November 4, 2010 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

[ This link to a somewhat more cumulative blog posts page will precede current days news since most all topics remain current in terms of impact and longer-term effect and can be searched by topical index term more easily. The same is provided since the blog site http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com has just been censored as to size by google which is typical for google as nsa / cia / gov’t shill as more are becoming aware of. The same is true for microsoft, another co. that’s seen their best days and relies on the government to maintain their monopoly. Up to now the better page http://www.scribd.com/alpeia is provided for ease of formatting and clarity thereby while the Washington Post page is the real deal but without formatting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/mypost/index.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaComments&plckUserId=alpeia&newspaperUserId=alpeia ]

Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail. ‘Washington’s Blog Nov 4th, 2010 As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail. And Nobel prize winning economist George Akerlof has demonstrated that failure to punish white collar criminals – and instead bailing them out- creates incentives for more economic crimes and further destruction of the economy in the future. See this, this and this. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz just agreed. As Stiglitz told Yahoo’s Daily Finance on October 20th: This is a really important point to understand from the point of view of our society. The legal system is supposed to be the codification of our norms and beliefs, things that we need to make our system work. If the legal system is seen as exploitative, then confidence in our whole system starts eroding. And that’s really the problem that’s going on. *** A lot of the predatory practices in automobile loans are going to be able to be continued. Why is it OK to engage in bad lending in automobiles and not in the mortgage market? Is there any principle? We all know the answer to that. No, there’s no principle. It’s money. It’s campaign contributions, lobbying, revolving door, all of those kinds of things *** The system is designed to actually encourage that kind of thing, even with the fines [referring to former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo, who recently paid tens of millions of dollars in fines, a small fraction of what he actually earned, because he earned hundreds of millions.]. I know so many people who say it’s an outrage that we had more accountability in the ’80’s with the S&L crisis than we are having today. Yeah, we fine them, and what is the big lesson? Behave badly, and the government might take 5% or 10% of what you got in your ill-gotten gains, but you’re still sitting home pretty with your several hundred million dollars that you have left over after paying fines that look very large by ordinary standards but look small compared to the amount that you’ve been able to cash in. *** So the system is set so that even if you’re caught, the penalty is just a small number relative to what you walk home with. The fine is just a cost of doing business. It’s like a parking fine. Sometimes you make a decision to park knowing that you might get a fine because going around the corner to the parking lot takes you too much time. ***I think we ought to go do what we did in the S&L [crisis] and actually put many of these guys in prison. Absolutely. These are not just white-collar crimes or little accidents. There were victims. That’s the point. There were victims all over the world. *** So do we have any confidence that these guys who got us into the mess have really changed their minds? Actually we have pretty [good] confidence that they have not. I’ve seen some speeches where they said, “Nothing was really wrong. We didn’t get things quite right. But our understanding of the issues is pretty sound.” If they think that, then we really are in a sorry mess. *** There are many aspects of [deterring people from committing crime]. Economists focus on the whole notion of incentives. People have an incentive sometimes to behave badly, because they can make more money if they can cheat. If our economic system is going to work then we have to make sure that what they gain when they cheat is offset by a system of penalties. And that’s why, for instance, in our antitrust law, we often don’t catch people when they behave badly, but when we do we say there are treble damages. You pay three times the amount of the damage that you do. That’s a strong deterrent. Unfortunately, what we’ve been doing now, and more recently in these financial crimes, is settling for fractions – fractions! – of the direct damage, and even a smaller fraction of the total societal damage. That is to say, the financial sector really brought down the global economy and if you include all of that collateral damage, it’s really already in the trillions of dollars. But there’s a broader sense of collateral damage that I think that has not really been taken on board. And that is confidence in our legal system, in our rule of law, in our system of justice. When you say the Pledge of Allegiance you say, with “justice for all.” People aren’t sure that we have justice for all. Somebody is caught for a minor drug offense, they are sent to prison for a very long time. And yet, these so-called white-collar crimes, which are not victimless, almost none of these guys, almost none of them, go to prison. *** Let me give you another example of where the legal system has gotten very much out of whack, and which contributed to the financial crisis. In 2005, we passed a bankruptcy reform. It was a reform pushed by the banks. It was designed to allow them to make bad loans to people to who didn’t understand what was going on, and then basically choke them. Squeeze them dry. And we should have called it, “the new indentured servitude law.” Because that’s what it did. Let me just tell you how bad it is. I don’t think Americans understand how bad it is. It becomes really very difficult for individuals to discharge their debt. The basic principle in the past in America was people should have the right for a fresh start. People make mistakes. Especially when they’re preyed upon. And so you should be able to start afresh again. Get a clean slate. Pay what you can and start again. Now if you do it over and over again that’s a different thing. But at least when there are these lenders preying on you should be able to get a fresh start. But they [the banks] said, “No, no, you can’t discharge your debt,” or you can’t discharge it very easily. *** This is indentured servitude. And we criticize other countries for having indentured servitude of this kind, bonded labor. But in America we instituted this in 2005 with almost no discussion of the consequences. But what it did was encourage the banks to engage in even worse lending practices. *** The banks want to pretend that they did not make bad loans. They don’t want to come into reality. The fact that they were very instrumental in changing the accounting standards, so that loans that are impaired where people are not paying back what they owe, are treated as if they are just as good as a well-performing mortgage. So the whole strategy of the banks has been to hide the losses, muddle through and get the government to keep interest rates really low. *** The result of this is, as long as we keep up this strategy, it’s going to be a long time before the economy recovers …’

Fed to pump $600B into the economy (Washington Post) [ Listen to this total, absolute b*** s*** … from no-recession-helicopter ben shalom or b.s. for short, bernanke, with green shoots wilting on the vine … to his most recent b.s. line, ‘better to try and fail than to do nothing at all’ … Balderdash! … I hearken back to a distinction made by the brilliant Peter Drucker who in emphasizing the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness states that being effective means doing the right things, clearly not the case here … other than frothing that fraudulent wall street market with high-frequency programmed trades and debased dollars he can’t seem to print enough of, and for all but wall frauds churn and earn profits as they retain their fraudulent gains from the last debacle and this one, his policies are nothing short of disaster for this nation and the world. That money going into wall street pockets has to come from somewhere … guess. Remember, america’s defacto bankrupt and the consequences for those continuing frauds on wall street don’t justify the irretrievable costs! ]

Dollar Shrinkage: Dave's Daily INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS - ‘I gotta do something different right? It seems every report and blog is writing about what a great day this was for markets. It was except for low volume. Overseas governments don't like the dollar shrinkage one little bit. A currency war is the likely result. Oh, and before we get too optimistic (we're long too you know) its reported insider selling is at record highs--like, what do they know? Meanwhile with the big rally day for stocks and just about everything else priced in dollars. (Even bond prices rose!) It's all about the Fed wanting higher asset prices and that means stocks too. Forget about the PPT. The important thing when it comes to the Fed's monetary policies is for every action there's a reaction. They know that raising stock prices is good for 401Ks. It makes people feel better so they'll shop more and maybe even buy a house. And, forget about employment data since the unemployed have been left out on the ice with a few worthless dollars to buy food. As stated, volume was light for this type of day and reflects the absence of retail investors who continue to withdraw sums from equities. What good is inflation if they're sitting in low-yielding bonds? Breadth was positive naturally but not a 90/10 day.’

Initial Weekly Claims Rise 20,000 NEW YORK (TheStreet) – ‘The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for the first time rose more than expected last week according to a labor department report released early Thursday. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased by 20,000 to 457,000 in the week ended Oct. 30, from the previous week's upwardly revised estimate of 437,000. Analysts were expecting initial claims to rise by 11,000 to 445,000, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com. The number of people filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in lower than expected at 4.34 million for the week ended Oct. 23, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 4.382 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to rise to 4.386 million. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average(DIA) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF(SPY) were rising by 0.8% and 1 % respectively in premarket trading while the PowerShares QQQ(QQQQ) was up 1.2%. The 4-week moving average in initial claims, which smoothes the volatility in week-to-week reports, was 456,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 454,000. The 4-week moving average in continuing claims was 4.410 million, a decrease of 42,750 from the preceding week's average of 4.453 million. This initial weekly claims report comes a day before the Labor Department reports nonfarm payroll numbers for the month of October. The economy is projected to have added 60,000 jobs in October, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com. In September, the economy shed 95,000 jobs, as the state and local government laid off more workers and private sector job growth remained modest…’

Come On! Insiders selling (into the bubble as preceded last crash), this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally to keep suckers suckered (easy for the wall street frauds to do with just a mouse click / push of the button – and, they know all those technical trade lines that are easy to program in this current phase of the scam / fraud with the debased dollar). Keep in mind, the totally mindless blather from the ‘cottage industries’ of and fraudulent wall street itself in talking up lower P/E multiples when the same is a direct result of the debasement of the dollar and the consequent manipulation / translation (not real, see Davis, infra) which preceded the financial crisis / last crash. Unemployment, trade, deficit, etc., numbers continue decidedly worse than expected along with other negative data (and in the ‘wrong direction’, that spin accorded ‘down but not as bad as before’ b*** s*** ) yet the market has rallied like no tomorrow with used home foreclosure / distressed sales, though abated owing to ‘foreclosuregate’, the other ‘heralded’ good news. Moreover, the dumbo lemmings of Europe have jumped on the fraudulent defacto bankrupt american crazy train propelled to the precipice also as if no tomorrow. This is about keeping the suckers sucked in with the help of a market-frothing pre-election debased dollar for favorable currency translation and paper (but not real when measured in, ie., gold, etc.) profits which preceded the last crisis, inflating a bubble as in the last crisis to facilitate the churn-and-earn, particularly with computerized (and high frequency) trades and which commissions they’ll get again on the way down. There is nothing to support these overbought stock prices, fundamentally or otherwise. These are desperate criminals ‘at work’. Even wall street shill, the senile Buffett is saying we’re still in a recession (depression) [ Davis: ‘… all profits are inflated by 10% (from falling, debased dollar) and that 10% is the E that gets divided from the P and gives us a much better price/multiple to hang our hats on and that gets investors to BUYBUYBUY …’ The bull market that never was / were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold ] This is a great opportunity to sell / take profits (these lower dollar, hyperinflationary currency manipulations / translations to froth paper stocks will end quite badly as in last crash)! This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up moves were manipulated bull (s***) cycles (at best) in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street ‘programmed computerized high-frequency churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes ( widely reported, high-frequency trading routinely accounts for more than 50% of daily U.S. equity trading volume and regularly approaches 70%. )’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.The Stock Market's Long Decline Has Begun Smith ]

Auto Sales are Up, But Who's Really Buying? ‘… Not Buying It … As we search for these vital signs of health, we continue to be sustained by the disconnect between the markets and reality as the dow (DJI: ^DJI), Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC), and S&P (SNP: ^GSPC) grind higher.’

