delta 777

Falling Dollar: Finally Front-Page News

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Bretton Woods established an international monetary system tied to gold.
Following WWII, US had the most stable currency which became the world's reserve currency. In 1971 the US unilaterally terminated gold convertibility thereby changing the dollar from a specie currency to a fiat currency. nonetheless still remaining as the accepted reserve currency because of the balkanization and instability of other nations and currencies.
This placed the US in the unique position of being able to simply print money (backed by "full faith and credit") to cover its debts.
The world has since changed--currently. other nations, particularly the EU and China. "BRIC", are showing enough political and economic strength to make their currencies strong enough to be considered for an international "market basket" reserve currency.
It is no surprise that world nations will no longer put up with the current US reserve currency situation.
Nor should they.
The more telling question is what specific tactic large creditor nations (particularly China) will employ to carefully bail out of the dollar and convert to a more stable and acceptable form of internal reserve currency without overly devaluating their dollar denominated assets.
It appears to me that the day of reckoning for the world US dollar is very much upon us.

Why Obama's Economic Policies Are Failing

fascinating how you discuss the causes of bubble/bust/recession without mention of of CDOs/SIVs/credit default swaps and other assorted off-the-books financial instruments

How to Fix the Fed - A Lesson from AIG

Article I Section 8 of the US Constitution specifically assigns to Congress the power:

To borrow money on the credit of the United States...

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures...

There is no Constitutional provision that these powers may be delegated in any form to the FED

Hoping Against Hope for Wyeth / Elan Alzheimer Dug

"Human beings are the only animals that really seem to get Alzheimer's, and that's made it a ferocious therapeutic area to work in"
perhaps not quite true--it appears that vervet monkeys also develop a condition as they get old that is very close to a human form of Alzheimer's. This is species specific, as rhesus monkeys do not develop this. Vervets have some other characteristics that are particularly relevant to humans.
www.dana.org/news/feat...
pin.primate.wisc.edu/f... (see special notes sections)

Roubini Just Won't Turn Positive on the Economy

it looks like we will have a wonderful holiday season this year, judging from all the merchandise that is now being ordered for the season???Just think, the retailers will be able to close up their shops well before the season, and take their holidays early to go shopping??? Main streeters without jobs will also have so much extra time on their hands that they will just spend it shopping till they drop???and foreclosures that are now on hold will remain on hold??? and of course banks will be able to completely repay borrowed money and cover their written-down ass ets, and exotic derivative problems will have disappeared.

Welcome to Salvation (aka Mark to Myth)

assets based on home valuation should be based- not on last sale of that particular home- but on current sale of comps in the neighborhood--such realistic valuation for the asset should be in in perfect accord with what the bank can demonstrate it is currently willing and able to loan on purchase of that home to a person with reasonable credit. Such valuation must include neighborhood foreclosure valuations, because these valuations are the current reality ....any competent real estate appraiser can easily come up with accurate valuation based on comps--they do it every day---and banks lend on this basis.
ANY OTHER METHOD IS ONE BIG LIE.


On Apr 06 10:18 AM petyaczar wrote:

> Mark 2 Market should actually be called our for what it is
> Mark to Model where the model is based on the last sale
> Ergo M2M is really mark to lasat sale.
>
> Mark to Market is beyond Stupid. Its a theoretical construct that
> requires a willing owner (Unwilling seller) to mark down his assets
> to the point that a disinterested (unwilling potential buyer) might
> consider buying the asset.
>
> Show me where - in the real world - An willing owner/unwilling seller
> is required to mark down assets to the point where an unwilling buyer
> might consider a purchase of said assets.
>
> Only in Bizarro World. Never confuse accounting with reality. <br/>
>
> Dump Mark to Market as they did in the 1930's when they determined
> Mark to Market contributed greatly to the Great Depression as it
> sets up a cyclical feedback loop, the worse things get, the greater
> the mark downs and so the worse things get.
>
> Destroy Sarbanes/Oaxley, get rid of FASB 157.
> Reinstate Glass Steagall ACT separating commercial and iinvestment
> banks
> Reinstate the uptick rule on short sales
> Up margin requirements on commodities trading to 50%
> GET ALL POLITICIANS out of attempting to run U.S. companies.
> Make it illegal for politicians to interefere with U.S. copmany operations.
>
>
> IMO

The Trouble with China

The underlying parameters in the "US v. China" argument have been, and are in process of rapid and inexorable change, to the point this argument of apposition is getting a bit stale. .
China has been rapidly and intelligently developing its internal market for its own products, and the capability of supplying a world-competive quality range of products to supply this increasingly discriminating market.
At the same time, US is losing its basic ability to domestically produce high quality manufactured goods at anything remotely resembling a competitive price, and has been increasingly dependent on other nations tor this production. It has proven more capitalistically profitable to develop what may be in truth "virtual wealth" through foreign trade that is highly profitable due to exploitation of wage disparity among nations, and "investment" banking, while at the same time losing the backbone of true national wealth which resides in self-sufficiency.
We appear to have developed a societal delusion in believing that "ultimate efficiency" is the equivalent measure of not getting one's hands grimy through manual labor.
The concept of "Buy American" has to be founded on "Manufacture American" and must eminate from each individual citizen based not on jingoism, but on the fundamental economic consideration that our domestic product must be both better in quality as well as competitively priced. Can we as a nation do this??
Only when we decide to do this, and to focus on education directed to recapturing our middle-class with its backbone centered in manufacturing will it happen.

