The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Austin Goolsbee, senior economic advisor to barack Obama has resigned and returned to academia. Obama's economic spring is starting to look like the arab spring. Obama, the professor of law has surrounded himself with academia. Bernanke is another example. Maybe they should all go back to school.

2.One of the areas of electricity generation which is very practical and real is the solar panel. Solar panels require silver. Thin film silver requires materials that are more scarce than silver, tellurium and iridium. And so-called organic thin films which have many advantages over solar require a LOT of silver as well. Thus, in future years as the demand for production of sustainable energy becomes increasingly insistent, there will be a huge demand for silver. So for now, solar and silver are linked together like brothers and sisters. The rising demand for solar energy will put silver in the spotlight as a much-wanted material. Unlike gold, silver will enjoy a huge industrial demand.

3.The so-called Misery Index was invented by Arthur Oken back in the 1970s. The Index is constructed by simply adding the inflation rate and the unemployment rate together. The Index gained popularity during the reign of Jimmy Carter, whose easy money policies pushed the Index to a post-war high.  Last January the Index was 10.63. In March it was 11.48. The latest figure we have was for May when the Misery Index rose to 12.70. This marks the fourth successive monthly rise, and it is now 62% higher than when Obama took office. Obama'a Misery Index is higher than George W. Bush's 8.11 or Clinton's 7.8. Is it any wonder that Americans feel the squeeze and are unhappy.

4.The collapse of real estate prices just eclipsed the record established during the Great Depression. According to S&P's Case-Shiller data, home prices have fallen 33% from their high. During the Depression home prices fell 31% Since the current housing collapse first started in 2006, volume of home sales have fallen 82%. During the Depression years, home sales dropped 80%. And the problem is that the housing market is continuing to deteriorate and is now in the feared "double dip." The peanut gallery is of the opinion that the US economy cannot recover until the housing market recovers. This should be considered a key index!

5.Russia is selling its US treasury bills. They have reduced holdings in the last 7 months from $175 billion to $125 billion, and and apparently intend reducing further. According to the WSJ Russia is the the world's third largest holder of US assets after China and Japan. Another signal to the peanut gallery of the challenge to US world leadership. Peanut gallery principle: A country's economic strength is measured by the strength of its currency.

6.China's energy shortage is leading to compromise with their great rival, Russia. Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Russia on June 16 to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, one of Russia’s largest annual economic conferences. At the conference, Hu will meet with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and sign a long-awaited, significant oil deal. China caved on the Russian demands to pay a flat tariff, thus paying more than they do to alternate suppliers. The name of this game is diversification in an uncertain world.

7.According to a UN report in 2007, about 7 million Syrians are living under the poverty level. This is about a third of the population. Todays figure would be much higher. Add to this the fact that as a result of global warming, Syria is one of the countries whose water resources are fast disappearing. The peanut gallery believes that as violence continues in this country, a refugee problem will quickly develop and the name of the game will be survival of the fittest. Same goes for Yemen and the Sudan (Darfur).

8.The Turks are sitting on the fence. Their policy of being the good guy in the muslim world is falling to pieces. On the one hand they are threatening the Syrians lest the Syrian army opens fire on innocent civilians straddling the Turkish border (it doesn't seem to bother them that their Turkish army is murdering Kurds). On the other hand they are aware that Assad might just suppress the uprising. What to do? Being a good guy muslim in the muslim world clearly is not paying dividends. They will have to decide soon. Especially if hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees cross the border into Turkey.

9.The United States regularly makes spy exchanges with different intelligence services, sometimes freeing foreign agents with American blood on their hands. The CIA participates in the torture of individuals in foreign countries to circumvent US law. Jonathan Pollard should serve a full sentence for his crimes. But this is where the peanut gallery draws the line. If murderers and traitors are allowed conjugal visits in american jails, then Pollard should have been allowed to attend his fathers funeral. At some point the path of decency must override the wrath of justice. Disgusting inhumanity is the politically correct description of this decision.

10.Flooding across eastern, southern and southwestern China has killed at least 175 people and is causing significant damage to vegetable crops, adding to upward pressure on food prices at a time when the government is battling to contain inflation. State media called it the worst in decades in some areas. Still think global warming is a myth?

11.The peanut gallery predicts that the next US president will be Texas Governor Rick Perry or Jon Huntsman.

THE REWARD FOR CONFORMITY IS EVERYONE LIKES YOU BUT YOURSELF - RITA MAE BROWN