Some good readings

– Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt 
fascinating NPR interactive documentary on how a single T-shirt is made
– Why do so many people hate QE ?
Farewell QE, you have been a magnificent success
– The most important charts of the year 
by Business Insider
– Sun’s Current Solar Activity Cycle is Weakest in a Century
None of us alive have ever seen such a weak cycle. So we will learn something
– US land prices drop for first time in four years
Salubrious
– Why Do Forecasters Keep Forecasting?
You are advised to ignore them with extreme prejudice
– Man Buys $103K Tesla Model S With Bitcoin
the most modern deal possible
– The Most Important Economic Stories of 2013—in 44 Graphs
by the Atlantic
– Warren Buffett’s Meeting with University of Maryland MBA Students and Warren Buffet On the Ovarian Lottery
Buffett talks
– Brazil Crushing Sugar to Ethanol With Caps on Fuel Prices
A story of how Brazil’s government subsidies for gasoline reduced domestic demand for biofuels and compounded a global surplus of sweetener
– Soybeans: brazilian producers, eighth years of positive income
positive for the eighth consecutive year
– The global food supply has a demand problem
Changing diets, not population growth, is the dominant driver of food demand
– Robert Shiller’s Favorite Financial Innovation: An IPO For The USA
The governments of the world should issue shares in their GDPs
– Genetically modified crops – Fields of beaten gold – The Economist
Greens say climate-change deniers are unscientific and dangerous. So are greens who oppose GM crops
– The Fed Throws Out a “Taper” Feeler….
testing the market’s response
– For global warming believers, 2013 was the year from Hell
Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the cause of global warming
– Investors should abandon long-term commodity bets – FT
now a consolidated view
– Robert Shiller on Brazil’s House Bubble
“Brazil right now feels like the US in 2005″

Some readings of last week

–Brazilian Soccer Is Too Big To Fail
to understand Brazil’s economic woes…
–Deutsche Bank slashes commodity trading operations
commodities business has become completely unattractive for banks?
–What Are Traffic Waves and Why Do They Happen So Much?
how awesome would be a world with no human drivers!
–Attention, Protestors: You’re Probably Part of the 1%
how much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world? U$34,000.
–Peter Lynch’s interview with Charlie Rose
legendary investor Peter Lynch sat down for a rare interview with Charlie Rose
–Tabula
a tool for liberating data tables trapped inside PDF files.
–GM Maize
a journal has retracted a paper about genetically modified maize after a storm of criticism.
–Would you rather have Brazil’s economic problems or America’s ?
…so you, american fellows, can fell better about your country and sorry for us.
– The Insanity of Our Food Policy
Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz criticizes farm subsidies in the NYT
–Venezuela gold deal with Goldman Sachs
Venezuela is in serious trouble, so serious that it made a deal with Goldman Sachs. A beautiful free market story.
–Hugh Hendry Throws In The Bearish Towel: His Full Must-Read Letter
one should always hear what Hugh Hendry has to say, and he has turned bullish.
– Thirty-five years of dry spells
1979 to 2012 , an interactive  map showing the percentage deviation from average annual rainfall everywhere in the world.

 

Monday Links

Monday always seems to be a prolific day for interesting links.

– Liberia and USA will be the only countries left not using the metric system
In Myanmar, after a substantial analysis of how poorly the American Congress have discussed important measures(pun intended), they have decided to do just the opposite: quit the “standart”, and go for the metric system.
– Stupid Things Finance People Say
My favorite is: “The Dow (or beans, or corn, or wheat, or whatever…)  is down 50 points as investors react to news of [X].”
– Picture: The richest bear in town
smart guy, has been shorting corn since $8.
– Midwest Farmland Values: Past Peak Season?
Farmland values fell 6% in the third quarter from the second quarter in the St. Louis Fed district
– Five Ways to Ruin an Economy
courtesy of Venezuela (a slightly more socialist than Obama’s.) (last parenthesis just to remember in case some Tea Party visitor shows up)
– Qatar’s accidental vagina stadium
A country where you can”t wear bikinis, but a vagina the size of Manhattan is fine.
– The Beatles Succeeded Through Talent, Ambition, and a Lot of Arrogance
Lennon: “We were the best fucking group in the goddamn world … and believing that is what made us what we were.”
“We were always thinking we were better than whoever was famous, so why shouldn’t webe up there?”
– Ireland will bulldoze 40 vacant housing developments—only 1,260 to go
Creative destruction
– Can yougurt cure depression ?
WTH…Gut Bacteria Linked to Behavior(!?)