Doug Casey found a great quote from yesteryear; most of our problems in one paragraph.

"The boom produces impoverishment. But still more disastrous are its moral ravages. It makes people despondent and dispirited. The more optimistic they were under the illusory prosperity of the boom, the greater is their despair and their feeling of frustration. The individual is always ready to ascribe his good luck to his own efficiency and to take it as a well-deserved reward for his talent, application, and probity. But reverses of fortune he always charges to other people, and most of all to the absurdity of social and political institutions. He does not blame the authorities for having fostered the boom. He reviles them for the inevitable collapse. In the opinion of the public, more inflation and more credit expansion are the only remedy against the evils which inflation and credit expansion have brought about."
-Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, 1949

Want to know what our nation (or most any other nation) is going to do next?  Read it again.

Inflation? Deflation? Should you even care?

Inflation? Deflation? Should you even care? ...as I am obligated to pick sides I will. Then we'll move on to the strange-but-true proposition that perhaps it doesn't really matter. (Yes, for the below purpose we'll stick with the familiar uses of the words and not their definitions... if we did that there is no debate and that takes all the fun out of it.)

We've got more deflation to deal with. Commercial real estate troubles are enough by themselves to keep capital markets in check for some time. That says nothing of the ARM resets that should keep us hopping for the next couple years. Cars, homes, businesses, and more should cost less over the next year or so. This doesn't mean boring things that you use, like food, won't be climbing all the while.

That said, once reality does take hold and we are no able to run in the air by moving our legs really really fast, inflation will set in. Lots and lots of it. That's good news if you have giant piles of debt, a garden, and a limited income. It's not so good for most everybody else. It isn't bad for everyone, but it sure helps a limited number of people.

Why should you not really care? Well, because. You have better things to do with your time; and some well chosen investments will improve your lot no matter which way the wind blows. So below I've broken the vast investment world into three groups so you can know what you should be excited about based on your beliefs (you're welcome):

Things the 'inflation' crowd love to buy:

• Things with lots of long-term fixed rate debt.
• Things with lots of pricing power (they can charge what they want).
• Gold, silver, and bunkers (I'm kind-of kidding about the bunkers).
• Assets that are hard to replace or duplicate.
• Quality properties.

Things the 'deflation crowed love to buy:

• Long-term fixed rate debt.
• Nothing (hold the cash).
• Assets that are hard to replace or duplicate.
• Bumper stickers that say things like 'Gold is a Barbaric Relic' (I'm kind-of kidding about the bumper stickers).

Things you should be buying (understanding values of all manner of assets are going to be tossed around over the next 1,3,5, and 10 years as we (hopefully) finish working our way through this mess):

• Companies with pricing power.  That'd be like a railroad with few/no competitors in it's area.  A major cell network provider. A company that generates power.  A payment processor with an unmatched network.
• Assets that are hard to replace or duplicate.  That'd be the above (really)... and things like quality farmland, companies with strong intellectual property portfolios, water rights, prime commercial property (watch your entry price) and perhaps well positioned energy transport or production facilities.
• Assets priced and based in non-US currencies and locations.  What better way to stay out of the mess than just keeping funds as far from the center of the flux as possible?  Anything that happens here will influence prices and business worldwide... but you can still do well by giving yourself a degree of separation.

So there you go.  Know that there are going to be some very (very) sad pandas on either side of the inflation/deflation thing.  I suggest 'bravely sitting this one out' and not going too gung-ho on either side.  Inflation will win; but it might take awhile.  Instead, just focus on quality holdings that will do well in any environment.  Not very exciting I know; but it will be very (very) profitable long-term.

...you may now feel free to open an account at BOOM Securities, Saxo, EverBank, or even BullionVault.  I would humbly suggest you check-out CompleteIRA.com.  We will help you with a host of ideas of non-stock investments that are of very high quality, and create an IRA or 401k that can work with those things easily.

Investing in quality assets that are easy to work with and understand.  See?  Inflation or Deflation?  Doesn't really matter.

Joshua

(As I can't seem to help myself and its my blog:  inflation - by its very definition - we're going to have long-term inflation. Get thee some quality assets!)

Score! Made it to 100! (not that I was worried)

It didn't really seem like too tall an order.  At least 100 US bank failures in 2009.

I was a little nervous once the FDIC publicly said it was broke and was forcing mergers... I mean, I'd still have been right - but they wouldn't have technically 'failed'; just 'merged' with a somewhat-less-broken bank.

Well, with the passing of last Friday, all is as it should be.  Carry on dear reader.  (Assuming you've pulled out the emergency cash-money I suggested doing earlier... if not, this is a fine time to do so.

...as a bonus, be watching Zion (you should consider shorting it if you're into that kind of thing, or if you're like me and would rather have defined risk, ponder buying long dated puts).  It's fallen, but much like a handful of publicly traded homebuilders, or Met Life, even at 'bargain' prices it's over priced (also some good puts to look at).  Ok, sorry for that aside, but free money isn't as bad as it's made out to be.

In other news, the weather is fantastic, and I am getting only some of what I was trying to get done today done.  Off I go.