Discursive MonologueDiscursive MonologueReporting on the massive torrent of wealth from the United States to East Asia, the depreciation of the U.s. Dollar, and hedging strategies. Articles
Wall Street?s departure from reality send markets soaring without positive
2007-07-16 20:51:00 Lately, the market has been behaving so irrationally that the headlines are incapable of explaining the reasons behind price movement. I view the headlines on Yahoo! Finance every day and, as the effervescent market becomes more and more of a zoo, the headlines just randomly capture a merger and acquisition (M&A) story or some government ... More About: Reality , Wall Street , Markets , Street , Wall
The leaking housing bubble is a leading indicator of recession? or is it?
2007-07-12 00:27:00 Bad news in the housing market keeps coming in. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of sentiment hit a 16 year low in June. U.S. mortgage foreclosures in May rose 90 percent year over year. The Federal Reserve is predicting a major impact on the economy. Most analysts are crying the dolorous song ... More About: Housing Bubble , Housing , Bubble , Indicator , Leak
Tin Man Syndrome - How John Learned About Bums the Hard Way
2007-07-08 15:16:00 During my sophomore year in college, I had a roommate with a heart that was much bigger than his brain. Let’s call him John . John had lived a very sheltered life. He attended a junior college near his parents’ home prior to matriculating in the large university where I attended. Now, living several states away ... More About: Life , Syndrome , Hard , Learned
The 15 Minute Dating Blog: True Horror Stories and Tips From Real People (F
2007-07-07 16:19:00 This week, I’m featuring The 15 Minute Dating Blog. Apparently, this blog has an online dating site for a counterpart, but I’m not entirely familiar with the dating portion and the blog is the real gem here. I stumbled across The 15 Minute Dating Blog perusing reading material on MyBlogLog. There are a variety of ... More About: Wordpress , People , Horror , Stories
Mountain biking and Mexican food - the mundane details of my life
2007-07-07 04:37:00 I just want to mention that I returned from the mountain biking trail without losing a single drop of blood. For me, this is a personal best. I have scars from every single mountain bike ride over the past 2 years. I’m not a very experienced rider–I go a handful of times every year on ... More About: Life , Food , Mexican , My Life , Mexican food
Funny Video Friday: Show that wheelbarrow who?s boss
2007-07-07 04:00:00 Keeping with my tradition of winding down for the weekend with an easy (but still entertaining) post, this week’s video features a circus act. A man tries to push a wheelbarrow full of soil up a thin ramp–essentially walking the plank. Wearing cowboy boots might not be the best idea on that surface. The poor ... More About: Video , Funny , Funny Video , Show , Boss
Professor Eisuke Sakakibara on yen exchange rates and Japanese interest rat
2007-07-06 01:56:00 Eisuke Sakakibara, former Japanese vice minister of finance for foreign affairs, appeared on Squawkbox Asia Tuesday to discuss interestest rates in Japan and foreign exchange rates vis-à-vis the yen. I found it particularly interesting when Sakakibara-San suggested that Washington was too focused on currency issues in China and were ignoring the obscenely weak Japanese yen. ... More About: Exchange , Interest , Rates , Esso
Reader Reaction: Reader comments about protectionist legislation in Congres
2007-07-04 17:04:00 Since I saw good discussions on some of my columns in June, I want to begin taking time each week to highlight these comments and my response to them. I can only highlight a few comments at a time in order to keep post length reasonable. goldnsilver lured me into discussion in my posts, The ... More About: Reader , Comments , Legislation , Comm , Legi
Expenses for June - Dominated by Insurance and Rent
2007-07-03 22:19:00 I have been debating giving specific details about my life (as a lot of bloggers do). I like a lot of privacy, but an expense report is easy content so today I am providing a breakdown of my expenses for June . Total expenses for June were $1585.10. June is one of two months in the ... More About: Life , Insurance , Expenses , Rent
What are you saving for? - Two stories that show why America is headed for
2007-07-03 00:22:00 In my post, 10 Clichés to live by, I alluded to a conversation in which I was asked why I am saving. For me, the question is puzzling because it is tantamount to being asked, “Why do you breath?” I save because I have to. What the askers are seeking is the object of my ... More About: America , Economics , Stories , Show , Tori
