I decided to split off my postings of economic links from Jim's Thoughts, so that I can get that topic back to what it was intended to be, a place for me to post trading ideas and thoughts I had that I felt could be of interest to the readers.

This topic is where I will post links to various economic articles, for those that find them interesting. If you want to read (or post) articles about the unfolding debaucle, this is the place to look. If you are a short-term daytrader or swing trader and have zero interest in the economy, you can now just read Jim's Thoughts and not have to wade through this type of dicussion.

At best I think this material only has a direct effect on longer-term plays, the bigger swings that make up the major legs of the bull and bear markets. I follow this stuff for that reason, and because I want to have a handle on things, if that is even possible in this era of lies and deception, so that I can make decisions on life issues.

For example, as I posted in the commentary on the website and discussed with many people well in advance, this was something that wasn't hard to see coming. I saw many people who told me as late as Oct 2007 that 'this thing is about to 'break out' to the upside, and that Dow 20,000, and then much higher, was 'just around the corner' '. The type of articles I am posting discuss the type of information that helped me form the viewpoints I had back then.

If this is far from over, as I suspect, we are in a similar postion now as back then. With the rally that is unfolding right now the talk is the bull is back, the bottom is in, and we are set. I'm not so sure. So, I try to weigh up all the factors and not get too sucked in by the hype. To that end, I will post things here I find interesting.

Same old, same old:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124103947970470201.html?mod=mktw

cool article:
http://nymag.com/news/business/55687/

M, a good read. Very interesting & informative.

Al KAmego

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Banks-got-concessions-stress-tests/story.aspx?guid=%7B9E90B67E%2DB124%2D45CB%2D8D6E%2DBFD4666BE856%7D&dist=SecMostRead

And this is the version we as the public get. Imagine the 'real' story :-) And I saw an artice the other day where they guy argued the tests were very vigorous, and the banks were in great shape. Too funny.

http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/john_mauldins_outside_the_box/archive/2009/05/11/the-33-000-000-000-000-question.aspx

Okay, now 'splain to me again why these are bull market conditions we are in right now, and how the economy is recovering? I do the math, my own math, and I just can't tweak it any way whatsoever where the world survives in any form we would now recognize. It will be quite fun to look back, say I was wrong, and say 'Wow, they sure were creative, I never would have thought of that way out of the impossible...'. But I won't hold my breath...

Wanna move to Norway?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/business/global/14frugal.html?hp

A fine kettle of fish...

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/14/taxes-social-security-opinions-columnists-medicare.html

The budget deficit reported this week for April caught my eye. We can't even get a positive number at a time when there are peak tax cash inflows.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1Yev5V7WGko&refer=home

These just don't seem like bull conditions...

http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/thoughts_from_the_frontline/archive/2009/05/15/faith-based-economics.aspx

I just want to know:

a) how are we going to get out of this mess, and

b) how can these be bull conditions?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/22-reasons-obama-will-raise-your-taxes-soon

I forgot, I do have another hero to go with Ron Paul and David Stockman, and that's Nigel Farage. Here's his latest:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-17/farage-unleashed-you-are-common-criminals