Difference of Opinion
Looks like some of the powers-that-be have not had their regular rations of economic Kool-Aid: "Global Bosses Are Gloomy About the Economic Future" (BBC News) Companies around the world are getting gloomier about the economic future again, according to an...
A Tad Unsettled
Suddenly, global credit markets are looking, shall we say, a tad unsettled... I wonder if we're (finally) beginning to see bond markets pricing in the post-financial-crisis orgy of fiscal recklessness (not to mention the tsunami of refinancing-related supply)? If so,...
My Latest Book
With three serious books under my belt, I thought it was time for something a little different... Modern Central Banking: Simplified is the perfect gag gift for that special gold bug (or non-economic-Kool-Aid-drinking realist) in your life. Two hundred pages...
Yet Another Reality Check
"A picture is worth a thousand words." If you're as befuddled as I am as to what the bulls are looking at, here's an ugly 3,000-word reality check. Economy (Source: Zero Hedge) Government Stock Market (Source: Market Anthropology) Feel free...
Public Service Announcement
For those individuals who prefer the kinds of "insights" that mainstream "experts" typically dole out, here's a cheaper and more reliable source of assistance: the Random Financial Advice Generator (click image to see more): (Hat tip to The Big Picture.)...
No Solution
In "On Borrowed Time," Barron's columnist Randall Forsyth further undermines the notion that persistent public profligacy can solve our problems: Heavy debt loads slow the U.S. economy now and pose threat to the future. Can a stimulant become a depressant?...
A Normal Mirage
(Image: source) In "Not Flush," I suggested that "Americans had relied on what little cash they had left -- or didn't really have -- to buy what they wanted (needed?) in the run-up to the holidays." Eight days later, we...
Wall Street Math
An article in Canada's Financial Post, "View of U.S. Markets As Isolated From the World ‘Dangerous and Misguided,’" serves as a good primer on Wall Street's cognitively disconnected math: Combine deteriorating conditions overseas -- The chief market strategist at U.S....
In Good Company
In a 16-slide gallery feature, "Apocalypse How? Dire 2012 Forecasts," Bloomberg highlights the perspectives of those with a penchant for telling it like it is. Pessimistic Prognosticators Only the gloomiest of Wall Street's prognosticators got it right in 2008 and...
Bad News, Good News?
In "Are Americans Getting Healthier?" the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog notes an interesting turn of events: Americans might be getting healthier, a development that — if true — could have economic causes and consequences. Obesity may be...
Let’s Get Real
With all of this going on in the world's other major economies -- China "China Slowdown Spreading, HSBC Services PMI Shows" (Reuters) China's services sector cooled in November to its weakest growth in three months, an HSBC purchasing managers' index...
Let’s Get Real
With all of this going on in the world's other major economies -- China "China Slowdown Spreading, HSBC Services PMI Shows" (Reuters) China's services sector cooled in November to its weakest growth in three months, an HSBC purchasing managers' index...
