Prudent Bear - Bear's Lair

Jamming the accelerator

With the retirement of Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, President Obama now has the right to appoint three Fed governors.

The diminished incentive to save

Ben Bernanke reaffirmed last week that short-term interest rates would be kept at their current ridiculously low rates for "an extended period."

How to make the Eurozone work

While I agree with the former British Tory Cabinet minister Lord Tebbitt on nearly everything, his suggestion in the wake of the Greek crisis that the Eurozone needs a centralized finance minister–thus withdrawing all financial autonomy from its members–appears misguided.

The return of country risk

Greece's near default and rescue by the European Union has brought one reality starkly into relief: in an age of fiscal and monetary stimulus, it isn’t only banks that can give debt investors sleepless nights.

The unequal credit crunch

When the banking system imploded in September 2008, commentators immediately feared that the result would be a credit crunch, leading to a major downturn in GDP and rise in unemployment.