Articles on the real cost of youth unemployment, the end of human financial market traders, 9/11 lessons, lonely Chinese men, Michael Ignatieff on sovereign failure, Euro breakdown, America is not Japan, and fear rules.

Unemployed youth, frightening future.

Economist – The Jobless Young: Left Behind
MARIA GIL ULLDEMOLINS is a smart, confident young woman. She has one degree from Britain and is about to conclude another in her native Spain. And she feels that she has no future.

Machines rule.

Pdf below -- The Future of Computer Trading In Financial Markets

Alan Greenspan is still confused.

Wall Street Journal – Fed Faces Old Foe Has Hazard Returns
To seasoned investors, last week's sharp market swings were a fresh reminder of a problem tormenting financial markets: moral hazard.

Quote worth remembering.

“[P]olicy makers are fortunate if they get it right 80% of the time … Central bankers don't fret about the ones that came out less well than they would like. They just press forward and do the best they can.”

9/11 lessons. Thanks to David of London.

Telegraph – 9/11: What Have We Learnt?
On a lazy summer’s day in 2002, it came home to me.

No one home. Thanks to Jeremy of Tokyo.

Guardian – China’s Village of the Bachelors
Surplus of males caused by preference for sons means poor subsistence farmers have no chance of finding a mate.

Upping the Rae game. Thanks to John of Toronto.

Toronto Star – Fighting for the Pragmatic Middle
Bob Rae was late.

Michael Ignatieff bemoans the failed state, like the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece …

Globe and Mail -- Michael Ignatieff: 9/11 and the age of sovereignity
One of the tasks we ask government to perform is to think the unthinkable.

Doug Noland on the intensification of market failure.

Prudent Bear – Crumbling Pillars (ed’s note: scroll about halfway down)
When it comes to central banking, I’m increasingly feeling relegated to the realm of a “moderate.” 

Related. Thanks to David of London.

Irish Times – Euro Plunges as top ECB Official Makes ‘Shock’ Exit
EUROPE’S EXPANDING debt crisis has taken a turn for the worse with the unexpected resignation of the top German official in the European Central Bank.

America’s not turning Japanese.

Financial Times – Turning Japanese? Not so Fast, the US is Different
 “Turning Japanese”  was a classic one-hit wonder by The Vapors in 1980 and three decades later it is certainly not music to the ears of US policymakers and debt-strapped households as the world’s largest economy struggles for traction.

 Related.

Wall Street Journal – Ten-Year Treasury Yields Close at Fresh 60-Year Low
America continues to turn Japanese: The 10-year Treasury note’s yield closed at 1.917% today, the lowest since at least the 1940s.

Someone’s got to lose a lot of money.

Financial Times --  I can’t hear the markets but I can smell fear
I accepted Martin Wolf’s invitation to “listen to what bond markets are telling us”.