The President, Congress and the Federal Reserve finally got together on a unified theory of economics and apparently it is to borrow as much money from anywhere as possible, manipulate markets as much as possible, lie as fervently as possible and hope for the best.
With the "tax deal" done after-hours on Monday, the President bent to the will of the Republicans and sent the Bush tax cuts into permanent status (he says two years, but they'll never raise taxes again), extended unemployment insurance for another 13 months, meaning if you can manage to get laid off now, you're in for a three-year vacation, and to top it off, cut the social security withholding from 6.2% to 4.2%, a whopping 32% tax haircut.
All of this was done after the Tea Party Republicans were ushered into office on a "fiscal responsibility" platform just a month ago. It will be interesting to watch what happens when these newly-minted congress-critters actually are sworn in next month, because, if they're serious, they shouldn't stand for what amounts to a loss of about a trillion dollars in revenue to the feds.
Wall Street responded as it usually does to free money or lower tax regimes, it rallied right out of the gate. But late in he day, something odd happened. The markets suddenly rolled over and headed south, just like commodities - especially oil, gold and silver - did earlier in the session.
By the end of the day, the central planners in Washington and on Wall Street had a real mess on their hands: nobody trading stocks, bonds selling off, forcing yields higher (the Fed and the Govt. will go bust if this happens) and commodities being manipulated lower.
The insider crooks and their political lackeys have pushed the envelope over the proverbial cliff and now face what appears to be a disaster beyond even their control. Rising interest rates will destroy the Fed's balance sheet (QE was designed to do the opposite), absolutely plunge housing into another price collapse worse than what we've already witnessed and bankrupt just about every bank in the nation, to say nothing of the collateral damage done to the rest of the world.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, a deflationary depression may be one of those elements of financial nature that one cannot stop. It's going to happen no matter what. Lives will be lost, careers shattered, banks closed and general malaise will rule for an extended period. The morons running the Ponzi scheme in the financial markets and with tax policy will have to leave the country or face angry mobs who have nothing else to lose.
Pretty picture? Thank yourself for not taking action sooner, or not understanding what's happening or for trusting our government (yes, the one that hasn't done anything of any good for the average working-class person in the last ten years). These people and the coerced media represent the worst parasites in the world. They've ruined the global economy for their own enrichment. It's now every man and woman for his/herself.
I've hinted at this kind of statement in the past, but never actually put it in words: it's now time for Americans to take a stand. Stop paying taxes. Stop working. Stop buying. Just stop the government and the media in their tracks, force the politicians from office and arrest the heads of the largest financial institutions. They are all criminals and traitors and do not represent anything American, by any stretch of the imagination.
Dow 11,359.16, -3.03 (0.03%)
NASDAQ 2,598.49, +3.57 (0.14%)
S&P 500 1,223.75, +0.63 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 7,739.64, -1.05 (0.01%)
Advancers narrowly edged decliners, 3397-3094. There were, due to the ramp up through most of the session, 783 new highs, and just 49 new lows. Volume, due to the bi-directionality (like that word?) of the market was strong.
NASDAQ Volume 1,925,702,500
NYSE Volume 6,967,751,000
The front end oil contract on the NYMEX was over $90/barrel early on, but reversed course and closed with a 69 cent loss, at $88.69. Gold and silver were both hammered mercilessly after the close in New York, by the Fed and their cohorts, JP Morgan, with gold losing $22.60, to $1401.10, while silver was absolutely blasted, losing $1.43, to $28.65 (buy, buy. buy!).
Here's one guy who gets it. The powers that be, both in Washington and Wall Street, cannot contain this much longer. Their schemes are too complex and will eventually implode back upon them either in a massive stock market crash (very high probability), a bond collapse (high probability), hyper-inflation (some probability) or the death-knell of the deflationary depression (high probability, but great for those on the mid-to-lower rungs of the ladder, as it implies debt forgiveness, lower carrying costs and a pretty basic reset).
