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Saturday, January 29, 2011

What Old Men Fantasize About..."Let's Get This Party Started!"

Wouldn't you just love to be able to ask some folks some questions and get the truth? These are some of my fantasy questions. I have more than ten. When I thought of one, it tended to sprout others. Here then without further adieu...is my fantasy interrogation.

1. To President Obama. How many millions have you spent defending legal challenges to get your original long form birth certificate? Wouldn't it just be simpler to produce the damn thing if you have nothing to hide? We have standing as voters, I think it's time you provide proof and some of that transparency you ramble on about.

2. To President Obama. Why did you ignore the greatest economic collapse the world has ever known? When is Eric Holder going to prosecute crooked bankers and politicians instead of suing states? How much money have you taken from banks in campaign contributions? Have you ever received discounted loans while Senator or President like Angelo Mozilo likes to hand out? Did William Ayers write your books? Did you ever receive financial aid as a foreign student?

3. To Hank Paulson. Why did you let Goldman Sachs chief rival,  Bear Stearns fail? Why didn't you let Goldman Sachs fail? Did you originate fraudulent loans packages and resell them with fraudulent AAA ratings, knowing they would default? Why did you fail to disclose how much money Goldman stood to get from AIG? Were you aware of Goldman's short bets on the very insurers that insured those crappy loans you generated and sold? (My list for Hank could go for days) Most importantly, did you have stock, options or other personal and financial interests with Goldman Sachs, either held directly, in trust, or with third parties that would become worthless if Goldman collapsed?  

4. The Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two questions. Are you ever going to find Osama Bin Laden or will this be an eternal goose chase? And just who fired the mystery missile off the coast of LA in November? And if you say, "I don't know" I get to slap you in the head.

5. To Hillary Clinton. (I'd have to put her on a polygraph) How was it that you suddenly decide to make gobs of money trading cattle futures, yet prior to that lone incident, and thereafter- you have never engaged in cattle futures trading? Was it simply a bribe, or a payoff? Did you just wake up one day and say "I think I will trade cattle futures today?" Have you or your husband ever received money for favors or bribes, directly or through third parties? What took you so long to produce Vince Foster's personal effects? Did you destroy or hide anything of his before or after you released the documents? Did you lie under oath in either Travelgate or Whitewater? How many scandals have you and Bill been involved in- up to and including Monica and Wikileaks? Why do you still have a job?

6. To Every Member of Congress. Have you ever taken any free gift, modified loan, sweetheart deal, bribe, either directly or indirectly delivered to you or a third party in return for any consideration, favor, job offer, pork project, or future employment? How much money in political contributions have you received from banks? Why is it that you refuse to prosecute fraudulent bankers?

7. Congress. When are going to pass a law forcing banks to adhere to generally accepted accounting principles that all other businesses must use? Properly valuing assets and booking liabilities. When will we ever see any kind of truthful or honest disclosure from banks? How about doing the same with Fannie and Freddie?

8. Angelo Mozilo. (We'd have to give him immunity) What members of Congress and government employees received "Friends of Angelo" loans while you were at Countrywide? What were the terms? Think Dodd, Conrad, and keep going...what did you receive?

9. The Bernank. If the FED works for government why can't we audit the FED? What are you hiding? Who all does the FED loan money to? Where did you get the 9 trillion to bail out the banks in the fall of 2008? Why didn't the FED just loan the additional 700 billion TARP you sucked out of taxpayers if you have so much money? Were you broke? What reserves does the FED have and what are the fractional limits you use?

10.The Bernank. Has the FED ever participated directly or indirectly in the precious metals markets? Have you ever received financial benefits, loans, compensation, bribes or future payoffs other than your salary, either directly or indirectly through third parties, for any decision or act you have done while FED chairman? Can we see the terms of any loan you currently have outstanding since you have become FED chairman?

What a blast this would be. My idea of a good time. Truly.

The Brainiac of the Week Award Goes to This Moron

I snipped this from another site. I've left his name off because he may be in a blackout and I think we all remember how we felt about blackouts (you were dancing naked in front of the CEO and his wife at the Christmas Party!) when we sobered up.

what traditionally happens in an extended crisis is that those who have cash can pick up gold for cheap from those who need it who have lost their jobs and need to buy necessities.  the history of most collapses is that those with the cash will make a bundle when people with non cash assets need money.  I think the most recent example was ecuador.  You have to have the resources to make it through the first year of a crash if you happen to lose your job, otherwise you will likely be selling your assets at a nice discount.

That's right people. Save your worthless currency. You can pick up assets on the cheap. Probably get generators, ammo, gold for next to nothing! They'll be lining up to take your Weimar currency.

