Credit Writedowns

I caught a story in the Wall Street Journal today about Paul Volcker's impact on the Obama campaign that bears passing on (hat tip Barry Ritholtz). One reason people have become more comfortable with Obama over time is because his economic…

My daily link list is available only via my Newsletter or Feed, but here is the overflow of links: Financial crisis and regulation's role in it NZ Inflation Rate Accelerates to 18-Year-High 5.1% (Update2) - Bloomberg Ohio Democrats Get…

As you may have figured out from my recent commentary, I am a lot more bullish on global markets than I was just two weeks ago.  I feel that we have passed a very important stage in this credit crisis and that the panic phase is over --…

Yesterday, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President despite long-standing support for John McCain. While I agree with the reasoning in many of the statements he…

Below are the videos of Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live." I thought it showed good humor on her part to be on the show. I give her full credit despite what some critics might say. Take a look.

Last week, I wrote a cheeky little post called "The Panic is over," in which I argued that the Panic phase of this crisis would ebb and the more chronic problems of excessive debt, leverage and recession would move center stage. Of course,…

So, I am back in the saddle after a great weekend in Palm Beach. And three days almost entirely away from Newspapers, Televisions, Telephones, and Computers is a very good thing to clear the head. (Although I did happen to catch Sarah…

The United States had been living beyond its means for a very long time before the credit crisis finally hit. The truth of the matter is that U.S. monetary and fiscal policy rewarded risk-taking and leverage at the expense of prudence and…

I love Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's CEO. He really tells it like it is. At last quarter's earnings call, he called a spade a spade and said "prime looks terrible" in reference to prime mortgage loans. This quarter his quote is even…

Oil has traded as low as $68.57 today, its lowest since August 2007. Gold is down $40 to below $800 an ounce. And all other commodity prices are getting pummeled. Now, I certainly foresaw some major declines in commodity prices as a major…