- Letterman Defends Palin Jokes – Political Wire
The jokes were over the top really. But Palin is obviously pandering to a certain segment of the population in her response here. Some of the routine was genuinely funny, but, on the whole, it was a bit cringe-worthy.
- Two Ways to Deleverage an Economy by Bill Bonner
"It’s the dumb money that thinks you can correct a generation-long period of credit growth in 24 months…with less than 10% unemployment… Stocks have now been in a rally for three months. The longer this goes on, of course, the dumber money gets. People come to think the bounce is a permanent bull market."
- Stand By Me: Banks’ exposure to eastern Europe – The Economist
"the tiny Baltic state’s continuing battle to defend its currency peg cannot be dismissed: it is a reminder of the wall of bad debts faced by banks across central and eastern Europe (CEE), many of which have western European parents "
- Sweden car firm Koenigsegg to buy Saab – report
- Terror Names Linked To Doomed Flight AF 447 – Sky News
This story does not seem to be getting any media play as far as I can tell. Please do comment if you have heard more. Hat tip Scott.
- Volcker: Strong Recovery, Inflation Are Both Unlikely
Even Volcker is talking about a Q4 recovery now. "Paul Volcker, Chairman of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said Thursday it is reasonable to expect that economic growth will resume in the U.S. late this year, but warned that a strong recovery is unlikely."
- Does the Administration Care About Executive Compensation? – James Kwak
This is yet more evidence that it is business as usual for banks. I saw the Geithner video and i sounded a lot like he was hesitant to have government interfere with compensation issues. Hence the recommendations for non-binding controls.
- Ronaldo, Kaka’s €160m price tag may not be too high – Telegraph
Balderdash. This is absolute insanity. Real Madrid are spending shed loads of money when the Spanish economy is in a deep, deep downturn. It sounds like the height of folly and shows how these athlete’s world is completely divorced from yours.
- By the Numbers? – Michael Panzner
If you are interested in how accurate our statistics are, you will find this post interesting.
- Government lending targets for bailout banks feed protectionism warns IIF – Telegraph
"Governments which force domestic lending targets on banks that receive public bailouts are undermining efforts to stabilize the global economy an international finance industry association has warned."
- FT.com – Lewis says Fed pushed Merrill deal
There’s a lot of chatter as to whether this spells trouble for Bernanke and the upcoming decision whether to re-appoint him. If it does, Larry Summers, would be the odds-on favourite to jump into Bernanke’s seat.
- US retail sales rise 0.5% in May
"Much of the increase was driven by sales at petrol stations, which in part reflects higher gasoline prices as oil has increased."
- Conan O’Brien Loses Late-Night Lead – Bloomberg Video
I remember when I first saw Conan and his pal Andy Richter on CNBC Europe while I was living in London. We thought, "this guy sucks." But, what the heck do I know. Certainly, he’s gotten a lot better, but I still prefer Letterman to Conan.
- Oil heads towards $72 on falling U.S. inventories
almost sounds like a bubble again