11/4/2010
Double Bubble
by Robert B. Albertson, Principal - U.S. monetary policy is not only confronting a daunting liquidity trap, it is also driving U.S. indebtedness into a global box canyon, almost certainly marrying a declining U.S. dollar to higher long-term interest rates.
9/23/2010
Basel III and Its Implications: A Closer Look
Assessing the impact on the U.S. banking industry of the Basel Committee’s global capital standards announced on September 12th as originally introduced in December 2009 and later amended – highlights four near term and four long term implications.
6/8/2010
Safe Haven China
by Robert. B Albertson, Principal - China has simply built a better balance sheet than most industrialized economies and its equities are looking far more appealing than US or European alternatives.
5/5/2010
Government's Supporting Role
by Robert B. Albertson, Principal - The amount of government support in personal income has surpassed all records, raising serious concerns about the sustainability of consumer spending.
4/16/2010
Letter to Basel Committee on Banking Supervision
The policies outlined in the Basel Committee’s Consultative Documents would significantly deleverage the banking system, dramatically reduce industry profitability, exacerbate balance sheet and earnings volatility and undermine capital formation.
6/11/2009
Dangerous Denials
by Robert B. Albertson, Principal - The sharp recovery in most capital markets has been well ahead of reality economics. This is either a greedy market leading a probable recovery, or a market in denial about to return to fear – fear of economic growth sustainability, a fiscal and monetary payday, declining liquidity, rising interest rates, and a prolonged constraint on consumer spending.
4/7/2009
Stress Testing Stress
by Robert B. Albertson - While some theoretically argue that the US banking industry is insolvent by truncating all future losses into the present, the industry’s core earnings power is actually quite sufficient to address most of these losses as they are realized.
1/29/2009
The Lone Lenders - A Sequel
by Robert B. Albertson, Principal - An intense focus on banks is increasingly misplaced. Bank lending behavior is misread, and unrealistic expectations have been inadvertently fueled by political theater. Obsession with banks’ balance sheets is becoming another form of denial, which can only prolong and deepen our economic downturn.