Microfinance Expands in For-Profit Sector
The Financial Times reports that SKS Microfinance, India's largest lender to the poor, will to raise $350 million later this month in an initial public offering. Microfinance attempts to provide very small loans to poor people who do not have ...
Should Regulators Require Preemptive Relief Wells?
Although the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been reduced to a trickle based on successful attempts to finally cap the well, the permanent solution to the crisis will only arrive upon completion of the relief wells ...
China’s Coal Intensive Economy Reaches New Milestone
China's spectacular economic growth over the past decade has been accompanied by a major increase in energy consumption. In 2009, China consumed more energy than the United States for the first time according to a report from the International Energy ...
Brazil Pushes Technical Limits in Deepwater Oil Exploration
Brazil is aggressively pursuing deepwater oil discoveries and recently began production on the country's first commercial deep sea platform. Brazil's deepwater wells are typically deeper than wells in the Gulf of Mexico and entail more technical difficulties. The Financial Times ...
Gates Bets on Continued Evolution of the Internal Combustion Engine
Bill Gates recently participated in a $23.5 million round of financing for EcoMotors to further develop its Opoc engine technology. The company states that its goal is to demonstrate the automobile industry's first five passenger car capable of 100 miles ...
Sacramento May Impose Crash Tax on Visiting Motorists
Do your travel plans this summer involve driving in California? If so, be sure to pay particular attention while in the Sacramento region. According to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Sacramento is the latest local government in California ...
Are Online Grocers Destined to Fail?
Anyone who dreads the prospect of spending an hour in the local grocery store is a natural potential customer for online grocers who promise to bring the goods to your home at a predetermined time. This is particularly true for ...
Expect Consolidation as Administration Pushes Small Firms Out of Gulf
Over the past several weeks, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding the goal of politicians who advocate removal of the $75 million liability cap for offshore oil spills. Based on a Wall Street Journal interview with Carol ...
New Madrid Fault Represents High Impact, Low Probability Risk
The average resident of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, or Arkansas probably does not spend a great deal of time worrying about the potential impact of an earthquake on the New Madrid Fault.  After all, the largest quake in the past half ...
Deepwater Drilling Moratorium Overturned; Obama Administration Plans Appeal
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman overturned the Obama Administration's six month deepwater drilling moratorium this afternoon citing the "immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy ...
Faulty Well Design Highlights Importance of Redundancy
Most of the headlines over the past week regarding the Deepwater Horizon disaster have focused on the $20 billion escrow account that BP was forced to set up for victim compensation. However, the far more important development from a public ...
Investigation of Deepwater Horizon Points to Human Error
On Thursday, June 17, BP CEO Tony Hayward will testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. In preparation for the testimony, the Committee Chairmen sent Mr. Hayward a letter listing a series of alleged procedural lapses that could ...
For-Profit University Accreditation Facing Increased Scrutiny
Steve Eisman's accurate predictions during the subprime mortgage bubble, as profiled in The Big Short, have prompted investors to take notice regarding his recent criticism of the economic model of for-profit universities. Mr. Eisman's presentation at the Ira Sohn Investment ...
Drilling Moratorium’s Impact in Numbers
In recent days, we have posted a number of articles regarding the oil industry with a focus on the implications of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Financial Times published a graphic that illustrates current activity in the Gulf of Mexico ...
FT’s Interactive Economic Weather Map
While the track record of macroeconomic forecasting leaves much to be desired, it is natural to have an interest in the growth prospects of the global economy. Recently, Europe has been at the forefront of investor concern due to fiscal ...
Gulf of Mexico Disaster Calls for Prudent Regulatory Changes
Initial reports regarding the Deepwater Horizon disaster indicated that BP was self insured for the costs of the massive cleanup efforts that will likely be required for years to come. While BP claims to be willing to pay for all ...
Volcker on Financial Regulatory Reform
A few months ago, it appeared that the "Volcker Rule" would be defeated in the United States Senate. However, the version that has been adopted in the legislation currently under consideration in the Senate includes enough of the original proposal ...
Li Lu’s Lecture at Greenwald’s Columbia University Value Investing Class
Who is Li Lu? According to his Wikipedia entry, Li Lu was an organizer of the student protests movement and took part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. After the post-Tiananmen crackdown, Mr. Lu had to flee mainland China ...
Roger Lowenstein: The Fed Should Burst Our Bubbles
Roger Lowenstein is the author of five books covering financial markets. His latest book, The End of Wall Street, was published in April. Mr. Lowenstein is also the author of an excellent biography on Warren Buffett written in 1995 which ...
Bill Clinton on Goldman Sachs, Financial Regulatory Reform
In the CSPAN video shown below, former President Bill Clinton comments on the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs and provides a brief account of his views regarding the problems with the financial system. Mr. Clinton specifically cites John Bogle’s views ...