A Few Thoughts on the Employment Situation
Last week, I went into the details of the NFP report (See Tearing Apart January 2012 NFP data). There were 10 positive bullet points versus 5 negatives — and even those negatives were the same old sore spots (high teen and minority unemployment, persistent long term joblessness, etc.) that have been plaguing the labor market...
Housing Tornado Warnings Were an Exercise in Futility
> There is a absurd yet fascinating article in the Sunday Times by Gretchen Morgenson, titled A Mortgage Tornado Warning, Unheeded. It is is stirring and emotional. What makes it fascinating is yet another story told about prescient warnings in advance not heeded about the coming mortgage crisis. What makes it absurd is its complete...
To Rush Limbaugh: A Lesson On The Seasonal Adjustment
While perusing various articles on the Employment Situation Summary that was released yesterday (2/3/2012), I came across this transcript from the Rush Limbaugh radio show where Rush decides essentially that we shouldn’t bother with the seasonally adjusted numbers and only look at the raw (NSA) job creation number from the Establishment Survey (likely because this...
Supreme Court Building Covered in Giant Dollar Signs
To mark the second Citizens United anniversary, we lit up the Supreme Court with giant dollar signs to send a message: rights are for PEOPLE, not corporate “persons.”
Supreme Court Building Covered in Giant Dollar Signs
To mark the second Citizens United anniversary, we lit up the Supreme Court with giant dollar signs to send a...
No Rick Santelli and Zero Hedge, One Million People Did Not Drop Out of the Labor Force Last Month
SilverOz is an MPA specializing in local economic development and have worked in local economic development for a mid-sized midwestern county for over 10 years. He has personally worked on/managed projects that have totaled over $500 million in direct investment into the county. ~~~ So today following an otherwise pretty darn good jobs report, we...
The All-January Barometer Is No Better Than Assuming The Stock Market Will Go Up Every Calendar Year
Consistent with their bullish mood and histrionic reporting, CNBC talking heads are touting that the stock market’s performance in just ended January was the best in 15 years and that when it has been up, the rest of the year has been up 87% of the time. The statistical truth is that January’s performance has...
Found: MFGlobal Monies!
Authorities believe they have traced more than 90% of client monies prior to subsequent transfers from MF Global. Here’s Dealbook: “Investigators have determined what happened to nearly all of the customer money that disappeared from MF Global around the time of its bankruptcy last Oct. 31, but have not publicly disclosed their progress, fearing that...
Housing Bottom Calls Continue Despite Evidence
I have been very unequivocal about my view of Housing market — its not anywhere people should be expecting ordinary year over year price appreciation. As the recent Case Shiller data shows, this is still a market where despite record low mortgage interest rates, prices are falling. A normalized market is probably many years away...
Greek Bond Default Decision Tree
From Barclays, by way of Zero Hedge, we get this lovely decision tree showing possible outcomes for bondholders as Greece negotiates haircuts. Sigh. I miss the good old days when the insolvent said Fuck it!, declared bankruptcy, and left sorting it out to the BK judge or appointed special master. > Hat tip ZH
Moyers: How Big Banks are Rewriting the Rules of our Economy
Bill Moyers talks with former Citigroup chairman John Reed and former Senator Byron Dorgan to explore how our political and financial class shift economic benefits to the very top.
Moyers & Company Show 103: How power and influence helped big ban...
Debt Doesn’t Matter ?
Huge chart from Steven Rattner’s Sunday NYT Week in Review Op Ed: > click for ginormous graphic: > Source: The Dangerous Notion That Debt Doesn’t Matter STEVEN RATTNER NYC, January 20, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/opinion/sunday/the-dangerous-notion-that-debt-doesnt-matter.html
