Calculated Risk November 15 2010: The Keynesian Vacuum Universe Detroit Publishing Co. Launch Party September 2, 1905"Launch of steamer Frank J. Hecker St. Clair, Michigan". Ilargi: The weekend action and today's news confirm the beggar thy dollar race to the bottom is once again on. The US dollar is going up versus the euro, which is a big surprise to many, especially the ones that bought into the QE2 inflation meme that rapidly spread through the media, but not to those who read The Automatic Earth on a regular basis. Of course it may seem a coincidence that everyone's talking about Ireland and Greece -again- all of a sudden, but it's not. The US answers with a muni crisis, but that will have to be much more pronounced first before it can make investors believe that the US is worse off than Greece. It’ll all make for an interesting and intriguing week, and we’ll have lots more to say on the topic. Oh, and we recommend y'all do as Max Keiser says: buy a silver coin and help make life mighty uncomfy for JPMorgan! Ashvin Pandurangi: [..]
R Definitions: Campbell R. Harveys Hypertextual Finance Glossary View the next letter. Copyright © 2014, Campbell R. Harvey. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without explicit permission. [Version 20 December 2013.] Keep up to date on the latest finance lingo with my new iPad/iPhone app Download from iTunes Order my book with the 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner for financial writing, Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times Order via AmazonOrder via Barnes and Noble
The Baseline Scenario News, Commentary and Analysis by Michael J. Kosares “Amid the global crisis in confidence, investors seem to be rediscovering the fact that gold has been used as money for thousands of years. In periods where black swans are no singular occurrences but are practically coming in flocks, the status of gold as a safe haven has yet again proven its worth.” - Ronald-Peter Stoferle, The Erste Group A few years ago I did an appraisal for a client who was pledging his gold as collateral in a commercial real estate transaction. In the course of doing the appraisal, I was struck with the large gain in value. "No problem at all,” he wrote by return e-mail, “I have viewed it as a hedge, but also as an alternative to money market funds. It needs to be emphasized that he was not selling his gold, but pledging it as collateral to finance other aspects of his business. "I read the article in the newsletter about one of your client’s buying 1 million of gold four years ago and it now being worth $1.5 million.
Six Ways to Cut Costs in Your Small Biz If you run your own small business, you know that every dollar saved in your business is a dollar in your pocket. Here are six ways you can cut costs that will increase your profit margin. 1. Smart outsourcing Some business experts will advise you to outsource as much as possible. When I had a retail store, I used my local The UPS Store rather than standing in front of a self serve copier for hours. 2. Even if you can afford to outsource a task, it might be better not to do so. 3. Look closely at your advertising budget and consider cutting some costs in exchange for finding free advertising opportunities, such as cross promotional partnerships. 4. Poor hiring decisions can cost you big in your small business. 5. Just because you don’t have a board of directors, doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. 6. Whether you’re asking your client for a better cheque by raising your rates or asking a supplier for longer payment terms or a 10% invoice discount, there are deals out there to be had.
The Big Picture All Although the pending results are expected to showthat all 19 US banks are capable of surviving future shocks, but some will only be able to do that if they receive further capital injections. So does that mean that they don’t all pass and some need capital injections to be able to pass? Or does it mean that there was no chance that any bank would fail the stress test because if they were found to be lacking they would find themselves the recipients of a nice healthy welfare (bailout for rich people) cheque and hence would then pass the test? I wish my exams were like that! Just like i wish i could ring fence all my bad trades over the past few years…ummm, not that there have been that many of course! Author: Kyle R Shortland Mr Shortland has over 14 years of investment management and financial markets experience.
30 Financial Moves Before 30- Ideas Worth Trying January 13, 2011, 6:00 amby:MD Category:Miscellaneous I started reading the Art of Non-Conformity the other day and the idea of the life list/bucket list got me thinking again. I started thinking about my bucket list for what I want to accomplish before I turn 30 (in 7 years). Then I started to get more specific. Since every financial bucket list is unique to your own situation, I decided to outline 30 financial moves that might be of interest to your unique financial situation before you turn 30. 1. Keep a buffer in a savings account because you never know when a rainy day will hit you out of nowhere. 2. You can debate good debt vs bad debt, but at the end of the day you should try to kill off your credit card debt before you turn 30. 3. The sooner you start planning for your retirement, the sooner you have compound interest working on your side. 4. You may not try to do this deliberately but it’s bound to happen. 5. When you make a major mistake with your money, learn from it. 6. 7. 8.
DAILYBAIL The company also practices dirty accounting tricks like "forward funding," "advance funding," and "delayed obligations," deceptive tricks that hide its precipitous finances from auditors and its investors. This company routinely borrows from its workers' pension plan to pay off its debt. Its accountants then claim that because the company owes the borrowed money to its own pensioners and not to outside creditors, the resulting hole in the pension plan doesn't really count as a liability. Sometimes, the company's executives neglect to pass a budget at all. When that happens, they keep the company running with "emergency expenditures," which its accountants don't consider real expenditures for records-keeping purposes, even though they're paid with real money. By now, you've probably guessed where I'm headed. If the government were required to abide by the same accounting standards as private industry, its debt would be in the trillions, not billions.
Currency Thoughts 46 Ways To Start A Business With No Money Most people who want to start their own business don’t have a ton of money laying around and it’s probably one the most common questions I get emailed about: How can I get started without a lot of cash? Well I’ve put together a list below of the best ideas I’ve heard and personally used. I hope you find it useful! The three basic strategies to starting a business without much money are: Delay the normal “business starting” activities like incorporating, hiring, renting office or retail space, etc until AFTER your business has started earning money. Start With The Easy Stuff: Eliminate Expenses Don’t rent an office! Legal Stuff and Incorporating Make a website for your business Don’t pay a premium for a top end domain name, there are plenty of good ones leftTest out your ideas by writing to a blog, you’ll get feedback on what people like and don’t likeGet a free business website at www.wordpress.com or tumblr.com. Getting a Logo Don’t hire a fancy graphic designer. Accepting Credit Cards
Credit Slips Today is the day for filing amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in NML v. Argentina (pari passu case). Brazil, France, Mexico, the Jubilee Network and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz are all asking the court to take the case. For now, I only highlight Mexico's priceless intervention against the courts' misuse of Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in the pari passu argument. It is one thing for me to rant about it--but Mexico has unique credibility on CACs. Mexico is thus well positioned to disagree with a stated foundation for the Court’s reasoning: that contract provisions in sovereign debt instruments known as “collective action clauses,” or “CACs,” will limit the decision’s ramifications to Argentina alone. Preach. Now, whether any of this adds up to review and reversal is another story ...