Alvin Hansen Rises from the Dead

"The economy cannot on its own generate enough steam to provide our full potential of growth" - Alvin Hansen, "The Stagnation Thesis" (1954) The first economist to use the term "secular stagnation" was Harvard Professor Alvin Hansen in his 1938 work entitled "Full...

A Pigouvian Tax on Leverage

With Janet's hearings out of the way, there is little to focus on with regards to Fed policy into year-end. The next major event will be November payrolls, but even a big print will not likely catalyze a taper. With all the talk of lower unemployment thresholds,...

Dammit Janet, I Love You…

Days like yesterday are simply magical – spoos +14 and EDZ6 +16; it just doesn’t get any better. The risk market and the risk-free markets were both strong to start the day, on rumors that the Fed might lower the IOER in conjunction with an initial taper. What a...

OMG….QE works

A 2.8% GDP print and 200k+ on payrolls are poison for the hater community. For those who thought QE is just pushing on a string, or the government shutdown would destroy growth, or the business cycle is dead, or Rob Ford did not have a substance abuse problem.....I'm...

Jupiter Aligns with Mars, then Peace will Guide the Planets

"The function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable." – John Kenneth Galbraith Just about 23 years ago I entered the Marriner S. Eccles building for the first time, walking through the doors on C Street between 20th and 21st. As I passed...

The Easy Trade is the Same Trade

All that can be gleaned from yesterday's FOMC statement is that the Committee seems a bit more comfortable with 10s at 2.50% than at 3.00%. The October missive was essentially a repeat of September with one exception - the removal of the reference to tighter financial...