Hard hitting global and local news
For discussion of income distribution, please see What’s "Really" Behind Gross Inequalities In Income Distribution? Birth Death Model Starting January 2014, I dropped the Birth/Death Model charts from this report.
Credit xkcd Eli’s attention in the comments has been drawn to a rather superficial analysis of the situation the world finds itself in by Steve Koonin whom the bunnies have met before. Koonin appears not to have taken Andy Lacis’ advice to spend time to understanding the physics of climate change better and that small changes in the wrong place are what brings prosperity to undertakers. As Lacis said about Koonin’s belittling the effect of small changes in global temperature
See the article here: Greek Banks’ Non-Performing Loans Hit 43%; Only €14 Billion Recapitalization Needed?
Tweet I want to follow up on Eli’s comment below that "There is a place between blogs, arXiv and Science for really speculative papers, but the authors need to strongly defend themselves." Yes, and Hansen’s paper is properly occupying that place, assuming it can stay defended. But then, think about a speculative paper that went for the mirror-opposite side of the spectrum, saying "what if we’ve been wrong about everything about climate change and here’s a negative feedback mechanism previously undiscovered that will safely limit things." Let’s further assume this turns out not to be a Galileus paper but a Bozo paper , as seems likely. The normal consequences of publishing something that’s wrong is bent, by denialism
Link: China Contraction Unexpectedly Continues Third Month
Via translation, El Confidential comments on the Banking Drag of €238 Billion Nonperforming Loans at Spanish Banks . The profitability of banks has plummeted. And only the loose monetary policy of the ECB has improved the results.
As a guest post, here is the opinion of IMD Professor Carlos A. Primo Braga on on the economic, political and psychological drivers of Brazil’s currency slide.
3rd Quarter Advance GDP Estimate +1.5%; December Hike Odds Up to 46.5% The third quarter advance (initial) GDP estimate came in at 1.5% a bit under the Econoday Consensus of 1.7%, a bit over the Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast of 1.1%, and well below the Blue Chip consensus of 2.1%.
Crain’s Chicago Business reports Emanuel Gets His Huge Property Tax Hike . The City Council has approved Mayor Emanuel’s bad-news city budget, including plans for a record $543 million city property tax hike over the next four years