Finance Trends Letter

Legendary hedge fund (Tiger Management) manager, Julian Robertson sits down with CNBC for an interview on the economy, the US' financial situation, and his views on investment opportunities . As most of you who regularly read this blog know, we rarely feature (or discuss) anything shown on CNBC , so if you notice a segment of their programming featured here, you can assume it is worth watching. That's certainly the case with discussions featuring Julian Robertson, whose past CNBC interviews can be found here . You can also find more on Robertson in our related articles and posts footer below. Hat tip to Paul Kedrosky for highlighting this clip. Related articles and posts : 1. Seasoned investors search for value - Finance Trends. 2. Robertson shifts curve steepeners to curve caps - Marketfolly . 3. Profile on Julian Robertson - Marketfolly . 4. Tiger's Julian Robertson roars again - Fortune.

Financial Sense Newshour is hosting a new interview series around the great inflation vs. deflation debate. Will we see significant inflation in the months and years ahead, or are we headed for deflation? Last weekend, Jim Puplava brought on Daniel Amerman and Mike "Mish" Shedlock to debate the inflation vs. deflation question. Both made some interesting points on the timing and likelihood of either scenario, while Amerman stressed the importance of correctly anticipating the more likely outcome in order to defend one's savings and investments. We also hear from Marc Faber , who makes the case for inflation in a separate interview segment. Enjoy this very worthwhile and thorough discussion, and check back in with FSN for upcoming interviews in this series. Related articles and posts : 1. Inflation: Dying of Money - Financial Sense via Finance Trends. 2. Inflation or Deflation? - Merle Hazard at YouTube.

The Federal Reserve is highlighting signs of recovery as officials leave benchmark interest rates unchanged; The FOMC has voted 10-1 to keep the target fed-funds rates at 0% to 0.25% . There's also talk that the Fed will wind down its enormous MBS and housing agency bond purchases, according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal . The FOMC will extend their program out to 2010 while slowing the pace of purchases in order to provide a "smooth transition" to the markets. So we started the week off with a debate over Jim Grant's call for a snappy recovery , and now we have some more economic happy talk from the Fed. Despite tent cities cropping up all over the United States, the stock market (and long participants) seems happy. And why not? From Bloomberg, "Stocks Extend Gains..." : " Equities have surged since March as the Group of 20 nations committed about $12 trillion to revive economic growth and the Fed kept overnight borrowing costs near zero t...

Photo: Richard A. Lipski - Washington Post A picture is worth a thousand words: While at the library last night, I looked over at the periodical rack and saw this image on the front page of the Washington Post. The photo accompanies a recent Post article entitled, "Lashing Out at the Capitol: Tens of Thousands Protest Obama Initiatives and Government Spending" . Sidenote: I was not aware of this story (the 9/12 DC rally) until I happened to see last week's WaPost print edition yesterday. Seems there is also a bit of a discrepancy between the Post's crowd estimates and those cited by the Daily Mail . Have we finally seen a shift in the public's attitude towards DC politics and a change from the longstanding feelings of complacency and futility to one of active protest & (non-violent) revolt?

One of the most talked about economic stories of the weekend was Jim Grant's piece in the Wall Street Journal, "From Bear to Bull" . In it, Grant discusses the rationale for a rather zippy (or "V-shaped") recovery following this steep recession that began (officially) in late 2007. Here are some excerpts from that piece: " The Great Recession destroyed confidence as much as it did jobs and wealth. Here was a slump out of central casting. From the peak, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product has fallen by 3.9%. The meek and mild downturns of 1990-91 and 2001 (each, coincidentally, just eight months long, hardly worth the bother), brought losses to the real GDP of just 1.4% and 0.3%, respectively... ...Americans are blessedly out of practice at bearing up under economic adversity. Individuals take their knocks, always, as do companies and communities. But it has been a generation since a business cycle downturn exacted the collective pain that this one h...

Lew Rockwell entreats writer & businessman Gary North to give a presentation to the Mises University on the importance of finding your calling and making a difference in the world . I really got something out of this talk (MP3 linked above) when I gave it a careful listen earlier this week, and I hope you'll enjoy it too. Lots of insights on the great, unsung supporters of liberty and the Austrian School of Economics and their dedication to causes that were vital to them. Hat tip to John at Controlled Greed for highlighting this speech.

Niall Ferguson joined Bloomberg TV this week to discuss everyone's favorite "too big to fail" firms, the major US banks. Key takeaways from this interview? The government bailouts and rescue interventions have resulted in an even greater concentration of assets in the banking sector, while leaving us with the larger problem of moral hazard, as the large banking firms are even more "too big to fail" now. Lots more to hear from Niall in this interview; see especially his comments on the taxpayer guaranteed backstop provided to the "too big to fails" ("TBTFs") and the problems this will present down the road. Related articles and posts : 1. Why a Lehman deal would not have saved us - Niall Ferguson. 2. Jim Rogers: more banks should have failed - Finance Trends.