Hallelujah, Handel’s Messiah

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge live performance of Handel’s Messiah.

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O Holy Night

The Corrs.

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Silent Night

Saturday Night Live and the New York City Children’s Chorus honor the victims of Sandy Hook.   The tragedy weighs heavy on Christmas this year.

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O Come, Emmanuel

Number 2 – The PianoGuys.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

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The Ultimate Relative Price Change

This chart from Mark Perry goes a long way in capturing the decline in purchasing power of many Americans as the population ages (and gets heavier).   We suspect the relative price shift is not fully captured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

This chart is similar to the McWage index we posted on Friday, where the hourly wage at a McDonalds is measured by how many Big Macs it can purchase  and then compared across countries.   The chart below illustrates that the real average hourly wage versus a couple baskets of electronics has increased dramatically from 1958 to 2012.  The converse is true for health care, however.

Leave it to economists to make hedonic quality adjustments on the health care services, however.   After all, eye surgery was, say $200 in 1958 and done with a hacksaw.   Today it is, say, $100K,  but the surgery is done with a laser.   Adjust for increased quality of the service and, thus,  no inflation.

We’re exaggerating, but you get the point, no?

Dec22_HeatlCare(click here if chart is not observable)

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Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas to all GMac Monitor readers.  Stay tuned for seven of our favorite songs of the season.

First up — Andrea Bocelli.

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Picture of the Day: Euro Scrum

Nothing like a picture as an allegory to capture what Ireland and Southern Europe have been through over past few years.  Keep fighting!

Dec22_Photo

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Cue ‘Plan C’ Cliff Aversion Scheme

President Obama proposed a package of middle-class tax cuts and unempoyment benefits as a temporary solution to the looming ‘fiscal cliff.’ White House correspondent David Nakamura says Republicans may face pressure to pass the measure.

Hope the pols have, at the very least, an inkling that all this can kicking will eventually turn into a major market ass kicking.

The stage is set.  Everyone is nice and complacent.  We have a central bank that will be effectively monetizing the deficit next year and supported by a dangerous meme — more dangerous than “housing prices never go down” — that sovereigns can’t get into trouble if they a central bank willing to finance them.   Let’s see how that works out when a major debtor has lost market confidence and can’t rollover its maturities.

By the way, do you see what’s happening in Argentina today?

Hear the words of the former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan,  during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

Reality eventually replaces hope, and the cost of the delay is a more abrupt and disruptive adjustment than would have been required if action had been more pre-emptive.

Ernie_Kicking the Can        Ernest Hemingway “kicking the can down the road.”

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Global Trend Indicators

WIR_Global TrendWIR_Equity_MA(click here if tables are not observable)

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Stratfor: Political Change in Asia

Good background on the changes coming as the result of Japan and South Korea’s elections.   Good stuff.

Stratfor’s Vice President of East Asia Analysis Rodger Baker discusses this week’s elections in Japan and South Korea and the effects on the region.
For more analysis, visit: http://www.Stratfor.com

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