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Weekend Readings
- More on StevePerkinsGate: PVM taking a page from the oldest playbook in the world (FT)
- India joins China, Russia in questioning USD dominance (Bloomberg)
- Palin to resign as Alaska governor, will not seek reelection (WSJ) [not even worth discussing the Republican due diligence process]
- Ignoring prophetic predictors (Nader)
- Staffer at SEC had warned of Madoff (WaPo, h/t dartmont)
- Recovering ABS may relapse if TALF support pulled (Reuters)
- Arnold's IOUs will pay 3.75% (Bloomberg) which Bank of America can't wait to launder with taxpayer money (PR)
- China needs domestic consumption for economic recovery (Bloomberg), in other words a US-style credit bubble, combined with compelte fake economic data, can only go so far.
- The Taleb - Tavakoli vendetta post-it update (Alphaville)
- Banks own the US government (Guardian)
- Korea fires five more missiles (Bloomberg)
- New York city sees slide in tourism (WSJ)
- William Buiter: Why zombie banks will need more money
Michael Lewis takes on Joe Cassano
Jetlag edition
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I think media makes too much fuss about BRIC & Co diversifying from dollar. In the worst case scenario, there won't be that much demand for our debt, so our government will finally be forced to keep FED spending spree in check.
And as of collapse of dollar, is there a currency in the world that is in a bette shape? You may say, CHinese yuan, but would you in your right mind trust the communist government to always respect certain rules instead of doing what they please? Euro, well is the EU in much better shape than us, while having a much higher banking leverage, inflexible markets and higher costs?
The dollar should have gone down a while ago, and depreciation should be equal to the trade mismatch between our exports and imports.
If administration had any balls, they would proceed with bringing dollar down at the dawn of credit crisis. It would level the field for our exporters, limit the deflation and make everyone around the world to remember that economy # 1 does matter.
I am Chumbawamba. You are dumb. Allow me to explain:
...would you in your right mind trust the communist government to always respect certain rules instead of doing what they please?
I don't know. But let me ask you a question in return: Would you in your obviously not right mind trust the corporatist government [of the USA] to always respect certain rules instead of doing what they please?
If only people would think before pressing their digits to keys, I wouldn't have to blow your mind with your own vapid thoughts.
That wasn't the point. And if you don't understand (know) just ...
let's say if you have nothing to say, say nothing. If you want to criticize our government be constructive rather than screaming like a little girl, i ve been had. etc.
And for all of you conspiracy fans, get real. If you want to be taken seriously, you ve got to learn the subject of conspiracy or government stupidity and address it with evidence and reason.
If you want to achieve any real change, you ve got to make people to take you seriously. Just screaming, revolution, FBI, etc does not cut it. Learn from TD, who is doing just excellent job.
Happy 4 th of July all.
Yes, avoid the reality of the stupidity of your comment by bringing up conspiracy theories (WTF?)
I am Chumbawamba, and you are still dumb.
Nader is spot on. It's the intention of the people at the levers of power, i.e. most of the elite, that we need to be concerned about.
They are up to no good.
Is your blog going to continue to be hosted on blogspot? My google reader doesn't always display your writeups properly from your site.
I like Taleb because he has an audience and has been relentless in his criticism of structured finance but Tavakoli has caught him in a little bit of a pickle. There can be little other conclusion one could practically draw to Taleb's lack of disclosure that the article in question was inaccurate. The takeaway from that article is that Taleb has made an enormous sum of money. This inaccurate portrayal has many benefits not only to raise funds, but to sell more books, to book more speaking engagements or whatever.
In the interest of full disclosure, he should have pointed it out immediately when posting that article on his web site. Yet, he didn't. His "ass-covering" of producing emails telling the article's author his information was inaccurate does not pull weight in my estimation.
Palin, violating Republican dogma, "cuts and runs!"
I wonder if the Fed will take Arnold's IOUs as collateral.
Just think, we could be looking at a enfeebled President McCain and, you betcha, VP Palin right now. And she'd probably be resigning due to the house that her husband and his "buddies" built. Same buddies who also built the hockey arena in Wasilla. She's a small-time crook that the GOP nominated to be a heartbeat away from the potential presidency of an elderly man.
For all this site's criticism of Obama (based on fear-mongering that he's a socialist/fascist/communist/Kenyan/whatever), you really have to consider the alternatives.
I am Chumbawamba.
McCain chose Palin because he was hoping his cock would sleepwalk its way into Palin's vagina during a Whitehouse slumber party. Nothing more.
Hear you on Palin, Anon, but as for the criticism of Obama, I must point out that, while the "socialist" charges could not POSSIBLY be more ignorant, the fascist concerns are reasonably well-founded, given his handling of the Chrysler and GM bankruptcy in combination with his ceding of economic power to the world's largest financial interests (GS, Fed, etc.) while sealing it with his most sincere and elegant kiss and guarantees of trillions of dollars of taxpayer money, i.e., planning slavery for my children and theirs. An ironic turn for this particular "Landmark President," if you think about it.
