Economics

[Artashes]

Re: Economics

The free market is not a magic pill. Free markets work well for many things but they cannot be trusted with depletable resources like fish. If you are a fisherman the more fish you catch the more money you make. This motivates the fisherman to catch as many fish as possible thus with many fisherman doing this it leads to the collapse of the fishery. The thing is that the less fish there are -the more they are worth thus the lower the fish population - the higher the motivation to catch them in the free market. Many examples of depleted resources fall into this catagory a good example is the depleted cod fishery in the USA waters which never recovered from overfishing. The free market cannot be trusted to regulate these kinds of resources and this is where the role of government becomes important.

These are very good points Haykakan makes .
--- free market not a magic pill --- first off , the " market " is manipulated . The market forces have nothing to do with sensible development , or conduct .
Unfortunately , the govt is also being manipulated and therefore not an honest watchdog .
The market and democracy are both easily manipulated .
As you cannot trust the market to to do the morally right thing so goes democracy .
A morally bankrupt population can exercise its democratic right and still come up with a morally bankrupt choice .
Freedom to be a self centered greed ridden as$hole is not defensible , no matter who or how many run their mouths .
Free markets and democracy are great tools for the multi national corporations to further their agenda .
Our planet has been and is grossly mismanaged .
We are worthless stewards .
Artashes

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

You also make a great point. A corrupt government is not good at managing anything. Just like the free market - democracy also is not a magic wand. A corrupt democracy is very destructive in every way and democracies have always been more corrupt then most other forms of government. The free market is great for managing most types of products and this fact makes it more valuable then democracy in my opinion. I do not want to give the impression that good government is impossible because it is possible to have good government and the difference between good and bad government depends on the motivations of those doing the governing.

These are very good points Haykakan makes .
--- free market not a magic pill --- first off , the " market " is manipulated . The market forces have nothing to do with sensible development , or conduct .
Unfortunately , the govt is also being manipulated and therefore not an honest watchdog .
The market and democracy are both easily manipulated .
As you cannot trust the market to to do the morally right thing so goes democracy .
A morally bankrupt population can exercise its democratic right and still come up with a morally bankrupt choice .
Freedom to be a self centered greed ridden as$hole is not defensible , no matter who or how many run their mouths .
Free markets and democracy are great tools for the multi national corporations to further their agenda .
Our planet has been and is grossly mismanaged .
We are worthless stewards .
Artashes

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Trade unions have a bad rap in USA and some of them deserve it for they were unfair or overly aggressive or corrupt.. but we should not forget what life was like without them. Here is an example from todays news. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...93N06P20130424
The control of the USA government by coorporate special interest groups has lead to the decline of unions in this country and the result is a shift backwards regarding issues like pay, worker safety, job security.. This news story is a great example of what outsourcing and shipping jobs overseas leads to. I am sure the women in this factory and the hundreds that died in others would rather be alive then dead employees.

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

I was watching the news today and they reported that Larry Summers is inline to be the next head of the Fed. Yes this is the same Larry Summers who was one of the architects of banking deregulation and the guy who ridiculed all the sane economists when they warned of the ensuing housing debacle. Yes this is one of the architects of this disaster we are living through yet unlike most other people who screw up badly and get fired-this a-hole gets promoted. I hope you enjoy whats left of your cruise on the SS Sinking Ship.

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

'KARDASHIAN BONDS' ARE NOW A THING

Business Insider Australia
Sept 19 2013

by Sam Ro 18 September 2013 12:00 AM

Globalization has come with an increasingly interconnected system of
capital markets.

This has made way for government bonds denominated in foreign
currencies.

And those bonds have come with memorable nicknames.

Korea offers "kimchi" bonds. Turkey offers "baklava" bonds. Japan
offers "samurai" bonds. And Australia offers "kangaroo" bonds.

One new foreign bond offering is attracting tons of attention for
its bonds' nickname.

Armenia.

Why?

