Wyland Stanley Golden Gate Bridge under construction 1935 This is another essay from friend and regular contributor of The Automatic Earth, Euan Mearns at Energy Matters. One comment on my part: Euan says ‘This has lead to speculation that weak global demand, stemming from masked economic woes, may also be playing a key role.‘ I don’t think the use of the term ‘speculation’ is appropriate here, because it seems overly obvious that China’s economic slowdown has played a major role
Read More...
William Henry Jackson Jupiter & Lake Worth R.R., Florida 1896 • The Long-Distance Relationship Between Americans and Jobs (WSJ) • American Cash Is Flooding Into European Stocks (CNN) • Bank of Canada, Government and Others Face Lawsuit for IMF Conspiracy (Epoch T.) • ECB Said to Limit Greek Lenders’ Treasury-Bill Holdings (Bloomberg) • Greeks Celebrate Independence as EU Creditors Discuss Their Fate (Bloomberg) • Next Task For Tsipras Is To Convince His Party (Kathimerini) • Greece: Fascists At The Gate
Read More...
William Henry Jackson Tamasopo River Canyon, San Luis Potosi, Mexico 1890 About a month ago, Japan’s giant GPIF pension fund announced it had started doing in Q4 2014, what PM Abe had long asked it to: shift a large(r) portion of its investment portfolio from bonds to stocks. No more safe assets for the world’s largest pension fund, or a lot less at least, but risky ones. For Abe this promises the advantage of an economy that looks healthier than
Read More...
DPC Surf Avenue, Coney Island, NY 1903 • The World’s Next Credit Crunch Could Make 2008 Look Like A Hiccup (Telegraph) • No Risk Too Big as Bond Traders Plot Escape From Negative Yields (Bloomberg) • Fed’s Fischer Says Rate Rise Probably Warranted by End-2015 (Bloomberg) • Shadow Banking System Shows Signs of Stabilizing After Collapse (Bloomberg) • The Unbearable Exuberance of China’s Markets (Pesek) • Oil Majors Pile On Record Debt To Plug Cash Shortfalls (FT) • Pension Funds
Read More...
Gottscho-Schleisner Fishing boat at Fulton Market Pier, NY 1933 • World Faces 40% Water Shortfall In 15 Years: UN (MarketWatch) • Liquidity Crisis Could Spark The Next Financial Crash (Telegraph) • Strong Dollar Hammers Profits at US Multinationals (WSJ) • How Europe And US Stumbled Into Spat Over China-Led Bank (CNBC) • Lagarde Says IMF ‘Delighted’ To Co-operate With China-Led AIIB Bank (BBC) • US to Seek Collaboration With China-Led Investment Bank (WSJ) • France Is Europe’s ‘Big Problem’, Warns
Read More...
Jack Delano “Untitled” 1940 • We’re All Hedge Funds Now (John Rubino) • Why Has Germany Bailed Out A Tiny Bank? (Coppola) • The Perfect Storm For Oil Hits In Two Months (Zero Hedge) • The ‘Natural Interest Rate’ Is Always Positive And Cannot Be Negative (Mises) • The Federal Reserve Bank Must Be Destroyed! (Patrick Barron) • We’re Much Worse Off Than Just Before The Last Economic Crisis (Michael Snyder) • Draghi To Go To Italian Committee But Not
Read More...
Harris&Ewing Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in US in tow 1916 German magazine Der Spiegel digs deep(er) into the ‘Greece question’ this weekend, and does so with a few noteworthy reports. First, its German paper issue has Angela Merkel on the cover, inserted on a 1940’s photograph that shows Nazi commanders against the backdrop of the Acropolis in Athens. The headline is ‘The German Supremacy: How Europeans see (the) Germans’. The editorial staff has already come under a lot
Read More...
Jack Delano Freight operations on the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad 1943 • Wages Haven’t Been This Crucial to US Economy in 50 Years (Bloomberg) • American Underwater Homeowners “Here To Stay” Zillow Says (Zero Hedge) • Here’s the Next Biggest Threat to Global Crude Oil Prices (Bloomberg) • Global Oil Glut Set To Grow As China Slows Crude Imports (Reuters) • Debt Is Oil Patch’s Four-Letter Word (Bloomberg) • Shocking Austerity: Greece’s Poor Lost 86% Of Income, Rich Only 17-20%
Read More...
DPC Provision store. Caracas, Venezuela 1905 Once again, a look at Greece and the Troika, because it amuses me, it angers me, and also because it warms my cockles, in an entirely metaphorical sort of way. The Troika members love to make it appear (and everyone swallows it whole) as if in their ‘negotiations’ with Greece all sorts of things are cast in stone and have no flexibility at all. Humbug. First, another great piece by Rob Parenteau (via Yves
Read More...
John M. Fox Midtown Dealers Corp. and Hudson showroom, Broadway at W. 62nd Street, NY 1947 • This Chart Says Euro Could Plunge Another 30% (CNBC) • Britain’s Obsession With Ownership Has Made Housing A Ponzi Scheme (Guardian) • Goebbelnomics – Austerian Duplicity and the Dispensing of Greece (Parenteau) • C’mon Angela, Let Them Greexit (David Stockman) • Athens Mayor Unveils Scheme To Support Poor With Help From Norway (Kathimerini) • Does Greece Want To Get ‘Kicked Out’ Of The
Read More...