Excuse me, I am still trying to regain my composure. A fund manager on Bloomberg named Matt just said that high oil prices will be no problem, because the US economy is booming, and everyone will just go out and buy new, more fuel efficient, cars. He said he went to the mall in Chicago and it was packed, and the best deal there was the $6 valet parking at Nordstrom's.
I wonder how many moons revolve around his planet. Maybe he is right. How does that track with your experience? Perhaps I should run a poll for the Yanks.
See, no problem. Buy stocks. Get them while they're hot.
I am a little more of the camp that thinks that unless the Fed can trigger a self-sustaining inflation, as soon as Benny and his Merry Pranksters stop buying through QEn, stocks and bonds will take a dive, because they and their cronies are the only ones buying this market.
But that's just my opinion and I could be wrong. Let's see if Benny can blow another bubble. Judging by some of the internet wunderkinds' valuations, he might be on his way. Tweet your magic twanger, Ben.
I am getting a few more emails taking me to task for being 'negative' and 'bitter' and being a spoilsport for the new good times.
I don't get around much anymore. Maybe everything is coming up roses in the US and I just don't see it. But it doesn't appear yet in any metrics that I watch closely and in which I have any confidence.
I have to admit that Benny shook me up a bit today in his lame testimony before the Congress. The less likely outcomes of deflation and hyperinflation just went up several notches in my book, especially on the inflationary side. He seems in denial to me, and kind of nervy.
