Bernanke assaults the dollar
 

Obama comes out two weeks ago and starts talking about what great long-term buys stocks are even though they'd been tanking every single day. Followed right up by that douche Larry Summers raving about how smart it is to go long on stocks now. Geniuses they are .. comments sounded totally irresponsible and curious to me at the time.. but hey, stocks are up almost 20% just like that - and it feels like a rigged game .. but I know nothing about that... and thank god.

This dingleberry Bernanke is trying to turn the US dollar into toilet paper .. printing up over $1 trillion more .. in an instant .. TLT soars way up, Gold takes a massive reversal today, was down 3.5% at one point during the day - and is up signficantly now. The dollar just got totally plunger raped.

The $812 profit I made with my first bet today on Tampa race #1 still has me a clear-cut overall loser for the day when adjusted for inflation .. because Bernanke and his pwecious wittle economy.

Buying Mortgage backed securities is not printing $ and ultimately will be profitable for the government. Especially if they buy some of the higher rate securities they can make a quick profit on their $. Financials and the stock market are rallying due to Mark to Market fixes and the fact that things eventually hit a bottom and had to go up. This is not like most government programs this will make the Gov't $ unlike every other program/stimulus that is just government spending....

Bzzzzzzzzzz. They are now buying treasuries. That is printing money and is incredibly inflationary. Infation does not make you wealthier. It steals wealth. The market went down today in real terms. And buying treasuries is a sure way to end in Weimar Germany like situation, aka government changing.

They are buying $300 billion of long term treasuries. The majority of the $ they are talking about is buying Mortgage backed securities in an effort to keep mortgage rates low to allow people to refinance their current mortgages into lower rates and or help stimulate the purchase of new homes. The Fed has already purchased $250 billion approximately of MBS and they will buy another $1 trillion in MBS which will make $ for the government. I agree that inflation scares the living crap out of me, but I don't think it is as bad as people think.

in addition to buying the Treasuries, they did say this;

"The Fed also said it will buy more mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help that battered market. The central bank will buy an additional $750 billion, bringing its total purchases of these securities to $1.25 trillion. It also will boost its purchase of Fannie and Freddie debt to $200 billion"

I know the claim is that they will make money doing this, but isn't the problem that you can't determine what the correct price should be for these securities? so there is the risk is that they'll pay too much.

i'm still struck by all the posts about inflation when the immediate threat is deflation.

if the government did this in a growing economy it would be inflationary. but the economy isn't growing. in all likelihood the world economy will shrink in 2009 for the 1st time since ww2.

i don't know of more than a small minority of economists that isn't behind this approach. they've cut the fed funds rate as low as they can. this is the next logical step.

i saw today that core inflation in february was 0.2%. that's after fed fund rates were cut as close to zero as possible 6 months ago (something that would be hugely inflationary in a growing economy).

stop worrying about water damage. we need to put the fire out.

No we don't. What we badly need is pain. Real genuine pain that is felt throughout the whole global economy.

In a perfect world - only those great many who behaved irresponcibly the last several years should have to feel the pain... but that's not how it works and the whole economic system should feel it. When you inevitably bounce back from real suffering - people will behave more responcibly overall.

Keep injecting pain killers into a race horse - tap and block this - tap and block that - you might solve the temporary problems and have an unsound horse capable of running to it's best form. But, running well or not, you still have an unsound horse! - and sooner or later you'll destroy the horse.

Give depression a chance.

Bernanke is a big player at leading us into this mess - and over $1 trillion dollars was created out of thin air by him yesterday. There's no shortage of cash to lend .. there's a shortage of the will to lend it.

The Fed buying $300 billion worth of crap treasuries isn't "putting out the fire" - from a long term standpoint - it's throwing gas on a burning fire.

drugs it's seems like it's too late , look at who is advising obama , who was at the grassroots effort , who is out there that is going to short the usd into oblivian and make a bundle ????

bought gold years ago, its doubled. bought more at the beginning of the year, its up about another $130 since. its so bad they contracted printers in other countries to keep up pace. i have silver too. if things get bad enough the dollar bill will be a cheap way to wipe your a$$. i hope it works but its doubtful. once inflation starts its the kind of thing that snowballs fast.

you are correct about this , we can't print the $$ fast eneough in this country, we have to outsource printing USD to foreign countries , the printing presses are running 24/7 not only here but overseas as well

we are not going to be able to spend/print our way out of these problems

I'm giving up on doing all handicapping work after Wood Memorial/SA Derby day which is April 4th.

I'm basically laying myself off of the only job I've ever had - betting on horses. I've closed all but one account.

I'm sure as hell not going to be all-in with the US dollar anymore. I've started taking a good deal of my cash and moving it into a mix of other investments for now. I've benefited some from this economic mess while a lot of people have got hit - and now I'm getting out before I get decimated. Holding all cash was a never a strategy either - I benifted incidentally because of the major emotional stabilizer a big cash bankroll is to a horse bettor.

