The Geoffster

Obama will rise and fall with the dollar: The electorate is only as happy as the value of the greenbacks in their pockets.

Obama is a socialist. He will redistribute dollars and his people will be happy.

In a world where one man must fight to keep from being buried in debt ... Now appearing before your holiday movies: the Fed. The central bank is paying for 45-second ads to appear in 12 metro theaters, encouraging responsible credit-card use in the holiday shopping season.

You go girl!


On Nov 25 06:53 PM OldSusanna wrote:

> Subliminally, though, these ads may actually encourage credit card
> use. Was that the Fed's goal? Can't know... But it would've been
> less suspicious and more appropriate had they simply said nothing.

A Central Bank Bidding War for Gold?

Blue Horseshoe loves gold.

Weekly Unemployment Claims Showing Turnaround Potential

Do you work for Jim Cramer?

2 Unfortunate, Possible Consequences of Deficit Hysteria

I should have said, " What happens if the economy does not recover sufficiently..."

2 Unfortunate, Possible Consequences of Deficit Hysteria

We may have avoided a depression, but we did it with funny money. This is the proper response according to Bernanke, an acknowledged expert on the Depression. But are the assets underlying the Fed's balance sheet recovering or has the meltdown just been delayed? What happens if the economy does recover sufficiently for the Fed to unwind in time? I think we're in uncharted territory and our playbook is is papered with a fiat currency. Isn't this what the price of gold is telling us?

Are Markets on the Verge of a Breakout or Meltdown?

Considering the massive liquidity, the market may well have higher to go. The bears didn't understand the power of zero interest rates and a declining dollar. Asset classes are reacting according to Bernanke's playbook. Still, it shouldn't take much of a negative catalyst to trigger a correction. I don't mind holding some cash under these conditions.

It's one thing to hear a blogger saying that credit cards are a wealth-transfer scheme from the poor to the rich; it's another to hear it from a former card-company CEO, Mike Konczal writes, previewing tonight's Frontline special on "The Card Game."

The American people have proven to be remarkably susceptible to advertising. I know I was. I started smoking when I was twelve because the Marlborough Man was the coolest cat around. It's a good thing I couldn't get a credit card in those days.

Goldman Sachs (GS) is still on the hook for $21.3B in FDIC (and ultimately taxpayer) guarantees through the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program. Coincidentally, the bank expects an end-of-year bonus accrual of $20B. A suggestion.

Whether GS is a den of thieves, a cabal of counterfeiters, or a plethora of Ponzi schemers, it is customary for such sleazebags to get a healthy cut from the take.

How Important Is Central Bank Independence?

The Federal Reserve is not independent. It is owned by its member banks. The Fed is marginally insulated from political influence under the guise of protecting it from the rabble. The same reasoning is used to justify dictatorship.

In Debt We Trust: Public Spending as a Tool of Economic Recovery

"Avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear."
George Washington

FOMC Minutes: Bernanke's Crystal Ball Is Broken

Every time I hear a helicopter overhead, I run outside just in case Ben is dropping dollars. I wonder what Dr. Pavlov would say?

Another Crisis Looms Right Around the Corner

Don't worry. If it gets as bad as you think, the military will take over and you can do your shopping at the PX.

Face It: The FDIC Is Broke

I'm getting a bad feeling.

Just Call Us Subprime Sam

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Of course, this is the same man who suspended habeas corpus and destroyed the Tenth Amendment.