7 Dividend Stocks to Prove Buy-and-Hold Isn't Dead

it is sort of an interesting concept that current flash trading programs are essentially immaterial to long term buy and hold investing-kind of like the concept that if the bath water is running, the tub will eventually be full, regardless whether the drain is left open. This may somewhat persuade the foolish so long as the fill rate exceeds the drain rate, but falls apart totally when WS Greed applies their suction pump to the drain, as in the current economic debacle. This flash trading relentless drain of money from the overall market devastates the profitablity of long term holding of good companies with the same certainty that it devastates short term private traders.

Bloomberg Reports Extreme Recession: I'm Shocked

Cash for clunkers is hardly a fair or equitable use of taxpayer dollars-people usually own clunkers for two reasons: either they are too poor to buy a better car (and therefore are too poor to buy an new car), or-if they are wealthy- they have kept the clunker as a secondary back-up car because it was worthless to sell or trade it in. Cash for clunkers selectively rewards the second group, while providing no benefit for those owners who were either prudent or sufficiently conscientious to dispose of a clunker as soon as possible. A possible third group: those who are wealthy enough to have given/sold their clunker to their kids, and now are wealthy enough to arrange an upgrade.
In all cases, despite the immediate gratification boon this gives to auto makers, this program will quickly reflect in future lower auto purchases.
It is also obvious from actual sales information that, in general, the new vehicles purchased under this program are far from being true economy cars.
Cash for Clunkers constitutes investment of taxpayer dollars to a select few individuals for consumable items; as opposed to using this taxpayer money to create infrastructure that will be of lasting benefit to the taxpayer that pays for it. (in addition to the obvious immediate creation of broad-based jobs)


On Aug 02 12:37 PM mushrumps wrote:

> Well, I am "disgustipated" with the clunkers program: 1) merely takes
> from future sales; 2) subsidizes the few who can afford to buy a
> new car with taxes and higher costs on those who cannot; 3) worst
> of all, deprives tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of potential buyers
> of serviceable transportation for $500 or so (think pizza, paper
> delivery people, etc.!)

Durable Goods Report: May vs. June Spin Cycle

your poignant statement:

"What struck me...... is that clear manipulation and fungible number play is right now being accepted..."

Pretty much sums up the sorry state of current ethics in Finance.

J&J Comes Riding to Elan's Rescue

Elan has been suffering a horrible partnership in Tysabri with Biogen, who may have been sandbagging Tysabri to promote their competing drug Avonex, meanwhile salivating at the prospect of being able to make a hostile move to buy Elan's interest in Tysabri for pennies, against a very weak Elan in 2010 when standoff clauses in their partnership expire.
Wyeth/AHP is potentially also a wolf in sheeps clothing with respect to their bapineuzumab partnership with Elan (anyone remember Immunex?-R.I.P.) and when Pfizer acquires Wyeth, this cabal can not be anticipated to behave like angels in their partnership behavior
Even more significant than the much needed direct financial boost that Elan has been needing to set up, JNJ has both sufficient clout and a big enough legal department to deal with the pack of hyenas that have been circling to pick Elan's bones as well as an excellent background to insure that bapineuzumab will be properly guidedto market, even though they do not (nominally) have control of this drug. The JNJ/Elan arrangement also is a great protection of other Elan pipeline drugs against the type of manipulation that Tysabri has suffered at the hands of Biogen. JNJ has a pretty good rep as an ethical outfit.
Somewhat disturbing is key scientists Selkoe and Bloom stepping down from the Elan Board of Directors.

Where Are the Jobs?

a lot of "working" folks are now on 5%-10% cuts in base pay in addition to mandatory unpaid furloughs--32 hour weeks.
Very hard on workers, and employers that want to survive have no other choices available to retain key employees.

Scary Numbers

kind of like a crowd eagerly attending a nascar race----there to watch the crashes even more than watching for who wins

Who Is the Worst Biotech CEO?

recognition and acceptance Fuersteins yellow journalism and narcissism in considering himself the Nobel Committee of biotech management evaluation is extremely dangerous, whereby on the basis of promulgation of one person's irresponsible voice by an increasingly rabid media, this can exert a substantial and disproportionate effect on an equity of the nature that should even warrant criminal investigation.

Likewise, you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself for promulgating this kind charade.....it speaks to your own competence.

eBay Still Hazy

as an ebay buyer of many years and many dollars, I can attest that the site has been rapidly deteriorating...fewer antique items of quality, better sites are around for used stuff, and Amazon and other Google search suppliers far better for new items (and used), without the quality questions and uncertainty of what you may end up with ebay purchases....I still use it as a useful source but perhaps only 10% of former purchase volume.......(hope ebay has a strong enough porn backbone for survival??)