Credit Writedowns

Bear markets are not an orgy of pain with indices going straight down. Along the way, there are always brief rallies which bring optimism that the worst is over.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes in today's Telegraph of the BIS annual report, which is unusually cautious about the global economy. His article makes for sobering reading.Bill White, the departing chief economist at the BIS, in writing his…

In this weeks Barron's, Louise Yamada writes that financials in the U.S. have not fallen nearly enough in respect to their meteoric rise in the U.S. indices. She predicts further pain in the sector to where they represent less than a…

Peter Schiff, the investor and author, is a controversial figure. He tells of an America that has lost its way through shedding manufacturing and its habit of saving money. His conclusion is that the U.S. is not a place where he wants his…

"Bloomberg on the Economy" recently spoke to Nouriel Roubini, the oft-quoted NYU finance professor. He believes the U.S. is now in recession and that a global slowdown is in the offing. There are several other countries in recession or…

The chart below is yet another from Perot Charts. I have no particular message in mind with this chart except to inform my readers how the government gets and uses tax monies. One issue to note is the outsize proportion of taxes that…

The front page of today's business section of the New York Times features an article by Joe Nocera that correctly questions Washington's preoccupation with speculators as the source of our oil crisis. It seems the witch hunt in Washington…

WINFIELD, Mo. -- A makeshift sandbag levee holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday and authorities said part of the town was evacuated.From the Wall Street Journal.Winfield, 45 miles northwest of St. Louis, is in Lincoln…

Perot Charts is Ross Perot's attempt to reintroduce himself into politics in the US. From his standpoint, the U.S. is running an irresponsible fiscal policy that will only lead to ruin. His chart on the U.S. national debt, now over $9…

Whether you believe that peak oil is here or you believe that it's fantasy, ultimately your opinion rests on whether the Saudis can pump more oil. For years, Saudi Arabia has been the swing oil producer, able to turn on its oil spigots…