…Calmly observing the changing world

Property rights may be under assault in the United States, but we would do well to remember that there are some places in the world where they don’t even exist.  One of those places is China. You know, the kind of place where the workers of the world unite only to find out that somehow [...]

On the whole, May was a pretty brutal month.  The stock market is aimless, but the real action has been elsewhere: protests, extreme weather, currency worries, sovereign debt.  There was a lighter side to the news this month, but you really had to dig deep: Exploding Chinese Watermelons Sure, you’ve heard about lead paint on [...]

These days, investors are being diligent to try to find a solid investment.  Well, so much for that – but if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  So, for the non-small investor, one of the closest things to a sure bet would seem to be shorting Greek bonds. The government has never shown restraint.  The [...]

Shakespeare warns us, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”, which seems like good advice. Sadly, like a lot of other good advice, it suffers from difficulties during implementation. It seems we’ve borrowed – quite a bit.  Even those who haven’t personally borrowed or lent are still under the collective borrowing of our country. Worse [...]

If he can make it through the Senate, Timothy Geithner will be our nation’s next Treasury Secretary. If you’ve forgotten exactly what a Treasury Secretary does, it’s recently become a ridiculously powerful position. Essentially, he will become the “Economy Czar.” Unfortunately, during his Senate confirmation hearing, Geithner made a monumental error in judgment. He accused [...]