4/18 Notes

Links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38725-2005Apr8.html
Economy On Thin Ice, interesting article by Mr. Greenspan's predecessor as Fed Chairman.
Key quote:
"The difficulty is that this seemingly comfortable pattern can't go on indefinitely. I don't know of any country that has managed to consume and invest 6 percent more than it produces for long. The United States is absorbing about 80 percent of the net flow of international capital. And at some point, both central banks and private institutions will have their fill of dollars."
...Volcker speaks in plain English about the problems confronting our economy. He is not a perma-bear, he is one of the most 'connected' of the 'connected'.
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http://www.bullnotbull.com/bull/Article39.html
...This is an article on the bullnotbull website. I think it is compelling because it points out how we are in a period of transformation in our world. I personally think we are in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ, and there are dramatic changes going to occur on this planet. But this is not an article of religious nature. But it speaks of dramatic change in the social, economic and political arenas that occur every several generations.
...Along those same lines, several years ago I enjoyed reading a book entitled The Great Reckoning. Its authors picked out what they foresaw as trends developing in the world, then extrapolated out those trends to what they deemed to be their logical conclusions. Whether you agree with their conclusions or not, and once again, it was not a religious book in any sense, the book was compelling and thought provoking.
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...Michael Nystrom's article on bullnotbull.com linked above also mentions Craigslist, a grassroots person to person national classified ad concept apparently. I've never heard of it before, but intend to check it out.
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http://www.russiantrader.com
...The Russian Trader is another interesting site that I came across recently. Lots of good information. He trades options, which I don't, but his insights are interesting. He has charts and regular daily and weekly commentaries. By the way, he thinks the markets bounce the next two or three weeks, then go down again. He advises that the 3rd week in April has been overall profitable for the past ten years in a row, even after bad 2nd weeks. We'll see.
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