Government Shutdown Day 14: Excuse Me, But These People Are Idiots; I Withdraw My Consent

I, along with likely millions of other Americans, have had it with the sloths in Washington.

THEY DO NOT GOVERN ME.

They are, by far, the most incompetent assemblage of buffoons masquerading as political, cultural and economic leaders as has ever been encountered in hundreds of years of parliamentary-style government.

They do not have the consent of the people, as the majority of Americans able to vote have not voted for them. They are, therefore, illegitimate, and the sooner the American people awaken to this fact, the better off we shall be as a nation.

They have not come to any kind of agreement on either a continuing resolution or a raising of the debt ceiling, both of which are merely stop-gap measures, designed only to keep the status quo intact.

As far as I am concerned, they can take their deliberations and negotiations and shove them up their collective arses. They are not worthy of governing me, you or anybody on the planet.

I will no longer engage in the dubious practice of analyzing their moves, their motivations, their duplicitous machinations of public policy. The current senators, representatives in the house, the president and the supreme court, have shown, by their actions, to be incapable of carrying out their most basic duty, that being the upholding and defense of the constitution.

I will no longer abide by any federal laws nor be subject to fines or penalties in defiance of them.

I withdraw my consent.

I attest to these statements under clear mind and conscience, this fourteenth day of October, 2013.

Richard A. Gagliano
Freeman, New York

By the way, take a look at those volume figures. The system is grinding to a complete halt and there's nothing they or anybody else can do about it.

DEAL WITH IT.

Silver and corn is an excellent correlation pair trade, if you have the stomach for it.

Dow 15,301.26, +64.15 (0.42%)
Nasdaq 3,815.27, +23.40 (0.62%)
S&P 500 1,710.14, +6.94 (0.41%)
10-Yr Bond 2.69%, +0.01
NYSE Volume 2,582,783,750
Nasdaq Volume 1,451,667,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3269-2200
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 393-51
WTI crude oil: 102.41, -0.39
Gold: 1,276.60, +8.40
Silver: 21.35, +0.095
Corn: 437.00, +3.75

Government Shutdown Day 13: Senate Talks Break Down; Negotiations Back to Square One

Hard to believe that there could be more buffoonish characters in the world than those currently heading the US federal government, those self-important, distinguished leaders who can't agree on a budget and prefer to keep sinkng the nation further and further into debt servitude rather than address the pressing problems facing the nation.

On Sunday, both sides seemed relaxed about taking a day off, the negotiations between Senate leaders McConnell and Reid having completely broken down with absolutely nothing resolved.

While the partial government shutdown (86% of the government is still on the job, but NOT getting paid) proceeds into a two-week ordeal on Monday (Columbus Day, an official holiday, BTW), Republicans and Democrats are possibly further apart than they were at the beginning of the latest fiasco.

More to come when financial markets open on Monday, which, on Wall Street, at least, is not a holiday.

Government Shutdown Day 12: Wait a Minute... Obama Rejects Republican Proposals

The stock market added more than 500 points off its Wednesday lows through the end of the week, believing that the pols in Washington had gotten their collective acts together enough to begin talking about a deal that would re-open the government and avoid a debt ceiling impasse. Most media outlets (including Money Daily) had expected a deal to be worked out by Monday.

That seems to be seriously in doubt, now.

As of Saturday afternoon, Speaker of the House, John Boehner, told his Republican caucus that the president has rejected all of his proposals.

The Washington Post reports that senate leaders Mitch McConnell (R) and Harry Reid (D) are beginning talks aimed at ending the stalemate over the government closure and raising the debt ceiling.

Even though nearly 70% of Americans (proven wrong, time and again) blame the Republican Party for shutting down the government, Thomas Sowell correctly points out that the Democrats are chiefly to blame.

So far, nothing "catastrophic" - as promised - has occurred, but, we're still only less than two weeks into this mess, which should have been handled months ago. We technically breached the debt ceiling in May, but treasury secretary Jack Lew has been raiding federal pension funds and using other "extraordinary measures" since.

The government hasn't had an actual budget since 2007, passing only continuing resolutions since then.

It's NOT over. Stay tuned.

Government Shutdown Day 11: It's Over

As usual, the Republican leadership folded like a cheap suit.

The status quo will remain.

