Bad Dog

The Unsustainable Lie of Inflation

I have not noticed prices going up 20%. I think your grocer is ripping you off.


On Nov 09 02:16 PM dick streich wrote:

> You are absolutely right. The sad thing is that most americans believe
> what they here or read. Unfortunately, with the exception of the
> Wall
> Street Journal, it's impossible to get the facts regarding issues.
> On top of this, the government keeps telling us that there is no
> inflation.
> If that is so, how come prices on almost everything have increased
>
> 20-50%
> Hope you will continue to make people aware of what's going on.<br/>
>
> Dick Streich
>
>
> 5

Gold and the Worldwide Flight from Paper Currency

I guess that would be why gold is down today and the dollar is up? If you look at the rise in gold since it was around $300, it doesn't look like it has been responding to paper money supply. It really looks like a whole bunch of other factors are playing as significant a role. Gold bugs have an idee fixe. Everything that supports their belief is lauded; anything else is ignored. Ultimately, there can be no "major flight" from paper because it is an essential medium of exchange. Gold just isn't. So Gold may go up but that doesn't automatically mean that it's due to a flight from paper.

Era of Unprecedented Inflation Just Around the Corner

Damn, but that's crap! The FDR era massively increased people's ability to save. People of the post-depression era were incredible savers. It was the 1970's, Imperial America that started the rot as workers's wages began to stagnate, women were forced out of the home into work in order to keep the household income up, then both husband and wife had to work longer hours, and then they went into debt. This is so well known, but you don't know it. Interesting.


On Oct 19 09:30 AM Mark Hagerman wrote:

> "The illusory decade of excess and living beyond our means with a
> complete lack of savings..."
>
> It isn't just one decade; this situation is a direct consequence
> of FDR's mismanagement. We've had three quarters of a century of
> government intereference, and the endgame is now in sight.

What's Next for Gold and the Dollar?

It has nothing to do with the "regime in the US". This is a historical trend that would be happening no matter what. The US has, for 40 years, established policies that turned it inexorably into a debtor nation. Chief among it's failures has been the dominance of a culture that is self-indulgent, ignorant, selfish and brutal. The US is now paying the price as China now makes this the Chinese Century and there basically are no political fixes to the debasement of an entire culture, never mind the currency.


On Oct 13 09:03 AM User 353732 wrote:

> The falling dollar and rising gold and oil are of course, manifestations
> of the same phenomenon: the vote of the discerning world on the behavior,
> policies and tropes of the Regime in the US.
> The world knows and is increasingly insistent in telegraphing via
> changes in the exchange rate of the dollar and real assets(esp, proto
> or substitute currencies such as oil and gold) that the only way
> the Parasitic economy of the US can grow is at the direct and terrible
> expense of the Productive economy. The world knows what many Americans
> still refuse to accept or fathom that the only way the Ruling Troika
> of WashDc, Wall St and MSM can increase is for the ordinary American
> to decrease.
>
> The current Bosses of US politics, money and mass communications
> have already shorted the US because it is in their interest to do
> so. The world sees this plainly; the majority of Americans do not.
>
>
> It is not that much of world wants to demote the dollar or degrade
> the global stature of the US or compress the wealth and job creating
> capacity of America as ends unto themselves...They do not; the sane
> part of the world knows that a strong dollar, a vibrant American
> economy and a powerful global presence by America are a gift...An
> asset to be monetized. It is the US Regime that wants to and is debasing
> the currency, the economy and the Nation.
>
> The sane world, with no great enthusiam, is merely responding to
> the tragic fading of American exceptionalism and the willed termination
> of the American experiment.

U.S. Dollar: The Investment that Might Be About to Bottom

Take a look at Zoellick's comments in today's paper. The USD is weakening simply because there are choices of other currencies that offer a path to somewhat lower risk. The USD has to be perceived as a slightly higher holding risk today in view of the significant debt overhang in the US both public and private. To the extent that Americans have to tighten their belts to pay off their debts, the USD will reflect that. Of course, having a slightly weaker USD is useful to that end up to a point. The weaker USD makes US equities that much more attractive to foreigners.

U.S. Quantitative Easing Has Just Begun

Oh and you are full of crap. Forgot to add that one. "Full of marxists" indeed! If only they were!! At least they'd be on the right side of the barricades!! Nitwit!!


