Lance on May 13 2008 | Filed under: Housing Market, Politics, Valuation, economy, monetary policy
From the New York Times:
Earlier this year, Mr. Bush derided a modest plan to provide $4 billion to states and localities to buy foreclosed properties, saying that buying up empty homes helps only “the lenders or the speculators.” Actually, it protects entire neighborhoods and local economies from the effects of foreclosures by preventing a greater [...]
Lance on Feb 21 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Equities, Domestic Fixed Income, Economics, Federal Reserve, Global Fixed Income, Government policy, Housing Market, Risk, economy, monetary policy
Martin Feldstein, stepping down from heading up the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1977, has piece in the Wall Street Journal that is rather pessimistic about the economic outlook. More tellingly he thinks the recession, if it occurs (and like me, he suspects it has already begun) will be more difficult to stimulate our [...]
Lance on Feb 14 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Housing Market, monetary policy
So claims Alex Tabarrok. Alex and his blogmate Tyler are two of my favorite bloggers, but on this matter I think Alex is wrong. Unlike for some, his argument doesn’t invite scorn, because humility should teach us that sometimes things are different, and we cannot always fully understand why, at least not until after the [...]
Lance on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Equities, Economic Indicators, Economics, Federal Reserve, Global Equity, Government policy, Housing Market, International Equities, Latest data, Market Data, Risk, monetary policy
Like me, Barry Ritholtz sniffed a whiff of panic in the Fed’s actions yesterday. The question he asks is why they acted before their meeting. Here are his questions, all good. I have pretty much stolen the whole post. Hopefully Barry will not mind:
What does this mean for investors. Quite a number of things – [...]
Lance on Jan 21 2008 | Filed under: Developing Markets, Economic Indicators, Economics, Emerging Markets, Federal Reserve, Government policy, International Equities, Market Data, Politics, Risk, monetary policy, today's links
It seems world markets see the stimulus plan in the US as evidence for panic, not joy.
Stock markets around the world plummeted Monday, prompted by pessimism about U.S. President George W. Bush’s plans to boost the U.S. economy.
Share prices in Asia, Europe and the Americas all plunged by significant amounts; Wall Street only avoided joining [...]
Lance on Jan 17 2008 | Filed under: Asset Allocation, Domestic Equities, Economics, Federal Reserve, Government policy, Housing Market, Risk, monetary policy
Reader ChrisB asks in response to yesterdays link to Anna Schwartz’s comment on the Federal Reserve:
In retrospect, what should the fed have done differently?
Risk and Return is really about implications for investment policy, and thus identifying which factors have implications is key. Pumping for particular policy choices really isn’t our role. Still, in identifying what [...]
Lance on Jan 11 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Federal Reserve, Government policy, monetary policy, tax policy
The economy is slowing, and if we are not already in a recession (I think we probably are) the risks of one are certainly high. So should our politicians do something with fiscal policy? Alex Taborrak says no:
Fourth, in their desperation to “do something” politicians will often do something foolish. If a spending increase [...]
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