We Are Forever in Your Debt, Thank You Mr. President

The unemployment rate should steadily leg down as everyone falls off the radar and doesn't get counted anymore. Soon our real rate of unemployment- that 23% or so will just drop to zero.

By election time, Obama can say he has saved the country in another one of his rousing speeches. Maybe say, without him, it would have been far worse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_expired_benefits_nevada_unemployment;_ylt=AvKsOrTyrVY3gTEO.j.9VRgUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNoOGVsM2U1BGFzc2V0A2FwL3VzX2V4cGlyZWRfYmVuZWZpdHNfbmV2YWRhX3VuZW1wbG95bWVudARjY29kZQN2aWV3c2hhcmUEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDYW51bmNlcnRhaW5m

Another One of the P.I.I.G.S, the "S", Headed for the Big Misery

Of the 100 or so articles I scan each morning, this one caught my attention.

It's like wheel of fortune. So far Vanna has turned the letters for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and now Spain. http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/SpainsUnemploymentRateHighestinOver13Years/2011/01/28/id/384234 The only letter left is Italy.

Hey ECB, fire up those QE1 printing presses and shovel those new eurodollars into the Bovespa. Create the illusion of fiscal health and then have the politicians and media wax recovery. It's been working great over here.

I see it just a little differently. I throw in a J (Japan) and a G (Germany) an F (France) an E (England) a C (Canada) and a U for us. This I call F.U.C.J.E.G. primarily because I cannot think of any clever anagram that Vanna could turn. Behold the mighty world debt clock. http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html

Obama, In Typical "Transparent" Fashion Will Seek Gun Control

From Newsweak...entirely predictable in that Obama did not mention one thing about this in his big speech. I have reduced myself to hoping that he takes 15-20 vacations this year.

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/27/white-house-to-push-gun-control.html

From the Doug Ross Journal, "It's About Time We Give the Democrats a Report Card."

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/01/performance-review.html

Friday, January 28, 2011

Thank Gawd the Moonbats Still Swear

I grew up in a mining town. I didn't know that people were actually capable of talking without using profanity. To this day when I hear someone consistently talk without using profanity, I don't trust them.

There is nothing I enjoy more than getting a lecture about using profanity. I have great disdain for those folks who try to influence and control everything in the exterior world. The vigilante verbal censors. You know those types. The ones who have swallowed the kool-aid and know right from wrong. At all times. They are not afraid to share that opinion of how the world should operate.

I actually had a gal tell me one time that she thinks people who use profanity are stupid. I told her that I thought people who didn't swear and told others not to were controlling nags. We don't talk much.

I eat out a lot on account of my bachelor status and I hate washing dishes. Earlier this week, I had a friend order an omelette at a place that usually serves good food. When this thing came out, it was paper thin, burnt, and had one piece of a mushroom in it. My friend unleashed a profane littered barrage that had tears streaming down my face. It started with, "what the fuck is this?" "I wouldn't feed this to a starving Ethiopian on the subcontinent." It looks like a piece of legal pad without the goddamned lines." If the cook just wants to kill me tell him to get the fuck out here so we can end this like men with some dignity." I was trying so hard not to laugh as I stared at the sorriest assed omelette that I have ever layed eyes on. When the poor waitress asked if he wanted her to take it back he yelled, " so this fucking guy can take another whack at poisoning me? What are ya nuts?"

My friend is from Philly. He assures me that this is standard operating procedure on the right coast. He is a moonbat sort of labor union guy. I steer clear of any Eagles' or political talk with him for obvious reasons.

Some of the funniest shit I have ever heard involved the perfect application of well timed and imaginative cursing. Some of the best are absolute professionals and I marvel at them. Like Mozart or Rembrandt. I even invite them out to breakfast...because you just never know when they are going to put that artwork on display. Thankfully some of the best, those left leaners like Rahm, haven't tried to pass any laws to control the use of profanity. Yet.

I Wouldn't Bank At Citi If They Offered Massages With the Big Pay Off

I have just always hated banks. Really.

The finishing touch for me came about ten years ago. I can't remember which one of the thieving banks it was, Citi or Chase. I had sent in a credit card payment one week before it was due. The next month, I get a bill with a 35 dollar late fee added and a 30 day late pay on my credit report. My ass was hot. When I got done with all the music listening, calling people names part of my tirade, I finally reached some guy who told me that even though they received my payment ahead of the due date which was on a Saturday- they didn't credit my account until the following Monday...therefore my payment which was actually on time could be late depending on whether or not they got around to crediting it. My ass immediately went from smoldering to full blown spontaneous combustion. I closed every piece of shit credit card account I had.

