S&P, I Don’t Get It Okay. I understand that our finances are a mess and our political system is broken. We just missed a good chance to improve things significantly, and we chose, instead, to improve things marginally. Several times, our leaders snatched defeat from victory. Neither side could say yes. Yet, they did the [...]
Isn’t it ironic that the Greek debt crisis depressed the Euro, whose nations needed more stimulus to their faltering economies, and boosted the dollar in a flight to quality that will reduce aggregate demand in the struggling U.S. economy?
The front page of today’s New York Times reports on the results from the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. It is largely about who polls the lowest between President Obama and the Congress, President Obama and the Republicans, and Republicans versus Democrats. It made me wonder whether poll results can go below zero. Here [...]
My recent interviews on CNBC cover the FOMC’s decision and discussion of the dollar. To access my CNBC profile click here. The videos below were filmed November 4th, November 3rd, and October 30th, respectively.
(Not All Details are Bad) The front page of today’s Wall Street Journal features a useful breakdown of the third quarter real GDP statistics. On the negative side, it shows that the strength in consumption spending benefited from various temporary government programs: primarily cash for clunkers and the first time home buyers’ credit. Those will [...]
I will be discussing the bank stress tests on CNBC’s Kudlow Report tonight at 7 PM Eastern. [Here's the video of Bob McTeer on Kudlow]
(A Tiger by the Tail)* I wrote on February 25 that the newly-announced bank stress tests were mostly window dressing since bank examiners stay in constant touch with the financial condition of the banks they regulate, even having their own offices in the largest banks. I cautioned that the publicity given to this charade [...]
toxic L toxicum, a poison; Gr toxicon, a poison, orig., poison in which arrows were dipped. 1. of, affected by, or caused by a toxin, or poison. 2. acting as a poison; poisonous n. a toxic substance; also, something contaminated by a toxic substance. Many of the words being newly used these days are as [...]
Here is the video of my interview with Becky Quick on CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday, April 2. [CNBC Toxic Assets Interview]
Here is the text of a speech I gave recently to a group of investors in Hong Kong… It's good to be back in Hong Kong, the poster child for free enterprise and a stable currency. My first visit was to speak at a conference on currency boards, at the Hong Kong Baptist University. How [...]