if only all his TV appearences were this concise…..
Posts Tagged ‘inflation
17
May
10
good schtuff from dr. paul
pointed this out months ago that gold has outperformed S&P500 for last 10 years…Gold is NOT productive and can’t be considered a good sign for our future.
22
Apr
10
viral ‘tea-party’ debt video
saw this on kudlow today.
great little summation of the joke that is american ponzi-finance.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “Ratigan on Godfather Al Greenspan“, posted with vodpod
excerpt:
A 34.9% gain for stocks priced in gold is pretty good for a year’s work. But it’s a far cry from the 69.1% that stocks have gained when they are priced in dollars. Do you see what has happened here? Stocks have made you lots of dollars. But the dollar itself has fallen in value compared to the real and eternal value represented by gold.
Here’s the most troubling part. The entire 34.9% gain made by stocks — priced in gold, that is — was achieved in just the first five weeks of rallying from the March 2009 bottom. That means for most of the last year, since mid-April, while it has appeared that stocks have been furiously rallying, in reality they’ve just been sitting there. All risk, no reward.
Here’s the insight I get from these facts. In just the first five weeks after the bottom, stocks completely absorbed the good news that the economy was not going to fall into depression, as was widely feared at the time, and that the recession would soon be over. The 34.9% rally, priced in gold, is pretty close to the 28% recovery in expected corporate earnings we’ve experienced since the bottom.
So why, then, did stocks — priced in dollars, not gold — continue so much higher? Simple: We experienced inflation-induced growth. Throw enough stimulus money, an “extended period” of zero interest rates from the Fed, and a big dose of government debt at the economy, and you will get some growth – and, eventually, lots of inflation.
But there’s nothing more inflation-sensitive than gold. So, priced in gold, stocks are unable to perpetuate the illusion that inflationary growth is even growth at all. It’s just inflation.
http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/was-the-big-rally-a-grand-illusion/##ixzz0hWGiRxWY
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020901191.html?wpisrc=nl_tech
excerpt:
More than ever, innovation is disruptive and messy. It can’t be controlled or predicted. The only way to ensure it can flourish is to create the best possible environment — and then get out of the way. It’s a question of learning to live with a mess.
First, start-ups and smaller businesses must be able to compete on equal terms with their larger rivals. They don’t need favors, just a level playing field. Congress should ensure that every bill it passes promotes competition over protecting the interests of incumbents.
excerpt: ”
To sum up, the Fed creates a monetary base and the banks can create $10 for every $1 of monetary base. Wall Street firms created $20 for every Fed $1. In other words, the Fed only seeds the market. Beyond crude instruments like interest-rate policy, it has little control over how much actual money supply exists. In good times banks lend too much. And in bad times, such as today, they don’t create enough money because they lend too little.
Perhaps the lesson Mr. Bernanke drew from 2008-09 is not that we need more regulation but that financial firms should not be allowed to generate money out of thin air to write soon-to-be-bad loans. To seal his legacy, it is fractional reserve banking that he can rein in. Limit leverage and you take away the hot air from these bubbles.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703699204575017462822204340.html#
great grilling of hank paulson by larry kudlow around causes of crisis. specifically, larry’s theory is that “conveniently timed” changes to mark-to-market accounting in 2007 sowed seeds of the 2008 collapse. Markets collapsed over 2007/2008, and then and only then rallied when mark-t-market accounting was changed in March 2009(day that market bottomed and then went on 60% rally).
you could also take a gander that golden sachs probably bet against the whole market knowing that mark-to-market changes in 2007 would lead to issues down the road.
no matter what caused crisis, paulson again looks like a freaking bumbling idiot that shouldn’t be calling any shots….Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “larry kudlow grills paulson on mark-t…“, posted with vodpod
06
Jan
10
steve forbes 2010 predictions
nice ron paul shout out:
End the Fed–by Ron Paul (Grand Central Publishing, $21.99). When it comes to money, the mainstream media like to portray Congressman Ron Paul (R–Texas) as a gadfly. Let Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke enjoy his Time-ly accolades, because history will judge that Paul had it right when it came to the Fed and its often misbegotten monetary policies.
Paul has aroused the fear and ire of the Federal Reserve with his bill calling for the Government
Accountability Office to audit the Fed. This tenacious Congressman makes the point that independence should not be confused with a lack of accountability. One doesn’t have to agree with Paul’s ultimate conclusion that the Fed should be done away with to realize that this powerful institution is a kingdom unto itself. The Fed can bring about depressions (many historians agree with Milton Friedman’s belief that the Fed was the chief cause of the Great Depression), horrific periods of inflation, as it caused in the 1970s, as well as the current economic crisis, which the Fed fueled with its excessive easing of monetary policy several years ago. Without the excess liquidity, the housing bubble could never have happened. Yet Congress exercises no oversight of the Fed. In fact, no one outside the Fed has the right to examine to whom it lends money or the agreements it makes with other central banks around the world.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/30/fact-and-comment-opinions-steve-forbes.html
