socrateazz

What's a Better Buy: Gold or Green Shoots?

Shiney metal is pretty. Green is in! Reality is! Value is in what people want most! That which people have more than they want of will reduce in value! Value is arbitrary!

Quant Easing: Central Banks Unleash the 'Nuclear' Option

Remember the slogan.... Never ever ever ever again! I think many of those never evers are about to repeat themselves. The real slogan should be: As long as leaders remember experiences of the past, they will not repeat the same mistakes made during their lifetimes. What are the experiences of current leaders? They have no idea of what consequences their actions will cause! buckle your seat belts, the kiddy roller coaster has been upgraded to super fantastic highspeed thrill and fear inducing ride. By the way; You have little choice you must ride it because fairness says so! Do not worry as long as you remain in the car you will still be alive. If you happen to die, that would just be because it is your time, not because you were forced to ride!

Credit Market Overview: Lessons Learned from Germany and China

You are right about germany really giving a stimulus by scraping older cars. The US might concider such. Too many old cars around though so it would need to be one for one scrap for a trade in. would also get rid of some of that ornimental scrap throughout the US. And help car companies at the same time. The ineffient behemoths that US car giants have become will be given a few more years that way. But they either need to change fundamentally or they will die within the next ten years. I expect the latter because those within the companies believe the problem is the economy. The economy has just made the problems more visible and acute. China is interesting in that the government is concidered communist (really a socialist state) which encourages capitalism within. The US is currently a socialist electorate state which discourages Capitalism within. China currently has policies which really encourage capitalism within. The USA has policies which discourage Capitalism within. The Capitalistic system needs rewards to exceed costs to continue to thrive. In the US general costs (taxes) have exceeded the rewards within the system. Excessive borrowing has covered it up. Ironically, the US will continue in its course until the leaders wake up. This situation did not just happen! societies through out the world really believed that they indefinitely could extract more wealth from the producers. Unfortunantely most of the wealth extraction from the producers is finished and the world will see the reaction to the folley

The End of Gold

I read your article and saw enough belief based idiotcy that I think buying gold today would be a good idea. Businesses are not laying people off because they have no guts. They are laying people off because they either do so or they fail! Businesses do not want to get rid of trained employees. They have to cut cost! where do they go? My business is short of cash. I have not been able to get a loan. Production loan has expired. My current choice. Cut cost or fold! What will I do? Guess. I may have no choice.

What Is Going On With Gold?

If I was in my last years I also would be thankful that the dollar has not tanked yet. My money is still worth so many wants and needs. Since I have five years or more of life, I expect to see a drastic drop in abillity to cover my needs much less my wants in the future. Not only has the people been borrowing for their needs and wants today, but the government at all levels have been spending today on what is wanted now at the expense of tomorrow. Both will haunt this country for decades to come. Time will indicated how right I am!

2009: Year of the Ox (And What That Means for the Markets)

HMM you think the commodity bubbles were the cause of the problems of today.... I say they were a symptom of the earlier problems. Many dating into the mid 1990's. I think your solution would at best delay the problem, maybe even make the final problem worse. I dislike Marxism for reasons those in control have no clue as to how their basically selfish decisions will affect non target groups. But I think a dose of Marxism is needed because I think the real problem is a wealth distribution problem. So much of the worlds wealth has accumulated in the hands of a few. Adding more cash to The system will help if it does not end up in the hands of those who are accumulating more wealth. I doubt the current policies will help. Most Marxists are no better than rob Peter (capitalists) so Paul (the non producer) has more. I do not think The Producers or Service providers should be blamed for the current situation. The problem is in wealth ending up in dead end hands. I know folk are willing to lend the money. But non-the-less if the borrowers situation is deteriorating as has been happening for a long time, then the borrowed wealth just requires a continuation or an abrupt cut off of loans. The need is for a redistribution of some kind. I doubt a Socialist would find the right balance to stimulate the economy and still treat those with wealth fairly. If the middle class keeps sliping into lower wealth levels the world we have seen since WWII will be gone for an extended time. Injecting capital into a system that accumulates that wealth in few nonproducing hands will ultimately just lower the wealth of all. You are right to ask questions and the need to ask the right questions. Do not assume what appears as answers is really the answer.

Wall Street Volatility Hitting Main Street Prices

Too many business people are too dependant on getting loans on falling asset values. I expect many businesses to fail because there is not enough wealth in the businesses to cover needed cash. I can see the problem because I have the need to borrow. The excess wealtyh I had on my balance sheet has delined sharply due to realistic revauation based on falling asset prices. It looks like I can get my loan but not at a favorable interest rate compared to the banks cost of money. I know many folk who are underwater with the declining debt. What choices are there?...Can the business be sold? Bankruptcy may increase at an alarming rate for businesses. What choices are available? companies need excess wealth to survive downturns. Not many have it.