Readings: Farm economy, Post-Olympics, EU demographics
Fertilizer costs doubled from a year ago, while fuel increased 62 percent, USDA data show. Expenses probably will surpass the $279.2 billion that the USDA estimated in February, eroding net income the government pegged at a record $92.3 billion for 2008.
Deere said it will raise prices for large, wheeled tractors by as much as 7 percent and combines by as much as 10.5 percent next year to cover rising materials costs.
Falling crop prices coupled with higher costs would create a situation similar to 1980, when expenses fell 1 percent while income fell 9.2 percent
- RGE Monitor: Making sense of what comes after the Olympics
According to Ministry of Finance (MoF) statistics, China’s total revenue in July was RMB 532.325 billion, an increase of 13.8% over the same month last year. But this growth rate is 19.3 percentage points lower than in July, 2007, and 19.7 percentage points lower than the growth rate in the first half of the year.
. . . tax from land and real estate, a major source of the local governments’ incomes, has also declined drastically. In July, land-related tax increased by 79.4% over the same month last year, for a total of RMB 14.306 billion, but this was 25 percentage points lower than in July 2007.
A slowdown in China => further drop in commodities.
- International Herald Tribune: Europe sets date when deaths overtake births: 7 years
Europeans will begin their long foreseen demographic decline in just seven years’ time - the point at which deaths exceed births.
. . . not only would Germany lose its status as Europe’s most populous nation but several East European nations would experience a sharp drop in numbers - with populations shrinking by a quarter or more. By contrast Cyprus, Ireland and Luxembourg would all boost their numbers by at least half.
. . . in 2008, in the EU’s 27 nations, “there are four persons of working age (15-64 years old) for every person aged 65 years or over.” In 2060 “the ratio is expected to be two to one.”
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