Site Map

Welcome to The Daily Reckoning

Fri Nov 21, 2008

"The Daily Reckoning is a freewheeling Web site for libertarians,
gold bugs and doom enthusiasts of every stripe."
- New York Times, June 5, 2005

The Daily Reckoning
The Daily Reckoning Home
Daily Reckoning Columnists
Sign Up for The Daily Reckoning E-letter
Daily Reckoning Presents Empire of Debt
Daily Reckoning Global Issues
Daily Reckoning Media Appearances
Daily Reckoning Events
Daily Reckoning Gold Page
Daily Reckoning Resources
Daily Reckoning Marketplace
Daily Reckoning Bookstore
Daily Reckoning Game

"[Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin] are living proof that concerned thinkers
still exist in our society.

The daily dose of sanity is a lifeline
in a [society] where debt is wealth,
lies are truth, and integrity is
the lapdog of politics.

Keep up the good work!"

Sign up for The Daily Reckoning...
Learn what you can expect from today's markets and how to prosper in the face of uncertainty.

We will not share your email address
with anyone else, period.
-Andrew Palmer , Director E-commerce Marketing
We Value Your Privacy

Daily Reckoning Extras
Welcome to Squanderville
The Essentialist Glossary
Essentialist Humor Files
A Daily Reckoning Desiderata
An Open Letter to Congress
The Revolution Of 1913
Agora in Historic Mt. Vernon
A Daily Reckoning Blog

Daily Reckoning Books
Empire of Debt: The Rise Of An Epic Financial Crisis
The Demise Of The Dollar... And Why It's Great For Your Investments
Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving The Sof Depression of The 21st Century

Daily Reckoning Special Position Papers
The Limits of Presidential Power
Gun Control Debate: Showdown at the PC Corral
Bias Against Guns: Gimme Back My Bullets
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Right: Legends of the Fall
Animal Rights vs. Human Rights: "Righting" a Wrong

The Daily Reckoning Reports
The Next Big Energy Shock
Big Pharma Swallows a Bitter Pill
Making a Fortune in Options
Gold $2000

The Daily Reckoning Australia
The Daily Reckoning Australia - Issue
The Daily Reckoning Australia - Sign Up
The Daily Reckoning Australia - Archives

Contact Information
Reader Services
Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
Whitelist Us
Contact Us

Reports and Articles on Business
AT&T Out of Business: Adios AT&T: Had AT&T defined itself differently, AT&T could have easily been one of the world's biggest companies instead of being out of business.
Who Controls Account 990N? :My firm and I have contacted the Merc on three different occasions with video proof that I recorded of my trading. It shows blatantly this guy crossing his orders thousands of times a day.
Why Buy a Chevy?: Maybe it's just patriotism that keeps customers coming back to Ford and Chevy showrooms.
Why Women's Skirts Go Up - And Down: If a company is caught with inventory of clothes that are suddenly out of fashion it has to write them off. To avoid that, lead times between ordering, production and sale are continually tightened.

