John Polomny

A Few Thoughts on the Paying of Taxes

"If there's one thing about the tax system that I find particularly galling, however, it's the government's failure to raise revenues in ways that would also serve to improve social welfare -- by taxing "bads" instead of "goods."

As Milton Freidman said many times to many world improvers and do gooders like this author, "Where are we going to find all of these angels to reorder society for us, I dont even trust myself to do that".

This author is a statist that believes that it is possible to live for free off his neighbor. Taxation is theft. This is simple to understand in that people are threatened with violence if they do not pay. No difference between the government and a mugger on the street.

Canadian Energy Bargain Deals

Niko Resources (NKO.T) along with reliance Industries just brought on production from the D6 block offshore India. This field alone should double India's total natural gas production. Niko's cashflow this year should quadrouple.

The Economy Is Bottoming

The inflation that is being created can and will make the economy appear top be bottoming. I also have no doubt that the stockmarket can advance in the short and medium term. However in the long term as the FED money pump continues price inflation will seep into the system. How the FED will find the political courage to withdraw this liquidity will be the neat trick. I do not think they will get it just right and we will see price inflation sooner then most think.

Austrian School of Economics: Not Tough Enough

Maybe it is not a conspiracy against you but the ideas that you post that they find objectionable. I find that more plausiable based on the fact you whine about a comment ranking system that means absolutely nothing in the real world.


On Mar 31 02:58 PM carey_jim wrote:

> Caveat Emptor:
>
> The rating system on Seeking Alpha is worthless if you have posted
> many hundreds of comments.
>
> Why? Some posters, rather than debating a post they don't agree with,
> or simply giving it a minus one rating, go through previous posts
> and randomly assign minus ones, bringing down your overall positive
> point rating to whatever rating they think it should be.
>
> My rating has gone down at least a hundred points that way in the
> last month or so.
>
> It makes the Seeking Alpha rating system worthless especially if
> you consider the fact that these same people can add hundreds of
> points to their own ratings by logging in with dummy user accounts
> on other computers.

GM: Change Is Good, But Jobs Are Needed

"Give each verifiable adult taxpayer a direct cash stimulus of $250K to spend within 12 months within the borders of the US (not in foreign countries), and this is what will happen"

What I meant to say was is this article for real? What a wonderful new idea this author has discovered. The government can just print money and give it to people and they will spend and people can go back to work. Wow we should tell the rest of the world about this new idea. Why would SA allow this on its site. Give every taxpayer $250,000! Well the other thing that would happen Mr. Cappell is a massive decline in the value of the dollar and a huge rise in prices. Please go to a local community college and take an introduction to macro economics so you can learn about monetary inflation. Seeking Alpha please do a better job of editing.

GM: Change Is Good, But Jobs Are Needed

"Give each verifiable adult taxpayer a direct cash stimulus of $250K to spend within 12 months within the borders of the US (not in foreign countries), and this is what will happen"

Austrian School of Economics: Not Tough Enough

Ah yes "the old arguement of the statist". Statism, socialism has never worked anywhere before so we get to hear the that old song of we really, really have the smartest, bestest ,brightest guys in government now that will push the buttons and pull the levers in the correct sequence to make everything nice. Balderdash Profesor Banks. I really enjoy your articles on energy but your comment here is totally off base. I think Will Rogers comment during the last depresion is appropriate, "“It's almost worth the Great Depression to learn how little our big men know.”


"Once all the weak structures are repaired and the bunglers dismissed, the smart guys can do what smart guys are capable of doing, and folks that's a lot."

Kick-Starting Employment: An Obligation Before Obama's Administration

Over 90% of the people are still working and most people ether are making their mortgage payments or do not have a mortgage. Yet we have more hysterical calls from people like Mr. Thoma for government to spend more money (that it does not have) and monetize more debt (Zimbabwe style). The country has lived beyond its means for decades. It is now time to pay the bill. That means sacrafice. That means a lower standard of living for most people. It means government is going to have to shrink. People are going to have to save not spend. Humpty Dumpty has a fallen and cannot be put back togther again.

