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Surprised Again!―The COVID Crisis and the New Market Bubble

Author: Alex J. Pollock

Publisher: Paul Dry Books

Published: 2022-11-15

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1589881656

“What will not surprise you is the wisdom, wit, and insight that Alex Pollock and Howard Adler bring to this indispensable guide to financial prophecy. The future may be a closed book, but you must open—and read—this one.”—James Grant, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer “Surprised Again! will demystify finance for students and give experts a deeper understanding of things they thought they knew.”—Christopher DeMuth, Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute and former President, American Enterprise Institute “A masterful survey of the financial sector and its post-COVID dependence on easy money from the Federal Reserve. This book is the first place to turn for a clear exposition of key financial topics—housing, municipal debt, pension funds, student loans, cryptocurrencies, and more. The reader will be surprised yet again at the extent of financial problems lurking below the surface.”—Thomas H. Stanton, Johns Hopkins University About every ten years, we are surprised by a financial crisis. In 2020, we were Surprised Again! by the financial panic of the spring triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not one of the 30 official systemic risk studies developed in 2019 had even hinted at this financial crisis as a possibility, or at the frightening economic contraction which resulted from the political responses to control the virus. In response came the unprecedented government fiscal and monetary expansions and bailouts. Later 2020 brought a second big surprise: the appearance of an amazing boom in asset prices, including stocks, houses, and cryptocurrencies. Alex Pollock and Howard Adler lived through this historic instability while serving as senior officials of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Their book lays out the many elements of the panic and its aftermath, from the massive elastic currency operations which rode to the rescue by financing the bust with unprecedented government debt, to the consequent asset price boom, which included a renewed bubble in house prices financed by government guarantees. It considers key leveraged sectors such as commercial real estate, student loans, pension funds, banks, and the government itself. It reflects on how to understand these events both in retrospect and prospect.

Finance and Philosophy

Author: Alex J. Pollock

Publisher: Paul Dry Books

Published: 2019-08-20

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1589881303

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Taking the 2008 financial crisis as his jumping off point, Alex Pollock deftly illustrates how private firms and governments alike have failed to understand the shifting risks that financial systems create. With candor, clarity, and wit, he uncovers the persistent uncertainties inherent in banking, central banking, and economics. “At the height of the 2008 financial panic, Queen Elizabeth plaintively asked why nobody saw it coming. In the winning pages of Finance and Philosophy, Her Majesty can find the answer. With a lightness of touch that belies the complexity of his subject, Alex Pollock shows why the financial future is now, why it has been and always must be a closed book. A successful banker and gifted writer, Pollock tells us all we need to know about money and banking, risk and uncertainty, debt and temptation, and science and economics. He delights as he instructs.”—James Grant, founder and editor, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer “Why can’t human beings take the lessons of boom and bust, bubbles and crashes that are clearly described in history books—and learn from experience? That’s where Mr. Pollock’s wry humor and philosophic bent help understand the hubris that makes every generation believe that not only can it predict the markets, but control them . . . [Finance and Philosophy] should be required reading in economics classes, or before opening an investment account—and by every member of Congress.”—The Washington Times Alex J. Pollock is a distinguished senior fellow at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC. He was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute from 2004 to 2015, and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004.

Boom and Bust

Author: Alex J. Pollock

Publisher: Government Institutes

Published: 2010-11-16

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 0844743844

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While the recent economic crisis was a painful period for many Americans, the panic surrounding the downturn was fueled by an incomplete understanding of economic history. Economic hysteria made for riveting journalism and effective political theater, but the politicians and members of the media who declared that America was in the midst of the greatest financial calamity since the Great Depression were as wrong and misguided as the expansionists of the Roosevelt era. In reality the cyclical nature of market economies is as old as the markets themselves. In a free market system, financial downturns inevitably accompany economic prosperity-but the overall trend is upward progress in living standards and national wealth. While it is helpful to understand what caused the recent crisis, the more important questions to consider are 'What makes the 'boom and bust' cycle so predictable?' and 'What are the ethical responsibilities of the citizens of a free market economy?' In Boom and Bust: Financial Cycles and Human Prosperity, Alex J. Pollock argues that while economic downturns can be frightening and difficult, people living in free market economies enjoy greater health, better access to basic necessities, better education, work less arduous jobs, and have more choices and wider horizons than people at any other point in history. This wonderful reality would not exist in the absence of financial cycles. This book explains why.

