Does anyone remember the dot com bubble? Huge moves up despite no underlying fundamental reason, violent swings back down and everyone got rich until they became poor again. Man that was fun. Welcome back. Despite the Fed artificially keeping rates low, record number of foreclosures is the reality. Despite equities having their largest bull market run in history over the past 8 months, unemployment topped 10% and is poised to head higher.
Crude? Just over a decade ago, crude was about $15. It has since run to $146, back down to $46 and then back up to $82 in less than 16 months. You can compare the most widely used commodity on the planet with most tech stocks during the dot com bubble. The Dollar? The almighty U.S. dollar has been battered down like a third world nation's during a revolution. The weak dollar strategy by the U.S. is a good strategy if they can get China to de-peg the yuan. China is beating the U.S. at it's own dirty little scheme and in the end we will pay dearly for this game of Russian roulette we started.
If it's one thing I've learned, it's to be aware of violent swings and big moves. Something smells funny and although I don't know exactly what, I know it's not a Haggas on my neighbor's cooktop.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Rampant government corruption enriches Traders
At 10 am this morning US economic numbers (ISM, construction spending & pending home sales) rolled across news services as per usual. What was very unusual is that on a very quiet Monday morning the S&P's rallied over 6 points, roughly 50 DOW points, 10 minutes before the numbers were published. Guess what? The numbers were better than forecast on each front.
Maybe these traders had valuable insight, but more than likely they have valuable friends in the right places. Money makes people do funny things and the larger the stakes, the more unscrupulous one becomes. I'm not sure what's worse, the 'Greed is Good' mentality of Wall St. or the 'lie to your face' approach of government.
The only thing that helps me sleep at night is that I truly believe the US government has the very best interest of this nation at heart in all it's decisions, despite the few bad apples who sit in Congress, the Senate and the Treasury. Lie, cheat and steal followed by see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil seems to be the current policy. It has been said that nice guys finish last. Well, I'm here to dispell that saying.
Maybe these traders had valuable insight, but more than likely they have valuable friends in the right places. Money makes people do funny things and the larger the stakes, the more unscrupulous one becomes. I'm not sure what's worse, the 'Greed is Good' mentality of Wall St. or the 'lie to your face' approach of government.
The only thing that helps me sleep at night is that I truly believe the US government has the very best interest of this nation at heart in all it's decisions, despite the few bad apples who sit in Congress, the Senate and the Treasury. Lie, cheat and steal followed by see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil seems to be the current policy. It has been said that nice guys finish last. Well, I'm here to dispell that saying.
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