Reports and Articles on China
Treading Carefully In China: While China presents enormous opportunities, it also brings specials risks as well.
Simple Needs For A Massive Country: The deeper you dig, the more you'll see signs that China is using its $54 billion in annual foreign direct investment deliberately and pragmatically.
Chinese Road Rage: The real profits from China will begin after the Communists are swept aside. It will be possible, of course, to profit while the Communists are still in power. I call it ‘China profits without the China risk.
Not Enough Grid, Too Much Lock: BHP Billiton is exactly the kind of company that will deliver you profits from the China and commodities boom - without requiring that you own risky Chinese stocks.
Learning to Play the Game: Making changes and improvements, implementing administrative procedures -- things that Westerners take for granted as part of their jobs, were much more difficult to achieve in China.
Economic Warfare: The market is not a school-crossing officer or social worker. It does not wait to make sure every last person keeps up. In other words, China's transition is likely be volatile and awfully difficult to muddle through.
China's Currency Reserves: China's Foot On America's Throat: But the fact that he openly recognized the need to move out of U.S. dollars tells us that a massive dollar decline is not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ ?
China's Trade Statistics: Booming Asia: In China's trade statistics, these foreign direct investments show as imports of goods. But these imports involve no payments on the part of China.
The China Factor and the US Dollar: The possibility that the Chinese authorities may lower their holdings of U.S. assets and substitute them for European assets is seen as a major threat to the U.S. dollar and seems to support the view of most experts.
Winning Without Fighting: China has been accused of helping some other nations, such as Pakistan, to create nuclear programs; so Chinese protestations should probably be treated with caution.
No Longer Pegged To The Dollar: Starting today, China will reform the exchange rate regime by moving into a managed float exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of currencies. Renminbi will no longer be pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Hoofing It In Hong Kong: They come to Hong Kong to shop…and blow thousands without the slightest thought, mostly on European luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Cash only.
Last Man Standing: In absolute terms, her expenditures exceed her income by more than 6% per year. Asian, Eastern European and Russian economies grow – with positive trade balances. Wages, per hour, barely rise in the U.S. In these new competitors, they soar.

Reports and Articles on 2004 Election
Voting in 2004: Ballot Bedlam: If everyone votes enough times in the same election, do you think that eventually we will get it right?”
On The Next Greyhound Out Of Town: I am no psychiatrist, but I have to wonder if deep down, W thinks that he has accomplished his goal of getting elected and now he can call it quits. At this stage, maybe he just wants to bring his presidency to an end and go back to Crawford and plow furrows in his fields.
The American Conservative Shocker: To the surprise of virtually everyone, Bush has turned into an important president, and in many ways, the most radical America has had since the 19th century.
Conservative Case Against George W. Bush: In January 2004, Charles Kolb, testified before Congress that, at a time when demographics project more retirees and fewer workers, projected government debt will rise from 37 percent of the economy today to 69 percent in 2020 and 250 percent in 2040.

Reports and Articles on the Federal Reserve
I, Greenspan - 01/20/2006
by Bill Bonner "A farewell to Greenspan: his life, his policies, his infamous 'Greenspan speak.'”
Recession Ahead? - 01/17/2006
by Dr. Kurt Richebächer "Mr. Greenspan has argued that the yield curve no longer plays the same crucial role for the economy as in the past, we think that under these conditions it matters more than ever."
Menace to Society - 12/26/2005
by The Mogambo Guru "The highlight of every holiday season for us here at The Daily Reckoning is the annual Christmas card from our friend, The Mighty Mogambo. And in this holiday spirit, we give you...The Mogambo’s Monday Essay (TMME)...”
The True Greenspan Legacy - 12/14/2005
by Dr. Kurt Richebächer "If Alan Greenspan jettisoned all inherited rules, he nevertheless chose one predominant rule, actually, his only rule: a strictly asymmetric policy pattern."
What Hath Alan Wrought - 11/23/2005
by Bill Bonner "Alan Greenspan is the most famous bureaucrat since Pontius Pilate. Like Pilate, he hesitated, but ultimately gave the mob what it wanted."
The Great Debate - 11/22/2005
by Puru Saxena "So, on one hand, the Federal Reserve continues to inflate, and on the other hand, it is raising rates. 'But why would they do that?' you may ask."
Straight Down The Middle: I would argue that we should more clearly define the role of the Federal Reserve.
Swimming in the Ocean of Debt: Rising rates would impact on the housing market and reveal the maladjustments that resulted from many years of rate manipulation. Rising rates would expose ill-designed housing built in wrong quantities, wrong qualities, and wrong neighborhoods.
Federal Fund Rate: Carry Trade sets the Limit to Rate Hikes: They are undoubtedly fully aware that a short-term rate at this level would definitely pull the rug out from under the whole U.S. financial system.
Tightening The Belt: A recession is a retreat, a decline in GDP, employment, and trade. Most people think of such economic forces in terms of lost jobs, which is only one aspect of the bigger picture

