The Cure is Worse than the Disease

Posted on May 6, 2016 by MN Gordon

Today we look back to the recent past with singleness of purpose.  Context and edification for the present economy is what we’re after.  We have questions…

How come the recovery has been so weak?  Why is it that, nearly seven years after the official end of the Great Recession, the economy’s still mired in a soft muddy quag?  Squinting, focusing, and refocusing, there’s one particular week that rises above all others.

On Saturday September 20, 2008, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson delivered a draft of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to Congress for review.  If you recall, it had been another wild week.  On Monday, September 15, after 158 years of operation, Lehman Brothers vanished from the face of the earth…Dick Fuld, “The Gorilla,” be damned.

All week the sky relentlessly fell on financial markets.  Even money market funds were in full panic.  In fact, a record $169.03 billion of capital had vacated money market funds in the week ended September 17. Continue reading →

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Gold Stampede Imminent

Posted on April 29, 2016 by MN Gordon

The mass impulse of a cattle stampede can be triggered by something as innocuous as a blowing tumbleweed.  A sudden startle, or a perceived threat, is all it takes to setoff this mass uncontrolled running.  Once the herd collectively begins charging in one direction it’ll eliminate everything in its path.

The only chance a rancher has is to fire off a pistol with the hope it turns the herd into itself.  If the rancher is successful, they’ll stampede in a giant circle.  If the rancher isn’t, they’ll run off a cliff.

Today’s modern man, a complex species that ranges between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, like Bos taurus, is also predisposed to herd behavior.  What’s more, the human animal will take just about anything and everything to the extreme.  Religious pilgrimages, sporting events, music concerts, New Year’s Eve celebrations, and political rallies gone bad have all triggered deadly human stampedes.  Just last year, for instance, over 2,400 people were trampled to death during the Hajj Stampede in Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, in today’s frenetic society, humans are granted a variety of avenues for a mob dynamic to express itself. Continue reading →

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Rational Insanity

Posted on April 22, 2016 by MN Gordon

Dark storm clouds gather along the economic horizon.  They multiply ominously with each passing day.  The recovery, weak as it has been, has run for nearly seven years.  Now it appears to be sputtering and stalling out.

On Tuesday, for example, iconic computer chip manufacturer Intel announced they’d be laying off 12,000 employees.  Alas, with the decline of the personal computer, this has been a long time coming.  But it was the full 10 percent decline of PC sales during the first quarter of the year that finally triggered Intel’s reduction in force (RIF).

Intel’s new plan is to reinvent itself.  From what we gather the new strategy is to refocus its efforts on cloud computing and connected – internet of things – devices.  “I am confident that we’ll emerge as a more productive company with broader reach and sharper execution,” said CEO Brian Krzanich.

Indeed, this will likely be true over time.  Intel isn’t Kodak.  Computer chips will eventually be in just about everything – not just personal computers. Continue reading →

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Double Whammy Economics

Posted on April 15, 2016 by MN Gordon

What’s up with the U.S. consumer?  They seem to have come to their senses at the worst possible time.  They can no longer be counted on to push economic growth up and to the right.  Specifically, they’re not spending money on stuff.

According to Wednesday’s Commerce Department report, U.S. retail and food services sales for March declined 0.3 percent from February.  Apparently, U.S. consumers are tapering back on auto purchases and spending at restaurants, bars, and clothing and department stores.  What’s more, sales have fallen or been flat for each of the first three months of the year.

“We are seeing much less impulse buying and hearing more ‘I need to go home and think about it,’” said Randal Weeks, owner of Gray Living, a home décor store in McKinney Texas.  Similar anecdotes are being reported by retailers across the country.  What in the world is prompting this consumer ambivalence?

“Shoppers feel uncertain because of a stock market that fell more than 10 percent in six weeks and the recent terror attacks in Europe, said Bob Phibbs, CEO of The Retail Doctor, a consulting company based in Coxsackie, New York. Continue reading →

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