The derivatives bubble and investment banking orgy fueled by the global cre
2007-06-24 18:21:00 I have been writing about bubbles enough to make the world sound like a geothermal hot-pool in Yellowstone National Park. I mostly talk about the global stock market bubble, asset price bubbles, and the credit bubble. Today, I want to write about investment banking and something that Warren Buffet once called “financial weapons of mass ... More About: Economics , Investment , Global , Banking , Bubble
This week?s featured web site: Photos from northern Norway
2007-06-23 22:33:00 For Americans, traveling anywhere in the world has become expensive lately with the languishing dollar and global inflation. The greenback has declined nearly 7 percent against the Norwegian Krone year over year. While that might make a trip to beautiful Norway a pipe dream for some Americans, it won’t stop resourceful Americans from viewing the ... More About: Wordpress , Photos , Site , Week
My first true personal finance entry - my second entry into the world of cr
2007-06-23 02:58:00 My blog is my personal soapbox. Typically, I write about the numbers behind the numbers (i.e., the important numbers that the special-interest-sponsored financial media and government ignore or don’t report because it doesn’t tell the story that makes their sponsors rich). Occasionally, I throw a bone and give an investment idea. Rarely, I report something ... More About: Personal , Life , Personal Finance , Finance , World
The Federal Reserve believes inflation has been contained. My bank account
2007-06-22 04:19:00 I have written several columns about the economic impact of inflation and government’s misleading inflation statistics. While the Federal Reserve does not take into account the prices of food and energy when considering inflation, I will because those are two things people tend to buy in order to stay alive. The Federal Reserve considers food ... More About: Economics , Inflation , Bank , Account
Sinclair Lewis draws a picture of twenty first century America at the begin
2007-06-21 05:01:00 I’ve mentioned that I have been working a lot lately, so I decided to go to the library to get a book to unwind in the evening. I picked up two books: The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner and Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis . I was warned away from Faulkner by a good friend, ... More About: America , Books , Picture , Twenty
Why do kids do whip-its when they could try Sulfur Hexafluoride?
2007-06-20 03:21:00 I’ve been working longer hours at work this week (and will continue to do so for the rest of the week), so I haven’t been paying attention to the markets, economic indicators, or reports. I have some ideas in the pipeline, but they will have to wait until things calm down. Until then, settle for ... More About: Kids , Timeless , Whip
What will it take to bring down the Yen carry trade?
2007-06-13 17:02:00 The Yen carry trade truly is a bizarre creature. The carry is really a play on the Ministry of Finance/Bank of Japan’s assiduous care in keeping the Yen/Dollar relationship fairly stable and rate spreads. Low rates in Japan allow speculators to borrow on an absurd scale in Japan in invest in higher yielding assets abroad ... More About: Economics , Trade , Carry
A Dow Jones Industrial Average collapse could usher in a stronger Yen and k
2007-06-10 21:14:00 Foreign exchange markets are well outside of my circle of confidence?it?s like voodoo to me. Other than the certainty of a U.S. dollar collapse in the long term, I don?t know how to value currencies like stocks. Because of this, take this post as a pointer to an interesting phenomenon, not investment advice or ideas. In ... More About: Collapse , Usher , Dow Jones , Industrial , Investing
An investment idea that is under the radar - flipping web sites
2007-06-09 18:03:00 I?ve been toying with the idea of featuring a web site that I regularly visit once every week. The only problem that I see with this is that I could run out of web sites very quickly. This week, I want to take a look at an interesting web site that posits a non-traditional investing ... More About: Investment , Web Sites , Investing , Sites , Idea
New (relatively) incoming links
2007-06-09 18:02:00 This is just a shout-out to two new sites that have linked to me. I have been visiting several blogs in which people talk about their personal finances. Most of the personal finance blogs are journals in which people list their financial status (i.e., they list their assets, liabilities, and expenses) or write about their ... More About: Wordpress , Links , Ming
The mirage of wealth?How Americans? credit-acquired ?stuff? only makes them
