“Cash is king,” was once the old saw. The saying became passé in boomtime. Nobody wanted to hold on to cash. There were stocks and real estate to buy, not to mention big screen TVs and granite counter tops. Besides, the PhDs at Federal Reserve stay up late at night figuring out how to make money less valuable. Ben Bernanke and his colleagues keep printing the stuff to solve what they fear the most: insufficient aggregate demand and liquidity traps.
[Read more...]Why Central Planning Fails
March 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Dow is still rising. It rose another 38 points yesterday… apparently headed for a new record high.
Gold is dawdling.
We’re still thinking about how so many smart people came to believe things that aren’t true. Krugman, Stiglitz, Friedman, Bernanke — all seem to have a simpleton’s view of how the world works. They believe they can manipulate the future and make it better. Not just for themselves, but for everyone. Where did such a silly idea come from?
[Read more...]BLS Unemployment Report Doesn’t Add Up
January 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
On the surface, the Bureau of Labor Statistics delivered a head-scratcher of an unemployment report this morning: An anemic 103,000 new jobs in December, but a dramatic fall in the U-3 unemployment rate from 9.8% to 9.4%.
Let’s dive into the particulars:
- Private-sector employers added 113,000 jobs, the bulk of the gains coming in leisure/hospitality and health care
Why Fed Money Creation Hurts the Poor Population
December 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
If you are like me, then you don’t quite understand what the hell is going on with this economic stuff, but you are pretty sure that it starts with the foul Federal Reserve creating so much excess money and that a lot of people ought to be in prison Right Freaking Now (RFN).
Knowing that, you then think to yourself that your Whole Freaking Life (WFL) is one long, dreary testament to the fact that all great mistakes start with having the money to finance them.
[Read more...]The Derivatives Market Monstrosity
December 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I assume that you, as an intelligent person who understands that the treacherous, greedy, vampire banks creating so much excess money means We’re Freaking Doomed (WFD), are Up To Your Freaking Ears (UTYFE) in gold, silver and oil, and you have had it UTYFE with your family always complaining about how you spend all the family’s income on gold, silver and oil instead of luxuries, family vacations, adequate food, clothing, medical care, dental care, blah blah blah, the list goes on and on.
US Wealth Distribution: Where Zombies Go to Feast
December 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A warning… Bad stuff coming!
We’ve come to the warm latitudes for our Christmas holiday. Your editor didn’t really want to do so. He travels so much for business, he longed to stay home for Christmas. He imagined himself sitting in front of the fire…happily drinking eggnog and eating fruitcake. Or, cutting down trees and mending fences.
[Read more...]Bullish Indicators Not Bullish Enough to Indicate Recovery
December 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
We live in the immediate…the urgent…the here and now…with the noise of the headlines and the blustery winds of current opinion…
Yesterday, the Dow lost 19 points. Gold lost $18.
But nobody cares what happened yesterday. People want to know what is happening right now. When they enter an elevator, they reach for their cellphones and Blackberries and check to see if they have messages…or if something important has happened.
[Read more...]Gold or Stocks: What to Hold During the Great Correction
December 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Gold or stocks?
Gold will go up another $300 next year, says Goldman Sachs. Bloomberg reports:
Gold rose 27 percent this year, heading for a 10th consecutive annual advance. Investors are seeking hard assets as governments and central banks led by the Federal Reserve pump more than $2 trillion into the world financial system.
[Read more...]
Hiding the Unemployed: Disability and the Politics of Stats
Some statistics cannot be understood without being set within a political framework, because they reflect politics as much as, or more than, they do reality.
The unemployment rate is an example and a cautionary tale.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the seasonally adjusted official unemployment rate for February fell to a four-year national low of 7.7%. While the White House cautiously congratulated itself, Republicans quickly pointed to what is often called the real unemployment rate; it stood at 14.3%.
[Read more...]Click for detailed story