Some Commentary on the Ineptitude of Government

The September 2011 Market Crash This week, the markets had a very significant decline. Every market in every country had huge down days. Not only stocks, but also gold, metals, commodities, currencies, oil, and everything else fell. You might ask, if everything fell, what was the fall measured against. Currencies are measured against the US$.… Continue reading Some Commentary on the Ineptitude of Government

Follow Value, Not Market Hysteria – Italy Gets Downgraded, Markets Move Up

The Markets Do Not Follow Rational Thought We have often remarked that investors should not follow the pundits. Investors should not follow the doomsayers. Investors should not follow the day to day fears or euphoria of the markets. Pundits and newspapers are all people with advertising space to sell, or people with a particular bent… Continue reading Follow Value, Not Market Hysteria – Italy Gets Downgraded, Markets Move Up

The Volatility of Gold, Gold as a Investment Opportunity

The Volatility of Gold, Gold as a Investment Opportunity We are often asked whether gold is still a good place to invest. There are affecting issues here that investors need consider. The Acceptance by Investors That ETF’s are an Acceptable Investment Due to world currency instability and fears of debt crises spreading, many people have… Continue reading The Volatility of Gold, Gold as a Investment Opportunity

Expect the Unexpected in the Stock Market

Relying on Your Investment Advisor One hires an Investment Advisor in the hope that such a person has devoted most of their waking efforts to analyzing the markets and determining how their clients should invest. In order to assist them in making these determinations, the firms that they work for, supposedly provide these individuals with… Continue reading Expect the Unexpected in the Stock Market

China’s Surprising Level of Debt

In our last two blogs, we described the truly amazing amount of capital infrastructure construction going on in China, and we described how this amazing feat is being financed – by Special Investment Corporations – whose debts are really the debts of individual local governments, but those debts don’t get recorded anywhere. So what we… Continue reading China’s Surprising Level of Debt

China’s Hidden Debt – The Chinese Version of Off-Balance Sheet Financing

In our last blog, we described the modern miracle of Chinese creation of tremendous modern infrastructure. Now we look at how the financing of this modern miracle is occurring. The creation of all of these bridges, buildings, and infrastructure has to be financed, and somehow this debt must be repaid in the future. Western countries,… Continue reading China’s Hidden Debt – The Chinese Version of Off-Balance Sheet Financing

China’s Underground Debt

The New Infrastructure in China When one sees the marvelous infrastructure developments in China, compared to the older and somewhat crumbling infrastructure in the Western world, one has to marvel. There are so many roads, railways, bridges, skyscrapers, malls, hotels, and so much more. It boggles the mind to see the vastness of all of… Continue reading China’s Underground Debt

Beware The Herd Mentality – The Only Sure Thing is a Lack of Surety – The Death Cross

It seems we are in a period of great uncertainty. Everywhere it seems there are signs of negativity. It seems the housing market is falling, European debt is getting out of control, debt continues to mount in the USA, and so on. The Death Cross A Death Cross is a technical indicator that is followed… Continue reading Beware The Herd Mentality – The Only Sure Thing is a Lack of Surety – The Death Cross