Once more by John & Kat, still mostly Kat.
?Passing on the pain at the pump
DENVER - We all are feeling it. With the national average for a gallon of gas sitting at $3.88, watching the dollars tick away as we're pumping gas hurts the wallet. It is also hurting people well away from the gas station.
"Over the course of the past eight or 10 weeks, it is justratcheting up every week with deliveries," Mike Miller, owner of Basil Doc's Pizza, said. � Miller has owned the businessfor 15 years and has four locations. He is seeing a delivery surcharge being added to most everything purchased for the stores.
"Primarily what I keep my eye on is cheese prices. When I see cheese prices going up, I know we're in for it. It's: Fasten your seatbelt time," Miller said. � Miller has not raised the prices on his menu for three and a half years. As the food prices and delivery charges have cut into his profit margin, it may become a necessity.
"It means those costs are going to be passed on to us in terms of high prices because the business still has to try to make a profit, so they've got to pass this right through to us," Mac Clouse, a professor of finance at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, said.
Most businessesare being impacted by the rising gas prices. Some, like Basil Doc's Pizza, are being hit with delivery charges while others are feeling the pain much closer to the pump.
"Gas is number three in our top five expenses to run our business," John Gibson, president of Swingle Lawn, Tree and Landscaping Care, said.
From lawnmowers and chainsaws, to pumps and trucks, nearly all of their equipment runs of gasoline. It has forced them to make changes.
"We anticipated a fuel increase. We didn't anticipate it to be this large, therefore just in the last week we had to put a fuel surcharge onall of our services to our customers," Gibson said.
He says if gas prices return to previous levels, those surcharges will be dropped.
The impact of rising gas prices on business has some economists forecasting the possibility of another economic recession. Clouse disagrees.
"I don't think it will push us into another recession, but it is going to slow down the recovery. The businesses that may have had plans to expand, now a sense of these costs, the cost for lots of goods and services that are part of their ongoing business costs are going up. Their profits are going down. They may discover they don't have the profitability to be able to expand," Clouse said.
(KUSA-TV � 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
?Whoa Baby, Prices Are Jumping for Diapers, Other Family Basics
Wall Street Journal - Ellen Byron, Paul Ziobr
Betting that parents are less stingy when it comes to junior's needs, two of the country's biggest makers of diapers and wipes are pushing through price increases.
?Stocks See Mixed Close Amid Rising Costs
NEW YORK (TheStreet)-- Stocks traded in a tight range on either side of the flat line Monday session as investors mulled rising input costs amid light tradingvolumes.
[...] "Until those input costs start to come down, I think the market will be struggling because these costs are rising not just in the U.S., but all over the world. That means you'll begin to see tightening all over the world," Krosby said. ...
?Bernanke's Inflation Paradox
Wall Street Journal
This is the paradox of exceptionally easy monetary policy, and rarely has it been as obvious as it is today. The Fed has flooded the world with dollar liquidity that by its reckoning has lifted stock and other asset prices, eliminated the risk of deflation (if such a risk really existed), and prevented a double-dip recession. Wall Street and the White House are delighted.
On the other hand, this dollar flood has also contributed to a boom in commodity prices around the world, spurred inflation in countries with links to the dollar, and prompted investors to seek returns in non-dollar assets that are often risky and in many cases will prove to be a misallocation of capital. All of this, in turn, has reduced growth in real incomes, undermined consumer confidence and raised doubts about the durability of the recovery. The American middle class doesn't feel any richer.
Call this the price of putting all of your economic expansion hopes in Ben Bernanke's monetary basket.
?IMF bombshell: Age of America nears end http://www.marketwatch.com/story/imf-bombshell-age-of-america-about-to-end-2011-04-25?dist=countdown MarketWatch - Brett Arends - 6 hours ago
For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the �Age of America� will end and the US economy will beovertaken by that of China.
?Kabul's Police Tab Fails a US Audit
Wall Street Journal - Nathan Hodge - 12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON�The US government said accounting at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry is so lax that it isn't possible to determine how big the Afghan National Police force is or whether its officers are being properly paid.
?USDA Retail Food-Inflation Forecasts for 2011 (Text)
?Rousseff voices alarm as inflation nears bank limit
Financial Times - Joe Leahy
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's president, has warned of �immensely� worrying inflation as price rises in Latin America's largest economy risk exceeding the central bank's limit. �We are immensely worried about inflation and there's ...
