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 ]
Reasons to Be Fearful About the Stock Market Norfolk ‘This is the time that tests bearish investors. Interest rates on deposits are lower than inflation, if you look at food and energy costs. Since the 1990s, I have been more cautious than most of my investors and have been careful to suggest that they might like to keep their powder dry. Some listened and switched to cash in 1998 and 1999, and so avoided the fallout of the 2000-2003 decline.Just when I was beginning to feel that things were getting sensibly priced, interest rates were pushed down and the already-existing house price bubble superinflated from 2003 on, along with much else. And then...But now there is talk of investors being "forced" into the market by negative real returns on cash - and fears that inflation may rise significantly. I recently displayed a graph from the Now and Futures site, showing how German shareholders survived the Weimar hyperinflation of 1923, after a severe interim drop. "Financial Armageddon" author Michael Panzner justly pointed out that there was a danger that investors in a similar situation might lose their nerve, sell out and miss the market recovery.It is also very hard to stay out of the market when it has risen dramatically. I was batting away queries from clients in the latter stages of the tech stock boom with warnings of what I strongly suspected was a bubble ready to burst. But there is pressure to get in, not merely because of greed but in the case of fund managers, fear: the fear that your boss will use peer benchmarks to judge you negatively and appoint someone else to take over the portfolio. So you need nerve at more than one level in the organization.Invesco Perpetual's Neil Woodford has that kind of nerve. During the dot com craze, he stayed out and stuck to his guns despite the stellar tech-invested performances of others' funds - and fortunately the management backed him.Woodford was very bullish - selectively - in January this year, according to the Daily Telegraph. So how does he feel now? Well, bearish about China this week, according to Investment Week. This, at a time when others are coming late to the emerging-markets party, looking for something to get exciting returns. Surely, we tell ourselves, someone's making money somewhere, and we want a piece. This, I think, is the dangerous time.It's caught out geniuses before now. During the South Sea Bubble of 1720, Sir Isaac Newton bought in, sold out and made £7000 profit - about £1 million in today's money. Then, seeing the market soaring further, he bought in again. And the scam crashed, costing him £20,000 - the equivalent of nearly £3 million.Some say the market now has been climbing a "wall of worry", so that really, we're not in a mania and reasonable concern has already been factored into valuations. Personally, I fear that this is like a lunatic certifying his own sanity and discharging himself from the hospital - "I'm all right now."I'm not alone in this fear. In a Financial Sense article by Tim Wood, he says:
I continue to believe, based on the evidence at hand, that the rally out the March 2009 low is a large scale bear market rally that should ultimately prove to separate Phase I from Phase II of the much larger and ongoing secular bear market. But, just as I told my subscribers before that low was even made, the longer this rally holds up, the more dangerous it becomes. Reason being, it becomes more and more convincing.
We have interest rates lower than ever, debts higher than ever and a financial sector borrowing cash at giveaway rates and playing games in the market. We now have an interdependent world economy, which is like lashing all the lifeboats together - extra security in a small storm and complete disaster in a big one. Granted that the situation is such that there is no completely valid basis of comparison - and remembering that the Dow now lists companies that garner much more from foreign earnings than they used to - let's take a look at the Dow adjusted for CPI inflation since the peak before last - the one in January of 1966:
Remember, too, that everyone agrees that we've just had a recession, and many say we're not out of it. Where would you pin the tail on this donkey? Mr. Market appears to have stuck it on the back of his neck. click to enlarge [chart] If we are climbing the Wall of Worry, we're starting from very high up. Don't look down…’
Have Stocks Become a Sucker Bet [Short answer: YES!] ? Morici ‘With corporate profits breaking records, Wall Street anxiously anticipates the return of the individual investors to the stock market. It may be a long wait, because the little guy may have concluded that investing in stocks is a sucker bet. Investors, as opposed to traders, buy stocks in companies whose profits they expect to rise. The conventional wisdom says stock prices will follow profits up, but over the last two business cycles, that simply has not happened. In February 1998, the S&P 500 first closed above 1000. From the first quarter of 1998 to third quarter of 2010, corporate profits were up 203 percent but the average daily close of the S&P 500 was up only 7 percent—about one half percent a year. Buying stocks does not seem to pay anymore, because most of the increased value created by higher profits has been captured by hedge funds, electronic traders, private equity funds, and aggressive M&A shops, free standing and at major investment banks, which have multiplied over the last two decades. Their activities, essentially, fall into two categories. Aggressive trading—e.g., exploiting complex shorting opportunities, quickly detecting and exploiting movements in trading intentions of large mutual funds and other tactics often associated with exotic hedged bets and electronic trading. Direct asset purchases—buying underperforming companies, all or in part, to force managers to pay out large sums, rearrange their companies through mergers and divestitures, or exploit unattended business opportunities incumbent managers have been lazy about pursuing. Not all of this is negative to stock prices or unfair. Shrewdly synthesizing public information to identify value in companies ahead of other investors is the way stars like Warren Buffet became legends. Stock prices rise permanently in wake of their actions, and that’s good for the ordinary investor already in the stocks they pick. Shaping up underperforming companies likely started even before the first Greek shippers bought out rivals to discharge incompetent captains and reduce seafaring risk, spread overhead and accomplish more leverage with potters, weavers, farmers and foreign merchants. However, too much of a good thing—electronic trading and aggressive hedging—can be disruptive. Look at the costs imposed by the May 6 Flash Crash or defensive tactics by corporate managers besieged by unwarranted shorting. And, consider how often private equity and M&A shops acquire companies and load up them with debt, make big payouts to dealmakers, and then later disappoint investors and creditors. Through superior information, quick execution and aggressive marketing, traders and dealmakers capture a great deal of the potential increase in value created by new and anticipated corporate profits before that value is recognized in stock prices. This results in lavish compensation for traders and dealmakers and stock prices that don’t rise with profits. Instead of ordinary folks getting a decent return in their IRAs and Keoghs, real estate prices in the Hamptons and luxury goods sales at Manhattan’s finest stores soar. Hedge funds, electronic traders, private equity and M&S shops do act on information that is obtained through careful, legitimate research but as ongoing SEC investigations into insider trading and published reports on electronic voyeuring indicate, critical competitive information is obtained through unethical and perhaps illegal means. Data pried from incautious corporate officials and through electronic espionage further disadvantages opportunities for gains by individual investors and conventional mutual and pension funds. It all sounds preposterous, but consider that J.P. Morgan and Bank of America went through the entire third quarter without a negative trading day—no losing days on proprietary trades. Unless you believe in perfection, something stinks about the information they are using. If someone is winning all the time, then someone else is losing. That’s the ordinary investor. Stocks have become a rigged game.’
