Out of the 2008 financial crisis came a new (and slightly unsettling) phrase that referred to the biggest of the big financial institutions in the world. (It was also the title of a really great movie…) The implication was that TBTF banks were so big, so asset heavy, so woven into the fabric of the …
It’s been dubbed the new gold. The ultimate inflation hedge. The monetary system of the future. You know it. You love it… Bitcoin. But is it really all that? Is bitcoin really the protector of your rapidly-devaluing dollars at the hands of our evil central banks? And if not, then what is it? You might …
Absent Omicron (or some other Greek letter variant) crushing the world and causing another panic lockdown or some other equally market-shaking cataclysm that would green light the Fed to keep its price supports in place — the Fed has done its utmost to prepare the market for the worst. No more free money. It’s hard. …
The big day came and went this past Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stepped up to the mic and officially announced the shift in policy by the all-important Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). They were doubling the rate of their taper — to be finished roughly by March. And then they would be looking …
Any eighth grade economics text book will tell you there are three ways to deal with an overspending problem by the government: Increase taxes. (aka Career suicide for politicians. Cut spending. (Also career suicide for politicians.) Borrow money. (The irresponsible yet painless solution.) Our government has been taking the irresponsible yet painless way out for …
Dealing With the Government’s Deranged Debt Addiction Read More »
We have a winner! In a bit of a nail biter, current heavyweight Fed Chairman Jerome Powell faced off against chairmanship challenger and Fed Board Member Lael Brainard. Chairman Powell has shown himself to be more hawkish when it comes to inflation — or at least more willing to sound like a hawk. (There hasn’t …
Take a look at this chart… That’s the total of the federal public debt… the cumulative amount the government has overspent over the past decades. We were never what you’d call “fiscally responsible” but the explosion in deficits that add to the debt took off during the Reagan administration (sorry… but it’s true) and has never looked …
Earlier this week, the markets got some seriously bad news… Consumer prices spiked 6.2% year-over-year to their highest level in more than 30 years. On top of that, producer prices — the prices that drive consumer prices — reinforced the bad news. October continued to show a whopping 8.6% increase from the previous year. The …
One thing Wall Street will never do is NOT make take your money. Now I may sound cynical, but this is how the markets work these days. Investors are always looking for ways to earn above market returns — and Wall Street is always happy to come up with some creative ways to oblige. (And …
You read it in the headlines. You hear about it on the evening news. You see it at the supermarket and the gas pump. It’s top of mind everywhere. Inflation. Nobody likes inflation. It weakens your dollars. It’s a tax on the poor and middle class. It sucks! What could possibly be worse? Well let’s …
The Other “Flation” You Should Be Thinking About Read More »
