Category: Money

  • The eye of the storm

    A couple of years ago, I posted a graphic of the mortgage resets from Credit Suisse First Boston. Let’s see where we are now. Congratulations to all. We’ve made it through the subprime crisis and only lost GM, every investment bank, nearly wiped out the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund, put 1 out of 8 homeowners…

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  • Turning this economic ship around

    Take a look at these three charts. Bloomberg’s commodities index of indices: Commodities, or commodity futures, are investments in the future value of things like rice, gold, oil, cattle, and other tangible goods. Baltic Dry Index: The Baltic Dry Index is an index of costs to ship things on cargo ships. As BDI goes up,…

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  • Time is not money

    There’s a popular expression, a cliche, that says time is money. However, time isn’t money. Why? There is no such way to intermediate time. There is no coinage for time, no way to purchase time back that you have spent. If time were actually money, you could buy back that missed softball game or child’s…

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  • Seeds of the recovery

    The seeds of the economic recovery are beginning to sprout a little. While the broader economy still has a lot to shake off and the investment, credit, and financial markets still have more garbage to take out, there are small signs of recovery underway that will eventually grow to big signs down the road. A…

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  • Stop whatever you're doing and watch this video

    This is mandatory, absolutely must see material. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. I only wished the video went further. It ends at the credit crisis and failing investments – and the chain reaction beyond that is choking of credit to businesses, which puts some out of business, which creates joblessness,…

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  • What's all the stuff in the early morning tweet about?

    More than a few people who follow me on Twitter have been asking about what all the stuff is in one particular Tweet that I do daily, more for my own benefit to see where market indicators are. Here’s your morning tweet cheat sheet. Sample: DJIA +146 VIX 42.28 TED 95bps 3mo LIBOR 1.17 1mo…

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  • Money as trust

    Money as trust I heard an interesting comment made during Davos (I wasn’t there, but was listening to Bloomberg Surveillance) about the economic situation. One Davos participant said that it’s all a matter of trust. He hit the nail right on the head. Everything that you see happening right now is about trust, because trust…

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  • Monetization and social media

    Monetization and social media Get rich quick! Quit your day job! Money while you sleep! All claims made of social media and virtually every other new technology, idea, or movement since mankind first created money itself. Can you make money in social media? Should you make it an aim? To answer this question, we have…

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  • New eBook!

    Well gang, after much, much, much labor, data gathering, and reading the most awful documentation ever produced by mankind – from the US government – my new eBook, the 2009-2010 FAFSA Guide, is now published. It’s 47 pages of financial aid stuff about how to fill out the FAFSA, landmines to avoid, and tips especially…

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  • Bad debt, good debt, and the great financial lie

    One of the greatest lies ever told to people is the fallacy of good debt/bad debt. “A mortgage is good debt! It’s an investment that will pay off!” “A college education and student loan is good debt! It’s an investment in yourself!” “A credit card is bad debt! Stuff you buy with a credit card…

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