Technical Nonsense

I read as much as I can about the world of finance and economics. And though I consider technical analysis to be fortune telling, it shows up everywhere. So I often skim it anyway, just to see what the witch doctors are saying and observe whether some of them are actually right with any consistency. The last few months have been rather amuzing in how the technical analysts spun the reading of tea leaves. Here’s how it went:

Still think it’s a level playing field?

We’ve discussed the idea of free trade here many times and we all seem to agree that free trade is a good thing. I’ve argued a number of times that US-Sino trade is definitely not free, however. I emphasis that a tilted playing field does not deliver the same benefits and can instead be harmful. The primary culprits tilting the field are the artificial exchange rate and the lax environmental laws which greatly reduce overhead for industry.  Another is the “voluntary” transfer of technology to China, which is a requirement that U.S. firms “transfer” technological know-how to China as a condition of doing business there. This often takes the form of establishing R&D facilities in China and/or a joint venture with a Chinese firm where the U.S. firm contributes the technology and the Chinese firm contributes cheap labor. While such ventures look like voluntary actions, they are prerequisites of doing business there. But this post is about a field un-leveler that we don’t hear or see much about.

The Corporate Hierarchy Explained

This seems to capture the feeling inside most management structures…

You can Occupy Wall St too- from the comfort of your couch

A friend turned me on to this video today. It is eerily reminiscent of Karl’s old credit card mailer idea- maybe he got the idea from Karl? I find it ingenious how people are finding ways to protest.

European Follies

In case you were inclined to believe the rumors that Eurocrats have solved their problems, consider this quote from today’s WSJ:

After a day marked by a brawl among Italian lawmakers, debating cutbacks in the country’s pension system, Italian Prime Minister Silvia Berlusconi took time out from the Brussels summit to call into a popular television show shortly after midnight, criticizing the European Central Bank and dismissing reports he plans to call for early elections.

A sign of the times

Apparently, Hallmark now has unemployment cards:

Click for large view

And in another, even sadder, sign of the times, Hallmark has ID theft cards too:

Click for large view

Some thoughts on Greece

So, I recently heard a joke about the situation in Europe. It goes like this (my apologies to whoever came up with it, I can’t remember where I heard it):

Q: How many European finance ministers and bureaucrats does it take to change a light bulb?

Wait for it……

Calculator Envy

There was a time when the financial calculator was an essential business tool. No self respecting finance person was without one, particularly if you studied finance in college at any level. Even accounting majors had to get one for their Finance 101 course. Over the years I noticed something about financial calculators- there are two types of financial calculator types. Prior to around 1990, most people learned how to use an HP 12C model. The HP 12C is immediately identifiable by its “landscape style” orientation and gold/brass colored screen area.

A Moment Of Silence

Having close connections to Wall St, I may share my own personal experiences of 911 on the blog someday, but for now TLRB will suspend activity today in rememberence of tenth 911 anniversary.

The Statistical Abstract

HELP SAVE IT!

Short and important, in my opinion. From the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-kill-americas-databook/2011/08/21/gIQAGJwBVJ_story.html?hpid=z5