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Greatest Economic Fear May Be Fear Itself
Need to see the gloom and doom dropped
In order to get the economic stimulus and bank-debt bailout plans passed at all, let alone with any swiftness, I can understand there was a need to crank up the level of urgency, the level of fear of what would happen if something isn’t done.
So every press release, speech, or interview by both sides during the long election campaign, and in the three months since the election, has focused on how bleak the economic situation is, how it will deteriorate further for quite some time even if the bailout plans are implemented, and…
How We Got Here: It was a Deliberate Policy
Source: The Gold Report
Adrian Day’s reputation for discovering big winners adds credibility to the global investing pioneer’s insights, which he is sharing with The Gold Report via excerpts from recent articles in Adrian Day’s Global Analyst. Discussing in Part 1 what led to the current crisis, he noted that the same folks who caused the problem by initiating unsustainable credit practices seem to have taken charge of trying to resolve it. Expanding on that point, he now calls attention to the government’s role in creating – or at least aggravating – the mortgage mess that precipitated the credit…
17Oct2008 | The Gold Report | Comments Off | ContinuedDow Zooms to Record Gain Yesterday on Reports The Government Will Reveal Banking Bailout Plan Details Early Today
U.S. stocks yesterday (Monday) staged their biggest rally since the Great Depression – with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring an all-time record 936 points – on a Federal Reserve-led push to flood the ailing global financial system with dollars and on a U.S. government plan to buy stakes in banks.
The rally was sparked by commitments from the major financial nations to cooperate in getting the credit markets functioning again, and by news that U.S. officials were putting the finishing touches on Washington’s version of a rescue plan under which the U.S. Treasury Department will invest an estimated $125 billion in…
14Oct2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedBear bet that netted £141m throws fresh suspicion on collapse
It seems that Wall St. are trying to blame the straw for breaking the camel’s back. As The Independent report today:
Suspicion over the collapse of Bear Stearns is centring on a massive options trade, less than two weeks before the historic investment bank went under in March, by which a single investor made a profit of more than $270m (£141m) on a bet against the company’s share price.
In a “whodunnit†that has gripped Wall Street for months, many traders and senior executives at Bear Stearns have become convinced the firm was brought down by a conspiracy of rivals and hedge…
13Aug2008 | The Gold Blog | Comments Off | ContinuedWith Fannie/Freddie Bailout Plan, Treasury Secretary Paulson is Armed and Dangerous
With the nation’s financial infrastructure crumbling before our very eyes, the country’s top two economic policymakers made their way to Congress last week for an extraordinary episode of political theater.
Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the quasi-government entities that form the backbone of America’s gargantuan mortgage market, appeared to be cracking. To the somewhat bewildered members of Congress, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson offered radical bailout remedies to save the lenders. Despite the fact that the proposed policies would thoroughly redefine America’s supposedly capitalistic pedigree, the moves were presented as wholly inevitable, and in the end, benevolent and…
25Jul2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedA New Wave of Congressionally Mandated Energy Profits Is Just Around the Corner
Congress is talking about going after oil speculators in an effort to lower prices by limiting the amount of money flowing into oil contracts.
We realize that they’re upset, but they’re going about this the wrong way. What’s more, they’re demonstrating a near complete ignorance as to how financial markets actually work.
It doesn’t help that they’ve got energy analysts from some of the top firms telling them the price of oil could drop as low as $65 to $75 per barrel, bringing gas down to around $2 per gallon within 30 days of legislation that puts limits on speculation.
While we normally…
24Jun2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedA NATIONAL POLITICAL BROWNOUT, PART I
Although I don’t always agree with the views of columnist Thomas Friedman, I couldn’t agree more with his criticism of US energy policies. In a recent article entitled “The energy to be serious”, he takes Hillary Clinton and John McCain to task for their suggestion that the federal excise tax on gasoline be suspended this summer
According to Friedman, “It is great to see that we Americans finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead the United States, it takes your breath away.
“Hillary Clinton has decided to line…
12Jun2008 | Daily Reckoning | Comments Off | ContinuedTo the Members of Congress: The Only Three Moves That Will Stop the Oil Price Advance
An Open Letter to Congress:
First there was the trillion-dollar pork fest for energy.
Then there was the decision to go with corn-based ethanol.
Now, Congress has voted to stop adding oil to the national Strategic Petroleum Reserve (which was created in the 1970s to smooth out pricing disruptions and supply problems).
Talk about missing the point!
Sure you could argue that by putting less into the strategic reserves we could take some of the pressure off price… and by implication help bring it down from its record level at more than $130 a barrel.
I mean it sure sounds good in theory, especially in an…
22May2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | Continued
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