Welcome To The Third World, Part 31: California Makes Its Case For A Bailout
Just a few months ago, California was running surpluses and spreading the wealth around — at least to its affluent voters and public sector employees
Just a few months ago, California was running surpluses and spreading the wealth around — at least to its affluent voters and public sector employees
One of the last things to be tossed overboard in the late innings of a bull market is discrimination. Instead of comparing the valuations of
Not so long ago, Europe seemed to have its financial house more-or-less in order. German government spending was actually falling. Industries that had been nationalized
By now just about everyone understands what junk bonds are and why they matter. But there’s a non-publicly traded version of this kind of debt
So the U.S. puts Republicans (the party of small government) in charge, and gets… trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see AND
Since December gold (light blue line) has outperformed the average stock (dark blue) by a nice margin. So why does this feel like such a
Precious metals investors don’t have much to console them these days. Just about the only bright spot is the nice, though ephemeral, pop in the
Just a few months ago, real estate was on fire. Prices were blowing past records set during the previous decade’s housing bubble as desperate buyers
For maybe the best example of how financial trends are diverging at the opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, contrast the cash flowing into the
Back in the late 1990s I interviewed for an analyst job with a value-oriented money manager. My main impression of our talk was how sad
Ah, Italy. My people; fun to be around, a nightmare to govern. And now an existential threat to the European Union, the euro currency, and
Back in the 1500s, a financial agent of Queen Elizabeth I named Thomas Gresham observed that that “bad money drives out good.” That is, if
A new bond issue from Chicago is rated AAA. That’s great because it means the city’s finances are on the mend, right? Nope, just the
Financial bubbles are the office Christmas parties of the investment world. They start slowly, with a certain amount of anxiety. But they end wildly, with
Doing the right thing is hard for both individuals and their governments. Name the goal – maintaining a healthy weight, paying off high-interest credit cards,
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