sâmbătă, 25 ianuarie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Venezuela Enacts "Law of Fair Prices" Banning Profits Over 30%, with 10-Year Imprisonment for Hoarding

Posted: 25 Jan 2014 07:49 PM PST

No matter how ridiculous things are, they can always get worse, especially when dealing with leftist dictators and hyperinflation setups.

Via translation from El Economista, please consider Venezuela Issues Law of Fair Prices, Prohibiting Profits Over 30%.
The Fair Prices Act, an instrument with which the Government of Nicolas Maduro intends to control prices and eliminate shortages, includes a ban on profit margins over 30%, with penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for hoarders.

The law passed in November, and the Supreme Court ratified the law yesterday.

The law, published in Official Gazette, states that the profit margin will be established annually "addressing scientific criteria" by the National Superintendency for the Protection of Socio-Economic Rights (SUNDDE).

The law provides for the application of preventive measures and sanctions such as confiscation, temporary occupation of premises or property, the temporary closure of an establishment or suspension of licenses and the "immediate adjustment" price.

In the section of the law regarding hoarding, those who "restrict supply, circulation or distribution of regulated goods or cause distortions in prices, shall be punished with imprisonment judicially 8 to 10 years."

The law also provides for fines ranging from 107,000 bolivars ($17,000) to 5.3 million bolivars ($850,000).

SUNDDE will "fix maximum prices for the production or importation, distribution and consumption according to their importance and strategic nature for the benefit of the population as well as the technical criteria for assessing the levels of exchange equitable and fair of goods and services."
Under this preposterous measure, no companies will be able to import and sell goods at anything but a loss. Expect all goods and services to vanish soon.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Free Shipping Anecdotes from Canada

Posted: 25 Jan 2014 10:31 AM PST

Reader Ian, who lives in Ottawa, Canada is wondering "How do they do it?" Ian writes ...
Hello Mish

Recently I went to WalMart online to price cat litter. An 18 kg box - about 39.7 lb - was $8.98. This is the same as my local WalMart in-store price. But online came with free shipping.

I spoke to the guy who delivered the 2 boxes I ordered. He is an owner-operator of a shipping company that contracts for WalMart delivery. Since he owns his own truck, he has to pay gas, insurance, depreciation, licensing, maintenance, etc.

Questions abound.

How much does WalMart pay this guy for delivering an $18 order? How does this delivery provider survive? Is the cost of operating a store be so high that WalMart has enough margin to ship from a warehouse while offering free shipping?

I'm in Ottawa, Canada. I'm not even aware of a warehouse in our city. If there is no warehouse, the litter had to be shipped from a store, with no savings on store overhead.

Even if there is a warehouse, the increased distribution distance means the shipper must be paid more or go out of business.

WalMart seems to be somewhere between a traditional bricks and mortar model and an Amazon model. I don't understand how this works, but I'll use it while it exists, saving time and money.

Ian
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Weekly Address: Taking Action to End Sexual Assault

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Featured 

Weekly Address: Taking Action to End Sexual Assault

In his weekly address, President Obama said that the Administration has taken another important step to protect women at college by establishing the White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. An estimated 1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted at college, and the President said that we will keep taking actions like strengthening the criminal justice system, reaching out to survivors, and changing social norms so that all Americans can feel safe and protected as they pursue their own piece of the American dream.

Click here to watch this week's Weekly Address.

Watch: President Obama's Weekly Address

 

 
 
  Top Stories

State of the Union Next Week: Next Tuesday, January 28, is President Obama's fifth State of the Union address. This year, while the President is speaking at the Capitol, you can view an enhanced version of the speech on WhiteHouse.gov/SOTU, share exclusive graphics and tune in to hear White House official's reactions immediately following the address.

In honor of the upcoming State of the Union address, President Obama's speechwriter Cody KennanValerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President; and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz took over the White House Instagram account this week in order to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the making of the speech.

Later next week, the President will take part in the first-ever Google+ virtual road trip to discuss the issues and policies he laid out in his speech. Want to be a part of this event? Click here to find out how you can submit a question to the President.

Call to Action to End Rape and Sexual Assault: On Wednesday, the President and Vice President spoke on the urgent need for new measures to protect students from sexual assault. Studies show that about one in five women is a survivor of attempted or completed sexual violence while in college. "This is a priority for me not only as President and Commander-in-Chief, but as a husband and a father of two extraordinary girls," the President said. In order to address these alarming statistics, the President signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing the "White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault."

