Breakfast Links

Posted by Jeff Carter
on April 8th, 2011

I am still on a quasi vacation, and in Oxford, MS. Tonight my wife and I went to see Thacker Mountain Radio live and in person. We heard some great live music. You can see which bands played at the link. TMR is sort of a southern Prairie Home Companion, with less of the theatrics. Afterward we went over to City Grocery and had a really nice meal. If you are wondering, yes, my daughter is going to matriculate here and be a Rebel. Hotty Toddy.

The ECB raised rates, but Trichet’s language after the meeting makes the market think they are not done. US Treasuries look iffy, and the bond vigilantes seem to be swarming. The US dollar is weak, but that’s to be expected after other countries have raised rates while we hear crickets at the Fed. However, my experience with markets is that they will hurt conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom says get short US Treasuries. ($6E_F)

Looks like the union backed justice in Wisconsin ran out and claimed the spotlight too soon. No worries, being an uber-liberal means never having to say you are sorry and miraculously never get egg on your face.

If you want to know what a neo-Keynesian academic thinks of Paul Ryan’s plan to reduce the deficit, click the link. Otherwise, whistle past the Keynesian graveyard.

7 Steps to quality service.

After the November election, I said one way Obama could send an olive branch out was to enact some free trade pacts with countries. He agreed to CAFTA yesterday. Let’s see if it gets ratified.

News on the wheat crop ($ZW_F)

Eat the Rich. I used to love that tune by Robbie Robertson where he said, “Hang the Rich”. 25 years later and now we are cannibals.

Obama thinks it will benefit him politically to have a government shut down. I’d say that is a big gamble at this point. Obama is no President Clinton. If we can shut it down and not miss it, why can’t we make it smaller and cut budgets?

Shades of things to come. The Australian government rejected the proposed merger of SGX and ASX. Is the NYSE watching? ($NYX, $ICE, $NDAQ)

NYX Stock Chart by YCharts

Have a great weekend. Here is some Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors

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