Rockefeller Institute report on state tax revenues:
State tax revenues declined by 4.1 percent nationwide during the final quarter of calendar 2009, the fifth consecutive quarter of reduced collections, according to a report issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The five straight quarters of year-over-year decline in overall tax collections represent a record length of such decreases, the Institute said.
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The FDIC came out today with a report highlighting the dangers still present from commercial real estate, and in the process increased the number of distressed banks to 702.
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The broad strokes are in, but I will withhold judgment until it's all in.
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Trading is often described in "war" language: "I got killed", "I beat the market maker", win/lose, and I'm sure our readers can think of more colorful examples.
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Writing in this issues
Foreign Policy magazine, John Arquilla analyzes what he sees as the future of warfare, and potential pitfalls and opportunities for the US military.
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When some of the biggest investors in the world go so mainstream, you might want to at least listen. Below is the article by George Soros discussing the continuing problems for the euro. After, read Charlie Mungers parable about a country that came to financial ruin.
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It might be me, but lately it seems that every conversation veers towards healthcare policy, financial bailouts, Bernanke, debt, and stochastic modeling - well, the last part is probably just me. I've been struggling to define, for myself and others, what are the main issues around each topic.
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Does anyone remember Iran? The oil markets do. They're back pushing $80. At some point, sounds like it might be in the near future, the geopolitics in the area will once again come to the front burner.
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Yesterday, after the close, the Fed raised the discount rate from 50 to 75 basis points.
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Warning: This post has nothing new for readers of our newsletter.
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Tags: Currency, euo, Euro, gdx. slv, gld, gold, muni, municipal, municipal bonds, PALL, PPLT, TBT, treasuries, USD, ycs
Commodities/Futures, Connect The Dots, Currency, Fixed Income/Bonds, Strategy/Allocation | | 
February 18, 2010 1:36 pm | 
Comments (0)
Everyone is talking about Plosser discussing selling off the Fed's MBS hoard. It's obviously necessary, but completely unfeasible given a still shaky housing market and no lending. Additionally, it would fly in the face of the Fed's QE campaign.
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Tags: 10 yr yield, cds, deleverage, fannie, freddie, leverage, mortgages, private secotr debt, spreads, treasuries
Fixed Income/Bonds, Real Estate, Strategy/Allocation | | February 17, 2010 2:33 pm | Comments (0)
I have never been a big fan of the Chinese story, not because I doubt that there is growth there, but rather, because I doubt any numbers coming out of a command economy.
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I wanted to pass along the following article examining the differences between EEM and VWO. I'll admit that I use EEM extensively and have traded and hedged and used options, although I currently have no position in either.
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Is this what we have in store for Greece? Who wants to go into a long weekend with exposure?
The price of credit default swaps on Dubai government debt jumped to 630 basis points on Friday, up from 592 on Thursday, Markit data show.
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