Author Archives: ffwiley

About ffwiley

F.F. Wiley is a veteran of the asset management industry who writes about economics, investments and politics.

Technical Notes for ‘Banking Buffoonery’

This is an appendix to our earlier post, “Banking Buffoonery, Modeling Mysticism and Why Krugman Should Be Sweatin’ Bullets.” We discuss the Bank of England report and IS-LM model in more detail, using a Q&A format.

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Banking Buffoonery, Modeling Mysticism and Why Paul Krugman Should Be Sweatin’ Bullets

We have a few things to say about the recent debunking of established monetary theories. In case you missed it, the Bank of England issued a report in March explaining that standard textbooks get money and banking all wrong. The … Continue reading

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Technical Notes for ‘3 Underappreciated Indicators’

This is an appendix for our earlier post, “3 Underappreciated Indicators to Guide You through a Debt-Saturated Economy.” We’ll share a few extra charts and describe our use of the Fed’s flow of funds data, in Q&A format.

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Is This What a Credit Bubble Looks Like?

There’s been some buzz recently about a pick-up in business lending. The six largest banks increased business loans at an average annual rate of 8.5% in the first quarter, according to a Wall Street Journal report last week. Other first … Continue reading

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Bulls vs. Bears: Some Profit Margin Stories Are Better Than Others

[M]argins have been rising smartly–faster than Greenspan can ever recall. His only explanation: productivity… Greenspan argues that the U.S. is undergoing a productivity revolution not seen since early this century… In the longer term, he’s betting that as the world … Continue reading

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Message to the Fed: Here Are a Few Things That You Can’t Do

[A]sset purchases are not on a preset course, and the Committee’s decisions about their pace will remain contingent on the Committee’s outlook for the labor market and inflation as well as its assessment of the likely efficacy and costs of … Continue reading

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Corporate Capex Fallacies and Why You Shouldn’t Rely on CNBC

We get experts on everything that sound like they’re scientific experts … They’ll sit at a typewriter and make up all this stuff as if it’s science and then become an expert … Now, I might be quite wrong, maybe they … Continue reading

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Did Today’s Flow of Funds Report Predict the Fed’s Next Confession?

In return for speaking fees reported to be “at least” $250,000, Ben Bernanke confessed a few of the Fed’s missteps while speaking to guests of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi on Tuesday: “Bernanke says he underestimated impact of subprime … Continue reading

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What Needs to Happen Before We See a Big Recovery?

In a Bloomberg article last May, Caroline Baum summed up the economy nicely in a single question: Four-and-a-half years of an overnight rate near zero and aggressive securities purchases by the Fed have succeeded in raising asset prices. The question … Continue reading

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