The biggest news this past week was not the rape accusation scandal embroiling International Monetary Fund chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. It was not President Barack Obama’s much ballyhooed Middle East speech, nor was it the historic floods devastating the Mississippi flood plain.
[Read more...]Keeping Capital in a Depression
May 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Nothing is cheap in today’s investment world. Because of the trillions of currency units that governments all over the world have created – and are continuing to create – financial assets are grossly overpriced. Stocks, bonds, property, commodities and cash are no bargains. Meanwhile, real wages are slipping rapidly among those who are working, and a large portion of the population is unemployed or underemployed.
[Read more...]‘Angst’ Shouldn’t Even Begin to Describe the US’ Current Economic Sentiment (Part 2 of 2)
May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This past week, an article written for The Economist, entitled Angst in the United States: What’s wrong with America’s economy?, suggested that Americans are being far too pessimistic, and that there’s reason to believe in a “rosier outlook for America’s economy.” On most of the points addressed in the article, I’d beg to differ. The following is part two of two-part explanation as to why.
[Read more...]‘Angst’ Shouldn’t Even Begin to Describe the US’ Current Economic Sentiment (Part 1 of 2)
May 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This past week, an article written for The Economist, entitled Angst in the United States: What’s wrong with America’s economy?, suggested that Americans are being far too pessimistic, and that there’s reason to believe in a “rosier outlook for America’s economy.” On many points the article addresses, there is plenty of reason to differ. The following is part one of two-part explanation as to why.
[Read more...]The Milkman Indicator
April 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Our family has a milkman. Yes, a milkman, just like in the old days.
He comes every Friday and drops off a crate full of cold bottles of milk, along with tubs of yogurt and butter, cheeses and sometimes meats. You place your orders online, and the milkman brings it your doorstep, fresh from a local family-owned farm not far from where I live.
[Read more...]Regime Change, Hillary’s Head Fake
April 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It was just another day of duplicity in DC. If there was a Washington newspaper that honestly reported on American politics, it would have to be called The Daily Double Standard.
When the Tunisian and Egyptian rebellions began, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary “The Determinator” Clinton vacillated for weeks while hundreds of protesters were being slaughtered. It was only after it became clear that the autocratic leaders (that the US had supported for decades) would be overthrown that the US would champion the need for a transition to “democracy.”
[Read more...]How to Be a Central Bank Celebrity
April 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Bernanke spoke!
Yes, he held a press conference. Why would the world want a press conference from a central banker? Ah…good question. Because he’s a celebrity… He’s powerful. He moves and he shakes. He’s as popular as William and Kate put together.
In the past, a central banker was meant to be anonymous…quiet…hidden away somewhere so far in the background that the ordinary man wouldn’t know his name or recognize his face.
[Read more...]
The Rising Price of Oil and the Quality of Your Asparagus
Well-traveled asparagus…and the US in recession…
Markets were closed in the US yesterday. We didn’t bother to look at what happened outside the US.
We were tired. After traveling to China, Switzerland, England and France…we had run out of gas.
But yesterday, Memorial Day in the USA, gave us a time to fill up the tank.
[Read more...]