But Trefoil is an "expert" as he wants all of us to believe. He probably spent too many years in an ivory tower as well since he seems to have the same diseased mentality of every other asshat who thinks that we can print our way to prosperity. And you got one thing right Tinfoil, dead is dead. All those other calamities the US survived must look great in hindsight as they become footnotes in a century long war-economy. I guess you were fortunate to sidestep all the landmines along the way.
Making claims and casting aspersions are easy to do and if one has wealth there is an assumed validity to them. Especially when done from afar. I would like to see Marc Faber make the same claims at a different location with data to see if he still has the moxie. Don't forget his back ground when hearing his remarks, you have to take with a spoon of salt. Akuma
Faber, like the other pundits, is a total waste of time. That said, it is a golden era to be a doom and gloom seer. It seems hard to be wrong.
This is hilarious. If you can find a place where I ever made a claim to being an expert on anything other than what I have work experience in, which is Fed Funds as used by the large banks, and fx and money markets as used by the large banks, please post it. As far as I remember, I didn't make a claim to being an expert there either, I merely posted what I observed during my time. However, if I look like an expert, you might want to ask yourself why. I make only one claim: I know the basics. That's it. I didn't get my education by reading the crap on mises.org. Sorry. I'm not surprised if that makes me look like an expert around here. It wouldn't take much.
Chill out guys! It is the season of love and hope for the new year and all that stuff. Focus on the discussion at hand. I want to hear from the bulls how we can grow out of this mess when we are primarily a service based industry. Everywhere I look manufacturing is packing up and moving overseas. What will this do to the unemployment? How can we continue to support the welfare programs and forever extend benefits?
Baron (elitetrader owner) has information about this investment. If you are happy with 30% or 40% per annum. I can help. Those who give wounds they also provide medicine to heal it.
Regarding trefoil's last post... Of course, the PMI is a survey, right? So at least we have signs of confidence returning in some areas. That's a first step. I hope it isn't overconfidence.
Gross debt will almost always be increasing as wealth created increases. That is just how it works. However, debt in comparison to gdp gives you a better idea of how burdensome the debt load is to the economy. According to the graph attached we are not at a historical high. Would our debt-gdp growth rate concern me? Yes. But with a little political will this situation can be fixed. JFK demonstrated that growth was the easiest way to reduce the debt load. I agree that treasuries are prime for a popping. But this is the United States. As has been pointed out already we have survived some crazy situations throughout our history. Is this really the worst we have seen? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDebt.png Obama has already talked about tax reform and a potential compromise with Republicans. The proposal included a broader tax base, lowering corporate taxes, abolishing mortgage interest deductions, and working towards cutting entitlements. The proposal brings current account deficits down to 400B and reduces to debt load over time as these policies stimulate growth. This is the solution. It is a very fiscally conservative pro business solution. The fact that it is being proposed by Obama is ironic, but welcome. This board loves to focus on the potential catastrophic outcomes. But are these rants productive? Do they garner you a profit? All we can do is have faith in God and be productive until He takes us home. Although they are a great addition to any portfolio, silver and gold will not save you from an end of the world scenario.
you won't continually see high inflation, lower trashed dollar AND reducing manufacturing in the U.S. at the same time. Don't people get it? A trashed dollar means other countries buy from us. It means U.S and foreign corporations start building and manufacturing here (forced to because of lower dollar.)