The past two years have not been a picnic, but the coming three-to-four years seem to be flashing warning signals already. The worst - since there hasn't been any real pain yet - is still to come, and, by the looks of what occurred today, is about to get really serious.
Hold precious metals, keep as much cash on hand and out of banks as possible, hoard food and fuel and pray you and your kids don't get hit by stray bullets. When the shooting starts, it's not likely to end quickly. The guess is who fires the first shot, who gets it in the head and, not if, but now, when.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Silver Soars Over $30 as Europe Prepares for Bank Runs, Bernanke Lies
Our ongoing financial fantasy took a very real turn for the worse Sunday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared in an "exclusive" interview by Scott Pelley on the "60 Minutes" broadcast. (The entire 15 minute report is embedded at the end of this post.
Bernanke has been widely criticized for many of his policies - mostly blunders which favor saving banks instead of liquidating them - but he's received far more criticism than ever before for his recent foray into another round of Quantitative Easing (or, QE2 as it's come to be known). Mr. Bernanke hinted at this move in September, providing upward grease for the equity markets, and than formally announced it in early November, implementing a series of daily permanent open market operations (POMOs) which commenced on November 12 and have continued daily - except for the days immediately before and after Thanksgiving - ever since, contributing 1.5 to 9 billion dollars daily in repurchases of Treasury debt from Primary Dealers (PDs).
What was most troubling about the interview was not what Bernanke said, so much, as how he appeared, trembling, quivering and crossing both his arms and legs at times, in the classic body language "double cross," indicative of those telling outright falsehoods. Bernanke lied that the Fed isn't printing money. He most certainly is, whenever the Fed repurchases Treasury debt. He also was largely lying when he mentioned that unemployment was an effect of education, saying that unemployment among collage graduates was only 5%, and higher for those without college educations.
Sure, he's right to some extent, but ask some of the recent college grads working at part-time jobs, or jobs for which they're overqualified or not working at all, what their job prospects look like. Many college-aged individuals have resorted to staying in school, pursuing post-graduate degrees, hoping that in two or three years the employment situation may be better. No, unemployment is not a function of education. It's a function of there being only one job for every five people looking, and the jobs offered being entry level or part time, at that.
Meanwhile, the Europeans have a new issue with which to deal: the widespread public outcry and rally for a bank run on Tuesday, December 7, promoted by soccer star Eric Cantona. While the banks are probably well-prepared and will likely close branches for a day or so if thing get out of hand, they're unlikely to fail, though the public will send a loud, unmistakable message.
Whether the officials at the control of the world's economy will listen is probably a moot point. They will not; they haven't yet, and probably never will.
Dow 11,362.19, -19.90 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,594.92, +3.46 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,223.12, -1.59 (0.13%)
NYSE Composite 7,740.69, -10.89 (0.14%)
US stocks spent the day hugging the flat line, on low volume. Advancers beat decliners, 3032-2640. New highs bettered new lows, 241-32 on the NASDAQ, 259-8 on the NYSE. Nothing new there at all, with the same names being pumped or dumped for the better part of the past week.
NASDAQ Volume 1,633,755,875.00
NYSE Volume 3,694,626,75
The major news was in the silver market, which has experienced outsize gains over the past three months. Silver last printed at $30.13 spot, up 70 cents. Gold also made a new all-time high of $1422.90, up $8.40. Crude oil futures on the front end contract rose 19 cents, to a new 2010 high of $89.38.
How high can silver go? Most analysts see it doubling in three years, though prices of $100 per ounce and higher are being bandied about as the gold-silver ratio is expected to come back to its historical norm of 16-1.
Bernanke has been widely criticized for many of his policies - mostly blunders which favor saving banks instead of liquidating them - but he's received far more criticism than ever before for his recent foray into another round of Quantitative Easing (or, QE2 as it's come to be known). Mr. Bernanke hinted at this move in September, providing upward grease for the equity markets, and than formally announced it in early November, implementing a series of daily permanent open market operations (POMOs) which commenced on November 12 and have continued daily - except for the days immediately before and after Thanksgiving - ever since, contributing 1.5 to 9 billion dollars daily in repurchases of Treasury debt from Primary Dealers (PDs).