Sorry to have gotten all worked up about it the past few weeks. It's obvious that neither party wishes to change anything.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered what would be known as the "New World." Turns out, it's been so plundered and beaten and exploited that now it looks just like the Old World, a feudal socialistic state which benefits old money and the oligarchy atop the human pyramid.

Good luck with that.

Dow 15,237.11. +111.04 (0.73%)
Nasdaq 3,791.87, +31.13 (0.83%)
S&P 500 1,703.20, +10.64 (0.63%)
10-Yr Bond 2.68% 0.00
NYSE Volume 2,942,500,500
Nasdaq Volume 1,721,708,875
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4125-1472
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 343-43
WTI crude oil: 102.02, -0.99
Gold: 1,268.20, -28.70
Silver: 21.26, -0.637
Corn: 433.25, -5.00

Government Shutdown Day 10: Boehner, Republicans Cave to Scare Pressure?; Stocks Rally

After Treasury Secretary Jack Lew scared the begeezus out of congress and the public this morning in his congressional testimony, Speaker of the house, John Boehner went back to his caucus and outlined a compromise to be presented to senate Democrats and the president.

It goes something like this: Republicans will agree to an extension (raise) of the debt limit for six weeks. whether or not the government re-opens is still an open question. Republican leaders meet at the White House at 4:30 pm EDT (note: after markets are closed).

Essentially, the Republicans will propose a six-week extension of the debt ceiling, in order to avoid "default," which is nothing but a scarecrow argument since the US government never was and probably never will be anywhere close to defaulting on any of its outstanding debt, otherwise known as treasury obligations, bonds. bills and notes, because the government takes in 10 times the amount of money that it owes in interest. Paying down the principal may be another thing altogether, but that's not part and parcel of the "default" argument.

Stocks had their second-best session of the year, eclipsing the gains from the first full session of 2013, on January 2nd, but, these gains were based on speculation that the politicians would reach a compromise solution on the debt ceiling and a cntinuing resolution to fund the government. At this writing, neither condition has been met.

Why the timing of today's meeting at the White House is important is because If John Boehner emerges with a scowl and says that they still have differences to iron out, stocks could erase some, all or more of today's gains on Friday. So, the various balls being juggled by the House, Senate and the White House are still very up in the air, which is why playing stocks is sometimes called "investing," and more often defined as "speculation." Today is all speculation.

This brief summary of a portion of Goethe's Faust underscores the nature of today's Western government dilemma:

Accompanied by Mephistopheles, Faust attends the court of a ruler whose empire is facing financial ruin because of profligate government spending. Rather than urging the emperor to be more fiscally responsible, Mephistopheles—disguised, revealingly, as a court jester—suggests a different approach, one with disturbing parallels to our own age.

Noting that the empire’s currency is gold, Mephistopheles maintains there is surely plenty of undiscovered gold underneath the earth belonging to the emperor. Thus, he argues, the emperor can issue promissory notes for the value of this yet-to-be-found gold, thereby generating fresh monetary resources for the government and solving its debt problems.

Not surprisingly, the emperor and his treasurer are delighted with this idea. It means the monarch can avoid making hard economic choices while simultaneously providing the empire with desperately needed currency. Mephistopheles subsequently deluges the court with paper money, and Faust is praised by emperor and commoner alike.

The results, however, are not what are expected. First, the issuance of paper money does not solve the emperor’s spending problems. Instead the ruler and his court become even more extravagant, knowing they can always print more paper money to cover their ever-growing expenses. Second, the devil has subtly but fundamentally changed the basis of the empire’s currency. Instead of being rooted in the solidity offered by a tangible and valued asset, the currency is now based on flimsy paper promises. Thus long-term monetary stability and powerful restraints on extravagant government spending are sacrificed for short-term gain.

Goethe finished writing the second part of Faust in 1832.

In other, national security, news, this report, "$2 Billion NSA Spy Center is Going Up in Flames," caught our attention. Maybe there is a god that punishes evil-doers. Or, maybe karma has a nasty cumulative side=effect?

Dow 15,126.07, +323.09 (2.18%)
Nasdaq 3,760.75, +82.97 (2.26%)
S&P 500 1,692.56, +36.16 (2.18%)
10-Yr Bond 2.69%, +0.04
NYSE Volume 3,368,936,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,814,198,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4773-857
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 204-34
WTI crude oil: 103.01, +1.40
Gold: 1,296.90, -10.30
Silver: 21.90, +0.005
Corn: 438.25, -5.25