The economy's finally recovering, they note. Jobless claims are finally improving, corporate profits are at record highs, and bond yields are so appallingly low that investors are almost forced into the market.
And all that is true.
But unless "it's different this time" (the four most expensive words in the English language), stock returns over the next decade are likely to be far worse than average.
Why?
Valuation.
Stocks appear reasonably valued when viewed against today's super-high profit margins. But in the past, every time profit margins have gotten so high (and they've only gotten this high once before), profit margins have reverted to the mean, taking stocks down with them.
Only 5 times in the past 60 years have corporate profit margins approached the levels they're at today. And note what happened each time thereafter. (They regressed to--or beyond--the mean.)
When corporate profit margins are expanding, profits grow faster than revenue, and stock multiples usually expand (stocks track profits over the long haul).
When corporate profit margins are shrinking, profits grow more slowly than revenue, and stock multiples usually contract.
The most optimistic forecasts for GDP for the next several years (a proxy for corporate revenue) call for growth of 3%-4% per year.
If profit margins stay at today's high levels, this would mean earnings growth of about 3%-4% per year, which is below normal.
If profit margins begin to revert to the mean, meanwhile, profit growth will be even slower.
Yes, there is always a possibility that we're in a "new normal" in which profit margins will keep expanding for years, if not forever. (Well, okay, not forever. Even the biggest bull would be forced to agree that, at some point, profit margins have to stop expanding, or profits will get bigger than revenue.)
Based on the history of the past 60 years, however, this seems unlikely. At several points in the past 60 years, it looked like profit margins had hit a new normal, only to see them collapse to the mean. And the odds are that the same thing will happen this time.
What could bring profit margins down?
Any of a number of things:
* Increasing commodity prices, which companies might not be able to pass through to end users
* Higher taxes, as federal and local governments try to balance their budgets
* Higher labor costs, as weak-dollar policies raise the cost of foreign manufacturing
* Deflation, as companies are forced to compete by cutting prices because consumer demand remains weak
* Recession. No one's talking about a double-dip now, but that doesn't mean we won't eventually get one. And have a look at what corporate profit margins have done in past recessions.
If corporate profit margins stay at today's high level for the next several years, the only way the stock market will deliver strong returns is if the market's P/E ratio expands. Again, it's possible that the PE ratio will do this, but the PE ratio is already high.
Specifically, on cyclically adjusted earnings (more on this here), today's PE ratio is about 22X, versus a long-term average of 16X.
It's possible that the market's PE will stay elevated (or get even more elevated). But it's more likely that the PE ratio will also regress to the mean... And it also means that you should ask every bull to explain to you 1) why profit margins will keep expanding even though they're already near record highs, and 2) why PEs will keep expanding even though they're well above normal.Whatever the bulls' answer is, be skeptical. Because what they're really saying is "it's different this time." ‘
The Stench of US Economic Decay: Russia and China Dump the US Dollar Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | The American government only has resources for wars of aggression, police state intrusions, and bailouts of rich banksters.
‘Bank Run 2010′ aims to end ‘criminal, corrupt’ financial system In what may be the most subversive reaction yet to global outrage over the financial crisis, a European soccer star has inspired an international “bank run” protest aiming to collapse the global financial system.
Iceland Better Off Than Ireland Because They Let Big Private Banks Fail, says President Iceland’s President Olafur R. Grimsson said his country is better off than Ireland thanks to the government’s decision to allow the banks to fail two years ago and because the krona could be devalued.
Guess Who’s Paying For The Greece Bailout? That’s Right — YOU Business Insider | The US supplies almost 20% of the IMF’s funding (per quotas). So that means US taxpayers are providing ~$8 billion of the $145 billion going to kick the Greek can down the road.
Why Poverty Spreads Across America Sherwood Ross | Pockets of poverty, like the sores of some malignant disease, are spreading across America, as its states and cities go broke and bankrupt.
* NYSE down 17 (-0.2%) to 7,483
* DJIA down 39.5 (-0.4%) to 10.968.14
* S&P 500 down 1.6 (-0.1%) to 1,188
* Nasdaq down 9.34 (-0.4%) to 2,525
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
* Hang Seng up 1.26%
* Nikkei up 0.86%
* FTSE down 2.08%
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) NTSP upgraded.
(+) NLST tapped for storage center solution contract.
(+) THRX gains as GSK ups stake in company.
(+) AKAM upgraded.
