The Fed minutes from their most recent meeting have just been released, and talking heads in the media are debating whether the Fed needs to "do more" to stimulate the economy. Many pundits are calling for a third round of asset-buying by the Fed in order to increase Fed balance sheets -- a process known as "quantitative easing"...
Friday, August 26, 2011
Does NPR speak for "investors"?
This morning, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said something we agree with for a change: that it's really up to elected officials to initiate policy changes if they want to "do something" for the economy.
In their spin on the Fed Chairman's remarks, NPR presumed to speak for "investors" whom they described as "waiting breathlessly"...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tax rates and employment in Illinois
Above is a chart from the Illinois Policy Institute, based on US Department of Labor Statistics, showing employment in Illinois since January 2010. In the article accompanying the graph, the Institute authors note that Illinois lawmakers approved a tax rate increase in January, and point out that the employment gains in Illinois...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Excellent article from Marc Andreessen
All investors should carefully consider an article published in the Opinion section of today's Wall Street Journal from entrepreneur and venture investor Marc Andreessen, entitled "Why Software is Eating the World."
It explains the paradigm-shifting impact that technology is having on businesses that at first glance might...
Monday, August 22, 2011
A notable study on imports
Hat tip to our friend Steve Waite of Research 2.0 for alerting us to this research from two senior members of the Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco entitled "The US Content of 'Made in China.'"
In their analysis, senior economist Galina Hale and senior research advisor Bart Hobijn determined the percentage of US consumer spending...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Some investors worry that government IV bags will run out
US markets are reeling again on increased concerns over European debt defaults and this morning's latest jobless-claims-number ticking back upwards across the 400,000 mark to 409,000.
Investors are voicing concerns that governments (especially the US government) don't have much ability to "help" out due to their deficits....
Monday, August 15, 2011
What to do during a financial panic
The recent market gyrations have largely resulted from fears that the economy (either the global economy in general or the US economy in particular) is poised to drop into another recession similar to the most recent recession of 2008-2009. The memory of the market plunge that accompanied that recession is still fresh in investors' minds,...
Monday, August 08, 2011
Commentary on the S&P downgrade and the current situation
We still recommend that readers go back and read the previous two posts discussing the latest market volatility and widespread fear of impending recession that has been rising over the past couple weeks and escalated sharply at the end of last week.
Those two posts were published before the S&P downgrade of the US Treasury's credit...
Friday, August 05, 2011
Lions and Wildebeests: Excellent commentary from Jeb Terry
Our friend Jeb Terry of Aberdeen Investment Management has just published an excellent examination of the current fear-ravaged market entitled "The Wildebeests are running . . . Be a Lion!" It should be required weekend reading for all investors to provide some perspective on the current situation.His arguments, backed up with extensive data, provide...
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Don't Panic (August 2011 edition)
The equity markets have been reeling for the past weeks, and today they were particularly savaged as additional fears of impending economic doom took over. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 512 points, and the S&P 500 index dropped a whopping 60 points (an even greater drop in terms of percentage than that of the Dow). The drop sent...
