Book Review: Then There Were None
The topic of resources running out is perennial. Go back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, you have the Club of Rome and other doom-mongers. There are also the bets placed by Julian Simon on commodity prices in the ‘80s and ‘90s, betting the commodity prices would fall, and they did. Much of the effect stemmed...
Misunderstanding the Tax Debate (II)
I’m going to do something different to start this post. I’m going to highlight those that disagreed with the last post. Thanks for disagreeing, because it makes this post better. Response 1: It’s all well meaning but it’s likely to fail in practice, with unintended consequences and nasty corner cases where you have to reintroduce...
Sorted Recent Tweets
Miscellaneous “When women stay home and they raise their kids & maintain the household, it is a job. It’s a job of love.” http://t.co/NV1JddlL #wellsaid Apr 13, 2012 @historysquared Have not seen anything definitive on that, but production from fracking decays faster than conventional production. $$ Apr 13, 2012 10 Things I Hate About...
Sorted Recent Tweets
Miscellaneous “When women stay home and they raise their kids & maintain the household, it is a job. It’s a job of love.” http://t.co/NV1JddlL #wellsaid Apr 13, 2012 @historysquared Have not seen anything definitive on that, but production from fracking decays faster than conventional production. $$ Apr 13, 2012 10 Things I Hate About...
Sorted Recent Tweets
Miscellaneous “When women stay home and they raise their kids & maintain the household, it is a job. It’s a job of love.” http://t.co/NV1JddlL #wellsaid Apr 13, 2012 @historysquared Have not seen anything definitive on that, but production from fracking decays faster than conventional production. $$ Apr 13, 2012 10 Things I Hate About...
On Book Reviewing, Part 2 (What not to write if you want a good review from me)
Most of the time, when a book is bad, I don’t write a review. Sometimes it will inspire me write a screed against a certain topic that the book was about, and occasionally a negative review. But most often I say nothing. What to avoid if writing a finance/investments/economics book? 1) Don’t claim you are...
Book Review: Currency Wars
I sometimes call it “the race to the bottom.” During a time where most nations are feeling economically weak, some decide to weaken their currency, so that their exporters can do better, which supposedly preserves jobs in export industries. Producers have concentrated interests, and lobby well. The interests of consumers are diffuse, and don’t...
Sorted Weekly Tweets
Valuations High Yield Closed End Funds 68% over NAV, 3% avg premium. Loan Participation CEFs 40% over NAV, -1% avg discount. Conditions r medium hot $$ Apr 07, 2012 Why Stocks Look Too Pricey http://t.co/TWqZzGg3 Various Indicators Suggest the Market Is No Longer a Bargain, at best fairly valued $$ Apr 07, 2012 Contra:...
Gold does Nothing
Gold does nothing, and as Warren Buffett said in his recent annual report: Today the world’s gold stock is about 170,000 metric tons. If all of this gold were melded together, it would form a cube of about 68 feet per side. (Picture it fitting comfortably within a baseball infield.) At $1,750 per ounce –...
Easy in, Hard out
My view is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, not even for governments or central banks. Any action taken may have benefits, but also imposes costs, even if those costs are imposed upon others. So it is for the Fed. At the beginning of 2008, they had a small, clean, low...
Sorted Weekly Tweets
China China’s first bond default could be good market medicine http://t.co/8ShFniYM Bond trader: “We don’t really have a credit risk culture.” $$ Mar 31, 2012 Is China’s slowdown worse than previously estimated? http://t.co/CkZw8tLK Could b business conditions that are worst since 2009. $$ Mar 31, 2012 China Banks Said to Underestimate Local Government...
Why Auditors Should be Rotated
There is a proposal afoot to mandate auditor rotation every fiver years or so. Some don’t like it. I think it is a great idea, with large benefits relative to the costs. My insights, or lack thereof come from working in life insurance financial reporting in a number of different ways for around 15 years. ...
