Austrian Angst

The Austrian School is at pains
To hinder that stimulus reigns,
But to make matters worse
They're bested in verse,
For much less rhymes with Hayek than Keynes.

Mortgage Defaults, Then & Now

The first wave of mortgage foreclosures
Was related to ARM-loan exposures,
But more so of late
The relevant rate
Is the instance of factory closures.

Thanks to Nick Timiraos for his analysis of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures in The Wall Street Journal.

The Hindenburg Omen

A little-known stock chart formation 
Claims to presage a market deflation;
Did the ominous name
Bring the "Omen" to fame,
Or is there a true correlation?  

Existing Home Sales Report

Though recov'ry was said to depend on
The sales of old homes that banks lend on,
They collapsed in a rout
When the tax break ran out,
And revealed an Achilleus tendon.

Opposites Don't Attract

Said an analyst, mulling a deal, 
"Fixed income is losing appeal; 
If inflation would grow 
Then prices would go 
In the other direction from yield."

Trade War 101

To gainfully utilize labor, 
Export nations play "Beggar Thy Neighbor;" 
While the deficit spenders, 
Resenting their lenders, 
May rattle the trade-tariff saber.  

Thanks to Prof. Michael Pettis of Peking University (no, that's not a typo) for his timely comment in the FT.

Dr. Goose on Marketplace Radio

Bill Radke of Marketplace Radio featured Dr. Goose (or his alter ego, David Lefkovits) on the Marketplace Minute.  Round One of the Limerick Smackdown goes to Goose, er.. Lefkovits, but look out for Round Two!

Phish and Chips, with Vinegar

When Intel announced they'd buy McAfee,
The market reacted with apathy:
With mass unemployment,
More PC deployment
Looks doubtful, despite being hacker-free.

With apologies to the Wall Street Journal for recycling their bad pun.

Overheard at the US Treasury

"When its value had sunk to iotas,
We took over General Motors;
With a value correction
In time for elections,
We'll sell on behalf of the voters."   

Is It Safe to Troll Back in the Water?

In the Gulf, the first catch from the boaters
Was endorsed by the Prez to the voters,
Though contrarians stressed:
"You may want to test
For things with no taste or strong odors."  

Golden Error?

If the dollar's debased and inflated,
Then the gold bugs appear to have made it;
But if, like Japan,
Our "lost decade's" at hand,
Then the gilded is quite overrated.

The Big Dipper

Said a well-economically-versed one,
"I see bubbles and I've got to burst one:
The one way we'll skip
The next double dip
Is we never got over the first one."

With apologies to David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff  as seen in The Big Interview with Kelly Evans of the Wall Street Journal.

He's an Optimist

The economist Kotlikoff fretted:
"We don't realize how much we're indebted.
When you add FICA, then
It's doubled again;
Is America solvent? Forget it!"  

Debt Blue

"I can't pay, no matter I tried,"
A mortgagor woefully cried;
"So there's nothing to do
But to grab a cold brew
As I hit the emergency slide."

The Fed's Shrinking Universe

Like the merciless Emperor Ming,
Bernanke's a powerful king,
But a bout with Deflation
Would lower his station
To a Keynsian pushing a string.

Hurd Mentality at Hewlett-Packard

"Those directors are dopes - no embellishin'!"  
Says Oracle chief Larry Ellison.
"For the sake of PC,
They've damaged HP,
Which the shareholders cannot be relishin'."

Over-Hurd at an HP Board Meeting

"After proofing each check and gratuity, 
We've determined beyond ambiguity: 
Your expenses look funny, 
If none of this money 
Was meant to pursue promiscuity."

Payroll Report

In discussing employment statistic'ly
Economists measure holistic'ly;
When the news is depressing,
They're sure to be stressing
The parts that read more optimistic'ly.


Thanks to Kelly Evans of the Wall Street Journal's News Hub and Ahead of the Tape for the challenge of taking the sting out of a bad payroll report.

Good Money After Bad?

Further Fannie Mae bailouts, admittedly, 
In the billions may seem like stupidity, 
But less welcome, perhaps, 
Is the market collapse 
That would follow withdraw'l of liquidity. 

Employers Pay More, Workers Get Less

At the Labor Department they noted,
"Compensation expenses are bloated."
Replied Commerce to that,
"Workers' wages are flat."
...And Aetna declined to be quoted.

Thanks to Real Time Economics, for keeping it real.

Overheard in a Bank Lobbyist's Office

"We argued, when banks appeared strong,  
That more capital was needless and wrong,  
But we changed this impression 
In the current recession,  
Which more capital, we claimed, would prolong."

Overheard at the Offices of PIMCO

"Deflation is viewed with frivolity
By many in Washington's polity,
But if prices are sinking,
We'll stock up, I'm thinking,
On Treasury bonds of high quality."