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  • Julian Robertson on Debt, Sudden Stops and More [View article]
    This was excellent. Thanks for sharing. I have utmost respect for Julian Robertson. Who knows some good vehicles, or the easiest way, for owning Norwegian Krone?
    Sep 25 10:45 am |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment
  • The Congressional Bailout of Madoff's Investors [View article]
    Hi Matthew,

    I appreciate your research and article pointing this out to you, and my first reaction was outrage, but then I looked more closely and now I see the SIPC's coverage, which is limited, and covers only certain investors who directly invested in Madoff, I don't see this as a bad thing.

    There's FDIC insurance to protect our bank accounts, and there's SIPC insurance, which is similarly limited in amount, to protect us if the brokerage firms we use go belly up. Similarly, there's SIPC protection to cover brokerage accounts, up to a limit.

    Madoff investors who invested through Hedge Funds or Feeder Funds will not get SIPC protection.

    Remember that the SEC let down Madoff investors horribly. I think it's appropriate to let Madoff's direct investors apply for the limited recovery under SIPC that anyone who had a brokerage account covered by SIPC anywhere else would have.

    Also, just like the FDIC, which has bank members pay in hefty fees to share in the insurance coverage, the SIPC works the same way too, so this is not entirely coming out of taxpayer money.

    Investor confidence - in banks and brokerage firms - is key, or we'll all be worse off. In the great Depression, one of the biggest problems was that when banks failed, depositors lost all their money. One of the reasons our economic system didn't fail completely last fall was that we have things like the FDIC in place. That goes for SIPC too. If everyone had become terrified of the solvency of their brokerage firm and had yanked their money out all at once, just like with their bank accounts, the country - and we as taxpayers - would have suffered worse.

    One of the reasons the dollar is staying strong (for now anyway) is that the safeguards and policies of the US Govt make the USA look better to foreign investors than their own currencies. We are fortunate as a country that we can have some safeguards such as SIPC and FDIC.
    Jul 06 20:19 pm |Rating: 0 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Fed Says Buy Gold: The Start of a Bullish Pattern [View article]
    Can you comment on what Jim Rogers said in a Bloomberg interview the other day, that gold will fall short term because the IMF is selling its gold?
    Dec 19 12:05 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Four New Currency ETFs from Rydex [View article]
    What ever happened to the Singapore Dollar ETN. Did it ever come out?
    Dec 01 17:10 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Book Review: The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997 [View article]
    If you like this book, I also highly recommend Niall Ferguson's "The Ascent of Money". A brilliant and excellent historical explanation of what happened this year.
    Ferguson is a professor of Finance AND history at Harvard. Also a Hoover Fellow and Oxford.
    This book will be turned into a PBS special airing in January.
    Many very good Ferguson interviews are on YouTube. Here is a 45 minute interview on Bloomberg that is well worth listening to:
    www.youtube.com/watch?...
    Nov 30 11:12 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Dollar Rally Could be Short Lived [View article]
    Chris,
    I was hoping for more from you....
    I was reading a Morgan Stanley report last night and they say they underestimated a number of global factors and are not even more bullish on the dollar.
    As Fiat currencies go, maybe the stronger US Dollar is the correct play.
    Longer term, I'd think more about adding to gold (physical not certificated) positions.
    I was listening to Mort Zuckerman's Council on Foreign Relations panel with Nouriel Roubini et al. and even though deflation is the force right now, if this crisis is handled by monetization, as it looks as if it is right now at least, the inflation down the road is going to be awful.
    Roubini thinks this won't happen and I put a lot of store in what he says, but I don't see how it's avoidable.
    Ellen
    Nov 10 15:13 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • ETF Update: What a Difference a Week Makes [View article]
    Gosh, the way commodities are declining, I think the chance of Russia (and Brazil for that matter) collapsing are greater than the upside possibilities...just my 2 cents (which may not be worth 2 cents for long : )
    Nov 10 15:05 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Deflation, Inflation, Rinse and Repeat [View article]
    from your neighbor over here in Rancho Santa Fe...

    24 months is an eon in this highly volatile market. I'm not sure it makes sense to do any positioning for inflation that far off, especially when the only certainty is that there will be many intervening factors between now and then.

    But I would like to know how you came up with 24 months and what the indicator(s) will be that will alert you to the change in direction from disinflation or deflation to re-inflation?

    Thanks.
    Nov 03 14:52 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • How to Construct a Deflation Proof Portfolio [View article]
    Hi Simit,

    Thanks for your informative, well-reasoned postings.

    What about adding a percentage of precious metals to this portfolio (owned in allocated or physical ownership, not certificated)?

    Thanks, Ellen

    Oct 25 08:24 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • How Risk Aversion Is Evolving [View article]
    Why not a blend of gold and other precious metals and a diversification of currencies?

    Oct 01 14:37 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wells Fargo: A Growth Stock During the Great Depression? [View article]
    I heard that Wells Fargo is now arbitrarily calling in their outstanding Home Equity Loans and demanding immediate repayment in full. I also heard that B of A is canceling their credit cards for anyone with under a 750 credit rating.
    Sep 28 22:40 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Dollar Rally Could be Short Lived [View article]
    I was listening to several of the Bloomberg on the Economy with Tom Keane podcasts today (they're excellent) and more than on economist said that the debt has been passed from private to public hands, but it will not be inflationary longterm because it's a shift, more than an increase.
    The $64,000 question these days seems to be whether deflation or stagflation relative to the dollar and gold. The economists and smartest minds seem to disagree. Who is right!?!
    Sep 25 20:14 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • 8 Advantages of the Gone Fishin' Portfolio [View article]
    So, what are you selecting as your asset allocation for the next year?
    Thanks for your thoughts.
    Sep 11 11:26 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • Things That Matter More Than the GDP [View article]
    so, WHAT cash - USD, Canadian Loonie, Swiss Franc, other, a mixture? And in what form - certs of deposit? short, long? bonds?
    Aug 30 11:41 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
  • On Recent Financial Stories [View article]
    so what do you do with your assets?
    Aug 28 20:18 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment
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