Source: WSJ Source: NYT 25 years ago today, the US stock market had an unprecedented one day crash, falling ~23% on Black Monday — the largest one day decline in any market in history. All investors should be at least one part market historian — toward that end, here is a round of the television, … Read more
Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur argue that consumption inequality has not increased along with income inequality. That’s not what recent research says, but before getting to that, here’s their argument: Consumption and the Myths of Inequality, by Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur, Commentary, WSJ: In multiple campaign speeches over the past week, President Obama has … Read more
The pace of new home sales in September rose nearly 6% vs. August and is up 27% vs. a year ago, the Census Bureau reports, offering more evidence that the housing market continues to improve. The volume of new sales is still far below the pre-Great Recession levels, but in the here and now it’s no trivial … Read more
The global financial crisis has reversed an expansionary trend of international activities by banks from advanced countries that had been at play for decades. From the late 1970s to 2008, banks not only found new opportunities for intermediation in increasing cross-border capital flows, but they also raised their profile in domestic credit provision abroad. We … Read more
Here’s the central thesis of the far right about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is taken from the web site: The Neville Awards (as in Neville Chamberlain), which gives “awards” to Democrats for their cowardice and other mortal and venal sins. This particular article claims that the damnably clever Democrats, while the Republicans controlled the Presidency, … Read more
“On day one, I will label them a currency manipulator.” So spoke Mitt Romney during Monday’s Presidential debate, threatening, as he has innumerable times, to hit China with new tariffs if it doesn’t stop using a cheap yuan to steal U.S. jobs. But does the label still fit? We all know the story by heart. … Read more
Welcome to the Great Convergence — The Developing World is Converging to Developed Country GDP Per Capita Levels — The Alternative Would Be Worse(1) This is an election season, so all hope of intelligent policy discourse has been abandoned in favor of the partisan soundbite. One side, uniquely brilliant, will magically solve our nation’s problems … Read more
Legendary hedge fund supremo Ray Dalio is in ebullient mood. Following a series of moves by Mario Draghi to underpin European government financing Dalio told Bloomberg that, in his opinion, the euro will now “likely” stay together because existing growth-constraining austerity measures will henceforth be balanced by money printing over at the European Central Bank. … Read more
In response to my interview “The Myth of Affordable Energy,” my friend and fellow blogger Gary Alexander asks an excellent question. Many readers of the interview on various sites where it has been reposted have asked similar questions, and the following is addressed to them, as well. Gary asks: Ed, I need your clarification on … Read more
There were three signals of note that emerged from the EU Summit, even if no new initiatives or measures were announced. First, there was moral support for Greece as officials recognized “the determination of the Greek government to deliver on its commitments and we commend the remarkable efforts by the Greek people.” By acknowledging that … Read more