Financial topics

[vincecate]

I will be looking to be a buyer of silver over the next couple months.

If the stock market crashes next week and the panic selling in silver continues, I will be stepping up at that time.

US Treasury Sec. Mnuchin: Fed and Treasury working to provide “unlimited liquidity”
https://www.fxstreet.com/news/us-treasu ... zz97emaM1c

The problem is that for every decade after the 1970s printing money has been ok. So anyone too young to remember that problem thinks it is always ok to print more and faster. They will keep printing more and faster till reality shows them it is not always ok. Nobody could have taken MMT seriously in 1970s but now we have a guy who is second place for the Democratic nomination who thinks money printing is the answer to all problems, even though many socialist countries have already demonstrated the problems of doing that. I don't think Trump sees any problem with printing money either. The Tea Party has faded away. Everyone seems ok with printing money. I really think gold and silver are reasonable things to buy after the market crash.

[vincecate]

To fly in or out of Anguilla almost everyone goes to the nearby island of St Marten that has a big airport. This airport has banned flights from USA, Canada, Europe, UK, China, etc. So we are kind of cut off. Not sure if good or bad thing but don't worry be happy...

[John]

** 15-Mar-2020 World View: Anguilla

> To fly in or out of Anguilla almost everyone goes to the nearby
> island of St Marten that has a big airport. This airport has
> banned flights from USA, Canada, Europe, UK, China, etc. So we are
> kind of cut off. Not sure if good or bad thing but don't worry be
> happy...

Are you confined to your home or locked down in any way? The entire
countries of Italy, France and Spain are in complete lockdown.

[vincecate]

Are you confined to your home or locked down in any way? The entire
countries of Italy, France and Spain are in complete lockdown.

We are not even asked to stay in but we are. I kept my boys out of school the last week and will continue to and am working from home.
We have a bunch of supplies but I will probably have a young assistant shop for us every week if this goes on long.

I still expect that when this is all done it will turn out that there was about a 0.1% chance of death and mostly over 80 years old. But one argument that I find a bit convincing is that it spreads so fast in a community that it can overwhelm the medical services for that community and then the odds may be worse than they could be.

The health department put out a release today that there are no suspected or confirmed cases in Anguilla so far. We note that lots of sun, warm air, and a bit of humidity (like we have from our air coming off the ocean), may give us shorter lived virus times than most places. Also, everyone drives their own car. There is no public transportation of any kind, no bicycles or pedestrian for transportation (a few for exercise), so it should not have as easy a time spreading in Anguilla as some places.

Anguilla has gotten ready for hurricanes many times and so the extra shopping and stuff so far feels like a hurricane prep.

How is it where you or others in this group are?

[John]

** 15-Mar-2020 World View: Anguilla - Caribbean Paradise

> The health department put out a release today that there are no
> suspected or confirmed cases in Anguilla so far. We note that lots
> of sun, warm air, and a bit of humidity (like we have from our air
> coming off the ocean), may give us shorter lived virus times than
> most places. Also, everyone drives their own car. There is no
> public transportation of any kind, no bicycles or pedestrian for
> transportation (a few for exercise), so it should not have as easy
> a time spreading in Anguilla as some places.

So why are you complaining about the airport being closed? You don't
want to go anywhere anyway.

[vincecate]

So why are you complaining about the airport being closed? You don't
want to go anywhere anyway.

Not complaining, just seems to make this more real and closer to home. As I said, not sure it is good or bad. Maybe keeping Anguilla safe to close that airport.

[Higgenbotham]

I will be looking to be a buyer of silver over the next couple months.

If the stock market crashes next week and the panic selling in silver continues, I will be stepping up at that time.

US Treasury Sec. Mnuchin: Fed and Treasury working to provide “unlimited liquidity”
https://www.fxstreet.com/news/us-treasu ... zz97emaM1c

The problem is that for every decade after the 1970s printing money has been ok. So anyone too young to remember that problem thinks it is always ok to print more and faster. They will keep printing more and faster till reality shows them it is not always ok. Nobody could have taken MMT seriously in 1970s but now we have a guy who is second place for the Democratic nomination who thinks money printing is the answer to all problems, even though many socialist countries have already demonstrated the problems of doing that. I don't think Trump sees any problem with printing money either. The Tea Party has faded away. Everyone seems ok with printing money. I really think gold and silver are reasonable things to buy after the market crash.

It takes a long time to destroy the advantages that were put in place by previous generations of world reserve currency, a deep and liquid bond market (that was no longer deep and liquid last week), etc., but it seems they have almost done that and now it appears to be full speed ahead as you say. They are monkeys flying 747s.

Likewise with the medical system in the US. Previous generations left us with tremendous advantages in terms of health and longevity that have been frittered away.

[vincecate]

Last year there was something like $3.7 trillion in "mergers and acquisitions".
https://www.statista.com/statistics/267 ... worldwide/

Someone was pointing out that "due diligence" in these deals requires visiting the company and talking with the people. If travel shuts down this also shuts down.

[Higgenbotham]

How is it where you or others in this group are?

I've never seen things in as much disarray in stores as yesterday, but other than that things have been quiet and there has been no violence or looting. I guess the bottom line is that things here were consistent with reports I have read from other parts of the country.

Yesterday I was in a superstore at the largest grocery chain in Texas (HEB) and probably one quarter of the shelves were completely empty. Most of the elderly were wearing masks. No young people were wearing masks. While I was there, employees were taping up signs on a regular sheet of paper saying that to better serve customers the hours were being reduced from 8 am to 8 pm. It appears this decision was made in haste to respond to unanticipated conditions. I went back today and things appeared to have settled down. Many of the shelves that had no items yesterday had a few items out. I think they were doing that to make items available but to prevent hoarding.

I also noticed gasoline has dropped to $1.78 per gallon. I recall it hit a low of $1.38 around here during the 2008 financial collapse.

[Higgenbotham]

It takes a long time to destroy the advantages that were put in place by previous generations of world reserve currency, a deep and liquid bond market (that was no longer deep and liquid last week), etc.

Indeed, as of Friday, and following a rollout of various "bazooka" interventions by the Fed including a massive $5 trillion repo facility and the launch of QE5, as well as an emergency six POMO operations on Friday to unlock the freezing Treasury market which failed to boost risk sentiment, the FRA/OIS not only failed to respond but surged to the highest level since the financial crisis.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pray- ... argin-call