Mish Shedlock

In this week's Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish and Chris tackle:

• The Ongoing Mess That is Europe
  • Spain suddenly looks like it may exit the euro sooner than Greece
• The Future of the Dollar
  • While dollar bears have been burned in the short term, it doesn't mean they're wrong
• Why it's Still Smart to Hold Your Gold
  • None of the long-term fundamentals have changed

Europe's woes are increasing at an accelerating pace now. Fresh news out of Spain has caused interest rates on its sovereign debt to skyrocket — now approaching 7%. The euro has been weakening hard vs the US dollar. The various European leaders are at odds at how to proceed next. Except on one point: their intent to keep the Ponzi scheme going for as long as possible to avoid the losses that need to be (must be!) realized. 

In this week's Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish and Chris reunite to debate:

• The Facebook faceplant
  • A great example of how artificial price supports end badly
• The Inevitable 'Grexit'
  • The faster Greece hits rock bottom and can start recovering, the better
• Where next for home prices?
  • Mish thinks we may be at a good entry point; Chris predicts more downside

Wherever one looks these days, there are signs of growing instability. Perennial investor darlings like Apple and Facebook (and their social media brethren) are stumbling. Europe continues to devolve as the players there dance to delay the inevitable. And most asset classes (housing, stock market, etc.) are likely to experience more downward price movement until and unless the next major round of money printing is announced. Both Chris and Mish agree that gold offers good protection against the growing instability, as well as against the purchasing power destruction that further quantitative easing will cause.

In this week's Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish has the week off, so Chris and Adam sit down to discuss:

• Europe: What will be the implications of the newly elected leadership in France and Greece?
• Gold: Will the free fall in price end soon?
• The Markets: Will things stabilize soon, or is a bigger correction in the picture?

There is a lot of news afoot this week, including the breaking announcement today from JP Morgan admitting to unexpectedly large trading losses (in the $billions) right after this interview was recorded. We appear to be entering a time in the markets where it's important to make sure your seat belts are securely fastened.

In this week's Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish and Chris discuss:

• Europe
  • Led by Spain, it's quickly getting worse there again
• Limits of Monetary Policy
  • Why the Fed and other central banks can't provide much more "help" even if we wanted them to
• The Stock Market
  • Why prices are now in a "belief" bubble

With the US stock markets at near-record highs, Mish and Chris are getting extremely nervous about how far prices have diverged from fundamentals. By twisted logic, bad data has come to equal 'positive' news – with investors expecting more liquidity from central banks as the economic news becomes gloomier. At some point (likely very soon) reality will intervene, and when it does, it will be very painful for those investors long the market.

The most sinister of all taxes is the inflation tax and it is the most regressive. It hits the poor and the middle class. ~ Ron Paul

In this week’s Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish has the week off, so Chris takes the mic and delivers an in-depth look at consumer price inflation. He cites a plethora of data that validates what anyone who eats, drives, or visits the doctor already knows: The “official” CPI (Consumer Price Index) numbers released by our government and others around the world are completely bogus.

Money expansion is a cornerstone of modern central banking strategy. With so much outstanding total debt, increasing the money supply (i.e., inflation) becomes increasingly essential for perpetuating the system.

Today, Chris focuses on the question, What is going to happen when that strategy no longer works?

In this week’s Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish and Chris opine on: