Skip to main content

Market Overview

Bernanke is a Moron: Inflation Does Not Mean "Economic Recovery"

Share:

Oh look. The devil cries too.

1_11_10_ben_bernanke_crying.jpg

If you can believe it, there are actually some people out there who still think the long end of the yield-curve can go lower. In fact, some people believe it can drop to new records -- below those of the 1940s. But that's just pure, unadulterated, old-fashioned nonsense.

Here are a few reasons why quantitative easing is never going to work, and won't take us anywhere near historical lows:

1. In the 1940s, the U.S. was a creditor nation.

2. In the 1940s, the U.S. actually made things and exported them. Today, the United States wakes up at 2, smokes a joint, goes shopping for designer clothes (made in Italy), and yells at the cashier when he or she finds out the card's limit has been exceeded.

3. In the 1940s. the dollar was backed by a yellow metal called gold. You may have heard of it.

4. In the 1940s, the Chinese and Japanese didn't carry several trillion dollars of U.S. debt. If they had, the yield on the 10-year wouldn't have gone to 1.6%. Chinese and Japanese people are way smarter than that. Way smarter.

5. In the 1940s, the Internet didn't exist, which made it a whole lot easier to keep people from knowing that 10-year Treasuries were overvalued. Way overvalued.

6. In the 1940s -- even adjusted for inflation, GDP, and population growth, the U.S. wasn't printing money anywhere near current levels.

7. In the 1940s, triple-leveraged short Treasury ETFs didn't exist. Ditto for futures contracts. If they had, I guarantee you that the 10-year yield wouldn't have gone to 1.6%. See number 5, above.

Listen, if we go to 1.6% (or lower) on the 10-year Treasury, it will be because Jesus is back, and he's buying the long end of the yield curve. And if that happens, you will find me in church. Because none of the rest of this will matter.

--

Don't forget... Paco is moving!

It's all the irreverent and unyielding criticism of global fiscal and monetary policy you've come to expect (and love). Just in a different place.
Content will be published here on Ahlgren Multiverse (ExperienceIsEverything.blogspot.com) for only a limited time, so move your subscription now:
or...
Experience is everything. See you on the other side...
Disclosures:  Paco is long TBT, UCO, and gold. He also holds U.S. dollars by necessity, pending the advent of private gold-backed currencies.

Paco has been a financial analyst and a portfolio manager for 18 years. You can buy his novel 

Discipline wherever books are sold. Or visit www.DisciplineNovel.com.

Copyright 2009, Paco Ahlgren. All Rights Reserved.



The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

 

Related Articles

View Comments and Join the Discussion!