“Janet Yellen would be a perfect candidate for running the Post Office.” -James Grant Financial markets are trembling. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is threatening to put a hold on the nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve, CNBC
There is a lot of commentary in the press about who is responsible for the government shutdown and the near-miss with respect to extending the debt ceiling. The leading culprit is the Tea Party movement, a bunch of right-thinking Americans
The apparent end of the standoff in Washington over raising the ceiling for the national debt provides all sorts of opportunities for commentators to blame one side or another. More than anything else, Americans are offended by the idea that
Federal Reserve Board Vice Chaiman Janet Yellen has been nominated to replace Chairman Benjamin Bernanke. Many observers support her selection by President Barrack Obama, in large part because she is not Lawrence Summers, the political minion of the disgraced former
This is likely to be a bad week for housing and the economy, but not for the reasons you might suspect. The usual cast of characters in the Big Media wants you to believe that the rise in interest rates
“One man gathers what another man spills.” The Grateful Dead The government shutdown is generating a lot of comment in the press about how the Republicans are somehow responsible for this latest fiscal crisis. Nicholas Kristof of The New York
“I have an activist’s desire to improve people’s lives.” –Bill de Blasio The term of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ends in November 2013. Most New Yorkers are blissfully unaware of the fiscal and political train wreck that awaits
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Claude Raines to Humphrey Bogart “Casablanca” For the past several weeks, financial professionals have listened to a procession of economists predicting that the Federal Reserve would start to
A number of financial observers and members of Congress have stated that a new financial crisis is “inevitable,” this despite the vast body of new laws and regulations put in place since the 2008 financial crisis. Most of these observers
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein The fifth anniversary of the failure of Lehman Brothers is generating a lot of comment, mostly of the sort that blames the largest banks for
Last week, a procession of federal financial regulators led by the Federal Reserve Board issued a draft rule and request for comments on what Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) called the most important part of his namesake legislation, namely the provisions
Are we seeing the peak of US home prices in 2013? Last week the Case-Shiller 20 city index of US home prices was up over 12% year-over year through of June, one of the best results seen this year. But
Is the recovery in the US housing market slowing due to rising interest rates or declining affordability? There is a widening debate over this issue, a discussion with big implications for consumers, investors and policy makers. Last week we saw
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” — Rev Martin Luther King Jr. The speculation about who will be chosen by President Barack Obama to succeed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman likes to name call. When Krugman reaches the limits of his incompetence as an economist and polemicist of the Keynesian socialist left, he likes to call Republicans liars. For example, in his August 15,
Earlier this week I spoke with my friend Constance Hunter, Chief Economist for Alternative Investments at KPMG in New York. Hunter is upbeat on the US economy with an estimate of 2.75% growth in 2013. The modest growth number is
Last week, the Obama Administration continued to lay down a smoke screen to hide its negligence when it comes to investigating the criminal acts which caused the subprime crisis. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice announced
So what made President Barack Obama suddenly talk about housing reform this week? After literally years of ignoring the housing mess and allowing some of the worst perpetrators of securities fraud walk away scot-free, Obama is now starting to talk
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected leave office at the end of his term on February 1st, 2014. Do Republicans in the Senate have any thoughts on successors for the next Fed Chairman? Not so far, at least measured by
The latest government statistics on jobs and consumer spending once again show that the US economy is growing far more slowly than the majority of American economists, politicians and citizens hope and expect. The issue of expectations is crucial because
The City of Richmond, CA, has taken a fateful step towards invoking eminent domain to help home owners who owe more on their houses than they are worth – in some cases several times more. The city has sent letters
“Don’t keep two measures at hand.” Deuteronomy 25:14-16 News reports suggest that the banking industry is seeking ways to avoid one of the more ill-considered aspects of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform legislation, namely Section 941 of the law
The bankruptcy of the City of Detroit is a historic event for many reasons. In financial terms, it is an event of default for municipal bonds measured in billions of dollars. Reuters reports the law firms specializing in municipal bankruptcy will
The earnings results for the largest US banks in the second quarter of 2013 suggest that the US mortgage market is headed into a serious slump. The impact of the 2007 mortgage crisis is still being felt in terms of
Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Arizona Republican John McCain have introduced legislation to separate commercial and investment banking a la the Depression era Glass-Steagall. The proposal is more of a political exercise since the legislation has little chance of approval,
Should JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon be the next Fed Chairman? Federal bankrRegulators just published the latest “draft” bank capital guidelines for US depository institutions, aka “Basel III.” You don’t need to know the details; just know that consumers
“Commerce between master and slave is barbarism.” — Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Memorial Americans just celebrated the declaration of independence from Great Britain in the late 1700s with the Fourth of July holiday. The rebellion against British colonial rule was as
Are rising interest rates, care of the Federal Reserve, really bad for the home mortgage market? Reading the headlines, you would think the world has ended with a one point move up in the annual percentage rate or APR on
It’s the edge of the worldAnd all of western civilizationThe sun may rise in the EastAt least it settled in a final locationIt’s understood that HollywoodSells Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers Barack Obama is arguably the most incompetent and duplicitous
“You thought socialism was dead, other than in miserable countries such as North Korea and Cuba? Think again. It’s alive and well at the Federal Reserve, and we and the world are paying a price for it.” — Steve Forbes, February 12,
“What is at issue–what is always at issue–is a matter of good judgment, leadership, and institutional backbone. A willingness to act with conviction in the face of predictable political opposition and substantive debate is, as always, a requisite part of
“The answer is we understand that a lot of people are disappointed with the performance of the stock, and we really are, too.” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook The initial public offering of Facebook (“FB”) in May 2012 at $38 per share
Last week, a raft of economic data came out that confirms what all of us already know, namely that the US economy is growing far more slowly than before the 2008 financial crisis. Most politicians and economists tell us that
A lawyer once told me that “all’s well that ends” when it comes to litigation. As we enter year six of the investor litigation by American International Group, several Federal Home Loan Banks, and other large investors against Bank America’s
Republicans of an optimistic variety view New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as a strong contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. But before we start popping the champagne corks to celebrate, let’s take a look at how this important
A decade ago, former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee were presiding over the lowest interest rates since WWII. The terrorist attack on September of 2001 had spurred the central bank
Home prices rose last month by an average of 10.9%, according to the Case-Shiller index. The good news is that home prices continue to recover from the lows seen in 2009. The bad news is that increasingly frothy conditions in
On Memorial Day we remember the members of the military, both living and departed, for their service to our country. On this day I often think of my Great Grandfather, Richard James Whalen (1846-1903), of Poughkeepsie, New York. Thanks to
Japan’s key equity market indices fell more than 6 percent overnight, the most since the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake. Bloomberg reports that futures trading in Osaka was suspended. “Every Asian market outside Sri Lanka retreated after Federal Reserve Chairman
“I bought gold at $1,400, I buy every month some gold, and I have an order to buy more at $1,300 because I want to keep an allocation towards gold–physical gold–and not stored in the United States at all times.”
