July 2009

Reuters is reporting that the ratings agencies are about to get into some serious legal problems.  You see,during the bubble years, the ratings agencies gave a gold-standard AAA rating to what now seems to be dubious investment…

Here is a clip from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart that highlights Lenny Dykstra, the former baseball player turned financial guru.  To my mind, it really puts the bubble years into perspective. By the way, I am a Boston Red Sox…

I got a tip from a friend Andrew about a sale of assets by Wells Fargo (WFC) which raises a number of interesting questions.  He sent me the following 14 July article from the Milwaukee Business Journal. Wells Fargo sold $600…

Sotomayor Surprises Sessions -- Taegan Goddard's Political Wire Another example of how the GOP must be careful to not look anti-Hispanic. James Galbraith Testimony on Fed Galbraith opines on Fed as super-regulator and other good…

This comes via Bloomberg: Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s second- quarter profit exceeded analysts’ estimates as record trading and stock underwriting led the company to its highest quarterly profit. Net income in the three months ended…

My translation below is of an article from the website Finanzas. House prices accelerated their decline in June, down 10.1% over the same month of 2008, which is three tenths more than the previous month, when housing fell 9.8%,…

Talk about V-shaped recoveries.  Here’s one that’s actually for real.  It’s in Singapore and it’s huge. Singapore appears to be emerging from its worst recession on record after the economy expanded at an annualised rate of…

Testing the Tesla Roadster Electric Sports Car - WSJ.com A muscle car that's electric? Yes. BerkShares, Buckaroos, and Bear Dollars: What Makes a Local Currency Tick? - Randy Wray More on California's IOUs as a currency. Whitney…

I have introduced the concept of a technical recovery to describe the anticipated weak recovery period that lies ahead.  Van Hoisington and Lacy Hunt have a different term to remember: Partial recovery.  They see the potential…

I listened to the first day of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings for a spot as a US Supreme Court justice. I was very impressed.  The three who impressed me the most were Al Franken (D-MN), Arlen Specter (D-PA), and Sotomayor…