(Or Perhaps “6th of July”) It could just be my imagination, but there appears to be an especially contagious (if not virulent) strain of what I’ll call “4th of July flu” going around this year. Here’s a quick description: Onset: Sunday night or Monday morning following a long holiday weekend. Symptoms: exaggerated hacking, raspy voice (at...Read More
“Risk Without Return” Just two weeks after I last noted plunging interest rates (see, “Refinance Redux, or, “Thanks, Greece!”) . . . they’ve dropped even further. This time, the catalyst is Spain (can you spell C-O-N-T-A-G-I-O-N?) While home Buyers may not follow gyrations in world debt markets, if you’re looking for a home — or...Read More
Would That Be Product Un-Placement? It’s disconcerting enough to see the (all too) realistic depiction of social breakdown, martial law, etc. that follow in the wake of a nightmarish global health epidemic. However, when the one of the cities so portrayed is Minneapolis . . . it’s almost literally a little too close to home. Story...Read More
Prescription: ‘Take 2 4 Aspirin’ Seeing as how the current approach doesn’t seem to be working out so well, I hereby propose a “do-over” in dealing with the aftermath of The Crash of ’08. Exactly what do I have in mind? Instead of: -Rewarding the perpetrators with bailouts; –Punishing savers with the double-barreled whammy of...Read More
Financial “Sword of Damocles”: Outstanding Derivatives Dwarf World Economy What’s the best evidence, post-crash, that meaningful financial reform has yet to occur? It’s not that those who helped orchestrate the debacle — corporations and individuals — have escaped accountability. It’s not that the largest banks, whose size and interconnectedness raised the spectre of contagion — and therefore...Read More
