curious cat

http://www.MartinGlob.com

125 Comments

    • ON: Mon Oct 13th 00:22 AM
      Commented on:
      What a Look Back at the Japanese Market Tells Us
      flyfarmer: there was a time when almost all the goods in england were made in america. they stopped producing goods because it was more economical to import them. they raised the standard of living in this country by consuming our goods. we are now returning the favor, by raising the standard of living for people around the globe. sure, we have lost some jobs. so did the english. we have devalued our money. so did the english. they no longer rule the waves and we have learned or should have learned in the last fifty years that we can no longer project power around the globe, at least, not on the ground. the english learned to adjust their life styles and still found a way to continue paying royal family members a yearly stipend. we can probably manage to do the same for our democrats. hang in there.
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    • ON: Sat Oct 11th 20:48 PM
      Commented on:
      Reading the S&P 500's Crashing Waves
      avenger: i think you have it right. this reminds me of my days playing the horses. there's always touts hanging around telling you what the races should look like based on the old programs they are carrying in their briefcases. each race looks like it might follow the pattern of some previous race and, in fact, they do. you just don't know which pattern they will follow. why? because something is always different. the jockey is different, the horse took a dump before the race, it rained last tuesday, there is a headwind, someone bumped someone else during the turn, someone got boxed in along the rail. my friends, i think it was shakespeare who said that "our fate lies not in our stars but in our hands." take hold of the reins. show the horse the whip and lean into the turn. you don't want to go home with money in your pocket.
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    • ON: Sat Oct 11th 19:42 PM
      Commented on:
      How Oversold Are We?
      at this rate, there won't be much wealth left to redistribute. most of us will be in line for a handout. brother can you spare a dime?

      wefwef, you made a great move. i moved in with my 80% two weeks too soon, thinking those a-holes in washington would vote yes. now, i have to hold on and wait for the spot to put in the other 20%. good luck to you.
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    • ON: Mon Oct 6th 09:40 AM
      Commented on:
      Seeing the Other Side of the Decline
      the end is near!
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    • ON: Sun Oct 5th 14:50 PM
      Commented on:
      America's Real Wealth
      to all our european friends (with special thanks to france): thanks for repaying your debts from the world wars that you started. thanks for repaying your debts for the united nations expenditures. thanks for repaying your debts for the socialistic and communistic jingoistic laws you've passed that have kept costs of trade rising over the years. thanks for getting us into vietnam. thanks for getting us into korea. thanks for proliferating nuclear problems by selling information to whack job dictators. thanks for repaying us for all the copywrite infringement you do. thanks for all the taxes you charge our corporations that have brought employment and wages to your citizens. thanks. thanks. thanks.
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    • ON: Sat Oct 4th 23:42 PM
      Commented on:
      Be Like Buffett: Get Off the Roller Coaster
      just bought a g.e. washer and dryer. they will be delivered monday. i paid with a credit card, so you can count on credit flowing again, g.e. going up in value and me, in clean clothes, looking fresh and snappy.

      the bill is passed. the fed is active. interest rates will come down or stay the same. that means the dollar will get weaker and more plentiful, again. it is time to inflate the last bubble, my friends. people will rush to gold, if business picks up, and to gold, if business slows down. for safety, for value, for the last bubble, gold.
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    • ON: Sat Oct 4th 00:26 AM
      Commented on:
      Sarah Palin's Stock Portfolio
      klorentz: we are all ruled by fear and ignorance. some of us are acting brave because we are afraid and some of us just don't know we're ignorant. in any case, we all agreed that you have to be crazy to go into politics. so, a positive crazy is one that can gain us some political advantage and at least be perceived as crazy by the rest of the world.

      as for assumptions, i make two of them. first, we have more safeguards on our nukes than they show in the movies. second, anyone making it through our political campaigns, without self destructing, can probably hold it together for a few more years.
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    • ON: Thu Oct 2nd 11:05 AM
      Commented on:
      Sarah Palin's Stock Portfolio
      kumayoriburu: that is a beautiful argument. i loved that positive/negative analogy and i agree with your assessment of the candidates. . however, my point was that the enemy has to believe you will pull the trigger, not that you will do it. in general, anyone running for office has got some kind of mental problem. we just have to elect the "positive" crazies.

      i play tennis with an older, gentle looking, thai guy who was special forces in nam. in his broken english, he always tells me, "you look like killer." to which i respond, "yes, but you are killer." looks can be deceiving.


