The Automatic Earth

Dorothea Lange Technocracy, Josephine County, Oregon August 1939 Well, at least these times are not dull. Normally, we would be looking with wary eyes at record unemployment in Italy, deflation in Spain and plummeting French consumer spending. Or at big, smart, institutional money leaving the US housing market. None of these are small matters by themselves, but they are dwarfed by the groups of as yet mysterious militia, mercenaries, whatever they may be, I used the term guerrillas yesterday, that

Arnold Genthe “Diamond antique store, Royal Street, New Orleans” 1920 An interesting government commissioned report came out yesterday in Britain, prepared by a commission under oil veteran Sir Ian Wood, and dealing with the prickly issue of what to do with the fast dwindling oil and gas production – and tax revenue – that comes from the British North Sea patch. What probably “worries” the government most of all at this point is that the oil and gas industry is

Detroit Publishing Co. “Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge” 1907 There’s a lot more to the Ukraine situation than meets the eye. The country was already on the verge of bankruptcy before the protests started three months ago, and seems dead set on default now. Russia seemed willing to help, but the protests against Yanukovych are protests against Putin too. Moreover, Russian banks have substantial holdings of Ukrainian bonds. Then, there’s of course the energy question. Ukraine relies on Russian gas

Fenno Jacobs for OWI “Southington, Connecticut. Girls at drugstore” May 1942 The story of the day should perhaps really be the 26+ killed and 1000+ wounded in Ukraine, where the violence shows no sign of abating, and another deadly night could be in store. Or, you know, Kazachstan or Thailand or Venezuela. The pattern is familiar: thugs mingle with students grandma’s and peaceful complaints either get entirely discredited or create total confusion. But from as far away as I am,

Harris & Ewing “Snow after blizzard, Washington, DC” January 1922 The Chinese government may have wanted to tighten lending and shrink shadow banking, but in January it’s found – as we now do – that it can’t, because its financial system has been entirely built on and with credit, and can now be diagnosed as completely and fatally addicted to it. And so in January Beijing took it up a notch, not down. Here’s where the addiction shows: According to