10 Thursday AM Reads

July 16, 2015 7:30am by

Our slow aged, steel cut morning train reads:

• Why the Art Market Is a Bubble That’s Not Going to Burst (ArtNet)
• I love Germany. And Greece. And especially Finland. (Interfluidity)
• Seriously Delinquent Mortgages at Lowest Level in 8 Years in U.S. (World Property Journal)
• VR is the Porn industry’s billion-dollar new frontier (Marketwatch)
• No, Earth is not heading toward a ‘mini ice age’ (Washington Post) see also Echo chamber of outrage: Ars attends a climate skeptics’ summit (Ars Technica)

Continues here

 

 

 

 

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  1. RW commented on Jul 16

    An increasing and rather astonishing percentage of leadership appears categorically unable to mark their beliefs to market. Whether this is best described as herding, epistemic closure, or the moral collapse of Western elites will doubtless become a quarrel among future historians but for now our problem remains …

    Policy paralysis and/or secular stagnation?

    At some deep level, the overwhelming problem is that Eurocrat elites–and, to a remarkably and unhealthy degree, American elites and not just republican legislators–believe that:

    1. Something called “structural reform” is essential for future economic prosperity.
    2. “Structural reform” cannot be accomplished during a time of prosperity and full employment, but requires deep and visible pain to get politicians to do what must be done.
    3. The remarkable failure of austerity to produce either a successful structural rebalancing or political pressures that lead to meaningful “structural reform” since 2007 means only that austerity has not been austere enough.

    We are indeed trapped in the sewer of Romulus…

  2. VennData commented on Jul 16

    “… [Trump] raised $92,000 from other donors…”

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/donald-trump-financial-disclosure/

    Those “Base” voters that have pushed Trump to the top of the GOP polls are really big time donors.

    LOL. Realize that the GOP Base is a bunch of trailer park racists. A handful of uber rich, selfish pricks fund the tax cutters at the top and that’s it. Everything else is artifice. And Fox News is culling the herd for Rupert Murdoch’s ratings.

    http://theconversation.com/how-fox-news-and-donald-trump-are-impacting-the-gop-44456

    The GOP = The Clown Party.

  3. VennData commented on Jul 16

    Poor ESPN, losing 3.2 millon subs in a year.

    They need to find the optimal price point for people who must see the big guy do the thing with the ball.

  5. swag commented on Jul 16

    Like I’ve typed here before, I’m a big fan of Robert Shiller, and I can’t wait to read the latest edition of “Irrational Exuberance” (why doesn’t he give all of these very different books different titles? – well, “Irrational Exuberance” is so catchy.), but I’d say the “something funny going on” with the CAPE ratio is the distortion caused by the presence of the Great Recession in the time window of the 10 years just past. #financedilettante

    http://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters15/28-a-first-half-letter-to-clients-robert-shiller-on-the-valuation-quandary-3.php

  6. CD4P commented on Jul 16

    Great read on ESPN, BR!

  7. swag commented on Jul 16

    Max Fisher: We did a post just rounding up tweets from arms control analysts on what they’re saying about the Iran deal, and it was really hard to find arms control analysts who seem to be critical of the deal on the non-proliferation merits. Maybe there are some we just missed, but it seems like the consensus was overwhelmingly positive, which was so interesting to me because it’s very different from the conversation among Middle East policy analysts, which is much more divided. Why do you think that is?

    Jeffrey Lewis: ….As a deal, this is what deals look like. Actually, they usually don’t look this good….I see it as a really straightforward measure to slow down an enrichment program that was going gangbusters.

    So you ask, “Does it slow it down?” Yes. “Does it slow it down in a way that is verifiable?” Yes. “Does it slow it down more than bombing it would?” Yes. “Okay, good deal.”

    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/07/technical-experts-weigh-and-theyre-pretty-impressed-iran-deal

  8. Iamthe50percent commented on Jul 16

    The piece about ESPN is interesting, especially in light of your past observation about Discovery Channel and the future of TV. Maybe the internet, instead of offering a cornucopia of choices will push us all down to the lowest common denominator, news and porn. From my Samsung Smart TV, I see Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu with basically the same set of movies. Hulu has old TV shows presently being broadcast by Me-TV, H&I, and TVLand, probably sans commercials but wait! Cable-TV and FM radio used to be sans commercials also.

    One more observation about ESPN: I’m not a sports guy but most of the men I worked with were. They talked about the Cubs, the Sox, the ‘Hawks, Da Bears (this is Chicago). No one seemed interested in Czechoslovakian Soccer. They weren’t general sports guys. They were local sports guys. They might pay $30 a month to see blacked out games, but not general sports,

    • VennData commented on Jul 16

      The Big Ten Network figured this out. People want to see the local teams.

      Thunder vs Mavericks? Devil Rays versus D-Backs?

      However I’d pay to see the Czechs and Slovaks re-united.

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