Author Archives: Lance

About Lance

I want to thank everybody who has encouraged me over the past few years to do this. I doubt it will hold but a few people's interest, but that is okay with me. Special thanks go to Peter over at http://www.liberalcapitalist.com. I value my privacy a great deal, so I will guess you will have to get to know me over time to find out much. I am in the financial services, wealth management, investing or whatever you want to call it business. I have children, my oldest is entering college. I have no great or imposing academic background, my grades varied from high enough to get invited to an honors program at my university to frustrating enough to cause my father great grief. My major was history, with a minor in ethics. My main interest towards the end was in the history of economic ideas before life took a turn and I ended up never going on to graduate school. However, I have a fair knowledge of history, economics, investing and would probably be considered well read. My tastes are eclectic and I pretty much find the entire world interesting. I have an enduring interest in how people learn about and analyze the world; my posts here will examine this topic in detail over time. I make no claims to be above the very biases and errors I see in others, in fact it is my belief that we are incapable of escaping them, only moderating their control over us. I am a member of no political party, but I would broadly consider myself a man of the right. I am inclined to free market economics, limited government and a fairly narrow view of the role of the state. A small L libertarian if you will. However, if you are looking for broad based "the left believes..." or "wingers are so...." types of attacks on liberals, conservatives, neo-cons or whatever enemy you want to slam, look elsewhere. Lance

Animated Unemployment

A very cool animated Graphic showing the change in unemployment over the last two years. Click Image for Animation

Posted in Economics, Lance's Page | 3 Comments

Taking a Closer Look at Unemployment

Employment as measured by the “establishment survey,” was down by 190,000; and Many feel it is an improvement that we are not falling as fast. Well, let us take a moment to look under the hood of these numbers. First, … Continue reading

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“So how is that working out for you, Mr President?”

Good Friend Bruce McQuain picks up on a story I noticed yesterday. Rather than rehash it, I’ll let him lay it out: Greg Mankiw reminds us of this bit of fantasy: What we are not doing — what I have … Continue reading

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Probably Overpaying

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The New F***ing Citibank

The New F***ing Citibank – watch more funny videos NSFW due to strong language.

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Heh

Dilbert

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Step Right Up! It’s Your Bailout Too!

I hear repeatedly from our fellow citizens “where is my bailout?” For those who have been wondering the fine journalists at Vanity Fair have found the paperwork so you can begin applying now for, as the application says, “free government … Continue reading

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Our Government’s Economic Policy Explained

By Fred Thompson. With only the most minor quibbles I not only laughed, but cried. Pretty much dead on: The sad thing is that it isn’t only “liberal” economists, it is the meat of the profession and plenty of so … Continue reading

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Calculating the cost of bailing out the economy

Now that the NBER has decided to endorse my view that we went into recession last December which I first first claimed last January, I think my points about the efficacy of fiscal stimulus still apply. As for spending already … Continue reading

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Bits and Pieces: 11-18-08

Russ Roberts:”Oh Please-President Bush has lost the right to say this.” Also, he has a great Mea Culpa on why he missed this, and a discussion that fits right into my theme about how many missed this meltdown, and advice … Continue reading

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Peter Schiff’s Payback

The insufferable Peter Schiff has a video going around, which frankly, is just brilliant. He may be unpleasant at times, but he nailed this thing, and took mounds of abuse while doing so. More importantly, I KNOW HOW HE FEELS! … Continue reading

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De-leveraging

Given the topic of tonight’s podcast I thought a little visual data might help. First, the explosion in US debt: Henry Blodget explains: From the early 1920s through 1985, the average level of debt-to-GDP in this country was 155%. The … Continue reading

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Whoopee, its bailout time!

From the comments at Financial Times: Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — In a surprise move today, Whoopee Cushions Inc was approved bank holding company status by the Fed to enable the company access to the recently revised TURD scheme. Imported far-eastern … Continue reading

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Playmates during crisis

Does the object of our desire tend to change during tough times? Yes, according to this paper on men’s preferences when it comes to Playboy’s models: Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, … Continue reading

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Laid Off By Lehman: One Broker’s Story

Heh, heh, heh.

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The View From Here

I wonder if the juxtaposition of that headline and that photo was intentional? Anyway, over at Risk and Return I follow up Dale, McQ and my discussion of the markets and the economy during the last couple of podcasts with … Continue reading

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Are We Maiking Things Worse?

Yves Smith hits a theme I have been harping on, the Federal Reserve, and central banks in general, are making things worse in may ways by destroying the incentive for banks to lend or borrow from one another. She quotes … Continue reading

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Stock and Awe in Baghdad

The Markets have spoken, the best place to invest in the world is…Iraq! Now it’s stock and awe in Baghdad! As the Dow plummeted nearly 700 points yesterday to fall well below the 9,000 mark, the Iraqi stock exchange – … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Investing, Lance's Page | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

JP Morgan, Lehman and Nightmares

I am often asked about individual bank stocks, especially JP Morgan. Generally my answer is that Bank of America, JP Morgan and a few others look to be likely survivors, but how profitable they will be I am really unsure. … Continue reading

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Another Reason To Not Like The Plan

I have argued in the past that the Federal Reserve’s policies may be helping in some ways, but hurting in others. Way too much borrowing and lending is running through the Fed which is drying up lending between banks. It … Continue reading

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In Summary

Tyler Cowen states his basic views on the crisis. My response in italics:

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Strategery Capital Management LLC

A new distressed debt leveraged hedge fund has been launched: Go visit the website for all their competitive advantages!

