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Posts Tagged ‘Gresham’s Law’

Central Banks and Competitive Currency

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Follow up to Has Central Bank Management of the Economy Failed?

Central Banks and Competitive Currency

central bankCourtesy of Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

Correspondent Eugene P. summarizes the history of central banking in the U.S. and suggests an alternative to our debauched dollar.

In response to Has Central Bank Management of the Economy Failed?, Correspondent Eugene P. cogently summarized the history of central banking in the U.S. and then posed a provocative alternative to the declining U.S. dollar: private-sector competitive currencies.

Eugene P.

A few thoughts on your most recent essay re: Central Banking.

Some of the Founding Fathers despised Central Banking, particularly Thomas Jefferson, who saw it as an engine for speculation, financial manipulation, and corruption. He said in 1816, "I sincerely believe…that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

Some of the Founding Fathers loved Central Banking, particularly Hamilton. (Coincidentally, Hamilton also disliked the concept of a Bill of Rights, finding it unnecessary, and really disliked the fact that States had rights that the Federal Government couldn’t automatically override. Sound like anyone familiar?)

We had about 150 years of common sense (i.e., no central banking) here, with several blips on the radar screen: the first was the 1st Bank of the United States (1791-1796). The second was the 2nd Bank of the United States (1816-1836), which was created by James Madison (over Jefferson’s objections) because he needed a way to fund the War of 1812. It was later dismantled by President Andrew Jackson, who viewed it as a form of systemic corruption that benefited his enemies.

The third was the National Banking Act of 1863, which was created for, among other reasons, funding the Civil War. War is, after all, an expensive proposition, a lesson learned by the Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Mongols, et. al, but clearly, this lesson has not sunk into current humanity’s brain yet. Maybe sometime in the future. I can hope.

Still, despite this legislation, bank runs were occurring on a semi-regular basis, and this annoyed (and busted) bankers who made their money engaging


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Zero Hedge

Ten Minutes With Italy's Mario Monti

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by CrownThomas.

Italy's Prime Minister (and self appointed economy minister) shot over to CNBC after his meeting with President Obama this afternoon to discuss how well everything looks for Italy since he was elected took over.

Notable Comments:

  • Italian banks are "vulnerable" but have recapitalized themselves (rather, the ECB has given them money)
  • He had a good meeting with Obama, and Obama is supportive (he's careful to...


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Chart School

Getting Technical: Weekend Update

Courtesy of Doug Short.

Here's the latest weekend update from Serge Perreault, a Chartered Accountant and market technician located near Montreal, Canada. Serge has been following the U.S. market in a series of weekly charts. Here is his update on the S&P 500.

This week, the S&P 500 could not break so much resistance and now paused its ascension, on average volume and on falling momentum.

Notice also how the "Volume EMA10" has continued its downtrend.


 


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Insider Scoop

Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 10, 2012

Courtesy of Benzinga.

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 10, 2012:

Actuant Acquires Jeyco Pty

The Deal:
Actuant (NYSE: ATU) announced Friday that it has acquired Jeyco Pty Ltd (“Jeyco”). Headquartered near Perth, Australia, Jeyco designs and provides specialized mooring, rigging and towing systems and services to the offshore oil & gas industry in Australia and other international markets. Additionally, its highly engineered products are used in a variety of applications for other markets including cyclone mooring and marine, defense and mining tow systems. Jeyco generates annual revenues of approximately $20 million.

Actuant shares closed at $27.33 Friday, a loss of 0.18% on average volume.

...

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Phil's Favorites

China Financial Markets: When Will China Emerge From the Global Crisis?

Courtesy of Mish

I am saddened to report that Michael Pettis' site China Financial Markets has been blocked. The link redirects to a site with a one line message "This Account Has Been Suspended". When I have more details, I will post them.

Note: I just heard back from Pettis who is unsure of what happened. Hopefully this will be cleared up soon. I am leaving the rest of this post as I originally wrote it. 

This is really a shame because Pettis is invariably a great read. I am personally indebted because he has taught me most of what I know about trade. 

Michael Pettis is Professor of Finance at Peking University, and Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

W...



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Market Montage

And Still Not a Single 1% Down Day in 2012

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

A little flurry of buying in the closing 5 minutes tacked on 2 S&P points and took the major indexes off the lows.  Only the Russell 2000 finished with a greater than 1% loss (1.4%) as it has been relatively weak versus the senior indexes for the past few sessions.   While today was the "worst day of the year" – it was quite a low bar as the previous biggest loss on the S&P 500 was -0.57%.

The S&P 500 held well above the 10 day moving average (didn't even really touch it) and did not even attempt to fill the gap from last Friday's employment report.  The teflon market rolls on for now.  Specul...



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ETF Selector

ETFs Skid On Greece (VGK, EWG, FXE, DIA, SPY)

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Greece was “saved” for less than 24 hours but now major ETFs around the world skid into the weekend on Greek fears

After wangling for a week or more, Greek took their new deal to the European Ministers meeting, only to have it promptly rejected and so as we go into the weekend, major global markets and ETFs have again hit the skids on Greece.

After two years of wangling, the European zone is demanding yet more and deeper cuts for Greece to qualify for the next round of bailout loans that will keep the country from going bankrupt on March 20th.

Major European and United States ETF responded negatively to the new developments:

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF (NYSEARCA:...



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All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.




To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...

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Option Review

True Religion Falls Apart At The Seams After Earnings

 

Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT

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Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 2/10/2012

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisXBUYThe projected value for US Steel is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.CMISTRONGBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Cummins, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving.NTGRBUYProjected value continues to rise for NETGEAR while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.ASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also i...

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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 6th, 2012

Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current  trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options. 

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader 

...

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly: The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics

NEW: Elliott and Ilene are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.

Here's the latest Stock World Weekly, called "The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics."  

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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

Weekend Virtual Portfolio Update 1/30/2012

Here is a quick update of past trades and our current position. AA Money No trade this week as we wait for AA to settle. Phil remarked last week that AA seemed overvalued. In the meantime, it looks like we might have to roll our Feb 9 calls. Good thing we sold only 5 of them against our position. Last week P&L - 310.00 We lost ground last week, but we still have 11 months to sell premium! FAS Money Very good week for FAS Money as we benefited from the large amount of premium sold the previous week. We covered most of the shorts in advance of the Fed speech, but sold another set of options on Wednesday after the speech - 2 FAS calls that expired worthless on Friday, 2 FAS put that we are still holding and 2 FAZ put that we bought back for a profit on Friday. A late stick comparable to last week's almost gave us problems at the end of the day though! Last week P&L - $4277.00 IWM Money A decent week in this virtual portfo...

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Pharmboy

Biotech Investing for 2012

Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game.  More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline.  In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up.  I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect.  I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...



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