The Sarcasm Report v.56

Deflation is the worry; inflation looms, too

More than any one data point, the bet on deflation really depends on pessimism: a glass-half-empty look at sluggish growth, feeble consumer demand and the large swath of American workers, factories and resources that are idle.

Deflation depends on pessimism? That's good to know. You won't find any of that here. If anything, this blog has been too optimistic.

Calculated Risk: Negative News Flow

Although not unexpected, the news flow is about to take a more negative tone starting with the existing home sales report on August 23rd.



There you go. More negative waves. Have a little faith baby. Have a little faith.

Strong economy may fix border problems, says top border official

"If you combine the natural resources of Canada with the fiscal and financial capital and knowledge of the United States with the human labor resources of Mexico, it will put us in a very good place to compete."

The human labor resources of Mexico? Sweet! The natural resources of Canada? Fantastic! The fiscal and financial capital and knowledge of the United States? Priceless!

Citigroup

Heavy exposure to troubled mortgages in the form of Collateralized debt obligation (CDO's), compounded by poor risk management led Citigroup into trouble as the subprime mortgage crisis worsened in 2008. The company had used elaborate mathematical risk models which looked at mortgages in particular geographical areas, but never included the possibility of a national housing downturn, or the prospect that millions of mortgage holders would default on their mortgages.

...

Over the past several decades, the United States government has engineered at least four different rescues of the institution now known as Citigroup.

We'll be supplying the world with "Citigov" and its elaborate mathematical risk models! How can we possibly lose? Woohoo!