Even planned economies can encounter trouble with lending and defaults. Such has been the case with China over the last year or so. A regulatory crackdown on connected lending and less than above board tactics has been ongoing as well. Now there is the promise that credit availability will expand, but in accordance with regulatory wishes (Bloomberg article).
Continue reading China Bank Regulator Planning to Expand Credit
For those that do not know, this is the name of the Fed’s regional condition summary (available here). The Ninth District summary (which includes North Dakota) concludes that economic performance is mixed. Strength came from manufacturing, energy and mining, consumers, and a few others. The weaker sectors included construction, farming and real estate.
I think the aspect of this I find the most amusing in this article is the suggestion from President Hollande that the penalty would “…[introduce] a risk, doubts, suspicions about the soundness of Europe’s financial system…” This seems to suggest that we do not already have doubts and suspicions about the risks and soundness of the European financial system. You broke the rules, and you pay the price. The move to make companies admit guilt is a new approach, and a welcome one. This forces banks to really address what their policies are and face the consequences.
Since housing seems to be a constant topic in Grand Forks I thought I would present some data. The data are consulted far too infrequently in this discussion in my opinion. We still do not address the issue in a proper manner. Price is not the problem, it is the symptom of a problem, if one actually exists. Just as your runny nose is not the problem, but a symptom of a virus, allergy or other issue. If we look to treat only the symptom, we may miss out on the opportunity to fix the source of a problem and things only get worse.
I am trying out something new on the website. Here is a little quiz about North Dakota labor force data.