Charles Schumer

To some, today is Martin Luther King day and as a result the US markets are closed, especially since today is also the day when Obama celebrates his second inauguration with Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor at his side (hopefully not on the taxpayers' dime). To others, January 21 is nothing more than the anniversary of the real beginning of the end, when five years ago a little known SocGen trader named Jerome Kerviel could no longer hide his massive futures positions and was forced to unwind them, sending global indices plunging resulting in the biggest single day drop in the Dax (-7.2%), and punking the Fed into an unannounced 75 bps cut. Luckily, today such cataclysmic unwinds are impossible as the market is priced perfectly efficiently, without central bank intervention, price transparency is ubiquitous and the Volcker rule has made prop trading by banks, funded by Fed reserves (which are nothing more than the monetization of excess budget deficits) and excess deposits, impossible.

The second update of the day is here, and this one is far less jovial and optimistic than that coming from the seemingly quite cluless Lindsey Graham:

• REID SAYS HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO COME UP WITH COUNTEROFFER
• REID SAYS `WE'RE APART ON SOME PRETTY BIG ISSUES'
• REID SAYS `I WISH THEM WELL' REGARDING MCCONNELL-BIDEN TALKS
• MCCONNELL SAYS HE CALLED BIDEN TO TRY TO `JUMP START' TALKS

Nothing like the fate of the nation in the hands of Joe Biden, who may or may not still be laughing.

All you need to read.

A few hours ago, the maniac simians at the Senate finally did it and fired the first round in the great US-China currency war, after they took aim at one of China's core economic policies, voting to move forward with a bill designed to press Beijing to let its currency rise in value in the hope of creating U.S. jobs. As Reuters reports, "Senators voted 79-19 to open a week of Senate debate on the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, which would allow the U.S. government to slap countervailing duties on products from countries found to be subsidizing their exports by undervaluing their currencies. Monday's strong green light for debate on the bill bolsters prospects it will clear the Democrat-run Senate later this week, but prospects for action in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are murky. If the bill did clear both chambers, it would present President Barack Obama with a tough decision on whether to sign the popular legislation into law and risk a trade war with Beijing, or veto it to pursue a more diplomatic approach." The response has been quick and severe: "China's foreign ministry said it "adamantly opposes" a bill pushed by the U.S. Senate that will allow the United States to impose duties on countries that undervalue their currencies." And just because China is now certain that the US will continue with its provocative posture, most recently demonstrated by the vocal response in the latest US-Taiwan military escalation, we would not be surprised at all to find China Daily report that China has accidentally sold a few billions in US government bonds... just because.

With a debt ceiling deal now a given and purely a matter of dotting i's and crossing t's, potentially pending a several day debt "breathing room" extension to be approved by Obama, whose TV appearance we expect shortly to provide a conclusion to this "grand compromise" farce, here are some of the key soundbites from the three primary constituents as of their media appearances this morning.

Proving once again that i) there is no idea on the Hill that is so stupid that it can't be recycled again... and again, and that ii) the last thing politicos care about is deficit reduction (yes $4 trillion cut over the next century works... too bad by then the deficit will be measured in quintillions) is the news from Bloomberg that following the "stunning" news from the BLS that "nobody", and certainly not Joe LaVorgna could predict (odd, we do recall saying on Thursday night that anything out of the ADP is and always has been complete garbage, and that the only definite pink slips should be those handed out to its employees) democrats are now demanding more of the same (failed medicine) that did nothing at all to boost Q1 GDP, namely an extension to the payroll-tax cut, which humiliated none other than Goldman's Jan Hatzius into believing it would do something to boost the economy (first see: Goldman Jumps Shark from December 1, 2010 then Goldman Apologizes For Its Horrendous December "US Economic Renaissance" Call, Begins QE3 Discussion). Hint: it won't. It will merely cost another $100 billion in incremental debt that will never be repaid, and a few dollars boost to Apple's EPS, but aside from the few non-edible iPads being bought, that will be about it. Yet that won't stop the screeching parrots from repeating the only word they know: more, more, more: "Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the chamber’s third- ranking Democrat, called for an “immediate jolt” to the economy by extending and enlarging a one-year payroll-tax cut that’s set to expire Dec. 31. He asked for action “as quickly as possible by including it in the final debt-limit agreement.” Jared Bernstein, until recently Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economic adviser, predicted the White House would step up efforts to include in the debt deal additional infrastructure spending or a new temporary payroll tax reduction." Yeah, good luck with that.

