The Big Picture

Conventional and Insidious Macroeconomic Balance-Sheet Crises
Discuss: High Food Prices
10 Thursday PM Reads
Sitting Is Killing You
Warren Buffett’s Attackers Are Hypocritical
10 Thursday AM Reads
Banks, Shadow Banking, and Fragility

Conventional and Insidious Macroeconomic Balance-Sheet Crises

Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:00 AM PDT

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT

High Food Prices Lead to Trade-offs Even in Upper-Income Household;
Stores Shrink Meat Packages, Push Inexpensive Cuts; Downgrade to Chicken at the Weekend Grill

Source: WSJ

10 Thursday PM Reads

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:30 PM PDT

My afternoon train reads:

• The Challenge (Reformed Broker) see also Your asset allocation is wrong (and so is everyone else’s.) (Bason Asset Management)
• What’s The Matter With France? (Krugman)
• Europe’s Banks to Offload $770 Billion of Non-Core Property Assets (World Property Channel) see also Europe Bank Cleanup Driving $1.72 Trillion of Asset Sales (Bloomberg)
• Dropbox Slashes Its Price as the Cost of a Gigabyte Nears Zero (Wired)
• Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk (Bloomberg) see also Homeownership Reconsidered (Bloomberg)
• Medicare: Not Such a Budget-Buster Anymore (The Upshot)
• The major US corporate chieftain has the honesty to call his own pay “ludicrous” (Quartz) see also How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The Wealthiest One Percent Of Americans (Think Progress)
• Facebook suspends Italian woman's account after she posts image of two women kissing in support of LGBT rights (The Independent)
• Amazon: Not an E-Commerce Company (stratechery)
• A Classical Take on Classic Rock (WSJ)

What are you reading?

Source: WSJ

Sitting Is Killing You

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:30 AM PDT

Sitting Is Killing You

source: visual.ly

Warren Buffett’s Attackers Are Hypocritical

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:45 AM PDT

The jury is out as to how much of the Burger King-Tim Horton merger is driven by the desire for tax savings. So far, the range seems to be modestly to not very much. The Los Angeles Times noted "Burger King’s overall effective tax rate in 2013 was 27.5%, according to its annual report. Tim Hortons’ effective tax rate for the same year was 26.8%." That hardly seems motivation for a deal valued at almost $12 billion. More likely, creating a competitor to fast food's No. 1, McDonald’s, was the driving force. The merger creates the world's third-largest fast-food company.

Before we proceed, you might want to get a better understanding of the details of this transaction: Read my colleague Matt Levine's excellent Warren Buffett Funds Global Donut-Burger Behemoth; for a good history of tax inversions, see this quick take.

As we have discussed, I find corporate inversions to be rather distasteful, and suggested several simple steps to make them less desirable to corporate America.

Continues here

10 Thursday AM Reads

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 06:30 AM PDT

Its a spectacular day here in NYC, and we bring you our slow smoked, dry rubbed reads for your pre-holiday weekend Thursday enjoyment: (continues here):

• Another V-Shaped Rally to New Highs, What’s Next? (Sassy Options) see also Here’s What Happens After Major Market Milestones (MoneyBeat)
• Finance is a Strange Industry (Motley Fool)
• Investment trend: Are classic cars overtaking art? (Classic Driver) see also Californian Italians (Ferrari Magazine)
• Wall St. Prosecutors Bare Their Teeth, but Still Lack Bite (DealBook)

Continues here

Banks, Shadow Banking, and Fragility

Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 AM PDT