EconomyPolitics

Graphic video shows the last moments of Gaddafi

2011-10-20T15:02:00.000-04:00

If this video is authentic, then it shoots a hole (poor choice of words) into the idea that Gadaffi was killed in an excahange of gunfire. It looks like he was shot in a moment of mob violence and rebel chaos. I guess Gaddafi was right that he would die in Libya. I'm sure he had many chances to escape. You can see the bloody but alive leader as he was beaten up pretty badly.

Officer gropes suspect and then uses his reaction to justify search and arrest

2011-10-20T12:19:00.001-04:00

Cameron insists that the Eurozone only has two weeks before it could go bust

2011-10-10T15:04:00.000-04:00

Just two weeks? via FT: Now the Euro is in real danger of crumbling. We've said it here 100 times. The Eurozone should not bail out anyone just because they share a currency. This is folly. David Cameron has urged European leaders to take a “big bazooka” approach to resolving the eurozone crisis, warning they have just a matter of weeks to avert economic disaster.

Sausage the Dog at all the greek riots, becomes the symbol of hope

2011-10-07T19:31:00.003-04:00

Check out the new symbol of the Greek riots: a dog. This dog is seen at all the Greek protests. I like this symbol over the US Occupy Wall Street symbol, who is an unshaven guy with greasy long hair. I seem to see him at every demonstration Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Challenger job cuts triple as US Army and Bank of America lay off en masse

2011-10-05T11:49:00.000-04:00

What happens when the US Army announces a 50K reduction in troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and mix in a 30K reduction from Bank of America, and what do you get? An employment bloodbath. Bank of America will not be the last bank to undergo significant reductions, they are just the first. Look for rising unemployment. Just in time for the 2012 elections. Obama is so toast.

Greece officially enters death spiral territory as price of bond insurance soars

2011-10-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought Europe could not go any further, Greece announces that it is on a death spiral. If that is the case, they would be wise to get their default done sooner rather than later. And when they do default, Germany would be wise just to let it happen. Why does being in the Eurozone imply a protection against default. I have never been able to figure that one out. For me it

European Sovereign Update: CDS spreads stabilize while Italy officially joins the troubled nations

2011-08-10T11:43:00.000-04:00

Europe's troubles are making America look like a safehaven. Thusfar, we have gotten right all of our predictions. We predicted a US downgrade last year. We predicted the coming Greek default. Right now, markets have moved in favor of a divided Europe with the PIIGS leading the way to a Euro breakdown. Greece is beyond saving. Any European money thrown down that hole is lost forever.

An interview with Keiko Fujimori

2011-06-03T17:16:00.000-04:00

My take on the Fujimori regime is, the first one was good, the second regime is where Alberto got in trouble. The third one was just to cover his tracks. If there were ever a worse regime, it would come with a mask of Ollanta Humala. Ollanta, is not just a leftist, he is a violent anti-democratic leftist. If Peru elects Ollanta, we should expect more division and violence than ever. We

Morons, Optimists and Shills get surprised at economic bad news

2011-06-02T14:04:00.000-04:00

Who are these people who continually get surprised with bad news? Many of them are experts, who look at the current economic numbers, but can't look beyond the basic figures. Others are the hope and change crown that are rooting for Obama today because they have invested in him politically. But others are just old fashioned optimists. We here are optimistic about America's long term success,

2 week vacation break

2011-05-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

Next two weeks I am travelling and as such will not be able to maintain my disciplined daily blogging on the global economy and politics. Be back on May 30th. I likely will have the chance to putup a blog post or two. Enjoy the break. Use our investor info.

Jobless claims drop but we still have over 400,000 new jobless every week

2011-05-12T11:53:00.000-04:00

In what is a big relief for the jobs outlook, initial claims fell back sharply as hoped following a giant special-factor spike in the prior week. However, our optimism is muted because the figure is still above 400K. Despite the decline, the current level is significantly above March with the four-week average continuing to rise, up 4,000 to 436,750 for a very significant 40,000 increase from

Inhofe: I have seen the pictures and they are gruesome

2011-05-12T11:28:00.000-04:00

Raw video: The victims of Syrian crackdown, recorded deaths stand at 750

2011-05-11T11:54:00.000-04:00

While the death of Bin Laden has signalled the death of a man who fought the American bogeyman, the rest of the Arab world is preoccupied with real threats. A human rights group has put the deaths from the Syrian massacres at 750. Who knows the number of injured and officially dissappeared. Via DFP: A human rights group reports that more than 750 people have been killed in Syria during a

Housing update: Rates down, refinancing up

2011-05-11T11:42:00.000-04:00

Current WeekPrevious week Mortgage Composite Index+4.0%+8.2% Purchase Index+0.3%+6.7% Refinance Index+6.0%+9.0% Refinance Apps63.1%62.7% 30 Year Mortgage Rates4.67%4.76% Look what happens when the mortgage rates fall. Over the course of the last week, mortgage rate have dropped almost 10 bps on the 30 year. The 30-yr is down 15 bps over 2 weeks from when the 10-yr was 4.85%. Refi apps shot

Hayek vs Keynes part II

2011-05-06T01:31:00.000-04:00

Credit Russ Roberts for making economics entertaining.

