sâmbătă, 13 octombrie 2012

Seth's Blog : I've been remaindered

I've been remaindered

The true story of the Seth Godin Action Figure:

It's a joke. But it's a real product, with tongue in cheek.

It was all for charity (the Acumen Fund gets all my royalties). An old interview with all the details here, including narwhals.

Years and years ago, I suggested this project to my friends at Archie McPhee because they're brilliant and funny and I'm jealous of what they do all day. And they (after six months of trying to persuade other, better authors to say yes) agreed.

And now, years later, after thousands of these little guys were sold, we come to the end of the line. Action figures are falling out of favor, they say, and they need to make room for bacon mints and flying pigs. And there's only a thousand left. Is your dashboard bereft? Here's your chance.

You can get yours for about half price! Just type in the discount code: pokethebox when you order (they tell me this is only for US orders).

Thanks, guys. Archie McPhee made me small, plastic, articulated and delighted, all at the same time. Now I know how Mr. Bill feels.



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Weekly Address: One Million American Jobs Saved and a Stronger American Auto Industry

The White House Saturday, October 13, 2012
 

Weekly Address: One Million American Jobs Saved and a Stronger American Auto Industry 

President Obama talks about his choice to rescue the American auto industry from collapse and save more than one million American jobs.

Watch President Obama's weekly address.

Watch the Weekly Address


President Barack Obama tapes the Weekly Address in the State Dining Room of the White House, Oct. 12, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

In Case You Missed It

Here's a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov:

Honoring the Memory of César Chávez: On Monday, President Obama honored César Chávez, one of America's great civil rights leaders, and established the César Estrada Chávez National Monument in Keene, California.

The new national monument is located at Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz (La Paz) and includes Chávez' home, the headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and the Memorial Garden where Chávez is buried. On Monday, the site because the 398th unit of our National Park System. The President celebrated Chávez' commitment to our country, and remarked:

He believed that when a worker is treated fairly and humanely by their employer that adds meaning to the values this country was founded upon, and credence to the claim that out of many, we are one. And he believed that when a child anywhere in America can dream beyond her circumstances and work to realize that dream, it makes all our futures just a little bit brighter.
To learn more: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: The White House was illuminated pink on October 1 to mark the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month. In a Presidential Proclamation President Obama asked Americans to “honor those we have lost, lend our strength to those who carry on the fight, and pledge to educate ourselves and our loved ones about this tragic disease.” This month is also a time to recognize the importance of prevention and early detection in the fight against breast cancer.

During last year's Breast Cancer Awareness month, Dr. Jill Biden, Jennifer Aniston and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited Inova Breast Care Center in Virginia to meet with breast cancer survivors and discuss the role access to care has in breast cancer prevention. Watch the video here.

Celebrating the Power of Girls: The White House proudly joined the global community in marking the first-ever International Day of the Girl. Every year, on October 11, countries around the world will honor the importance of empowering girls to reach their full potential. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, spoke to a group of about 200 Girls Scouts at the State Department about raising the status of girls around world. Learn more about the International Day of the Girl.

Happy Birthday, Bo: On Tuesday, the Obama family dog—the most beloved pet at the White House—turned four years old. Check out some of our favorite moments with America's First Dog at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Seth's Blog : Civilization

Civilization

Given how essential it is to every aspect of our life, we spend very little time talking about or celebrating the civilized society we live in.

If civilization is stability, kindness, safety, the arts and a culture that cherishes more than merely winning whatever game is being played, we live in a very special time. There are certainly more people living a civilized life today than ever before in history. (And we still have a long way to go).

Given the opportunity, people almost always move from a place that's less civilized to one that's more civilized. Given the resources, we invest them creating an environment where we can be around people and events that we admire and enjoy. We move to places and cultures where we are trusted and where we are expected to do our share in return.

And yet...

There are always shortcuts available. Sometimes it seems like we should spend less money taking care of others, less time producing beauty, less effort doing the right thing--so we can have more stuff. Sometimes we're encouraged that every man should look out for himself, and that selfishness is at the heart of a productive culture. In the short run, it's tempting indeed to trade in a part of civilized humanity to get a little more for ourselves at the end of the day. And it doesn't work.

We don't need more stuff. We need more civilization. More respect and more dignity. We give up a little and get a lot.

