akapital

Was the Global Equities Crash Related to Obama's Election?

hey, yeah, you know what else I noticed, whenever it rains I see lots of umbrellas...I think umbrellas are causing the rain...

As for nationalizing/socialis... a clue...gov't has been bailing out companies long before Obama came along. Are you serious?

Wow, I am embarrassed for you...

Doug Casey: What to Do in 'The Greater Depression'

No comments on Gold but the political, social, and economic view points are just crazy. But I like it. I think it is great that we get to ready some totally off the wall stuff on SA. You're not going to find this stuff in mainstream so why not. I think we all hold some pretty wacky views of our own...and some of the statements in the interview are indeed wacky...but makes you think anyway.

How to Stimulate the Economy: Fire the Sell-Side Analysts

I like your proposal at the end there....but how exactly do we do this re-appropriation? Apparently our society values the services of these analysts...and sports stars and actors and actresses over teachers, scientists, etc.

I can think of two scenarios here. The market economy will shift reward to real value or gov't can compensate for what the market economy misses. I think we are at scenario two now. The market economy fudged up...

A Very Conventional Short-Run Stabilization Policy

Brad, great article. The crux of the issue is not economic or political but philosophical....

I will go further and say that gov't money is actually better than anyone else's, after all why is every company tripping over itself to get gov't contracts (even before this recession)?

Santelli's Chicago Tea Party: The Quest for Our Nation's Soul

i concur with jq, curious investor, and Henry Blankett...some great comments and insight there.

Santelli's thing was the equivalent of yelling fire in the theatre... Of course we're all going to run out of the theatre with you. No one wants to get burned by the fire. Duh, no one wants to pay the way for anyone else..but I never heard Santelli yell fire about Corporate Welfare all these years...

People find it easier to rationalize lining the pockets of the haves than the have nots, mostly because they don't really see the big picture.

As far as the whole "Capitalism" thing, if anyone really thinks we have ever been living under Capitalism they are even more naive then any Socialist. But to explain further would be useless...I am not trying to change minds here.

Is the Social Security Trust Fund a Potential Buyer for Toxic Assets?

interesting idea, although I would rather that individuals be allowed to borrow against their existing Soc Sec entitlement to stimulate the economy than the gov't using it.

What better way to stimulate the economy than let individuals borrow against their future retirement. Paying off debt is equivalent to saving for your retirement but it gets a huge influx of money into the economy now.

Of course you can only borrow against a portion of what you have contributed since not all the money is there yet and you could only borrow if indeed you have contributed a certain cumulative amount (say 10k) but I still think this would be a huge stimulus to the economy.

Also, to the point that the money isn't there yet, another option is that soc sec is simply used as default insurance on loans so that banks are lending the money but it is effectively backed by an individuals social security (similar to the gov't backing student loans under FFELP).

Roubini and Taleb, Together Again

Hey, that's an insult to wolves :) But seriously, wolves are actually raised quite superior to most human beings...those pups are out of the gate and fending for themselves faster than cnbc anchors...


On Feb 10 10:04 AM Herbert Hoover wrote:

> The most interesting part of the clip is the boorish behavior of
> the CNBC people. Were these people raised by wolves?
>
> Totally disgusting and totally expected at CNBC

Be Careful Playing with the Black Swan

Big fan of Aristotle's use of the black swan in his Posterior Analytics and demonstration of the syllogism. Interesting use of it in Taleb's book but I think the concept is highly overused now.

The whole point of the Black Swan has to do with the limits of our experience; The Greeks took it as universal that all swans were white because everything in their experience (whether direct experience or otherwise) taught them this. Little did they know there were black swans in Australia. Thus, the Black Swan was actually incorrectly invoked by Aristotle, unbeknownst to him that were indeed black swans.

Conversely, trades gone bad, financial meltdowns, great depressions, etc. are within the confines of our experience, whether direct personal experience or shared historical preserved in the form of the written word or various other media. Black Swans are not simply the confines of mine or yours socio-historical horizon but that of a whole society.

The Urgent Financial Crisis Facing Obama

Here is an idea for Obama and others:

What do people think about letting people borrow against their future Social Security?

What it effectively does is use future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would motivate banks to lend, result in a serious injection of money into the economy. Also motivates responsible borrowers as when people are paying off their house they are also effectively putting money back into their retirement?

Mortgage Collateral Bears an Interest Rate Risk

what do people think about letting people borrow against their future Social Security?

What it effectively does is use future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would motivate banks to lend, result in a serious injection of money into the economy. Also motivates responsible borrowers as when people are paying off their house they are also putting money back into their retirement?

America's New Stimulus Package: Looks Good, But Is It Enough?

what do people think about letting people borrow against their future Social Security?

What it effectively does is use future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would motivate banks to lend, result in a serious injection of money into the economy. Also motivates responsible borrowers as when people are paying off their house they are also putting money back into their retirement?

How the Treasury Bubble Will Burst and Why

what do people think about letting people borrow against their Social Security?

What it effectively does is used future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would get a serious injections of money into the economy. So when people are paying off their house they are also effectively putting money back into their retirement?

Let's Have Inflation

what do people think about letting people borrow against their Social Security?

What it effectively does is used future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would get a serious injections of money into the economy. So when people are paying off their house they are also putting money back into their retirement?

Banks: Nationalize, Cleanse and Get It Over With

what do people think about letting people borrow against their Social Security?

What it effectively does is used future soc sec entitlement as default insurance and would get a serious injections of money into the economy. So when people are paying off their house they are also putting money back into their retirement?

Bleak Economy, But Not the End of the World - So Stop Panicking

Two of your comments:

"The market is not a wise, all-knowing processor of information and seer of the future. The market is an idiot."


"And unless the American public has become collectively lazy and stupid all of a sudden, the technological advancement and productivity growth that has made this country the richest nation the planet has ever seen will continue."

You can't separate the market from its participants. You make some very general, far reaching comments about the intelligence of both the markets and the general populace. Were either idiots or the smartest people in the world? Fact is, smart people do stupid things; stupid people can do smart things. Power and wealth may not have any correlation with intelligence. I think that is the biggest critique of efficient market hypothesis.