Central Perk

luni, 15 august 2011

President Obama Kicks Off Economic Bus Tour

Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, August 15, 2011

President Obama Kicks Off Economic Bus Tour

Today, President Obama heads to Cannon Falls, Minnesota at the first stop of a three day tour of the Midwest. The President will hear directly from the American people in a town hall on the vital role rural America plays in ensuring the growth of our economy, the affordability of our food, and the independence of our energy supply.

Learn more about about the President's trip.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama meets with senior advisors in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Aug. 12, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Seth's Blog : Dig yourself a hole

Dig yourself a hole

Make big promises.

Burn your boats.

Set yourself up in a place where you have few options and the stakes are high.

Focused energy and serious intent will push you to do your best work. You have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. (Better than the alternative).

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duminică, 14 august 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

"Made-in-China" Only 2.7% of U.S. Spending; Really? What Does It Mean? Inflationists Take Note
Spain Pressured by Letter from Trichet; More on Agricultural Trade Wars; Which Comes First, Harmony or Workable Currency Unions?
Swiss Government and Swiss National Bank in "Intense" Talks on Currency Target for Swiss Franc; Talk is Cheap
Growing Gloom for States and Cities; Who is to Blame? What About Solutions?
Stanford Offers Free Robotics and Artificial Courses; 10,000 Already Sign Up

"Made-in-China" Only 2.7% of U.S. Spending; Really? What Does It Mean? Inflationists Take Note

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 10:44 PM PDT

For all the political bickering and scapegoating of China, 'Made in China' ranks only 2.7% of U.S. spending

Convinced that everything you buy these days has a Made-in-China label?

Then you aren't paying attention. Things made in the U.S.A. still dominate the American marketplace, according to a new study by economists at the San Francisco Federal Reserve.

Goods and services from China accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. personal consumption spending in 2010, according to the report titled "The U.S. Content of 'Made in China.' " About 88.5% of U.S. spending last year was on American-made products and services.

"On average, of every dollar spent on an item labeled 'Made in China,' 55 cents goes for services produced in the United States," the report said.

It would have been nice to have a link to the Fed report. Missing links is one of my pet peeves. News organizations in general only link to themselves. So do many bloggers. I am tired of it.

Let's do our own report instead.

US GDP

On July 29, 2011 the BEA gave the Gross Domestic Product: Second Quarter 2011 (Advance Estimate) as follows "Current-dollar GDP -- the market value of the nation's output of goods and services -- increased 3.7 percent, or $136.0 billion, in the second quarter to a level of $15,003.8 billion."

China Trade

On August 11, 2011 the US census bureau reported Goods and Services Deficit Increases in June 2011

The Nation's international trade deficit in goods and services increased to $53.1 billion in June from $50.8 billion (revised) in May, as exports decreased more than imports.

Balance of Trade

China's portion of the trade deficit was $26.7 billion.

Goods by Geographic Area (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

The goods deficit with Canada increased from $2.7 billion in May to $2.8 billion in June. Exports decreased $0.3 billion (primarily fuel oil, passenger cars, and fertilizers) to $24.2 billion, while imports decreased $0.1 billion (primarily nonmonetary gold, petroleum products, and fertilizers) to $27.1 billion.

The goods deficit with China increased from $25.0 billion in May to $26.7 billion in June. Exports decreased $0.1 billion (primarily raw cotton, passenger cars, and pulpwood and woodpulp) to $7.7 billion, while imports increased $1.6 billion (primarily computers, apparel, and household goods) to $34.4 billion.

The goods deficit with Japan increased from $2.6 billion in May to $4.0 billion in June. Exports decreased $0.3 billion (primarily generators, fish and shellfish, and metallurgical grade coal) to $5.4 billion, while imports increased $1.1 billion (primarily passenger cars, computer accessories, and photo equipment) to $9.5 billion.

To do calculate the percentage, we need total imports from China, not the trade deficit. That number is $34.4 billion.

Let's Do The Math

$34.4 billion is the latest monthly import total from China. The yearly total at the same rate is $412.8 billion.
USD GDP annualized is $15,003.8 billion.
412.8 ÷ 15,003.8 = 0.02751303

I calculate 2.75%. The reported 2.7% is close enough. Revisions or rounding errors can easily account for the difference.

Regardless, that is how the number was derived.

San Francisco Fed Report

Having done the math (still peeved at missing links), I just found the San Francisco Fed report The U.S. Content of "Made in China".

Goods and services from China accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. personal consumption expenditures in 2010, of which less than half reflected the actual costs of Chinese imports. The rest went to U.S. businesses and workers transporting, selling, and marketing goods carrying the "Made in China" label. Although the fraction is higher when the imported content of goods made in the United States is considered, Chinese imports still make up only a small share of total U.S. consumer spending. This suggests that Chinese inflation will have little direct effect on U.S. consumer prices.

In our analysis, we combine data from several sources: Census Bureau 2011 U.S. International Trade Data; the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010 input-output matrix; and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by category from the U.S. national accounts of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. We use the combined data to answer three questions:

• What fraction of U.S. consumer spending goes for goods labeled "Made in China" and what fraction is spent on goods "Made in the USA"?

