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Open Thread: Greece Expulsion, Bernanke Revulsion, Algo Malfunction
Is the fabled Greek bailout not happening? Will Greece be expelled from the Eurozone finally? Is China withdrawing too much liquidity? Did Bernanke say anything true or factual yesterday? Will Goldman ever upgrade a stock with less than 20% short interest? Will algos ever stop gunning the market higher: can we close green 30 days in a row? How about 300? Will we ever see a billion shares traded in one day again (in other words a down day)? For this and anything else, this is today's open thread.
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The market loves the Greece bailout story; it gets to rally every time another deal is "finalized" to bail them out. Don't be going and spoiling the fun! Eight or ten more Greek bailouts and the S&P hits 1200.
This is great. You could also apply this to HealthCare & Bank Reform.
+10
In the mean time get your T-Shirt here and right now, and be one of the first to show you are down to smoke some DOPE with President Obama!Now that's some funny shit that only some kick-ass stickey ickey would make better!
Funny thing is, it rings of a lot of surreal possiblity.
Give a man a joint, he smokes for a day, teach him to grow, he smokes for life.
Light a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and you keep him warm for the rest of his life.
Voila, better than expected!
Rope-a-Dope then Cope.
Classic funny.
throw in a ralph nader i am mad as hell†
whoa ralphy going off on dennis kucinich CAVING, wake up america you go RN. bring it on.
on Democracy Now!
dennis got a blow job from obama
Great read, and very funny
Speaking of the upcoming HealthCare vote this coming sabbath, check out the 3.8% tax on investment income on pg 88 of the new slew of amendments:
http://docs.house.gov/rules/hr4872/111_hr4872_amndsub.pdf
There sneaking in all kinds of stuff, tricky-tricky (pg 106):
And there are amendments that would also apply to HR 3590 which was passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve last year - only needs to be signed by the Prez - they just wanted to get in a "few more" tweaks before he did so (oh, and they changed the name):
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3590
ermany just sent this message to the people of Greece!
How to you separate the Greek men from the boys? With a Crowbar
Well, I guess that rules out a German bailout! lol
The Greek two step has turned into a waltz. Care to dance?
Soon they will be dancing Zorba the sh*t.
Seriously though, it may be better to go back to the old days, roll out the drachma, realign government salaries to sustainable levels, concentrate on agriculture and tourism and they will come. People will be able to affford domestic agri products, but not ipods which is a good thing.
Throw in some praying to the olympian gods, charge for the olympic flame every two years and so on and make a new start.
Another twist will be to make Greece an off-shore banking haven with no reporting to other governments and you got a working model.
Good luck
1. Not sure
2. Don't know
3. Don't know
4. Bernanke? truth? I would say no.
5. No
6. You never know
7. 300 days in a row? possible. You never know.
8. Don't know
Goodbye America, it was nice knowing you, for a while at least
America, or the so-called democratic (representative republic) system of governance, was just another slave control system to kick the can down the road a few more centuries while the rich get richer and were enabled to exploit natural resources (humans being the principal resource) in the name of "democracy" and "capitalism" or "freedom".
What slaves could possibly be more productive than those who think they are "free", or at least those who think they have a "real" chance to be "free". The control system allows a few to escape now and then (the American dream, streets paved with gold, lottery etc) to keep the vast majority grinding away at the machine.
Work, eat, TV, sleep, repeat. Of course, our egos would never allow us to see this as I just described. We were not free, we just had more liberty than those who came before. And now that's changing.
I appreciate this comment. The point of living is worst case survival. Best case is wealth and autonomy for you and yours.
wealth = power
power = autonomy
autonomy = the closest thing most humans get to freedom
It is hard to see this in American society. Its relative youth and the "melting pot" nature of integration reinforces the weakening of tradition and the destruction of social forces that other cultures forge to act as a countervailing force opposed to institutional governments. This has both good and bad.
Long-lasting cultures are typically relational not individualistic. Families by design diversify member roles in society. For example, during WWII you would see families with both Chinese communists, Nationalists, and organized crime operatives break bread as a family without any concern for ideological constructions.
I think you missed the part about the masses being plundered by a cartel of banksters
This plundering has gone on consistently since organized society existed. No one notices/cares about skimming until everything comes apart at the seams and the skim looks egregious.
Accept things you can't change and modify behavior to mitigate the effects as best as possible.
Move to the Caribbean. I hear it's sunny there and the taxes are low.
One day, baby. One sweet day.
I agree with you 100 percent and have thought the same for a while now..its a slap in the face when that realization sets in but it also opens your mind...freedom the great american scheme
For the vast majority, the cognitive dissonant slap to the face is so shocking that nearly all will scurry back to the controlling medium of TV, to be reassured that this concept is wrong and they are not slaves. The longer we participate in the denial, the harder it is to break out of the denial. The softer easier way is to remain inert, to go with the flow, to be told what we wish to hear and most importantly, to tell others what we and they wish to hear.
The slave control system is thus ultimately perpetuated by us. No one is keeping the slaves, who outnumber the masters 100 to 1 and outnumber the slave keepers 10 to 1, from breaking their bonds. We must be convinced we are powerless, to not even consider fighting back, to lay down our arms. Or better yet, to not even pick them up in the first place. After all, everyone knows you can't fight city hall nor the Fed.
We live on a prison planet of our own making and we should be damn glad the gruel tastes as good as it does.
The only place freedom exists is between your ears. The rest of it is an illusion. If you are not free within yourself, you will be free nowhere, no matter how great your wealth.
Would you prefer to live the life of Lloyd Bankfein, under armed guard 24/7, and though he be vastly wealthy, has no freedom to use it as he wishes? Cannnot move about as he wishes, can't even be away from a phone more than 60 seconds? That is freedom? He's a prisoner in a cage of his own making, as are all the power-mongers, slaves to the belief that money and power makes them free. Yet they live slavish lives to an idea that keeps them chained to the wheel. I don't resent them, I pity them, poor fools that they are.
