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Tim Geithner and Larry Summers were the top two candidates for Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, and today at noon ET we will officially hear that both are joining Obama's economic team. Geithner will head up the Treasury Department and Summers will be director of the National Economic ... Read more

As we head into 2009, the economic backdrop looks gloomy. Two important measures in particular, employment and corporate earnings, are set to deteriorate further throughout next year. The unemployment rate has risen from 4.4% to 6.5%, but many are now predicting a peak of 8%-9% sometime in 2009. ... Read more

Today is a perfect example of why I do not recommend that long term investors, regardless of how afraid they are right now, sell their stocks into oversold equity markets to minimize short term pain. When sentiment is so negative, the mere nomination of a new Treasury Secretary can result in a 500 p ... Read more

From the WSJ : "The selloff in Citigroup shares has led executives to start laying out possible contingency plans. In addition to pondering a move to sell the entire company to another bank, executives have started exploring the possibility of selling off parts of the firm, including the Smith Ba ... Read more

During crazy market times like this I can talk my head off about fundamental issues that show the market is undervalued, but fundamentals don't matter right now. Stock prices are claims on future corporate profits forever? Who cares, earnings are going to be terrible in 2008, 2009, and maybe even 20 ... Read more

I was quite surprised to learn that the most recent monthly unemployment rate of 6.5% was the highest since the mid 1990's. That number, while up significantly from the recent past, just did not strike me as being all that terrible considering the economic deterioration our country has seen recently ... Read more

About a year ago, I commented on an article that appeared in Barron's which argued that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) was overvalued. In my post, entitled Barron's Pans Buffett's Berkshire, I agreed with the article that Berkshire Hathaway stock looked overvalued . A lot has changed s ... Read more

Tax policy is going to be a hot debate in Congress once President-Elect Obama's term begins in January. Although Obama won the tax debate with McCain in the voter's eyes (polls show voters preferred Obama's plan, despite McCain's continuous attacks on it), his administration will still have to work ... Read more

Now that third quarter earnings reports have largely been released, I thought I would write a bit about valuing stocks during a recession. Having seen all of the numbers and listened to all of the conference calls, I am beginning the process of going through my client accounts and making adjustments ... Read more