Who regulates that shit? Ah nobody. I then went to debit card only bank thievery and had a similar experience last year at Wells Fargo. I made a small purchase via internet and managed to get scammed by an online site that promised delivery for 5.95 and charged me 95.00. This over ran my account balance because I used that card only for internet purchases in the event that precise thing ever happened. I went into the bank to clear it up. I got a 15 min. lecture from some clown over the phone who lectured me on internet purchases. They refused to reverse the charge. I refused to pay them. One year later, Wells is still sending me collection notices. I throw them in the trash.

I have heard hundreds of similar stories. Government does absolutely nothing to police or regulate this crap. They pass some hokey bill every now and then- which banks find some way to work around and gouge us another way. 

Banks are the biggest predators in the marketplace. Absolutely shameless. Did I want every one of them to fail in the big shakeout? You better believe it. But we see how that turned out. Here's a piece from a guy who tried to do the right thing at Citibank. He received the predictable outcome for his efforts. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110127/ts_yblog_thelookout/citigroup-vet-says-he-was-demoted-after-raising-alarm-on-mortgages

Could A Government Default Be a Good Thing?

Why yes, as it turns out. This guy thinks so. I tend to agree. Found it during my nightly prowl, check it out. Not for nanny moonbats. Snipped this line 'cause I liked it.

The greatest potential political benefit of a future government default would be the end of the democratic welfare state.

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/53544.html

Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Market Now Rendering Gold's Eulogy

I saw this headline and just had to clip it. I cannot tell you many times is my life I have read articles wherein the title had "luster and gold" in the same sentence. Here's one more.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/markets/gold_price_decline/index.htm

So with gold down 7%, they are moving it to the hospice.

I have to tell you a story. It's about being absolutely right and getting taken out behind the woodshed anyway. I have written about it once before, please forgive the redux.

Several years ago, I suspected that a company called FuelTech symbol FTEK, was nothing more than a sham. They make clean systems for coal fired generators. Their products are expensive and not all that effective, profits were virtually non existent. They had a CEO that could spin dogshit into health food. I listened in on a couple of conference calls. I made a huge decision. I shorted and bought put options to the tune of nearly 25% of my portfolio. At that time, FTEK was trading at 25. When the earnings report came out, a huge miss, I waited for the payoff. The stock went up 40%. There was a decent short position in the stock but nothing that could drive a 40% short covering rise. My margin evaporated. My options appeared worthless- strike price 20. I went home that evening mumbling, "wtf happened." I now had a net position of 35% of my portfolio tied up in this mess. To cover meant certain death.

I evaluated what had happened. Were people nuts? What had changed to improve the outlook for this company? Nothing. I listened to the CEO Rumplestiltshit wax poetic on the conference call again. I did the only thing that made sense. I nearly tripled my short position and bought a series of puts at various strike prices and dates. I was now embedded in this mess nearly three quarters of my portfolio.

I spent a few sleepless nights. Afraid to tell anyone for the certain admonishment I would get. A few weeks later, the gamble paid off. And while I valued that stock then at 5 bucks, it trades for 9 now, I covered and hit all of my strike prices in the teens. I made a whopping 10 or 11k having risked 80k. It barely covered the short term gains tax.  

There are two things you must always ask yourself if you have done all of the homework you can and a price moves away from you. 1. Did I do all of the due diligence that I could, in other words- did I miss something very material? 2. Has anything fundamentally changed? If you can answer those two questions with an honest "no" then adding to your position makes a lot of sense. It is called conviction.

With respect to gold's recent decline, about 7%, the markets are moving away. I expect this. I also expect gold to move lower, perhaps sub 1100. This is very natural as people take profits. I am not going to focus on commodity manipulation, paper markets here. People always think they can catch the top and they will ride an investment as long as it runs with them. When it begins to run away, they cut and run. Sometimes, they have a shorter horizon. Mostly, lol, they are just chicken shits. 

Ask yourself those two questions. Have I made a research error? Has anything fundamentally changed? The answers are currently no and no. However, I want to give the exception here. If deflation (a longshot) wins this war with inflation (heavy favorite) I might change my mind. This picture will become much more crystalline in the next 6 months. Chinese workers are making chump change and spending it all on food. Do not think for a second our economies are independent of one another. Their pain will become ours. The Irish may kick the bankers and the EU to the curb in coming elections, that's a little nerve racking because I am not sure what that means for PM markets.

Like Obama says, "the rules have changed." Indeed.

If nothing fundamentally changes, I am going to double my asset allocation of gold as it moves away and trends down. Do not play with the rent money. Do not play if you will need this money in the next 12 months. I do not trade paper. I have a 5 year horizon. I still believe the upside potential is dramatic and the downside risk is very limited. In fact, I am glad they are having this little pre-season sale before the summer driving season kicks in. Very nice. It is always prudent to wait until the patient is dead before you begin rendering eulogies.