I am not talking about armed or even physical resistance. If we were to simply understand our condition, there would no longer be the mental chains to unshackle. I used the term "pick up arms" metaphorically to mean resist the confinement we place ourselves within. I'm talking about mental release, the between the ears stuff you mention. We are our own jailers.
... looking at the shadows on the wall, or the TV in this case.
Most excellent there, Moo-cow. I assume you are alluding to Plato.
Allegory of the CaveAs fine an analogy as I've seen all day.
Who'd flag a well fit Plato reference as junk? And this is an open thread, no less...
CD's posts keep getting flagged - I think every oneof them has one, and most have two. We all need to protest - if theyhave a junk button they need to have a + button of some sort that we can use to offset - otherwise whoever these assclowns are will ruin the whole reason most of us are here.
CD is one of my favorite comentors (there are many, but his always make me think). I'm sure they have to have a way to see who's being the prick though.
Hope Tyler looks into it.
The + button is an excellent idea.
I second that notion
We are our own jailers.
Yes. But, I reserve the right to "pick up arms" non-metaphorically.
By the way, CD, a month or two ago someone here at ZH (not you I think) HIGHLY recommended a book: "The Master and his Emissary" (Iain McGilchrist). It is a great work on the hemispheres of the brain, how they interact, how they even conflict, etc. It is tough sledding for us non-psych types, but it looks like a book you would like.
Ditto.
Why else would they have put it in the Bill of Rights?
Here's one for RobotTrader:
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/NastyFO/The2ndAmendment.png
"But, I reserve the right to "pick up arms" non-metaphorically."
I agree and I'm well armed. Only a fool doesn't prepare for such an obvious potential, that there might arise the need to protect the physical body from those who do not respect yours. As Morpheus said to Neo, while they are in the Matrix, most will fight you to remain in the Matrix, thus they are the enemy.
+!!! Noah Vail. I could not agree more.
Where and who we are physically has no thing to do with freedom.
When you have no thing you have no thing to lose.
Again I completely agree. As funny as this may sound - I have a four year old son and the other day he wanted to watch the disney movie "a bugs life". I never saw it before so we sat down and watched it..I am not sure if you saw it before or not but. Immediateley I thought "we are the ants and they (banksters politicians etc) are the grasshoppers". The analogy is sort of gooffy but its true.. If people would think in terms of numbrs instead of being so selfish and thinking in terms of themselves we would revolt..If I didn't have a wife and kid I would already be in the process of "revolting" but since I have much to lose I am waiting for the right time for the best risk reward ratio We have to be willing to fight.. I am on standby. Sorry for the typos this damn blackberry is too small. Take care
Walt Disney was a believer in the slave state, thou he didn't call it that. But from the deep research I've done, Disney was a pioneer in using visual media as propaganda and indoctrination. If you look closely at the old (and new) "cartoons" and "movies" you will find all kinds of subtle messages, many having to do with accepting your lot in life as a slave.
Honor your masters, work hard for the masters and you will be rewarded, your job is to be a good slave, an industrious slave, do as you are told and the master will reward you with food and clothes and a Gold watch and a small retirement stipend, called a pension.
Check out his war stuff. Like the donald duck income tax link I posted a few weeks back. Heavy duty propoganda, and very good at it. Maybe we should just thaw him out and ask.
Walt Disney was a Master of the Dark Arts.
Massive Attack's "Angel" synced w/ Fantasia Night on Bald Mountain:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFQhBmAZHaA
Yep. One has to inquire: "What the Hell was he thinking?"
Mr. Hendrix, you've probably already seen this interesting website and its analyses:
Mickey Mouse and sex objects? No problem!
http://vigilantcitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/phone10.jpg
http://vigilantcitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/desh2.jpg
Wow! TY for this write up. The video had been posted on an earlier thread with the comment, "I want Geithner to go to jail." I hit the link, and watched the vid until the song started; I stopped as I felt my ears begin to bleed.
First, I am so excited I am taking notes on the article, will post.
-Lady Gaga as "Isis", and "child"
-"Thelma and Louis"...I recently used this term in reference to Central Bank's policy
-Beyonce...or "Shasha Fierce" as she calls herself.....
-"Does this represent the Illuminati elite poisoning the masses with toxic media?"....
YES! and HFCS/fluoride/chlorine/et al....
-"M. M." sunglasses....Minnie is "Isis"
-"M. Mouse ears or designs often occultists refer to [as]".....HORNS
-The two as "patriotic" Columbia, dancing over dead bodies
-Final scene, pussy wagon....Isis veiled....white and black dresses, dualistic, Jachin and Boaz
I'm not sure you can lose, Golden One, by being a good example.
The thing you can give your family is salvation by doing the right thing.
This comes from one who can easily say this as my family has grown up and have lives of their own. I'm not sure I wouldn't be in your camp were the little ones still at home.
"This comes from one who can easily say this as my family has grown up and have lives of their own. I'm not sure I wouldn't be in your camp were the little ones still at home."
This is why there is the constant, though subtle, threat of violence from the system always flowing under the surface, to keep the slaves who might think of escape in line. Driving down the road, flashing lights in the rear view mirror, the sphincter tightens for a second. If you don't get out of the car when told, the pistol comes out. You don't pay the rent, the sheriff comes with the eviction order and a pistol on his/her hip.
In response to a conversation I was having about violence in our society being pervasive, a friend said he didn't see any violence. Of course you don't because you don't resist. You never ever cross the line, thus there is no need for the authorities to take the Glock from the holster. But there is little doubt that this line is being pushed back everyday, a little here, a little there.
Papers please. What are you going to do? Resist over showing your papers? Of course not. This is the brilliance of the (violent) control system. You are always given a rational choice. Hand the officer your license and registration after being caught in an obvious (and illegal) speed trap or be pulled from the car. Pay the rent and you won't see the gun. Play by the rules, which are becoming more oppressive, and you will never see the violence. Unless of course you are caught driving while black or something else along those lines. Of course, my friend was a middle class professional Caucasian. No violence here.
