Short-Term German Bonds Pay Negative Interest “I am not so much concerned with the return on capital as I am with the return of capital.” –Will Rogers Want an indication of just how bizarro today’s environment of zero percent interest rates (“ZIRP”) is? Investors just accepted a negative interest rate on short-term German bonds: In an...Read More
Mohamed El-Erian Sizes Up 2012 Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of bond giant Pimco, has written many fine, insightful articles on today’s vexing capital markets. His piece in today’s Wall Street Journal isn’t one of them. See if you can figure out what the following means: Navigating [today’s unpredictable markets] requires investors to rely less on historical short cuts...Read More
7 Reasons* Why Numbered Lists are a Waste of Time While there’s supposedly nothing new under the sun, I have noticed a change in the inevitable onslaught of New Year’s Lists this year. Namely, they’re longer. So now, instead of a nice, round 10 (God knew what he was doing), the lists have 14 items, or 27...Read More
My Favorite Post of the Year (So Far) Those who talk, don’t know. And those who know . . . don’t talk. –Lao Tzu Better to keep your mouth shut, and let people think you’re an idiot, then open it and remove all doubt. –Mark Twain What’s going to happen in 2012? Hell if I...Read More
“What Would TR Do?” “It’s too soon to tell.” –Mao Tse Tung’s response, when asked (in 1947) about the consequences of the French Revolution. Just as perspective is needed to appreciate signal historical events, so, too, is distance required to assess great individuals. More than a century after Teddy Roosevelt successfully challenged the monopolists and concentrated financial...Read More
New Old Year’s Resolutions My cheeky 9 year-old, who’s been on a sugar binge basically since Halloween, has promised to swear off sweets “for the rest of the year.” Starting at 10 p.m. tomorrow night. Nice one, Gabriel . . .Read More
