Links

This weekend,  I appeared on Al Korelin's The Korelin Report, where we discussed the responsibility of government in the BP disaster.

Here is a link to video from my appearance on Max Keiser's On The Edge, where we talked about market making, high frequency trading, flash crashes, deflation and hyperinflation.

Gross public social expenditures in the European Union increased from 16 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21 percent in 2005, compared with 15.9 percent in the United States. In France, the figure now is 31 percent, the highest in Europe, with state pensions making up more than 44 percent of the total and health care, 30 percent. via Payback Time - Deficit Crisis Threatens Ample Benefits of European Life - NYTimes.com.

"Subdued prices suggest that a more pressing concern could be deflation, which occurs when weak demand causes prices to fall. But whether deflation arises depends on the strength of the economic recovery and whether demand can remain strong even as government stimulus efforts expire." via U.S. Inflation at 44-Year Low as Retail Prices Fall - NYTimes.com.

The inflationistas have been pretty quiet lately, and not without good reason.  (Maybe they should have quit while they were ahead in, like, 1979?)  Here's a link to the latest evidence that the global economy -- including U.S. real estate, of course -- remains hopelessly trapped in a black hole of deflation.  Please (still) wake me when I can sell my home for a quadrillion dollars.

The Deepwater Horizon blowout could conceivably grow into the most catastrophic event in human history. That is the implication of an analysis published at rense.com that was authored by someone who seems to know his way around an oil rig.  Click here for the full story.

Here is the complete audio of my interview on The Korelin Report, where we discussed the implications of European bailout.

From Jonathan Auerbach of Auerbach & Grayson, here's a timely treatise on the gold-to-suit ratio. Turns out an ounce of gold is buying more than a single, decent man's suit these days.  Click here for the analysis.

Viewed from the trading pits, last week's death dive looked like the end of the world to some denizens. Click here for the perspective of floor traders who had a ringside seat.