?S Korea Consumer Sentiment Index Rebounds In April Vs March
Wall Street Journal - In-Soo Nam - 4 hours ago
SEOUL (Dow Jones)--A key index measuring consumer confidence in South Korea rebounded in April from the previous month, while inflation expectations rose to a nearly two-year high, highlighting the need for the central bank to continue its monetary ...
[So the Social Security adjustment will be below 2% next January...???]
?Core Inflation To Remain Within Fed's Targets - Survey
NASDAQ - Andrew Ackerman - 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Core inflation will remain within the Federal Reserve's target range of 2% or less through next year but higher food and energy prices will drive up headline inflation for the remainder of 2011, according to the median forecast of economists conducted by The Bond Dealers of America and Moody's Analytics.
?Setting The Odds For New Inflation Highs (GLD, SLV, TBT, TLT, DBA, MOO)
This month, inflation hit an all-time high. No, not the Consumer Price Index. The high watermark was instead reached by the Monetary Inflation Index, a benchmark of the US dollar's currency-adjusted gold purchasing power.[...]
The Bottom Line
All told, the odds are strongly in favor of more, not less, inflation. At least that's what we can say for now.
Our probabilities are based upon a constancy of index volatility which, at 25 to 27 percent per annum, is a bit more volatile than the broad domestic equity market. There's no certainty that such volatility will continue. Eventually, the MII's relatively high volatility will revert to the levels seen before 2008. Lower volatility translates into more predictability.
Keep in mind that we're talking odds here, not certainties. [&c. yadda, yadda.]
?Canadian Dollar Fluctuates Versus Major Peers as Crude Oil Erases Advance
Bloomberg - John Detrixhe
Canada's dollar fluctuated against its US counterpart amid strength in commodities as investors seek to protect their wealth from rising inflation and a weaker US currency.
?China Implements Price Fraud Checks amid High Inflation
CRIENGLISH.com. That is China Radio International, the only overseas broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CRI was founded on December 3, 1941 and is owned and operated by the state. CRI is one of the "three central media organizations in China" along with China National Radio (CNR) and China Central Television (CCTV).
This is part of a wider pledge to crack down on price manipulation amid the growing inflation in the country. The NDRC is now pressing local authorities to quickly report any dramatic price swings, on top of launching investigations of monopolies. ...
Other reading from this source...
- China's March PPI up 7.3 pct
China's producer price index (PPI), a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 7.3 percent in March from a year ago, up 0.6 percent from February.
- 'New Funds Considered' to Protect Reserves
The central bank is planning new investment funds to diversify holdings in the nation's $3 trillion foreign exchange reserves, to hedge against depreciation and inflation risks, according to a news report.
?China US confirm economic talks
BBC News
China and the United States have agreed to hold economic talks as tensions between the world's two biggest economies continue to rise. Top officials from both the countries will meet in the US next month to discuss differences over trade and currency ...
?China looks to expand currency�s global reach (BBC)
?Big Mac Index suggests yuan discounted 40% (Taipei Times)
China's yuan and the Hong Kong dollar are the most undervalued currencies in the world, trading at discounts of 40 percent or more versus the US dollar, based on the relative cost of McDonald's Corp's Big Mac hamburgers.
McDonald�s signature burger cost the equivalent of US$2.18 in China at the end of last year, US$1.90 in Hong Kong and US$3.71 in the US, according to The Economist�s Big Mac Index.
China�s discount has narrowed to 40 percent from 41 percent since then owing to yuan gains, while Hong Kong�s pegged currency has kept its gap at 49 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. ...
?PBOC to sell 3 bln yuan 1-yr bills
SHANGHAI, April 25 (Reuters) - China's central bank said on Monday that it would auction three billion yuan ($459 million) of one-year bills on Tuesday, down sharply from 55 billion yuan of such bills sold last week. A total of 255 billion yuan in ...
?China should use currency to curb inflation, government researchers say (Tehran Times)
Two prominent Chinese state researchers added to calls for the government to use the yuan to help curb inflation that accelerated to a 32-month high in March. �A moderate acceleration in the yuan's appreciation would help China effectively deal with ...
