I know it's been forever since my last post, but the work of an executor is never done. But...after spending the past three days going back and forth to my realtor, and signing my name (and my parents' names) about a thousand times, an offer has been made and accepted on the condo that has been sitting empty for the past seven months. Well, it wasn't empty seven months ago. There was crap all over the place, and I mean that literally, not just in terms of the usual clutter. But after throwing out lots of stuff, holding an estate sale, and then throwing out whatever was left from that, and then cleaning and painting the place, replacing all of the carpeting and linoleum, and most of the appliances, I was finally able to list the property. Of course it didn't sell, so I had to lower the price by $50,000, which by the way enraged the homeowners association, but now if there are no further complications, I will finally be rid of the place.
The last surviving holdouts of totalitarian communism are Cuba, North Korea, and homeowners associations. But I don't want to get started on that.
I mentioned some time ago that one of my few guilty pleasures is watching Britain's Got Talent. Now the American version is airing, and there is no doubt that America has more talent. Perhaps the British tend to appreciate novelty acts more than we do, but the American version seems to have overall much better singers and dancers than the one across the pond.
The only problem I have with AGT (and BGT) is that a lot of it is fake, i.e staged as a production. For instance, one of the singers who recently auditioned on AGT was...well...plain-looking. Not horrifically ugly, but she had a cleft palate, and even after surgery, she isn't much to look at. But she has an amazing voice, and she should be a star. But given our society's infatuation with style over substance, she didn't even make it to the quarter-finals. This is a person who needs and really deserves a break, and they brought her to Las Vegas, only to tell her she was going home. She didn't even make it out of the airport. No explanation was given, and they didn't interview her, as they did so many other performers.
However...in the promo for next week, the three judges are shown on their private jet, receiving a call from Simon Cowell, telling them that there is a big problem. If I were a betting man (which I am, if the stock market counts) I would bet anything he is going to tell them to put that singer through to the next round. Earlier, the judges had the choice of putting either one or two dance acts through, and they only picked one, so now there are only 39 contestants left, when they have room for 40. All of this seems orchestrated to have left a spot open for her.
Or maybe this is just me being paranoid, but it all seems to fit together. I don't blame the performers for getting involved in this elaborate charade, because they really don't have a choice. It's not like the old days when there were variety shows which performers could use to showcase their talents. In this day and age, if they want any exposure, they have to do what the producers of AGT or American Idol tell them.
As far as the stock market is concerned, all is well for precious metals and resource stocks, although there is one special situation that should be mentioned. A small exploration company called Noront (NOT-V) found a huge nickel deposit two years ago in the Ring of Fire. It was a penny stock that soared to $7, and then crashed back to 0.60 when the market melted down. In the past two months, the stock has tripled on no news, which means (to me, anyway) that they have hit something. The stock has run from 60 cents to $2 on trading volume as high as 15-20 million shares, so someone must know something. Do your own due diligence, as some of the board members (Patrick Anderson et al) are shady characters.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Upside breakout
After a dreary winter, the long overdue spring has arrived for the gold and silver markets. Battles were fought for the past two days over options and futures expiration, and the Gold Cartel could not defend $950 or even $960. Silver poked its nose above $15, and then went through it today. The silver open interest is barely 100,000, so there is plenty of room for that to expand, and it looks like the speculative longs are willing to take on JP Morgan and HSBC at these levels.
For Silver Standard, this couldn't have come at a better time, as they are about to sell the first silver concentrate from their Pirquitas mine. Things did not look nearly as good six months ago when silver was lanquishing around $9, but Pirquitas will be an amazingly robust project with silver at $15+.
I doubt that this signals the death knell of the Gold Cartel, but it is more proof that they are on the wrong side of history. The distortions in the silver and gold markets are growing, and it is becoming progressively harder for the bad guys to keep a lid on things. Ultimately, this will end with a failure on the COMEX. One of these months, someone won't be able to deliver silver bullion, and will be forced to settle in cash.
