Britannia Radio

The Weekend Edition – July 18-19 You can kiss the thought of a recovery by Christmas buh-bye… The Mogambo Guru on the greenback’s loss of purchasing power… A response to the ‘market failure drones’ from Thomas E. Woods… Robert P. Murphy looks at the Great Depression and New Deal fallacies… An examination of the free market system from Barry Ritholtz… Bill Bonner on the new crop of bubble deniers…and more! --------------------- Special Offer --------------------------- The $2.5 Trillion Gorilla in the Room   This is vital. Because, you see, a lot of Americans - and a lot of people in the rest of the world - are counting on credit-card carrying American shoppers to jumpstart the global economic engine all over again.   But it isn't going to happen. And you don't want to bank your investments on the idea that it will. Or you'll risk even bigger losses than many Americans have suffered already.   Here's how you can save yourself and boost your profits during the coming time bomb... --------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily Reckoning’s Highlight of the Week: Disappearing Green Shoots Baltimore, Maryland Remember back, just a few months ago, when it seemed (to most, at least) that a recovery from this current crisis was just around the corner? Well, judging from the growing sentiment on Wall Street and beyond, this crisis is far from over. “The markets cannot just rely on less bad news, we need to see signs of an underlying improvement in the economy,” says Jane Caron, chief economist at strategists at Dwight Asset Management. But don’t take it from us…see what Bill has to say, in the DR’s highlight of the week, below… Beginning on March 9th, we also got a big bounce in the world’s stock  markets – just as we should. US stocks are up about 40% since then. Some  foreign markets are up even more. Russian stocks, for example, have more than  doubled. Chinese stocks are up more than 60%. As the bounce continued, people began to get the wrong idea. They thought they  saw ‘green shoots’ and the ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’ But if the economy is  really improving, we haven’t seen much evidence of it here at The Daily  Reckoning headquarters. As near as we can tell, housing prices are still going  down and unemployment is still going up...and most important...people are still  acting as though we were on the downward slope of the credit cycle. The latest  numbers we’ve seen show that they saved more money in the first half of the year  than the total in extra ‘stimulus’ that they received. Savings – last reported at 5%  in this space – are now close to 7%. This is a just what you’d expect. But it is a  huge turnaround, too. As to housing prices, there are a million option ARMs still to be reset over the  next four years. They won’t peak out until 2011...with average increases of about  80%. That will cause hundreds of thousands more houses to be dumped onto the  market...and probably push the bottom of the housing decline to 2012. [You can  read the full report on how to protect your assets from this new market bottom by clicking here.] As long as housing prices are falling, jobs are declining, and consumers are  inclined to save rather than spend, there will be no real recovery. In our book, recovery is impossible anyway. Because the pre-crisis economy  had reached the terminal stages of the credit cycle. It was like someone in the  terminal stages of a fatal illness. After they have died, you don’t wish that they  could recover...and be just like they were before they died. They were sick and  dying then! No, you sign the book of memories and condolences and turn the  page. You let new life take the place of the dead. You move on. But the feds have their ghoulish agenda. They have the poor thing on life-support.  One tube feeds the oxygen of easy credit. Another drips in more ‘stimulus.’ The  economy rattles every time it breathes. Dead companies, such as GM, say they  are reborn. But take away the tubes...and they collapse. Dead-in-the-water  households learn to live submerged in debt ...with special tubes provided by  the feds – such as the underwater mortgage refinancing offered by Fannie  and  Freddie, where homeowners can get up to 125% of the value of their houses.  And the brain dead economists at the Fed and the Treasury department  continue to offer their elixirs  and panaceas – even though they have never  worked. Everything is happening as it should, in other words. But what happens next? The above is just an excerpt from Bill’s standout essay from this week. You can read it in its entirety on the Daily Reckoning site – it’s an essay you don’t want to miss. Get it here. --------------------- Special Offer --------------------------- A Single Ignored Stock Made 279% This Year! And that's on top of 61%, 47%, and 33% gains readers already booked in 2009 thanks to the scientific CXS Money Multiplier system. Click here to learn more! --------------------------------------------------------------- ALSO THIS WEEK in The Daily Reckoning: This week was chock-full of good insights from our Daily Reckoning contributors. From a look at fiat currencies from the Mogambo Guru to a guide to the misconceptions about the Great Depression and the New Deal, to everything in between, the past seven days had it all. See for yourself, below… IOU One More Piece of Paper Money by The Mogambo Guru Tampa Bay, Florida “...the fiat currency of the USA has been so abused by over-issuance that it has lost about 96% of its purchasing power since the loathsome Federal Reserve took over in 1913, and is now about to be reprised by California issuing another paper money!” Response to the “Market Failure” Drones by Thomas E. Woods Auburn, Alabama "The drones who exist to repeat clichés about market failure need a robust and energetic reply from people who know what they're talking about." The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal by Robert P. Murphy Nashville, Tennessee “…during the early 1930s, the Fed’s rate cuts ‘for some reason’ didn’t seem to do the trick. In fact, they sowed the seeds for the worst decade in US economic history.” Casting Blame, Part II by Barry Ritholtz New York, New York “The free market actually worked as it should—firms that managed risk poorly were demolished by market forces. The trouble was, none of the erstwhile free market advocates had the stomach to live through the creative destruction Mr. Market was serving.” Bubble Deniers, Part II by Bill Bonner Madrid, Spain “The bubble deniers deny there was a bubble and deny that their own stimulus caused it. They see nothing wrong with what they were doing and no reason to stop doing it. Instead, they add more stimuli...and create new bubbles.” --------------------------------------------------------------- We’re going to have to make this Weekend Edition a bit shorter than usual, as we are busy getting ready for Agora Financial’s Investment Symposium in Vancouver. Say ‘hi’ if you are there – we’ll be in the back of the room, furiously taking notes during the presentations. If you can’t make it to Vancouver this year, we have you covered. We’re going to be updating you live from the symposium using the DR Twitter feed. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for a free account and follow us here. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Kate Incontrera The Daily Reckoning --------------------- Special Offer --------------------------- Only 63 People Know Why These Six Tiny Companies Will Change the World... You're #64 - and about to become ultra-wealthy. This will go down in history as the "story of our era..." Most importantly, you'll be rich because you took decisive action in 2009. See the full report here.   The Daily Reckoning - Special Reports: Introducing the Single Best Way to Make Sure You'll Never Run Out of Money...

AGORA Financial Resources: The Daily Reckoning Is: Economics & Politics Crisis & Opportunity Gold, Oil & Energy Growth, Tech & Medical Options Investing Founder: Bill Bonner Editorial Director: Addison Wiggin Publisher: Rocky Vega Managing Editor: Kate Incontrera Web Editor: Greg Kadajski About The Daily Reckoning: Now in its 10th anniversary year, The Daily Reckoning is the flagship e-letter of Baltimore-based financial research firm and publishing group Agora Financial, a subsidiary of Agora Inc. The Daily Reckoning provides over half a million subscribers with literary economic perspective, global market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Published daily in six countries and three languages, each issue delivers a feature-length article by a senior member of our team and a guest essay from one of many leading thinkers and nationally acclaimed columnists. For additional articles and commentary follow The Daily Reckoning on Twitter and Facebook.