Markets are idling today ahead of tomorrow’s election. Volume is the lowest it’s been since the lazy days of August. The question we need to ask today is what the likely impact of the election will be on stocks. I want…
Socialism, n. : Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. Today I am announcing…
Some of the best trades come when everyone gets very panicky. The crowd can often act very stupidly in the markets. You can picture price fluctuations around an equilibrium level as a rubber band being stretched – if it gets…
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday, with the full support of the Treasury Department, authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend up to $85 billion to the American International Group (AIG) under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve…
Fascinating article in today’s NY Times that is getting a lot of play: “81% in Poll Say Nation Is Heading on Wrong Track”, NY Times, Friday April 4. The 81% who say the nation has gotten pretty seriously off on…
Remember Friday March 14 2008: it was the day the dream of global free- market capitalism died. For three decades we have moved towards market-driven financial systems. By its decision to rescue Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve, the institution responsible…
Mr. Thompson, President of the United States: The country is in a terrible state. People are starving and giving up, the economy is falling to pieces, nobody is producing any longer. We don’t know what to do about it. You…
The Wall Street Journal had a fascinating front page article yesterday on the 2008 Presidential Election: “An Epochal Battle: Iowa kicks off the most wide open race since ’80. Looking beyond the Reagan-Bush era” (subscription required). Everybody knows the big…
One of the arguments all of us will hear time and again as the new year begins is that 2008 will be a good year for stocks because it is a Presidential election year. Stocks have gone up 13 of…
Greg Mankiw, Harvard Economist and former member of the Bush economic team, put a post up on his blog linking to a study with a chart showing the relationship between % of the vote received by incumbents and economic growth. …