pitchingpennies

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    • Wed Aug 6th 14:06 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Greenspan: Still Almost Childlike in His Idealism
      getlost, it really never was the case:

      "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have".
      -Thomas Jefferson

      alan's plan is interesting, but jjason quickly shines the light of reality on the chance that any real cure of significance will ever occur that must be agreed to by the 535 member terrorist cell on Capitol Hill. We might just as well propose that we simply monetize the Federal debt and start over again on Monday.

      I seem to be a lone voice in my support for Uncle Alan. If wishes and buts, were candy and nuts, my fondest wish would have been that AG had not retired from the Chair for another two years. Considering the bumbling "fixes" offered to us from the politicians, called by the oxymoron "good government", the complexities and vagaries of our integration into a global economy, and the fact that a free market is the only market that works, AG was not a "childlike idealist" but a stone pragmatist. I believe he would have sensed the panic building 1.5 years ago and actually acted to not let it come to full flower. With the constraints listed above, the only way the situation could possiby have been managed was by a subtle but affirmative assurance by the man in the Chair. What was really needed was AG's skill at putting his hand on our collective shoulders and assuring us like a kindly grandfather that "everything will be OK". With our collective psychies calmed, he would then have gone about his busines of solving the problems (quietly and out of our view). Instead, we got a "deer in the headlights" Fed Chief who took, to our national detriment, too long scratching his prodigious bald noggin, and then pushed the panic button. We have all responded naturally and fully to the alarm. And so it goes.
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    • Mon Jul 14th 21:25 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Canada's Measures to Curtail U.S.-Style Lending Excesses Seem Unwise
      Well Ames, I'm sure glad you ain't runnin' the show.
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 9th 10:41 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Suburban Office Space Faltering [Housing Tracker]
      I'm seeing "Space Available" signs on every corner.
      View article »
    • Sun Mar 23rd 12:21 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Alan Greenspan Loses His Mind
      MKrause: Thank you. Finally a little rational thought mixed with the previous obvious anger. The Ghost's group of savers were obviously forced into abandoning their beta returns in the CD markets and that must be why they are posting to this site, they were "seekng alpha" right along with the quants. BTW, I am not retired, I am a saver, and own zero equities at this time. Being a gardener is great, until all your hedges die. I will remain a fan of behviorist theory.
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    • Sat Mar 22nd 20:07 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Alan Greenspan Loses His Mind
      I read an article recently with the opening sentence: “The word credit comes from the Latin "credo"—mean... "I believe."

      What happens when the collective “we" stops believing in our financial system, our political system? What happens when “we” lose our faith that we will be able to live our lives as we’ve come to expect. When “we” begin to fear that our long term well being and financial security are in real jeopardy?

      The fact is, “The Press”, the Politicians and Ben Bernanke & His Elfin Band, have sucked the "I believe" out of the national psyche. The Press by an act of commission, the Politicians, as always, late for the party, and wielding their well ground axes, and the FED by a sin of omission, have created a palpable national and worldwide tone of fear, uncertainty, and doubt which now extends from the titans of Wall Street to John and Mary on Main Street. This tone now extends worldwide.

      “The Press”, or as I like to call them, the “If there isn’t a crisis, then we’ll create one crowd”, has beaten the “Real Estate Bubble, the Subprime Meltdown, and now, the “Inflation! Inflation!” drums for well over five years. After all, “What do we have to talk about after we blew up the Dotcoms?” When in need, they simply whip out their “jawbone of an ass” and get to work (BTW, those of you in the commercial real estate market had better get ready to duck, the jawbone of an ass is headed your way, ditto for the commodities markets). What do you call an institution that measures its’ success by the amount of alarm and misery it creates? Don’t we arrest people who yell fire in a crowded theater?

      The Politicians, as always, have seized the moment to do what they do best – pontificate, theorize, and hold televised hearings as they quite publicly look to find the scapegoats who will best serve their next election efforts. What will follow will be another spate of overregulation which will only serve their parochial needs and probably actually lengthen the period of financial dislocation.

      Now, Ben Bernanke & Company are not supposed to be a group of ingénues. They are supposed to be an astute and savvy bunch of people with high horsepower under their domes, chrome or otherwise. Their late realization that the catalyst of this financial chaos is a collective loss of faith, the absence “I believe”, does not speak well of this group of supposed MENSA Members. Perhaps "deer in the headlights” is a more apt descriptor of their collective wisdom. Late to the party is an understatement, the FED almost didn’t show up. My Father-in-Law, a grizzled old Cattle Rancher, may he rest in peace, would have called this group “a bunch of educated idiots”as well. This old cowboy could have clearly explained to us what happens when a herd of cattle are spooked by a threat, real, or imagined. He could also have explained the swift action needed to stop a stampede before it reaches a fever pitch, versus letting the herd bolt and gain momentum until it is unstoppable. The FED is guilty of not seeing, not knowing, and not acting to stop our current financial stampede. We have the wrong Trail Boss leading the drive and it looks like the herd will simply have to run and run until it is exhausted, scattered, and stands panting, many miles off course.


      Say what you like (all you financial columnists and Ron Paul enthusiasts) about the most recent FED Chairman, Alan Greenspan. Go ahead. Try and blame him for the current situation. Whine about him keeping interest rates at 1% for too long and creating a real estate “bubble” Go ahead. Accuse him of being asleep at the switch. Sorry, your criticism simply doesn’t wash.

      The fact is that Greenspan was dealing with “the conundrum”. Let’s not forget that under his direction the FED Funds Rate was increased at 17 consecutive FED meetings. With an eight to twelve month lag time for those increases to actually impact the markets empirically, well, you do the math.

      Chairman Greenspan was attempting to “boil the frog”. Gradually and incrementally, he was orchestrating the leveling off of a too-hot (Greenspan called it “frothy”) market. They have not called him “Maestro” for nothing. He only opines recently that this strategy and any others may have become ineffectual on long term rates in a globalized economy.

      Alan Greenspan understood what the FED can and can not accomplish with its somewhat limited bag of tools in a diverse, complex, and interrelated financial landscape. Alan Greenspan understood the numbers and econometrics, and, by the way, loves them. Greenspan understood the world and the increased effect of a globalized economy on what we have to deal with as a cog (albeit a large cog) in that new system. Alan Greenspan understood risk, and the financial markets’ never ending search for Alpha (excess yield). Over time, his worst “best guesses” have been profoundly insightful, and put to shame most of the supposed “Experts” commenting from the peanut gallery.

      Alan Greenspan had “The Mojo”. He possessed that “secret something”, that “gift of knowledge” that the current crowd just can’t seem to get their heads around.

      Perhaps they have taken it out of the curriculum in the Ivory Towers, or perhaps, dropped it from the economic textbooks and the literature available for review. Maybe “It” was just too simple, juvenile, academically unchallenging, or simply too uninteresting a concept to merit any further study.

      Somehow, Alan Greenspan was able to capture and put into practical application, both quickly and effectively, the conceptual essence of this mysterious “secret something” and impart it to the world.

      Yes, yes, he knows the secret. Are you ready? Lean closer now and he will whisper his “magic secret” in your ear -

      “I Believe”.

      Thank you Uncle Alan, wish you were here.
      View article »
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