I am worried that my previous post may have been too favorable to bankers. Bankers are not universally loved. They have a reputation for foreclosing on decent people having a hard time financially, for not lending to anyone except those… Read More »Good Bank, Bad Bank
This article in The Economist magazine describes well what happened with Silicon Valley Bank and some other impending bank failures. It also describes the other side of the banking business, which is getting less attention today. The lesson of SVB… Read More »SVB and Bank Profits
The Economist magazine’s cover story is about the fall of Goldman Sachs as one of the leading financial institutionsin the world. The short leader article can be found here, and the longer cover story can be found here. The leader… Read More »The Economist Sinks Goldman Sachs
The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low for about a decade, ever since the Great Recession of 2008. It has kept an eye on the stock market as an indicator of how the overall economy was doing. The Fed… Read More »The Fed Boosts the Stock Market
Money is still free Real interest rates are still negative, they are way below the rate of inflation. The last Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation reading in August was about 8.3%. The current Fed funds rate is about 2.5%. The… Read More »Money Is Still Free