POMO Is Back; Obama Considering Executive Order on Gun Control

There wasn't much happening on stock markets today other than the constancy of computers trading with other computers, but there was excitement on the political front, including a rabble-rousing utterance (intentional or otherwise) from the foot-in-mouth VP, Joe Biden, who dropped a hint that the president was considering using an executive order to somehow effect more rigid gun control.

This got gun-holders and freedom-lovers of all stripes worked up into a hot lather, as just the mere perception that the second amendment might be somehow circumvented by the totalitarian-in-chief was cause for calls of rebellion, secession and other assorted ranting and raving.

In America, the Founders designed the second amendment, which reads,

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

was designed specifically to keep potential tyrants from having thoughts of subjugating the masses and to protect the nation as a whole. The supposed threat of being shot at from all sides by a well-armed citizenry is the final protection of our liberties, and, since the Constitution has been trampled upon pretty severely over the past 236 years (but mostly in the last 12), people have every right to be alarmed and angry.

The current debate over gun ownership, caused in large part by the mass murder in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and now widely propagated by the left-leaning media, is just another attempt by a government that has outgrown its usefulness to further infringe upon the rights of the citizenry. The thought that President Obama might go the executive order route is almost ludicrous, considering the potential downside and difficulties (I'm being kind here) in implementing any kind of weapons ban would entail.

It's time the American public knew the truth. The kid at Sandy Hook and the moron who shot up the theater in Colorado were both on psychotropic drugs of some kind - Prozac, Ritalin, or any of a dozen others - that cause a few individuals to do insane things. If there's any sense at all left in Washington (there isn't), there should be a law that anyone who has ever taken any of these medications or been under the care of a psychiatrist (obviously, the author has done neither) should ever be able to own a firearm.

Now, not to sound cynical, but such a ban would never even get a hearing in DC, simply because the drugs in question are manufactured by one of the big pharmaceutical companies, and they pay plenty in graft and hush money (AKA: campaign contributions) that any senator or house member proposing such a deal would be laughed out of town.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is back doing POMO (Permanent Open Market Operations) in earnest, today actually buying up $300 million worth of 30-year bonds that hadn't even been issued!!!! (Note, four exclamation points means this is really exciting.)

The Fed has POMOs set up for every day the markets are open this month except January 30.

While $300 million is a piddling amount, let's not forget that the Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, has explicitly said he would not monetize the debt, which is exactly what he's been doing for the past four years, but this move, grabbing up the auction before it's even available, can only mean one thing: somebody (read: the federal government) needed money in a hurry and couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Yes, our slick Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, who has not received nearly the amount of press he deserves, has been employing extraordinary measures to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations since January 1, and maybe he ran into a little snag. In any case, even with the soon-to-be-departed Mr. Geithner pulling all the strings he can, the government will run out of money and options on February 15, if not sooner. So why are people all lathered up about gun control when the entire government is about to implode in about a month?

Yeah, really.

As for the stock markets, the Dow was up 61 points today, after losing 55 yesterday and 50 the day before. Is there a pattern emerging? Yes, and it's called the sideways two-step. Its a delicate dance that encourages partners to go nowhere, slowly.

Dow 13,390.51, +61.66 (0.46%)
NASDAQ 3,105.81, +14.00 (0.45%)
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NYSE Composite 8,636.10, +31.71 (0.37%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,731,655,000
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Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3337-2113
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 426-9 (amazing!)
WTI crude oil: 93.10, -0.05
Gold: 1,655.50, -6.70
Silver: 30.25, -0.216