• What part of the cost of goods "Made in China" is actually due to the cost of these imports and what part reflects the value added by U.S. transportation, wholesale, and retail activities? That is, what is the U.S. content of "Made in China"?

• What part of U.S. consumer spending can be traced to the cost of goods imported from China, taking into account not only goods sold directly to consumers, but also goods used as inputs in intermediate stages of production in the United States?

Total import content of U.S. PCE

Not all goods and services imported into the United States are directly sold to households. Many are used in the production of goods and services in the United States. Hence, part of the 88.5% of spending on goods and services labeled "Made in the USA" pays for imported intermediate goods and services. To properly account for the share of imports in U.S. consumer spending, it's necessary to take into account the contribution of these imported intermediate inputs. We use input-output tables to compute the contribution of imports to U.S. production of final goods and services. Combining the imported share of U.S.-produced goods and services with imported goods and services directly sold to consumers yields the total import content of PCE.
Broader implications

The import content of U.S. PCE attributable to imports from China is useful in understanding where revenue generated by sales to U.S. households flows. It is also important because it affects to what extent price increases for Chinese goods are likely to pass through to U.S. consumer prices.
China's 2011 inflation rate is close to 5%. If Chinese exporters were to pass through all their domestic inflation to the prices of goods they sell in the United States, the PCE price index (PCEPI) would only increase by 1.9% of this 5%, reflecting the Chinese share of U.S. consumer goods and services. That would equal a 0.1 percentage point increase in the PCEPI. The inflationary effects would be highest in the industries in which the share of Chinese imports is highest—clothing and shoes, and electronics. In fact, recent data show accelerating price increases for these goods compared with other goods.
However, it does not seem that so far Chinese exporters are fully passing through their domestic inflation. In May 2011, prices of Chinese imports only increased 2.8% from May 2010. This is partly because a large share of Chinese production costs consists of imports from other countries. Xing and Detert (2010) demonstrate this by examining the production costs of an iPhone. In 2009, it cost about $179 in China to produce an iPhone, which sold in the United States for about $500. Thus, $179 of the U.S. retail cost consisted of Chinese imported content. However, only $6.50 was actually due to assembly costs in China. The other $172.50 reflected costs of parts produced in other countries, including $10.75 for parts made in the United States.
Figure 2
Geography of U.S. PCE, 2010

Figure 2 shows the share of U.S. PCE based on where goods were produced, taking into account intermediate goods production, and the domestic and foreign content of imports. Of the 2.7% of U.S. consumer purchases going to goods labeled "Made in China," only 1.2% actually represents China-produced content. If we take into account imported intermediate goods, about 13.9% of U.S. consumer spending is attributable to imports, including 1.9% imported from China.
Since the share of PCE attributable to imports from China is less than 2% and some of this can be traced to production in other countries, it is unlikely that recent increases in labor costs and inflation in China will generate broad-based inflationary pressures in the United States.

No Excuse for Missing Link

Given that the article is readily available, there is no excuse for the LA Times' failure to link to it.

Generally, in cases like this, I ignore the superfluous article and instead go straight to the source. However, I have had enough of link suppression and am calling the LA Times on it.

Bloomberg authors take note. I nearly wrote the same about you a few days ago but was too busy. Fellow bloggers, watch what you are doing. I despise snips like "Reuters Says" with no link. Worse yet are instances where I cannot even find the quote when I search for it.

Inflationists Take Note

Moreover, in this instance, the LA Times author missed the most important implication of the report, which is "Chinese inflation will have little direct effect on U.S. consumer prices."

I concur with the San Francisco Fed conclusion.

Interestingly, the San Francisco Fed report did not show the direct math either. Now you know how to do it.

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

Spain Pressured by Letter from Trichet; More on Agricultural Trade Wars; Which Comes First, Harmony or Workable Currency Unions?

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 07:12 PM PDT

Not only was Italy pressured by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, so was Spain. Courtesy of Google Translate, El Pais reports Trichet Pressures Spain in Letter.

The ECB makes recommendations to Spain in a less hard than Italy, in return for the purchase of debt.

The announcement of the budget measures made on Sunday by Finance Minister, Elena Salgado, was preceded by increased pressure on Spain by the European Central Bank (ECB). Its president, Jean-Claude Trichet, last week sent a letter to the Spanish government to ask him not to stop the reforms and measures to contain the deficit. The letter, whose contents are discussed in the meeting of the ECB governing council meeting on Thursday, August 4, left Frankfurt at the same time as the letter that led to the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step on the accelerator of its fiscal reforms.

Does anyone think these were "recommendations" and not demands?

For a discussion on the letter to Italy, please see my previous post Trichet's Secret "Dragon Transfer" Letter to Italy PM; Watch France CDS Rates as France is "New Italy"; Trichet Illegally Usurps Judge-and-Jury Power

Agricultural Trade Wars Part Two

As a followup to Border Attacks: Spanish Farmers Threaten to Block Border with France; Global Trade Wars Yet Another Sign of Deflation here are more articles and images of the escalating agricultural trade wars between France and Spain.

Angry French Farmers Dump Spanish Peaches, Burn Tires

Via French to English translation, please consider The anger of farmers

Big day mobilization fruit and vegetable department. Objective of the mobilization: to maintain pressure on the government Tuesday after an action in the Gard region, where several trucks carrying merchandise Spanish saw their cargo spilled on the road.