No Market for Old Men

I feel like I am trapped in some alternate universe. A place where just a few mainstream media outlets have taken me hostage. They feed me a diet of filtered, pollyanna bullshit. I cannot escape. They desperately want me to believe that I am crazy or insane. I can get well if only I would change my attitude. I am Bill Murray, listening to the same silly Cher song. Day after day, after day.

Many of my friends have succumbed to the rhetoric. It is easier that way. They are not isolated, or alone, and they look at me and wonder if I need a prescription refill. If I hear the word recovery ever again, I think I will vomit. My captors are getting pissed. They grow frustrated with me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

So it is, every day, I get up and turn on CNBC. I look at the markets. They are always up. It is illegal for them to ever go down. Women with big boobs beckon me, temptresses holding some forbidden fruit. After a huge employment miss, this is how they spin it, courtesy of CNN.
"Broadly speaking, we're taking two steps forward and then one step back," Robillard said. "In my view, that's still progress, but it's certainly slow."
Snowstorms in the Southeast and layoffs of temporary holiday workers could be distorting the January numbers more than usual, some economists say.
Still, the general theme remains the same, Robillard said -- the economy is improving, but at a much slower pace than hoped.

Today, once again, the markets are up. The unemployment rate tacked on one of the worst losses I have seen in recent months. The Baltic Dry Index, an unmanipulated piece of raw goods shipping data, is at the worst levels I have ever seen. There is no demand for raw shipping, yet prices continue to rise. Higher commodity prices are no longer driven by lack of supply. My simple mind thinks it has to be inflationary forces and excess worldwide money printing and devaluation- yet some man on the TV with a large head tells me I am nuts. Look at that core CPI data you fool, inflation does not exist.

I view Ben Bernanke as our leader. He runs this place. We have no structural plan other than to ignore history and print money. Obama is some clueless idiot, he acts like nothing is wrong. The young folks haven't seen this game before. I have. This is no market for old men.

I don't hear Cher on my radio every morning. I hear the Kinks. The younger, happier version. I wish I could go back. Yea, really.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Idaho Supports Obamacare Nullification, Is Talk of Secession Insane?

I think everyone has a personal hero. One guy in history that we all admire. My guy was Thomas Jefferson. His personal life was one of very dubious character. So Jefferson takes some heat for that.

His professional life was absolute devotion to his country. Jefferson was a genius, polymath, and patriot- perhaps the greatest this country has ever had. Jefferson's ability to see history accurately and to know that one day, a tyrannical government might rise and steal our freedom is now happening before our very eyes. That it hasn't happened sooner is testament to his will and unflinching devotion to give states the sovereign rights that they have. It was Jefferson and James Madison, Presidents 3 and 4, who supported nullification. The time has come to flex that dormant muscle. 

This is what John F Kennedy had to say about Jefferson with a collection of 49 Nobel Peace Prize winners gathered at the White House in 1962.
...probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.
 
So who started this nullification process? If the Federal Government ignores states rights, indeed those of it's citizens...just who is nullifying who? I'd like to extend this premise. That the Federal Government denied states and citizens any kind of voice or inclusion in Obamacare planning, indeed they didn't even read it themselves, and now they claim states are out of line? So just who is out of line?
 
The Obamacare bill was the single greatest intrusion into personal liberty that has ever been undertaken by our tyrannical government to date. Forget party politics and those esoteric arguments that everyone should be entitled to health care. I will give you those points. Freedom and liberty trump all of those arguments. They really do. And that is a very critical issue. Having those rights trampled might have been tolerated by our states and our people had it not been for three other key issues.
 
The process and how it was conducted, the timing of that process and the staggering costs associated with it, and most importantly- isolating and marginalizing the participants. Demanding that we pay for it and delivering a very unfair and substandard process administered by a tyrannical government that has has snatched failure from the jaws of victory many times. The United States Government doesn't exactly have an untarnished resume'. To debate those points is not why I am writing this. I am focused on what rights does a state have when a tyrannical government shoves an intolerable piece of legislation down our throats.     
 
Is nullification legal? Probably not although it was Jefferson and Madison who promoted the original idea. Is secession legal? Yes, probably it is.
 
Think of it this way. You are married to a tyrant. He gets drunk every night, spends all of your money, and cheats and lies to you. Is there any law that requires you to stay in that marriage? Of course not. That is the same sovereign rights that a state has. The same protection and rights that Jefferson fought so hard for. That is freedom. 
 
So while nullifying Obamacare might be technically illegal, secession might not be. Secession is really what we are talking about here. Because we all know that everyone of those nanny judges on the Supreme Court was appointed by the tyranny. We know how they will see it. We saw what a Federal Judge and the 9th Circuit did to Arizona's immigration law. It was DOA. Indeed, the tyrant sues the state while ignoring thousands of banking and criminal fraud prosecutions, years older.

