Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (23020)	2/7/2005 9:55:32 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

UK new home prices dip in January Monday, February 7, 2005 2:11:32 PM LONDON (AFX) - New home prices in the UK fell slightly in January to start the year 2.6 pct lower than the previous year and 1.5 pct lower than a month ago, according to data released from SmartNewHomes.com, the new homes website The average price of a new home in the UK in January 2005 was 262,411 stg compared to 266,380 stg in December 2004 and 269,279 stg in January 2004, the data found The decreases can be largely attributed to a seasonal slowdown that sees the wider market become slightly subdued in the weeks immediately following the new year However, compared to the price dips seen last January, when prices fell by 4.3 pct from the previous year, the change this year has been mild, the figures show. SmartNewHomes.com also measures the price homebuyers indicate they are willing to pay for a new home on the website. This demonstrates that although prices have decreased slightly, homebuyers are consistently willing to pay higher prices for new homes, indicating that the market will see positive growth in the next months The latest figures also show that the six month trend of rising new home prices in London has continued Regionally, the West Midlands has seen the strongest growth, up 7.2 pct on the same time last year. Wales and the North West have been tipped as the next hotspots, expected to experience strong price increases this year and both starting 2005 with monthly rises of 0.5 pct and 0.7 pct respectively "This month's index shows that 2005 starts the year with new homes priced more competitively than at the start of 2004, but with homebuyers still willing to pay more for new homes, there is much scope in the market for strong activity," said David Bexon, chief executive of SmartNewHomes.com "We are expecting this to translate into a positive 2005 with prices increasing, albeit at steadier levels. Concerns that the market may be in decline are unfounded and couldn't be further from reality," he added forexstreet.com

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (23020)	2/7/2005 10:02:28 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

German Jan new car registrations 200,419 units, down 28.9 pct in Dec - KBA Monday, February 7, 2005 1:30:29 PM afxpress.com FLENSBURG, Germany (AFX) - Germany's new car registrations in January totalled 200,419 units, down 28.9 pct from December and down 3.7 pct from January last year, the federal registration office KBA said

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (23020)	2/7/2005 10:06:40 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Microsoft in Wonderland By D.T. Armentano [Posted February 7, 2004] For those who thought that the Microsoft antitrust nonsense was over, think again. In March of 2004 Microsoft was fined a record $648 million by the European Commission for exercising its (alleged) monopoly power in the operating systems market. The most important element of that alleged monopoly power was Microsoft's free inclusion of its program, Media Player, in its XP operating system. The Commission asserted that bundling Microsoft's Media Player with the new operating system gave Microsoft an unfair advantage in the media player market and thereby injured competition. As a remedy, the European regulators ordered the company to offer computer makers and consumers the option of buying a version of XP without Microsoft's Media Player. Microsoft is currently in the process of complying with that regulation. But there is a problem. Microsoft has tentatively titled its stripped down XP operating system as "Windows XP Reduced Media Edition." Whoops! The problem, now assert the regulators, is that the new name makes the "stripped down" version of XP appear, well, stripped down and thus less desirable to consumers than the bundled version. But we can't have that! So Microsoft will have to come up with another name. Now if all of this sound like something out of an Ayn Rand novel, I would have to agree with you. Let's see if I've got this straight. Microsoft first sells an XP operating system with Media Player included at no charge. Consumers are generally happy with that because they get an already bundled media player at zero out of pocked cost. (They are, of course, perfectly free to delete Microsoft's own media player and/or to download any rival media player.) Competitors who sell rival media players complain, however, that Microsoft's free bundling makes it harder for them to do business. And they bring all of this to the attention of the European antitrust regulators. So the European regulators come in, absent any evidence of consumer abuse, and order Microsoft to sell a consumer inferior version of Windows XP so that rival media player competitors will have an opportunity to do more business. But, the coup de gras, the name of the consumer inferior version must not reveal that it is in fact consumer inferior! Indeed, Microsoft has been ordered to do nothing commercially that would make the consumer inferior operating system appear less attractive to consumers and that includes, apparently, naming the product correctly. Microsoft, in short, has been ordered in effect to lie about its new operating system in the title and all in the name of preserving "competition." American antitrust law has always been a sorry mess but at least Microsoft did prevail recently in an almost identical battle in the U.S. to keep its web browser tied to its Windows operating system. Unfortunately, the European antitrust regulators have taken the worst of American antitrust "analysis" and made it even worse, that is, even more blatantly protectionist of competitors and dismissive of consumer welfare. Antitrust law is one U.S. export that both U.S. and European consumers could well do without. Dom Armentano is the author of Antitrust and Monopoly (Independent Institute, 1998) and Antitrust: The Case for Repeal (Mises Institute, 1999). He lives in Vero Beach, Florida. armentano@irene.net. Comment on the blog.