Underscoring how little importance oil and energy costs truly are to what actually causes inflation, comes this from Zimbabwe: Official Zimbabwe inflation at 2.2 million percent The Associated Press - Jul 17, 2008 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Official inflation soared to 2.2 million percent in Zimbabwe — by far the highest in the world — and has shot as high as 70 million ... - Somehow I ... read more

I got in a dialogue with a friend of mine who's a reporter at a big daily here in NYC. Here's the back and forth: Cody, I hope you’re feeling better. I’ve been reading your stuff religiously, and calling Cablevision to complain that we don’t get FBN. A little bummed at how down on the economy you are, but afraid you’re right. Also wonder about your “let ‘em burn” moral hazard ... read more

Here's a snippet from this month's The Cody Report. You can subscribe by visiting TheCodyReport.net. Banks are failing and people are losing their savings. Government agencies with trillions of dollars in mortgage exposure are being bailed out with tax dollars. The bank index is down 70% from its recent highs and more hundreds, perhaps thousands of banks will be closing their doors as the ... read more

Oh I can't keep it in, I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out. I've got to show the world, world's got to see, see all the love love that's in me. I said, why walk alone, why worry when it's warm over here. You've got so much to say, say what you mean, mean what you're thinking, and think anything. - Yusuf Islam, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, best known by his former stage name Cat ... read more

We're all wrong a lot, especially when you're putting predictions and money on the line...but you do have to admit, it was awfully irritating when all those permabulls ignored recent history and told everyone "Don't fight the Fed". The logic went that when the Fed is in a cutting rates phase, that you have to be long stocks...even though when the Fed was cutting rates from 2000 to 2002, stocks ... read more

I tied my bandana, took my pack from the floor You were still sleeping,as I stood at the door Once more I was heading to,God only knows where That's when it hit me, I was already there I could ramble, a thousand miles or more Never find the light I've seen in your eyes before You gave me the freedom to go on my own way But you gave me much more, you gave me the freedom to stay -- Waylon ... read more

Hey all you socialists who call yourselves Republicans and Democrats, can I get something straight here? You created these "government-sponsored enterprises", FRE and FNM (call them Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to make them sound warm and fuzzy), to enable the markets to offer under-market rates on loans to high-risk people (read: use tax-dollars to make cheap loans available to the people in the ... read more

I don't mean to pick on the NYTimes, as I do like the newspaper and read it regularly both online and in print. But as my mom said this morning in the midst of straightening up my apartment one last time before she heads back to New Mexico, I do tend to get a lot of blog fodder because I get so upset at the paper as I read it. So here's today rant.

How Fallout Could Affect Main Street

Let's just do a quick run through of the NY Times headlines since that's what I had to read this morning before I head back to NYC.

U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants

Though I've been preaching caution for the last year or so after being a rather big bull during my hedge fund days since 2002, I want to drive home my oft-repeated point about the importance of picking great stocks and not just putting money into the broader markets. I like to focus on buying the best stocks possible, and then getting more aggressive or less (or even getting bearish as I did on ... read more