The Bowyer Briefing

Saturday Night Live opening skit on Obamanomics and China – skewered. How did that happen?

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/china-cold-open/1178451/

Jimmy P has a report about Goldman’s prediction of 10.5% unemployment (which will probably mean an 18% un(and under)employment rate. Goldman is a bit sanguine about inflation (too many ivy league grads with Keynesian mind tatoos). Add a realistic inflation rate and you’ve got a very high misery index.

http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2009/11/20/goldman-sachs-forecasts-nightmare-2010-economic-scenario-for-dems/?rpc=60

Lou Dobbs will be the first guest on the Kudlow Report tonight. Nice and friendly, or flying fur? Watch and find out!

http://www.businessinsider.com/lou-dobbs-will-be-on-the-kudlow-report-tonight-2009-11

You can’t buy them, you can only rent them. At least according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which doesn’t count changes in actual home prices but in something called ‘owners equivalent rent’. It’s what you would pay if you rented your house from yourself. It may distort some of our inflation statistics until housing comes back to normal.

http://www.ftportfolios.com/Commentary/EconomicResearch/2009/11/16/keep_your_eye_on_cash_inflation

October consumer prices were just released this morning. Inflation was higher than expectations. How many times does that have to happen before we start to question our expectations? Average annual inflation rate for the past three months, 3.6%. That’s higher than long-run averages.

http://www.economy.com/dismal/pro/release.asp?edition=1&r=usa_cpi&src=dd_immediate

England which is in a deep recession has just seen a switch from deflation to inflation. They have negative growth and very low monetary velocity, which I’m told (over and over again by acolytes of the New Economics) makes inflation impossible. But it’s happening.
http://www.economy.com/dismal/pro/release.asp?edition=2&r=gbr_cpi&src=dd_immediate

The Producer Price Index, which measures inflation in the wholesale sector, showed roughly 5% annualized inflation the past three months, and (wait for it) nearly 50% in core raw materials. Of course, wholesale price changes tend to lead retail ones. http://www.economy.com/dismal/pro/release.asp?edition=1&r=usa_ppi&src=dd_immediate

Hollywood turned The Prisoner franchise from a Christian, libertarian, anti-utopian apoclyptic into a therepeutic, anti-religous, anti-corporate screed. They took away narrative sense, and replaced it with cleavage. No wonder the Brits pulled out of the joint production deal.

Looks like a good read. Mc/Pal campaign was a case study in the incompetence and ambition of DC-based GOP palace culture.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574537882681089404.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook

Today was Benjamin S. Bernanke’s Alfred E. Newman moment. He spoke to the Economics Club of New York and finally addressed the dollar crisis. Short version: “What, me worry?” The dollar sold off again.
Read the long version here:http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20091116a.htm