There are many similarities and many differences between the Great Recession of 2008/9 and the current banking “crisis”. In no particular order, here are some initial thoughts: 1. Social Media: One cause of the current “crisis” is that it is the first downturn since social media overwhelmed America. I’ve seen many banks experience a “run-on-the-bank” and go under, but I have never seen banks collapse…
It’s a reasonable assumption that our Founding Fathers were good and decent people. I wonder how they would reply if we told them: “Your Second Amendment has become a smokescreen for bad people to hide behind, when killing good people. In fact, your Second Amendment has made it possible for guns to become the leading cause of death for children, surpassing car accidents. Are you…
Remember those dreaded “compare & contrast” questions in college? We should do that for the current banking crisis (BC) and the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Ready? Unemployment was much higher in the GFC. The stock market dropped by roughly 50% during the GFC. It took months for the GFC to develop but only days for the BC to develop. You can thank social media!…
In the 1980’s, the government encouraged lenders to get more aggressive in making loans, to stimulate the economy. That was especially true for Savings & Loan Associations, who were encouraged to “think like entrepreneurs”. Naturally, “anything worth doing is worth over-doing!” By 1990, there was a full-blown financial crisis. My chief memory was when the small bank on the first floor failed, and I could…
Today’s “jobs report” shows the economy is still quite strong, and that’s bad news! Expecting that 225 thousand new jobs were produced last month, we actually produced 311 thousand – GOOD NEWS! That makes the Fed more likely to raise interest rates significantly next week – BAD NEWS! The average hourly earnings dropped slightly, which indicates inflation may be subsiding. The size of our labor…
Probably as a result of growing up in a beach town, I enjoy watching tourists. During a recent cruise to Antarctica, the largest group of passengers, not surprisingly, was affluent over-60 whites. There was only one black couple. There were zero children, not even teenagers. Most passengers were fit enough to get into and out of Zodiacs (eight-passenger rubberized boats) and to walk along rocky…