Angry farmers are then directed to the St. Charles market, where they dumped tons of peaches and then burned tires at the roundabout at the entrance of the platform.

"This is a Spanish enclave on French soil. They betrayed us under the pretext of winning even more. After the intervention of firefighters to put out different fires, farmers are directed to the toll of Perpignan Sud to control several trucks coming out of St. Charles. One of them took the road to Germany was emptied on the floor by young farmers, especially put together. "We're not bandits and we have nothing against Spanish producers, but the merchandise that was found in the truck does not respect the rules especially for fisheries that are surcalibrées. Since the state does not respect the rules, they did their job."

Should we nationalize supermarkets?

You know trade wars are intense when you see questions like this in French headline news: Should we nationalize supermarkets?

Yesterday, at the toll Lancon, motorists could not believe their eyes. Fifty people brutally emptied the cargo trucks to foreign registrations. These people, it is the farmers of Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Gard that have exploded in anger.

Low price for sale result of distortion of competition in their view by large retailers, more and more taxes to pay, and especially a flood of imported fruits and vegetables too important. These are the arguments of those farmers to explain the "unprecedented crisis" that they live this year.

"All agricultural sectors are affected, including fruits and vegetables. The retail products brought in from Spain and Italy among others. The labor is cheaper in these countries with low prices.

French farmers have to lower their prices by at least 20, 30 and even 40% to sell. Currently, the loss of gross turnover rises 25 to 50 according to the operation, "said Andre Bernard, president of the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions of the Vaucluse.

Thus, to fight against the importation, the farmers of Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Gard, framed by the police, conducted a blitz by immobilizing all foreign trucks trying to cross the toll of Lancon, creating a cap of more than 5 km.

Manuel, a Spanish driver, despite his resistance, has seen its 24 tons of crushed nectarines on the tar. "It's incomprehensible, Manuel gets mad, I understand that the French production has problems, but why attack me? I do my job."

Within 45 minutes, farmers have drained three-truck trailers full of peaches, oranges, figs and pears. "The loading of these trucks is one year of work for one local farmer. And it's not for us we buy the products, carried away the chair 84 of the FNSEA. Now, that's enough. We ask to meet with government to develop a structure plan to save the profession. "

Which Comes First, Harmony or Workable Currency Unions?

While pondering the meaning of escalating trade wars between France and Spain, please consider this excerpt from When money brought us together

The dream that a common currency can foster harmony has a long history. But if the past is any guide, proponents of the euro may have it backward: Where money is concerned, harmony has to come first. You can't create a currency to unite people; you must unite people in order to have a currency. Given the growing tensions between the members of the eurozone, that unity, like de Parieu's dream of "pacific federations of the future," seems more distant by the day.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Swiss Government and Swiss National Bank in "Intense" Talks on Currency Target for Swiss Franc; Talk is Cheap

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 03:46 PM PDT

Bloomberg reports Franc Weakens Against Dollar, Euro After Report Currency Target Discussed

The franc weakened after SonntagsZeitung reported over the weekend that the Swiss government and the central bank are in "intense" talks over setting a possible target for the currency, citing unidentified people close to the situation.

Talk is Cheap

OK, once you decide a target, how do you get it there? I addressed that question previously in Swiss Central Bank Ponders "Temporary" Peg to Euro; Franc Trades Sharply Lower; This a Bluff? What Does it Take to Maintain a Peg?

Is the Threat a Bluff?

Just because someone discusses something does not mean the discussion was serious. We cannot tell.

However, we do know what a currency peg requires: To maintain a currency peg, one must buy (or sell) virtually unlimited quantities of a foreign currency, as much as the market supplies, to maintain the desired conversion rate.

Interest rate policy works the same way. To maintain an interest rate target, the Fed (or any central bank in general) must supply or subtract unlimited amounts of currency to maintain its target interest rate. This happens continually.

If the rate is targeted lower than what the market thinks, the Fed or Central Bank must print enough money to keep the target. Likewise, if the Fed sets a rate higher than the market dictates, it must drain as much money as necessary to keep rates to the peg.

Does anyone really think this continual micro-manipulation of currency to maintain an arbitrary interest rate (set by central planners who do not know what they are doing) is a good idea?

Currency Peg Risks

Back to the Swiss Franc: A currency peg is much riskier, because the defense is not in relation to its own currency as it is with interest rates. Moreover, one might expect wild swings and an immediate snap-back once the peg is removed. Thus "temporary" might mean for as long as the Euro crisis continues, and that might be a very long "temporary".

Finally, note the relative size of Switzerland vs. all the Eurozone countries. Buying "unlimited" Euros could rapidly get out of hand.

China goes through the same setup to maintain its "widening" peg to the US dollar. However, China does not allow much external trade of the Yuan.

The above discussion does not answer the bluff question, but it does state what the parameters of the defense must be. All things considered, I do believe it is a bluff.

Let's return to the question: Is it a Bluff? I still don't know but now I think it's more likely than I previously thought.

Bear in mind, setting a target and hoping the market reacts to it, and officially setting a peg are different things. However, once bureaucrats start marching down a certain path it is hard to get them to stop, no matter how futile the march.

