tinman

Alex Berenson in The New York Times sees little has changed for Wall Street in a year - minor restructuring, pay rising again - and hears from people who think lessons weren't learned, like Simon Johnson: "They will run up big risks, they will fail again, they will hit us for a big check."

As a First Idiot once remarked, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

As the Dollar Continues to Collapse, Where Will You Put Your Money?

re " what you shouldn't be investing in: stocks, Treasuries, and dollars" -- you're missing the elephant in the room, bonds. Why would anyone want to hold bonds in an accelerating inflationary environment?

Canada's Financial System: How Is It Still Stable in This Crisis?

Do you think the American bankers learned their lesson?

Sadly, as an American, I very much doubt that. Unbridled greed and utter lack of accountability still dominate our boardrooms. Until we tie their pay hikes to their average worker's wages and bonuses to the 5 year average stock price, don't expect it to ever change.

Apologies in advance for the rip roaring inflation that's bound to clobber you and all our trading partners in a few years.

Dollar Debased Like Never Before

The largest budget item will soon be servicing the debt; once the debt tapeworm gets established, it's probably a permanent condition even if the recession ended next week. The only cure is catastrophic inflation and nobody wants to drink that medicine.

Gold: Risk / Reward Ratio Favors Long Side

As confidence returns, money pours out of safety (gold & Treasuries) moving farther out into the risk spectrum. I expect this to be the case for several months, possibly a few years. Eventually, the astronomical increase in money supply will kick start inflation and we'll be off to the races. Shorter term, we should see significantly better opportunities for the miners, not so much in GLD.

(Disclosures: Long GDX & GLD)

As History Repeats Itself, Time to Buy Gold and Silver

"Indeed, inflation is the only way to bail out an economy consumed by debt. In the 1930s debt deflation was allowed to take its disastrous course with public spending cuts and trade barriers making an already deteriorating cycle considerably worse."

-- yes, but how much inflation would it take? A few points over a few decades will eviscerate my fixed pension. I'm sure it will do the same to 30-year T-bonds.

ECRI: Negative Economic Spiral Slowing

Who needs doom & gloom when you have "There is no indication yet of an end to negative economic growth" ?

Economic Fault Lines Emerge

To all who say "get gov't out of the way and the market will eventually correct itself": Sure, the do-nothing approach will eventually result in equilibrium but that is cold comfort to millions who need to eat every day in the meantime. If you haven't lived paycheck to paycheck, shut up and let government do its job.

A Closer Look at Energy Infrastructure CEFs, ETN

Even scarier, CEFA says FMO & TYG have no income (zip, nada!) to distribute so the "yield" is all return of capital!

What's Cramer Got Against Microsoft?

In the short run, the market is a voting machine; in the long run, the market is a weighing machine. While MSFT stock languishes, the company continues to gain weight.

Mark-to-Market Marches Towards Extinction

M2M should be required EXCEPT when a liquid market (no matter how irrational) is not available. The judgment of whether a market is liquid then becomes the issue -- for banks, I would leave that to bank regulators to determine. For non-regulated industries, leave to the asset holder and its auditors.

And in any case, all non-M2M assets should be clearly flagged on the balance sheet for all to assess.

Rick Santelli Speaks for the Silent Majority

Rick has been screaming SOCIALISM! since the AIG bailout. While I agree the steps to prevent the financial meltdown from taking the planet into global depression are socialistIC, we're still a ways from socialISM.

It's easy to snipe from the sidelines but much harder to be the grownup at the wheel. Kudos to CNBC for airing a wide spectrum of views.

Buffett May Not Have Sold Johnson & Johnson

Or maybe he's buying up JNJ debt using proceeds from the stock.

Why TARP 2.0 Won't Be Much Better than TARP 1.0

Isn't that exactly what threw the global financial heartbeat into fibrillation last summer?

On Feb 15 10:29 PM monday1929 wrote:

> Responsible lending now would be the death of the system.
>
>
> On Feb 13 08:58 AM prudentinvestor wrote:

Can the Government Pay as Bond Buyers Demand Higher Yields?

The assertion that "Keynsian economics works AFTER the winding and not BEFORE the unwinding is completed" is completely unsupported. On the contrary, there seems to be consensus that it works much better if you start BEFORE you hit bottom. This makes intuitive sense because layoffs tend to be a trailing indicator and their effect can be more effectively ameliorated if you start projects & hiring as the layoffs accelerate into the recession. This also greatly reduces the risk of slipping into Depression.

Waiting when you know the train is leaving the tracks and the only thing you don't know is how deep the ravine is a recipe for a worst case outcome.