(+) SHOO gets favorable Barron's coverage.
(+) AMAG reaches product label agreement with FDA for Feraheme.
(+) FDX upgraded.
(+) AMP covered in critical Barron's piece.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) DE upgraded.
(-) EBAY downgraded.
(-) SWC says majority stockholder selling shares.
(-) BA down as analyst JPMorgan cuts earnings view.
(-) WMT offers to take stake in South Africa's Massmart.
(-) AEO upgraded.
(-) LDK upgraded, reaches capacity in specific plant.
(-) ADSK gets favorable Barron's coverage.
(-) TSO upgraded.
MARKET DIRECTION
Stock averages end barely in negative territory, having pushed to new session highs and mixed action for the major averages late in the day, well off earlier lows. Concerns for European debt risks overshadowed optimism for retail spending after a strong weekend of holiday buying. Then, financials improved from early weakness, helping the broad market to recover. Some analysts said U.S. investors may be opting to decouple U.S. and European markets to some degree.
Crude oil for January delivery finished up $1.87, or 2.4%, at $85.73 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil was up 1.78% to $2.35 a gallon while natural gas fell 4.55%, to $4.19 per million British thermal units. Meanwhile, gold for February delivery finished up 0.3% to $1,366 an ounce. In other metal futures, silver rose 1.39% to $27.14 a troy ounce while copper was down 0.03% to $3.76 a pound.
The euro fell to a two-month low and investors flocked to the relative safety of the U.S. dollar and Treasury notes. The European Union agreed Sunday to provide nearly $90 billion in rescue loans for Ireland in order to help banks there, but the move does little to relieve investors' concerns about other European countries, including Portugal and Spain.
Bank of Ireland (IRE) and Allied Irish Banks (AIB) were both higher. In a regulatory statement, Bank of Ireland said it would seek to raise 2.2 billion euros in capital by Feb. 28, via "internal capital management initiatives, support from existing shareholders and other capital market sources."
Positive news limited the downside and allowed stocks to revive later in the day. Trade group the National Retail Federation estimated that 212 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the first weekend of the holiday season, up from 195 million last year. Online spending also rose more than 14 percent from Thanksgiving Day through Saturday, according to IBM's Coremetrics.
With shoppers taking advantage of Cyber Monday specials, online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN) rose $1.51, or 0.9%, to $178.73.
Wal-Mart (WMT) was a decliner after taking a stake in South African retailer Massmart.’
Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK → ? It is now common knowledge that there is a potential domino effect of European sovereign debt contagion in roughly the following order: Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK
Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Escalates The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Insider-Trading Probe Reinforces Belief Market is Rigged The insider-trading dragnet that has rocked Wall Street this week appears likely to reinforce the feeling that the house always wins.
CLSA’s Chris Wood Chimes In On The Endless European Banker Bailouts CLSA’s Chris Wood has released his latest outlook on the world is out, and it is getting progressively gloomy: when even a banker says that he is “aghast” at the “grotesque” extent to which senior creditors are being bailed out left and right in Europe, one has to stop and wonder.
Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Escalates Wall Street Journal | The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Putin proposes EU become reserve currency Russia Today | Russia and Germany should dramatically increase their economic co-operation. That’s the message from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to some of Germany’s top industrialists at a business forum in Berlin.
Financial Writers Slam Irish Bailout Washington’s Blog | The same happened in the US with taxpayers footing an enormous bill for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG.
Microsoft Downplays 'Nightmare' Windows Kernel Flaw [ They would … downplay the flaw. ]A security firm claims a Windows kernel bug lets attackers evade Windows UAC security.
Bernanke's True Intentions Revealed Simon Maierhofer, On Monday November 29, 2010 Unintended Consequences of Bernanke's QE2 Simon Maierhofer, On Tuesday November 23, 2010
In the mid-2000s, Alan Greenspan was the hero of the financial world. With his blunt philosophy of inflation, Greenspan was credited for turning the tech-bust into a real estate and financial boom.Following the 2008/2009 meltdown, Greenspan morphed from hero to scapegoat (or for Thanksgiving aficionados; turkey to feather duster). Another Turkey to Feather Duster Roundtrip?Bernanke carried on the torch of fearless Keynesian Fed Presidents and made it on the cover of Time magazine within his first term. Much ink has been spilled about the effects and side effects of quantitative easing in general and QE2 in particular (click here if you care to read my two cents worth). Actions speak louder than words, and the initial reaction by stocks and commodities has been net-positive (at least when going back to the initial announcement), which is exactly what the financial alchemists in Washington wanted to see; but, what about the economy or the unemployed? Obviously, that's only a secondary concern.According to Bernanke (quoted in the Washington Post), inflating stock prices is the golden grail of today's monetary policy: 'Higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion.'
QE2 - UNFAIR FOR MANY REASONS
Perhaps it's been lost to Mr. Bernanke that the Fed actively inflating asset prices has a number of unfair side effects.
1) Wall Street banksters' get to profit from their mistakes that led to the sub-prime debacle.
2) Retail investors have been withdrawing money from mutual funds for two years. The effect of higher stock prices is lost to many.
3) Artificially depressing interest rates takes away wealth from savers and distributes it to borrowers. Who are today's savers? Retirees and near-retirees. In fact, this group accounts for more individuals (and lost spending power) than ever before.
WHAT EFFECT HAS THE FEDERAL RESERVE'S MONETARY POLICY HAD ON JOBLESS AMERICANS? LET'S EXAMINE THE FACTS:
August 2007: Fed lowered discount rate, unemployment rate at 4.7%
December 2008: Fed reduced rates to just north of zero, unemployment rate at 7.4%.