The people who create innovations, jobs, culture and art of all forms have a choice about where and how they do these things. And over and over, they choose to do it in a society that's civilized, surrounded by people who provide them both safety and encouragement. I'm having trouble thinking of a nation (or even a city) that failed because it invested too much in taking care of its people and in creating a educated, civil society.

Your customers and your co-workers might be attracted to a Black Thursday rush for bargains and a dog-eat-dog approach to winning whatever game it is you're offering. But they come back because you respect them and give them a platform to be their best selves.



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vineri, 12 octombrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


IMF Admits It Prescribed Wrong Medicine; Is IMF Short for I Must Fail?

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:48 PM PDT

Courtesy of Steen Jokobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank in Denmark, here is an interesting article via email. Steen writes ...
Is IMF short for I must fail?

Fiscal Multipliers are wrong, IMF admits - the biggest macro story this year

The big story this week is the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) admission that the fiscal multiplier is not 0.5 percent but really 0.9-1.7 percent according to Financial Times article It's (austerity) Multiplier Failure

This is actually not just big news, but massive news! For the IMF to let alone realize and then admit this is central to the outlook for growth and fiscal deficits across all economies. Let's walk through the maths here:

The fiscal multiplier defines that 1 percent of austerity will net cost 0.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) - but now the IMF says it is higher. Hence, its whole approach of austerity at any cost is losing its academic as well as practical application.

If the fiscal multiplier is larger than 2.0 percent you have an extremely vicious circle. You are enforcing a diet which will kill the patient rather than heal him, as for every percent you reduce in spending you lose 2 percent in growth.

The bigger the hole you dig, the harder the climb back up! Do you think it is a random decision that the IMF made 1.7 percent the top of its range? Hardly!

The fact that only FT Alphaville in its "The IMF game changer" has spotted and written about this is close to being scandalous. It tells us that the Anglo Saxon press' need for supporting Keynesian initiatives (buying time, maximum interventions and pretend-and-extend) at all costs is done for political reasons rather than for finding real solutions to this crisis which is now spinning out of control as systemic risk is at an all-time high.

The IMF has increased the systemic risk by extending the payback period of central planners' calculations (much lower growth and higher fiscal/structural deficits). The market knew this, but it is such naive forecasts produced by the IMF which dictate policy recommendations for the debt crisis. The IMF is ironically seen as the 'expert' although it has experiences considerably more failure than success in its "helping efforts" - think Asian Crisis, Russia, EU debt crisis! The IMF is asking for your patience - extend-and-pretend squared is here!

It is sad that it took this long though! This has been discussed at length before by me (interview in April with TradingFloor.com), plus in the FT (whose writers deserve much credit). The most prominent voice on this topic has been Soc. Gen's excellent economic team led by Ms Michala Marcussen - who I happened to study with a couple of 'wars' ago at the University of Copenhagen.

What we need now is for policymakers to start producing credible forecasts which politicians cannot misuse. The IMF started this, so will the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England take note? Will the Congressional Budget Office in the US reduce its growth forecast? (See link for how this has been done in the past). Probably not, but the IMF's admission this week is a game changer. You can't save yourself to prosperity, not even in the eyes of central planners anymore! The IMF admission also proves what we have known for a long time: Macro stinks!

Finally, and most importantly, this creates a need for something new - which is the very theme I keep emphasizing. Let's work on creating the fundamentals for the micro economy which will create more jobs. The strongest multiplier, after all, remains taking one person out of the unemployment queue and putting them into a job. This reduces the subsidies needed as the person earns a taxable salary, is probably less ill, feels better, spends more etc. So the real challenge the IMF and other central planners need to realize is: You can help, but only by going away and taking a holiday. The S&P 500 (excluding financials) has a Return on Equity (ROE) in excess of 20 percent this year. It is based on an economy growing at 2.0 percent! So, do you need more proof?

President Clinton is in growth terms one of the most successful US presidents in history. What did he do politically for eight years - except for smoking cigars? Nothing! Belgium was without a government for almost two years and every single macro indicator improved during this spell. I rest my case! Let's have total radio silence for five years and we will all be in a better place!
Wrong Medicine

In terms of governments doing nothing for five years (as in no more stimulus) I am in agreement, if that is what Steen means (but I am not so sure that's precisely what he means).  Nonetheless, while were at it, let's get rid of Fed meddling as well.

As for the multiplier theory, the IMF is now saying it prescribed the wrong medicine. What was a .5 multiplier is now a range of .9 to 1.7. Anything close to or above 1 means austerity can never work.