It looked like this scenario would occur last year, but the hedge fund deleveraging that began in July raised the specter of a deflationary crash, if not the collapse of the entire global financial system. This time around, we have massive amounts of money being printed all over the world, and the game is up. Silver is no longer an industrial metal, and industry supply and demand figures are meaningless. Silver is now a monetary metal, and investment demand will drive the price of silver. It does not matter how many new silver mines come on stream, as depreciating paper currencies will spur investor demand for physical silver bullion.
The story in gold is much the same. China will buy all the gold the Western central bankers are willing to sell, and then some. Best of all, the mining equities are leading the precious metals, and providing leverage to metals prices, as they should. As the saying goes, get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on!
Confession of guilty pleasure: I enjoy watching Britain's Got Talent. In fact, I have gone so far as to watch BGT every day this week. Well, one day it wasn't on, having been preempted by some soccer game or something, but every other day this week. That's not easy to do since it isn't televised in America. But the performances are being posted on YouTube. First, I find out from my news reader which acts made it into the next round. Since I used to be an air traffic controller, I understand Zulu time, and can easily translate to my local time. See, I knew those twenty years in ATC would come in handy one of these days.
Later on, the performances are posted on YouTube, and still later in the day, the judges' comments. The talent level ranges from amazing to awful, and everything in between. For instance, there's this fat Greek guy and his 12-year old son who run around on the stage and pretend like they're dancing. Don't laugh, they just made it into the finals. But the star of the show is a dumpy, plain-looking 48-year old woman from a small village in Scotland. She's never accomplished anything in her life, but she just happens to have an amazing singing voice. Among her competition is a 10-year old girl who also can sing, and will one day be a star. Then there's a guy who plays, of all things, a saxophone, but he's really good. It's like watching a soap opera, but these are real people chasing a dream, and it really is compelling theater.
Here's a parody of two of the main contenders, Susan Boyle and Hollie Steel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qXYpc3bDs
For Silver Standard, this couldn't have come at a better time, as they are about to sell the first silver concentrate from their Pirquitas mine. Things did not look nearly as good six months ago when silver was lanquishing around $9, but Pirquitas will be an amazingly robust project with silver at $15+.
I doubt that this signals the death knell of the Gold Cartel, but it is more proof that they are on the wrong side of history. The distortions in the silver and gold markets are growing, and it is becoming progressively harder for the bad guys to keep a lid on things. Ultimately, this will end with a failure on the COMEX. One of these months, someone won't be able to deliver silver bullion, and will be forced to settle in cash.
It looked like this scenario would occur last year, but the hedge fund deleveraging that began in July raised the specter of a deflationary crash, if not the collapse of the entire global financial system. This time around, we have massive amounts of money being printed all over the world, and the game is up. Silver is no longer an industrial metal, and industry supply and demand figures are meaningless. Silver is now a monetary metal, and investment demand will drive the price of silver. It does not matter how many new silver mines come on stream, as depreciating paper currencies will spur investor demand for physical silver bullion.
The story in gold is much the same. China will buy all the gold the Western central bankers are willing to sell, and then some. Best of all, the mining equities are leading the precious metals, and providing leverage to metals prices, as they should. As the saying goes, get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on!
Confession of guilty pleasure: I enjoy watching Britain's Got Talent. In fact, I have gone so far as to watch BGT every day this week. Well, one day it wasn't on, having been preempted by some soccer game or something, but every other day this week. That's not easy to do since it isn't televised in America. But the performances are being posted on YouTube. First, I find out from my news reader which acts made it into the next round. Since I used to be an air traffic controller, I understand Zulu time, and can easily translate to my local time. See, I knew those twenty years in ATC would come in handy one of these days.
Later on, the performances are posted on YouTube, and still later in the day, the judges' comments. The talent level ranges from amazing to awful, and everything in between. For instance, there's this fat Greek guy and his 12-year old son who run around on the stage and pretend like they're dancing. Don't laugh, they just made it into the finals. But the star of the show is a dumpy, plain-looking 48-year old woman from a small village in Scotland. She's never accomplished anything in her life, but she just happens to have an amazing singing voice. Among her competition is a 10-year old girl who also can sing, and will one day be a star. Then there's a guy who plays, of all things, a saxophone, but he's really good. It's like watching a soap opera, but these are real people chasing a dream, and it really is compelling theater.
