Saturday, March 31, 2012

Down the rabbit hole

Gad I felt like Alice in Wonderland there for a while. Trying to tweak the sizing after some brainiac switched the fonts was no easy task but I think I've managed to get back to were we once belong. They just can't leave well enough alone. Maybe I'll feel confident enough to try and send them another venomous expression of my displeasure. Now which pill did I take was it the blue one?

Now what else to gripe about? We have our 5th straight day of liquid sunshine here. Tried to get out yesterday to get some much needed errands and repairs done. I thought oh good the sun is out I'll pop out and fix the fence on the back 40 (that's feet here). Popped into the bathroom for quick drain the lizard moment only to come out to find it hailing and coming down in buckets. Back to fiddle farting on the web because after all there's only so many times you can clean the kitchen. Nothing's really that important that it can't wait till tomorrow or maybe the next day. But here it could be the day after that or the day after that or infinitum. I did find a new source for my Friday beaver pics. Hope they won't mind if I borrow a few.

Oops did I forget bank fails again this week? Only one in Michigan. This is coming close the the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s. I believe there were a little over 500 S&Ls that bit the dust then and we're around 400 now. It's not over yet either. Back then it was "junk bonds" that tanked things. Today? Just slap another name on the paper and you get the same results. Now it's "hedge funds" or as Warren Buffet calls them financial weapons of mass destruction. And what did I see on the TV just last night?
"Retirees looking for high return for your retirement portfolio?" blathered the announcer. "Municipal bonds are the way to go." he continued. Oh yeah I'm sure Alabama would just love to sell you their bad debt that they'll be defaulting on here soon. I wouldn't touch that with a 39 and a half foot pole. Unless you have superfocus vision and three or four contract lawyers backing you up. And the game goes on only the players and the names are changed to protect the guilty.

6 comments:

Randal Graves said...

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter but all I have is one scraggly goat and a rotten sheaf of wheat. And some municipal bonds.

BBC said...

I went to Home Depot yesterday and it was frigging pouring on the way back. Shitty again today, I'm screwing with knifes.

S.W. Anderson said...

The biggest hedge funds are much more dangerous than junk bonds have ever been. Like comparing an H-bomb to a 55-gallon drum full of grenades.

The downside potential of bonds, junk or municipal, is that one of these days the FED is finally going to have to raise interest rates. When that happens, bonds will sink like lead balloons. It won't take much of a boost in interest rates to get the pain party started, either. I'm guessing a quarter point in the prime lending rate would do it.

Many are seeking refuge in dividend-paying stocks, which makes sense if the companies are solid. Unfortunately, those could pare back as well if interest rates go up, though the effect wouldn't be anywhere near as big and painful as with bonds.

BBC said...

I like to invest in gun powder.

Demeur said...

Or you could be like Randal and invest in pirated heavy metal downloads.

The Blog Fodder said...

I invested in toilet paper and revolving doors. I was wiped out before I could turn around.