Archive for October, 2007
October 25, 2007 - Here’s another story that belongs in the “More Worthless Manufactured Key Economic Indicators Released by the Government” statistic. Out of Washington D.C. at 10 AM this morning, this story was released
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Sales of new homes (in the U.S.) rebounded in September from summer sales levels that were much weaker than previously reported, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Sales increased 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 from a revised 735,000 in August. Previously, August’s sales had been reported at a 795,000 pace. September’s sales were slightly higher than the 758,000 pace expected by economists. The three previous months were revised sharply lower, which means the housing market was much weaker in the middle of the year than previous believed. Sales of new homes are down 23.3% in the past year.
Now the consensus was for new home sales to come in around 760,000 to 780,000 which was about spot on as the reported figures came in at 770,000. Now that would have been a decline from previous month figures at 795,000 and more bad news for the housing market. So how do you spin bad news into good news that the sheep herd will follow? Read more …
October 25th, 2007
October 15, 2007 - A very quick PSA here. We have started an investment forum on facebook called Crisis Investing that is open to everyone as of right now. Learn how to build an investment fortune quickly from the impending economic crisis that will hit global stock markets. Just register at Facebook and search for and join the Group “Crisis Investing.”
Technorati Tags: investment forum, crisis investing, build wealth
October 15th, 2007
October 15, 2007 -
I’ve often mentioned that the U.S. stock market can APPEAR healthy even when the underlying economy is in worse shape than an alcoholic on a kidney dialysis machine. And this is just one of those instances right now. As markets continue to climb higher on manufactured, political-agenda serving government statistics and interest rate cuts, rally cries from all the bulls (aka sales people, I mean company men and women) that this is bull run of historical proportions and that you better come along for the ride started already a couple of weeks ago. And how soon people forget the dot.com crash in March 2000 that subtracted trillions of dollars from the personal financial statements of investors. Back then, the exact same statements were being offered to the public masses that will once again be offered in the very near future as the political juggernaut no doubt will try its best to manufacture one last bull run into the 2008 Presidential elections. Remember from the dot.com rally, that irrational movements higher can last an irrationally long time— this, I don’t dispute. I also have no doubt that any rally that is artificially manufactured with loose credit and low interest rates will experience a terrible ending (just look at how the artificially manufactured housing boom in the U.S. is playing out now). Peaks artificially manufactured by bankers are much different than the peaks of normal cycles that occur in the free market. Peaks that are artificially manufactured by bankers will always end up terribly.
Read more …
October 15th, 2007
October 9, 2007 - Those of you that have been reading my blog and newsletters for a while know that I view the vast majority of government released economic reports as nothing but manufactured, cooked reports designed to generate whatever confidence governments need from their citizens to keep the economy and stock markets stable and growing. In the U.S., the reported numbers about inflation, housing starts, and so forth are so distorted and distant from reality that they are virtually meaningless. I’ve always said the same about the statements made by the most powerful Central Bank in the world, the U.S. Federal Reserve. Yet at times, their Chairmen have been exceedingly honest in their comments, though the masses seem to ignore them. Years before he would spend more than two decades as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan stated, “This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists’ antagonism toward the gold standard.” At least Greenspan told us the Fed Reserve’s plan and before they executed it and explained why a bear market would be manufactured in gold for 21 years.
Likewise, current U.S. Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke explained his deep 0.50% rate cut on September 18th with the following statement: “We took the action to try to get out ahead of the situation and try to forestall (emphasis mine) potential effects of tighter credit conditions on the broader economy. The resulting global financial losses have far exceeded even the most pessimistic estimates of the credit losses on these loans.” Read more …
October 9th, 2007
