Discursive MonologueDiscursive MonologueContrarian investing and economic news. Decrying the credit bubble and the monetary policy that created it. Articles
The twenty-first century Richard Whitneys?Don?t buy the banks or their tric
2007-09-13 12:35:00 On Wednesday, August 22, with the capital markets in turmoil world-wide, the four largest banks in the United States–bastions of their industry and allegories for the unbreakable financial paradigm–confidently approached the Federal Reserve Discount Window ostensibly fearless of the liquidity crisis and intending to reassure capital markets globally that everything was in order. Citigroup, Bank ... More About: Banks , Investing , Twenty , Richard , Char
With the market only pricing in a 25 basis point Fed Funds rate cut, Steve
2007-09-12 12:28:00 I came home from work on Monday to hear Steve Forbes on CNBC Asia speaking with Amanda Drury and Sri Jegarajah about the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week in which the central bank will make a key rate decision. I wanted to ignore the topic of the September 18 Federal Reserve meeting until next Monday ... More About: Market , Point , Funds , Rate
Is China selling U.S. Treasuries? Which types of securities does China?s en
2007-09-11 12:29:00 The Telegraph recently asked, ” Is China quietly dumping US Treasuries ?” The question is a perfectly legitimate one, as I have suggested that sooner or later, foreigners will grow tired of holding U.S. dollar- denominated assets. China does seem to be experimenting with equity with its $3 billion investment in Blackstone. Additionally, I mentioned China’s ... More About: Selling , Securities , Types
Ben Stein says to play the long term averages and you will be fine. But whi
2007-09-10 12:29:00 On August 13, a Ben Stein column was featured on CNNMoney called ?’Stupid’ investors, rejoice!? In it, Stein presented the case that investing in broad indexes is the most prudent and effective way to secure a comfortable retirement. Paying attention to capital markets and reacting emotionally to news in capital markets is a good way ... More About: Play , Long , Fine , Term
Funny Video Friday: Steve Ballmer goes crazy
2007-09-08 01:17:00 It is Friday and that means I owe you a funny video. This week, conversation in the lunch room led me to mention the time tested video of Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, jumping around on stage like a lunatic saying, “Whooooooooo! Whoooooooooo! Whoooooooooo! Come on, get up, get up…come oooooooon! Whooo, Whoooooooooo! Come on, give ... More About: Video , Funny , Funny Video , Crazy
What really happens when bubbles burst? They go back to where they started
2007-09-07 00:15:00 I have reviewed research on equity market bubbles and housing market bubbles for the past two days and I want to include a final passage from Peter Hartcher’s Bubble Man: Alan Greenspan and the Missing 7 Trillion Dollars outlining the results of a study by Ben Inker of GMO (Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo). The conclusion ... More About: Back , Burst , Bubbles , Ally
Housing Bubble Bursts are much worse than equity bubble bursts
2007-09-06 01:26:00 Yesterday, I wrote about the devastating effects of a stock market crash. Today, I want to continue my bubble coverage by turning again to research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in housing bubbles. Data for housing markets are not as ubiquitous as equities, so the IMF had to choose a smaller time period in ... More About: Housing Bubble , Housing , Bubble , Equity
What happens when optimism unwinds? How will this all end?