I'm totally changing direction with my life mostly because of how disgusted I am with what I see as how other people take advantage of a perverted system while I get all the worst of it.

People value stuff like security and social life. I have zero security - and am in front of a tv or computer at least 12 hours a day - 7 days a week - most of the year. Tedious, hard, and socially suicidal work.

People spend money they don't have, buy stuff they can't afford, American way don't ya know? I'm swimming in cash - and cutting coupons, eating cheap food, run down totally slummy appt just off of 26th street, and in a junker without insurance.

I don't believe anyone could ever do what I have for as long as I have. The combo of tremendous luck and good fortune years ago, tremendous hard work, tremendous skill, tremendous disregard for security, and tremendous cheap ass tight waddedness has allowed me to do what is close to impossible. It's not like I had a big starting bankroll. It's not like I have some fancy formal education to fall back on either in case I bustout. Or some inheritance or future trust fund. I've never had my bankroll supplamented by working as a jocks agent or for a track - I have got paid by a local paper and was a teller for a short time many years ago - but thats it. Have won a few handicapping contests & got put up nice by another bettor for a big P6 I picked for him - but it's come real hard.

Once I stop doing the work - I'm going to have an insane amount of free time. Maybe I can find clever and devious ways to run circles around the system and get rich like a good little businessman. If not, so what. I'd feel like I was real lucky and happy and doing what I most want to be doing - but I hate being forced into the dead 10 path the whole way while most everyone else gets to run wild on a paved rail.

wait...what?!?

you and johnny think the fed increases the money supply by physically printing it?

the money supply is increased by loosening credit. it's done by pushing buttons on a keyboard, the same way preposterous idea's are minted on the internet.

there's about $1 trillion cash in circulation right now, the same as there always is.

they print money to replace what is taken out of circulation. where on earth did you get the idea we were having dollars printed overseas?

oh..I don't know...the internet:rolleyes:

i have a frined in the printing business , the machines are running 24/7 and they can't handle all of it in this country the have to outsource it:p

Is there anything there for horseplayers who scratch and claw for what little they have - and just got hit with Bernanke stealing thousands of dollars from them?

Soak the rich with taxes if you must ... to assault someone like me - who does everything right and doesn't have much - solely because the rich and middle-class and poor all behaved irresponsibly .. it's a total fucl<ing crime.

Maybe this will help.

http://market-ticker.org/archives/87...-In-Mouth.html

there is no way you can convince me that any entity other than the bureau of printing and engraving prints our currency- and 95% of what's printed is to replace worn out bills.

He's an extreme right wing economist...you expected something else from him?

Good luck with that. He's not right wing, he's right. Is Mish rightwing also? Oh wait, you just read morons like Krugman I guess.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogsp...continues.html

Randall....I thought you were above the "moron" sh*t..guess not

Krugman's a moron. Not you.

Did you stop and think that maybe he's in a serious bromance with Krugie-bear?

Nah....i haven't moved on from Favre yet

I'm certainly not right wing and certainly far from an economist.

Why is this not morally wrong? Why don't they just drowned the mega rich with tax increases if they want to find people to pay for the mistakes of others?

I've argued it's a bad long term move from an economic standpoint - and would have done the same if I had zero dollars.

This shouldn't be about political views. Mine are like a mix of 50% liberal, 40% libertarian, 6% Genghis Khan, and 4% Karl Marx.

Based on what you've posted this morning, I hope you have help digging your bunker....I get your point, but if it's not political, it sure seems to line up that way

Myopic to think any party is right or wrong.

Truth is we've needed a third party of substance in this country for a decade or more. I voted for Nader in the last 3 elections.

Good ideas can come from anywhere. I like some repubs and dems. The ones who understand that debt is what got us here and debt and taxation will not get us out.

I would say Ritholz and Rosenberg are pretty liberal actually.


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03...es-the-button/

I will definitely be going to the strip club for the first time in a while tonight and in the near future. The girls there probably don't know that the dollar took a beating - and might be on it's way to becoming toilet paper in the future. But hey, I know as much about line dancing as I do about the economy.

I don't know what I'll be doing after the Wood Memorial. But if things start looking up - the T-Shirt business is the first place I'm looking in my new quest to get rich.

The right wingers should make this political and score points. Though Bush appointed Bernanke...and much of this mess is on Bush.

you might want to invest in pitch-forks and torches, maybe Bunkers-R-Us.

You cant simply disagree with everything because the person is "right wing". Much of what he is saying has a lot of truth and relevance. Whether or not his outlook is too pessimistic or not remains to be seen but it isnt as though he doesnt have a very good case here.

How about just outlawing all marriages as a start?

2 seperate taxpayers and all

just like seeing Cubs

at least this season. Sry for the hijack

it's time steve for obama to pick the cubs for the world series

only if he leaves his Sox. They get close he will