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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

We're in the Comic Book Phase Now

You know, when the hero with superpowers meets the villains and there are a few panels of "Bish, boom, bang" as his iron fists encounter the apparently explosive glass jaws of the bad guys? That part?

Eurostat released EU and EU27 Q2 GDP today. Sad, at 0.2 (quarterly, non-annualized). This is "unexpected", and stuff is selling off as I write. Here's the release. If you scroll down you can see the individual countries. Note France at 0.0 in Q2 and Germany at 0.1. There are those that believe that the drop off in industrial production might have something to do with the German collapse.

Sigh. The last round of PMIs were not exactly positive for Q3 outlook, so the great expectations are, shall we say, fading.

Let's review the bidding: We are waiting for China. Japan is negative still due to the quake/tsunami disaster, but that is waning. Hong Kong reported a slight drop (-0.5) in Q2 GDP. Singapore reported a contraction in Q2 of 6.5%. Australia was negative in the first quarter; no word on Q2 yet, but if you go to this table and scroll down to the production monthly figures, their trend appears somewhat negative.

This makes the US advance look decent, but we aren't staying at this level! So there is a global problem.

As for Japan, that deserves a post of its own.

Comments:
Now, now, it's just a bit of bad luck. The president had saved us all, but if it weren't for the tsunami, we would be in recovery summer, part 2!
 
Gordon, isn't that a LOT like mocking a special ed kid?

Whether it's basic lack of brainpower or a Walter Mitty-like urge to fantasize, our president has not the most basic clue about economics.
 
My favorite comic book was "Mad". The b/w magazine version was good too.
 
Well, the current situation is a LOT like being governed by 538 special ed kids ...

(Verification word: nalitol. Perhaps meaning nail it all to the wall?)
 
I quote from the sacred comic book of Dr. Strange ("Return to the Nightmare World!")

"This man has been asleep with his eyes open for over forty years, Dr. Strange! We have found it completely impossible to awaken him!"

"Hmmm, I see by this chart that you have tried every means available to science! There can be only one answer..."

Since we do not have an enchanted amulet at our disposal, I suggest we create even more charts! ;)
 
"As of June 2011, Eurostat reports that the unemployment rate in the euro zone was 9.9%. For the under-25s, it was 20.3%. In Spain, youth unemployment stands at 45.7%, which tops even the Greek rate of 38.5%. Then there's this remarkable detail: Among Europeans aged 18-34, no fewer than 46%—51 million people in all—live with their parents."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576510200756243420.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
 
Those figures are true. You can see why they were throwing money at the problem and racking up the debts.

Still, that's over.
 
So much port traffic to stagnate, so little time.
 
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