SedonaEye.com J. Rick Normand, Investigative and Financial Columnist
Sedona AZ (February 15, 2016) – The following is an Open Letter to the Sedona City Council, from J. Rick Normand, Investigative Columnist Re: City Council Appointment to Fill Council Vacancy:
Madam Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor and Councilors,
As a result of my attendance at the Special Council Meeting of February 10, 2016 which had the purpose of considering “AB 2066 Discussion/possible action regarding a review of applications for the City Council vacancy, possible interview questions, and selection of candidates for interviews,” I am compelled to write this letter.
First, in order to qualify myself and my comments, I will remind you that my background is International, Commercial and Investment Banking with a Wall Street firm, entrepreneurship with my own commercial mortgage banking firm, and I am a published economist who also happens to understand GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board), GFOA (Government Finance Officer’s Association) and CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) municipal accounting standards and practices. So, as you read on, you should know that I am qualified to make the comments you are about to read.
In the course of the remainder of this fiscal year and the first half of the next, the City of Sedona faces some very serious budgetary considerations in the face of an impending world-wide economic malaise. Our city needs all the skilled fiscal guidance it can muster during the immediate future. Meanwhile, we have recently had a sitting City Councilor resign her seat which requires the City to appoint a replacement until the next election in November. The City has six applicants for the vacant seat. Only one candidate has proven municipal budget review experience and he has unequivocally demonstrated his knowledge of municipal accounting practices in his public writings on the subject. This is a person we all know as former popular City Councilor Mike Ward.
To illustrate my point I reprint below this excerpt from an article by former Councilor Ward:
Eye on Sedona Finances with Councilor Mike Ward
Former Sedona City Councilman Mike Ward
sedona times / June 27, 2012 / [Highlighting by JRN]
“So, how is the average lay person supposed to make any sensible conclusion about the city’s financial health? The simple answer is that you can’t without a thorough understanding of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rules that governs our accounting practices, and a degree in accounting wouldn’t hurt either.
Since being elected to the City Council, I have suggested that the city publish three simple numbers at the end of each fiscal year that I believe would give the average person a pretty clear picture of our city’s financial health…
For the City of Sedona, net income are funds from tax receipts and state revenue sharing – excluded are grants for specific purchases, earmarked state funds (gasoline taxes designated for roads for example), and proceeds from bonds. Net expenses would include all operating expenses and debt service but excludes bond funded capital improvements. Net savings would be limited to unencumbered cash on hand excluding earmarked reserves from bond sales and wastewater capital improvements. ” [End]
This tells me, and it should tell you, that Mike Ward understands the City’s money management and budgeting processes and I will confirm that he understands it well… because, so do I! I can tell you that no other candidate for appointment understands the process like Mike. What Mike Ward suggested in the quote above was a method to make comprehensible what is incomprehensible to the public.
As each of you knows, budgetary control is at the department level within each City fund, and revisions to increase appropriation authority above a given department’s original adopted budget require City Council approval. Fund Transfers within like categories of the same department require a City Manager approval.
This is why so many elected City Council members are not familiar with, don’t care about, and don’t use in their jobs the complex Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (hereinafter referred to as “CAFR“). They mostly function on a need to know basis!
Likewise, the City’s investment accounts do not require the City Council’s approval for “fund transfers” – only for appropriations for increases of a “department’s original adopted budget”. To get the true financial picture of Sedona, a public reader must read, comprehend, and analyze the CAFR, or have someone in the City Administration do that for him or her…but Staff won’t, leaving the reader to do the near impossible for himself/herself. Nonetheless, former Councilor Mike Ward did have a solution to help the public deal with the incomprehensible.
If the public were to do it themselves, their logical and reasonable conclusion would be to start reading the report from the top down, as would make sense with any document that has the purpose of revealing an accurate conclusion, and build upon that story until total clarity is reached by the end of that writing.
