B+

Twofer.

One of Zero Hedge's greater contributions to society in 2010 was finally putting the "cash on the sidelines" BS that was every emptyheaded pundit's go-to line when cornered and with nothing else to retort, in the trash bin of intellectual sophistry where it belonged. What surprised us is that it took as long as it did before someone dared to point out the flagrantly obvious. That said, today Bloomberg has released a terrific piece of investigative reporting, that may very well refute much of what we said, since it appears that contrary to legal permissions, companies have been very busy using the gray area in the tax code (the same that gets ordinary citizens in lots of trouble with the IRS but not mega corporations, never mega corporations) to repatriate tens, if not hundreds of billions in the past few years. Meet the "Killer B” and “the Deadly D" just two of the strategies that have allowed the following to happen: Merck & Co. bringing more than $9 billion from abroad without paying any U.S. tax to help finance its acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp.; Pfizer Inc. importing more than $30 billion from offshore in connection with its acquisition of Wyeth and taking steps to minimize the tax hit on its publicly reported profits; Eli Lilly & Co. carrying out many of the steps for a tax-free importation of foreign cash after its roughly $6.5 billion purchase of ImClone Systems Inc. in 2008. In other words, despite America's deplorable budget condition, where every dollar in organic revenue is matched by one dollar of debt issuance, companies are doing more than ever to avoid paying any taxes... anywhere.

"The Court requires an affidavit from Erica A. Johnson-Seck, a conflicted "robosigner," explaining her employment status. A "robo-signer" is a person who quickly signs hundreds or thousands of foreclosure documents in a month, despite swearing that he or she has personally reviewed the mortgage documents and has not done so."

The market was quiet today as it digested marginal macro news and even more marginal earnings news while it continues to wait for next week's QE2 which promises to be a worse proposed sequel than Amistad II: The Return Trip Home.

The hard news is that there is no "Plan B": the future is likely to be more chaotic than you probably think. This was the primary conclusion I came to after attending the most recent Association for the Study of Peal Oil & Gas (ASPO) in Washington DC in October, 2010. The impact of peak oil on markets, lifestyles, and even national solvency deserves our very highest attention - but, it turns out, some important players seem to be paying no attention at all.

The Thrill is Gone, Baby!!!

Hate to say I told you so.

A casual reminder of what Joaquin Almunia said just over two months ago goes to show the caliber of intellect of those running the show. Needless to say, Zero Hedge was skeptical of Joaquin's bullshit. Speaking of said bureaucrat, we wonder - did he fall off the face of the earth recently? With statesmen like this, who create soundbites such as "We have no Plan B - Plan A is on the the table, it is fiscal adjustment" who needs enemies like Ben Bernanke. Oh yeah, Europe. Nevermind.

Barely had we finished bashing Deutsche Bank in our prior post, that we noticed that Moody's had just notched Deustche Bank not once, but twice, from Aa1 to Aa3. Now where the hell are those pesky shorts who are #*$!ing up the grand German uberplan of trying to mimic the US in its don't ask/don't tell plan of financial gayness. From Moody's: "The rating agency believes that Deutsche Bank's capital ratios are likely to face further pressure from pending acquisitions, potential increases in loan-loss provisions and higher regulatory capital charges."

Headlines only so far:

09:11 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: SERIOUS RISK OF GREEK SPILLOVER ELSEWHERE IN EMU

09:10 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: SITUATION IN GREECE MATTER OF COMMON CONCERN

09:13 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: GREECE MAY NEED TO TAKE MORE MEASURES

09:12 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: SOME SIGNS MARKETS BELIEVE GREECE CAN SOLVE PROBS

09:11 02/09 EU ALMUNIA: COMMISSION FULLY SUPPORTS GREECE

At the rate things were going in mid-January, the 30 Year yield was set to blast through the June 09 highs. Amazing what a little equities downturn will get you, as...

I have never voted Against the Democrats in my life, BUT I WILL THIS TIME just like the people of Mass. did last week.

Its your time to stick up for the people of New York State and this country we call home. I will be watching to see what you do for us.

The people of America are to the breaking point and if we snap how long do you think Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo will last if everybody stops paying ther Morgages and Credit Cards.

Remember the jovial market response after the B(L)S came out with the 10% unemployment number courtesy of all able-bodied unemployed migrating to work in Tijuana? No? Neither does the market. The 10 Year is now back to pre-NFP levels. It would appear the government's "data scrubbing" interventionism now has a half-life of at best 3 business days.

The Fed's monetary base has exploded, and is now at precisely $1,997 billion: an all time high. Even as the Fed's balance sheet declined this week courtesy of collapsing Commercial Paper holdings by the Fed, which were at just $15.6 billion, and Fed assets "declined" to $2,147 billion. The ratio of Fed assets to Monetary Base is now down to the lowest ratio since the Lehman collapse, at 1.08x, after historically hanging around 1.0x, as the chart attached demonstrates.