Who junks a post like CD's???
=/
In the age of political correctness, where no one dare declare the emperor has no clothes and we close the window when the neighbor beats the wife, frankness such as mine is that cognitive dissonant slap most people will often consider rude or ugly. We live within the lowest common denominator of emotional tolerance. The more desperate people become in their refusal to acknowledge the big lie(s), the more they crave the little lies, which act as soothing balms to cool their tormented minds.
In my opinion, this is why mass killings, violent assaults against strangers and "postal" postal carriers are accelerating. The more dysfunctional we are in our own lives, caused by living with the big lie(s) without relief, the more psychotic and suicidal we become. Have you seen the statistics for the numbers of prescriptions (meaning 30 days of dosage) for Zoloft, hydrocodone and various other physical and emotional painkillers were written in 2007, the last year of data?
Something like 450 Million, meaning each and every person living in America, including the children and aged, was zonked out 45 days out of 365. If you eliminate the children under 16, that means 65 days out of 365 days were glassy eyed for the USA population. Eliminate half the rest of the population and that means 130 days out of 365 were drug days for half your co-workers.
Scary when you think about it. The medicated generation. The only way we can survive today is to forget yesterday and do the zombie stumble through today and tomorrow.
Never underestimate the fascists' willingness to medicate children. It's one of the Medical Pharmiceutical Industry's fastest growing demographics. I spent 8 years, from 8 to 16, 1/4 of my life, heavily medicated for being non-compliant to the system (ADHD in public school system).
Medication fills the gaps for the psychopaths in charge. For those who are discontented, yet do not realize this is due to the inhuman conditions suffered in the Matrix, medications obsure the realities and numb the pain.
A substantial number of people, faced with the gargantuan task of living with this pain, simply shut down. It is a strategy for dealing with, or rather putting off dealing with, intimidating pressures. This is an evolved trait. The science of behaivior is the fascist's tool box.
Naomi Klein covers this with an accent on fear in Shock Doctrine. Bruce Levine writes about the clinical aspect of this behaivior in Surviving America's Depression Epidemic. The result is clear: obedience to authority; compliance with the system; slavery.
It is among the tragic aspects of the situation our civilization faces. Don't let your heart be troubled too much though. It can't last. Like all things unsustainable, it must end. Even if it involves the extinction of mankind, it can't last.
The only solution to "evil" such as this (don't like the term but I'll use it because everyone understands the meaning) is to get out of the way and let it expend itself. I have found that evil feeds off the force applied to oppose it. The more you oppose, the stronger it gets. Elevate your consciousness above it, find the higher frequencies of enlightenment and evil quickly falters and is extinguished.
This is why we hear nothing from the MSM but fear, terror, anger, etc. Low frequencies that close the mind, and blind the eye (both the inner and outer) to what is. People get so wrapped up the closed door in front of them they don't see the thousands of open doors around them.
prozac, is mostly a flouride compound, even if you don't have a prescription, you are being drugged, every time you expose yourself to tap water.
Probably a coincidence theorist.
Streets paved with gold? Not good! Be careful what you ask for.
Gold, too soft. Cold in the winter, hot in the summer with big expansion and contraction at joints. Would wear out fast and have to be replaced often.
Gold is no good. Good old concrete is the easiest and best.
What do we really want?
In one sense, these are times of great progress. We have the data storage and computational power to locate and identify the miscreants within society. We just have to convince ALL the members of that society that, in the long run, the rewards are far greater if we elevate hard work and creative talent and modify the behavior of destructive individuals so that they can contribute whatever their real talent affords. Of course, the really crazy ones will always have to be incarcerated.
Sam Walton, even when he was one of the world's "richest" men, wanted his morning coffee in the local diner where he knew the people and then maybe go bird hunting with his hound dog in the rear of his pickup truck. He was sane.
What I really enjoy now is interesting readings and dialog. "Zerohedge" is certainly in that category
What I want is for the bankers and politicans to behave themselves like adult men and women. I don't want to have to defend myself in a physical sense or in a financial sense against crazy people.
"One man's junk is another man's treasure." This post is a find of value!
I'm more worried about who creates the definition, not the crazy people.
And thanks to the "Patriot" Act (recently renewed without a peep from MSM) "justice" is more swift because ordinary people now have to prove their innocence, not the other way around. Trading freedom for perceived security.
I’m OK, You’re OK! I get the message, WaterWings, loud and clear. If Dickens were here he’s say “these are the worst of times…the times that try men’s souls." It’s quite a new and disturbing position here, in “the land of the free.”
I wonder. Don't you think work was invented so people won't go crazy? I try to imagine a world without work, no problem for me, but unless you are self-directed, motivated, and actualized the work, eat, sleep, repeat routine seems to be essential for 6 billion people who haven't a clue what to do with their time. Look at sub- Sahara Africa and Haiti, parts of the american rurality.
Freedom requires self-reliance and determination which I don't see in any but a fraction of the people I know, and from all indications on a global level, there is too little actual work that people can do or invent their way to doing.
Ripe for exploitation no doubt but what is the alternative when people in countries that are 3rd and 4th world, unexploited, when all they seem to do is screw and reproduce children who will die?
I think many see this and the lack of entrepeneurship for whatever the reason points to a civilization that does as little as it can to get by.
It is irritating that any moron can come along and junk a perfectly good comment. CD has 2 already and 2 more will put him off the screen.
I think junkers should self identify if they have any balls or semblence of selfrespect. Its almost like some kid going na na ne na na finger in one nostril
Thank you for the covering my backside. I save my posts, so if one goes down, I'll be back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTx9WMsxLLM
Who's the retard that keeps flagging all the thought provoking comentary as junk?
They need to change this system - idiots should not be allowed to kill threads because they're to lame to understand the post...
