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.

Inflation Cools, Stag Awaits

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To maintain the inflation, a cooling of inflation was needed

That is one of those Alice in Wonderland-like statements, like the one I’ve got tattooed on my left forearm: “Contrary-wise, what is it wouldn’t be and what it wouldn’t be it would, you see?”

To maintain inflationary policy, as per various talking Fed (egg) heads, the hysterical run up in inflationary expectations and fears had to be tamped down. And so, Google users have indeed eased their neuroses right along with a recent tamping of inflationary hysteria.

google search
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Inflation: Going Stag

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Stagflation in the offing, unless it’s not different this time…

As corporations continue to raise wages, market participants fear the Fed is wrong about supposedly “transitory” inflation, long-term Treasury bond yields resume the rally (bonds decline) manufacturers’ (ISM) costs keep rising, the Fed’s inflationary operation – a desperate monetary kick save if ever there was one – labors on.

The Fed has manipulated bonds and flooded the markets and economy with funny munny created out of nowhere, as if by magic. As if by MMT (modern monetary theory) TMM (total market manipulation). So far, so good. Jerome Powell stands to be the first non-Bernanke winner of the Ben Bernanke Award for Heroism in the line of inflating a debt ridden economy.

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Happy, J.P.?

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First I’d like to apologize for the lack of a post. It is extraordinarily rare that I go this long (sixteen hours, for God’s sake) without a new post, but two things contributed to it. One was catching up on my energy from my recent travels. And two was a dinner date with a dear lifelong friend (who is a celebrated author and tech investor) at his club. The prospect of endless cocktails and scintillating conversation was irresistible, and he and I stayed out until quite late. I was found, I am told, roaming the Castro district wearing high heels and a revealing nightgown.

But I’m back, ready to talk about the markets, and the big news this morning was the red-hot inflation numbers that came out. My hunch is that this is merely the beginning of a steady string of inflation shockers, and the self-serving government employee Jerome Powell and his 20,000 underlings (that’s a true number) will be revealed for the shameless hucksters they truly are. It’s going to show up in our lives every day, just like the $92 bill I paid for a small single bag of groceries at Whole Foods yesterday afternoon.

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