ARCHIVES
05/14/2008 - Clowning Around
Greg’s Note: In his book Greenspan’s Bubbles, Fred Sheehan examines the work done by Alan Greenspan during his tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Today, he shows us how the personality of Greenspan affected the way he ran the economy and how he marketed himself to the media. 04/14/2008 - First Step — Fire the Fed
Greg’s Note: With the banking system going through a period of turmoil, the question of federal regulation will not be going away any time soon. Are market influences enough, or should the government be taking a closer look at how these banks do business. Fred Sheehan takes a look at what went on under Alan Greenspan’s Fed and what should be done now. 01/28/2008 - The Absent-Minded Doctor
Greg’s Note: After exiting the public arena, Alan Greenspan has now journeyed into the private sector. Fred Sheehan muses about the connections between Greenspan’s handling of the housing bubble, and the personal fortune of the man who just hired him. Is something rotten, or are these two simply grabbing as many headlines as possible. 01/21/2008 - From Too Big to Fail to Too Big to Care
Greg’s Note: With a financial crisis looming, the regulators who have been put in charge of our economy seem poised to spring into action. Fred Sheehan takes us back to a simpler time. A time when such a crisis was just a possibility, not an inevitability. If all our markets should be left open to competition, do we really need these regulators at all? 12/20/2007 - While Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Fence
Greg’s Note: Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan can be seen everywhere you look. He’s been in the press more lately than the current chairman. Whiskey contributor Fred Sheehan is gobbling up all the Greenspan coverage he can get and has noticed how much credit this maestro deserves for the problems the economy has been through. It appears there is enough to fill a book. 10/05/2007 - Greenspan Was Never a Republican — He Was an Opportunist
Greg’s Note: Was Greenspan a Republican? Or did he lean to Democrat? Fred Sheehan scathes these two questions below. 09/05/2007 - Currency Devaluation and House-Swapping: A Symphony in Two Movements
Greg’s Note: “An insidious contribution of currency devaluation is the destruction of work habits.” So starts Fred Sheehan in your Whiskey shot for today. Too much money tends to bring about general upheaval and a decrease in long-term capital investment. Too much money often enkindles shorter-term quick paper “profit” schemes. One such scheme that’s open to almost every adult American is “house-trading” or speculation in the real estate market. Fred presents a picture of the housing bubble of the early seventies and it seems eerily familiar to our present American Bubble. 08/15/2007 - America’s Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Policy
Greg’s Note: Fred Sheehan returns to discuss the recent attempts by “weaker minds in the U.S. Senate” to force China to revalue its currency. Apparently, this has happened before! The U.S. tried to force a de facto revaluation of China’s silver-backed currency in the early 1930s by a concerted effort to jack up the silver price. Did that forced revaluation turn out well? 08/06/2007 - Inflating the Substitution Effect
Greg’s Note: Today Fred Sheehan presents a novel discussion on inflation. Interestingly, he goes through the article without actually referencing prices. Although he may not claim it himself, I feel that he has laid out what amounts to moral explanation of inflation – and its results. 07/20/2007 - Alan, We Hardly Knew Ye
Greg's Note: Fred Sheehan returns to commiserate the 20th anniversary of Alan Greenspan's Fed chairman nomination. He applies these flattering terms to the Maestr "lapses in judgment…self-serving…intellectual laziness…furtiveness…gobbledygook…mediocre talents." Need I say more? 07/05/2007 - "Tin Men"
Greg's Note: Is there anything new in the hedge fund and derivative mixture that we see today? Fred Sheehan doesn't think so. He draws parallels to the conglomeration craze in the late '60s and the heady LBO days of the '80s. 06/22/2007 - Inflation Begets Inflation
Greg’s Note: Russian real estate developers…Australian railroads…the wedding at Cana…Mexican Tortilla protests…beef eating gold miners…indoor ski slopes in Dubai…spinning diamonds and centripetal force. Fred Sheehan finds a way to connect all of these things in this essay about inflation’s unintended -- and generally unseen -- global consequences. 05/21/2007 - Help Wanted: A Leading Contrarian Indicator
Greg’s Note: Our pal Frederick Sheehan examines Pimco’s decision to have Greenspan on as an advisor. Could he be their contrarian indicator? Fred takes a look at the Maestro’s past track record. Also, Fred is completing a biography of Alan Greenspan. Stay tuned for more about Fred’s book. 04/20/2007 - "The Government's New Math: 3.5% - 5.1% = 1935"
Greg's Note: Fred Sheehan's back to analyze the government's calculation of the Consumer Price Index. Apparently they've invented -- and perfected -- a "New Math." Sounds interesting. Can we believe the CPI numbers the gov't cranks out? Seems like we can't. What are the implications of faulty CPI calculations? Fred goes into more detail below. 02/26/2007 - From Paper Assets to Real Assets: An Assessment From the Pampas
Greg’s Note: Fred Sheehan returns today with a historic analysis of the string of financial calamities that struck Argentina over the past 150 years. Might these calamities parallel the present state of the U.S. markets? And, if paper assets eventually wither to worthlessness, what might be a better type of asset to own? 01/26/2007 - War of the Nerds
Greg's Note: Fred Sheehan returns today to discuss the intimate relationship financial markets have with fantasy and illusion. He delves into the strange behavior of the European bond markets around the start of WWI. It seems that those markets grew too casual about risk...and seemingly ignored the impending monster until right up to the point it breathed its gooey snarls into their collective ear. Could today's U.S. market ignore endemic risk in a similar fashion? | 