We'll meet again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb0mxcpPOU
Spring fever.
$3 gasoline.
April 15'th.
Health Care Collapse ][.
Double Dip.
Election season.
Can someone answer these 2 questions for me?
1. If Fannie, Freddie and the FHA are buying 90% of all mortages, what difference does it make if the Fed is done sucking up MBS. After 1.25T, how much is left out there?
2. If the Primary Dealers (i.e. GS) borrow mass quantities of free money and turn around and buy Treasuries each week, who cares if the Fed says they are going to stop quantitative easing?
The market and this administration is a complete scam.
Thanks,
DH
FYI, 1.25T was represented 10% of the mortgage market according to the Fed. FNM/FRE both own about $6 trillion (par value), which probably only worth about $5T today.
So you could basically estimate that the Fed essentially bought up 20% of the entire mortgage market (since everything is FNM/FRE-conforming loans nowadays, no more jumbos). Really it's all a slight-of-hand. It was a giant bailout for FNM/FRE, on top of the $500-billion infinite credit line
You are too kind. That $6T of mortgages is worth perhaps $3T, tops.
Obama says US may soon be adding jobs instead of losing them..
well depends on what you call 'jobs' and 'soon' I suppose
and how you define 'may'
Or how much the bls adjusts for the holiday hiring season in dec. If they overestimated hiring for holidays, then adjust and say not as many people got fired post holiday season. Add in the census workers (who don't show up to work before 10 am) and you could get an uptick in jobs numbers. The administration will pat itself on the back, claim we're in a recovery.
I'm quite sure they can "create" a few hundred-thousand (or million) census workers...
Please tell me why they need so many census workers just to mail everyone a post card with 10 easy questions on it?
To create debt/monies.
Obama says
http://bit.ly/a4aWsc
:) :) :) :)
Those would be gov't jobs.
we are creating jobs? What country?
The fabled Greek bailout me thinks will come from the IMF. Spain is too big for the IMF so the EU can't dodge the bullet. Abandon all hope all those who enter there.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/7467672...
Following the Greeks' lead, the Irish have started bailout negotiations:
http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/snatch-production-photos-snatch-761361_400_267.jpg
They want the hector two roof lights, with the discover cushions and the matching side stripe caravan. And Mickey's ma is terrible partial to the periwinkle blue. In exchange, Ireland will decrease its budget deficit by an additional 0.5% and Mickey will take a dive in the fourth.
Never trust a piker.
What the EU needs is Bricktop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpF-oUvwruI&feature=related
Bingo! Yet the idea that the IMF has to come to the rescue like some deus ex machina is somewhat of a red herring. Seems to me that some 186 some odd nations of the planet as well as all EU members are resident quota bearing members of the IMF which is so seamlessly and inextricably interwoven into the international economy as to constitute what Greg Palast calls "its own secret world government".
Already the austerity measures undertaken by the Greek government and the subsequent percolating social unrest bears the unmistakeable and indelible impress of the IMF modus operandi. Stiglitz himself outlines the IMF playbook of privatization, market liberalization,and so-called market based pricing culminating in what he himself has dubbed the "IMF riot".
Instructive in this respect is a recent article by Ron Kirby at Gold Seek detailing the fraudulent accounting (no!) engaged in by the Federal Reserve regarding back dating of some $109.9 billion, in gold/SDRs in Q3/09, amounting to some 3/4 of the sovereign gold supply of the United States.This transaction was not recorded in Q3/09 only appearing much later on the books in March,2010.
Apparently the Federal Reserve is not the only entity manufacturing money out of thin air. The IMF in August 2009, in its self appointed capacity as lender of last resort, printed SDRs, which were deposited in the U.S. Treasury and transferred to the FED account for US$. In much the some way the Fed exchanged the SDR/gold for US$ valuation in a transaction involving an immense 5,937 tons of gold; the point being that the IMF is and has been very much involved in the Greek financial debacle and continues to be despite this disingenuous disinformation being peddled at the Telegraph.UK.
I am as bearish as a bear could be, with only a very small short, underwater by about 10% position in the market (thank God)......
......I'm now thinking this Bernanke-driven market is going to go to the fuckin moon. There seems to be no possible way it can go lower even for more than a week. So, let it be.
I'm going to stay in cash. The one thing I can see from this is a mega-explosion at some point in the not-to-distant future.
I hope the cheap-money whore Bernanke really gets it when it blows too. This guy should know better, but he doesn't, and refuses to learn. Therefore, he needs to take a big whack of responsibility for this. Hoping I see the day where he is tried, but I'm not losing sleep.
Once they get all the SteveNYC of the world to convert, which is the reason for the continued UP DAYS, then the buying of the public begins. THats when THEY get out. Wall Street will sell it to you and laugh all theway to the bank....while we get raped again and again....
Convert, never.
Accept, absolutely.
As "greed" is not in my vocabulary, and I am in a relatively comfortable financial position, there is no "converting" possible here. Just a sideline watcher of the sham markets, and a martyr for the suffering.
SteveNYC I applaud you and all others whos moral compass still works.
Its more often the harder path to follow. When the enemy has no one to trade with but itself I will cheer and have a party.
Like Steve, I am also bearish as a bear could be. But retail is getting in here. Data points to big inflows into funds from the little guys now believing the "all safe" whistle has been blown. That is definitely happening. We're getting closer to the top....just not quite there yet.
Sold one of my bigger long positions recently (1/4 of total account) buying SDS slowly to replace it. It's not if, it's when will this market implode again.
SteveNYC,
I am 65% in cash and 35% short (via SH etf) and underwater 10% on it. I will hold it until it goes to zero, because I have a 30 year timeframe and I think we are Japan.
I am watching gold carefully and considering putting further savings in there.
I figure worst case scenario is the market skyrockets irrationally, in which case I can hopefully find a more lucrative job to make up for my investment losses.
Investing in the market as a hedge against employment is an interesting idea.
