Yes, that means you Mr. Bernanke, and you Mr. Paulson, and you Mr. Greensp... well why don't you just go back to selling books and stay out of it? These are your chickens coming home to roost but the other guys will attempt to clean up the mess at the expense of my kids. I noticed in the national media last night that you Mr. Greenspan, are well on your way to a large chunk of the rightful blame.Sorry, when I mention Mr. Magoo I sometimes get irritated. The spotlight is squarely on the Treasury and the Fed. As a side note, when Obama is elected president - and if da boyz don't pull off a kick save here he will be, do you think he will have the vision to nominate former GAO head David Walker as Treasury chief? With McCain and the PonziPublicans I think there is ZERO chance. Obama is a communist but the mainstream Republican establishment are nothing but socialists masquerading as free traders. Bush had a reputable SecTreas in Paul O'Neill but canned him the minute he stood up for sound policy. What a mess.
The deflation impulse is well in progress now that we've finally got the public engaged, several years after they should have been. Inflation fueled markets go up and the public sits on its ass and watches American Idol. But boy, let the markets begin to drop and watch that outrage begin to boil. The main point is that the inflation fears highlighted with a big neon sign $150 Oil are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Bernanke has got the cover to do what he was always meant to do; prevent deflation from happening here. He did not have that cover during the inflation effects phase of Greenspan's greatest bubble, the credit bubble. He will have the cover needed however as Greenspan's macro pump rapidly runs dry. This is all on Greenie but the next great bubble, if we are 'lucky' enough that the Fed, Treasury and global partners in inflation Ponzinomics can actually pull it off... the next bubble will be squarely on today's evil geniuses.
We are resigned to an ongoing series of macro bubbles and the angst being generated right now should translate into the next one down the road. It's either that or last one out turn out the lights.
The Fed does not set rate policy. They pretend they do but the bond market actually tells them what they will be doing. What do you suppose this is telling them? I expect some sort of 'emergency' rate policy today.
Yield curve resumes steepening. Economic contraction once again takes center stage.
PCR & VIX both spiking. This means the markets are ripe for upward reversal upon even a glimpse of the Huey commander up there in the beautiful late summer skies of the former America.
Mr. Dow should like the sound of the rotors after perhaps a scary plunge to new lows.
Then of course there are the first-mover beneficiaries of inflationary policy (as opposed to inflationary effects). I expect the gold miners to outperform everything given anything short of policy failure and deflationary darkness permeating the globe. I have put up enough charts of HUI that you know where I currently stand but here is a daily showing retrace levels of the hard down. If the Fed cuts, we should get a big pop for the short term. As a side note, in keeping with good practices I did some selling at yesterday's open of stuff that I bought in the 250's to get cash levels back to a reasonable level. I may buy some back if there is a continued drop this morning. But I still hold plenty and have that comfortable feeling of having enough cash to take advantage when/where needed.
