Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Around The Web

Tuesday is always a late day for me so all I have tonight is some linkage, but I promise it is good stuff!

Philippines’ Bond Sale Fails for 2nd Time This Year
Reasons for the failure include such one-off country specifics as:
'“The market is risk averse because of the deficit, the exit strategy of central banks and election concern,” said Oliver Jimeno, first vice president and treasurer at Chinatrust (Philippines) Commercial Bank in Manila, one of the nation’s 40 primary dealers. “The market is vulnerable to any bad news.”'
Yeah the Philippines are messed up bad.

It Begins: Japanese Post Bank Urged To Diversify Away From Government Bonds
Now this one I almost scanned over, but get this line:
“Nearly 80 per cent of Japan Post Bank’s funds go towards buying JGBs, but from now on [any increase in deposits] could go towards buying corporate bonds . . . and US Treasuries,” said [Shizuka] Kamei, who is also in charge of postal reform.

His comments come amid growing fears about the risks of sovereign debt after governments around the world have borrowed record sums to support ailing economies in the wake of the financial crisis.

The US is having difficulty due to a lack of funds. It’s only natural that we should support the US when it is weakened so Japan Post Bank’s funds may go towards that,” said Mr Kamei.
If we have had problems selling debt I am not aware of it, why is Mr. Kamei saying that?

DR Horton Returns to Profit
When you get to play games with tax windfalls you make money! A winning strategy for the homebuilders.

What is American Corporatism? - By Robert Locke
Loyal reader Gawains submitted this article for a read last night. It was written in 2002 and damned if the guy did not see the future! Long piece but so worth your time.

The last mention goes to Jesse's Americain Cafe. If I could write this well I would put up a donation button and imagine that readers could recognize brilliance when they saw it and make me rich! As things are, my stuff is 100% free!

On Monetary Inflation and M3
The discussion covers monetary issues related to inflation but then describes fiat in a way that I agree very much with. Snippet to get you hooked:
One might look an an unconnected car battery and say, 'oh look it is benign.' But grab hold of each of its terminals with your bare hands while grounded, and see what happens then. And gold is in part measuring that potential, for the Fed and the monetary base and a resurgent economy to generate monetary expansion. There are lags of years involved in the process.

And this is the nature of Bernanke's challenge. He must at some point allow the economy greater access to his excess monetary reserves, and the swollen monetary base, but try to prevent the dollar and the bond from igniting. And gold is where the prudent seek at least a partial refuge while the central bankers conduct their experiments.

Is gold a bubble? It is said to be so by those who wish you to extend your willing hands, and grasp the poles of their mad experiment, without reserve, to help them measure the effect. And, of course, by those who merely to stand by and watch, and plan for their own per capita increase in wealth if you are subsequently reduced to toast.

Nice!

Have a good night.

6 comments:

Dave in Denver said...

LOL. I was part of that conversation that Jesse alludes to at www.wallstreetbear.com. This was my comment:

http://www.wallstreetbear.com/board/view.php?topic=65673&post=221938

EconomicDisconnect said...

Ha! Thats crazy! Great minds think alike and all that.

Stagflationary Mark said...

One might look an an unconnected car battery and say, 'oh look it is benign.' But grab hold of each of its terminals with your bare hands while grounded, and see what happens then.

I'd do it. Nothing would happen. I wouldn't want the battery anywhere near the car or its ignition coil though.

I would even stand on a wet floor in bare feet, not that it would change anything. I'm the resistor in the experiment. None of the current would need to go to the floor. It would find its way through the one hand touching the one terminal to the other hand touching the other terminal.

They say that it's not the volts that kill you, but the amps. That's true. However, there'd be very few amps. My body is more than a decent resistor to protect me from a 12 volt car battery.

I (amps) = V (volts) / R (resistance)

The V is small. The R is big. The current is therefore tiny.

I wouldn't put the terminals on my tongue though. I do have my limits in the name of science, lol.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/28/the_odd_body_death_by_battery/

Can you die from testing a 9V battery on your tongue?

Dr Xheng Hu of the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Sydney confirms that a 9V battery does not have enough voltage to kill a person by testing it on the tongue.

He adds: "It cannot be entirely excluded however. If a person is very ill, for example, has heart problems, or has a heart pacemaker that could be disrupted, and so on, they could possibly die from testing the battery in this way. But normally it wouldn't happen."


Sorry for probably boring everyone to tears, but it's a rare treat to be able to put my physics degree to use, lol.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Mark you take the fun out of everything! Glad you picked out the most relevant part of the piece.

Modern cars have direct ignitions, some even have dedicated ones per cylinder!

GawainsGhost said...

I'm glad you liked the article on corporatism, GYC. I was struck by it when I read it back in 2002, as I had just gone into real estate at the time.

That was right when the bubble mania began, and I watched in horror as over the following years everything Locke describes came to pass.

It amazes me, really. I have been witness to the dissolution of America in my lifetime. Everything is so different now than it was when I was a kid, and not for the better.

But I maintain my belief in the American people and the American Dream (which is freedom, not home ownership, by the way). Surely we can turn this thing around.

Stagflationary Mark said...

GYSC,

Mark you take the fun out of everything!

Hey, that's my blog's slogan!

Taking the Fun Out of Everything Since 2007!

Woohoo! ;)