Archive - 2009 - Blog entry

Cue loud music which gets everyone up on their feet ...

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet on Wednesday urged European insurers and pension funds to have sufficient capital on hand, stressing they are "systemically important" to the financial system. I have long argued that insurers and pension funds need to be monitored by regulatory agencies that respond to systemic risks. Unfortunately, the New Normal for retirement benefits looks a lot like the old normal based on chicanery and deceit.

Technical Profiles of Gold vs Silver, the US Dollar vs Gold and the US Dollar with highlights from an interview with the winner of the 2008 Automated Trading Championship

Congressional switchboard: 1-866-220-0044

They're TALKING a good game, but talk is cheap...

October was another loser for the SSTF. We have crossed another critical milestone on the Fund's performance. This problem is at hand, not 20 years into the future. Will it have a market impact at some point? It is only a question of when, not if.

The world's most handsome and charismatic blogger stands outside his beloved friends at Goldman Sachs headquarters at 85 Broad (see pic) to congratulate them on the outstanding CMBS offering made through TALF government leveraging for Developers Diversified Realty (notice the funny looks that I am getting from the women in the background, haven't they seen a handsome and charismatic blogger before???). A few questions still linger, though...

The global affront on pensions continues. The rebound in stocks will offer a temporary reprieve, but the underlying structural problems remain and unless governments take this issue seriously, there will be many more pensions at risk.

Birds are singing, the sun is shining and life is beautiful again. On the surface, the vital signs of our economy are improving with every economic report. In some areas, like unemployment, the rate of decline is decelerating; in others, like GDP, decline is turning into growth. The stock market is behaving as if the history of the last twenty years is about to repeat itself: recession will turn into a robust expansion.

Japan has recovered . . . oh, wait . . .

Or like Smokey the Bear handing out matches ...

Remember those wacky CDO’s that Goldman underwrote, hedged with credit default swaps, then promptly collected 100 cents on the dollar for (courtesy the US taxpayer) after lighting up the AIG switchboard with collateral calls? Kindly, the FRNY released only yesterday its quarterly report on Maiden Lane III.

Maybe, it just may be the total collapse in credibility and trust in
the US Federal Reserve and Treasury. I mean, come on. Have you heard the bullsh1t that they spouted in the news this morning? Quick Bloomberg scan:

Yellen Says Unclear If Use of Rates Can Stem Leverage (Update1) ...

Do you know who the largest property owner(s) in the US is (are)?

Tired of the same old US-based bears such as Nouriel Roubini, Peter Schiff and Doug Kass? Sick of hearing the US is in deep trouble argument from Mark Faber and ex-pat Jim Rogers? Then, for those of you who are not familiar with the most outspoken Australian Nostradamus, let me introduce you to economist Steve Keen.