How High Leverage Makes Real Estate More Vulnerable

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

Given the recent crisis in financial markets, investors should be asking themselves how well their portfolios are able to withstand market shocks. We want to take a look at real estate, to illustrate the potential … Read More

Does Real Estate Offer Yield In A Low-Yield Environment?

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

I believe that REITs share some characteristics with traditional fixed income, in the form of bonds, in that their cash flow comes from leases, which are akin to fixed income. And according to a … Read More

Big Crowd Events Are Economic Small Ball

In the midst of the current crisis we are having a national conversation about how to balance health concerns with economic concerns, and as of this point in many states large gatherings such as sporting events, concerts and movies … Read More

Visualizing The Near-Zero Bond Yield Problem

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

In response to the recent record-setting market volatility, the Federal Reserve has responded with ramped up monetary stimulus, including cutting the Fed Funds rate, and as of this writing, beginning an “unlimited” quantitative easing … Read More

David French vs. Woke Capitalism

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

We recently sat down for an interview with David French, senior editor at the Dispatch and former writer for the National Review. Our conversation was wide-ranging, covering everything from the mechanics of corporate engagement … Read More

What Jesus Said About ‘Mask Wearers’

The folks at Red State had a fascinating story about a CNN Reporter who mask-shamed the White House who then ripped off her own mask when she thought the cameras were off:

“It’s almost like all these reporters wearing masks while … Read More

New GDP Numbers: Maybe Media Underestimated U.S. Resilience

The new GDP numbers (which cover the first quarter of the year) show an annualized change of a bit less than negative 5%. That means that during the first quarter of this year, we produced about 95% as much … Read More

Video Shows Which Country’s Markets Did Best, Worst During Q1 Crisis

The video above shows cumulative total return during Q1 2020. Total return refers to all of the gains and losses associated with investing in a particular country’s stock market (using MSCI’s country level indices), including increases/decreases in stock prices, … Read More

Oil Price Shocks And Catastrophic Financial Losses

Recently we saw oil prices reach historic lows and in a certain technical case, the option to buy oil in the short run even showed a negative price. Historically, how have severe price declines in oil correlated (a measure … Read More

N.T. Wright (So Far) For Everyone

I recently had a conversation with N.T. Wright, which you can listen to here.

It lasted roughly one hour. The book is The New Testament in Its World. The authors are N.T. Wright and Michael F Bird. N.T. Wright probably needs no … Read More

Contagious Holiness: The Jesus Model For Engagement In The Marketplace

I only read Dr. Craig Blomberg’s book Contagious Holiness in the past year, but it has been shaping my thinking for well over a decade. That’s because I first saw the title when the book was published almost 15 years ago.

You … Read More

Faith-Based Investing, A Comprehensive Overview

Below, please find a lightly edited transcript of the presentation above.

Hi, this is Jerry Bowyer and we’re talking today about the question, “What is faith based investing?” This is an overview of the topic of faith based investing. … Read More

The Threat That Got Pilate To Kill Jesus

Second of a three-part series. Read the first part here.

Let’s look at the crucifixion, through these eyes. The Gospels clearly teach that Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea who presided over the trial of Jesus, made several attempts to … Read More

Is It Wrong To Talk About The Financial Causes Of The Crucifixion?

First of a three-part series.

Why was Christ crucified? The Christian conversation about that has tended to default to the theological intent of the atonement. In other words, Christ was crucified to save us from our sins, to take our … Read More

Paul On Meat Sacrificed To Demons vs. Mandatory Market Disengagement

There is no controversy in the New Testament which I think better illustrates our broad freedom in Christ when we go into the marketplace than the controversy over meat sacrificed to idols. I daresay that the Christian mindset is such … Read More

Video: Jesus, Lazarus, and Plague

Below is an unedited verbatim transcript of the Sermon.

Even Jesus couldn’t seem to stop a friend from dying from an infectious disease. I mean, that’s the trade-off here. Jesus had work to do from the father and he had that … Read More

Did Paul Say To Boycott Sinful Businesses Or Engage With Them?

I have argued most recently in this series that not only did Jesus freely associate with sinners and receive material support from the regardless of sinful origins of the wealth, but His immediate disciples and the 70 did as well, … Read More

Did Jesus’ Disciples Boycott Sinful Businesses Or Engage With Them?

In this series so far, we have seen that the clearly-discernible pattern in Jesus’ social dealings, including those which offer material gain, is to move freely among sinners, to engage with them in socially intimate settings and manners, to … Read More

Jesus’ Concept Of Holiness vs. Boycott/Shunning Concept

As we’ve seen heretofore in this series (here, here, and here), The Pharisees and the scribes which they employed attacked Jesus repeatedly for violating their understanding of unholiness via social engagement with sinners. They saw someone who benefited economically from a person … Read More

Jesus And Zacchaeus’ Ill-Gotten Gains

In our ongoing series about Jesus’ model for economic engagement during His earthly ministry, we look next at the encounter with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector. Here’s Luke’s description:

And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and … Read More

Death Peaked at Good Friday, so Apparently Did the Covid-19 Death Rate

The most influential modeling system puts peak death rate at yesterday. Here’s a link to the CNN story (I’ll put the quote at the bottom of this write-up): https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-10-20/h_1f905ee7677f8024ad1670db650ad595

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america

If this data is right, death peaked on Good Friday. … Read More

Jesus vs. Boycotts, The Prostitute And The Perfume

In the first article of this series we looked at the episode in Luke’s Gospel in which Jesus dined with tax collectors. We saw that Jesus seemed to have no compunction at all about having social dealings with this outcast group, … Read More

Did Jesus Boycott Sinful Businesses Or Engage With Them?

Decades ago, liberal activists began to employ boycotts to counter corporate policies with which they disagreed. More recently, conservative Christians have imitated that approach calling for consumer boycotts, for example of Disney, because of practices like holding or sponsoring gay … Read More

Conspiracy Theories, Sloppy Math, And Other Things To Avoid During A Pandemic

Seems like we need to tune down the emotional heat, overconfidence, ideological thinking, magical thinking, conspiracy theories, and dodgy math.

I’m seeing a lot more f-bombs and ‘raca’ talk, calling people idiots and other names, etc. Every interaction is a … Read More