My Comments: Society evolves, just like animals and plants. But it takes time, and we are conditioned to want it NOW, not over the next millenia. If there is enough collective will, the European Union (EU) will survive by evolving to accomodate Greek society. The players themselves are going to have to find the right …
Category: Economy & Markets
Here’s What the Next Recession Could Look Like
My Comments: There is no doubt that both politicians and financial people generate success by evoking fear in those to whom they are talking. Sometimes it’s legitimate, but much of the time its BS designed to persuade you to part with your vote and/or your money. What follows here is consistent with my belief that …
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Connecting the Dots
My Comments: Interest rates change. For the past 35 years, they’ve been on a downward trend, matched only by the down trend from 1861 to 1898. It’s a given that the Fed is going to start moving them up, probably in September. A stream of positive data supports a September rate hike, but summer storms …
A Groundwater Crisis?
My Comments: Jeb Bush may call me intellectually arrogant, and others will think I’m a kook. However, I think anyone hoping to join the elite fraternity of global thought leaders needs to take this very seriously. Imagine the California drought on a global scale. Most of us have little ability to change and survive if …
Flawed Math on Student Loans
My Comments: The staggering level of student loan debt has the potential to sink the economic future of this country. Young families with the debt hanging over them will be less likely to buy a house, to buy a new car, to spend money on consumption items, all of which means economic stagnation. Income earned …
Americans Need Jobs, Not Populism
My Comments: This post reflects my values about the role government should play in our society these day. Written by Jack Markell, it is long, congratulatory, somewhat self serving, but is so well articulated that I feel compelled to share it. Another resonance for me happens when I recall the two years I lived in …
Strange Machinations
My Comments:There is an old adage about stock prices being a function of earnings, earnings, earnings. It's similar to the adage about real estate prices being a function of location, location and location. You and I know there are other variables, but how to identify and quantify those variables is another matter. Perhaps you've noticed …
Luddites Fear Humanity Will Make Short Work of Finite Wants
My Comments: A conversation yesterday with a good friend resulted from her comment about the absurdity of Obamas’ suggestion that college education should be free for all students. Mindful that some of them will not qualify, and some will not want a college education, I argued that it was a great idea, that many employers …
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Where Is the Prudence in Macroprudential Policy?
My Comments: A warning: this post is about economics and what our financial future might look like. If you can’t stomach this stuff anymore, then please don’t read any further. But you better hope that whomever sits in the White House the next go round understands it. A version of this article first appeared in …
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A Bumper Sticker World
My Comments: A conversation this morning with an attorney friend revealed a world which is far more complicated today than seemed possible just a few short years ago. He remarked that tens of thousands of new laws have entered the books across these United States in the last three decades. It’s impossible to know the …
Helping Define Your Financial Future 