d even sell your soul to make your life correct
But with the rate of inflation you should eat your check
So you try to make a hustle, to get ahead
But the only thing you manage is to stay in the red
Coppin from John, to sell to Rex
And your jones for success has put your life in check
[both] You’re blind! [2X]…”
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rundmc/youreblind.html
“Slow And Low”
Let it flow – let yourself go
Slow and low – that is the tempo
It’s never old school all brand new
So everybody catch the bugaloo flu
Not like a fever not like a cold
The beats are clear the rhymes are bold
So don’t see a doctor or see a nurse
Just listen to the music first things first
First of all get off the wall
It’s time to party so have a ball
We slowed it on down so get the hell up
Like a volcano I’ll erupt
We got determination – bass and highs
White Castle fries only come in one size
What you see is what you get
And you ain’t seen nothing yet
[repeat chorus]
I do not sing but I make a Def song
You could live your whole life and I hope you live long…”
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beastieboys/slowandlow.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/gold-standard-for-all-from-nuts-to-paul-krugman.html
Bloomberg on economic performance before and after the end of the gold standard.
Mark E.
Re. “LENR” – the following is the most important part from the source you provided:
“Hagelstein says that the public is invited to take a look at the device in action….
…It would be interesting if some of Hagelstein’s peers at MIT would take a look at the NANOR and make some comments — or even if some outside experts could pay a visit…”
——————–
The ” public” is ” invited to take a look ??? ( Step right up folks! – ???).
In a world of Peer- Reviewed Research, I think the deafening silence of his peers speaks for itself.
SOP,
the ‘Cold Fusion’/LENR discussion/Inquiry is an interesting conceit..
there does seem to be a strong headwind for those trying to pursue that path (Research)..
almost, the reverse of what is found in the (formerly) GHG-induced AGW, now “Climate Change” ~world..
There is, no doubt, elements of Carnival ‘Barker-y’ to be seen surrounding LENR, et al. ..
but, something tells me that there is much more, actually, there, than the ‘Silence’, usually, accorded to that Science..
I still try to get myself to sit through watching some Seinfeld episodes. And I still wind up wondering why that show is thought to be so great.
I guess it just illustrates that popularity does not necessarily mean quality. Seinfeld has got to be one of the most tedious, mistakenly self-important, and downright unfunny TV comedy shows I’ve ever tried to enjoy.
Mark -
It is hard sometimes to tell the pioneers from the charlatans (or merely confused) – especially in a field in which I know I am a mere spectator.
I always keep in mind recent geniuses like Barbara McClintock or Barry Marshall who were ignored or ridiculed, but who eventually did as Carl Sagan said was necessary – they found “extraordinary evidence” for their “extraordinary claims.”
I really don’t believe there is a concerted effort to suppress this research – by government(s) or the science community. I think it is more a matter of extreme skepticism.
Time will tell.
What Is the Limiting Factor?
In yesteryear’s empty world, capital was the limiting factor in economic growth. But we now live in a full world.
Consider: What limits the annual fish catch — fishing boats (capital) or remaining fish in the sea (natural resources)? Clearly the latter.
What limits barrels of crude oil extracted — drilling rigs and pumps (capital), or remaining accessible deposits of petroleum — or capacity of the atmosphere to absorb the CO2 from burning petroleum (both natural resources)?
What limits production of cut timber — number of chain saws and lumber mills, or standing forests and their rate of growth?
What limits irrigated agriculture — pumps and sprinklers, or aquifer recharge rates and river flow volumes?
That should be enough to at least suggest that we live in a natural resource-constrained world, not a capital-constrained world.
http://steadystate.org/what-is-the-limiting-factor/
Interesting how the art market continues to go up, with all those Bush tax cuts still in place
See increasing student loans makes education expenses rise. But most tax cuts do NOT raise the cost of things rich people want. I know that seems illogical… but Hey, it’s the GOP using different arguments, so just believe… and feel. Don’t think, feel, an feel that hatred for Obama, for liberals… good… now vote.