No doubt, Krugman will be crowing "I  Told You So" over this, but there is not an Austrian economist anywhere that was in support of the massive tax hikes we have seen. Reduction in government spending was not the problem. Rather massive tax hikes and lack of badly-needed reforms was the problem.

Certainly what we know is austerity cannot work "as implemented" but I said that years ago. We have seen massive tax hikes and few work rule and pension reforms. We needed lower taxes,  less government, and massive work rule reforms (and still do).

Blaming the problems on "austerity" will get a lot of sympathy from Keynesian clowns, but they cannot distinguish good medicine from cow patties.

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


Bank of China Warns of Ponzi Schemes; China's Demographic Peak; Birth Rate Comparison China vs. US; "China Will Grow Old Before Growing Rich"

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 09:08 AM PDT

The Ponzi schemes and off-balance sheet loans in China's banking system are in the forefront of today's news. Reuters reports Bank of China executive warns of shadow banking risks
A senior Chinese banking executive has warned against the proliferation of off-book wealth management products, comparing some to a Ponzi scheme in a rare official acknowledgement of the risks they pose to the Chinese banking system.

China must "tackle" shadow banking, particularly the short term investment vehicles known as wealth management products, Xiao Gang, the chairman of the board of Bank of China, one of the top four state-owned banks, wrote in an op-ed in the English-language China Daily on Friday.

He warned of a mismatch between short-term products and the longer underlying projects they fund, adding that in some cases the products are not tied to any specific project and that in others new products may be issued to pay off maturing products and avoid a liquidity squeeze.

"To some extent, this is fundamentally a Ponzi scheme."
Yuan Loans Trail Estimates

Bloomberg reports Yuan Loans Trail Estimates as Wen Struggles for Rebound
China's new lending was below analysts' estimates last month as the government struggles to reverse a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy.

Banks extended 623.2 billion yuan ($99.5 billion) of local- currency loans, the People's Bank of China said on its website today. That compares with the median estimate of 700 billion yuan in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

China's central bank has cut interest rates and lenders' reserve requirements to spur lending, with economic growth sinking just as the Communist Party prepares for a once-a-decade leadership transition that starts next month. While local governments are rolling out plans for infrastructure spending, banks are wary of accumulating bad loans and have failed to make use of extra leeway for offering discounts to borrowers.

Premier Wen Jiabao is "risking handing over a sharply slowing economy to the next administration, a blemish to his otherwise great performance over the last ten years," said Liu Li-Gang, an economist in Hong Kong at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), who previously worked at the World Bank. Liu said the central bank needs to cut lenders' reserve requirements.
Korea Slashes Interest Rates

Business Insider reports Korea Slashes Interest Rates
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's central bank trimmed the key interest rate Thursday for a second time this year, as Asia's fourth-largest economy faces mounting threats from the protracted debt crisis in Europe and the slowing growth in the world economy.

Analysts expect that the Bank of Korea, which revised down its outlook for South Korea's economy to 3 percent in July, will further reduce its growth forecast for 2012 and 2013 in its scheduled announcement later in the day.
Singapore Economy Contracts

Business Standard reports Singapore Q3 economic growth slows.
Singapore's economy grew by 1.3 percent in the third quarter, slower than the 2.3 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

"On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy contracted by 1.5 per cent, compared to the 0.2 per cent expansion in the second quarter", the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said while releasing the advance GDP figures.

The Ministry also cautioned that growth could be weighed down by the subdued global economic conditions for the rest of the year.
Hong Kongs's July retail sales growth slows

China Daily reports HK's July retail sales growth slows
Retail sector to remain weak for rest of the year, analysts warn

The city's retail July sales value tumbled drastically as the local retail sales market was weighed by the global economic slowdown and the decrease in mainland tourists' spending. Economic analysts cautioned that the local retail sales will remain weak for the rest of the year.

Birth Rates of North America vs. Asia



Chart from Google World Indicators.

Birth Rates of US, UK, Australia, China, Canada, Korea, Germany



"China Will Grow Old Before Growing Rich"

My friend "BC" emailed the above links along with a few thoughts. "BC" writes.

Developmentally, China is where the US was in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and where Japan was in the late '60s and early '70s, but China does not have the luxury of growing supplies of $10-$15 oil as did Japan.