I have never seen currency intervention work. It's hard enough if you are a large country, but the size difference in economies and forex trading says the idea cannot work unless the target just happens to be at or near where the market thinks it should be.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Growing Gloom for States and Cities; Who is to Blame? What About Solutions?

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 11:29 AM PDT

A New York Times article accurately describes a set of fiscal realities in Sunday's editorial A Growing Gloom for States and Cities. The New York Times wildly misses the mark as to who is to blame for this crisis.

NYT: Washington should have been trying to find a way to help states avoid the layoffs and cutbacks that have contributed heavily to the high unemployment rate. Instead, it seems to be doing everything possible to make the situation worse in state capitals around the country.

Mish: That is essentially correct (except the implied tone). I proposed three items that would most assuredly help cities and states. Once again, here they are.

Scrap Davis-Bacon and all prevailing wages laws that force up costs of construction and other projects at the city, county, state and federal level.

End Collective Bargaining of public unions. Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin shows the dramatic results that can happen if this is done. School districts that had budget deficits hugely in the read, saw them immediately go into the green, and not even for reasons that one might think. I wrote about it in Union-Busting is a "Godsend"; Elimination of Collective Bargaining is the Single Best Thing one Can do for School Kids

Pass national right-to-work laws. Again this will help cash-strapped cities, counties, and states that have to deal with union-mandated pricing instead of competitive pricing. The goal of government should be to provide the most benefit for the least cost. The goal of unions is to provide as little work as possible for the most cost. It's time we end that model.

We can easily avoid the layoffs the NYT mentions if public unions accepted lower wages. They won't. Instead, unions cannibalize younger workers for the sake of maintaining preposterous wages and benefits at the top vs. wages and benefits in the private sector.

Point blank, the public is fed up with higher taxes to support public unions who get vastly superior wages, benefits, and guarantees than they do.

NYT: A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that nearly all states will spend less on vital services in 2012 than they did in 2008, after inflation, even though there are more children in public schools and more poor people on the Medicaid rolls.

Mish: Sounds like a good idea to me. We have overpaid for services delivered. My proposals above will help address that issue.

NYT: And now comes the Budget Control Act of 2011, the deal reached in Congress to cut $2.4 trillion over the next decade in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Although the deal could have been worse and was structured by White House negotiators to reduce the impact on safety-net programs like Medicare and Medicaid, it will do real damage at the state and local level.

Mish: The budget deal could hardly have been worse. There were no spending cuts, tax hikes, or reforms in the measure. The only agreement was to cut a lousy $2.4 trillion ($240 billion a year), all back loaded, not Congressionally binding, when the budget deficit is $1.4 to $1.6 trillion a year. How could it possibly have been worse?

NYT: The credit downgrade that resulted from the debt crisis has yet to directly affect state and city bonds, many of which are now absurdly rated higher than Treasury bonds, but credit scrutiny will only get stricter for already weakened states and cities.

Mish: I certainly agree it is absurd for city and state bonds to be rated higher than US treasuries. However, the S&P downgrade of the US was fully warranted, even if the S&P went about it in a horrendously sloppy manner. Moreover, increased scrutiny of city and state bonds is a fabulous thing. They are living beyond their means and accurate bond ratings can only help.

NYT: If investors start to get nervous about the public sector, borrowing costs could go up. Stock volatility is also taking a toll on state pension funds, which are often heavily invested in the market. Last Monday, when the Dow Jones fell by more than 600 points, the California retirement system lost $6 billion. Declines in the market also lower income tax revenues for state coffers.

Mish: It is the height of absurdity to manage interest rates, bond ratings,etc. for the benefit of the stock market. The fact of the matter is stocks are priced for perfection and they should fall because perfection is not on the way. Thus, the NYT is openly encouraging bubbles to bail out pension plans.

I have a better idea: Let's start tackling the idea that promises to public union workers and government workers are untenable and need to be reduced.

Come to think of it I need to add point 4 to my list. Here it is.

4. Immediately kill defined benefit plans for government workers and accept the idea that promised benefits will be reduced voluntarily or via bankruptcy.

NYT: The Republicans who produced this artificial crisis, and are responsible for its effects, say they would like nothing more than to see a reduction in state as well as federal spending. That is where government hits closest to home, affecting the size of classrooms, the bulbs in streetlights, the asphalt in potholes, and the lines in emergency rooms.

They are well on their way to achieving their goal, making life more difficult in every city and town.

Mish: That is one of the biggest pieces of nonsense in the entire article, chock full of complete nonsense.

It certainly is not Republicans who support Davis-Bacon, Collective Bargaining for public unions, or forced union employment against the free-will of employees. Indeed forced union employment is tantamount to forced slavery.

I discussed the slavery aspect of forced union membership many times. Here are a pair of articles to consider:

Paul Krugman, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, others, Ignore Extortion, Bribery, Coercion, and Slavery; No One Should Own You!

Professor at Alaska University Chimes in on Public Unions and the Situation in Wisconsin

Thus, not only does ridding the US of collective bargaining for public unions and instituting national right-to-work laws make economic-sense, it also makes moral-sense.

However, there is plenty of blame for Republicans too. They failed to put these issues on the table. Republicans and Democrats alike refuse to do anything about bloated defense budget that could easily be cut in half at no expense to the security of the US. Indeed, if the US stopped trying to be the world's policeman, our security concerns and enemy list would plunge.

