Really, I guess to get to these positions you have to be safe, a "sound fellow", good in committee, able to defer to the interested parties and not worry the vested interests and so forth. In the context of a terminal debt fulled blowoff,I guess that means a man who can't see a private overseas debt of 110,500 per capita a problem or see past a numeric model with equilibrium assumptions. Or maybe I'm naive and stupid and he knows his real job is just keeping the game alive another day.
But, whatever the case there, without a doubt the following statement is the most complete and utter bullshit you have ever heard.
THE combined impact of rate cuts and the Rudd Government's stimulus packages will create an economic recovery later this year, according to the Reserve Bank, starting with a revival in housing construction.
The bank's governor, Glenn Stevens, endorsed the Government's economic strategy yesterday, saying its two economic stimulus packages would boost economic growth both this year and next.
He also said the Government's actions to guarantee both bank deposits and wholesale funding had preserved confidence in the banking system.
Appearing before the House of Representatives economics committee yesterday, Mr Stevens said the prompt actions of both the Reserve Bank and the Government would reduce the severity of the downturn.
"The path of the Australian economy is going to be considerably better than it would otherwise have been, and considerably better than a number of other countries around the world, whom we can see contracting at a very large pace," Mr Stevens said.
He disagreed with new Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey that the Government should be saving some of its ammunition in case the downturn was protracted.
"The longer you wait, the more ammunition you will end up having to use," Mr Stevens said. "These things can get a sort of self-fulfilling momentum behind them."
He raised the prospect that, having moved quickly to cut interest rates by 400 basis points since September to a 35-year low of 3.25 per cent, the Reserve Bank would stop cutting rates sooner than it had in other cycles.
"That ought to be a good thing, because you hopefully will have got ahead of things," Mr Stevens said.
He said the bank would be cutting rates further only to the extent that it received information that "tells us something genuinely new about the prospects for demand and prices over the medium term"."
The financial deregulation that successive Labor and Liberal governments introduced has led not to a better functioning economic system, but to a financial catastrophe that is still in its infancy. One of its main characteristics is obscene overinvestment in housing. Our recovery, if and when it arrives, will not be housing lead.
My take on the commodity supercycle and stock market zeitgeist...and the new era of precious metals, uranium (just bottoming, btw)and alternate energy. As I have said here since 2005 "Get ready for peak everything, the repricing of the planet and "black swan" markets all over the place".
Showing posts with label bad timers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bad timers. Show all posts
21 February 2009
2 December 2008
The Enigma of Martin Weiss
Martin Weiss says that: After more than six decades of growth, America is sinking into its Second Great Depression of modern times. The place is every home, business, and community.
Starting Now: America's Second Great Depression
"America's Second Great Depression is not a typical 20th century recession that happens to strike a bit harder or linger somewhat longer. America's Second Great Depression is the probable consequence of a great housing bust, a massive mortgage meltdown and the biggest financial crisis in history.
It promises to bring the worst wave of bankruptcies, job losses and wealth destruction any citizen under 90 has ever experienced.
It challenges the smartest minds in Washington, defies the deepest pockets on Wall Street and threatens to rip through our life with the force of a Cat-5 hurricane. And yet, among all those making the decisions that could forever change our future, no one has personal experience with a similar episode...
How long could the depression last? How much further can home prices fall? How far down will the stock market go? Will it be as bad as the 1930s? At this juncture, you can count on your fingers the number of serious analysts who believe that's even a remote possibility. And yet, stranger things have already happened, including the largest bank and insurance company collapses of all time.
Trouble is, there are no historical precedents for what's happening in this era. Any forecasts I make today, no matter how well researched, are not nearly as valuable as the awareness you will have of current events as they unfold in real time...
footnote:
My father, J. Irving Weiss, one of the few economists who not only advised investors during the First Great Depression, but actually predicted it. Dad was so proud of that unusual feat, he began telling me stories about it when I was just five years old. Vicariously, I lived through the Roaring Twenties, the Crash of ‘29, the massive bank failures of the 1930s, and the many years of human suffering that ensued.
Dad explains it this way:
In the 1930s, at each step down the slippery slope of the market's decline, Washington would periodically announce some new initiative to turn things around. President Hoover would give a new pep talk promising ‘prosperity around the corner.' And often, the Dow staged dramatic rallies — up 30% on the first round, 48% on the second, 23% on the third, and more. Each time, I sought to use the rallies as selling opportunities. I persuaded more of my clients to get rid of their stocks and pile up cash. I even told them to take their money out of shaky banks.
