Central Perk: 2 sept. 2012

duminică, 2 septembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Most Economically Illiterate Journalist In History Proposes "Gold is Backed by Nothing, but US Dollar Backed by Federal Reserve"

Posted: 02 Sep 2012 07:07 PM PDT

Congratulations to Canadian journalist Bridget Brown, a CTV news field reporter for being the most economically illiterate TV journalist in history. Brown proposes gold is not backed by anything but the US Dollar is backed by the Federal Reserve which will be around a year from now.

This story is actually about a year old, appearing as early as September 30, 2011 on Natural News with a story headline of The most moronic TV news journalist ever?

I offer this story and the following video for entertainment on this Labor Day weekend.

Should that video be pulled, you may wish click on Natural News which is keeping the video alive even with legal threats from CTV. You will need to flash forward to the 13:45 mark to skip past a lengthy Natural News lead-in as to why their posting of the video constitutes fair rights.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Who Do You Blame for the Woes of the Middle-Class?

Posted: 02 Sep 2012 11:32 AM PDT

The Pew Research center ponders The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.

Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some—but by no means all—of its characteristic faith in the future.

These stark assessments are based on findings from a new nationally representative Pew Research Center survey that includes 1,287 adults who describe themselves as middle class, supplemented by the Center's analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Median Income

Median Net Worth

Fully 85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. Of those who feel this way, 62% say "a lot" of the blame lies with Congress, while 54% say the same about banks and financial institutions, 47% about large corporations, 44% about the Bush administration, 39% about foreign competition and 34% about the Obama administration. Just 8% blame the middle class itself a lot.

Who Is To Blame?

Three Lost Decades!

Median net worth is back to a level first seen in the 1980s. By that measure, the US has had three lost decades. Wow.

62% Blame Politicians, Only 8% Blame Themselves

Note that 62% blame politicians and 54% blame financial institutions, but only 8% blame themselves.

Five Questions

Did banks force people to take out loans they could not pay back, or did people do so voluntarily?
Who elects congress?
Do people make enough effort to understand interest rates, debt, the economic policies of politicians, exponential math and its implications, the untenable nature of public union pension plans and promises?
Do a significant number of people (if not the majority) get their economic views (assuming they have any economic views) from The View, Oprah, The Talk, or CNBC?
Why did PEW leave off the Fed and Fractional Reserve Lending from the list of answers?

Two Bonus Questions

Would the majority of respondents know anything at all about the Fed and Fractional Reserve lending had the PEW listed those options?
Who is really to blame for what is happening?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Seth's Blog : Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

For most of us, it's not the big traps that mess us up, it's the little ones.

Every time I break stride and distract myself by checking my email (a hundred times in a bad day), I get a small reward. I get the satisfaction of starting and finishing a project, on time and for free.

For a lot of people, every time they drink a Coke instead of a glass of water, they get a small punishment in exchange for their treat. One Coke never hurt anyone, but a hundred of them make you fat.

One way to change behavior is to keep track of how often these little events occur, because seeing them lined up on the windowsill might be enough to change your mind. The other way is to make those events louder. I'm pretty sure that if I got an electric shock every time I stopped to check my email, I'd only do it daily...