The Big Picture

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• Is Monetary Policy Overburdened?
• 10 Thursday PM Reads
• Bullish on Europe and Emerging Markets
• The Rise and Fall of Circuit City
• 10 Thursday AM Reads
• The Best Gummint Housing Program You’ve Never Heard Of

Is Monetary Policy Overburdened? Posted: 10 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST

10 Thursday PM Reads Posted: 09 Jan 2014 02:15 PM PST My afternoon train-reading: • Janet Yellen: The Sixteen Trillion Dollar Woman (Time) see also Will history look kindly on Ben Bernanke? (The Week) • Pot Shares Rally 1,700% as Speculators See Green (Bloomberg) • The Post-Crash Rebound, Not Job Growth, Drove 2013 Price Gains (Trulia Blog) • The PC is dead, and this year's CES proves it (Washington Post) • Bank of America Merrill Lynch slashes gold call to $1,150 and warns it could get uglier (MarketWatch) • The real Chris Christie traffic scandal you’ve forgotten (LA Times) see also Chris Christie's problem is that he's really, truly a bully (Washington Post) see also • Silicon Valley’s New Spy Satellites (The Atlantic) • Top Ten Things Bob Gates was Wrong about, Some Criminal (Juan Cole) • Gervais: Be a Cocky Little Nobody (Time) • The glassware that will change your (wine-drinking) life (WSJ) What are you reading?   Americans Are Getting Bored With Obamacare in the News Source: WonkBlog

Bullish on Europe and Emerging Markets Posted: 09 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST Source: Yahoo Finance

The Rise and Fall of Circuit City Posted: 09 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

10 Thursday AM Reads Posted: 09 Jan 2014 06:26 AM PST It’s finally starting to warm up, with temperatures a balmy 22 degrees. Here's what I am reading this morning: • Investors Are Chastened. That's A Good Thing. (ProPublica), see also What's That You're Calling a Bubble? (Harvard Business Review) • Support at Fed for Slow Stimulus Cuts (NY Times) • The U.S. has a $7.25 minimum wage. Australia's is $16.88 (WaPo), see also Income Growth Has Stalled for Most Americans (MoJo) Continues here

The Best Gummint Housing Program You’ve Never Heard Of Posted: 09 Jan 2014 05:24 AM PST Of all of the various government housing programs run by various federal agencies — Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Housing and Urban Development and, of course, Fannie Mae — HARP is the most effective and efficient one out there. Odds are you have never even heard of the Home Affordable Refinance Program. And that is a shame, because it is doing what it was designed to do: Help qualified homeowners refinance underwater homes and avoid foreclosure. The Wall Street Journal's Nick Timiraos wrote a terrific article on the subject: You probably missed it, as it was unfortunately buried on New Year's Eve. (Timiraos’s regular housing and mortgage columns in the Journal are incisive and free from the usual bias and politics that tend to accompany much of the housing coverage these days.)   Continues here

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