August 2008

In an environment where the U.S. Dollar is rising and everything is falling, one needs to pay attention to the fine details. For me, its in the UK and its 5% base interest rate. Oil is now below $117 a barrel, so it stands to reason that…

About five years ago, Daniel Kahnemann won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on Behavioral Economics. This was a breakthrough because the financial markets and the economics profession had been dominated by the "efficient market,"…

Top BillingSolutions may make credit crunch worse - BBC News (a good read for understanding why tinkering makes it worse)EarningsFannie Mae Posts Fourth Straight Loss, Cuts Dividend - Bloomberg (Following FreddieMac, wasn't it obvious…

When we have a major economic dislocation, there is always some aspect of criminal behavior involved. As a result, the governmental authorities look for specific companies and individuals to use as scapegoats for all of the ills of the…

The dollar is seeing multi-week highs against a host of major currencies. As the global economy weakens, it is increasingly evident that other economies will suffer right along with the United States and this is impacting the currency…

Economists: Most Stimulus Went Into Savings - Real Time Economics (if the government is looking to goose the economy, maybe infrastructure projects would be more effective)Should the Fed Announce Inflation Targets? - Real Time Economics…

The auction rate securities lawsuit bonanza is the gift that keeps giving for litigation attorneys. Bank Of America is the latest bank to be caught up in this dance. Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. commercial bank, said Thursday…

At the peak of the global housing bubble in 2006, I came across a post about the Japanese bubble that left a big impression on me.As we collectively attempt to call the bottom of the housing bubble, many are cautiously wading back into…

Most Americans would have you believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve was entirely responsible for the monetary conditions which created the mother of all stock market bubbles after the LTCM bailout. Yes, the Fed was complicit in the…

AIG has long been one of the largest and best-capitalized insurance and financial-services organization in the world. Before recent scandals, it was one of a few S&P 500 corporations in the U.S. with a AAA rating. Yet, it just reported…