Richard Benson

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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Biography

• It's Deal or No Deal as the Hedges Clip Investors

  Published 28 September 2006 | viewed 3,925 times

  We're living in interesting times. A popular TV program called "Deal or No Deal" - a high-stakes game show of odds and chance - says…

• Inflation Non-Cents

  Published 01 August 2006 | viewed 4,587 times

  When was the last time you actually bent down and picked up that penny you dropped? The U.S. penny is on its way to extinction…

• Don't Roll the Dice on Wall Street

  Published 25 July 2006 | viewed 3,747 times

  Up until just recently the only bargains in the carry trade were achieved by borrowing at lower interest rates in the euro and yen. This…

• Bernanke Scares Pavlov's Sheep

  Published 13 June 2006 | viewed 5,162 times

  This is a partial edited reprint of my article entitled "The Fed and Pavlov's Sheep" that was written and published in May of 2004. The…

• Dollars on Sale, 30 Percent Off

  Published 08 May 2006 | viewed 6,515 times

  The dollar was once the almighty dollar. It became the world reserve currency. Every investor and government wanted dollars over all other currencies. Those were…

• Existential Equity Extraction and Six Months to Housing Hell

  Published 04 April 2006 | viewed 13,823 times

  For the past decade, homeowners in the United States have been living in "Housing Heaven". In this heavenly place, profits are always made; prices only…

• Beyond Keynes to Inflation

  Published 09 January 2006 | viewed 3,948 times

  Orthodox economic training in the United States in the post-World War II world, centered on the observations of John M. Keynes who claimed that to…

• When Profits go Poof

  Published 15 November 2005 | viewed 4,667 times

  Wall Street executives are always creatively stating reasons why investors should buy stocks. Because corporate profits have been so good, they want investors to look…

• Squeezing Americans Dry

  Published 07 October 2005 | viewed 6,350 times

  With rising inflation and debt payments, the household budgets of all of us are being squeezed. The picture does not look pretty. Let's first look…

• Inflation Raising its Ugly Head

  Published 10 September 2005 | viewed 4,043 times

  Budget deficits to the left of us, money growth to the right of us, and an oil price shock behind us, will leave only inflation…

• Slaughter of the Housing Speculators

  Published 19 August 2005 | viewed 12,604 times

  These days, "Get Rich Quick" has been the mantra for too many people trying to cash in while buying real estate speculatively. With so much…

• China's Revaluation: "Big Journeys Begin with Small Steps"

  Published 03 August 2005 | viewed 3,036 times

  Just because the financial markets and press have responded to the revaluation of the Chinese currency with a big yawn, as China continues to take…

• Goodbye Middle Class; Hello House Poor

  Published 08 July 2005 | viewed 7,842 times

  There's no question that home building, home sales with large capital gains, and record mortgage financing drives the economy, creating millions of jobs and generating…

• Death of the Carry Trade

  Published 07 June 2005 | viewed 5,513 times

  In the financial markets, the term "Carry Trade" refers to the way that most financial intermediaries (money center banks, Wall Street investment banks, and hedge…

• Keep Your Stash in Cash

  Published 11 May 2005 | viewed 7,970 times

  Risk is becoming a nasty four letter word. Stocks are down for the year, junk bond holders are lightening up as credit spreads widen, and…

• America's Tribute

  Published 04 April 2005 | viewed 4,880 times

  The Asians remain shocked and in disbelief. Just when Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong had accumulated enough dollars to buy oil to keep them…

• Hotel "Debt" California

  Published 28 February 2005 | viewed 6,006 times

  The song "Hotel California" by the Eagles is a haunting reminder of what could be in store for the Baby Boom generation. The song's lyrics…

• Why the World Loves America's Deficits

  Published 12 January 2005 | viewed 2,857 times

  At the end of last year, the nation's financial deficit - what the United States owes the rest of the world, minus what the rest…

• Inflation Disinformation

  Published 29 December 2004 | viewed 3,660 times

  Now that the Pentagon has won the domestic war over the United States' intelligence services, our blinders have been removed and we are allowed to…

• When Our Dollars Come Marching Home

  Published 03 December 2004 | viewed 3,605 times

  The financial and popular press has lately focused on the now obvious problems for the dollar created from our massive budget and trade deficits. Indeed,…