Clipmarks | egoldstein's clips

What it actually means to "print more money"

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:53:47 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Crazy times we're living in. Something tells me that my kids will be reading about this period when they're in high school and college (in 15 years or so) and it won't be pretty. We're going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Clip Source: www.kitco.com

Congress found that they could buy votes by the simple act of creating paper currency. The paper currency has undergone lots of evolution since then. With the birth of the computer, they don’t even have to print anything. Only about five percent of the so-called Money Supply is actually minted, printed or coined. The rest of it is on the computers of banks.

Politicians found they could buy votes by simply creating more receipts through modern means. That’s where we are now.

Congress is engaging in an orgy of vote-buying, driven by socialist dogma. That’s what is at stake with this crazy attempt to create $700 billion to buy up defunct mortgages.

Tags: money, inflation, economy

Solution to the economic crisis?

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:34:06 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Are the same things being done to get us out of this mess the same things that got us into it in the first place? Seeing the market go down hundreds of points after the bill was passed had to be a very disappointing thing to the people who voted for the bailout.

Clip Source: bigpicture.typepad.com

"Low interest rates, easy money and malleable accounting rules are what plunged Wall Street into crisis. Yet it is low interest rates, easy money and malleable accounting rules that top the list of federal fixes. The unifying theme of the new bailout bill, all 451 pages of it, is the hair of the dog that bit you.

Tags: economy, bailout

Here's an interesting solution...

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:30:00 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: With all the negotiating going on in Washington to save the U.S. (and perhaps global) economy, here's a suggestion that seemed clipworthy.

I'm not smart enough to know how to get out of this mess, but i fear that the people making decisions right now aren't either.

Clip Source: www.cnbc.com

"My friend suggested what would be much cheaper -- go in and buy a million homes in the United States and burn them down. Because that will reduce the supply. Of course it is an economic nonsense solution, but it is as good as the Treasury's proposal," Faber quipped.

Tags: credit crisis, housing bust, meltdown, marc faber

Is $700B $500B short?

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:38:40 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Geez...these numbers are simply too large to comprehend.

Clip Source: www.cnbc.com

The banking system needs another $500 billion to survive beyond the $700 billion rescue plan being contemplated by Congress, said Pimco founder Bill Gross.

Bill Gross

Tags: bailout, bill gross, markets

A classic!! "No worries, we're with AIG"

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:46:20 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: To think that this commercial is only month's old...man how things change. And my goodness, if this doesn't show how full of shit most advertising is!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: aig

Socialism in America

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:55:40 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I'm reluctant to form an opinion on the proposal out of Washington to save us from disaster, as i don't know all the facts and i'm not smart enough to understand all the ramifications. However, i'm very disturbed and frightened by the fact that our government has deemed it necessary to drastically override the free market system and force upon us their solution. My gut tells me that can't end well.

Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

“The free market for all intents and purposes is dead in America,” said Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky. The proposal would “take away the free market and institute socialism in America”, he said.

Tags: capitalism, free markets, socialism, bailouts, jim bunning

Kudlow on the banning of short sellers

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:08:00 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I don't usually agree with him, but on this point i think Larry Kudlow is spot on!

Clip Source: www.cnbc.com

The decision by SEC Chairman Chris Cox to ban short selling is a terrible idea. It is an encroachment on free-market principles.

In extreme, the absence of short sellers would inflate stock market upturns, probably into bubbles. Short sellers keep the market honest.

Tags: larry kudlow, short selling, stock market

"Heaven help us all"

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:29:54 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Geez...

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

One day later, Mr. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sped to Congress to seek approval for the biggest government intervention in financial markets since the 1930s. In a private meeting with lawmakers, according to a person present, one asked what would happen if the bill failed.

"If it doesn't pass, then heaven help us all," responded Mr. Paulson, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Tags: economy, paulson, bailouts

No free lunch

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:23:39 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Scary times. In addition to all the intervention that's taking place right now, the fact that strong restrictions on short selling were also put into place makes this seem like a rigged market place. Personally, i'm very scared about the repercussions of all this.

