A couple of days ago I put up a post that reviewed returns on homes for the past decade. Here’s a bit more recent history via a great graph from CalculatedRisk.com. (click for a larger image) Pretty awful isn’t it? Basically, we’re going nowhere which shouldn’t be at all surprising. The similarity to the S&L […]
Archive for December, 2010
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The 20 Best Housing Markets
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 26th, 2010
This from Zillow.com is getting Tweeted about today and it is interesting. A couple of thoughts occur to me. First, if you take the time to read the Zillow reviews of each market you will notice, but not be surprised by the fact that most of the gains occurred in the early part of the […]
Bankers Or Politicians – Who Is The Puppet Master?
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 22nd, 2010
I missed this post by Tyler Cowen which he wrote some time ago and only stumbled upon it recently. He reviews the Simon Johnson/James Kwak book 13 Bankers, sort of, as he makes the point that big government is our root problem, not big finance. This analysis bears on one of the main policy recommendations of […]
Saving The EU
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 21st, 2010
You probably know that I’m a Euro-pessimist. I fully expect the EU to emerge from its present crisis is some form resembling a free trade assemblage with most of the important countries adopting their own currency. Here, however, from Ambrose Evans-Pierce is an intriguing idea for preserving the union via radical surgery. Andrew Bosomworth, head […]
FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 21st, 2010
Hopefully this won’t stand: U.S. communications regulators adopted Internet traffic rules Tuesday that prevent providers from blocking lawful content but still let them ration access to their networks. The rules aim to strike a balance between the interests of Internet service providers, content companies and consumers, but some industry analysts think a court challenge is […]
Minority Report From The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Promotes Angst
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 15th, 2010
I don’t have time tonight to comment meaningfully on the chatter surrounding the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Both Calculated Risk and Felix Salmon quote a Huffington Post article about the minority releasing their own report. They would have been better served to have read Keith Hennessey’s post which contains the link to the report the […]
Retail Sales Bounce Up Smartly – Real Or Illusory?
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 14th, 2010
Quite a surprising retail sales number – up 0.8% from October to November and up 7.7% over November 2009. Calculated Risk posted this interesting chart(you can click on all the charts to enlarge): He observes that we are almost back to pre-recession levels. But is everything really coming up roses? Jake at EconomPicData.com is playing […]