But the CAFR is intentionally not designed in this way, for the CAFR is specifically designed to discourage the public at every turn. Obviously, then, the CAFR is not intended to be read by the average citizen. Former Councilor Ward did offer, at the least, a partial solution in the public’s interest!
The CAFR is split into several sections that are completely dependent upon each other for total comprehension of the subject and figures at hand, and yet are completely separate and out of order within the report. In this way, the Council can officially release for publication a statement that the City has funding problems and, therefore, must raise, excise/sales taxes, bed taxes, fees for services, standby capacity fees, etc. Therefore, Councilor Mike Ward, I believe, wanted to make budget transparency accessible to the public.
In the event that some of you still don’t believe that I know what I’m talking about, may I impose upon each of you to read the following email exchange between this writer and former City Manager Tim Enster:
From: J Rick Normand <jrn45biz@yahoo.com>
To: Tim Ernster <TErnster@sedonaaz.gov>
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2013 10:42 PM
Subject: CAFR: Would you consider this to be correct?
Good Morning Tim,
I would like to know if you would consider the following statement to be correct, and, if not, would you please correct if for me (I’m thinking about an article on city finance for those who understand little about it, which is just about everybody). Here it is…
The City’s annual budget report is simply an edited and cut down version of the full/unabridged report known as the Sedona CAFR. Same books, essentially, but the budget excludes most of the investment wealth within governmental and non-governmental (enterprise/customer-based) funds. One could consider the budget as the City’s checking account for the last year, and the CAFR as the City’s combined checking and savings account for the last 24-25 years since incorporation…
Thank you Tim,
Rick
*****
From: Tim Ernster <TErnster@sedonaaz.gov>
To: jrn45biz@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: CAFR: Would you consider this to be correct?
Hello Rick. My apologies for the delayed response. Yes, I think this is a fair depiction of the Budget vs. the CAFR, especially the part about the CAFR having a much longer view. Essentially, the Budget is a one year spending and revenue plan looking forward, and the CAFR is a comprehensive financial plan looking backwards at the previous year.
Tim
*****
So, since I served on Mayor Adams first Economic Steering Committee with the top challenger to Mike Ward for appointment to fill the vacant Councilor’s seat, I can still say with absolute certainty, that Mike Ward has far greater knowledge of the City’s budget and accounting processes than this City will be lucky enough to stumble upon again. Please don’t let this opportunity slip through your collective hands!
For the sake of a well and efficiently functioning Council, I implore you to appoint Mike Ward to fill the currently vacant City Council seat.
Most Sincerely,
/s/
J. Rick Normand
February 15, 2016
Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!
Here Here!
Rick,
Well said. Transparency is not something that the public is used to in government. Anything that can make it easier for the people footing the bill to understand is a good thing. The financial health of the city is critical to all of us, and the understanding of the finances is equally important to those sitting on council and making spending decisions.
Mike
Thanks, Rick, for your detailed explanation relating to Mike Ward’s qualifications to fill the vacant city council seat. His experience most assuredly should assure him as being the logical choice during the critical budget process. Let us see if “logic” prevails.
I’d say Council ought to read the names on the anti trash initiative and see the writing on the wall. Segnar or Ward? Hands down it’s Ward. No one else on the list comes close. Thanks J Rick Normand for writing it clearly for everybody to understand.
As admirers of Mike Ward’s professionalism and ability to stay the course, please appoint him now. Thank you.
Quickly, City Council your attention please. How many votes did Mike Ward receive in past elections? That will signal how many people/supporters Mike Ward has in the city? So you would make them all madder at you than they already are City Council? Just words of good advice or call it political common sense?
what s wrong with the rest
If Ward understands economics so well then why, when he was on Council, did he vote to waste so much money? Ward’s voting record is not exceptional. In fact it’s awful. For the most part he voted for all the money wasting stuff that the rest of the spendthrifts on Council voted for. We can’t afford Ward!