5 Promises That Money Printing Can't Fulfill - Pento ‘It seems the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve is of the belief that diluting the dollar is the cure for everything from a recession to male pattern baldness. And like other snake-oil salesmen before him, Mr. Bernanke is heavy on promises and light on results. Here are five prescriptions that money printing can't fulfill:

• Lower the corporate tax rate. The US corporate tax rate is the second highest in the developed world, after Japan. Lowering this tax would help American businesses compete with foreign corporations and unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of our workforce. In addition, lowering taxes on capital goods purchases and retained earnings would also encourage expansion projects, new hiring, and therefore general business development.
• Reduce crippling regulations. There isn't a much better example of the current environment of excessive red tape than the number of "Czars" running around the White House: 28, at last count. Ronald Reagan had just one. These sub-cabinet level offices simply advise the President on how to further fetter American businesses and launch umpteen "independent probes" every time an issue comes up. But even officials not given the Imperial Russian title are busy making life hell for small- and medium-sized businesses because there is too much power in Washington.
• Learn to compete with foreign workers. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and mandated benefits and regulations add even more to the cost of employment. We need to repeal these laws and allow wages to adjust freely to market conditions. Initially, incomes may drop, but if we also lower taxes while reducing the rate of inflation, workers' real disposable income may actually increase. Meanwhile, as our economy's underlying strength is rebuilt, American workers will finally be able to compete with foreign workers on a level playing field. If we ignore these reforms, high-quality jobs will continue to flow overseas.
• Improve America's educational system. According to a recent report put out by the National Academies of Science and Engineering, the US ranks 21st in science and 25th in math out of 30 industrialized nations. And, according to the World Economic Forum, the United States' K-12 education system now ranks 48th in the world. How can our workers compete in the 21st century without the necessary technological skills to fill highly paid positions? We need to dramatically reform our public educational system by injecting a massive dose of free markets into the mix. Whether this involves charter schools, private schools, vouchers, or a combination, public schools must be forced to compete for students and funding. If consumers were given a true choice by offering tax credits to those parents that opt-out of the public system, it would go a long way towards establishing an environment that purges mediocrity and rewards excellence.
• Balance the federal budgets. Balancing a budget simply means spending only what you take in as revenue. If we were to adopt that simply strategy, it would ensure that: tax rates would never have to rise sharply just to service debt, the Fed would never have to print money to 'monetize' the debt, interest rates would be lower, and spending that benefits one generation would never be paid for by generations to come. A stable currency, low taxes and the ability to pay down debts are necessary ingredients for a growing workforce and a viable middle class.

Unlike the snake oil of printed money, these genuine therapies take time and effort, and sometimes have painful side effects. The quack remedies offered by Dr. Bernanke promise to cure all ills with no effort on the part of the patient. If the measures I propose are established in concert, we would lay the groundwork upon which to rebuild the country's goods-producing sector. If allowed to flourish, manufacturing can create the needed jobs to lower the long-term unemployment rate and restore the county's economic vitality. The Fed's plan, by contrast, has only one predictable consequence: inflation. Indeed, Bernanke has already been remarkably successful in sending asset prices higher. Not only are most commodities soaring in dollar terms, but the broader measures of the money supply have started to surge as well. The compounded annual rates of change in MZM and M2 over the last month are 13.3% and 9.1% respectively. The prices-paid component of the September ISM manufactures survey jumped to 71, and the YoY increase in the PPI is 4%. Sure, we can look to the Dow or the stabilization of home prices and say the Fed's magic is working, but just because the headache has gone away doesn't mean you've cured the stroke. We can look to the inflation indicators to see that the Fed has failed to stop the bleeding.

Remember, the Fed is now printing dollars to purchase the bulk of US Treasuries at auction, in a process called debt monetization. It is that process of the Fed expanding the money supply to subsidize federal debt that is causing domestic prices to surge. It will not be very long before the consumer acutely suffers from this dangerous policy. On this point, history is clear: inflation has caused the destruction of every middle class and every economy that has sought it as a solution. There are no quick fixes to our current economic predicament, but there are fixes. It's up to the American people to decide they've had enough of Ben 'Rasputin' Bernanke and they're ready for some tough medicine. When that happens, I've got some great specialists to recommend.’

Financial Improprieties Abound as Stocks Rally Simon Maierhofer, On Thursday November 4, 2010, 6:53 pm EDT Throughout mankind's history, scales have been a symbol of equality. As much as commoners rely on scales to be treated fairly, 'ueber commoners' try to escape the scales of justice and equality and want to be measured by different and better standards. In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln exhorted his listeners to ensure the survival of a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It seems like survival of the fittest like forces have turned a government of, by and for the people into a government of, for and by special interest groups. No More Robin Hood This week we read that even the Robin Hood of investors, creates his own rules. Warren Buffett - the only candidate to even remotely resemble a Robin Hood of Wall Street - had a friendly exchange with the SEC about the treatment of actual losses.Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway was sitting on $1.86 billion in losses caused by declining Kraft and US Bancorp stock. The losses were more than 12 months old and according to current accounting rules had to be written down.Perhaps Warren had seen how Wall Street is allowed to bend accounting rules to its favor (more about that in a moment) and thought: 'what they can do I can do better.'In short, Berkshire didn't write down the $1.86 billion in losses because ... drum roll ... as Berkshire's Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg's reasoned:'We believe it is reasonably possible that the market prices of Kraft Foods and U.S. Bancorp will recover to our cast within the next one to two years assuming that there are no material adverse events affecting these companies or the industries in which they operate.'In other words, Berkshire didn't want to write down losses, because under the right circumstances there's a fair chance that stock prices will recover.Perfect Conditions - 100% ProfitabilityOf course, under the right conditions any loss could reverse itself. But, because we don't live in a perfect world, we have accounting rules. The final numbers are designed to help investors evaluate a company's current financial health.If the Doctor tells you that you have high cholesterol, do you tell him: 'Don't worry, under the perfect conditions I'll eat only raw vegetables,' when in reality you live on burgers and fries and should be on a double dose of cholesterol meds?Interestingly - and very smartly - Warren Buffett's new knight - Todd Combs - has stolen the headlight and absorbed the attention of what otherwise could turn into a full-fledged accounting scandal.Further ImplicationsCourtesy of the post-2007 credit contraction, Wall Street Banksters, the administration, and reputable companies have become quite adept at the denial and cover up approach.Case in point, Fannie and Freddie. In 2008, management for the ailing housing giant denied financial trouble. On Sunday, September 7, 2008, the government seized control of Fannie and Freddie. Nevertheless, stocks rallied on Monday the morning after.Despite stock's (NYSEArca: VTI - News) party mood, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter considered banks (NYSEArca: KBE - News) and financial institutions (NYSEArca: XLF - News) a 'downward spiral with no stop-loss provision' and predicted Dow (DJI: ^DJI) 7,500 previously in September 2008.As stocks quickly tumbled to Dow 7,500, the government became desperate. Real estate related losses were piling up; investors lost confidence in the financial system and drove Washington Mutual out of business.The problem was too big to fix, so the administration forced the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change rule 157. Obviously, the fix is only topical. If it wasn't, why would Fannie and Freddie need an additional $215 billion in aid?The 'new and improved' rule 157 allowed Banksters to value assets at what they might be worth in the future. If bank A purchased a portfolio of real estate (NYSEArca: IYR - News) for $10 million in 2006 and lost $6 million because the assets turned toxic, bank A is allowed to value the portfolio just below $10 million. The very real loss is not included in the current earnings numbers.Can You Trust EarningsThe real question is whether you can trust reported earnings? If Berkshire, along with most banks and financial conglomerates, has the legal right to fudge their earnings we may rightly wonder who else is employing this convenient accounting trick? Some would call them stupid if they didn't.Ironically, Citigroup's profits exceeded estimates because they reduced bad loan provisions. JPMorgan on the other hand expects mortgage buybacks (related to the foreclosure disaster) to cost lenders $120 billion.To emphasize, Citigroup reducing its bad loan reserves would be like an insurance company reducing its natural disaster fund right before hurricane season.Be that as it may, the S&P (SNP: ^GSPC), Dow Jones (NYSEArca: DIA - News), and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) continue to rally. The Nasdaq 100 (Nasdaq: QQQQ - News) has already shot past its April 2010 recovery high, while the Dow and S&P (NYSEArca: IVV - News) are within striking distance.Expect the Unexpected Following a horrendous August, investors were expecting a terrible September and/or October. The opposite happened.As we approach November, we hear that this month usually kicks off the most profitable time of the year. Fourth quarter institutional cash inflows tend to result in the best consecutive three-month period.As we've discussed here in the past, institutions are not the only ones that provide liquidity right now. The Federal Reserve via its POMO purchases is another one (detailed analysis available in the November issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter). This extra liquidity is not to be underestimated.An Extra Black Swan As we've experienced many times, the market tends to surprise the investing masses - most of which are bullish right now…’

Sen. Gregg: Federal, State Governments Facing Grecian Tragedy in a Few Years Newsmax.com | The federal government and state governments are facing massive debts moving forward.

Goldman: Real Cost Of Fed “Easing” Will Exceed $2 Trillion Steve Watson | [ When you see the now global lemming-like levels (yet again) of brazened, blatent, mind-numbing paper fraud, there is no conclusion other than that this is a dying planet, with america leading the way down! Decades, at most. ] Endless printing of money out of thin air will continue into 2012

Geithner Visited Jon Stewart in April, Though Not for Laughs Bloomberg | Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner sat down to discuss the U.S. economy — with comedian Jon Stewart.

European Central Bank Keeps Rates at Record The Bank of England and the European Central Bank left their key interest rates at record lows Thursday after recent data showed that the economic recovery was showing some resilience.

Oil tops $86 on weak dollar, Fed stimulus Oil topped $86 a barrel on Thursday and rose to a fresh six-month high, as higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims accelerated dollar losses after a U.S. Federal Reserve decision to pump more money into the economy of the world’s top oil user.

Bernanke Confirms That The Key Goal Of The Fed, And QE2, Is To Boost Stock Prices So much for the Fed’s two mythical mandates of promoting “maximum employment” and maintaining “price stability.” First, we had Bernanke’s predecessor Greenspan confirming in late July on Meet the Press what everyone knows: namely that the primary goal of the Fed is merely to encourage higher stock prices.

Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail.

