The Fed Tries Boiling the Frog
If you put a frog in a pot of water and gradually turn up the heat, the frog will sit there until it boils to death. If you toss a frog into an already boiling pot of water, the shock…
Our Mountain of Silver
When the Spanish explored the new world in search of riches, they eventually reached what is now Bolivia and found a veritable mountain of silver. The flow of gold and silver to Spain from Cerro Rico (pictured) and other mines…
SPACkle that IPO!
It is always a wonder when a besmirched and ridiculed financial product becomes mainstream. We remember how, with the artful guidance of Michael Milken, junk bonds, once known as “fallen angels” made the transition to new issue high yield securities….
A Return of that Other Bubble?
I was working on Wall Street during the crash of October 19, 1987, when the Dow dropped 22% (or about 7,000 points in today’s market). That evening, traders gathered at Harry’s Bar to commiserate. One of the old timers pulled…
The Fed: Love Minus Zero/No Limit
In the dime stores and bus stations People talk of situations Read books, repeat quotations Draw conclusions on the wall Some speak of the future My love she speaks softly She knows there’s no success like failure And that failure’s…
Between the Bubble and the Bitcoin Bitters
I recently read this item in the Wall Street Journal, “Nvidia misjudged how quickly prices for the graphics cards that those chips go into would normalize now that crypto currency mining isn’t as hot.” That seemed odd. For related posts…
The Most Powerful Woman in the World
On February 1st, Janet Louise Yellen, will become the most powerful woman in the world. At the independent Fed, the Chairman must occasionally answer badly informed and sometimes snarky questions from congress but other than a cumbersome impeachment process (see…
What Went Wrong? Expectations Matter
Five years ago we found out who was not too big to fail. Lehman Brothers went down on September 15, 2008, with over $600 billion in assets setting off a remarkable chain of events. A few days later John McCain…
The Weight – The Final Chapter? by Jim Anderson
“Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free; Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me.” The Band, Robbie Robertson, 1968 With a string of profitable quarters on the books, it seems…
Bernanke’s Bear Baiting
“Bear baiting is a blood sport involving the worrying or tormenting (baiting) of bears.” – Wikipedia Bear baiting was a favorite of both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. They even built a specialized pit, the Bear Garden, at Bankside in London…