There is nothing wrong with the rest. However, this position will be for no more than nine months – unless, of course, the appointed councilman opts to run for either the two year, four year terms, or two year mayor slot in November’s election.
What’s at stake here is getting the most qualified person to fill that slot, during a time frame where the 2017 budget will be determined. That alone makes Mike Ward the best qualified based on his former experience as a council member.
However, there’s another situation at play here. Steve Segner, another candidate, paid a lot of money and campaigned heavily for Mayor Moriarty and Council Members Scott Jablow and Jon Thompson as well as Angela LeFevre during the last election (now resigned from city council). The question remains will these six people be fair and base their decision on an obligation to “pay back?” They already continue to ignore the residents and make biased decisions such as the outrageous funding for Red Earth Theatre to be paid to operate a city owned facility and rent it out to make money to boot.
The people on this entire council, including Mark DiNunzio and especially John Martinez, are so bedazzled with the Chamber of Commerce their tunnel-vision cannot see the overall picture. There is no proof, whatsoever, the Destination Marketing has produced any more than an additional influx of traffic-clogging day trippers. Even if Mike Ward gets selected, as a lone voice among six he will be strapped to do little to change this outlandish situation.
Mike was the only one to vote against the Chamber destination marketing contract. That vote will keep the Council from approving him. They want Segner who’ll rubber stamp the requests.
@ All Readers at The Eye:
Quote from Christopher Fox Graham of the Red Rock News in his editorial last Friday: “Balancing the Budget should be the Goal of every elected official”. That comment rather clearly implies that the Council vacancy should go to someone who thoroughly understands the municipal budgeting, finance and accounting processes in the first place! I’ve already stated who that is.
JRN
Hey City Council….
Did you read those most excellent credentials Little Rick N.. In his above letter to you all….
He is the smartest man Sedona……just ask him..
The way bloviates about himself surely he is the right choice in these so-called troubled financial times for the open seat..
Oh yea , that’s right….he didn’t have his name mentioned..
Hum him…… I guess we will just have to suffice with his whimsical writing and get schooled by him on Sedona Eye
J Rick, ever since I saw you put up on that pedestal during the Natl Monument meeting at the cowboy church, you’ve been my idol. Now, after reading your bio that you JUST HAD to put out there I’m really so impressed. How does this city ever get along without your input? We are so blessed to have you among our us little people.
Will ignore the stupid comments to say Sedona is fortunate to have a writer like J. Norman even when some seem to disagree with his politics or his personality or other reasons that I can’t see (?) but his business credentials are or appear to be fine or better. People need to separate apples and oranges and acknowledge facts, mathematical facts, are not opinions and members of your council or voting constituency shouldn’t overlook the free advice that financial columnists bring to the public table. I’ve seen municipalities and government agencies contract with firms to gather this kind of information and you have it transparently offered in view as taxpayers.
I work for an AZ accounting group and ask that you publish first name and no location to avoid conflict of interest issues for me as it’s tax season and I should be working and not submitting comments to daily news stories. Want to say that Sedona is a beautiful city and we enjoy following this site. Maybe we’ll get to visit this year.
@We Can’t Afford Ward, really? But of course we can afford Segner, that is if we are willing to agree to city property taxes, accept city control of our garbage pick-up offering unknown and unlimited increases in monthly rates, and any other numerous “new sources of funding” since Mr. Segner has constantly harped about “us” (the residents) for not paying our fair share.
Don’t believe it? Check some of the past articles relating to budget. Therein lies the truth. Seriously.
Agree!!!
