Reply #110: Ben, Maria, and the makings of a precious metals panic [View All]

[54anickel]

http://www.fallstreet.com/may306.php

He Said

If he says he didn’t think that his comments were on the record he looks like a schmuck. If he acknowledges that he is ‘worried’ that traders ‘misunderstood’ his latest testimony he looks like an even bigger schmuck. In short, Fed Chairman Bernanke, a mere three months into the job, is going to have to chalk up his first ‘rookie mistake’ as a learning experience. Fortunately his remarks didn’t roil the financial markets for more than a few moments, although his credibility has been taken down a peg.

She Said

Covering Mr. Bernanke’s comments was CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo (of “Use the News: How to Separate the Noise from the Investment Nuggets…” fame ~ available while supplies last for a penny). Not one to shy away from the spotlight, Bartiromo appeared on Kudlow & Company last night and claimed “in his heart, I did him a favor.” Apparently Mr. Bernanke and his staff work tirelessly to craft well thought out speeches so that after the speech is delivered, and while slopping down a few drinks with friends, Bernanke can convey his up to the second monetary policy opinions to the ‘money honey’.

He Used To Say?

Unlike the Dixie Chicks, Mr. Roach is ready to play nice - this after seven years of playing the heavy. Roach was calling the US housing market a bubble in 2001, more than five years ago he warned “Over the next several years, the personal saving rate must go up”, and in 2002 he climbed aboard the unsustainable current-account deficit train (or when the US CAD was around 4% versus GDP). Given that each of these threats/imbalances has grown increasingly ominous, I am sure that if you met him at a party Roach would tell you that his latest comments were misunderstood.