March 2009: Fed launches QE1, unemployment rate at 8.6%.
November 2010: Fed launches QE2, unemployment rate at 9.6%.
MAKING THE RICH RICHER AND THE POOR POORER
While large cap (NYSEArca: IVV - News), mid cap (NYSEArca: MDY - News), small cap (NYSEArca: IWM - News), international (NYSEArca: EFA - News), emerging market stocks (NYSEArca: EEM - News) and commodities are brewing their own Fed sponsored bubble, the jobless are left in the dust. Would there have been anyway to help them?
Our infrastructure (streets and bridges) is literally rotting away beneath our tires. $600 billion (as in $600 billion QE2) would have been enough money to employ 4 million construction workers at $75,000/year for two years.
Going this route would provide jobs for the hardest hit sector, increase morale and social status and distribute money to the consumer so he can do what he does best - consume. The labor cost of such an infrastructure repair program would be far less than $600 billion because the government wouldn't have to pay unemployment benefits to Americans who could be employed.
GOING THE JAPAN ROUTE
The United States' current predicament is not unique, it happened before. Not in the U.S., but in Japan (NYSEArca: EWJ - News). Following a late 1980s real estate bust, Japan's Nikkei has gone nowhere but down (aside from counter trend rallies, some massive, but nonetheless trumped by the bear market).
The chart below illustrates Japan's pain. The April 2010 ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter, includes an in-depth analysis of the similarities between the two scenarios.
One of the few differences is that Japan's breakdown occurred amidst a roaring global bull market. The U.S. bear market isn't that lucky, as it parallels an escalating European debt crisis and, therefore, should be swifter and ultimately more pronounced.
DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH
If there's only one sentence you take away from this article, let it be this: Things change fast. If you wish, you may add a second: Bear markets work much faster than bull markets.
Momentum is a strong force. Upside momentum breeds optimism which eventually culminates at optimistic extremes. A few days before the April decline, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter noted that the: 'message conveyed by the composite bullishness is unmistakably bearish.'
A more recent example of bear market forces taking hold can be found in the municipal bond market. For over two years, muni bonds have been quenching the thirst of yield hungry investors.
On July 8, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter observed: 'Predicting the location of the next credit crisis isn't easy by virtue of the fact that there are so many darn cracks everywhere. Nevertheless, the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market looks especially ripe for disaster.'
On August 26 - the very day muni bonds and 30-year Treasury Bonds (NYSEArca: TLT - News) peaked - the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter followed up the initial red flag with this word of advice: 'Our technical analysis along with fundamentals suggest that T-Bonds are getting ready to roll over. A look at the overall picture suggests that this is more than just a minor correction. The rally in municipal, corporate and high yield bonds is showing signs of weakness too. Investors should start exiting from those markets.'
The chart of the iShares S&P National Muni Bond ETF (NYSEArca: MUB - News) below shows that MUB lost nearly two years worth of gains within a matter of weeks.
DON'T DISCOUNT THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Thus far, the major indexes a la Dow Jones (DJI: ^DJI), S&P (SNP: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) have largely resisted that drag. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
At its most recent earnings disappointment, Cisco CEO Chambers disclosed that weak sales to the government and state sector contributed to weak earnings. The government sector accounts for 13% of spending on goods and services.
It's probably just a matter of time until this weakness affects the tech (NYSEArca: XLK - News), and by extension the consumer discretionary (NYSEArca: XLY - News) sectors; especially since earnings for 2011 are expected to clock in at an all-time high (no, that's not a typo, check Standard and Poor's earnings estimates).
For right now, the straws (fundamental problems) are piling up on the camel's back (stock market), until the last straw breaks his back. My personal guess is that the insanity will go on a bit longer, but as we've seen in 2000, 2007, 2010 and the above MUB chart, the power of the last straw can bring the camel to its knees in a hurry.
Unlike Wall Street and the financial media, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter doesn't simply ignore red flags, but tries to identify Trojan-Horse-like asset classes before they enter and destroy your portfolio. Semi-weekly updates continually monitor major asset classes and provide invaluable support and resistance levels.
Silver Prices Surging on Near-Record Demand The price of silver is surging and so is business at many coin dealers across the country. At Plaza Collectibles, an appraisals shop in Manhattan, owner Lee Rosenbloom says he’s seeing a tremendous demand both in new and older silver coins. “This is probably the strongest demand there’s been in the last 25 years,” he says.
9 Shocking Examples Of Black Friday Violence – Is This A Foretaste Of The Economic Riots We Can Expect When The Financial System Collapses? It seems with each passing year the madness on Black Friday gets even worse. This year, there were reports of fights and rioting from coast to coast. It was estimated that over 180 million U.S. shoppers headed for the stores on Friday, and whenever you get that many people together there are going to be problems.
France, Germany Determined to Save Euro: Spokesman France and Germany are determined to save the euro currency and will not allow it to be taken hostage by the markets, French government spokesman Francois Baroin said on Monday.
Portugal And Ireland’s Private Debt Levels Are Far Worse Than Even Greece By now we’re probably all familiar with the notion that Ireland’s financial challenges are different than Greece’s, but still a crisis in their own right.