@All Readers at The Eye:
This article isn’t about me or my credentials except to the extent that they qualify me to comment on a complex situation. It is about stopping the sale of appointed Councilor positions to the highest bidder. Sedona’s best option is Mike Ward, by far. I hope you will all send a message to the Council that it should adopt a fairness rule which will require any sitting Councilor who has accepted more than $100 from a “vacant Council seat candidate” to recuse himself or herself from voting in the candidate selection process. Councilor Jablow has accepted a whopping $1,600 dollars from candidate Steve Segner. How obvious can it be that any Council member that has taken such a sum is then indebted to the person seeking the appointment…permanently? Any of you who have been reading comments at The Eye over the last two years will know who’s interests Steve Segner intends to represent…and it sure won’t be the people who live here. What we have here is a pending travesty in our town!
JRN
Remember when the “deal” was made with the Lodging Council/Chamber? 55% return from half percent bed tax increase, based on determination of what that brought in according to increased revenue. And of course the contract originally was for one year at which time council gave lip service to going out for requests for proposals on the following year contract. And then, conveniently that original contract was extended to three years! To date no future discussions of RFP needed, obviously, and in addition there has NEVER been the committed outside audit or authentic accounting of Return on Investment.
When on Council, Mike Ward was very concerned about the ROI and asked many questions, which might have been the reason his thinking had changed during that last extended term on council (changed from May to November). Point being – because of the three year contract unless circumstances change dramatically the Chamber Rip-Off Contract will not be under discussion – again – this year!
Mr Normand:
Let me get this straight, you think that who ever accepted money from Segner 2 years ago must now recuse themselves??? Have you read the laws about rescuing one self?
@Harvey Levison,
Yes, I do know this state’s law of recusal. First, it’s directed at Judicial Recusals, not sitting city counselors. Two, there’s no time limitation in the statues and three, there are other multiple considerations having to do with obvious current conflicts of interest regarding Steve Segner. Now, do you have it straight?
JRN
JRN
Ok sooooo by your own words, “it’s directed at Judicial Recusals, not sitting city counselors” wheres the issue?????
You may feel that there are “obvious current conflicts of interest” that sounds more like your own opinion not a point of law.
I watched the video of the last meeting and saw you sitting in the front row while the attorney was addressing any residential issues and he points of law sounded legit to me and removed any conflict in my mind. But I suppose that you are a better lawyer then the attorney?
@JRN
I don’t understand why you didn’t apply for the open seat!!??
You seem to know a lot about the process… Why would you spend your time Schooling us all on Sedona Eye and also in the gym…..when it seems you’d be the smartest man on council during as you said….the most important budget process..
Why didn’t you jump into the process instead of spinning your here on SE..
Thank you Rick.
Great information. Good to let everyone know the facts.
Donna
Oh come on Donna why do you really care, I hear that you’re bailing on us and selling your business AND house.
@Harvey Levinson and Lin, I mean WSR,
Add to resume: ASU School of Law, Charter Class 1967, recommended by then Chief Justice of Arizona Supreme Court as a result of performance on ASU’s collegiate debate team. I do have a legal background and I have written for years on advanced economic issues and I have a graduate degree from Thunderbird in international commerce and finance. Now, I’ll have to take more gas from certain readers here who seem to resent people with notable credentials. Angela LeFevre filed a lawsuit against me in 2013 and she ended up suffering a very ugly loss in the court room. She should have checked out my background instead of assuming too little about her adversary.
Meanwhile, I have a business to run and investments to manage and I travel a great deal. I don’t have time to run for Council. Besides, I can accomplish much more by writing. Think about the National Monument issue that backfired on Council. Do you not know who led the opposition along with two heavy-hitter partners?
Nonetheless, former Mayor Pud Colquitt, Vice Mayor DiNunzio, Councilor Martinez, former Vice-Mayor John Bradshaw, and former Councilor Cliff Hamilton will all tell you that I know the process as well as anyone in Sedona. Did you not read the comment from former City Manager Tim Ernster in the above open letter?
Anyway, the City Attorney, by design, gave an extraordinarily broad interpretation of the residency and qualification laws and regs regarding the subject appointment to Council. What you heard him say could easily be challenged in a court of law and that just may happen. Possibly you’re not aware of this City’s record for lost lawsuits.
