FINANCIAL: Great chart of the boom bust cycle

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

 

FROM Bitcoin.com Weekly Update

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You don’t have to wade through a ton of Austrian Economic texts although it’s very worthwhile.  This chart should serve to know why we need “honest money” and should #endtheFed!

By “honest money”, I mean gold and silver in the physical money.  Paper should be redeemable in a commodity.

By “#endtheFed”, I mean that “We, The Sheeple” have to recognize what the Fed is.  The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. It ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians.

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ENGINEERING: Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem

Thursday, May 29, 2025

https://news.mit.edu/2025/allium-engineering-enables-100-year-bridges-corrosion-resistant-steel-0520?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

Startup enables 100-year bridges with corrosion-resistant steel

  • Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT alumni, has developed a process for improving steel rebar to triple the lifetime of bridges and other infrastructure.

Zach Winn, MIT News

Publication Date: May 21, 2025 

*** begin quote ***

Now Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is tripling the lifetime of bridges and other structures with a new technology that uses a stainless steel cladding to make rebar resilient to corrosion. By eliminating corrosion, infrastructure lasts much longer, fewer repairs are required, and carbon emissions are reduced. The company’s technology is easily integrated into existing steelmaking processes to make America’s infrastructure more resilient, affordable, and sustainable over the next century.

*** and ***

Allium is also experimenting with other cladding materials and composites. Down the line, Jepeal sees Allium’s tech being used for things beyond rebar like train tracks, steel beams, and pipes. But he stresses the company’s focus on rebar will keep it busy for the foreseeable future.

“Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem, so it’s the biggest problem we could imagine solving with our set of skills,” Jepeal says. “Tunnels, bridges, roads, industrial buildings, power plants, chemical factories — all of them have this problem.”

*** end quote ***

Considering that the Gooferment is up to “its elbows” in bridge construction, it’s no wonder that the bridges are falling down.  If an entrepreneur was “selling bridges”, then we would have bridges that would last virtually forever.  But politicians and bureaucrats have no incentive to solve the problems of the world. 

Argh!

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FINANCIAL: Not so sure about ‘Super Catch-Ups’ for 401(k)s

Monday, January 20, 2025

https://www.barrons.com/articles/401k-retirement-super-catch-up-contributions-e2358dd8?mod=past_editions

How to Make the Most of the New ‘Super Catch-Ups’ for 401(k)s
By Elizabeth O’Brien
Updated Jan 09, 2025, 8:53 am EST / Original Jan 09, 2025, 2:30 am 70EST

*** begin quote ***

Savers in their early 60s can sock away nearly $35,000 in their 401(k) account for retirement in 2025, thanks to the new “super catch-up” rules. The higher contribution limits aren’t a slam dunk for everyone, though, and you may need to make adjustments to other retirement accounts to maximize your savings.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately behind a paywall.

I’m not so sure that if I was 60 and had 35k$ to spare that any tax deffered savings plan would be the course I would chose.

Tell me what the inflation rate will be between now and say age 70 and that might be a case of getting out “depreciated dollars”.  For the very rich in a high tax bracket, the tax savings MAY offset the loss of “purchasing power”.  Everyone else has to guess what reality will have to offer.

I’m no Warren Buffet By far, I’ve made some great trades and some terrible decisions.

YMMV

I am a firm believe that you can’t trust the Gooferment, its politicians and bureaucrats, or any “celebrity spokesman”.   If you see it on TV, hear it on radio, or read it on the net, then ask “cut bono”.  Who’s paying for the advertisement?  Even if you can see it, some one is getting a cut.

I’m old enough to remember lessons from a family friend who lived thru the Weimar Republic inflation. Wife would go to the old man’s office at lunchtime every day, take whatever he earned that morning, and run out an buy something,  Anything!  When she spoke of it, her hands trembled in fear almost 50 years later.  Who she buy the “right thing”, or anything. Or be left with a handful of worthless paper.  Made a big impression on me.