It would be nice to have a job and a rising portfolio at the same time. It is even better, however, to have a portfolio that shoots up when you lose your job and the economy goes down the tubes.
The strategy is sort of like inverse-stock options in that the worse your company does (and thereby the worse your job safety is) the more your investments go up if you bet correctly. 'Job insurance' is a not a bad idea to consider. So now you could also under the 'job insurance' idea short certain investments and if you lose them then that means the economy is getting better and so would your job prospects (theoretically).
More thought to be done on this idea, but you bring up an interesting view point.
I bought some Aussie dollars early last year in the 60's, and then again in the low 80's. Covered some in the mid 80's, but that has been a good trade. Getting 4.5% in the bank down there too.
Not sure I'd say it's a good time to buy Aussie though, as it's pretty bubbly right now, and their property market could go kaboom if China stops buying ore.
Keep an eye on your shorts, don't use the levered ETF's if you have a longterm outlook as time decay will kill them. Good luck.
Welcome, my dear Deflationist friends, to the Camp Inflation. It has taken you a while to arrive, but we're glad to finally have you. As we always say, better late than never.
You see, we here at Camp Inflation see the same fundamental problems as you do with our economy. We see the job losses. We see the unpayable debt. We see the bankruptcies.
Yet, here we are all believers of Newton's Third Law, being: for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. So, although the general economy is suffering, we see that Bernanke's printing press WILL have an opposite and equal reaction. Said reaction will be a rise in prices. We are not saying we believe it should be so. We are not saying we support it. We are not claiming it will solve the underlying structural problems.
But we are saying that action will have a reaction. There must be one. That reaction, again, is that prices will rise. Whether or not the economy is improving, prices will rise if you print money.
Choose to ignore it and you will hold onto your paper in Camp Deflation until you're shoveling it into your campfire for heat. But should you choose to accept your invitation to the Inflation Camp, pull up a chair, grab a cold one, and get comfy, because the night is just getting started. Oh, and buy a few gold coins.
Regarding the calamity that some blindly refer to as 'the free market'....
Legislation, rules, and laws are only as effective as those willing and able to enforce them. More optics everywhere, IMHO. For example, lets assume the 'Dodd bill' passes. What are the penalties for failure to comply? A $10M fine? $50M fine? Chump change for these TBTF guys. TBTF will just have the shareholders pay for the fines by issuing more stock ... and then giving themselves a bonus. Shareholder dilution will also need to factor in excessive attorney fees (to defend corrupt accounting practices) and political contributions. And if shareholder dilution is not enough, the taxpayer will ultimately end up with the bill. Risk to Reward for these TBTF guys still tilts towards recklessness, coercion, and fraud. What a system. Given the current composition of folks within the establishment, nothing has changed, nothing will change.
Unfortunately, it may take a revolution once a breaking point of critical mass is reached.
Economic observation. Walked into Walmart yesterday morning. EMPTY!, 3 shoppers and 5 employees as I walked around the whole thing. Took 5 minutes to get a clerk to open the almost empty ammo case. It was emptier when I left.
I've had similar "Walmart moments". There will be about 100 cars in the parking lot... nowhere near full... yet only about 10 shoppers. WTF?
At night, I'll drive by and see a number of vans, cars, and RV's parked around the edges of the lot. The same vehicles are there every night.
People are living in Walmart parking lots.
The Walmarts around here require you register and get a permit to park overnight, too many people were living there full time. This happened about two years ago.
I have seen the same decline in shoppers around here, except around the first when seniors get their SS checks.
What are they charging for the permits? Could be a new business model here, to replace retail sales.
So far it is free (they just don't want Walmartville residents to be getting mail delivery there). Plus, they are competing against ghost malls with lots of asphalt and no retail tenants. This will be a freebie for awhile, just don't over stay your welcome.
Has anyone considered that the companies may be lying about their revenue, earnings and profit by order of the government? Many people are not aware that the president can allow (order) companies to cook the books in the name of national security.
Intelligence Czar Can Waive SEC Rules Now, the White House's top spymaster can cite national security to exempt businesses from reporting requirementsA trip to the statute books showed that the amended version of the 1934 act states that "with respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States," the President or the head of an Executive Branch agency may exempt companies from certain critical legal obligations. These obligations include keeping accurate "books, records, and accounts" and maintaining "a system of internal accounting controls sufficient" to ensure the propriety of financial transactions and the preparation of financial statements in compliance with "generally accepted accounting principles."
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2006/nf20060523_2210.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
Well CD, you have (once again) blown me right out of the water with your gems.
Suddenly, much of the offenses we are outraged over look as if they could be, in fact, sanctioned.
Tyler...please stop anomimous POSTS, if the person can't have the guts to identify themselves they should have the right to influence readers.
Last time I looked at a Walmart ammo case, it was almost empty too.
But, my local gun shop had 9mm and 7.62x39 ammo. Will buy more when I get back to the USA.
More gold too.
The markets continue to magically melt-up every day, no matter how bad the news, until it doesn't. And thats all you can trade on these days.
When I look at this world economic situation, what comes to mind is musical chairs, and there are no chairs when the music stops, not even 1.
Extend and pretend, everyones a winna, step right up!
Thought some of you might find this chart of the Greek credit complex interesting for some perspective on what has happened in the last week or two (hint - Greece is still at the limit)..
I could not embed the doc (sorry) - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28561890/Greek-Debt-Chart-Update
Posted the following on Feb 12th, then an add-on
Let me get this straight...
The country of Greece, where a third of the economy is underground, where over the last 175 years the country has been in default about half the time, will now be monitored by the EU to insure that all future government statistics are accurate, will give the EU the power to audit its' books, and will have to follow the austerity measures laid out by the EU?
Are you kidding me?
There is no chance in Hellenic that Germany will support anything other than a Potemkin bailout.
