Saturday, August 22, 2009

Rick’s Picks Weekend Edition

– Posted in: Free Rick's Picks

Is Cash for Clunkers Our Economic Destiny? Although we had vowed to let the by-now tiresome inflation vs. deflation debate simmer for a while, it came to an unexpected boil last week after some provocative comments were posted by “Senor Cuidado” in the Rick’s Picks forum. Like us, the Senor finds it difficult to imagine how all of those printing-press dollars the banks are currently sitting on will find their way into the consumer economy.  So far, the banks have recoiled from the idea of lending out their digital funny-money, using it instead mostly to purchase U.S. Treasury... Read the Rest of the Article | Comments *** Consumer ‘Surge’ Downgraded to a Blip Yesterday’s selloff on Wall Street was attributed to disappointment over consumer spending data that suggest a hoped-for surge in recent weeks is looking more like a blip. Who could possibly have believed the economy was returning to life in the first place?  Actually, one guy does come to mind - our telegenic friend Larry Kudlow — but we suspect that even he didn’t really buy into the “green shoots” story - other, perhaps, than as a metaphor that engaged the fancy of credulous news editors for a few short weeks. There’s The Wall Street Journal, for one, where editors have found reason to celebrate an uptick in... Read the Rest of the Article | Comments *** Hyperinflation Won’t Be Like Germany’s I thought I’d overdosed on the inflation vs. deflation debate, but that was before I started reading Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse. Fascinating stuff. Anyone who thinks it couldn’t happen here is right in one respect: It won’t take ten years to play out in the U.S., as it did in Germany.  Far from it. My guess is that our own