2007-06-08 19:07:00 Pop quiz! If you have a BMW M5 parked in front of a McMansion with custom furniture and a couple of big-screen televisions, are you rich? It depends on how much debt was required to purchase all of that stuff. It seems like many Americans are fooling themselves (and their neighbors) into an illusion of ... More About: Economics , Wealth , Credit , Stuff
Speculative Bubble: IPO mania and LBO mania leave companies, hedge funds, o
2007-06-07 19:32:00 How do I know that we are in the middle of a market mania? I?ve mentioned a few things about low volatility, risk not being discounted, valuations, etc. Today, I want to mention two other things: IPO mania and M&A mania. Near the apex of a bubble, IPOs and mergers and acquisitions become more and ... More About: Economics , Companies , Leave , Bubble , Hedge
Falling production, a paucity of capital investment, over-consumption leave
2007-06-06 19:15:00 Over the past several years, my stock picks have beat all of the major U.S. indices. However, I don?t consider myself a stock picker. My performance record is short term and likely a product of investing in value companies during a bull market. I was speaking with a friend yesterday about my success investing in ... More About: Investment , Investing , Leave , Production , Invest
How overvalued is the NASDAQ 100 and how can you take advantage of the down
2007-06-05 19:52:00 Several of the users at stokblogs.com have been getting nervous about our credit bubble and have taken defensive positions in what they consider to be a dangerous market climate. The most recognized overvaluation in U.S. equities is the NASDAQ 100 index, which features the largest companies in the NASDAQ. I decided to do some research ... More About: Investing , Nasdaq , Value , The D , Advanta
Top Ten bizarre Google search terms that bring people here
2007-06-04 19:37:00 Google Analytics has the feature of allowing a site owner to view the search terms used to arrive at one?s web site. I was looking through them today to get an idea of which of my columns were drawing the most search traffic and noticed some really bizarre search terms. I?ve compiled a top-ten list ... More About: Google , People , Search , Google Search , Bizarre
Who will fund the government?s spending addiction? it looks like foreigners
2007-06-03 19:35:00 I mentioned that there is something I need to get off my chest before I start my vacation this week. It has to do with a segment on CNBC’s Kudlow and Company that I saw on Friday where the ethnocentric hyper-bulls suggested that there is no other place for foreign countries to invest their enormous ... More About: Economics , Government , Addiction , Spending , Fund
Vacation time; Changes; Readings
2007-06-03 01:39:00 Vacation To kick off my summer, I’m taking a vacation from work next week. Don’t count on insightful pieces (albeit, something happened on Friday that I might need to get off my chest). I have some web projects in my pipeline that I have been neglecting for a while. I need to get started on them ... More About: Life , Books , Readings , Time , Vacation
China tires of American IOUs; sets targets on equity and hard assets as Ame
2007-06-01 18:35:00 Several months ago, I read a book called Crash Proof, by Peter Schiff. In Crash Proof, Schiff argues that the United States economy is in a dying state hidden by misleading statistics such as ?core inflation? and GDP. Meanwhile, American s continue to support their dysfunctional lifestyles by falling farther and farther into debt. The past ... More About: Politics , China , Sets , Hard
The anti-inflationary monetary policy advocated by John Maynard Keynes; A l
2007-05-31 19:34:00 Yesterday, I wrote about the contemporary economic paradigm, where inflation is seen as a positive economic stimulus and is practiced religiously (and conveniently) by modern central banks. Today, I want to take a look at inflation from a Keynesian perspective. John Maynard Keynes considered money supply growth equal to taxation, ?just as much taken from ... More About: Politics , Monetary Policy , Policy , Anti
The source of inflation is bad monetary policy; A look at inflation Part I
More articles from this author:2007-05-30 19:09:00 Bad policy can only become public policy with the complicity of the people. One need only recall the concentration of power in Washington, D.C. during recent years by means of a very simple device?rhetoric. Rally terms like ?freedom? and ?liberty? are expedient and subversive means of corralling the masses into the nationalistic group-think required to ... More About: Politics , Monetary Policy , Inflation , Source , Policy 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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