George Liu's Instablog George is a columnist, investor, and economist. He has written for Seeking Alpha, The Motley Fool, Investing.com, Psychology Today and his works have been featured on Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, AOL DailyFinance, CNNMoney, CNBC, MarketWatch, TheStreet, Insider Monkey, NASDAQ.com, eWallStreeter, and Finanzen100, among others. George writes because his mouth isn't nearly large enough to let out all of his thoughts . If this writing thing doesn't work out, George wants to travel the world someday as a pseudonymous graffiti artist. Either that or get a bigger mouth. In his spare time, George plays tennis, argues with baristas about Oxford commas, and reads Dan Loeb's 13Ds for fun. Check out his Flipboard magazine Econflip: http://flip.it/dIjEx George Liu http://seekingalpha.com/author/george-liu/instablog More Nationwide Strike In Greece http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1948522-more-nationwide-strike-in-greece?source=feed 1948522 This time over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's decision to close down ERT, Greece's only state broadcaster. Samaras had abruptly shut ERT down as part of the fiscal austerity measures Greece has continued to choke down. The nationwide strike will be on Thursday and, fueled by Greece's two biggest labor unions, will disrupt transport and force hospitals to work on emergency staff.

]]> Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:59:03 -0400 This time over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's decision to close down ERT, Greece's only state broadcaster. Samaras had abruptly shut ERT down as part of the fiscal austerity measures Greece has continued to choke down. The nationwide strike will be on Thursday and, fueled by Greece's two biggest labor unions, will disrupt transport and force hospitals to work on emergency staff.

]]> grek euo eufx fxe Europe Greece Austerity Greece Now An "Emerging Market" http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1947722-greece-now-an-emerging-market?source=feed 1947722 Due to the destruction of a quarter of its GDP and an 83 percent decline in its local stock index, Greece became the first developed nation to be cut to emerging-market status by MSCI. This comes on top of Greece's failure to win any bids in a sale of the country's gas monopoly and its abrupt shutdown of its only public television broadcaster.

]]> Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:28:34 -0400 Due to the destruction of a quarter of its GDP and an 83 percent decline in its local stock index, Greece became the first developed nation to be cut to emerging-market status by MSCI. This comes on top of Greece's failure to win any bids in a sale of the country's gas monopoly and its abrupt shutdown of its only public television broadcaster.

]]> grek euo fxe ule eufx Austerity Economy Europe A Note To Inflation Hawks http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1867541-a-note-to-inflation-hawks?source=feed 1867541 There is practically no inflation right now, despite the Federal Reserve's proactive open-market operations. According to Reuters, the Core PCE (Personal Consumptions Expenditures) Price Index, the favored inflation guage of the Federal Reserve, has fallen to a 3 and 1/2 year low of 1 percent.

With that said, this is probably the most textbook example of the need for fiscal and monetary stimulus. Although recent comments from the San Francisco FRB president signal that the Fed's open-market operations could tighten in the summer following decreases in unemployment, the combination of a 1% inflation (not even remotely close to the 2% Fed inflation target) and an unemployment rate of 8.4% (significantly higher than the NRU) shows that unemployment is more of a problem right now.

]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 03:14:58 -0400 There is practically no inflation right now, despite the Federal Reserve's proactive open-market operations. According to Reuters, the Core PCE (Personal Consumptions Expenditures) Price Index, the favored inflation guage of the Federal Reserve, has fallen to a 3 and 1/2 year low of 1 percent.

With that said, this is probably the most textbook example of the need for fiscal and monetary stimulus. Although recent comments from the San Francisco FRB president signal that the Fed's open-market operations could tighten in the summer following decreases in unemployment, the combination of a 1% inflation (not even remotely close to the 2% Fed inflation target) and an unemployment rate of 8.4% (significantly higher than the NRU) shows that unemployment is more of a problem right now.

]]> Economy Federal Reserve Inflation Unemployment Encouraging Results Of Abenomics http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1867491-encouraging-results-of-abenomics?source=feed 1867491 In the first three months of 2013, Japan's economy grew by 3.5%, a solid beat of the 2.7% analysts were expecting. Now, initial reports are coming out that Japanese Core Machinery Orders are up 14.2% in March, destroying the 2.5% analyst estimates. This has been coupled with a huge stock market rally; the Nikkei recently broke through a 5-year high. Despite the initially encouraging news, it would be premature to pass decisive economic judgment on the effect of Abenomics right now.

]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 02:37:46 -0400 In the first three months of 2013, Japan's economy grew by 3.5%, a solid beat of the 2.7% analysts were expecting. Now, initial reports are coming out that Japanese Core Machinery Orders are up 14.2% in March, destroying the 2.5% analyst estimates. This has been coupled with a huge stock market rally; the Nikkei recently broke through a 5-year high. Despite the initially encouraging news, it would be premature to pass decisive economic judgment on the effect of Abenomics right now.

]]> fxy ycs ycl gyen Japan Economy Abenomics China's Flash PMI Heavily Disappoints http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1788591-china-s-flash-pmi-heavily-disappoints?source=feed 1788591 Early indicator of manufacturing activity and overall economic health falls to 2-month low of 50.5 in April compared to 51.6 in March and analyst estimates of 51.5

]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:41:43 -0400 Early indicator of manufacturing activity and overall economic health falls to 2-month low of 50.5 in April compared to 51.6 in March and analyst estimates of 51.5

]]> gxc pek China Economy Hard Times In Britain http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/752171-george-liu/1788511-hard-times-in-britain?source=feed 1788511 Especially for the poor: 170% increase in number of people in Britain receiving emergency food rations last year.

Yep. Austerity's working to get the UK out of its slump alright.

]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:22:52 -0400 Especially for the poor: 170% increase in number of people in Britain receiving emergency food rations last year.

Yep. Austerity's working to get the UK out of its slump alright.

]]> ewu fku United Kingdom Austerity Economy