A Guide to Good Money

Author: Brendan Brown

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-08-31

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 3031060415

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Modern money, having now become a key tool of government economic policy and a source of massive tax revenues, has strayed far from its original purpose. This is doubly regrettable, as the better money functions at an individual level in satisfying demand for quality, the better it is for economic prosperity and freedom. This book presents how modern money works both in the domestic economy and globally, outlining the essence of what makes good money. How does modern money differ from this ideal? By focusing on the dichotomy between globalization on the one hand and modern money’s base in the nation state (or group of states) on the other hand, the book demonstrates how US dominance in determining monetary conditions globally has grown since the mid-1990s. The book then discusses the adverse consequences, many of which are camouflaged, of present money doctrines now so widely and radically applied, presenting novel research on how the US by pursuing bad monetary policies has been the catalyst to deepening geo-political danger. The book continues by setting out how the illusions of asset inflation will fade, most likely in the midst of economic and financial tumult. The forces which bring about that income emanate in part from the long-run costs of growing mal-investment and monopolization which occur under monetary inflation especially in the context of a digitalization revolution. Apologists for the present monetary regime rest much of their case on these illusions and on the contention that the bill for the costs comes only in the long run. This book dismantles that case. A Guide to Good Money provides readers with the sight of a pathway to a promised land of real prosperity founded on sound money beyond those lost illusions, and will be of interest to academics, students, practitioners, and central bankers.

Apropos of Nothing

Author: Woody Allen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-03-23

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1951627377

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The Long-Awaited, Enormously Entertaining Memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time—Now a New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller. In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Annie and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure. This is a hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.

The Fearful Rise of Markets

Author: John Authers

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9780131388161

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"This enjoyable, fast-moving book is concise, relevant, and perceptive. My bottom line is a simple one: This book should be read by all those interested in the way markets operate, be they investors, analysts, or policy makers." From the Foreword by Mohamed A. El-Erian , CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, and author of When Markets Collide "This book is a must-read for anyone concerned about how we can avoid recurring debt-induced busts in the years ahead, or anyone who wonders how to invest if (when!) the crisis returns. Authers' insights on the global financial crisis are profound." Robert D. Arnott , Chairman, Research Affiliates, LLC, and author of The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest "This book illustrates the dangers to investors who fail to recognize that global asset markets have become more synchronized over time. In a crowded field of works on the financial crisis, Authers' work is unique in both its insight and style." Robert R. Johnson , Ph.D., CFA, Senior Managing Director of the CFA Institute "John Authers has combined his journalistically honed FT skills with great insights. Serious investors and policymakers should read this book." David R. Kotok , Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Cumberland Advisors "John masterfully drives a stake through the myth of global economic decoupling one chapter and example at a time. A must-read in today's economy." Vitaliy Katsenelson , Director of Research at Investment Management Associates, Inc, author of Active Value Investing: Making Money in Range-Bound Markets Are we barreling toward another massive global financial catastrophe? How can so many bubbles form all at once? Why are so many "disconnected" markets now capable of collapsing in unison? In this remarkably readable book, award-winning Financial Times columnist John Authers takes on these critical questions and offers deeply sobering answers. Authers reveals how the first truly global super bubble was inflated--and might now be inflating again. He illuminates the multiple roots of repeated financial crises: a massive shift in investing power from individuals to big institutions; the migration of key decisions from banks to capital markets; the wholesale financialization of many asset classes; and fundamental failures of both theory and policy. The Fearful Rise of Markets presents a truly global view, avoiding oversimplifications and ideology as it outlines how we got here and where we stand. Even more valuable, it offers realis...

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