Archive for October, 2009

• Gregor Weekly Macro Note: Saturday 31 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 31st, 2009 at 7:56 pm, Comments: 0

  One wonders that 80.00 dollar oil was indeed the breaking point, to a US economy struggling with collapse, depression, and 17% unemployment. There appears to have been a confluence of events and indicators in October that suggest reflationary policy finally kicked energy prices high enough, to then trigger the next bout of deflation. The question [...]

• Podcast Picks: Friday 30 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 30th, 2009 at 12:02 am, Comments: 0

  The World’s First Digital Soil Map: Future Tense, ABC Radio Australia.
  Darrin Nordahl, a city designer speaks on urban farming: The Dianne Rehm Show WAMU Radio.
  Robert Allen, Why Was the Industrial Revolution British? (energy transition, wood, and coal): Tawney Lecture (Video).
  Stewart Brand’s Ecopragmatism (with Lovins and McKibben): WBUR On Point Radio.
  Kai Ryssdal and Phillip Martin, Urban [...]

• Gregor Weekly Model Portfolio Update: 28 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 28th, 2009 at 9:45 pm, Comments: 0

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• Readings: Tuesday 27 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 27th, 2009 at 4:32 pm, Comments: 0

  New School of Thought Brings Energy to the Dismal Science: Nathanial Gronewold, The New York Times.
  The Narrow Ledge of Oil Prices: Chris Nelder, Get Realist.
  Food Will Never Be So Cheap Again: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph.
  Will Allen and the Urban Farming Revolution: Ethan Zuckerman, World Changing.
  China’s Water Needs Create Opportunities: Hillary Brenhouse, The New York Times.
  The [...]

• Gregor Weekly Macro Note: Saturday 24 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 24th, 2009 at 11:44 pm, Comments: 0

  Excuse me but I’ll need to check your bag: In hindsight, I believe there will be two groups of market observers that will awaken over the next 12 months to ask themselves the following question: how could I have been so wrong? In the first group, we have the conventional recoverists, who continue to apply [...]

• Gregor Weekly Model Portfolio Update: 21 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 21st, 2009 at 5:28 pm, Comments: 0

  An interesting Sao Paulo surprise this week. On Monday morning I finally grew uncomfortable enough with our Brazil exposure to let go of EWZ, the Barclays iShares Brazil ETF at an average price of 75.20 per share. As my subscribers know, our 30% gain in Brazil shares in just 6 weeks seemed too much, too [...]

• Gregor Weekly Macro Note: Saturday 17 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 17th, 2009 at 11:56 pm, Comments: 0

  It’s not too early, to think about the endgame. The current shape of our crisis, which now seems a logical bookend to last year’s acute collapse, will eventually have to pass onward to the next phase. Last year was the panic. This year, I am calling the drain. Each of these two phases had their [...]

• Podcast Picks: Friday 16 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 16th, 2009 at 12:17 pm, Comments: 0

  William Black, former bank regulator, Guest: Democracy Now.
  Steve Roberts, on what it means to be an immigrant in the US today: The Dianne Rehm Show WAMU Radio.
  Harvard’s Ferguson Says Dollar to Fall Another 10%-20%: Bloomberg Surveillance.
  Urban Thinkers: Burnham, Mumford, Le Corbusier via James Kunstler: KunstlerCast Radio.
  The Mystery of the Arctic Sea, Sarah Rainsford on a [...]

• Cross-Posting: Break Point
  Gregor Macdonald, October 15th, 2009 at 11:45 pm, Comments: 0

  GregorWeekly subscribers might enjoy reading a Gregor.us post from this evening, on the topic of California’s vulnerability to a second oil shock. | see Break Point.

• Gregor Weekly Model Portfolio Update: 14 October 2009
  Gregor Macdonald, October 14th, 2009 at 11:57 pm, Comments: 0

  Dow 10,000 Maniacs: What’s the Matter Here?  I seem to recall seeing Natalie Merchant before she became Natalie Merchant, long ago on a small Boston stage. Sort of in the same way I recall seeing the Dow Jones Industrial Average cross 10,000 for the first time, but I’m not sure I was actually there. But [...]