Defective Designs — & Their Fallout Usually when a nuclear reactor is first shut down, an electric pump pulls heated water from the vessel to a heat exchanger, and cool water from a river or ocean is brought in to draw off that heat. But at the Japanese reactors, after losing electric power, that system could not...Read More
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul Wall Street “THERE it is.” –“30 Rock” character Liz Lemon, upon identifying the inevitable flaw in each new, too-good-to-be-true suitor. Want a culprit for now-rising prices at the grocery store and gas pump? No, it’s not because of worldwide droughts and floods — headline-grabbing shortages in places like the Soviet Union are roughly...Read More
Borrow at 0%, Lend at 3%, Make Billions Is it customary, when someone is charged with fraud and awaiting trial, to leave them in possession of the victim’s credit cards, and, indeed, to continue to allow them to spend and gamble the victim’s money? In the corporate arena, apparently the answer is “yes.” U.S. vs....Read More
Strategic Defaults Driving Retail Sales? A penny saved is a penny earned. –Benjamin Franklin, circa 1780 A penny defaulted on is a penny earned. –Benjamin Franklin, 2010?? No, I have no way of knowing whether a modern-day Benjamin Franklin would have uttered the second quote. In fact, he didn’t even say the first one (that...Read More
The $64 Trillion Question What do rational savers and investors do in an environment of zero percent interest rates, where the daily headlines speculate how long major currencies (like the U.S. dollar) will hold their value as national debts mount? Switch (at least) a little of their holdings to gold. Even if that amount is...Read More
