April 1, 2014

April Fools?

Big banks busted (again) for currency fraud.  A recent posting on Seeking Alpha: Investors sue a dozen banks for currency manipulation Tuesday, April 1, 4:43 AM ET | BAC, BCS, C, CS, DB, GS, HSBC, JPM, MS, RBS A group of investors fro...

August 5, 2013

The Fed's Money Trap

  The Federal Reserve, and therefore the economy, is caught on the horns of a dilemma of our own making. ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and the aggressive pumping of money (upwards of $85 billion a month) into the financial system have tripl...

August 1, 2013

Bailing Out Failure

There is bad... and there is progressive and collectivist bad. Ignore laws, private property rights, and economic reality on the way to destroying another industry in the name of "fairness". We saw this in the brazenly unlawful GM bailout. It wa...

July 25, 2013

Going the Full Sharpton

Forced busing did not work so well, so now they are upping the ante and trying forced housing. Forced bussing, as it actually played out in the real world of adults, was a terrific failure. It was extremely expensive.  It caused terrific head...

June 6, 2013

Time for Investors to Duck and Cover?

The canary in the financial coal mine is beginning to choke. Today the SEC announced that it is tightening the noose around investors.  The latest to come out of the SEC is a significant piece of news to anyone who has a 401(k), and especially...

October 26, 2012

Did Obama Stand Idly By as Our Citizens Were Murdered in Benghazi?

CBS reported late last week that the Benghazi debacle was being surveyed by a Spectre gunship that could have turned the tide. Fox News is now reporting that, in fact, an AC 130 Spectre was overhead, and the motor team who eventually killed our SEALs...

October 22, 2012

How to Abandon Our Bravest Citizens in a War Zone

Watching a video of a consulate being overrun while a credible defensive response is almost immediately available is criminally negligent. Late last week, CBS News reported that several significant military options were available and very, very nearb...

September 1, 2012

Who Built Barack Obama?

To twist a line from William Hazlitt, Living the life of a Democrat is the art of being well deceived. Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations spoke of the unseen "hidden hand" in a free economy that miraculously helps steer the path of an economy toward...

March 18, 2012

Say good-bye to privacy thanks to Stellar Wind

The American republic, or any society so desiring emancipation to have its citizens live free and unfettered lives, must allow liberated and confidential communication. Liberty and human dignity demand nothing less. All of this is about to change. Wi...

March 5, 2012

Bond yields say it's over for Greece

Greek one year bond yields have now gone above 1000%. That's right:  ONE THOUSAND PERCENT. One has to wonder what happens on March 9th, whether the leadership of Greece (not its citizens) will be able to bluff its way into another round of bailo...

February 1, 2012

Housing prices continue their long fall

Just in case anyone had any illusions about a housing recovery or any improvement due to housing policies, please see the graph below. This is all publically available data from the Federal Reserve. The shadow inventory of homes that exist on the mar...

January 18, 2012

BLS changing basis for calculating inflation

According to the BLS, prices are dropping, including such areas as food and fuel.  Funny, I haven't noticed anything close to a price drop at the grocer or the pump.  Regardless, taking this data at face value, it likely reflects ...

January 16, 2012

European bailout agency may need bailout

Years ago, the Cuyahoga River caught on fire.  Of course, at the time, the pictures and film of the burning river begged an obvious  question:  "Put out the fire, certainly yes! But with what?"  How do you put out a burning river?...

December 31, 2011

European Health Care: Economic Malpractice

Any reasonable person does not take satisfaction in the failure and destruction of another.  This is especially true when the other is innocent of any wrongdoing or lack of judgment. Yet sometimes, epic failure can constructively serve as an e...

December 8, 2011

DEA now laundering drug money

Make it stop Combating drug traffic requires the ability to track money. That is a given. After all, even Al Capone could only be brought down by following the money.  We now have several news outlets reporting that the DEA has decided to be in ...

November 28, 2011

Federal Reserve Shennanigans

Many people have expressed dismay and disgust over the Federal Reserve. Beyond Ron and Rand Paul, Rick Perry, a growing number of other conservative public figures and commentators are beginning to not only raise question about the practices of the F...

