Category Archives: Government Debt
Debt Markets Get Trampled
Anyone with half a brain knew there would be hell to pay for locking down the economy and simultaneously printing and spewing out trillions of dollars of confetti money. The bill has finally come due. Did you see the latest consumer price index (CPI) report? Continue reading
Who Else Bought BlackRock’s LDI Swindle Products?
The recent collapse of the United Kingdom (UK) gilt market’s long maturities, which required Bank of England (BOE) purchases of tens of billions of pounds of long gilts to stem a Lehman moment, shined a spotlight on something called liability driven investing (LDI). Continue reading
Why Bonds Are Behaving Like Risky Assets
Since 1976, there have been eight years in which the S&P 500 declined. Bonds softened the stock market losses every time. When stocks went down, bonds went up. Since 1987, Alan Greenspan, and the Greenspan put, made sure of it. Yet, this time is different. Over the first nine months of 2022, bonds and stocks have fallen in tandem. And as stocks have fallen, Fed Chair Powell has hiked interest rates. Continue reading
How Public Pensions Turn Cities into Unlivable Hellholes
Nearly 20-years ago, while providing consulting services to a county sanitation district, we crossed paths with a grumpy fellow who had only a secondary interest in providing industrious work. His primary interest was deliberating on his upcoming retirement; he could bend your ear off. Continue reading
