RSS
 

Archive for February, 2017

Sabbatical Day 36

21 Feb

Reviewed more Greenspan congressional testimony about the economy and monetary policy.  Started reading David Stockman’s latest book, Trumped, which contains many charts and graphs of the financial bubbles.

 
Comments Off on Sabbatical Day 36

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Bubblemania?  

21 Feb

Source: Nasdaq Now More Overbought Than At 2000 Bubble Peak

 
Comments Off on Bubblemania?  

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Break Up the USA

21 Feb

Decentralize America.  Let the people decide what they want in their states and communities.  

“Some of our assumptions are so deeply embedded that we cannot perceive them ourselves.”

Source: Break Up the USA

 
Comments Off on Break Up the USA

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Another Clueless Economist

21 Feb

Robert Wenzel takes down Jeffrey Sachs.  

 
Comments Off on Another Clueless Economist

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Meanwhile, Rioting Breaks Out In Sweden

20 Feb

Source: Meanwhile, Rioting Breaks Out In Sweden

 
Comments Off on Meanwhile, Rioting Breaks Out In Sweden

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sabbatical Day 35

20 Feb

Finished reading Fleckenstein’s  Greenspan’s Bubbles.  The Maestro’s analysis of the economy during his 19 years as head of the Federal Reserve was one embarrassing episode after another.  In addition, he admitted the economy’s future was uncertain but the Fed would manipulate interest rates as if they knew how the economy was going to perform,

Read additional Greenspan congressional testimony from the 1990s.  I should read it at night because they are real snoozers.

 
Comments Off on Sabbatical Day 35

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Say Goodbye to ‘Getting Along With Russia’ – Trump’s NSC Pick McMaster is a Major Hawk

20 Feb

Source: Say Goodbye to ‘Getting Along With Russia’ – Trump’s NSC Pick McMaster is a Major Hawk

 
Comments Off on Say Goodbye to ‘Getting Along With Russia’ – Trump’s NSC Pick McMaster is a Major Hawk

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Nestle Joins Thousands Of Companies Leaving California Over Anti-Capitalist Lawmakers and Activists

20 Feb

Will an exodus hollow out California?  

Source: Nestle Joins Thousands Of Companies Leaving California Over Anti-Capitalist Lawmakers and Activists

 
Comments Off on Nestle Joins Thousands Of Companies Leaving California Over Anti-Capitalist Lawmakers and Activists

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Alan Greenspan: Ron Paul Was Right About The Gold Standard

20 Feb

“When I was Chair of the Federal Reserve I used to testify before US Congressman Ron Paul… we had some interesting discussions… We would never have reached this position of extreme indebtedness were we on the gold standard, because the gold standard is a way of ensuring that fiscal policy never gets out of line.”

Source: Alan Greenspan: Ron Paul Was Right About The Gold Standard

 
Comments Off on Alan Greenspan: Ron Paul Was Right About The Gold Standard

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Is 50% of Western Central Bank Gold gone? | Matterhorn – GoldSwitzerland

20 Feb

“Is 50% of Western Central Bank Gold gone? By Egon von Greyerz We have recently had some significant news about the sovereign gold market that makes the unclarity even more unclear. Central banks an…”

Source: Is 50% of Western Central Bank Gold gone? | Matterhorn – GoldSwitzerland

 
Comments Off on Is 50% of Western Central Bank Gold gone? | Matterhorn – GoldSwitzerland

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sabbatical Day 33

19 Feb

Day off from reading.  Did some shopping at Costco and Vitamin Shoppe.  60º + weather was greatly appreciated.  Winters are getting harder to cope with.  A little global warming is a good thing.

 
Comments Off on Sabbatical Day 33

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Bill Gates: Economic Ignoramus

19 Feb

Robert Wenzel takes down the multibillionaire.  

 
Comments Off on Bill Gates: Economic Ignoramus

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sabbatical Day 32

18 Feb

Spent an hour in the gym for the first time in two weeks.  Wrote a brief review of Phil Murphy’s gubernatorial agenda.  Not market friendly.  Will get back to my readings on Monday.

 

 
Comments Off on Sabbatical Day 32

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s Next Governor?

18 Feb

This is the first in a series of articles about New Jersey’s gubernatorial candidates. Today I will do a very brief overview of Phil Murphy’s agenda for New Jersey.

On Phil Murphy’s website his bio page touts his service as US ambassador to Germany and finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee. However, his bio omits that he was a high-ranking executive at Goldman Sachs, which some people consider the epicenter of crony capitalism in America.

In fact, dozens of books have been written out Wall Street has provided scores of individuals who have served in both Democratic and Republican administrations for the past hundred years during which the welfare-warfare sate has been cemented on the American people.

In another words, Wall Street is not the bastion a free enterprise and limited government that some make it out to be. Instead, the cronies on Wall Street have been the beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies and the federal governments outrageous spending on domestic and International programs.

One of the linchpins of Murphy’s agenda is the creation of a “public bank.” Below is the exact proposal from his website:

A Public Bank to Invest Directly in New Jersey — and for New Jersey

New Jersey currently deposits billions of dollars in state revenues in Wall Street and foreign banks — which overwhelmingly do not invest in New Jersey’s communities. Phil will take that money out of Wall Street and put it to work for New Jersey — creating jobs and growing the economy — through an innovative new public bank to make critical investments in our state and its people. By using state deposits to finance local investments, the Public Bank will support billions of dollars of critical investments in infrastructure, small businesses, and student loans — saving our residents money and returning all profits to the taxpayers.

 Murphy’s proposal is eerily similar to plank number five in The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

Although Murphy is not proposing a national bank, a public bank is no different than what Karl Marx wanted, namely, a centralized financial institution controlled by the public, which for all intents and purposes today means career politicians.

Murphy reveals his naïveté and obtuseness in this proposal. Creating a state bank in New Jersey –or in any other state for that matter–is like putting dozens of nymphomaniacs on a submarine and telling them to behave themselves.

For the past 20 years politicians in Trenton have wasted billions of dollars on auto emissions tests, school construction projects, taken on billions of dollars of debt without voter approval, and put taxpayers in the hole for tens of billions of dollars by not funding the state workers pension plans. Furthermore, the Trenton crowd made one of the greatest land grabs in the history of the state with the Highlands Act and continues to engage in the most massive redistribution of income from suburban taxpayers to urban school districts.

And Murphy has the audacity to call for more of our taxpayer dollars to be controlled by the Trenton spendthrifts. This is unconscionable.

Phil Murphy’s call for a state bank is “democratic socialism” on steroids. In fact, a case could be made that Phil should change his name to Marxist Murphy, which would accurately reflect his collectivist ideology.

 

 

 
Comments Off on Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s Next Governor?

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sabbatical Day 31

17 Feb

Reviewed several articles by supply siders and monetarists about the bubbles.  Started reading William Fleckenstein’s book Greenspan’s Bubbles.  Insightful book about the Maestro’s policies during the 1990s and the 2000s.

 

 
Comments Off on Sabbatical Day 31

Posted in Uncategorized