JRN
Sorry J. Rick I shouldn’t be giving you a hard time. It is just really difficuilt for me to accept that us city council don’t really know s_ _t. We are in it for our own personal agendas and gain.
JW
International, Commercial and Investment Banking with a Wall Street firm, these credentials are exactly what the City of Sedona does not need. Spend, borrow and raise taxes is the only thing these type of economists know how to do, has know one learned anything over the past 9 years?
Decisions, decisions, who and what can we afford?
@WSR,
Sorry, WSR, you’re NOT Jessica Williamson. You know I’ve already ID’d you. So, cut the childish crap.
JRN
Two peas in a pod:
West Sedona Resident (caps WSR) = “Lin”
West sedona resident (lower case “s” “r”) = “Jessica” (JW)
But as long as they keep commenting you have their undivided attention.
Translated: Good job. Keep it up.
@jrn You couldn’t be more wrong…but if that fits into you rhetoric so be it..
We know that your so smart you could never be wrong..I repeat , what you call my childlike question…If your the smartest man in Sedona why not is your most prestigious name thrown in that hat for the open seat..For that matter, why not your confllict causing self important counterpart ESM there also..It not a BS question…. Inquiring Sedona minds need to know
@Joe Napolitani,
Joe, you’ve obviously never read a single article I’ve written in this town for the last 8 yrs, but you were compelled anyway to make comments about my economic philosophy. One of the things that every Sedona Council detests about me is that I am relentlessly on their case about overspending, employing improper budgeting assumptions, borrowing more and more money through the sale of municipal bonds, spending huge sums on misguided projects like the Wetlands Preserve, and worst of all, the giving of huge municipal service contracts to friends, like the Chamber of Commerce, without the benefit of competitive bidding. In other words, I’m not one of those Keynesian economists that the Progressive Liberals just love…I’m the opposite and am from the wing of economics known as The Austrian School of Economics to which Congressman Ron Paul was dedicated. Please don’t include me in that group of spendthrift economists as you just did. OK?
JRN
@WSR
I’ve never ever said, or even implied, that I am the smartest person in Sedona although YOU’VE said that many a time. Why are you obsessed with making that bogus point? Maybe, because you’re illiterate? I know a lot of people in Sedona that are a lot smarter and more successful than I, including my two AZL partners by a huge margin, several very successful business friends whose names are household names in Sedona, and a couple of social friends, as well, that I trust. No, WSR, you’re the one whose always saying that in a vain attempt to embarrass me but nobody’s buying it. What is obvious, though, is that you have a severe obsessive personality disorder problem borne out of envy which is larger, considerably, than that grotesquely humongous mid-section and derriere of yours. WSR, do you not realize that in your comments you NEVER argue an issue of the merits one way or the other, but ALWAYS concentrate on childish ad hominem attacks. The reason you never argue an issue on the merits is because you know that you’re not capable of it which is why you troll in anonymity. You must live your life in a constant state of depression over your failure to ever have been successful doing anything that provides a substantial reward from our society which is why you have nothing better to do with your time than to bitch and whine about writer’s personalities.
JRN
Steve Segner, one of the four candidates selected to be interviewed for the vacancy, stated on his CITY COUNCIL APPLICATION that he’s been a resident of the City of Sedona for 17 years. And the Work PHONE he lists is for El Portal.
But, wait a minute. Hasn’t Steve Segner been a resident of Oak Creek Canyon for around the same number of years?
Here’s a scandalous quote taken from a 1/16/16 post on SEDONA.BIZ by Segner:
Steve Segner says
January 16, 2016 at 11:52 am
“Ron,
I come to work every day early and I see the same cars parked in the A.M., and see the same cars later in the afternoon. Employees from local hotels are parking in the city owned and rented parking spaces on Jorden rd. And there is one large adventure company up town that picks up and drops off in the loading zones, and where do you think there customers park? and for how long?”
