by Rebecca Wilder Merry Christmas! Here’s a nice little model I discussed in 2007: The Economics of Christmas! Hope that you enjoy; I do. (This commentary was written in my more ‘academic days’ when I was inundated with models of theoretical macro. As you have no doubt noticed, I’ve gone the applied financial route since […]
A couple of days ago, James Bianco, chez Ritholtz, noted a WSJ article entitled “Dividend Stocks Become the Heroes”: This year, the 100 stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index with the highest dividend yields are up an average of 3.7% before dividend payouts, according to Birinyi Associates. The 100 lowest-yielding stocks are down […]
Randall Wray made a fascinating observation a while back: Since 1776 there have been six periods of substantial budget surpluses and significant reduction of the debt. … The United States has also experienced six periods of depression. The depressions began in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, and 1929. And I confirmed it (graphs): Every depression in U.S. history was […]
There’s such fun in disastering. When you’ve won the mastering.Of the u-ni-verse! Hat tip to RJ Sigmund: Lyrics by Marcy Shaffer (Dan here … lyrics under the fold) It’s beginning to look a lot more riskless.At least for guys like me.It’s neat being this elite.The government makes it sweet.Complete with robber baron guarantee! It’s beginning […]
This Credit Suisse graph posted by Cardiff Garcia on December 5 has been getting some serious attention in wonkier sections of the econoblogosphere: And Angry Bear‘s own Rebecca Wilder gave us this on December 21: 2007-2011 in charts: moving down in quality 2007… …Vs. 2011 Brad DeLong discussed this on December 21, riffing off David […]
The Corporations That Occupy Congress by David Cay Johnston via taxprofblog and Reuters Some of the biggest companies in the United States have been firing workers and in some cases lobbying for rules that depress wages at the very time that jobs are needed, pay is low, and the federal budget suffers from a lack […]
by Linda Beale Essential Health Benefits and cost benefit analysis: can we maintain doctors’ incomes and provide decent care for all? So we thought we had finally created a national system of health insurance that would permit near-universal coverage for essential health benefits to every American. But the Obama administration says it is not going […]
A boom in shale gas? Credit the feds. By Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus (hat tip to Barry Ritholtz) Since the high-profile bankruptcy of Solyndra, the solar company that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees, many have concluded that government efforts to promote energy technologies are doomed to fail. Critics cite the abandoned synthetic […]
by Rebecca Wilder The Broad Sovereign Downgrade Recently I’ve spent time thinking about global bond investors, especially those conservative investors that stick with the high-quality sovereigns. I’ve got news for them: the share of high-quality investment grade sovereigns – BBB- and above is investment grade – is shrinking. Some bullet points comparing ratings in December 2007 […]
by Linda Beale Madoff and Mankiw and Inequality–the corporatist ideology at work There are two letters to the editor in the Times today that are worth noting–as usual, the ‘real’ analysis is hidden in the interior pages, positioned next to a huge ad (for an investment adviser, no less).Chris Cannon from San Francisco notes […]