Focus on the Fed

Funny money: When the Laughing Stops

Tuesday Tune-up

Jay Ungar, "Ashokan Farewell

Quote for the Week, August 25-31, 2013

There can be few fields of human endeavor in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance.
--John Kenneth Galbraith

Tuesday Tune-up

The Milk Carton Kids, "Snake Eyes"

Quote for the Week, August 18-24, 2013

This was not a tempest in a teapot but rather a perfect storm of individual misconduct and inadequate internal controls.
--U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on the failure of upper management at JPMorgan Chase to rein in rogue traders of derivatives

PDO Means We're SOL

Cyclical climate change over the Pacific Ocean is likely to lead to the following:

1. write-downs of homes in some fire-prone areas;
2. brown-outs in the Pacific Northwest;
3. diminished irrigation in California's Central Valley;
4. slow-downs in shipping traffic on the Great Lakes;
5. mark-ups for property insurance along the Atlantic seaboard.

Read the whole story here.

Tuesday Tune-up

Emily Wolfe, "Lion Heart"

Quote for the Week, August 11-17, 2013

All persons who work for an unselfish purpose for little or nothing are incomprehensible to persons who never work for nothing, and who can be hired to work for anything.
--John Reed (1887-1920)

Tuesday Tune-up

Leo Kottke, "Little Martha"

Quote for the Week, August 4-10, 2013

We have a pretty smart group of guys, which is a positive.  Hopefully, they will keep being smart.
--N.E. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on this year's crop of rookies