SlopefestV!: The time rapidly approaches for the gathering of THE Tribe, Slopers from around the country and even beyond. Now scheduled for May 18 and 19, 2013 in Las Vegas (where else?). Come and meet with old friends and make new ones! Match up avatars and handles with REAL people!! I can guarantee you one thing in this life for certain, you will have a great time! With any luck, our gracious host, Mr. Tim Knight, will also join us. For those of you who have not met him in person, you are in for a treat. Though notoriously reclusive and a home body, perhaps he can be persuaded to get out of Palo Alto and join us for a rollicking good time.
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.
Pope Slope
Yeah, it's a pretty sad when I'm resorting to rehashing funny stuff from the comments section, but this is one of those days where I want to gouge Janet Yellen's eyes out with my thumbs while Bernanke watches, tied up on a post nearby. All the same, I'll come up with some charts or something real soon now. Honest. Nine "up" days in a row on the Russell 2000 can take the wind out of a bear's sails.
Comment Repartee of the Day
A Thoughtful Response
Early on Friday morning, I did a stamp-my-little-feet post about how the government really has done nothing to help me, and on Friday afternoon, a long-time Sloper wrote me a thought-provoking email; here it is in its entirety (which I have reprinted with his permission), leaving out only his name at the end:
I have been following your blog since 2009 and I have to admit that the contrarian tone of your blog has helped me to score quite a few profitable trades. However in the recent past, it seems that the blog (articles as well as comments) is fomenting a lot of anti-government sentiment.
I understand that the sentiment among your followers is primarily stemming from the relentless rise in stock prices due to the interventionist policy of the central banks across the world. I had hoped that amid all the mindless bashing of the government and the feds (especially Ben Bernanke), you might step in and make your followers understand the rationale behind the policies. That real GDP is calculated by the formula
real GDP = C + I + G + Xn
where C = consumption
I = investments
G= goverment spending
Xn = net exports
The financial collapse of 2007-2008 led to a severe reduction in real GDP and Bernanke (being a student of great depression and proponent of Keynesian economics) decided to increase the G component in the above equation which in turn would increase the other variables in the equation due to multiplier effect thus bringing the economy to potential output and restore long run equilibriums. Even the devaluation of dollar has been done in order to increase Xn component in the above equation.
One might argue that Bernanke could have opted for Adam Smith's "invisible hand" policy and let the economy fix itself. That would have worked as well but it would have been a excruciatingly painful process where the economy might have encountered an unemployment rate > 25% (just like great depression) before achieving equilibriums in the long run charts.
In Slope I did not find a single article or comment which can be considered constructive criticism of the Fed's policies. Now the Fed bashing is being accompanied by anti government rhetoric (your article). Please ask yourself how would you have fared if you did not have roads ( state highways/ interstates) ? How would you have fared if there was no military protecting our country from forces hell bent on destroying the american way of life? How would you have fared if your town was ruled by gun toting warlords?
Enough of ranting… I know you are a smart chap and I hope that you will be able to get over your frustrations and work towards creating an environment in your blog that promotesobjective thinking.
Good Luck and God Bless
I still am inclined to stamp my little feet, but I think the above information is an erudite expression of the other side of the coin. Thank you!
Hedging GLD As The Herd Shakes Out
Shaking Out The Herd
In a Slope post on Tuesday ("30.2 Yield Curve And Gold"), Gary Tanashian noted that, "over the last 1.5+ years gold has shaken out the herd". Our host Tim, not one to follow herds, reminded us on Tuesday that he's currently long gold via GLD ("Target on GLD Long Approaching"); nevertheless, according to Reuters, more GLD herd members did get shaken out last month, with the gold ETF seeing a billion dollars in outflows in January. In this post, we'll look at a couple of updated hedges for GLD. First, though, a note about Bernanke's testimony yesterday, and an interesting gold chart Bespoke Investment Group posted in response to it.