Because, people are calling Armenia's new dollar-denominated bonds
"Kardashian" bonds.

And bond investors can thank Standard Bank's Tim Ash who coined it
in a note to clients earlier this month.

"Jim O'Neill gave the world BRICS, I can retire now having given the
world the Kardashian "bottom" bond," said Ash according to the Wall
Street Journal's Katie Martin. Martin has a post about it on WSJ.com.

"Public finances are a lot stronger in Armenia than Serbia, but par
with Georgia," Ash said today. "Political stability - stronger in
Armenia these days than either Georgia or Serbia. Net-net, Armenia
probably should price wide to Georgia (new issue premium/ lack of
market support/knowledge) but inside Serbia."

But what might've began as a joke nickname may actually have some
significant parallels

"[A]t present I would price these guys to yield around the 6.5-6.6%
level for a 10Y," added Ash. "Interestingly, much might be made of the
"Kardashian" angle, i.e. a strong Western diaspora in the US/France
which might support such a new issue."

The emerging markets have spent much of the year in turmoil. But
surprisingly, frontier markets like Armenia have been remarkably
resilient.

"Frontier Market funds ($1.5bn inflows YTD) have decoupled from
Emerging Markets ($2.1bn outflows YTD)," noted Bank of America Merrill
Lynch's Michael Hartnett in a note to clients last month.

"These so-called "emerging markets of the future" have enjoyed strong
growth from low base effects, abundant natural and human resources,
the availability of easy gains from market reforms and injections
of technology into relatively low-wage economies," said Franklin
Templeton's Mark Mobius in June. "Compared with more mature emerging
markets, frontier markets are relatively under-researched, and we
believe that this lack of familiarity could lead to undervaluation and
pricing anomalies that we could seek to exploit through our extensive
research resources."

With interest rates low and money flowing into the frontier markets,
these new "Kardashian" bonds might be the sexiest new bonds in
the market.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/armenia-offering-kardashian-bonds-2013-9

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Oil below $100 ahead of U.S. employment report release
The price of oil extended losses below $100 a barrel Tuesday, Oct 22, ahead of the U.S. employment report for September, the Associated Press reports.

Benchmark U.S. crude for November delivery was down 33 cents at $98.89 a barrel at midafternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which expires Tuesday, dropped $1.56 to $99.22 the day before. The December contract was down 34 cents at $99.34 a barrel.

A jump in U.S. crude supplies weighed on the oil price. The government said Monday, in a report delayed five days due to the government shutdown, that U.S. crude supplies rose by 4 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 11.

The Schork Report estimated that U.S. commercial crude oil stocks are at the third highest level for October since 1930 and 13 percent above the normal range over the previous decade.

The September employment report, also delayed because of the shutdown, is due for release later Tuesday and will provide a new cue for energy trading.

U.S. employers are forecast to have added 180,000 jobs, up from 169,000 in August. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.3 percent, which will support arguments in favor of the Federal Reserve continuing its super easy monetary policy.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 22 cents to $109.86 on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Vanessa Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the seasonal maintenance of refineries coupled with the movement of pipeline flows around the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for WTI futures helped drive the stockpiles increase.

"This surplus of oil supplies in the near term helped to weigh on prices but some support came from expectations that the U.S. Fed would not reduce asset purchases as its quantitative easing program would support the demand of oil," she said in a note, according to AFP.

[UrMistake]

Re: Economics

Armenia should find new sources of energy .
Be more independent , chemistry is the new thing of the century maybe of all the time !

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Armenia lives in a oil rich region just it so happens that the oil it sits on is too deep to extract economically. Once Armenia joins the custom union oil price wont be much of an issue. As for independence well you can never be independent if you cannot guarantee your own security. Armenia does make good use of the energy sources it does haveit is actually more efficient then the USA.

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Here is a cool music vid about the whole spending more or spending less arguments regarding the government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=GTQnarzmTOc&feature=fvwp

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilMx7k7mso

Great example of oligopoly/monopoly depending on where you are.