Man, I used to remember making fun of the Lira back in the day. (yes, that’s what International Studies majors do, at least the geeky ones) This takes the cake though. I’ve never seen so many zeros amount to so little.

Interesting data from New York Newsday about the costs of everyday goods (using BLS data). I didn’t realize how much certain items have gone up.

Ritholtz points to an NY Times article that shows how the strong retail sales report was actually driven by rising prices for necessities (food, energy) rather than people out shopping for toys, electronics, and other consumer goods.

Hard to be optimistic at this point. The world systems part of my brain shows a picture of capital flight that’s going to move the core away from the U.S. The question now becomes where will it go, and how do we remain as the core or at least as a close to it as possible… Not saying this is going to happen soon, but the movement is there. Many say the impact of the U.S. dollar no longer being the reserve currency for the world has more impact than people realize.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but at what point do you start wondering about how these numbers get put out there. I find it hard to believe that career employees of these agencies would silently accept any overt massaging, but at the same time… these measures don’t match up with what’s going out there…