Come on! Suckers rally into the close to keep the suckers suckered! Previous: Rosy numbers on consumer sentiment, unemployment (far better than private forecasts) from the government prior to the holiday so-called ‘shop till you drop’? How can anyone believe anything they say? Najerian interviewed by Motek chimes in with the reason for good retail cheer; viz., people have stopped paying their mortgages and are using the funds to purchase retail goods; while Davidowitz adds that with record numbers of americans on food stamps, real unemployment at 17+, and wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION … the high end stores / jewelers will do well … daaaaah! And, with insiders and wall street frauds selling into the bubble as preceded last crash, this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally on light volume, full moon, and government complicity (false data / reports) 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 ]
17 Things Worrying Investors Lloyd's Wall of Worry
Worry Count: 17
CHINA: 1,330,044,605 people can’t be wrong.
The PIIGS: Fasten your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a long, bumpy, expensive, weird, (insert your own adjective here) freak show of a ride.
CALIFORNIA AND THE OTHER 49 STATES: Not yet as dire as “The PIIGS”. Might I suggest the classier moniker of “The Prosciuttos” for the American basket-case states?
QE II: Gobble?
U.S. ECONOMY: The “Punky Brewster” of the global economic landscape.
UNEMPLOYMENT: Only thing worse than losing your job, losing your unemployment check. At least there’s the holiday season to cheer everyone up (read: heavy sarcasm).
TAXES: Praying to the Financial Market Gods that we don’t have another TARP-like vote fiasco.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PART II: Still two years before the Pres. election and the peanut gallery is already pleading for a Hail Mary Pass to get them back in the game.
HFT: Instead of beating up these liquidity supplying traders, let’s honor them with their very own stock exchange. But wait -- with no retail saps to pick-off they will never get that Day 1 opening bell tick. Perfect.
XMAS 2010: As my professor friend Nick says, “Nowadays Americans are dining off of two menus – The Million Dollar and the $0.99 Cent.” And both are pissed about it.
CURRENCIES: Poor Mr. Greenback. Does someone need a hug?
HOUSING CRISIS: Price Stabilization – Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more….
INFLATION/DEFLATION: Fed Chief Ben B. comes out swinging from his heels in defense of inflation promotion. Don’t punch yourself out as this one is likely to go the distance.
COMMODITIES: Corrected but still sky high; fortunately these prices are only affecting core, basic, life-sustaining necessities and sparing our electronic gadgets and plus-sized SUVs. Whew!
INSIDER TRADING: Another black eye for Hedge Funds. I estimate that makes black eye number 6,597.
INTEREST RATES: South Korea and China slowly turning up the dial to “11”. On the other hand the U.S. has removed the dial altogether. This never ends well….
NORTH KOREA: Here we go again.
(11-29-10) Dow 11,052 -40 Nasdaq 2,525 -9 S&P 500 1,187 -2 [CLOSE- OIL $85.73 (-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 $1,366 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $27.13 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,639 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .76 EURO, 84 YEN, .64 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.82% …..… 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
Alex Jones: Info Gems in the Latest WikiLeaks Docs RT America | Radio Host Alex Jones says it will take time to go over all of the documents but most of the information is not a big surprise.
Blaylock: Fluoride’s Deadly Secret Paul Joseph Watson | Eugenics program forged by Rockefeller Foundation with Nazi support now seeks to change human behavior by chemically altering the brain.
The Stench of US Economic Decay: Russia and China Dump the US Dollar Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | The American government only has resources for wars of aggression, police state intrusions, and bailouts of rich banksters.
Ultra Elitist Environmental Group: Halt Economic Growth, Institute Rationing Ultra elitist environmental group The Royal Society has published a series of papers to coincide with the latest round of UN climate talks, in which influential scientists suggest that politicians should force the population of the developed world to adhere to a system of rationing in order to stave off rising global temperatures.
Alex Jones Live In Santa Cruz After an introduction by legendary conspiracy researcher Dr. Stan Monteith in which he divulges the plan to lower living standards in the United States as part of the one world agenda, Alex Jones gives a speech live in Santa Cruz California about the global awakening, how we as a species can take back our power and ultimately live out our destiny as free human beings.
Blaylock: Fluoride’s Deadly Secret In this fascinating interview, Blaylock reveals how depopulation programs forged by the Rockefeller foundation in association with the Nazis were the basis of modern day incarnations of eugenics like fluoride poisoning and vaccinations.
Shocking cable: US says Saudi donors are chief financiers of al Qaeda A quick aside in a New York Times article about leaked diplomatic cables is sure to spark renewed interest about the role of the US’ biggest ally in the Gulf supporting terrorism.
Drudge Fought The TSA….And Drudge Won Despite the establishment media presiding over another mass hoax in claiming that Americans were completely happy with invasive airport security measures, contrary to polls showing a majority in opposition, and that the national opt out day was a failure, the fact that the TSA was forced to change its policy by mothballing naked body scanners and curtailing aggressive pat downs clearly goes to show that the man who almost single-handedly drove the issue, Matt Drudge, fought the TSA and he won.
South Korea Girds for Show of Force With U.S. Ships After Attacks by North The aircraft carrier USS George Washington and four smaller warships begin exercises with South Korean vessels tomorrow in a show of force that North Korea warned will take the peninsula to the “brink of war.”
North Korea opens fire as war games begin North Korea fired off more artillery shells in an apparent training exercise while it moved missiles into position near the sea border.
N. Korea deploys SA-2 surface-to-air missiles near Yellow Sea border North Korea has deployed SA-2 surface-to-air missiles to its west coast near the Yellow Sea border with South Korea as U.S.-led naval drills got underway in a show of force against the North’s deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island earlier last week, government sources said Sunday.
S. Korean artillery “mistakenly” fired on DMZ South Korea mistakenly fired an artillery shell toward the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday afternoon and soon sent a message to North Korea that the firing was accidental, military officials said.