Reports and Articles on Foreign Relations
Fighting Radical Islam: America First: 'How America can win the intelligence war' - first you start a war. In other words, if you apply enough pressure, you'll find out who the enemy is, what it wants, and how it might be defeated.
Exclusion In The Market: Anti-isms: In another sign that Western Europe is feeling less inclusive in 2004, émigrés increasingly get a cold shoulder.
Cowboys And Liberals: The United States will still have to have an economic policy, and foreign policies towards the Middle East and Europe, the areas of highest tension.
Flawed Intellegence: Some Europeans believe that the alliance should pull out of Iraq. My conclusion is that there is no safe exit.
Investing In India: An Insider's View: Discovering Opportunities in India: Not only will these people consume, but they will also earn and produce wealth. By 2050, the largest English-speaking nation in the world will not be America. It will not be England. It will be India.
Irish Farm Boys Teach Bin Laden a Lesson: In the case of the bombs in the City and at Canary Wharf, the IRA gave warnings which reduced the loss to of life to a handful in each case.
Lethal Bumblers: Later, Mr. McNamara left the defense department for the World Bank. The world improver turned from meddling in military affairs to meddling in financial ones, with similarly disastrous, but much less deadly, results.
Nuclear Leverage: Iran could deal a devastating blow to the United States economically - without touching Israel or even fomenting chaos in Iraq (although it's capable of doing both).
Rubber and Rice: Think about it. One village produces nothing but spam. Just spam in a can. Maybe people buy it. Maybe they don't. But the village cranks it out no matter what. What if the village can't make enough? What if it makes too much? How does it adjust?
The Bomber Will Always Get Through: Nothing would be easier than to create a major terrorist event in France itself. It has a large and radicalised Islamic population.
Will The Boom Continue?: Dubai has truly let the cat out of the bag. There’s no doubt in my mind that in the next 10 years, other Dubai look-a-likes will spring up around the world, variations on a theme. For most countries, it’s either that, or plan on becoming a petting zoo for those who do.
The Few And The Proud: The war is not being fought by those usually lumped in together when thinking of American soldiers. Not by farm boys from Kansas or Iowa. Nor by poor boys from the Mississippi delta or from the hillbilly sections of the South.

Reports and Articles on Gold
Got Gold? - 01/09/2006
by The Mogambo Guru "The Mogambo smiles as he says, 'Harken to me, my darling dudes and dudettes. Gold! Got gold? Get gold!'"
Under Gold's Spell - 01/02/2006
by The Mogambo Guru "For those of you shuffling in to work today, head still ringing from the New Year’s festivities, thinking that the Mogambo would take it easy on you today and talk about his resolutions for 2006, think again...”
To Trust, Or Not to Trust, The Banks Are In Question - 12/19/2005
by The Mogambo Guru “Gold’s rise has some investors dancing in the street, singing the yellow metal’s praises - while others, who don’t hold physical gold bullion are banging their head against the wall. The Mogambo Guru explains...”
Gold Stocks and Burning Matches - 12/15/2005
by Doug Casey "I hope you won’t fall in love with them. Although I’m a philosophical gold bug, I’m not always a gold bull. I always keep in the back of my mind that gold shares aren’t heirlooms; they’re burning matches."
Those Rich Guys and Their Precious Metals - 12/12/2005
by The Mogambo Guru "The best part - and this is why you should be buying gold - is that the price of gold is being held down by governments because it reflects so bad on them, giving you a bargain."
The Gold Standard Gets No Respect - 12/07/2005
by Chris Mayer "The gold standard is nothing more than a straitjacket. To those who see gold’s charms, that is precisely its chief merit. You see, the gold standard checks the creation of new money."
If Only King Midas Would Return - 12/05/2005
by The Mogambo Guru "'Global gold production is set to decline dramatically over the next four years and this is set to generate a scramble for gold ounces.'"
Believing (and Believing and Believing) in Bullion: Gold is money; and not just money, but the one true money.
Fiat Money: Alchemy's New Paradigm: We scoff at the duped medieval serfs and many of the intelligensia as well who believed in Alchemy.
Dollar and Gold: Demanding A Divorce! : When Nixon did what so many consider his "dirty deed" back in 1971, he didn't really file for "divorce" between the dollar and gold.
Shanghai or Lie?: Tomorrow, I’m going to make it down to the Shanghai gold exchange to see what the fuss is all about. It too, is right on the Bund. And as a gold investor, I’m curious to see what attitudes the Chinese have.
The Midas Touch: Gold coins offer the best opportunity to do this in the investment world right now. If the last few coin bull markets are any indication, you could literally make hundreds of percent in the next few years.

