No sex please we´re in a crisis

Finding and proving different indicators and correlations can be fun, for example the cosmetic boom caused by economic uncertainty.
This is fairly easy to demonstrate as the sales figures are available in real time, but there are some indicators which have a slightly longer lead time in order to validate their accuracy.

One such indicator is the baby index where common sense tells us that people worried about losing their jobs are probably unwilling to create new mouths to feed. Inspite of being in the broad band era, the gestation period is still 9 months, so the results are a trifle delayed in order to prove this theory.

One interesting analysis published by hotwise, monitors the number of searches carried out online for "pregnancy", "maternity clothes" and "baby´s names" and is showing remarkable drops.
Searches for pregnancy are down 37%, baby´s names down 40% and maternity clothes down a staggering 74% over the last 3 years, perhaps showing that women becoming pregnant are anticipating following Demi Moore´s lead and wander around naked, who knows?!?

Whatever the between the lines learning, the results would hint that birth rates in developed countries will be hit, at least it should help with the over population problems and the environment.

We didn´t start the fire

With the G20 meeting on this week it has been interesting to see the various countries taking up their traditional positions.

Obama and Gordan are obviously keen on pumping more cash into the economies, after all everyone knows that the best cure for a bad hangover is to drink a few beers the next morning, so why not increase debt to cure the debt problem.
Angela on the other hand seems to have outflanked them by shooting down this idea, showing the sensible and rational female approach which we all try to ignore, helped by a few other European leaders and even the head of the Bank of England.

When Gordon was travelling around South America trying to curry favour in advance of the meeting it was interesting to see the reactions from our Latin friends.
Most amusingly was Cristine Kerchner who didn´t seem to care what was discussed at the G20 meeting as long as they could take over the Falkland Islands without another embarassing invasion, and of course Lula who, perhaps unknowingly, gave a smarter answer than he might have realised.

His response was that the crisis was all caused by white people with blue eyes, so they could fix it and not involve indians, blacks and other minority groups.
As mentioned, this hypothesis is not too far from the point.
All US presidents since Nixon have had blue eyes, according to the freakonomics blog in the New York Times, including George and Bill, which is quite something considering only 16,7% of US citizens or 1 in every 6 has blue eyes, down from 50% in the year 1900.

Of course Tony Blair also has blue eyes, perhaps this is why a large proportion of the American people were calling for him to be the next US president during the early stages of the Iraque war....or maybe they thought that anything would be an improvement.
The Japanese were excluded from this theory, but then again their economy seems to have been screwed for so long now that perhaps they were given the benefit of the doubt...and of course Madooff who has brown eyes but hey, every theory can have a statistical outlier.

At least with Obama we seem to have broken this trend (unless he is using colored contact lenses which doesn´t seem likely) and can look forward to a brown eyed economy for the next 8 years at least.

A bargain at $27,995,000

If you thought the housing market in the US was dropping faster then Obamas popularity figures, think again.
Hugh Hefner has just put his personal residence adjoining the Playboy mansion on the market for a mere $28million.

The house is fantastic with 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, swimming pool and lots of lawns to trim but perhaps the location has something to do with the price.
Presumably the new owners will find themselves running out of sugar on a regular basis and need to borrow a cup or two, when they are not pressed up against the windows or inviting the neighbours round for barbeques!

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Where´s the goodwill?

Today I came to grips with a new term that seems to be having quite an effect at the moment, "Goodwill Write Down" or "Goodwill Impairment Charge" as it is more correctly reported.

It seems that HSBC, the bank that we thought might escape the major crash with just a few scratches and bumps, finally got hit by the proverbial truck and lost a packet, mainly with the 2003 Countrywide acquisition.
The adjustment of goodwill is obviously understandable as the brand is worth less now than it was when things were all sheets to the wind, although the terminology seems to reek of irony.
In the investopedia site they describe it as writing off worthless goodwill, rather than goodwill that they thought they had, was never tangible and now is judged to no longer exist, intangibly speaking.

Reminds me of the term "friendly fire" which we don´t hear about so much since the last US led invasion. That was also a strange one, soldiers who had been massacred by their own side (generally Americans) are described as killed by friendly fire.
I don´t know what your definition of "friendly" is, but getting shot and killed by someone is not the sort of thing I would expect as friendly. Inviting round for a cup of tea or BBQ might be more in line, but who am I to judge international terminology.

As far as goodwill goes, I would assume none of it is worthless, although one can understand that the intangible value of banks is severely knocked for six at the moment.
As HSBC is arguably among the stronger banks, makes you wonder if other, less solid financial institutions are making their own goodwill write downs, or how this might affect their assets when they do.