Analyste de Boston

Is Dubai's Default a Black Swan Event?

Dubai? Isn't that the country where THEY THROW YOU IN JAIL IF YOU WELCH ON YOUR DEBTS? (How ironic.)

Yes, it is and they do:
tinyurl.com/yjovm5m

A Tale of Two Markets: Overvalued Stocks and the Declining Dollar

The Fed's & Treasury's E-Z money policies are designed for one, and only one purpose: to save Wall Street's *ss. They "bailed" out GS and the investors in a Reaganite version of Sprinkle Down Economics - and Main Street loses again.

Given the "doubling" of the monetary base announced early this year, it was a no-brainer that a new bubble would form first & fastest in the riskiest, most speculative (paper) investments. That's Wall Street's product to SELL, after all.

Starting from 1971, with REAL inflation and including the monetary base DOUBLING in 2009, Gold is still "cheap" @ UNDER USD$1,200. (in 2009 Dollars.)

Private Equity Releverages with a Vengeance

Since the 3/9/09 Rally began, PSP is up +124% vs. +50% for SPY. What other 'private equity' ETFs, CEFs, or MFs should be considered/compared?

How Tactical Asset Allocation Will Transform Wealth Management

"more than 90% of investment returns come from asset allocation"
I think the author's referring to the widely misunderstood/ wrongly interpreted BHB study : tinyurl.com/lrsw2f

Given the apples-to-oranges comparison, I'm not sure we can say what %age returns "come from asset allocation" - as you and we WOULD think. That oversimplification is essentially meaningless - it's not helpful that "the answer" is misunderstood or convoluted by PhDs, even!

Gut instinct tells me that TACTICAL ALLOCATION can produce superior returns in the short-run (3-5 years), but over a medium term this is due entirely to the managers' discretion/freedom to REDUCE RISK. To paraphrase Warren Buffett, 'the secret to making money is not losing money.'

Managers handcuffed to rigid mandates (i.e. fully invested in risky asset-classes) will continue to lose big widely volatile markets. They carry too much risk! They're too slow to adapt! Identifying long-term skillful - as opposed to short-term "lucky" or favored managers - remains a real challenge, however.

Warren's (Ridiculous) Prescription for Banks: Wipe Out Shareholders, Fire CEOs

"Remember, too, the executives Warren wants fired--people like Richard Davis, Jamie Dimon, and John Stumpf--are some of the most capable anywhere in American business."

Nice straw-man argument. After the 'strength test,' why should we - effectively, we the taxpayer-owners - allow the scammy CEOs to continue drawing lavish salaries? Where were the "shareholders," why did the mutual funds FAIL to reel in the corporate excesses? (One word hint: COLLUSION.)

The major flaw in this Op-Ed screed buys into the fundamental LIE of America, that US firms have "the best & brightest, the most talented & experienced professionals." Bollocks. That nonsense was PR created by these same CEOs - decades ago, as they began stocking Boards of Directors with their cronies, paying journalists to write laudatory articles rationalizing their own grotesque compensation schemes, hiring lobbyists to deregulate & strip-away all checks and balances from their destructive business models.

The "value" they created was just a brilliant & shining lie. Why should they keep their jobs, indeed!

The crisis we're in now is the direct result of systemic corporate malfeasance. Most of the financial CEOs paid $10+ million/yr are just as corrupt as the Soviet oligarchs were - Americans are long overdue for our revolution, to clear out the rot!

Seize CEOs ill-gotten gains, fire the bottom 85%, and enforce strict regulation over the worst offenders. Let's go back having to small local banks, without the Wall Street madness - let the shareholders take a cold bath and flog those who forgot MORAL HAZARD.