Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tuesday Links

Better than an air conditioner salesman in Bombay, "Current energy demand does not yet reflect what will happen when these countries have more money and more people can afford air-conditioning."

A/C: "[I]n practice, a single box fan will have difficulty moving enough air through a large house to substantially take down its average temperature. But what effect it does have will be a total bargain. Especially, blowing cool air into an occupied room is a good idea. And a beefier air exchange system can get some serious cooling done at a much lower energy cost per delivered degree than AC. But this mode of cooling is not available until the night cools off, so a well-insulated house is key to help preserve the night-time coolness for the rest of the coming day."

Bullish complacency: "The National Association of Independent Investment Managers poll shows that they are 83% long. This qualifies as an extreme level of optimism, and should cause concern."

Echoing the Gary North no-hyperinflation theory: "[Y]ou don’t see are any instances of central banks gone mad in otherwise-productive economies. As Cullen Roche says, hyperinflation is caused by many things, such as losing a war, or regime collapse, or a massive drop in domestic production. But one thing is clear: it’s not caused by technocrats going mad or bad."

Explanation for Chinese property bubble?: "Chinese people have very few savings mechanisms. The major ones (bank deposits and their life-insurance contract twins) have sharp and consistently negative real returns. Beyond that they have property."

Falky on bad economics: "[T]hey are very good at explaining the past, but that's really unimpressive, and reflects the degrees of freedom available relative to the target variables of quarterly GDP aggregates. It's like finding a trading rule on the past year's daily S&P moves..."

"[R]epetitive, low intensity equipment [...] burns muscle and causes the body to store fat..."

6 comments:

Stagflationary Mark said...

"[R]epetitive, low intensity equipment [...] burns muscle and causes the body to store fat..."

I offer a somewhat different theory for our obesity problems.

March 28, 2012
Sitting can lead to an early death: study

He said the average adult spends 90 per cent of their leisure time sitting down.

I speak as one who has lost 15+ pounds since June of 2011 by making the most trivial of changes to my daily routine.

Stagflationary Mark said...

This shows my progress so far.

CP said...

You should plot it against the S&P in real terms since 2000.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Hahaha!

June 1, 2012
The "Free Lunch" Weight Loss Plan v.012

It is tempting to set my new goal to be the S&P 500 divided by 6. That would put my current weight target at 213 (1278 / 6). It is certainly doable in the short-term. I could fast this weekend and get there no problem. There are a couple of downsides though.

1. I'd have to change the name to The Hexed Rubicon Weight Loss Plan.
2. I'd be at risk of losing too much weight if the stock market continues to decline.
3. If the S&P 500 miraculously rose to 1500, then I'd have to glutton myself on all that new prosperity.

CP said...

Great minds!

Maybe your food budget should just be based on the spy dividend yield?

Stagflationary Mark said...

Maybe your food budget should just be based on the spy dividend yield?

Let's keep it simple. I'll base it on Citigroup's current dividend.

As an added bonus, I always liked rice. This will give me a chance to savor every morsel.

The downside here is that I would have to shut my blog down. The calories expended while typing might push me over the edge, lol. Sigh.

Gallows humor.