Can The Fed Stave Off Another "Great Depression"?

The Federal Reserve has fired more rounds on its bailout bazooka than Rambo in hopes of keeping the leading pillars of the U.S. economy afloat. This extension of virtually unlimited credit, says Bernanke, will stave off another Great Depression. Is He Right?

Deflation, Fiat Money, and Market Destruction
Yes, the Fed Chairman DID Say This in Public

A Modern "Twist" to a Very Old Scheme
"He convinced the vast majority to roll their claims back into his enterprise"

He realized he could game the system for a legal profit -- arbitrage it, if you will. He began telling people about his discovery. And, without revealing too many details, Bianchi also said that the more money he had the more he could make...

Private Ownership, Collective Thanksgiving
The Overlooked Detail in a Well-Known Tale

They considered this turn in their fortunes to be miraculous; with the benefit of hindsight, what they had discovered was the miraculous benefits of private ownership and free markets.

How Much Are You Down For in the Obligatory Spending Spree?
$7.4 Trillion in Giving Should Get the Holiday Spirit Going

Treasury Secretary Didn't Answer His Own Question: Why?
Read the Non-Answer Right Here!

If you get nothing by way of a real answer from the government, it's reasonable to conclude that the government doesn't have a real answer...

Economists Agree: "Relief" and "Stimulus" Are "Succeeding"
A good definition of wisdom: "The right use of knowledge."

Prechter's November Theorist: The ONLY Bull Market Still Standing
There's Only One Word to Describe What Happened to Stock Investors This Year

There ain't no fees in this bull market, either. You don't have to do nuthin'. Ain't no risk at all. None of them "transaction costs." What? Yea, I'm bein' serious... Real serious.

Hanging by a Single Horsehair
Significant problems lie ahead for our new President and Congress.

Fear and greed. The human predilection for cyclic, emotional progression and the basis of the Elliott Wave Principle. We are up to our necks in the fear side of the cycle, and for plenty of good reasons. The Sword of Damocles was only hanging by a single horsehair.  Just how much weight can that horsehair support?  

Yes, OF COURSE This Is the Way to Run A Bailout
You underestimate the government's control of the financial system at your own peril

Like an absolute monarch, government alone elects to disclose what it does -- it can also refuse to disclose anything, with impunity. This kind of power the Robber Barons of the 19th century imagined only in their wildest dreams...

Won't SOMEBODY Please "Take This Model and Shove It"?
A Thought From the Late Michael Crichton

"Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had."

If Elections Do NOT Drive Trends, What DOES?
The Answer Explains This Week's Decline

Once you know the direction of the dominant trend, "countertrend" moves then become the major challenge. These are more near term. We've said the dominant trend is downward for virtually the entire year it's been unfolding -- and that's why, after the close on Friday (Oct. 31, 2008) The Short Term Update said last week's stock market rally would not last...

Before Obama: How Bush Became "The Worst President Ever"

In the wake of Democratic senator Barack Obama's historic rise to the ranks of United States President, it's difficult not to acknowledge his predecessor George W. Bush's precipitous fall from that very position...

Is Obama Able to Make Stocks Literally Fall One Day and Rise the Next?
And He's Not Even In Office Yet

Am I supposed to blame the stock market decline on Obama? I will if I have to, if someone will simply explain why it's his fault today when yesterday he got credit for the big "Election Day Rally."

Higher Fed-ucation: Will Rate Cuts Rescue The U.S. Economy?

Prepare to Be Robbed – Part II
How the Day After the Vote Might Look

What If All Those Indicators Were That Extreme?
You might reasonably infer that it amounts to some kind of warning

Promotor Fidei and Stultus Maximus
They say we are facing an "unprecedented financial crisis." But is this really unprecedented?

We are facing an "unprecedented financial crisis," and the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are undertaking similarly "unprecedented actions" to mitigate the contraction of credit and damage to the U.S. economy. But is this really unprecedented? On scale – yes, but not in scope. Have you forgotten the Panic of 1819?

Don’t Read This Story Until After the Rally Ends
Once social mood determines the long-term trend, nothing and no one can change it – not even a new president.

If you DO wait to read this story until the near-term rally has ended, then the facts below won't be "evidence" – they will be history.

The Update On YOUR Portfolio You Won't Find Elsewhere
Early Evidence On How "Assets" the Treasury Is Buying Have Done

It's the portfolio that includes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And AIG, too. Then there's the banks you hold: big banks, small banks, bank stocks and more. Your portfolio has also recently been waist-deep in the commercial paper market -- lending to the likes of IBM, Chrysler, GE, American Express and Harley Davidson...