This morning’s much anticipated fourth quarter GDP release provides a preliminary estimate of real GDP growth of 2.8 percent. To be fair, perhaps the anticipation is experienced mostly by forecasting economists and financial market watchers. I am always particularly interested in fourth quarter as it closes out the year and in this case I forecasted… Read more

Last September, I proposed (“The Warren Buffett Tax”) that the most effective way to extract a lot of tax revenues from Warren Buffett would be to impose a wealth tax.  My tongue-in-cheek proposal was this:  Tally up your assets and liabilities, calculate the difference (net worth) and then pay a tax of 20% on net… Read more

In his book Econoclasts1, historian Brian Domitrovic produces what he believes is the first historically rigorous account of the development of supply-side economics (that is, one that relies on primary sources).  He reviews contributions to supply-side theory by Nobel Prize winning economists Robert Mundell and Robert Lucas, as well as significant contributions from outstanding economists… Read more

In a terrific book published last year,  Antti Ilmanen1 has investigated the drivers of investment returns from a number of angles including asset class (that is, equities, fixed income, commodities), investment strategy (value, growth, momentum, leverage, carry), and risk driver (exposure to economic growth, inflation, liquidity).  The basic idea is that you obtain strong investment… Read more