Interview

Can you think of anyone other than CNBC’s talking heads who’s bullish on the economy, bullish on the banking system, and bullish on real estate?  Nor could we after brainstorming the question with radio host Al Korelin yesterday.  We had just taped a update on gold for the Korelin Economics Report when our host asked whether we knew any full-throated optimists who could hold their own in a radio interview. The weekend show was becoming too gloomy, Korelin said, because it’s so difficult these days to find guests who think the economy is really and truly on the upswing.  Korelin’s hugely popular radio show reaches 260 stations, and as you can imagine, his Rolodex is filled with many hundreds of names of especially opinionated people. But genuine, hard-core bulls willing to embrace the sunny side?  Searching the Rolodex, he had come up empty. And the only guy we could think to recommend was Mr. Happy-Talk himself, Larry Kudlow.     Surely there must be someone else? Unfortunately, in the newsletter world where we dwell professionally, we couldn’t think of a single, unmitigated  bull among the scores of gurus with whom we swap newsletters. In fact, although we’re pretty sure ourselves that the U.S. economy is slipping into a Second Great Depression, that kind of thinking places us only around the statistical middle of the pack among professional gloom-and-doomers. And compared to, say, a Nostradamian in the group who foresees two World Wars and an unimaginably powerful series of earthquakes that will turn Flagstaff, Arizona into a coastal town and split the Dome of the Rock, our own view of the world seems positively buoyant.  Are We Too Pessimistic?  So, no, we told Korelin, we can’t think of anyone besides Kudlow to take the other side. But having said this, we wondered aloud

Rick waxed bullish on gold -- and bearish on Obama -- in a recent interview with radio host Al Korelin. Here’s the link.

Rick Ackerman  gives his views on the continuation of the rising conventional stock market in this concluding segment of The Korelin Report.  Click here for audio.

Think the Chinese are going to dump their Treasury bonds because they’re worried about a possible collapse of the dollar?  Not a chance, says U.S. forecaster Rick Ackerman, who was recently interviewed on the BBC show On the Edge with Max Keiser.  Far from being worried, say Ackerman. China has written off its trillion dollar exposure and knows the day is coming when other currencies will supplant the greenback in global trade. To access the interview, click here.

(Following are the trenchant thoughts of one David Kaiser, forwarded to me for comment by talk show radio host Al Korelin.  Dr. Kaiser thinks the U.S. is headed toward political and economic catastrophe under President Obama.  Please note, however, that the quote attributed to Mr. Obama was actually part of a parody that appeared in an essay by National Review polemicist Mark Steyn.  RA) Interesting thoughts from David Kaiser This is long, but enlightening. Lest you think it was written by some right-wing kook, David Kaiser is a respected historian whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European Warfare to American League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three capital cities: Washington D.C., Albany, New York, and Dakar, Senegal. He attended Harvard University, graduating there in 1969 with a B.A. in history. He then spent several years more at Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he obtained in 1976. He served in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976. He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United StaStates Navalr College and has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University. Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas, about the Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard University Press. Dr. David Kaiser writes: "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." - Barack Obama History Unfolding I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a