Why I am an Optimist
November 28, 2009 By John Mauldin Subprime Dubai More Government Data Fun: Unemployment Claims Were Not Down Why I Am Optimistic About the Future The Millennium Wave New York and My Own Psychic Income I admit that of late my writings have had a rather dark tone. There are certainly a number of severe long-term problems that we must deal with, and they’re going to serve up a lot of economic pain. But the Thanksgiving weekend with the kids has me in a reflective mood, and one that has only served to underscore my long-ter

Bianco on Dubai
> Be sure to see Jim Bianco’s comments on Dubai in the Think Tank… >

Time Since Einstein
World Science Festival 2009: Time Since Einstein, Part 1 of 5 from World Science Festival on Vimeo. Hat tip Cosmic Variance

Bernanke Defends the Fed’s Independence
This mornings must read work is an article in the Sunday Washington Post by none other than Ben Bernanke, titled The right reform for the Fed. It is a rational pushback against the like of Ron Paul and Chris Dodd’s programs to either hamstring or completely get rid of the Federal Reserve. As I have previously noted, being the only country with out a Central Bank would be like unilateral nuclear disarmament. Its a nice theory, but you will eventually be destroyed by your enemies. Here’s helicopter Ben: “These

Dubai – The First Credit Crisis Since March Market Recovery
Dubai – The First Credit Crisis Since The March Market Recovery Comment As the first chart shows, Dubai’s sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) are soaring in the wake of the news that Dubai World wants a standstill agreement on roughly $60 billion of debt.  Even though Dubai World is a corporation seeking the agreement, the markets are clearly treating this as a sovereign debt issue. As the second chart shows, this is causing a “contagion” among the credit worthiness of other gulf soverign debt.