Posts Tagged ‘ banking ’

Central Banks Aren’t Banks

Sep 26th, 2011 | By | Category: Economics, Featured
I am going to make a number of obvious statements that we all can agree are true, but what they add up to is a startling conclusion. What we call "central banks" are not banks at all. What is a bank? According to a helpful little essay on banks for students ...read more

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Posted in Economics, Featured | 2 comments


Dubai Malinvestment Outdoes U.S.

Dec 2nd, 2009 | By | Category: Featured, International, Macro Economics
"While Dubai is not big enough to set off financial repercussions outside the Middle East, the main fear is that investors could flee risky markets all at once in search of safer havens for their money." — The NYT, Vikas Bajaj and Graham Bowley, reporting. Apart from the stark self-contradiction in ...read more

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Posted in Featured, International, Macro Economics | 9 comments


Banking, the Federal Government and the Free Market

Jun 23rd, 2009 | By | Category: Featured, Morning Whiskey
This week's big market development was the announcement of proposed reforms for the flock of federal regulators that apparently "supervise" the banking system. You wouldn't know there was much supervision going on based upon the events of the past year. Predictably, we're likely going to see the addition of another big ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Morning Whiskey | No Comments »


Iceland: Harbinger of Worldwide Collapse

Apr 17th, 2009 | By | Category: Featured, Macro Economics
Iceland is a mess.  Total mess.  Bankrupt and its currency, the krona, has been abandoned by most people in the world. In Iceland it's lost two thirds of its former value and purchasing power.  Iceland is a nation that throughout its long 1100 history-year history has been extremely poor, depending ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Macro Economics | 13 comments


Peak Oil, Credit and the Collapse of Complex Systems: What Next?

Mar 3rd, 2009 | By | Category: Featured, Macro Economics, Oil
What next? Isn't that a question, though...       The Peak Oil story was never about running out of oil. It was about the collapse of complex systems in a world economy faced by the prospect of no further oil-fueled growth. It was something of a shock to many that the first complex ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Macro Economics, Oil | 17 comments


Two Shocks, One Solution

Dec 3rd, 2007 | By | Category: Macro Economics
“You can either bail out the big banks with a flood of cheap money or keep a lid on inflation. You can't do both, not according to history. And sometimes — like now — you’ll be hard put to achieve either.” “THE ECONOMY HAS BEEN HIT BY TWO shocks,” said Andrew ...read more

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Posted in Macro Economics | No Comments »


Buffett’s Dictum & Your Margin of Safety

Oct 3rd, 2007 | By | Category: Currencies
"Risk has been abolished — a concept even the TV news anchors can grasp." "IF YOU UNDERSTOOD a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety," said Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in 1997. He had first ...read more

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Posted in Currencies | No Comments »