Not A Mystery
Finance
My Financial Valentines
Of course Leslie is my Real Valentine. But in the world of Runner-Ups, I have to nominate my favorites. Even though it’s Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell, I can’t hold back, my Guys are Ben and Hank. After reading “On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System” by … Continue reading
Have Your PhD With Fries And A Coke, All On Us
The Chinese seem not inclined to clown around with the value of the renminbi. Meanwhile the administration is trying to apply pressure on them to revalue their currency, “which President Obama says is kept at an artificially low level to give China an unfair advantage in selling its exports”. From the NY Times, A senior … Continue reading
A Great Tax Idea Whose Time Hasn’t Come, Yet
A few years ago when talking with a Brit friend I learned that the UK’s equivalent of our IRS, known as the Inland Revenue, filled out his tax returns automatically without even asking his permission. Wow, I thought, this is socialism to the extreme! But when you think about it for a second, perhaps it’s … Continue reading
Strategic Defaults And Altruism Can Only Take You So Far
Normally what would make an interesting blog post is the connection of two seemingly unrelated events. But that’s not happening today. Instead we have two non-intuitive findings that remain just that … non-intuitive. Our first discovery is a conundrum. Why don’t more people who are ‘underwater’ on their mortgages, and can’t get their lender to negotiate … Continue reading
Is Big Mac 2010 Still The Gold Standard?
Time flies. It’s the Economist Big Mac Index for 2010. That’s pronounced “Twenty-Ten” F2u Rio Linda. Just to review, The Economist has been publishing their (not so tongue-in-cheek) Big Mac Index since 1986. It’s a reality check on world-wide currency exchange rates, based on the concept of Purchasing-Power Parity. Purchasing-Power Parity (PPP) says that exchange rates are … Continue reading
Betting Against The House Is Never Smart
Just when it looked like the financial system is coming back under control I discover that the term “Large Sophisticated Investor” is an oxymoron. When you gamble with the Big Dogs, normal practice is that you have to show your stake and throw some money into the pot before each hand. It’s exactly the same thing … Continue reading
A Huge (Pulitzer Prize Winning) History Read
“Freedom From Fear“ earned its author David Kennedy a Pulitzer Prize for History in 2000. You can think of Freedom from Fear as the academic’s version of The Greatest Generation: like Tom Brokaw, Stanford history professor David M. Kennedy focuses on the years of the Great Depression and the Second World War and how the … Continue reading
Warren Buffett Now A Poster Boy For Income Disparities?
What is it about Warren Buffett that The Economist doesn’t like? Not only do they associate him with income inequality, they don’t even give him a credit in the footnotes. Plus, I don’t believe those are his hands holding that cash. This is a mash-up of the first degree, and I would support Warren in … Continue reading
I’m Really, Really, Financially Anxious
Do you know the difference between angst and anxiety? Here’s a quote from our Definitons page: An airplane crashes into the side of a remote snow-covered mountain; those passengers that worry about their lives without hopes of survival only face anxiety. In contrast, those passengers who worry about their lives with hopes of survival but … Continue reading
Got Expert?
In today’s crazy world we can’t know everything, so we depend on Experts. But it seems to me, that like other things, Expertability is being dumbed down. A number of public figures come to mind, among them, Politicians Cable News Personalities Radio Talk Show Hosts They really are experts in their chosen fields, which is … Continue reading
Is The Big Mac Index A Few Fries Short Of A Happy Meal?
It’s a good thing that we have correspondents on the ground around the world. As you know we have been tracking the Big Mac Index (BMI) for quite some time because we believe it will become the lynch-pin (sic) for the new Global Reserve Currency. Click this link for a list of posts. Data for … Continue reading
Just Another Mystery
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- Faux Fur, Vogue and Verve
- The Perfect Dance, Part 2
- The Perfect Dance
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Sterling Jewelry & Gifts
Not A Mystery 