We often have an odd way of accepting someone’s decision to change their mind. A change of mind is frequently thought to be a sign of a poorly conceived conviction or a poorly conceived initial position. Few politicians change their minds because they know that they will be assailed for weakness or for having caved…
About 25 years ago a character debuted on Saturday Night Live and the recurring joke was to try and guess the character’s gender. The sketches typically had red herrings and lots of mis-direction and the question of Pat’s gender was never answered. Never a terribly popular character, someone had the fiscally irresponsible idea of making…
Anyone who has seen the classic movie “Casablanca” will recall the cynicism of the scene in which Captain Renault says “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” seconds before the croupier hands him his winnings from earlier. This week, the Chief Global Investment Strategist of Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) in attempting to explain…
It seems as if it has been a long time since we were at that stage where good economic news was interpreted negatively and bad news was celebrated. Lately, on the economic front there really hasn’t been any bad news, although depending on your perspective perhaps the good news just hasn’t been good enough. That…
It was interesting listening to the questioning of FOMC Chairman Janet Yellen this week during her mandated two day congressional appearance. The market went nicely higher on the first day when she was hosted by the more genteel of the two legislative bodies. The apparent re-embrace of her more dovish side was well received by…