Greece’s Rating Cut to Selective Default by S&P

by Marilou Long on February 28, 2012 in Banks

S&P has caught up to what everyone already knows: Greece is out of money.  Most of today’s commentary is concerned with the impact of the downgrade on the CDS market.  From the linked article: The bigger question remains whether the bond swap or collective-action clauses will trigger payments on credit-default swap contracts. The International Swaps [...]

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The President’s Proposed Tax Hike on Dividends

by Marilou Long on February 22, 2012 in Debt

Laura’s previous post on the Simpson-Bowles report underscores the challenges facing our country.  The huge deficits of the last several years are not sustainable, and as the sovereign debt problems in Greece and Europe illustrate, it is impossible to sustain lifestyle spending with ever increasing debt.  If your business or household is spending more than [...]

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Simpson-Bowles Report….Read It

by Laura Ehrenberg-Chesler on February 16, 2012 in Debt

In 2010 the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was established.  It was a bipartisan committee led by Senators Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Out of this commission came a proposal/document known as the Simpson-Bowles report.  It is a 67 page document which is in plain English, and which proposes, in a very common sense, understandable [...]

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Texas is Awesome – courtesy of Business Insider

by Marilou Long on February 15, 2012 in Economic Indicators
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Leading by Example in Work and Life

by Laura Ehrenberg-Chesler on February 9, 2012 in Tribute

This past weekend my husband and I were privileged to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of the man who was my boss at the investment firm of PaineWebber, from 1987-1989.  Even at the age of 26, I knew I was the luckiest girl in the investment business.  Robert J. Donato had given me the opportunity of a lifetime.  It was one [...]

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CNBC reports that Greece is close to a bailout deal

by Marilou Long on February 7, 2012 in Banks
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First in a Series: WSJ article emphasizes America

by Laura Ehrenberg-Chesler on February 2, 2012 in Technology

On January 30th, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “The Coming Tech-led Boom”.  It is an insightful, positive view on good things to come, right here in America. To quote directly from the article, the authors believe that today, “we sit again on the cusp of three grand technological transformations with the potential [...]

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Milton Friedman on Greed

by Marilou Long on January 31, 2012 in Credit Crisis

I contend that crony capitalism, where the government picks winners and losers, is a big part of our dissatisfaction right now. Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit for the reminder about this clip.

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Some mixed data to ponder

by Laura Ehrenberg-Chesler on January 26, 2012 in Economic Indicators

Lately, I have found some positive economic data to blog about and consider.  Additional positive data recently came out from the Empire State Manufacturing Survey.  The Survey indicates that manufacturing activity expanded in New York State, with the general business conditions index climbing to its best reading since April 2011.  In addition, the new orders index rose [...]

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Greek Debt Negotiations Break Down

by Marilou Long on January 24, 2012 in Banks

Private holders of Greek debt have not been able to reach an agreement with the EU finance ministers on restructuring the terms of their Greek debt holdings.  They hold 60% of the outstanding debt, and they don’t want to accept a new rate less than 4% on those holdings.  The EU wants the private debt [...]

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