Cutting the defense budget by a mere 25% would save at least $2 trillion over 10 years. Sadly, both parties support unsustainable US war-mongering policies.

So, yes, I blame Republicans too, but 180 degrees removed from what the Times suggests. Finally, it is primarily Democrat support for unions and untenable union pensions that is at the heart of the crisis in city, state, and municipal governments.

There is plenty of blame to go around, let's recognize all of it, and for the right reasons.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Stanford Offers Free Robotics and Artificial Courses; 10,000 Already Sign Up

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 09:47 AM PDT

In the realm of good (as well as deflationary) news You (YOU!) Can Take Stanford's 'Intro to AI' Course Next Quarter, For Free

Stanford has been offering portions of its robotics coursework online for a few years now, but professors Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig are kicking things up a notch (okay, lots of notches) with next semester's CS221: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. For the first time, you can take this course, along with several hundred Stanford undergrads, without having to fill out an application, pay tuition, or live in a dorm.

This is more than just downloading materials and following along with a live stream; you're actually going to have to do all the same work as the Stanford students. There's a book you'll need to get. There will be at least 10 hours per week of studying, along with weekly graded homework assignments. The professors will be available to answer your questions. You can look forward to a midterm exam and final exam. If you survive, you'll get a certificate of completion from the instructors, along with a final grade that you can compare to the grades of all those supersmart kids at Stanford.

You won't technically earn credits for the course unless you're a Stanford student, but for all practical purposes, you'll be getting the exact same knowledge and experience -- transmitted directly to you by none other than two living Jedis of modern AI. Thrun, director of the Stanford AI Lab, led the team that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, and, more recently, he helped develop the Google self-driving car. Norvig, a former scientist at Sun and NASA, is now director of research at Google and co-author of the leading textbook on AI.

10,000 have already signed up, and there is no limit.

Parents, if you have kids in high school, I encourage you to have them take this course. It may change their career plans for the better. For signup information and more details, please see the opening link.

I applaud the professors for offering these courses for free. Since the materials will be graded, college credits should apply but they don't. It's a start.

Addendum:

10,000 had signed up according to the article. The number is currently 56,000 and counting in various free courses. Here is a list of Free Stanford Courses

Some objected to the $58 (discounted) cost of the required book.

Here's the deal. Paying $58 for a book is peanuts compared to cost of 3 semester hours. Of course (and as I have pointed out) credits are not given for the free course. They will. Eventually, some college will get accredited and will accept these courses. It is inevitable.

This is a far better development than the failed policy "no child left behind" or raising taxes to throw at teachers' unions. Indeed, this is the future of education and it is very deflationary.

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

Seth's Blog : The inevitable outcome of marketing fear

The inevitable outcome of marketing fear

Years ago, the authorities decided that a key weapon in the war on terror (sic) would be to make people more afraid.

Two reasons for this: if you make potential bad guys afraid, they might not move up and graduate to become actual bad guys, and second, if something does go wrong (and of course, things always go wrong), at least it looks like you were trying.

And so an infrastructure is built in which photographers are detained, in which expensive scanners that don't work are installed and in which people believe they are doing their job when they engage in the fear mongering part of the work without paying attention to the actual inspecting and crime fighting part.

At the airport on Thursday, a colleague of mine was detained by two armed police officers because he took a picture (out the observation window!) of a sunset. And when I politely declined to go through the magic scanner, I was put through the regular (inferior?) scanner, detained, carefully searched and basically encourged not to do it again.

Of course, the hard-working folks doing the detaining feel like they're doing their job. It's easy to measure. It's in the manual. It feels like progress. It's actually a cargo cult, though, the sort of thing an organization does to simulate progress when it's actually distracting itself from the mission at hand.

Fear can be used as a tactic, but it's almost never the end goal of marketing. The problem with using it as a tactic is that it's so easy to do, organizations almost always forget the real point of the exercise.

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Seth's Blog : The filter hierarchy

The filter hierarchy

There's more information, provocations, riffs, causes, meetings, opportunities, viral videos, technologies and policies coming at you than ever.

So, how do you rank the incoming? How do you decide what to expose yourself to next?

Email from your boss
Personal note from a good friend
Three or four recommendations from trusted colleagues, each with the same link
A trending topic on Twitter
The latest on Reddit
Phone call from your mom
File on the intranet you're supposed to read before the end of the week
Spam email from a stranger
Tenth note from Eddie Bauer, this one to an email address you haven't used in a year
Post on Google + from a friend of a friend
Facebook update from someone you haven't seen in ten years
Angry tweet from someone you've never met
Commercial on the radio that's playing softly in the background
Email from someone who had your back one day when it really and truly mattered
!!!urgent marked email from the HR department about the TPS reports
Text message on your phone from your husband
Phone message from the kid's principal
Tweet from the handler of a celebrity who is pretending to be the celebrity
Story that's repeated endlessly on cable news because a producer thought it would get good ratings
Handwritten love note from a current crush
New review in the Times of a restaurant you happen to be going to tonight
Obviously bulk snail mail from a charity you donated to three years ago
Latest volley in a flame war
Blank sheet of paper quietly waiting for your next big innovation
Comment on a blog post you wrote three days ago
New post by your favorite blogger, delivered via RSS
Book in the bookstore, next to the cash register
Newest negative review of your business on Yelp
Movie playing across town
TV commercial on a show you've got on your DVR
Book on the back shelf of a bookstore, newly put there yesterday by the manager, who doesn't know what you like
Tweet from someone who really, really wants you (and everyone else) to follow her
Rebecca Black's new video
Sales pitch on your voicemail

Which of these are required reading for a productive member of society or a good employee or an informed citizen? Which do you do out of habit? Are you assuming that your habits are the norm, and that others have an obligation to pay attention to what you pay attention to? Should there be symmetry--is it logical to only engage with people who prioritize their filters the same way you do?