(11-4-10) Dow 11,434 +220 Nasdaq 2,577 +37 S&P 500 1,221 +23 [CLOSE- OIL $86.49 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.00 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.15 REG./ $3.29 MID-GRADE/ $3.39 PREM./ $3.79 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,383 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $26.05 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,756 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 80 YEN, .61 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.47% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 6 Theories On Why the Stock Market Has Rallied 3-9-10 [archived website file] Risks Lurk for ETF Investors The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 The Week Ahead: Risk Is Off the Cliff; Unwind Has Begun Jan 31, 2010 01-13-10 Forecast for 2010 from Seeking Alpha Contributor THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover Current Economic / Fiscal Charts Trendsresearch.com forecast for 2009 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net MUST READ: JEREMY GRANTHAM’S QUARTERLY UPDATE 25 January 2010 (850 on the S&P) by TPC The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Bill Gates Funds Approval of GM Mosquitoes to Combat Dengue Activist Post | There has been very little public debate about whether we should be meddling with nature by introducing billions of new organisms.

Alex Jones’ Audio Blog: The True Nature of Evil Infowars | Alex reflects on the complex evil within the New World Order system and our human nature to willingly participate in the destruction of our own souls.

New Republican House Promises Investigation Of Global Warming Fraud Paul Joseph Watson | Climate change con that threatens to eviscerate middle class faces more scrutiny

Election Over, Neocon Republicans Talk War Kurt Nimmo | It will take more than an election to get rid of the warmongers.

Might Is Right Paul Craig Roberts | Chertoff is using his government credentials to push full body scanners into American airports.

The US Covert War: Provoking Yemeni Terrorism Counterpunch | U.S. forces have been conducting a covert war on the people of Yemen for almost 10 years.

Yemenis: “The truth is there is no Al Qaeda” New York Times | Most Yemenis consider the group a myth, or a ploy by their president to squeeze the West for aid money and punish his domestic opponents.

Goldman: Real Cost Of Fed “Easing” Will Exceed $2 Trillion – Gold Hits Record High Goldman Sachs anticipates that the real cost of the second round of quantitative easing will be in excess of $2 trillion and will continue well into 2012, while other prominent economists have denounced the Fed’s actions.

Jeffrey M. Smith: The GMO Threat Jeffrey M. Smith, author of the #1 GMO bestseller Seeds of Deception, talks about his campaign to force mass rejection of genetically modified foods in order to expunge them form the market entirely. Smith explains how the FDA allowed GMO foods to enter the market with no safety testing whatsoever, and that the man primarily responsible for this is now food safety czar in the Obama administration.

Webster Tarpley: The Next Decade In this exclusive interview for Prison Planet.tv subscribers, author Webster Tarpley goes into detail on a whole host of historical, financial and geopolitical issues in a bid to outline the major crises, revolutions and wars that will hit the globe over the next decade and shape the future of our world.

This Is The Most Shocking Part Of Bernanke’s Case For Quantitative Easing What’s amazing about the latest bout of quantitative easing is the total lack of pretense. By that we mean Bernanke isn’t even pretending that that QE would actually benefit the real economy.

New Republican House Promises Investigation Of Global Warming Fraud One of the first tasks of the new Republican-controlled House of Congress will be to launch a full investigation into the man-made global warming fraud, as the climate change con that threatens to tax and regulate the American middle class out of existence is exposed to what could prove terminal scrutiny.

Drudgereport: UP. UP, UP: Stocks at Highest Since LEHMAN's Fall...
Jobless claims higher...
Oil six-month high...
Gold new high...
BACKLASH BUILDS AGAINST FED PUMPING

Pelosi Seriously Considers Staying as Dem Leader … [Nothing succeeds like failure in defacto bankrupt, pervasively corrupt america]...
WHITE HOUSE FACES INVESTIGATIONS...
No shredding documents...
New House Judiciary Chairman to Obama: Prepare...
Washington, Alaska Senate races still up in the air; 10 House races uncalled...
CT guv race mired in controversy; AP rescinds call for Dem...
Bag of Uncounted Ballots Found in totally corrupt, dead city of Bridgeport, CT...
Brazil ready to retaliate for US move in 'currency war'...
CHINA WARNS FED MOVE 'HUGE RISK'...
Germany Concerned...

Alleged Afghan voting fraud to be investigated The Afghan attorney general's office has begun investigating nine cases in which election officials are accused of rigging votes.

Global impact of U.S. elections Foreign Policy: A Plan B for Obama (Washington Post) [ Plan B? Come on! … Either he’s on plan z or has no plan at all! ] World capitals brace for a new political order in Washington, as policymakers and analysts tried to assess the impact on foreign policy of a new Republican-led U.S. House. Foreign Policy: The China election [ China election? Don’t make me laugh! Almost as big a joke as american elections! (I realize the article wasn’t about an ‘election’ (hmm … riiiiight) in China per se, but wanted to make the albeit indirect point.)]

Election outcome may complicate Obama's foreign policy (Washington Post) [ Wow! That’s all this country needs … a more self-destructive zionist-leaning foreign policy which, as obvious to the rest of the world, ignores israel’s transgressions (ie., violations of international law, u.n. resolutions, nuclear non-proliferation treaty, etc.) while focusing on geopolitically detrimental or otherwise, non-events. I see an already zionist-leaning foreign policy with wobama and co. which begs the question … What foreign policy? James Forrestal made the point: ]

Loopholes in loan recording mess (Washington Post) Countless homeowners in Virginia are getting a tax break for which they don't really qualify because a mortgage documentation mess makes it hard to determine who qualifies, officials say. PHOTOS: Thousands of foreclosures put on hold Complete coverage: Foreclosure system in chaos [ If that were the only thing in chaos in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, there’d be cause for celebration. Then reality: there is no cause for celebration in america: Alex Jones on RT: “The second American Revolution” Russia Today | Radio host Alex Jones believes the midterm results are the beginning of one of the largest political realignments and that this is the start of the second American Revolution. Questions Loom Over Harry Reid Victory as ‘Steal Nevada’ #1 on Google Aaron Dykes | [ Oh come on! While Nevada’s not quite as bad as totally corrupt jersey, that’s hardly a complement, the reality being what is (as bad as jersey) though no worse than that sinkhole new york (wall street frauds, mob, etc.), virginia (government mob, cia, etc.), northeast (ie., as suburbs of nyc, Connecticut, etc.), california (corrupt bureaucrats, and as in the aforementioned, corrupt courts, etc.). I mean really … does anybody really believe there are any processes, governmental or otherwise, in defacto bankrupt america, state or federal, that are other than pervasively corrupt or broken? ( After all, didn’t Mikey Corleone choose Nevada … just kidding!) ] Questions remain over whether Harry Reid and his cronies may have manipulated the vote in Nevada, as searches for ‘Steal Nevada’ reach #1 on Google. ]

Obama's sad, not sorry Milbank: He has many talents; contrition isn't high among them. (Washington Post) [ With a statement like this, I don’t know who’s more out to lunch, wobama or Mr. Milbank … What talents? B*** S*** ting? All he had to do was what he campaigned on and said he would do, which he didn’t. B*** S*** ting is not a talent and yet that’s all he’s got. On my web site and previously in these posts I’ve said what I believe to be true … that wobama is content to muddle along, go with the flow, to get through this ‘thing’ called the presidency in this most precarious time for the nation … you know, then assume the celebrity status he craves with every insecurity of his being (there as also in ‘Being There’) by way of post-office lecture circuit. No … sorry … b*** s*** ability is not a talent. Wobama is pathetic! That’s sad! ]

Fed to pump $600B into the economy (Washington Post) [ Listen to this total, absolute b*** s*** … from no-recession-helicopter ben shalom or b.s. for short, bernanke, with green shoots wilting on the vine … to his recent ‘better to try and fail than to do nothing at all’ … Balderdash! … I hearken back to a distinction made by the brilliant Peter Drucker who in emphasizing the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness states that being effective means doing the right things, clearly not the case here … other than frothing that fraudulent wall street market with high-frequency programmed trades and debased dollars he can’t seem to print enough of, and for all but wall frauds churn and earn profits as they retain their fraudulent gains from the last debacle and this one, his policies are nothing short of disaster for this nation and the world. That money going into wall street pockets has to come from somewhere … guess. Remember, america’s defacto bankrupt and the consequences for those continuing frauds on wall street don’t justify the irretrievable costs! ]

Much Ado About Nothing?: Dave's Daily ‘…How much more tension can you give investors and still wind up with just a little "stick save" to close the session? Color me disappointed over the lack of any entertainment value Wednesday. Frankly, often markets will react to Fed decisions a day later which makes Thursday perhaps more interesting. The election results came in about as advertised. Then the Fed's QE decision offered greater stimulus than expected but that didn't seem to move equity markets. Bond markets were volatile as the yield curve rose sharply since the Fed is focusing their buying on shorter-term securities. Commodity prices were mixed as precious metals were sold while the dollar fell somewhat. This was a rather strange or unusual result. Earnings were still rolling-in better than expected while economic data was also better than expected (ISM, ADP, and Factory Orders). We still have Friday's unemployment report but the Fed is already done for now so who cares? Oh, and just to keep us interested, the GM IPO is about to hit markets to the tune of $13 billion. It will be interesting to see how that goes. The selling group will be calling in a few favors and wringing some hands to get this sucker off the ground…’

Forget the Short Term Questions, We're Actually in the Eye of a Very Long Storm Seeking Alpha

'Buy the Dip' Becomes 'Buy the Rip' Roche ‘… This evening’s early polling data shows the GOP making big gains in the House and possibly taking the Senate. Wall Street loves the news as it means a return to the good old days of no regulation, low taxes and essentially all the things that helped cause this situation in the first place. Curiously, this has been just about the most widely anticipated event in months if not years so it’s odd to see this rush into risk assets as the news comes out….This was widely expected to be a “sell the news” event …’

Feeling Sanguine About Stocks? Bullish Complacency Has Reached an Extreme Jack Sparrow [ Yeah, Captain Jack knows pirated plunder when he sees it … ie., he points out the reason for bullishness being price-earnings multiples; yet, as set for infra and by Davis infra, earnings have been inflated by the debased dollar currency which lowers, quite substantially and artificially, price-earnings ratios and is a significant factor in security analysis relating to quality of said earnings and a substantial negative for valuations, which reality as preceded the last crash is not discounted at all in the current / continuing bubble-fraud.] ‘Feeling sanguine about stocks? Here is a data point that should give you pause. Via the AAII and James Mackintosh at the FT, holdings of cash are now at their lowest levels since March of 2000. “If that date sounds familiar,” adds Mackintosh, “it should. The dot com bubble was just about to pop, and the S&P 500 hit levels not reached again for seven years.” (chart). Mackintosh further highlights the “bull-bear spread” (blue line) as plotted against the S&P 500 (red line) in the multi-year chart above The bull-bear spread is a basic contrary indicator that is most valuable at extremes. When bulls greatly outnumber bears — as represented by spikes in the spread — the market tends to run out of gas. This makes sense because, when optimism peaks, those with an urge to buy have mostly done so. Conversely, the bull-bear spread did a great job of highlighting the March 2009 lows, which came at a pessimistic extreme. As you can see, at current levels, the bull-bear spread is at record highs (with cash holdings at decade lows). Complacency is rampant. So why haven’t stocks roared even more? Because a good portion of that bullishness has been focused on corporate credit markets alongside equities. Bulls argue that the S&P is still reasonably priced, based on a forward earnings multiple in the 12.5 range. But this assumption depends on a far more speculative one — that corporate earnings have not hit a cyclical peak. The twin threats of post-stimulus slowdown and housing double dip threaten this belief. What really matters now is whether the U.S. economy is in true recovery or not. If the answer is “yes,” then the Fed is behind the curve and QE2 will serve as just another inflationary paper asset boost. If the answer is “no,” then the great body of evidence suggests QE2 will fail — and investors will be punished harshly for taking their complacency to such extremes.’

Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus Agence France-Presse | The central bank’s open market committee (FOMC) is expected to approve massive stimulus spending not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

US Federal Reserve’s latest bubble threatens mayhem Telegraph | An awful lot of people are going to lose an awful lot of money.

The Fed No Longer Cares About Hiding The Fact It Is Killing The Dollar A number of prominent figures within the financial world are warning that a second round of quantitative easing, expected to be announced today by the Federal Reserve, will have disastrous consequences for the US dollar and the global economy.

Saxo Bank Joins Chorus Of Voices Calling For End Of The Federal Reserve Following the recent surge in Fed critics, including Gross, Buffett, Grantham, and most other self-respecting economists, Saxo Bank’s John J. Hardy shares the most recent, and very scathing, critique of the Fed, which essentially calls for the end of the US central bank, saying the days of the Fed are now numbered.

America’s yuan big problem Former Reagan Administration official Paul Craig Roberts writes, “now that a few Democrats and the remnants of the AFL-CIO are waking up to the destructive impact of jobs off shoring on the US economy and millions of American lives”.

The Fraud Started At the Very Top: With Government Leaders The government’s entire strategy now – as during the S&L crisis – is to cover up how bad things are.

AIG Dips Into Bailout Fund Again, This Time to Repay New York Fed Bailed-out insurance giant AIG will get another $22 billion in federal taxpayer funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) so it can pay back some of the other bailout funds it received from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY).

Pace of recovery remains unclear (Washington Post) [ What recovery? (Even wall street shill, the senile Buffett is saying we’re still in a recession (depression). Buffett: We're Still in a Recession ) ? The resurgence in the wall street fraud ] QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout [ Next bailout? How ‘bout they’re still working on the last one … you know, that now ‘marked to anything’ multi-trillion dollar thing … I think people fail to recognize / realize / appreciate the magnitude of the last / continuing fraud by the criminally insane lunatics on wall street and accomplices. See infra. ] Federal (that says it all … NOT) report on manufacturing provides a glimmer of encouragement. [ This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally into the close to keep suckers suckered (easy for the wall street frauds to do with just a mouse click / push of the button). Keep in mind, the totally mindless blather from the ‘cottage industries’ of and fraudulent wall street itself in talking up lower P/E multiples when the same is a direct result of the debasement of the dollar and the consequent manipulation / translation (not real, see Davis, infra) which preceded the financial crisis / last crash. Unemployment, trade, deficit, etc., numbers continue decidedly worse than expected along with other negative data (and in the ‘wrong direction’, that spin accorded ‘down but not as bad as before’ b*** s*** ) yet the market has rallied like no tomorrow with used home foreclosure / distressed sales, though abated owing to ‘foreclosuregate’, the other ‘heralded’ good news. Moreover, the dumbo lemmings of Europe have jumped on the fraudulent defacto bankrupt american crazy train propelled to the precipice also as if no tomorrow. This is about keeping the suckers sucked in with the help of a market-frothing pre-election debased dollar for favorable currency translation and paper (but not real when measured in, ie., gold, etc.) profits which preceded the last crisis, inflating a bubble as in the last crisis to facilitate the churn-and-earn, particularly with computerized (and high frequency) trades and which commissions they’ll get again on the way down. There is nothing to support these overbought stock prices, fundamentally or otherwise. These are desperate criminals ‘at work’. Even wall street shill, the senile Buffett is saying we’re still in a recession (depression) [ Davis: ‘… all profits are inflated by 10% (from falling, debased dollar) and that 10% is the E that gets divided from the P and gives us a much better price/multiple to hang our hats on and that gets investors to BUYBUYBUY …’ The bull market that never was / were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold ] This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits (these lower dollar, hyperinflationary currency manipulations / translations to froth paper stocks will end quite badly as in last crash)! This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up moves were manipulated bull (s***) cycles (at best) in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street ‘programmed computerized high-frequency churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes ( widely reported, high-frequency trading routinely accounts for more than 50% of daily U.S. equity trading volume and regularly approaches 70%. )’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.The Stock Market's Long Decline Has Begun Smith ]

National / World

Alex Jones on RT: “The second American Revolution” Russia Today | Radio host Alex Jones believes the midterm results are the beginning of one of the largest political realignments and that this is the start of the second American Revolution.

Questions Loom Over Harry Reid Victory as ‘Steal Nevada’ #1 on Google Aaron Dykes | [ Oh come on! While Nevada’s not quite as bad as totally corrupt jersey, that’s hardly a complement, the reality being what is (as bad as jersey) though no worse than that sinkhole new york (wall street frauds, mob, etc.), virginia (government mob, cia, etc.), northeast (ie., as suburbs of nyc, Connecticut, etc.), california (corrupt bureaucrats, and as in the aforementioned, corrupt courts, etc.). I mean really … does anybody really believe there are any processes, governmental or otherwise, in defacto bankrupt america, state or federal, that are other than pervasively corrupt or broken? ( After all, didn’t Mikey Corleone choose Nevada … just kidding! ] Questions remain over whether Harry Reid and his cronies may have manipulated the vote in Nevada, as searches for ‘Steal Nevada’ reach #1 on Google.

The Impotence of Elections Paul Craig Roberts | Oligarchs will direct the anger away from themselves and toward the vulnerable elements of the domestic population and “foreign enemies.”

Fed Announces QE2 Kurt Nimmo | Fed decides to unleash destructive asset bubbles that will devastate the global economy.

Did Harry Reid Steal Nevada? Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | 5 point margin of victory highly suspicious given pre-election polls showing Angle ahead.

“Steal Nevada” Tops Google Trends As New Evidence Emerges Of Reid Vote Fraud The search term “Steal Nevada” has topped Google Trends as new evidence emerges that strongly indicates Senate leader Harry Reid may have stolen last night’s election from pre-election favorite Sharron Angle.

The Fed No Longer Cares About Hiding The Fact It Is Killing The Dollar A number of prominent figures within the financial world are warning that a second round of quantitative easing, expected to be announced today by the Federal Reserve, will have disastrous consequences for the US dollar and the global economy.

Did Harry Reid Steal Nevada? A serious investigation into potential vote fraud needs to be launched immediately in Nevada, after incumbent Harry Reid beat Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle by a clear five points, despite pre-election polls showing Angle four points ahead, amidst suspicious evidence of vote flipping and other dirty tricks on behalf of the Reid campaign last week that were dubbed “criminal” by Angle’s campaign attorney.

Schultz Urges Boehner To Protect Obama From Impeachment, Just As Pelosi Did With Bush As the election results came in Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz just wanted to know if soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) would move to impeach President Barack Obama.

DeMint: Establishment Will Try To Buy Off Tea Party Candidates The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.”

Rand Paul Promises To Challenge GOP Establishment On the same day that he swept to victory in the Kentucky Senate race, Rand Paul immediately contradicted doubters who warned that he would compromise and begin to support neo-con political policies by promising to challenge the GOP establishment while also working to cut the bloated US defense budget.

Drudgereport: Bye, Bye Tiny Tim Geithner … God bless us, everyone … ?
BRAND NEW PUMP: Fed to spend $1 trillion to buy gov't bonds...
Bernanke Faces More Congressional Scrutiny After GOP Election Gains...
Gregg: 'We're Greece' in a Few Years...
GOP to urge Obama officials not to shred documents...
Next up for House Dems: Ethics trials for Rangel, Waters...

Go to following pages for above links:
http://www.albertpeia.com/currentopics2ndqtr10108.htm
http://www.albertpeia.com
http://www.scribd.com/alpeia
http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com
http://www.albertpeia.com/alresume.htm

http://www.albertpeia.com/wallstreetlunacy2ndqtr10108.htm

You may post a comment on my blog on any topic: http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com

Mitt Romney: Time to slay the job-killing beast (Washington Post) [ Wow! Talk about talking to the hand (or mitt) … you know, creative fantasizing … I mean, a little bit late for that … Wobama’s done, defacto bankrupt, pervasively corrupt american government employees across the board are a venal, pervasively corrupt total waste (unless they gear up long overdue prosecutions of ie., wall street frauds, and not just the tiny ones for show, etc., then law enforcement / prosecution personnel excepted) . Then, of course, there’s reality. Methinks it’s a bit late to be asking these questions. In fact, meknows it’s too late to be asking that question in light of the irrevocable structural shift precipitated by those geniuses in Washington, including among other helmsmen of this now titanic of a nation, those ‘strategists’ in those hallowed halls of, ie., the cia, nsa, think tanks, sink tanks, etc., and of course, those vaunted trade deals which include essentially all branches of the corrupt u.s. government with complicit titans / ceos of american industry with a time horizon defined by their latest compensation package / stock option expirations as cheered by the wall street frauds who sold off / transferred the technological capacity to do so; and, of course, the coup de grace, viz., that thing called NAFTA that Ross Perot was vilified for opposing and warning against.]

Memoir: Bush debated dropping Cheney (Washington Post) [ More unequivocal proof that moron dumbya bush couldn’t, like wobama and recent predecessors, make the right decision even if their presidencies and the nation’s survival depended on it. Heck uv a job brownie, bushie, cheney, wobamie, etc…. Keep up those nation bankrupting, attention-diverting wars you knucklehead war criminals, you. ]

U.S. to cut its stake in GM (Washington Post) [ Ooooh! Sounds like a plan … they’re so on top of things at treasury … like multi-trillion dollar deficits, unprosecuted multi-trillion dollar frauds, missing / stolen trillions in Iraq and at the fed, etc.. ] The Treasury Department is expected to sell about $7 billion of its shares.

