Business

Last week we noted a survey from LendEDU which found that 31% of college co-eds spend at least some portion of their student loan debt proceeds to fund week-long hedonistic, binge drinking trips to Cancun and Daytona Beach for spring break.  And, just to add insult to injury, 24% said they spend those taxpayer-subsidized loan dollars on drinking at school and 7% even splurge on drugs (see "31% Of College Students Spend Their Loans On Spring Break"). 

Via Mark St.Cyr,

As we sit here waiting to see whether the Federal Reserve does, or does not, raise interest rates; one thing is becoming clearer: This time – it’s different.

Say what you will for all the prior calm that the “markets” seem to be expressing, or argue as so many next-in-rotation fund managers scrambling to any open microphone or camera to explain their reasoning that the “markets” have “priced in” any such policy changes.

This post has to do with something which may seem like an oxymoron: integrity in financial prognostications. What inspired me to address this topic? Oh, that's easy:

As you can see, back on February 22nd, Dennis "Commodity King" Gartman went on CNBC to declare that, at long last, for the first time in about five years, he was bullish on crude oil.

While many have noticed the demise of volatility in the US equity markets - 104 days without a 1% drop, plunge in VIX, record low monthly ranges - it is the most highly speculative and most over-valued companies that appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of peak animal spirits. It has never been cheaper to hedge stocks in the Nasdaq...

The great moderation of risk is nearing unprecedented lengths...

While expectations of short-term stock volatility is jumping...

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Thousands of years ago, as far back as 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians had developed a highly advanced system of writing using hieroglyphic symbols.

The used hieroglyphs for numbers as well.

A single line, for example, represented the number 1. Two strokes represented 2. Nine strokes for the number 9.

Since the Egyptians had not yet invented the “zero” in 3000 BC, representing the number 10 required a new symbol– a sort of upside down horseshoe.