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sâmbătă, 13 august 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Spain Cannot Pay €26 Billion Defense Budget, Effectively Issues IOUs to Keep Within Stated Austerity Measures
Border Attacks: Spanish Farmers Threaten to Block Border with France; Global Trade Wars Yet Another Sign of Deflation
Numerous Spanish Towns Face Bankruptcy
U.S. Circuit Judge Upholds Right of Two US Citizens, Tortured in Iraq, to Sue Former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for Torture
Numerous Spanish Towns Face Bankruptcy
UK Chancellor, Italy Economy Minister Propose "Outright Fiscal Union" and Common Bonds

Spain Cannot Pay €26 Billion Defense Budget, Effectively Issues IOUs to Keep Within Stated Austerity Measures

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 10:05 PM PDT

If you need proof that Spain cannot possibly stay within austerity limits mandated by the ECB, please consider the following Google Translation (modified by me for readability) of an article on El Pais: Defense Department Renegotiating a 26 Billion Debt it Cannot Afford to Pay

If the homeowner stops paying the mortgage, the bank will not hesitate in foreclosure. But if the Ministry of Defence does not pay the installments of a battleship, a tank or a fighter, who will dare to seize?

The situation may seem surreal, but it is real.

Principle Programs

The overall bill called special programs of weapons - 19 weapons systems that mostly incorporate new technologies - totals 30 billion, around 3% of Spanish GDP, of which Defence has so far paid just under 5 billion.

Companies should be paid the remaining 26 billion in installments through 2025, but defense officials themselves acknowledge that this is impossible without a drastic increase in the budget, which is unthinkable that Spain has set a priority to reduce the deficit 6% at the end of this year and 3% in 2013 (with 2010 data, the deficit of all government is 9.2% of GDP).

Already in 2011 the Ministry of Defence has been in serious trouble to meet their obligations.

It's a cyclical problem but the situation is worse in the future. Defence sources said they would not have enough money even if there were no additional expenditures through 2025.

In his appearance before Congress last October to present the budget this year, Secretary of State for Defence, Constantino Mendez , already referred to in the starkest terms the policy has led to this situation. "We should not have purchased weapons we are not going to use for scenarios of confrontation that do not exist and, more seriously, with money that we did have then and do not have now."

Is US Really Any Different?

Look at those Spanish tanks, ships, planes, and submarines. Is Spain preparing for an invasion from France? Portugal? Italy via the Mediterranean Sea?

The US military budget situation is similar but the amounts are orders of magnitude greater.

Is the US threatened by Canada or Mexico? Cuba via the Gulf of Mexico?

If not, "We should not have purchased weapons we are not going to use for scenarios of confrontation that do not exist and, more seriously, with money that we did have then and do not have now."

Stupid Wars and US Sponsored Torture

In a stupid war that should never have been fought, US citizens were tortured in Iraq with tactics approved by Donald Rumsfeld.

For an explanation as to how that happened please consider U.S. Circuit Judge Upholds Right of Two US Citizens, Tortured in Iraq, to Sue Former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for Torture.

Is WWII Coming Again?

What pray tell are countries doing with all these needless weapons? Preparing for another WWII?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Border Attacks: Spanish Farmers Threaten to Block Border with France; Global Trade Wars Yet Another Sign of Deflation

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:56 PM PDT

In an "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" retaliation to French farmers throwing Spanish produce in the streets, Spanish farmers have threatened to "look for French interests and cause the most damage possible."

Courtesy of Google Translate and my friend "Bran" who emails nearly every day from Spain, please consider Spanish farmers threaten to block border with France

Agrarian Association of Young Farmers in Catalonia announced Friday that blocked the return of French tourists to their country by cutting the road to La Jonquera response to the boycott of Gallic producers and recent attacks on trucks from transporting fruit Peninsula and vegetables.

Asaja coordinator in Catalonia, Albert Castelló, has said that already run out of patience, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth," and said it is absurd to continue with good words and wait for action by governments.

It has also warned that if they attack at the border now and the end of the month "automatically go looking French interests and cause the most damage possible." He called on the Catalan police to be "gatekeepers" and to defend the interests of Catalan and Spanish when these attacks occur, as has ensured that the security forces do Gauls.

Asaja has hit back against the Government for its "immobility" when taking concrete steps to defend the interests of local producers, which this week have been suffering more attacks on the border.

The European Commission has indicated it has not been formally informed of the latest attacks of French farmers against trucks carrying fruits and vegetables from Spain, but has made clear that it condemns "all sorts of illegal and destructive action" and has reminded France that European Union countries should take steps to ensure the free movement of goods.