What was most troubling about the interview was not what Bernanke said, so much, as how he appeared, trembling, quivering and crossing both his arms and legs at times, in the classic body language "double cross," indicative of those telling outright falsehoods. Bernanke lied that the Fed isn't printing money. He most certainly is, whenever the Fed repurchases Treasury debt. He also was largely lying when he mentioned that unemployment was an effect of education, saying that unemployment among collage graduates was only 5%, and higher for those without college educations.
Sure, he's right to some extent, but ask some of the recent college grads working at part-time jobs, or jobs for which they're overqualified or not working at all, what their job prospects look like. Many college-aged individuals have resorted to staying in school, pursuing post-graduate degrees, hoping that in two or three years the employment situation may be better. No, unemployment is not a function of education. It's a function of there being only one job for every five people looking, and the jobs offered being entry level or part time, at that.
Meanwhile, the Europeans have a new issue with which to deal: the widespread public outcry and rally for a bank run on Tuesday, December 7, promoted by soccer star Eric Cantona. While the banks are probably well-prepared and will likely close branches for a day or so if thing get out of hand, they're unlikely to fail, though the public will send a loud, unmistakable message.
Whether the officials at the control of the world's economy will listen is probably a moot point. They will not; they haven't yet, and probably never will.
Dow 11,362.19, -19.90 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,594.92, +3.46 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,223.12, -1.59 (0.13%)
NYSE Composite 7,740.69, -10.89 (0.14%)
US stocks spent the day hugging the flat line, on low volume. Advancers beat decliners, 3032-2640. New highs bettered new lows, 241-32 on the NASDAQ, 259-8 on the NYSE. Nothing new there at all, with the same names being pumped or dumped for the better part of the past week.
NASDAQ Volume 1,633,755,875.00
NYSE Volume 3,694,626,75
The major news was in the silver market, which has experienced outsize gains over the past three months. Silver last printed at $30.13 spot, up 70 cents. Gold also made a new all-time high of $1422.90, up $8.40. Crude oil futures on the front end contract rose 19 cents, to a new 2010 high of $89.38.
How high can silver go? Most analysts see it doubling in three years, though prices of $100 per ounce and higher are being bandied about as the gold-silver ratio is expected to come back to its historical norm of 16-1.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Major Payroll Miss Slows Rally
Truly, the headline should have been worse, but the efforts of our beloved Federal Reserve, relentlessly supplying free cash flow to the entire banking and finance system through QE2, turned what, in ordinary times, should have been a major drop in the indices into a small gain. Obviously, these are not ordinary times, as the Fed's policies and government inabilities have completely distorted equity and bond markets, though, bonds, admittedly, are a little less affected.
The culprit in this case was a woeful reading from the BLS on November non-farm payrolls. Expected to come in at 150,000 new jobs, the miss was massive, registering at only a gain of 39,000 for the month. The unemployment rate was also hiked to 9.8%. A miss of this magnitude should have caused a major sell-off of something along the lines of 200 points on the Dow, but the smiley-face, feel-good "recovery" posture foisted upon an unsuspecting public by the charlatans who call themselves the "financial media" on CNBC and elsewhere, in perfect Orwellian doublespeak, turned this negative into a positive, suggesting that the lack of jobs in America is a good sign that the Bush tax cuts, QE2 and unemployment insurance will be extended.
Suddenly, like magic, the fact that there's only one job for every five applicants in America - during the height of the holiday season, no less - is a very good thing indeed! On the other side of the coin, since most everything emanating from our nation's capitol and Wall Street are complete fabrications and half-truths, at best, perhaps the doltish politicians running the circus thought a little depression might be good for what ails us.
Washington is so completely corrupt and bankrupt it's appalling, even to below-average fifth graders, who are likely to be able to see right through the politics of fraud. Nothing matters to these people except stock prices and elections. Half of the Southern states are starved for funds, as are most of the Northeastern ones along with California, but that's not anything that concerns them. They'll mindlessly dawdle over minutia like 3% tax cuts instead of actually handling matters of national importance. Thank goodness for Wikileaks and the internet, for displaying the true level of corruption and ineptitude that has brought the country to its knees.