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When are we being Chicken Littles?

Let us look at one of the ways that we are being panicked unnecessarily, and why incidentally we can help many of these financial institutions in the fashion I discussed in my post on a potential alternative plan. In my … Continue reading

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My favorite proposal for helping financial institutions

I do believe we should be doing something as a nation, through our government, to avoid the not insignificant chance of a total financial meltdown. I have seen several things proposed that I find interesting, and I will get into … Continue reading

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Hooray for Mental Health!

If you support the Paulson bailout plan that is. The New York Times has coverage. The Senate proposal would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production … Continue reading

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The Monetary Base Finally Moves

The Federal Reserve has for a long time eschewed increasing the money supply directly, and instead has manipulated credit to affect the economy and control inflation. This has led to three important things which are in my opinion at the … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Lance's Page | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

We are led by little men and women

I was not in favor of the Paulson plan if you haven’t caught that yet. Still, the pitiful display from our congress today set a recent low. First, faced with an unpopular and contentious bill which she feels for the … Continue reading

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The SEC doesn’t get the short end of the stick

If they did, then they wouldn’t have banned short selling. People may have noticed that the ban hasn’t helped, and today we see one of the real costs. See, when markets collapse like today, short sellers dive into the market … Continue reading

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…and I want a pony!

Larry Summers and Mark Thoma argue that if done right the bailout will mean we can solve this crisis and still have everything we want, tax cuts, health care spending and all kinds of other goodies. Larry argues: Just as … Continue reading

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Remember The Last Dire Warning?

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Glass-Steagall : RIP

Continuing the discussion on tonight’s podcast, one of the recurring themes of much of the commentary on our current financial crisis is that the cause is too much deregulation. Possibly there is some truth to this, though the evidence is … Continue reading

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Short of Wisdom, Common Sense and a Grasp of Reality

The hedge fund industry is feeling gloomy, and so is Mayfair. Meanwhile our government is considering following London’s lead and making their lives even more difficult, by banning short selling for a while. Yep, Fannie would have been just fine … Continue reading

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Shine on Richard Wright

The keyboardist for Pink Floyd, responsible for the texture of the bands surreal sound, passed away on Monday.

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Uprecedented Financial Turmoil

Today the Fed went to the Treasury and asked for a line of credit. You know, the lender of last resort has had to turn to our Treasury to protect their balance sheet. Want to see something weird. Go here … Continue reading

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New Era Mergers

From Craigs List, though it has since been removed: H/T- Alphaville

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Hurricane Gustav Coverage

Here is a site that streams all the New Orleans, plus some others, TV stations.

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Three guys, an ice chest, and a hurricane…

For up to the minute straight skinny on what is happening. You can chat while you are at it.

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The McCain Campaign’s New Bumpersticker

They know what butters their bread!

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Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

And millions of us may benefit. The dispute arose when more than 30 mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, in a process known as “demutualization.” Mutual companies are owned by … Continue reading

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To the Heart of the Matter

Norm Geras, as he often does, cuts away the extraneous aspects of how and why terrorism exists, as well as how the media distorts out thinking about it, and our response.

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Olympic Sex

It seems that the competition goes on after the race has been run.

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All Tomorrows Parties

A treat for Velvet Underground fans, Bud Benderbe reinterprets the seminal alternative band: More over at Airforce Amazon.

Posted in Lance's Page, Music | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater!

That is the Obama campaigns response to McCains surprisingly (in their mind) strong performance in last nights Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency McQ finds the charge another in a long line of examples of misunderestimation by Democrats. I like this … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lance's Page | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Sheesh!

I would call this ignorance, but it is worse than that. The Times reporters just believe corporations are such a honey pot they didn’t even stop to think. They just wrote.

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The Beauty of Anwar

Notice what drilling is doing to the wildlife.

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Bernanke has a solution

FROM: Dr Ben Bernanke Central Bank of United States of America 01-658-555-1234 TO: CEO Lagos, Nigeria Dear Friend: I have been requested by the regional members Federal Reserve of the USA to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. … Continue reading

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Found Him

Joshua hasn’t disappeared, he just isn’t gracing us with his opinions on the conflict in the Caucasus, but you can find them at Registan.net, here and here. Heh, Insty links to him, but describes it as peevish (Josh? Peevish? Also, … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Georgia vs Finland

Zbigniew Brzezinski strikes a note from our discussion on tonights podcast and compares the invasion of Georgia with Stalin’s assault on Finland. If Georgia can hold up the military end of that analogy it would be quite impressive. I am … Continue reading

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QandO Podcast

McQ, Dale and I discuss the Russian campaign against Georgia over South Ossetia. Generally I feel that our support should belong to Georgia. However, Georgia has severely miscalculated in this matter, and frankly our options are limited. At best, we … Continue reading

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Free Riding?

Alex Taborrak has a story: How an Economist Thinks Over the weekend a crew came round my neighborhood offering to paint house numbers on the curb. Large bold curb numbers, they pointed out, make it easier for emergency service workers … Continue reading

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