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
How is it that we put a man on the moon before we figured out if it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? In an almost equally cool move as wheels on luggage, last year Apple started to allow you to store car, house, and hotel
“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
“The point to remember is that what the government gives, it must first take away.” ~ John Coleman Well spring is in the air (nope sorry, that’s more rain) and baseball is returning to the ballparks. Tax Day (April 18th) has been replaced by Jackie Robinson Day (April 15th) and
“There is no wealth but life.” ~ Ruskin I assume most of you watched and enjoyed the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago. It was interesting because most of these season finales turn out to be sort of ho-hum. This year was a nail biter to the end. On
California produces 60% of American roses but the vast majority sold on Valentine’s Day in the U.S. are imported from South America. One hundred and ten million roses will be sold and delivered this Valentine’s Day – another sign of California losing some of its lovin’ (and jobs). On the
“Good judgement comes from bad experience…and most of that comes from bad judgement.” As I have written before, uncertainty is a killer of markets. When investors or business owners have a murky view of the future – reluctance to make commitments abounds. For the last decade, we have lived in
In my July letter, I linked to some extra credit reading ZeroHedge.com about the Fed overstating U.S. jobs by about 800,000. Most thought, this just cannot be possible.
