Tribune

And they eat too LITTLE real food ...

In the not quite 100 years since the founding of your institution, America has exchanged central banking for a kind of central planning and the gold standard for what I will call the Ph.D. standard. I regret the changes and will propose reforms, or, I suppose, re-reforms, as my program is very much in accord with that of the founders of this institution. Have you ever read the Federal Reserve Act? The authorizing legislation projected a body “to provide for the establishment of the Federal Reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper and to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes.” By now can we identify the operative phrase? Of course: “for other purposes.” As you prepare to mark the Fed’s centenary, may I urge you to reflect on just how far you have wandered from the intentions of the founders? The institution they envisioned would operate passively, through the discount window. It would not create credit but rather liquefy the existing stock of credit by turning good-quality commercial bills into cash— temporarily. This it would do according to the demands of the seasons and the cycle. The Fed would respond to the community, not try to anticipate or lead it. It would not override the price mechanism— as today’s Fed seems to do at every available opportunity—but yield to it.

Some 68% of all Americans are overweight, and obesity has almost doubled in the last couple of decades worldwide.

We knew things are worse than presented... But this much worse? And in Chicago of all places - the city of (aggressively enforced) spin?

For our French speaking readers, this makes it all too clear: "Selon plusieurs sources contactées par La Tribune, l'agence de notation Standard & Poor's pourrait préparer la France à la perte de son "triple A"."

One of the major problems with having relatively few restructuring advisors and a whole slew of newly bankrupt companies, is that sooner or later advisors will trip over their own feet as previously undisclosed conflicts of interest come to light. This is exactly what may soon force Lazard to forfeit over $16 million in revenue it had hoped to generate by advising bankrupt Tribune in its chapter 11 plight.