Asbytec

10 Comments

    • ON: Tue Sep 30th 11:12 AM
      Commented on:
      Rescuing the U.S. Dollar
      Yep. Keep the credit markets open so we can continue to spend. We can get deeper into debt by borrowing our own tax dollars. What's left? Our productive assets, our homes, and our gold are all pawned off.
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    • ON: Tue Sep 30th 11:09 AM
      Commented on:
      Bye, Bye U.S. Dollar?
      I wonder if investors are buying dollar based assets, because as bad as things are they might be worse in Europe. The pound and the euro are flailing, that drives up the dollar index.

      As for inflation, I don't think that's much of a threat. Inflation is a money supply issue. Money is disappearing faster than it was created and into the same thin air.
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    • ON: Mon Sep 29th 15:06 PM
      Commented on:
      Rescuing the U.S. Dollar
      Well, it's mute now. The bail out, er, I mean buy in plan failed. We're in uncharted waters. We've been there before. There's rocks on the shore.

      If there were some way to let the banks fail and survive, I would vote for that. It was credit that got us in trouble. Remember the plethora of credit cards we all got in the mail?

      It seems kind of strange congress and Paulson wanted to give the banks our money so they could in turn lend it back to us so we can get deeper into debt...keeping the debt economy flowing.

      Why don't we just give each American half a million dollars and let them pay off their homes? Let the money trickle up for a change. There's an email going around to that effect and it's beginning to make sense.

      As for what it means for the dollar? Your guess is as good as any. But we need to take it in context. Europe is in trouble, too. So, let's see what happens to the troubled euro and pound.

      But, yes, the massive derivative market has inflated the dollar beyond Fed control.
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    • ON: Mon Sep 29th 11:11 AM
      Commented on:
      Bye, Bye U.S. Dollar?
      Interesting. A strong dollar would make me happy. But, I have no idea where it's headed. It seems it should plummet, as you assert. But it's been rising lately and resumed it's rise after news on the "buy in" deal is all but signed. I guess it's a relative rise against the other major currencies. Nothing more. Those currencies are in trouble, too. I am a bit confused, but I guess I am in good company.
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    • ON: Mon Sep 29th 11:04 AM
      Commented on:
      How to Save the U.S. Economy: Kill 1971's 'Floating Dollar' Experiment
      Interesting article. I am almost with you on this. A friend of mine totally agrees.
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    • ON: Tue Sep 23rd 22:43 PM
      Commented on:
      Do Paulson and Bernanke Really Understand What's Going On?
      I was so angry when I posted I forgot to complement the author on an interesting take on the crisis. I came back to re read it.

      I just haven't bought into the solvency argument. I see it as a liquidity problem. Money created through mortgage backed derivatives is now fast disappearing. Most of the money floating around the world is fiat money. Imagine if the entire derivative market failed.

      I get the feeling Paulson wants to buy up he bad debt to pump money into the banking system so we can continue down the road of excess consumption. Get back to business as usual. I think that's a mistake to rebuild the house of cards.

      The "alternative"... Paulson speaks about is depression. I think congress understands this but just won't use the "D" word.
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    • ON: Tue Sep 23rd 11:37 AM
      Commented on:
      Do Paulson and Bernanke Really Understand What's Going On?
      It seems to me Bernanke has been the lone dog in this fight for a long time. He's increased liquidity and argued banks should work with mortgage holders to keep folks in their homes. He's been doing this for over a year. It was urgent then, why does it take a market shake down to get congress' attention?

      I also get the feeling Secretary Paulson, a long time Wall Street insider, is asking for $700bn to rescue his friends and is fighting to keep any of that bail out money from reaching hands of ordinary Americans. A financial bail out might be necessary, but it stinks.

      And if he does manage to funnel that money into the hands of his Harvard buddies, we'll soon get back to business as usual. As soon as home values recover, you can bet they'll succumb to greed and stack debt on debt to make money and loan it back to us with interest.

      I support what I hear coming out of congress. We need to keep folks in their homes and rescue the housing market, specifically. And, almost as an after thought, we can help bail out the financials. They need it, and they need oversight.

      Speaking of oversight, I heard it called archaic and out dated. It might be, but we have oversight folks, and I include everyone's pal Mr. Greenspan among them, actively turning a blind eye to the phenomenal money created. What is not outdated is the obligation our oversight has to prevent such crisis. As long as times are good, no one raises any red flags.

      So, rebuild some insight, keep tax payers in their homes and toss a little money at the financials. But more importantly, we need a structural change to get away from the excessive greed that got us here to begin with. We need to get back to fundamental money supply and stop creating paper promises based on asset values.

      And no golden parachutes funded with tax payer money for folks who are already rich. In fact this problem is so great, they have staggered not only the US economy but the world economy, their actions boarder on treason. Jail time would be appropriate for some.

      And to hear Obama blame Bush is simply idiotic political rhetoric. This problem has been in the works through many administrations and legislatures, both Rep and Dems, for a great long time. Decades.
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    • ON: Mon Jul 21st 13:14 PM
      Commented on:
      The Fed Could Use Some Help
      I am confident the Fed will bring interest rates around in due time. I hope very soon after the housing market bottoms out. I am a big proponent of a strong currency, but feel it's not the right move just yet. We're probably gonna eat a little inflation while spending and credit wind down and the markets adjust to these new (long term?) conditions.

      And then, there is the Yuan...
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    • ON: Mon Jul 21st 08:26 AM
      Commented on:
      The Fed Could Use Some Help
      I disagree. I think Bernanke is doing all he can. In the face of this derivative meltdown (shrinking money supply) he is loosening monetary policy to prevent shocking the economy into a recession.

      He is and must ease the economy through a spending reduction, which I believe will be along term one. (We may have learned our lesson with the failure of greedy, risky derivatives...I pray.)

      I have heard him say, many times in the last year, the Fed is working with the banks to get lenders to renegotiate loans to keep them solvent and homeowners in their homes. It might not be working as he'd like.

      On the other hand, each time congress brings Bernanke before the committee, they just ask the same old tired questions. "What, in your opinion, can we do?" ("Would you repeat that, one more time? This time, in my good ear...")

      He's been very calm, I'd have been yelling by this point. I just had to turn off the TV last week's testimony. I get tired of Bernanke repeating himself to the same old tired questions congress asked last time.

      Yes, the Fed can use some help and it seems to be slow in coming from congress...who, by the way, has the oversight of the money supply. Maybe Ron Paul should be president.
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    • ON: Fri May 2nd 08:27 AM
      Commented on:
      Bring Back Greenspan?
      As I understand it, the housing market crisis...the credit crisis...is causing much liquidity to vanish into the same thin air it was created from. To keep the economy from imploding, the Fed acted decisively to boost liquidity.

      And they did so at the expense of inflation, of course. You cannot fight both battles simultaneously. The Fed sill begin fighting inflation soon enough, and hopefully with the same vigor if fought a slowdown in spending. I suspect we will settle into a phase of lower sustainable growth nothing like the excesses of Greenspan's years. That's good.

      I am thankful Bernanke did not buy (much) into the idea we were in a solvency crisis. I have grown to like Bernanke over the past two quarters. He might have just saved our bacon. If liquidity folded, we might well have been reeling from a severe recession or, maybe, even a depression.

      Just my two cents, which aren't worth as much as they were a year ago. The dollar will improve in time.
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