Archive for August, 2008
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Texas ratio is a measure of a bank's credit troubles. Developed by Gerard Cassidy and others at RBC Capital Markets, it is calculated by dividing the value of the lender's non-performing loans by the sum of its tangible equity capital and loan loss reserves. ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on The Texas Ratio
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
Who would have thought there would so much to track in the financial arena just five years ago. The 1960's are looking like the golden years now for most of us who were around then. We have seen several recessions since the 1960's. The current storm clouds indicate a severe ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on Recap of the Financial Storm
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
On 08/08/08, Georgia was invaded by Russian troops. Why? Once again, it's all about oil just like Iraq was all about oil. The following map provides us a view of Georgia's proximity to the oil pipelines: Source: Kleveman, Lutz, The New Great Game, Atlantic ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on Georgia on my mind
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
This phrase may come back to haunt the powers that be. The Federal Reserve exercised its authority to deal with Bear Stearns. With increasing frequency, policy makers are using little known, obscure powers granted eons ago. There are so many laws with so much fine print that just about anything ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on "Unusual and exigent circumstances"
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
By now all of us should agree the U.S. Government's reported core inflation number is bogus. I guess that those who calculate inflation do not go to the grocery store or drive a car. In this writing I want to look at the area of "personal financial destruction" of savers. ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on The Subtle Cost of Inflation
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Globalization is based on cheap energy. The "2500 mile salad" assumes that you can truck lettuce from California and put it on the table in New York City at a reasonable cost. Cheap transportation costs propelled China's industrial sector into a world class supplier. This phenomenon allowed them to build ...
Posted in Biblical Economics & Money | Comments Off on The Reversal of Globalization