Jack the Pipper

I was putting air into my bicycle tires the other day just to make sure I’d have a nice smooth ride when I hopped on.

What if: 1. The world will be struggling with deflation instead of inflation? 2.US employment and housing experience another leg down? 3. China disappoints? 4. An Eastern European country defaults? 5. 5) The US is on track to at least muddle through better than Europe?

It seems a lot is riding on this opportunity for more “green shoots” this morning. Most expect the dollar to tank on better than expected jobs news; but few seem to be thinking the dollar will rally on worse than expected news

Though I don’t spend too much time worrying about it, I often wonder where our esteemed leaders – financial and political – have their money hidden away. Where are their investments?

The Chinese leadership said so yesterday, despite their previous intermittent cat-calls for a new currency.

Ok, we’ve mentioned this once or twice already, but mostly we’ve just been joking. Now we’re starting to wonder if we should take this idea more seriously. Apparently a whole bunch of others are.

Stocks are climbing the proverbial wall of worry indeed, evidenced by this piece in the Financial Times this morning

I always liked this quote attributed to John Maynard Keynes: “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” We know it’s true. The problem is that practical application of this is not always easy unless one has a very long investment time frame–and very deep pockets.

“Markets are going to increasingly demand that there be some real green shoots” of an economic recovery, said Ethan Harris, co-head of U.S. economic research at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York. “They are going to have to step in at some point and put some more easing in.”

Global healing a lat the credit market…it’s a beautiful thing… Global healing al la the stock market…it’s a beautiful thing… Global healing al la a new 2009 high in oil prices…it’s a beautiful thing…