Free Republic

In the Temple of the American Way The Mogambo Guru The prevailing theory is that pre-Christmas "currency in circulation" increases, which then supposedly declines after the gift-giving season is over. It never seems to actually do that, and it ain't happening this time, either. In fact, looking strictly at currency in circulation, since 1992 it has risen at pretty steady pace, compounding at an annual rate of 7.3%. And in other news, the Treasury sent us to another new record of debt, but the Fed is actually stepping back slightly on their creation of raw credit. Hmmm. And finally, in...

"...Ask Greenspan and Ben Bernanke what's to stop them and their monetary hoodlum friends from printing up money and spending it. I'll save you the trouble and expense of making a long-distance call, and merely tell you that the answer is: Nothing at all. Oh, maybe lots of angry people rioting in the street from all the price inflation, but since when did the Fed give a rat's ass what we proletariat bozos like or don't like? Marie Antoinette, another government jackass, famously said of the rioting masses, 'Let them eat cake.' Messrs. Greenspan and Bernanke say 'Let them eat...

“...For the private debt in this country, simply let everybody declare a special bankruptcy, which I suggest they call Jubilee Bankruptcy, and pass a new tax law that says you can claim a juicy Tax Credit for every dime that went bad because the guy you loaned it to went bankrupt in the big Jubilee! And then Congress can just print more money to send everybody their tax refund checks! Suddenly, no more consumer debt! We have wiped all of the slates clean, and are ready to start again! I mean, if you are going to have a fiat currency,...

"...If you don't start accumulating gold for yourself, then you had better start carrying a little notebook around with you to write down your reasons why you did not...because surely somebody is going to collect all those lame excuses into a book entitled 'The Funny Things That Investment Advisors Say When Asked How They Missed The Rise In Gold, And Thus Everybody Who Listened To Their Stupid Advice Missed Out On The Biggest Money-Making Opportunity Of The Last Few Centuries, One So Big And Important That It Is Now The Actual Freaking Definition Of The Phrase 'No-Brainer,' And Who Kept...

"...The rumblings and grumblings of Economics World remind me of a quote from some witty woman I once saw on TV, and I forget who, but she was explaining how life in the homes of alcoholics is different; "Every day is a drama." And when you look around the economic world, every freaking day is a drama! G-7! OPEC! IMF! Middle-East! China! Dollar! Enron! Interest rates! Deficits! Job losses! Money supply! Debt! Recall elections! Each of these, and many more, as dramatic as they are, are all in almost daily upheaval! Drama of unbelievable dimensions!" The Mogambo Guru St Petersburg,...

"... 'Hey!' I say. 'The Fed, without your permission, takes your valuable dollars away and hands you cheaper ones, so it is the same damn thing! And this Greenspan guy you think is some (and here is where I use a real nasal, whining, sarcastic tone of voice) hotshot hero, (back to normal voice) but you are throwing Chinese Ninja Death Stars at me, even though we are doing the same damn, dangity blang, jam blagged ding-dong thing! I'm not stealing your food! I'm giving you money for your groceries! So gimme a break! I'm just using standard unconventional methods!'..."...

"...Richard Russell, he of the superstar Dow Theory Letters newsletter, has increased his recommended allocation of gold to, and I quote, 'at least' a third of assets. His pithy phrase is 'The U.S. is inflating its head off and depreciating the dollar's head off.' The rise in gold is easily explained: the dollar is rapidly becoming trash, meaning worth little more than the paper on which it is printed, anybody who owns anything denominated in dollars is going to get financially killed, and gold is the only safe place to put money, unless you happen to be one of those...

"...if the mortgage market has truly burst, then a lot of investors will suffer losses, so that is worse. And banks. And mortgage companies. And since everyone will be paying more and more for houses as the results of this bubble persist for awhile, everyone will have less disposable income with which to buy all the other things in life that make up GDP and final sales for businesses, so the retail industry will be worse off, too. In short, the damnable Fed and the damnable GSE's have perpetuated a housing bubble in which everyone and nation as a whole...

“...Theft. Watering down milk. Counterfeiting. And, likewise, I see the monetary and fiscal Bad Boys, namely central banks and governments, are being pursued by the immutable laws of economics and common sense, running down the citizens, crashing into our cars, running through stop signs, tires screeching, interest rates shooting up and down, shots being fired, currencies blasted, bond prices murdered, people who save their money being decimated, and the whole thing. And as such, I'll bet they are getting plenty worried about their own future, as in ‘Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?’...” The...

“…I have come up a plan, which I refer to as the Save Our Butts Plan. It works like this. We put everybody and everybody's money into a huge life insurance policy, see, declare some wars, release a few deadly viruses, wipe out half the population, and pay off the policy. In the end, there will be half as many people, creating job openings out the wazoo, each survivor will have twice as much money, and this will fuel consumption. With plentiful jobs and more money to spend, the recovery will commence!...” The Mogambo Guru St. Petersburg, Florida - The...