Consultant to Rockville biotech firm accused of insider trading (Washington Post) [ How is it that they’re prosecuting millions when the multi-trillion dollar fraud remains not only unprosecuted, but ongoing …QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout [ Next bailout? How ‘bout they’re still working on the last one … you know, that now ‘marked to anything’ multi-trillion dollar thing … I think people fail to recognize / realize / appreciate the magnitude of the last / continuing fraud by the criminally insane lunatics on wall street and accomplices. … see infra … ] A consultant to Human Genome Sciences has been charged for allegedly tipping off a hedge fund about setbacks in the testing of a hepatitis drug.

In Albany, a boom based on microchips (Washington Post) [ Come on! Don’t be ridiculous! This would still be preposterous even if it was a story about Silicon Valley … but that sinkhole new york? … what have they been smoking … Absolutely ridiculous! ] The economic downturn has hit upstate New York as hard as anywhere in the country but an unusual, high-tech endeavor is taking shape there that could involve billions of dollars in manufacturing investment and possibly thousands of new jobs.

Equities Up as Street Bets on Fed Efforts, Congressional Shift [ The fraud continues …Come on! What total b*** s***! ]

Houdini Had Nothing on This (Suckers’) Rally Farrish ‘The rally lasted about thirty minutes and then worry took center stage. The NASDAQ gave up a twenty-five point gain which was within three points of the April high. The S&P 500 index gave back twelve points and barely ended the day positive. Was this the final attempt to reach the April highs before the reality of what has been the driver hits the headlines? Since the low on August 27th, quantitative easing and the election have been two of the driving factors in the move. In fact, many believe this to be nothing more than a liquidity rally. Factoring in the economic data one would have to give that argument serious consideration.The Fed announced on August 27th that it was considering another round of quantitative easing to stimulate the economy. The increased money supply is intended to reduce rates and keep freely flowing to stimulate growth through low interest rate loans. The argument for or against such efforts have been debated endlessly in the press over the last five weeks and the anticipation has prompted a 13% rally in the broad markets. It has accomplished the feat without a single draw-down of more than 2% since the move higher began. In the process of this accomplishment the dollar has declined 7% paying the price for proposed Fed actions.What I find interesting to this point, the Fed hasn’t taken any action, nor have they defined what action they may take moving forward. In other words speculation has been the driving factor in this broad market gain of 13% since the last FOMC meeting. Without supply any additional liquidity, the Fed has accomplished growth in the equity markets. Sounds like, “buy on the rumor” is in play. Some interesting stats:

• The dollar has moved from $1.26 to $138 versus the euro.
• Crude oil has moved from $71.60 to $83 per barrel.
• Gold has moved from $1236 to a high of $1380 an ounce.
• The 30 year Treasury bond yield has moved from 3.63% to 4.05%. (TLT dropped from $108.50 to $99.67)
• NASDAQ 100 index climbed from 1768 to 2128 (20.3%)

Last Friday the Q3 GDP report was a 2% gain. If the economy is growing at 2% and the above stats are the results, Houdini is in charge of the markets. I will be so bold as to say the market is overbought based on the current data. If investors are looking forward and anticipating accelerating growth, Q4 GDP growth estimates are currently 2.3%.China continues to grow despite the efforts to slow their economy. The manufacturing data released yesterday showed better than expected growth despite the restriction place on lending and available credit. Interesting that the US markets rally on proposed easing and essentially free money, while the Chinese markets rally on stronger economic growth. Maybe Bernanke really is Houdini!Tomorrow we should get the facts to go along with the speculation. The conclusion of the FOMC meeting is supposed to produce details on how much free money the Fed will produce to stimulate speculative growth in the US stock market (sorry I mean economy). The details will prove supportive of the growth which has taken place since the August 27th announcement or it will be disappointing and prompt a retraction of the growth. Either way all eyes will be fixated on the release at 2:15 PM.Today is all about the midterm elections. To make it easier on the networks there are no economic reports to get in the way. The only surprise awaiting the results will be how many seats are lost in the House and Senate by Democrats. Regardless the end result will leave all of the primary questions unanswered. But at least we can return to the normal mindless commercials on TV versus the mindless rambling about the “other” candidate. Should make for interesting headlines tomorrow.I do have one question that has been haunting me this entire election season…, why is it considered ‘extreme’ to call for a balanced budget act from Congress, but it is normal to pass a Congressional budget for 2011 that has a deficit of 1.3 trillion dollars? … ’

The Fed at Jekyll Island: 100 Years Later, They’re Baaack! EconomicPolicyJournal.com | Nothing good can come out of a conference of Fed members talking to each other after just launching QE2.

Bill Gross: “Bernanke Is Charles Ponzi” The Daily Bail | Gross is honest about Bernanke but then disavows any connection to natural intelligence with his statement that QE2 will work.

QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout Pragmatic Capitalist | I’ve shown in rather elaborate detail in recent weeks that quantitative easing does not help the real economy generate a sustained recovery.

Irish Bonds Plunge: New Bund Spread Record As Euro Pushes Ever Higher; Ultraviolence To Follow? The market is once again getting plain retarded. One look at what is happening in Europe should be sufficient for every self-respecting investor to throw up all over this b***s*** and quit the business forever.

Dollar Death Bed: Aussie Beyond Parity For First Time In 28 Years The entire world is preparing to bury the dollar in advance of tomorrow’s QE2 currency suicide by the chairman. Exhibit A: the OZ dollar which is now trading north of parity for the first time in 28 years, as Australia decidedly puts its in chips in China’s basket, believing that no matter how high the OZ, China will have no problem with importing its exports.

Fed Easing May Mean 20% Dollar Drop: Bill Gross The dollar is in danger of losing 20 percent of its value over the next few years if the Federal Reserve continues unconventional monetary easing, Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest mutual fund, said on Monday.

Living Beyond Our Means: 3 Charts That Prove That We Are In The Biggest Debt Bubble In The History Of The World Do you want to see something truly frightening? Just check out the 3 charts posted further down in this article. These charts prove that we are now in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world.

Catherine Austin Fitts: The Looting Of America Former Assistant Secretary of Housing under George H.W. Bush Catherine Austin Fitts blows the whistle on how the financial terrorists have deliberately imploded the US economy and transferred gargantuan amounts of wealth offshore as a means of sacrificing the American middle class. Fitts documents how trillions of dollars went missing from government coffers in the 90’s and how she was personally targeted for exposing the fraud.

National / World

Victories Suggest Wider Appeal of Tea Party; Republicans pick-up seats, Democrats may hold Senate NY Times | The Tea Party victories by Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida underscored the extent to which Republicans and Democrats alike may have underestimated the power of the Tea Party.

WSJ: Rand Paul victory ‘sends Fed critic to Senate’ Aaron Dykes | Rand Paul’s victory represents a blow to the establishment and renewed Senate support for an audit of the Federal Reserve.

Rand Paul Wins in Kentucky Fox Nation | Paul beat Kentucky state Attorney General Jack Conway after a bitter contest that delved into Paul’s religion and made for some tense debates.

Catherine Austin Fitts: The Looting Of America Paul Joseph Watson | Financial terrorism and the war on the middle class. - ‘Former Assistant Secretary of Housing under George H.W. Bush Catherine Austin Fitts blows the whistle on how the financial terrorists have deliberately imploded the US economy and transferred gargantuan amounts of wealth offshore as a means of sacrificing the American middle class. Fitts documents how trillions of dollars went missing from government coffers in the 90’s and how she was personally targeted for exposing the fraud. Fitts explains how every dollar of debt issued to service every war, building project, and government program since the American Revolution up to around 2 years ago – around $12 trillion – has been doubled again in just the last 18 months alone with the bank bailouts. “We’re literally witnessing the leveraged buyout of a country and that’s why I call it a financial coup d’état, and that’s what the bailout is for,” states Fitts…’

Commercial About The National Debt That Is Being Banned By Major Networks The American Dream | “Of course, we owned most of their debt, so now they work for us”.

Rand Paul Beats Conway To Become US Senator Rand Paul has beaten Jack Conway in Kentucky – AP, ABC, NBC, CNN and Fox are all projecting an easy Rand victory. This is a massive slap in the face to the establishment smear machine that tried – and woefully failed – to derail his campaign with an endless series of contrived smears that were parroted by the corporate media and the Soros borg hive blogs like Media Matters, Daily Kos, and Think Progress.

Angle Campaign Urges Last Minute Votes To Defeat Reid The bottom line is, media exit polls are showing this race is a dead heat right now. This election really is going to be decided in the next 4 hours. If you know ANYONE who has not gotten out and voted, you have to call them right now, and make sure they go vote for Sharron Angle.

Early Reports of Electronic Voting Machines Flipping Votes Early monitoring of voting around the country is raising concerns about electronic voting machines in key battleground states — especially in Pennsylvania, where machines are registering Democratic votes instead of Republican, and vice versa.

New Black Panther Seen At Polling Place Fox 29 News ran into a New Black Panther Party member outside as the same Philadelphia polling place where voter intimidation was reported two years ago. He was handing out a sample ballot for the Democrats.

Gore Lies About Air Travel, Leaving Car On Idle Our post is accurate. The bottom line is this: Al Gore continues to arrogantly refuse to make himself available to journalistic inquiry. Mr. Gore continues to make travel and lifestyle choices that reveal his belief that making do with less is for you and me, but not for him.

Ron Paul Can Beat Obama In 2012 When even uber-leftist Chris Matthews slams the President for being elitist and distant from the American people, you know that the cult of Obama is finished for good, and that Barry’s political career may not even survive long enough for him to run again in 2012, providing the perfect opportunity for Ron Paul to outstrip a similarly despised group of neo-con Republican candidates and become the people’s President in two years’ time.

France and UK plan unprecedented military cooperation Reuters | Britain and France will launch a broad defense partnership on Tuesday that includes setting up a joint force and sharing equipment and nuclear missile research centers, a French government source said.

‘Hated’ Sarkozy fears assassination amid strikes and protests across France Mail Online | Nicolas Sarkozy (Little Nicky: The Pepe Le Pew of French Politics - http://albertpeia.com/pepelepewoffrenchpolitics.htm ) fears he is so disliked by his country that he could be assassinated.

Greece intercepts parcel bomb addressed to Sarkozy Reuters | Greek police intercepted a booby-trapped parcel addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday.

World Series: San Fran fans reaction Fox Sports [ I became a fan of San Fran the minute I saw dumbya bush bumbling around and particularly when I saw poppy and dumbya on the mound as dumbya threw that ball … Congratulations, ‘Giants! ]

Drudgereport: REPUBLICANS WIN SENATE SEATS: AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, OH, OK, KY, KS, LA, MO, ND, NH, PA, SC, SD, WI...
DEMS WIN: CA, CT, DE, HI, MD, NY, WV...
TOO CLOSE TO CALL: NV...
REPUBLICAN WINS OBAMA'S OLD SENATE SEAT...
JERRY BROWN IN...
BOXER IN...
BARNEY FRANK IN...
RUSS FEINGOLD OUT...
GOP celebrates...
DETAILS, MAP: GOVERNOR RACES...
DETAILS, MAP: HOUSE RACES...