"The administration has an obligation to protect people from cyclical fluctuations in the economy, to help them avoid losing their jobs, their houses, and other sources of security."

The Economy's Next Move: 'Sugar High' Followed by Dollar Crash

Sugar high=commodities bubble. Buying gold and moving assets out of the dollar seems to be a prudent move if the US is going down the road to a banana republic.

Google Ventures Ready to Launch: Not the Best Use of Capital

Maybe they should buy Seeking Alpha.

Truth and Consequences of the Fed Purchasing Treasuries

Actually it would be relatively easy for the FED to pull out liquidity by selling the bonds into the market. The problem with this plan is the $700 billion in mortgage backed and agency paper that the FED is tarnishing its balance sheet with. That will be quite a bit harder to unload when inflation is raging. My view is that the FED and Treasury really have no plan or idea what they are doing and are just managing this thing day by day. God help us all.


On Mar 19 08:58 AM Steve in Greensboro wrote:

> Thanks, Mr. Hansen, for the article. Here's my impression, for what
> it's worth.
>
> Bernanke does not think he is debasing the USD by buying Treasuries.
> Bernanke is fighting the last war (The First Great Depression) and
> according to his reading of history, deflation was the enemy. The
> fact that there is no sign of deflation doesn't matter. Bernanke
> fears the current disinflation as a precursor to real deflation.
> He wants higher levels of inflation, just to be safe. To achieve
> this, he wants to increase the money suppy by any means available.
>
>
> He thinks that at some point, when growth begins again (and double
> digit inflation starts up), he can resell Treasuries to soak up the
> excess money. This is why he will try to trade the toxic assets he
> has now on the Fed's balance sheet to the government for Treasuries
> on the theory that the reselling of Treasuries will be easier, when
> the time comes.
>
> Bernanke is grossly misreading history and economics. As many others
> have said, we are headed toward an inflationary depression, due to
> gross mismanagement of the money supply by Bernanke and reckless
> spending by the U.S. government.
>
> We are bolted into the barrel and going over the falls. Everybody
> hang on.

Is Deflation Done?

As inflation is a monetary phenomenon and prices are a symptom of the money creation then we never had deflation. We did have a massive deleveraging that took liquidity out of markets and allowed prices to drop. Now that supply has been constrained because of productive capacity closures the increased money printng will lead to higher prices. It will be delicious watching Bernanke try and get himself out of this one as commodity prices continue rising. When the inflation numbers begin to accelerate later this year and the economy still has not recovered will they keep the money pump going or raise rates? Talk about being painted into a corner.

Nervous About MLPs

The commodity markets are bottoming due to the massive money pump going on worldwide. In addition the North American rig count is down over 50% in the last year so nat gas is heading higher not lower. Although the price of oil and gas do not necessarily influence the pipeline MLP's, for them its more about volumes, the positive sentiment should lift prices.

Atlas Pipelines: I'm Out of Here

I will play devils advocate. Your analysis is excellent however I am wondering with the amount of rigs being laid down, over a 50% drop in the last year and avaeraging around 45 per week, if natural gas may be putting in a bottom. The last time the rig count fell this much the gas price responded with an 86% increase over the next year. I am not suggesting that will happen again. What I am suggesting is if the price of gas and liquids were to have a serious move higher over the next year would it be enough to bail out management? What price for gas or liquids would be required in order to give them breathing room?

Adding to My Short Position in Potash

I have no idea if Mr. Hannon's short term technical view is correct or not. What I find more valuable is the quarterly market report on the Potash website that talks about how yields drop off significantly if farmers withhold nutrient application. As an investor I am concerned about owning a fractional piece of a this company's future revenue stream. I see the pressures on grain productions only worsening over time. In creases in yield will only be accomplished by timely application of the nutrients this company produces.