Archive for: Wall Street

Did Uncle Sam’s $700 Billion TARP Bailout Pay For Itself?

At the height of the economic crisis, President George W. Bush announced a $700 billion bailout package called the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). As you can imagine, there were a lot of questions such as…

What the Big Brokerages Constantly Get Wrong

Wall Street analysts at major brokerages have a lot of power when it comes to the stock market. Millions of people closely follow and believe their predictions of what they think a stock or market should be worth.

The Long Bull Enters Year 4 with High Hopes

US markets have been rallying for three years now. The average length on a long bull rally since 1932 is four years. This rally could continue for another 1-2 years, say several Wall Street pros. What could stop it in its tracks is a spike in gas prices, Congress unable to come to grips with a runaway debt, inflation forcing interest rates up, a hard landing in China or Europe unraveling from its twin crises of big debts and slow growth.

Video: Is US Economy Over Hump?

Andrew Gordon warns to expect more bumps on the road to recovery.

Why Can’t D.C. Keep it Simple?

You’ve probably heard the expression “When a butterfly flaps its wings, it can cause a hurricane to form halfway around the world.” That simple little saying suggests just how unpredictably complex a system can be. But it’s not just our weather that can be described as complex. Virtually every system in the world can be described in the same way.

How Our Most Powerful Financial Managers Are Getting It All Wrong

What if everything professional investors thought they knew about risk was completely wrong? Or what if the way that hundreds of billions of dollars are structured in hedge funds was totally off base? And what if this simple misunderstanding was actually exposing us to a potential meltdown that could wipe out

Can Foreclosures Save America?

I have a dilemma. I hate both austerity and excessive government spending. Can you blame me? I spent several years in the government. Not the one controlled by Washington. This one was controlled by Annapolis, the seat of Maryland’s state government where I worked under the late and great Governor William Donald

What History Tells Us About Banks, Drugs and GE

I’m a stock picker and a firm believer that there are better and worse companies populating the S&P 500 and that if you have a clue as to which is which, you’re going to do much better than investors who rely on ETFs. Laszlo Birinyi, head of Birinyi Associates, the widely respected