Minutes from the June FOMC meeting came out today. They revealed that a few Fed policy makers believe the central bank will probably need to take further action. Whether you think the Fed has failed by doing too much or too little, there is plenty of evidence it has succeeded in propping up the stock market. But are there signs even this is coming to an end? And though Fed members may expect moderate growth looking forward, Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital, explains why he thinks the US is already in a recession.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Capital Account with Mish
Jul 11, 2012 by CapitalAccount
Minutes from the June FOMC meeting came out today. They revealed that a few Fed policy makers believe the central bank will probably need to take further action. Whether you think the Fed has failed by doing too much or too little, there is plenty of evidence it has succeeded in propping up the stock market. But are there signs even this is coming to an end? And though Fed members may expect moderate growth looking forward, Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital, explains why he thinks the US is already in a recession.
Minutes from the June FOMC meeting came out today. They revealed that a few Fed policy makers believe the central bank will probably need to take further action. Whether you think the Fed has failed by doing too much or too little, there is plenty of evidence it has succeeded in propping up the stock market. But are there signs even this is coming to an end? And though Fed members may expect moderate growth looking forward, Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital, explains why he thinks the US is already in a recession.
A "Carbon Star" found - quick tell Julia!
Quick tell Julia Gillard to tax this Death Star before it explodes and dissipates its poisonous CO2 throughout the Camelopardalis constellation. If this star is not taxed out of existence we run the risk in the future of carbon based life forms evolving in this area. Be warned, some carbon based life forms are particularly nasty, think The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and you will be close.
U Camelopardalis, or U Cam for short, is a star nearing the end of its life; this image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the bright star surrounded by a tenuous shell of gas. As it begins to run low on fuel, it is becoming unstable. Every few thousand years, it coughs out a nearly spherical shell of gas as a layer of helium around its core begins to fuse. The gas ejected in the star’s latest eruption is clearly visible in this picture as a faint bubble of gas surrounding the star. U Cam is a carbon star — a rare type of star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen. Because of low surface gravity, as much as half of the total mass of a carbon star may be lost by way of powerful stellar winds. Located in the constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), near the North Celestial Pole, U Cam itself is actually much smaller than it appears in Hubble’s picture — in fact, the star would easily fit within a single pixel at the center of the image.
Gold goes "ting" Cows go "moo"
I had a good laugh at Doug Casey (see below) with his gold and cows as I was discussing similar investment strategies with a close friend several weeks ago. We where thinking if you already have a core holding of precious metal in your SMSF (Aussie equiv. of a US IRA or UK SIPP) what do you invest in next? And one of the things that popped up was rural land and cows. Actually we took the idea as far as finding a suitable place to invest. See it here
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| Eccleston, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia |
From the Washington Post
Hard assets aim to offset "low yields, choppy markets and a flood of uncertainty from Europe's debt crisis"Surveys of the world's wealthy elite, as well as major media outlets, are increasingly documenting people who exit traditional forms of investments in exchange for tangible assets and collectibles. The Washington Post is the latest to detail this trend, in an article featuring longtime goldenthusiast and contrarian investor Doug Casey of Casey Research:
"Beset by low yields, choppy markets and a flood of uncertainty from Europe's debt crisis, investors are increasingly looking to nontraditional assets to bolster their portfolios. The goal is to detach themselves from the ups and downs of stocks and bonds while building wealth in tangible items they enjoy. Some buy rare books, photos or paintings. Others allocate a portion of their savings to fine wines.Precious metals, in the form of gold coins as well as jewelry, are also popular."
Doug Casey of Casey Research told The Post that he's buying gold and cows.
Casey buys a few one-ounce gold coins each month -- a habit he started years ago and continues today, despite the bull market in gold prices. Since 2006, he has also been investing in cattle ranching in Argentina, where he owns about 150 dairy cows and 2,000 beef cows.
"I wish I could come up with other things," he said, but "I don't know what else you should do right now."
His main worry is the United States' $15.8 trillion national debt, which he says makes gold a sensible investment even at its price of late, about $1,600 an ounce. He worries the debt will spur inflation, which would devalue the dollar, while goldwould retain its value.
"Having 50 percent of investable assets in gold now is completely reasonable," said Casey, who runs his own investment research firm, Casey Research, in Stowe, Vt. "I just buy some every month, and most people don't have anygold coins, so I just suggest that they buy some and start getting into the habit."
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