Category: Commentary

Commentary, General

Still Rock and Roll to me

I’ve already mentioned in my prior post “The Greatest Recession” the importance of Richard Koo’s work on the balance sheet recession. Indeed, we are lucky to have this guide as we recognize the consequence, significance, and inevitable results of putting our fiscal laxity into hyperdrive. This post is not intended to harbinger gloom and pessimism, the world will continue regardless, but these are obvious vulnerabilities that did not have to metastasize – and they ought […]

Commentary, General

That’s Just The Way It Is

“If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.” – Julius Caesar. Fellow Americans, global citizens, rent seekers, and producers, I’m sorry to report we’ve crossed the Rubicon. In the 2,069 years since the apocryphal crossing (significant for Occidental readers), the only difference in the seizure of power are the increasingly sheepish ways with which it is done. The original occasion was as terrifying as it was […]

Commentary, General

What Dreams Central Planners Dream

Consider the following. ‘The medium exchange, for the whole history of human commercial relationships, is defined and valued based on the scarcity of the item exchanged and the ensuing negotiation on trading ownership for some other item of scarcity. We are living in a bubble, where our commercial relationships are defined by a medium of exchange that is detached from a store of value. In our times, a tenuous attachment to value is made, when […]

Commentary, General, Uncategorized

The State of the Economy

On the News Front Early in the trading session this past Friday (March 22nd) the 3-month Treasury bill yield & the 10-Year Treasury Bond yield inverted.  As of this writing, the 3-month Treasury yield & the 10-yr yield are sitting at 2.455% and 2.442% respectively.  Subsequently, this inversion took center-stage on the news outlets for the day. The ‘big deal’ associated with the inversion of the yield curve is that it has been a recurrence […]

Commentary, General

On Workism

The introduction to Ben Carlson’s article “Why Are People Miserable At Work” is the perfect illustration in our times for how and why work is examined with religious devotion. Even the language that generally accompanies the inquiry, “What do you do for work?”, is optimistically suggestive, “what’s your passion”, “your drive”, “accomplishments”, “what do you earn“. There is so much we assume about vocations and the efforts we engage them with, our language seems to […]

Commentary, General, Reviews

Government Shutdowns

Pretext The recent concern over the threat of another government shutdown related to the Border all resolution deadline this past Friday (Feb 15th) motivated me to look into the effects of past government shutdowns on the markets. As many are aware, the recent 2018-2019 governmental shutdown was the longest in history, spanning from December 22nd 2018 to January 25th 2019, running for 35 consecutive days. As pretext, this government shutdown resulted directly from Congress and […]

Commentary, General

The Buyback Effect

Back In The Spotlight One topic of conversation that has garnered interest over the past couple weeks has been that of stock buybacks and questioning their acceptance in the markets today. The conversation surrounding this topic has been around since stock buybacks were allowed to begin again in 1982 thanks in large part to the Reagan administration. Prior to 1982, stock buybacks were banned on the premise that they were largely considered to be a […]

Commentary

The Facebook Flop: Or, why you don’t need to be a genius to be an investor

Without a doubt being a genius helps, in all things. Studies show a correlation with a longer lifespan and higher quality of late-stage life, even less injuries. However, it has not been shown quantitatively or subjectively (see Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards) to provide any consistent edge in the marketplace. Personally I find this equalizing feature of the markets one of its most attractive and fascinating features. All it takes to lose or win is being […]