News from around the web: 2009-10-02

"Professor Roy Jastram, of the University of California, conducted the longest-term analysis of this precious metal’s purchasing power, stretching back to 1560 when Elizabeth I ordered new coinage to restore the reputation of the English currency."

"Forbes says Tiger Woods has become the first athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings. The magazine estimates that golf’s top-ranked player crested the plateau when he earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup on Sunday."

"Citadel Investment Group LLC, known for its hedge funds, pulled in about $1 billion last year in a unit that does high-frequency trading. The figure, which emerged this week in a Chicago court battle involving Citadel, shows just how lucrative this often-secretive trading practice can be."

Hat tip Scott. "Let me just say that I’m always suspicious when I see articles about the motivations of journalists. I think they often reflect a misunderstanding of what journalism is all about. Journalists are supposed to be assholes. The system does not work, in fact, if society’s journalists are all nice, kind, friendly, rational people. You want a good percentage of them to be inconsolably crazy. You want them to be jealous of everything and everyone and to have heaps of personal hangups and flaws. That way they will always be motivated to punch holes in things."

Rolfe points to gold as a currency hedge.

"One of the key lessons from Japan’s lost decade is that investors’ confidence that the authorities are in control of events will ultimately drain away. In a balance sheet recession, one should expect frequent downturns as the authorities balk at additional stimulus. Only then will zombie investors, sucked dry of confidence, squeeze the remaining puss from equity market valuations. Only then will the 20 year boil of equity market over-valuation be properly lanced."

"In a statement following the conclusion of the National People’s Congress in March 2007, Premier Wen acknowledged that the Chinese economy looked extremely strong on the surface, especially in terms of GDP and employment growth. Yet, beneath the surface, he cautioned, such strength was far more questionable. In the case of China, he warned of an economy that was increasingly "unbalanced, unstable, uncoordinated and unsustainable." Little did he realize at the time how those "four uns," as they were later to become known, would pose an immediate and tough challenge to China’s growth imperatives."