Bruce Krasting's Blog

Well, you have to consider who is doing the talking. Follows is the list of G-20 countries. In my book, Canada and Australia have done a pretty good job of not manipulating their currencies (and they’ve paid a price).

Every politician in America knows that Social Security (SS) is a third rail. Any Pol who tries to mess with the country’s largest and most popular entitlement program is going to have the likes of the AARP coming after them. It’s not possible to win an election on a platform that advocates cutting back SS.

A few snippets of data from the Congressional Budget Office’s Budget and Economic Outlook 2003.

Lots of talk about “deficits” of late. I’m not sure what a deficit really means. Consider the Clinton years. The economy was good, there were no wars or disasters, the deficits were small, there were a few years where there was a budget surplus.

I grew up in no-tech. I watched the live tapes for price action, CRT screens came later. There were noisy screens that scrolled data on a wall. I would do work; phones, papers, talk to colleagues, etc, all the while the ‘thing’ would be clacking away. It only took a half sec to have a look. In “slow” markets, the tape went – click.. click…click.

Paul Krugman is one of the leading “names” in economics today. There are reasons for his stature. He’s got a Nobel Prize, he’s an academic at a leading University, he writes for the NY Times, and not a week goes by without him being on some TV show or another.

The policy choices that are being made today are running counter to the rules on transplants. They favor old over young. We are a long way from being balanced on this issue; longer still toward policies that actually tip the scales to the next few generations.

In my simple mind there is no reason not to consider attacking the problem by limiting deductions. Therefore, I conclude that politics is the problem. The President does not want to solve the cliff or the budget; he wants to punish Republicans.

So two days ago the WSJ runs the story that the FHA is soon to be in default due to a shortfall in its reserve fund.

The IRS of France, the National Directorate Of Tax Investigations (DNEF), has covertly sent agents into Switzerland to pursue tax evasion cases against French citizens. The Agents entered Switzerland claiming they were tourists.