Lloyd Blankfein

• Even Obama's fans has turning on him: "The Decline and Fall of 'Hope and Change'"
• European Stocks Drop, Head for Worst January Since 2009 (BBG)
• Euro-Area Inflation at 0.7% Builds Rate Pressure on ECB (BBG)
• Japan’s Inflation Accelerates as Abe Seeks Wage Gains (BBG)
• Unpossible - this is the USSA: Detroit Debt Proposal Favors Pension Funds (WSJ)
• Keystone Report Said Likely to Disappoint Pipeline Foes (BBG)
• YHOO still pretending someone cares about it: Yahoo says detected hacking attempt on email accounts (Reuters)
• How Google's Costly Motorola Maneuver May Pay Off (WSJ)
• Mexico Surpassing Japan as No. 2 Auto Exporter to U.S.  (BBG)

But fear not, dear poor people of the world, for Lloyd Blankfein, Mark J. Carney, Mario Draghi, Haruhiko Kuroda, Christine Lagarde, Jacob Lew, Shimon Peres, Larry Fink, David Cameron, Shinzo Abe, Marissa Meyer, and many others are there fighting for you. Fighting all the way...

If ever a chart provided unequivocal proof the economic recovery storyline is a fraud, the one below is the smoking gun.

As usual, in 2013, sticking to facts was a mistake in a world fueled by misinformation, propaganda, delusion and wishful thinking. Those in power have successfully held off the unavoidable collapse which will be brought about by their ravenous unbridled greed, and blatant disregard for the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution and rights and liberties of the American people.

"There is no disputing the facts. The economic situation is deteriorating for the average American, the mood of the country is darkening, and the world is awash in debt and turmoil. Every country is attempting to print their way to renewed prosperity. No one wins a race to the bottom. The oligarchs have chosen a path of currency debasement, propping up insolvent banks, propaganda and impoverishing the masses as their preferred course. They attempt to keep the masses distracted with political theater, gun control vitriol, reality TV and iGadgets. What can be said about a society where 10% of the population follows Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga on Twitter and where 50% think the National Debt is a monument in Washington D.C. The country is controlled by evil sycophants, intellectually dishonest toadies and blood sucking leeches. Their lies and deception have held sway for the last four years, but they have only delayed the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. They will not reverse course and believe their intellectual superiority will allow them to retain their control after the collapse.”

What do you do if you have more money than you can ever spend, and own residences in most major metropolises around the world. You invest in the most exclusive "third" (or fourth, or fifth) vacation "house" that can be purchased by people for whom money is no object, such as the $1 billion Faena Miami Beach, which has lined up as buyers none other than the creme of the (bailed out courtesy of a multi-trillion ongoing taxpayer bailout) Wall Street crop including Apollo's Leon Black, and of course Goldman's very own resident of a duplex in 15 CPW, Lloyd Blankfein. The Faena oceanfront development for the megarich is financed by another billionaire, chairman of Access Industries, Len Blavatnik, whose $16.1 billion net worth puts him 49th in the Bloomberg Billionaires index. This is what Lloyd and company will buy with the Fed's "wealth effect."

• Despite budget win, Obama has weak hand with Congress (Reuters)
• Carney Brings In McKinsey for Bank of England Strategy Rethink (BBG)
• Bill Gates Buys Stake in Spanish Construction Company FCC (WSJ)
• Jerusalem Mayor Barkat Seeks New Term in Race Arabs Sitting Out (BBG)
• J.P. Morgan Aimed to Limit Damage (WSJ)
• EU Lawmakers Reject Draghi Call for Bank Bondholder Clemency (BBG)
• Wall Street Profits May Halve in Second Half (WSJ)
• Petrobras-led group wins Brazil oil auction with minimum bid (Reuters)
• Apple to Refresh IPads Amid Challenges for Tablet Share (BBG)
• Italy plans to offer guarantees on govt bond derivatives (Reuters)
• Berkshire Beats Apple as Favorite Stock of Tiger 21 Group (BBG)

First it was David Viniar, rumored for so long to be Lloyd's next logical replacement, who rode into the Goldman sunset. Now it is the turn of Goldman's Vice Chairman, Michael Evans, one of the firm's most senior execs and the person who many had expected would ultimately replace Lloyd Blankfein when it was time for succession at the firm that executes God's will (net of 3-5% in commissions) to depart quietly into the night.

