Crony Capitalism

As if I needed more persuasion ... here's a graph that shows Crony Capitalism (more correctly called Mercantalism)is still in full swing in this country.

An Interesting and Stubborn Fact

Facts are stubborn things. With the recent rise in gasoline prices, it will be the natural tendency of the political class to blame oil companies and seek to demonize them in the public eye. (And based on my conversations on the topic with fellow citizens, they are easy to demonize.)

However ... I ran across this very interesting chart. If you believe that he who controls oil production also influences the price of oil then check out this chart. Who profits the most of increased oil prices? Well, it would appear that the top 13 producers of oil are, in fact, governments and these governments produce 94 percent of the world's oil.

Gone Baby Gone

Okay, I just sold my house in Kansas City and took a six percent loss from the purchase price two years ago. From what I can tell, I got off easy. It appears that prices still need to fall further to get back to their historic trend lines (reversion to the mean). It seems to me to be inevitable.

Those who know me know that I'm an optimistic type of fellow. (In fact, most of my personal money is in the market in long positions.) However, real estate seems like a good place to stay away from for a while.