curious cat

David Rosenberg: The U.S. Is in a Form of Depression

the sun'll come up, tomorrow! bet yer bottom dollar,....

Sentiment Overview: Retail Investors Still Not Biting

it's all a confidence game.

Doug Kass Turns Bearish: Zigging When Others Zag

when crazy is driving, i don't get in and wear a seatbelt. i just don't ride with him. when sane takes the wheel, again, let me know.

Why the Bear Market Bottom Is Not Yet In

thanks, suncatcher. you're absolutely right. lawyers and bureaucrats are the two things you don't want in any system. they slow it down and add costs. historically, the reason our country agreed to create worker's compensation insurance was to rid business of that problem. we reduced insurance premiums that business paid for injured employees, because we all agreed that everyone who was injured should be compensated fairly, regardless of fault.

now, we have to do the same thing for medicine. no fault insurance will compensate injured parties and remove the bulk of lawyers' fees. don't forget that lawyers get paid on both sides of a claim, so they add huge costs. that's why you see so many ads from ambulance chasers. having a bad medical result is awful, but being sued can be worse, for all of us.

it increases medical costs, increasing the number of unnecessary procedures, tests and presciptions. it also takes years off doctor's lives, as they lose sleep and lose focus, trying to protect themselves from bogus claims. we do have to change healthcare in america. we have to start showing some appreciation for the life and death decisions our physicians make, every day. isn't that enough stress?

if president obama was serious about reducing the burden of healthcare costs, he'd remove the nonproductive attorneys from the mix. creating another government program to provide national healthcare is not the answer. government should create an atmosphere that allows business and medicine to function with minimal impediments.

PIMCO's Bill Gross Sees a Bleak Future

grh1212, are you kidding me? the french? please, forgive me for being skeptical, but you are seriously putting the french economic model up as a positive example for the united states of america? even california, with their unbalanced population, no offense arnold, would never go that far. ok, maybe pelosi would, but the rest of the state is bound to realize that eventually, you have to step away from the trough.

see, here's the thing. despite the good press they got for sending us the statue of liberty, the french have never made an unselfish domestic or foreign policy decision. they got us into vietnam because they never treated any of their colonies with any decency. (whereas, the british always left their colonies better off for being there.) the french think they are still a world power, but they are actually world class irritants in every peaceful interaction of nations. (on a personal level, they have always treated tourists with disrespect and contempt.) is that any way to run a country? hey, don't let me get started on this rant, but their judgement has always been an issue, (see jerry lewis).

focusing on your comment of world class health care. you should know that there is no other country in the world that lives up to the standard of care in the u.s.a. we don't just have standards, let's say for cleanliness, we created the standard. we don't just have new miracle drugs for our patients because another country spent countless dollars developing and testing them and we then infringed on their patents. no, we have them because we invested in them.

bottom line, no matter what country you live in, investors must be able to earn a return for their risk. if you fail to keep that option open, investors stop investing in production and begin searching for ways to hide their capital. when you remove incentive, you destroy innovation. progress is halted and left leaning political structures begin to promise more and more benefits to pacify the masses. those benefits are not manna from heaven though, they come from someone else's pocket. there are no free lunches. everything has a price. if you don't pay it, someone else is.

our government is not here to make your life perfect or make you happy. its function is to preserve your right to the pursuit of happiness. if you think so highly of france, i think we both know, you will never be happy here. you can get a passport at the post office.

China Warns U.S. About Debt Monetization (WSJ)

it seems clear that we will not immediately turn into a banana republic. the administration intends to tax its citizens significantly, using value added taxes and increased income taxes and inheritance taxes. this is a socialist regime that believes everyone is entitled to the standard of living that hard working, smart investing and credit worthy individuals have earned. so, there will be a stronger dollar between now and complete deterioration. those of you who like to travel can call your agents and wait to buy currencies. we will not have runaway inflation because government policies are inhibiting investment and hiring by the private sector. the bet on gold, oil and other commodities is premature. the bet on an improved economy is based on fantasy. six months from now, the time period the market attempts to see, will look a lot like today, except that government will be larger and we will have found a higher low, the lower part of a new range. it's flag football and the eventual breakout will be next year. china has resisted adjustments to their currency in the past and they will resist it now.

U.K. Telegraph Pulls Mark Patterson Piece...How Intriguing

when you walk along the yellow brick road, you must not contemplate the man behind the curtain. focus on the witch. there'll be time enough to expose him later.

Is Gartman Right About Shorting the Dow and Gold?

when i'm short of gold, i usually buy some more. lol

Current Recession Is Tracking the 1930s Bear Market

we're all right. the government is buying up banks, car companies and insurance companies. so, when the recovery goes ballistic, they will make a lot of money and be able to pay out social security payments, well beyond the expected failure date. detroit will make green cars, the environment will improve, as a result. california will have huge breakthroughs in stem cell research. the cost of medicine will go down astronomically, as we will suddenly be able to cure all life threatening diseases. marijuana will be legalized and sales of cheetos will explode through the roof. personally, i'm waiting for the rapture.

Barron's Calls a Bottom

great idea, mr ed. buy the forever stamps and you will be able to "lick" inflation. personally, i don't care one whit, let alone a whole whittle, about what magazines think. i remember when one of them had the ceo of enron on the cover, as man of the year or something, a year before that company blew up.

you may not want to buy yet, but you'd have to be an idiot to sell now. if you've sat through the last year, you are close enough to the bottom. of course, you could buy some gold miners if you've neglected them. the only thing i know for certain is this. if you spend trillions, you will have inflation and the dollar will devalue. precious metals and energy, denominated in dollars, will go much higher.

Think Like the Herd - But Don't Follow the Herd

i "herd" that!

Why It's Not Different This Time: Facts for Comfort

even when big car makers sell less, there are millions of people who buy cars. the same is true of everything else. many millions of customers are drawn out by reduced prices. businesses that are well run can and will survive.

it always amazes me when newscasters report that we will only have one or two percent growth. doesn't growth mean more? if we did well last year without that growth, why can't we continue to do well? in fact, if our economy flourished for a dozen years, all the while increasing its growth, why can't we do just as well going the other way? somebody give these people a game plan, please.

we did not go up fifty percent in one year, so we do not have to go down fifty percent, either. check yourself. if you are business leaders, take a few minutes and call other business leaders, just to let them know that you are all going to go only to the last year's level of productivity. that's not collusion or monopoly. that's sanity. stop freaking out.

people who have a vested interest in calamity and have purchased puts on everything will continue to yell fire in our theater. those of us with a better view and those near the exits have a responsibility to calm the crowd. there is no fire as great as the one they want us to imagine and the firemen have already turned on their hoses.

The Shallowest Generation

when you think about it, the function intended for social security and medicare, at their inception, reflected the limited available options of state of the art medicine and life spans at the time. people were expected to live much shorter lives and medical remedies had not advanced to organ transplants and life extending superexpensive drugs.

now that government and legal measures have eviscerated the monetary motivation of intelligent people, we will have fewer and fewer doctors qualified to perform medical miracles. our pharmaceutical industries will no longer invest in research because they will be taxed and regulated out of business. so, we should be able to afford future medicare and social security expenditures again, as we will once again be living shorter lives. see, things always work out for the best in the end. life has a way of restoring order and balance.

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.

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?


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