Bernanke tries Inflation!

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke…..tried the “relate gate” strategy on Sunday when he appeared in a near 40 minute segment on “60 minutes”.  He carefully stressed his simple Jewish roots…..his dad was “Strictly Main Street”.  It was all very touching.  Small town boy makes good!  He could have just as well been a foundling by Father Flanigan at Boys Town!  America…what a great country!

With that intro, this weeks events started off with a roar.  Hey, the AIG Bonus story held our attention almost as much as the location of “Octo Mom” in La Habra!  Oooh, the two first of the eight…..caused a media stir when near chaos ensued when they came to the house in La Habra.  We thought Lindsay Lohan was in some kind of car chase with the LAPD in a white bronco!  None the less…..the Congress focused carefully on the “outrage on getting back those FED Bucks……was it nearly $170 Billion….was it?  AIG is coming back now and wants an additional $30 Billion for more foreign banks while the Congress sets the Capitol afire about bonuses of $165 Million Fed Bucks for the same 25 Hedge Fund traders that were able to slip a inadvertant motion into the the $780 Billion Dollar Stimulus Package that passed with the help of three Republican Senators to begin with!

Hey, but that’s not the story.  No, how about this?  As the week wears on, oil prices maintain or go higher, gold and silver skip upward and the Dow Jones stay about the 7500 mark.  Why?  Are foreclosures down? NO!, Do we have more jobs on the horizon?  Maybe in three years!  So, what is going on here?  How about this:  Inject double the money that is in circulaton over night!  Who would do that and what might it accomplish?  Ben Bernanke!

How about cause as much inflation as is humanly possible, kill the price of the US Dollar and try to diminish the amount owed on Toxic Assets….to about half of the $63 Trillion dollars leveraged worldwide?  Are we kidding here or what?  Who made Bernanke God again?  60 Minutes?  Goldman-Sachs?  Who has oversight?  The Treasury Secretary – Tim Geithner?  Does anyone have any semblance of executive oversight other than Bernanke?

How long before the price of a gallon of gasoline doubles again?  How long before butter doubles in price?  How long until the cost of all imported goods doubles – including those from China?  How long?  The concept of diminishing debt is an old one.  The Weimar Republic in Germany tried to use it.  People were soon bringing wheelborrows full of cash to get a loaf of bread.  Zimbabwe and other Africa nations, Uzbekistan and many others around the world are using the same tactics.  It is surely flawed logic.  Being unwilling to write down or write off the entirety of the Global Credit Default Market and start again fresh leaves all that participate in a very untenable situation.

Logic dictates, we now Officially are back to the days of Jimmy Carter!  For those who did not live cogently in 1976 to 1980….a quick refresher course: Hyper-Inflation-Stagnation!  The cost of goods and services rose exponentially, interest rates rose to 22% for almost anything and there were no jobs!  Nearly 17% unemployment!  Yep, those were the good old days when Jimmy said:  “The American people are going to have to sacrifice!”

Our first uptick on this issue came when all the Credit Card companies suddenly sent out frantic renegotiation documents to every credit card holder saying that their basic rates are going to 29.9% for puchases and if you want a cash advance…..you just add the basic 4% Fed rate…although, the Fed Rate is supposed to be zero!  How do these people sleep at night?  Then the cost for phone cards rose by a factor of 7 per minute.  Hey, what next?  We certainly are not going to beat up on President Obama for this except for the current actions of Geithner and Bernanke!  Bernanke needs to go….quietly and quickly.  Geithner is on 30 days notice!  Shape up or ship out!

Were we all just caught up in a series of events?  You bet, 1993 Banking Changes, 2001 Banking Changes, 2007 The super inflated Real Estate market based on the Bernie Madoff school of ethics!  Ok, that has been….now all of us need to find those great minds that can finally wake up one morning and say:  We are going to need to keep our infrastructure:  Bus, Rail and Air transporation, Roads, Electricity, Natural Gas, Public Safety, Sewage and Water going.  Everything else…….”They are Expendable”!