[...But not until they put the final nail in the US coffin... ]
?Yuan slips, PBOC signals gradualism in yuan appreciation
SHANGHAI: The yuan pulled back slightly on Monday as the People's Bank of China fixed its mid-point marginally weaker to signal the government's intention to keep its gradual pace of yuan appreciation in place.
?We Are At A Tipping Point For the Dollar And The Chinese Yuan
Forbes (blog) - Robert Lenzner - Apr 22, 2011
We are at a tipping point for the advent of a new global currency that will recognize the seeds of the dollar's fall and the rise of China as the new world economic power.
?China Shares Nosedived Following Yuan's Paltry Rise
TopNews United States - John Binz
A sense of panic was seen in the financial market following the statement made by Xia Bi, an Academic Adviser to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), about rise of Yuan. Shaken by the statement, investors pulled out of the market leading to a slight fall of Yuan on Monday. � Considering the international pressure to let the Yuan appreciate in the international market, Premier Wen Jiabao has claimed that the government will take gradual steps to decontrol Yuan fearing the loss incurred due to 2.1% rise of Yuan in July 2005.
Apparently, the Bank for International Settlements has revealed that value of Yuan has dropped by 0.7% in March against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, which shows that the Chinese government is not keen on exposing its export-related sector to inflated Yuan. ...
?Ecomonic Strength Is An Illusion
Bert Dohmen in Forbes, promoting his upcoming book.
There is a perception that economic growth in many countries is very strong. Is it? These countries have an accelerating inflation problem that is presenting an illusion of economic strength. Russia is running at 9.5%, India at 9%, Brazil 6.3%. China�s official inflation rate (CPI) just came in at 5.4%, higher �than expected by analysts.� Well, that number is a fairy tale. Actual inflation is mid-teens. �Official� food inflation year-over-year is 11%. Actual food inflation is probably twice that.
What always happens in such an environment is that the central bank hikes interest rates, but always too little, too late. The added cost of money raises the cost of business and is passed on as price increases, causing even higher inflation. The governments restrict credit only grudgingly because they don�t want the economy to weaken. That would make people unhappy and cause them to riot. Not pleasant for autocratic regimes. And that�s how these countries will eventually see double-digit inflation.
When that happens, they will become more forceful in tightening money, availability of credit, etc. And that eventually produces a recession, pain, and a financial crisis.
There is another aspect to this under-reporting of inflation: the GDP growth numbers of these countries are fictitious. Yet, money managers apparently believe them and are sending billions of dollars overseas into stocks in those countries. For example, let�s assume a country�s nominal GDP growth is 15%. Official inflation is 5%, which is deducted from the 15% to give headline GDP growth of 10%. But what if actual inflation is 10% instead of the �official� version of 5%? Then actual GDP growth is 5%. That certainly reduces the great growth stories of these emerging markets.�
In the U.S., inflation is also far underreported. John Williams� Shadow Government Statistics calculates the CPI before the �fudge factors� were introduced by Bush Senior and Clinton. According to him, the CPI now is at 10%�
If we use that number to convert nominal GDP to actual GDP, then we get negative, �real� economic growth. In other words, most or all of the reported GDP growth here and abroad reflects price increases, not genuine economic growth. Currently, nominal GDP growth is 4%. The CPI is 2.7%. That gives us �real� GDP growth of 1.3%, certainly not the 4% Wall Street had been predicting. If we use the GDP deflator of 3.6%, then we get �real� GDP growth of 0.3%, barely above zero.
I ask, how can this anemic growth, if any, give you the 20% corporate profit growth that Wall Street has been predicting? It would mean that companies can raise prices faster than their cost of supplies. That seems unlikely in the current high-unemployment environment except for consumer essentials, like food and energy. Beware of governmental statistics! As an investor, you can protect yourself against this hidden inflation via gold and silver.
?A US history lesson -- from Kenya Spain March Producer Price Inflation Accelerates
(RTTNews) - Spanish producer prices recorded an annual growth of 7.8 percent in March after rising 7.6 percent in February, the statistical office INE said Monday. On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 0.9 percent, the same rate of growth as seen in February.
Consumer goods prices moved up at a faster pace of 2.1 percent annually and durable consumer goods cost climbed 1.5 percent. Producer prices of capital goods advanced 1.2 percent and intermediate goods increased 8 percent. At the same time, energy prices surged 18.8 percent.