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    • ON: Thu Oct 2nd 02:14 AM
      Commented on:
      Sarah Palin's Stock Portfolio
      mediapro: if we could bring back ronald reagan, we would. mccain and palin are the next best thing. sorry, but your friend doesn't understand politics, either. we don't just want a president that is crazy enough to nuke someone else, we need one. other countries have to believe that our president is at least as crazy as theirs. mutual deterence has more to do with the person holding the button than anything in the silo. i don't just need a s&w sign outside my house. burglars have to know when they look in my eyes, that i will pull the trigger.

      oh, i know you probably think that this must be the rant of some right wing nut. actually, i'm a live and let live kind of guy. after college, i was a social worker in the murder capital of the world, gary indiana. after law school, i spent twenty years running a medical practice. i spent years walking the streets of manhattan and i've listened to people from all walks of life, from all around the world.

      take it from me: you cannot negotiate with crazy people, my friend. much as you want them to act sane, there are lots of irrational whack jobs out there. the only thing keeping them in check is fear of running into someone crazier than they are.
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    • ON: Thu Oct 2nd 01:42 AM
      Commented on:
      The Cost of Putting Expedience Before Justice
      oh, you're over reacting to a little spending bill, my friend. we just loaned the car companies billions. yet, they are one of the biggest factors in our downfall economically. they failed to keep up with technological changes because they wanted to keep making their huge gas guzzlers until the very last minute. now, we have to fund the retooling! we should be outraged at that.

      our lawmakers have made every bad decision they could think of and the only complaint you have is this one little bill? what about the hundreds of billions they spend on pork barrel legislation every year? we give farm subsidies to huge corporations so they will not grow things. we build bridges to nowhere. we subsidize the united nations and none of their friggin representatives has one good thing to say about us.

      all we need to do is pull in our military for one year, let the rest of the crazy power hungry countries move in one the lambs and see who they call. let them pay for our mercenary military. hell, just tax them. send them a bill and if they fail to pay, remove them from the protected countries list and let everyone know they are off it. how long before the germans take over europe? how long before russia and china are at each other's throats?

      our pharmaceutical industry has lobbied congress to protect their phoney baloney industry for years. the booze industry too. legalize marijuana and give the concession to the african americans. they have been waiting for reparations, anyway. the indians got the casinos for their country. the drug concession seems about right for years of slavery. that will reduce our spending on drug enforcement agencies. we can tax the profits of the now legal businesses and bring lots of antisocial americans back under the civil unbrella.

      hey, there are lots of things we can do, when push comes to shove. printing more money isn't our only option and this bill won't be our first mistake or our last.
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    • ON: Thu Oct 2nd 01:14 AM
      Commented on:
      On Board the 'U.S.S. Titanic'
      don't hate the players, hate the game. if you are a monkey and your friendly white coated scientist gives you a little static shock after you rape your cell mate, you might continue your inappropriate behavior. turn up the juice, baby.

      make it clear that there will be a huge punishments if you cheat on your taxes or do anything illegal. if the guilty are stripped of all their assets, they will behave better. any assets given to another, especially a lawyer, come back to the treasury. any assets hidden and found will cost you more jail time, too. what do we need public beheadings? shock the monkey!
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    • ON: Wed Oct 1st 01:31 AM
      Commented on:
      Looking for Hope
      first off, 101010, can we really believe anything in the ny times? however, for the sake of argument, let's agree that they reported accurately in this instance. i have to ask, then, what bothers you about forgiveness? we, as a nation, forgive bankrupt businesses and individuals every day. is this the first time it has crossed your mind that fairness is not part of our financial system? do you have any idea how many people have never paid a debt they owed? the numbers are staggering.

      there are even commercials on tv welcoming delinquent tax payers to avail themselves of their opportunity to reduce their tax bills. most tax payers have to pay their bills, but some people are invited to skirt away, astonishing! people constantly refuse to pay their debts and courts back them up. in this country, for some reason, we have no debtor's prisons. we encourage debt as a life style. why? apparently, we believe that society as a whole benefits when there is risky business, creating new opportunities and jobs.

      sure, it might be a better system if we had public executions of people who pass bad checks or steal someone's identity, but we are a kinder, gentler nation. from the constitution on, we guarantee the right to pursue happiness and happiness is not easily attained, 101010, especially if you are paul. so, we balance the system with forgiveness. let's see why, shall we?

