The Irish Elephant Story

This past week there has been a lot of talk about Ireland's financial woes and the Euro.  Did you see how fast they solved the crisis and smoothed it over?   They didn't want to repeat the Greek drama that had just kind of settled down.  Let me see if I can put it in a nutshell.

On January 1, 2002 several European nations started using the Euro as a currency.  When they did this they gave up their right to print their own money.  (BTW I'm sure the Brits are saying, "I told you so")  As you know, there is a lot of national pride  and it was very hard for Ireland to ask for a 100 billion dollar loan, I'm sure.   In a way they gave up their national sovereignty  in order to be part of the Euro currency.  They traded their ability to print their own money for the hope of economic prosperity and stability.   Now they have to be fiscally responsible.  If they could still print their own money they would just pay their own bills, their money would be devalued by the market and life would go on and hopefully balance out.  Their goods would become cheaper to the rest of the world and that would bring more business, yada yada yada.  It's great how a free market works.  But now they will have huge debt and no real way to pay it back except fewer services for higher taxes.  Sound familiar?  Problem solved....

They have painted the elephant the same color as the walls and backed it into a corner hoping nobody will see it.  That elephant in the room is Spain.  Now let's just forget about it and go on with life.  Happy trading!

Greenspan on Today Show

I saw Mr. Greenspan on the Today Show. I just can't vilify him for our present economic woes. Each and every one of us has probably abused credit in different ways and that is why we are where we are. It seems that if the credit is available we will use it. Why not? It's the only way to afford the things we can't afford, right?

The Answer to My Credit Problem

The Fed has inspired me for an answer to my credit problems. I just have to think outside the box. So I called up my past due credit cards and told them I had a plan. I am going to buy all of my debt at 10 cents on the dollar. Now this seemed like a good idea to them since they were thinking they weren't getting anything! But then I told them that I need them to give me another credit card at a much lower interest rate to buy the old debt with. And then in six months or so I was going to need another one to buy that one with. Well, after much explaining how it would work I still didn't have them convinced. Their books would look better and so would my credit report. It's a win win situation, I said! In the long run everybody would be happy! They agreed that it might look better but they didn't have the authority or something like that. Maybe I'm just not talking to the right person.....

I am going to start writing again!

OK! Maybe I haven't seen anything funny about the markets in the last three years! Maybe it's because I'm not that busy with work but I am going to start writing again.

I just want to say this. I believe in the strength and resilience of the American people and also I believe in the efficiency of a free market. I do not want to spread negativity around the internet and that was why I wasn't writing.

Enough said!