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Dow Will Equal Gold in 2009

Somebody please explain to me why these big mining companies let traders on a Futures exchange set the prices they get for their wares?

The airlines don't do it. They set their own prices and see how many seats they sell. Sure, one will try an increase and if the rest don't follow, they may have to cut it back to where it was. They need $ now to pay the bills, just like the miners.

But Freeport McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson said recently that they are selling all the copper they produce. The only reason they are cutting production is because it's unprofitible to mine at full productoion at these prices.

He seems to accept the idea that it's not up to him to set the price of his goods.I think his company is big enough to put a price on their goods and make the buyers pay it.

Maybe Congress should take a good look at these Futures markets and limit the participants to those who have an interest in production or consumption. I know I got emails from Northwest Airlines last summer asking me to write my congressman about this very issue. It was their opinion that oil prices were being run up by day trading speculators who collectively made a few bucks for themselves while transferring billions or trillions of our $ to the Middle East.

Why the Dollar Has Rallied During Current Crisis

Has monetization of the National debt already taken place? Many posters here refer to it, but I haven't read anything about that elsewhere.

I think there is a step they are missing. The money isn't 'created' until the Fed buys US Treasury bonds with money it 'prints.'

So far, there has been plenty of buyers around the world buying US Treasury Bonds: So much so that the the dollar has rallied 20% and up against most other currencies because you need US$ to buy US Treasury Bonds.

If you think this can't continue on much longer, I agree. Somewhere down the line, the demand for US Treasurys will stop, yet the Treasury will have to keep issuing them to finance the huge deficits and bailouts. That leaves the FED to buy the bonds with newly printed money.

Talk about a bubble: Inflation goes up, the dollar falls, and the Foreigners who hold our Treasurys see their value heading South both due to the inflation and the exchange rate changes. As they try to head for the exits, the prices of this debt falls farther and interest rates rise farther.

When does all this start? Not until the Fed starts buying US Treasurys. So far they don't have to. Financial panic around the globe is just fueling the biggest bubble of all.

The Deflation Debate Continues

Here's the link to the story mentioned in this article:
www.itulip.com/forums/...

From that article, comes this punch line:

"Ka-Poom Theory since 1999 occupies a position outside this framework. It asserts that all of the money that the US needs to create monetary inflation that deflates both its external debts and domestic private debts already resides outside the US in the form of more than $13 trillion in gross external debt to the tune of 95% of GDP. Most of that debt is in the form of US treasury bonds. All the US has to do to devalue the dollar is induce its trade partners to sell, perhaps by indicating an intention to monetize debt wothout actually doing so, causing US creditors to sell some dollar denominated securities for assets not priced in dollars, resulting in an increase in the global supply of dollars. The effect is the same as the US printing money but without a corresponding issuance of new debt and the attendant risk of hyperinflation that Roubini refers to."

Someone please explain to me how, as a holder of a US Treasury Bond, I can sell it to someone and take my proceeds in another currency, that that increases the suppy of US$?

I don't see any anything at all being created.