market folly

Oaktree Capital's Howard Marks is out with his latest commentary, entitled 'Down to the Wire.' In it, he tackles the U.S. debt ceiling issue and its significance.

He notes that, "because the limitation is set in terms of absolute dollars and not indexed for inflation or growth, we would run into it every few years even if our debt only grew apace with the economy."

Marks, who recently released his book The Most Important Thing, is known for his insightful market commentary. Legendary investors like Warren Buffett and Seth Klarman sang the praises of his book and read his memos regularly.

Something worth paying attention to according to Marks is the shift in attitudes toward debt over the last forty years. The Oaktree Chairman highlights expanded credit card use, mortgages requiring little principal, the extension of borrowing power to companies with questionable credit ratings, and steadily increased borrowing by various nations.

Rather than summarize the rest of his thoughts, embedded below is Marks' latest commentary (email readers come to the site to view):



For more from Marks, head to his thoughts on the keys to success in a low return world.

And for more manager commentary, scroll through recent hedge fund letters we've posted up.