Dow 11,382.09, +19.68 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,591.46, +12.11 (0.47%)
S&P 500 1,224.71, +3.18 (0.26%)
NYSE Composite 7,751.58, +39.33 (0.51%)
Amazingly, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a substantial margin, 4029-2364. New highs again beat back new lows, 497-39, entirely similar to the past two days. Yes, siree! The same stocks, being endlessly pumped to infinity. The best news is that volume was down, meaning Goldman Sachs probably turned off one of its Cray XE6's for the weekend.
NASDAQ Volume 1,836,885,000
NYSE Volume 4,307,858,000
Oil futures reached a 2010 high, up $1.19, to $89.19. Precious metals and grains were also sharply higher. Gold ramped up $16.90, to $1,406.20; silver gained 70 cents, to $29.27. The silver and gold bugs would like to applaud Fed Chairman Bernanke for making them rich beyond their wildest dreams. The best part is that his failed policies will continue for many more months and be copied by our counterparts in the Eurozone, meaning the prices today will look like chickenfeed in a few years.
Of course, along with the precious metals go other commodities, like food and oil, so while the hoarders of gold and silver will be wealthy, they'll eventually have to hock that shiny stuff for gasoline, a loaf of bread and cans of tuna. At least they'll be able to get around and eat. The remainder of the immobilized masses will be starving to death.
We are deserving of all this, however, for electing spineless politicians and allowing the corruption and wantonness to go unchecked for so long. In another time, the wall of congress would be ringing with gunfire and bankers hung from the nearest lampposts, but the American public has been dumbed-down, satiated and nourished with the fruits of food stamps disguised as debit cards.
There will be no revolution, no wide public outcry. We will suffer quietly until the best of us all are gone and our children reduced to slaves. Bread and circuses is what we want and exactly what we will get.
Ponder these words, lest you fall into the trap of the status quo:
The culprit in this case was a woeful reading from the BLS on November non-farm payrolls. Expected to come in at 150,000 new jobs, the miss was massive, registering at only a gain of 39,000 for the month. The unemployment rate was also hiked to 9.8%. A miss of this magnitude should have caused a major sell-off of something along the lines of 200 points on the Dow, but the smiley-face, feel-good "recovery" posture foisted upon an unsuspecting public by the charlatans who call themselves the "financial media" on CNBC and elsewhere, in perfect Orwellian doublespeak, turned this negative into a positive, suggesting that the lack of jobs in America is a good sign that the Bush tax cuts, QE2 and unemployment insurance will be extended.
Suddenly, like magic, the fact that there's only one job for every five applicants in America - during the height of the holiday season, no less - is a very good thing indeed! On the other side of the coin, since most everything emanating from our nation's capitol and Wall Street are complete fabrications and half-truths, at best, perhaps the doltish politicians running the circus thought a little depression might be good for what ails us.
Washington is so completely corrupt and bankrupt it's appalling, even to below-average fifth graders, who are likely to be able to see right through the politics of fraud. Nothing matters to these people except stock prices and elections. Half of the Southern states are starved for funds, as are most of the Northeastern ones along with California, but that's not anything that concerns them. They'll mindlessly dawdle over minutia like 3% tax cuts instead of actually handling matters of national importance. Thank goodness for Wikileaks and the internet, for displaying the true level of corruption and ineptitude that has brought the country to its knees.
Dow 11,382.09, +19.68 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,591.46, +12.11 (0.47%)
S&P 500 1,224.71, +3.18 (0.26%)
NYSE Composite 7,751.58, +39.33 (0.51%)
Amazingly, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a substantial margin, 4029-2364. New highs again beat back new lows, 497-39, entirely similar to the past two days. Yes, siree! The same stocks, being endlessly pumped to infinity. The best news is that volume was down, meaning Goldman Sachs probably turned off one of its Cray XE6's for the weekend.
