Prior to a recent speech to a small group of individual investors, my host asked them to submit some questions to me in advance. Here are the questions submitted with some brief answers. Is it possible for the sitting president who is up for reelection to manipulate economic figures in order to create a falsely [...]
As our fiscal cliff looms closer and closer, I’m reminded of a poem from my childhood: A Fence or An Ambulance, by Joseph Malins. The first stanza goes as follows: “Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed, Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant; But over its terrible edge there had slipped [...]
This morning’s initial first quarter real GDP increase at a 2.2 percent annual rate was stronger than the fourth quarter’s 3.0 percent after adjustment for volatile inventory fluctuations. An inventory buildup accounted for two-thirds of the fourth quarter increase. Real Final Sales—GDP minus inventories—grew only 1.1 percent in the first quarter versus 1.6 percent in [...]
I dutifully got up early (central time zone) to hear Friday morning’s disappointing employment report. Then I remembered the stock markets were closed for Good Friday. After a lifetime of watching the economy and the stock market reaction to it, I must admit I don’t know what to expect Monday morning. I suppose the safest [...]
If the size of our largest banks had anything to do with precipitating the financial crisis, or making it worse, then it is ironic that they grew bigger during the crisis. If we are to punish them for size now, through various provisions of Dodd-Frank, and lawsuits, or even by breaking them up, as some [...]
Unlike Wagner’s music, the fourth quarter GDP numbers are not better than they sound. They are worse, in fact, and the third and final estimate, out last week, didn’t improve them any. The second and third estimates both had real GDP growing at an annual rate of 3 percent in the fourth quarter, the largest [...]
I find bizarre reports that Federal Reserve policymakers are considering sterilizing a new round of bond purchases in order to “subdue worries” about potential inflation. Here’s how the WSJ put it in the first two paragraphs of its story on March 8: “Federal Reserve officials are considering a new type of bond buying program designed [...]
My house is under water, for sure My car is upside down, you bet But I’m getting me a consolidation loan And finally getting out of debt Bob McTeer Well, it may be hard to borrow your way out of debt, but sometimes it buys time, and time is money. One of the few major [...]
Conventional wisdom has it that the United States invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Since Iraq had used such weapons before, it presumably had gotten rid of them prior to the invasion. What I don’t recall hearing discussed is how easy it would have been for Saddam Hussein [...]
The verdict is in. A Pekingese won the Westminster Dog Show. Not exactly an image of twisted steel and sex appeal, the 11-pounder fits inside his trophy. He looks like the proverbial dog that chased a car and caught it. I think it was his strut that won it, or, more accurately, his wobble. Of [...]