Here's a parody of two of the main contenders, Susan Boyle and Hollie Steel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qXYpc3bDs
Saturday, May 23, 2009
First Japan, the the UK, then the US?
Japan, the second largest economy in the world, just lost the AAA rating on its government bonds. Standard and Poor just said the United Kingdom may lose its AAA rating in the near future. They didn't mention the United States (yet) but the yield on the 10-year note has recently risen from 2% to almost 3.5%. That is not a ringing vote of confidence. Bear in mind that this outfit (S&P) gave its AAA rating to mortgage-backed securities that now sell for 10 cents on the dollar.
This information finally seems to be getting through to the financial markets. Since March (the day the Fed announced quantitative easing) the precious metals and mining stocks have roared ahead against all currencies, but especially against the US Dollar. As I write this, gold is at $956 and silver at $14.69, as both have rallied sharply. However, the commitment of traders has deteriorated, and the technical wizards say the metals are overbought, which means at some point JP Morgan will pull its bids and try to engineer another sell off in silver and gold. That is inevitable, but another piece of news just surfaced.
The Bank for International Settlements just issued its semi-annual report, indicating that gold derivatives declined sharply, from $649 billion to $395 billion, or roughly 40%. I take this to mean the shorts are finally starting to cover. That is a decline of 7600 tons, or close to three years of production. If I had to guess, I would say we will see $1200 gold this year, and I expect the gold/silver ratio to decline, so silver should outperform gold for the rest of the year.
This information finally seems to be getting through to the financial markets. Since March (the day the Fed announced quantitative easing) the precious metals and mining stocks have roared ahead against all currencies, but especially against the US Dollar. As I write this, gold is at $956 and silver at $14.69, as both have rallied sharply. However, the commitment of traders has deteriorated, and the technical wizards say the metals are overbought, which means at some point JP Morgan will pull its bids and try to engineer another sell off in silver and gold. That is inevitable, but another piece of news just surfaced.
The Bank for International Settlements just issued its semi-annual report, indicating that gold derivatives declined sharply, from $649 billion to $395 billion, or roughly 40%. I take this to mean the shorts are finally starting to cover. That is a decline of 7600 tons, or close to three years of production. If I had to guess, I would say we will see $1200 gold this year, and I expect the gold/silver ratio to decline, so silver should outperform gold for the rest of the year.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Don't ever be an executor!
Once again, I have been remiss in updating this blog, but there have been circumstances beyond my control. The fates have decreed that I am the executor of my parents' estate, and lately I have been busier than a one-legged asskicker. At first I spent most of my time dealing with doctors, nurses, hospitals and insurance companies. Now I spend most of my time dealing with bankers, lawyers, brokers, and investment companies, in addition to some of the above.
Oddly enough, the easiest people to work with have been my probate attorney and the Department of Motor Vehicles. I never would have guessed. Until I engaged the attorney, I usually had to do everything three times to get it done, if I was lucky. Sometimes, my efforts were completely ignored. It seems in the legal world there is only one way to do things, and everything takes four to six weeks, and everything isn't perfect, it gets kicked back to me.
The lawyer knows what to do, and provides me with the Declaration of This, and the Affidavits of This, That, and The Other Thing needed to get things done. As far as the DMV is concerned, there are streamlined procedures, and only one way to do anything. But if you do things their way, and fill out their form, everything gets accomplished in a fast and efficient manner (once you've waited in line for 25 minutes.)
