Good day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well… Yesterday, I realized that I couldn’t eat all day on Sunday, and expect to want to eat on Monday! But I’m ready to do so today! HA! I also realized yesterday just what a Donnie Downer I’ve been lately, with my insistence that there’s something going on to pull the wool over our eyes… That may be, but I’ve got to be more upbeat, eh?
[Read more...]Creating More Debt to Solve the Crisis
February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Readers who expect an early end to this Great Correction are going to be disappointed. There is no sign of it reaching its conclusion anytime soon. Just the contrary…there’s no end in sight.
The Great Correction seems to be going along just as you’d expect. Or, just as we’d expect.
[Read more...]Manufacturing Growth Continues
February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I have to tell you what’s on my mind this morning after watching the price action again yesterday… I know, it’s just me, and no one else in the writing/analyst world will tell you this, because they have no proof… I don’t either, but that never stops me from saying what’s on my mind regarding these markets now, does it?
[Read more...]Trends that Won’t End
January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
U.S. taxpayers have lost $133 billion from TARP — the abominable acronym inflicted on us by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson — a new report out this morning shows.
We begin another week pulled in two directions: In one direction lie unresolved failures in policy… and the mayhem it has wrought in the financial system. In the other lie breakthroughs in energy and biotechnology.
[Read more...]How Ben Bernanke Rationalizes “Exceptionally Low” Interest Rates
January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Anything happen in the markets yesterday? To tell the truth, we forgot to check. Let’s have a look now, then…
Dow up by 80-something points. A barrel of the world’s currently-preferred energy sits pretty at $100, on the nose. Nothing much, in other words.
Ooh…but here’s something: “Gold extends post-Fed rally to 6-week high.” MarketWatch has the story…
[Read more...]Big Ben Discusses Another Round of Quantitative Easing
January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! I wonder what I’ll talk about today…. Hmmmm… Could it be…. The Fed meeting? Oh, you are so smart! In case you missed this yesterday, because I’m sure the major media outlets couldn’t muster up enough intestinal fortitude to do it, but the Fed threw a cat among the pigeons yesterday… There are a lot of things I’m thinking about, this morning, so, this should be entertaining… For me at least!
[Read more...]Demand Fears in a Consumer-Based Economy
January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday, Europe was back in the news. Whenever Europe is in the headlines, the headlines are bad. And the ideas behind the headlines are absurd. In fact, it is amazing how many crackpot ideas the press can throw at you in a single day.
The immediate problems in Europe were two:
First, it looked like Portugal was going the way of Greece. It would soon need another bailout, said the papers.
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Why Gold is Money Despite Changing Conditions
The price of gold shot up yesterday. Reports said investors were betting on another round of “quantitative easing,” aka money printing.
But are gold buyers making a big mistake? Is history repeating itself? The New York Times suggests it is:
As it was in 1980, could it be again in 2012?
[Read more...]