Bob Bronson is a Colorado-based quant whose thoughts about the stock market and economy often go sharply against the grain.  He was the first guy we know of to predict the housing bust, and he tracked its development for more than a year before the pundits and mainstream media even acknowledged it. Here’s a recent note from Bob:

“The sovereign debt bubbles are another false Wall of Worry, like the supposed fear higher interest and/or inflation rates, for permabulls and new bulls to rationalize buying high (playing momentum) and/or not selling over owned, overvalued and overbought equities.  Massive net selling by insiders irrefutably demonstrates that they certainly don’t agree.  Bailouts of sovereignties, (countries, states and even counties and cities) is qualitatively different than bailing out overleveraged, and technically insolvent, private sector banks, especially mixed with too-big-to-fail and intermingled, and underregulated, shadow banking intermediators like AIG, in fractional reserve based monetary systems.  Greece, the PIGS et al, have plenty of assets, unlike CitiGroup and AIG, for example, to collateralize central bank loans at reasonably less than market interest rates.  The financial media’s hyped concern on this is nonsense and not a meaningful case for the bears, or the bulls, just entertainment value for non-institutional investors and observers.”