?Tough task for Central Bank as regulator seeks to rein in inflation and ease rising cost of living
A former US president Jimmy Carter lost his bid for a second term of presidency in 1980 chiefly on the fact that on his watch inflation had risen to a record high of 18 per cent at a time when oil prices doubled due to transportation bottlenecks following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.
In late 1979, Carter had appointed a new chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Paul Volcker � who was known to take tough decisions � who called a monetary policy meeting one Saturday (away from the glare of the press) in October of the same year and made some of the boldest decisions a central bank has ever had to make.
Carter�s struggle with economic problems was well-documented by Time magazine whose May 24, 1980 edition�s cover story �Jimmy Carter vs. Inflation� delved into the matter at length.
Volcker�s intervention involved a shock therapy involving drastic cut in money supply that would cause interest rates to rise and aggregate spending to fall, knowing it would cost jobs and result in a brief recession.
Although Carter lost to Ronald Reagan, he may have made the best appointments for American monetary policy management at the time. � It took Volcker three years to tame inflation to 6.2 per cent from the annual average of over 13 per cent in 1979 as supply shocks relating to oil persisted.
Inflation monster
Reagan was a major beneficiary once the painful monetary tightening bore fruits in terms of a growing economy and he easily got a second term, riding on conditions created by an appointee of his predecessor plus, of course, the goodwill from the public following fiscal policy measures such as rolling back the frontiers of the government and income tax cuts.
The question of taming the inflation monster � through monetary and fiscal (government spending and taxes) policies � now confronts policymakers in Kenya as it does many food-insecure and oil-importing countries.
Kenya is facing the highest-ever inflation rate since the new geometric calculation method was introduced in 2009 when it began to significantly cut the inflation rate.
But it was in the low inflation period, that it came as a shock to Kenyans when overall inflation was pronounced to be 9.2 per cent in March and hardly two weeks later, another price shock came as the local oil pump price hit the highest since the commodity price escalation of mid-2008, pointing to the probability of double-digit inflation in April.
~~~~~5 more pages~~~~~
?Investors wary over inflation and dollar
Financial Times - Michael Mackenzie
The moves in precious metals came as investors remain worried about inflation and are bearish on the dollar after the move last week by rating agency Standard & Poor's to place the long-term debt ratings of the US on watch for a possible downgrade over ...
?Oil Prices to Gain on Dollar, Consumers Under More Strain: Survey
CNBC, 25 Apr 2011
Oil prices will likely rise this week, fueling inflation and threatening a fragile recovery in the U.S. as consumers battle $4 a gallon gasoline in some states, CNBC's weekly survey of market sentiment showed.
Weakness in the U.S. dollar, continued unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and a strong start to U.S. earnings season are driving the momentum. "The fundamentals are about as bullish as it gets," said Phil Flynn, market analyst at PFG Best Research in Chicago. "We are being driven by geopolitics, deficits, wars, and the growing lack of confidence in the currency that the commodities are traded in."
That said, many analysts are growing increasingly cautious about the outlook, saying demand destruction is imminent as consumers flinch at high fuel prices leading to fewer motorists on the roads during the peak summer driving season.
Gasoline's national average rose 12 cents in the past two weeks to a national average $3.88 per gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.
Tucson, Ariz., had the lowest gas average at $3.54, while Chicago had the highest, at $4.27 per gallon, according to the survey, which tracks prices at 2,500 gas stations across the country.
Analyst Trilby Lundberg said if prices haven't peaked now, there's a good chance they will before the summer driving season, which traditionally starts during the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May.
"Gasoline prices might hover around this level, which is at $3.88, and maybe never reach the all-time high which was $4.11 back in July of '08," she said.
Emerging Market Demand
Concern is also building over the demand outlook in emerging markets including China.
China's demand for its three main refined fuels � diesel, gasoline and kerosene � will plateau at first quarter levels for the rest of 2011, China's National Energy Administration said on Friday.
It predicted year-on-year growth in demand for the fuels would slow from 13 percent in the first quarter to 9 percent in the first half of the year and 8 percent in 2011 as a whole.