September 27, 2011

Despotism Breeds Federal Paranoia

Any environment where secrecy and social and political control are the operating parameters can breed paranoia.  Mere intellectual curiosity can be seen dangerous and treasonous.  It does not have to be the extreme behavior of the Khmer Rou...

September 10, 2011

Epic Fail Straight Ahead: Socialism

If there were ever an example of socialism writ large, it is Greece.  Now look where it has led the continent.  Just look at the 1 year Greek Government Bond yield, now reaching a clown car 96%.  When it hits 100, then what?  At f...

September 2, 2011

Greece is insolvent! Who Knew?

The Greeks have shown an unflagging ability to obscure and outright lie regarding their finances.  The WSJ reports that perhaps as much as one trillion dollars is needed to bail out European banks.  Much of that is needed due to those banks...

August 10, 2011

Apologize!

We have no plan, we aren't working a plan and our plan isn't working. The heavy responsibility of managing a business strips away all the periphery of politics.  Either something works or it does not.  Either you produce and justify yo...

July 26, 2011

Winds of Change

Do you feel it? The tempo has changed and well understood rules no longer seem to apply to anything any longer.  Just a few months ago, all we heard was the rush to spend money.  TARP, Stimulus, Bailouts, Obamacare...all multi billion dolla...

June 29, 2011

Going for really broke

This morning, the Financial Times reports that even if the agreement is passed by the Greek Parliament, the matter of insolvency is hardly resolved. Independent research suggests, however, that Greece will struggle to raise much more than a quarter ...

June 27, 2011

Down To The Wire?

Already aging, Europe is making its problems worse by reducing opportunities for its younger generation.  In fact, the demographics in Europe are not encouraging and Mark Steyn wrote about this in his excellent book: America Alone.    ...

June 24, 2011

Geithner: Taxes on 'Small Business' Must Rise So Government Doesn't 'Shrink'

I struggle trying to figure out how ostensibly intelligent people can say and think such stupid things.  Only tone deaf and clay brained bureaucrats could be this...stupid. Each week I gather quotes that demonstrate astounding ignorance in actio...

June 23, 2011

Greek showdown

June 28th is a date to watch as the vote on the Greek austerity plan takes place. Unions are already mobilized and one suspects that a meaningful chunk of that nation will be on strike.  It should make for terrific theatre -- especiall...

June 22, 2011

Obama's economy: three strikes

When Mort Zuckerman of US News says things are bad... then we are beginning to see at least some of the legacy media wake up and shake off the mental stupor they have been in for the last three years. For now, anyway, Mr. Obama is losing not just the...

June 3, 2011

No Recovery

Recently, we have been hearing talk about the economy, how it is improving.  I wish that were the case.  For the sake of friends and family who are struggling right now, I wish this were reflective of reality.  But the facts say otherw...

June 3, 2011

Fiddling while Rome burns

"Unserious"  "Lacking basic leadership" Those are the candid descriptions of Mr. Obama provided to listeners this morning on WLS AM 890 radio by US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI). On May 25th, Senator Johnson had sent the President a letter signed b...

June 3, 2011

Jaw-dropping

Imbecility has no known limits. The logic, if one can call it that, that is on display here in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals , is so circular and so deformed, it is jaw dropping.   President Obama's solicitor general, defending the national...

May 16, 2011

Geithner to tap federal pensions

Perhaps SEIU or ACORN could start up a protest over this as well.  The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government lost its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, add...

May 6, 2011

BLS BS

The economy added 244,000 new jobs in April, but the unemployment rate climbed to 9.0% all because "more people are looking for work".  I am also hearing the spin that "the numbers aren't great, but the direction is good."...

April 27, 2011

Illinois: A Laboratory of Insolvency

States have been referred to as a "laboratory in democracy", but Illinois must be seen as a laboratory in insolvency.Illinois is a symptom of a larger problem that is facing our nation, and one that will grow in significance:  insolven...