Oh and might you suppose that the EU, once follow up reports from Greece show that there are -harumph- still ongoing 'discrepancies', will fine Greece for its' transgressions?
Other EU members probably won't be too terribly willing to gnaw at the horsehair holding the Damocles sword dangling above them also.
The canaries are chirping this morning as Dubai CDS, measured by bps, explode by over 17%.
And the dominoes are being set up as witnessed by the Spanish consortium scurrying to London to meet with its' 'bondholders'.
As mentioned on this blog in December of 2008 :
'A bank holiday where the Federales liquidate insolvent banks' capital structures (with the burden of proving solvency emphasized) per a crazy concept called price discovery is in the national security interest of the United States.
Fiscal initiatives that mandate and hold steadfast to the goal of increasing incomes on a generational basis are the greatest challenge in front of us.
Although it grieves me to say it, both given the implications for human suffering and the rapscallions throughout history that have parroted such a view but ... sometimes to solve a problem you have to make it a bigger problem.
If we can accomplish the Houidini-esque stunt of funding this debt at manageable levels it will only be by literally defining AAA as anything American (i.e. if America becomes AA then literally AA is the new AAA, with the assumption that the reasons for our 'downgrade' would serve as deleterious to all others, except maybe Mr. Gold.)'
I believe this vision is playing out. We are the last canary, and the biggest domino. But given the magic of our reserve currency, our 'downgrade' will only occur within the context of the world being downgraded first.
I've always held firm to the thesis that deflation is the midwife to hyperinflation. A real deflation, not just disinflation, requires liquidity evaporation due to multiple sovereign crises, where the backstop is called into question.
Deflation is the dollar bid, hyper-inflation is the downgrade of American's citizenry commensurate with a currency devaluation .
Would suggest that the quantity of liquidity evaporation will very much define the quality of any hyper-inflation.
We have a free skate while there are troubles in Euroland (should stretch over months not weeks) and then we'll find out just how thin our ice really is.
Beware the Trojan Hoax.
Add-on : Do you wonder why the Spanish killed the hedgie restrictions per the bidding of the Brits? Look no further then the reference in the post above of ' Spanish consortium scurrying to London to meet with its' 'bondholders''
Some day we too might have to do a favor for our future Asian overlords... those trillions will keep adding up!
"I believe this vision is playing out. We are the last canary, and the biggest domino. But given the magic of our reserve currency, our 'downgrade' will only occur within the context of the world being downgraded first."
No big deal. Since the entire world is now in the same boat, just as long as the gunwales stay above the waterline, who cares if the whole sticking mess slips a little lower in the water. It's all relative after all. And when the water does eventually come over the edge? We just declare this normal, bail(out) a little faster and carry on. Since no one wants to go into the cold water first, we will all stick together and works towards our eventual destruction as a team.
Remind me please. Which way does the water swirl in a flushed toilet? Northern Hemisphere that is.
"We must all hang together or most assuredly we will hang separately." Ben "Moses" Franklin
"Remind me please. Which way does the water swirl in a flushed toilet? Northern Hemisphere that is."
Are you above the water or underneath it?
LOL
"I've been down so long it looks like up to me." Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stp2hCsOFGY
It was an even better book. Read it as a teenager:
Published April 28, 1966, two days before Fariña died in a motorcycle accident, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me became a cult favorite among fans of his music and eventually attracted the attention of a more literary readership through Fariña's association with Thomas Pynchon, who wrote a blurb for the novel.
Wow, thanks for the cultural reference. I had no idea, which is one of the reasons I love ZH. Some of the most widely informed and open minded people I've ever seen on any blog.
Looks like it's been updated recently.
http://www.amazon.com/Been-Down-Looks-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140189300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268953113&sr=8-1
+10 The level of intellect here is astounding. I actually print the comments out, pages at a time, at times, and read them like a flowing dialogue-type magazine interview.
Well...when I look up I see chunks of ....uh....stuff...
I don't think it's clouds.
No,wait!They are clouds!With happy sunshine in between!
Uncle Ben told me yesterday!
Wheeee!
Dow one-squillion!!
Do you really have 2 sheds? You lucky, lucky bastard.
Regarding Double B's comment that central banking is an "art", kinda reminds me of this scene from the Big Lebowski:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9y6yiLN72Q
Substitute Double B for Julianne Moore and Turbo Tax Tim and Stammerin Hank for the two "assistants". The American public is played by Jeff "The Dude" Bridges.
LOL, one of my all time favorite scenes in a great movie. BTW, Jeff Bridges refused the movie role for a number of years. It was his wife who convinced him to do it, telling him he would be perfect. It was only after he got into character that he realized she was right.
Dude, life is like bowling, with open frames and difficult 7-10 splits, all in pursuit of the perfect 300 game.
Your questions remind me of Batman episodes I used to watch as a kid . Where Batman and Robin are hanging over a pot of boiling liquid nitrogen about to fall in and they would start asking questions of what would happen next .Stay tuned ......
Geithner needs to go to prison.
He's there for the fall... won't change anything.
Most on the top deserve prison and the only way it will happen is when the citizens get together and do it. Do not count on anything else.
"...it will happen is when the citizens get together and do it."
That's the historical way that it is done in these situations.
Prisons, pitchforks, guillotines, etc...
Any smart people have an explanation as to why SPU's look so stable in light of what's happening in FX??? Please, no "PPT" answers, I know.
Just a matter of price fixing by the Government.
If the Government does it I guess it becomes legal.
Goldman is a Monopoly now and with their HFT once the Government fixes the price for the day Goldmans HFT keeps it there.
Eventually, it will ruion the Market. Maybe not immediatly but as more and more People stop Trading and Shorting there will be no more people feeding into the HFT and the Government pump.
Traders will eventually give up the Market for good and find other activities other than watching the Market flatline every day. Probably get a Job and take away Jobs from thoes who really need them.
Dollar goes down, market goes up.
