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…
COVID-19’s Creative Destruction
“Creative destruction refers to the incessant product and process innovation mechanism by which new production units replace outdated ones. Over the long run, the process of creative destruction accounts for over 50 per cent of productivity growth.” – Joseph Schumpeter,…
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…
The Central Planners and the Virus
“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.” …
How Much Green for this Deal?
When I was a leftist radical some decades ago in Berkeley, I joined in many late-night to early morning discussions about the woes of the world. The Vietnam War was raging, we were all subject to the draft and none…
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…
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…