August 2011
121 posts
7 tags
Reid Approves U.S. Debt Agreement Pending OK From... →
The framework would raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling through 2012, cut spending by about $1 trillion and call for enactment of a law shaving another $1.5 trillion from long-term debt by 2021 — or institute punishing reductions across all government areas, including Medicare and defense programs, according to congressional officials.
Progress.
J N O M I C S
July 2011
88 posts
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#Housing Update: Long Term - Existing Housing is...
60secondstocks:
Multi-decade Sales Volume is way down. If banks lower their inventory prices and 2nd-home mortgage approval guidelines are loosened then volume could really get moving again.
New Home supply going down
New home sales rising slowly
A large interest rate hike may hurry up “First-time” buyers and “wait and see” investors to enter the market and snap up bargains while home...
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Chasing prices | Harvard Gazette →
Some of her papers are based purely on mathematical formulations. “I try to model the world with features I think are relevant,” she said, “and then see what the behavior of economic agents are in that environment.”
But Gopinath also burrows into mounds of data. What she calls her “pricing project” tracks the cost of goods in minute detail, down to the expense of a pair of shoes from China or a...
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How Dell Has Reinvented Itself | Fast Company →
Thirteen months ago, Dell formed a Customer Advisory Panel (DellCAP) to gain customer insights as part of a business transformation effort that had been underway for over a year at that point. This month, Dell brought in 13 of the 30 people from the original group plus 3 new faces for 2 days (paying everyone’s travel and accommodation) to review progress and seek additional feedback....
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“Hello? Bank capital doesn’t consist of canned food or steel ingots held in a...”
– Paul Krugman with his take on the importance of banks increasing capital requirements while lambasting former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan. The man spouts some serious vitriol. Take a minute to read the brief post.
The Malevolent Ex-Maestro - NYTimes.com
J N O M I C S
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Calculated Risk: Summary for Week ending July 29th →
A wonderful synopsis of the week’s economics events with many, gorgeous graphs included.
J N O M I C S
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Why Soros wants to spend less time with his money... →
When George Soros rented a new office by Manhattan’s Central Park in 1973 for his four-year-old hedge fund, he and his fellow “hedgies” were the lone gunslingers of modern capitalism. Shooting wild bets on little more than a hunch, funds lived – and died – fast. No longer. Over the past four decades Mr Soros’s fund has grown from $4m to $25bn, but he is now the grand old man of a maturing...
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“No journey is too great, when one finds what one seeks.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
J N O M I C S
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“Keep in mind that if we…don’t come to an agreement ,we could lose our...”
– President Barack Obama
Obama downgrade warning as GDP slows - FT.com
J N O M I C S
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Merck to Cut Up to 13,000 Jobs - Bloomberg →
Merck & Co., the second-largest U.S. drugmaker, plans to eliminate an additional 12,000 to 13,000 jobs by 2015, expanding a restructuring program to save as much as $4.6 billion a year.
As much as 14 percent of the company’s 91,000 employees will lose their jobs, based on the size of the workforce at the end of last month. The Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based drugmaker also reported...
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Buchanan: Einstein on Wall Street - Bloomberg →
This so-called exponential discounting — reducing the value of something by a fixed percentage for each unit of time — is standard practice in economics. It comes into play whenever people consider investing for long-term payoff, whether by building railroads for high-speed trains or reining in carbon emissions to preserve the climate. And it discounts the distant future especially...
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“Does a tool like Twitter actually help our political system by increasing the...”
– Infographic Of The Day: Does Twitter Make Our Politics Worse? | Co. Design
Agreed, but the next question is, how does this technology evolve into its next, more equitable stage? How could the major news networks use analysis similar to that conducted by the researchers at Indiana University to...
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America’s success depends on a sound fiscal regime... →
Our country cannot afford politics as usual at a moment of such vital import for now and for the longer term. Many Americans have experienced great hardship since the recession began; unemployment has become long-term for large numbers, with potentially permanent damage through loss of skills; and current economic conditions could well remain stressed for an extended time due to the strong...
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Jobless Claims in U.S. Decreased to Three-Month... →
Jobless claims fell by 24,000 to 398,000 in the week ended July 23, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The level of claims was fewer than forecast, as the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for a drop to 415,000. There were no special factors associated with the decrease other than the usual volatility that occurs each year in July, a Labor...
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Tenure Granted to 58% of Eligible Teachers in City →
infoneer-pulse:
The era of automatic tenure for teachers in New York City is over, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Wednesday.
Under tougher evaluation guidelines that the city put into effect this year, 58 percent of teachers eligible for tenure received it, the mayor said at a news conference at the Department of Education. A decision on tenure was deferred for 39 percent of eligible...
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“Meanwhile, in 2007, Karl Lagerfeld declared her his “muse”, and the next year...”
– Of fashion and Amy Winehouse | Material World | Vanessa Friedman blogs on the fashion and luxury industry for the Financial Times – FT.com
In what other industry do market trends move this fast? Constant change. Constant information. Constant trend watch. Everywhere. Take note.
J N O M I C S
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“Ideas are a dime a dozen; it’s implementation that decides triumph or failure.”
– The Best Strategy For Big Innovation: Knowing Your Limits | Co. Design
Truth.
J N O M I C S
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Why The U.S. Government Should Embrace Smart... →
With China and other rising nations urbanizing at a frenetic pace, the potential market for the design, production, application and integration of smart technologies is vast, $1.2 trillion by one estimate over the next decade.
The United States would seem tailor made for this market transformation. One of the most urbanized countries in the world, cities and metropolitan areas house over 83% of...
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Forget the debt: its jobs that will define Obama’s... →
The US unemployment rate will come down when the government in Washington develops policies that encourage business investment, housing construction, small business hiring, stronger exports and other increases in demand. Unfortunately, it does not look like the Obama administration has a strategy for achieving any of that.