Dollar goes up, market goes up. Dollar broke a major resistance today (80/80.5) and market hardly noticed :/
...the intent is to keep the dollar cadence followers off balance....aka the shorts.
I saw the same thing you observed. Only makes sense when you believe in the invisible hand.
There's a storm comming, Greece is as good of an excuse as any to ignite the fire that will comsume all. Stop by SwarmUSA.com and take a look at a plan to either stop this debt based money madness or use to concepts put forth to rebuild after the world goes up in flames.
Are they too on The Southern Poverty Law Center's list of dangerous extremists?
Anyone else notice that as soon as an anti-banker/anti-fed group gets ANY traction there comes the SPLC to brand them "right-wing extremists", "hate groups", "fringe elements" and lump them into the same list as the KKK and Aryan Nation?
Who funds them? Anyone know?
I don't know, but I asked my trading algo, and it said "10100011" (AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, AFFIRMATIVE, AFFIRMATIVE). It also asked me where somebody named "Sarah Connor" was -- who the hell is that?
We need a Sarah Conner to fight the financial terminators. Marla where are you?
as sick as this sounds, i want it to keep going up, see how sick these people really are, 24 outta 28 days up for S&P, I want 91 outta 100.
predatory capitalism ...is out surviving the herd is as good as it gets ?
When is it time to stop snickering and giggling and finger pointing at the crazy conspiracy theorists? I think the laughter should be subsiding a bit as one witnesses the Greek Isle financial tragedy and the Wall Street duplicity now unfolding in the Eurozone. The regionalization of nations was to be the first step as part of the march to world government by the power elites. It is now no laughing matter. Is it? One effort, succeeding or not, is the Trilateral Commission. Listen to these words:
We cannot leap into world government through one quick step, but via progressive regionalization. ~ Zbigniew Brzezinski, former President Carter’s national security advisor, at the State of the World Forum.
The Eurozone, heavily backed by Wall Street-based banks, was to be a part of the regional progression leading to more centralized control, not only of Atlantic interests, but of world power interests. The elites have been at the center of this movement for some time, using the laughter against “conspiracy theories” as their only shield. But occasionally, the bravado leaked through: Senator J. William Fulbright (1963)…”the case for government by elites is irrefutable…government by the people is possible but highly improbable.”
So much for the progress and hopes of Western Civilization.
And here’s a word from the a founder’s mouth, not a Founder of America, but a Founder of the movement (giggle-giggle) that states government by the people is out-dated--banker and globalist David Rockefeller:
We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march toward a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries. ~ from a 1991 speech given to the Trilateral Commission (emphasis mine)
Or, as The NY Times logo puts it: All the News That’s Fit to Print.
Why JR I'm surprised at you. We all know there are only two ways, you are either "with them" or you are "against them". I thought you were with them.
Have you ever wondered why some of the wealthiest people in the world have been financing Communism, Socialism and other forms of violence and revolution?
Dr. Carroll Quigley, who was Fulbright Scholar Bill Clinton’s mentor at Georgetown University and author of Tragedy and Hope and who boasted he was a member of a secret power group that was gaining “the necessary economic and political power to seize the human and natural resources of the entire world,” admitted that although some of these power elite are among the wealthiest in the world, their seizure of power has resulted from Communist agitation and Socialist legislation. This statement should be an eye-opener for both “liberals” and “conservatives,” whatever those labels may mean today.
If one knows the history of Communism, one knows it is merely a branch of a much larger conspiracy, the one I described above. Do you know who financed the Lenin-Trotsky Communist Revolution, Mao’s Communist Revolution, the Ford Foundation’s whitewash of Communism and its massive support of La Raza with its open border network, Kinsey’s attack on Christian morality…?
Have you ever wondered why you are now a mere “human” resource, and no longer a person? Have you yet come to realize that you and I are both outsiders, characterless pawns in this international power game? I hope so.
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a press agent for these people.
JR / Very good posts above. You understand it. Our "tip of the hat" to you. Hang in there. Thanks for your posts...
Zero percent interest rates for an extended period. I think the FED is just talking up their own Book.
The FED is so heavily invested in the S&P Futures there is almost no way they can get out. Hence the daily pump. Every time the Market goes down every FED Governor comes out and makes some statement trying to pumpt the Market. The FED is not used to Volitility hence the flatline to maintain their Investment in the S&P Futures or short pumps to keep the Market UP at all costs.
Problem is no one will Buy at the Top, Shorts are afraid to Short into a Buyer (the FED) that has unlimited Money to Pump, and longs that bought last March are the only ones riding the FED bus and they do not want to Sell.
So where are we? NOWHERE. Alienating Traders and guaranteeing that NO ONE will TRUST the Market as a "FREE" Market.
As far as I see it the Market is now under the control of the FED just like FRE, FNM, AIG, GM etc.
You under estimate the powers that be, they are not heavily invested. In a market you have to have buyers and sellers and they seem to be both. They simply buy what they are selling at a higher price, this scheme will work as long as the price movement keeps going up, which it has.
What Market? Only a sham survives to bear the name
'Proud of yourself, little man? Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent. I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren't you the "good" man? C'mon ..... Show me what you're made of.'
-Batty
Today's FT:
A US bank regulator joined financial executives yesterday in calling for changes to consumer protection rules proposed...
'In every case consumer protection has the edge and will trump safety and soundness and I think that is backwards' said John Dugan, comptroller of the currency,{the bill uses} insufficiently 'preemption', the mechanism where federal regulators overrule state counterparts. Andrew Pincus, a lawyer who has advised the US Chamber of Commerce, argued this week that small business would face a 'significant diminution of credit' if the Dodd bill is made law.
AM here: *@%*@!*$%... Nancy Capitalists in a Sovereign Democracy that are Hell Bent to Seek Rent.(Rule#10)
The Dodd bill, whatever watered-down, beaten-down, version makes it through the captured sausage grinder, most certainly does pose systemic risk. The risk that a credit card application or bill or a mortgage application or statement or any other consumer finance product might, horror upon horror, be written in plain English and be compromised of one or two descriptive pages as opposed to twenty or thirty. A risk to a system held far apart from the system you reside in gentle reader.