So if anyone ever asks you to be an executor, just decline politely. Tell them you're too busy (and believe me, you will be.) It doesn't matter what the fee is, or if you have experience in the business, or you're good with money. It isn't worth it. I feel like I'm an executive. At any given time, I am juggling ten or twelve things, having delegated tasks to people, and hoping they get them done. After a certain amount of time, I have to follow up with each of them just to make sure they're actually doing something. (What? What form? Oh, no! You were supposed to send us Form XYZ-23. We can't do anything without that.) Then why didn't you tell me that, you stupid &*%$#@!?
Speaking of business, I just saw the finale of the Celebrity Apprentice. Donald (the idiot) Trump just picked Joan Rivers over Annie Duke, which is the dumbest business decision I have seen since New Coke. All I can say is that I have seen the first eight seasons of The Apprentice, but I won't be watching the ninth one. You can't reward nasty, abusive people at the expense of a competent professional, and expect to maintain my interest.
Last of all, my comment on the financial markets. More and more, it is looking like the 1970's again, not the 1930's. Massive global financial stimulus is finally having an effect, and we are seeing that in uptrends in commodities and the Baltic Dry Freight Index. However, the recent run in the broad stock market that has taken the Dow up 2000 points is a mirage. To put it bluntly, it is a sucker rally, nothing more than a bear market rally.
The large banks are still insolvent, and no matter what the stress tests say, they should all be bankrupt. Further, the American consumer is tapped out, and predictions of GDP growth are hopelessly optimistic. When the economic improvement comes, it will be led by China, India and Brazil, not the United States.
We're already starting to see a breakdown in the US Dollar, with the $C up to 87 cents, and 10-year T-Bond yields up to 3.3%. Resource stocks will do very well in this environment. Gold, silver, oil, and gas in particular, but once inflation starts to show up later this year, the soft commodities and even base metals will do well. The only remaining caveat for mining shares is that when the rally in the broad stock market fizzles out, will the gold stocks act like gold or like stocks? It is possible that mining stocks could sell off with everything else, but if they do, that will present one last buying opportunity before gold and silver move up sharply. More likely, the lows for mining shares are already in.
Oddly enough, the easiest people to work with have been my probate attorney and the Department of Motor Vehicles. I never would have guessed. Until I engaged the attorney, I usually had to do everything three times to get it done, if I was lucky. Sometimes, my efforts were completely ignored. It seems in the legal world there is only one way to do things, and everything takes four to six weeks, and everything isn't perfect, it gets kicked back to me.
The lawyer knows what to do, and provides me with the Declaration of This, and the Affidavits of This, That, and The Other Thing needed to get things done. As far as the DMV is concerned, there are streamlined procedures, and only one way to do anything. But if you do things their way, and fill out their form, everything gets accomplished in a fast and efficient manner (once you've waited in line for 25 minutes.)
So if anyone ever asks you to be an executor, just decline politely. Tell them you're too busy (and believe me, you will be.) It doesn't matter what the fee is, or if you have experience in the business, or you're good with money. It isn't worth it. I feel like I'm an executive. At any given time, I am juggling ten or twelve things, having delegated tasks to people, and hoping they get them done. After a certain amount of time, I have to follow up with each of them just to make sure they're actually doing something. (What? What form? Oh, no! You were supposed to send us Form XYZ-23. We can't do anything without that.) Then why didn't you tell me that, you stupid &*%$#@!?
Speaking of business, I just saw the finale of the Celebrity Apprentice. Donald (the idiot) Trump just picked Joan Rivers over Annie Duke, which is the dumbest business decision I have seen since New Coke. All I can say is that I have seen the first eight seasons of The Apprentice, but I won't be watching the ninth one. You can't reward nasty, abusive people at the expense of a competent professional, and expect to maintain my interest.
Last of all, my comment on the financial markets. More and more, it is looking like the 1970's again, not the 1930's. Massive global financial stimulus is finally having an effect, and we are seeing that in uptrends in commodities and the Baltic Dry Freight Index. However, the recent run in the broad stock market that has taken the Dow up 2000 points is a mirage. To put it bluntly, it is a sucker rally, nothing more than a bear market rally.
