Tubularsock

Well Tubularsock went out today and bought waders for 2014.

Now you may be wondering why Tubularsock, who works from his top floor corner office in his underground bunker from Oakland, CA overlooking Washington, D.C., would need waders, a waterproof garment for the legs and body, used esp. by anglers when fishing OR by anyone who realizes just how “fishy” the social/political/economic system that we live in can be. So in preparation for the 2014 BULLSHIT onslaught that will be stacking up it is simply prudent to acquire a pair. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Last week Tubularsock was standing at the bus stop (not in his waders by the way) and a guy sitting on the bus-bench said aloud, “It’s just fucked!”

Because Tubularsock was the only other living person standing there at the bus stop it had to be determine whether the guy was on a cell …….. which he was not …….. or talking to me or himself. Because in general Tubularsock was in agreement with this universal statement it seemed safe to agree with this stranger at the bus stop so I said, “You fucking can say that again”.

From that point on this guy started with a barrage of information and opinion like he was talking to Snowden rather than Tubularsock. Come to find out he worked in a cubicle farm in San Francisco on the 45th floor and he was an economic analyst. In fact he had been doing what he called future strategies for over forty years and this was his third bank he had worked for after leaving university.

He also made it clear that his expertise was not always called future strategies. Not that I asked or anything.

He actually had his own office in the cubicle farm and was the manager over eighteen analysts specializing in future strategies for his employer.

He said that for the normal guy investing in the stock market in 2014-15 would be bettered served going to Vegas with a 20% chance of winning than investing in the rigged stock market.

I had no argument there so I didn’t interrupt. He said the banks were sitting on trillions of dollars and because of being flush they were once again investing in quick profit derivatives all over again. As well as other high risk investments.

His team had written up the dangers of the policies being used but “management”,as he called them, made a hell of a lot in year-end-bonuses by doing risky business. And he felt that they had been embolden by the lack of anyone having to take responsibility in the last go around.

He was finishing up his last year before retirement and he was really frustrated with no one caring and not listening. He was also a bit tipsy like he might have started off the day with scotch instead of milk on his cheerios. But I’m not entirely sure.

As we left the transbay terminal he said it had been nice talking to me and disappeared into the throng of worker bees swarming down Montgomery Street.

 Now what he had said wasn’t much different than what I had read over the last several months but having it come from a real living person was somehow more profound.

Now Tubularsock is rather a perceptive economic analyst himself. In research in UpTown Oakland I have noticed that a glass of Chardonnay that I was paying $4 a glass in 2011 is being sold for $10 a glass today. And to make matters worse a large hot saki is running for $15 rather than $6. Now do I need an economics degree to say that things are getting rough?

Don’t despair, Tubularsock will continue his research and keep you posted on the price of this essential food source and report back to you or go broke trying. Anything for raw research don’t you know!

Now why did banks have a boom year in 2013? And why are the bonuses for bankers skyrocketing?

Easy answer ….. The Quantitative Easing Scheme.

You see in order to stimulate the economy the Fed would in the past just buy and sell government bonds in order to keep the interbank interest rates at a specified target value. But for some time now the interbank interest rates have be set at 0% so that policy isn’t working any longer.

So enter the unconventional monetary policy ……. Quantitative Easing.

Now The Quantitative Easing Scheme is done by purchasing assets of longer maturity than short-term government bonds. The goal of this policy is to increase the money supply rather than to decrease the interest rate, which cannot be decreased further because 0 is 0!

Just like the magic show in Las Vegas the balls stay in the air because it’s called “magic” but when the lights go down so do the balls. Many predict that the balls are going to fall in 2014.

 Quantitative Easing is often considered a last resort to stimulate the economy.

Well it reminds Tubularsock of the time when he was watching his uncle act like the big spender by fronting his good-for-nothing-loafer friends for drinks at the night club bar. When the bill came due guess who got left holding the debt?

Yep, Uncle Sam …….. remember that’s YOU & ME!

And don’t you forget it!

But not to worry. Another use for waders is keeping your feet from being stained while crushing your own grapes for a glass of Chardonnay. As Tubularsock always has said, “necessity is the mother of invention”. And I call THAT …… good news!

And Tubularsock will drink to that!