My post earlier today about tax day and my self-imposed portfolio limits wasn't very sarcastic. I am not one to let my audience down. This is Monday. There shall be sarcasm.
China's GDP growth hit another speed bump, declining to 7.7%. Further declines will jeopardize the nation's strategy of parceling out enough material prosperity to suppress regional separatism. Nationalism is the only alternative, and it always brings its twin sibling - militarism - to the party. America's allies in Asia should plan accordingly.
Ireland just got a debt payback extension of seven years. So did Portugal. Extending the duration of whatever is on the balance sheets of the ECB and IMF means those institutions need to shore up their asset columns. Someone's phone at the Fed is probably ringing right now. Whoever picks up will need to know the red line for activating trillions in dollar swaps.
Increased funding for US financial regulators faces an uphill battle. The loyal opposition is doing it all wrong. If they're painting this as another fight against big government spending, they'll lose. Big finance loves big government and modern Americans love deficit spending. The smart fight should be over a return to the simple but effective Glass-Steagall regulatory regime that worked for decades. Alas, this is a missed opportunity.
Here's a final observation that wasn't in the headlines but happened in real life. The funniest part of my day wasn't the tech CEO who kept referring to himself in the third person during his pitch. It was the junk email from an Indian web host stating "Columbus wanted to discover India" that attached the iconic pic of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. Stuff like this happens to me all the time. People who don't hang out in my crowd are missing all this fun.
