Pensions become Ponzi, Recess becomes recession and eventually depresses into depression. There's a natural progression to these things and trying to stop them is like throwing water back over a broken dam. There's some temporary relief, a feeling that it may all work out for the best, but eventually, the dam bursts, flooding everything and drowning most. This is the situation in which most of the world's economies - but mainly the United States - currently find themselves. Patches have been applied to the broken dam, but, even though all the experts know that it will eventually burst, they will not, either from some misguided confidence or fear of what may occur should they reveal the truth.
Either way, they'll look bad when it does, but they'll probably be long gone, either dead or expatriated.
Since there's nothing worthwhile happening in the equity markets other than the usual churn associated with the Fed's POMOs (Permanent Open market Operations), today we offer some background, which only took a little bit of searching on the internet. (Apparently, there are quite a few skeptics on the loose these days.)
First, though, let's make sure we know what really happened today.
Any and all trading centered around the
FOMC statement at 2:15 pm, in which the Fed neither raised nor lowered rates (Actually, they can't lower them below ZERO, where they currently sit.), but they did change some of the wording in their release.
The salient points were, "the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months.", "Housing starts are at a depressed level. Bank lending has continued to contract, but at a reduced rate in recent months." and "The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and is prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation, over time, to levels consistent with its mandate."
That final quote is a mouthful, though most have interpreted it to mean that the Fed is ready to engage in further quantitative easing (i.e., printing money), to keep the economy from falling off a cliff. Ouch! Ohh!
The market reaction was odd. Stocks first went straight up, as in "Happy days! More free money!" and then did an about face when moron buyers realized they had been taken and that the reason the Fed is printing more money is because the economy sucks. There, it's been said. The economy sucks, and the Fed writ that large today.
Dow 10,761.03, +7.41 (0.07%)
NASDAQ 2,349.35, -6.48 (0.28%)
S&P 500 1,139.78, -2.93 (0.26%)
NYSE Composite 7,245.95, -20.07 (0.28%)Once again, the markets delivered a split decision, with the Dow up and everything else down. In contrast to the soft headline numbers, declining issues far outpaced advancers, 3612-2095. New highs ramped past new lows, 428-38 and volume was actually a bit on the strong side (poor timing).
Commodities took a hit, too, though they were trending lower prior to the Fed statement. Crude oil slipped $1.34, to $73.52. Gold fell $6.60, to $1,272.40 and silver dropped 16 cents, to $20.62, all of which makes perfect sense if we are actually going to slide quietly into a deflationary depression. Shhh! Don't tell anybody.
NASDAQ Volume 2,148,134,500
NYSE Volume 4,403,680,500Please note, this following little piece is someone else's work. It is not my intent to plagiarize.Here's a step-by-step look at the banks and bailouts.
1) All the global banks were up to their eye-balls in toxic assets. All the AAA mortgage-backed securities etc. were in fact JUNK. But in the balance sheets of the banks and their special purpose vehicles (SPVs), they were stated to be worth US$ TRILLIONS.
2) The collapse of Lehman Bros and AIG exposed this ugly truth. All the global banks had liabilities in the US$ Trillions. They were all INSOLVENT. The central banks the world over conspired and agreed not to reveal the total liabilities of the global banks as that would cause a run on these banks, as happened in the case of Northern Rock in the U.K.
3) A devious scheme was devised by the FED, led by Bernanke to assist the global banks to unload systematically and in tranches the toxic assets so as to allow the banks to comply with RESERVE REQUIREMENTS under the fractional reserve banking system, and to continue their banking business. This is the essence of the bailout of the global banks by central bankers.
4) This devious scheme was effected by the FED’s quantitative easing (QE) – the purchase of toxic assets from the banks. The FED created “money out of thin air” and used that “money” to buy the toxic assets at face or book value from the banks, notwithstanding they were all junks and at the most, worth maybe ten cents to the dollar. Now, the FED is “loaded” with toxic assets once owned by the global banks. But these banks cannot declare and or admit to this state of affairs. Hence, this financial charade.
5) If we are to follow simple logic, the exercise would result in the global banks flushed with cash to enable them to lend to desperate consumers and cash-starved businesses. But the money did not go out as loans. Where did the money go?
6) It went back to the FED as reserves, and since the FED bought US$ trillions worth of toxic wastes, the “money” (it was merely book entries in the Fed’s books) that these global banks had were treated as “Excess Reserves”. This is a misnomer because it gave the ILLUSION that the banks are cash-rich and under the fractional reserve system would be able to lend out trillions worth of loans. But they did not. Why?
