1238 Blowing Bubbles

1238  Blowing  Bubbles

What’s next?  We had the internet bubble, the housing bubble, right now we’re having the stock bubble.  Everyone’s having conniptions because the market is generally cooling, maybe in response to the Kindergarten Congress or any number of other factors. Oh, it has its irrationally depressive down days along with its irrationally exuberant days, to paraphrase Greenspan.  But it is on the down, overall.

The Fed said it missed seeing some aspects of the internet situation.  Okay, fine.  In the Clinton era the government was running  a strong surplus and the economy was vigorous enough digest the bursting and slowly move it back toward normal.

There was the gold bubble in which scaremongering right wing radio hosts kept pushing the price up.  Even some people with good brains caught gold fever, late lamented friend Jim Kingsland among them.

Then, there’s the housing bubble.  That’s someone no one with a brain could have missed.  Even this lowly blog pointed that out that inventing and selling arcane financial instruments couldn’t end well, especially when they were backed with nothing but hot air and hope.

So -- again -- what’s next?  The personal injury/ailment lawyer bubble?  How many times have you seen this older guy pop up on your TV screen and heard him say “My name is Doug and I have mesothelioma?”  We’re all sorry for Doug and hope he and others they receive “large monetary settlements” through the good offices of the law firm that represents him.  But enough Doug, already.

You have to think bubble when you see all those ads for auto insurance.  They each have the lowest prices, the best features and the best service.  But as Mac down the block says “If I ever meet that Geico lizard I’m going to crush him under the heel of my boot.”

The companies are battling one another for your business and you have to wonder why.  What’s going on behind the scenes that have produced the now years’-long flood tide of advertising and promotion.

Back to bubbles.  At one point, the Hunt Bros. tried to dominate the silver market.  What that could do is manufacture a silver bubble, which is both better than and less effective than a silver bullet.

That bubble was burst by (shudder!) regulation and prosecution.  But, again, what is it that we’re not yet seeing?

The next bubble? Count on this: the banks and the brokers will make out like the bandits they are.  And you will not.

Shrapnel:

--Those of us who admit to membership in the Jewish cabal to take over the world should be pleased with President Obama’s choice for Fed Chair, Janet Yellen.  If the Senate remains on its meds and confirms her, she will be the third consecutive Jew to hold the job. But we still have to ask her “What’s a smart Brooklyn girl like you doing in a dump like Washington?”

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2013