Central Perk

luni, 11 martie 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

France Postpones Austerity and Deficit Targets for Rest of 2013

Posted: 10 Mar 2013 02:47 PM PDT

The following Eurostat chart shows that government spending in France accounting for close to 56% of GDP.

click on chart for sharper image

The above chart shows it's silly to propose France has been involved in any sort of genuine austerity program, yet that is precisely what the French Minister of the Budget suggests.

El Economista reports France defers further budget measures because of their recessionary impact.

The French Minister of Budget, Jérôme Cahuzac, acknowledged that new taxes or spending cuts have a recessionary effect in the short term and "Given the weakness of the current situation, further efforts are ruled ask the French in 2013," said Cahuzac in an interview published by Le Journal du Dimanche.

The 3% target was initially set for 2013, but the French government officially decided to postpone further action on account of the poor economic outlook.

Hollande stressed his project to achieve "zero deficit" by the end of his term in 2017, is still in place and that France's actions are "not to please the European Commission or the rating agencies, but to regain our sovereignty, alienated by markets in recent years."

Deficit Targets Impossible

France's budget deficit is currently 3.7% of GDP. Recall that budget deficits exceeding 3% is over treaty limits.

With Hollande at the Helm, any rational-thinking person understands the odds Hollande reduces the French budget deficit to zero by 2017 is roughly 0%.

Mired in a deep as well as deepening recession, France will not even reach its 3% target by the now revised 2014 date.

Hollande's statement that actions are needed "to regain our sovereignty, alienated by markets in recent years" qualifies as the joke of the day. The markets did not alienate France, but Hollande's ridiculous programs surely did.

The gig will be up as soon as the bond market targets France in a serious way.

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

Investigating Obama's Claim That Sequester Cuts Will Reduce Vaccinations For Kids

Posted: 10 Mar 2013 12:41 PM PDT

Check out this interesting video that dispels Obama hype that sequester cuts will reduce the number of vaccinations for kids.

The Blaze has a transcript in its report GOP Congressman Makes CDC Director Squirm After Confronting Him on Children's Vaccine Cuts.

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

duminică, 10 martie 2013

Damn Cool Pics

15 Years With The Big Lebowski [Infographic]
Top Business Majors [Infographic]
Ice Cream Cone Currency Calculator [Infographic]

15 Years With The Big Lebowski [Infographic]

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 08:18 PM PST

My puerile viewing eyes were privy to the story of "The Dude". A perpetual hippie with a penchant for Creedence Clearwater, bowling and for "White Russian" cocktails. I had little understanding of what a "Nihilist" was… but in the universe of "The Big Lebowski" they were funny as hell.

This week in March marks the 15th anniversary of the release of "The Big Lebowski". So we decided to contribute to "the Dude's" birthday the best way we know how, with the gift of an Infographic. But then we thought , why stop there?

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via: Wpromote

Top Business Majors [Infographic]

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 08:14 PM PST

What are the top business majors for 2013? Below you will find the 7 most popular areas of business study with details on classes, estimated salary range and the types of positions you might find with that degree. These are just a few of the areas you can focus on with your business degree to make yourself more valuable in the job market.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via: Potomac College

Ice Cream Cone Currency Calculator [Infographic]

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 08:10 PM PST

It is widely known to store owners and economists the world over that ice cream makes an effective "loss leader" in terms of what to sell to get people in the door. In a high traffic tourist destination, quite often you will see ice cream vendors selling their wares at less than market value so that buyers will browse around, casually eat their ice cream, and (hopefully) buy something else. Accordingly, many world travelers have caught on to this little trick of the trade and some will often use the cost of an ice cream cone to gauge the overall expense of traveling to a certain country. We decided to see how some of the more popular destinations around the globe stacked up side by side with our version of the "8 colors ice cream currency calculator" Enjoy!

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via: Kaiku Pre-Paid Visa Debit Cards

Just for You from YouTube: Weekly Update - Mar 10, 2013

Mihai T, check out the latest videos from your channel subscriptions for Mar 10, 2013. Play all »

"green coffee bean supplement"

+ 17 videos by missouri4451

Cyber Controll Download

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AMAZON SITES THAT MAKE MONEY Do It Right for 2013 WARRIORS LOVING IT...

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Rave

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Seth's Blog : Connected, portable or aware

Connected, portable or aware

There's a little bit of a rush to bring content into app form. It's so easy to make an ebook and cram it with videos, or to turn your how-to guide into something that looks slick on an iPad. I think of these electronic projects as the new coffee table books. Beautiful, but unfortunately, not widely read.

The problem is this: when you turn this work into an app or augmented ebook, you're not moving to a less crowded market, not moving to a place where you will earn more attention from strangers. In fact, unless your app is connected, portable and/or aware, the only people who are likely to use it are people who were already your fans. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, if that's your goal.)

Connected: the app works better when other people are also using it. Like the fax machine (what did the first owner of a fax do with it?), these apps have a hurdle at first, but get more and more appealing as the word spreads. Instagram and Twitter are connected.

Portable: sure, PDFs and paper books are portable, but there are certain forms of content where having the content in your pocket is really useful. I'd put frequently updated, timely content (like the weather) or content I'll need to refer to again and again on this list.

