Negative Interest Rate Neverland
In the wonky world of central banking, the Rx for reviving an economy comes down to reducing the cost of credit so that borrowers are tempted to borrow and spend. These notions, taught in central...
View ArticleBond Refugees Flee to Stock Lands
Tension is building among stock investors. Stock prices have levitated while the most fundamental determinant of stock price support— an uplift in corporate earnings — has gone soft. But on the other...
View ArticleThe Mad Genius of the Zero-Forever Bond
That the developed world’s governments are accumulating outsized debt shouldn’t be news to anyone. Unless there are some tricks up the government’s sleeves — and they are tricksters — there will be...
View ArticleThe House of Cards: EU Edition
Negative interest rates pursued by central banks of distressed economies are more of a problem than a solution. They bleed investment income from financial institutions already facing asset write-offs....
View ArticleIt’s a Whole New Ballgame: The Fed Has Been Stymied: (Part 1)
To prevent a reoccurrence of the 2008 financial meltdown, the banks of the G-20 countries must now operate under new rules that encourages substantially higher holding of cash. This changes both the...
View ArticleIn The New Monetary Ballgame, the Game Is Rigged for US Treasuries (Part 2)
Financial crises, à la 2008, are an invitation for regulation that carries far-reaching and unintended consequences. Banks across the developed world are being forced to hold more cash and cash-like...
View ArticleThe Pernicious Effects of Debt Accumulation: An Interview with Lacy Hunt
This monthly SpellmanReport is an interview with Lacy Hunt, Ph.D., a prominent economist and investment manager noted for his views on inflation and deflation, interest rates, and monetary policy....
View ArticleHouston, We’ve Had a Problem
The Federal Reserve responded to the spectacular financial meltdown of 2008 by putting a bottom under the cascading financial prices. This was accomplished by buying, buying, and buying some more. Then...
View ArticleAt the Cross Roads of Money and Inflation
We all have in our heads the instinctive notion that more money circulating in an economy is inflationary. Indeed the notion of the proportionality of money and prices exists in academia as well. It is...
View ArticleThe Trump Tariff Offensive
Tariffs revision designed to cure trade deficits have become a live and contentious economic policy issue. Despite the ripples it creates, confronting the trade deficit is long overdue given its...
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