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Big Promises, Finite Means
Shilling Sees Public Workers In Crosshairs In Pinched States, Cities
3/12/10
A. Gary Shilling & Co.'s eponymous founder and guiding light, Gary Shilling, personally, is anything but a lugubrious fellow. But there is no gainsaying that he is a practitioner of the dismal science - and that he has proven himself constitutionally incapable of bending his analysis to the prevailing wind, as is the frequent wont of other members of the economics tribe. So I didn't call him last week expecting to hear happy talk about the unfolding economic recovery.[More]
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Tortoise Strategy
The Importance Of Not Losing, The Pain & Rewards Of Value Style
3/12/10 5:00 AM
By Frank K. Martin
Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway's annual report has become a cult classic; for investors of the value persuasion as sure and as welcome a sign of the long winter's imminent demise as the first shoots of spring bulbs pushing through the grey and melting snow; also staple airwave-filling manna for CNBC's talking heads.[More]
| Greeks Bearing Gifts
Thinking Again, About Goldman, “The Periphery,” Debt And Taxes
3/12/10 4:00 AM
By Michael E. Lewitt
"There is a more elemental way of regarding Post-Modernism, however, and that is in terms of climax inflation not only of wealth, but of people, ideas, methods, and expectations - the increasing power and pervasiveness of the communications industry, the reckless growth of the academy, the incessant changing hands and intrinsic devaluation of all received ideas."[More]
| Rubber Hits Road
Next Wave Of Mortgage Delinquencies Should Surprise Markets Soon
3/12/10 3:00 AM
By John P. Hussman
In the January 11th comment Green Shoots Weak Roots, when the S&P 500 was slightly higher than it is at present, I noted
"Despite the high level of bullishness here, the market has gained only a few percent beyond its September highs."[More]
| Affluent Tightwads
Job, Business Cycle Indicators Point To New Sobriety Continuing
3/12/10 2:00 AM
By Philippa Dunne & Doug Henwood
Affluent Tightwads
For the last two years, Gallup has been asking 1,000 Americans every day how much they've been spending at stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online. The average for upper-income households-those with incomes above $90,000-in February plunged to a new low of $98, down 13% from January.[More]
| Do The Obvious
It’s Time To Regulate Derivatives Like Every Other Financial Instrument
3/12/10
By Barry Ritholtz
What is it about derivatives that makes otherwise rational humans become so damned stupid? There is no need to over-complicate this; a rather simple series of steps can be undertaken to bring the most dangerous of derivatives out of the shadows and into the light of day.
Radical derivative deregulation had a bastard birth: On the eve of a holiday break, Texas Senator Phil Graham attached a budget bill rider titled "The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000." This was done at the behest of his wife Wendy, who was a member of the Board of Directors of Enron.
What the CFMA did was create a unique financial product, as far as regulation was concerned. Derivatives and Swaps entered a world where they were treated very differently from all other financial products: Stocks, bonds, options, futures all follow specific rules for trading, clearing, and reporting.[More]
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