Rather than using a cannon, last week the ECB used a popgun. By reducing the rate it charges banks on loans and by charging banks on deposits held at the central bank, the ECB hopes to spur lending. It won’t…
President Obama’s decision to give student loan borrowers the option of limiting loan payments to 10% of their income and to forgive all balances after 20 years — 10 years if the borrower works for government — is harmful. It…
While the total number of working Americans now finally exceeds the number that were working before the recession began, the quality of the new jobs is not great. While food service, social assistance and home healthcare have seen the largest…
The Friday file: Since invading Afghanistan, the US has spent about $10 billion trying to eradicate poppy production. The result: in 2013 500,000 acres of poppies, a new record amount, were planted. Worse, the poppy planting that was eliminated occurred…
The most important pieces of monthly economic data at present are net job creation, change in total employment compensation, and the change in the amount of revolving credit outstanding. Job data tells us how quickly things are improving (slowly), compensation…
The proposed merger between cigarette makers Reynolds American and Lorillard would create a behemoth with 40% of the US cigarette market, behind Altria’s 50% market share! The government is now concerned about antitrust issues given two firms with 90% of…
Having bought the LA Clippers for $12.5 million in 1981, embattled owner Donald Sterling appears set to sell the club for $2 billion. That’s the second most ever paid for a team and a spectacular compound annual growth rate (CAGR)…
Given slow growth, low interest rates, firms with record cash holdings and high stock prices, the record $650 billion in mergers and acquisitions announced YTD isn’t surprising. It’s safer to buy than build, and if done right, mergers boost profits…
The Friday File: Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown and while many hope California Chrome becomes the 12th and the first since 1978, my portfolio and I hope not. Eight of the 11 times a horse has won…
Why are rates so low? Let me count the reasons: flight to quality due to rising geopolitical risk, the Fed’s promise to keep short-term rates low for a long time, Japan’s massive monetary stimulus, the ECB’s decision to start printing…