Last month, I made a personal odyssey to the Grand Tetons Mountains and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It’s the place where I discovered the American West while in college. It is a mountain rising abruptly from its flat surroundings (the Hole) … Continue reading
A member of the Euro zone has defaulted while pressure is building on others and a U.S. government default is in suspended animation. Since a U.S. default would be a willful strategic act it can be avoided, but even if … Continue reading
The Euro debt situation continues to deteriorate and the U.S. is not far behind. All the distress that is now focused on government debt comes from excessive private indebtedness as developed world countries seek to support the private sector. This … Continue reading
Interview with Dr. Lacy Hunt on the pervasive effects of accumulated debt on the economy and financial market pricing.
We had some more fancy footwork and relieved smiles from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy this past week. The reason for the smiles is not that the Euro debt crisis has been resolved, but they believe they have found a … Continue reading
The Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which created the Eurozone and the European Central Bank (ECB), requires fiscal responsibility of its members. Annual fiscal deficits relative to GDP were not to exceed 3 percent, and cumulative debt was supposed to be … Continue reading
At the Fed’s humble beginning almost a century ago, its designated role was to dispatch a cash-bearing armored car to a member commercial bank whose depositors had lost confidence and were in line at the door to exchange their deposits … Continue reading
The Debt Deflation Problem
“Deflation, Don’t let it happen here”
How QE2 Financed the world
US Capital Flight and Depreciation
Commodity, Inflation, Inflation Expectations and Investments Continue reading
A mere six months ago, the Fed was fretting about the danger of slipping into deflation. A funny thing happened on the way to the Fed’s feared deflation. The Inflation Genie Leaped out of the bottle. This is occurring despite falling US wages and still soft U.S. markets. It adds up to Stagflation lead by commodity prices and import inflation and is resulting in declining real wages. Continue reading
With recent volatility, I think a note on basic investing is valuable. First, markets move both up & down. Don’t get too elated when they make big moves up or too anxious when they make a big move down. Ask … Continue reading
