Daily Reading – Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Big Picture: Greece’s last stand

With Greece’s back officially against the wall and the sand slipping thru the hour glass of fiscal stability, their government said they will speed up the privatization process. This is their last stand against an extension of the payback of their obligations but it won’t be enough…

FT Alphaville: Rejoining Club Med

Welcome back Spain and Italy.

FT Alphaville: Beware the ‘Splash Crash’

Introducing ‘the splash crash’.

Like the flash crash but worse because it involves the “flash” spreading cross-asset class to everything from forex to commodities.

FT Alphaville: Terry Smith doesn’t like ETFs

Uh oh.

Terry Smith, City veteran, pugnacious former director of Collins Stewart and manager of the Fundsmith Equity Fund, has turned a critical eye onto one of our favourite subjects — exchange traded funds.

And… it turns out… he doesn’t like what he sees.

FT Alphaville: Goldman warns of significant China slowdown

More on those China slowdown fears, which played a part in Monday’s sell-off.

Goldman Sachs has cut its China GDP estimates for this year and next, citing concerns about weaker US growth, higher oil prices (more on that to follow — but the broker now sees Brent at $130 a barrel in 2012) and of course inflation…

The Atlantic: Chart of the Day: How Much Is the U.S. National Debt in Gold?

U.S. debt is generally expressed in U.S. dollars, but what if we instead expressed it in troy pounds of gold (12 troy ounces to a troy pound) instead? That paints a somewhat different picture. Another way to think of this chart would be: how much gold would it take to pay off the national debt. Here’s the chart…

The Big Picture: Richards: “Gold is Not an Investment”

Carl Richards has a fascinating little article up at the NY Times that is sure to generate lots of hate mail…

The Big Picture: Federal Reserve Posters (1920′s)

These cool posters below come from the San Francisco Fed archive, courtesy of NY Fed’s blog Liberty Street Economics.

The Big Picture: Washington Post: “Five Disciplines To Be A Great Investor”

How did I forget to mention this yesterday? My Sunday Washington Post column on the varied skills required to become a better investor was published.

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