Reinke Faces Life

http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2011/07/marshall-plan-is-not-what-eu-needs.html

WEDNESDAY, JULY 06, 2011
A Marshall Plan is not what the EU needs

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A column in the Guardian calls for a new Marshall Plan to save the EU, but unfortunately the EU’s dominated by leaders who believe in unconstrained free market capitalism, according to Mark Mazower. That’s a load of twaddle.

The EU’s problem right now is that EU enthusiasts ran too far out in front of the citizens of the various nations. They pushed for an integrated EU that required a lot more solidarity and a lot less nationalism than the people of the EU were ready for. Unfortunately they ended up with a fudge – a unified currency stretched over loosely unified national economies. It’s stuck in between integration and a loose confederation, which is a disaster.

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Seems like it also overlooks that the entropy of large states is crashing. The USSR is a classic example. Shattered to bits and parts by an unsustainable economic model. The USA may be going the same way. That is the 80 year experiment with the FED’s fiat currency may be concluding with disastrous effects. You can NOT trust politicians and bureaucrats to restrain their base human emotions to give the mob bread and circuses to stay in office. Looting the public treasury by crony capitalism while expecting the world to pay for it in the hidden tax of inflation. Sadly, it’s those who trust in the value of a dollar, or a euro, that are going to pay the price. The Rich, like roaches, always survive; it’s the Poor that get hurt. Argh! What fools these mortals be. There’s a reason that gold has always been money; it keeps the politicians honest.

Besides “no entangling alliances” seem still to be good advice.

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http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1001.html

Never Say Retire
by Gary North

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I had concluded that millions of baby boomers would discover at age 65, much to their chagrin, that their plans for a comfortable retirement had been smashed by the reality of low economic growth, low returns from the stock market, their own insufficient savings programs for decades, and inflation. I figured that I might create a Website based on the theme, “never say retire.” I have not developed that site, but at least I set up a department on my Website. So, if anyone types the words “never say retire,” he is directed to my department.

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The truth about retirement. Argh! “We”, as a society, waste the first 25 years and the last 20+ years of life. “School” isn’t about reading children to take their place in the civilization creating wealth. “Retirement” isn’t about the “golden years”; they are removed from the workforce at the height of the wealth creation capability. Argh!

Retire? fuhgeddaboudit! (translation from the Brooklyn dialect: “forget about it” with a sneer.)

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http://www.doughroller.net/investing/rollover-401k-to-ira

Should You Rollover a 401(k) to an IRA

by DR
in INVESTING

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I quit my job last month. After more than six years investigating the financial audits of public companies, I’ve decided to go back to the private practice of law. So after a summer sabbatical, I’ll be returning to my old firm in August. And that raises one important question—should I rollover my 401k to an IRA.

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I’d suggest that the GENERAL rule of thumb is ROLLOVER. The SPECIFIC rule is you better have a superior reason for not doing it.

Rationale:

(1) 401Ks have sponsors (your old employer) and providers (e.g., Fidelity; Vangard; others) rarely does this relationship not have its conflicts. The literature is replete with examples of often illegal activities. You have to be very skeptical of what decisions are being made for you.

(2) Fees. You don’t know all the fees and guess who pays them.

(3) Investment options. Always limited by comparison. I’m a perma bear! (Have you seen what the US Gooferment has done to the money, the debt, the deficit, the spending, and the entitlements? And, you think this is going to be good!) Try and put your retirement money into gold. You can in certain IRAs.

(4) As a bear, I am interested if my retirement savings retain their value. A nice account denominated in Swiss Francs or Chinese Yuan would be comforting. How sure are you that you’re going to keep your wealth?

(5) If you have multiple accounts, and you have multiple mutual funds labeled GROWTH and or VALUE, how in heaven’s name will you diversify. They could be investing in the same stuff wildly increasing your risk. They could be even taking opposite sides of the same bet. So you’re paying fees to bet both red and black.

(6) Underlying the whole proposition is the trustworthiness of the “casino”. At least with an IRA, you’re picking your poison.

As a bear, I think the days of “invest in anything cause it all appreciates” are over. I remember the Sixties bear, and have grandfolks who lived through the Great Depression. They were scared. And so should we be.

BTW did I mention I like the Tea Party and “vote the bums out” strategy. Cutting Gooferment drastically is the only way to save the economy and our retirement money. We need more producers and less drones / vampires in DC.

imho ymmv fwiw

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Maybe you shouldn’t be in a 401K in the first place? Heresy!

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http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/get-your-hands-on-the-governments-playbook

GET YOUR HANDS ON THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAYBOOK
by SIMON BLACK

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Sure enough, in the “Seventh Quarterly Report” that President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors released on Friday (right before a long weekend, naturally), the numbers show that the administration’s Keynesian stimulus spending has saved 2.4 million jobs at a cost of $666 billion. That’s a total of $278,000 per job, all at taxpayer expense.

In the world of Keynes where debt does matter and inflation doesn’t exist, this number is completely acceptable, right comrades? In the real world, it’s further evidence of how horrific misallocations of capital are bankrupting the economy.

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When does the insanity end?

Stop the Gooferment from spending future generations into poverty.

It’s all funny money!!!

