Angry Taxpayer

Ahead of Black Friday: Has Consumer Confidence Been Restored?

Lending cut back by >2% ($2 trillion in credit lines cut), unemployment up (17.5% by some measures), salaries decreasing, taxes increasing, home values down. I can't see how retail sales could be up. But then again consumers are NOT rational animals.

Big Players Buy Up Gold

Sound advice.

The Puzzles of U.S. Political Economy Today

How do we know that doing nothing would have been worse. There are no control groups. This simple abandonment of capitalism and punishment for failure is akin to punishing child who wrecks their car by yelling at him and buying him a new car. Why not take away his license and to make room for a more responsible teenager on the road. By doing what the government did, they encourage bad behavior and put more responsible firms at a competitive disadvantage. There would have been plenty of other firms ready to step in an pick up the pieces of the failed firms. That's called CAPITALISM my friend.

The Puzzles of U.S. Political Economy Today

He doesn't mention the $14 Trillion in commitments made to Financial institutions. The article is over simplified to the point of being incorrect. But as a banker, I sure like the tone. Fail.

Divining the Next Crisis: All Eyes on the Dollar

Nicely done.

Retail Sales Propaganda Pushes Dow Toward 10,000

Jeff,

I believe you are correct. I hope that I'm wrong.

Geithner's Obeisance to Chinese Officials Reveals U.S. Weakness

I don't have a good feeling about how this will all end. Apparently Timmy got some laughs from the Chinese. Let's hope it was simply a translation error and they were not ACTUALLY laughing at him.

www.businessinsider.co...

China, Don't Believe Turbo Tax Tim

I'm a big fan. Good article Sir.

Bond Expert: Wednesday Wrap

Great comment mac123449.

Could Ownership of Companies Like Silver Wheaton Be Outlawed?

When gold was originally outlawed; we had a representative democracy, people believed in our government, and people didn't own high caliber military type weapons -- still many people didn't turn in their gold. If the government tried this today, I think they would get a lot of laughter. If they tried to take it forcibly they would likely see a lot of Waco type endings and still would get little to no gold. Most gold bugs don't trust the government and aren't stupid enough to keep their gold anywhere it would be "found". Paper stocks in Gold and Mining shares, well that's another story.

Is the U.S. Dollar Headed for a Mighty Crash? Part II

Maybe the are selling all currencies for something a little more tangible?


On May 22 01:56 AM avd wrote:

> For your doubts about Russian holdings of Treasures here is some
> data from CBR (Central Bank of Russia) :
>
> The structure of reserves as of Sep 2008 (cbr.ru/publ/Obzor/2009...):
>
>
> cash: 13.4 %
> repo: 24.2 %
> papers: 62.3 %
>
> The structure of reserves as of Jan 2008 (cbr.ru/publ/Obzor/2009...):
>
>
> cash: 8.1 %
> repo: 1.2 %
> papers: 90.7 %
> (gov papers 77.5 %, non-gov papers: 13.2 %)
>
> This data alone reflects the significant shift in the structure of
> Russian Central Bank reserves. In addition to this there are reports
> that last fall CBR sold about 50 bn of agency debt (Freddie and Fanny)
> and purchased Treasures instead. And since February CBR was not selling
> dollars anymore, it was buying them to slow ruble appreciation a
> bit, and it bought about 20 bn up to now.
>
> Also it's not clear why you claim that "Kremlin sold $221 billion
> US dollars". Yes, it is nominal amount the reserves were decreased
> by. But if Kremlin was selling only dollars, then having initially
> 47% in dollars and 42% in euros, now they would have something like
> 5% percent dollars and 90% euros. But actually they still have 42%
> of dollars. Obviously the were selling both dollar end euro assets.
> And probably at the same buying other assets that they deemed more
> safe.
>
> All in all I don't see much reason to doubt the amount of Treasures
> holdings by Russia.

Gold, Inflation and the Dollar

Would having no "paper" related trades and only heavy metal investments count as a position? I'm guessing his position is probably long gold. In terms of his creativity, as long as he's accurately summarizing highlights from Kitco, I guess I'm ok with that.

On May 21 10:03 AM 5142152-337 wrote:

> Mark, I wonder why you have "no positions"? Aren't you believing
> the very facts you state? Just curious!
>

Has Gold Been Manipulated?

Good point.


On May 20 10:45 PM optionsgirl wrote:

> I don't believe the IMF can sell it yet. They need the affirmative
> vote of the U.S.A., which holds the majority position. I believe
> it requires a vote of congress, and that hasn't happened yet...
>

Has Gold Been Manipulated?

I'm not big of conspiracy theories, but it is interesting that every time gold gets above $950, a lot of articles come out reminding people that the IMF is planning to sell 400 tons of gold (first proposed back in February 2008). Now the common sense in me says, well of course, every time gold gets high they are going to starting thinking about making that promise a reality - makes perfect sense. However, they haven't sold it yet.

If Gold Bugs' Fantasies Came True

To answer Mr. Hui's "Do you get to keep it?". Understand that most "gold bugs" invest in another heavy metal: Lead. Thus, the short answer would likely be yes?