Jim Rogers Covers His US Treasury Short Positions - For Now

A short Jim Rogers interview on Bloomberg - I believe from December 11, 2008. He says he has covered his short position in US Treasuries for the time being, because the trade was going against him.

He's waiting to short them again, and describes US Treasuries as "the last bubble left."

Other thoughts from Jim:

• It's idiotic for Bernanke to purchase long-dated US government bonds.
  
• Let the auto companies go into bankruptcy.
• "The government has been taking the assets away from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people...that's bad economics and bad morality."
• These bailouts will be a "disaster for America", leading to the demise of the dollar, higher interest rates, and higher inflation.

Weekly Futures Positions Review - December 14, 2008

Top posts from the past week:

• Marc Faber: The 2009 Global Economy Will Be A "Total Disaster"
  
• US Bailout Price Tag Heading for $10+ Trillion(!)
  
• Yearly Oil Demand Drops for 1st Time in 25 Years
  
• Consumer Credit Crisis: The Next Shoe to Drop
  

A review of my futures trades from the previous week:

• Covered my British Pound short. British Pound futures have been trading sideways over the last few weeks. And it looks like the US dollar rally is starting to run out of steam.
  

Existing positions I've got:

• None!

My wish list...and it looks like these commodities are at least starting to form a bottom, at last:

• Sugar
• Coffee
• Cotton
  
• Natural Gas
• Silver
• Crude Oil
• Wheat
• Corn
  

Account Balances

Current Cash Balance	$49,196.88
Open Trade Equity	$0.00
Total Equity	$49,196.88
Long Option Value	$0.00
Short Option Value	$0.00
Net Liquidating Value	$49,196.88

Cashed out: $20,000.00
Total value: $69,196.88
Weekly return: -2.7%
YTD return: -10.2%

***"Cash out" mostly means taxes, but lately I've also been using it for living expenses, and also to finance a cool new time management software startup that is starting to lift off.

Bud Conrad Radio Interview on Gold, The Fed, and Oil

Bud Conrad, Chief Economist at Casey Research, voices his opinion on Gold, the Fed using borrowed money from the Treasury, and Oil as a limited resource.

"There's not enough gold for everybody."

http://www.bizradio.org/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/december/wss-dec11c.mp3

http://www.bizradio.org/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/december/wss-dec11d.mp3

The Fed Is - Finally - Starting to Create Money From Thin Air

According to Tom Dyson, the Federal Reserve has finally started to create money out of thin air.

Then, last week, it took a "quantum leap," according to George Goncalves, the chief Treasury and agency strategist at Morgan Stanley.

Instead of swapping assets in the banking system, the Fed started buying them. The Fed bought $5 billion of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Federal Home Loan Bank corporate debt. The New York Fed's website says the purchases are being "financed through the creation of additional bank reserves." The Fed has finally started to create money out of thin air.

In other words, to pay for its purchases, the Fed opened new bank accounts for its commercial bank customers, struck a couple of computer keys, and filled the accounts with money. The Fed hopes the banks lend this money out. If they do, it will add credit to the marketplace... That's inflation.

Dollar Index Falls Below Key Technical Indicator

According to Everbank's Chris Gaffney, the dollar index has fallen below its 55-day moving average, a key technical indicator.

But even before the automakers got the bad news from the Senate, the dollar was falling faster than we've seen in the past few weeks. Chuck shouted out across the trade desk around noon yesterday that the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc, had fallen below the 55 day moving average. This is a major level for technical traders, and signaled the dollar could be headed for a further fall.