marți, 10 iunie 2014

This is the first time the President has done this:

The White House Tuesday, June 10, 2014
 

This is the first time the President has done this:

President Lincoln had an open-door policy to the public. Visitors were constantly packed in the stairwells, crowding the hallways, and literally camping outside his office door.

President Jackson had a 1,400-pound block of cheese in his foyer, and any citizen was welcome to a chunk of it. (We're pretty sure you've heard from us about that one before.)

Fast forward to 2014, and that level of access hasn't changed -- it just looks a little different now. Case in point:

Yesterday, President Obama signed a memorandum to make federal student loan debt more affordable and manageable to repay. And today, for the first time ever, he is taking to Tumblr to answer questions that you -- Americans around the country, at desks and on buses and at dining room tables -- asked him about all things education.

You can watch him answer those questions today at 4 p.m. Eastern at whitehouse.tumblr.com -- and you should.

Because while we might not be able to pack everyone into the State Dining Room to watch the President respond in real life, Americans around the country will be able to see him respond to questions -- asked by people around the country -- in real time.

And we think that's pretty amazing.

Tune in today at 4 p.m. Eastern:

http://whitehouse.tumblr.com

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Publicat de 1 la 09:22 0 comentarii

Seth's Blog : It's not about you

 

It's not about you

Right in the front row, not four feet from Christian McBride, was every performer's bête noire. I don't know why she came to the Blue Note, maybe it was to make her date happy. But she was yawning, checking her watch, looking around the room, fiddling with this and that, doing everything except being engaged in the music.

McBride seemed to be too professional and too experienced to get brought down by her disrespect and disengagement. Here's what he knew: It wasn't about him, it wasn't about the music, it wasn't a response to what he was creating.

Haters gonna hate.

Shun the non-believers.

Do your work, your best work, the work that matters to you. For some people, you can say, "hey, it's not for you." That's okay. If you try to delight the undelightable, you've made yourself miserable for no reason.

It's sort of silly to make yourself miserable, but at least you ought to reserve it for times when you have a good reason.

       

 

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Publicat de 1 la 03:20 0 comentarii

luni, 9 iunie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Spanish 10-Year Bond Yield Lowest Since at Least 1789; Reflections on Absurd Risk Assumptions

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 08:47 PM PDT

Those searching for absurdity in government bonds can find it in a multitude of places.


For example, and via translation from Libre Mercado (courtesy of my friend Bran who lives in Spain) please note Spanish 10-Year Bond Yield is Lowest Since at Least 1789.
The interest rate offered on the secondary market for Spanish bonds maturing in ten years is at historic lows, below equivalent yield in U.S. treasuries, which has not happened since April 2010.

The evolution of Spanish debt is even more striking when viewed from a broader temporal perspective.



Today the Spanish 10-year bond is the lowest since at least 1789, the year of the French Revolution, as noted in the graph above. This is something unprecedented.
Great Bond Insanity

ZeroHedge picked up on this as well, in his post: The Great Insanity In Context (200 Years Of European Bonds), citing France and Italy as well as Spain.
As Deutsche's Jim Reid notes,

Draghi has certainly made a huge impact on financial markets as Friday saw some landmark levels hit across different assets.

Many European bond markets hit yield lows with quite a few hitting fresh multi-century all time lows and many others flirting close to them. 10 year French yields hit 1.654 intra-day which was the all-time low covering our entire data history back to 1746. 10 year Spanish yields also hit all time lows with our data going back to 1789. Italy has only been lower in yield for a few months in early 1945 (data back to 1808).
Reflections on Insane Risk Assumptions

Never has risk been so high and risk assumptions so low.

Spanish bonds are prices as if there is zero percent chance Spain leaves the Euurozone. Even if you believe the risk is low, I assure you it is non-zero.

And what about separatist movements in Spain. I guess that is a zero percent chance as well. It's the same for Italy. Apparently Beppe Grillo has a zero percent chance of getting his way in Italy.

Let's assume for a moment there is no chance of any of the above happening. What about further bailouts or more importantly bail-ins in Spain and Italy?

Are those zero percent risk as well? Apparently so.

Indeed, there is no risk anywhere in anything except gold, so go on margin and buy calls like the rest of the herd. You cannot lose (and that is exactly the same kind of central bank sponsored insanity that led to the housing crash and the global financial crisis).

I never thought it would come to this so soon again. How quick we all forget.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Steve Keen and Others Chime In On the Alleged Shortage of Skilled Workers; Musical Tribute

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 09:31 AM PDT

Here are a couple more interesting emails from readers in response to Is There a Shortage of Skilled Workers? My Own Personal Experiences.

Steve Keen Responds
Thanks mate--and you're spot-on.

People who suggest that education is the solution to unemployment, thus implying that it's the workers' fault  they're out of work, have no idea what is required to actually get an education or to work in the areas they're nominating as having "skill shortages". Most of these experts wouldn't know a skill if they fell over it.

