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Two from Mish.(Both are reposts of other media sources)
In Spain "62% do not believe that the economic crisis has already had its biggest impact on the labor market and therefore the economy is recovering slowly, and, on the contrary, they think that "the worst of the crisis is yet to come". I am with the majority on this one. In Japan "Okuma, a Japanese machine-tool maker, has seen its stock price rise around 30% this year. Its customers have outdated machinery that needs replacing. But, for now, the company isn't investing. Instead, it is sitting on a pile of cash worth about $280 million—50% higher than its pile a decade ago, equivalent to one-fifth its annual sales, and more than twice the level required for the firm be deemed loan-worthy by a bank. Why? Senior director Chikashi Horie says the answer is simple. Okuma's clients "are not investing, not even to raise efficiency, so we are not investing either," he says. Okuma's thinking embodies one of the key challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ambitious growth plan: persuading Japan's famously stingy companies to stop stashing their earnings in the bank, and putting the money to more productive use, helping complete—rather than short-circuit—the virtuous economic cycle." Oops. Abe's casual chain isn't working. More QE to the rescue? UK the only major economy to buck the trend. Mish
weakening. Via Mish
while employment statistics are decreasing. Strange Days indeed!
Follow the links at the bottom for more discussion. If the US Economy is stable - why did Bernake announce QE Infinity? Are they trying to generate inflation? I still think we are headed for a massive deflationary event as per Hugh Hendry's point that the central bank will not over do things until we have a massive level of deflation.
Housing up for 6th month in a row and consumer sentiment up more than expected. But I am the Grinch that stole Christmas.
From Zerohedge: "The main reason for the surge in consumer "confidence" in September was the near record surge in sentiment for those aking $15,000-$25,000, which soared from 43.5 to 62.4 in the month, the most since April 2009. And whether this was due to their forecast of the future, and expectation that things will get much better, or not, we don't know, what we do know is that half all of those people whose sentiment defined the market tone today, and who may be quite instrumental in the outcome of the coming election (per Mitt Romney), have less than $100 in cash savings." From the Winnipeg Free Press (hat tip Mish): "Did you smile or cheer when U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced Quantitative Easing III (and the markets went up)? He just declared war on your job, and the whole Canadian economy. Of course, so did the European Central Bank, the central bank of the Peoples' Republic of China and others. All of them are engaged in the same practice. They're printing money. Gobs of it, in programs that have no end point. Some are doing it to apply stimulus to revive their economies. Some are doing it to play extend-and-pretend games to hold their banks together. For a country like Canada, with an economy in reasonably good shape, a government that's not out of control, banks that are healthy and dependent on exports, it's a declaration of war." Finally, what about yesterday's news that Germany looks like it is going into recession? How's France doing? How about Japan? On corrupt, eliteist wealth from the Book Of Mormon (Take that Mitt Romney) "In calling the Nephites to repentance, Samuel the Lamanite warned that "the time cometh that [the Lord] curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them; and in the days of your poverty ye cannot retain them" (Helaman 13:31). In that day the Nephites would lament, "We have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land. O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them" (vv. 35-36)." Enjoy your day. "Economists Can Neither Think Nor See"
Not only are such economists unable to think, they cannot even see what 20 years of monetary and fiscal stimulus did for Japanese "confidence", which is to say nothing at all. However, lower interest rates and fiscal stimulus did leave Japan a confidence-eroding mountain of debt in its wake. Japan is now hooked on low interest rates, a mere rise of one percentage point would consume all revenues. Is that supposed to inspire confidence? Nonetheless, Bernanke and Draghi have vowed to keep doing what they are doing until it works, and economists are hoping it will. It's pure insanity. Thoughts close to my heart. |
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