In my humble and lowly opinion, it may be best to hold a Constitutional Convention prior to any challenge of Obamacare. I say that because all law is based on precedence. Once the tyranny gets the decision they want, every challenge after that goes moot. Bad precedent will rule the day. While I don't think an adverse ruling prevents a Constitutional Convention, it certainly doesn't support the Convention once it has been called. I am no constitutional lawyer or scholar. What we are talking about are individual human rights and the rights of states and individuals to decide how they want to spend their money and what product they want to purchase. If the tyranny cannot avail itself and extend those basic individual rights and freedoms, I am all for abolishing our government by whatever peaceful means is available to us. It's no different than a bad marriage. I am not and should not be required to stay in it. Nor should I have to kill anyone to get out of it.

I am proud that in Idaho, the nullification law has sailed through the House committee over the objections of our nanny Attorney General. I hope the legislature passes it. The whole point of nullification was to remind these petty lawyers and judges that the sovereign rights of states trump the judicial system. That has got to come as a real shock to jurists who are used to having the last say on virtually everything. From Boise with love...
http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/114683304.html


This is Our "Skylab" Moment

I thought the Sputnik metaphor was quite a stretch in the big speech.

What I thought was funniest was that Obama was preaching to the hostages. Like somehow, it was our fault for not wasting enough of our money on more government. Maybe if we could all just create big cushy jobs with huge salaries and then send all of our money to Washington- maybe we could make this whole depression thing go away. Big government could catapult us to the stars.

Ya know, just will our way out of this mess. 

A far more fitting metaphor might have been, this is our "Skylab" moment. For those of you who don't remember, I remember scenes with people walking around with hard hats on. Waiting for the flaming debris of Skylab to impact the earth.  I think Australia charged us a littering fee. No kidding.

Space Junk


The largest fragment of Skylab recovered after its re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. It is on display at the United States Space & Rocket Center.

Commission, After Days of Hearings, Finds What Every Person in America Already Knows

The financial crisis was avoidable. A whole bunch of inept, greedy, and corrupt people were responsible.
No kidding. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/business/economy/26inquiry.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all

Next news flash for our nimble government. People committed fraud. Fraud is a crime.

Now That We Are Past the State of the Union Address, It's Time For the Fun Shit to Begin

I am happy that during last night's speech, the Republicans and Democrats sat together. Having been a part of something very similar a couple of times- two opposing groups that really don't like each other can be a very hostile and nasty environment.

I am convinced that the best thing America has done in the last six years, was dump the House Democrats. Nothing short of dumping the Senate's Democrat majority was going to rescue us from Obamacare. Just weeks ago, there was talk of an Obamacare repeal. I am still scratching my head over that- wondering just how they were going to pull off that feat of magic.

It's time for the fun shit to start.

Remember that 2.5 trillion (sounds like big stuff) budget cut proposal over ten years? I have embedded it here. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20029118-503544.html

To put it simply, it's a waste of time. It includes privatizing Fannie and Freddie, the smoldering and ruined home lenders. I am trying to envision any scenario where that is remotely possible. It is difficult to envision the circumstances under which that zombie mess can be spun off and sold either publicly or privately. Perhaps a scenario where the government breaks it up and sells it off for absolute chump change to the banks- allowing them to take losses and tax benefits- and dispose of the remnants. Maybe.

Not paying for Obamacare implementation and legal challenges? This I have to see.

Obama himself- created something like four thousand 100k plus salaried government workers and czars. I don't think they'll be able to cut the federal workforce by 15% in ten years by attrition. Maybe half that number. The pay freezes will do very little and the benefit packages will swell.

In the absolute best case scenario, the fluff cuts that they'll be able to achieve will not amount to 100 billion a year or about 1 trillion. That includes cutting this years budget and not spending any more stimulus funds. That's the absolute best scenario.

Ending wars and eliminating the United Postal Service, the Department of Energy or the Department of Education would be a lot more productive. In the case of the Department of Education, this is what they do- The primary functions of the Department of Education are to formulate and administer federal funding programs involving education, such as college financial aid, collect data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.[3][4]

This hardly seems worth a budget of 52 billion this year and 71 billion next year. Eliminating this money pit will save more dough than all of that other fluff combined. Incidentally, Democrat Jimmy Carter was responsible for these two money sucking ventures, education and energy.

When the smoke clears, the politicians will beat on their chests and act as though they have scaled Mt. Everest. In actuality, they will have done very little. It will be fun to watch those futile efforts. All of this of course, won't do one damn thing for scaling down our existing 14.1 trillion deficit that continues to compound interest. It will simply slow the rate of the additional debt we pile on. The current debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion will be breached by Feb. 28. Current tax revenues are still coming in short of already shortened estimates. And don't forget the FED. Adding zeroes and monetizing the debt. That little piece of 600 billion dollar handiwork has not been accounted for.