Reports and Articles on Housing
Mr. Ponzi Salutes: In 2004, household debt increased more than twice as fast as disposable income.
American Home Appreciation: Bubble Ground Zero: I'd rather take my money out of this house and put it in a pile of gold coins, a few cheap stocks, maybe some nice arbitrage situations...and an apartment in the city.
Free Rent: Thus we have a housing bubble. At the same time, we have landlords making unprecedented allowances to find solvent tenants. This simply cannot reflect a healthy economy.
Self-Made Geniuses: The longer the boom goes on, the more confident the buyers become. They've been warned that the market could collapse at any time.
Smoldering Mortgage Market: Freddie Mac reported a 42% drop in 2004 profits. Freddie managed to lose $4.5 billion on its derivatives portfolio alone, you know, the one designed to protect the value of Freddie’s mortgage assets when interest rates are volatile.
Strong-Arm: With no risk, why not take a chance to live cheap and possibly make some easy money?
The Housing Bill That Debt Built: The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration may and try to limit the growth of GSE assets. Practically speaking, the new regulation would limit the amount of mortgages the GSEs add to their balance sheets.
The Humble Homeowner: Said rainfall lands upon our humble roof, and apparently has managed to find its own channel through the shingles and into the walls of our humble home, thence to the ceiling of our humble living room to form a nasty stain which serves to remind us to remember our humble place in the vast, cosmic scheme of things.
A Trend Nearing the End: I don't think there has ever been a greater ‘can't lose’ consensus…Combine this ‘irrational exuberance’ with unprecedented access to cheap credit, and its no wonder that the Fed has succeeded in creating the ‘mother of all bubbles.'
Property Bubbles: Beware Of Property Bubbles: Housing bubbles heavily entangle banks and the whole financial system as lenders. For this reason, as a matter of fact, property bubbles have historically been the regular main cause of major financial crises.
Orange County Real Estate: Cavalier Expectations: Such arrogance, unbridled confidence in absurd rationalizations, a complete disregard for logic, history and time-honored, previously widely accepted investment prudence typified the stock market bubble of the 1990's.
Impending Financial Strains: The housing bubble apparently has convinced many that their house is a huge piggy bank that allows them to borrow more and save less - and thereby generates all that money that will be needed to sustain rapid consumer spending and overall economic growth.
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: I have one question for Mr. Barsky: Is defending the housing bubble as you did consistent with Alson Capital Partners, LLC dumping huge percentages of its TOL holding?

Reports and Articles on Human Behavior
The Demons Within: In an early 1960s experiment, Harvard researcher Stanley Milgram recruited college students to help "teach" slow "learners." In spite of believing the shocks were real, two-thirds delivered the highest level of shock labeled "danger—severe shock," as they watched the learner writhe in (pretended) pain.
Homeland Bound: But in coming back to the New World, we bring with us our newly-acquired 'esprit critique.'
Create Value or Die: According to The Daily Reckoning's internet expert, the best way to profit online is to create value for your visitors.

Reports and Articles on India
Capitalism and Cow Worship - 12/07/2005
by Sala Kannan "Consumerism is big business in India. There will be 628 million middle-class Indians by 2015. And already, their net income has doubled over the last 10 years. Obviously, every multinational company now wants to sell in India."
No Delhi Belly...Yet: My first impression...is that India, like China, will probably see a huge boom in fixed capital investment.

