Syndicate: If You Can Get It, Run The Other Way
Given the insane hype surrounding the Facebook IPO, it should really have come as no surprise to anyone that it’s being perceived as a massive flop. (A search at the NY Times website turns up no articles about Cisco Systems 1990 Initial Public Offering (Feb 16, 1990 at a split-adjusted price of $0.06); it does...
If Information Is Power, What Is Lack Of Information?
I’m going to take the charitable (though probably mistaken) view and say that Representative Daniel Webster was not deliberately trying to turn out the lights on Americans’ access to critical data when he proposed an amendment to defund the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). I tried (unsuccessfully) last year (here, here) to salvage the...
MIA: Bond Vigilantes
Following up on a previous matter, Karl Denninger posted what is supposed to pass for a rebuttal to my recent post on government spending. To my eyes, as Jay Bookman so aptly put it, it looks like “the octopus trick, squirting black ink to cloud your retreat.” True enough. Anyway, done with that discussion. Paul...
The Surprisingly Shrinking Government Footprint
My recent Hey, Big Spender piece (the third in a series, it turns out) drew a fair amount of hyper-partisan commentary. Most of it followed BR’s Comment Caveat almost to the letter. However, it was at another website that, after years of blogging, I was finally busted. Yes, I was called out on the “intentionally...
In Retrospect, It Was No Joke
Rosenberg, exactly 5 years ago today in May 2007: > click for full report > Invictus here. In my Barron’s Big Money post, I mentioned attending a small dinner in October 2007 at which David Rosenberg was the speaker. In comments, Hamann asked if I could provide any additional insight into what he had shared...
Hey, Big Spender
I’ve written about this before, but since Paul Krugman just posted about it, perhaps it’s time to revisit the issue. Professor Krugman’s chart, in my opinion, doesn’t go far enough in that it does not provide sufficient context. While the chart does show the YoY percent decline in Real Government Expenditures & Investment, it does...
Seen This Movie Before
Among the exercises I occasionally undertake is to dig into the history books and see, in retrospect, how things have played out relative to what the punditocracy had proclaimed (works with punditry on politics, markets, economics, sports, etc.) . With Barron’s releasing its semi-annual “big money” survey, there’s really no better opportunity to page back...
Should I Check My Email?
The follow up to Should You Send That Email?
Hat tip Dell
Miscellany
Invictus here. A few items of interest (I hope) that I’ve been thinking of lately. What Type of Jobs Recovery Are We Having? Everyone’s seen Bill McBride’s employment chart, which he dutifully updates every month (along with just about every other economic release that comes out). Bill’s chart shows the percent change in employment relative...
Merrill’s Heroes
Invictus here. BR’s comments yesterday, plus some unfortunate softball media coverage, led me to today’s rant. There are few things in the world that annoy me more than revisionist history, especially when it’s done to burnish one’s own damaged legacy. To make a George Bush/Osama bin Laden analogy, I don’t think that much about Merrill...
Military Spending Addenda
Barry posted some nice infographics last week relating to military spending. Using the numbers in that post and some population estimates from the Population Reference Bureau, here’s a per capita look at defense spending for the 10 countries referenced: The Top 10 spend about $1.23 trillion on defense. Here’s a breakdown of who spends what...
Seasonal Adjustments: Fun With Numbers, Redux
There are three types of people in the world: Those who understand Statistics, and everyone else. > Why do so many fund managers underperform? Our host and overlord frequently references cognitive issues, but I am beginning to suspect the problem is simpler: An glaring lack of fundamental math skills. Those of us who stress data...