At current interest rates, our debt continues to compound. It will rise 2 trillion every 300 days. This is getting rather nasty. If bond yields rise, hang onto your ass. That estimate goes out the window.

When they get real serious, I'll sit up and take notice. Until then, it will be fun to watch them contest every little piece of this budget cut proposal. They are going to have to do a hell of a lot more than this.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Who Ya Gonna Believe, Barack or the Hag?

Well, I suffered through another 62 minutes- listening to what Obama does best. Talking. Man, he really went out on a limb laying out a strategy for our country's huge debt problem. He did spend 5 minutes talking about education.

Obama doesn't get it. He still doesn't get it. Education is just a singular component, a piece of our problem. Hard work is what produces results. But then again, what experience does he have with that?

Spend two minutes with the Hag...listening to what he does best- singing. Thinking there is more of a solution in Hag's 2 minutes than Obama's 62. Don't think Merle went to Harvard either.

Meet Frank Raines and Daniel Mudd- All the King's Horses and All the King's Men, Couldn't Put Fannie Together Again

I love a no cops but plenty of robbers story- just like the next guy. Grammar be damned.

It has been at least 3 years since the Wall Street collapse. This country has yet to prosecute one thieving- fraud committing banker and put them in jail. The government managed to shake down Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide fame for about 69 million, 20 million of it paid for by Bank of America. If I remember correctly, that only had to do with his insider trading habits. It left Mozilo with his freedom and as near as I can tell, a net worth of about 400 million- but that's just a swag.

After reading a ZeroHedge story, I began to smolder just a bit.  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/government-pretend-it-will-prosecute-wall-street#comment-901773

I find it fascinating that our government is finally thinking about prosecuting the bad guys. Coincidentally, Dear Leader is about a year from having to gear up his mighty re-election apparatus. Now suddenly- it has occurred to someone that there might have been some alleged wrong doing in the greatest banking fraud the world has ever seen? How rich is that?

On a ZH comment board I plundered this name. Read the background of a guy that somehow managed to avoid criminal prosecution...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Raines

Frank Raines was the head of Fannie Mae in 1999. He recommended loans to people "a notch" below credit worthy. A "notch" is apparently one of those terms left open to interpretation. He did a bunch of other crooked things according to Wikipedia and was allowed to escape with a slap on the wrist, the usual fines (which someone else paid) and some other obscure and undisclosed punishment. It smacks of Angelo Mozilo and every other connected piece of garbage that has been allowed to escape by our government after shaking them down for some fine money. Of course and not surprisingly, Mozilo's name would pop up here as well. Frank Raines name might have been lost on me. Except that...

Raines worked as Director for the Office of Budget and Management under Bill Clinton. (That impeached guy who acts as President every once in awhile when Obama has important things to do.) Frank springboarded from that gig into the much more lucrative Fannie Mae business. Raines got 3 million dollars worth of sweetheart loans from that Countrywide crook Mozilo. Mozilo used investor money to make loans or bribes- call them what you will- the terms of which have never been disclosed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countrywide_financial_political_loan_scandal  As near as I can tell, Raines made 115 million dollars while working for Fannie Mae. Not only did Raines pave the way for all of those crappy loans, but he groomed his successor to do more of the same. Daniel Mudd enlarged and expanded the crappy loan making program and eventually got canned- but not until he managed to get away with 80 million bucks and left taxpayers with that smoldering wreck, Fannie Mae. Mudd didn't get his severance pay. That's harsh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Mudd

Apparently, the Obama campaign sought out the expertise of Frank Raines after he was long gone. Since Raines appears to be an expert at so many levels, from training talented people to obtaining very agreeable mortgages, it is difficult to speculate on what the substance of those conversation(s) might have been about.

It has cost taxpayers 24 million dollars to DEFEND Raines. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/24/AR2011012406425.html

Of particular note and fascination is that Raines is a Harvard grad and a Rhodes Scholar. Proving once again that moral/ethical conduct and education- can be mutually exclusive concepts. One last tearful story about Raines. He almost comes off like a victim. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502827.html

So how much have the reckless and careless decisions of these two morons cost US taxpayers? How's a cool 1/2 trillion sound? The carnage is not over yet. That they are walking around free men with all that bonus money, facilitated by an indifferent and crony government, defies belief. One wonders what influence these two had on Freddie Mac. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-13/fannie-freddie-fix-expands-to-160-billion-with-worst-case-at-1-trillion.html

Let me put this into perspective. All of the losses, of all of the property type criminals, in all of our prisons combined- probably cannot match the loss here. That includes Bernie. Make sure you send in your tax check on time this year. The government needs the money for Frank's mounting legal bills.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Interesting Financial Stuff, Monday Jan. 24

Silver and Gold Sell Off

I found this on a message board today. It has veracity because it is over a couple of weeks old (Jan 7), and so far it is amazingly accurate. So, I clipped it.

