Filmflam

Richard Russell: Downturn Will Be 'Vicious'

Buffett's History:

Made some good money in the 1960's and closed his fund in 1969 at the top. Then started Berkshire in the early 80's right before the largest bull run in history. Then in 2006, he had a fund (and reputation) so large he couldn't just close up shop. So, he gives all his money away to charity. With no way to preserve his wealth, he at least preserved his ability to watch the collapse without puking.

Now, he dabbles some with huge payday loans. His era has passed unfortunately. It is a losing game to be buying companies now. Only the traders, cheaters, and shorts can prosper until the pain is realized.

Gold Bugs Are Warned, Again

Your unstated premise that a double top is forming in the "correlated" indexes may be true, but until the uptrending channel is broken on HUI, GDX, etc... the non-conformation is still pending.

I suspect a small flag or a another scary drop, but I will thank the heavens and GS (not the same thing, Mr. Obama) for a retest of $1000.

The World’s Biggest Gold Reserves

Alright, I have a question. I did a little calculating. Someone tell me what is wrong with this idea.

I calculate that 8133 Tons of gold equals about 238 million ounces of gold. Then I went with the value of currently circulating greenbacks as noted in Trace Meyer's pyramid (yeah, I am lazy) of $800B.

That means that all things being equal, gold is "worth" $3361 an ounce. That must be too simplistic.

If you have an opinion, email me at [e-mail]

Inflation with Gary North or Deflation with Mish?

Everyone seems caught up on the "why." Why are the governments and central banks selling gold? Without having read the GATA thesis, but believing it is quite likely, I must share what came to my mind as the Occam's Razor: Governments, Central Banks, and now even the IMF are dumping their gold onto "the market." Who stands to benefit from this if the "foregone result" comes to pass? Those who bought the gold. Those who traded in their soon to be worthless fiat currency for gold when the supply came on the market. And who are those people? That is the question that needs answering, but can never be answered. The market is opaque and participants are most often anonymous. But, the largest participants are not anonymous. Other than China, are there many governments or publicly disclosing entities that are showing more gold on their books? I doubt it. If that is the case, then the gold is moving from the hands of the citizens of that government to the wealthiest individuals.

This crisis has been called by many the largest theft in the history of the world. Part of that would have to be the plundering of all the US's gold which used to back the currency (and as such the property of the citizens of the United States). If this has just been the slow, steady, continuous movement of the only real store of value from the public to the opaque, then the gap between the rich and the poor will widen astronomically when all of the world's gold and silver will be in the hands of the private banks, wealthy individuals, and opaque sovereign entities.

Am I onto something, or on something?

Dollar Chart Tells a Much Different Story than Pundits Do

Thank you Mr. Kim for taking time from your important work with the Dharma Initiative. It is appreciated.

It's Nothing To Do with Future Earnings

It appears that your analysis is only based on PE's (at least your charts are only PE's) so you are assuming that for the PE to normalize, there is only one solution, price must rise. Couldn't we just as equally have earnings fall with price constant or falling to get back to fair value?

The Stock Market 'Sucker-Rally-Dead-Cat' Is Still Yowling

One problem as I see it: In 2000 we had a bubble in tech stocks and (probably) the dollar. In 2006-2007, we had a bubble in real estate and financial instruments. Don't the real estate and financial instrument bubbles correlate more closely to what caused the bubble that ended in 1929?

Elizabeth Warren: Unqualified Advocate

Who is being naive, here?

Her demeanor is simple because the answers are simple and impossible. She, like Simon Johnson, knows what the answers are. And she knows how big the ramifications are. The "complexity" that is always drummed about isn't there. The solution is simple. The banks are insolvent. The oligarchy is blocking reform. I wish we had a world of people like her to drown out the noises from parrots like you. No offense, I am sure you are a nice guy. You are just on the wrong side of reality.

Who Is John Galt? We'll Soon Find Out

You guys are hilarious. Everything Elaine said was right. Everything Jimbo said was right. Neither contradicted the other, but somehow you all thought Jimbo was so clever.

Our tax policy is massively stupid. Flatten the tax code. Tax consumption and idle wealth more, income less. That is the only way to encourage long-lasting growth.

Obama vs. McCain on Fiscal Responsibility

Which party in power has never had an increase in the debt to GDP ratio while president in the post-WWII era? The Democrats.

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