On Sep 23 01:36 PM Socialism cannot compete! wrote:

> If Bernanke and Obama were truly concerned about preserving jobs,
> they would have allowed bad banks to fail, and supported businesses
> and consumers with real, substantial tax cuts...along with accompanying
> large cuts to government. China's economy didn't rocket out of recession...they
> were NOT IN one. They went from double digit growth down to mid-to-upper
> single digits for a while. That's not recession...merely slower
> growth.
>
> But the Obama administration has gone the opposite way -- endorsing
> continued fiscal insanity, continuing the errant Bush policy of propping
> up the failed banks...and that can only cause more job losses and
> further strain on the taxpayer.
>
> It's not that the White House completely ignores job losses. It's
> just that the White House is full of Marxists who see the opportunity
> to "never let a crisis go to waste." At present, that means expansion
> of government and an opportunity to impose conditions and control
> over businesses that further restrain capitalism. I can imagine
> the Europeans, as they are very familiar with 10% unemployment on
> an ongoing basis, wondering what the heck America is doing. America's
> focus on personal responsibility is waning, and we are becoming like
> the socialist European nations whose national defense and general
> economies our prosperity has subsidized for decades. Extending our
> already generous unemployment compensation *entitlement* will only
> further strain the nation's finances and lead to reduced personal
> incentive. Will Europe subsidize our national defense and general
> economy, as we have done for them, now that we've fallen out of the
> role? They can't afford to. The stimulus plan will either expire
> and the propped-up U.S. will fall sharply...or it will be expanded
> until hyperinflation forces a complete reset -- what should have
> been allowed to happen to begin with.

U.S. Quantitative Easing Has Just Begun

At the very least, have government representation on the BOD of banks receiving bailout money! When you buy a big chink of a Company you get a set on the board, but taxpayers got nothing. So the banks can continue to lie, cheat and steal, and we are paying for it. And they sent Bernie Madoff to jail! He's an amateur compared to B of A.


On Sep 23 01:36 PM Socialism cannot compete! wrote:

> If Bernanke and Obama were truly concerned about preserving jobs,
> they would have allowed bad banks to fail, and supported businesses
> and consumers with real, substantial tax cuts...along with accompanying
> large cuts to government. China's economy didn't rocket out of recession...they
> were NOT IN one. They went from double digit growth down to mid-to-upper
> single digits for a while. That's not recession...merely slower
> growth.
>
> But the Obama administration has gone the opposite way -- endorsing
> continued fiscal insanity, continuing the errant Bush policy of propping
> up the failed banks...and that can only cause more job losses and
> further strain on the taxpayer.
>
> It's not that the White House completely ignores job losses. It's
> just that the White House is full of Marxists who see the opportunity
> to "never let a crisis go to waste." At present, that means expansion
> of government and an opportunity to impose conditions and control
> over businesses that further restrain capitalism. I can imagine
> the Europeans, as they are very familiar with 10% unemployment on
> an ongoing basis, wondering what the heck America is doing. America's
> focus on personal responsibility is waning, and we are becoming like
> the socialist European nations whose national defense and general
> economies our prosperity has subsidized for decades. Extending our
> already generous unemployment compensation *entitlement* will only
> further strain the nation's finances and lead to reduced personal
> incentive. Will Europe subsidize our national defense and general
> economy, as we have done for them, now that we've fallen out of the
> role? They can't afford to. The stimulus plan will either expire
> and the propped-up U.S. will fall sharply...or it will be expanded
> until hyperinflation forces a complete reset -- what should have
> been allowed to happen to begin with.

Outlandish CEO Pay: How to Fix the Problem

Having sex with young teen girls is not as immoral as the government determining wages, huh? Because nothing - NOTHING - is more immoral than that. Murder, arson, grand larceny - none of those are as bad as the government determining wages. Not that I am advocating this, but you are a loon.


On Sep 23 07:07 AM CLH wrote:

> I cant think of anything more immoral than govt. determining wages
> and salary. Both minimum and maximum pay should be determined only
> by the owners of the corporations and not the govt. who know nothing
> about anything.

More Trouble Brewing for Banking Sector?

But they are tolerating huge unemployment and will continue to do so.


On Sep 21 10:14 PM highlarche wrote:

> This government will not tolerate huge unemployment. They will spend
> spend and spend to fight it. I say buy gold and silver.

Capacity's Comeback Strongly Indicates Recession's End

You can't forget about healthcare reform because healthcare is eating our economy. In a few years, it will eat 25% of GDP. Compare that to about 9% in Europe and any other part of the world where they have more sense than God gave lettuce. The US economy is being screwed by an insane system that doesn't deliver good healthcare, where the incentives are upside down, and innovation is lacking. Forget about it? Hah!


On Sep 17 10:17 AM Ferdinand E. Banks wrote:

> I'm an optimist. I not only think that things will get better, I
> know that they will - assuming that Mr Obama forgets about health
> care for a couple of years. After all, nothing succeeds like success,
> and for the time being he can forget about a health-care success..
>
>
> Some of the above comments make a lot of sense - especially the one
> by Mike (from The City). The people who are planning the recovery
> - Larry and Ben, and perhaps their foot soldiers - should forget
> about their interational economics textbooks, and take a close look
> at what 'internationalism' has done to the US economy. The 'outsourcing'
> of industrial production is insane, and that is barely the half of
> it.. .