In an earnest effort to help as many silver longs as I can I will relay information as I know it.

Major hedge fund traders are going to be buying hundreds of millions of dollars of March contracts during the last 3 weeks of February. The strategy is simple-force Comex to pay a hefty premium on contracts that CANNOT be delivered. Will this work? It worked like a charm in December. Those guys were all kicking themselves because they should have bought 10 times the amount of contract that they actually had in December.

This time around, they are getting everyone they know to get involved in this trade. They will pool their money together in order to get a large number of contracts so that Comex will not be available to deliver-thus forcing a hefty premium. These former traders are gonna pull a train on Blythe with all their hedge fund buddies and there is not a thing Blythe can do about it.

HOWEVER THERE IS A CAVEAT!!!

These traders have gotten word in the last 48 hours, that Blythe and The Morgue is about to undertake a major raid on GOLD in the hopes that silver will sell off too. Therefore, these traders are advising their colleagues to refrain from buying March silver contracts unless silver breaks $31 again. Their understanding is that Blythe cannot effectively execute a silver sell off but Blythe and The Morgue can still execute an effective GOLD SELLOFF.

If and when this GOLD sell off comes, scheduled for this Friday or perhaps next week at the latest (that would have been the 14th thru the 21st) Blythe is hoping that gold will break $1300 and go as far down as $1250. Blythe will be short selling intermittently in the silver pit but her main goal is to cover as many silver contracts as possible.

Once this Gold induced sell off is done watch for the mother of all rally in the silver pit. The hedge funds will be buying like crazy, but the MAIN assault will not take place until February wherein these former traders expect a rise of at least $10 (which was what happened to silver from October going into December).

December was just a dry run (RAID) on the Comex. The success and ease of that RAID has emboldened these traders to re-try the same scheme with a lot more money this go around (March delivery). The only defense Blythe has is to engineer a GOLD SELLOFF in the next two weeks in order to suppress silver so that she can cover her SILVER contracts.

So yes, I am very bullish on silver since I know that Comex cant deliver this March, but am expecting a sell off from a gold induced intervention.

I have been tasked by Blythe's former traders to spread the word about the fact that there is not enough physical silver in the world to cover The Morgue's short contracts. That is my role.

- I have a hard time buying off on that last line. For clarification, Blythe Masters is head of commodities trading at JP Morgan, often referred to as the "morgue." However, the gold and silver sell off did in fact occur during the weeks of 14 and 21. This piece was dated Jan. 7. Remember these are contracts. If you can push the paper price down, you can pick up the physical stuff. I hate presenting anonymous comments from a yahoo message board but this one seems to have amazing clairvoyance.

I clipped this tonight. Expect more downward pressure tomorrow. Contracts expire. Adding to positions on Wednesday. http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/

Update 0415 MST. Gold down 21.00 bucks, silver down .75 cents pushing 3%. The predicted rout is on. 

The Continued Stock Market Rally

The 600 billion dollar flood of new money is scheduled to run through June. In addition to that, ZeroHedge reports this...However, what that also means is that the US stock market is about to become awash with another $25 billion in suddenly free cash every single week, until the entire $200 billion SFP buffer is depleted. In other words, take the liquidity impact of POMO, which is roughly $25-30 billion a week, and double it!

Once all of this has been absorbed, there is serious talk on Capitol Hill to allow American Corporations to re-patriate the one trillion dollars sitting off shore that they refuse to bring stateside and pay taxes on. If they are allowed to bring that money back duty free, I expect to see a good deal of it funneled back in the market. They will probably time that event to coincide with the ending of POMO and QE2 in early June.


Summary

In my humble opinion, anybody shorting this market in any way, shape, or form needs their head examined. You simply cannot fight this short term. Either be long or stay out. Be patient. This will take most of this year to run it's course.

Of course this could all change dramatically, with a number of nasty unforeseen events possible.

I am going to sit chilly until mid-Feb on my existing precious metals. They simply can't wash me out because I am prepared to ride this to any bottom they want to drive it to. I am going to double my physical amounts, allocating 2/3rds of my free cash to gold and average in lower. The only thing that could change my mind would be an event like all of the world's billionaires suddenly giving up their fortunes to pay down the USA's 14.1 trillion dollar debt.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

More Details on the Thugocracy Healthcare "Plan"

Got this in an email. I can't verify it's accuracy. My 2300 page Obamacare bill has gone missing. Do not read this in front of your elderly parents.

