Minimum Pricing Battle
These Minimum Advertised Prices — floors under which retailers cannot drop a product price — always struck me as...
How credit cards become asset-backed bonds
How credit cards become asset-backed bonds from Marketplace on Vimeo. Mortgages aren’t the only financial instruments that get...
Joblessness at 15-Year High
The U.S. lost 533,000 jobs in November, pushing the jobless rate to 6.7%, its highest level in 15 years. MarketWatch’s Stacey Delo...
Book Publishers: Are They Car Companies or Banks?
Amid all the horrible economic news, there was a little blip in book publishing this week that may turn out to be a milestone in the...
Win Smith (as in Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith)
Thank you for allowing me to say a few words on this most important morning. I will say more about you in a moment, but I just wanted to...
1933 Inflation/Deflation Movie
This film attempts to explain what a “wonderful” thing inflation is. It is the predecessor to the printing press/helicopter...
$15B Detroit Bailout Approved
There will certainly be more on this shortly: After weeks of tense discussions with the heads of the U.S. auto industry, Democratic...
Kicking Our Addiction to Debt
Barron’s Alan Abelson references Henry Kaufman in this week’s column: As the root of our current woes, Henry unreservedly...
Auto Execs Ask for $34 Billion Bailout
Amid fresh factory layoffs, Congressional Democrats and the White House are groping for a compromise on a bailout for the beleagured auto...
The Velocity Factor
“A severe global recession will lead to deflationary pressures. Falling demand will lead to lower inflation as companies cut prices...