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business newsMust Read Financial Blogs: Amazon Doesn't Care About Your Local Bookstore
Minyanville's daily roundup of some of the best financial commentary from around the Web.
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The Curious Capitalist
Link: Can the U.S. Recovery Continue Without Europe?
"A strange thing has happened as the debt crisis in Europe has gotten worse: The U.S. economy has, surprisingly, improved... But the question is whether the good news for the U.S. economy can continue with the problems in Europe only getting bigger. A number of European nations are likely to tumble into recession next year as their governments cut back spending in an effort to reduce debt. And that these days is what stands as the optimistic outlook for the Euro. If instead, Greece or another country defaults, or abandons the Euro all together, the economic situation in Europe could get significantly worse in 2012." (Also read Why Europe Matters to US Stocks.)
Epicenter
Link: Amazon Doesn’t Care About Your Local Bookstore
"Here are two surprising holiday shopping season success stories. They’re even more surprising because they seem to directly contradict each other. First, Amazon, which has historically kept its sales figures for Kindle e-readers tightly under wraps, announced that it’s sold more than a million Kindle devices each week for the past three weeks. Priced between $79 for the new entry-level Kindle and $199 for the Kindle Fire tablet, that’s hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue every week for the Kindle division, not counting books, videos and apps. Second, brick-and-mortar bookstores, many of whom expected to take a steep hit from the boom in e-readers, are instead reporting substantial year-over-year gains this holiday season — big chains like Barnes & Noble and indie booksellers alike. (Major factors here include the demise of Borders as well as the success of tentpole titles like Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs.)" (For more, see Amazon Moves Fast to Quench Kindle Fire Complaints.)
Real Time Economics
Link: Study Links Expiring Unemployment Benefits to Disability Applications
"Many poor Americans seek Social Security disability payments as a financial life preserver when their unemployment benefits begin expiring, preliminary research by two economists shows. The findings, released by the Obama administration Thursday, are based on interviews with unemployed workers for a study conducted by White House Council of Economic Advisers Director Alan Krueger and Andrea Mueller of Columbia Business School. Mr. Krueger recently joined the White House from his post teaching economics at Princeton University. The findings offer a new window both into the struggles of the poor and the growing financial strain of one of the country’s largest entitlement programs."
Zero Hedge
Link: SEC Sues Former Fannie, Freddie CEOs For Misleading Investors On Subprime Risk
"So with just a 3 years delay, the SEC has finally put down the porn channel remote, and decided to do what it should have done back in 2008, which is to sue the former heads of Fannie and Freddie for "misleading investors about risky mortgages" in the case below, former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd, who was paid $13.4 million in 2007. With MF Global telling everyone it had no European exposure as recently as September 30, this appears to be a recurrent theme. So at this pace, Corzine should expect the SEC to sue him... about 8 years after he passes away?"
All Things Digital
Link: Adobe Adds Another $400 Million to Its Ad Business Shopping Spree
"Last month, Adobe said it was buying search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, but didn’t disclose a purchase price. Yesterday, it came clean: The deal will end up costing around $400 million. That brings the price tag forAdobe’s two-year ad business shopping spree to $2.4 billion. The bulk of that comes from Adobe’s 2009 acquisition of Omniture for $1.8 billion; it has also recently picked up Auditude and Demdex. Adobe’s appetite for ad technology has been good news for a handful of investors who have been betting on the sector."
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