THIS IS THE 2ND OFFICIAL WHO HAS OUTLINED THESE PARTS OF THE CARE BILLJudge Kithil of   Marble Falls ,   TX   - HB3200 highlighted pages most egregiousPlease read this........ especially the reference to pages 58 & 59JUDGE KITHIL wrote:** Page 50/section 152:  The bill will provide insurance to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally.
** Page 58 and 59: The government will have real-time access to an individual's bank account and will have the authority to make electronic fund transfers from those accounts.
** Page 65/section 164:  The plan will be subsidized (by the government) for all union members, union retirees and for community organizations (such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform N ow - ACORN).
** Page 203/line 14-15:  The tax imposed under this section will not be treated as a tax.  (How could anybody in their right mind come up with that?)
** Page 241 and 253:  Doctors will all be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctors' fees.

** Page 272. section 1145: Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient's age.
** Page 317 and 321: The government will impose a prohibition on hospital expansion; however, communities may petition for an exception.
** Page 425, line 4-12: The government mandates advance-care planning consultations.  Those on Social Security will be required to attend an "end-of-life planning" seminar every five years. (Death counseling..)

** Page 429,  line 13-25:  The government will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order. 

Non Coward Gunman Walks Into Police Station To Hone Marksmanship, Suicide Skills

For years I have witnessed cowardly killers walking in to unarmed and civilian workplaces and shooting up the joint. Killing helpless people. Very cowardly.

I had noted over the years, that would be killers never walk into police stations to pull that shit. Until today. And as expected, the cops shot back. In Detroit.

The Scorecard

Mentally ill and/or using drugs and alcohol or both- 100% chance
Cops know this guy- 100% chance
Cops used available cover- 100% chance
Number of cops shot and survived- 4
Number of suicides- 1
Number of retired bloggers on FG that are glad they are retired- 1

The breaking story. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41224400/ns/us_news

Defending Palin

There is simply no shortage of Palin bashers out there. In fact I read some piece the other day where the lefties were calling Palin stupid because they were convinced that she didn't know what "blood libel" meant. Laughing about it.

I have a confession to make. I didn't know what the hell "blood libel" meant either. I had to look it up. After looking it up, I am convinced that I am no better off intellectually now that I know what it means. The point I am making is simple. I am not convinced that just because a person doesn't know the meaning of an obscure word or phrase, perhaps "salamagundi" for instance, that somehow we can hang an idiot sign on them. But oh how those lefties try. Interestingly enough, my spell checker must be stupid. It doesn't recognize the word, salamagundi.

In the initial days of Captain Transparency's ascendancy, I defended his right to sit in a church wherein a preacher said, "Goddamn America." Right wingers found this tantamount to treason. Ok. Not me.

So this morning I defended Palin in a heated debate with a statist. The gist of the battle- as you might guess- was that Palin was stupid. I countered with Captain Transparency's alleged genius. Just where is that alleged genius and when is it going to transfer into something usable? I said if in fact, Obama is such a genius, when is he going to make that transparent and transferable? This really pissed off my adversary who then switched gears and said, "Who did you vote for?"

I said I voted for the Libertarian, Bob Barr. My adversary said who the fuck is that and how many votes did he get? I had him by the balls.

I told him that Barr only got 500,000 votes. Most folks, can't see beyond the two party puppets that get foisted upon us each four years because neither the democrats or the republicans have any vested interest in competition. They see third parties candidates as a siphon. That's why you don't know who Barr is. They don't want you to know. But thank gawd, you know what "blood libel" means and you can call Palin stupid- yet not even know who is on a ballot. That's some rich shit, I said.

He turned, got in his pickup truck, and drove away. Just like that.

Blogger's Property Gets Seized Illegally, Time To Revisit the OathKeepers

From the article:


..police received information that Corcoran posted a comment online saying “one down 534 to go” in reference to Giffords and the other 534 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate... 
 
For that remark, whether you like it or not, the cops seized Travis Corcoran's guns. The Feds are contemplating charges. He operates a website called HeavyInk where he sells comic books.
 
This is the same Federal Government which cannot find anything illegal with hundreds of thousands of bankers committing widespread fraud, writing interest only and back loaded mortgages to anyone with warm blood- packaging those loans as Triple A, and reselling them. Essentially bankrupting the entire country and the world. The same Federal Government that can't enforce immigration law and sues states for trying to do so. But they are certainly responsive when it comes to picking on some lowly blogger.
 

I absolutely do not agree with the thought police nor Corcoran's statements. I can make the distinction between those completely separate issues. But there is certainly a body of thought that disagrees. I am not surprised with that. It is the nanny left. Many, I believe, would scrap the bill of rights if they found it convenient.


Please note the number one order they will not obey. I am guessing cops from Massachusetts have not signed up.