This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Jim Jubak (MSN Money): 3-step strategy for a twitchy market, November 19, 2009. Many investors are deeply suspicious of the 60% run-up in stocks this year and are itching to sell. But then what? Here’s how to take some gains now while setting up a profitable 2010.

• Randall Forsyth (Barron’s): Treasury yield plunge sends warning, November 20, 2009. Collapse in note yields suggests economic distress will keep Fed on hold well into 2010 or beyond.

• Gordon Chang (Forbes): When in doubt, blame Bernanke, November 19, 2009. According to Liu Mingkang, China’s chief bank regulator, low American interest rates and the falling dollar have “seriously affected global asset prices, fueled speculation in stock and property markets

In this post, Charlie Rose interviews Kenneth Rogoff, professor of economics at Harvard University, on the economy.

Charlie Rose sits down with Kenneth Rogoff.

Click here or on the image below to view the video. (As there is no direct link to the clip, you need to click on “Archive” on the Charlie Rose site, and then scroll down to the Roggoff video of November 10.)

Source: Charlie Rose, November 10, 2009.

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Randall Forsyth (Barron’s): No bull! Rally hits the wall, August 19, 2009. Coming off a “sugar high,” stocks have stalled below the early August highs. Pause or correction?

• Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein (Forbes): This recovery is no sugar high, August 18, 2009. The way we see it, those who were pessimistic about stocks and the economy early this year are going through the classic five stages of grief. First, they denied a recovery was going to happen anytime soon. Then they lashed out with anger at those who spotted signs of the recovery. Now, they are bargaining, admitting the existence of the recovery that they did not see coming, but belittling it. Next, as things keep

This post provides links to a number of thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest. Please also add the links to any other thought-provoking articles you would like to share to the comments section.

• Paul Marson (Financial Times): Cause for caution on US earnings, August 12, 2009. The US second-quarter earning season is now ending, apparently on a good note as nearly three quarters of US companies have beaten consensus expectations. But a closer look at these earnings shows there is cause to be more cautious about the health of corporate America than the headline numbers would suggest. The cloud of euphoria that followed recent results had more to do with extraordinarily low expectations, than to any meaningful and lasting improvement in prospects, which still require a rapid recovery in economic activity. This suggests

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days (while touring through Europe) that you may also enjoy.

Lawrence Strauss (SmartMoney): An interview with Burton Malkiel, July 7, 2009.

Robert Samuelson (The Washington Post): Economists out to lunch, July 6, 2009. One intriguing subplot of the economic crisis is the failure of most economists to predict it. Here we have the most spectacular economic and financial crisis in decades - possibly since the Great Depression - and the one group that spends most of its waking hours analyzing the economy basically missed it.

Willem Buiter (Financial Times): Quantitative easing, credit easing and enhanced credit support aren’t working, July 3, 2009. In a nutshell: quantitative easing (QE), credit easing (CE), and enhanced credit support (ECS) are useful when the problem facing the economy is funding

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Conor Clarke (The Atlantic): An interview with Paul Samuelson, part one, June 17, 2009.

• Mohamed El-Erian (PIMCO): Beware of the “business as usual” mindset, June 2009. We are facing a world of lower growth and accelerated country realignments. Policy experimentation will remain the norm for much longer than most expect. All of this constitutes an inherent part of the world’s bumpy journey to a new normal. It is a reality that also impacts key elements of successful investment management - in particular, asset allocation, manager selection and risk management. It calls for some critical re-tooling of mindsets, institutions and approaches.

• George Soros (Financial Times): The three steps to financial reform, June 16, 2009. While markets are imperfect,

Forex Trading: An Interview With Forex Market Expert Thomas Fischer, Part 1

by Dr. Scott Brown, Education Director of Investment U

Forex trading is hot, hot, hot right now. And one of the biggest reasons why is that traders are using leverage to amplify returns by 200 times - where $1 controls $200 worth of foreign currency. The returns can be staggering.

For example, on the British “Black Wednesday” of September 16, 1992, George Soros made a single day’s forex profit of $1 billion by short selling the Great Britain Pound Sterling.

At the time, these kinds of profits were only available to large players.

But recently, a major change in the way forex trading is done has opened the trading desks to the little guy. The Internet has opened the door to the small investor into this $3.98 trillion daily market.

But forex, or foreign exchange trading, has a reputation as

Washington’s latest bailout scheme will rob you blind for years to come.  I object! Sometimes the stuff we talk about here is pretty academic. This country is up… that sector is down. Sometimes it’s all about a specific stock idea that you might care to invest in.

But today, I am writing to you about something that affects me on the most personal level (I’ll just bet it affects you the same way too), and I’m really ticked off about it.

Bandits in Academic Robes

I’ve got a statement in front of me right now by Gregory Mankiw and Kenneth Rogoff, baldly stating that they wish to take away a major portion of my hard-earned money (and yours) for years to come – and give it to idiots.

Rogoff and Mankiw are your classic ivory tower types who spend their adult lives hiding out in

Is the crisis really over? Commercial paper spreads have come down dramatically. Libor rates are (hmm - almost) back to normal. Even high yield spreads are narrowing.

It certainly appears as if the credit crisis is well and truly over or, at the very least, the light which most of us think we can see at the end of the tunnel is no longer that of an oncoming freight train.

No wonder equities are currently enjoying one of their best spells ever. And while equities continue to go up and up, most of us are left scratching our heads. Is this the real thing or will it go down in history as ‘just’ another bear market rally? Not so long ago, the entire financial system stared Armageddon in the face. Now, only a few months later, equity markets behave as if all the worries of yesterday have been washed away. How

“Never in the history of the world has there been a situation so bad that the government can’t make it worse.” -Unknown

The stock market might bounce for a while, global currencies might stabilize for a while, but don’t be deceived, large problems remain…very large problems. And the price to fix these problems will run into the tens of trillions of dollars. That’s the kind of price tag that could ruin a national currency or two…even the world’s reserve currency.

While equities continue to go up and up, most of us are left scratching our heads. Is this the real thing or will it go down in history as ‘just’ another bear market rally? Not so long ago, the entire financial system stared Armageddon in the face. Now, only a few months later, equity markets behave as if all the worries of yesterday have been washed away.

The dangerous conclusion