Submitted by CARPE DIEM
WASHINGTON – Lawmakers eager to curb speculation in oil markets got support Monday from witnesses who told a House subcommittee that oil prices could fall sharply if Congress put strict limits on trading in energy futures by investment banks, pension funds and other financial investors.
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

People who argue that speculation is destabilizing seldom realize that this is largely equivalent to saying that speculators lose money, since speculation can be destabilizing in general only if speculators on the average sell when the currency (commodity) is low in price and buy when it is high.

~Milton Friedman, Essays in Positive […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Growing income inequality has had little traction thus far as a political issue. Why is this?
Partly because some have moved up, as economist Stephen Rose points out. There are 12% more households earning in excess of $100,000 than 20 or so years ago. And those making less than $30,000 have not increased. […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
A key reason why oil prices have been going up is that Asia and the oil producing countries are consuming more while global oil production has stagnated. That means Europe and America had to consume less, and a very high price proved necessary to accomplish that.
I do believe that speculation has been another […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
The market expects no change in the current 2.0% Fed funds rate at this afternoon’s FOMC announcement. Looking out over the second half of this year, however, the Fed funds futures market anticipates higher rates.
The December ‘08 contract is currently priced with a 50-basis point hike to 2.5% in mind. It’s […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
Back in August 2004 the Journal asked its economic forecast panel how high oil prices would have to go to trigger a recession.  Here’s the results:

Just for the record, here’s how long it’s been:
$50 or higher:  39 months
$60 or higher: 28 months
$70 or higher: 15 months
$80 or higher: 8 months.
My hat is […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
Consumer confidence (the term used by the Conference Board) and consumer sentiment (the label used by the University of Michigan) are not quite at their all-time lows, but they are very close to them.

This seems a little odd because two of the biggest elements of consumer attitudes, unemployment and inflation, are quite […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
If you bought a long time ago, your house has probably appreciated in value, despite the recent decline.  If you bought a year ago, your house is probably worth less than what you paid for it.  Where is the dividing line between gains and losses?  Using the Case Schiller indexes, I found […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Consider the challenge we give supermarket managers. We don’t tell them in advance when we’re going to shop, what we’re going to buy and how much, but if they don’t live up to this challenge, we’re going to fire them by taking our business elsewhere. The supermarket manager does a fairly good […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Lunch with Warren Buffet is now up to $77,100 on Ebay, with 7 bids and 2 days left.

Ian Usher’s “A Life For Sale” is now up to AU$390,300 (US$371,500) on Ebay, with 63 bids and 3 days left.

A 1994 Geo Metro with 133,700 miles sold for $6,500 on Ebay.
Visit 1800blogger […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
M2: Percentage Change from Year Ago
M2: Monthly Percent Change, At an Annual Rate
The charts above (click to enlarge) are from the St. Louis Fed’s most recent “Monetary Trends” report for M2 growth on a: a) percent change from a year ago basis (top chart), and b) monthly percent change at […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Back with a roar after the oil bust of the 1980s, Houston has reclaimed its title as energy capital of the U.S. and added aerospace, technology and medical companies to the mix, generating more than 100,000 jobs in 2007. Not only does the Houston metro area lead the nation in job growth, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

COLUMBIA, Mo. — By 2025, the wait to see a doctor could get a lot longer if the current number of students training to be primary care physicians doesn’t increase soon, according to a new University of Missouri study. Jack Colwill, professor emeritus of family and community medicine in the MU School […]

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