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http://dailyreckoning.com/bear-traps-in-the-bond-market

Bear Traps in the Bond Market
By Bill Bonner

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This is probably the trap Mr. Market is setting. The Great Correction will prove to be more bad news for investors – except for those who have put their money in ‘safe’ US dollars…and US treasury debt. Gradually, investors will move more and more of their money out of ‘risky’ assets and into bonds. Then, Mr. Market can spring his trap. As Lindsey warns, that is when they will stop worrying about debt ceilings and Congressional budget talks. That is when they will realize that it is too late. That is when bond yields shoot up and bond prices fall. That is when investors regret having lent money to Washington.

How far ahead will that be? We wish we knew. But Bill Gross, who famously sold US bonds, could turn out to be years early.

Then, Mr. Market – the joker – will have such a laugh. All those people who tried to get away from risk…by moving to the dollar and US Treasury bonds…will get whacked.

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Bonds are the “guaranteed option” in 401ks. A bear trap can make it a 201k real quick. With the current climate, you have to question if one should be in a 401k in the first place.

401Ks have SIGNIFICANT risks in today’s climate imho.

(1) “Your” 401K really isn’t yours. There are a few hands in it. Some that you might not even be aware of. The company and the plan provider have an interesting relationship to your money. Some of “yours” will become theirs in the process.

(2) Open and supposedly above board, there are fees and commissions in “placing” your investment into the 401K.

(3) Under the table, and possibly, illegal things happen around your 401K. Read about front running, shadowing, and past posting. Just a few of the things that can happen.

Add to the mix: inflation, or maybe hyperinflation, changing tax laws, tax rates, … etc.

And, throw in the wild card trial balloon that keeps coming up out of DC: the exchange of 401Ks and IRAs for an “enhanced social security benefit”. (Would that bring folks out into the street?)

So after all that, I’m no longer sure that automatically recommending 401K participation is such good advice.

Maybe a silver round per week is a better choice.

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http://moneyland.time.com/2011/06/29/inside-the-fed’s-vault-1-billion-worth-of-unused-coins/

THE ECONOMY
Inside the Fed’s Vault: $1 Billion Worth of Unused Coins
By JOSH SANBURN | @joshsanburn | June 29, 2011 | 50 COMMENTS

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In the basement of a Baltimore vault the size of a soccer field, 1 billion dollar coins are just sitting there. Thanks, Congress.

NPR’s Planet Money reporters recently investigated the $1 presidential coin program, which was a Congressional effort to get more $1 coins into circulation while also trying to be educational.

The problem is that nobody really wants them.

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Only the Gooferment can lose money making money!

Argh!!!

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http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/dreams-of-the-gold-standard/

Dreams of the Gold Standard by Linda Brady Traynham

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Chances are we’ll do better solving that problem than wriggling out of the financial messes caused by corruption, vote-buying, deliberate waste, and pretty fairy tales that everyone can lead a nice, safe middle class life like the Cunninghams on “Happy Days.”

What we really want is a stable currency along with a stable interest rate, traditionally 4%. What are developing are panics, lengthy recessions, stagflation, and growing fright and anger. I pledged to think of something “nice” that could happen, and I can only think of two. First, I could be wrong. Who am I to think I know better than the self-proclaimed “best and brightest?” Well…to be brutally blunt, I think I’m a very nice lady who has had a long, pretty priveleged life who is concerned about the future and usually calls a pig a pig, although I do know how to concoct sentences such as, “As always, it is not the case that stochastic analysis can compensate for human variability.” Meaning that in a world of random chance and individuals anything could happen.

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Interesting?

How does one get back to a “gold standard”?

First, if you’re going to save, you have to save in metals; not dollars.

Second, you’re going to change your thinking. Buying stocks and bonds; price it in gold. IRA or 401k, evaluate it in ounces of something.

Third, you’re going to have to go back to basics. No debt. Pay “cash”. Stock up what you need for the hyper-inflation.

Fourth, think like our depression era forefathers, the Amaish, or the Mormans. Batten down the hatches, we’re in for a rough ride.

Fifth, try your hand at barter, your own business, or anything that you can think to earn wealth.

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http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/stocks/are-financial-markets-still-fair-1307902907446/?cid=djem_sm_dailyviews_t

STOCKS

Are Financial Markets Still Fair?

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As exchanges let high-speed traders move in, what it means to the little guy.

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What makes anyone think that they have been getting a “fair shake”?

Front running, commissions, fees, hidden incentives to anyone in the money stream, and out and out fraud.

Bullion coins make sense if the “casino” is rigged!

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http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/what-the-gold-standard-is/

What the Gold Standard Is
courtesy The Lehrman Institute

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The classical gold standard is simple and it works.

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The classical gold standard does not mean that we will be carting around gold pieces in a purse like the nobles of Merrie Old England. We will still carry around currency, use bank accounts, checks, and credit cards. The classical gold standard simply means that you can, for any reason or no reason at all, cause your paper dollars and bank deposits to be exchanged for an equal value of gold dollars. That legal option keeps the currency honest, and valuable, causing no long term inflation or deflation, not least because the government is bound by the same law of convertability.

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The classical gold standard works.

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I don’t know might be kinda have gold coins like our great grandparents used.

The key thing that the “gold standard” IS is a restraint on the number of “dollars”, francs, yen, or rubles that the Gooferments can print.

Then, every piece of paper has value. Not as intrinsic as a gold coin, but by what it can be exchanged for.

Simple!

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