The nearly flawless Bill Miller of Legg Mason is optimistic about 2005 – namely by not flinching over the sustainability of the “unsustainable” current account deficit.
Counter this with an ambitious (forecasted is always a tremendous task) and more pessimistic paper by Roubini and Setser, where they try to pinpoint the upper-limits to the C/A deficit and the Bretton Woods II system as a whole.
The subject of global imbalances is front page news. As Donald Coxe’s (Global Portfolio Strategist of BMO Financial Group) “Rule of Page Sixteen” states, "You don't make or lose serious money from a story on Page One: you make or lose serious money from a story on Page Sixteen which is on its way to Page One." What lies on page sixteen? How about the severe underfunding of Defined Benefit Pension Plans - definitely a neglected subject but something that could soon possibly be making headlines. For more on this, visit Ryan Labs Asset Management which puts out an excellent monthly asset/liability tally.
On a side note: Google recently decided to allow existing Gmail account holders to distribute an additional 50 accounts (of which I have 20 left). If anyone needs an account (1GB free space), feel free to email me.
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