February 4, 2024

We are in a depression and do not even know it

We are in a depression and do not even know it. In a recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, “What Causes Inflation,” Walter Frick describes some of the economic forces that often create sustained inflation.  It can ...

January 23, 2024

Sometimes, you can fool all of the people all of the time

Well, a majority of the people all of the time.  Our leaders have found a way to accomplish this and remain in power.  They have discovered how to use wordsmithing (bending the truth up to 180 degrees), to manufacture statistics that s...

December 19, 2023

Trusting the government. An oxymoron?

For those people that watched the popular Netflix series ‘Suits,’ know it had many interesting episodes over many years.  It featured high-powered legal firms fighting other high-powered legal firms in a...

December 6, 2023

Wordsmithing and CO2

Wordsmithing can be defined as reshaping the meaning of commonly used words to imply something different.  Used over and over, wordsmithing can charge the meaning of a word.   The Left is good at this.  Take ‘White Suprem...

August 10, 2023

Open debate protects against totalitarianism

The skills and money required to become policy decisionmakers makes them expert only in politics.  When politicians call upon experts to support their views, it is assumed both the decisionmakers and experts are selflessly working for the b...

June 1, 2023

Credit, late fees, and consumers

You are not human, able to make decisions and be responsible, rather just a dumb number.  So say banks, credit bureaus, and the government. Seventy years ago, a person was taught it was good business sense to know a local banker on a fir...

May 18, 2023

Some misconceptions about Social Security

Social Security (S.S.) is not an entitlement.  Why can't anyone, including the Wall Street Journal, get it right?  Entitlement programs are paid for by U.S. taxpayers.  Those persons receiving benefits do not pay for t...

May 11, 2023

Americans have a seriously messed up understanding of the debt ceiling

The Wall Street Journal reported that its poll vis-à-vis raising the debt limit indicated that "[f]orty-five percent of respondents said they didn't favor Congress lifting the debt ceiling, while some 44% favor raising it." ...

May 3, 2023

Banks can get away with murder

Yesterday, I expected to submit an article entitled "In business, bigger is not necessarily better" for American Thinker.  The ink wasn't dry on my article before the government took bids on First Republic Bank (FRB). ...

May 2, 2023

In business, bigger is not better

Before World War II, some nations experimented with fascism, an economic doctrine where government leaders direct a capitalistic economy.  This doctrine, dirigisme, differs from our traditional laissez-faire.  Dirigiste polic...

April 24, 2023

Has the Fed painted itself into a corner?

We all understand inflation when we go to the store and see items we need jump in price.  What is less obvious is what the government tells us about inflation.  Last week they reported good news: inflation dropped from 5.4% to 5.1...

April 14, 2023

In the wake of SVB's meltdown, is bank evaluation too complex?

On Monday, April 10, the Wall Street Journal reported that before its collapse, Silicon Valley Bank's "reported cash was only around 8% of total deposits, heightening the risk it would need to sell long-term assets if signific...

March 30, 2023

The Source of ‘Too Big to Fail’

Commercial Banking, Investment banking, and Insurance companies are three different animals.  They look different, smell different and act different.  A successful Commercial Bank concentrates on safely managing customer deposits, saving...

March 30, 2023

Congress played a major role in SVB's bankruptcy

Commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance companies are three different animals.  They look different, smell different, and act different. A successful commercial bank concentrates on safely managing customer deposits, saving...

March 18, 2023

How about some more federal laws to fix banking?

What? We don't have enough banking laws on the books already? If management of a bank have found a sweet way to grow and increase profits, they, or succeeding management, just might become complacent (or continue the game for their benefit) an...

March 15, 2023

The Fed hasn't learned, and maybe never will

Treasury bonds, issued when interest rates were low, have only one way to move as the Fed increases interest rates.  Their face value must go down. An aggressive big bank, making lots of money, may not be watching the balance sheet as cl...