The worst financial reporting of all time, courtesy CTV Calgary local news

September 29, 2011 2 Comments

Take a look at this. It’s hilariously stupid. It will only take a minute of your time (seriously, the video is that short).

 

 

So apparently the US dollar is a paper currency that is good because it is backed by the Federal Reserve. And the Federal Reserve backs the US dollar with… paper currency. I guess. I cannot follow the tortured logic here. I am embarrassed on this reporter’s behalf. The whole point of fiat currency is that it isn’t backed by anything and that you can just print it if you want!

Gold not being “backed” by anything is meaningless — after all, paper currencies used to be backed by gold!

When Greenspan says something like, “World currencies are down,” he is saying they are down against something. That something is gold.

Oh hell I don’t even need to criticize this further. It’s just so unbelievably dumb. It makes me laugh. It makes me cry. I think they snatched the reporter from a hair commercial or something, because she demonstrably knows nothing about money.

Filed under CMR, Gold, Mainstream Media, Precious Metals Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Market performances since September 11, 2001

September 9, 2011 Leave a comment

If someone were to ask you where the best place to put your money was the last 10 years, two particular items that might come to mind are oil and gold. While both have dramatically outperformed the stock markets, with returns of 568% and 225% respectively, it has in fact been silver which provided the best return as an asset.

From it’s September 10, 2001 price of a pitiful $4.16, at $41.57 it has produced a whopping 900% return.

Hopefully you didn’t buy and hold US Dollars while Greenspan and Bernanke have been cranking them out.

If we consider a few sectors in the S&P 500, we see that energy and materials performed the best. Consumer staples and consumer discretionary are next in the list. Utilities and healthcare have been essential flat, making them losers. Telecoms and especially financials are the worst performers of the last decade.

What was the best stock pick of the decade? Well, if you bought Apple on September 10, 2001, just a couple of months before they released the first iPod, you made a KILLING. A 4300% killing. Which is pretty good, but not as good as if you’d invested in soda and juice.

Because soda and juice maker Hansen’s Natural (HANS) made an earth-shattering 17,300% return, going from $0.49 to about $85 in 10 years. Honestly, I don’t even know anyone who’s ever heard of this company, but I would like to try their soda.

Filed under CMR, Energy, Investments, Precious Metals Tagged with

Gold and silver versus paper promises.

November 30, 2010 Leave a comment

Head on over to this site and take a look at the tables presented. The data speaks for itself.

Filed under CMR, Gold, Precious Metals Tagged with , , , , ,

What will happen to commodities in 2011?

November 30, 2010 Leave a comment

First, consider the following:

Commodities are up across the board, in some cases quite dramatically. This boom is international — manufacturers are bidding up prices and there are strains on available supplies.

Yet consumer prices are not rising significantly. Canada currently has a higher official inflation rate than the US, but not much more. Commodity prices have been bid up in anticipation of rising consumer demand, a prediction which is not panning out.

Remember the insight of Austrian economics — consumers set final prices, not producers. Consumer spending is weak. Unemployment remains high. Without a surge in consumer spending, these prices are unsustainable. If there is a recession in Asia, and I think there will be (probably next year), then these prices are likely to tank.

Western banks are stockpiling excess reserves. If this money does not get lent out, unemployment will remain high and consumer spending will continue to suffer. There are no signs that bankers will suddenly become optimistic. China is slowing down. Same with South Korea and Japan.

What about gold? Gold follows a different set of rules. Central banks buy and sell gold. It is a hedge against the currency crises and mass inflation, rather than recession, where currency appreciates. China is encouraging its citizens to buy gold. When Austrian business cycle theory bites back at China’s bubble, there may be less drive to build shopping malls where no one buys or sells anything, but people will still yearn to preserve their savings with the precious metal as their government devalues money like its going out of style.

Filed under CMR, Commodities, Energy, Oil, Precious Metals Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Newer posts →