No Submission this Week

I have to prepare to present my thesis tomorrow, so wish  me luck. Otherwise, see you next week in this space. Good luck coping.

DRM

April 2-8, Finance and Economics: A Treat for Aussie readers, the "lottery-liquidity tradeoff", the Germans get the ECB to raise rates, why you should buy land in Spain, Operation Twist : QE Episode I, - and more!

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, and evidently, it has happened sooner: the fates have intervened and hidden my March 26 issue, so we've had to skip ahead to the current issue, April 2-8. I know what you're thinking - it will be like skipping a chapter in a book - last week's episode was such a cliff hanger, we may never know what happened! I have no idea what went down in Portugal, and I may never know. Kind of sad. On the bright side, we won't have to feel that nagging feeling like we're behind all of the time. So here we go. This week's issue is kind of a hard one - lots of unfamiliar themes, a number of inferences made on a solid comprehension of macroeconomic principles and relationships (well beyond my own current understanding) and some kind of dry writing if we're being candid. In this week's economist:

• An examination of Australia's economy - with an exciting promise for more articles of the same kind as part of a series on "economies that exemplify global trends". I'm shaking with anticipation.
• Butonwood reviews a book on investment strategies, but really writes a very confusing article about volatility and liquidity in investor behavior.
• The editors chastise the European Central Bank for what will probably be a raise in the policy rate on April 7.
• A follow up on Spain's banks, but really an article about the huge tracts of land in Spain backing 320 billion Euros in loans. (A little Monty Python reference there for you.)
• A pretty interesting story about  how JFK attempted a variation on quantitative easing in 1961 through debt term restructuring, the effects of which are still being debated.
• A real snoozer about a settlement with holders of Lehman "mini-bonds" in Hong Kong
• A short one - my favorite - about the departure from Berkshire Hathaway of David Sokol, long rumored to be the heir-apparent to Warren Buffet.

But first, in honor of the start of baseball season and the statistics it will bring with it:


This Week's Fun Economic Facts:

• According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, five years ago, a shipload of iron ore bought the equivalent of 2200 flat screen TV's in Australia in terms of relative import/export costs - now it buys 22,000!
• Australia's jobless rate is only 5% and falling - and Australians save 9.7% of their disposable income
• The German economy out-performed the rest of the Euro area, with a GDP rise of 3.6% compared with everybody else's 1.7%. (Had to get a good German fact in there, right?)
• Spanish banks are currently exposed via loans to 100 billion Euros worth of empty plots of land.
• $589 billion: amount the U.S. Treasury has issued in long term bonds (debt)
• $514 billion: amount the U.S. Federal Reserve has bought in Treasury-issued bonds.
• 87%:  514 billion as a proportion of 589 billion - for those keeping score at home.

All of this, and extra innings, after the jump.