Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Friday, October 30, 2009
U.S. GDP Surprise Due to Government Interventions / Economics / Economic Stimulus
The GDP numbers out yesterday, which showed economic growth at 3.5% in the third quarter, brought a deafening chorus from public and private economists who all agreed that the recession is officially over. With such a strong report, they are happy to tell us that not only has the Fat Lady finished her aria, but she has left the building and is sipping champagne in the bath. As usual, it falls on me to rain on the parade.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Unemployment Falls at State Level as People Drop Out of Workforce, Costco Nationwide Food Stamps / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
A couple of items from the "real economy" - we have not had much time to focus on that this week as we lather ourselves in Kool Aid of federal government/central bank fiat money and all the good it does for us chosen folk in the speculator class.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Stimulus Nation / Economics / Economic Stimulus
The result really wasn’t all that surprising. The reaction wasn’t either. On Thursday morning the Commerce Department released its advance GDP reading and proclaimed the end of the recession by asserting the American economy ‘grew’ at an annualized rate of 3.5% in the third quarter. A previous commentary already pointed out the fact that government borrowing shouldn’t be counted in GDP calculations anyway, so I’ll not repeat that exercise. Certainly there isn’t much to say on this topic that hasn’t already been said. However, there are some salient points that have been glossed over that are worth mentioning.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Krugman, The Gold Standard and the Great Depression / Economics / Economic Depression
Paul Krugman has concentrated his fire recently on those "thumping their chests" over the falling dollar. He has particular scorn for those recommending a return to the gold standard. In Krugman's view, a simple look at the historical facts will show that it was a superstitious fetish for the yellow metal that prolonged the Great Depression.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
After Strong U.S. GDP, Markets Look to Chicago PMI and University of Michigan Consumer Confidence / Economics / Economic Recovery
Following stronger-than-market-expected US gdp data yesterday (figures met our projections), the financial markets are likely to see-saw as usual today. US data releases will dominate today as well, with personal income, spending, the price deflator, Chicago PMI and University of Michigan consumer confidence due out. With gdp figures for Q3 showing a rise in consumer spending of 3.4% annualised, the likelihood is that personal spending for September may not fall as much as the consensus suggests, though income may well stay flat.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Emerging Market Economies in the New World Disorder / Economics / Emerging Markets
Chris Mayer writes: In horse racing, a match race is when two horses race against each other. One of the most famous such races happened at Pimlico, when Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in November 1938.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Does a Fall in Bank Credit Lead to Deflation? / Economics / Deflation
US credit is undergoing a major contraction. In the week ending October 14, US commercial-bank lending stood at $5,686.8 billion: a fall of 6.6% from the end of January.[1] Year on year, loans fell by 7% in October after declining by 5.8% in September. On the same basis of comparison, in October last year, loans increased by 6.6%.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Dangerous Inflationary Side Effects of G20 Ultra-Easy Money / Economics / Inflation
Operating under the elixir of ultra-low interest rates, and flush with trillions of fiat currency at their disposal, courtesy of the world’s top-20 central banks, hedge funds and banking Oligarchs are once again making risky and daring bets in commodities, emerging markets, junk bonds, and blue-chip stocks, defying gravity with trades that would have been un-thinkable just six-months ago.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
U.S. Q3 GDP, Watch the Consumer Component / Economics / US Economy
Aside from whether US Q3 GDP growth will stand above the 3.0%, markets will watch the contribution from the US consumer versus that of inventory restocking. Personal consumption expenditure (PCE) is expected +3.0% after -0.9% and +0.6% in Q2 and Q1. Risk appetite will particularly welcome any evidence of a consumer-led recovery, in which case could prove positive for equities and risk currencies (EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD). In the event that a rise in inventory accumulation overshadows the increase in personal consumption, a rally in risk assets (equities, commodities and higher yielding currencies) would be accompanied by renewed pressure in USD and JPY.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Myth of "Free" Enterprise Economic System / Economics / Economic Theory
Free enterprise, also called free market, is an economy governed by the laws of supply and demand, not restrained by government interference, regulation or subsidy.
Command economy is basically a slave enterprise where supply and price are regulated by the government rather than market forces.
The only thing I will agree with about the “law of supply and demand” is that supply at a downward-manipulated price, can create demand.
