A picture is worth a 1000 words and it certainly resonates with the economic global meltdown this past year. A red flag indicator on the economy is the TED spread . This metric is an indicator of perrceived credit risk in the economy. The TED spread tracks the difference between interest rates of interbank loans and short term T-Bills (government debt). The difference is measured in basis points (bps). Unlike the economic recessions of the past, this spread skyrocketed universally... Read Full Story
There are many different determinants of productivity that when not kept constant may tend to prohibit or limit a poor country’s ability to catch up with rich ones. In most poor country’s people tend to save very little to invest later in capital due to the low wages of most workers that tend to be so low as to be barely enough to meet the necessities of life as opposed to rich countries who tend to have incentives by the government to save. Since saving and investment plays such an... Read Full Story
The Telegraph today bewails the fact that customers of Indian curry houses in the UK - which imports more rice than any other EU country - can now look forward to smaller portions, higher prices, less meat and more vegetable dishes. "We've heard that people are taking away the little embellishments - fish and chips might now be missing the coleslaw...Where before you might be offered a 4oz and 8oz steak, now you can only have the 4oz." Fortunately most of us in Europe and the US will take... Read Full Story
One would have to be pretty insulated to be oblivious to all the economic troubles throughout the world. In the last 2 months I have visited Brazil, China and India and the economic impact in each country is amazing. A year ago in India I was amazed at the Bombay stock index surge and the feverish pace in Beijing preparing for the Olympics. Who would have thought back then that in one year things would be completely the opposite. The credit crunch has hit consumer confidence throughout... Read Full Story
While the Europeans are busy proposing 'global rules' to fight the 'global' financial crisis, Obama in America is frantically trying to bury the United States in debt with socialistic and communistic changes, scoffing at the American Constitution, which would force America into their global rules by handing its bankrupted autonomy and sovereinty over to the new world order. Here's a bit of confirmation of what I suspected from the start that gives indication of who Obama really works for and... Read Full Story
League of Dorks Ombudsman Report: Where I reveal my inner hidden dorkiness to the rest of the world for the benefit of dork-nondork relations. The morning after the premiere of Spiderman III, I e-mailed my boss to tell her that I would be coming into the office late because the movie had a run-time much longer than anticipated and as a result, I had not gotten to sleep until well past 3 a.m. She replied with something to the extent of "That's fine. But don't forget to wear your League of... Read Full Story
Dropping Knowledge: where I "laymenize" an important aspect of social science. Sometimes, as in the previous post , I can get pretty whiny, self-entitled, and indignant when I get the vague impression that I'm being shafted in some way or another. (What can I say? I'm the youngest child). Faithful readers will tell you that one thing in particular that really grinds my gears is uneven and unfair income inequalities within American society (and the world) today. It bothers me that CEO's can... Read Full Story
Another year (2008) will soon be in the past. Technology has enabled most of our days throughout the world to be busy, productive and sometimes almost endless. Las Vegas, Nevada is no longer the only city that never sleeps. On December 11th am and 12th pm perfect conditions were present in Southern New Hampshire and just below in Northern Massachusetts.
Those conditions enabled tress to get coated with ice mostly without the ice freezing on the ground. The good news is that motor... Read Full Story
Today the 44th President of the Unites States of America is sworn into office. For me it signifies not only eliminated barriers but also the beginning of new horizons. Horizons that parallel past frontiers that once seemed impossible to tame. World wide economic woes have linked countries together. It's ironic that this linkage also holds the solutions for the recession. Some nations need to lead, but it will require more from the followers as well. Don't expect one person to go about... Read Full Story
Al tiempo que Estados Unidos
sigue tratando de estimular el gasto de los consumidores con sus
programas de activación económica, hay países, como India o China, que
parecen estar logrando mejores progresos. En un reciente viaje a India
y China vía Singapur realizado en septiembre pasado, pude comprobar con
toda claridad que la zona de Asia Pacífico no se ha quedado parada sino
que impulsa a los trabajadores de las fábricas que quedan inactivas
hacia nuevos proyectos de infraestructura... Read Full Story