GET THIS. According to the State Statutes, a Council candidate can have only one residence (in combination with an intent to remain).
A.R.S. 16-101. QUALIFICATIONS OF REGISTRANT; DEFINITION.
16-101.B. For the purposes of this title, “resident” means an individual who has actual physical presence in this state, or for purposes of a political subdivision [e.g., City of Sedona] actual physical presence in the political subdivision, combined with an intent to remain. A temporary absence does not result in a loss of residence if the individual has an intent to return following his absence. An individual has only one residence for purposes of this title.
Bravo @JRN!
I’m a raving fan! Keep it up
Bravo and JRN,
I’m with you Bravo, a raving fan, that is. Enough of West Sedona Resident, whom it seems to me has never contributed a single valuable fact, finding, or conclusion to the prime point of any article ever written at sedonaeye.com. It’s time to ban this sociopath from this site. What a loser. Get a life. WSR, why don’t you try writing a well researched article for once instead of just trolling for trouble with JRN and Eddie.
J rick ….You never answered my question about running for the open seat…You speak around the issue and bloviate your ego as you do..Believe me, not envious of whatever you classify as you so called success or overblown frame…Yes J rick I’m quite confident that I’ve seen much in life then you can handle….. As you sit your fat rear-end down in front of your computor and tell us how smart you are
KSB Presents Annual Achievement Awards
SEDONA TIMES / FEBRUARY 15, 2016 / NO COMMENT
The Segners, owners of El Portal in the city of Sedona, were honored for providing teaching gardens for Sedona residents to raise food, utilizing energy saving hotel rooftop green plantings, and sponsorship of the uptown “Walk Thru Time” historic signage project.
Rick just talks about himself.
Some people actually do.
shelly
Thanks, Terry Armstrong, for reminding me why I dropped my long-standing membership with KSB.
Reason #1 – their push for National Monument without polling members.
Reason #2 – now their award honoring more signs in Sedona? One of the reasons I joined KSB in the first place was because of their strong opposition to ugly signs, which IMO includes those Segner “historic” signs distracting from the beautiful view entering uptown.
KSB – you’ve become a disgrace to Sedona. Very sad.
The number one goal of any elected city official is protecting the “health, safety and welfare” of its people! Period. If your guy wants to count beans, he should have applied to be the city’s finance director. You are encouraging micro-managing!
This is what you hire, not elect, people to do… C’mon man!
@Terry Why a cheap shot at columnist Normand? He does DO and it’s a service not aimed at a select few like most KSB award winners voluntary efforts. Sure the KSB winners do wonderful and necessary things, but like the Segners, many write checks, they don’t actually do the do, not like that good man cleaning streets of trash. I doubt the Segners are teaching or planting or pruning or grafting a single green thing except deducting dollar contributions from IRS bills, and I applaud those donated dollars and think the Segners and people like them should be honored. Contributions are important and bring about good benefits, yet don’t denigrate those benefiting others in VARIOUS ways. I think it’s time to point out that respect for those doing for others DIFFERENTLY is equally important. Hope this gives your garden food for thought. Namaste.
@All Readers at The Eye,
Back on topic…somebody above questioned my assessment of the economy which I related to the need to appoint Mike Ward to Council since he has, by far, the best knowledge of any current replacement candidates of how the City of Sedona fiscal forecasting/budgeting process works.
According to the ENTIRETY OF THE FINANCIAL PRESS this morning, this is a summary of the factors which indicate that our economy is headed to the downside which will make our next fiscal year City budgeting process a real test:
From ZeroHedge:
The following are 21 new numbers that show that the global economy is absolutely imploding…
#1 Chinese exports fell by 11.2 percent year over year in January.
#2 Chinese imports were even worse in January. On a year over year basis, they declined a whopping 18.8 percent.
#3 It may be hard to believe, but Chinese imports have now plunged for 15 months in a row.
