savings

There seems to be a blame game making the rounds in policy circles these days in which Asia is at fault for the credit crisis and economic downturn. The meme goes like this: Everything was fine until the Asians started manipulating their…

Recently, I posted a video of Peter Schiff making the argument for small government and resisting stimulus. As I see much to like in Peter Schiff's views, I sympathisize with the broad themes of his message. However, I do not feel he is…

Peter Schiff is that market wizard people were laughing at just a year ago because of his extreme views. Well, things have turned out much as he has indicated they would. So, now he has a captive audience. And what is he saying?…

On Wednesday morning the U.S. Department of Labor released the latest report on claims for unemployment insurance. The week to December 20th saw 586,000 new claims for unemployment insurance on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which is a…

My very first post on this blog was in March and it was titled "The Economy Is Definitely In Recession." Back then, this seemed like a stretch for a lot of people, but today the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which makes the…

Stephen Roach must feel a certain sense of Schadenfreude because he has been warning since the end of the Technology Bubble that U.S. monetary policy was reckless and would end in a very bad way. The bubble reached heights few anticipated,…

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…

Yesterday, I laid out some of my general thinking on the business cycle and the economy. Obviously, understanding the business cycle is important to economic forecasting and is, therefore, central to personal financial planning, general…

Now that policy makers worldwide have finally stepped in to stop the bleeding, we have had a relief rally of monumental proportions. Most global indices were deep into oversold territory, meaning that there was lots of pent-up demand for a…

Tom Toles is absolutely terrific. He captures the mood of the day so well in his cartoons, that it really puts paid to the aphorism that a picture is worth a thousand words.SourceTom Toles Cartoons, Washington Post