So where ever you put that “extra” 35k$, make sure it’s money well spent.

I’d select gold rounds, silver rounds, bitcoin, or goldbacks.  Probably some mix of the four.  Take the tax hit now and avoid the “inflation tax”.  Probably be some complex math to say that is “bad advice”, but that would be my choice. 

As always YMMV and faiwwypfi (Free Advice Is Worth What You Pay For It! ?zero?)

See you on the other side to decide if I was more right than wrong.

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FINANCIAL:JP Morgan Chase give no reason for cancelling Kanye West

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-jp-morgan-chase-cancels-kanye-wests-bank-accounts?utm_campaign=64487

American News Oct 12, 2022

BREAKING: JP Morgan Chase CANCELS Kanye West’s bank accounts

  • No reason appears to have been given in the bank’s decision to stop servicing the accounts of the multi-millionaire entertainer and fashion designer.

The Post Millennial
Oct 12, 2022 

*** begin quote ***

Candace Owens reported on Wednesday that entertainer Kanye West has been removed as a client from Chase Bank. Owens shared the letter from the multinational banking company, which was headed “Closing of Our Banking Relationship.”

Addressed to Ye, it read “We are sending this letter to confirm our recent discussion with [redacted] that JPMorgan Chase Bank… has decided to end its banking relationship with Yeezy, LLC and its affiliated entities.”

*** and ***

West told Carlson that the reason he had the shirts made is because it was “obvious.” He went on to say that the Black Lives Matter movement is a “sham.”

West has publicly discussed his mental health struggles and revealed several years ago that he has been diagnosed bipolar disorder.

*** end quote ***

So I guess that “they” don’t like what he says or does?  

What exactly does that have to do with “banking” is far beyond me?  

What’s next for them to decide they don’t like?  Left handed people, veterans, people whose last name begins with R!

If he has mental issues, isn’t that discrimination of the disabled?

Sorry, but just because they do his banking, doesn’t imply that they agree with him on anything.

Stay in your lane, Chase!

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FINANCIAL: Are NFTs the ‘tulipmania’ of the 21st century?

Sunday, April 25, 2021

https://ritholtz.com/2021/04/10-friday-am-reads-316/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

10 Friday AM Reads
April 23, 2021 6:55am by Barry Ritholtz
My end of week morning train WFH reads:

*** begin quote ***

The cost of a single tulip bulb surged to the same price as a mansion 400 years ago: are NFTs the ‘tulipmania’ of the 21st century? Similarities between the new digital technology craze in the art world and the surge in value of tulips in 17th-century Holland suggest that it could all end in (real) tears (Art Newspaper)

*** end quote ***

Certainly seems that way to me.

I keep wondering how to cash in.  Maybe take a public domain work and NFT it?

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FINANCIAL: Traders get wiped by a software bug!

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

*** begin quote ***

Negative oil price triggers trading software bug, wipes out traders
 
For the non-professional trader, dabbling in futures or FX contracts is generally a recipe for financial ruin.  There’s so much leverage in those contracts that it doesn’t take much of a move against your position to get wiped out.  When the underlying commodity does something weird, like say, flash crashing or something weirder (see below), all bets are off.  The situation is exacerbated if the trading desk software isn’t equipped to handle such an unprecedented move.
 
Bloomberg reports the tale of Toronto-based Syed Shah, who normally trades stocks and currencies on his Interactive Brokers account.  On April 20, Shah picked the absolute wrong day to try his hand at trading oil futures. That’s the day oil went negative for the first time in history, at one point printing a negative $37/barrel handle.
 
Shah waded into what he thought was an unsustainable discount on oil: spending $2,400 from his account on futures contracts at $3.30/barrel, $0.50/barrel, culminating in a tranche at the unbelievable price of one penny a barrel.  Except not only did oil fall to 0.01/barrel, it kept going, below zero, negative and further negative – only Shah, and all of the other traders on Interactive Brokers system didn’t know that, because the platform wasn’t coded to handle negative oil prices. None of them knew the contracts they were buying were actually costing them money the further oil went below zero.
 