The large banks are still insolvent, and no matter what the stress tests say, they should all be bankrupt. Further, the American consumer is tapped out, and predictions of GDP growth are hopelessly optimistic. When the economic improvement comes, it will be led by China, India and Brazil, not the United States.
We're already starting to see a breakdown in the US Dollar, with the $C up to 87 cents, and 10-year T-Bond yields up to 3.3%. Resource stocks will do very well in this environment. Gold, silver, oil, and gas in particular, but once inflation starts to show up later this year, the soft commodities and even base metals will do well. The only remaining caveat for mining shares is that when the rally in the broad stock market fizzles out, will the gold stocks act like gold or like stocks? It is possible that mining stocks could sell off with everything else, but if they do, that will present one last buying opportunity before gold and silver move up sharply. More likely, the lows for mining shares are already in.
Friday, April 24, 2009
When did 60 Minutes become Pravda?
Ages ago, when I was a young man, I used to watch 60 Minutes on Sunday nights. Then came 20 years of working weekends as an air traffic controller. But now I am once again watching 60 Minutes, and I am sad to say that you can't go home again.
In the olden days, 60 Minutes was famous for providing the best in hard-hitting investigative journalism. If you were a businessman back then, the last thing you wanted to see was a 60 Minutes camera crew waiting outside your office. Corporate executives used to whine that 60 Minutes was anti-business, but they had it wrong. 60 Minutes was anti-corrpution. Note that I used the past tense in that last sentence.
Things aren't the same any more. Last year, 60 Minutes did a puff-piece on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, paying homage to him for preventing the financial system from melting down. In a way, 60 Minutes was correct in that we were indeed on the edge of a global financial cataclysm. But Paulson was one of the perpetrators who caused the disaster in the first place. Yet 60 Minutes never mentioned that, and went on to lionize him for his efforts to avert disaster.
OK, maybe 60 Minutes could slip up once. After all, I have bad days once in a while, too. But then 60 Minutes went on to do a puff-piece on Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America, which had just finalized a deal to purchase Merrill Lynch. So there is 60 Minutes again, showing Bank of America as the clever bank that had avoided the pitfalls that snagged Citigroup and the other money center banks. And now BoA was going to acquire one of the venerable names of Wall Street.
Now the truth comes out. 1) Bank of America is only one or two steps behind Citigroup on the way to insolvency and bankruptcy, and 2) Merrill Lynch is a toxic mess, owning more worthless mortgage-backed securities than anyone had suspected. Certainly more than Ken Lewis suspected, and when he found out, he attempted to back out of the deal, invoking the "material adverse event" clause in the contract.
Here's where things REALLY get sticky. Henry the Hit-Man Paulson then told Lewis you will buy Merrill Lynch or I will fire you, your entire management team, and your board of directors. So Lewis said, "Where do I sign?" He bought Merrill Lynch, simultaneously saving his own job and throwing the BoA shareholders under the bus. Now Paulson pipes up that yes, he threatened to fire everyone, but only because Ben Bernanke ordered him to do so.
Well! That is certainly interesting, because Fed Chairman Bernanke has already denied through a spokesman that he did any such thing. You can bet that we have not heard the last of this. But that brings me back to 60 Minutes, which recently did yet another puff-piece on...Ben Bernanke! It was a wonderful story of how the smartest kid in town grew up to be the genius who is safeguarding our country's central bank.
More and more, 60 Minutes looks like Pravda, the old Soviet newspaper that told the people whatever the government wanted the people to know. It is one thing to try to imbue people with confidence that we will get through this economic mess and everything will be all right. It is quite another to praise the scoundrels who got us into this mess in the first place.
No one says 60 Minutes is anti-business any longer, and for that, the producers of 60 Minutes should be ashamed of themselves.
In the olden days, 60 Minutes was famous for providing the best in hard-hitting investigative journalism. If you were a businessman back then, the last thing you wanted to see was a 60 Minutes camera crew waiting outside your office. Corporate executives used to whine that 60 Minutes was anti-business, but they had it wrong. 60 Minutes was anti-corrpution. Note that I used the past tense in that last sentence.
