What disease did cured ham actually have? This month I have a lot of random observations. I usually have a topic or two or a theme, but like the rest of the world, I am trying to make sense of all of these disjunctive observations. I just completed Walter Isaacson’s

Wow! Did no one else notice… or care that Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S.A.’s long-term foreign currency default rating from AAA to AA+? Their reason? Erosion of governance. Rising general government deficits. Debt to GDP. The economy slipping into recession. Fed tightening. Need I say more? So, I am thinking

I don’t know if anyone else saw the irony in it, but I had to chuckle when I read that Zoom is calling its workers back to the office for the first time since the pandemic. First, let me assure you that the world is not coming to an end.

The economic slowdown is now underway and inflation rates, though moderating, are still too high. The monetary policy trilemma (is that even a word?) of price stability vs financial market stability vs economic support is now a reality. The Fed just increased interest rates another ¼ percent and bank regulators

We are in the late stage of a long-term debt cycle. Debt has become so high it is difficult to give lender-creditors a high enough interest rate relative to inflation to make them want to hold this debt as an asset without making the rates so high that it hurts

“The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.” The lower the interest rate, the easier it is to justify marginal projects toward the end of a business cycle when only cheap money gets the deal done. Thus, that is why commercial