"Because China dominates the global demand picture, Friday's NEA projections...overall raised eyebrows," said Lawrence Eagles, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. energy analyst based in New York. "Generally, we agree that China's total oil demand growth will slow to a still robust 6 to 7 percent year-on-year over the second to the fourth-quarter. Elevated prices will have a marginal impact, but the primary driver is a strong 2010 baseline, especially in 4Q 2010 when power shortages drew gasoil into power."
A CNBC poll of analysts and traders showed an overwhelming bullish bias for prices this week. Ten out of 11 respondents expect oil prices to rise while one believes prices will remain unchanged. The poll correctly predicted the direction of prices last week.
"The dollar is the governing factor," said Dennis Gartman, a trader and publisher of The Gartman Letter. "It trumps all other concerns, and as goes the dollar, so in contravention shall go crude oil. Prices of crude are still headed higher."
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, front-month crude futures for June delivery settled at $112.29 a barrel on Friday, up $2.63, or 24 percent. Prices have risen in four of the last five weeks. ICE Brent crude futures in London rose 54 cents, or 0.44 percent, to settle at $123.99.
The dollar index, which measures the currency's value against six major currencies, hit a three-year low of 73.735 hit last week. A break of that could open the way for a test of the record low of 70.698 touched mid July, 2008, according to Reuters data.
Currency speculators pared bets against the U.S. dollar for a fourth straight week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released Friday, but were still net short to the total of $24.36 billion.
Bernanke Meets The Press ...
Don't Like a Weak Dollar? Might as Well Get Used to It
?Start Positioning for Inflation, Buy US Banks: Strategist
[Well I guess so -- with prices headed through the roof.]
?Saudi Arabia Sees Need to Pump More Oil
22 Apr 2011
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia needs to pump at least 9 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude for the next few years and is considering boosting capacity to meet rising demand, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW) said in a report citing Saudi sources this week.
Rising fuel demand led by growth in China, India and the Middle East has outpaced Riyadh's expectations, and Saudi Arabia now sees medium to long-term oil consumption higher than it had previously anticipated, trade publication PIW reported.
"Saudi sources expect the kingdom will need to keep oil output around 9 million bpd or higher over the next few years," PIW said.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday the kingdom's April oil output may rise from March, when it pumped 8.292 million bpd. Output was above 9 million bpd as recently as February, when the kingdom produced 9.125 million bpd to plug the gap left by Libya, where civil war cut exports. ...
?Killer Combo of High Gas, Food Prices at Key Tipping Point
April 21. This CNBC link by Christina Cheddar Berk is okay, but a graph at the link is a challenge to grasp. The purpose of a chart is to illustrate a point, but in this case we have multi-dimensional content ironed into two dimensions, with a tiny color key in mouseprint at the bottom. The reader is invited to see if it is any clearer to him than it is to me.
The combination of rising gasoline prices and the steepest increase in the cost of food in a generation is threatening to push the US economy into a recession, according to Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.
Johnson looks at the percentage of income consumers are spending on gasoline and food as a way of gauging how consumers will fare when energy prices spike.
With gas prices now standing at about $3.90 a gallon, energy costs have now passed 6 percent of spending�a level that Johnson says is a "tipping point" for consumers.
"Energy is not quite as essential as food and water, but is a necessity in today's economy, and when gasoline costs more than bottled water�like now�then it takes a huge bite out of disposable spending," he said, in a research note.
Of the six US recessions since 1970, all but the "9-11 year 2001 recession" have been linked to � [if] not triggered by � energy prices that crossed the 6 percent of personal consumption expenditures, he said. (During the shallow 2001 recession, energy prices had risen to about 5 percent of spending, which is higher than the long-term 4 percent share.)
What may make matters worse this time around, is there has been a steep increase in food prices that occurred as well. In other recent recessions food costs were benign, at between 7.5 percent and 7.8 percent of spending.
This year food prices have climbed 6.5 percent since the beginning of early January, according to Consumer Growth Partners.
"The combined increase in the necessities of food and energy creates a harsh double whammy for already stressed consumers," Johnson said. The last time this happened was in the recession that lasted from 1973 to 1975.
Johnson estimates that food and energy eat up about 15 percent of consumer spending at today's prices, compared with about 12.7 percent two years ago.
