Tag

mea culpa

“Out of an Abundance of Caution” . . . & Its Opposite

The Buried Mea Culpa Once upon a time, the likes of William Safire and George Carlin could be counted on to call out linguistic curiosities. In that spirit, I offer up the very confused expression, “Out of an abundance of caution.” Overcompensating Practically dripping with CYA (“Cover-Your-A**”), it’s almost always invoked by a contrite person...
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How to Make a Fortune Reading This Blog

Contrarian Indicator:  My Perfect, 7-for-7 Forecasting Record Want to make a fortune? Don’t follow my advice. Do the opposite. In the interest of full disclosure, herewith are all the market calls I got wrong the last few years (in my defense, so did almost every other so-called “expert”): 1. Stocks: Prediction:  â†“ Actual:  â†‘ Explanation:...
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Barry Ritholtz Issues Mea Culpa on Housing

Don’t Fight the Fed — Housing Edition “I am still aware of the inorganic nature of the improvement [in housing], but the key takeaway is a) US housing market down 35% eventually stabilizes; 2) do not under-estimate the ability of a determined Central Bank to impact any specific market it chooses.” –Barry Ritholtz, “Mea Culpas...
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The New Language of Mea Culpa

“Disappointed” Political & Business Leaders “Vikram Pandit, Citi‘s chief executive, calls the latest earnings ‘disappointing.'”–Floyd Norris, “Living Blogging Bank Losses“; The New York Times (1/16/09) I remember, in another era, when business or political leaders were cornered and had to acknowledge that they screwed up, they’d grudgingly allow that “mistakes were made” (exactly which ones,...
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Kicking Lereah When He’s Down

David Lereah’s Kind-of Mea CulpaThough he’s hardly a household name, David Lereah — formerly the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors — achieved not a little notoriety for writing the extremely ill-timed (2005), “Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?” For that, Lereah is forever assured a place in financial trivia Hell along...
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