Nathaniel C

What Happens When the Government Stops Propping Up Housing?

I have a simple solution to the housing problem. Let the price of homes fall to the proper clearing level where buyers (who can actually afford a house) come in stabilize the market in a sustainable manner. It would hurt in the short-term but provide for real recovery that would benefit the economy.

4 Cheap Japanese Stocks

Why do all of these companies have so much cash on the balance sheet? I know it is prudent to always have cash, but they seem to have more than they could ever need. It might make sense to use all of that cash and buy back cheap stock.

Ron Paul's audit-the-Fed measure makes it out of committee with the power to look at the central bank's balance sheet as well as monetary policy. The panel chose Paul's proposal over a weaker one offered by Mel Watt; it joins the other proposals in the bank reform package now set for a Dec. 1 vote.

This is great news!!! We are one step away from exposing the unconstitutional Federal Reserve and their corruption.

Vietnam: Gold Already Trading at $1,300 Per Ounce

This sets up a good arbitrage situation. By gold in New york and then ship it to Vietnam.

Marc Faber Is Conflicted About the Price of Gold

I have noticed that the media (especially CNBC) hype statements by Faber. A while back he said the dollar was looking oversold and could get a meaningful bounce--Cnbc ran a headline that said "Faber: Dollar's rise will punish all assets."

I subscribe to the Gloom, Boom, Doom report and Faber said that if gold falls below $1000 it could quickly go to $800 because of technical selling.

Faber has been bullish on gold since 2001 when it was trading around $250.

Who Is the Mystery Buyer?

You will also see this type of action after the market close and during the European session.

Does Disaster Loom from Dollar Funded Carry Trades?

Karl I agree with your comments. When this dollar carry unwinds it will be huge event that will not be orderly. It will start one day without any news and be quite sharp as everyone in the carry trade is leveraged 5-20 times. It will be a domino effect with all the leveraged longs forced to sell.

Nancy Pelosi - Speaker of the House or Satan's hellspawn?

I am trying to make arrangements to get out of this police state and find a free country. I cant stand paying illegal taxes to fund this police state. I predict that the Dems will evetually get the socialized medicine bill passed and then on to the global cap and trade scheme which taxes what people exhale and plants breathe. Say goodbye to the american republic and say hello to the facist police state.

Options Trader Wrong-Way Weekly Wrap-Up: Party Like It's 1999

I have a better idea for solving the mortgage problem. Let everyone take care of themselves--this means the people who cannot afford their house and the insolvent globalist banks. Stop raping the taxpayer who is forced under penalty of imprisonment to pay egregious and unconstitutional taxes to our corrupt gangster government who then hands our money to special interests to win elections.

I f you want a more fair and just society let everyone keep what they earn and force the government to follow the CONSTITUTION!!!!!

Personally I am sick of paying illegal taxes which funds a police state that enslaves me and ignores the protections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I am really trying to find another country to move to. Especially after this illegal health care bill is passed and phony cap and trade bill which taxes what people exhale and plants breathe. America is gone. It is currently being looted by the elites who have already moved offshore and dont pay taxes.

Headwinds to a recovery.

Gary I agree with your idea that we cannot have a real recovery, but this does not seem to matter to the stock market. Before this 60% rally in the market I was convinced that we would encounter debt deflation and that the best we could hope for would be Japan 1989-current. However the FED this time responded a lot different than the bank of Japan by literally printing trillions of dollars. This seems to have temporarily reinflated asset prices. I really think we are in no mans land right now. There is no precedent in history that we can compare to. Many people try the great depression but the FED has responded much different than they did back in 1929-1930.

If I had to make a prediction I would say that we will have numerous ups and downs in the economy but mainly stagnate with high unemployment and wild swings in the market.

Reacting to Roubini's Predictions: The Economy, Dollar Carry-Trade, Housing

I have to disagree with the author's comment regarding the carry trade. The US dollar has never been used as a funding currency for the carry. Not even in 2002-2004 when interest rates were low. It has always been the Yen.

As someone who has used the carry trade I can tell you that there are no "orderly and gradual" corrections. They are often very sharp and very violent because everyone in the carry trade is leveraged 5-20 times and have to sell at certain predetermined levels. If you want an example of how the carry trade unwinds take a look at AUD/JPY in 2008. It feel from approx. 100 to 55 in less than 6 months. As long as the market has this dollar down market up mentalitiy, a sharply rising dollar due to the carry unwind could cause a large drop in equity markets.

Tibman's 'The Murder of Lehman Brothers'

Personally I am glad that Lehman went under (wish Goldman and Morgan Stanley went down as well). It is what should happen under a capitalist system. Failures are rewarded with bankruptcy and success is rewarded with riches. That is how it should be.

I also have very little sympathy for Lehman employees who had 100% of their net worth in Lehman. That pretty much symbolizes why Lehman failed. No one ever heard of risk management. The idea that you could use 30-1 leverage was absurd. You think Lehman would have learned its lesson in 1998 when it narrowly avoided collapse due to the Asian financial crisis.

That being said what did Fuld do to piss off Bernanke so much that it prevented Lehman from getting a taxpayer bailout?

The Carry Trade: Making This Trend Your Friend

I have recently exited my carry positions. They have gone up too much too fast. AUD/JPY in 2009 has gone from 55 to a recent high of 85--unheard in the currency market. I agree with the author that the easy money has already been made. I am waiting for a correction before establishing any more positions.

At the Bull-Bear Crossroads

I was one of the idiots who was short during that famous head and shoulders pattern that reversed straight up for about 3 weeks. Got killed. I tried again this week after last week's major breakdown. Got stopped out at a loss. Does not seem to make much sense shorting this market. Everytime you think the market is rolling over, SOMEBODY starts furiously buying futures and sends the market surging. The bears get scared and cover and the bulls feel great. After all nobody feels sorry for a short because we are anti-American destroyers of wealth who "cause" stocks to go down.

Option Trader Friday Outlook: Is the Dollar Going UUP?

As regards the gold price, I would argue that people are losing faith in fiat currencies. The only alternative to fiat paper currencies is gold and other commodities. So you can blame the FED for rising gold and commodities, because if they immediately stopped printing trillions and increased interest rates, commodities would fall quite hard.