The following represents a comment received on the post The Wealthy Beg. I thought it important enough to deserve a post. It provides an explanation of SIPC and how it works. The author corrects some impressions conveyed by my post that were originally reported in the Bloomberg article. Thanks to [...]

Image via Wikipedia Washington is cleaning up the airline industry with more regulation. NOT! This latest example of Washington intervention is more patently absurd than others. All are absurd; this example is just so simple that it is understandable without a complex chain of reasoning. It is classic top-down management [...]

A Wall Street Journal article reported: “The Treasury said it will borrow $200 billion and leave the cash proceeds on deposit with the Federal Reserve, reviving a program that will make it easier for the Fed to raise interest rates when the time comes.” I had to read that sentence [...]

Some humor received via an email. As in most humor, it works because of the element of truth contained within. Sad but true: Stimulus Checks Explained Sometime this year, we taxpayers will again receive another ‘Economic Stimulus’ payment. This is indeed a very exciting program,  and I’ll explain it by [...]

For investors or just curiosity-seekers, how we escape from the economic mess is of interest. Jim Puplava at FinancialSense.com stated: “I believe that getting the inflation/deflation story right is the single-most important investment decision that needs to be made. It will determine the investment outcome of portfolios over the next [...]

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Obama announced his new budget, which exceeded most people’s expectations regarding spending. The deficit is likely to be worse than projected because of rosy revenue assumptions. Today WaPo announces that serious problems are developing in the FHA: The share of borrowers who are falling [...]

I sure would like to know the rationale behind this “deal” as reported in an article in the WSJ. The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos [...]

The strains on the International monetary system are increasing. This system was never sustainable. It replaced a system that had broken down. And that system had replaced another phony international monetary system. How this system collapses is indeterminate. It could be initiated a collapse of the dollar or it could [...]

Here is a good collection of articles from Chris Martenson’s site. These articles show no green shoots, and in no way are consistent with what the government wants you to believe. There is no recovery coming. See recent post about 2010 will be worse. Take a look at Chris’ site. [...]

Image via Wikipedia Rosenberg is Right-On. Here is his daily email with links to the full piece. The only part that I might take issue with is his contrarian play on T-bonds. The emboldening was added by me. Breakfast with Dave Read full article (PDF 902KB) Read summary (PDF 427KB)  [...]

Any Econ 101 student would flunk the course if he showed the aptitude of this Administration regarding basic economics. It is likely most Americans have never taken an economics course, yet would be able to discern why recent economic policies, either proposed or already implemented, destroy jobs. Simple common sense [...]

David Rosenberg’s morning post is always worthwhile. I particularly liked this reminder/warning: “there is still so much debt that is still being supported by questionable collateral.” And this comment: “we currently have a situation that is not consistent with a plain-vanilla recession but with a depression.” To access his full [...]

… your $200,000 ten years ago has been halved in terms of purchasing power. However, in terms of planning purposes, your anticipated retirement amount has been reduced by 75%. Given these outcomes, who will be able to retire? And for those already retired, how many will “unretire?” For Buy and [...]

Meredith Whitney hits part of the problem precisely: the Fed cannot ease off  purchases of mortgage-backed securities without a collapse of the housing market and the economy. She doesn’t deal with what happens if the Fed continues to support the housing market. This disguised quantitative easing necessary to support the [...]

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” Friedrich Hayek The economic programs and policies currently in place are truly astounding. I don’t think I have ever seen a more harmful economic environment for the country. [...]

WHY THE FALLING DOLLAR IS HARMFUL There are several reasons for foreign investors to stop buying Federal Government debt. One is merely the diversification motive. They already hold too many denominated assets. Second is the risk of default which grows along with our deficit. Third is the lack of returns [...]

A visual presentation of the national debt and other key variables. Do not watch while eating or if pregnant. The spirit of the following cartoon is correct but it is out-of-date regarding the number which is now above $12 Trillion.  See the visual presentation to see the rest of the [...]

From my post on American Thinker. For the past couple of months I have worried regarding the risks of a Failed Presidency. No one should want this, regardless of party affiliation. It is harmful and dangerous to our economy and country. However, it appears obvious to me that the royalty [...]

Here is an interesting post about how to bet on Total Global Collapse. Regardless of whether you believe things are going to get this bad or not, such posts are mind-stretching in the sense that they cause you to think about your portfolio and how it is positioned for a [...]

There is little doubt in my mind that we are heading for a train wreck. The timing and catalyst that trigger this reaction are much more difficult to determine. The potential catalysts are many, any one of which would trigger the wreck. A dollar crisis or a Treasury fund-raising crisis [...]

Here are some posts referenced on Chris Martenson’s site yesterday. Is there anything in here that even remotely looks like a green shoot? Things continue to deteriorate and will do so in spite of what the touts tell you. New York Personal Income Tax Collections Fell 21% Last Year Nov. [...]

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr Image by Okinawa Soba via Flickr Suggestions that we are in for a “Lost Decade” similar to Japan (they have actually lost two decades!) are hard for most Americans to accept. But, in terms of the stock market, we have already lost a [...]

Image by Toban Black via Flickr Most people cannot conceive of a world without regulations. I can’t either. But I can conceive of a world that most would think ridiculously defunct of oversight. We tend to view the world in terms of what exists now, instead of what could or [...]

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Here is an excerpt from James Howard Kunstler‘s post “Dreams Die Hard“: Daily Stock Analysis Online Courses CAN SLIM® IBD Tool Chest Charting The Course Sell Signals Buying and Selling Checklists IBD How To Ask IBD Financial Dictionary IBD Workshops IBD Home Study Forums [...]