I was reading Jim Quinn’s latest piece – This Time Isn’t Different – which I highly recommend by the way, and a quote from John Hussman grabbed my attention:
The answer is straightforward: as the bubble expanded toward its inevitable collapse, the role of Wall Street was to create a massive supply of new “product” in the form of sketchy mortgage-backed securities, but the demand for that product was the result of the Federal Reserve’s insistence on holding interest rates down after the tech bubble crashed, starving investors of safe Treasury returns, and driving them to seek higher yields elsewhere.
I have a big problem with that assertion because it implies that investors had no choice but to move the money they managed into highly risky investments in order to obtain high yields. But investors did, do and always have had a choice. While it may be true that earning a high enough return to satisfy the ignorant greed of the public required taking insane investment risks, the alternative was to heed the true underlying fundamentals and stay in cash or move into physical precious metals bullion. No one was putting a gun to investors’ heads and forcing them to play Russian roulette with financial landmines.
Several famous hedge fund managers liquidated their funds and returned their investors’ money. A good friend of mine closed down his investment advisory business because he refused to put his clients’ money into the stock market even though he received calls every day from clients insisting that he buy stocks.
The protagonists in “The Big Short” were portrayed as feeling guilty about making a fortune off the demise of others. But the “others” who lost were people who made bad decisions. While Wall Street did its best to bamboozle the public, there are plenty of people who avoided making bad choices because they took the time to educate themselves in order to avoid making what were obviously going to turn out to be bad decisions.
The United States is collapsing politically and economically because the populace has enabled it to fail by choosing to conduct their lives in ignorance. This video, for me, encapsulates the essence of the problem:
This has to be fake video …. even Americans cant be that stupid… $140 vs. a $2 Candy Bar …. I’m calling it a BS video.
It’s not fake. I’ve seen the same thing done with a 1 oz gold coin several years ago only it was like $100 vs. the gold coin or something like that. Here you can email him and ask: http://www.markdice.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=54
Maybe Americans really are that dumb …. but I bet Dice couldn’t pull that stunt on the street in China or India.
It figures someone with the handle of “Paper Silver” would think that video is fake.
Why this never happen to me, someone offer me a free silver bar, this would realy be my lucky day.
It’s amazing how the MSM brainwashed the general public. But these same people will be buying siver when it’s price increased 10 fold or more already just by the notification what amazing bull market it had been. Fundamentals don’t care just as people don’t get when something is undervalued the won’t understand when ist is overvalued and drive it in to tremendous bubble. To me this just show the up side potential for Silver.
I would take the silver bar, go around the corner to the nearest cloths shop, get changed, put a hair wig on and go and have another go !
I bet they won’t try it in NY
I’ll bet they could give out a lot of candy bars in NY
ROFLMAO – no doubt.
Well Dave, this time WILL BE different. VERY, VERY different.
It’ll far, far worse than the past depression. At least before the past depression, people in this country actually knew gold and silver were money. This time, they don’t.
I have seen a couple of his videos they are quite funny.
But when you think of it in fact thay are tragic.
Almost the same in Sweden with the majority of the people lacking a brain!
Dave, you hit the nail. Spot on! Western countries will go down as most of their people have become complacent. Accepting evrything from their criminal government which is stealing their freedom. Freedom others have fought with their lifes. Speaking for germany, the country I live and have been raisedi, has taken hundred thousand of immigrants. I should better say, the criminal goverment of Merkel has decided to do so, not the majority of the people. However, now people slowly wake up to what they might need to get used to over here soon. Here comes what I mean by saying that: New years eve more than 1000 !!!! (mostly young African) men have harressed, robbed, partly raped young women at the Cologne Central station. Obvioulsy it has been an organized campaign, You think I am a sick psychopath and telling BS? No, here you can read it: http://www.focus.de/regional/koeln/silvesternacht-am-koelner-hauptbahnhof-gruppe-von-1000-maennern-fuer-sexuelle-uebergriffe-verantwortlich_id_5188685.html
or see it:
https://youtu.be/2o32xFJiaFE
This country will irreversibly change over time. Thanks to Mrs Merkel and her support of the Neocons in USA and their New World Order. Even Mainstream Media won’t be able to hide it much longer. Sickening!!! especially if you have two young daughters as I do. The moment of truth will come when savings of the german sheeples disappear in the coming financial tsunami, things will get hairy then……!!!! Expect a huge backlash. Common people will start slaughtering themselves.
You think that this video is fake when our populace elects Obama’s and laughs at Ron Paul’s?
I just watched the video again …. I’m going to stick my call that it’s BS ….. people aren’t that stupid.
Oh but they are, my friend. As I suggested yesterday, with a link to make it easy for you, why don’t you just email Mark Dice and ask him.
“I have a big problem with that assertion because it implies that investors had no choice but to move the money they managed into highly risky investments in order to obtain high yields. But investors did, do and always have had a choice.”.
It is unreal how many ads I see on TV or hear on the radio for people and companies that want to manage your money and investments for you. But more recently it is your “wealth” they like to call it. Anyway the sheer number of casino investment games and rules have people [like my mother unfortunately] delegating all their financial decisions to these “wealth managers”. There are of course severe limitations to their financial responsibility if they lose a client’s money by bad [or self-serving] advice.
So many times the investor didn’t make those bad investment decisions…they allowed someone with few consequences to make those bad decisions for them.
And in the case of my 87 year old mother who turned all financial decisions over to the “wealth management” department of a local bank [excuse me while I get ill], I suspect she will lose over half of what she has in the next three years. And of course she thinks I am a financial moron.
Last year she stated “it is illegal to own gold isn’t it?”. OMG.