Category: Business Columnists

The Fed Is Making Things Ever Worse

Commentary Jerome Powell came to power at the Fed with the determination to reverse the astounding errors of his predecessors, most especially Ben Bernanke who received the Nobel Prize for the dumbest central-bank policies since the Weimar Republic. Back in 2008, Bernanke pushed borrowing costs for banks to zero and held them there for years…


Silicon Valley Bank Management Fired, Investors Will Not Be Protected: Biden

The American people can have confidence that the U.S. banking system is safe, President Joe Biden said in a prepared address. While speaking before his visit to California on Monday, the president outlined his administration’s plan surrounding Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. “Your deposits will be there when you need small businesses across…


Biden Says ‘Banking System Is Safe’ Amid Fallout From SVB Collapse

The American people can have confidence that the U.S. banking system is safe, President Joe Biden said in a prepared address. While speaking before his visit to California on Monday, the president outlined his administration’s plan surrounding Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. “Your deposits will be there when you need small businesses across…


The Federal Trade Commission’s Monopoly on Thought

Commentary The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established with massive bipartisan support in 1914 to fight monopolies. But under the Biden administration, this powerful government agency has become something like a police force favoring the most dangerous form of monopoly: that which prevents competition in free expression. Although there were differences on whether to regulate…


The Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Is a Direct Consequence of Loose Monetary Policy

Commentary The second-largest collapse of a bank in recent history after Lehman Brothers folded in 2007 could have been prevented. Now, the impact is too large, and the contagion risk is difficult to measure. The demise of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a classic bank run driven by a liquidity event, but the important…


The Collapse of SVB Portends Real Dangers

Commentary Thus far in this 3-year fiasco of mismanagement and corruption, we’ve avoided a financial crisis. That’s for specific reasons. We just had not traveled there in the trajectory of the inevitable. Are we there yet? Maybe. In any case, the speed of change is accelerating. All we await is to observe the extent of…


Jobs Prints at 311,000, but Economy Still on Track for Recession in Third Quarter 2023

Commentary New jobs created printed at 311,000 on Mar. 10, according to the Establishment Survey, far exceeding market expectations of 205,000 jobs. The Household Survey printed lower at 150,000. Net revisions were down 34,000 from December and January. The overwhelming majority of jobs were in the lower-wage sector, and job losses occurred in some of…


No Recession: Is the Consensus View Wrong?

Commentary Could the consensus view of a “no recession” scenario be wrong? As portfolio managers, this is the question we ask ourselves daily. Since the lows of last October, the technical backdrop has improved markedly, as discussed last week in “Bear Trap.” To wit: “Our most critical bullish signals are the short- and intermediate-term moving…


China Fear Grips a Republican

Commentary Talk of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) caving to China by not making a trip to Taiwan, as he said in July he would “love to do,” is a step backward for the United States and its partners in Asia. McCarthy and Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen announced a meeting in the United States,…


The Weakening Electric Grid: Less Reliable, More Fragile

As more and more irritated customers become certain that power shortages and blackouts have become more common, the electric grid’s problems receive more attention. They should. Shortages and blackouts have in fact become much more common than they once were. The electric power grid has become increasingly fragile and considerably less reliable. This is especially…