The German Shepherd, a fearsome beast, terrifying combination of nature/nurture. Man has others. The Market is frightening, capricious – your friend one moment, a wildly destructive Mob the next. And once unleashed, both beasts are nearly impossible to restrain. Anyhow, cops train German Shepherds in a remote field near my house. So I watch. Here’s how it goes down: 8 cops, 8 dogs, 900sq/yd field, 10ft steel fe

See the news? You musta. Jihadists clashed with centrist Peacekeepers in Somalia. That poor nation simmers, suffering its worst drought in 60yrs, the worst famine in twenty. 2mm souls are starving. Foreigners send billions in food aid. But radical ideology, greed, corruption, posturing – ya know, politics – has gotten in the way. In 3rd world nations, that kinda stuff kills economic growth (children too). Good thing

Damn bro. What a ride, a white knuckler. Things almost changed. We narrowly avoided a paradigm shift. Gang of Six tax/fiscal plan was embraced by everyone but Congressional jihadists – what would we have done with sensible tax reform, lower deficits? And Europe nearly failed to save Greece and contain Italy’s fiscal implosion – what would Europe do when faced with true existential crisis? Someday we’ll find out. But

Hope all goes well. Yeah, camping was great. Thanks for asking. Below freezing at night, food/fuel shortages, over-populated shanties, no running water, crying children with filthy faces. Old-school family bonding. We may head to Pyongyang for Christmas vacation. I refuse to have soft kids. Overall: Damn bro. What a ride, a white knuckler. Things almost changed. We narrowly avoided a paradigm shift. Gang of Six tax/f

Geneva’s old-city labyrinth. Buzz. Click. And my son Jackson pushed open the heavy door. Crossed the cobblestone courtyard. Buzz. Click. Pushed the 2nd heavy door. Stepped back in time, into an entry room of solid stone. And there it was. An ancient ivory crossbow, displayed with razor-tipped bolts. He gasped. The menacing weapon projecting power, strength, stopped us dead. We were escorted deeper into the fortress.

Week in Review: Mon: EU contagion hits Italy – 2y +70bps (2008 levels), Norwegian Jun CPI -0.4%, S&P -1.8%; Tue: BoJ unch since Dec08, India IP softer, UK Core CPI lowest of the year, Moody’s dngrds Ireland to Junk, Fed Mins as expected, S&P -0.4%; Wed: Mkt interprets Ben as dovish, China IP highest since Jun ‘10, EU IP lowest since Jan ‘10, S&P +0.3%; Thur: Moody’s warns USA dngrd if debt ceiling n

Hope all goes well. I’m off camping. Mara, 4 kids, a dog and a tent. Be back next week with full weekend notes. Week in Review: Mon: EU contagion hits Italy – 2y +70bps (2008 levels), Norwegian Jun CPI -0.4%, S&P -1.8%; Tue: BoJ unch since Dec08, India IP softer, UK Core CPI lowest of the year, Moody’s dngrds Ireland to Junk, Fed Mins as expected, S&P -0.4%; Wed: Mkt interprets Ben as dovish, Chin

Hope all goes well. I made a big mistake. Asked the funniest guy I know (old college buddy) to write this week’s w/e notes in my absence. He didn’t give me quite what I’d hoped. Tore me to pieces. Just brutal. Should have known better. But I live life by lots of rules. And one is, never take anything too seriously (particularly yourself). Another is, if something’s really funny (albeit at my e

Week-in-Review: Mon: 4th of July, Aussie May retail sales -.6%, Turkey CPI 6.24%, S&P – closed; Tue: Moody’s dngrades Portugal 4 notches to Junk, RBA kept rates unch, C. Anthony acquitted, global serv PMIs soft, EU May Retail Sales -1.1%, S&P +.1%; Wed: PBOC hike rates (5th since oct; 3rd this yr), ISDA’s Gen counsel says Greek rollover won’t trigger CDS, US non-mfg ISM 53.3, solid German factory orders

I was rocket-sledding down Annapurna the other day. Sunglasses on, tie flapping in the wind, stereo blasting Richard Wagner‘s Flight of the Valkyries on a Maxell XLII90 noise-reducing cassette tape. Got my heart racing and reminded me of earlier days when I would jet-pack through shark tanks. Suddenly a Himalayan mountain coyote jumped directly into my path. It’s hard to tell how you will react to a situation until i