NASDAQ Volume 1,836,885,000
NYSE Volume 4,307,858,000
Oil futures reached a 2010 high, up $1.19, to $89.19. Precious metals and grains were also sharply higher. Gold ramped up $16.90, to $1,406.20; silver gained 70 cents, to $29.27. The silver and gold bugs would like to applaud Fed Chairman Bernanke for making them rich beyond their wildest dreams. The best part is that his failed policies will continue for many more months and be copied by our counterparts in the Eurozone, meaning the prices today will look like chickenfeed in a few years.
Of course, along with the precious metals go other commodities, like food and oil, so while the hoarders of gold and silver will be wealthy, they'll eventually have to hock that shiny stuff for gasoline, a loaf of bread and cans of tuna. At least they'll be able to get around and eat. The remainder of the immobilized masses will be starving to death.
We are deserving of all this, however, for electing spineless politicians and allowing the corruption and wantonness to go unchecked for so long. In another time, the wall of congress would be ringing with gunfire and bankers hung from the nearest lampposts, but the American public has been dumbed-down, satiated and nourished with the fruits of food stamps disguised as debit cards.
There will be no revolution, no wide public outcry. We will suffer quietly until the best of us all are gone and our children reduced to slaves. Bread and circuses is what we want and exactly what we will get.
Ponder these words, lest you fall into the trap of the status quo:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.-- Thomas Jefferson
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Trichet Promises More Money for More Banks in Europe
As the Fed's already-discredited quantitative easing (it was supposed to lower interest rates, not raise them, so we can assume Ben Bernanke was lying, again) funnels money from the Us Treasury to the Federal Reserve to the Primary Dealers (big banks), Europe has apparently taken notice and today, EU President Jean Claude Trichet announced a similar plan for the whole of the European Union, in which the ECB will purchase government (sovereign) debt outright and funnel it to the banks, which, like ours in America, are largely insolvent and lying about their financial conditions.
The race to the bottom, to devalue currency, has reached a new, more insidious stage that threatens the entire economic system of the world, in more pernicious and devious ways than the creators of sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps could have ever imagined. With endless creation of money out of thin air, rampant inflation is inevitable, in everything except wages, that is, and possible home prices.
Choosing the path of least resistance, kicking the can down the road, so to speak, will lead to unimaginable horrors for millions of Americans and Europeans in terms of decreased buying power and slave wages, a fact that our so-called "leaders" know all too well.
With another $8 billion pumped into the coffers of the banks, Wall Street once again took off and ran with the money, pushing equity prices close to their peaks of early November.
Dow 11,362.41, +106.63 (0.95%)
NASDAQ 2,579.35, +29.92 (1.17%)
S&P 500 1,221.53, +15.46 (1.28%)
NYSE Composite 7,712.25, +108.52 (1.43%)
Advancing issues finished well ahead of decliners, 4442-2054. There were 501 new highs and 42 new lows, very similar to yesterday's figures, which implies that many of them were the very same stocks, pumped by the banks only to be dumped to the johnny-come-lately funds and individual investors. Volume was moderate, since most of the buying was by large firms with super-fast computers.
NASDAQ Volume 2,053,117,000
NYSE Volume 5,584,217,500
Commodities joined in the ramp-up. Oil gained $1.25, to $88.00. Gold was up a mere $1.00, to $1,389.30. Silver added 16 cents, to $28.57.
Tomorrow's non-farm payroll data for November should send stocks to higher highs and even more ridiculous valuations. Scheduled for 8:30 am, the fraud bankers will have plenty of time to adjust the algos on their computers for another glorious day of stock buying.
The following video contains some strong words from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over the increasing social inequality in America, citing how, as the middle class collapses, the top 1% earns 23.5% of all income, more than the bottom 50% of all earners. Further, the millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street are making more today, after we bailed them out, than before the bailout. It's poignant and very well worth watching.
