Like those who were of age the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, most people can remember intimate details of what they were doing when they first heard that the space shuttle Challenger had exploded. To compound the tragedy, millions of schoolchildren across the country watched the whole thing in shocked amazement.
Drowning in Dinars by Jason Williams (NYT), a fascinating tale of paper money, buried treasure, and bureaucratic incompetence: “It appeared as if the [Central] bank had taken a direct hit during the war. Charred Iraqi dinars were scattered on the ground like autumn leaves. Twisted metal blocked the stairwells. Picking our way through the debris, we and the investigators headed for the vaults. But instead of just the massive steel safes we’d been expecting, we encountered another formidable barrier: a flood.
The newest Monetary Trends is out (August) from the St. Louis Fed. It shows that June was yet another busy month for the printing presses.
The National Bureau of Economic Research says in its new release that “a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in November 2001. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in March 2001 and the beginning of an expansion. The recession lasted 8 months, which is slightly less than average for recessions since World War II.” It also adds that “it is not possible to identify the month of a peak or trough rapidly.”
Don’t you just love the statement: “unemployment has risen because of falling employment...” The NBER staff has been brushing up on their Herbert Hooverisms.
U.S. June Consumer Price Index Rises 0.2% (Bloomberg): ”So far this year, consumer prices are rising at a 2.2 percent annual rate compared with a 2.8 percent increase at the same time last year. Core prices are rising at a 0.9 percent annual pace, down from a 1.9 percent rate in the first six months of 2002.”
EU Watchdog Fines Wanadoo (BBC): For the crime of pricing its internet services too low!
