What Happens When Artificially Low Interest Rates . . . . . Rise? Does “financial repression” have a better ring to it than “market manipulation?” If so, you’ll like this piece from today’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed page: However well-intentioned, the Federal Reserve’s continued purchase of long-term Treasury securities risks camouflaging the country’s true cost of...Read More
Winter in the Twin Cities, that is. Unlike the pre-Thanksgiving snowfall that was quickly followed by 60 degrees, the 4″ or so that fell yesterday feels like it’s going to stick around for awhile. Like until April. Four months from now. Oh, well . . . At least the calendar says “December,” not October.Read More
How Not to Let Your Blood Thin in 48 Hours in AZ Years ago, when I lived in NY and occasionally had conferences in the Bay Area, I learned that — at least for short visits — the best way to avoid jet lag was by keeping the same hours as your original time zone....Read More
30-year Bonds, Then & Now A financial Rip Van Winkle who awoke from a 30 year sleep this Fall would be suffering from vertigo, for a variety of reasons. Reason #1: the 30-year U.S. Bond they purchased in Fall, 1981 would have just matured. Instead of collecting a risk-free 15% the last 30 years — perhaps the all-time best investment...Read More
Wall Street Journal: ‘Blame the Regulators’ Chutz-pah′: killing your parents, then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court because you’re an orphan. So, according to The Wall Street Journal, who’s to blame for the still-missing $1 billion of client funds at now-bankrupt MF Global? Not the company’s senior management, led by CEO Jon Corzine,...Read More
It Also Makes a Great Helicopter Landing Pad If you had a 100,000 square foot rooftop in the shadow of Twin Cities International airport, you’d do it, too: paint a huge company logo on top of the building, that is. So, the first thing I noticed taking off for AZ this afternoon was the huge...Read More
