It’s Supposed to Work in the Midwest, at Least One of the all-time high school pranks growing up — at least according to urban legend — was going to the mall and acting like you lost a contact lens. Step 2: a couple confederates join your “search.” What’s supposed to happen next is, clueless passersby...Read More
Grantham: ‘Almost Criminally Inept Fed’ The Federal Reserve’s asymmetric policy of stimulating stock moves by setting artificially low rates and then leaving the bull markets, when overstimulated, to bubble over, is dangerous. It is probably the most dangerous thing to inflict on a peace time economy with two possible exceptions — runaway inflation and a...Read More
“We ALL Caused This Mess??” Hardly. Put me in the camp that says, without an accurate diagnosis, it’s not possible to cure our current economic mess. So, here are two competing narratives explaining how we got to this juncture, both courtesy of Les Leopold (thanks to Ned Krahl for forwarding the Leopold piece): Narrative #1:...Read More
Post’s Pearlstein Gets It Very Wrong Much of [yesterday’s Senate] hearing focused on how Goldman went from having billions of dollars of exposure to the subprime mortgage market in the first half of 2006 to posting big profits from the implosion in that same market by the second half of 2007. The more benign way...Read More
Here We Go Again? While early investors savor their gains and see their money multiply, those still on the sidelines must consign themselves to earning less than nothing on their savings. At first, it’s easy for prudent savers and investors to tune out the “siren call” of the hot market du jour, and “just say...Read More
Be Careful What You Wish For Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble to Invest In—headline, The Onion (7/14/2008) Like many readers, I’m delighted that my decimated (and much too modest) stock portfolio is showing signs of recovery. On the other hand, I’m leery that the gains are for real. As I see it, first came the...Read More
