Whip Inflation Now!

"Wait, what did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gasoline?" Bush responded to a reporter who said some analysts expect prices to soon climb that high.

"That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. . . . I know it's high now."

Yes, George. As you would say, gas prices are high because the price of gas is expensive.

"I do expect inflation to come down," he [Bernanke] added. "If it doesn't, we will have to react to it."

- Ben Bernanke, February 28, 2007

Ben may actually end up giving Alan Greenspan a run for the (devalued) money as worst Federal Reserve President ever. Of course "worst Federal Reserve President" is an oxymoron.

"I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence."

- Herbert Hoover, December 1929

SOTD: Lodger - Door Steps

SOTD: La Caina - Bailando Va

Inflation Hits 12%

....if you consider that the US dollar index has dropped 12% in the past year. Bernanke is trashing the dollar, and not even denying it anymore. Look for lots of deflation in stuff you don't need, and lots of inflation in stuff you do need.

Back in May 2007, I recommended the FXY Japanese Yen currency ETF ast 82.5. Today FXY is at almost 95.

Just for posterity, since links to Jim Cramer's incredibly bad tech-bubble-top market picks are being removed from the internet, here's another permabull with some incredibly bad advice one year ago:

"Don't buy it. For months now the debate has been over whether America will have a hard landing or soft landing, the answer hinging on how big 2007's housing disaster turns out to be. Well, there won't be any housing disaster. We won't have a landing at all, soft or hard. Right now the U.S. and global economies are both accelerating.

You can see right through the housing crash story by looking at the prices of housing stocks. The market knows what the economic worrywarts do not, which is that the housing sector is already making a comeback. In the last six months housing stocks are up 24%, well ahead of the overall market. If housing were destined to fall apart in 2007 these stocks wouldn't be so strong now. Did you know that housing sales are up in the last few months, not down, and that inventories are lower than six months ago?

We're accelerating, not landing. This is true not just in housing but also pretty much across the board."

- Kenneth L. Fisher
Forbes, 02.26.07

Of course, Forbes is the magazine that once had blubbering idiot uber-shill Dennis Kneale as its managing editor (he now brings down the average anchor-IQ daily on CNBC, and that's hard to do).

I get Forbes for free and I still feel ripped off.

SOTD: Supreme Beings of Leisure - Never the Same

SOTD: Bat for Lashes - I'm on Fire

SOTD: The Duke Spirit - Dark Is Light Enough

SOTD: Way Out West - Don't Forget Me

It's Contained, Sorta

The State of the Bond Insurance Industry, February 14, 2008

The Monolines Are History

Cerebus Partners Report to Investors, January 22, 2008

Banks Advised to Renege on LBO Commitments, February 15, 2008

More Writedowns Ahead

Larry Kudlow Smackdown of the Day, February 13, 2008

Larry Kudlow Smackdown of the Day, February 14, 2008

Foreclosures 38% of Orange County Sales, February 15, 2008

SOTD: A Voyage of Life

SOTD: Joni Mitchell - A Case of You

Meet the Next President of the United State of America

I just watched Barack Obama's speech after he won the Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland primaries tonight. Then I watched John McCain's speech. I sorta like McCain, I really do - but as a former Republican, I can honestly say, with 100% certainty, that the Democrats under Obama are going to destroy the Republicans in November...and they deserve to.

...and I do mean destroy - I'm talking 70%-30% or something like that. George McGovern will no longer hold the record for the worst Presidential ass-whuppin'. It's too bad McCain really doesn't deserve such an end, but so be it.

I would expect the usual Republican-style "Barack is an American-hating-Muslim-terrorist-lover-who-hates-our-flag-and-by-the-way-did-you-know-he-is-black" attacks to start shortly. Also I'm sure there'll be a few terror alerts in the coming months and maybe we'll attack Iran just for kicks (and to help the sickly economy). Remember, if you vote for a Democrat they'll put Osama Bin Laden on our postage stamps, and we can't have that.

Fortunately for America, however, there aren't enough toadie tools like Dennis Kneale and Larry Kudlow to swing the election. Also, quite fortunately (because after we've endured GW Bush, the Democrats could've won running Michael Jackson), Barack Obama is the kind of guy who talks about a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, not the hate-filled red-state/blue-state divisive garbage that GW and the rest of us swallowed from Karl Rove the past 6 1/2 years.

We need this guy right now - after how horribly the Republican neo-cons and Shrub Bush have destroyed this nation's soul, we really need him now.

jq

p.s. Ron Paul, I voted for you in the primary, since I'm still registered as a fascist, but it just wasn't your time.

It'll Sure Be Good To See This Guy Go...

SOTD: Royksopp - Remind Me

SOTD: Rasputina - High on Life

SOTD: Massive Attack - Protection

SOTD: Bran Van 3000 - Drinkin' in LA

Wikileaks

Pretty cool.

SOTD: Catherine Wheel - Delicious

SOTD: Tin Star - Out of My Head