Whoever wrote this at the Daily Mail has a gift for invective. Very enjoyable.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140549/France-election-results-2012-As-Francois-Hollande-wins-Nicolas-Sarkozy-met-Waterloo.html
I think I earlier referred to Hollande as Clintonesque. Judging by the description of his partner, he’s much more like Bill Clinton than I thought :)
It’s funny, in 2004, the Wall Street Journal was touting the Bush administration’s “ownership society” as the key to national prosperity. Now a “rentership society” is the way to go. LOL
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109390292570204982,00.html (last few paragraphs)
FTAlpahaville Harp-ing on about mortgages and market share, (another Timmy Geithner innovation)
this money shot quote
(Under old HARP) any new lender could “be held responsible by the investor – in this case, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and be forced to buy back the loan as a result of an earlier defect overlooked by the original lender.”
Cue Harp 2.0, which waived certain reps and warranties in an effort to get more bank participationUNQUOTE
got a reps n warranties problem? in fannie and freddie paper and securitizations?
not any more
uncle sugars got your covered
make that
HARP 2″s got the biggest banks covered
and growing bigger from this— according to the article
your on your own
Supermoon: the perigee moon of 2012
May 7, 2012
The night sky on May 5 was animated by the once-a-year cosmic event of the perigee moon. Popularly known as the “Supermoon”, the moon appears much larger above us when the elliptical orbit brings it within 221,802 miles to Earth, the closest point. The effect is magnified during a full moon, when we see our nearest celestial neighbor appear roughly 20 percent brighter and 15 percent larger. Collected here are images taken just before, during, and just after the perigee moon of 2012. — Lane Turner (27 photos total)
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/05/supermoon_the_perigee_moon_of.html
http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/mcclintock.html
interesting, I wonder what her take would have been on “epigenetics’..
http://search.yippy.com/search?query=genetic+transposition+epigenetics&tb=sitesearch-all&v%3Aproject=clusty
~~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Marshall
yes, his work with h. pylori was a serious ‘fork in the eye’ to many “Orthodox” Practioners..
~~
though, for clarity.. “a strong headwind”, is not = “a concerted effort to suppress this research”
epigenetics in New Scientist 2004 – Office of Information
Bruce Stillman, director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), NY, traces much of today’s research in epigenetics back to Barbara McClintock’s discovery of transposons …
https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/0/b360905554fdb7d985256ec5006a7755?OpenDocument –
Epigenetic Traits Inherited Not Only Through DNA – Health News …
Discovered half a century ago by CSHL scientist and Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock, Ph … “An epigenetic role for maternally inherited piRNAs in transposon silencing …
http://www.redorbit.com/…/?source=r_health -
http://search.yippy.com/search?query=Barbara+McClintock+epigenetics&tb=sitesearch-all&v%3Aproject=clusty
is venture capital broken?
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/07/how-venture-capital-is-broken/
are consumers cutting back? or is it that every thing else is cutting back so much that it makes it look like they aren’t?
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-07/consumers-cutting-back-are-you-kidding
Patent troll Larry Eliison gets humikiated. Good job, People.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17985085#
Patent troll attorneys aren’t going to eat much on that $200. ROFLMAO. To all you people who work with/for Ellison, enjoy this, because we now you hate him.
Re: Oracle vs. Google
This is only occurring because arsehole Ellison brought Sun. Oracle business is getting killed by migration to the cloud and Ellison needs more revenues for Oracle to make its numbers.
Mark -
Epigenetics – Jean La Marck and his Acquired Characteristics
Mendel and his peas won the day.
But La Marck was right – the environment for tweeks our genes and those “tweeks” are heritable.
The Homeobox meets Epigenetics – the authors seem unaware of the epigentic “switch” that silences the gene, but does not alter it. The the gene (or gene family) is still available, in some cases for hundreds of millions of years.
——————————–
Frogs Evolve Teeth—Again
Mysterious re-evolution challenges evolutionary theory, scientists say.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/110209-frogs-teeth-evolution-science/