Neil Irwin at the Washington Post reported, with that subtle-yet-unmistakable hint of panic, “The Federal Reserve yesterday escalated its massive campaign to stabilize the economy, saying it would flood the financial system with an additional $1.2 trillion.”
March 31st, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 8 comments | ContinuedArchive for Mogambo Guru
Richard Daughty is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group, serving the financial and medical communities, and the editor of The Mogambo Guru economic newsletter - an avocational exercise to heap disrespect on those who desperately deserve it.
Greenspan and His Demented Federal Reserve Chairmanship
He is reported to have said, “Given the decoupling of monetary policy from long-term mortgage rates, accelerating the path of monetary tightening that the Fed pursued in 2004-2005 could not have prevented the housing bubble.” Hahahaha!
March 24th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
Buying Stocks for Dividends Makes Sense…
In fact, things got so bad back then, and companies were so reluctant to cut dividends (probably figuring that nobody in their right mind would buy their shares otherwise), that “in 1933, American earnings per share dropped below dividends”! Wow! The companies paid out more money to shareholders than the company made!
March 17th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 3 comments | Continued
Dividend Drop-Off: When Cushions Turn To Rocks
Bloomberg, taking no interest in my insightful observations gleaned from a lifetime of paying for my screw-ups, is still talking about dividends, and reports that “Twenty-six companies in the S&P 500 saved more than $21 billion by cutting or suspending outlays this year, more than all the reductions from 2003 to 2007. On a per-share basis, S&P 500 companies may trim payouts 13 percent this year, the biggest drop since 1942.”
March 11th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
American “Services Economy”, a Flagrant Fraud
If it were me writing that, I would have continued, “That $8 trillion in personal debt, amassed over a mere 17 years, is borrowing over half of GDP! Half of everything this country makes and sells in a year! We’re freaking doomed, and it’s all because we are so damned stupid (audience shouts out ‘How stupid, Exalted Mogambo Personage (EMP)?’)
March 10th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
A Government of Spendaholics
In one freaking year! I thought that TheBurningPlatform.com was going to comment on this astonishing fiscal irresponsibility of Congress and the Federal Reserve, but instead they commented on the $787 billion, 1,074 page stimulus bill that was just signed by Obama by noting, “The current ‘stimulus’ package of $787 billion is more than the entire National Debt in 1978 ($771 billion).”
March 3rd, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
I Love Your Optimism
I did not mention that there are only about 100 million non-government, non-taxpayer paid workers in the U.S.A., which means that there are only 100 million workers who can make a profit with which to pay taxes, which means that $5 trillion in government spending is a staggering $50,000 for Every Freaking One (EFO) of those non-government, non-taxpayer paid positions! And you think THAT is going to work out for the best?
February 27th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
Gold in the Art of Bread Consumption
Mr. Harmston is not interested in hearing my “The Federal Reserve is evil and so is the Supreme Court” rant again, especially since it is all I ever rant about, but goes on to reveal that, “The same ounce of gold still buys approximately 350 loaves of bread today.”
February 24th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
An Edifice of Pure Economic Crapola
Well, there is more, as the mysterious, necromantic arts of economics comes in to determine, as a constant – with an astonishing precision out to three decimal places! – exactly HOW much you spend and how much you save of each dollar! Hahaha!
February 18th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 2 comments | Continued
SOS: Suffocating On Spending
Now you know part of the reason that Congress has officially gone into Panic Mode, which was unofficially announced by Bloomberg.com reporting that “The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion.”
February 13th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 2 comments | Continued
Silver and Gold Will Make You More Attractive
“Since the recent moves in price are not that spectacular, my attention wavered and I casually looked around the press room, and I noticed that there was a pretty new reporter who was young and cute, which is such a depressingly stark contrast with my being, you know, old and ugly. I sighed and began to daydream when I suddenly realized the cosmic universality that demand and supply applied even to pretty girls…”
February 12th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
Don’t Pay Your Debt: A Page from the Fed’s Playbook
Perhaps I am just a stupid guy who cannot see that he is being handed a terrific opportunity, as Ms. Dungan agrees, “Finally something that we can all get behind: Don’t pay your bills. It’s not my idea, although it has appeal. It’s the Fed’s and it’s the cornerstone of the new Homeownership Preservation Policy”…
February 11th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
The Rush to Buy Gold
“There are many other gold bullion-holding funds in the developed world from Canada to Switzerland that are not included in this total. If they were the total would be approaching 1200+ tonnes. Clearly we are seeing a stampede of institutional fund management into gold at present!”
February 10th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 20 comments | Continued
U.S. Recession: Is the End Nigh?
One of the positive indicators, Frank Holmes says, is that the current recession is now 13 months old, whereas the worst recessions since the Great Depression only lasted 16 months (and there were two of them: 1973-75 and 1981-82). Then he quickly defuses the situation by saying, “Just because every recession since the 1930s ended in 16 months or less doesn’t mean this one has to as well”…
February 5th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
Patching Up The World With Golden Glue
It was in the Wall Street Journal, in their “Best of WSJ.Com’s Money Blogs” where I got the news that “As any private banker will tell you, the wealthy have become gold bugs. They are buying futures, gold bars, just about anything made from the shiny stuff.” Personally, this was surprising, since I didn’t know how or why bankers would know what the wealthy are doing, especially as concerns gold, but maybe this is because my relationships with my bankers are always frosty for one reason or another…
January 27th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
