While the world breathes a sigh of relief that Moody's didn't join Fitch and S&P in downgrading Greece debt to junk, trouble is brewing elsewhere.
For instance, Latvia's budget situation is reaching crisis levels again.
Latvia's constitutional court Monday struck down pension cuts that form a key plank of an austerity drive, casting doubt on a crucial IMF and EU-led bailout for the recession-hit Baltic state.
A report by CMA Vision evaluates the risk of sovereign default globally.
The top 10, with a probability ranking of default within 5 years are:
Venezuela 57.7
Ukraine 54.6
Argentina 49.1
Latvia 30.1
Iceland 25.4
Dubai 25.1
Lithuania 19.3
Greece 17.4
Romania 17.2
Lebanon 17
Both Greece and Romania are new entries into the top 10.
Of the world's safest sovereign debt, the United States ranks 8th. Norway is #1. In fact all of those silly socialist countries are ranked in the top safest.
The report notes:
Both the USA and UK have been among the worst performing sovereign CDS this quarter- the UK is some 77% wider, the USA out by nearly 66%.
Bloomberg is tallying up the Senate votes and reporting Helicopter Ben Bernanke is in by a good 66%.
Bloomberg yesterday interviewed 53 senators who aren’t on the Banking Committee, which voted 16-7 on Dec. 17 to recommend Bernanke’s nomination to the full Senate. Twenty-one lawmakers said they are inclined to vote for Bernanke, while four said they would oppose the central bank chief, giving him 37-12 support so far for a four-year term starting Feb. 1. Another 28 said they’re undecided or declined to comment.
California Democrat Dianne Feinstein and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham were among senators saying they’ll support Bernanke, citing his response to the financial crisis. Senators from both major parties said they expect him to be confirmed, even with at least four lawmakers trying to block or delay the nomination.
While the headlines are all abuzz with existing home sales exceeding expectations, the highest in 3 years, let's point to some more in depth analysis.
Firstly the NAR (National Association of Realtors) report:
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 7.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 6.54 million units in November from 6.09 million in October, and are 44.1 percent higher than the 4.54 million-unit pace in November 2008. Current sales remain at the highest level since February 2007 when they hit 6.55 million.
If you listened to Obama Administration and the MSM you would have thought that the Making Homes Affordable program was designed to help people stay in their homes. You would have been mistaken.
Of the nearly 760,000 modifications that have been enrolled in three-month trial plans, less than 32,000 have transitioned into permanent relief for homeowners. Nearly 87 percent of the modifications under the administration's program are for investor-owned mortgages.
That's right - the program is designed to bail out real estate investors and speculators, not homeowners.
All three major indices surged higher following reports that GDP grew 3.5% in the third quarter. That was better than the 3.2% rate economists were expecting.
What a surprise, it's not what you know, but who you know especially if you want billions in free money to cover your screw up.
A new study from University of Michigan Professors Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura found that the financial institutions who has the strongest political "ties" received the largest bail outs.
Duchin and Sosyura focused on the Capital Purchase Program, the largest TARP initiative in terms of the number of participants and the amount of expended capital. As of late September, nearly 700 financial institutions had received about $205 billion under the program.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
VoxEU has a post we've hit upon many times, but this is based on new, in depth research. In Trade and labour income risk in the US: Evidence from longitudinal data, they discover a permanent income risk reduction directly correlated to the import penetration in that occupational sector.
Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle bell rock. The Senate is hot, they know to say not, giveaway, giveaway lobbyists galore, buyouts and paybacks, we know the score...
There are many reports tallying the winners and losers on health care. Of course it's a given that the American people will lose...
The consensus seems to be big pharma won big as did insurance companies.
Firedoglake (they are not always on top of their economics, trust me!) gives 10 reasons to kill the Senate bill, which I find rather scary.
Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not.
Shocks of all shocks the WTO ruled in the United States favor on China restricting U.S. imports, one of many, many unfair trade practices by China.
The World Trade Organization's top arbitrators upheld a ruling that China is illegally restricting imports of U.S. music, films and books, and Washington pushed forward with a new case accusing China of manipulating the prices for key ingredients in steel and aluminum production.
Monday's verdict by the WTO's appellate body knocked down China's objections to an August decision that came down decisively against Beijing's policy of forcing American media producers to route their business through state-owned companies.
If China fails over the next year to bring its practices in line with international trade law, the U.S. can ask the WTO to authorize commercial sanctions against Chinese goods.
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