S. Korea, US start major naval drills The US and South Korea launched large-scale naval maneuvers Sunday (November 28) off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast, days after North Korea bombarded an inhabited southern island.
MI6 blamed for fiasco of phoney Taliban warlord who was paid a fortune MI6 was blamed yesterday for the fiasco that saw a fake Taliban commander paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for his role in secret Afghan peace negotiations.
US general McChrystal approved peace talks with fake Taliban leader Peace talks conducted with an impostor who posed as a Taliban leader, and which led to a meeting with Hamid Karzai in Kabul and thousands of dollars in “goodwill payments”, were started by the Afghan government and approved by the former American commander, Stanley McChrystal, the Guardian has learned.
China Warns U.S. On Naval Exercises as North Korea Promises Retaliation China has warned the United States against engaging in military activity on its coastline. It was reported today that Obama would be speaking with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in coming days. China has refused to condemn North Korea’s attack.
Odd Couple: North Korea & America Tony Cartalucci | The sails of US Asian policy ride on the winds of North Korean belligerence.
6 Reasons To Start World War III If You Are A Globalist Activist Post | The average person can barely imagine why World War III would be anything but a civilization-ending event.
The Big Lie: Governments Have to Save the Big Banks Many of the world’s top economists and financial experts have said that the too big to fail banks are destroying the world economy, that they must be broken up in order to restore stability, and that small banks can easily pick up the slack and make all of the loans which are needed needs.
World At A Boil With War And Economic Crisis Koreas prepare for war, Fed beyond point of no return, silver manipulation charges, Ireland in economic collapse, pondering foreclosuregate, more Madoff fallout, TSA patdowns despised.
Bomb Kills Iranian Nuclear Scientist Unidentified assailants riding motorcycles launched bomb attacks early on Monday against two Iranian nuclear physicists here, killing one of them and prompting accusations in the state-run media that the United States and Israel were behind the episode.
South Korea Warns North Against New Attack President Lee Myung-bak promised in a televised speech on Monday to make sure that North Korea “pays a dear price” should it attack the South again.
Following Hungary And Ireland, France Is Next To Seize Pension Funds If the recent Hungarian “appropriation” of pension funds, and today’s laughable Irish bailout courtesy of domestic pension funds sourcing 20% of the “new” money was not enough to convince the world just how bankrupt the entire European experiment has become, enter France.
Int'l groups say Israel not living up to Gaza promises Jerusalem Post Gaza blockade still 'crippling' BBC News
Aid groups decry blockade on Gaza Aljazeera.net Sen. John Kerry calls for Israel to cede Golan Heights and East Jerusalem...
Drudgereport: Assange: Document Dump Targets 'Lying, Corrupt and Murderous Leadership'...
Ecuador offers Assange residency...
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed planting chips in Gitmo prisoners upon release...
China 'ready to abandon North Korea'...
China 'scared to death' of Pelosi...
USA RACES TO LIMIT WIKI DAMAGE [ Publishing the wikileaks is the right thing to do; after all, one cannot possibly look to even one rationally correct strategy, domestically, globally, geopolitically that would justify continued hiding/cover-up of the failed strategies, their genesis, flawed rationale, etc., which has cost this nation and the world dearly] ...
Laughter in Rome, Denials in Berlin...
Sen. John Kerry calls for Israel to cede Golan Heights and East Jerusalem...
Reveal: Iran 'smuggled arms' to Hezbollah on ambulances...
Reveal: Hillary Clinton ordered diplomats to spy on UN leaders...
*UN seeks answers from Washington...
What America REALLY thinks of world leaders...
Now Australian police investigate Assange...
Holder orders criminal investigation...
Pentagon: No guarantee against another leak...
Disclosures show secrets not safe...
Obama 'not pleased'...
CYBER MONDAY NIGHTMARE
CLASSIFIED NO MORE: USA RACES TO LIMIT WIKILEAKS DAMAGE [Publishing the Wikileaks is the right thing to do; after all, one cannot possibly look to even one rationally correct strategy, domestically, globally, geopolitically that would justify continued hiding/cover-up of the failed strategies, their genesis, flawed rationale, etc., which has cost this nation and the world dearly] ...
250,000 State Dept. cables cover Iran, NKorea, Putin... MORE
Reveal: Dangerous standoff with Pakistan...
Gitmo became game of 'Let's Make A Deal'...
US to Slovenia: Take a prisoner if you want meeting with Obama...
Reveal: Clinton Orders US Diplomats to Spy on Other Countries at UN...
Reveal: Iran obtained missiles from NKorea -- capable of striking Europe...
WIKILEAKS: We've been hit with 'mass distributed denial of service attack'...
MOST EMBARRASSING, DAMAGING DISCLOSURE IN DECADES...
Reveal: China conducting computer sabotage...
Saudis are chief financiers for al Qaeda...
Reveal: Saudis repeatedly urge US attack on Iran...
SENATORS: PROSECUTE THE LEAKERS!
NYT EXPLAINS: THE DECISION TO PUBLISH … [The NYT clearly did the right thing to publish; after all, one cannot possibly look to even one rationally correct strategy, domestically, globally, geopolitically that would justify continued hiding/cover-up of the failed strategies, their genesis, flawed rationale, etc., which has cost this nation and the world dearly]...
SKorea says sound of artillery heard on island...
US, SKorea start major naval drills...
China issues warning...
TO THE BRINK
DHS SEIZES DOMAIN NAMES...
EU Debt Crisis Escalates...
6 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan...