At this point it looks bad for the working middle class and it looks
like they aren’t going to make it through the next banker made financial
crisis. The middle class just wants the chance for a new beginning.
They want jobs. They know the country has been hijacked by the banking
corporatocracy, supported by the corrupt political class in D.C. It is
time for the middle class to channel their inner Josey Wales and get
plumb mad-dog mean. It is not time to lose your head and give up. The
middle class are being pursued by Wall Street bounty hunters and
government crooks trying to finish them off. It is time to make a stand
and fight. It is essential that we know our enemies and how they
achieved their power. It all began in 1913 with the creation of the
Federal Reserve and the implementation of the personal income tax. I’ve
previously detailed how the baby boom generation contributed to our
fiscal plight in Part One – For a Few Dollars More,
how the actions of the Federal Reserve’s over the last few decades have
impoverished the middle class and placed the country at the brink of
collapse in Part Two – Fistful of Dollars and addressed the nefarious creation of a central bank in Part Three – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

→ Washington’s Blog

AP noted last year:

The recent passage of the middle class tax cut extension by Congress was roundly refuted by the Senate today as republicans and even some democrats voted against the proposal. This was expected, and means the bluff will come down to the wire, with some form of compromise required in the next week, involving an unemployment insurance-for-tax cut extension quid pro quo. It better come quick though: as Zero Hedge has been saying for the past 4 months, the biggest overhang on the market currently is the threat that the capital gains extension does not pass forcing a sell off as those in profitable position rush to lock in profits at lower rates (which is priced in to assume it will happen). This was finally made all too clear in a recent Strategas report that gained prominent recognition a few days ago. However, instead of this issue requiring resolution by the end of the month, the D-Day is actually December 15, at which point numerous option expiration/rolling decisions are made, impacting asset decisions on the underlying securities.  As to the tax cut extension, it is now more than obvious that Obama will be forced to soon renege on some of his key campaign promises, thereby making his presidential bid in 2012 even more of a non-starter, but more importantly, requiring the Treasury to fund even more government revenue shortfalls through bond printing, thereby making a new QE round (this time focusing on the 30 Year) all but guaranteed.

When the momentum of the masses gravitates toward the truth, those that desire to suppress it have always resorted to smoke and mirrors to divert the people’s attention away from the truth and to channel their focus into avenues that waste their energies.

Just because somehow it is the Yuan's fault that America has exported its entire manufacturing industry over the past 30 years to lower cost countries, our idiot leaders have decided to take the next big step toward an all out trade war. The House of Idiot Representatives has approved legislation designed
to combat the manipulation of currency by China that results in
unfavorable trade conditions for the United States. As CNN reports, the
legislation, which authorizes the Commerce Department to impose duties
on imports from countries with undervalued currencies, passed by a vote
of 348 to 79. Somehow, because it was framed as a "jobs issue", everyone in Congress went full retard and confirmed they have not the first clue about how Economics actually works. But yes, please revalue the Yuan: the next thing will be exploding prices at Wal Mart, which have so far successfully masked the fact that the US has been exporting staple product inflation. We wonder how those same "workers" on whose behalf this law was allegedly passed will feel when their bill anywhere is double what it used to be... Not to mention that their currently unemployed status will certainly not have changed.

The following is Part I to David DeGraw’s new book, “The Road Through 2012: Revolution or World War III.” This is the second installment to a new seven-part series that we will be posting throughout the next few weeks. You can read the introduction to the book here. To be notified via email of new postings from this series, subscribe here.

Developing news from CNBC. And oddly enough, the SEC reads Zero Hedge: goodbye HFT - we hardly were frontrun nearly enough by ye. We will get you more as we get it. And sure enough, here is Schumer to piggy back with a just released press release, now that the legwork has been done. It is odd that the senator has a problem with HFT only when the market is crashing - how about when it is causing the daily no-volume melt up? Oh wait, that's all good for the administration, where GDP=DJIA. And inbetween all the euphoria, we have one small question: Hey all you SEC idiots: WHY IS FLASH TRADING STILL ALLOWED?

And another one wakes up. Better late than never. We wish to remind the Senator that perhaps he should first follow up on why after the SEC "banning" Flash trading, DirectEdge and other exchanges still frontrun orders on a daily basis, and why flash trading continues to lead to, ahem, flash crashes. "U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer urged federal securities regulators to explore ways to slow some high-speed trading at times of market stress and to investigate strategies that have raised concerns of stock manipulation, including one known as “quote stuffing.” Schumer, a New York Democrat, urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a formal inquiry into whether computer-powered trading firms’ rapid entering and canceling of stock orders, called quote stuffing, played a role in the so-called flash crash of May 6, and to more broadly reconsider these participants’ role in the U.S. marketplace."