Banking crises historically occur following demographics-induced credit and unreal estate booms/bubbles. China, Australia, and Canada are next in line for an unreal estate bust and banking crisis.

Demographic drag effects will hereafter begin to occur in China, Korea, and the Asian city-states, especially for China after '14 into the mid- to late '20s. Attempts to increase lending and "stimulus" with a debt overhang will encounter the same structural demographic constraints as in Japan since the mid- to late '90s and the US since '08.

China's growth boom is over, which means that the same for Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

China will "grow old before growing rich".
Impact on Commodity Producers 

I am in general agreement with the thoughts expressed by "BC".

The impact on commodity exporters like Canada and Australia will be far, far greater than most realize. For further discussion, please see ...

12 Predictions by Michael Pettis on China; Non-Food Commodity Prices Will Collapse Over Next Three to Four Years; Nails in the Hard Landing Coffin?

Currency Wars, Commodity Prices and Capital Flight; China FDI Contracts 8.7% YoY, 8th Drop in 9 Months

Moreover, while the US is in the best shape demographically speaking, the overall picture is not especially pretty anywhere as retired boomers require medical benefits at an ever-increasing pace with real wages stagnant at best for those fresh out of college.

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

"Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish
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Greece Still the Word; Time is Still Money; Battle of Bailouts; Coca Cola, Greece's Biggest Company, Leaves

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:32 AM PDT

Germany and the IMF, which in recent past seemed ambivalent at best to keeping Greece in the eurozone, are suddenly acting as if Greece is a life-or-death matter.

First Merkel flew to Greece pledging solidarity, now the IMF chief Christine Lagarde seeks Two More Years For Greece.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde's declaration this morning that Greece should be given two more years to hit tough budget targets embedded in its €174bn bailout programme – coming fast on the heels of German chancellor Angela Merkel's highly symbolic trip to Athens – are the clearest public signs yet of what EU officials have been acknowledging privately for weeks: Greece is going to get the extra time it wants.

But what is equally clear after this week's pre-Tokyo meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg is there is no agreement on how to pay for those two additional years, and eurozone leaders are beginning to worry that the politics of the Greek bailout are once again about to get very ugly.

The mantra from eurozone ministers has been that Greece will get more time but not more money.
Time is Still Money

Quite frankly it is impossible to give Greece more time but not more money. The time value of interest payments is proof enough.

Ever late to the party, the IMF recently changed its 2013 Greek GDP projection from flat to negative 4%.

In my estimation, more downward revisions are coming, including Germany and France.

Battle of Bailouts

With every down-tick in GDP assume lower tax revenues. Will Greece ever get to a sustainable debt to GDP numbers?

Once again the answer is no, and this was perfectly obvious years ago.

Yet the IMF and ECB have stated they will not take write-downs. Peter Tchir discussed this in detail in his T-Report on Greece.

Here are some details from the report, with my additions in braces [] ...
Official Greek Debt is €288 billion. I don't think this includes every bilateral loan made by the EU and certainly doesn't deal with any national central bank loans.

It does include the entire Public Sector debt. The PSI bonds total just over €62 billion. There is about €4 billion of Greek legacy bonds documented under non-domestic law. So of the €288 billion, at most, €66 billion is held outside of the official sector.

[If Greece wiped out €66 billion] it would reduce debt from €288 billion to about €222 billion. From a practical standpoint it accomplishes next to nothing. It will save Greece about €1.25 billion annually in interest for the next 10 years. The annual savings for 10 years would be €1.25 billion for a total of €12.5 billion over the period. Who really believes Greece will make it 10 more years if all they get is a measly €1.25 billion [per year] in current savings.

While crushing the PSI bonds would do next to nothing for Greece's ability to survive in the near term, it would send shockwaves through the bond markets [especially Spain and Italy].

But what happens if the EU or the ECB or the EFSF actually have to take losses?

The ECB is highly levered. It cannot afford real losses without making capital calls. I cannot imagine the ECB making capital calls at the same time it embarks on OMT for Spain.

Hollande is passing implementing some bizarre budget of his own, but last thing he needs to do is cover a few billion of losses on existing loans to Greece. It is the only way to help Greece, but it will make the anti-bailout crowd more vocal.

Across Europe, the reluctance to participate in the bailouts has been increasing. Leaders may finally be realizing they have done too little, but their population (i.e., voters) has been growing more disillusioned and taking actual losses will add to that resistance.