2007-09-04 23:42:00 Over the life of this blog, I have written about the current credit bubble that has been driving all asset prices higher globally. Bubbles, by definition, do not last forever. Hopefully, none of us has forgotten the pain that came with the dot com bubble collapse at the beginning of this decade. There is no ... More About: Optimism , Unwind
August Expenses: The cost of moving was apparent
2007-09-03 21:10:00 The damage for August was $1731.60. If you recall, my July living expenses were only $890.80, but I included an additional $5000 for my risky mystery investment (which I have yet to reveal). So, August expenses were significantly higher than July. The new weight came from my move to a downtown apartment. Comparing the main items ... More About: Life , Moving , Cost , Expenses
Why there was no funny video posted on Friday: the old rig is operational a
2007-08-25 17:28:00 Clearly, there was no funny video Friday . I have a good excuse. Way back in April, my PC failed to boot. The hexadecimal LED indicator on the mother board posted a code that likely indicated video card failure. I was pretty sad because my Albatron Ti4200P Turbo was kind of the pride of its day ... More About: Video , Funny , Life , Funny Video
Funny Video Friday: Fake news-cast reacting to viewers
2007-08-18 00:30:00 Wow! A lot of stuff happened this week that I want to comment on, but it’s Friday, and I need a break from anything that resembles work. Winding down for the weekend, I found a gem on YouTube called Gas Pump Prank. The prank is a fake news cast given live by a ‘newscaster’ watching people ... More About: Video , News , Funny , Funny Video , Cast
Funny Video Friday: The Spoon Prank (sorry: some profanity)
2007-08-10 13:42:00 I’m winding down for the weekend with another Funny Video Friday . This week’s video is a rendition of the classic spoon prank. If you’re not familiar with it, the spoon prank game involves three people. Two people are ‘in’ on the prank. The third person, who is not ‘in’ on the prank, thinks that he ... More About: Prank , Funny Video
The small-town mentality: Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
2007-08-08 13:38:00 On Saturday, I finished Main Street , by Sinclair Lewis . I chose to read Main Street because I was so fond of Babbit and knew that, even if the story was not colorful, the fecundity and acumen of Sinclair Lewis would ensure easy reading. Main Street was written in 1920 and was a portrayal of an ... More About: Books , Small
Lessons not learned: The Chinese equity bubble fueled by the usual analyst
2007-08-07 13:46:00 During the dotcom bubble, so many crazy things happened that it would take an army of journalists years to recount the bizarre market climate. One aspect of market bubbles that has always intrigued me is trends in analyst coverage. Analyst s always tend to be liberal in awarding buy ratings to stocks; but, during a mania, ... More About: Chinese , Bubble , Lessons , Esso
July Site Stats: My last report before getting back to real content in Augu
2007-08-06 13:31:00 While this site is still just a drop in the ocean, it’s nice to watch my site extend its reach to more visitors each month. I have prepared this report using Google Analytics (and Mac OS X’s nice screen grabbing utility). If anyone cares, this report will be good to compare your own sites in ... More About: Wordpress , Site , Report , Content , Back
Expenses for July: A $5000 surprise
2007-08-03 13:33:00 Here is the damage for July –my expenses totalled $5890.80. I am cautiously optimistic because, sans the enormous other category, I spent less than I ever have in a month. Starting with the good: grocery expenses were $155.14 for July (compared to $197.15 for June). There is a good reason for this: dining out expenses rose ... More About: Life , Expenses
Jeremy Siegel is way out of line in suggesting that stocks look cheap and t
2007-08-02 13:30:00 On Monday, Jeremy Siegel wrote a column on Yahoo! Finance giving six reasons why this is a good time to buy stocks. While there could be several years of upside to this bull market, conditions are such that it is better to be cautious here. In his weekly column, Dr. Hussman wrote, ??if investors played ... More About: Stocks , Investing , Cheap , Line
International equities outperform American equities and provide Americans w
2007-07-25 23:37:00 Yesterday, I looked at the performance of five international equity markets including Australia, Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. This was an update to my post, How currency appreciation compounds the returns on foreign equities for U.S. investors. With the exception of Japan’s Nikkei 225, all of these equity markets outperformed the S&P 500 in ... More About: International , American , Equities , Americans , Intern
International equities performance v. American equities, factoring in curre