#4 In India, exports were down 13.6 percent on a year over year basis in January.
#5 In Japan, exports declined 8 percent in December on a year over year basis, while imports plummeted 18 percent.
#6 For the sixth time in six years, Japanese GDP growth has gone negative.
#7 In the United States, exports were down 7 percent on a year over year basis in December.
#8 U.S. factory orders have fallen for 14 months in a row.
#9 The Restaurant Performance Index in the United States has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since 2008.
#10 This month the Baltic Dry Index fell below 300 for the first time ever.
#11 It is now cheaper to rent a 1,100 foot merchant vessel than it is to rent a Ferrari.
#12 Orders for Class 8 trucks in the United States dropped by 48 percent on a year over year basis in January.
#13 Due to a lack of demand for trucks, Daimler just laid off 1,250 U.S. workers.
#14 Even though Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil production at current levels, the price of U.S. oil has still fallen below 30 dollars a barrel.
#15 It is being reported that 35 percent of all oil and gas companies around the world are at risk of falling into bankruptcy.
#16 According to CNN, 67 oil and gas companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy during 2015.
#17 The number of job cuts in the United States skyrocketed 218 percent during the month of January according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
#18 All over America, retail stores are shutting down at a stunning pace. The following list of store closures comes from one of my previous articles…
-Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.
-K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.
-J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.
-Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees.
-The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.
-Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.
-Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years.
-Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously.
#19 The price of gold is enjoying its best quarterly performance in 30 years.
#20 Global stocks have fallen into bear market territory, which means that about one-fifth of all global stock market wealth has already been wiped out.
#21 Unfortunately for global central banks, they have pretty much run out of ammunition. Since March 2008, central banks have cut interest rates 637 times and they have purchased a staggering 12.3 trillion dollars worth of assets. There is not much more that they can do, and now the next great crisis is upon us.
Without any outside influences, the global economy and the global financial system will continue to rapidly fall apart.
JRN
Never cite Zero Hedge as a source.
Zero Hedge’s own disclaimer: “Making investment decisions based on information published on Zero Hedge, or any internet site for that matter, is more than unwise, it is folly.
“Zero Hedge is not a broker-dealer, legal advisor, tax advisor, investment advisor, accounting advisor or children’s party clown. (There seems to have been some confusion that these terms are interchangeable). Relying on Zero Hedge in such a capacity will result in regulatory entanglements, civil and criminal actions naming you as a defendant, severe tax liabilities and liens from the tax authority in your jurisdiction and the horror of lax accounting standards.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/help/disclaimer
From RationalWiki:
Zero Hedge is a batshit insane Austrian school finance blog run by a pseudonymous founder who posts articles under the name “Tyler Durden,” after the character from Fight Club. It has accurately predicted 200 of the last 2 recessions.
Tyler claims to be a “believer in a sweeping conspiracy that casts the alumni of Goldman Sachs as a powerful cabal at the helm of U.S. policy, with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve colluding to preserve the status quo.” While this is not an entirely unreasonable statement of the problem, his solution actually mirrors the anatagonist in Fight Club: Tyler wants, per Austrian school ideas, to lead a catastrophic market crash in order to destroy banking institutions and bring back “real” free market capitalism.
The site posts nearly indecipherable analyses of multiple seemingly unrelated subjects to point towards a consistent theme of economic collapse any day now. Tyler seems to repeat The Economic Collapse Blog’s idea of posting blog articles many times a day and encouraging people to post it as far and wide as humanly possible. Tyler moves away from the format of long lists to write insanely dense volumes filled with (often contradicting) jargon that makes one wonder if the writers even know what the words actually mean. The site first appeared in early 2009, meaning that (given Tyler’s habit of taking a shit on each and every positive data point), anyone listening to him from the beginning missed the entire 2009-2014 rally in the equities market.
