manystrom's blog

by Michael Nystrom
Editor
www.bullnotbull.com
www.dailypaul.com

Dear Friends,

If you had told me two years ago that today I'd be a registered Republican, and an alternate delegate to the GOP convention in Minnesota, I would have called you crazy! If you recall, back in October 2006, I was advocating voting for "Gridlock."

At the time, Republicans controlled the White House, the House and the Senate! I was terrified of what two more years of that would look like, noting,

What happened the last time we had Kissinger, Rumsfeld and Cheney in the same Whitehouse? Does politics provide any hope whatsoever?

I suppose that was the question that began my strange and wonderful journey. By some kind of miracle, Democrats took control of the Senate (by one seat!) and the House. Not that I was a Democrat, but they were supposed to be the opposition party. (Does anyone remember that concept?)

By Michael Nystrom | July 25, 2008

Back on June 2nd, I suggested (for entertainment purposes only) that gamblers might want to take a crack at shorting Apple's stock. At the time, Apple was trading around 186, and some called me crazy for wanting to short a stock in an uptrend. This was, after all, Apple, seller of the most popular technology products on the planet. But I had my reasons, and as I said it was a gambler's play. Which is to say that it was a calculated risk with a tight stop - the only kind of play a responsible gambler should make.

Apple drifted down slowly for a month an a half until the day I was waiting for: earnings. The stock took a big dive down to 147, before recovering smartly. As noted in the previous article, our target was in the 145 - 150 range, so we made out with a tidy profit of close to 20% in about a month and a half.

Mission accomplished, but what's the story on the stock now? Should we go long, short or just leave it alone? First let's review Apple's "story" and then take a look at a super long-term chart and see what we see.

Video by the American News Project

After being off the air for some time, I've decided to fire up Depression2.tv again. It seems about time. I'll continue to update the daily news links on this site, but for my latest articles, please visit me at: Depression2.tv.

Thank you and good luck.

Michael Nystrom
Editor
www.bullnotbull.com
www.depression2.tv

An excellent video that captures the sentiment of our times:

.

I was up in Nashua, NH today to see Ron Paul. He gave a great speech, and then he stayed around for over an hour after the event talking to supporters outside. When I got to talk to him, he told me - no joke - "I was reading the latest Mogambo Guru and I saw that he mentioned you, and I thought, 'Hey, I know Michael Nystrom!'" He looked at me with a big grin, laughed and said, "Hey, you're famous!"

That's the kind of guy Ron Paul is. He reads the Mogambo Guru, too! He's kind and funny and jokes around. But he also knows his stuff, and he is serious about spreading the message of liberty.

By Dan Jones
August 10, 2007

I was having a regular lunch with Michael Nystrom the other day and started mouthing off on my favorite economic analysis du jour. To wit: the collapse of the housing bubble in 2007 will be seen by history as the equivalent of the collapse of the stock bubble in 1929. He liked the analysis and asked me if he could write it up for BNB. I said, wait, this is my schtick – let me write it up. So here it is:

It all started, once upon a time, in the mid 1980’s, when a bunch of warning blips started popping up on my analytic radar screen. They were all about housing. These blips countered everything I thought I had learned about financial responsibility. In those days, I was still operating on those old stodgy assumptions that housing was part of one’s prudent economic planning – not where future income was to be made. During my early 70s passage into adulthood, the common wisdom was that housing paced normal inflation. No more, no less. Mortgage debt was a curse to be warded off. I remember when my parents went to mortgage burning parties. The banks did due diligence to make sure that your house mortgage was not more than two and a half times your income. But that was then. Anyone who took a second mortgage was probably in trouble. Quaint, wasn't it?

Watch and learn:

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 1:48am BST 08/08/2007

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

Continue reading at the Telegraph.

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Editor's note: The following is the last email in an exchange between myself and a reader on what the Fed will do at today's FOMC meeting. Leslie writes:

Michael,

I think Bernanke leaves interest rates alone and continues with the theme of remaining vigilant about inflation. And I think they follow through with the theme of not bailing out lenders who made loans they knew couldn't be repaid. He and other Fed members have stated many times, and very clearly that this is their position. His and Paulson's comments that 'readjustments in pricing risk are necessary' are the jawboning part. Their actions will show they're serious about it.