If someone told you to keep your eye on a bouncing ball, do you think you would notice a gorilla entering into then departing your field of vision?
We kick off our summer reading series with the authors of
"The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us". In a most fascinating conversation with the cognitive psychologists, we explore key elements of behavioral science and many of its applications to decision-making including the myth of intuition, the illusion of knowledge (e.g. Amaranth), and the appeal of confidence and certainty ("...we prefer people who are confident even when we have all the information we need to see that they are less accurate in what they are saying."). Bernie Madoff, anyone?
Investors seeking to gain a better understanding of their own investment decision-making process will find the time spent listening to this podcast as time well spent.
The length of the interview is 16 minutes 28 seconds.
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My interview with the Chief Economist with Mesirow Financial and author of "The Passionate Economist: Finding the Power and Humanity Behind the Numbers" includes the austerity versus stimulus debate, the multi-speed global economy, deflation, advisable government policy, and the risks of developed economies deceleration. 
Exactly how bearish is David Rosenberg? The answer may surprise you.
Continuing our focus on the likely impacts of financial regulatory reform on the financial services industry and the overall economy, we get the perspective from the President and COO of the Financial Services Forum. 
In this twilight period before earnings season gets into full swing and the all-important third quarter macro economic reports provide the vital insights into the strength of the US economic recovery, we arranged for a series of podcast interviews with key leaders in various segments of the financial services industry to give their initial thoughts and opinions on the financial regulatory reform bill working its way through Congress.
If someone told you to keep your eye on a bouncing ball, do you think you would notice a gorilla entering into then departing your field of vision?
"Kick the can down the road" seems to be the policy response of governments, Europe being the latest to do so. My fourth interview with the Chief Economist at Strategas Research Partners begins with this issue and the virtually inevitable consequence when "the bill comes due". We also discussed the inherent conflict between the positives of the cyclical recovery presently experienced in most regions of the world and the secular risks of a (still) structurally imbalanced world. We end with a quick look at the US consumer.