We commend Senator Schumer for being the first Senator to openly step up and admit that the worst case scenario in the whole Congressional 3D IMAX farce is not about keeping the economy afloat, is not about preserving jobs, but merely keeping the stock market at or near its all time highs:

• Schumer Says He Worries About Monday Stock Drop on Default Risk. "This is playing with fire," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., tells reporters. Says he worried whether “the stock market will go down”

For those confused, Schumer has merely admitted what the vast majority of the Senate, where two thirds are millionaires, and nearly half the House, think: don't you dare let the manipulated precious, which at last check was just 1% below its all time Fed-balance sheet derived highs, drop.

“There is precedent for a government shutdown,” Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, remarked last week. “There’s no precedent for default.” How wrong he is.

15 Bankers just paid a visit to the White House, listened to President Obama, and explained what a total disaster it would be if the US debt-ceiling is breached and Treasuries technically default. While the politicians exclaimed how bad a government shutdown would be, the banks have turned the panic dial to 11 as Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein noted, bankers are “in a position to really know early what the consequences are,” and it would be catastrophic. The irony that the firm which the government is trying to fine $20 billion for selling fraudulent debt and giving bad advice is now providing the same government with advice on its own bad debt, is not lost on us as Dimon was among the visitors but it is Blankfein's warning, echoing Obama, that will get the headlines, "they shouldn't use the threat of causing the U.S. to fail on its obligation to repay debt as a cudgel."

This may become the most important article I’ve ever written. But whether it becomes that article or dwells in anonymity is up to you, the reader.

As if you needed any more evidence of how disconnected, entitled, irrational and sociopathic the heads of financial firms in America are these days, along comes AIG’s CEO Robert Benmosche to dispel any lingering doubts. In a highly disturbing interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Benmosche compares the murder of black people in the deep south based on racial prejudice and hate to the vast majority of Americans expressing disgust with the fact that Wall Street decided to suspend capitalism when it was in their best interests in order to give themselves trillions of dollars. He actually compares an environment where the rule of law was often completely suspended to allow the murder of a disenfranchised racial group, to widespread public anger about the suspension of the rule of law to benefit the wealthiest, most connected people in the nation.

Current US Treasury issuance is relatively low due to sequestration and (at least temporarily) less US warmongering in the Middle East. That's about to change, of course, now that the US is getting ready to launch a Cruise missile attack on Syria (we’re already been arming and financing the opposition rebels, including groups directly linked to al-Qaeda for several years now). Bernanke and the Fed doves would like nothing better than another “controlled” war in the Mideast, because with war comes massive debt issuance, and with massive debt issuance comes the transmission mechanism (QE) for monetizing that debt and mainlining it onto the Wall Street banks' broken balance sheets. And yes, they’re still broken, and Ben is still bailing them out at the expense of the American middle class. Make no mistake, Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, and every other complicit banker on the Street has no problem with this, or any other, war, regardless of whether such a conflict would destabilize the entire region and would almost assuredly pull Russia and China into the fray. The more the merrier, just keep letting that free QE monopoly money roll in from the 4X weekly Federal Reserve Permanent Open Market Operations (POMO’s).  And with the significant financing needs for a large war effort in the Middle East, say good-bye to “Taper.”

If one were to lay $1 bills side by side, the current US National Debt would reach from the earth to the moon 32,358 TIMES AND BACK and to the sun 93 million miles away 83 times AND BACK.

While none other than Meredith Whitney warned this morning (mere weeks after her most-bullish-on-banks-ever call) that big US banks' revenue model is unsustainable, we discover that the NYSE Amex Options exchange has decided to DK all of Goldman's "erroneous" trades from Tuesday morning's debacle. As The WSJ reports, this is quite a boon to the venerable Goldman Sachs who faced hundreds of million in losses had the trades stood. The fact that no one can ever touch the bank-that-shall-not-be-named should come as no surprise (unsustainable business model or not) and as the following 'story' suggests, perhaps they truly are 'untouchable'.