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.

Set Free from Gold

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…………..the Fed and Both Aisles Ruined America

With gold no longer an austerity anchor, the Fed and both aisles of government have brought America to this point – call in the Screw Worm!

Pardon the mostly non-market related post. But it’s something I’ve wanted to put in writing for a long time. The Fed is at the controls of the inflation-making machinery in the US (as are global central banks in their own countries).

Inflation does not just appear, as if by some mystical financial mechanism. Inflation is produced with the ease of firing up the printing press. More dollars + finite assets = asset prices rising in those inflated dollars. Not rocket science.

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Macro View as FOMC Week Begins

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A macro view was discussed to close out NFTRH 912 as FOMC week begins…

Excerpted from the latest edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole:

Fears about “inflation” the war-driven rise in prices of certain commodities and their knock-on effects have bounced Treasury yields a bit. The 10-2 yield curve has flattened under this pressure as the market weighs whether or not this will manifest in a more hawkish Fed.

Graph displaying historical US Treasury yields, including 30-year, 10-year, 5-year, and 2-year yields, along with the 10-year to 2-year yield curve. Highlights trends from 1980 to 2026.
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Something is Broken (by Xerxes)

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So, I know I have my bias. Controlling that bias is what ensures I stay solvent and profitable. But in trading nobody gets rid of their bias, they merely control it. I can go long or short and enjoy the profits and handle the losses just fine. I prefer bear markets because I am simply more comfortable trading them, the profits come more easily for me personally, and the world makes a little more sense to me. When we are in the midst of bull markets, I admit I am just not comfortable.

I have learned to trade them a bit better, but at my core I feel like bull markets tend to benefit the masses for ineptness. Now before anyone gets in a tizzy, I’m not trying to say, “All bulls this” and “All bears that”. What I mean is that bear markets, in my perspective, tend to separate the kids from the adults, so to speak. When in the midst of a market storm, there are those who know how to play, those who know they don’t do well and stand on the sidelines, and then those who get smashed to bits. Bear markets feel like a rite of passage. If you can survive them, then you can survive anything.

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