Sublime

Complicated financial stuff was being dreamed up for the sole purpose of lending money to people who could never repay it.

Once elected, Lula backed up his commitment to stability by appointing Henrique Meirelles, a banker who had contested the election as a candidate for a senatorial seat for Cardoso’s PSDB party, to the central bank. The incoming finance minister, Antônio Palocci, appointed a series of ‘market-friendly’ technocrats to advise him. Palocci had been a T

If wealth is placed where it bears interest it comes back to you redoubled. Egyptian scribe, named Any, early first millennium BC

While the firm did employ a well-regarded chief risk officer, Madelyn Antoncic, who had a PhD in economics and had worked at Goldman Sachs, her input was virtually nil. She was often asked to leave the room when issues concerning risk came up at executive committee meetings, and in late 2007, she was removed from the committee altogether.

2. Low interest rates and the intentional birth of the American consumer.

in deflationary times is the Federal Reserve’s attempt to reflate the economy. It does this by weakening the dollar in an attempt to create a little inflation, which in turn boosts the price of gold.

Determined to protect his newfound wealth, Berlekamp bought top-rated municipal bonds, but a rumor in the spring of 1986 that Congress might remove the tax-free status of those investments crushed their value. Congress never acted, but the experience taught Berlekamp that investors sometimes act irrationally.

The easiest way to obtain permission to invest funds in activities with little or no direct financial return, like tax payments, is to ask for permission from someone other than the person whose money is coveted.