The Swamp Report

FED is as powerful as the Black Knight

J. D. Swampfox — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:35:04 +0000

Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren, “with a straight face” talks about how the FED can affect the economy with nominal interest rates at zero: I’ve called this talk “How Should Monetary Policy Respond to a Slow Recovery?” My answer to that question is: vigorously, creatively, thoughtfully, and persistently, as long as we have options at [...]

What if all bonds are bought by the FED?

J. D. Swampfox — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:01:03 +0000

Robert Prechter writes (emphasis added): Economists hint at the Fed’s occasional impotence in fostering credit expansion when they describe an ineffective monetary strategy, i.e., a drop in the Fed’s target rates that does not stimulate borrowing, as “pushing on a string.” At such times, low Fed-influenced rates cannot overcome creditors’ disinclination to lend and/or customers’ [...]

The Failed Policies of Barack Obama

J. D. Swampfox — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:41:48 +0000

A picture is worth a thousand words. The Dallas Fed provides this chart depicting, better than words can articulate, the Failed Policies of Barack Obama:

The Real yield curve

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:42:18 +0000

Rosenberg argues the nominal yield curve would be inverted right now if it were not for the fact that short term rates are essentially at zero. The Treasury shows the Friday July, 9 nominal yield curve as: Date 1 mo 3 mo 6 mo 1 yr 2 yr 3 yr 5 yr 7 yr 10 [...]

The downward pressure on Long Term Treasuries

J. D. Swampfox — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:10:54 +0000

Market Ticker often posts this graph of total debt (public and private) in the US: We can see from that graph that the trend is now changed to “down” after 50 years of “up”. The Federal government has been unsuccessfully attempting to offset the decline in private debt with increases in public debt. With the [...]

World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes

Minute Man — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:30:14 +0000

Hilariously funny…but sadly true:

Dollars are debts

J. D. Swampfox — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:57:15 +0000

Look at the photo of a dollar below: See where it says “Federal Reserve Note” and where it says “This note is legal tender…”? Dollars are notes or debts, that is, obligations of the Federal Reserve. When the Federal Reserve buys US Treasury Bonds from the open market and pays for them with dollars (a [...]

It’s the debt level -not money, stupid

J. D. Swampfox — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:59:05 +0000

You don’t have to be a bank to inflate or deflate. Jimmy Songwriter sitting at the bar has a flash of inspiration and quickly writes down a new song. His somewhat inebriated friend, Joey Songsinger hears the song once and enthusiastically offers to buy it for a price equal to “whatever it takes – even [...]

PE ratios tell the tale

J. D. Swampfox — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:05:57 +0000

Dave Rosenberg in his “Breakfast with Dave” for Thursday, May 20th points to the Shiller PE ratio: In the past 130 years, whenever the Graham/Dodd/Shiller normalized P/E ratio goes above 20.6x (it is 21x today), the market experiences a significant correction – a correction of 31% on average over the next 16 months. It never [...]

US government’s main job is to transfer wealth?

J. D. Swampfox — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:19:18 +0000

TPC quotes Annaly Capital Management, who uses the following chart: This chart makes the point that: The primary function of government now seems to be transferring wealth from one group to another through programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment benefits, the new health care system, etc. It’s hard to consider this kind of spending [...]

We’ll all be equal: at least equally broke

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:52:14 +0000

Bill Frezza’s complete column is reproduced here – but, please visit his site. How can the American people be so stupid….indeed. The Dawn of a New Age In the United States By Bill Frezza Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, after a tumultuous year of political theater, the Age of Obama has dawned. With [...]

Government buys votes with jobs

J. D. Swampfox — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:50:40 +0000

Government jobs now exceed private sector jobs (ht Clusterstock).

Even liberals hate the Healthcare Bill?

J. D. Swampfox — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:40:49 +0000

Fire Dog Lake separates supposed myth from reality. However, there’s no reference to taxpayer funded abortions that the bill makes possible, nor the moral hazard designed to drive private insurance over the edge. It seems even liberals hate the Obamacare Bill, but mostly because they have to wait a few years for a public option [...]

Harry Dent’s latest update

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:57:58 +0000

Enjoy

Selections from the Healthcare Bill

Minute Man — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:57:34 +0000

Besides the obvious things the healthcare bill does (artificially increasing demand for healthcare services while causing the supply of healthcare services to fall: INCREASING PRICES), here are a few less known points: • Page 22: Mandates AUDITS of all employers that self-insure! • Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! • Page 30: [...]

New debt creates money/inflation – reverse is also true

J. D. Swampfox — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:55:06 +0000

Washington’s blog is encouraging debate on what monetary system we should have in the United States. In the discussion, Australian economist Steve Keen advocates that equity shares owned by the original owner when the physical underlying capital was formed would have perpetual life. However, once the original owner sells the shares in the secondary market, [...]

Illusions of Cost Control

Minute Man — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:26:32 +0000

Robert J. Samuelson has a good article at the Washington Post on some of the Illusions of Cost Control. He makes a pretty good point about politics in this country: We ALWAYS take the easy/obvious way out: There’s a parallel here: housing. Most Americans favor home ownership, but uncritical pro-homeownership policies (lax lending standards, puny [...]

We have plenty of oil?

J. D. Swampfox — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:58:24 +0000

The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. We have plenty of oil right here within the borders of the United States. The report was an updated one to the old 1995 version on how much oil was in [...]

Go back to 2007 spending – is that so hard?

J. D. Swampfox — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:21:19 +0000

Republican senator George LeMieux of Florida was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Mel Martinez, who resigned. His analysis shows that ALL WE HAVE TO DO TO BALANCE THE BUDGET is go back to 2007 spending levels! It’s a no-brainer! But not for idiots who buy votes for a living. If government spending were [...]

Shiller PE ratios still too high?

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:05:59 +0000

John Authers at FT has a good piece about long term price to earnings ratios. The bottom line is that: …last year stocks were never nearly as undervalued as they had been at the previous great bear market lows. …the Shiller data still suggest that stocks needed to get much cheaper than they did at [...]

History Repeats

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:54:13 +0000

A 1934 Chicago Tribune cartoon…From the looks of Obama’s new budget, the plan to take over the United States hasn’t changed:

Obama: got a better idea for health care? YES!

J. D. Swampfox — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:43:01 +0000

In the president’s SOTU last night, he said regarding health care: But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. Here is a simple approach that will work: A. ELIMINATE [...]

A new party?

J. D. Swampfox — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:33:37 +0000

Bill Freeza suggests now is the time for a new third party to focus the anger of the American people into the really needed action – voting bums from both parties out of office. We agree. As a practical matter the new party platform must be created in such a way that new membership in [...]

Dem’s Plan to Pass Healthcare Reform: “Send the men home”

Minute Man — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:43:26 +0000

A female Democratic lawmaker in footage released Sunday said Congress could pass healthcare if female lawmakers “sent the men home.” “We go to the ladies room and the Republican women and the Democratic women and we just roll our eyes,” she said. “And the Republican women said when we were fighting over the healthcare bill, [...]

Simon Johnson goes crazy

J. D. Swampfox — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:14:07 +0000

Simon Jonson has suggested that (ultra liberal inflationist and debt multiplier) Paul Krugman be made Fed Chairman – instead of the bankster Bernanke. Bernanke definitely needs to go …but to replace him with Krugman? Simon Johnson has gone nuts and his sidekick Kwak has such a liberal political bias that it gets in the way [...]