During Q3 2005, U.S. households were sellers of corporate bonds on an unprecedented scale, probably in anticipation of a projected crash in the bond market as a result of much-publicized Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. (See: Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Table 212: Corporate and Foreign Bonds.) Over the decade 1995-2004, U.S. households bought corporate […]

As shown in Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Table F212 (Corporate and Foreign Bonds), debt securities issued by financial sectors dominated the corporate bond market in Q3 2005. Of the bonds sold by financial sectors in Q3 2005, 80% referred to asset-backed securities, which, in turn, were mainly related to home mortgages. The graph shows how the […]

Over the last quarter of a century, with loud praise from American liberals, ‘democracy’ has taken hold throughout Latin America, bringing socialists, Marxists, and leftist politicians of all stripes to power in country after country. The January 2006 inauguration of Evo Morales as president of Bolivia is but a reminder of this trend. Left-leaning Latin governments […]