I first became activated to start a website in part because of David Walker, the former top financial cop at the GAO. Something was terribly wrong with America’s chronic and systematic debt accumulation and Mr. Walker used to write about it consistently at the GAO website. (more…)
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Insurance in Wonderland
The following is excerpted from the October 13 edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole. The segment followed a review of NFTRH’s big picture stance on gold vs. various assets positively correlated to the global economy. Specifically, the previous segment concluded that yes, the NFTRH big secular view is under threat by a technical analysis signal favoring US stocks over gold on the big picture per this monthly chart of SPX-Gold. NFTRH first began managing this as the bottoming pattern broke above its neckline and then the EMA 10 crossed above the EMA 20 for the first time since 2001. (more…)
Gold Fixation
What is it about gold that makes people view it differently than any other asset class, creating an almost religious fixation* on the metal? As long-term monetary insurance, you would think that it would be among the more boring items; sort like insurance annuities. But that is not the case. (more…)
US Stock Market, Profits and Policy
Excerpted from the October 6 edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole, NFTRH 259:
US stocks generally remain on bullish trends in all time frames. Further, the Debt Ceiling (and Government shutdown) theater seems to be playing out in the usual way that these events play out; the stock market has been correcting in an orderly way and seems to be waiting for an inevitable compromise between the White House and Republican leaders. This of course would spur a next leg up if the usual script plays out. That is how it looks, with a traditional bull catalyst (heavy media rotation of an Armageddon-like political event) in play. (more…)
Outer Limits of Monetary Policy
The ISM has once again expanded. Policy is working, so please Dear Mr. Bernanke, begin to withdraw not only a token amount of Treasury bond asset buying in October; make a real statement for the ‘organic’ economy. Pull all T bond purchases and stop buying some MBS to boot. You’ll not only help the Fed’s balance sheet by doing so, you’ll also send a clear message to the people that you have confidence in the natural economy to build on its momentum. (more…)