So I see Greece as once again being a focal point for the crisis and think that just like their eventual default last year, there is no good path.
The Good Path

What Peter really means is there is no acceptable path to the Troika. An excellent path (for Greece) would be for Greece to default, tell the Troika to go to hell, wipe out all of the debt, return to the Drachma (backed by silver or gold), and institute badly-deeded work-rule reforms.

Since the Greek leaders are shills for the Troika while simultaneously attempting to appease public unions, what's needed is downright impossible as long as this set of politicians is in office.

In the meantime, debt escalates, unemployment soars, and Greece rots away.

Coca Cola, Greece's Biggest Company, Leaves

The idiots in Brussels and the IMF, hell-bent on "saving Greece" have helped destroy the country. On Thursday we learned Greece's Biggest Company Quits Country.
Greece's biggest company is leaving the country, drinks bottler Coca Cola Hellenic (CCH) said on Thursday in announcing it will move to Switzerland and list its shares in London, dealing a blow to the debt-crippled Greek economy.

"This transaction makes clear business sense," chief executive Dimitris Lois told analysts in a conference call. An overwhelming majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which has long complained about Greek taxes.
One of the Troika demands was higher taxes. Did it work?

Unemployment Tops 25%

On Thursday, we also learned Greek unemployment rate hits 25.1 percent in July as recession heads for sixth year.

Youth unemployment is 54% and jobs are vanishing at a rate of 1,000 per day for the last year. So now the IMF wants to give Greece more time, but not more money.

As explained above, that is impossible. More importantly, how could it possibly matter even if it was possible?

The bankers and the IMF helped destroy Greece. There is nothing left but ruins. And in the end, Greece is going to default on all the debt and exit the eurozone anyway.

Expect European taxpayers to foot the bill.

This is what happens when countries take money under onerous terms from the IMF. Spain should be paying attention, but it isn't.

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

"Wine Country" Economic Conference Hosted By Mish
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Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


50 Years Of James Bond Movie Posters

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:01 PM PDT

James Bond celebrates his 50th big screen birthday with the release of Skyfall later this year. Here we've got a complete collection of all 24 James Bond movie posters.

"Dr. No" (1962)


"From Russia With Love" (1963)


"Goldfinger" (1964)


"Thunderball" (1965)


"You Only Live Twice" (1967)


"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969)


"Diamonds Are Forever" (1971)



"Live And Let Die" (1973)


"The Man With The Golden Gun" (1974)


"The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)


"Moonraker" (1979)


"For Your Eyes Only" (1981)


"Never Say Never Again" (1983)


"Octopussy" (1983)


"A View To A Kill" (1985)


"The Living Daylights" (1987)


"License To Kill" (1989)


"Goldeneye" (1995)


"Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997)


"The World Is Not Enough" (1999)


"Die Another Day" (2002)


"Casino Royale" (2006)


"Quantum of Solace" (2008)


"Skyfall" (2012)


Fat Boy Turns Into Justin Bieber

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:21 AM PDT

17-year-old William Cookson's dream was to kiss a girl. He was fat and shy, and it looked like he would never find a girlfriend. One day William got an idea to look like Justin Bieber. If girls love Bieber, then they would love a boy who looks like Justin. William embarked on a strict diet and exercise program, lost weight. And it actually worked. As a result of the transformation, William has not only kissed a girl, he also had three serious relationships and a number of one-night stands.

























Via dailymail


The Health Hazards of Tablet Use [Infographic]

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 09:16 AM PDT

Tablets are being adopted for personal, professional, and educational use at an astounding rate. However, while they make our lives more mobile, convenient, and fun, tablet use can pose health hazards. A Harvard study revealed how to prevent injury with the increased use of tablets, which OnlineDegrees.org has compiled into this informative infographic.

Click on Image to Enlarge. The Health Hazards of Tablet Use
Via: OnlineDegrees.org


Martyn Ashton Road Bike Party [Video]

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 08:18 PM PDT


Trials rider Martyn Ashton, takes the £10k carbon road bike used by Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins & Mark Cavendish for a ride through some pretty awesome terrain. The Pinarello Dogma 2 in this video is the bike that won the 2012 Tour de France, and now it is pushed to new limits. Shot in various locations around the UK, the video features music from 'Sound of Guns' and captures some of the toughest stunts ever pulled on a carbon road bike. Check it out below!