The only writer conclusively identified is Dan Ivandjiiski, who conducts public interviews on behalf of Zero Hedge. The blog came online several days after he lost his job at Wexford Capital, a Connecticut-based hedge fund (run by a former Goldman trader). And chose his pen name from a nihilistic psychotic delusion.
Zero Hedge is not quite the NaturalNews of economics, but not for want of trying.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge
@jrn
So what’s your point?
Where’d you get that info from a tea party rag?
@Molly Bachman,
I am quite sure you’ve never made any serious money investing in the financial markets. No professional investor would take the advice of a broker-dealer or accountant who has to accept a paycheck because they have never actually made any money using their own money as a financial entrepreneur. I’ sorry to point this out, but you really are naive. But, you’re quite right that ZeroHedge isn’t licensed to give investment advice. If you’ll read the site more carefully, you will find it doesn’t give investment advice. Why? As all pro’s in the money biz know, but apparently you don’t, Tyler Durden is a fictional name taken from the movie “fight club.” It’s a mutually agreed upon pen name for financial industry whistleblowers. And Ivandjiiski has NEVER been conclusively tied to the pen name Tyler Durden. You’re dead wrong. But, that’s what happens when you cut and paste. (Steve Segner does the same thing as you Molly!)
Meanwhile, ZeroHedge is the world’s most famed whistleblower site and everybody on Wall Street not only reads from it but quotes from it. I repeat, Tyler Durden is a nom de plume for over a hundred different writers who, at great personal risk, expose faulty analyses and reports, price fixing, trading algo’s used to rig the markets in certain stocks, deliberately misstated economic statistics and political shenanigans designed to affect the markets by taking advantage of the naive…such as you. So, Tyler can’t claim anything because he’s a hundred different professionals.
Not to mention, Molly, you quote RationalWiki. Maybe you should have mentioned to the readers at The Eye that RationalWiki is a progressive liberal/socialist economic site that came into existence in order to contest Conservapedia of the Austrian School of Economics who are anti-communists. RationalWiki adopts a casual approach to epistemology and is vulnerable to cargo cult science. To put it in more simplistic terms…they’re commies…LOL!!!
All you’ve done here, Molly my Dear, is cut and paste from a laughable socialist source who doesn’t even know who it’s criticizing and who has as commentators people who know nothing about making major serious money through use of money. And, you’ve quite obviously never been in the business of successful Wall Street players.
@WSR, well at least Molly made a researched effort to make her point even if her source is a socialist butt of jokes, but as far as answering questions for you…I don’t think I’ll waste my time although I would like to suggest that Molly could probably eat your lunch. Post your questions to her.
JRN
Denail is not just a river in Egypt.
The Federal Reserve is about as Federal as Federal Express. The money in your wallet is a “Federal Reserve note”, and has as much value as the paper it is printed on. Every paper currency in the history of man has ALWAYS gone to its intrinsic value, zero. The current Federal Reserve notes will be no different.
If you believe the economy is fine and growing you are far more delusional than the writers on Zero Hedge. Our city council keeps spending more than they take in, when Sedona goes broke, they will not have seen it coming.
@JRN
Molly schooled you…
Exposing you as a tea party fraud… You pick and choose from your network of tea party paranoid references..
That’s what you do Rick….
Hey what’s your thoughts on global warming?
WSR,
I don’t know JRN’s thoughts on global warming, but I would imagine that they follow the scientific findings reported to the United Nations recently, namely the world-wide global warming is caused by emission of human-caused gases, and more specifically, virtually 100% of that gas was passed by you. Now, we all know what your only purpose on earth really is. WOW! No wonder everybody around you gets stifled and can’t breathe.
Segner isn’t as stupid as He has always appeared, as He has pulled His application for City Council, and thinks Mike Ward will be the logical choice.
Read more:
http://www.sedona.biz/editorial-and-opinion/letter-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-segner-withdraws-application-for-sedona-city-council-seat/
@ I See Through You
So, so true. Applause !!!!!