Instead of talking to your LODM friend, you should tap some French men and women. For quite some time now, there have been no jobs worth having because to work one guarantees a shortfall in income vs. outgo. It costs more to have a job than to not to. In the markets all over Europe, small businesses pop up, sell what they've got (quickly), fold up and go. The police nor the merchants care because those mobile enterprises bring customers (who seem to know where to go). In fact, all of the GIPSI nations have thriving sub-economies and no-pulse Central Bank stoked joke businesses. Bonds? I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot fiat dollar. The truth is-- additional fiat printing further undermines those platforms of financial shiftiness. There are few if any European or American businesses that could be converted back to indigenous enterprises that hire labor personnel that can have families, buy homes and the products they make. Greed screwed itself out of the picture!

"Bottom line: It looks as if we are heading back to an environment where there are going to be lots of moving parts, and all the standard "room temperature" bets that have been made -- long stocks, long the dollar, short bonds (for the wrong reasons) and short gold -- are going to be tested."

What will get really intriguing is how you expect these all to fare without a viable currency flowing through them. Everything is the same- it has a posted value that moves only when the 6 or so big hoarders pay attention to them, then long periods of stagnation. The likelihood any will have legs isn't likely at all. The future is small fast and probably not as cash-oriented as tradition expects or needs them to be. In less than 10 years, every arrogant stalwart will be dead. When they topple... you get rubble, not transition.

"Very few pundits especially Bill have academic credentials to comment on macro economics. They have been self-taught"

I have been self-taught many things. One of the most important being-- if it is in a textbook, somebody either theorized it or somebody else did it. Rather than believe the author, I sought out the do-er and swept his floor. Lemmings follow, as you will soon know. Wear a bathing cap, Fat. Macro-economics? Are you serious? You are probably a wizard at armchair quarterbacking too. Jump in, let us know how your own self-created non-administrative, consulting or financial venture is doing. Anybody can push paper, not everyone can push a broom. When where you're at is full of crap, knowing how to sweep it clean is the real thing. BTW, I don't own cleaning businesses but my businesses are very clean. You should try that.  

Welcome to the Shift. There are and will continue to be all sorts of articles about sequestration. When things happen, the blame will be dished out o'plenty. Essentially, this is now more a mind game than anything else. Shift happens. It has to. Everything in existence is circular or cyclical. Ergo, the more a linear or fixed agenda is attempted, the stronger the force promoting movement pressures that wall and strains it to and through all resistance. If you haven't guessed what straining- it's organized business models. Are we going to build a Keystone Pipeline through the United States, or crush sprawl and redesign our civilization to shun oil and gas dependencies? Some say- can't do it. Too bad, people did it for much longer than the century we drove cars and trucks. Will we continue to invent technology that kills employment? No. Will we legislate technology and remove business's unbridled compromises of humanity through technology? Yup. Will we forego corporate farms for local sustaining? Absolutely. A national reconstruction for the 21st Century isn't a dream, it literally lifts all ships while sinking some aged dogged billionaire empires. Will we resort to gold? No. Every civilization that did wound up in wars over it. Stop Oil & Mineral Rights exploitation. Map it and tap it as needed. End control and manipulation. All we need is one ethic as an index-- work. There is a fairly simple and transparent formula that ties the issuance of currency to the working capacity of living people. People work and get paid, they spend it and it causes new work, new pay. Technology is an aid, it has genuine purpose but it isn't fulfilling those purposes right now. If my brain can assess Credit Risk, why is a machine attempting to homogenize that which cannot effectively be so because change is constant and formulation is not? Welcome to-- The Shift. It's going to hurt but not in a bad way. Change is good. Congress was Out to Lunch yesterday. The only aspect of The Shift we now know is-- that not one of them will be returning next election and neither Party has credibility. Though corruption will again attempt to buy our vote through device and division, the truth is, simply having a workable position and willingness to discuss cooperate and SHIFT as needed, will be worth more than all the sleezy campaign cash crooks can collect. I for one, welcome opportunity. It keeps strong minds young, it buries the rigid and unyielding. We have choices again. What will yours be?