The Great Unwind

You cannot, by definition, prevent the inevitable. The US is in decline for the same reason that the British, the Spanish and Portuguese empires collapsed - massive indebtedness to foreigners.

The curse of the victor is hubris. You come out of a huge war extremely rich and powerful. You build a massive army. You get involved in war after war because your army needs something to do. Your institutions, your very system of government become profoundly corrupt because of the vast amount of money sloshing around. You permit the massive expansion of debt because you know that you will be the first empire in history on which the sun shall never set. Right. Ask the Romans about that one.

Why Economists Messed Up

Damn but that's crap! Flunking history = bad. The greatest period of economic expansion in the 20th Century occurred during a period of very high taxation. But out of that taxation, we got an Interstate highway system, a fantastic education system with a correspondingly educated workforce and powerful economy, and very low deficits, along with many other advantages. What did our huge tax reductions get us? I think we know the answer to that. Taxes are a form of forced saving. Lack of saving = bad. Time to relearn your lessons, Junior.


On Sep 07 03:11 PM ebworthen wrote:

> Economists are like lawyers; they fool themselves into believing
> they are doing something constructive for society.
>
> Once they convince themselves they are doing good (whether they are
> or not) they proceed to make money prognosticating and equivocating
> about the morality of onerous taxation, lavish spending, corporate
> greed, and the need to fire people with 20 years service to a company
> or government.
>
> Most third graders have the common sense needed to be an economist.
>
>
> Here it is:
>
> 1. Debt = bad
> 2. Allowance for chores = good
> 3. Lending to the kid you don't know very well = bad
> 4. Principal busting the bully for shaking down other kids for lunch
> money = good
> 5. Principal ignoring bully because it is his Nephew = bad
> 6. Stealing money from Mom or Dad = bad
> 7. Government stealing money from Mom and Dad = good (or so the
> politicians say).
>
> We have robbed the average citizen who invested in the nation (markets).
> We have turned around and robbed them and the next two generations
> to excuse the malfeasence of Wall Street. Our lawyer politicians
> are doing what lawyers do; equivocating and taking both sides to
> forestall reality until they can get elected again.

Sure It’s Legal … But Is It Right?

Yeah. You should add in the 30 years of corruption of the basic idea of government; that it needs to exist; that it has to insist on fair play; that its job is to do socially necessary things that cannot be easily done by individuals. For the last 8 years especially, we have had a government hell bent on making sure government did not work in any reasonable way. Heckuva job, Brownie! Remember that? We spent $2 trillion on a war of choice!! We took a balanced budget and trashed it. C'mon, fess up! You thought the Bush tax cuts were a great idea, didn't you? If you did, the STFU, because you voted for the mess we are in now.


On Sep 02 01:43 PM bottoms-up wrote:

> Ethics? Right and wrong? Remember, we are a "nation of laws" and
> the laws are made by sorry sorts like Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, etc.
> - need I say anything more?
>
> The U.S Government needs to run full tilt to line the pockets of
> GS and others who will shill the markets up in the face of horrible
> economic data (remember this is the time of year when things were
> supposed to really turn around for our economy).
>
> Ethics in business? Do they even cover it in today's MBA programs?

The Non-Stimulating Stimulus Bill

It's NOT a good article. It's crap; that's what it is. Just one example: the reference to "crowding out investors". What investors? There aren't any. Banks are not lending very much. VC funds are pretty quiet and cautious. Interest rates are incredibly low. WTF is this "crowding" the "pundit" is going on about. The fact is - and actual qualified economists say this - without the stimulus package - without the activism of the FED - your ass would be hanging out of your pants and we would be in the midst of the second Great Depression. May I remind you that there are still millions of Americans - your fellow citizens - who are living on the edge. The stimulus package is keeping a lot of people in work who would otherwise be out of a job. That may not mean much to you if you are of the ilk that believes that the economy is a matter of shifting money around from one place to another. But in the real American economy where people make things, this stimulus package is a very real thing that is doing a lot of good.


On Sep 01 08:05 AM Schweizer wrote:

> One of your best articles yet. Stimulus bill is a "Stumble-us" bill.
>
>
> All this false hope only to result in things being far worse than
> they would have been.

Is It a Stock Market Rally or a Dollar Devaluation?

Where do you think money is created if not from "thin air"?


On Aug 23 02:04 AM Lumuc wrote:

> What happens to the US stock market then? Does it keep going up
> as the dollar decreases in value? At what point do the US markets
> collapse given the fiat money the FED created out of thin air?<br/>I
> appreciate the informative opinion.