2012

John Hussman just came out with a note that also warns about reversion to the mean in profit margins. Here I have some comments on how these trends play out in earnings and the stock market.

I missed this one from Omid Malekan a few weeks back but it's a good primer on gas/petrol prices for those of you who are interested.

Last week, I wrote a bit more on my prediction of margin compression in the US and how Apple fits in the weekly newsletter. This story in today's links from the Washington Post was really good on that with regard to Apple.

There are several developments that warn of future problems in the euro zone and these make us suspicious about the euro's ability to sustain the upside break.

Minsky's “Financial Instability Hypothesis” is one of the key foundations of Steve Keen's approach to economics. Minsky has come into vogue these days of course, but to people who’ve known his work for several decades rather than ever since…

The JOBS Act is insane on many levels. It creates an extraordinarily criminogenic environment in which securities fraud will become even more out of control. One of the forms of insanity is the belief that one can “win” a regulatory…

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's lecture series at George Washington University is most unfortunate. The first instinct, at least here, is to let it pass. Two of the man's characteristics will be addressed in what follows. First, his…

The market lacks conviction after shrugging off the disappointing European flash PMIs last week. Even though Italian and Spanish bonds are firmer today, outperforming Germany, we detect a deterioration of conditions in Europe and are…

Rich nations worldwide have a problem with debt. In the past, such problems have been dealt with by several tactics, including “financial repression”. This column explains how the tactic works and documents its resurgence in the wake of the…

In an interview with Louis James, the inimitable Doug Casey throws cold water on those celebrating the economic recovery.