10 Tuesday AM Reads

September 1, 2015 7:15am by

My two-fer-Tuesday morning train reads:

• Market pullback: 1997 or 1998? 2011 or 2014? (Fidelity) see also U.S. Stocks Decline as S&P 500 Posts Worst Month Since May 2012 (Bloomberg)
• Maybe This Global Slowdown Is Different (BV) see also China’s latest manufacturing data underscore investor fears about the country’s growth (WSJ)
• 13 Arguments Pro & Con: Should the Fed tighten? (Marginal Revolution) see also What Fed Officials Are Saying About a September Rate Increase (WSJ)
• American Industry Wastes Huge Amounts of Gas by Burning It Off. Here’s a Cheap Way to Save It. (Slate) see also Oil Prices Soar Amid Lower U.S. Output Estimates, OPEC Article
• A Life Well Lived (Oliver Sacks) see also Oliver Sacks, 1933-2015 (Longform)

Continues here

 

 

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  1. RW commented on Sep 1

    Every week the gun beat goes on so and this is just an update on the more-or-less goofy acts as reported in local news media the previous week.*

    GunFAIL CXXXV

    After a relatively light week, we’re back up over 30 incidents reported, and as usual, self-inflicted gunshot wounds are the overwhelming plurality. Fifteen of the 33 stories included at “press time” involved people who accidentally shot themselves. And seven victims were accidentally shot by family members or significant others, including two parents shot and killed by their pre-schoolers, one in Guns Everywhere Georgia, and one in Guns Pretty Much Everywhere Alabama. Ten minors were themselves the victim of accidental shootings last week, as well, ranging in age from 19 months to 17 years old. ….

    *It would take a helluva lot of text to report all incidents of gun stupidity and violence in the USofA and, at approx 62 gun-associated deaths per day (on average including suicides), damned tough to find any light side to it either.

  2. rd commented on Sep 1

    Re: Global slowdown is different:

    Here is an underlying statistic that is probably having an impact around the world – the US auto average age keeps getting older: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-average-age-of-us-vehicles-stays-at-record-high-of-114-years-2014-6

    We just replaced 10 and 12 year old vehicles. We live in the Rust Belt with lots of snow and crappy suspension-destroying roads covered with salt four months a year. If not for that, we would probably have kept these vehicles to 15 years. People have been leaving the Rust Belt and going south and west with less winter salt, so I would expect their vehicles to last longer – it wouldn’t surprise me if this statistic keeps creeping up a couple of more years..

    I don’t sense the same focus on having nice new cars today that I recall 20 years ago or so. I think people are willing to defer buying a new car for a couple of more years if it allows for some additional fun experiences (services).

  3. VennData commented on Sep 1

    Who are these lunatics shorting the heck out of the US in after hours, day after day?

  4. VennData commented on Sep 1

    Alaskans want the original name of their mountain.

    But the GOP says “Obama won’t work with us to find a way to recognize McKinley!”

    This is Republican politics that explain Trump’s rise. The establishment Republicans must have a trade, must extract something.

    NO. Just get the work done Boehner

    • VennData commented on Sep 1

      “…Boehner is despised by the younger, more conservative members of the House Republican Conference. They are repelled by his personal behavior. He is louche, alcoholic, lazy, and without any commitment to any principle. Boehner has already tried to buy the members with campaign contributions and committee assignments, which he has already promised to potentially difficult members. His hold is insecure. He is not Gingrich, the natural leader of a “revolution,” riding the crest into power. He is careworn and threadbare, banal and hollow, holding nobody’s enduring loyalty. Boehner is beholden and somewhat scared of his base. He twitches when they make gestures that might undermine his position. His impulse is to hand out money. His aim is to recreate DeLay, Inc, with Jerry Lewis, who will be the new chairman of Appropriations. But Boehner is neither feared nor loved. He’s a would-be DeLay without the whip. He’s the one at the end of the lash…”

      http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/09/hillary-clinton-email-dump-funny-messages

    • rd commented on Sep 1

      They just need to name one of the mountains in Ohio after McKinley. It is a very simple solution.

  10. rd commented on Sep 1

    So if you have some minor technical infractions of manipulating markets, assisting tax cheats, and money laundering that adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars in fines (for the ones that are actually investigated), the obvious solution is to hire a world class photographer to photograph high profile clients. That should solve the fundamental ethical, moral, and legal problems.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/annie-leibovitzs-latest-project-is-an-image-overhaul-for-ubs-2015-09-01

  13. willid3 commented on Sep 1

    hm.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/01/us-usa-retirement-regulations-insight-idUSKCN0R12NT20150901?feedType=nl&feedName=PersonalFinance

    who knew that maybe retirement accounts might not be a good place to invest in ‘assets’ that its really hard to value, and that maybe high fees for these ‘assets’ might not be a particularly ‘good investment’. but you guessed, Congress will likely step into protect the brokers. who of course dont want restrict what can be invested in. and the fees charged for. not matter if its good the investor or not

    • rd commented on Sep 2

      This could be devastating to individual investors if these regulations go through. These unsuspecting investors may be driven into the grasping greedy arms of organizations like (…gasp…) Vanguard where they could be forced to buy low cost, broadly diversified index funds.

    • rd commented on Sep 2

      I am surprised that we haven’t seen SuperPac ads discussing Donald Trump’s Satanic beliefs and espousing that Ted Cruz’s Calgary, Canada birth certificate is a Democratic forgery and he was actually born in Houston.

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