The Smartest Man Online

For years now, the Euro currency has been on a tear, killing the US dollar and most of the world’s other currencies along with it. If we look solely at the Euro/Dollar relationship, the past few years has not been that big of a surprise. The Dollar has huge debts hanging on its shoulders and external debt is mounting by the day to the tunes of billions of dollars thanks to Asian central banks. The printing press in Washington is increasing the supply of dollars every day, debasing and devaluing the currency, and inflation is being totally ignored by Mr. Bernanke & company, leading to lower interest rates, despite oil rising to $140/barrel. The Euro on the other hand, has strict requirements on balance of trade figures, and has been far more hawkish on inflation than its US counterparts. This one way relationship, however, has gone to such an extreme, that virtually everyone on the planet is bearish on the Dollar. While certainly the Euro is a better currency than the greenback, the US economy is still far more potent than the ticking time bomb in Western Europe. The Euro bubble has reached its climax, and will reverse course over the next 2-3 years in major way. [Read more →]

The American health care system is broken. You don’t have to be the smartest man online to see that. The more difficult question is …why? and how do we fix it. While I don’t have an answer for how we fix it at this time, I do have several interesting thoughts on the subject that may get us closer to an answer for how we fix this mess. [Read more →]

Over the past several years, the United States economy has been upside down on many fronts. While some of it is obvious, (i.e. no down payment mortgages, etc.), others are not so obvious, unless a deeper look at people’s personal financial situation was analyzed. If I had to characterize the economy of the last decade, it would be “the decade where the poor lived better than the rich.” [Read more →]

America is not a place people live. It is a place people work. While America’s lack of family/friends connections and apathy towards other people is probably not a surprise to many, I have just realized how bad the situations is. Currently in my hometown that I have grown up in for the past 20 years, I am now witness to how poorly friendships are maintained. People that I had once considered some of my closest friends, have become an irrelevant part of the past few months here. My college roomate and a “friend” I have known for the past 12 years, has not returned any phone calls, or made any desire to even get together for lunch. While part of me is angry, more than anything, it makes me sad. How is friendship given such a low spot on the totem pole? Is this merely a part of human nature or is it the society we live in that causes such behavior? [Read more →]

The bottom of the real estate market is near? Are you kidding? The stories by economic journalists who are claiming that the bottom of the real estate market is in sight are pure fiction. They either have nothing else to write or they own a home themselves and are wishfully hoping and praying that their fortunes turn around. Real life is not a fairy tale though, and the economic crisis right now is worse than it has been at any other point. It continues to worsen every day and the real estate market is still in the process of being crushed. [Read more →]

A media war recently has pitted the former “guru” of central banking against pundits who claim that he is to blame for the current housing crisis. Mr. Can-Do-No-Wrong of the 1990s is now being accused of sacrificing the long term to save the short term crisis that existed when the tech bubble burst. How much of an effect did long lasting low interest rates have on the housing bubble in America, that is now threatening to throw the economy into a recession, or possibly worse? And is Greenspan’s argument that the run-up in housing being a worldwide phenomenon exalt him of any wrong doing in this matter? Those issues are discussed below. [Read more →]

Rice, the staple crop of half the world’s population has risen to a 34 year high on the back of increased demand not being met by current supplies. With world stock declining and worldwide stock markets and economies in the tank, a perfect storm may be brewing. [Read more →]

Oil as a commodity has been the dominant force in the energy world over the past century for many reasons. A low cost of production, while important, has been a result of oil containing high amounts of energy and being easily transportable. Coal, which may be equivalently abundant, does not provide the same amount of energy, and is more difficult to transport long distances because of its solid state. On the same token, natural gas, while being high in energy output, has been difficult to transport because of the current inability to transport gas effectively. That, however, is quickly changing as liquid natural gas terminals may one day make this cheaper, cleaner burning fuel the commodity of choice for energy production. [Read more →]

Warren Buffet announced today on CNBC that he offered to insure the bond insurers, on their municipal bonds. This is a fairly significant event in the world of finance, as many analysts begin to wonder how dire the debt markets may become. The largest question in this situation is that of Mr. Buffet’s motive. Does he believe the situation is over exaggerated, and he saw this as an opportunity to profit by going where few others dare to go, or does he believe the situation is so dire, that if the municipalities were to go bankrupt, that it could take down the whole financial market as we know it. [Read more →]

In another sign of China’s burgeoning economy, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association reported that output of natural gas in the country grew at an astounding 23% in 2007. This gain was on top of a 19% gain the year before and puts China’s total natural gas output at 58 billion cubic meters for the year ending 2007. [Read more →]