On the surface, it might have appeared that just sitting out the crisis got you nowhere. Actually, though, it was a great strategy for building wealth. Prices were falling — on homes, on automobiles, on almost everything. So the more prices fell, the more your money was worth. Just by saving money, stashing the cash, keeping your job and going about your daily life, you were building wealth. You didn't have to know about investing. All you needed to figure out was how to protect yourself from the bad times. Then, when we hit rock bottom — that was the time to start buying real estate, stocks or bonds.
The end of the entire decline came with two events: The inauguration of our new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the national banking holiday he declared on his third day in office. But after three years of panics and crashes, most people greeted those events with dread. They thought it would be the beginning of another, even steeper slide. Some people even said it was the final chapter of capitalism itself. As it turned out, that was precisely the right time to pick up some of the greatest bargains of the century and make a lot of money.
RE: He is so enigmatic... Thomas. NEW 12/1/2008 9:40:11 AM
somehow mixing infomercial with what appears to be incisive commentary.
report post to moderator
RE: I hate that man aussiebear NEW 12/1/2008 2:47:54 PM
Last to the party. I have spoken to other people who he has burned with high end services that don't deliver. He lost me 10K in three months in 2004 and I had to pay him 2.5K for the privledge. The doco was all tacky "welcome to the party bigshot", Vinyl folders, Gold lettering, No responsibility. No engagement. You live and learn!
Always invoking dad. Yuk!
Starting Now: America's Second Great Depression
"America's Second Great Depression is not a typical 20th century recession that happens to strike a bit harder or linger somewhat longer. America's Second Great Depression is the probable consequence of a great housing bust, a massive mortgage meltdown and the biggest financial crisis in history.
It promises to bring the worst wave of bankruptcies, job losses and wealth destruction any citizen under 90 has ever experienced.
It challenges the smartest minds in Washington, defies the deepest pockets on Wall Street and threatens to rip through our life with the force of a Cat-5 hurricane. And yet, among all those making the decisions that could forever change our future, no one has personal experience with a similar episode...
How long could the depression last? How much further can home prices fall? How far down will the stock market go? Will it be as bad as the 1930s? At this juncture, you can count on your fingers the number of serious analysts who believe that's even a remote possibility. And yet, stranger things have already happened, including the largest bank and insurance company collapses of all time.
Trouble is, there are no historical precedents for what's happening in this era. Any forecasts I make today, no matter how well researched, are not nearly as valuable as the awareness you will have of current events as they unfold in real time...
footnote:
My father, J. Irving Weiss, one of the few economists who not only advised investors during the First Great Depression, but actually predicted it. Dad was so proud of that unusual feat, he began telling me stories about it when I was just five years old. Vicariously, I lived through the Roaring Twenties, the Crash of ‘29, the massive bank failures of the 1930s, and the many years of human suffering that ensued.
Dad explains it this way:
In the 1930s, at each step down the slippery slope of the market's decline, Washington would periodically announce some new initiative to turn things around. President Hoover would give a new pep talk promising ‘prosperity around the corner.' And often, the Dow staged dramatic rallies — up 30% on the first round, 48% on the second, 23% on the third, and more. Each time, I sought to use the rallies as selling opportunities. I persuaded more of my clients to get rid of their stocks and pile up cash. I even told them to take their money out of shaky banks.
On the surface, it might have appeared that just sitting out the crisis got you nowhere. Actually, though, it was a great strategy for building wealth. Prices were falling — on homes, on automobiles, on almost everything. So the more prices fell, the more your money was worth. Just by saving money, stashing the cash, keeping your job and going about your daily life, you were building wealth. You didn't have to know about investing. All you needed to figure out was how to protect yourself from the bad times. Then, when we hit rock bottom — that was the time to start buying real estate, stocks or bonds.
The end of the entire decline came with two events: The inauguration of our new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the national banking holiday he declared on his third day in office. But after three years of panics and crashes, most people greeted those events with dread. They thought it would be the beginning of another, even steeper slide. Some people even said it was the final chapter of capitalism itself. As it turned out, that was precisely the right time to pick up some of the greatest bargains of the century and make a lot of money.
RE: He is so enigmatic... Thomas. NEW 12/1/2008 9:40:11 AM
somehow mixing infomercial with what appears to be incisive commentary.
report post to moderator
RE: I hate that man aussiebear NEW 12/1/2008 2:47:54 PM
Last to the party. I have spoken to other people who he has burned with high end services that don't deliver. He lost me 10K in three months in 2004 and I had to pay him 2.5K for the privledge. The doco was all tacky "welcome to the party bigshot", Vinyl folders, Gold lettering, No responsibility. No engagement. You live and learn!
Always invoking dad. Yuk!
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