In the nearly 15 years that I’ve been writing about markets and managing money, there’s been a dramatic shift that has gotten only marginal notice. We’ve gone from having an optimism surplus to an optimism deficit. That may …
The Economy
Bernanke and the Fed: Reading Between the Lines
Today we were treated to the second installment of the Federal Reserve’s new policy of openness with Chairman Ben Bernanke’s press conference. That followed on the heels of the statement by the Fed Open Market Committee about …
Guest Column: Staying Quiet About China is a Dangerous Approach
Zachary Karabell’s June 9 article, “How Can Americans Get China to Do What They Want? For Starters, Shut Up,” promotes a dangerous approach that allows China to freely continue its mercantilist economic policies without …
Economic Doom, By the Numbers
Unemployment, misery, workplace dissatisfaction, the disappearing American Dream, forecasts of another Great Depression … Yikes!
Banks Are Hurting? It’s All Relative
The latest out of Wall Street-land is a warning by analysts at Citibank that profits at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (and to a lesser degree at other banks as well) will show a sharp contraction for the second quarter of …
How Miserable Are You?
The Misery Index has just reached a 28-year high. But some Americans are a lot more miserable than others.
Hard or Soft Landing for China? How About No Landing
The past few weeks in financial-land have been dominated by two combustible fears: 1.) that this time Greece really will default on its debts and plunge the Eurozone into chaos; and 2.) that this time China really will hit the …
10 Companies That Radically Transformed Their Businesses
IBM turned 100 today, the rare company to thrive a century after it was founded. But in the 1980s and 1990s, many people had written the company off. So IBM pivoted. The company that was synonymous with computer hardware mostly …
Inflation Picks Up: Why Rising Prices are Good for the Economy
Today’s report on inflation is sure to cause some long faces among economy worrywarts. It should instead draw smiles.
When Metaphors Attack!
We're wired to understand complex concepts by grounding them in simpler ones. It's often an effective way to get by in a complex world–but can lead us astray when it comes to our finances.
Big Blue Turns 100: IBM’s Anniversary is One to Celebrate
Today, IBM officially marks its 100th anniversary. But the company today bears remarkably little resemblance either to the sleepy Computer Tabulating Recording Corporation that was formed on June 16, 1911, or to the more iconic …
The White House and Jeff Immelt on Jobs: Compelling, Infuriating or Simply Irrelevant?
At the start of the week, Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE and the head of President Obama’s task force on job creation, released an interim report on plans to boost employment in the U.S. The reactions have been relatively …
