Credit Crunch

The continuing downfall of Wall Street's fanatical credit ponzi scheme is unmistakable. The housing sector implosion is spreading like wildfire, into corporate junk bonds, credit cards (have you gotten your "notice" yet? The one that says your interest rate is going up?), and mainstream mortgage lending.

The plain fact is that we're on the verge of a complete economic meltdown - caused by loose credit and regulatory policies - that not even the Secretary of the Treasury and his cohorts in the Working Group on Financial Markets (aka, the PPT, Plunge Protection Team) are powerless to stop it.

Dow 13,211.99 -146.32; NASDAQ 2,546.27 -37.01; S&P 500 1,455.27 -18.64; NYSE Composite 9,554.50 -68.68

Add to that over-arching concern the idea that the United States has been under the control of a gang of half-cocked thugs who have raided the Treasury, destroyed our military (to say nothing of the irreparable damage done to the nation of Iraq) and broken laws with impunity. The Congress has been unwilling to take the necessary action to remove these treasonous criminals from office and the media has been complicit in undermining the will of the people by simple avoidance of real news.

We're in one heck of a mess and even the titans of Wall Street are afraid. Well they should be. They stood by, taking profits and looking the other way for the past 6 years.

With the markets down another day - make that 6 of the last 10 - the unwinding has only begun. Anyone with any smarts is already 50-60% in cash or other liquid assets (a case of booze does count) or short or buying puts on the CBOE. Playing the downside is the only reasonable way to make money right now.

The damage was evident in our two key metrics: Decliners led advancers, 7-5 and new lows checked in at 657 to 133 new highs.

On top of all of this, oil futures for September delivery were up $1.38 to $78.21, an all-time high. Like salt in the wound, you have to pay more to get nowhere at any speed.

Gold was up $2.30 to $679.30; silver rose 11 cents to $13.02. From the looks of things, it might be the absolute right time to invest in the metals. The markets are a wreck and the books have been cooked.

Impeach or die.