New Black Panther Returns to Same Polling Place? Jerry Jackson, the same New Black Panther member who intimidated voters in 2008 back at the same polling station, instructs voter to vote straight Democrat, then proceeds to threaten same voter.
Bernanke Faces More Congressional Scrutiny After Republican Election Gains...
PUMP: Fed Likely to Announce $500 Billion of Purchases...
'Biggest decision in decades'...
Fed easing may means 20% drop of dollar value...
'The end of dollar hegemony'...

Bombs more lethal than in Dec. 25 attempt (Washington Post) [ Truth be told, there’s no shortage of pre-election skepticism … ] The package bombs discovered on cargo flights last week contained far more explosive material than the device that the alleged underwear bomber planned to use last Christmas to down a Detroit-bound jetliner, officials said. [Did Obama Order British Authorities To Find Non-Existent Ink Bomb? Paul Joseph Watson | Only after President’s speech did East Midlands security officials reverse earlier announcement that suspicious device was a dud.. The Cult Of Obama Crashes And Burns Steve Watson | The hope has gone, the change never came – now people are just pissed off. Toner Bomb Plot Used to Empower CIA Kurt Nimmo | Absurd toner bomb plot provides excuse to rationalize the global reach of the CIA into Arabian peninsula. CIA Stooge Awlaki Prime Suspect Behind Plane Bomb Plot Paul Joseph Watson | Evidence screams “false flag” as authorities seek to crush resistance against invasive airport security measures, while Obama exploits event for domestic and geopolitical gain. Israel Knew About Toner Bomb Plot Before Devices Were Found Transportation minister hints state knew about mail terror plot before it was publicly revealed Friday. ‘Since Thursday Israeli representatives have been securing shipments to Israel from airports worldwide,’ he says. Did Obama Order British Authorities To Find Non-Existent Ink Bomb? After having examined the suspicious ink toner device for six hours and found it to be a dud, bomb experts at East Midlands Airport only reversed their decision after being ordered to re-inspect the package by US authorities following President Obama’s Friday afternoon speech in which he claimed that the devices did in fact contain explosives. No U.S. Commercial or Private Plane left Yemen to the U.S. over last 48 hours; Yemeni Official A Yemeni official told Yemen Post that no U.S. cargo aircraft of any American company flew out of Yemen over the last 48 hours. Yemen Insists No Packages Sent 48 Hours Prior to Toner Bomb Hysteria Kurt Nimmo | As usual, the government has not done a very good job of making the latest al-CIA-duh plot credible. Obama ‘Fake Terror’ Alert Story Hits #1 on Google Efforts to warn the population that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, has engaged in issuing fake terror alerts has gone viral, with the search term “fake terror” reaching #1 on Google Trends. It is yet another success in the Infowar, initiated on the Alex Jones Show. Toner Bomb Plot Used to Empower CIA In addition to adding new urgency and a fresh dose of hysteria to the flagging war on manufactured terror, the toner bomb plot has provided an excuse to rationalize the global reach of the CIA. Obama Issues Fake Terror Alert On Eve Of Elections As we predicted on four separate occasions would happen, the Obama White House has deliberately contrived a fake terror scare on the eve of the mid-term elections in an effort to subdue the rampaging political appetite for anti-big government candidates that threatens to sweep aside establishment incumbents next week. ]

51 Iraqi worshipers, 7 troops killed in church siege (Washington Post) [ Yes, and even more sounds of silence … which of course smells like napalm in the morning … you know … that victory thing. ]

Federal applicants eye changes (Washington Post) [ How ‘bout real change that comports with the reality of that proverbial ‘blackhole’ / sinkhole called the federal bureaucracy, excepting law enforcement / prosecution. No new federal hiring / wasteful do-nothing / make-work / accomplish less jobs! Firing … that’s fine.] Officials back off Obama's hiring process overhaul deadline, saying only some agencies are ready.

AIG moves ahead with efforts to repay taxpayers (Washington Post) (Oh come on! … Wake up! … Are you really going to spin business reality in america into some magnanimous gesture on the part new york sinkhole-based aig … The Calm Before the Storm: Are We Approaching a Turning Point for the U.S. Economy? [ The essence of the current scam / fraud is succinctly set forth thusly, albeit tepidly … Snyder ‘…You see, the truth is that "quantitative easing" is not only just a way to stimulate the economy, it is also a way to give backdoor bailouts to the big banks without having to go through the U.S. Congress. In a previous article, I described how this works....

1) The big U.S. banks have massive quantities of junk mortgage-backed securities that are worth little to nothing that they desperately want to get rid of.

2) They convince the Federal Reserve (which the big banks are part-owners of) to buy up these "toxic assets" at significantly above market price.

3) The Federal Reserve creates massive amounts of money out of thin air to buy up all of these troubled assets. The public is told that all of this "quantitative easing" is necessary to stimulate the U.S. economy.

4) The big banks are re-capitalized and have gotten massive amounts of bad mortgage securities off their hands, the Federal Reserve has found a way to pump hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of dollars into the economy, and most of the American people are none the wiser…’ ] QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout [ Next bailout? How ‘bout they’re still working on the last one … you know, that now ‘marked to anything’ multi-trillion dollar thing … I think people fail to recognize / realize / appreciate the magnitude of the last / continuing fraud by the criminally insane lunatics on wall street and accomplices. ] Pragmatic Capitalist | I’ve shown in rather elaborate detail in recent weeks that quantitative easing does not help the real economy generate a sustained recovery.) Insurance giant raises billions by selling of one of its crown jewels.

The Calm Before the Storm: Are We Approaching a Turning Point for the U.S. Economy? [ The essence of the current scam / fraud is succinctly set forth thusly, albeit tepidly … Snyder ‘…You see, the truth is that "quantitative easing" is not only just a way to stimulate the economy, it is also a way to give backdoor bailouts to the big banks without having to go through the U.S. Congress. In a previous article, I described how this works....

1) The big U.S. banks have massive quantities of junk mortgage-backed securities that are worth little to nothing that they desperately want to get rid of.

2) They convince the Federal Reserve (which the big banks are part-owners of) to buy up these "toxic assets" at significantly above market price.

3) The Federal Reserve creates massive amounts of money out of thin air to buy up all of these troubled assets. The public is told that all of this "quantitative easing" is necessary to stimulate the U.S. economy.

4) The big banks are re-capitalized and have gotten massive amounts of bad mortgage securities off their hands, the Federal Reserve has found a way to pump hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of dollars into the economy, and most of the American people are none the wiser…’ ] Snyder ‘An eerie calm has descended upon world financial markets as they await perhaps the two most important financial events of the year this week. On Tuesday, investors will be eagerly awaiting the results of one of the most anticipated midterm elections in U.S. history. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is expected to end months of speculation by formally announcing the details of a new round of quantitative easing. If either the election or the meeting of the Federal Reserve open market committee delivers a highly unexpected result, it could have a dramatic impact on world financial markets. In fact, many are looking at this week as a potential turning point for the U.S. economy. The decisions that are made or not made this week could set us down a road from which the U.S. economy may never recover.At this point, it looks like the Republicans will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and will pick up a number of U.S. Senate seats as well.There are many in the financial world who already consider Barack Obama to be the most "anti-business" president in U.S. history, so a defeat for the Democrats on Tuesday would be greatly welcomed by many on Wall Street. Barack Obama's decline in popularity since he was elected has been absolutely stunning. According to Gallup, Barack Obama had an average approval rating of just 44.7% during the seventh quarter of his presidency, which was a brand new low. In fact, Obama's average approval rating has fallen during every single quarter since he took office. Things have gotten so bad for Obama that one new poll has found that 47% of Democrats now think that Barack Obama should be challenged for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. However, if the Democrats were able to do surprisingly well on Tuesday, it would not only shock the political pundits, but it would also likely put world financial markets in a very bad mood. If the Republicans do very well on Tuesday, it will likely mean that there will be no more extensions for those receiving long-term unemployment benefits. Some state governments are already anticipating this and are making preparations. For example, armed security guards are now being posted at all 36 full-service unemployment offices in the state of Indiana. It is estimated that approximately 2 million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance benefits during this upcoming holiday season if Congress does not authorize another emergency extension of benefits by the end of November. If the Republicans do very well on Tuesday, it would make it much more likely that the extension will not happen.But if millions of unemployed Americans suddenly find themselves without any unemployment checks, that is only going to cause anger and frustration to grow.Either way, the unfortunate truth is that this election is not going to change much.Over the past five elections, incumbents have been re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives at an average rate of 96 percent. This time will be a little different of course, but not that much different. The sad truth is that we are still likely to see about 80 percent of the exact same faces going back to the U.S. Congress for the next session.However, even if the American people could somehow vote out every single member of Congress, it would still not do much to fundamentally change our economic situation because the U.S. Congress does not run the economy ,and neither does the President.Of course both of those institutions can influence the U.S. economy, but it is actually the Federal Reserve that runs the economy.The Federal Reserve controls the money supply. The Federal Reserve controls our interest rates. If the U.S. government wants more money it has to go get it from the Federal Reserve. It is the Federal Reserve that is tasked with the mandate of keeping unemployment low while also keeping inflation at a "reasonable" level.But these days, Federal Reserve officials don't really seem to be that concerned about the dangers of inflation. In fact, several top Federal Reserve officials have come out in recent weeks and have made public statements not only advocating more quantitative easing, but also suggesting that inflation is not a danger because it is actually "too low" right now.In fact, there have been some rumblings that many officials at the Fed would actually welcome more inflation because they think that it would somehow stimulate the economy. In fact, a Federal Reserve paper that was released in September actually floated the idea that a spike in oil prices would be quite good for the U.S. economy.And these are the people running our economy?Are we all caught in an episode of The Twilight Zone?Well, as far as rising oil prices are concerned, the Fed will almost surely get its wish. As I have written about previously, the price of oil is almost certainly heading to 100 dollars a barrel. But if the price of oil shoots up, isn't that going to cause significant inflationary pressure on the prices of thousands of other goods and services? Of course. Unfortunately, very few of our leaders seem too concerned about inflation or about protecting the value of the U.S. dollar these days. In fact, now even the IMF is publicly proclaiming that the U.S. dollar is "overvalued". What a mess. But there is another aspect of a new round of "quantitative easing" that the American people really wouldn't like if they could actually figure out what is going on. You see, the truth is that "quantitative easing" is not only just a way to stimulate the economy, it is also a way to give backdoor bailouts to the big banks without having to go through the U.S. Congress. In a previous article, I described how this works....

