While I have been on hiatus the financial markets have awaken to old problems and the damage to markets is real but the damage has been contained … for now. The concerns du jour are more of a political nature then economic but as this blog’s readers well know POLITICAL ECONOMY is the entire basis of NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND. What is political today will manifest itself economically and the opposite being true. Nothing illustrates this better than the current rage over income inequality, thus wealth creation is less significant than its distribution.
Posts Tagged ‘capitalism’
Notes From Underground: Getting To The Core Issue In Apple’s Dividend
March 19, 2012Today, in an interview with Betty Liu on Bloomberg TV, I was asked about the “news” of the day, of course that being the APPLE decision to pay a dividend and buy back stock. Long-time readers of NOTES are aware that I am a believer in stock dividends as a way to return capital to the genuine owners of a corporation: THE SHAREHOLDERS. Ms. LIU wanted to know if the APPLE news was bullish for the EQUITY markets as the share price of the technological behemoth would drive all indices higher. As a GLOBAL MACRO analyst/trader/investor, I said that it was more bullish for capitalism in America.
Notes From Underground: From Russia WITHOUT Love–Mikhail Khodorkovsky
December 27, 2010A few stories from Russia today. First, the Russian Judicial System rendered a totalitarian decision as the oligarch Khodorkovsky was again found guilty of some type of misappropriation of funds when he controlled YUKOS, the Russian energy giant. This is another black eye for the RULE OF LAW in Russia as the verdict appeared to be predetermined with the heavy influence of Prime Minister Putin. I don’t doubt for a moment the tragic shortage of justice in Russia, but the question is: Do the markets truly care, or as I continually remind, is MONEY FASCIST? Global investors will set aside criticism of a nation’s societal and legal injustices if the investment returns are high enough and the government is stable.