Long-term bond purchases and the subsequent increase in interest rates short- circuited Silicon Valley Bank. Who else might have bought them? In a report (March 2020) by the Congressional Budget Office, treasury bonds (the long-term ones) represented 14% of the…
I have heard lots of commentators on what happened with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Many of the commentators have weak banking credentials. For example, I heard Robert Reich expounding on the situation. Reich was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton…
We may not have the biggest country geographically, but the diversity of our citizens is second to none. Nancy and I recently visited New Mexico. Mexican heritage is strong- a large percentage of the population speaks Spanish in addition to…
In December, there was a horrible accident- two people driving at the edge of a steep canyon in a Hyundai Elantra, hit gravel, lost traction, and plunged over a 300-foot cliff. Miraculously, the people survived without major injuries. Cloe Fields,…
Every year in the last quarter of the old year/first quarter of the new year, I receive invitations from banks and brokerage firms to seminars about where the economy is headed. This has happened through COVID, virtually of course, as…
Lots of times in my career I meet people in business that are good at what they do, whether its installing plumbing or operating a restaurant, but they don’t like to “do numbers”. JP Morgan once said that he could…
GreenPrint commissioned an interesting survey that says 64% of Americans are willing to pay more for sustainable products. “Willing to pay more” (amount unspecified) is one thing, but how does this fit with current increases in energy prices? A side…
I read Breaking Rockefeller by Peter Doran recently. John D. Rockefeller was perhaps the richest person ever, adjusting for inflation. Rockefeller was from Ohio and got into the oil business in the late 1800s. Recall that nearby Pennsylvania was the…
PJ O'Rourke died recently at the age of 74. I was not a follower of his, but he may be like Elvis and become more famous after death. Born in Ohio, O'Rourke grew long hair and assumed a hippie demeanor.…
Winter 2022 According to San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President, Mary C. Daly, job openings today far exceed the number of people applying for positions, and wages are climbing briskly. Lack of workers constrains our economy. Nearly every nursing home…