1) The big U.S. banks have massive quantities of junk mortgage-backed securities that are worth little to nothing that they desperately want to get rid of.

2) They convince the Federal Reserve (which the big banks are part-owners of) to buy up these "toxic assets" at significantly above market price.

3) The Federal Reserve creates massive amounts of money out of thin air to buy up all of these troubled assets. The public is told that all of this "quantitative easing" is necessary to stimulate the U.S. economy.

4) The big banks are re-capitalized and have gotten massive amounts of bad mortgage securities off their hands, the Federal Reserve has found a way to pump hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of dollars into the economy, and most of the American people are none the wiser.

Now how do you think the American people would feel about "quantitative easing" if they really understood all this?But unfortunately, most Americans will be watching the election results on Tuesday night without having even a basic understanding of how our economy is really run.Already, there are a ton of signs that the U.S. economy is heading in a very bad direction, and dumping a handful of Congress critters out of office might feel good, but it isn't going to do much to really change our economic problems.The American people desperately need to be educated about how our financial system really works. But unfortunately, most Americans will likely not wake up until the whole house of cards comes crashing down.’

QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout [ Next bailout? How ‘bout they’re still working on the last one … you know, that now ‘marked to anything’ multi-trillion dollar thing … I think people fail to recognize / realize / appreciate the magnitude of the last / continuing fraud by the criminally insane lunatics on wall street and accomplices. ] Pragmatic Capitalist | I’ve shown in rather elaborate detail in recent weeks that quantitative easing does not help the real economy generate a sustained recovery.

Expecting Weakness: Why the Market's Sugar High Is About to End

Sell the News … Long overdue?

Look Out Below - Reiterated

UPDATE 5-Ambac says may go bankrupt this year; shares sink

Fraud Caused the 1930s Depression and the Current Financial Crisis Robert Shiller – one of the top housing experts in the United States – says that the mortgage fraud is a lot like the fraud which occurred during the Great Depression.

The Founding Fathers’ Vision Of Prosperity Has Been Destroyed Everyone knows that the American colonists revolted largely because of taxation without representation and related forms of oppression by the British. But – according to Benjamin Franklin and others in the thick of the action – a little-known factor was actually the main reason for the revolution.

Not Just Stocks … High Frequency Traders Might Be Manipulating Futures, Options, Bonds, Currency and Commodities Markets As Well We know that high frequency trading is used to manipulate the stock market. The prevalence of high frequency trading in other markets means that it might be used to manipulate those markets – perhaps virtually all markets – as well.

Exclusive: 4 Dealers Respond With “$1+ Trillion” To Fed Reverse Inquiry Into How Much QE2 Is Necessary Yesterday we made a big stink over the Fed’s reverse inquiry into the PD community over how much QE2 it should launch. Today, we find out what the distribution is: as Merrill’s Harley Bassman points out: “Four dealers are predicting a $1+ Trillion buy program.” It is good to finally know what the bogey is.

Is The Fed TRYING To Force A Surge In Commodity Prices And Input Costs? Diapason Explains Why Hyperinflation Is Blackhawk Ben’s End Goal The Fed is hoping for not only mild inflation, but an outright surge in prices.

Michael Hudson: Debt Grows Exponentially, While the Economy Only Grows In An S-Curve Michael Hudson is a highly-regarded economist. He is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. He is a former Wall Street economist at Chase Manhattan Bank who also helped establish the world’s first sovereign debt fund.

Expecting Weakness: Why the Market's Sugar High Is About to End

Sell the News … Long overdue?

Look Out Below - Reiterated

Is The Fed TRYING To Force A Surge In Commodity Prices And Input Costs? Diapason Explains Why Hyperinflation Is Blackhawk Ben’s End Goal The Fed is hoping for not only mild inflation, but an outright surge in prices.

Dollar sinks before ‘busiest week in decades’ The dollar hit a 15-year low point against the yen on Monday and sank against the euro ahead of “the busiest week in decades” during which the US Federal Reserve could announce fresh stimulus measures.

Red alert Metals Report: Silver Set To Explode Red Alert Metals Report: The biggest names in the precious metals world say the proce of silver is set to EXPLODE higher.

Iran Announces It Has Converted 15% Of Its $100 Billion+ In FX Reserves Into Gold As of today, one of the world’s top oil exporters announced that has exchanged about $15 billion of its FX reserves into gold.

The Calm Before The Storm An eerie calm has descended upon world financial markets as they await perhaps the two most important financial events of the year this week.

QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout Pragmatic Capitalist | I’ve shown in rather elaborate detail in recent weeks that quantitative easing does not help the real economy generate a sustained recovery.

Dollar sinks before ‘busiest week in decades’ AFP | The dollar hit a 15-year low point against the yen and sank against the euro ahead of “the busiest week in decades” during which the US Federal Reserve could announce fresh stimulus measures.

Why Is Indiana Putting Armed Security Guards Into 36 Unemployment Offices Across The State? Economic Collapse | Did you ever think that things in America would get so bad that we would need to put armed guards into our unemployment offices?

QE2 Is Not A Recovery Plan, It’s A Stealthy Scheme To Prepare For The Next Bank Bailout [ Next bailout? How ‘bout they’re still working on the last one … you know, that now ‘marked to anything’ multi-trillion dollar thing … I think people fail to recognize / realize / appreciate the magnitude of the last / continuing fraud by the criminally insane lunatics on wall street and accomplices. ] Pragmatic Capitalist | I’ve shown in rather elaborate detail in recent weeks that quantitative easing does not help the real economy generate a sustained recovery.

National / World

Did Obama Order British Authorities To Find Non-Existent Ink Bomb? Paul Joseph Watson | Only after President’s speech did East Midlands security officials reverse earlier announcement that suspicious device was a dud.

State Elections: Where you can make a difference Rob Dew | Educate yourself on local and state elections and vote on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

The Cult Of Obama Crashes And Burns Steve Watson | The hope has gone, the change never came – now people are just pissed off.

Toner Bomb Plot Used to Empower CIA Kurt Nimmo | Absurd toner bomb plot provides excuse to rationalize the global reach of the CIA into Arabian peninsula.

CIA Stooge Awlaki Prime Suspect Behind Plane Bomb Plot Paul Joseph Watson | Evidence screams “false flag” as authorities seek to crush resistance against invasive airport security measures, while Obama exploits event for domestic and geopolitical gain.

Israel Knew About Toner Bomb Plot Before Devices Were Found Transportation minister hints state knew about mail terror plot before it was publicly revealed Friday. ‘Since Thursday Israeli representatives have been securing shipments to Israel from airports worldwide,’ he says.

Did Obama Order British Authorities To Find Non-Existent Ink Bomb? After having examined the suspicious ink toner device for six hours and found it to be a dud, bomb experts at East Midlands Airport only reversed their decision after being ordered to re-inspect the package by US authorities following President Obama’s Friday afternoon speech in which he claimed that the devices did in fact contain explosives.

The Cult Of Obama Crashes And Burns The image of one man begging on his knees as Obama’s convoy pulls away from a restaurant in Chicago yesterday speaks volumes about how far the man’s status has fallen in the eyes of everyday Americans.

Toner Bomb Plot Used to Empower CIA In addition to adding new urgency and a fresh dose of hysteria to the flagging war on manufactured terror, the toner bomb plot has provided an excuse to rationalize the global reach of the CIA.

Barry May Not Run in 2012. Does It Matter? According to WorldNetDaily, an influential Democrat operative reports that some “senior personalities in the Democratic Party have discussed with President Obama’s advisers the possibility of him not running for re-election in 2012.” It would be best for the party if Obama did not seek re-election in 2012, and more than one discussion has been held on the matter with Obama’s top advisers, according to the party operative, writes Aaron Klein.

Half of Democrats Think Obama Should Face Primary An AP-Knowledge Networks poll finds that 47% of Democrats think Presidential Obama should be challenged for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination while 51% say he should not be opposed.

Barry loses his cool: Angry Obama yells BACK at hecklers… as new poll shows his own party isn’t sure he should be President in 2012 The pressure is on Barack Obama – and it is starting to show.

US midterm elections: Barack Obama’s world turned upside down as Democrats face electoral disaster By abandoning his own rhetoric of bipartisanship, President Obama divided America and set the course for a heavy Democratic defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections, argues Toby Harnden.

No U.S. Commercial or Private Plane left Yemen to the U.S. over last 48 hours; Yemeni Official A Yemeni official told Yemen Post that no U.S. cargo aircraft of any American company flew out of Yemen over the last 48 hours.

IMF Tax Tribunals Coming to America Soon? Kurt Nimmo | The plan is not to raise tax revenue. It is to destroy nations and usher in world government.

Yemen Insists No Packages Sent 48 Hours Prior to Toner Bomb Hysteria Kurt Nimmo | As usual, the government has not done a very good job of making the latest al-CIA-duh plot credible.

Why Is Indiana Putting Armed Security Guards Into 36 Unemployment Offices Across The State? The Economic Collapse | Could we soon see economic riots similar to what we have seen in Greece and France?

Toner Bomb Results in More Airport Molestation Infowars.com | The idea is to get you accustomed to physically submitting to government thugs at airports and soon enough at the post office and local mall.

Barry May Not Run in 2012. Does It Matter? Kurt Nimmo | The show will go on regardless.

No U.S. Commercial or Private Plane left Yemen to the U.S. over last 48 hours; Yemeni Official A Yemeni official told Yemen Post that no U.S. cargo aircraft of any American company flew out of Yemen over the last 48 hours.

Suspicious Package to U.S. not from Yemen; Yemenia Air Cargo Director Mohammed al-Shaibah, Air Cargo Director for Yemenia Airways said to Yemen Post, “No UPS cargo plane left Yemeni lands over the land 48 hours. These accusations are false and baseless.”

UAE rejects US claims on Flight 201 The United Arab Emirates’ Civil Aviation Authority has rejected claims that a US-bound Emirates’ flight from Dubai contained “suspicious” parcels from Yemen.

Pat-Downs May Soon Become Norm At Airports Friday’s UPS scare is prompting increased security measures at the nation’s airports. That could include newly introduced pat-down procedures.

Obama ‘Fake Terror’ Alert Story Hits #1 on Google Efforts to warn the population that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, has engaged in issuing fake terror alerts has gone viral, with the search term “fake terror” reaching #1 on Google Trends. It is yet another success in the Infowar, initiated on the Alex Jones Show.

