Financial Markets

This is an open thread to discuss the question I (and others) continually receive many queries about. What does your portfolio look like?

Zweig also explores how humans are overconfident in their abilities

The falling US dollar eats away at foreign workers' savings as the money is converted to their national currencies, but, more important, it discourages people leaning towards employment in the outsourced sector.

However modest in size, including possibly being actually negative, net investment represents the true source of most revenue and income.

Computational neuroscientists would add that not only do the projects appear profitable on paper but also that dopamine is released into the brains of entrepreneurs as they anticipate future profits.

I can recall reading this article by Michael Lewis when it first appeared, but it holds

The Chinese stock markets have been closed for several days to celebrate the new year--the year of the Rat.

At the end of the day, inflation is a serious threat to freedom. The majority of the people, suffering badly from inflation, would most likely blame the free market for their plight, rather than blame the central bank for the debasing of the currency.

Let us say that the present aggressive interest rate stance by the Fed fails to prevent the economy from falling into a recession; what kind of action is Bernanke then going to undertake? In some of his writings, he has suggested that, under such circumstances, the Fed should adopt a very aggressive stance and start pushing money on a massive scale, i.e., helicopter money. Needless to say that if this were to happen, Bernanke would run the risk of badly damaging the foundations of the real economy.