Things aren't the same any more. Last year, 60 Minutes did a puff-piece on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, paying homage to him for preventing the financial system from melting down. In a way, 60 Minutes was correct in that we were indeed on the edge of a global financial cataclysm. But Paulson was one of the perpetrators who caused the disaster in the first place. Yet 60 Minutes never mentioned that, and went on to lionize him for his efforts to avert disaster.
OK, maybe 60 Minutes could slip up once. After all, I have bad days once in a while, too. But then 60 Minutes went on to do a puff-piece on Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America, which had just finalized a deal to purchase Merrill Lynch. So there is 60 Minutes again, showing Bank of America as the clever bank that had avoided the pitfalls that snagged Citigroup and the other money center banks. And now BoA was going to acquire one of the venerable names of Wall Street.
Now the truth comes out. 1) Bank of America is only one or two steps behind Citigroup on the way to insolvency and bankruptcy, and 2) Merrill Lynch is a toxic mess, owning more worthless mortgage-backed securities than anyone had suspected. Certainly more than Ken Lewis suspected, and when he found out, he attempted to back out of the deal, invoking the "material adverse event" clause in the contract.
Here's where things REALLY get sticky. Henry the Hit-Man Paulson then told Lewis you will buy Merrill Lynch or I will fire you, your entire management team, and your board of directors. So Lewis said, "Where do I sign?" He bought Merrill Lynch, simultaneously saving his own job and throwing the BoA shareholders under the bus. Now Paulson pipes up that yes, he threatened to fire everyone, but only because Ben Bernanke ordered him to do so.
Well! That is certainly interesting, because Fed Chairman Bernanke has already denied through a spokesman that he did any such thing. You can bet that we have not heard the last of this. But that brings me back to 60 Minutes, which recently did yet another puff-piece on...Ben Bernanke! It was a wonderful story of how the smartest kid in town grew up to be the genius who is safeguarding our country's central bank.
More and more, 60 Minutes looks like Pravda, the old Soviet newspaper that told the people whatever the government wanted the people to know. It is one thing to try to imbue people with confidence that we will get through this economic mess and everything will be all right. It is quite another to praise the scoundrels who got us into this mess in the first place.
No one says 60 Minutes is anti-business any longer, and for that, the producers of 60 Minutes should be ashamed of themselves.
Friday, April 17, 2009
New website: Goldmansachs666.com
The government's interference in the financial markets has become so blatant that references to it are finding their way into the mainstream media. I don't mean the various stimulus packages that President Obama is pushing: I mean the outright fraud and manipulation being practiced by Government...oops, Goldman Sachs. For a long time there has been a revolving door between the highest level of GSax and the Treasury and the world's central banks. The machinations of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets (aka Plunge Protection Team) has been well documented. But now, a fellow by the name of Mike Morgan is willing to take on the embodiment of evil itself and I wish him well.
In case it is not clear, the Wall Street banking industry (with its allies in government) is plundering the wealth of this country. Vast amounts of money are being created and immediately funneled to the favored banks. With interest rates driven down to near zero, retirees can't live on their savings, and their wealth is being extracted from them. Again, low interest rates favor the banks, which can borrow at no cost, and invest the money at much higher rates. The people who actually work and manufacture and create things are seeing their currency debased, and their wealth transferred to the executives on Wall Street, who push paper around, and create nothing.
This is the web site: http://www.goldmansachs666.com/
Here is a sample from a disclaimer:
"Disclosure: Yes, I am short Goldman Sachs stock. I believe this company is evil and should not exist. We need to begin to break up companies that have as much control over world finances as Goldman Sachs."
Needless to say, Goldman Sachs is trying to shut him down, but Mr. Morgan (and his lawyers) are ready for a fight, and they want to take on Goliath. I wish him the best of luck.
On a somewhat lighter note, a somewhat heavier golfer won the Masters tournament on Sunday. Angel Cabrera became the first man from Argentina to win the Masters. He isn't your typical pro that grew up playing golf at the country club links. Cabrera dropped out of school at age 10, and spent most of his youth getting into fights. From the looks of him, he spent the rest of his time eating. At least when he wasn't chain smoking.
