Archive - Feb 20, 2013 - Blog entry

Everyone Knew Iraq Had No WMDS … and Was Not Behind Anthrax Attacks or 9/11

A microcosm of what's wrong with the French economy (while the chopping block is being moved to the center)

You can choose to ignore this and believe that Europe’s Crisis is fixed just as EU political leaders claim. But Europe in general is out of options in terms of solving its debt crisis.

I wouldn't order something called a "meat sandwich", would you?--George Carlin

If it ain't broke, how do you fix it? Here are a variety of solutions from practictioners, academics and investors.

Hence the cost basis of their investments is much higher with each artificial liquidity injection. This is great for current retirees, but at the expense of future retirees who now have inflated assets that will deflate once the Fed takes away the proverbial punch bowl. 

Sterling is has eclipsed the yen as the main focus in the foreign exchange market. The surprising news that has kicked it to fresh multi-month low was that the BOE is closer to easing policy than has been suspected. While it was a unanimous decision to leave rates on hold as expected, it was a tighter 6-3 vote on new asset purchases.

The market had expected a 8-1 vote. Of particular interest, it is the fourth time Governor King has been outvoted.

A curious thing happened last week: the prices of gold and silver fell while open interest in futures rose.  This is not how the market has been behaving in recent years.