Reports and Aritcles on Inflation
Inflation Monster Captured - 12/22/2005
by Mike Shedlock "Why should inflation be targeted at 2%, not 1% or 3%? Why should any inflation be targeted at all? Even if it were for some reason smart to target prices, can prices really be measured accurately?"
The Many Evils of Inflation: How ‘honorable’ would federal politicians and agents be without Federal Reserve assistance in financing the deficits and its power to print more money?
Rising Inflation: All Bark And No Bite?: At a Senate hearing, Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida said that using the CPI to determine inflation was like “using a thermometer to measure distance.
Deflation Theory: A Reliable Foe: I'm certain though that things change and solutions will be found. Our path to those solutions will cause significant economic and social change. Doomsday will be avoided at a steep price.
Deficits Do Matter!: Speaking of the Trade Deficit, it's on the docket for tomorrow, and is expected to inch higher to $47 Billion for June.
E-Ring Hubris: After 90 years, G.W. Bush might preside over the undoing of the Wilsonian drive in American foreign and military policy.
How High Can the Euro Rise?: Speaking of ebb and flow, the dollar is not on some permanent downward path. It will find a bottom, probably ridiculously low, the trade deficit thing will get sorted out and then the dollar will start to rise.
The Material World: The world is in the early stages of what some people call a "commodities boom." In the short term, and because the monetary system of the West is rigged in favor of the West's own self interest, the West will simply inflate its currencies to enable its purchasers to obtain what they need.
The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III: In early episodes, we see Mr. Howell hiring various services from other castaways. We eventually learn he's been writing checks on a mainland (and therefore inaccessible) bank, but the checks are quickly devalued and eliminated when the castaways begin to prepare for the possibility of an indefinite stay on the island.
Why Euroland Could Fall Apart in 2005: The national central banks still exist and are fully operational. The bulk of currency reserves still reside with the national central banks, and payment systems in the Euro area are still national.
The Inflation Mystery: Inflation is not a mystical residue of an economic or business cycle. It is simply manufactured by central bankers at their own “sweet” will. You don’t believe me?

