It’s Probably Nothing

11 Replies to “It’s Probably Nothing”

1. There isn’t a headline to be seen on Bloomberg regarding this story. There’s little wonder that more and more investors are turning to websites like Zero Hedge to try and gain a more balanced perspective on what’s going on in the financial world.

2. A little more inflation needed?
   I’ll just open this valve a …
   Oops!

3. Money in the bank seems risky, how much will it really buy us tomorrow, next month, next year?
   My grandfather sold a horse and bought a pair of shoes with the money a week later in 1930’s Europe.
   Serious question: if we want to make a large purchase, like a vehicle, should we do it sooner rather than later?

4. TSE and NYS taking a rad hose beating today, except for Hewlett-Packard. Both US and Cdn bank stocks are not happy. Hope this isn’t the big correction. The US strategy of printing money 24/7 is will eventually ruin the Western world.

5. The Niponese Yen has been a basket case currency for decades due to ridiculous monetization – also every major Japan-based corporation is capitalized through the national bank and the national currency. Expect frequent market sell offs and spikes as foreign investors (mostly ME Oil money)using stronger currency have their way with the Japanese market and corporate stocks.

6. …Leaving Japanese benchmark index up only 40% YTD and up 70% for 1 Yr. Even an unhedged position in this index by a Canadian investor would have him ahead by 26% YTD and about 40% for one year.

7. So is this the part where “they run out of other people’s money to spend”?

8. The Japanese have curiously refused for over 20 years now to address their embarrassing banking problems…that is the big shoe that has not yet dropped. Huge amounts of nonperforming loans in Japan are simply being rolled over by their banks, recapitalized with the unpaid interest added on to the principal amount. It cannot possibly go on forever.
   When the economy in Thailand collapsed in 1996, the government of the day took the bit between their teeth, forcibly collapsed insolvent banks, and created a new structure of two entities: “good bank and bad bank” and rolled everything into one or the other of the two entities. I worked there on that project for 18 months under contract, along with about 300 other North Americans. But it worked, and the Thai economy is now thriving.
   Japan is strangely delaying the inevitable…whether it is a matter of national pride or not, I have no idea. But I have investments in Asian securities, but have told my advisor to put nothing into anything based in Japan.

9. News from zerohedge probably is nothing.

10. Yeah..
    And when Ben Berntankie stops printing Monopoly Money the American Stock Market will tank through 900 points like a hand-basket headed for hell.

11. @Fred:
    They won’t run out of other people’s money to spend.
    That’s the “beauty” of fiat currencies. If you control a currency, you can legally steal most of other people’s money *without it leaving their pockets*. It’s called inflation. If you print money in a controlled, disciplined way, you have an abundant supply of money at the expense of everyone who uses your currency.
    If, on the other hand, you print money in vast quantities, you end up destroying the currency, and you and the holders of your currency lose everything in the long run.
    Money is only a proxy for real goods. What would happen today if everyone decided they wanted to convert their fiat currency holdings into real goods? They would discover that fiat currencies are worth far less in real terms than they are now valued. Only the confidence of people in money keeps this system afloat.
    We’re whistling past the graveyard. The system has been abused to the point where one major economic shock could devastate the world’s entire economy. If we get out of this in one piece (and I don’t discount that possibility), we’ll be extraordinarily fortunate.
    “wealth is not in bank accounts and … you can’t eat money”
    — Alanis Obomsawin