According to our friends at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, a seven-day forecast can accurately predict the weather about 80 percent of the time and a five-day forecast approximately 90 percent of the time. However, a 10-day—or longer—forecast is only right about half the time. EA Sports boasts a 50% accuracy for the NFL and […]
Author: David Clamage
Not My Bank
For those of you who remember, Bailey Savings & Loan might have gotten a lousy credit rating in today’s world causing a run on the bank due to Uncle Billy misplacing $8,000. On August 7th, Moody’s downgraded[i] the following banks and you can see what happened to their stock: Now in and of itself, that’s not a […]
The Dog Days of Summer
The internet is full of myth and mystery – fact and fiction so you need to take your own grain of salt to this origin to “The Dog Days of Summer”: Ancient Greeks noticed that Sirus—which they dubbed the “dog star” as it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major—appears to rise alongside the […]
We Dodged A Bullet
Well, I was wrong in May thinking we were heading off the fiscal cliff of no new borrowing: America’s credit card was set to be rejected and sure enough, after no small amount of brinkmanship – again – we managed to avoid fiscal catastrophe. One day we will all have to take this stuff seriously – yes, […]
How Far Down is the Bottom of the Cliff?
It’s hard to write these blogs sometimes – there so little good news except for my Denver Nuggets winning the Oscar Robertson Trophy for the first time in Denver Nuggets history! Maybe that’s a good sign for the future ‘cuz with politicians vs. business women and men running our economy, we’re not getting any free throws. […]
The World’s Reserve Currency… is not reserved!
Being the World’s Reserve Currency – the US Dollar – has an outsized influence on global affairs. It’s what all the “other” countries hold in their central banks to make sure they can pay their global bills. If you’re buying wheat from Kansas, it’s obvious you’re paying in dollars…what’s not so obvious is that bottle of French […]
What Makes a Strong Bank?
If we follow the weather person – March is in like a lion with all the turmoil in the banking markets. We can only hope it will be out like a lamb. We are not customers of Silicon Valley Bank or First Republic though we have done business with Signature – three very different stories with sadly […]
What was Old is New
History really does repeat itself – after all, we live on an enclosed social/political/ecosystem without a pipeline to another planet. That results in a finite number of things we can do and the resulting outcomes. For example, Mikhail Gorbachev was running out of money with a teetering economy and he needed to be better friends with […]
Should I Borrow Money Today?
If you search for “debt” at www.brainyquote.com you will find over 20 pages of suggestions including some of my favorites: Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt. Henrik Ibsen – the same man that wrote “Peer Gynt” and “A Doll’s House” The United States can pay […]
Calculating Interest Rates: #4 of 4: The Swans on the Economic Lake
This will be my 4th post on the very convoluted topic of interest rates. There are so many factors that can and do influence their movement – from Jay Powell and the US Federal Reserve to the Right Honorable Jeremy Hunt, MP, as Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer to the market giants like Goldman Sachs and […]