Skip to main content

Bill Fleckenstein on PPIP, inflation

MSN Money's resident contrarian, Bill Fleckenstein, has some thoughts on inflation and the Treasury's trillion-dollar toxic assets plan (aka, "PPIP") in his most recent MSN columns.

In his latest piece, "Bank plan a cure-all? Don't bet on it", Fleckenstein notes that the Treasury plan to rid banks of their most troubled assets may prove feasible if the government can convince them to start shedding a certain percentage of their "impaired" assets.

However, the very well-known problems of the financial sector may soon be overshadowed by problems in the larger economy:

"But I believe that as bad as the financial problem is, the economic problem is worse. I don't see how the Treasury's program and other facilities would alleviate the economic problem.

None of these maneuvers to plug the holes in the dike of the United States' and the world's financial systems will necessarily do all that much for the overall economy. Thus, as the pure financial crisis recedes from center stage, the economic crisis lies front and center."

Fleck also has some thoughts on the dollar, inflation, and the ultimate fate of fiat money. Here's an excerpt from, "Got gold? You're right on the money":

"I'd like to take a few moments to talk about the Federal Reserve's latest act of irresponsibility in a continuing series of irresponsible actions (i.e., buying $300 billion in longer-term Treasurys, an additional $750 billion in mortgage-backed securities and -- just for grins -- $100 billion of government-sponsored-enterprise debt).

As a friend noted, Wednesday was the functional equivalent of Pearl Harbor for the U.S. dollar and fiat currencies in general. He said -- referencing that people might pay less for their mortgages -- that they'll pay much, much more for everything else. I would certainly agree..."

Check out the full piece for Fleck's summary of how we got into this mess, and why quantitative easing won't solve our problems.

Related articles and posts:

1. Interview w/ Bill Fleckenstein - FSN via Finance Trends.

2. On PPIP and Geitner's amazing power grab - Finance Trends.

Popular posts from this blog

Moneyball: How the Red Sox Win Championships

Welcome, readers . T o get the first look at brand new posts (like the following piece) and to receive our exclusive email list updates, please subscribe to the Finance Trends Newsletter .   The Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series title of t he 21st century this we ek. Having won their first Se ries in 86 years back in 200 4, the last decade-plus has marked a very strong return to form for one of baseball's oldest big league clubs. So how did they do it? Quick background: in late 2002, team own er and hedge fund manager, John W. Henry (with his partners ) bought the Boston Red Sox and its historic Fenway Park for a reported sum of $ 695 million. Henry and Co. quickly set out to find their ideal General Manager (GM) to help turn around their newly acquired, ailing ship. This brings us to one of my fav orite scenes from the 2011 film , Moneyball , in which John W. Henry (played by Ar liss Howard) attempts to woo Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Brad Pi

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety .  My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes .    Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes     2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult.  "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force."    He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.