J N O M I C S
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“Since the devastating Japanese earthquake and, earlier, the global financial...”
– Regulators must risk more, and intervene less | The A-List | Must-read views on today’s top news stories – FT.com – FT.com
The United States’ former economic oracle still has wisdom to bestow. Hopefully our President and policymakers are listening.
J N O M I C S
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Montessori Builds Innovators - Andrew McAfee -... →
The cornerstones of this method, according to Wales’s brainchild Wikipedia, are: • mixed-age classrooms, with classrooms for children aged 2½-or-3 to 6 by far the most common, • student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options, • uninterrupted blocks of work time, • a Constructivist or “discovery” model, in which students learn concepts from working with...
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Apple, Coke Defy Economy to Lead Earnings -... →
U.S. second-quarter corporate earnings are outstripping estimates as companies from Apple Inc. to Coca-Cola Co. boost sales with new products and benefit from a weaker dollar, surprising analysts who predicted a bigger drag from the economy.
Earnings per share jumped 19 percent from a year earlier for the 122 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index that reported second-quarter results...
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Watch(via El-Erian Says U.S. May Lose Rating - Video - Bloomberg)
July 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. may lose its AAA credit rating even if lawmakers reach a plan to avoid a default, said Mohamed A. El-Erian, whose Pacific Investment Management Co. manages the world’s biggest bond fund. Matt Miller reports in today’s Movers and Shakers on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”...
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Moody's warns Greek default almost certain |... →
It was the second rating agency to warn of a default after euro zone leaders and banks agreed last week that the private sector would shoulder part of the burden of a rescue deal that offers Greece more cash and easier loan terms to keep it afloat and avoid further contagion.
“The announced EU program along with the Institute of International Finance’s statement implies that the...
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White House, Boehner Zero In on Major Deal -... →
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are moving toward a deficit-reduction deal that could cut as much as $3 trillion in spending and overhaul the tax code by the end of next year to raise up to $1 trillion, according to people familiar with the talks.
Progress.
J N O M I C S
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GE tops Wall Street estimates on overseas demand |... →
The largest U.S. conglomerate said on Friday its second-quarter results were helped by a rebound in sales of railroad locomotives, which offset weakening demand for wind turbines. With overall orders up 24 percent, pushing the company’s backlog to $189 billion, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said he was confident about the rest of the year.
Global markets continue to their impressive...
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Johnson Controls Sees Faster Snap-Back in Auto... →
U.S. auto part makers may report big jumps in their quarterly revenue after Johnson ControlsInc., the group’s bellwether, reported a faster-than-expected recovery by the global automotive industry following the March Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
More good news amidst a crowded week of market concerns.
J N O M I C S
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Zillow triples on debut - FT.com →
Zillow, a Seattle-based real estate listings web site, tripled in value in its first day of trading on Wednesday, continuing a series of successes for dotcom companies this year in an echo of the 1990s boom.
Zillow’s bankers, led by Citigroup, had initially aimed for a market valuation of slightly more than $500m, at $18 a share. But on Tuesday night, Zillow sold shares for $20, then opened...
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“Lowering GDP worsens debt-sustainability (typically measured by the debt to GDP...”
– Joseph Stiglitz - Economist and Columbia University Professor
Eurozone’s problems are political, not economic | The A-List | Must-read views on today’s top news stories – FT.com – FT.com
A simple profound truth when considering our personal finances and/or when a nation considers its financial...
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Google Spending Millions to Find the Next Google →
infoneer-pulse:
Google thinks it can be young and crazy again. And it is betting $200 million that it is right.
In the hottest market for technology start-up companies in over a decade, the Silicon Valley behemoth is playing venture capitalist in a rush to discover the next Facebook or Zynga.
Other pedigreed tech companies are doing the same, as venture capital dollars coming from...
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Senators Push Deficit-Reduction Plan - NYTimes.com →
President Obama on Tuesday renewed his push for an ambitious deficit-reduction deal, hailing a bipartisan package put forward hours earlier by a group of six senators as a sign of progress and summoning Congressional leaders for a new round of negotiations.
Progress?
J N O M I C S
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#Strategy is about commuincating an essential idea across the arc of change generated by volatile markets. #economics #business #ideas
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“If you weren’t already in the business, would you enter it today?”
– Peter Drucker
J N O M I C S
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“Conventional wisdom has failed,” said Mercedes Marcó del Pont, Argentina’s...”
– Argentina: A high-risk recovery - FT.com
J N O M I C S
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Kindle lets students rent digital textbooks →
infoneer-pulse:
Amazon.com on Monday began letting students rent textbooks on Kindle electronic readers.
Kindle Textbook Rentals lets students pay based on how long they want to use textbooks, with periods ranging from 30 days to 360 days.
» via Yahoo! News
A market evolves, disruptively.
J N O M I C S
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“First, the maintenance of systemic confidence is essential in a financial...”
– Lawrence Summers - Harvard University Professor, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and economist
How to save the eurozone - FT.com
J N O M I C S
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A (Brief) Comment on the Journey
The journey is to be analyzed before, after, and during a consideration of the results.
J N O M I C S
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“The human mind is incredibly powerful; it is capable of computations that can...”
– Robert Shiller - Yale University professor and author of Irrational Exuberance
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Patent pools key to cheaper generic drugs - view... →
Gilead was founded 30 years ago and now the biotech start-up has become a leading US pharmaceutical company behind flu and HIV treatments, Tamiflu and Atripla. Pharmaceuticals correspondent Andrew Jack assesses chief executive John Martin’s views on drug access for poorer countries, innovation and dividends.
J N O M I C S
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