Juggling Dynamite

Warning, the truth and common sense in this discussion may well boggle the minds of those brainwashed with conventional wisdom today. Try to hear it anyway…the truth will empower and set us free.

It is now accepted wisdom on Wall Street that the great bond rally of the past 30 years is over and that we have entered a new era of higher interest rates. Not so fast says this week’s Great Investor guest, Robert Kessler. He points out we have had many false alarms about economic growth and central bank tightening over the last 6 years only to see interest rates retreat again. Kessler has correctly defended the value of U.S. Treasuries in particular against Wall Street naysayers for more than a decade. So before you follow the stampede out of bonds you might want to listen to his defense of bonds. Here is a direct video link.

Funny because its painfully true. Jon Stewart examines the media circus and money worship at The World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Here is a direct video link.

Rick Santelli explains the dangerous contagion created by global markets teetering at record price levels on record leverage and margin debt. In these conditions, a dollar of selling pressure in one market can force 5, 10, 20, 50 dollars of selling in other asset markets half way around the world. When correlations go to one under stress, traditional notions of portfolio diversification prove ineffective in protecting capital. Here is a direct video link.