Archive - Oct 2010 - Blog entry

The Treasury Secretary who surfs. The crisis was caused by excessive debt levels, the adjustment of which is now mostly behind us. Permanent investment tax credits for domestic R & D are on the way. So is a one year tax credit for capital investment. Stepped up spending on infrastructure is a big priority. The US will not engage in a debasement of its currency. There will be no non dollar reserve currency in our lifetimes. By any measure, the Chinese Yuan is undervalued. Promises, promises. Don’t expect to see any Geithner signed dollar bills soon.

The Commitment of Traders Report is created by the CFTC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is published weekly every Friday. This body gathers and publishes the open futures positions on all publicly traded US futures contracts as well as the corresponding options. The data consists of 3 main categories.

More trouble?

What's keeping Leo de Bever, CEO & CIO of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, up at night?

Should be another interesting week.

Is Indonesia the next China? Despite the triple digit return, it could still be early days for the world’s largest Muslim country. Since the rumblings about a global, synchronized QEII began in September, $2 billion a day has been flooding into emerging markets, and Indonesia has been at the top of the list. A rupiah that has been steadily appreciating against the dollar has added a nice double leveraged effect to the upside. (IDX), (EIDO)

It's astounding, markets are fleeting...Keynesian madness takes its toll...Lets do the Subprime Warp Again...

Some scary developments in Iceland including a 41% inflation in the past three years, 63% of mortgage is underwater, and 40% of homeowners are insolvent make me wonder how far behind is the United States?

Mission accomplished ... wait, WHAT???

Let A = America, B = Banking System, and C = the Crony System. Then, given a heavily subsidized and corrupt financial system in the U.S., we can infer that A + B = C. Since we know that C must fail due to its poor design and widespread moral hazard, and that B is too big to fail, where does that leave A?

Paul Krugman doesn't know anything about Austrian economic theory but he feels competent to criticize it. He has refused to debate the topic in the past. Now a top notch Austrian theory economist is challenging him to a debate. The lure: $100,000. Will he do it?

If you are worried about the potential systemic risks caused by the developing mortgage fraudclosure story, you better view this important announcement immediately.

The painful cost cutting, layoffs, and downsizing that has swept the corporate area for the past 30 years is now being jammed down the throat of the public sector. The financial crisis afflicting states and municipalities is going to make the school teacher join the sorry ranks of the service station attendant, the elevator operator, and the telephone operators. A profession that has been rendered useless by technology. High schools are about to move online. Anyone for a student teacher ratio of 250:1? (BBBB).

This is coming our way.

When people ask what to expect in the large bank, GSE and real estate sectors in 2011, we say that the day of reckoning put off by not restructuring Countrywide, Bear, Merrill, Wachovia et al two years ago is now coming due. The operational and financial reality of insolvency can only be put off for so long. Or to refer to the immortal words of Joaquin “el chapo” Guzman, spoken after the mistaken 1993 killing of Cardinal Posadas at the Guadalajara airport: “Esto se va a poner de la chingada”