In today's Mad Hatter World, we might remember the Queen of Hearts, the mean-spirited sovereign created by Lewis Carroll in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." She sentenced her subjects to death for the slightest offense, [...]
The dice have been rolled for the fate of 300 million Americans. Congress recently enacted legislation to resolve the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. This will be the government's greatest effort to [...]
Since the cracks that turned into earthquakes began convulsing the economy in the summer of 2007, pundits have actively debated both the depth of the financial downturn and its duration. More than $300 billion [...]
Over the past decade, the fortunes of Russia and its leading oil and gas company, Gazprom, have improved dramatically. A decade ago, the price of oil was languishing and Russia was facing possible bankruptcy. [...]
In order to convince his subjects of the wisdom of surrendering after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced over the radio to his beleaguered people that they [...]
Personal Background: On reflection, I would not have written an essay about Hollywood’s failure to produce movies that focused on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust from 1930-1962 without the influence of both of my parents. [...]
'If summer were spring and the other way round, Then all the world would be upside down." In 1781, the above ditty, "The World Turned Upside Down," was reputedly played as the defeated British [...]
Transcript of Charlie Rose’s interview with Gladstone Duck, The Senior Economic Advisor to the third party candidate Mickey Mouse. Charlie Rose: I want to welcome back Gladstone who has been my guest on many [...]
Transcript of Charlie Rose’s interview with Gladstone Duck, The Senior Economic Advisor to the third party candidate Mickey Mouse. Charlie Rose: I want to welcome back Gladstone who has been my guest on many [...]
During the past few weeks, a consensus has emerged that Wall Street has entered a new era of lower returns on equity, thinner profits, fewer jobs and more federal oversight. The declining fortune of [...]
The purported reconnaissance flight by some 250 Israeli airplanes over Iran’s fledgling nuclear program reflects several ominous trends. A number of countries have jump-started nuclear programs by obtaining needed technology from Pakistan, Russia, North [...]
In recent weeks, key economic data highlight concerns that the economy will not rebound until sometime in 2009. In at least three key areas -- housing, automobiles and retail sales -- recently reported numbers [...]
Over the years, I have developed great sympathy for Inspector Jacques Clouseau's boss -- Commissioner Charles Dreyfus. The good commissioner and I twitch when we observe inept moves. Although Clouseau (Peter Sellers) bungled catching the [...]
The proposed purchase of Calpine Corp. by NRG Energy Inc. would create the largest independent power company in the United States. The nearly $11 billion takeover would double NRG's capacity in the United States [...]
The showering of rice on a newly wedded couple has always been symbolic of wishing prosperity and good luck. To this day, rice remains a token of a life of "plenty." Unfortunately, a dramatic [...]
The United States has advocated free trade policies of unrestricted imports and exports since the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. This principle of refraining from imposing tariffs or quotas remained the case even after [...]
The need to achieve energy independence is as important for the U.S. today as obtaining hegemony in the space program was in the 1950s after the USSR launched Sputnik. Most experts feel that our [...]
Much like it picked Amazon Inc. Chairman Jeff Bezos in 1999 because he personified the field of e-commerce, Time magazine should choose Uncle Sam for its next Person of the Year, since he is [...]
The expected merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines represents another blow to the deregulation policies of Jimmy Carter that ushered in many upstart airlines. Advocates of a "laissez faire" role for government [...]
Although I am not aware any statues of Alan Greenspan being toppled by irate crowds, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve has certainly fallen from a lofty perch. Once hailed as the "greatest [...]
When I reflect on major economic events in the first quarter of this year, I visualize a whole flock of black swans descending around me. One might ask, why black swans? I have become [...]
In the fairy tale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," Goldilocks seemed happy enough to have a few bites of porridge from Mama, Daddy, and Baby Bear's bowls. But when Jamie Dimon, the CEO of [...]
I Believe In You Those four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try. 3/3/2008 By Mike Krzyzewski (Duke Basketball Coach) and his daughter Jamie Spatola I absolutely loved [...]
“If it is too good to be true, then it not true” If you are counting on the Wall Street Firm that sold you the bonds, to now make a bid near par for [...]
In reading about recent events, I share the bewilderment of the central character of The Gods Must be Crazy. In this 1980 movie comedy, the central character, N!xau, embarks on an odyssey filled with [...]
“Economies Evolve, and so, too, must economic policy” -Hyman Minsky “Sometimes you have to shoot stray horses and their negligent keepers.” For the sake of G_D, we surely should not pay errant gate keepers [...]
A Demon of our own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds and the Perils of Financial Innovation By Richard Bookstaber “You do not deliberately obliterate hundreds of billions of dollars of investor money. The financial markets that [...]
“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for a merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or is some contrivance to raise prices” —Adam Smith 1776 [...]
The proposed acquisition of Chrysler by a private- equity firm, Cerberus, reflects a growing trend throughout the world. That is, between twenty and twenty-five percent of all mergers and acquisitions over the past year [...]
The leading editorial of the New York Times, Looking at America (December 31, 2007) highlights how people in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of [...]
Morgan Stanley’s Pristine Heritage “At all times, the idea of doing only first class business, and that in a first class way, has been before our minds.” J. P. Morgan Junior read into the [...]
Reuben Goldberg (July 4, 1883 - December 7, 1970) was an American cartoonist who received a 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning. He is best known for his series of popular cartoons depicting [...]
What Motivated Me to Write this Market Letter? After Wednesday’s tumultuous market, highlighted by the twenty-five percent decline in the stocks of FNMA and Freddie Mac, I thought I would compose a market letter. [...]
In today’s New York Times, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. a professor at Harvard pointed out that the problem of elevating most blacks out of poverty requires urgent attention. Moreover, part of our failure to [...]
Today’s New York Times commented that the political alliance of Pat Robertson and Rudolph Giuliani could compete for the strangest bedfellows of 2008. While I agree with Joseph Biden that Giuliani does not possess [...]
On August 15th, I wrote an essay Fire Next Time. In that essay, I described some of the problems that I felt would impact negatively the stock market and the economy. Subsequently, including today, [...]
