Archive for June, 2008

Alert: "Batten down the hatches"

Monday, June 30th, 2008

The Federal Reserve Bank's lack of action to backup their bullish dollar comments appears to be sending a "flash point" signal to the worldwide credit markets.  Since last year I have been warning of a financial storm that could wreak havoc in the global markets.  The hurricane warning flags are ...

The Demise of the Business Model

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

What is a Business Model? A business model is a framework of creating value by a company. What is a framework? A framework is a basic conceptual structure used to solve or address complex issues. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model#Do_Business_Models_Matter.3F Now that I have defined the business model, let's look at the relevance of ...

Hubbert’s Peak

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

Recent record oil prices would suggest that we revisit the primary driver of high prices.  Throughout our lives there has always been an abundance of oil.  When Jed Clampett shot his rifle and discovered oil on the show "Beverly Hillbillies", the view of oil was one of abundance.  Oil discoveries ...

Unequal Weights and Measures: Airlines

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

This week the airlines were in the news with their massive personnel cuts and downsizing plans.  See: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=als_9FvReWTY  Something just didn't seem right.  The reason given for cutting jobs, schedules, and increasing fares by up to four times the previous prices just didn't add up.  Being the financially oriented guy ...

Inside the eye of the hurricane

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

We can see the sun and the wind has subsided, the ocean is still, all is calm, or is it?  The following graph illustrates the seriousness of the problem:   http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/fredgraph?chart_type=line&width=1000&height=600&preserve_ratio=true&s%5b1%5d%5bid%5d=BORROW   That hyperbolic blue line is the total borrowings from the Fed, ...