Downward manipulation is an uneconomic aberration first discovered in the precious metals market by the noted silver analyst, Ted Butler.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Next Economic Crisis, Spiralling Inflation / Economics / Inflation
As the credit crisis ends, a bigger one is just beginning
“The US government has a technology, called a printing press… that allows it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” – Ben Bernanke
The US economy contracted for four consecutive quarters since October 2008, something we have not seen since the Great Depression. A V-shaped recovery is simply not in the cards because the credit crisis has caused deep, systemic damage. Having said that, if the recession ends this year, it certainly won’t be because the global economy is healthy.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
South Africa Rocked by Financial Crisis as Unemployment and Debt Soar / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
Johannesburg: There was lots of skepticism when I came to South Africa two years ago to show my film IN DEBT WE TRUST. While my critique of consumer debt resonated, the film’s forecast of a financial crisis didn’t. Their economy seemed to be doing well and it was hard to tell a society that tends to look inward that they would be affected by a financial crisis in America, l0,000 miles away.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Financial Markets Primary Focus on U.S. Q3 GDP Economic Data / Economics / Economic Recovery
It is a busy calendar for economic figures today but markets will primarily focus on the advance estimate of US Q3 gdp this afternoon. Despite a 'bolt from the blue' from the UK last week, we believe it is still worth highlighting that the consensus is for annualised US growth of 3.2%, with the range from 2% to 4.8%. We look for a rise of 3.5%, following a drop of 0.7% in Q2 and bringing to an end the longest series of quarterly declines since such records started in 1947.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Murray Rothbard Sacrificing for an Idea / Economics / Economic Theory
Lew Rockwell gave a lecture on the trials and tribulations of three free market economists: Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Murray Rothbard. He showed that their commitment to free market economic theory cost them their careers in an era of Keynesianism. Yet today, they are remembered by a growing number of readers. Their bureaucratic opponents are long forgotten: lost in the noise of "we, too."
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
The ABCs of the Economic Crisis, Capitalism on the Ropes? / Economics / Economic Theory
Interview with Michael D. Yates and Fred Magdoff
1. Mike Whitney---In your new book, "The ABCs of the Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know", you allude to right wing think tanks, like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, which promote a "free market" ideology. How successful have these organizations been in shaping public attitudes about capitalism? Do you think that attitudes are beginning to change now that people understand the role that Wall Street and the big banks played in creating the crisis? ("The ABCs of the Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know" By Fred Magdoff and Michael Yates, Monthly Review Press)
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Stealth Inflation / Economics / Inflation
Over the past two years, the federal government and the Federal Reserve have dispersed trillions of public dollars, run up enormous deficits, and kept interest rates at zero. In just about any economic textbook, this combination of policies would be described as the perfect recipe for inflation. Yet, with the exception of the usual increases in health care and education, prices by and large are not rising. Many have concluded that our economic leadership has simply outsmarted the textbooks.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bankrupt Britain, A Short History / Economics / UK Debt
"If we manage to escape national bankruptcy, we have set up a slavery far more oppressive than any previous form of bondage..."
BRITAIN'S BANKRUPTCY has been a long time coming.
"By our political folly we have a put a large part, probably the greater part, of the nation in possession of rights to draw from the public purse," wrote Ernest J.P.Benn in his hilarious Account Rendered of 1930.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Are You Ready for the Next Financial and Economic Crisis? / Economics / Great Depression II
Evidence that the US is a failed state is piling up faster than I can record it.
One conclusive hallmark of a failed state is that the crooks are inside the government, using government to protect and to advance their private interests.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Hyperinflation, When Money Dies So do People / Economics / HyperInflation
Bottom line: "When money dies, so do people." Hyperinflation in a modern urban nation would kill people. I think it would kill a lot of people.
Why? Because we rely on the social division of labor to feed ourselves, heat our homes, and supply everything else that we buy or sell. This requires a highly complex price system. At the heart of this system is money. It would not exist without money.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
PhD In Distress about Overqualified Candidates Fresh Out of College With Nowhere To Go / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
In response to How Being The Slightest Bit Overqualified Can Cost You A Job I received several interesting Emails.
Here is an Email from "PhD In Distress" about overqualified candidates fresh out of college with nowhere to go, competing for jobs that essentially do not exist.