The Sane Investor

March 18th, 2009

The following is an article I wrote for one of our on-campus publications recently.

If you’ve ever been curious about how Detroit is doing, here’s a fun exercise: look at real estate prices on Google. It was after a brief search that I found my dream home: a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,636 square foot town home in Wayne County, Detroit. But the best part is the price: $200. Indeed, for the same price as an iPod Touch, I could start my new life in a place where the average annual temperature is a balmy 48.6 degrees Fahrenheit and the murder rate is 5.16 times the national average.

(more…)

March 17th, 2009

This article is in response to the Jim Cramer interview on the Daily Show last Thursday.  Click here to watch the full interview on Comedy Cenral’s website.  MLive.com gives a very good sum up as well.

As one of last Thursday’s more central themes, greater responsibility on the part of financial journalists seemed to resonate the loudest with the crowd.  I can’t say I don’t agree with them: after one of the single worst financial crashes since the Great Depression, everyone is looking for culprits, including Congress.  Jim Cramer and CNBC would seem to be the most recent victims of the witch hunt, were it not for the fact that they largely brought it upon themselves.  USA Today actually had a very good point in noting that were it not for Cramer responding to Jon Stewart’s original diss on the network, most CNBC viewers would have gone on not knowing about the exchange. (more…)

March 15th, 2009

The following is an article I wrote for one of our on-campus publications about two weeks ago. I think it’s still relevant today, especially in light of the fact that China is beginning to question the security of T-bills.

If it was your brother-in-law with bad credit you’d just ignore his calls. But it’s a little different when it’s the strongest economy in the world.

With memories of the federal debt clock hitting $10 trillion still fresh in our minds and the prospect of costly fiscal packages swirling about, it’s no surprise that most Americans would rather turn off the news. Depending on whether the Bush tax cuts are renewed and the final result of the Obama fiscal stimulus package, the United States budget deficit could surge from the $455 billion in 2008 to between $1.2 and $2.0 trillion in 2009. (more…)