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Persistent Overoptimism Three Ways: Truckers, Fed Economists, Manufacturers

MishTalk

Explaining the Persistent Overoptimism In a cross-country study of private-sector forecasts from 1989 to 1998, Loungani (2001) finds that “the record of failure to predict recessions is virtually unblemished.” When the bubble bursts, the resulting debt overhang forces borrowers to repair their balance sheets via reduced spending or default.

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Kodak’s Downfall Wasn’t About Technology

Harvard Business

Before Mark Zuckerberg wrote a line of Facebook’s code, Kodak made a prescient purchase, acquiring a photo sharing site called Ofoto in 2001. After all, they have many capabilities that entrants are racing to replicate, such as access to markets, technologies, and healthy balance sheets. And Kodak totally missed that.

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Why GE’s Jeff Immelt Lost His Job: Disruption and Activist Investors

Harvard Business

With refrains of “unlock hidden value” and “increase shareholder value,” and powered by over $120 billion in assets , activist investors like Trian look for companies like GE (or Procter & Gamble) whose share price is underperforming relative to its peers (or that have large amounts of cash on their balance sheets).

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Ritholtz on Gold and on.

MishTalk

Barring some new developments — like all the gold in Fort Knox becoming irradiated — I do not expect to see a resumption of the 2001-11 uptrend. [Mish comment - Is that a warning and a prediction, or just a suggestion?]. In the current environment, this would lead to a deflationary depression.

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Shockingly Bad Fiscal Health of Chicago (and the Financial Engineering Chicago Uses to Hide that Fact)

MishTalk

Rank-and-file officers rejected a city contract offer in 2001, but an arbitrator ruled in favor of the city’s wage proposal a year later. It is not a balance sheet test, but a cash flow test. The deal included raises of 2 to 4 percent a year, to be applied retroactively. This is one of several eligibility criteria.

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Fed Study Shows "Persistent Fed Overoptimism about Economic Growth"; What Will They Do About It?

MishTalk

Possible explanations for this pattern include missed warning signals about the buildup of imbalances before the crisis, overestimation of the efficacy of monetary policy following a balance-sheet recession, and the natural tendency of forecasters to extrapolate from recent data. This is a general statement.

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