User 162922

A Modest Tax Proposal

You don't see. That's how it starts. No one understands the ramifications of little plans on large systems. That's how we got the Social Security mess from LBJ's "Great Society." How we got massive deficits when we left the gold standard. Medicare anybody? Pension plans in general? A

All investment is speculation, it's just a matter of time frame.

What's not speculation in the market? Owning a stock for a week? A month? A decade? Had you invested your hard earned money in the late 90's where would you be now? I think you'd have less now than you originally put in? So taking a long-term view would have me sucking wind. Good plan.

Homeowner's speculated their houses would always be worth more. So they bought bigger houses, speculating they could make money by downsizing when they retire. How's that working?

Women and men "speculate" the person they choose to marry will make their lives better for, well, the rest of their life. Works out less than half the time.

As for "speculators"...they pay taxes on their gains. Perhaps you'd like to wipe out the money they earn and the taxes they now pay, and they'll go to what new jobs? Let's add more people to welfare, what the hell.

(As an aside:The raping of the Social Security trust fund for the Great Society is a crime in itself. They took the money out we paid in, giving us a piece of paper promising to pay it back. How are they going to pay it back? By taking more money out of us. If I ran a program like that, I would be arrested for embezzlement and running a ponzi scheme.)

By the way, you paint this problem as if it's specifically the speculator's fault. ...traders are responsible for this debacle? NO. Traders are a small part of the financial sector. They are merely the execution arm of strategies put in place from other parts of the company.How about rating agencies? Securitization firms who designed the products? RE appraisers, mortgage companies in collusion. Hank Paulson and his ilk? FNM FRE, Bill Clinton, Howard Raines?

No, it's the evil speculator's fault. They just trade. They didn't make up this stuff.


Got another question for you. These firms that do a lot of trading, do you think they manage much pension money? So, you want to impose more costs on firms that trade those funds (oh, right, you'll turn them into your definition of an investor), further reducing returns to the pensioners, and dropping more liabilities in the lap of the Pension Guaranty Fund. And we know where the Pension Guaranty Fund gets their money, right? THE TAXPAYER.

You have a government out of control, that has no fiscal discipline. They spend what they don't have to buy votes, and have made commitments that cannot be honored. Say what you want about the barbaric relic the gold standard, but it forced discipline on government. Now, you have to depend on them to maintain restraint. How's that working for you?

By the way, current transaction fees were just quadrupled.

I also see many firms want to pay back those lavish subsidies, yes? Of course, we don't really know where those lavish subsidies went, now do we, because the Fed won't tell us; but we have a pretty good idea much of it went into AIG, one of the main culprits and went to Goldman Sachs.

What you're creating is a populist chant...the "evil speculator". Which will then be used, as you say to keep jacking up the rate. It's laziness...since you can't or won't find the true culprits and punish them (many named above), you're creating a straw man to destroy. It will become a sin tax, just like on beer. And who does that end up hurting in the end...Joe six-pack.

No, you truly don't see...

What Goes Around Comes Around in the Equity Market

Curious cat;

Inflation is defined as too many dollars chasing too few goods, yes? The housing bubble came about because too many dollars were available to easily to too many people that couldn't afford it, yes? The question is, has the money supply increased? If so, that is more money in the system chasing the same amount of goods? Is that inflationary? I think so. So yes housing has become deflationary, but the world money supply, by all accounts, has become inflationary.

A bit further on inflation: Inflation measurements have changed twice since the 80s-shortly after Volcker was shown the door, and then during the Clinton administration. So, whereas inflation is 4.2% today, pre Clinton change it would be almost 8%, and pre-Reagan, almost 12%. So then, is there inflation or not? Depends on which measurement you trust.

Not sure about your pricing analysis either: In general, that works all things being equal. Having said that, nothing is equal over the last few years. I have so much money per paycheck. If I have to dedicate more of my money to food and gas/oil. It's less I have to spend on those products. Now those products have costs to produce them. If the vendor can't sell them for a profit, he doesn't, and they disappear from the market-he can't just keep dropping his price below cost of production.

Of course, this brings us back to inflation, or at least cost of living. The cost of living (food gas/oil/electricity/na... gas) have increased significantly. Perhaps that big screen tv has gotten cheaper along with that nice suit or fancy dress, but I can't afford them now that I have to pay so much in food and gas. Oh, but they're not included.

If the energy/food situation is real, then many "non-discretionary" items may actually disappear as the terms become redefined according to people's pocketbooks.

The Tellurium Supernova Has Erupted

Not directly related, but Marc Antony had talked much about palladium recently.

www.resourceinvestor.c...=

It's Now 'Official': Ethanol Is a Scam

No, that's why the French have the saying, "Plu cest change, plu cest le meme chose." Political Science 101-A politician's most important job function is to get re-elected. Neither party will change their policy supporting ethanol until after the election because of the votes. I'd bet you'd find ADM's political budget split relatively evenly between the parties.

Financial Entertainment TV Buries Itself with Disinformation

A vendor has a right to sell his product, especially if the product produces the expected result for the price. Media makes its money by selling advertising, which means they need to attract eyeballs. Humans are attracted by emotion thus the newspaper saying, "If it bleeds it leads." Therefore, whether it be financial news, general news, or any TV program, it must first entertain or at least captivate the individual so they can sell commercials.

Mr. Cara perhaps makes the point-silently-that in this business success is determined by emotionless analysis and execution (although evaluating emotion may be an analytical variable). Since financial TV must, by it's nature, appeal to emotions, it potentially dilutes analytical effectiveness-costing the viewer money and time.

Global 'Oil Shock' Rattles World Stock Markets

Unfortunately not only does it take at least 10 years to get a nuclear plant built, but infrastructurally speaking, it is impossible to produce that many nuclear plants quickly.

www.bloomberg.com/apps...

$200 Oil - Who's Going to Pay For It?

That's the point...The US is headed for a restructuring of society. Whereas we've dealt with the internet bubble and the housing bubble, we're now experiencing the evaporation of the "Cheap Energy" bubble. Oil is the cheapest most versatile form of energy we have and it's only been around for about 100 years. It has done more for productivity (increasing the amount of work done in the shortest amount of time) then perhaps any other substance on earth. Think of it this way: How long would it take you to cut a cord of firewood with an ax and a hand saw? Now, how long does it take you to do it with a chain saw and a motorized wood splitter? What's really scary, is the majority of development, literally, the way the USA is laid out, has been accomplished in the cheap oil era? What does that mean for the future? Whereas Europe was laid out in the expensive energy era (horseback, oxen, bipedal locomotion), they are likely more able to handle the return to the mean that we are now experiencing in energy costs. Isn't it interesting the Mayan calendar is supposed to end in a few years just as we head into perhaps the most (insert adjective here) era since....the plague?