Aware: Our mobile devices know where we are, and in some cases, know what we've just done. Telematics opens the door to a huge number of breakthroughs, only a few of which we've seen exploited to date.

Slick is not the goal. I know that apps are shiny and new and sexy, but if your goal is impact, you'll need at least one of these three elements--or you're better off in a different format. More than a decade later, email and free-to-share digital text and video remain killer apps if you're trying to spread the word.

• Email to a friend •

sâmbătă, 9 martie 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Not Enough Fingers to Contain the Leak in the Dyke

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 04:31 PM PST

As I have repeatedly stated "Eventually, Will Come a Time When .... "a populist office-seeker will stand before the voters, hold up a copy of the EU treaty and (correctly) declare all the "bail out" debt foisted on their country to be null and void. That person will be elected."

Predicting when and where that happens is not easy. We have been following Greece, Spain, and Italy.

Could it be another country that gets the ball rolling? Actually, the most likely occurrence will be in a country that few are watching.

Please consider Dutch support EU referendum

Dutch lawmakers have been forced to debate a referendum on any further transfers of power to the EU after a citizens' petition demanding a plebiscite garnered 40,000 signatures in two weeks.

Although parliament is not obliged to follow through with legislation, the move underlines the surge euroscepticism in one of the EU's founding members, which could pose an obstacle to any further integration needed to bolster the eurozone.

Dutch lawmakers have been forced to debate a referendum on any further transfers of power to the EU after a citizens' petition demanding a plebiscite garnered 40,000 signatures in two weeks.

Although parliament is not obliged to follow through with legislation, the move underlines the surge euroscepticism in one of the EU's founding members, which could pose an obstacle to any further integration needed to bolster the eurozone.

Obligations? What Obligations?

Politicians are never under "obligation" to do anything. However, they are subject to voter backlash. In gerrymandered legislative districts in the US, voters do not have much of a chance.

Elsewhere, that is not necessarily the case as shown by the massive rise of support for comedian Beppe Grillo whose Five Star Movement is now the largest political party in Italy.

Justified Backlash

I am not the only one to note the justified backlash against the nannycrats. Pater Tenebrarum at the Acting Man Blog says a "storm is Brewing" in his article called Tone-Deaf Eurocrats

What makes Grillo suspect to the eurocratic elites is that he is an anti-establishment figure; that he doesn't regard euro membership as sacrosanct, and intends to increase the level of direct democracy in Italy. This is not to say that the man's economic policy ideas are necessarily better than what has been on tap so far, as he has a number of ideas that strike one as steeped in a kind of naïve romantic socialism.

The problem the EU faces is however that one cannot simply continue to ignore the increasing political backlash across Europe. In fact, Grillo's ascendance appears a relatively small problem compared to what could possibly happen if a few more years with no light at the end of the tunnel pass. Desperate people will eventually flock to anyone who promises them to shake off the yoke of EU diktats, and that could well lead to the baby being thrown out with the bathwater.

The central problem is then how exactly to achieve economic growth, and it can certainly not be achieved by deficit spending or manipulation of the money supply. There can be only one way: radical pro free market reform. Rehn and his colleagues in the eurocracy in the broader sense (i.e., including the national political leaders) must be prepared to surrender control and let the market economy work in as unhampered a manner as possible. The questions they should be asking themselves are: 'How can we do less? What regulations should be dismantled first? Which taxes and what spending can we cut as quickly as possible? What is the quickest way of replacing the the central bank directed banking cartel with free banking?'

Everything else is essentially a waste of time and effort, even if it should prove possible to kick the can down the road repeatedly. The current course is certainly fated to end in tears – eventually the political backlash will produce chaos, and usually chaos doesn't end well. As the protesters in Portugal have correctly intuited, it only tends to bring even worse snake oil sellers to power.

No Light at the End of the Tunnel

Pater wonders what might happen in a "few more years with no light at the end of the tunnel".

I rather doubt we get that far, and I am rather certain Pater would agree. Regardless, with all eyes now focused on Spain and Italy (way too late), it's time to move the spotlight to France and the Netherlands.

Eventually this mess is likely to blow sky high in multiple places at once. There are not enough fingers to contain the leak in this dyke.

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

15 Year Old Kid Develops Foolproof Test for Pancreatic, Ovarian and Lung Cancer; Test Costs 3 Cents, Takes 5 Minutes

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 09:14 AM PST

Here's an inspiring story for the weekend. Jack Andraka, a fifteen year old freshman in high school, developed a paper sensor that could detect pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer in five minutes for as little as 3 cents. He conducted his research at John Hopkins University.

Jack got the idea after a friend died of pancreatic cancer. His initial research started on Wikepedia, then after he had an idea, Jack approached 200 research labs. 199 labs turned him down. The 200th said "maybe".

Link if video does not play: Jack Andraka, My 3 Cents on Cancer

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

SEO Blog

SEO Apps for Android Phones

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 01:45 AM PST

SEO is one of the most heard words these days. This is a technique which is used for improving the websites and increasing the traffic to them and thereby increasing the traffic to them. There are a large number of SEO apps for android phones let us see some important...
Read more »