7) Because the global banks still have US$ trillions worth of toxic wastes in their balance sheets. They are still insolvent under the fractional reserve banking laws. The public must not be aware of this as otherwise, it would trigger a massive run on all the global banks!
8) Bernanke, the US Treasury and the global central bankers were all praying and hoping that given time (their estimation was 12 to 18 months) the housing market would recover and asset prices would resume to the levels before the crisis. . Let me explain: A House was sold for say US$500,000. Borrower has a mortgage of US$450,000 or more. The house is now worth US$200,000 or less. Multiply this by the millions of houses sold between 2000 and 2008 and you will appreciate the extent of the financial black-hole. There is no way that any of the global banks can get out of this gigantic mess. And there is also no way that the FED and the global central bankers through QE can continue to buy such toxic wastes without showing their hands and exposing the lie that these banks are solvent. It is my estimation that they have to QE up to US$20 trillion at the minimum. The FED and no central banker would dare “create such an amount of money out of thin air” without arousing the suspicions and or panic of sovereign creditors, investors and depositors. It is as good as declaring officially that all the banks are BANKRUPT.
9) But there is no other solution in the short and middle term except another bout of quantitative easing, QE II. Given the above caveat, QE II cannot exceed the amount of the previous QE without opening the proverbial Pandora Box.
10) But it is also a given that the FED will embark on QE II, as under the fractional reserve banking system, if the FED does not purchase additional toxic wastes, the global banks (faced with mounting foreclosures, etc.) will fall short of their reserve requirements.
11) You will also recall that the FED at the height of the crisis announced that interest will be paid on the so-called “excess reserves” of the global banks, thus enabling these banks to “earn” interest. So what we have is a merry-go-round of monies moving from the right pocket to the left pocket at the click of the computer mouse. The FED creates money, uses it to buy toxic assets, and the same money is then returned to the FED by the global banks to earn interest. By this fiction of QE, banks are flushed with cash which enable them to earn interest. Is it any wonder that these banks have declared record profits?
12) The global banks get rid of some of their toxic wastes at full value and at no costs, and get paid for unloading the toxic wastes via interest payments. Additionally, some of the “monies” are used by these banks to purchase US Treasuries (which also pay interests) which in turn allows the US Treasury to continue its deficit spending. THIS IS THE BAILOUT RIP OFF of the century.
The rest is all original, and mine.Ah, well, that's not even the worst of it. In order to stave off imminent implosion of the entire global banking system, some believe the Fed will have to print (and waste) some
$30 TRILLION. Now, that happens to be just an round estimate, but it does amount to twice the annual GDP or twice the existing debt (choose your poison). Since the Fed is already in somewhere between $2 and $11 Trillion, depending on your level of pessimism and how you choose to crunch the numbers, we are only, at best, one third of the way down the path of complete, utter and final desolation.
If this first third of the way took three years (2007-2010), then we should finally be soup by 2016, though anybody with the uncanny ability to think that far ahead would probably be living in Brazil, China or Belize by then. The rest of us will just have to "suck it up" so to speak. The good/bad news is that you will be able to buy a traditional, three-bedroom home in a good suburb for about $30,000; a pound of tomatoes will be only $8.00, your utility bill will be 40-70% higher because usage will be very low and you have to take up the slack and your property taxes will be at least triple your mortgage payment (at least in the Northeast).
However, you won't be paying any taxes since there will be no jobs, but, for all you 50-and-60-somethings out there, that Social Security check you planned on receiving monthly will no longer be available. The overwhelming debt the nation has built up will see to it that almost all entitlements will have to be curtailed or, at a minimum, severely curtailed.
Soooooo, the lifestyles you've so carefully planned for yourselves and your children will go entirely up in the smoke of debt and default. The world will be a poorer place, you will be old and decrepit and the minions from nations to which we owe money we can never repay will be scouting the streets and byways of America for choice deals, to which they feel entitled!
The problem is that most Americans took it for granted that our government and our leaders were telling us the truth, not lying through their collective teeth in order to keep being re-elected. We - and I'm speaking mostly to the baby boomers - allowed them to tax us to the max, spend every last penny and then borrow more. we've brought it upon ourselves, you see.
And, just in case you're not convinced that we're well upon a path of self-destruction, in order to keep the public in the dark and at ease through our economic nightmare, the government is
manipulating the stock market.
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