Ukraine's Trouble Hit Bonds

From WSJ.

The Long and Sorry Tale of Pension Promises

How did states and cities get into this mess? It's a simple case of human frailty; where to go from here.
From WSJ.

The Fed Makes a Mistake

My colleague, David, made a comment on the recent decision of the Fed.

Bunnies talk about QE

With surprising no tapering today, I remembered this funny video about QE first released in 2010.
Here.

Stimulus and Debt Reduction

My colleage sent me this amusing story explaining how the stimulus work for relieving debt:

IT is a slow day in a dusty little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted.
Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub.

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit.

The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the stimulus package works.

Daily Price Index from online Retailers

The daily price indices covers various countires in the world from online retailers.

Quantitative Easing Explained

A very funny video about the Fed and Quantitative Easing II.

Hamilton provides more accurate and serious answers to those bunnies' questions.

Clarida on Monetary Policy

What Has – and Has Not - Been Learned about Monetary Policy in a Low Inflation Environment? A Review of the 2000s by Richard Clarida.