      simply put: there are not enough jobs for everyone. after farming, medicine, and royalty, what other positions are really needed in society? so, we allow criminals to flourish, this encourages the hiring of law enforcement agents, and employs the entire criminal justice system of lawyers and judges, clerks, secretaries, etc. yet, despite this huge expenditure, the game is still rigged to let our criminals to go free, so that we will pay more for insurance and so that we will buy replacements for our lost property. this leniency supports the huge insurance and manufacturing industries. our tax system, too, is unnecessarily complex, so that we can employ tons of otherwise idle numismatists as accountants. we also do not catch and punish all the people who send out viruses to our computers. instead, we support an entirely new industry designed to undo their handiwork, antiviral programming. get the picture? we don't just allow risk, we encourage it, primarily to maintain a healthy level of employment.

      now, if women had not entered the work force and stayed at home, to raise children as god intended, there would still be an adequate supply of jobs, even considering all the time saving devices that have been invented since then. so, sure, you can blame paul for getting in over his head, buying more house than he needed and failing to live up to his financial obligations, but isn't it really his wife's fault? wasn't it mrs paul, who demanded equal employment, the right to sell fish sticks and a bigger house? so, isn't it peter's duty to help bail out paul? aren't we all brothers struggling to find a place in an unjust system simply to make our wives happy?


      Please visit Martin Glob and his friends at MartinGlob.com
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    • ON: Tue Sep 30th 16:22 PM
      Commented on:
      Looking for Hope
      wishen, you said: "I don't understand how credit can stall completely. If a bank or business can't find a lender, they would offer to pay higher interest. At some point someone will lend with the right terms in place. If borrower doesn't pay, they get kneecapped or sell off assets."

      answer: currently, banks must retain any capital that comes in. investors looking at their balance sheets cannot value the mortgage paper assets they hold. as those assets are constantly being revalued, or marked to market, lower, they are forced to come up with alternate collateral to prove that they are still solvent. as the banks solvency is questioned and their stock price is driven down in the stock market, they lose their ability to borrow money or sell their own stock. so, they are forced to sell those mortgage related assets at fire sale prices. this, in turn, forces all the other banks to again mark to market lower, and the downward spiral continues, until all the banks are broken or until someone with a large balance sheet can buy the assets and hold them to maturity. everyone knows that these mortgages repaid at the 88-90% rate during the great depression. so, their ultimate value is between 88-90%. our tax dollars have a chance to actually make money for a change. treasury can buy them cheap and make interest while they hold them. think before you vote.
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    • ON: Tue Sep 30th 16:09 PM
      Commented on:
      Looking for Hope
      sperry8: you said: "So glad there is no bailout! Why should there be? Companies that are going under took on risk and got burned. Goodbye to them. Better run institutions will buy up their assets and become stronger and their future earnings will be bigger (which means stock returns will ultimately be better)."

      1)consider that this is not a bailout. the plan is to buy assets that are undervalued.
      2) financial institutions that took huge risks did fail and will continue to fail. this plan does not heal those failures.

      3) if you think that better run institutions can buy their assets and succeed, then the u.s. treasury should have no problem making a profit. why let large institutions make the easy money? why not let the taxpayer make it?

      to kowalski: prayer is about giving thanks for what you get, no matter what you get. start everyday being thankful for every breath you take. the existence of god is not in doubt because he fails to live up to your expectations. the great power is. he has given us free will. that means we control what happens down here. blame people that borrowed without consideration to their ability to repay. blame people that should have exercised discretion in lending. blame everyone but god. he made us in his image, but we have to work for our intellect. god bless you.
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    • ON: Mon Sep 29th 00:59 AM
      Commented on:
      Why Friday Came Early
      people, please trade the market you see in front of you. there is no need to fight the fed. they created a bubble, the bubble exploded, they created another and it exploded. recognize a pattern there? inflation of prices in gold, oil, houses and stocks, followed by contraction, soon to be followed by inflation, again. when the fed is printing money, you can safely bet that the market is being turned around. we have lots of baby boomers who are counting on their retirement savings to let them quit working in a few years. if we have a huge swoosh like some people keep predicting, the banking system fails, there would be anarchy and chaos. the forces of good must create conditions under which we stop the downward spiral of asset prices. that is currently being done. you can rant, rave, complain because you were a short seller, because you saw the inevitable crash coming or you can accept the game changing fed interception. go long or you'll continue to come up short. "pattern recognition is the hallmark of intelligence."
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