Twitter Posts on 2008-11-25
- German GDP fell 0.5% in Q3 driven by weak foreign trade. This points to lower growth in China, a major buyer of German capital equipment. #
- The Conference Board November consumer confidence came rose to 44.9 from a revised 38.8 in October. I don’t believe it. #
- Q3 GDP fell 0.5%, worst number since -1.4% in Q3/2001 in the middle of the dotcom crash. No surprise there. Q4 will be a lot worse. #
- Corp. Profits after tax fell by 3.0% -0.4% in Q2 and 7.7% in Q1. Year over year, profits were down 9.9%. #
- Consumer spending dropped 3.7%. Remember, Q3 ends in September. Consumers didn’t start hoarding cash until late Sept. Watch out for Q4. #
- Q3 durable goods (cars) -15.2%. Nondurables (paper towels) -6.9%. Services (haircuts, guitar lessons) were flat. Good bye Detroit. #
- Trade added 1.07% to Q3 GDP, i.e., without trade GDP would have come in at -1.57%. But exports slowed–another sign of slowing China growth. #
- Made a fun Fox Business spot this morning with Jim Rogers, who is a WAY better investor than me. He is VERY down on the bailout fiasco here. #
- Gov. Crist considering Fla. foreclosure moratorium. Bad idea. We need to burn through this stuff and get down to real market prices. #
- Obama promotes fiscal restraint, big spending. (Huh?) #
- UAE moves to shore up Dubai banks – Financial Times. Huge real estate collapse underway in Dubai. Abu Dhabi stepping in to staunch bleeding. #
- A family friend was appointed to Joe Biden’s vacant Senate seat as placeholder til son Beau can inherit it after Iraq duty. (Inherit?) #
- Hilary going to State likely to get Caroline Kennedy (moron) appointed to Senate seat. Jeesh. #
- I’m in favor of rule that no blood relation of White House or Congress can run for office. Would have spared us GWB, HC, Pelosi, Gore, … #
- Rangel is top fundraiser for House Democrats despite ethics allegations. (Despite?) #
- Bahrain official says country can weather downturn. Hope so–it’s only 1/2 mile wide and sits on a reservoir of oil. We’re pulling for you! #
- Feds unveil plans to unfreeze consumer debt market. Today was $800 billion day; $200B for this, $600B for mortgage-backed bonds. Black hole. #
- I am personally very tired of comedians making fun of Sarah Palin’s grammar. That’s what real people talk like guys. Snobs. #
- FDIC adds 54 more banks to its ‘problem list’. Every time the gov’t bails out a Citigroup it puts another bank on the list. #
- Myanmar suffers steep drop in foreign tourists. (I know that’s where I was hoping to go for vacation.) #
- Why Geithner instead of Larry Summers (much more qualified) for Treasury? He was blackballed after intense feminist anti-Summers campaign. #
[No blood relative ....] Yes, shame the Constitution bars Bills of Attainder, but then again, isn’t it a living document? So that prohibition does seem a bit quaint and outdated given our experiences … hmmm!