Monday, March 23, 2015

Links

Lee Kuan Yew: The wise man of the East (LINK)
Related book: From Third World to First: The Singapore Story - 1965-2000
"60 Minutes" had three interesting segments last night, including one with Neil deGrasse Tyson (video) (LINK)

Philosophical Economics: A New-and-Improved Shiller CAPE: Solving the Dividend Payout Ratio Problem (LINK)

Hussman Weekly Market Comment: Monetary Policy and the Economy: The Case for Rules Versus Discretion (LINK)
Last week, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) began its statement on monetary policy indicating that recent data “suggests that economic growth has moderated somewhat.” While the Fed removed the phrase that “it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy”, the Fed’s weaker view of the economy prompted an immediate retreat in Treasury yields, an abrupt drop in the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar, a surge in stock prices, and an upward spike in the dollar price of gold and oil. The basic thesis of all of these moves is that the Fed may wait longer before increasing the rate of interest that it pays to banks on idle cash reserves (viz., “raising interest rates”). 
We agree – partly. As I noted a week ago, “From my perspective, it remains unclear whether the Fed will resist the temptation to defer hiking interest rates, given what we observe as a deteriorating economic landscape.” The problem for investors is that along with the initial moves in Treasury yields, the dollar, stocks, gold, and oil that followed the FOMC statement, we also saw credit spreads widen rather than narrow last week, while our measures of market internals continue to show divergences that indicate a shift investor preferences toward increasing risk aversion.