The race to the bottom, to devalue currency, has reached a new, more insidious stage that threatens the entire economic system of the world, in more pernicious and devious ways than the creators of sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps could have ever imagined. With endless creation of money out of thin air, rampant inflation is inevitable, in everything except wages, that is, and possible home prices.
Choosing the path of least resistance, kicking the can down the road, so to speak, will lead to unimaginable horrors for millions of Americans and Europeans in terms of decreased buying power and slave wages, a fact that our so-called "leaders" know all too well.
With another $8 billion pumped into the coffers of the banks, Wall Street once again took off and ran with the money, pushing equity prices close to their peaks of early November.
Dow 11,362.41, +106.63 (0.95%)
NASDAQ 2,579.35, +29.92 (1.17%)
S&P 500 1,221.53, +15.46 (1.28%)
NYSE Composite 7,712.25, +108.52 (1.43%)
Advancing issues finished well ahead of decliners, 4442-2054. There were 501 new highs and 42 new lows, very similar to yesterday's figures, which implies that many of them were the very same stocks, pumped by the banks only to be dumped to the johnny-come-lately funds and individual investors. Volume was moderate, since most of the buying was by large firms with super-fast computers.
NASDAQ Volume 2,053,117,000
NYSE Volume 5,584,217,500
Commodities joined in the ramp-up. Oil gained $1.25, to $88.00. Gold was up a mere $1.00, to $1,389.30. Silver added 16 cents, to $28.57.
Tomorrow's non-farm payroll data for November should send stocks to higher highs and even more ridiculous valuations. Scheduled for 8:30 am, the fraud bankers will have plenty of time to adjust the algos on their computers for another glorious day of stock buying.
The following video contains some strong words from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over the increasing social inequality in America, citing how, as the middle class collapses, the top 1% earns 23.5% of all income, more than the bottom 50% of all earners. Further, the millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street are making more today, after we bailed them out, than before the bailout. It's poignant and very well worth watching.
Short Sales Helpful, But Read the Fine Print
While the economy seems to be improving, though modestly, one area of concern remains the shattered real estate market, where home prices have tumbled, homeowners owe more than their house is worth - a condition known as being "upside down" - and the recent foreclosure moratoriums by mortgage servicers like Bank of America, Ally Bank and JP Morgan Chase have slowed the pace of residential real estate sales.
With unemployment close to 10%, many homeowners are facing foreclosure and looking for ways to get out from under a financial burden they did not anticipate. One such method is a real estate short sale, which is a process by which the homeowner sells the property back to the bank at a reduced price. This often results in a win for both sides, as the bank does not have to engage in the time-consuming and costly process of foreclosure and the homeowner walks away from the home and mortgage debt, usually without any residual amount owed, known in the industry as a "deficiency," that being the difference between the original amount owed and the amount of the short sale.
Most states provide for deficiency claims, and banks routinely take judgments against short sale sellers, so this is an area which needs to be negotiated with the lender beforehand, and the services of a lawyer, representing the short seller, are strongly advised. Banks don't like to take losses and will normally try to slip in a deficiency clause into a short sale agreement.
For further information, you can can click here to check for all kinds of sales - including short sales - in your area, or for sales nationwide and more information on all kinds of real estate transactions, click here.
With unemployment close to 10%, many homeowners are facing foreclosure and looking for ways to get out from under a financial burden they did not anticipate. One such method is a real estate short sale, which is a process by which the homeowner sells the property back to the bank at a reduced price. This often results in a win for both sides, as the bank does not have to engage in the time-consuming and costly process of foreclosure and the homeowner walks away from the home and mortgage debt, usually without any residual amount owed, known in the industry as a "deficiency," that being the difference between the original amount owed and the amount of the short sale.
Most states provide for deficiency claims, and banks routinely take judgments against short sale sellers, so this is an area which needs to be negotiated with the lender beforehand, and the services of a lawyer, representing the short seller, are strongly advised. Banks don't like to take losses and will normally try to slip in a deficiency clause into a short sale agreement.
For further information, you can can click here to check for all kinds of sales - including short sales - in your area, or for sales nationwide and more information on all kinds of real estate transactions, click here.
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