For the longest time, Jupiter was never thought to play much of a role in celestial mechanics of the much smaller scales in the solar system. Comets and asteroids may not seem to be significant to solar reality, but to those of us that reside on Earth there is much to appreciate about even planetary gravity and the survival of [...]
There's been a lot of talk recently about deflation - no I'm not talking about the New England Patriots - so maybe it's a good time to talk about what it really is and why so many economists seem to be in a tizzy about the possibility. For most of the folks who spend their time pondering such things, deflation [...]
In reviewing commentary about all the posturing in Japan preparing for what looks like, to me, an end of the recovery idea, there was one very alarming passage that I think may be important (and not just widely ridiculous) that ties together failure and the possible future course: Abe said yesterday he hadn’t decided whether to proceed with any snap [...]
If there had been an actual recovery delivered as it was intended, promised and offered, the idea of inequality would be an afterthought in an otherwise prosperous age. Inequality, however defined, is a necessary feature of a dynamic economic system. We want inequality because that defines opportunity. A healthy economic system produces disparities due to prices, risk and value. Such [...]
Deutsche Bank over the weekend announced a significant dilution to existing shareholders, raising some €8 billion in equity capital in two distinct transactions. About 60 million shares are being sold in a single transaction to a new “anchor” investor, Paramount Holding Services, the investment fund of the (a?) Qatari Shiek. The second transaction is a fully underwritten offering of up [...]
We have had an ongoing discussion of the “wealth effect” here, spurred by my colleague Margie Fernandez, including some good outside discussion. Current orthodox thinking is that there is significant downstream economic benefits from inducing rising “wealth”, such as can be done. Van Hoisington and Lacy Hunt, PhD from Hoisington Investment Management summarize it as: FOMC leaders may feel justified [...]
A Sunday article from the New York Times pretty much defines the state of “capitalism” as it exists now. Detractors contend that awarding contracts based solely on price means that the government risks ending up with inferior products or services, though this is a risk even when the government does not use reverse auctions. The target of that “criticism” is [...]
There is something very much broken in the media, particularly with regard to economic reporting. I have already commented more times than I care about the overemphasis on logical fallacies, but the proportionality of the disconnect only grows with share price inflation. Under the headline, Bull Market Shows No Sign of Death With Yellen Support, this Bloomberg article begins, “The [...]
Stay In Touch