Obama Issues Fake Terror Alert On Eve Of Elections As we predicted on four separate occasions would happen, the Obama White House has deliberately contrived a fake terror scare on the eve of the mid-term elections in an effort to subdue the rampaging political appetite for anti-big government candidates that threatens to sweep aside establishment incumbents next week.

Toner Bomb Results in More Airport Molestation Infowars.com | The idea is to get you accustomed to physically submitting to government thugs at airports and soon enough at the post office and local mall.

Barry May Not Run in 2012. Does It Matter? Kurt Nimmo | The show will go on regardless.

Powerful EU Nations May Reform “Mission Impossible” Treaty in Secret Eric Blair | Institutions claiming to be unions like the EU are invariably based on hierarchy.

Mainstream Media Now Begins Reporting on BPA Dangers After Denying Previous Evidence Anthony Gucciardi | With mainstream media forced to report on this five-year study exposing BPA as a fertility killer, perhaps the result will be a nationwide ban of the toxic substance.

Union Mob Surrounds We Are Change Member for Heckling Clinton Aaron Dykes | A gang of union thugs in yellow shirts literally surround and intimidate a man who heckled Bill Clinton with questions about the Federal Reserve.

Drudgereport: NEW VILLAIN: Al-Qaeda bombmaker 'leading suspect' in Yemen parcel plot...
Female Suspect Released, No Charges...
LAWYER: Being set up...
FEAR: White House warns there could be more 'in the mail'...
Unemployment Offices To Add Armed Guards...
99 Weeks of Benefits Set To End...
USA faces first scrutiny by UN rights council...
Dem attacks Pelosi as 'authoritarian'...
Expresses 'heartbreak' over failure...

Suicide bomber in Iraq kills at least 26 people, many of them police (Washington Post) [ Ah, yes … those sounds of silence … the birthing of a new american-style democracy … like napalm in the morning … smells like victory … (lucky for them bush / bushies / neo-cons lied about those wmd’s) ]

Obama: Suspicious packages are a 'credible terrorist threat' (Washington Post) [October suprprise anyone … still October … trick or treat … there are skeptics … then there are some who’ll say … just jewish synagogues, no big deal … nothing of strategic value … healthy dose of skepticism … Obama ‘Fake Terror’ Alert Story Hits #1 on Google Aaron Dykes Infowars.com October 29, 2010 Efforts to warn the population that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, has engaged in issuing fake terror alerts has gone viral, with the search term “fake terror” reaching #1 on Google Trends. It is yet another success in the Infowar, initiated on the Alex Jones Show. As we are just days out from the 2010 midterm elections, voters must realize that the establishment has willfully engaged in hyping up false alerts to scare the public into believing that we are under siege by potential terrorist acts at all moments. Various “officials” have been warning that an attack is likely to occur for weeks now, and it is no surprise to see the Obama Administration trying to use the fear to its advantage. Recall that Obama advisor and former top Clinton official, Robert Shapiro, alluded to the idea that only a terror attack could save Obama’s presidency earlier in the year.

“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” said Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

Read the original story by Paul Joseph Watson here, as it has been updated.

The general scare of the fake terror alert is all the more alarming, as President Obama has gone on to contradict announcements from his own administration, claiming that the suspicious package “did apparently contain explosive material” in a press conference. This, after it was already admitted the suspicious package, which originated from the UK, was harmless and contained no explosives Obama Issues Fake Terror Alert On Eve Of Elections Paul Joseph Watson | Establishment media fearmongers about “mail bomb plot” despite no bombs being found. Corporate Media On High Alert Over “Manipulated” Toner Cartridge On UK Plane Kurt Nimmo | Officialdom and authorities jack up the scary pre-election rhetoric ]

Amid mortgage mess, some owners blindsided (Washington Post) [ Blindsided or just plain blind, the reality is amounts totaling more than all the mortgages in the nation have gone down and into that sinkhole / fraud called wall street (never disgorged) and more each day as the computerized high frequency programmed trade scam / fraud continues even as I believe they’ve received hard fiat Weimar dollar currency for worthless toxic paper / assets / securities now marked to anything. That money has to be made up and come from some real place and hence, the scrounging around we’re seeing by banks among others and which situation will worsen as problems engendered by the debased currency and fed pomo, etc., come home to roost. ] Homeowners are increasingly tripped up by mortgage lenders that press ahead with foreclosures regardless of any effort they make to provide borrowers with relief on unaffordable mortgages. Valarie Stovall had worked out payment plans with her lender, yet still received an eviction notice.

White House considering new strategy on tax cuts (Washington Post) [ Strategy? You’ve really got to worry when the pervasively corrupt, incompetent, defacto bankrupt u.s. government starts talking strategy … like perpetual wars, ie., Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.. Race to the bottom, who can get america more bankrupt faster? Not that I’m for the taxes used to fund these ‘strategies’. It’s really doing the same wasteful things with less. Then there are the private agendas. ] Sources say it would call for permanent extension of cuts that benefit families earning less than $250,000, and temporary extension of cuts on income above that.

GDP data show slow growth (Washington Post) [ What data … whose data … then there’s the ‘increased record deficit’ factor and is the insurmountable nature and service of same economically viable and worth the minutia for pre-election spin … I don’t think so! … ( The scary actual U.S. government debt Neil Reynolds | The amount is $200-trillion — 840 per cent of current GDP) .] Economy remains stuck, continuing a pattern of steady growth that's too slow to bring down joblessness.

U.S.A. - Home of Financial Absurdities Simon Maierhofer, On Friday October 29, 2010, 6:41 pm EDT Throughout mankind's history, scales have been a symbol of equality. As much as commoners rely on scales to be treated fairly, 'ueber commoners' try to escape the scales of justice and equality and want to be measured by different and better standards.In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln exhorted his listeners to ensure the survival of a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It seems like survival of the fittest like forces have turned a government of, by and for the people into a government of, for and by special interest groups.
No More Robin Hood
This week we read that even the Robin Hood of investors, creates his own rules. Warren Buffett - the only candidate to even remotely resemble a Robin Hood of Wall Street - had a friendly exchange with the SEC about the treatment of actual losses.Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway was sitting on $1.86 billion in losses caused by declining Kraft and US Bancorp stock. The losses were more than 12 months old and according to current accounting rules had to be written down. Perhaps Warren had seen how Wall Street is allowed to bend accounting rules to its favor (more about that in a moment) and thought: 'what they can do I can do better.' In short, Berkshire didn't write down the $1.86 billion in losses because ... drum roll ... as Berkshire's Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg's reasoned: ‘We believe it is reasonably possible that the market prices of Kraft Foods and U.S. Bancorp will recover to our cast within the next one to two years assuming that there are no material adverse events affecting these companies or the industries in which they operate.' In other words, Berkshire didn't want to write down losses, because under the right circumstances there's a fair chance that stock prices will recover.
Perfect Conditions - 100% Profitability
Of course, under the right conditions any loss could reverse itself. But, because we don't live in a perfect world, we have accounting rules. The final numbers are designed to help investors evaluate a company's current financial health. If the Doctor tells you that you have high cholesterol, do you tell him: 'Don't worry, under the perfect conditions I'll eat only raw vegetables,' when in reality you live on burgers and fries and should be on a double dose of cholesterol meds? Interestingly - and very smartly - Warren Buffett's new knight - Todd Combs - has stolen the headlight and absorbed the attention of what otherwise could turn into a full-fledged accounting scandal.
Further Implications
Courtesy of the post-2007 credit contraction, Wall Street Banksters, the administration, and reputable companies have become quite adept at the denial and cover up approach. Case in point, Fannie and Freddie. In 2008, management for the ailing housing giant denied financial trouble. On Sunday, September 7, 2008, the government seized control of Fannie and Freddie. Nevertheless, stocks rallied on Monday the morning after. Despite stock's (NYSEArca: VTI - News) party mood, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter considered banks (NYSEArca: KBE - News) and financial institutions (NYSEArca: XLF - News) a 'downward spiral with no stop-loss provision' and predicted Dow (DJI: ^DJI) 7,500 previously in September 2008. As stocks quickly tumbled to Dow 7,500, the government became desperate. Real estate related losses were piling up; investors lost confidence in the financial system and drove Washington Mutual out of business. The problem was too big to fix, so the administration forced the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change rule 157. Obviously, the fix is only topical. If it wasn't, why would Fannie and Freddie need an additional $215 billion in aid? The 'new and improved' rule 157 allowed Banksters to value assets at what they might be worth in the future. If bank A purchased a portfolio of real estate (NYSEArca: IYR - News) for $10 million in 2006 and lost $6 million because the assets turned toxic, bank A is allowed to value the portfolio just below $10 million. The very real loss is not included in the current earnings numbers.
Can You Trust Earnings
The real question is whether you can trust reported earnings? If Berkshire, along with most banks and financial conglomerates, has the legal right to fudge their earnings we may rightly wonder who else is employing this convenient accounting trick? Some would call them stupid if they didn't. Ironically, Citigroup's profits exceeded estimates because they reduced bad loan provisions. JPMorgan on the other hand expects mortgage buybacks (related to the foreclosure disaster) to cost lenders $120 billion. To emphasize, Citigroup reducing its bad loan reserves would be like an insurance company reducing its natural disaster fund right before hurricane season. Be that as it may, the S&P (SNP: ^GSPC), Dow Jones (NYSEArca: DIA - News), and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) continue to rally. The Nasdaq 100 (Nasdaq: QQQQ - News) has already shot past its April 2010 recovery high, while the Dow and S&P (NYSEArca: IVV - News) are within striking distance.
Expect the Unexpected Following a horrendous August, investors were expecting a terrible September and/or October. The opposite happened. As we approach November, we hear that this month usually kicks off the most profitable time of the year. Fourth quarter institutional cash inflows tend to result in the best consecutive three-month period. As we've discussed here in the past, institutions are not the only ones that provide liquidity right now. The Federal Reserve via its POMO purchases is another one (detailed analysis available in the November issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter). This extra liquidity is not to be underestimated.
An Extra Black Swan
As we've experienced many times, the market tends to surprise the investing masses - most of which are bullish right now. A decline from current prices would certainly be a surprise. To the average investor, who's betting on QE2 to lift the economy and personal investments, a decline would indeed represent a 'Black Swan.' As noted in any chart, this season of the year, sentiment, and the market's behavior indicates that the next couple of weeks are likely to be pivotal for the upcoming months. As of yet, the market has not given away its true intentions, but it's sending subtle clues. Some recent support/resistance points are likely to turn into trigger levels, which once activated should fuel a move into that direction. The semi-weekly Technical Forecast (part of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter) includes the latest technical analysis along with trigger, target, safety and stop-loss levels designed to navigate the current environment profitably.

The scary actual U.S. government debt Neil Reynolds | The amount is $200-trillion — 840 per cent of current GDP.