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.

Financial Market Stress: Not Yet, But……….

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So here is the thing. During a bull market or very bullish phase, indicators give the all-clear. Come on in, the water’s fine! Investors are always going to be complacent and market/economic signals at least stable (or quite positive) at market tops. It’s the way the markets work. Recall 2000 and 2007. As Steven King would say, “nope, nothin’ wrong here.”

This chart from MacroMicro illustrates the point. During a bull phase in the markets things are fine… fine… fine… and then suddenly, out of nowhere, NOT fine. So pictures like this tell us what we already know; the market is bullish and the waters are calm.

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Bitcoin Irony

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So I want to get this straight:

  • Bitcoin was supposed to be some kind of anti-government, totally independent, don’t-need-the-Fed kind of creation;
  • And yet the crypto crowd is COMPLETELY happy to have the U.S. Government pander to them by pledging to create a huge “Strategic Reserve Fund” of this nonsensical crap;
  • Which leads to some politicians, including everyone’s hero here, standing in front of them this weekend and swearing up and down that they’ll buy billions of crypto once in office.

What a bunch of hypocrites. They want a bailout just like everyone else, courtesy of the Fed. What a shame that these pandering-driven gains are getting wiped out in real time.