Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Deja Vu all over again

It's getting harder and harder to be a bear. It is as if the laws of common sense have all been rewritten. Less is more, debt is good, you buy houses when you don't have a job and prices rise in recession. The real demand is down, price cuts are rampant and yet inflationary fears are exacerbated by attempts to ward off almost certain deflation. It's harder to actually think rationally about finance, economics and market any more. Natural gas prices go up and down by more than 25 per cent in a single session. US Dollar keeps on falling on account of increasing deficits and loose monetary policy, yet most of the currencies it's declining against (CAD, Euro, INR, JPY etc) are just as fiscally profligate. Decoupling which had barely been buried solidly six feet in the ground just a few months ago is back with a vengeance.
We are closer to an 'economic black hole' perhaps, now that none of the 'old laws' of economics have stopped working any more.
Real estate wars are heating up all over the world. From Delhi to San Diego, it seems a solid resurgence in real estate has taken place. It seems the world is buccaneering again on the dosage of easy availability of money. No lessons from past mistakes have been learned nor any punishments served on those who brought about the pain to the masses. And here we are ready to repeat the show.
Real demand for finished products is down worldwide, yet China is building more capacity to export. China is stockpiling more of commodities, boosting Australia's economy. And this brings back decoupling back into vogue.
Multiple bids were common in 2005, 2005 and 2007. And they are back in the summer and fall of 2009.
What's the end game from this? The central bankers and pretty much all governments have only one faith and ambition- to somehow in someway refuel one global bubble. So far they are having some success.
What do you all think?
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