Obama announces two-year pay freeze for federal workers...
Dem Leader Hoyer: Military should also see pay freeze...
Now rescue threatens Germany...
100,000+ march in Dublin over budget cuts...
'Day of Reckoning' Nears...
Banks downgraded -- one to junk bond status...
Portugal Denies Report on Bailout...
Spain Bets on Budget Cuts...
Next Debt Crisis 'May Start in Washington'...
WIKILEAKS TURNS ON OBAMA! … [ Like who hasn’t, and for good reason! Publishing the Wikileaks is the right thing to do; after all, one cannot possibly look to even one rationally correct strategy, domestically, globally, geopolitically that would justify continued hiding/cover-up of the failed strategies, their genesis, flawed rationale, etc., which has cost this nation and the world dearly] ]
LEAKED: Gates Says 'Russian democracy has disappeared' [ Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america merely goes through the façade of some familiar motions, now totally corrupted and control, reminiscent of what had been a democracy, long since lost to and fallen by the weight of inherent crime and corruption.] ...
Ireland Wins $113 Billion Bailout as EU Ministers Seek to Halt Debt Crisis...
Labour Leader: 'A national sell out'...
100,000+ march in Dublin over budget cuts...
'Day of Reckoning' Nears...
Banks downgraded -- one to junk bond status...
Portugal Denies Report on Bailout...
Spain Bets on Budget Cuts...
PAPER: 'Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information'...
Assange teasing Obama over drip, drip drip...
FALLOUT...
Seeking new skills but finding classes full (Washington Post) [ Truly a shame inasmuch as I’ve found the California Community Colleges (ie., LA Trade Tech, LACC, etc.) to have been of the highest quality and functionality. http://albertpeia.com/alresume.htm ]Community college enrollments have surged with unemployed and underemployed people seeking new careers. But just as workers have turned to community colleges, states have cut their budgets, forcing the institutions to turn away legions of students.
U.S. strips intelligence analyst of security clearance and job but won't say why (Washington Post) [ Wow! Talk about splitting hairs and not being brain surgery! After all, even a perfunctory look at Intelligence’s intelligence (Iraq, perpetual wars, contrived conflicts, etc., though defacto bankruptcy of the nation) leads ineluctably to a shrug of the shoulders and a conclusion that such are distinctions without significant, meaningful differences. ]
The nerve center of the U.S. Treasury Department (Washington Post) [ Nerve center? The defacto bankrupt u.s. treasury? Brings to mind such word pictures as myasthenias gravis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Alsheimer’s Disease, dementia, etc.. It’s disappointing that this article doesn’t paint a more realistic picture of disfunction (though fraud-facilitative) consistent with those degenerative, mind/body-numbing diseases aforementioned. ]
G-20 strives for a deeper form of economic cooperation (Washington Post) [ Riiiiight! I don’t think so! Those wobama dogs don’t hunt no more… you know … the more wars though defacto bankrupt, ubiquitous debased fiat paper currencies, pervasive securities and other frauds, etc. ] If the Obama administration gets its way, world leaders will reshape their countries' policies to do what's in the longer-term interest of the global economy.
Let's talk turkey about privatizing Social Security (Washington Post) [ Come on! They may be dumb / corrupt, but not that dumb / corrupt! The frauds on wall street would go through those funds like a hot knife through butter … there’d be blood on the streets, chaos, rioting, and the capital would be no exception owing to their complicity ... The Big Disconnect: U.S. Corporate Profits Rising With No Job Growth [ This dynamic is far more dire than presented hereafter; first, profits are inflated by the debasement of the u.s. fiat paper currency ( see infra, ie., Davis, etc.) ; second, there has been an irrevocable structural shift in the u.s. economy in the most negative sense, formally cheered by the churn-and-earn frauds on wall street, and, those jobs really have been shipped overseas and won’t be coming back. ‘The nation’s been taken to the cleaners’ as wall street cheered. Another example: DOW down 142, up 150, down 95 on three successive days. What changed? Hundreds of millions in (computerized high frequency trade) commissions each day taken out of the real economy by those parasitic frauds on wall street. ] Big New York insider trading probe spawns another (AP) ‘NEW YORK – An insider trading case last year that federal authorities said was the biggest ever is providing a recipe for another case that may be even bigger. Howard Davidowitz on the Economy: "Here Are the Numbers ... WE'RE BROKE!" The U.S. economy "is a complete disaster," Howard Davidowitz declared here ] Thanksgiving is upon us, making this a perfect time to go searching for turkeys - the financial variety, of course. And the biggest one is . . . privatizing Social Security.
