From yesterday’s New York Times: “The mood in the markets has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Headwinds are becoming stronger by the day.” — Mervyn A. King, governor of the Bank of England. “What we have been dealing with in recent weeks is a crisis of confidence among investors globally in the economic […]
Category: Finance
THE CURTAIN RISES ON ACT TWO
The houselights dim. The audience scurries to their seats, now with heightened anticipation. A new political force has gained ascendancy, with an anti-government, anti-regulation, anti-tax, anti-entitlement, pro-corporate, free market agenda. What will the future hold? The curtain rises and . . . . On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged over 500 points, dropping […]
THE CURTAIN RISES ON ACT ONE
Phew! That was exciting. It had me on the edge of my seat. But what a setup for Act Two. Given the plot so far, this is going to be a bumpy ride. This is a situation in which everyone is behaving badly. Consider John Boehner, chief Republican negotiator. During the entire drama, he regularly […]
ECONOMISTS AND FINANCIALIST
Economics: “A social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.” Finance: “The science or study of the management of funds.” Since every step in the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services involves the management of funds, the two sciences have become inseparably intertwined. […]
GOOD NEWS ON GOOD FRIDAY
Here are some excerpts from this morning’s New York Times: “The chip maker Advance Micro Devices topped earnings expectations for the quarter.” “GE posts earnings that exceed forecasts.” “McDonald’s profit is up.” “DuPont tops forecasts; profit up 27%.” “Blackrock earnings increase 34%.” “Real estate helps profit increase 58% at Blackstone.” “Xerox reports rise in profit […]
THE SCANDALOUS TAX CODE
Well, the taxman made his annual visit to collect his due, and while we made it through another year, we’re also another couple of trillion dollars deeper in debt. As we are forever reminded, there are but two remedies for excessive debt: cut spending or raise taxes, one or the other, or a combination of […]
HOW DEBT SAVED CAPITALISM – TEMPORARILY
All this bad-mouthing of debt is downright ungrateful. The criticism of individuals and governments who can’t seem to live within their means ignores the fact that if they had not gone into debt the economy would have ground to a halt a long time ago. It’s debt that keeps the capitalist Ponzi scheme going. As […]