That's not to say he can't play. He hadn't realized the potential of his talent, mostly because he didn't seem to think putting was very important. A couple of years ago, he finally decided to do some work on his putting, and he beat Tiger Woods to win the US Open. So it was no surprise that he could win another major championship, especially since he gave up smoking. He still likes to eat, though. Not like John Daly, but Cabrera could stand to lose a few pounds. But then the fittest golfers don't always win, and I think Cabrera has at least another major title in him.
In case it is not clear, the Wall Street banking industry (with its allies in government) is plundering the wealth of this country. Vast amounts of money are being created and immediately funneled to the favored banks. With interest rates driven down to near zero, retirees can't live on their savings, and their wealth is being extracted from them. Again, low interest rates favor the banks, which can borrow at no cost, and invest the money at much higher rates. The people who actually work and manufacture and create things are seeing their currency debased, and their wealth transferred to the executives on Wall Street, who push paper around, and create nothing.
This is the web site: http://www.goldmansachs666.com/
Here is a sample from a disclaimer:
"Disclosure: Yes, I am short Goldman Sachs stock. I believe this company is evil and should not exist. We need to begin to break up companies that have as much control over world finances as Goldman Sachs."
Needless to say, Goldman Sachs is trying to shut him down, but Mr. Morgan (and his lawyers) are ready for a fight, and they want to take on Goliath. I wish him the best of luck.
On a somewhat lighter note, a somewhat heavier golfer won the Masters tournament on Sunday. Angel Cabrera became the first man from Argentina to win the Masters. He isn't your typical pro that grew up playing golf at the country club links. Cabrera dropped out of school at age 10, and spent most of his youth getting into fights. From the looks of him, he spent the rest of his time eating. At least when he wasn't chain smoking.
That's not to say he can't play. He hadn't realized the potential of his talent, mostly because he didn't seem to think putting was very important. A couple of years ago, he finally decided to do some work on his putting, and he beat Tiger Woods to win the US Open. So it was no surprise that he could win another major championship, especially since he gave up smoking. He still likes to eat, though. Not like John Daly, but Cabrera could stand to lose a few pounds. But then the fittest golfers don't always win, and I think Cabrera has at least another major title in him.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
No surprises from G20 meeting
The good news from the G-20 summit meeting is that while some 90 people were arrested, only one person was killed, and even that might not be directly related to the protests. Other than some windows being broken at the Royal Bank of Scotland, the affair was about as peaceful as one could have hoped. French President Sarkozy didn't walk out, and for the first time in a long time, the US had a president with the gravitas to be there, and didn't try to look into anyone's soul. But for all the praise President Obama received, he didn't have a very strong hand to play.
Both China and Russia are trying to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency, either with a gold-backed currency, or with Special Drawing Rights from the IMF. If the IMF was serious about this, they wouldn't be selling 403 tons of gold, ostensibly to pay some bills or raise funds to help impoverished countries in Africa, or some other such nonsense. I think it is a payoff for holders of T-Bonds who are fed up with our money printing. In other worlds, most of the IMF gold will end up in a Chinese bank vault, and none of it will ever be sold on the open market. It will be a bank-to-bank transaction, with no effect on the gold market.
All I can gather about the G20 meeting is that our world leaders finally figured out that the economic crisis is for real, and it is global, so they all have to learn to play nice with each other or the whole thing collapses. So we will see more and larger stimulus packages to come. They formally announced that the world will collectively spend another $5 trillion by the end of next year, and if things still don't look good, you can bet there's more where that came from. So there will be a global economic rally of sorts, but we won't see much of it here in the US. It will be led by the emerging markets, notably China, India and Brazil, and that will strengthen commodity prices further as those countries industrialize. Ever since I was in college, the old joke about Brazil was that it was the country of the future, and always would be. It appears now the joke is on us. Brazil is energy self-sufficient, it has an enormously popular president, and the country may actually start to live up to its potential.
