Holiday Season Links – Jan 2nd 2014

Welcome to 2014.. still haven’t got a personal flying car, but hey maybe this is the year for it.

Now links..

Global/Macro/Markets

• In 2013 I Learned That… – The Reformed Broker
• 2013: The FT’s year in charts – FT
• 266 and all that – Krugman
• Ten facts you should know about global economic inequality -Inequality Matters
• South Sudan oil production slumps – Sky News
• Paulson Gets $490 Million as ‘Mooch’ Rotates to Equities – Bloomberg
• Winners of 2013: Boring Investors – WSJ
• Bitcoin Is a High-Tech Dinosaur Soon to Be Extinct – Bloomberg
• What 2013 Taught Economists About Infant Mortality and Austerity – Bloomberg
• Hello 2014: the tricks of trade – weak global growth isn’t the only problem – FT
• Slow Growth and Short Tails – Nouriel Roubini

Australia & New Zealand

• Bob Hawke and Keating tell Tony Abbott to slash spending – TheOZ , AFR
• SQM Stats – Sunshine Coast looking bottomie, Karratha and Gladstone looking toppie – SQM research
• The most important graphs of 2013 Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 – Mat Cowgill
• The men behind the ABC, News Corp intelligence row – AFR
• Prime Minister Tony Abbott seeks media deal over VIP jets – News
• Growth in Those Persons not in the Labour Force … – Mark the Graph
• Cyclone Christine: Port Hedland miners count the cost – SMH
• Confidence to lift as commercial sales reach $17b – BusinessDay
• A year of talking the Australian dollar down – AFR
• Tom Allard: Negative gearing not biggest culprit in rising house prices – SMH

Europe

• EU jobs open to Romanians, Bulgarians – Sky News
• Latvia becomes 18th member of eurozone – Sky News
• Latvia reluctantly joins euro after shock therapy, but controversy rages on – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph.
• ‘Success story’ Spain exits eurozone support – Telegraph UK . ESM
• The Eurozone’s Crossroad – Project Syndicate
• Bulldozers move in to knock down the last of Ireland’s ‘ghost’ estates that were built during Celtic Tiger economic boom – Daily Mail
• François Hollande in New Year pledge to cut spending and taxes – FT

Asia

• Is Japan Now Finally a Normal Country? – The Diplomat
• China’s factory growth slower but resilient at year end – Reuters , Investing
• North Korean leader warns of nuclear disaster, threatens US – SMH
• China market shift hits home for local firms – Chicago Tribune
• Thai PM returns to Bangkok as protest showdown looms – Reuters
• Making the Chinese Dream Come True – The Diplomat
• Japanese Minister Follows Abe in Visit to War Shrine – NYT
• Japan’s population falls by a record 244,000 in 2013 – Japan Times
• Putin vows to annihilate ‘terrorists’ after suicide bombings – Reuters

Americas

• Fannie Mae: Mortgage Serious Delinquency rate declined in November, Lowest since December 2008 – Calculated Risk
• Which Policies Reduce Income Inequality? – Project Syndicate
• Buenos Aires protests over outages – BBC
• Market update: Happy New Year! – Calculated Risk
• Reasons to be cheerful, despite the threat in the shadows – FT
• The Strange Case of American Inequality – Brad DeLong, Project Syndicate.
• Hillary Clinton calls for unemployment benefits extension – Politico

Other/Interesting

• Thinking Outside the (Big) Box – NYT
• President Obama claims the NSA has never abused its authority. That’s false – Guardian
• Sounds under the ice – So Much useless beauty