tuckfinitee

No Economic Joy for Joe Six-Pack

This is an outrage sir. How dare you look at money flows? And why do you omit the tremendously positive money flows to gov?

353732 I think you underestimate the influence of the infantryman's philosophy. You overestimate the public's ability to understand or adhere to a hierarchy of values. The infinite wish list cherry picking game has been trotted out what a gazillion times? It still gets the desired kid in a candy store responses.

Have You Learned Anything from the Crisis?

If by crisis you mean the last two years, I would say I've learned some. If you mean the real crisis starting with LBJ then I would say a lot. At the gut level I knew it was game, set, and match with the decoupling of the dollar and the all volunteer army. Or actually it might be more accurate to say it was GAME ON.

The Bernanke Circus: What Does It Mean for Investors?

What's the value? What's the value of anything?

What's the value for example of RE in the context of the Feds recent and long term actions.

What's the value in the context of gov central planning(its not central if you call it policies)and accounting fraud? What's the value of GM or Chrysler bonds? What's the value of anything when taxes and laws are changed at the whim of political "goals" or junk science?

What's the value in the context of BLS stats?

What's the value when 90% of the people you invest in(hire)are a losing proposition? But hey the rainmakers can't do everything. Can you say outsourcing?

What's the value when it's always better to be a borrower than a saver or lender(except for certain lenders of course)?

It's possible that perceived values might be a little high from time to time. The US produces a lot of stuff. It also has a huge overhead. How huge? No one knows.

I know I want to sell mainstream and buy off the grid whenever possible.

Federal Government: Completely Out of Control?

Get a job in gov or fin. Get a job overseas. Learn to work the system. Start you own "thing". Do you think Gore, Jackson, Edwards, Clinton are accidental multi-millionaires? Like GS they do God's work.

People who don't understand the crime syndicate model whine and snivel instead of educating themselves and getting a piece of the action.

Individual Investor Challenge: Can You Succeed by Going It Alone?

China is the leading economic power. They have a better attitude.

If you like to play card games for money that require skill, I have a couple of suggestions you might try. Stuy Unger and I played an interesting variation of gin. After we looked at our hands we wrote on slip of paper what discard we would knock on. You could only score if you knocked on that discard or undercut. Not a great money game though.
English Stud hi/low split no qualifier bet declare bet is an excellent heads up money game. There's always rubber bridge but there's a lot more luck in it.

Government Action: Mission Not Accomplished

Obama and Bernanke promoting bank lending is a complete fraud, strictly for public consumption. The private marching orders are vastly different.

They are planning controlled burn inflation not a forest fire. The cash the banks have been given are to be used for propping up asset prices(stocks and tsys). The money flows are being carefully directed by and to the OPM mafia and asset prices. Lending will continue to be restricted for the broader public. Gaps between the the two tiered economy will be filled not by more credit to the masses but by gov subsidies as needed.

Capitalism Gone Wild

Details, details, details. Leave out the details and you get fairy tales.

Stealing wealth has been a very good business for a very long time. Now anyone can steal. But who's likely to be the most frequent and worst offenders. Middlemen(like gov/fin)with little skin in the game backed by well organized heavily armed men or someone who has to hit the floor running every morning to produce something?

Don is a nice guy who really, really wants to believe in holier than god gov. Forget history, forget score keeping, even forget science and the theoretical limits of objectivity much less objectivity of the limited/flawed human perspective. Holy gov would never have a bias towards politicians, bureaucrats, and their biggest allies and clients would it? Are you sure Don is a nice guy?

The Real Reason So Many Home Loan Modifications Fail

Humor me for just a minute.

Crime syndicates are bottom up not just top down. They're omnivores. Two crime groups working at cross purposes. So what if they're both making money. They have a vast array of criminal associates. They work great with gamblers, parasites, fly by night promotions. Fraud, deception, manipulation are at the heart of what they do.

Remember that all this debate about economic schools, fairness, logic are only of theoretical interest. The feeding turned into a frenzy in the mid 90s and you're only recently becoming aware. Be aware of a logic that works for wise guys.

Did Weekly Jobless Claims Really Fall Below 500k?

The problem with tax data is that people are going underground. More off the books cash and barter.

The Truth Behind the U.S Government's Stealth Stimulus Plan

I've resisted pointing this out but maybe the time is right.

The true cost of debt is mostly front loaded. This includes long term instruments and roll over. Most of the true cost is in the present and near term. This is not say that bad decision making and allocation of resources can't have an adverse domino effect far into the future. But in the economic sense you pay sooner not later.

If you start with the assumption that existing in this universe is a fixed cost you can work it out.

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.

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.

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.

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.