Of course, at lower income levels, these percentages are much higher. One sign of the stress some consumers are already feeling is that some AAA offices have already seen an increase in out-of-gas service calls, as motorists try to put off filling their tanks or drive around trying to seek out the gas station with the least expensive price.
Also some regions are being hit harder than others. Gas prices in Hawaii continue to set new highs, according to AAA data. The average price on Wednesday was $4.51, topping the prior record of $4.50 for a gallon of regular unleaded set in July 2008.
?$6 Gas? Could Happen if Dollar Keeps Getting Weaker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[John sez]
These next links caught my attention with the phrase "walk to work."
I heard about it on NPR a few days ago and didn't pay close attention. But as yet another non-violent protest this expression of popular frustration in Uganda deserves wider circulation.
Check out the NPR story.
Thomas Mugisha, a worker in a mattress factory in Kampala, Uganda's capital, said he now walks to work because the price of public transport rose from $0.30 to $0.60. The protest walks have been a reflection of that reality.
"We decided to walk to places of work as a sign of solidarity with other many Ugandans who are suffering from high prices," said Alice Alaso, an opposition parliamentarian who invoked the example of the French Revolution during an interview. She complained of high military spending at a time when people can't even afford food.
"Our government has become insensitive toward its people's suffering," she said.
The price of maize in Uganda has risen 114 percent over the last year, according to the World Bank. That's the highest year-over-year increase in the world. Gasoline and meat prices are also soaring.
"We used to eat meat three times a week, but now we eat beans due to the high price of meat," said Zaida Namuli, 35, a Kampala resident.
Buried in the local news I also caught a report that over the last year more than a hundred child-care centers have closed in Atlanta (over a thousand state-wide) due to unemployment and the poor economy. Centers that feed children report more are coming in hungry, and centers that can do so are sending food home with children in their backpacks for the weekends.
This story in the Augusta Chronicle was all I have time to find this morning, but I'm sure Georgia is typical of other parts of the country in this regard.
It's a sad commentary that privileged people in Uganda seem more concerned for their less-fortunate brothers and sisters than Americans.
?In Uganda, they're killing people for walking to work. Clerics call for peaceful resolution to inflation protests April 25 2011
Calls for a peaceful resolution to the current standoff between the opposition and the government over the escalating fuel and commodity prices dominated yesterday�s Easter sermons countrywide.
Religious leaders castigated the government for using excessive force against civilians who participated in the walk-to-work campaign, as they called for dialogue.
Preaching to hundreds that attended yesterday�s Easter celebrations in Rubaga Cathedral, the Archbishop of Kampala Archdiocese, his Grace Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga whose sermons called for peace and reconciliation, blamed security agencies for shooting at innocent people during the walk-to-work campaign.
He called on government to put in place a special programme on peace. The archbishop also called on the opposition, to stop �inciting the population against the government.� He challenged the newly elected Members of Parliament to �perform better� than their outgoing colleagues by always referring major decisions to the electorate for advice.
?Agony as Gulu first walk-to-work victim is buried
On that fateful Thursday, 32-year-old Charles Odur left home for his work place in the outskirts of Gulu town cheerful, and did not know it would be the last time, his wife Pasca Apeny, whom he married barely six months ago, would be seeing him alive.
The chapter to Odur�s tragedy opened shortly after 6pm when police stopped Gulu outgoing chairman Norbert Mao from launching a walk-to-work campaign at the town centre. Fracas immediately broke out as a group of boda-boda riders attempted to block Mao�s arrest.
The northern region police spokesperson, Mr Johnson Kilama, said the protesters responded by blocking roads with boulders, logs and vehicle tyres which they lit on the roads after police had picked Mr Mao and wanted to deliver him safely to his house.
Police eventually got overwhelmed, prompting the army to step in as businessmen hastily closed their shops. Gulu town had been turned into a battle zone and residents burnt tyres and pelted the army with stones to which the army responded with live bullets.
It was more than two hours later, when the army managed to clear the streets. However, Gulu town remained under a security lockdown, with no one able to move in or out of the town. Other people spent the night in their offices, and those who were in bars, also could not leave.
Sadly, when all was calm, two young men laid dead. An elderly woman identified as Emilia Ochola, 86, also died reportedly of shock. Odur had taken cover in a kiosk, where the bullet followed him, ending his life.