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Authorities that can be bypassed in times of stress are not real authorities. Laws that are suspended when push comes to shove are not real laws. Whether this is true in all places and times, it is true for those Americans who believed, up until this week, that they were living in a capitalist country. Having been lectured that there is no such thing as a free lunch, they are coming to suspect that there is now no such thing as a free economy, either.

Tags: economy, government intervention, bailout

Paulson to the rescue...so much for free markets

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:11:04 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I honestly don't know enough to know whether the federal bailouts we're seeing are good ideas that will help the economy. But i do know enough to know that they are contrary to everything a free, open, capitalist economy stands for. And that freaks me out...because i just can't imagine how bad things must be out there that free market politicians are supporting these types of government intervention.

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Paulson's critics tend to be strong believers in unfettered markets who say that the Treasury Secretary has overreacted, lurching from crisis to crisis without considering the consequences of government's expanded role. To these people the very qualities that enable him to have an impact - his pragmatism, his nonpartisan instincts, his bias for action - look like a willingness to be infinitely flexible. "I'm quite disappointed," says Peter Wallison, a former Reagan administration Treasury official and an expert on Fannie and Freddie. "He certainly isn't a believer in free markets." Others go further: "America is more communist than China right now," declared maverick investor Jim Rogers. "This is welfare for the rich."

Tags: economy, bailout, paulson

In China we trust

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:50:22 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Now that the U.S. government has bailed out a number of our largest financial institutions, Morgan Stanley is turning to China. The irony is that when our government bails out Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, AIG, etc., they get the money from China too. So either way, this whole freaking mess on Wall Street is resulting in the U.S. becoming more and more indebted to China.

Clip Source: www.cnbc.com

Morgan Stanley -- one of the two last independent, U.S.-based investment banks -- is negotiating with the Chinese government for a fresh infusion of funds into the beleaguered investment bank.

Tags: morgan stanley, wall street, china, credit crisis

McCain "has become the sort of politician he once despised"

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:59:50 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: This criticism comes from a long-time supporter of John McCain in today's Washington Post.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains -- his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that's all -- but just as honorably. No more, though.

His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for.

Tags: politics, mccain

Are we experiencing a modernized bank run?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:24:59 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I honestly find the whole situation too confusing to have any conviction about one way or the other. But to see Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers all basically get wiped out tells suggests that survival is now the number one priority.

Greed...it's an essential part of our system, but it sure does hurt when it goes to extremes.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

But in the aftermath of the housing bust and the resulting mortgage crisis, it seems apparent that risk wasn’t so much reduced as hidden: all too many investors had no idea how exposed they were.

we’re talking about frantic phone calls and mouse clicks, as financial players pull credit lines and try to unwind counterparty risk. But the economic effects — a freezing up of credit, a downward spiral in asset values — are the same as those of the great bank runs of the 1930s.

Tags: lehman brothers, wall street, business, finance, bank run

Will it be a Palin Presidency?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:16:51 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Would Palin be to McCain what Cheney is to Bush? An interesting question/observation by Frank Rich in today's NY Times.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The question today: What kind of president would Sarah Palin be?

It’s an urgent matter, because if we’ve learned anything from the G.O.P. convention and its aftermath, it’s that the 2008 edition of John McCain is too weak to serve as America’s chief executive.

No longer able to remember his principles any better than he can distinguish between Sunnis and Shia, McCain stands revealed as a guy who can be easily rolled by anyone who sells him a plan for “victory,” whether in Iraq or in Michigan. A McCain victory on Election Day will usher in a Palin presidency, with McCain serving as a transitional front man, an even weaker Bush to her Cheney.

Tags: sarah palin, mccain, politics, election

Republican strategist:Palin did "as well as could be expected"

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:05:27 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: What does this mean? A lot of pressure? A lot of eyeballs? Is the Republican strategist who said this basically saying that she did well for someone with no experience and no idea what she's talking about?

Sarah Palin, if elected, will be in line to serve as President of the United States. Seriously, if this were a job interview, there is no doubt that the employer would see through her answers and realize that she was either trying to recall memorized answers or making stuff up.

Why in the world is an interview with the potential Vice President of the United States less difficult than a job interview?

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

"I think she did well, as well as could be expected. There was a lot of pressure, a lot of eyeballs on her. ...

Tags: sarah palin, vice president, politics, election