Market McGuffin!
Alfred Hitchcock created the McGuffin: A plot device designed to catch the viewer’s attention, and drive the storyline. Every character...
Fair and Balanced PAC
Check out the new Fair and Balanced PAC : Is this guy Franken lucky, or what?...
Dollar, Commodity strength possible danger signal?
Two interesting articles in today’s WSJ discuss how a fragile economic recovery can be derailed by its own success. I find myself...
VIX signal
The VIX measures the volatility of index option prices listed on the CBOE. Like the put/call ratio, it is a measure of investor...
GDP / Jobs Disconnect ?
Since the second quarter of ‘03, its been my thesis that this has been a unique recession/recovery cycle. What marks this run as rare...
Unique Recovery ?
The Cleveland Fed’s release of August Economic Trends has a series of rather telling charts: Pink line reflects the average of the...
Duration Hedges and the Long Bond
Gretchen Morgenson of the NYT does a nice job today explaining how the hedged and leveraged mortgage-backed securities market impacts...
The Natural Result
Quote of the Day “The salient example is the greatest victory ever won in an initiative campaign: The famous Proposition 13 tax...
Why Political Investigations are Different under Bush than Clinton
Susan Page wrote a fascinating piece in USA Today last week. It seemed to have gotten lost in all the blackout coverage. That’s too...
Physics vs. Economics
Quote of the Day: “The laws of physics have met the laws of economics. And the result has been a morass that has prevented the...