Reports and Articles on Investing
Hitting the Skids - 01/12/2006
by Gary Shilling "Setting aside unknown elements like major terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a bird flu pandemic, I believe six phenomena are shaping the investment climate this year."
January is the Month for Fools - 01/19/2006
by James Boric "Articles are written about absurd phenomena like the 'January Effect' - which is about as useful to investors as a six-pack of O’Doul’s is to an alcoholic."
Popular Delusions - 12/13/2005
by Addison Wiggin "So what do you do? You stick to the old chestnuts like 'buy low, sell high.' How do you know what’s low? Well, you have little help in making that determination, except for what has happened in the past. "
U.S. Investing: An Update on Investor Psychology: The latest executive compensation surveys reveal that, by at least one key measure, the infatuation with corporate leadership reached record levels in 2004.
Cash Flow Analysis: A Private Lesson From Staley Cates: The tools you need to understand Buffett’s definition of intrinsic value go by the soporific moniker of discounted cash flow analysis.
Olympic's Affect on Real Estate: Beyond The Gold:The nightmare Olympic case study is that of the Montreal Olympics in 1976, which lost money and left the Canadian city’s taxpayers to pick up the bill.
Indian Ecomony: Bombay Mix: I have confirmed many of my original thoughts. India is a place worth investing in for the long haul. I'll explain by taking you through each of my three meetings yesterday.
Investing in Commodities and Natural Resources: The Surprising Truth About Commodities Futures & Options: If the next several years are as bumpy for stocks and bonds as some analysts expect, commodity futures and options might provide the kind of returns investors need.
Dead Fish: No one wants to buy a company that has problems to work through, that has been hit with one setback or another and where the near-term outlook is murky and uninviting.
Five Samurai Stocks...And Two Oil Tips: Each month, Merryn Somerset Webb - editor of MoneyWeek magazine - invites 5 leading analysts and professional investors to share with her their latest ideas and near-term strategies.
Food For Thought: I mention it now simply to remind you that seventy percent of your total return in any investment comes from being in the right asset class.
A Good Investment - Or A Good Story?: If you pick up any issue of Forbes, Fortune, or any other business or investment magazine, you’ll find the same principle of ‘boosterism’ at work.
Grief for Risky Investments: A serious recession in China would reveal the mountains of excess capacity that is now being built with the aid of direct foreign investment.
Riches To Rags: With a bit of luck and some hard work, but without the credit bubble let loose by the Fed, Bernie Ebbers would have lived like many other successful business-owning suits.
Rose-Tinted Spectacles or Green Around the Gills:Shortly after the newly installed Rose rejected Green’s first bid, the two reputedly 'almost came to blows' outside M&S’s headquarters in Baker Street, with Green grabbing Rose by the lapels and berating him for joining M&S rather than his bidding team.
Securities Regulations Doesn't Work: Interestingly, most of these studies found the volatility of stock price movements declined after mandated disclosure came into play.
Syncrude Awakening:When it comes to investing in energy companies, we strongly believe that there's no place like home.
The Law of Perverse Outcomes: Those that have guaranteed your debt (the US government, British government, Washington-back mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, derivatives insurers) are running tremendous risks.
The Nut Flush: There is a difference between recognizing dangers and making a prediction that something bad is going to happen.
Liquidity of GM Bonds: Liquidity Black Holes: Anyone who is long GM bonds after the well-documented troubles at the automaker of the last year must be, in the words of Alan Greenspan, ‘desirous of losing money.
Why Passive Indexing Is A Bad Bet: In essence, passive indexing is the equivalent of a dog chasing its own tail. Selected companies grow larger as sums of indexed money robotically swell their market caps.
Resource Wars? : Human beings are clever and have figured out many ways to tame nature’s danger. But it still sometimes gets the best of us. Financial disasters, however, are avoidable.

Reports and Articles on Oil
The Oil Plans of Iran - 01/16/2006
by The Mogambo Guru "Instead of an American-controlled oil market and American friends and insiders getting rich making their slimy little backroom deals, now it will be an Iran-controlled oil market."
Bottleneck Blues = Good News For Refiners: Crude oil isn't useful in its raw form - it has to be processed and transformed into various end-user products. The refineries are running flat-out, and there simply isn't enough capacity to handle demand.
Pain At The Pump: It has been said that the difference between Americans and Europeans is that Americans think 100 years is a long time, while Europeans think 100 miles is a long way. That may yet change.
Made-For-TV Reality: What's happening with Hurricane Dennis is not quite at the level of the disasters that ensued in 'Oil Storm,' but the storm did force the evacuation of 445 rigs and platforms, according to a report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

Reports and Articles on the Past
The Power of One - 12/21/2005
by Mark Skousen "Next year we will celebrate Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday. Dr. Mark Skousen, author of The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, uses this remarkable figure in American history to show how we can profit from his wisdom.”
Changes of the Century: Back to the Past: In WW II we used to drop 100 and 500-pound bombs and incendiary bombs, and they did one hell of a lot of damage.
1895 Exam: Beat The Eighth Grader!:Question 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent...
Marginal Utility: An Economic Analysis of Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving Day is an old tradition in the United States.
Engineering the Difference: I am convinced the industrial revolution happened not because we were a particularly inventive or industrious nation, but simply because of circumstancs...
The One-Arm Contrarian: He did have the unique ability to buy at the bottom. Some people can’t just get out at the top. And that was Keynes.
Reagan's Real Revolution, Part Two: Consumers began a buying spree, while government borrowed the money to fund the deficit. Looked at from a macro-economic perspective, Americans had no more money to spend after Reagan took office than they had when he was in California.
The Land Boomers: The boom continued to gather strength. In 1885 the harvest was prolific, the price of wool was high, the railways made a profit for the first time in the colony's history, and optimism reigned supreme.
Wilson's Wars: Absurd Episodes in American History: The European powers had locked horns. Now, it was America’s chance to join the battle…and Wilson’s chance to become Alpha Male of the entire world.
Foundations Of Crisis: History may be viewed like a giant sine wave that's possibly headed somewhere, but the direction is unknown. Or history is really a circle, constantly repeating itself, much like the four seasons of the year.
100 Years Of Progress: In 1905, the average U.S. wage was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200-400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year. A dentist, $2,500, a veterinarian, $1,500-4,000.

