JPMorgan explains crisis with Legos

Michael Cembalest, the chief investment officer for JPMorgan's private bank, included a Lego diorama in his research note today in order to explain the ongoing euro zone crisis as seen by a 9-year-old. [via Felix Salmon]

If you're having trouble reading it, don't worry, there's a key that includes plenty of European stereotypes. 

For example, the toreador in a floppy hat, and the F1 driver in the upper left-hand corner represent Spain and Italy. The sailor represents Finland and the artists are France.  Felix Salmon points out that he forgot about Iceland. 

If playing with Legos to explain economics seems bizarre to you, here's what Cembalest has to say to that:

"If today’s diorama analysis borders on the absurd, so does maintaining the fiction that accumulation of massive public and private sector claims in Europe can somehow be engineered away."

Image: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/09/06/jp-morgan-explains-the-euro-crisis-with-lego/

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-legos-2011-9#ixzz1XIfDRCvn

Euro break-up – the consequences by UBS

The Euro should not exist.

More specifically, the Euro as it is currently constituted – with its current
structure and current membership – should not exist. This Euro creates more
economic costs than benefits for at least some of its members – a fact that has
become painfully obvious to some of its participants in recent years.

The Global Economic Perspectives draws on the research UBS has published
over the past fifteen years looking at the issues surrounding the Euro and its
existence. If the Euro does not work (and it does not), then either the current
structure needs to change, or the current membership needs to change. Rather
than go through the options for keeping the Euro together (fiscal confederation
being the central idea, and our base case), we look at the consequences of
attempting to break up the Euro.



http://www.americanfuture.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2011-09-06-UBS-Euro-break-up-the-consequences.pdf 

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article30286.html 

European banks make large cash transfers to US

Cash transfers


Bank shares have taken the brunt of the latest stock market sell-off.
Royal Bank of Scotland fell 12.3%, Deutsche Bank 8.9% and Societe Generale 8.6%.
Most major banks in the US and Europe have lost about half of their value over the last six months.
Fears began to mount again that the eurozone may not be able to contain its debt crisis, and a government default could in turn lead to a European banking crisis.

Deutsche Bank's outgoing chief executive, Josef Ackermann, said on Monday that some European banks would go bust if they were forced to recognise in their accounts the existing losses on government debts they own, based on current market prices for government bonds.

Banks also face the prospect of being sued by US government mortgage agencies for mis-selling home loans during the housing boom, while the Financial Times reported on Monday that Deutsche Bank headed a list of banks being investigated in the Serious Fraud Office for similar mis-selling in the UK.

Meanwhile, evidence emerged that some analysts suggest shows European banks have been transferring large amounts of cash across the Atlantic in a bid to escape an emerging European banking crisis.

Data released by the US Federal Reserve on Friday indicated that unnamed foreign banks transferred cash into the country's banking system over the summer, while separate data from the ECB that shows that European banks have been withdrawing their cash from the European banking system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14785694

The College Conspiracy: The next debt bubble

Company makes tiny, 65 sq ft build-it-yourself homes

All this can be yours for just $99! Company makes tiny, 65 sq ft build-it-yourself homes 

By RACHEL QUIGLEY

or those who are too broke to get on the housing ladder, an American firm is here to help.

Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Tiny House Company makes cute little homes that start from the bargain price of $99.

The cheapest home is a flat-pack to be built by the owner but, if you're not very handy, there are ready-made versions for $38,997.

Cute: For those who are too broke to get on the housing ladder an American firm Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is here to help with homes that start at the bargain price of $99

Bargain: The cheapest home is a flat-pack to be built by the owner but, if you're not very handy, there are ready-made versions for $38,997

All necessities: The homes all have fully functioning kitchens, bathrooms and sleeping areas

The teeny homes, which start at just 65 square feet are kitted out with fully functioning kitchens,  bathrooms complete with composting toilets and sleeping areas.

Some models even come on wheels.

As well as being environmentally friendly the homes are affordable for people on meagre incomes. 

As the debt problem in the U.S. reaches tipping point Mr Shafer, who lives in one of his houses in Sebastapol, California, says that less can be more. 

'People are starting to get a clue I think,' he said.

'People are starting to understand that excess is not necessarily a luxury. It can be a burden, a liability. People are living in 4,000 and 6,000 square foot debtors prisons.'

Convenient: A lot of the homes have wheels, so you can move any time your heart desires

Mobile: The teeny homes, which start at just 65 square feet, are kitted out with fully-functioning kitchens, bathrooms and sleeping areas - some models even come on wheels

He said that having less belongings is also a pleasure.

