Author: John Mason

So far, two facts stand out to me in many of the current earnings releases. First, for many large financial firms, trading profits have provided almost all of the positive results that we have seen. Second, for many large...

“This has been the year of coping with the economic mess. Next year will be the year of coping with the deficit mess that follows the economic mess.”So says Wall Street Journal writer Gerald Seib. (See “Obama...

Questions are now being asked about the nature of the rise in the stock market. These questions have to do with the reality of the rise, how high the market will go, and when will the economy produce results that are consistent...

This is the third post in a series designed to review the progress of the Federal Reserve in its efforts to exit the position it has created for itself by more than doubling the size of its balance sheet. (The first two posts in...

Another commentary on the state of the dollar, well worth reading, is that written by Martin Wolf and presented by the Financial Times this morning (see “The Rumours of the Dollar’s Death are Much Exaggerated”:...

Today, the editorial pages are full of discussion over the falling value of the dollar and what to do about it. As could be expected, the fundamentalist preacher of a rigid, dogmatic Keynesianism, Paul Krugman, has his say in...

This is my monthly report on bank lending. Last month I reported on the continued absence of the commercial banking industry in loan markets. (See my post of September 10, 2009, “Bank Lending Stays on the Sidelines”:...

More headlines this morning on the dollar strategy of the Obama administration. First, the main headline in the Wall Street Journal contains the blast: “U. S. Stands By as Dollar Falls.” (See...

The front page of the Financial Times captures the concern that has been expressed by this writer for at least the last four years. Today we see “Obama’s critics pounce on falling dollar as fears grow over...