What if China is just stockpiling?
There has been a lot of talk that the rebound of the commodities signal the coming economic recovery. But I was intrigued by this Bloomberg report that China may have been strategically piling up a lot of commodities at very cheap price as a result of the collapse of the commodities across the board.
If that is the case, or assuming majority of these commodity imports are just for hoarding purpose, is the world economic recovery just a mirage? An interesting question worth more research.
Is inflation the solution?
Interview of William Poole and Brandeis’ Catherine Mann on why a 6% inflation, as advocated by some economists, will do more harm than good.
Adding to the discussion, I think moving to a higher inflation ‘target’ may also destroy the Fed’s hard-won reputation against inflation in Volcker era.
Monetizing debt looks seductive, but I hope the Fed will not go there.
Graduating is not fun in 2009, Part 2
Following my previous posts (here and here), here is another good discussion on how Class of 2009 cope with the toughest job market in years, from my favorite On Point with Tom Ashbrook.