Archive - Feb 2, 2011 - Blog entry

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he doesn’t mind breaking promises to pensioners to close a $10.5 billion budget deficit -- even if they sue...

This is just like when the British police attacked the non-violent protesters led by Gandhi, or the police in towns in the South of the United States attacked the peaceful protesters led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

What if a rating agency downgraded a country and no one listened?

With all of the news outlets focused on tensions in the Middle East, have we forgotten about the elephant(s) in the room? Ireland’s credit rating was downgraded one level to A- today by Standard & Poor’s - leaving it four levels above “junk” status. To add insult to injury, S&P said that the country remains on “credit watch with negative implications.” Nonetheless, the market barely shrugged. In fact, we remain within points of the post meltdown highs. The real kicker was the fact that Ireland’s 5-yr Credit Default Swaps FELL 4.6% today in the face of the downgrade. Perhaps the market has become numb to the rating agencies.

To my way of thinking, you only own Gold if you OWN Gold. By this I mean you have REAL ACTUAL GOLD in your hands, NOT a claim on Gold that someone else CLAIMS is exists. After all, the paper-based Gold ETFs are all run by large banks that claim to have enormous warehouses of Gold. Seeing as these institutions are all lying about the toxic debts, off-balance sheet assets, and more… what’s to stop them from lying about their bullion reserves?

They were not trying to be ... cough ... subtle

Once again the famous hedge hog Punxatawdry Ben...

Not all debt is the same, so it would seem. Expect runs on Ireland, Greece and Portugal way before Japan despite the fact Japan has twice the debt as a proportion of GDP!

"A possible outcome could be that California, NY and Illinois band together and invade Texas. Texas will prove to be the balance of power as the “beggar my neighbor’s state” policies unfold."

That's right folks - MORE FREE MONEY! This is just what Egypt needs, I guess. Europe too

So here's what it will look like of the Tunisian/Egyptian/Yemen parade skips across to the EU. Can you spell U-G-L-Y?

Now that yo have read the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's fascinating report, are you ready to play the real game...

There's no comparison between the Land of the Free and Egypt ... or is there?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's chief, bluntly called for worsening conditions worldwide and a deepening global economic crisis: "We could see rising social and political instability within nations – even war," he said. As the chief of one of the "world banks", when does identifying a problem you helped create absolve you from blame and its eventual repercussions?

Claims that total defaults in the municipal bond market could reach $100 billion are vastly exaggerated. Teachers will starve, police and firemen will go on strike, and there will be rioting in the streets before a single interest payment is missed to bond holders. Defaults will rise, but it will be from two to only 20, not the hundreds that Whitney is forecasting. Have I seen This movie before?

Welcome to the Year of the Wall Street Fuk Rabbit...