Saturday, May 29, 2010
Hugh Hendry
This is just a rundown of everything that's happening in the European financial markets right now- the only thing that's remarkable about this video is that it was recorded 16 months ago, in January 2009.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tony Robbins, 2006
This speech is so all-over-the-place that it almost doesn't make sense, but the interaction with Al Gore alone is worth watching.
European Financial Crisis
Even the optimist on this panel doesn't believe that Greece will be able to begin repaying its debt in 3 years.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Wal-Mart Asks Suppliers to Cede Control of Deliveries (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Wal-Mart Asks Suppliers to Cede Control of Deliveries (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Walmart is going to begin to pick up their merchandise from their suppliers in Walmart's trucks, instead of having it delivered to Walmart distribution centers by the suppliers.
The story is that Walmart can do it at less cost than the suppliers can. But read the whole story, and see how this will result in higher costs for Walmart's competitors who still take deliveries from the same suppliers.
This will have a 'crowding out' effect on stores like Target & Kohls, etc as their deliveries become more expensive. And Walmart will eventually start to have a greater say in where the suppliers locate future manufacturing plants- the merchandise will need to be made either nearby a Walmart distribution center, or at least on a convenient route for Walmart's trucks to pick it up.
This is a bigger deal than it seems because it will make a lot of dominoes fall throughout the supply chain for Walmart's suppliers and Walmart's competitors.
Walmart is going to begin to pick up their merchandise from their suppliers in Walmart's trucks, instead of having it delivered to Walmart distribution centers by the suppliers.
The story is that Walmart can do it at less cost than the suppliers can. But read the whole story, and see how this will result in higher costs for Walmart's competitors who still take deliveries from the same suppliers.
This will have a 'crowding out' effect on stores like Target & Kohls, etc as their deliveries become more expensive. And Walmart will eventually start to have a greater say in where the suppliers locate future manufacturing plants- the merchandise will need to be made either nearby a Walmart distribution center, or at least on a convenient route for Walmart's trucks to pick it up.
This is a bigger deal than it seems because it will make a lot of dominoes fall throughout the supply chain for Walmart's suppliers and Walmart's competitors.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Jonah Rocks
Here's a link to a video I put on the blog a few months ago- the video was disabled for some reason, but it looks like they've got it back up. Embedding is disabled, so you'll have to follow this link to see it, but it's definitely worth a few minutes of your time...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Current 90+ Day Delinquent Mortgages, by County
New York Federal Reserve Website.
Click on the tabs at the website for credit cards and student loan data, too.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Here is a very interesting piece of information that runs counter to everything in the media right now. I'm not sure if this is really true, but it seems to make sense. I'm sure there's more to the story than this, though...
America's National Debt Binge Is A Lot Of Hot Air
"Substantial attention is paid the U.S. government's growth in debt these days, yet far less is paid to America's total debt picture as a whole.
More should be, because a quick look at the chart above will make you realize that much of America's perceived debt 'binge' these days is the result of hype rather than fact.
Yes, the American government has increased its borrowing at a record rate. In 2008 and 2009 U.S. state & local governments plus the federal government net-borrowed a combined $1.3 trillion and $1.6 trillion respectively. That's a huge step-up from their combined net borrowing of $428 billion in 2007. In isolation, this data is terrifying.
Yet if one is concerned about the entire nation's solvency, and wants to understand why proponents of current stimulus aren't necessarily irresponsible, then one has to step back and take into account the private side of the U.S. debt equation. This is especially important since America is a nation driven mostly by its private economy. The private economy is far larger than the government's. Thus to ignore what the private sector does is to see less than half of the picture.
On this measure, if you look at 'total net U.S. borrowing', which takes into account borrowing by everyone -- the government, private U.S. households, financial companies, and non-financial companies -- then it turns out that 2009 was indeed a monumental year for U.S. borrowing... in that total U.S. borrowing fell by $438.4 billion. (shown in red above)
This historic reduction in U.S. borrowing is due to the fact that in 2009, U.S households, financial companies, and non-financial companies all de-levered as a group. In fact, they reduced their borrowing by so much in 2009 that it completely eclipsed growth in borrowing by the government. In 2009, U.S. households reduced their borrowing by $237 billion, financial companies reduced it by a whopping $1.8 trillion, and non-financial companies reduced borrowing by $200 billion. The data on this can be found at the Federal Reserve.
Thus whether you are for or against various stimulus policies, one should at least try to understand the thought process behind the U.S. government's debt growth. Many proponents of stimulus were worried by the massive de-leveraging (reduction in net borrowing) by the private sector and the effects it would have on the U.S. economy during a downturn. If the government hadn't increased its borrowing, the red negative bar in the chart would be far larger, at nearly -$2,000 trillion. Less debt can be a good thing, but if everyone de-levers at the same time in a sharp fashion then it can destroy a substantial amount of economic activity in a flash, which would be extremely painful for many Americans. Proponents of stimulus were worried that this would make for an extremely ugly recession, far worse than we saw.
Hence, cognizant of private sector de-leveraging, they realized that the government could increase borrowing without creating a dangerous increase in total U.S. borrowing. Thus the government was used to step in and fill the gap, due fears of that private de-leveraging, which had to happen due to past excesses, could create a lot of suffering for Americans if left without a counterbalance of stimulus from the government.
So even with seemingly ridiculous borrowing from the U.S. government, America as a whole actually ended up paring back its debt in an unprecedented fashion. Let's just hope that the government's debt growth is reigned in, now that the U.S. economy has recovered to some degree. Yet the key take-away regardless of your political view on stimulus is that America isn't binging on debt right now."
An EMTs Worst Nightmare
"Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it's not like anyone else. Yes, you drive past, you know you have to do something about it because you know you're the only one who can really help." -Tom Cruise
Video here
"Get those spectators either in the playing field or out of the arena- really, that's how I feel about it." -Tom Cruise
Video here
"Get those spectators either in the playing field or out of the arena- really, that's how I feel about it." -Tom Cruise
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