People really like to throw bombs at “Keynesian” economics because it’s become synonymous with big government and unfettered spending. The really common (and incorrect) understanding of Keynesian economics is that people shouldn’t save and should just consume until they are so fat that the economy is at full employment. The other (slightly less incorrect) version… Read More

This post will at first appear like a discussion about morality, but I hope it will end as a post about objective reasons for market cap weighted equity indexing. So hang tight even if your head starts to explode a little. Here’s a good piece by Felix Salmon on why we should avoid “sin stocks”.… Read More

I’ve written 10,817 posts in the last 10 years. About 25% of those posts were about the operational nature of the US monetary system with the intent to explore and explain how the monetary system works. My goal was simple – to explain the monetary system in such a way that people could navigate the… Read More

I sucked at baseball when I was younger. It wasn’t because I was physically incapable of playing baseball.¹ It was mainly because I was undisciplined and tried to do too much. For instance, I was a decent right handed hitter, but I spent half my time practicing left handed. I had this infatuation with being… Read More

There are reports going around this morning that Trump wants to eliminate the debt ceiling. Here’s what I said about this 5 years ago: As a fully autonomous currency issuer the US government has no legitimate limit in its ability to finance its own spending. There is no such thing as the USA not being able to… Read More

I’ve got shrinkage on the mind again. Maybe I’ve spent too much time in cold water this summer or maybe it’s just me getting old? I don’t know, but I do know that it’s becoming an increasingly important discussion as the Fed discusses its future policy options. I’ve talked about how the Fed will unwind its… Read More

Here are some things I think I am thinking about: 1.   Floyd Mayweather – Maybe not such a financial disaster? Floyd Mayweather didn’t follow my financial advice. He was, predictably, MUCH better than Conor McGregor at boxing. Actually, I’d say Conor surpassed expectations. But Floyd is Floyd. He’s the best ever. And he proved… Read More

There’s this big fight this weekend between undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and MMA Champ Conor McGregor.  They’re reportedly earning a combined $175 million +. It’s the biggest fight ever. On paper it looks like a no-brainer. Mayweather is the best boxer maybe ever. If you’ve watched him fight before it is breathtaking. The guy will go… Read More

Some of the bond pickers of the world were not very happy with my recent post talking about how bond funds are generally safer than owning individual bonds.¹ The most common response I saw was similar to this comment on Seeking Alpha about the risk of redemptions: Beyond diversification, you have the impact of potentially… Read More