And now a word about Plax. Some time ago (right after the idiot shot himself) I opined that Paxico Burress would play football again, but not for the New York Giants. At last the Giants have given up hope, and released him. Last year the Giants withheld his $1 million bonus because when they re-did his contract last year they inserted a clause that said Burress would forfeit his signing bonus if he was subject to “incarceration or detention by any law enforcement personnel” or if he was suspended by the NFL or the Giants for “conduct detrimental” to the team.
It sounds like the Giants knew who they were dealing with, doesn't it? That in itself is a sign of the times when you suspect your multi-millionaire employees might get themselves thrown in prison. But now an arbitrator ruled that the Giants have to pay Burress the $1 million because the Collective Bargaining Agreement overrules individual contracts, and the CBA states that a player can only forfeit his signing bonus if he “willfully takes action that has the effect of substantially undermining his ability to fully participate in either preseason training camp or the regular season.” The arbitrator ruled that Burress’ actions were not “willful.” So I guess if Burress had shot himself on purpose, the Giants would have had a better case.
That's one of the things I've always hated about unions. They protect bad people who deserve to be punished. I wish Plax well in his future endeavors, and I certainly hope he stays out of prison because he doesn't belong there. But as if he didn't hurt the Giants enough by wrecking their 2008 season, now he has cost the team another $1 million in the bargain. End of rant.
Both China and Russia are trying to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency, either with a gold-backed currency, or with Special Drawing Rights from the IMF. If the IMF was serious about this, they wouldn't be selling 403 tons of gold, ostensibly to pay some bills or raise funds to help impoverished countries in Africa, or some other such nonsense. I think it is a payoff for holders of T-Bonds who are fed up with our money printing. In other worlds, most of the IMF gold will end up in a Chinese bank vault, and none of it will ever be sold on the open market. It will be a bank-to-bank transaction, with no effect on the gold market.
All I can gather about the G20 meeting is that our world leaders finally figured out that the economic crisis is for real, and it is global, so they all have to learn to play nice with each other or the whole thing collapses. So we will see more and larger stimulus packages to come. They formally announced that the world will collectively spend another $5 trillion by the end of next year, and if things still don't look good, you can bet there's more where that came from. So there will be a global economic rally of sorts, but we won't see much of it here in the US. It will be led by the emerging markets, notably China, India and Brazil, and that will strengthen commodity prices further as those countries industrialize. Ever since I was in college, the old joke about Brazil was that it was the country of the future, and always would be. It appears now the joke is on us. Brazil is energy self-sufficient, it has an enormously popular president, and the country may actually start to live up to its potential.
And now a word about Plax. Some time ago (right after the idiot shot himself) I opined that Paxico Burress would play football again, but not for the New York Giants. At last the Giants have given up hope, and released him. Last year the Giants withheld his $1 million bonus because when they re-did his contract last year they inserted a clause that said Burress would forfeit his signing bonus if he was subject to “incarceration or detention by any law enforcement personnel” or if he was suspended by the NFL or the Giants for “conduct detrimental” to the team.
It sounds like the Giants knew who they were dealing with, doesn't it? That in itself is a sign of the times when you suspect your multi-millionaire employees might get themselves thrown in prison. But now an arbitrator ruled that the Giants have to pay Burress the $1 million because the Collective Bargaining Agreement overrules individual contracts, and the CBA states that a player can only forfeit his signing bonus if he “willfully takes action that has the effect of substantially undermining his ability to fully participate in either preseason training camp or the regular season.” The arbitrator ruled that Burress’ actions were not “willful.” So I guess if Burress had shot himself on purpose, the Giants would have had a better case.
That's one of the things I've always hated about unions. They protect bad people who deserve to be punished. I wish Plax well in his future endeavors, and I certainly hope he stays out of prison because he doesn't belong there. But as if he didn't hurt the Giants enough by wrecking their 2008 season, now he has cost the team another $1 million in the bargain. End of rant.
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