?Inflation in line with expectations -- in Singapore
HIGH transport, food and housing costs kept inflation at 5 per cent last month, compared to March last year.
Last month's figure was in line with most economists' expectations.
It also appeared to vindicate the decision by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) this month to allow the currency to appreciate, a move that will make imports cheaper.
For the whole of the first quarter, the consumer price index increased 5.2 per cent compared with the same period last year, said the Department of Statistics yesterday.
Prices in March rose just 0.1 per cent compared with the previous month.
?UAE's inflation down to 1.2% in March
?Rate hikes preferable to inflation: BoT deputy (Bank of Thailand)
By THE NATION (From Thailand, not the US magazine by the same name.)
Atchana Waiquamdee, deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand, yesterday defended the rate-normalisation policy, saying interest rates added only a smidgen to manufacturing costs, but inflation's tentacles reached deep into the whole ...
?Drillers strike it rich off Thailand
?Mexico cenbank nominee sees no inflation pressures
Reuters - Jason Lange - 6 hours ago
MEXICO CITY, April 25 (Reuters) - Mexico's inflation rate is converging on the central bank's target of 3 percent, Manuel Ramos, who was recently nominated to sit on the policy board of Mexico's central bank, said on Monday.
Ramos also said Mexico was not feeling any inflation pressures at the moment.
Ramos, who is already the central bank's chief economist, was taking questions from lawmakers weighing his nomination.
?Let Them Eat iPads
By Ken Kurson in Esquire.
?�Million march� against drone attacks, inflation (Pakistan)
?China Mobile Hits 600 Million Customers
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, said its customer base exceeded 600 million on Wednesday, as the company reported an increase in profits for the first quarter of 2011.
China Mobile added 16.8 million users in this year's first quarter, a slight increase from the 14.2 million customers the carrier picked up in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company has noted in the past that many of its new customers come from China's rural and migrant markets.
China Mobile remains far ahead in its customer base in comparison to its two other rivals in the country. China Telecom has 335.6 million customers, while China Unicom has 323 million.
?What Prompted The S&P Downgrade And What's Coming Next Quantitative easing
This one is scary as hell. About halfway down we find this:
(QE2) is scheduled to expire at the end of June. In a recent interview with Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that QE will not be pursued once the current program runs its course. In an interview with John Nyaradi of Wall Street Sector Selector, Phil pointed out that this is not actually the case. �QE2 isn�t going to end. This is a misnomer about QE2 because what�s going to end is the new funding. About 50% of what�s going in from the Fed now is rollover money... (The Fed) is buying 85% of the Treasury notes. They can�t stop. How could they stop? Who�s going to buy?�
When QE2 was announced, the budget for the program was set at $600Bn plus additional funds made available by reinvesting principal payments from agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities. Those additional funds boosted the total budget for QE2 to somewhere between $850Bn to $900Bn. In other words, the Fed had between $250Bn and $300Bn available to use for buying Treasuries during QE2, funds made available from the performance of assets it owned at that time. Imagine how much more could be available to the Fed once it has completed purchasing another $850Bn to $900Bn worth of assets by the end of June?
So where does this end? In Phil�s opinion, it will eventually end in hyperinflation. �There�s no end game to what we�re doing other than hyperinflation because we have to pay off our debt ultimately. Look at how ridiculous it is. We owe $15 trillion. And we go another $1.5 trillion into debt every year.� There�s no chance to pay off a $15 trillion dollar debt by adding another $1.5 trillion in debt each year. At this rate, in ten years, we�ll owe $30 trillion.
According to Phil, �There�s no realistic way to pay off this debt other than gross inflation. That means we need inflation, and it has to be hyperinflation because the inflation has to occur faster than our debts are mounting.� So we have to grow the GDP so fast through inflation that it dwarfs the rising interest rates on the debt that we have. Then, with devalued Dollars, �we may be able to start making some payments.�
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That's as much as I have time to format.
If I get to it later today, that much more is waiting for attention.
Besides, that last piece makes me want to throw up. It's the tried and true past remedy the country has used to pay of debt. Pay it off in inflated dollars. That way everybody gets to participate. And since those at the bottom of the economic scale are far more numerous than those at the top, it always works like a charm. Voo-doo economics actually works in this case. Americans love magic shows.
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