Author Archives: Steve Kamman

I recently did a short, intentionally light-hearted Atlassian write-up.  So sharing it here.  I own a big chunk of Atlassian for the reasons below.  I plan to keep it for 5-10 years.  Note, however, that it is very richly valued … Continue reading →

We seem to live in a squandering age.  Particularly when it comes to namby pamby intangibles like “trust,” “truth,” and “influence.”  The debacle of the FAA and the 737 MAX aircraft is a particularly depressing example.   Over the course of … Continue reading →

I’m still seeking clarity on what the heck is going on out there with interest rates.  I figured I’d lay out the questions and see if it helps spark any insight. Interest rates matter like sea levels matter.  The tide … Continue reading →

I figured I’d share part of an e-mail exchange this morning on the concept of “Technical Debt.” The term is well understood term in technology circles, poorly understood by investors, and totally ignored by accountants.  It explains a lot about … Continue reading →

Miners used to carry caged Canaries for early warning of toxic gas.  The Canaries would keel over from the gas before the miners would. The Canary here is US Telecom CenturyLink, who recently cut its dividend by 53% while raising … Continue reading →

In all the comment around Amazon’s decision to cancel their “HQ2” in New York, I’m surprised to see some salient questions un-asked. After such an exhaustive public search, why didn’t Amazon just pivot to the #2 choice? If New York didn’t … Continue reading →

A break from musing about monetary policy.  🙂  The main axis of political difference today isn’t left vs. right.  It is Reality vs. Fantasy axis.  A vicious cocktail of cynicism and self-delusion driving real-world policies with real-world consequences. Madness is always … Continue reading →

Trying to pull some recent threads together.  Still puzzling things out myself.  The charts below are the crux of the question.  Look at the bottom (purple) line – the Fed Funds rate –  vs the market-driven rates above it. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=mY7o … Continue reading →

UPDATED:  From the FT and per the below:  “The prices of Venezuela’s government bonds have jumped from about 23 cents on the dollar earlier this month to over 33 cents on Monday, while bonds issued by PDVSA, the state oil … Continue reading →

Have sympathy for the Wizard of Oz. And for the Fed. People really really want to believe in a Wizard. In control. Keeping us safe. Every society carves out this lonely role role that someone must play – Wizard or … Continue reading →