Reports and Articles on Taxes
Nightmare on Main Street - 01/18/2006
by Steve Forbes "Given America’s history of tax-o-phobia, how in the world did we end up with what we have today: our horrifically heavy, appallingly complex, corruption-inducing tax code?"

Reports and Articles on Technology
Computer Technology: Computerized Confidants: Computer power continues to double roughly every one and a half years.
Friendly Robotics: This was true 21st-century robotics and a harbinger of things to come. I am confident this will lead to widespread use of humanlike robots by 2020.
Paved Paradise: Americans may feel vaguely superior by driving around in hybrid cars and parking in spaces provided at someone else’s expense, but they are not likely to have much effect on the oil price.
Roads? Where We're Going We Won't Need Roads...: Imagine getting into your Skycar one day and saying, ‘Car, take me to Chicago.’ It replies, ‘You want to go to Chicago. Do you prefer the fastest route or the scenic route?’ You answer, and away you go. That's my idea of travel.

Investment Reports and Articles on the U.S. Economy
Great Expectations - 01/03/2006
by Dan Denning "We mentioned in yesterday’s issue that this week is packed with data that could be very telling about the health of the nation’s economy in 2006. Dan Denning explains what we should really be examining...”
Paying for War - 11/30/2005
by Bill Bonner "When America entered the war, its expenditures outdid the other combatants, averaging $42.8 million per day from July 1917 until June 1919."
Here Comes the Story of a Hurricane - 11/28/2005
The Mogambo Guru "It is going to be a sizable whack to the head of the economy, which is, in German, probably something like: grosse kopfschlag uppensiden ekonomie gewhacken oof!"
The Winds Of Empire: Without a proper theory about how economies work, conclusions take a strange, twisted shape.
A Hard Landing for the United States: The familiar question of whether or not the prodigious fiscal and monetary stimuli of the past have been successful in launching a protracted, self-sustaining economic recovery in the United States.
Today's U.S. Economy:A Brooklyn Bridge Bull: Low interest rates, higher prices for stocks, bonds and real estate, Alan Greenspan, inflation, contained financial crises, loose credit, more consumer spending, the continued primacy of money over value or values, the belief that things simply cannot go seriously wrong without some painless fix.
Al-Addins Lamp: Whenever the US financial system (in particular) is threatened, the floodgates are opened without further ado, even if ‘rules’ have to be infringed and the dictates of best practice eschewed in the process...”
Market Predictions for 2005: A Look At What the Future Holds: So now it’s once again time to make a few predictions for 2005.
Americans' Income: Americans' Income Shrank For 2 Consecutive Years: While the recession that hit the economy in 2001 in the wake of the market plunge was considered relatively mild, the new information shows that its effect on Americans' incomes, particularly those at the upper end of the spectrum, was much more severe.
Short the Dollar: Bureaucratic Gambling: Contrary to what nearly everyone believes, you don't make money buying an investment when it 'looks good' and everybody knows it. It's ALREADY gone up.
CEO Sells His Juniper Stock: You should keep in mind that these additional revenues came at a steep price. No, Juniper didn’t pay for them-but Juniper’s shareholders sure did.
Serious Dangers in the U.S. Economy: Chipping Away At American Optimism: In fact, I think that was what was so amazing about Dr. Richebächer. He’s 86 years old, and he still has a fire in his eyes.
Consumers, Start Praying: Our economy is just chock-a-block with the wrong economic incentives. And most people don't even have a clue. Our grandchildren will hate us.
Economic Castles: He said they were sitting on $44 billion in cash and wished they could buy something bigger. ‘The check will clear, I assure you,’ Buffett joked, ‘Right now we have more money than brains.
U.S. Business Economics: Economic Lessons: If you have sharp increases in investment, you have immediately rising consumption, because the investment spending creates consumption.
Premeditated Fraud: What if you could raise the rate of return with the stroke of a pen?
Montetary Independence Day: The so-called guardians of our money have destroyed it. Interest rates are about incentives and rewarding risk. A market determined rate of interest would fund good entrepreneurial risks and punish bad risk takers by limiting their ability to borrow through high rates.
Show Me The Oil: So many wishful thinkers are hoping, praying and betting on the idea that Saudi Arabia will come to the rescue. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen, folks.
Stefan Zweig Meets Mr. Bubble: Where will it burst first? What’s next? Can some of the minor bubbles deflate rather than burst?
The Aquarius: The U.S. is failing to produce adequate numbers of scientists and engineers to support its economy, with serious negative implications for the medium and long-term prospects of the nation.
The Master of Nothingness: Money Observer gabs on too - without realizing that all its gabby guesses rest on nothing more than a single ubiquitous sentiment: No matter what happens, nothing much will change.
The Wealth Illusion: Who worries that we have no savings…and now depend on the kindness of strangers in order to maintain our standards of living?
Bush's Top Ten Economic Errors: It was the markets, not government that discovered the anomalies at Enron and the high-profile cases. All government regulations end up doing is forcing companies to waste resources complying with edicts rather than serving stockholders and consumers.
Pawns in the Public Spectacle: There is no going back. Once the madness begins - whether it is a war or a bubble - it must run its course. In fact, early victories and early profits typically reinforce the trend.
Slouching Toward Empire: Now, if you deny that the United States is an empire, you are as big a fool as we are. For a very long time we resisted the concept. We did not want the United States to be an empire. We thought it was a political choice.
Convenient Beliefs: America became an empire without anyone noticing. But Americans came to believe in empire…so much so that they are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on it.
Making New Highs: Americans love cars and they are not afraid to go into debt to buy newer and more expensive cars. So when the auto industry suffers it tells me that consumers are tapped out.

