Economics/politics resources

(I'll be changing this post often)

The purpose of this thread is to gather and display links to websites, and make recommendations of books, which satisfy the general theme of 'trading' and all that goes along with it. As far as I am concerned, Trading is a knowledge game. As has been said by others... "There is no trick or special method". To begin, a person must learn the rules of the game - the mechanics of how markets work - and then begin the more obviously laborious task of learning about how 'the world works'.

Learning how the 'world works', at least for our purposes, involves studying the things that can affect the financial markets. It's learning how the economic and political world works. We need to eat, we need political stability, investment and energy. There are groups of people/institutions who operate for the direct public good and those who operate for their own profit; how do these agents affect the world? What are their motives, their sphere and strength of influence, what are their ways and means?

Trading isn't only about the prices you see in front of you... but about the world and all that happens on it. Thus, I'll expand on what the kind of resources you should expect to find (or be welcome in recommending to me) in this thread. Below you'll find links to websites specialising in reporting news from all over the world on the topics of Politics, Economics, Finance, Energy, and Technology. You'll find links to governance and financial institutions websites and I'll be adding recommendations on other reading which I have considered worthwhile.

While it is great to read / watch the news, many of us do so without: (1) really understanding the mechanics of many things that are spoken about, (2) having a historical perspective to guide us in interpreting releases / judging their effects / understanding their causes. This, is where reading comes in. Many of us, me previously included, are either seriously out of the habit or have never been in it to begin with. Spending serious hours reading is the only way for a person to really get a handle on what is going on in the world, what and who everyone is, and ultimately how to go about profiting from that knowledge. Wide reading is important so that you: (a) get a sense of the 'middle ground' of a topic and can, in the end, come up with your own opinion, (b) begin to see how different topics/things interact / effect each other.

Video is a medium of information transmission which can act as a catalyst for further learning. This is why the first section of this post will only have video links. Wet your appetite there and then hopefully you'll be sufficiently motivated to move on to book study.

It would be good to build a list of resources here, so guys, contribute.

We don't know what we don't know. The only way to remedy this is to aim to know everything.

Thanks for your time.

Leon
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Digital Media / Podcasts

Recorded interviews with leaders in Economics, Business and Politics - www.charlierose.com
Video Lessons on Economics, Finance and Math - http://www.khanacademy.org/
Podcasts on monetary policy, financial crisis, economic history etc. - www.econtalk.org
Weekly podcasts on monetary, economic, geo-political news and events - http://mcalvanyweeklycommentary.com/
Audio and Articles on Finance and Economics - www.financialsense.com

Economics/politics resources

Keep up to date with developments in Europe - http://www.eurointelligence.com/
http://www.stratfor.com/
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/
http://www.maxkeiser.com
http://www.dailypfennig.com
http://www.caseyresearch.com
http://www.howestreet.com
http://www.dailyreckoning.com
http://www.berninger.de
http://www.zerohedge.com
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com
http://www.kingworldnews.com
Discussions about energy and its impacts on the future - http://www.theoildrum.com/

Economic indicators / Data

Economic Indicators for 231 countries - http://www.tradingeconomics.com/
www.data360.org

Central Bank Websites

Great Britain - http://www.bankofengland.co.uk
United States - http://www.federalreserve.gov
Europe - http://www.ecb.int
Japan - http://www.boj.or.jp/en
Australia - http://www.rba.gov.au
China - http://www.pbc.gov.cn/publish/english/963/index.html

Other institution websites

International Monetary Fund - http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
World Bank - http://www.worldbank.org/
World Trade Organisation - http://www.wto.org/

Note: Other than just reading on the websites It would be interesting to get a book or two about their roles in the past.

http://www.eurointelligence.com/

I like the daily newsletter they send out as a quick snapshot of what happening in EU land

http://www.stratfor.com/

An interesting site reviewing the global hotspots

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/

http://www.maxkeiser.com
http://www.dailypfennig.com
http://www.caseyresearch.com
http://www.howestreet.com
http://www.dailyreckoning.com
http://www.berninger.de
http://www.zerohedge.com
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com
http://www.kingworldnews.com

I like education.

1st post updated with central bank websites and a couple of other resources.

oil

http://www.theoildrum.com/

Thanks mate.

hallo is there anyone knows where i could get 'data release' (from some pass few years will be better) that already been grouped?? example i want to know US tract record in GDP, unemployment, CPI, interest rate, etc etc
but i want it in one place,,,so it will easier to mix and match do (comparison) correlation data with other data, or to compare it with other country...
(in FF we have to open one by one..) so if there is side that give data like that it would much help...


thanks you...,


ps: currently i'm still study about fundamental, anyone have reverence book or site that give 'basic' knowladge about fundamental?? or what should i study? thanks you very very much...

java.

Have a dig around this site Java

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

As for fundamentals I think the best start would be to buy a macroeconomic book and read it front to back... Any textbook will do I just recently bought this one:

EDIT: A basic understanding of microeconomics wouldn't hurt either, actually it might be imperative... the book below incorporates both (micro and macro)

Love the site mate. Thanks for posting it here.

No worries bud

You'd think there would heaps of sites like this and easier ways to quickly get data in easy to read formats but unfortunately the financial world is a selfish and greedy one and things rarely come so easy

Good thread topic too

Regarding the thread topic: My aim is to scare all the other prospective traders off by overwhelming them so that I can have all the money for my self! Damn, the financial world must have got to me.

that's an awesome link....but sadly...we should pay for that...
they have till pass 100 years data..,that could tell almost whole story about world economy...

thanks you very much cindy..,been 2 month study fundies but the progress is so slow cos the 'the language'.. i have to re-read and re-read to understand the meaning...



ps: btw that's site give me an idea..,how about start from now i collect data, maybe 50 years latter i could sell it... hihihihi...

Yeah but you can still a good amount of data for free of heaps of different indicators.

Why not buy an economic book in your own language?

For those of you that don't know about the Khan-academy website, you will seriously fall in love with the guy and all that he stands for if you visit. This American gentleman teaches via a virtual white board on scores of topics (I think I remember reading that he has three bachelors degrees) for no charge what-so-ever. Not as if he didn't have any prospects, before quiting to concentrate on the site he worked for a well known investment bank.

Anyway, for our needs, here are the topics which are at least general interest:

Money and Banking
Credit Crisis
Currency
Current Economics
Finance
The Geithner Plan
The Paulson bailout
Valuation and Investing
Venture Capital and Capital Markets

We're talking somewhere in the region of 250 lessons for the above topics.

As well as this there is a ton of Math all the way from basic arithmetic to linear algebra. There are Stats and probability sections too!

A brilliant site with excellent lessons which are delivered by a superb teacher. I can't praise it enough.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Why confuse yourself with big economic books and other brain cluttering texts? Focus on price action with support and resistance lines and there you have it...A whole day worth of news sitting in front of your face suppressed within two trend lines...TRADE ACCORDINGLY!! Learn how to use a FIBO as well and understand retraces.

Because I'm not smart enough.

Leon, check you PM on NSET.
For some reason I can't reply to PMs on FF now??

woa...cool stuff...thanks

and btw...this site has been a bridge to some amaizing stuff for me(like this).