The New York Times – Floyd Norris: In ’08 Downturn, Some Managed to Eke Out Millions A newly released report by the Internal Revenue Service shows that, for Americans as a group, total income fell at the fastest pace in decades in 2008, and that the number of tax returns reporting at least $1 million… Continue reading Tax Revenues In 2008
Hussman Funds – Betting on a Bubble, Bracing for a Fall If you exclude the bubble valuations of 1995-2007 (as depicted in the chart below), the current valuation of the S&P 500 is near the highest level ever observed in history. To expect valuations to expand from here is to rely on the sustained resumption… Continue reading Multiple Views On The Stock Market
Committee of European Banking Supervisors – 2010 EU WIDE STRESS TESTING The Wall Street Journal – Europe’s ‘Stress Tests’ Relied on Mild Assumptions Europe’s “stress tests” were intended to gauge the ability of large banks to weather an economic storm. But the exams relied on some surprisingly docile economic assumptions. In some of the 20… Continue reading European Stress Tests – Everyone Hates Them
The Wall Street Journal – Brian M. Carney: Fan and Fred and the Problem of Narrative The GSEs don’t fit the left’s story about how greedy bankers caused the financial crisis. That’s why they haven’t been reformed. Fannie and Freddie have liabilities in excess of $5 trillion. They have already directly cost taxpayers nearly $150… Continue reading Fannie And Freddie
Barron’s – Gene Epstein: Renter Nation The recession and shifting demographics will swell the ranks of people who will rent, not buy, housing over the next five years. THE AMERICAN DREAM OF owning a home is still very much alive, but it will be no more than a dream for a growing number of people… Continue reading Renter Nation
The Washington Post – Robert J. Samuelson: Why CEOs aren’t hiring In hindsight, the massive job cuts of 2008 and 2009 should not have been surprising. “With the collapse of the financial system,” says economist Lynn Reaser of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, “companies had to conserve cash desperately, [because] they couldn’t rely… Continue reading Why No Hiring?
The Financial Times – Laurence Kotlikoff: Uncle Sam has worse woes than Greece The spectre of Greek default continues to rattle global financial markets. Greek long-term government bond yields are running 700 basis points above comparable US Treasuries. The inference is that America is in far better fiscal shape than Greece. Nothing could be further… Continue reading How Bad Is The U.S.?
Barron’s – ALAN ABELSON: A Contrarian’s View of Gold A savvy analyst holds that long-term, the yellow metal could be ” fraught with risk.” A look at what’s causing quality stocks to lag behind the market. WE’RE ALL GOLD BUGS NOW! And were he still among the quick, that consummate speculator, John Maynard Keynes, would… Continue reading Gold And Silver
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The Death of Paper Money As they prepare for holiday reading in Tuscany, City bankers are buying up rare copies of an obscure book on the mechanics of Weimar inflation published in 1974.
The Financial Times – Greece expects second tranche of bail-out funds Greece will get a second aid tranche of a European Union and International Monetary Fund bail-out as it has met the conditions set in an austerity plan, its finance minister was quoted as saying on Saturday. EU, IMF and European Central Bank officials will… Continue reading More Greek Bailout Money?
The Financial Times – QE2: investors braced for the sequel Investors looking for reassurance that the global recovery is on track would have drawn little comfort from central bankers this week. First, the Bank of England’s interest rate-setting committee revealed that it was worried enough about anaemic growth to discuss pumping money into the economy… Continue reading Is QE2 Coming?
The Wall Street Journal – Embattled BP Chief to Exit American Robert Dudley to Succeed Tony Hayward as Head of British Oil Giant The board of BP PLC is negotiating the departure of its embattled chief executive, Tony Hayward, according to people familiar with the matter, a bid by the U.K. oil titan to move… Continue reading Goodbye Tony Hayward