I saw this all the time in the university sector. Bureaucrazy managers would waft away about "alternative modes of delivery" (a buzz-phrase from the late 1990s) as a way of reducing the costs of delivering tertiary education.

The amount of waste these morons generate as a result of their lack of knowledge of what skills really are is incredible. It's that and the burden of debt that explain the unemployment levels, not the inappropriate training of the workforce.

By the way, I've just been appointed Head of the School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University in London--totally unexpected since these positions virtually always go to Neoclassicals. But they have hired me specifically to make it into a center for alternative thought in economics. I'll start here in July.

Best, Steve
Congratulations and best wishes to Professor Steve Keen

Useless Degree Holder Chimes In

UDH writes ...
Hello Mish,

I have been a steady reader of your site for many years and have always found your analysis pragmatic. I initially jumped into a 4-year school right out of high school and due to unfortunate circumstances I had to withdraw during my first year due to medical reasons (completely resolved now). The following year I took general classes at my local community college meant to satisfy prerequisite courses while I determined which career path and major was the way to go.

Long story short I found out about the FAA CTI program, and coincidentally in my state there is a 2 yr college that offers the degree (most are 4 year degrees paired with airport management), which if you meet the FAA standards you are able to apply to Air Traffic Control hiring panels. I worked hard and completed the 2yr degree in just over a year with a 3.8 cumulative GPA and a perfect score on the FAA aptitude test. I spent money on tuition, room and board to do so, it wasn't terribly expensive but expensive nonetheless.

In 2012, the FAA scrubbed the group I was eligible for. Then in fiscal year 2013, the FAA instituted a hiring freeze. They hiring panels are now open to the general public, but CTI students will not get preference, effectively making my degree worthless.

That there is exponentially more competition and no way to stand out of the stack is daunting to say the least.

So now, I have a worthless degree and if I have to go back to school the only degrees I am interested in are  mainly focused around STEM career fields.

I have heard estimates that 70% of new jobs in STEM fields will come from Computer Science. Coincidentally I live in Seattle, Washington which is the Forbes #1 ranked city for starting a tech career. In addition, there are 1,566 graduates each year (2yr and 4yr) for computer science but on average 2,700 new jobs requiring a BS in CS in my state each year.

However the total cost for me to finish out a BS CS degree would be roughly 27k (at 3.5% interest) total in debt for tuition/fees and 3 years of my time and I would also have to cover my living costs. That is "option A."

"Option B" is to join the Navy as a Cryptologic Technician for Networks (6 year active duty commitment) primarily a shore based job, finish as much school as I can while in, get as many certifications toward Cyber Security that I can (CISSP, CEH etc). Apply to the Seaman to Admiral (STA-21) and hope for the best and at worst come out with 2 years of school left, significant savings in the bank, possibly veterans preference, post 9/11 GI Bill and 6 years of cyber security experience and a Top Secret Clearance.

The catch is most civilian Cyber Security jobs are in some form dependent on government contracts and funding, the total size of the career field is 1/3rd of the expected new jobs for software development in the next 10 years. In addition there is no guarantee as to where I will be stationed and what my specific duties will be. Communication security or signals analyst experience is far less useful than computer network security experience. And the ability to take classes varies where stationed. The list of possible complications is endless.

On the surface it appears that going back to school is the long term way to go because it has higher earning potential and more job prospects. Conversely the military route guarantees me "related" cyber security experience and guarantees my education/living will be paid for and the funding and ability to re-locate anywhere after my service which may prove limited considering the concentration of Cyber Security in Washington DC.

I would really appreciate your feedback/thoughts if you have the time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you!

Useless Degree Holder
Difficult Choice

In subsequent correspondence UDH stated he would only have to sign up for four years but "they really push people toward 6 year contracts".

I would not relish the choice of becoming a debt slave or joining the navy. I certainly would not fit in.

And I wonder how many do not really fit in, but select that option anyway.

The pressure to join the service must be intense on some folks who see no other realistic option of getting a college education.

Not to make light of this difficult choice, I do have a musical tribute.

In The Navy - The Village People



Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
Publicat de 1 la 23:21 0 comentarii

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

The Town with the Most Polar Bears

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 11:54 AM PDT

Do you want to see a polar bear up close? Just make your way to Churchhill, Manitoba. They've got more than a few polar bears living in town.





















Source

A Harsh Penalty for People Disobeying the No Parking Signs

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 09:48 AM PDT

These people all parked outside a city hospital in Russia and ignored the no parking signs around the area. They probably ended up really regretting it.


















Can You Name This Actor?

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 09:08 AM PDT

Do you know who this actor is? He's world famous and he's also a master of disguise. Who is it?






















He is actually very famous but it is hard to see here that this is actually Johnny Depp in character on the set of "Black Mass" where he is playing a famous Boston gangster.
 
Publicat de 1 la 19:42 0 comentarii
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