This is the continuation from last weeks Frontline documentary.

This program discusses how the global economy is still in the perils of the 2008 debacle and how derivatives could potentially create another credit freeze. You want to watch parts 3 & 4.

Cheers on your weekend !
Episode 1

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part One on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Episode 2

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Two on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Episode 3

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Three on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Episode 4

Watch Money, Power and Wall Street: Part Four on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

“The Reserve Bank of Australia cut growth and inflation forecasts as weak job and housing markets keep price gains in check, and as the local currency slid toward its biggest weekly drop of the year.

“Labor market conditions have continued to be on the soft side to date, with large increases in employment in mining and some service industries roughly offset by declines in the manufacturing, hospitality and retail sectors,” the central bank said today in its quarterly monetary policy statement. “A recovery in housing construction is unlikely in the near term.”

Full article

PMI dropped to 46.7 vs consensus of 47.4 taking oil and most European boards down…

Full report

Is the solution to just kick them down the stairs?

Read the article and see the charts here.

The inflation hawks may be growing in ranks on the board of the FOMC and Bernanke is increasingly looking more isolated…

Read the article here.

NEW YORK (AP) – Americans’ spending – much like the economy – continues to yo-yo.

Major retailers such as Costco and Macy’s reported on Thursday that April revenue rose less that 1 percent in the worst performance since 2009 when the U.S. economy was just coming out of a bad recession.

The disappointing results follow two consecutive months of strong sales that were boosted by positive economic news about the job and housing markets.

“The economy is growing in fits and starts, and we are seeing sales shoot up and down,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at International Council of Shopping Centers. “We’re in a choppy period.”

A small group of merchants representing roughly 13 percent of the $2.4 trillion U.S. retail industry report monthly revenue at stores open at least a year, a key measure since it excludes results from locations that open and close during the year. Still, the figures offer a snapshot of consumer spending, which accounts for more than 70 percent of economic activity. And recently, it’s shown that Americans’ spending sways with the wave of economic news.

Read more here:

Here is the view from the Treasury…

Full article

Good news…the U.S. may have managed the crisis better than many economies facing a similar crisis in the past.

Read the article here.

Bowles, a Democrat, says that the U.S. faces the most predictable economic crisis in history, but it is avoidable.

Bowles continued, “I think it’s clear, if you do simple arithmetic, that the fiscal path that the nation is on is simply not sustainable.”

Read the rest here.

The FDIC provides an important insurance element that helps small business lend. Currently that insurance is set to expire later this year. The consequences could be huge for lending and employment.

Full article

“German retail sales rebounded in March as declining unemployment, slowing inflation and higher wages bolstered households’ purchasing power.

Sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, rose 0.8 percent from February, when they fell a revised 0.9 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists forecast a gain of 1 percent, the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Sales increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier…”

Full article

Some good news here….

Full article

“China plans to lower tariffs on some products to encourage imports as the nation seeks to alleviate pressures on domestic resources and reduce trade conflicts, the State Council said in a statement today.

China’s cabinet called on local governments and departments to stabilize and promote commodities imports, widen the buying of advanced technology equipment and energy products, and “appropriately enlarge” the import of consumer goods, according to the statementposted on website….”

Full article

I hate Krugman.

SANTA MONICA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April auto sales will continue at the strong pace set in the first quarter for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) this month of 14.4 million light vehicles, according to Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information. The surging sales performance so far this year has forced Edmunds.com to revise its 2012 auto sales forecast from 13.6 million to 14.4 million units.

 

Read the rest here.

The Federal Reserve is crucifying the U.S. economy on a cross of two-percent inflation. Read about it here.

Source

Presented without much commentary, because little is necessary: the only ratio that matters for the US economy, the change in US public debt ($359.1 billion) and US GDP ($142.4) in the first quarter, hit 2.52x and rising.

It takes $2.52 in new debt to increase $1 of GDP.

Source: Debt to the Penny, Commerce Dept

Here’s a chart from Scott Barber of Thomson Reuters Datastream.  It offers an elegant breakdown of the components of GDP growth.

Scott Barber / Thomson Reuters Datastream

Full article

Read his commentary or watch his video with Aaron Task, here.

“South Korea’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in a year even as austerity measures in Europe and a slowdown in China cloud the outlook for exports. Stocks and the won rose.

Gross domestic product rose 0.9 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, when it gained 0.3 percent, the Bank of Korea said today. That matches the median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Government spending and investments by semiconductor chip makers boosted the economy as European nations stepped up efforts to ease a debt crisis that has crimped Asian exports. The U.K. sinking into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s highlights the threat that global demand will falter as developed nations cut spending to improve their finances, andBank of Korea Governor Kim Choong Soo said last week that “downside risks” will probably remain high for some time….”

Read more