The economic climate of 2009 will be very tough, especially for the average consumer. The U.S. and European consumers are officially tapped out. Retailers are barely clinging to life, fighting each other to be the last one standing. While 2008 hit the financial markets, 2009 will be much more visible and hit closer to home [...]

It is certainly feels like the panic selling typical of capitulation at this point, at least for the financial industry. However, I foresee more pain in the horizon. When you have financial institutions using so much leverage to support depreciating and overvalued assets, it is difficult to see the light at the end of the [...]

Clearly, we are at the early stages of a very significant credit crunch that will need to naturally work itself out if we are to emerge on more stable economic footing. Despite the Federal Reserve and the ECB having significant ammunition to help improve liquidity, such measures will be rather superficial in light of how [...]

Where are we at now? We are enjoying unprecedented global economic growth and the world is still flush with liquidity. There is a lot of cash out there looking for a home and enormous assets are being traded like baseball cards in 4th grade homeroom. The liquidity has been fueled primarily by low interest rates. [...]