THEY'VE BEEN TALKING THE TALK

Mario Draghi and his band of ECB bankers have been talking the talk for some time now.

Much of it has had the patina of if-we-keep-doing-this-long-enough maybe it will all just go away and somehow,  miraculously, the EU economy will grow its way to the end of what's been a very dark economic tunnel for what is still a fledgling union still held together by ceiling wax, yarn and spit.

Put up or shut time draws nigh. And the Ukraine situation ain't helping one bit. Maybe that too has been part of Putin's plan, assuming he has one. Either way, Draghi can't keep dragging this out.

If you look closely at Draghi and most of the other major central bank leaders over the past several years, you'll detect, either directly or indirectly, the DNA of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is Wall Street.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304518704579521100806846852?mod=World_newsreel_4

More on Draghi.  
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2014/4/20/draghis-bold-push-for-creeping-defaults-and-real-wage-cuts-i.html

ENERGY MYTHS: A HARD, SOBER LOOK

 

We cannot operate our economy on renewables alone, in part, because the quantity is far too small. Creation of new renewables and maintenance of such renewables is also fossil fuel dependent.

 One of the best websites we know to get the real skinny on energy is where this chart is from. The mesmerizing media likes to deceive folks into thinking that given all the fracking, natural gas, LNG terminals being built and such we are a nation indivisible under boundless energy independence. Not so. And this makes no allowance for the anti-fracking freaks and all the other environmentalists parading around out there.

Still another media canard: We can easily transition to these cleaner, newer sources of energy. Last time anyone looked there are now seven billion souls on planet earth. And those are the ones we know about. Maybe over time you've been enamored with government counting techniques, but we haven't. The truth is nobody knows for sure how many of us there are anymore than any market guru knows for sure when the next economic tsunami will hit. Here's the link to the full read.

http://ourfiniteworld.com/2014/04/23/eight-energy-myths-explained/

RANDOM READS

A Doc Speaks Up
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2014/4/23/doctors-perspective-perils-and-pitfalls-of-corporatized-medi.html

Buffett Speaks Out
http://www.reuters.com/video/2014/04/24/buffett-not-worried-by-valuations?videoId=312705508&videoChannel=5

Big Pharma's two Sides
When I was a young man my father gave me a piece of advice worth recalling in these mixed-up, quilted hodgepodge of a financial world days. "Just remember, son, there's always two sides to two sides."
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ft-rips-bill-ackmans-new-deal-apart-2014-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29

One Man's View Of Ukraine
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-24/how-to-lose-in-ukraine

Inflation Textbook Style
http://www.businessinsider.com/textbook-price-inflation-2014-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29

MORE ON UKRAINE

Government troops and pro-Russian separatists clash in eastern area of Ukraine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/24/ukraine-government-troops-move-against-pro-russian-separatists-live-updates

WELCOME MARKET PESSIMISM

If you're an optimist, we'll, you're looking for what else--optimism.

If you're a contrarian investor you should be looking for pessimism. The late John Templeton, one of the better investors of all time, called it "maximum pessimism."

Templeton founded a group of funds in the 1930s which in his later life he sold to Franklin, the huge fund group in northern California investors now know as Franklin Templeton. Story has it that in 1939 after WWII  broke out, with borrowed money he bought 100 shares of 104 stocks on the then New York Stock Exchange selling for $1 or less.

Thirty-four of the 104 companies were in bankruptcy at the time. A few years later when he took his profits, only four of the bankrupt firms were worthless. Now that's maximum pessimism. Templeton was a value guy.

Templeton wasn't the only successful mutual fund owner to sell his firm to Franklin. Michael Price, another value guy who is still very much around and whom the business school at the University of Oklahoma's named after, did the same in the 1990s.

If there's such a thing as a pantheon for astute investors both of these gentlemen should be there. So here's a question. Looking around today do you see any maximum pessimism and if so where?

UKRAINE HEATING UP AGAIN

Chess match goes on as threat of more western sanctions talk picks up.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304518704579519163277080276?mod=WSJ_hp_RightTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj

TELL TALE SIGNS

Lipstick on your collar or pine tar on your neck. They're both tell tale signs.

Years ago a one-time business associate went home one night after partying with lipstick on his collar and more recently a noted Major League relief pitcher was dumb enough to get caught twice with pine tar, this time on his neck. Both in a fortnight and both times against the same team.

Cheating at the top is hardly novel. Call it fudging if it makes you feel better. In this building it's called central banking.

THE SMELLY TRUTH

Leroy "Satchel" Paige one of the greatest Major League Baseball pitchers ever was noted for saying: "Never look back 'cause something might be gaining on you."

If you think of those living on a fixed income and the little guys of the world as the guy in the kayak and that huge shark as central bankers, politicians and Wall Street types, you'll appreciated this link.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whats-that-fishy-smell-the-feds-corrupt-policies-2014-04-23?link=MW_popular

RANDOM READS

Low Risk, High Volatility
http://www.psyfitec.com/2014/03/low-risk-high-rewards-low-volatility.html

On Again For Brazil
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-22/pimco-s-love-affair-with-brazil-rekindled-after-rejection.html

New Housing Starts Down
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-it-time-to-freak-out-about-housing-2014-04-232

Six Day Winning Market Streak Foiled
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/23/us-markets-stocks-idUSBREA360QI20140423

How Empires End
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/how-empires-collapse-one-complicit-participant-at-a-time/?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mailing+List+AM+Wednesday

RUSSIA'S COMMODITY RESOURCES

From Business Insider a great chart.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-russia-commodities-2014-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29