Pope Benedict on Twitter

As you know, Pope Benedict has decided to enter the world of Twitter. His account will not be active until December 12, 2012 and he has not yet posted a single tweet but already has more than 300,000 followers. He will, of course, end up with millions of followers. His Twitter name, in case you are interested, is @Pontifex. He will, however, not be replying to any messages you send. 

Yemen and Germany

The recent bombing plots have prompted Germany to immediately halt all flights from Yemen to Germany. It seems that twice weekly flights from Yemen to Franfurt are too risky for comfort. Germany - and all of Europe - will soon be forced to take extraordinary measures to protect itself. Does anyone blame them?

Terror Alert

Have you heard about the terror alert issued by the U.S. and other countries? The alert simply asks that anyone traveling or living in Europe be more cautious than usual - be watchful. Some people have criticized the alert as being too vague. They will go about their business as usual. Others have said they don't know what it means. Let me tell them then that what they need to do is be alert. That's all. Why would the authorities be more specific than that??? On the other hand, I would caution any terrorist to be especially careful in targeting Europe - you are likely to wake a sleeping giant and you will regret it - especially if you target Germany. This topless woman has nothing to do with it. Really.

Left and Right.

As the U.S. steers to the left - becomes more and more liberal - Europe steers to the right. We will start seeing a trend which will see more and more affluent Americans leaving this country, becoming expatriates in Europe. It will be interesting to see how many members of Congress start buying property over there. If they say it's for vacationing, don't believe them. It's for security.

Now, Israel is worried because they see the U.S. moving away from guaranteeing its security. Not to worry, Europe will keep it secure. It's a lot closer to Israel anyway. What do I know? Nothing.

Extradition

From a Yahoo! News story: “MADRID, – A Spanish court has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer in the case said Saturday. Human rights lawyers brought the case before leading anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon, who agreed to send it on to prosecutors to decide whether it had merit, Gonzalo Boye, one of the lawyers who brought the charges, told The Associated Press.” One question: Why not pursue Bush and Cheney as well? The Spaniards wholeheartedly sanctioned the Inquisition for more than a century and now they are getting faint hearted at water boarding? Please. Stop this self-serving hypocrisy.

Europe

Doug Casey writes: "I think Europe is in even bigger trouble than the U.S. It's more highly regulated, more highly taxed, more imbued with socialist ideas. It's demographically in decline, and it's the front line in the War Against Islam. Forget it - except for a quaint vacation. I'm a big fan of Brazil; love the place, although I spend most of my time between Argentina and Uruguay, which I prefer. Any of these three countries (and Chile) are great choices. You'll get all the things you like about Europe, a lot less of the things you don't like, plus more opportunity, much lower costs, and vastly better weather - to me, it's not even a choice."

I must say I disagree with this, but only because I think Europe is about to take a sharp turn to the right. Europe and South America will probably soon create the biggest trading partnership in the world, so it won't matter where you decide to deplane or disembark. Good luck to you.

Russia and Europe

From Yahoo! News: “WASHINGTON – A standoff over an obscure air base in a Central Asian country few Americans could find on a map is becoming an opening salvo in a new kind of Cold War with Russia. The prize is not military mastery or the global supremacy of ideas, but the defensive protection of resources and security. Each of the 20th century’s nuclear superpowers wants say-so over the decisions the other has reserved the right to make, and with a new U.S. administration signaling possible compromise with Russia on a missile-basing plan detested by Russia, Moscow is using U.S. dependence on the base for the Afghan war to drive a hard bargain. Security officials in Kyrgyzstan said Friday the United States must quit the Manas air base, but U.S. officials said they have not gotten any official eviction notice and that negotiations to stay are under way.” Let us not forget the Russians are expert chess players. Caught in the middle of all this are Germany and France, as always... somewhat amusing if it weren’t such serious stuff.

Herd

You've heard of the herd mentality - people behaving as one because they are part of a large herd. Like a game of follow-the-leader. Today, the market behaved badly. It was down 300 points for no good reason other than that everyone thought it was a great time to sell. Tomorrow, it will be a great time to buy. The market keeps hitting bottom (7900) over and over again. The only reason is a lack of courage and an abundance of fear - too much caution, if you prefer. This woman would probably not want to be seen in the company of timid investors. PLEASE. Snap out of it.

Transparency

Pay no attention to the markets. The markets will be just fine - I don't want to repeat myself so much. In less than a year, everyone will be better off. The adjustments will have washed away all the dirty financial grime. The thing you should be paying attention to is the proposal to eliminate cash as an instrument for barter. The Europeans no longer trust the U.S., even if they act like they do. Keep your eyes on the November meeting of the G20. Your credit card will be your new ID. All of this in the name of financial transparency. Get a second opinion if you feel the need.

World Finance

OK, now we know. The market is not going to get better any time soon. If people want to panic, they will panic. If they want to riot, they will riot. French President Zarkozy has already made some pronouncement about the need to change the world financial structure - whatever that is. The meaning behind that is ominous. It has become clear that the U.S. has - up to now - exerted too much influence over world money markets. When things have gone sour here, they then have soured the rest of the world financial order. That is no longer acceptable. He didn't say it in so many words but that's what he meant. It is now clear that Europe does not want to be held hostage by economic or financial conditions in the U.S. A meeting will be held some time in November to initiate changes - whatever those may be.

The lack of transparency is being held up as one of the key issues. As a result, it may well come to pass that cash will be eliminated as an exchange medium for buying and selling. Perhaps only banks will be allowed to transact cash. You and I will need credit cards. Electronic transactions is the only way to keep everything transparent. It will also cut down on the crime rate since every dime you have will have to be accounted for. Pretty clever. Let's see what happens. In the meantime, buy the cheapest stocks you can find.