Insights

The House of Representatives voted 328-93 last week to impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid after December 31, 2008 by companies that received more than $5 billion in government bailout funds.

If economic forecasters resemble astrologers, currency forecasters must read tea leaves. Almost everyone was a dollar bear in the middle of last year when the euro touched 1.60.

The BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are some of the largest emerging market economies and many are hoping that this group will lead the global economy out of the worst growth slowdown in seventy years.

Treadmill-running in a Florida hotel last week, I got a rare opportunity to actually focus on CNBC for an hour.

President Barack Obama recently unveiled a $3.35 trillion budget of which $816 billion over a 10-year period is meant to provide stimulus to the ailing U.S. economy.

Amidst all the chatter over the pros and cons of the various government sponsored programs to cure the financial markets, it is worth noting that some of the targeted programs have produced positive results by any standard.

Fed Chairman Bernanke made a good analogy when he compared the housing bailout to a smoking neighbor who carelessly sets his home on fire which threatens yours. Would you call the fire department? Of course you would. Rick Santelli should know better.

Risky markets are notoriously shortsighted and the foreign exchange market is no exception. However, much of the short-term movement in currency markets was caused by speculators and their ranks have thinned significantly over the past year.