Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Scalded Frogs (by Springheel Jack)
There will be some mystified expressions among European bureaucrats this morning after the blow-up over the EU plan to fund the bailout in Cyprus by appropriating up to 10% of bank balances in that EU member. Their confusion has some cause.
Over the last few years, as government central planners have responded to ever increasing crises (caused in the main by incompetent government central planners) by appropriating ever more powers and employing ever more 'unconventional' methods to avoid facing the consequences of previous mistakes, savers have had to become used to their pension funds being required to be invested in increasingly risky government bonds at very low rates, to centrally set interest rates every year that confiscate and redistribute to borrowers all of their real interest income and some of their (real terms) capital. There has been discussion and approving talk in the press of the possibility that interest rates might go negative, meaning that in addition to losing all of their real interest income, and some of their (real terms) capital every year, savers would also be fined some of their nominal capital per year for not spending their savings on consumption or non-cash assets.
What a Stupid Kunis
I started working when I was 14 years old, and I haven't stopped since. In that spirit, here it is, Sunday night, and I've got a very exciting project to work on, so I haven't been blogging. I have, however, been watching all asset classes gettingg bloodied thanks to the tiny little country named Cyprus, which is suddenly on everyone's lips (or at least their Twitter accounts).
Anyway, that disgusting douchenozzle duo Bernanke+Yellen will put an end to this reality soon enough, but I think we'll be permitted a trip to 1520 before the cabal clan colludes again.
Slopefest V plus SPY Guessing Game! (by Market Sniper)
SlopefestV!: The time rapidly approaches for the gathering of THE Tribe, Slopers from around the country and even beyond. Now scheduled for May 18 and 19, 2013 in Las Vegas (where else?). Come and meet with old friends and make new ones! Match up avatars and handles with REAL people!! I can guarantee you one thing in this life for certain, you will have a great time! With any luck, our gracious host, Mr. Tim Knight, will also join us. For those of you who have not met him in person, you are in for a treat. Though notoriously reclusive and a home body, perhaps he can be persuaded to get out of Palo Alto and join us for a rollicking good time.
Tyler vs. the MSM
ZeroHedge is jammed to the gills with stories and commentary about what's going on in Cyprus. Here are the headlines from four consecutive stories:
It would seem that all the bears are itching for the Euro and e-mini markets to open so they can watch the blood start to flow. The whole Cyprus fiasco does seem like awfully big news.
But a glance at MarketWatch, where Ma 'n' Pa Kettle get all their market information, seems to yield a different picture of the world:
There's a huge article on the "10 Happiest States" (Jesus……..), and a car review, and an article about how Apple is at risk of ending its streak (Streak? What streak? Is AAPL some kind of big winner now that it stopped its plunge after losing a mere 40%?)
But if you look really, really closely, you'll see a tiny headline (I've courteously provided an arrow) that makes mention that depositers will be taxed for the bailout, which sounds like the most boring and innocuous story on the planet. The kind of story that no one would bother clicking, because who the hell is Cyprus, and is she related to Mila Kunis?
