By JOSH BOAK A Standard & Poor’s director said for the first time Thursday that one reason the United States lost its triple-A credit rating was that several lawmakers expressed skepticism about the serious consequences of a credit default — a position put forth by some Republicans. Without specifically mentioning Republicans, S&P senior director Joydeep …
Continue reading S&P: Debt default skeptics fueled ratings downgrade
Ric Edelman runs a company from whom I contract investment management services for my clients. Ric has build an organization that now has over $4 billion under management. That alone says something about his skills and reputation. The following is from an email he sent out to all of us earlier this week. It confirms …
As I analyze the many blogs and articles that stream across my inbox talking about the current financial issues, one clear takeaway is that there are political crises and there are financial crises. Yes, there is overlap and in the short term great uncertainty as they both operate in tandem. But increasingly, I think what …
As we all know, the origin of the current financial crisis was the subprime mortgage meltdown in the United States. To be more precise, it originated in a financial system generating paper assets whose value depended on the price of housing. It assumed that the price of homes would always rise and, at the very …
Last Wednesday saw the market drop 512 points. Yesterday, Monday, saw the market drop 634 points. The blogoshere and the internet in general, talk radio and TV is awash with pundits waving their arms and running off at the mouth. Is it a financial crisis, a political crisis, both, how long will it last, what …
By George Friedman The current economic crisis is best understood as a crisis of political economy. Moreover, it has to be understood as a global crisis enveloping the United States, Europe and China that has different details but one overriding theme: the relationship between the political order and economic life. On a global scale, or …
Continue reading The Global Economic Downturn: A Crisis of Political Economy
Is the sky falling? Again? Not necessarily. Are we in a mess? Yes. Did we get here over the weekend? No. Is it going to be a long road hard road to fiscal responsibility? Absolutely. But don't head for the highest bridge just yet! Here's some of the reasons why. Facts we knew: Debt Ceiling …
They are not helping, that's for sure. This is a lengthy discourse that helps understand why the market crashed last week and why you can't expect any quick solutions. But knowing there aren't any isn't as helpful as understanding why there aren't any. This will help you get there. The headline drama masks the damage …
Continue reading Are Politicians Wrecking the World Economy?
It’s Monday and I’ve been gone for about a week. I avoided TV, newspapers and email as much as possible. It helped that we were in the mountains and AT&T did not have a much of a signal up there. If you tried to reach me and I was silent, that’s why. The demographic profile …
Memo to: Everyone From: Tony Since we’ve established that the world is not coming to an end as a result of looney tunes in Washington, DC and that there is now a template for helping you make some money with your investments, it’s time for us to play a little golf, a little tennis, and …
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