Links October 19

Global Macro:

• Naughty Iran, positioning itself around so many US military bases Al Jazeera here’s another pic from Bullion Baron
• Effective tax rates around the world The Economist hard to really take these seriously, but Switzerland looks good!

North America:

• Google stuffs up its release of Q3 earnings – misses expectations, flash crash! Chart from Reuters
• NASDAQ slammed by 1%, Dow doesn’t move much Bloomberg
• But now Microsoft misses…oh dear Facebook gets smashed too
• Thank Dog we’ve been short NASDAQ since Monday at Macro Investor
• Romney has 7 point lead in US Presidential race Business Insider ruh roh this is bad for gold

Europe:

• Van Rompuy, Barroso and Schulz to collect Nobel Peace Prize for EU FT Alphaville Send in the clowns…
• Spanish bad loans hit a new peak, again Scott Barber chart Isn’t it bliss?
• Britain to say bye bye to EU according to Finland Reuters Don’t you approve?
• Merkel and Hollande clash on new EU budget tsar Reuters  Are we a pair?
• Greece brought to standstill by austerity protests The Guardian One can’t move.
• Now the Spaniards – “calm before the storm” according to The Economist Where are the clowns?
• Troika (ECB/IMF/EU) says mission to Greece is over Euronews  And where are the clowns? Don’t bother, they’re here….

Asia:

• Albert Edwards says China between rock and hard place Business Insider not as bad as Homer Simpson though – we are Homer..
• Shadow banking in China is the real concern The Diplomat
• Japanese minister urges China to stay calm FT (sub reqd)
• Hysteria over China “boycotting” US Treasures Cullen Roche explains

Local:

• Funding freeze for research is nuts World Today ABC don’t need to be a Nobel laureate to figure that out
• More from Fairfax – why? because we prefer propping up house prices to actually positioning ourselves for the Asian 21st century
• More: The ivory tower is full of people AUSCCER yep, worth more than banksters, brokers and financial engineers
• More: government defends uncertainty of funding ABC plenty of meat in bloated defense budget – incompetence writ large
• Tweet of Day from @DR24 hours:Federal funding of science: taking the brightest minds in the world and focusing them on being excellent beggars.
• The Australian is not a newspaper John Quiggin at best its a very poor newspaper, but excellent mouthpiece
• And its business section just got overtaken by the AFR Dad’s Army (Business Spectator) is a ways behind – you’d be surprised where MB fits in there!
• Australia wins place at UN Security Council Fairfax
• Farmers need capital to feed Asian demand AFR we can feed the Asian 21st century, but we’d rather buy houses off each other. Madness

Other:

• Ross Garnaut listens to Delusional Economics – pedal power! AFR
• James Bond by the numbers The Economist can’t wait for Skyfall – and new Vanquish…
• When walking someone with a non-financial background through a model with 5+ inputs WheninFinance this is how HnH looks when I explain FARM
• The moon was formed via a giant collision with a Mars-sized rock according to new research adding weight to long-held theory  Cosmos Magazine