A broad index of commodities, as tracked by IndexMundi.com (great site), is up 252% in the last 10 years.
So when an influential idiot like Christina Romer says, “the spectre of inflation is quickly fading”, as she did on Bloomberg TV recently, it makes one wonder. What is the time period these people are looking at? A week? A month? Only ones when commodities are down?
Stop to consider the fact that these price increases have occurred despite stagnant wages (the Keynesian’s preferred deflation argument being that inflation cannot occur without matching wage hikes) AND crawling money-velocity since the crunch. No matter what the Fed does, it is screwed going forward.
Tighten? Raise rates. Crush increasingly credit-dependent zombie economy (and banks, for some reason the Fed seems to favor the institutions who own it)
Expand lending? Massive inflation, continuation of zombie economy.
If I had my pick, I would of course go #1. Every time. But that’s not likely to be the case (for a while yet).
And regarding investment choices today, they’re a bit like a school cafeteria; sh1tty choices, but clear winners. I am looking to buy more precious metals and foreign bonds (pizza & french fries).
Another great interview with Jim Rogers, one of the few truth-tellers who continues to get MSM air time. Here he talks with Larry Kudlow, who brings up an important issue — whether the EU will eventually follow the Federal Reserve in their currency devaluation strategy. Other topics discussed: Fed lies, M2 money supply exploding, looming (potentially disastrous) global inflation.
I took advantage of the recent dip in silver prices, bought more. There are few things I want to own today more than gold & silver bullion. Global printing just getting ramped up. Bad as things are today, I believe this is the calm before the storm.
U.S. politicians from both sides of the aisle are lining up to support possible trade sanctions and tariffs on China. Apparently the enthralled ignorami we call our “representatives” are reacting to China’s currency manipulation (as if Tim G. & the gang are helpless bystanders in the global currency wars).
Rogers warns against such economic blunders, noting “We had a trade war in the 1930′s, it led to the Great Depression.”
Shortly after that bludgeoning remark, Rogers adds “We already have small signs of trade wars breaking out in Brazil, France, other places, now America. This could be very dangerous in the end.”
Use the search function (top-right) to find more Jim Rogers stuff. Lots of videos in the archive from this wise investor.
So glad somebody did this. I saw Dick Morris on Bill O’Reilly’s show, attacking Ron Paul. When he spewed this nonsense about the gold standard I almost lost it, “[Ron Paul] is literally saying the USA economy should only be allowed to grow as much as gold is extracted from the earth”. Such a misinformed, ignorant view of the monetary system.
