Finance & Economics Blog
You don’t hear a lot of people talking about deflation these days unless they’re scorning it. Inflation is all the rage in most circles and admittedly I’ve gotten caught up in the craze to some extent. However, I’ve been searching for contrary views on the inflation versus deflation debate as I wonder whether we really …
I’ve heard many people say they write so they can sort out their thoughts, learn something and ultimately arrive at what they think about a specific topic. That’s what I’m attempting to do today. One of the great debates currently in the world of economics and investing is whether we’re headed for a sufficiently higher …
Modern Monetary Theory (“MMT”) has become increasingly popular over the past several years. I recently listened to Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth to learn more about the rationale for MMT. Modern Monetary Theory claims that currency issuers (e.g., United States, Japan, Eurozone, etc…) don’t have to operate under the same restrictions as households operate. Households are required …
I enjoy traveling, seeing new places and experiencing different cultures and cuisines. I actually find it to be quite exhilarating. Some of my favorite trips have been to the other side of the world to countries and cultures that are very different from my own. The best trips I’ve taken have been those where I …
Some of you may be wondering what middle ground is since it hasn’t really existed for a couple of decades now. The middle ground is in between two extremes, where proponents of both extremes compromise to find a solution that is as close as possible to a win-win for all parties involved. Everything today is …
We discussed inflation in our post yesterday. We referenced financial asset and real asset inflation. I’ve now seen the tweet below from multiple professionals I follow and feel it’s worth sharing here. The tweet references financial asset inflation in terms of hourly wages of the average US worker. It’s pretty crazy to see how many hours …
Inflation is a phenomenon that impacts everyone. Granted inflation has been quite tame for the past 40 years, it hasn’t always been so. Inflation ramped up quite a bit in the 1970s as a result of various factors, the most famous being the oil embargo and rising oil prices. Beating the inflation of the 1970s …
Economists have predicted nine of the past five recessions. If that statement doesn’t make sense to you or appears to be wrong, it’s meant to. The quote is attributed to Paul Samuelson, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in economics. The quip was meant to imply that economists aren’t very good at predicting …
Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is up about 11.5%. Over the same time period, interest rates, as measured by the U.S. Treasury 10-year yield, have declined nearly 13% to 2.47% (as of 3/22/19). This trend appears to be sending mixed signals as rates historically have increased when stocks were on the rise in a typical business …
Sluggish GDP growth has been a concern for the past 10 years, following the last recession. Many papers have been written and many opinions have been offered. Academic studies demonstrated that overhangs after financial crises can lead to below average economic growth for a number of years. Additionally, high debt levels relative to a country’s …