I've often said in my travels around the world: You can judge a nation, and how successful it will be, based on how it treats its women and its girls. Those nations that are successful, they're successful in part because women and girls are valued. And I'm determined that, by that measure, the United States of America will be the global leader.

Read the President's full remarks here.

The First Lady and Athletes Pile on the Veggies: The First Lady was joined by athletes and local children at a D.C. Subway restaurant on Thursday to announce Subways' commitment to market healthier choices to kids. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin, and New York Giants player Justin Tuck were on hand to show kids that piling on the veggies doesn't have to be a tough choice. "I don't know how many kids are athletes here, or who are dancers, who are movers, who want to do something important with their bodies -- what you eat, what you put into it makes a huge difference," the First Lady said.

On Tuesday, Let's Move! released a PSA of the First Lady and members of the Miami Heat that highlights the importance of eating healthy and drinking water. Make sure to check out how LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen eat healthy. If you haven't already, check out this awesome GIF and watch the video.

Big Block of Cheese Day: Fan of The West Wing? Next Wednesday, January 29th the White House will be hosting "Big Block of Cheese Day" -- just like they did in President Jackson's day. In homage to President Jackson keeping the White House "The People's House," we are hosting the first-ever virtual "Big Block of Cheese Day," as a way to let citizens interact with White House officials in real-time on social media. Be sure to stay tuned for a complete schedule of events.

Mayors Conference: On Thursday, the President was joined by more 250 mayors from around the country who participated in the 82nd winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The President spoke on the importance of working together to impact people's lives. "Hard work can transform communities block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood," he said. "And to see the resilience and the strength of people, and the incredible vibrancy that cities bring to not just those who live within the boundaries of cities but entire regions, that's what you understand. And I want to make sure that I've got your back in everything that you do."


 

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The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

President Obama wanted you to know this

 

 

Hey --

Every year it's the same: In the days leading up to the State of the Union, the phone rings off the hook with everyone trying to figure out what will be in the President's address.

We're now just four days out -- and the President wanted you to get the first preview of what this speech is all about. As always, he'll be working on it right up until game time, but three words sum up the President's message on Tuesday night: opportunity, action, and optimism.

The core idea is as American as they come: If you work hard and play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed. Your ability to get ahead should be based on your hard work and ambition and who you want to be, not just the raw circumstance of who you are when you're born.

On Tuesday night, the President will lay out a set of real, concrete, practical proposals to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and empower all who hope to join it.

RSVP now and watch the enhanced State of the Union on WhiteHouse.gov this Tuesday night:

RSVP

In this year of action, the President will seek out as many opportunities as possible to work with Congress in a bipartisan way. But when American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, he will not wait for Congress.

President Obama has a pen and he has a phone, and he will use them to take executive action and enlist every American -- business owners and workers, mayors and state legislators, young people, veterans, and folks in communities from across the country -- in the project to restore opportunity for all.

It will be an optimistic speech. Thanks to the grit and determination of citizens like you, America has a hard-earned right to that optimism. Five years after the President inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, our businesses have created more than eight million new jobs in the past 46 months, and they're primed to create more.

With some action on all our parts, we can help more jobseekers find work, and more working Americans find the economic security they deserve. That's why, in the week following the speech, President Obama will travel to communities across the country -- including Prince George’s County Maryland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Nashville, before returning to the White House to outline new efforts to help the long-term unemployed.

You need to tune in on Tuesday -- because this is about you.

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Pfeiffer
Senior Advisor
The White House
@Pfeiffer44

P.S. -- Senior White House staff (myself included) will take to our computers and answer as many of your questions as we can the day after the big speech. We want you to be a part of it -- check it out now.

Visit WhiteHouse.gov/SOTU

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Seth's Blog : Measuring nothing (with great accuracy)

 

Measuring nothing (with great accuracy)

The weight of a television set has nothing at all to do with the clarity of its picture. Even if you measure to a tenth of a gram, this precise data is useless.

Some people measure stereo equipment using fancy charts and graphs, even though the charts and graphs say little or nothing about how it actually sounds.

A person's Klout score or the number of Twitter followers she has probably doesn't have a lot to do with how much influence she actually has, even if you measure it quite carefully.

You can't tell if a book is any good by the number of words it contains, even though it's quite easy and direct to measure this.

We keep coming up with new things to measure (like processor speed, heat output, column inches) but it's pretty rare that those measurements are actually a proxy for the impact or quality we care about. It takes a lot of guts to stop measuring things that are measurable, and even more guts to create things that don't measure well by conventional means.

       

 

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