Asher Edelman

April 8, 2008

I said the financial system would need at least 100 times the $30 billion advertised by the Fed as the ultimate need to save the system. I was wrong. Three trillion dollars was not sufficient to save the banks; it took somewhere between...

In April of 2010 I wrote my first note about Greece in which I suggested that €30 billion would not solve or even impact the Greek problems. In that same letter I suggested three possible courses Europe, the IMF and the rest of the world might take, the third being...

I am optimistic for the economic and social outlook for the United States! During the next four or five years we will, once again, shift into gear. "Occupy Wall Street" will come to be thought of as "Save the Nation(s)."

The present administration is moving, and will move quickly, away...

Dexia (described as in a state of "gripping liquidity strains"; otherwise "insolvent" might be the appropriate adjective), has a plan to sell to the French and Belgian taxpayers $238.9 billion of bad assets "that can't be sold under current market conditions." It is said that during the last 15 years...

The Banking System has suffered a collapse (then revived by the American taxpayer). It is, once again, on the cusp of collapse.

With the help of the taxpayer the International Banking community survived the mortgage and mortgage derivatives crisis. It survived the steep decline in equities. A huge effort is...

Another two-week marathon has passed. What did we see? What can we conclude as to the market for art?

Christie's
In extraordinary fine fettle as to the quality, value, presentation and sell-through of both Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary works, probably the best all-in auctions by either of...

With hard asset commodities (silver, et al), declining and the previous two nights' auctions (in which there were few works of note), performing without sparkle, I am beginning to reflect on May of 2008. It was the last good auction for a while. Shortly thereafter the economic crisis became evident...

In the past couple of days I have received a number of calls about currency weakness and commodities volatility -- especially that of silver.

The aggressive policies pursued by the American government and other debtor nations to debase their currencies have awakened speculation in "hard assets" such as silver, gold,...

I read with interest this morning that the administration has declared a profit on its "successful" bailout of the financial institutions. The idea that the banks, et al., are saved is, at best, disingenuous; the "at worst" I'll leave to the imagination.

Most banks too large to...

On April 8, 2008, as the banking debacle began to unfold I pointed out that "this is no time to be throwing $30 billion at the (banking) problem and hoping it will staunch the hemorrhaging, because $30 billion will seem minor when the losses add up to, perhaps...