The unimportant news thread

[LKB]

Jarrow, New Year's Eve 1911.

Indeed, Karl.

But l must thank DavidW. While I'm somewhat  notorious for regularly producing obvious puns, it's a rare pleasure to divest myself of an obvious recursive pun.

[Karl Henning]

Indeed, Karl.

But l must thank DavidW. While I'm somewhat  notorious for regularly producing obvious puns, it's a rare pleasure to divest myself of an obvious recursive pun.

And you've not yet announced what your chief weapons are!

[LKB]

And you've not yet announced what your chief weapons are!

Very well. My chief weapons are:

Crazy Horse's bow, and Sitting Bull's spear.

[Todd]

Euro Drops to Dollar Parity for First Time in Two Decades

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Euro Drops to Dollar Parity for First Time in Two Decades

It may increase the price in Europe.

[DavidW]

Get your jpc orders in!!

[Karl Henning]

Euro Drops to Dollar Parity for First Time in Two Decades

Thanks, Obama!

[Karl Henning]

I find Yastrzemski's easy grace somehow touching:

With David Ortiz headed into the Hall of Fame, we asked Yaz: Who was the better hitter?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

One in five US adults condone 'justified' political violence.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/19/one-in-five-us-adults-condone-political-violence-survey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Karl Henning]

One in five US adults condone 'justified' political violence.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/19/one-in-five-us-adults-condone-political-violence-survey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Appalling. Do I even recognize the country I grew up in?

[Todd]

European economy: Lagarde wrestles with an 'impossible situation'

[DavidW]

Harper Collins union are on strike.  Apparently most of the employees get paid starvation wages while CEOs keep giving themselves bonuses and raises.  Not surprising.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/89894-harpercollins-union-workers-hit-the-picket-line.html

[drogulus]

Appalling. Do I even recognize the country I grew up in?

     It could be worse. You could live in China, the country of the future of the past.

[LKB]

     It could be worse. You could live in China, the country of the future of the past.

Or Russia, where thinking out loud or questioning the official line could get you prison time.

[Todd]

Directly from Gallup: Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows

[Karl Henning]

Or Russia, where thinking out loud or questioning the official line could get you prison time.

Like this chap

[drogulus]

     I love "It's True! The NYTimes reported it." media distrust.

     People can be highly selective in how stupid they allow themselves to be. Sometimes it seems fake.

     That's a good thing IMO. They actually can handle bias when they want to, then complain about it when it irks them. It's not such a big problem, then.

[Todd]

Spread betting: how will the ECB's new bond-buying tool work?

By giving itself the power to buy unlimited amounts of the bonds of any country that it judges to be suffering from an increase in its borrowing costs beyond the level justified by economic fundamentals, the ECB has addressed a key vulnerability haunting eurozone policymakers ever since a debt crisis almost ripped the single currency apart a decade ago...

As part of this, it could also consider purchasing private sector securities "if appropriate"...

The ECB claimed any bond purchases made under the scheme would not bloat its close to €9tn balance sheet, but it was vague about how exactly this could be done.

[drogulus]

     Here's something to not know very much about. Behold:

     

     As far as I know (not very much) Mead was a Lake, and still is, barely.

[drogulus]

     China's debt bomb looks ready to explode

The most ominous warning light is clearly China's debt-ridden real estate sector. China Evergrande Group, the country's largest real estate developer, which has borrowed more than $300 billion, has already defaulted on its bonds. More defaults seem likely because Chinese developers are on the hook for $13 billion in dollar-denominated bond payments in the second half of this year.

China's debt-laden local governments are also facing grim prospects. Declining income from land sales because of the crisis in the real estate sector and falling tax receipts are expected to cause a 6 trillion yuan shortfall, roughly $900 billion, in local government revenues this year. Local government financing vehicles that have borrowed heavily from banks or issued bonds will have great difficulties servicing their debt.

Large banks in China are in trouble as well. They have lent tens of billions to poor countries as part of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. A significant portion of their credit portfolio is likely to become nonperforming as their borrowers are unable to service the debt due to the global economic downturn.

The most recent economic implosion and the collapse of the government of Sri Lanka will likely force their Chinese lenders to write off a large portion of the loans. If big Chinese banks themselves face rising nonperforming loans abroad, they will be less able to help bail out insolvent small or medium-sized banks at home.

It might be possible for China to dodge another financial meltdown this time. But if local officials have to hire thugs to attack bank customers trying to get their money back, investors should brace for far worse days ahead for China's banking sector.