Aig, lehman, Bear sterns, Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Fed, ….if these words have been ringing in your head, and you do not understand what really happened, join me! There are many like us …so as usual I searched and a friend obliged. So here is the link – please read it: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/diamond-and-kashyap-on-the-recent-financial-upheavals/?em I hope you like […]
Governments have two major advantages. One they have an unlimited scope for income – agricultural tax, excise duty, service tax, income tax, estate duty, etc. The more worrisome advantage is their ability to print currency notes. Ask Ben Bernanke – he converts coniferous trees into billions of dollars! The worry is for people who lend […]
This is the headline that Jonathan Weil used in his article in Bloomberg. You must read the full article. Here is a summary: Freddie had accumulated $ 34.3 billion (yes Billion) of paper losses, but excluded them from calculation of regulatory capital. All Freddie had to do was say the losses were “temporary” and they […]
Regulators around the world like to use words like “bailout” in order to help failing institutions. Which kind of institutions get a helping hand? The honest ones? The fair ones? You got to be joking. It is friends and relatives who get bailed out! Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae kept telling the whole world that […]
Welcome the Bear Markets! Although we saw a furious short-term rally last fortnight, we have entered into official bear markets territory as of early this month. (In the US bear markets are defined as a drop of 20% or more from a previous high.) This is a good thing. Smart and Legendary investors understand this. […]
There are many reasons to buy Gold and hold it. Of course tomorrow I can give you many reasons NOT to own gold also. One reason NOT to own gold is the recent phenomenon in its price. For example if you had invested in gold in 1980 (US $ 590) today it would be worth […]
Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, P Chidambaram – all three are men with above average intelligence, and reasonably competent in their jobs. However, one thing common to all 3 of them is all of them are trying to play with the rules of economics. They do not let market forces play to the fullest extent. Alan […]