Hallmarks of Deflationary Times

Trade wars are hallmarks of deflationary times. Disputes between farmers in Spain and farmers in France are a case in point. When there are ample jobs, everyone is happy. When not, people blame their neighbors.

Bear in mind more austerity is coming to Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. A massive European recession is on the way, complete with rising unemployment and civil unrest, and ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet wants to hike rates. It is economic madness.

To be fair, the market should set interest rates not Central Banks.

Where would the market set rates for Europe?

I do not know, nor does anyone else, especially central bankers. However, I do know "one size does not fit all" when it comes to interest rates when countries have widely varying fiscal conditions and problems.

As one of the founding fathers of the Euro, Trichet is in a mess of his own making.

For more on the mess in Spain, please see Numerous Spanish Towns Face Bankruptcy.

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

Numerous Spanish Towns Face Bankruptcy

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:54 PM PDT

I inadvertently deleted this post from earlier today. Here it is again.

The Spanish economic implosion continues. Various austerity measure in Europe and rate hikes by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet will make matters worse. Some town mayors readily admit bankruptcy. Others will follow.

Please consider Spanish towns face funding crisis, rack up debts

In this hillside town, topped by a medieval castle and surrounded by olive groves, the 120 municipal workers haven't been paid since May. Police have new orders not to use their patrol cars unless they get word of a traffic accident or a crime in progress.

The town pool is closed for the summer despite temperatures over 104 (40 Celsius) in the shade. Fees for the public day-care center have doubled. Water bills will soon go up 33 percent and local business owners are seething over €9 million ($12.7 million) in unpaid bills owed by the town hall, much of it to them.

Spain's 8,115 municipalities are being hit by a crushing revenue hangover from a nearly two-decade building boom that went bust in 2008. Officials in Moratalla believe they are the first in Spain to publicly declare their town is on the verge of going broke — and that the only way out is an unprecedented program of drastically reducing services while boosting local taxes and fees in an austerity drive that could last eight years.

Moratalla and its mammoth debt "are the mirror image of a lot of towns" that have not yet fully admitted the extent of their dire financial circumstances, said Deputy Mayor Juan Soria. "These are hard measures, but they're necessary and I think we have to reinvent ourselves because we've lived beyond our means and we have to lower expectations."

Many towns are struggling to meet payroll, can't fire workers because of public service employment rules, are frequently making late payments to the health care system and are trying to delay or restructure debt they took on for costly infrastructure projects.

The nation could be next in line for a bailout after Greece, Ireland and Portugal — and some in Moratalla say the example of their town shows Spain will need help from the European Union, despite pledges by federal officials that Spain won't need a bailout.

In Moratalla, population 8,500, Soria cringed at the idea of merging with a neighboring town, but said his community is functioning in constant crisis mode. Two weeks ago, Moratalla's two gas stations stopped filling the tanks of municipal vehicles when the owners lost all faith the town would ever pay €120,000 ($170,000) in outstanding fuel bills.

"They have told us that they don't know when, how or even if they are going to be able to pay us," said Jose Antonio Martin, who owns one of the gas stations. He is convinced the town needs a bailout from the regional government of Murcia, though it has debt problems of its own.

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

U.S. Circuit Judge Upholds Right of Two US Citizens, Tortured in Iraq, to Sue Former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for Torture

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 01:34 PM PDT

Thankfully, a US circuit court has upheld the rights of Donald Vance (a US Navy veteran) and Nathan Ertel, both US citizens, to sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture.

The "crime" for which they were tortured: The pair accused an Iraqi firm of bribery and corruption.

The punishment: The whistle-blowers were arrested, detained, tortured for months, with no access to a judge or lawyers, then ultimately dumped at the Baghdad airport without charge.

Please consider Two American men CAN sue Donald Rumsfeld after 'being tortured by U.S. army in Iraq when they worked for security firm'

Two American men will be allowed to sue former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over claims that they were unfairly tortured by U.S. troops in Iraq.

The pair argue that their rights of 'habeas corpus' - the legal term for unlawful detention - were violated, and are seeking damages from 79-year-old Rumsfeld, who was succeeded by Robert Gates in December 2007, and unnamed others.

Vance and Ertel had been hired by Shield Group Security, an Iraqi firm who the duo believed were involved in some questionable dealings, including illegal bribery and other corruption activities.

They flagged up their concerns to the U.S. authorities and began co-operating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation - and in early 2006 they were taken into custody and slung into Camp Cropper, the notorious holding facility for security detainees near Baghdad International Airport.

The whistle-blowers claim that they were forced to undergo harsh and prolonged interrogations at the same place Sadam Hussain lived his last years, and they were subjected to physical and emotional abuse.

Among the methods of torture used against them during several weeks in military camps was sleep deprivation and a practice known as 'walling', in which subjects are blindfolded and walked into walls, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Mr Rumsfeld personally participated in approving the methods for use by the U.S. military in Iraq, making him responsible, it argues, for what happened to Mr Vance and Mr Ertel.

In 2003, Mr Rumsfeld instituted a policy that 'encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq'.

And yesterday a panel of three judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago upheld the decision made by a federal judge in Illinois, voting 2-1.