As someone who voted and campaigned for the man, I see the his continuing idealisation by the masses as a MAJOR problem. Nobody should have the kind of power he has on the basis of his incomparable gift for communication. Especially when it is so horribly unwarranted (see above.)
Hope you liked the Nader article. The informed left-wing does not worship Obama . . . they criticize him just like any other man, on the basis of his actions rather than his words.
It hasn't worked out like our dreams. Obama deserves and needs his fair share of criticism. Just as we all do.
I totally agree. I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, (not from altruistic motives but rather from a naive post-college rebellion), and overseas realized very very quickly that what makes America great is our capacity to observe and vocally criticize. FREEDOM. It is quickly becoming a vanishing commodity, with most Americans voluntarily, or resignedly, (which is worse?), giving it away. The 'Dear Leader' cult of personality is troubling, to say the least. The man with the gilded tongue is no different than that asshole Bush. The buck stops with the president. Hell, I don't ask for much. Just follow and enforce the same goddamned law we all purportedly do. Dude was a lawyer for chrissakes. Obama can do what is right for America and its citizens or he can stay his present course. Should he stay his present course he deserves the public execution Tyler Durden and Zerohedge are so rightfully giving him every single day. The really frightening part is that Zerohedge is in the minority. . .
public 'character' execution. don't want the feebs knocking down my door, Cheka style
Nice save! Though in context it was clearly just mispoken, it could be wrongly understood by poorer readers (not to knock them, either . . . ) Not to mention hysterically opportunistic critics of ZH, government or others. Glad you made it back home with stories to tell and lessons learned, man.
Couple of points:
It took Obama for me to realize that the Presidency is a rather powerless position. He is powerless before the big-monied interests. Our elections and "democratic process" work only at the local level in terms of responsiveness to the electorate; responsiveness actually increases as you work your way up the food chain, but the electorate is not the ones to whom they respond. As for Obama, given such powerlessness, the mess is one he inherited, the solutions too. He cannot change the course anymore than any of us can.
Do you really think the real powers that be would put Obama actually in charge? After a moron like Bush that they actually assigned a real devious brain (Cheney) to keep an eye so lest he screw up? I like to think of him as the Ultimate Janitor, stuck with the cleanup when the implosion occurs. Kind of ironic.
On another, more serious note, Palin = GILF, the G is for "Governor." First in a series. Probably last in the series. Yet another release of information on the cusp of a holiday weekend timed for maximum lack of coverage. Wonder what little clusterfact is about to come down about her? I agree with poster about McCain - go ahead and complain about Obama, but imagine a McCain-Palin ticket managing all this.
Happy 4th - read Karl Denninger's July 3 post to see where we really are at mid 2009.
Happy 4th - read Karl Denninger's July 3 post to see where we really are at mid 2009.
You mean the part where he says that gold--which has risen 20% in terms of US dollars since Lehman Bros. collapsed--is "not a safe haven"?
No thanks. His "predictions" are trite and boring. Smarter people than he were making the same predictions years ago, when they were really going out on a limn, and their's are much more accurate.
I am Chumbawamba.
It's easy to make those predictions after quite a few bloggers made the same predictions years ago. He is just repackaging what he has read elsewhere. Seriously. Otherwise, why wasn't he making those predictions four or five years ago? There is no original thought on Denniger's blog. I generally just see a lot of blabber. But, I do like the fact that he agitates for change.
Ned, i think you are saying that obama got where he is because of the "big-monied interests" ( which i would like to remind is primarily headed by the privately held federal reserve system) yes. But, it is, in my opinion, a big mistake to say that he has no choice in the matter--his choice may have been whether or not to go along with the grand puppetmasters to have their massive media support for his campaign, but if it took selling his soul to get where he is, how is it right to let him off the hook by saying he had not choice--he chose to sell out if your hypothesis is correct about that being how he got into the office, but he also sells out every day that he has endorsed and perpetuated the bernake/paulson bank heist. THAT IS HIS CHOICE, HE ISN"T A VICTIM.
HAHA!
PVM lost $10 million on those unauthorized trades even *after* issuing a report meant to pump oil futures higher as they were selling. I wonder how bad their loss would have been without the report. LOL. Everyone's trying to be Goldman these days...
Third World countries are richer than the west. They have negligible debt. Ooops !
What will the 30 Yr Treasury yield on 12/31/09?
What will the price of gold be at year-end?
Is China the next bubble? (Shanghai property rising at 6.5% per week?)
Is Dr Copper delusional, or is there enough demand from EEM?
Is there a floor under C, or will the bank find itself in another death spiral after the preferreds convert?
When and where will the next black swan apppear?
What are the odds of another disastrous October?
These are some of my obsessions this July 4th weekend.