I’ve been thinking about who is to blame.  The first answer that comes to mind is my parents, because they are usually to blame for just about everything else, but I am not sure I can pin Madoff or the Credit Crunch on them.

  For those of us who have lived through major bear markets there is significant skepticism about the current equity market rally.   Reasons to be optimistic:   ·          Economic data is improving. The extreme inventory destocking in late 2008 is being reversed. Housing prices are stabilizing. Housing transactions are rising. ·          China as an

We clearly have seen the demise of risk management as we have known it.  Nassim Taleb spoke very eloquently about the Black Swan, but I suspect even he did not anticipate a gigantic flock of black swans soiling the world’s financial markets.  So, where do we look for a better way?

I remember reading an article about how only hedge funds that exhibited some form of positive convexity, regardless of strategy, survived over the long run. 

Up until last week most investors were arguing that China could not save the world.  And we agree.  China is just not big enough to drag the world out of the mire by itself.  But it can save itself.  Here are some of the positive developments: