Welcome to the Curious Cat Investing, Economics and Personal Finance Carnival. The carnival is published twice each month with links to new, related, interesting content online. Greece just voted for the party that wants to attempt to keep Greece in the Eurozone. We will see how that works. I don’t think the odds are great unless Greece is willing to substantially change their recent (last few decades) running of their economy.
- Big Investors Don’t Know Where to Put Their Cash by Sven Böll and Martin Hesse – “‘In the past, we searched for risk-free returns.’ He pauses for effect. ‘Today we know that what we mainly have are investments with return-free risk.’… Corporate bonds and the sovereign debt of emerging economies, once something for the intrepid, are suddenly seen as safe havens.”
- Are More Bailouts to Banker and Politicians the Answer to the Credit Crisis Aftermath? by John Hunter – “It feels to me similar to a situation where I have maxed out 8 credit cards and have a little bit left on my 9th. You can say that failing to approve my 10th credit card will lead to immediate pain. Not just to me, but all those I owe money to. That is true. But wasn’t the time to intervene likely when I maxed out my 2nd credit card and get me to change my behavior of living beyond my means then?”
- The Great Recession is changing our behavior–in ways that point to slower growth for a longer period of time by Jim Jubak – “The third, most powerful in its effects and the least obvious, is the way that the Great Recession has undermined existing belief in financial security. That decline in real and perceived security is likely to change where people put their money, what kinds of returns they think they can count on, and, therefore, how much money they think they can spend and how much they have to put away.”
- A Global Perfect Storm by Nouriel Roubini – “To prevent a disorderly outcome in the eurozone, today’s fiscal austerity should be much more gradual, a growth compact should complement the EU’s new fiscal compact, and a fiscal union with debt mutualization (Eurobonds) should be implemented. In addition, a full banking union, starting with eurozone-wide deposit insurance, should be initiated, and moves toward greater political integration must be considered, even as Greece leaves the eurozone.
CommentsUnfortunately, Germany resists all of these key policy measures…” - On The Verge Of A European Collapse? Spain Prime Minister “The Euro Is At Risk” – “Unemployment rates are sky high everywhere, especially for young people in Europe. 50% People under 30 years old are jobless in Spain, almost 23% of the entire Greek workforce is looking, the US unemployment rate has climbed back over 8%…”
- Over-indebtedness in Microfinance – Who Should Bear the Risk? by Jessica Schicks – “Our over-indebtedness study in Ghana shows that many borrowers only manage to repay their loans on time because they go through unacceptably high personal sacrifices. Instead of delaying or stopping repayments when idiosyncratic shocks hit and debt service becomes unmanageable, borrowers absorb these shocks with personal suffering.”
- Expenditures on Children by Families, 2011 (pdf) by the US Department of Agriculture – “In 1960, average expenditures on a child in a middle-income, husband-wife family amounted to $25,229, or $191,723 in 2011 dollars. By 2011, these estimated expenditures climbed 23 percent in real terms to $234,900 (assuming a family had child care and education expenses on a child). Housing was the largest expense on a child in both time periods and increased in real terms over this time. Food was also one of the largest expenses in both time periods, but decreased in real terms.”
- Looking for Yields in Stocks and Real Estate by John Hunter – “I would want to have a stable of at least 10 very strong stocks for any significant amount of retirement money I was relying on for dividends. Some others to consider [in addition to ABT, INTC, PFE, AAPL]: PG (3.7%), Aflac-AFL (3.4%) and Kimberly Clark-KMB (3.8%). I personally would add to that with a few like OKS (that offer higher yields but that I didn’t want to commit as much to)…”
My parents in front of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Photo by John Hunter, see more of my photos.