RSAAKS

U.S. Homeowners Underwater

All such dooms day scenarios are not able to imagine the power of printing money, which will devalue the debt. In 10 years, dollar could be worth half in buying power, but twice as strong in debt repayment power (assuming of course that interest rates will stay low-and I think they will). High inflation and low interest rates is not a common phenomenon, but we will see it for 8-10 years, and that is how we will bring propsperity back. I can hear all the deflation folks growling already...

Dow Target 6,617, October 25, 2009: Here Is Why

The author states.."Let's be honest, our economy is getting worse and as far as waiting for the economy to come back, my question is "what economy?"
How do you explain existing home sales on the rise, ISM index approaching 50, etc. While I see no gangbusters economy yet, but it does not look like the whole market move is a hoax, there are some hints of recovery. Check out how the cash for clunkers is working for auto sales-what about pick up in sales of base metals...

Will Consumers Spend Again?

You raise some very good questions: e.g. "What if this cleansing of the last two years really worked " the answer based on all the economic data still seems to be that cleansing has a long way to go, because the debt levels of consumers and Govt are still very high on a historical basis. Are you suggesting that the debt has all or nearly vanished?
Of course "What would a year-to-year sales gain of 5% do for the profits..." the answer to this part is obvious, that it would do wonders for the profits, but isn't that what is reflected in the recent 40% rally in stocks?

Why This Market Is Heading Down

Negative golden cross happened right around the time when S&P made a bottom (at least so far). Who knows if that bottom will hold, but I would hate to use your golden cross as sell signal, and can we infer that by the time there is positive golden cross, the bull market move will be over??

Unwinding the Goldman Sachs Myth

I did not find any examples of Goldman's actions which would make me believe your conclusion. Yes, they have taken money from AIG, and have sent many employees on Fed's payroll. But how are they forcing people to consume more or borrow more? I fail to see your point, at least from this article, and fail to see what editor's like so much in it.

Stocks Will Fall 37% or Gold Will Rally 60%

"throughout the 20th century, on average 5.4 ounces of gold would buy one unit of the DJIA.

Today, gold trades at $980. The DJIA trades at 8,500. This puts the ratio of gold to stocks at 8.6."

What if Gold goes to 2000 and Dow to 12,000?? With impending inflation, I think that is more likley. In other words both go up. Possible?

If You Have Short-Term Gains, Take Your Profits

We can draw all the parallels, but history seldom repeats in an exact manner in the stock market. This market is certainly due for a correction, but with all the stimulus money being pumped into the system, an inflation recovery, which raises most commodities, oil, agriculture goods etc is in the cards. This inflation will work for quite a few stocks, and eventually keep it from going back to 666 on S&P. I think corrections stops well short of March low, and we maintain 750-1000 trading range until sometime in 2010.

The Declining Usefulness of Debt

we may still be producing return on debt, a larger portion is being eaten away by increased regulations, leading to lower net

Jim Rogers Believes World Is Heading for Depression

Mr. Rogers says "Debasing your own currency has never led to prosperity"...China has been doing it for quite some time and does not seem to have a problem? and Mr Rogers is a China-Bull.

Credit Card Crunch: Creating a New Generation of Subprime

when banks are allowed to charge 25% interest against their cost of funds at less than 3-4%, greed overtakes and reckless lending begins. That is what we had in last few years, every month there were on average 30-40 card offers in my bail box. Many in my shoes probably had those cards issued and will never be able to pay using 20+% interest rate. Greed could only go so far. Perhaps banks will learn to loan money to those who have HIGH probability of paying heir loans, and charge a reasonable rate for it. Those who can pay will not accept 25% rate, those who cannot pay, it is not worth charging any rate-meaning no loans.

Regulating Compensation: Where Does It Stop?

Regardless of the outcome of AIG bonus fiasco, one thing that must change for the sake of "shareholders"--that is massive compensations in $30-100 million per year for the wall street exceutives has to stop. Such massive compensations, regardless of how well the GS-MS-JPM do, is unjustified and is legalized robbery of shareholder money. I don't know what is the right compensation, but anything exceeding $10 million is neither deserved nor justified. And hedge fund manager compensations should not be cap-gains, it is compensation to be taxed at usual rates.

Three Ways to Take Profit in Gold as Inflation Props Up Prices

Fed has stated in no uncertain terms that there will be NO DEFLATION. Instead, we will create INFLATION. They own the printing press and they are using it. So go with the flow, and buy gold, oil, commodities,...like Doug Kass says, buy STUFF, stuff that can drop on your foot and hurt it.

Why Has AIG's Stock Risen So Rapidly?

Listening to Mr. Liddy before congressional committee last night, the message was that he plans to unwind all CDS's (all valued at 2.4 trillion on their books). Of theis $2.4 T, about half has been unwound (and I assume that is where $100B loss reported came from. Assuming the rest gets unwound in a year or so with a similar loss, total loss will be $200B. Add to that $78B they have already borrowed from the feds. To pay for all this, they plan to sell the healthy businesses and end the company. Unless those busineeses generate a lot more than $278B, where is the value for common shares? and what is your basis for listing AIG as undervalued by 35% or so (shown on your chart?

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy... Oh, and Common Sense

Thank you, some very good thoughts indeed. You have clearly spelled out that common sense is not that common after all, in any so called "advanced country governments". I agree that a combination of the motivating factors created by capitalist system and a safety net created by socialism is what we need for a harmonious world. Only problem is, how do you motivate the policy makers to implement such a system?

Relax, Obama's Socialist Agenda Is Capital Friendly

When people talk of our current "capitalist syatem", frankly I am not sure what they mean. The fact that we pay taxes in disproportionate amounts to the benefits we all receive from our taxes, high tax payers (aka high wage earners) already subsidize low tax payers to some extent. Hence we already are socialists to some extent. What is likely happening now---the degree of socialism is increasing--a notch higher? or a lot higher? that is the real issue. And Yes, we are are socialists already, believe it or not.