Friday, June 19, 2009

Random Thoughts on Sales Tactics and Inflation

I see a lot of these types of ads from firms hawking investment newsletters. Most investors make decisions based on fear or greed. The gloom and doom story is always an attempt to play on the fear trigger, then towards the end of the page the promise of huge gains pulls the greed trigger.

Real assets are good to own if you believe inflation is coming. That's why China is stockpiling natural resources, buying up both raw materials and stakes in mining companies. So how will inflation get going? Zero Hedge's post nails it, and I completely agree. The U.S. government can't pay off its unfunded liabilities unless it debases the dollar. Banks aren't lending out all the new money the Fed has electronically created to fight deflation. The fiscal stimulus is thus the means of transmission for the planned increase in the money supply. Fatter unemployment checks are part of that plan.