Saturday, August 18, 2012

I thought I was beginning to understand current events.

I have just spent the day dealing with other peoples emergencies.

Dow Jones 15 min delay
Dow Jones intraday chart
value
change
%
13275.20
+25.09
+0.19
Top winner and loser
United Technologies Corp.
80.37
+1.60
+2.03
Merck & Co. Inc.
43.34
-0.60
-1.37
Nasdaq 15 min delay
Nasdaq intraday chart
value
change
%
3076.59
+14.20
+0.46
Top winner and loser
Francesca&39;S Holdings Corp
34.32
+3.31
+10.67
Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
10.54
-1.74
-14.17
S&P 500 15 min delay
S&P 500 intraday chart
value
change
%
1418.16
+2.65
+0.19
Top winner and loser
Metropcs Communications Inc.
10.03
+0.49
+5.14
McKesson Corp.
86.42
-2.25
-2.54
BBC Global 30 intraday chart
value
change
%
6463.97
+27.35
+0.42
Market reports
London
Paris
Frankfurt
Wall Street
Tokyo
FTSE 100 15 min delay
FTSE 100 intraday chart
value
change
%
5852.42
+17.91
+0.31
Top winner and loser
Lloyds Banking Group
34.22p
+1.24
+3.74
Anglo American
1927.50p
-47.00
-2.38
Dax 15 min delay
Dax intraday chart
value
change
%
7040.88
+44.59
+0.64
Top winner and loser
Deutsche Bank AG
26.72
+0.91
+3.53
Bayer AG
62.63
-0.57
-0.90

Share Prices
Summaries: London | NYSE | Nasdaq | Paris | Frankfurt

Search share prices by name or symbol*:
View London's top shares by sector
 
* In London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt and on Nasdaq.
View London's top shares by alphabet
3i  - Bum | Bun - Fil | Fir - Kaz | KCO - Pru | PZ  - Tay | Ted - Yul | Popular shares
Currencies
More currencies
 
£
$
¥
£
-


$
-


-


¥
-



Commodities
More commodities
 
price
change
 
%
 
Brent Crude Oil Futures $/barrel 113.75
-1.52
-1.3
 
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures $/barrel 96.13
+0.88
+0.9
 
Forex Gold Index(pm fix) $/oz 1614.75
+10.25
+0.6
 
Coffee "C" Futures US cents/pound 160.30
+1.45
+0.9
 
Copper 3mo Unofficial Confirmed $/m tonne 7525.00
+92.50
+1.2
 



EUR:USD one month chart


Euro / dollar 



http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2012/08/not-good-enough.html


Friday, August 17, 2012

Not good enough


- by New Deal democrat

"Three years ago I was arguing with Doomers on Daily Kos who thought that, as awful as things were, they were only going to get worse and worse as we fell into the bottomless abyss, quoting Zero Hedge and The Automatic Earth as gospel scripture that we were going to 25% unemployment and 1000 on the Dow Jones Indsutrial Average.

Since then, I've countered the double-, triple-, and quadruple-dippers who have mistaken every spring slowdown for vindication. Over the last 9 months or so, I seem to have become the poster child for disagreeing with the very prominent forecasting firm ECRI, who thought we might already be in a recession, or one was "right in front of us," almost 1 full year ago.

I stand by all of those calls, because that's what the data showed me.

But pointing out that the economy isn't actually contracting is a far different opinion than believing the economy is in anything remotely close to good condition. It isn't. It's in terrible condition, and all its advances grow more and more precarious as time goes on.

In a liberal democracy like the US, the desiderata of the economy ought to approximate the greatest good for the greatest number. Instead, for possibly as long as the last 40 years, but certainly since 2000, a majority of Americans have almost certainly fallen behind, a condition that looks ever more chronic as wage growth declines to 0% YoY. A defaltionary wage and debt spiral becomes a greater and greater possibility, even if its timing is not yet known.

It is simply not good enough that the economy is growing. Real income growth is paltry. Job growth is mediocre at best. The plutocrats and the banksters -- generally, the creditor class -- have been made whole or at least kept afloat via bailouts. Debtors have been left to fend for themselves. That is a recipe for not just months or years of malaise, but possibly decades. Supply does not create its own demand. Yes, efficient new goods will find markets. But otherwise we need growing demand to justify expansion of supply.

Unless and until the well-being of the shriveling American middle class is placed front and center, there will be no full recovery. While the Doomers have been wrong at every turn for the last three years, there should be no mistaking the fact that simple growth in the economy is simply not good enough.



There is profit in slow disaster,  less in rapid destruction.
































No comments:

Post a Comment