When the end-of-day settlement notices went out, Shah, who started the day out with a balance of $77,000 in his account, now owed the house $9,000,000.
 
Interactive Brokers has since acknowledged the negative price exposed bugs in their own system, and IB will be making all traders affected whole out of their own book.  It’s estimated that will cost the brokerage around $113,000,000.
 
Read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-08/oil-crash-busted-a-broker-s-computers-and-inflicted-huge-losses
 
Charles Hugh Smith, Jesse Hirsh and I discussed this type of unprecedented signal distortion in our first AxisOfEasy Salon, available here.

*** end quote ***

That’s a horror story.

This “casino” is NOT for the faint of heart!

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FINANCIAL: Help Main Street — Buy gift cards to support local business during COVID-19

Friday, March 20, 2020

Source: Help Main Street — Buy gift cards to support local business during COVID-19

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I don’t know if that is such great advice.

It would be reasonable to think some, if not most, will fail, bankrupt, and not reopen.

Your gift card is smoke.

I’ve been stuck with some Christmas and Birthday gift cards.

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FINANCIAL: Dealerships Give Car Buyers Some Advice: Just Stop Paying Your Loan – WSJ

Monday, February 17, 2020

The trade-in, where a buyer hands a car back to a dealership and uses it as credit toward another one, is often a crucial step in car buying. But some dealerships are instead telling buyers to give their old cars back to their lenders—and selling them new ones—in a practice known as “kicking the trade.”

Source: Dealerships Give Car Buyers Some Advice: Just Stop Paying Your Loan – WSJ

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This seems dishonest by both the dealer and the borrower.

Like the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, the banks are letting the “originator” off the hook.

The fix is easy.  Make the originator responsible — both jointly and severally — for the loan when and if it defaults.

Problem solved.

Be it any kind of loan, everyone needs to have skin in the game!

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FINANCIAL: Why youngsters will always be broke!

Monday, July 29, 2019

2019-Jul-29

All, and I mean ALL, the youngsters I know, and I know at least a dozen, will always be broke because they are financially illiterate. Thanks to financially illiterate Gooferment Skrules, parents, and relatives.

Despite having suggested it often — to the point of making myself bored — not one of them, NOT one, has set up any kind of a sinking fund bank account.

Case in point, a certain young lady was give a car.  I strongly suggested that she take the cost of the car ~18k$ and divide it by an estimated life of 70k miles which would translate to ~26¢ per mile.  Then, she should deposit each week an amount equivalent to number of miles driven times 25 cents.  (Even the Gooferment Skrules mathematically challenge can divide by four for the number of dollars to be “saved”.)

Guess what?

Never did it and guess who’s car just clocked 70k miles?  And, now guess who’s in a quandary as repair bills start to come in (i.e., tires, brakes, belts, etc. etc. etc.).

And she is not alone.  EVERY one is in the same boat.

Financially illiteratacy “costs” lives, happiness, and relationships.

Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy . . . literally, “not my circus, not my monkey;” figuratively, “not my problem.” — Polish saying

And I am the grumpy old cynic!

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FINANCIAL: A Health insurance alternative?

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

I was listening to “Charitable Liberty: An Honest Word with Bo Brown, Libertarian 2.0” by Jenn Gray
heyjenngray.com/

Leading Liberty – Libertarian Marketing Podcast Trailer … The first marketing and communications podcast ever created for pro-liberty professionals … She’s shown libertarians around the country exactly how to use Facebook to create targeted video advertising campaigns that reach users from both the left and the right.”.

And I heard about “Liberty Health Share”.

https://www.libertyhealthshare.org/3-program-options

I was very impressed with Ms. Gray’s personal experience with her personal health insurance needs.

I immediately identified some folks who could use this option. 

I’m putting it on my blog so perhaps it won’t be such a secret.

FWIW.

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