“Countrywide” Redux: The Age of the Sovereign Sub-Prime Loan Remember sub-prime loans, the ones being handed out like candy to apparently penniless Southern Californians (and Nevadans and Floridians and . . )? With such features as “negative amortization,” whereby the Buyer could opt to re-pay as little per month (or nothing!) as they wished, with the...Read More
One Stinger vs. Thousands Touring the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix this winter, I remember the guide fielding a question about whether anyone had ever been injured by cactus needles. He answered that he’d seen a severe injury just once: someone who encountered a bumble bee was so undone that they backpedaled right into a...Read More
One Helluva Round-Trip Want to know what stocks are going to do? Forget financial analysis. It’s all about political analysis: on the strength of a European bailout (announced over the weekend), worldwide stocks are going crazy — this time on the upside. Personally, as a long-term, buy-and-hold investor (vs. Wall Street trader), it all has...Read More