The verdict paves the way for the lawsuit to proceed, in spite of the best efforts of the U.S. government to have the case thrown out.

U.S. Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote yesterday: 'There can be no doubt that the deliberate infliction of such treatment on U.S. citizens, even in a war zone, is unconstitutional.'

Countdown-The torture of Don Vance-08-05-2011

Link if the above video does not play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gd40g1IGma4#at=120

I an sick of war, the US war machine, the trillions of dollars we have wasted on war because idiots like Rumsfeld thought "Iraq had rich targets". I sincerely hope Rumsfeld is tried, convicted, sentenced to prison for life, then buried with Saddam Hussein, someone of like mind.

I commend Donald Vance for refusing to accept bribe money from the US government to not proceed with the lawsuit. It is high time the United States of America prosecutes people for war crimes and torture. Donald Rumsfeld is the perfect place to start.

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

Numerous Spanish Towns Face Bankruptcy

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 11:20 AM PDT

The Spanish economic implosion continues. Various austerity measure in Europe and rate hikes by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet will make matters worse. Some town mayors readily admit bankruptcy. Others will follow.

Please consider Spanish towns face funding crisis, rack up debts

In this hillside town, topped by a medieval castle and surrounded by olive groves, the 120 municipal workers haven't been paid since May. Police have new orders not to use their patrol cars unless they get word of a traffic accident or a crime in progress.

The town pool is closed for the summer despite temperatures over 104 (40 Celsius) in the shade. Fees for the public day-care center have doubled. Water bills will soon go up 33 percent and local business owners are seething over €9 million ($12.7 million) in unpaid bills owed by the town hall, much of it to them.

Spain's 8,115 municipalities are being hit by a crushing revenue hangover from a nearly two-decade building boom that went bust in 2008. Officials in Moratalla believe they are the first in Spain to publicly declare their town is on the verge of going broke — and that the only way out is an unprecedented program of drastically reducing services while boosting local taxes and fees in an austerity drive that could last eight years.

Moratalla and its mammoth debt "are the mirror image of a lot of towns" that have not yet fully admitted the extent of their dire financial circumstances, said Deputy Mayor Juan Soria. "These are hard measures, but they're necessary and I think we have to reinvent ourselves because we've lived beyond our means and we have to lower expectations."

Many towns are struggling to meet payroll, can't fire workers because of public service employment rules, are frequently making late payments to the health care system and are trying to delay or restructure debt they took on for costly infrastructure projects.

The nation could be next in line for a bailout after Greece, Ireland and Portugal — and some in Moratalla say the example of their town shows Spain will need help from the European Union, despite pledges by federal officials that Spain won't need a bailout.

In Moratalla, population 8,500, Soria cringed at the idea of merging with a neighboring town, but said his community is functioning in constant crisis mode. Two weeks ago, Moratalla's two gas stations stopped filling the tanks of municipal vehicles when the owners lost all faith the town would ever pay €120,000 ($170,000) in outstanding fuel bills.

"They have told us that they don't know when, how or even if they are going to be able to pay us," said Jose Antonio Martin, who owns one of the gas stations. He is convinced the town needs a bailout from the regional government of Murcia, though it has debt problems of its own.

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

UK Chancellor, Italy Economy Minister Propose "Outright Fiscal Union" and Common Bonds

Posted: 13 Aug 2011 09:57 AM PDT

Clamoring for a complete Eurozone fiscal union reached a new high this week as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne agrees with Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti on the need for a fiscal union and common bonds to save the Euro.

Please consider Italy calls for euro bonds as UK backs fiscal union

Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti stepped up calls for a more coordinated response to the euro zone debt crisis on Saturday ahead of a potentially vital summit between the leaders of France and Germany next week.

Tremonti returned to proposals -- rejected in the past by Berlin and Paris -- for the creation of common euro zone bonds that would effectively make individual governments debt a common burden.

His British counterpart George Osborne, long a supporter from outside the euro zone of more fiscal integration within the currency bloc, went as far as to say that some form of outright fiscal union was now needed.

The austerity package unveiled on Friday, which contained a painful mix of spending cuts and tax increases, was demanded by the ECB in exchange for a commitment to protect Italian bonds but Tremonti said the problem risked spreading unless Europe ended its piecemeal approach to the crisis.

"We would not have arrived where we are if we had had the euro bond," he said.

Osborne said deeper integration had been the inevitable conclusion from the start of the single currency project.

Asked if the only answer for the euro zone was some kind of fiscal union, he told BBC radio: "The short answer is yes."

A new poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Saturday showed 31 percent of Germans believe the euro will be gone by 2021.

Common Bond Madness

The idea there would not be mess if "only we had common bonds" is madness. Had there been "common bonds" Germany and France would have undertaken all the fiscal problems of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland.

Note that French banks are directly under attack. That would have happened sooner if France and Germany bankrolled the rest of Europe.

Then France would have quickly fallen and the result would be where we are today, with Germany essentially bankrolling the problems of the rest of Europe.

Nothing much would have changed except the progression and timing of various countries. Shock waves might have hit Italy and France first (or every European country at once instead of starting with Greece) as the pool of savings in Germany and France was wiped out over time to keep the other European economies afloat.

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

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