'People spend 30 years or more paying for all this space and stuff that they don't really need.'

But one of the main reasons he likes to live small - less cleaning.

'I grew up in a 4,000 square foot home,' he said.

'And my sister and I were in charge of cleaning the house. But my main reason for building such a little home was nothing so grandiose as saving the world, or so pragmatic as saving money.

'Truth be known, I simply do not have the time or patience for a large home. I’ve found that, like anything else that’s superfluous, extra space merely gets in the way of my contentment, for it requires maintenance and heating and ultimately demands that I exchange a portion of my life for the money to pay for these luxuries. 

'I wanted a place that would maintain my serene lifestyle, not a place that I would spend the rest of my life maintaining. I find nothing demanding about Tumbleweed. Everything’s within arm’s reach and nothing’s in the way–not even space itself.'

Deals on wheels: As well as being environmentally friendly the homes are affordable for people on meagre incomes and can be wheeled anywhere

Mobile: The teeny homes designed by Jay Shafer, right, which start at just 65 square feet, are kitted out with fully-functioning kitchens, bathrooms and sleeping areas - some models even come on wheels

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032402/Tumbleweed-Tiny-House-Company-makes-tiny-65-sq-ft-build-homes.html#ixzz1WlvMAm00

Quantum Entanglements by Leonard Susskind (Stanford)

Roubini - we're heading into recession and running out of policy tools

Social Engineering in the 20th Century

Euro bail-out in doubt as 'hysteria' sweeps Germany

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8728628/Euro-bail-out-in-doubt-as-hysteria-sweeps-Germany.html

Mrs Merkel has cancelled a high-profile trip to Russia on September 7, the crucial day when the package goes to the Bundestag and the country's constitutional court rules on the legality of the EU's bail-out machinery.

If the court rules that the €440bn rescue fund (EFSF) breaches Treaty law or undermines German fiscal sovereignty, it risks setting off an instant brushfire across monetary union.

The seething discontent in Germany over Europe's debt crisis has spread to all the key institutions of the state. "Hysteria is sweeping Germany " said Klaus Regling, the EFSF's director.

German media reported that the latest tally of votes in the Bundestag shows that 23 members from Mrs Merkel's own coalition plan to vote against the package, including twelve of the 44 members of Bavaria's Social Christians (CSU). This may force the Chancellor to rely on opposition votes, risking a government collapse.

Heaven and Hell

Heaven is where the police are British,
the chefs Italian,
the mechanics German,
the lovers French,
and it's all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German,
the chefs are British,
the mechanics French,
the lovers Swiss,
and it is all organized by the Italians.

Chavez to move 12 Billion in Gold to Venezuela

MELISSA BLOCK, host: With gold trading at record prices, here's a new challenge for what's called the bullion logistics industry. That is, the people who move gold around. The challenge is how to send and insure a really big shipment.

Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has announced that he wants all of the country's holdings in gold to be physically transferred to his country. That's more than $12 billion worth of gold. And the prospects for shipping it fill our heads with all kinds of James Bond-ish ideas.

Well, Jack Farchy wrote about this for the Financial Times. And, Jack, we're talking about 211 tons of Venezuelan gold. Where is it exactly?

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/22/139859316/chavez-wants-gold-holdings-transferred-to-venezuela

ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011

Khan Academy - Salman Khan

DOW down 400

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44188136

Stocks closed off their worst levels Thursday, but were still down sharply, following a handful of disappointing economic news and over continuing worries over the stability of euro zone banks.

For the week, the Dow is lower by over 2 percent, while the S&P and Nasdaq are down by more than 3 and 5 percent, respectively.

The advantages of Pessimism

Incompatibility between our big aspirations and the reality of life is bound to disappoint unless we learn to be a bit more gloomy, says Alain de Botton.

Today I want to advance the unusual idea that we'd be a great deal more cheerful if we learnt to be a little more pessimistic.
And, from a completely secular point of view, I'd like to suggest that in the passages before they go on to promise us salvation, religions are rather good at being pessimistic. For example, Christianity has spent much of its history emphasising the darker side of earthly existence.
Yet even within this sombre tradition, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal stands out for the exceptionally merciless nature of his pessimism. In his book the Pensees, Pascal misses no opportunities to confront his readers with evidence of mankind's resolutely deviant, pitiful and unworthy nature.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14506129

A pessimistic world view does not have to entail a life stripped of joy. Pessimists can have a far greater capacity for appreciation than their opposite numbers, for they never expect things to turn out well and so may be amazed by the modest successes which occasionally break out across their darkened horizons.