Morning Journal--Money flows and inflation

Economics

   This Week’s Data

            December factory orders were up 1.8% though consensus was for up 2.4%.

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-04/factory-orders-ex-transports-post-first-annual-decline-july

   Other

            Money flows and inflation (medium/long):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-04/guest-post-stocks-money-flows-and-inflation

            US government debt now at 105% of GDP (short):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-04/treasury-forecasts-16763-trillion-debt-march-31-105-debtgdp

Politics

  Domestic

This article doesn’t fit under any category.  It is philosophy of life piece that I thought meaningful (medium):

http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/

I was talking to a friend yesterday who was moving.  He complained about the very high rental rates for an apartment.  When I suggested that if might be cheaper to buy a new home, he replied that he couldn’t get a loan because banks weren’t lending to ‘average’ credits.  This morning, I found the below article concerning bank lending to wealthy clients to buy rental property (homes).

So think about this: the banks virtually destroyed the home real estate market, they now won’t fulfill their community obligation of lending to middle America to buy a home, that forces these citizens to rent which is driving rental rates to high unaffordable levels but they will lend to wealthy foreigners to buy US homes as rental property.  Another reason to put the whole lot of them in jail---which should have already happened.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-04/guest-post-it%E2%80%99s-about-time-jp-morgan-enter-housing-slumlord-trade

And the latest from David Stockman:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-04/second-housing-bubble-ends-bang-not-whimper-david-stockman-warns