- Posted by Joe Fahmy
- on August 13th, 2010 and both articles sent in by Shaza
"In 1923, seven men who had made it to the top of the financial success pyramid met together at the Edgewater Hotel in Chicago. Collectively, they controlled more wealth than the entire United States Treasury, and for years the media had held them up as examples of success.
Who were they? Charles M. Schwab, president of the world's largest steel company (Bethlehem Steel); Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator of his day; Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange; Albert Fall, a member of the President's Cabinet; Jesse Livermore, the greatest bear on Wall Street; Leon Fraser, president of the International Bank of Settlement; and Ivar Kreuger, the head of the world's largest monopoly.
What happened to them? Schwab and Cutten both died broke; Whitney spent years of his life in Sing Sing penitentiary; Fall also spent years in prison, but was released so he could die at home; and the others---Livermore, Fraser, and Kreuger, committed suicide."
---Donald McCullogh, Walking From The American Dream
I shared this passage last December around the holidays. My purpose back then was not to depress anyone, but rather to remind us that there's more to life than money. Many times, traders and investors get caught up chasing a dollar amount or attaining a certain net worth...but for what? I know I am guilty of this at times and I constantly need to remind myself that family, health, spirituality, and many other things should come first before wealth accumulation.
I know it's not the holiday season. This is just a simple reminder on a random weekend in August to spend time with your family and loved ones because that is where true wealth and happiness exists. Even greater happiness comes from giving. Think of something that you can do this weekend to help others, such as charity or volunteer work, and then go out and do it! Trust me, there is no amount of money that can replace the feeling of an enlightened and rejuvenated spirit.
Barron's: Time to Print, Print, Print
8.07.2010 Posted by | 8.07.2010 at 8:28 AM
Yes, that's actually the title, and this is actually the illustration, for this article ($) by serious columnist Jonathan R. Laing making a serious policy prescription in a serious financial newspaper.
Barron's makes the common mistake that stuffing the banks with more free money will somehow cause more lending to consumers who don't want and can't handle more debt, and that this lending would be a good thing. Au contraire. More debt is the last thing we need. As I've said before, printing money to buy Treasuries will cause asset bubbles, not wage inflation, in a 10% unemployment / 20% underemployment environment. How will consumers benefit if the cost of food and gas doubles but they still have no jobs?
Easy-money asset bubbles worsen the "wealth gap" by enriching asset owners (shareholders, real estate speculators, gold hoarders, vampire squid) while impoverishing the paycheck-to-paycheck working stiff.
Laing has it partially right. Devaluation is the only way out. But we've got to get the newly printed money directly to the people of America, not circuitously through more debt from the dirty banksters.
Regardless, the prime takeaway is that QE2 is coming:
'cause, you know, Greenspan's easy money worked out so great for everybody!
Shall we play a game?
Love to. Let's play Global Competitive Devaluation.
Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?
Later. Let's play Global Competitive Devaluation.
Fine.
Get thee to a gold dealer, my friend.
.JPG)
Barron's makes the common mistake that stuffing the banks with more free money will somehow cause more lending to consumers who don't want and can't handle more debt, and that this lending would be a good thing. Au contraire. More debt is the last thing we need. As I've said before, printing money to buy Treasuries will cause asset bubbles, not wage inflation, in a 10% unemployment / 20% underemployment environment. How will consumers benefit if the cost of food and gas doubles but they still have no jobs?
Easy-money asset bubbles worsen the "wealth gap" by enriching asset owners (shareholders, real estate speculators, gold hoarders, vampire squid) while impoverishing the paycheck-to-paycheck working stiff.
Laing has it partially right. Devaluation is the only way out. But we've got to get the newly printed money directly to the people of America, not circuitously through more debt from the dirty banksters.
Regardless, the prime takeaway is that QE2 is coming:
Signs of a sea change in attitudes toward quantitative easing are growing, even in unusual quarters. Last month, the European Central Bank quietly invited Vincent Reinhart, a powerful figure in the Greespan Fed as director of the Division of Monetary Affairs from 2001 to 2007, to conduct a seminar on quantitative easing for its top staffers. That was momentous, given the institution's history as a bastion of monetary conservatism and rectitude.
'cause, you know, Greenspan's easy money worked out so great for everybody!
Shall we play a game?
Love to. Let's play Global Competitive Devaluation.
Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?
Later. Let's play Global Competitive Devaluation.
Fine.
Get thee to a gold dealer, my friend.
.JPG)