tuckfinitee

Remind Me Again, What's a Bubble?

How should the bondholders of Chrysler or GM have priced risk? Do you have any suggestions for Bradford and Bingley bondholders? Something has definitely emerged from the bail outs and bankruptcies. The risk gap between insiders with political power and outsiders. I'm not loaning money in the US or Europe.

I believe a lawyer was quoted as saying Chrysler needs employees, they don't need the bondholders. Price that.

The Perma-Bear Cult

Was Cato a perma-bear? Was he right about the trajectory of Rome? He must have been wrong because it took centuries for Rome to collapse.

Moralists underestimate the ability of thugs to perpetuate themselves over time. Pre-Odrama the US was engaged in redistribution of wealth and central planning on a massive scale. I'm tired of drawing diagrams for people so try thinking about it yourself. In terms of social policies and culture try examining original source material of the socialists of the late 19th early 20th centuries. Then tell me whose values are reflected in laws, policies, and popular culture.

Science and technology and the sacrifices of previous generations have had a lot more to do with our wealth than our intrinsic merit in recent history. The Enlightenment has lost and the socialists have won. Mr. Kedrosky is right. Play the game.

Contact Your Senators to Protest Government Bailouts

Everything you say Mr Sutton is correct but you're omitting the worst. Loans, guarantees, tax breaks, etc to artificially prop up house prices benefits a few people while everyone pays a tremendous cost. I'm talking about the costs of command economics and redistribution. It directly undermines the concept of money. Money is an information system. It tells about people's needs and wants, about the relative value of things. It keeps score of past performance and attempts to predict future production. It measures the utility of things and people. And as the material world changes it makes adjustments. So what will happen in the future when people make decisions about living arrangements? A lot of them will make mistakes because of distorted information. Hardship, foreclosures, real estate busts existed long before ARMs. Instead of letting the market bottom out, getting the bad actors off the stage, restoring market discipline we're going to do more of the same. I have no doubt future disasters will be blamed on unicorns or capitalism, whatever. Unicorn capitalism?

The Top 5 Looming Financial Issues

Richly amusing. A day can't go by without hearing from the scientific and economic illiterates lobby. Or is it a minute?

The Top 5 Looming Financial Issues

1. Energy. No mention is made of the fact that political thugs wrecked the nuclear power industry, crippled oil and coal, and have studiously ignored technological advances in those industries.
2."government builds wealth" How much is government spending on infrastructure and necessary services and at what cost? How much is government spending on dubious redistribution schemes and at what cost? Paying people to not work, work very little, or be overpaid for working is more expensive than people realize. Their labor is devalued directly by taxes and then devalued indirectly when they have to compete against their own money in the marketplace.
3. Hidden Costs. I don't have time to debunk the hidden cost reductio absurdum. But what are the hidden costs of eating or sex(which leads to children,which leads to ohmygod-should sex be 1-10 on the misery index?). Of course most of the hidden cost of energy can be defeated with a hoe, some seeds, and a plot of ground. That will have to do until we develop low energy suspended animation.

How Low Can This Market Go? The 40 Percent Solution

What was the rate of inflation in the 30s? With a real inflation rate of 10% and the Dow at 10,000 2 years from now, what's the value? I'm predicting a gradual shift to genteel poverty like Britain in the 1st half of the 20th minus the world wars. Actually praying.

Smart Money, R.I.P.

Smart money? The western world is being run by carny grifters, toe dancers, and spoiled rich kids.

Fannie and Freddie Waterfalls are Too Big to Bail

Your numbers may be right BS but you're missing the big picture. Only political thugs win at the spend and print game. Everyone else loses. Either net or lost potential. FRE and FMN are just more info that the game is rigged. Everyone who believes more regulations will fix things raise their hands. What do safe regulated investments have in common? Losers. Without speculation(and phony stats)how would you hide how poor a deal the dollar really is? Or other fiat currencies for that matter. What a coincidence everything is looking suspect(stocks,bonds,r... estate)except liquid commodities that are freely exchangeable at markets. Too much speculation in commodities? Commodity markets are becoming a kind of de facto world reserve currency. And where would we be if not? You notice the world economy is still functioning fairly reasonably. Without the growth of commodity markets we'd be in a severe recession right now.

10 Winning Stock Themes in an Obama Administration

bearfund and Realsit the truth is out there. Why is no one listening? Spend and print(initiated in 63) has hit the wall. The enormous energy deficit the US is running isn't going to be solved by the alternative energy claims the toe dancers have been making since the 70s. If we don't produce more energy(there is no scientific reason for the US not to be self sufficient) and reduce spending and stabilise money supply the massive wealth revaluation will continue. I wonder if fiat currencies and indeed the wrestern socialist hegemony will be able sustain itself near term. Oh what am I thinking the political thugs will make out fine. They will simply blame businessmen if there's a meltdown. I've already seen the "failure of capitalism" stories. The grunt and gesture public doen't even know what socialism or capitalism is. They have have no concept how government creates the economic landscape. Cause and effect? Forgetaboutit, too complicated.

Strategies for Surviving Stagflation in the U.S. and Asia

Kunst the Bureau of Statistics solved this problem 20 years ago. Instead of eating hamburger you switch to dog food. Instead of shopping at Walmart you scavenge dumpsters. If you lose your job you go into business for yourself. That will require a capital expenditure for a hoe and seeds.

Don’t Worry About a Return to ‘70s Stagflation

Not only are we in stagflation(see above)we are seeing the beginning of a massive revaluation of wealth. The US doesn't produce as great a percentage of things that people want. Think Great Britain and the first half of the 20th century.

Speculators Continue to Drive Oil Higher at Risk of Global Recession

Lets see, you have the world's largest economy running an energy deficit for decades, little countries like China, India, Mexico, Venezuela to name a few subsidising gas, but it's speculators? If so they deserve medals all around. How would you like high prices as a result of massive shortages, rationing, industrial shutdowns, and eventually declines through out the world economy. That's the direction we've been headed when you compare energy production with growth. High prices are finally getting us back to work and contact with reality. The US could and should be energy self sufficient this minute. There's no excuse for it.

The Great Oil Deception: Part Three

Dush the people of the nation get to use the oil for energy and many other usefull products to make they're lives better. You don't know what money is or it's relationship to the material world. If you would learn that and how wealth is created, and how resources should be managed, I would love to see you rewarded. Admittedly the material rewards are trivial but you might use the freedom to grow intellectually.

Can Offshore Drilling Bring Down Gas Prices?

What aox said plus much, much, more. We're billions of years away from an energy shortage. The idea that any human beings should live poor to "save" energy is beyond ludicrous. Why do the propaganda rantings of scientific/economic illiterate political thugs have any influence? It's ultimately traceable to cowardice.

Affiliated Computer Services: A Cheap Stock Ready to Make New Highs

All the dithering about the R word vs the I word is irrelevant. We're in stagflation now. I want to be upstream with the pricing power. Only the best of the best are good enough downstream. When I look at the 5 yr chart, the price, the current environment, I think of another of another R word. Roulette. Great analysis none the less.