Cost of home ownership
A Great chart on the history of cost of home ownership (courtesy of Visual Economics).
As measured by the percentage of income devoted to mortgage payment, we are at historical low. This is a great time to own a house.
Caution to house speculators: do not hope for a quick price recovery.
(click to enlarge)
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Andy Xie: China got a "hot money" problem
China is riding a tiger: the prospect of future currency rise and fast economic growth will certainly attract huge inflow of international short-term capital, or the so-called “hot money“. This will happen even when Chinese government imposes capital control.
At certain point, these hot money will want to flow out once investors realize their profits or just because it becomes too risky to stay in China. When this happens, China’s property market and stock market will face huge downside risk. And that’s when the housing market bubble will burst.
Interview of Andie Xie, Part I
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Gold passes $1,200
Gold just passed $1,200 per ounce.
Gold’s rise has support from fundamentals, but every time you see parabolic move, the bubble is forming. One of the key lessons for investors is “bubble has legs”, it will eventually burst, but nobody knows when.
In 2008, we had “mother of all bubbles” —oil price shot up to $147 per gallon. In 2009-10, we may well have another greater bubble, the gold bubble: $2,000, anyone?
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Anecdotal story on Chinese young consumers
I don’t believe this is widespread. But relying on China’s relatively poor consumers to “save the word” is ludicrous.
The netbook revolution
This holiday season, have you bought a netbook?
Fortune Magazine reports on Asus' netbook revolution.
Some facts about climate change
Copenhagen climate conference is near. Here are some facts one should bear in mind.
source: Jørgen Delman
|
Key variables |
China |
USA |
Japan |
|
Population (million) |
1,320 |
302 |
128 |
|
Per capita GDP (US$) (PPP) |
5,345 |
45,790 |
33,525 |
|
Energy use per unit of GDP (toe/ thousand US$) |
0.26 |
0.17 |
0.12 |
|
Per capita CO2eq emissions (2003 data; tons) |
3.2 |
19.5 |
9.8 |
 |
World gold rush continues…
(click to enlarge)
Obama commits on emission target
Obama pledges that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Reports NYT.