474 Thousand: That's how many jobless claims we got last week

2011-05-05T14:27:00.001-04:00

There were "special" reasons for a 43K surge in unemploymet claims off of an already increasing number last week. I think its fair to say "we have a problem". The biggest factor is an adjustment timing for a spring break in New York state followed by a new emergency benefit plan in Oregon. The third factor is the auto sector where claims related to retooling increased. Note that possible

Dollar Regime gets taken down another peg as Japan, Korea and China consider leaving dollar settlement for regional trade

2011-05-04T12:09:00.001-04:00

Russia and China have already made the agreement to settle in either Yuan or Rubles. Now other countries are following suit. Via MW: Officials from China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to study a proposal to use their own currencies for regional trade settlement instead of the U.S. dollar, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. The report cited a joint communiqué issued in

The real threat of inflation, decreasing foreign reserves: Why the US should expect 8% inflation for the next three years

2011-04-29T14:52:00.000-04:00

Weekly we put out information on the US Dollar Money supply. Current M2 money supply is over 9 Trillion dollars. Source: Federal Reserve This is a good proxy for money growth and good predictor of inflation except for one crucial flaw. There is some money which is printed, but does not make it into the money supply. Consider the scenario that the Fed prints a dollar that is then

Weekly Money Supply: 4 week average hits another record to 9.00 Trillion Dollars, weekly M2 at 9.07 Trillion Dollars

2011-04-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

The exact figure, $9.07 TT for M2, is just off last months record of over $9.08 TT set just last week. The four-week average has crossed the $9 TT rubicon at $9.00 TT, a new all time high. Money supply is up a full 2% in the last 4 weeks, over 5% in 52 weeks and 74% over ten years. Has anybody noticed how quickly we have added $400 billion to the money supply in the last year. We have added a

Bernanke blames commodities for recent inflation and says that the US dollar's value is not his domain

2011-04-28T14:08:00.000-04:00

Bernanke goes to the press. He ducks every issue. He blames oil price increases on supply, not new money into the system. He has to know that when he prints new money, he know where it's going. It's not going into long term financial assets, its going to commodities. Furthermore, he says that QE2 worked. That type of thinking makes us question whether he will seriously push for QE3. We can

US Jobless claims rise to 429K as layoffs increase

2011-04-28T13:40:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go swimming in the job pool again. Initial jobless claims are definitely on the rise. Initial claims jumped 25,000 in the April 23 week to 429,000 which is nearly 40,000 above expectations (prior week revised 1,000 higher to 404,000). The Labor Department blames the auto sector, but the data just don't bear this out. This is a real deal. An increase

Growth down, Prices up: GDP growth slowed to 1.8%, while inflation jumped to 3.8%

2011-04-28T13:24:00.000-04:00

The economy slowed during the first quarter of 2011. First quarter GDP growth dropped to 1.8% from 3.1% annualized in the fourth quarter. This was below consensus 2.0%. The weak Q1 growth was largely due to increasing imports (read oil and gas), a decreasing consumption, a decreasing gov’t spending, and decreasing investment. Year-on-year, real GDP in the first quarter is up 2.3%,

New homes sales jump off last months reading which just happened to be the worst numbers since 1963

2011-04-25T15:03:00.000-04:00

Via Census: Sales of new homes jumped more than expected in March but from February's severely depressed level that, despite an upward revision, is a record low for this series that goes back to 1963. Prices were mixed in March but the median price did bounce back from February's eight-year lows and supply did ease for the best reading since December. Yet a first-quarter to fourth-quarter sales

Happy Easter from the Philippines; let's crucify ourselves

2011-04-23T00:23:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter!! For those that take their religion seriously, the Catholics in the Philippines have taken devotion to a whole new level. Jesus Christ was beat, whipped, given a cross, nailed and raised. Of course this was all done against his will by the Romans. Why anyone would crucify themselves is beyond me.

Up to 90 killed in in massacres all over Syria as police attempt to squash protesters

2011-04-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

Raw footage from the Good Friday protests from all over Syria. Warning, this includes some footage which may be disturbing.