borrowing from the Fed this year dwarfs all other years. That’s not quite true. It renders all other borrowing combined to irrelevancy
Tag: economics
Reflecting on unbridled competition: a relic from the Pleistocene?
One of my fellow students posed the following question to me after reviewing some comments I made in the chapter we are co-editting re: socialism and unbridled competition: Ken, Your argument on unbridled competition looks solid, but some may disagree that it is THE cause for disharmony and mutual survival. I not sure if you […]
Interesting twist to prop up markets
Congress and President Bush signed legislation that suspends the rule requiring retirees over 70 ½ to take withdrawals (RMDs) from tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. This suspension currently lasts for one year, 2009. The intention is to give retirement accounts time to rebound from the difficult economy/market conditions. Please note that you […]
Almost 1T in state pension shortfalls
Observed earlier that 5 large states were requesting 1T from Obama for combined medicare and pension shortfalls; Its now up to almost 1T just for the state employee pension funds alone, to say nothing of the medicare costs of an aging population determined to give voice to its feelings of entitlements. I can almost hear […]
Tactical trading: maxpain strategy in oil pays off within a week
closed our tactical trade in oil, using the 2x leveraged oil ETF (DXO). we bought at $2.20 with a .2 initial stop, after oil closed below $30/barrel, and closed the tactical portion of the trade today at $3.45. Thats a little over a 6R win in a week. here are some of the supporting slides […]
US government debt and the first rule of holes
when you realize you are in one, stop digging
Next in line for the bailout, after $1T for the states, is steel
we continue to spend more and more tax money on companies that are making things we dont want to buy at their proce. But remember, its not your money, it’s the government’s money and all they have to do is just decide how you will spend it. And if you wont spend it, they will […]
Historical responses to financial meltdowns (buckle up, it will be a bumpy ride)
Reinhart and Rogoff (2008b), in a recent paper entitled “The Aftermath of Financial Crises.”, demonstrate that banking crises in rich countries and emerging markets have a surprising amount in common. “… Broadly speaking, financial crises are protracted affairs. More often than not, the aftermath of severe financial crises share three characteristics. First, asset market collapses are deep […]
Madoff: a matter of scale
a nice meta-insight from Lew Rockwell, that puts Madoff in perspective as representative of the direction we were heading as a nation. His opinion: the difference between Madoff and the government: a matter of scale Madoff’s scheme played into the belief that wealth was not something to work for, but something to scheme for. It […]
“Paying” for bailouts as if they were taxcuts
I am surprised not to see a suggestion from either side of the aisle, that suggests “bailouts” should be paid for in the same way tax cuts: by identifying dollar-for-dollar tradeoffs. By government standards, the Big 3 bailout is a rather modest sum when you stack it up against the Department of Defense budget. Republicans arguing on principle […]