2007-07-24 23:33:00 In How currency appreciation compounds the returns on foreign equities for U.S. investors, I looked at how currency appreciation compounds the returns for American investors who purchased Canadian and Australian equities and how it made returns on American equities for Canadian and Australian investors underperform the nominal gains. Today and tomorrow, I will be giving ... More About: International , Performance , Equities , Intern
Review: Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided
2007-07-23 23:46:00 Several weeks ago, I read a book called Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions and I have been meaning to recommend it. In Ugly Americans, Ben Mezrich tells the harrowing tale of a Princeton graduate whose failure to make the cut as a professional ... More About: Books , Review
How much work does it take to blog?; my NASDAQ-100 (QQQQ) short
2007-07-22 16:40:00 Clearly, I didn’t post yesterday and today will appear to be a kind of half-assed post (life update). Some friends of mine have noticed that I have a blog and they have been asking questions regarding the financial potential of a blog. I have been very candid with them about the amount of time and ... More About: Life , Work , Blog , Nasdaq , Short
Funny Video Friday: Bud Lite Swear Jar
2007-07-21 02:18:00 Let’s go with something a little bit crass this week (I was seriously deciding between this one and some cute little kittens playing with one another). This one is called Bud Lite Swear Jar. The idea is that every time someone swears, money goes into the jar. OK–we’ve all seen or heard of a swear ... More About: Video , Funny , Funny Video , Friday
P/E ratios during the dot com bubble
2007-07-19 15:57:00 I have been getting a few searches for P/E ratios of the dot com bubble years and, since I have not actually written about valuations in the dot.com bubble (old news), I am sure that these searchers left my site empty handed. Not being one to disappoint, I want to take this opportunity to review ... More About: Bubble , The D
I am now Eligible for PayPerPost
2007-07-19 04:34:00 I spend a fair amount of time researching and writing the content for my blog. I like to pretend that the compensation for my work is the satisfaction of a growing readership; but, I would be lying if I said that I don’t care about the prospects of money earned from blogging. I noticed many ... More About: Sponsored , Payperpost
How to value equities: put on the beer goggles and start buying.
2007-07-15 17:05:00 On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 300 points to close the day. Skeptics (author included) asked why and the headlines, never wanting in ridiculous explanations for the inscrutable, gave us these gems: relief from scary sub-prime debt market worries, Federal Reserve optimism, and mining giant Rio Tinto’s premium offer for the already ... More About: Buying , Beer , Start , Equities , Goggles
Bad Macro: Formerly The Mess That Greenspan Made (Featured)
2007-07-14 14:50:00 The mess all started in 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, with which Congress abdicated control over the currency to a private central bank. However, inflation mostly remained in check until after the second world war. Since then, there have been many blunders in monetary policy that have absolutely annihilated the real ... More About: Wordpress , Made , Featured , Greenspan , Macro
Japanese Screamer - Funny Video Friday
2007-07-13 23:22:00 This youtube video called Japanese Screamer is an older video that you may have seen floating around the Internet last year. I’m hoping some of my readers haven’t seen it yet. The content of the video is pretty simple–a man dressed in a bizarre striped jacket and adorned with a cane walks around screaming at ... More About: Video , Funny , Funny Video , Friday
Who owns America? How is foreign ownership of U.S. Treasuries and other sec
2007-07-13 02:11:00 I have frequently lamented the international investment position of the United States; my tirades always mention the red ink used to write the nasty number that America ns ignore. And with the gap between American investments abroad and foreign investments in America, one must wonder where the foreigners are investing their money. Today, I want to ... More About: Foreign , Treasuries , Ship , Fore
Warren Buffett?s opinion on tax distributions in America focuses on equity
2007-07-10 23:33:00 At a recent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Warren Buffett was heard suggesting tax hikes for the super rich. To the casual observer, this is puzzling because Warren Buffett is one of those super rich that would be subject to the higher tax rates of his proposal. Those who follow Warren Buffett are more familiar with ... More About: America , Opinion
Eight things that only I know about myself (until today)
More articles from this author:2007-07-09 23:44:00 Krystal tagged me; I’m it. I have to break rule 5 and reveal eight random things about myself. I take ‘random’ quite literally. I also decide to one-up everyone by adding pictures (yeah me). 1. I have never broken a bone–ever. I have been sprained, concussed, and had my share of nasty cuts, but my bones ... More About: Life , Today , Things , Thing , Eight 1, 2, 3 |
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