Contact Information
Reader Services
Privacy
Whitelist Us
Contact Us

Empire of Debt
A Top Ten Must-Read Book of the Year
"...tells you what's really going on."
- The Economist

Check out the Recommended
Reading List for more Great Titles!

The Best Advice
and Commentary Available.

Free E-letters

Podcasts Now Available!

Subscribe to RSS Feed
What is RSS?
Try our News Feed!

List of Columnists
Bill Bonner
Addison Wiggin
Short Fuse
Kevin Kerr
James Boric
Eric Fry
Craig Walters
Dan Denning
Chris Mayer
Chuck Butler
The Mogambo Guru
Dr. Kurt Richebacher

DR Extras
Welcome to Squanderville
Empire of Debt Movie News
The Essentialist Glossary
The DR Whitepapers
Essentialist Humor Files
A DR Desiderata
An Open Letter to Congress
The Revolution Of 1913
Agora in Historic Mt. Vernon

DR books
Empire of Debt
The Demise of the Dollar
Financial Reckoning Day

Agora Financial
Strategic Investment
Outstanding Investments
Capital & Crisis
Penny Stock Fortunes
Options Hotline
Seeds of Wealth
Dr. Kurt Richebacher
Emerging Capital Report
Resource Trader Alert

Take Our Web Site Survey
~~~~~~~~~~

Home | Who We Are | Reader Services | Resources | Whitelist Us | Contact Us | Privacy | Search | Site Map

Customer Service: 1-888-897-9576 Copyright © 2000-2007 Agora Financial LLC. All Rights Reserved. The content of this
site may not be redistributed without the express written consent of Agora, Inc. Individual essays on this site may be republished,
but only with full attribution of both the author and The Daily Reckoning and the inclusion of a URL to http://www.dailyreckoning.com.