27 June 2009

Baby Boom Thieves

Generations X (30-45) and Y (15-30) need to wake up and see the massive inter-generational theft happening before their eyes. Baby-boomers need to be shocked into knowing they are being shortsighted and will end up living in two retirement islands and having to visit their grandchildren overseas.
Bernard Hickey of interest.co.nz at the Herald.

23 June 2009

Business Pressure

If you feel you are being forced to buy something by a business,
you will usually find a government law or regulation behind their power.

19 June 2009

Following

Twitter is not a social network. It is a tool for social and political elites (the followed) to lead their sheep (the followers).
The whole world “followed” the beast (Rev 13:3).
People think that we are living in the age of democracy,
but multitudes are being deceived into serving the beast,
while thinking they are free.

I do not follow Twitter; I am following Jesus.

17 June 2009

Hoorah for Capitalism

The rich hate capitalism because it threatens to take away their money. The poor hate it because they think it keeps them from getting any money in the first place. And everywhere you look, the chiselers are offering bailouts, boondoggles and bamboozles. With so many people trying to improve on capitalism, it’s a wonder they’ve never come up with something better.

When you leave people alone: some people watch TV...some blabber about politics...and some build wealth. The rules are simple: Thou shalt not steal, it saith in the Bible. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Jesus added. Everything else - from hedge funds to derivatives - is merely an elaboration. People make deals with their neighbors in order to get what they want. One plants the wheat; the other bakes the bread. As long as they respect each other's deals and each other's property, everything goes tolerably well.

The western, capitalist economies are in the midst of their own perestroika. They are being restructured. But not by the world-improvers. Instead, they are being restructured by capitalism itself... Leave capitalism alone and it will do the job far faster and far better than the meddlers could ever do.
From Hoorah for Capitalism by Bill Bonner

11 June 2009

Making Things Work

..many governmental actions -- including several pursued by Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression -- can make things worse. I wish I could be confident that the array of U.S. policies already in place and those likely forthcoming will be helpful. But I think it more likely that the economy will eventually recover despite these policies, rather than because of them.
Wisdom from Robert Barro at the Wall Street Journal. Read the full article

04 June 2009

Collective Prolifigacy

This is a crisis brought on by our collective profligacy, which manifested itself in too much spending, too much debt and no savings. The normal way to get out of a situation like that is to spend less, reduce borrowing and save more. I’m wondering why we haven’t taken that approach – well, I know why, but I still question the response.
Julian Robertson quoted by Rolfe Winkler at Option Armageddon