Thain Takes Over at CIT

by Kirk Kinder on February 8, 2010

Another sign that there is no such thing as accountability on Wall Street, John Thain takes over the reins as the CEO of CIT. This is the same Thain that led Merrill Lynch down the toilet as well as spent $1 Million remodeling his office after receiving government assistance to make the Bank of America [...]

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A Bubble In Search of a Pin

by Kirk Kinder on February 6, 2010

Here is a Letter from John Mauldin. As usual, a thoughtful piece that focuses on the headwinds the economy faces. I agree with John, and those he quotes, in many respects about how Greenspan, Bernanke, and the powers that be missed the bubble. However, we are naive to think that the Fed would ever prick [...]

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Signed on to Speak at iGlobal Conference In NYC

February 5, 2010

I will be speaking at iGlobal’s ETF conference in NYC on March 10th. If you happen to be in the area, it looks to be a solid conference.

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Social Security Faces Shortfall in 2010

February 4, 2010

Interesting article about the current situation of Social Security. Hat tip to Random Roger.

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Ratigan Nails It

February 3, 2010

Not sure if you have had a chance to watch Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see his show as much as I would like due to its 4pm air time. He is one of the few talking heads that seems to understand the big picture as it relates to how Wall [...]

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Homeownership Rate Drops

February 2, 2010

Great graph over at Calculated Risk about home ownership rates.

CR points out that home ownership rates are now back to the year 2000 level. CR thinks we may get to 66%, which is where it was in the late 1990s. CR points to demographics as the reason home ownership is higher. The average before that [...]

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Dire Outlook for Government Debt

February 1, 2010

Here is the latest article on the Daily Reckoning website. It was written by David Walker, the ex-GAO auditor who now heads the Peter Peterson Foundation, which is dedicated to educating the public on the upcoming debt tsunami.
America 2030: Why We Must Act – Now
By David Walker
New York, New York
Those of you who are parents [...]

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CBO too Optimistic?

January 31, 2010

The Congressional Budget Office does a decent job of making projections on the budget…usually. What usually throws this organization off is the government ends up spending more than projected. This time I think CBO is too optimistic in its projections, and it isn’t just based on the inevitable spending overruns by our elected “leaders.”

Above is [...]

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This Time Is Different

January 30, 2010

The Statistical Recovery has Arrived
This Time Is Different
A Crisis of Confidence
Greeks Bearing Gifts
Biotech, Conversations and Babies
>
“Our immersion in the details of crises that have arisen over the past eight centuries and in data on them has led us to conclude that the most commonly repeated and most expensive investment advice ever given in the boom [...]

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Why the Big GDP number scares me

January 29, 2010

The headline number on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2009 came in a 5.7%.  The expectation was for 4.7%. However, we can expect revisions over the next couple months, which typically pulls this number down as evidenced by the third quarter’s number that initially rang in at 3.5% but has [...]

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