The Bowtie Economist's Daily Dose of 70-Word Wisdom


Insane Spain

05/30/2012

The Spanish banking system is crumbling. While 10-year Treasuries yield 1.62%, Spain’s 10—year bonds yield 6.61%, near the all-time of 6.78% set 11/25/11. If yields stay this high, Spain will need a bail-out. Problem is, as the world’s 13th largest…

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Hooked on Stimulus

05/29/2012

On 6/30/12 the weak economic recovery we’re experiencing will be three years old. Yet, absent microscopic interest rates and huge budget deficits there would be no recovery. Simply put, we’re hooked on cheap money and big spending and aren’t yet…

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Penniless Canadians

05/25/2012

The Friday File: Earlier this month Canada minted its last penny. The move will save taxpayers $11 million/year and financial institutions about $20 million/year in transportation and storage costs. In parliamentary hearings, no one opposed the idea. Canada follows Australia,…

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Known Unknowns

05/24/2012

If Greece leaves the Euro, the collateral damage to the rest of the Eurozone will result in a drop in US exports to Europe, damage to European banks resulting in reduced lending, and possibly bank runs in Spain and Italy.…

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Down is Up

05/23/2012

The cost of down is up from $12/lb in ’09 to almost $30/lb today, while duck down has risen from $10/lb to $19/lb over the same period. Diet and urbanization are primarily why. As the Chinese become wealthier city-dwellers, fewer…

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Billions Blown

05/22/2012

The $2 billion blunder by J.P. Morgan, while not pretty, is no clarion call for added regulation. Rather, it shows that with enough capital mistakes of this magnitude can be easily absorbed. That is, while regulations can be skirted, and…

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Euro Chicken anyone?

05/21/2012

What’s going between Greece and the rest of the Eurozone is a game of chicken. The Greeks think that if they quit the Euro, the pain for the rest of the Eurozone will be so severe everyone will, again, bail…

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Scale It!

05/18/2012

The Friday File: Obesity rates (BMI above 29) in the US vary from a low of 21% in CO to a high of 34% in MS. The South has the highest prevalence of obesity (29.4%) followed by the Midwest (28.7%),…

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Slick North Dakota

05/17/2012

During 3/12 ND passed AK to become the number two oil producing state with 575,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) compared to AK’s 567K bbl/d. TX holds down the top spot with 1.7 million bbl/d. CA is fourth with 230K bbl/d…

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Structural or Cyclical?

05/16/2012

Some argue that the unemployed have skills that are simply not needed. Thus, deficit spending will not get us out of this “structural” recession. But, if this were a “structural” problem, the unemployment rate for recent college grads would be…

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