Juggling Dynamite

Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke on the floor of the Senate on Dec. 12, 2014 about the provision that Citigroup added to the omnibus budget package.  Here is a direct video link.

As the talking heads are all doing their usual–confirming a downtrend that has already been progressing for many months–the next consensus view is that the downturn in oil prices will be short-lived.

This long term view of WTIC since 1985 offers an alternative perspective on the extreme price spikes orchestrated by financial intermediaries the past 10 years, and why below $40 a barrel (green bar area) may actually be the natural resting place for West Texas Crude (lower for Canadian Crude) in the post-financial bubbles era…

The energy debt market is not feeling optimistic, as bond prices are evaporating in the once reckless ‘hot’ sector. But not to worry, investment bank ‘strategists’ remain universally bullish, the most recent Barron’s survey could not find one person to say stocks would fall in 2015.   There’s some comfort for frazzled nerves…??

In a world preoccupied with ‘getting money’, far too little is understood about the high incidence of losing it once obtained. A new book discusses the reality in the context of Football players, but there are lessons here for everyone:

“Is There Life After Football?” brings us inside the lives of NFL players to show why so many wind up in dire straits after their time on the field, from depression to debilitating lifelong injuries to catastrophic financial mismanagement…

The book seeks, among other things, to dispel the myth that everyone who plays in the NFL is financially set for life.

The average NFL career is only 3.5 years long, and while even rookies currently earn around $400,000, the types of money we hear about for superstars — $22 million a year for Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers, for example — is rare. Most players never come close.

But how ever much money players make, it’s often far more than they know how to handle…if using family and friends as financial advisors is a bad move, actual advisors can be worse.

Regulated or not, shady advisors have made quite a mark on the NFL financial scene,” the authors write. “Before closer scrutiny was instituted, at least 78 players lost more than $42 million between 1999 and 2002 because they trusted money to agents and financial advisors…”  See:  NYP:  How the NFL leaves players broken–and broke

Author Malcolm Gladwell offered some social and historical context on the NFL last month. Here is a direct video link.