Chart Porn » Source: Ritholtz

Global Defense Spending and Conflict

Dustin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:59:23 +0000

From the 2012 Military Balance report. (via)

There’s also a 2012 Chart of Conflict – but I couldn’t find a decent sized image on their site. I think they want you to buy it.

Memo To Political Bloggers: Please Stop Writing About Economics; You Really Suck At It

Dustin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:04:18 +0000

A wonderful post over at The Big Picture that takes both liberals and conservatives to the wood shed over their abuse of economic indicators and charts that show correlation but not causation.

Note: The comments over there are worth a read as well.

Foreclosures 2005-2011

Dustin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:55:18 +0000

These charts make it pretty clear that the housing market still isn’t functioning anywhere near normal. (via The Big Picture)

The “discount” below is the foreclosure price vs a non-foreclosure sale.

Living in a QE World

Dustin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Another problem brewing. The world is running out of places to kick the credit can. As usual, there is much insight to be gained from the discussion and comments over at Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture.

Occupy George

Dustin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:41:00 +0000

Hacking money with graphics to draw attention to economic inequalities. I love that they included accurate titles and legends. (via Ritholtz)

What’s in a Tweet

Dustin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:18:47 +0000

Even though the “content limit” is only 140 characters, each tweet actually contains a crazy amount of meta-data. (related Economist article; via The Big Picture)

How Healthy is Your Bank?

Dustin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:45:00 +0000

From MSNBC and the American University: Identify your bank (or credit union) by name or location, then see how many non-performing loans and other troubled assets it has:

of related interest is this 2010 chart that Barry Ritholtz recently noted:

Fed Crisis Lending to Wall Street

Dustin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:57:00 +0000

Bloomberg compiled some stunning new data on Fed loans to Wall Street banks during the crisis based across multiple programs (Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, Commercial Paper Funding Facility, discount window, PDCF, TAF, Term Securities Lending Facility and single-tranche open market operations). (related article; via The Big Picture)

I wish I could borrow from the Fed at <2% using junk bonds as collateral.

You get the below charts by selecting multiple banks to compare them:

Housing: Rent vs Buy

Dustin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:43:48 +0000

Barry Ritholtz has another great post about the housing market over at The Big Picture. In addition to his analytical insights, he pointed out two great tools for looking at housing markets across the country.

The first is a Rent vs Buy interactive from Trulia:

Second is the Wall Street Journal’s chart of price-to-income ratios (compared to the 1985-00 average).

(related WSJ article)

Too Big to Fail

Dustin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:42:45 +0000

A pretty comprehensive explanation of the financial crisis. (via The Big Picture)

Housing Prices (1890-2011)

Dustin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Updated chart of the classic Case-Shiller housing price index. On the one hand it looks like the decline may be bottoming out – but on the other, there is still massive intervention supporting the market and we could very likely overshoot fair value.

Nuclear Fear Mongering

Dustin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Ughhh. Type in your zip code and see how close you are to a nuclear plant!! There’s even a red target painted on the reactor!!! I’m primarily posting this so I have an excuse to link to this excellent article, which explains in detail what’s going on in Japan and why you shouldn’t run out to buy potassium pills and start digging a fallout shelter. I might also point out that we conducted 140+ atmospheric atomic tests in Nevada – I’m not saying that was a particularly intelligent or healthy thing to do, but let’s maintain a little perspective about fallout risks, shall we?

(via the always excellent Barry Ritholtz)

Bailout Scorecard

Dustin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:54:03 +0000

Despite media spin, the United States is a long way from getting all of the bailout money back. (via Ritholtz)

Why Traffic Jams Happen

Dustin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:54:00 +0000

I hate traffic. Nothing makes me hate humanity more (except perhaps watching commercials – thank god for DVRs). If you want to know more about why we drive the way we do, read Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic (which, somewhat strangely, includes no diagrams). (via Ritholtz)

Here’s a life-scale experiment that illustrates the shockwave effect:

America’s Economy Ain’t What it Once Was

Dustin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:14:40 +0000

I have realized, after numerous conversations about politics and economics, that many people haven’t grasped that the economy doesn’t work the same way it did when they were growing up. As a commenter on The Big Picture said:

The role of a healthy financial sector is to support the “real economy”. But now it’s the opposite, like the tail wagging the dog.