http://www.nationofcards.com Surveying the situation. Taking action. Thu, 14 May 2009 14:34:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Should a trillion dollars be enough? How about three or more, depending on how you look at the bailouts being thrown around? Mint.com and WallStats.com have some stunning visual expressions of what a Trillion Dollars represents. One trillion dollars; it’s a number that few people can comprehend, let alone your standard nine digit ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/03/19/a-trillion-visualized/ Um... why is the Fed pushing this view right now? This sounds a little like a pilot getting on the PA to explain how airplane crashes are good things, "because they reduce airport congestion in the long run... please place your seats in the upright position, stow your belongings, and ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/03/10/fed-paper-currency-crashes-can-have-good-economic-effects-real-time-economics-wsj/ Dr. Doom is freaked out more than he was earlier! A year ago Roubini was forecasting an 18-month recession with a U-shaped recovery; now, hes now expecting the downturn to last at least 24 months and possibly 36-months. He also sees rising risks of a Japanese-style L-shaped stagnation, i.e. a prolonged ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/03/02/even-dr-doom-is-scared-tech-ticker-yahoo-finance/ EJ is absolutely brilliant! Reprinting in full here... As Paul Volcker pointed out over the weekend, the global financial system has disintegrated and no one has any idea how to fix it. Lots of good ideas about how to fix the banking system, but as weve explained, even if any of ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/03/02/what-just-happened-itulipcom/ "Franklin Sanders" at the Silver and Gold blog, thinks that this gold and silver price plunge is short-term and represents a strong buying opportunity, with gold bottoming in the $925-$890 range. FWIW, I'd agree. This looks like standard profit-taking and runs strongly counter to the ongoing drumbeat of profligate spending and ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/26/silver-and-gold-buying-opportunity/ Amazing number: 19.5 square feet of selling space per American consumer! About 220,000 stores may close this year in America, says our guest, retail consultant Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates. As more Americans save and spend less, it's clear there's too much retail space. Just visit Web site deadmalls.com and track retail's growing body count. And ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/20/americans-standard-of-living-permanently-changed-tech-ticker-yahoo-finance/ Franklin Sanders offers one perspective on the whether to spend the premium to buy numismatic gold coins or not. He provides a great counterpoint to all of the industry hype around the subject. His introduction sums up his view: Our new customers usually ask,  "Will the government seize gold again like it ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/13/what-you-need-to-know-before-you-buy-numismatics/ Peter Schiff appears on the Laura Ingraham show this morning. One of the more interesting points he makes is evaluating the value of the Dow in light of ounces of gold. When Bush took office, the Dow was roughly 42 ounces of gold. Now it's about 9. He expects that by ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/12/schiff-gold-and-the-dow/ Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. -- Proverbs 3:13-14 (ESV) via Passage: Proverbs 3 (ESV Bible Online). http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/12/passage-proverbs-3-esv-bible-online/ Alexander Muse is a technology entrepreneur with a brilliant summary of where we're at (and why I started this blog) -- the rules have (apparently) changed (and I'm trying to figure out what they are... or, presuming that there are no rules, then I'm still trying to figure out what ... http://www.nationofcards.com/2009/02/12/remember-the-old-rules-don%e2%80%99t-apply/