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Four interviews

Obama scorecard President Obama means well and is doing a great job in many areas. However, I fear that we are perpetuating the same policies of the previous administration when it comes to the financial sector. It is simply not … Continue reading


Hemorrhaging Jobs

The losses are staggering. If the pace of January and February continued through the year, we would lose 8.4 million jobs in 2009. That is unlikely, but it will be ugly. Consider the following facts. The percentage job losses have … Continue reading


The Long-Term Cost of the Credit Crisis

Many economists argue that recessions are a good thing. How is that possible? Well, recessions give companies the excuse to lay off unproductive workers – both blue and white collar and make other tough decisions that make the firm stronger … Continue reading


Fed Running Out of Bullets

Image courtesy of MicksGuns.com

“Fed To Hold Rates Near Zero” is the news headline today. It is not really news. What were they supposed to do? They can’t increase the rates. Zero is as low as you can go. There were about six notable … Continue reading


This Winter of Our Hardship

Image courtesy of flickr/Wayne MacPhail

The ‘Winter of Our Hardship’ are the words of President Obama in the inaugural address. He refers to the common dangers that we face in his somber message. The common danger is that this recession turns into a depression. In … Continue reading


The Essential Need for Transparency

Image courtesy of flickr/Jurek Durczak

We recently learned that the U.K. financial institution, RBS, lost $41 billion. We also learned that Citigroup lost $8 billion. How are we to interpret these numbers? Would you be surprised if it was the reverse, with Citi losing $41b … Continue reading


What Do We Do About Banks?

Image courtesy of flickr/Sonya

The government has dumped $45 billion of cash and back stopped over $100 billion in troubled assets for each of Citibank and Bank of America. Current market capitalization of Citi is about $17 billion and Bank of America about $27 … Continue reading


Here’s an Idea: Let’s Throw Some Good Money at Good

Once upon a time, there were three good banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Citigroup. When the financial crisis started, these banks stepped up and seemingly did some favors for the government. JP Morgan acquired Bear Stearns (with some … Continue reading


Unemployment and Recessions

“The worst job numbers since 1945”, we heard from CNN this morning. Well, that is not true. Today is different from 1945 for two reasons. First, our population is much larger. Second, there was an important technical factor — WWII … Continue reading


My View on the Bailout de Jour

I appeared on Business News Network November 24, 2008 to talk about how the U.S. tax payer got shafted by the deal to save Citigroup. While there is no doubt that federal intervention was necessary, the terms of the deal … Continue reading