What oh what will the banksters do if they are forced to engage in a simple, and shudder, transparent transaction! Why the walls of Jericho would fall upon the cursed consumer!
Analogously what would the banksters and other motley corporate structures do if they weren't allowed to run two sets of books like the Cosa Nostra? What would happen to our fragile nascent recovery if the Oracle of Eccles is not divined as the capo di tutti capi?
The cafones and poveretts, for whom the books are always closed have been told 'col tempo la foglia digelso diventa seta'.
Trust us but don't task us lest you see trust in us lost to your peril, whine the custodes.
WIKI: After his arrest, the mafioso Giovanni Brusca described the ceremony in which he was formally made a full member of Cosa Nostra. In 1976 he was invited to a "banquet" at a country house. He was brought into a room where several mafiosi were sitting around a table upon which sat a pistol, a dagger and an image of a saint. They questioned his commitment and his feelings regarding criminality and murder (despite his already having a history of such acts). When he affirmed himself, Salvatore Riina, then the most powerful boss of Cosa Nostra, took a needle and pricked Brusca's finger. Brusca smeared his blood on the image of the saint, which he held in his cupped hands as Riina set it alight. As Brusca juggled the burning image in his hands, Riina said to him: "If you betray Cosa Nostra, your flesh will burn like this saint."
AM here : The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long. And Indy, per every real world statistic that you can empirically squeeze out of the pablum narrative toothpaste, it doth appear that the fire is going out.
"what would the banksters and other motley corporate structures do if they weren't allowed to run two sets of books like the Cosa Nostra"
- Hilarious! +10
Um, has no one noticed this quote from ol'Ben:
"Given the very high level of reserve balances currently in the banking system, the Federal Reserve has ample time to consider the best long-run framework for policy implementation. The Federal Reserve believes it is possible that, ultimately, its operating framework will allow the elimination of minimum reserve requirements, which impose costs and distortions on the banking system."
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20100210a.htm...
yeah...
Originally commented on:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/2096-Im-Gonna-Throw-Up-Berna...
Credit scores also impose distortions on people's abilities to get loans.
Police presence imposes distortions on the maximum speed of my Corvette on the Interstate... etc...
+1
Germany says that Greece should turn to the IMF? Greece should do the same as Iceland and tell the Central Bankers to stick it. Maybe now they will realize that Debt= Slavery, throw the Euro out and re-establish their own currency and sovereignty. There is an answer to Debt based money, where We the People pay interest to private central bankers. Freedom's Vision!! Join the swarms.
www.swarmusa.com
It's not what backs our money, it's who controls it's quantity.
+1
Is the fabled Greek bailout not happening?
There will be likely be some sort of bailout, but it won't be market friendly.
Will Greece be expelled from the Eurozone finally?
Will Spain, Portugal, and Italy also be expelled? They are all likely playing the same GS facilitated debt hiding game as well.
Is China withdrawing too much liquidity?
No, but they will collapse anyway, and that includes Chinese Solars.
Did Bernanke say anything true or factual yesterday?
Of course not.
Will Goldman ever upgrade a stock with less than 20% short interest?
Those jackals are going down, and they will likely short their own stock in the process
Will algos ever stop gunning the market higher: can we close green 30 days in a row? How about 300?
It always feels like this after a big run-up. We are still going down.
Will we ever see a billion shares traded in one day again (in other words a down day)?
Yes.
Also, get on the phone:
http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/
CBO says the $940B healthcare estimate is not final. They haven't seen everything yet. D'oh!
The questions are more revealing than the answers. The good thing about this Greater Depression is that it will allow us to clean house of all the rancid excesses to which we have become accustomed. The worst of these excesses is the constant, frivolous lying with a wink and smile. Oh, for the return of integrity and sound money.
Make every effort to exit through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to exit and will not be able. Once Goldman Sachs (aka redfez) goes and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, let us out of our leveraged positions.'
"But they will answer, 'I do not know you or where you come from.' -- Luke 13:23-25(sic)
Is that from the Gospel according to Blankfein edition?
Doing God's work.
Hey Lloyd, Satan's gonna get all Medieval on your ass for doing God's work!!! Believe it.
The question you want to ask is, when will they unplug the quantservers.
They'll print and pump, melt the markets higher than all time high valuations until someone gets caught in a bad trade with no way out. Then comes the temper tantrum and they'll unplug the HAL 2010 stock frauding computers.
Interesting quote, via Andrew Sullivan's blog. It's from TheStreet, but still interesting:
"Although [the Volcker rule] will never be implemented, we need to be honest about proprietary trading. I spent 25 years as a prop trader, many on this site have spent decades at it and we KNOW - although we never admit to it - what it does to markets.
We want volatility, that's the lifesblood -- the key to making real dough and when we have control of the product as well as the mechanism of the trade -- well, honey -- that's the best, we are unstoppable and can ratchet those trades back and forth every day and plan to buy boats and big houses.
Anyone in the industry who doesn't make the connection of prop trading with wildly overpriced assets, boom/busts, huge leverage, increased risks -- many systemic -- and COLLAPSES and CRISES -- is not making the leaps between obvious cause and effect here. And WE should, because we have been engaged in it and know that it's true.Meanwhile, nothing will change, so I'm buying more Morgan Stanley -- that's also the truth.Position: MS" - Daniel Dicker, Senior Contributor, TheStreet.com.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/03/quote-6.html#more
FAZ
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. House panel will hold a hearing exploring regulatory failures leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ.PK), after a court-appointed examiner report found elaborate accounting tricks that helped to hide the investment bank's insolvency.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1715923420100317
Lehmq.pk?? That piece of sht is trading??
From MW:
BREAKING
U.K.'s FSA wants traders' cell phone calls taped