February 5-11, Finance and Economics: Oil, Inflation, Spanish Saving. Ole!

This blog is for you. You know who you are. You read "Leaders". You read "The Americas". You peruse "Lexington" and "Banyon". You probably get as far as "Bagehot", flip through the "Briefing", end up on "Finance and Economics" and then bam - done - this week's "The Economist" is cast away by your ink-stained fingers, tattered, wrinkled, rolled, and only half-loved. I'm with you. This week, you might have caught the articles on Somali piracy, US Health Care, and Egypt, but, you lazy bums, because you won't explore the nether regions of everybody's favorite hebdomadaire, you missed a few gems, and this blog will wrap them up nice and neatly for you - at least until the Economist makes me take the site down.*

This week is a doozy. For one thing, the Economist loves Germany, probably at the expense of the Spanish. Secondly, inflation seems to be a problem - so buy those beers now. Finally, never you fret about Egyptian democracy's effect on your SUV road trip. So - we have articles on:

• A fascinating analysis of how much oil exactly flows through the Suez (along with a cool map) and why concerns about the effects of political turmoil on oil supplies might be overblown.

• Everything you wanted to know, and probably forgot, about inflation
  
• More depressing news about America's housing market
• Look out - Savings and Loan trouble hits Spain's Cajas?
  
• Felonious larceny of carbon credits- a doozy of a heist
  
• ...and one for the "did you know" category - Citi now owns the Beatles via EMI. Shocking.
• Let's not forget the Economics focus piece -a big salute to the German economy. (continuing The Economist's ill-concealed love affair with the Teutons.)
  

This Week's Fun Economic Facts:

• Egypt exports very little oil, and actually imports some, but 4% of the global supply transits the Suez canal.
• OECD oil inventories currently cover up to 59 days of consumption
• The most recent war in Iraq only disrupted global oil supplies for three weeks
• Inflation in India, nearly 10%, is still below last year's high
• The U.S. federal government currently guarantees 85% or more of newly issued resident mortgages
• Of the $50 billion allocated to the Home Affordable Modification Program (part of TARP) in 2009, only one billion has been spent, representing modifications to only 522,000 mortgages
• Home ownership in the U.S. fell to 66.5%, the lowest since 1998
• For the first time eastern Germany has a lower unemployment rate than California.

Let's do a quick run through after the break (don't abandon me now!):