Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Bob Wright wrote in a recent comment “If you look at financial stocks over any meaningful period - like 10 years or more, they kill the DJIA and the S&P 500. They even out-performed over the last 5 years until this recent bit of turmoil.”
The chart above (click to enlarge) shows the […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

You can go to Realtor.com and search for homes for sale in any city in the U.S., and you can specify a certain price range. If you search for Detroit homes for sale between $0 and $1,000, you’ll find that there are 74 homes for sale in that price range, including the […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
Fast Company’s latest article about eBay describes how the new chief technology officer created a “culture of analytics.” The old approach had been to set up a new feature or interface and see if it works. If not, roll it back, returning to the old way.
The new approach was started […]

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Submitted by unsettling economics
569: “I fancy that the great New York (banking) institutions have more skeletons in their cupboards than anyone yet knows about for certain, and that their concealed anxieties cramp their action more than is admitted.”
Keynes. 1930. “A Note on Economic Conditions in the United States: A Memorandum for the Economic Advisory Council.” […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
We’re finally starting to see signs of gains in global oil production.
As Econbrowser readers are well aware, the big story on world oil markets over the last year has been Saudi Arabia, whose production in August was a million barrels a day below the level seen in 2005. On September 12 I wrote:

I […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Reader CoRev, in commenting on this post, advises me to look at the actual data for October (instead of the CBO estimate) before declaring a trend deterioration in the budget balance. Well, the data are out.
Here’s what the deficit looks like, using Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement data for October, and historical data.

Figure 1: […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Some may doubt that a recession’s coming, but the bond market has already made up its mind.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury sunk to 3.85% yesterday, the lowest in three years. The rush to buy bonds, and thereby lower yields, reflects the growing sentiment that more trouble awaits the American […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
We’re told that a recession is coming, or something that looks and feels like a recession. In fact, we’re told a lot of things. Some of the predictions actually pan out; most just fade into oblivion. Alas, distinguishing one from the other is always a problem, and at times like this […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Closing sweatshops and forcing Western labor and environmental standards down poor people’s throats in the third world does nothing to elevate them out of poverty. Instead, it forces poor people to buy a lot of rich man’s toys, like clean air, clean water, and leisure time. If clean air and leisure time […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

I was reminded of this cartoon while reading some of the comments on the Indian-made manhole covers in NYC.
Let me suggest an alternative caption:
“Help is on the way, barefoot Indian steelworkers. We’re cancelling all orders for Indian manhole covers in the U.S., and we’re also going to help shut down […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Thanks to Larry Kudlow for mentioning the Carpe Diem blog last night on CNBC’s “Kudlow and Company,” as well as featuring some Carpe Diem posts on his blog yesterday: “Perry Is On the Mark.” Three Carpe Diem graphs were featured last night on the show: the two from this CD post, and […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Significant Income Mobility: Quintiles Not Closed Clubs
Great column today by Thomas Sowell on That “Top One Percent,” here are a couple excerpts:
Americans in the top 1%, like Americans in most income brackets, are not there permanently, despite being talked about and written about as if they are an enduring “class” — especially […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
NYTimes today: In the first half of the 1990’s, she was Mr. Mitterrand’s lead aide on international trade issues.
NYTimes today: For two years in the mid-1990s, Mr. Morrissey was suspended from practicing law in New York State for mishandling a client’s escrow account.
NYTimes today: As prime minister in the 1990s, Nawaz […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

It’s not just call centers that are outsourced to India.
NEW DELHI — Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.
Manhole covers manufactured in India can be anywhere from 20 to 60 percent cheaper than those made in […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

In the December 2007 issue of the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, there is an article “Does Mad Money make the market go mad?”
From the abstract: Our analysis of returns and trading volume around stock recommendations aired on charismatic host Jim Cramer’s Mad Money program reveals statistical evidence of response to […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

From today’s front page WSJ article “Recession Fears Weigh Heavily On the Markets”:
This time around, much depends on how tight a rein financial institutions keep on their lending and consumers keep on their spending.
By itself, the housing slump seems unlikely to choke off U.S. economic growth. Home construction accounts for less […]

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