Why We Should Be Skeptical of Any Near Term Strength in the Markets [ Keep in mind, the scenario is even worse than the dismal one described as follows because the debasement of the dollar has artificially inflated earnings substantially and lowered P/E multiples thereby (see, ie., Davis, etc., infra)] Prieur du Plessis ‘The S&P 500 Index is entering expensive territory with the cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio at 22.64 approaching the average of 25.0 from the post ICT crisis to the advent of the Lehman debacle. The current level is also at the upper end of the range that existed from 1881 to the start of the ICT bubble in the latter part of the 1990s. Click [chart] for charts: [chart] On the normal basis, with the PE calculated trailing 12-month earnings, the market is inexpensive at 17.86 times earnings compared to the past 20 years. However, the market is expensive compared to the long-term historical average of 15.5 times earnings. [chart] The Q Ratio defined by Doug Short as the total price of the market divided by the replacement cost of all its companies is currently at the upper end of the range since 2003 and near the previous peaks in valuation since 1900 bar the ICT bubble in the latter part of the 1990s. [chart] Source: dshort.com Sitting on a price to book value of 2.3 times the S&P 500 is still significantly below the average at 2.3 times compared to 2.9 since 1981. Barring the ICT bubble the average is closer to 2.5, though. [chart] Sources: Various internet; Plexus Asset Management. If the S&P 500’s long-term historical earnings growth of 6% in real terms is factored in and given the average dividend yield of 3.7% of the S&P 500 over the past 70 years, the capital return over the next seven years is expected to be minus 1.1% per year. If the exit dividend yield turns out to be that of the past ten years’ average of 2.1%, though, the capital return will be 6.1% per year. [chart] Sources: Hussman Funds; Plexus Asset Management. In light of the extended valuation levels I think the market is currently discounting the latter and view it as close to the upper limit of what can be expected. I will treat any further significant strength in the market with the utmost caution. At best, it seems to me that year-on-year growth in the coming years could range between 0% and 10%. [chart] The declining trend of the peaks in the Coppock indicator of the S&P 500 is also worrisome, indicating that further significant upward momentum will be a hard-fought battle and not without risk. [chart] The technical position is also telling me that a significant correction may be in the offing. [chart] Caveat emptor!
John Hussman's Index: Stocks Are 13% Overvalued John Hussman, manager of Hussman Strategy Growth Fund (HSGFX), proposed price to peak 10 year average earnings as a long term stock market valuation metric. Compared with the normal one year price to earning ratio, Price to Peak Earnings would eliminate short term noise. This is similar to Shiller's ‘Cyclically Adjusted Price Earning’ ratio (CAPE10) and Warren Buffett’s stock market GNP/GDP metric.In his weekly commentary on Dec 5, 2005, titled as 'Earnings Revert to the Mean, Stocks Will Struggle', he proposed a simplistic method: "buy when Price to Peak Earnings is lower than 15 and sell when it exceeds 19.5". John Hussman has been using this as the valuation yardstick to manage the Hussman Strategic Growth Fund HSGFX.A model portfolio called P Hussman Peak PE Market Timing Strategy Buy 15 Sell 19.5 Weekly is also maintained to live monitor the strategy suggested in 'Earnings Revert to the Mean, Stocks Will Struggle'. click [chart] On Nov 19, 2010, the ratio of Real Price to the average of last 10 year Peak Real Earnings (13.44) to its long term average (11.93) is 1.13. The US stock market is 13% overvalued. We will be tracking this number biweekly.
Howard Davidowitz on the Economy: "Here Are the Numbers ... WE'RE BROKE!" The U.S. economy "is a complete disaster," Howard Davidowitz declared here in July, the most recent in a string of dire predictions from Tech Ticker's most entertaining guest.On the eve of Thanksgiving, I asked Davidowitz if he had any regrets, or was ready to throw in the towel given recent signs of economic revival. Are you kidding me? "Here are the numbers...we're broke," Davidowitz declares, noting the U.S. government goes $5 billion deeper into debt every day and is facing $1 trillion-plus annual deficits for the next decade. "In other words, we're bankrupt."As with the economy, Davidowitz is unwaveringly consistent in his views on President Obama, calling him "deranged, dysfunctional and discredited."Results of the midterm election show "the people of this country think we are in a catastrophe," he says. "I'm with them."Check the accompanying video for more of Howard's unfettered opinions and stay tuned for additional clips from this interview. And...Happy Thanksgiving! Aaron Task is the host of Tech Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @atask or email him at altask@yahoo.com
Big New York insider trading probe spawns another (AP) ‘NEW YORK – An insider trading case last year that federal authorities said was the biggest ever is providing a recipe for another case that may be even bigger. The current case is largely an extension of work that led to the arrest of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam in October 2009. The Galleon investigation marked the first time that federal authorities used wiretaps in an insider trading probe. Similarly, wiretaps led to the first arrest in the latest case. Don Ching Trang Chu, a consulting firm executive, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly providing private information about a company's corporate earnings to a hedge fund. The FBI this week searched the offices of three hedge funds and subpoenaed some of Wall Street's most influential firms, including Janus Capital Group and SAC Capital. The Galleon case has resulted in 23 arrests and 14 guilty pleas. Many of those arrested are cooperating in the latest investigation ...’
The Big Disconnect: U.S. Corporate Profits Rising With No Job Growth [ This dynamic is far more dire than presented hereafter; first, profits are inflated by the debasement of the u.s. fiat paper currency ( see infra, ie., Davis, etc.) ; second, there has been an irrevocable structural shift in the u.s. economy in the most negative sense, formally cheered by the churn-and-earn frauds on wall street, and, those jobs really have been shipped overseas and won’t be coming back. ‘The nation’s been taken to the cleaners’ as wall street cheered. Another example: DOW down 142, up 150, down 95 on three successive days. What changed? Hundreds of millions in (computerized high frequency trade) commissions each day taken out of the real economy by those parasitic frauds on wall street. ] Hunkar ‘U.S. companies earned profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. In non-inflation adjusted terms, this is the highest figure since the government started keeping track over 60 years ago. Since the credit crisis ended, many businesses have resumed growing profits – but have not resumed creating jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6% in October, with 14.8 million persons unemployed, according to official figures. U.S. firms slashed 8.5 million jobs during the last recession; millions of these workers remain unemployed. However, corporate profits are soaring to pre-crisis levels. This is because American businesses are able to increase profits by rising productivity, increasing exports, cutting costs, and in some cases raising prices. Productivity simply means extracting more or the same amount of work using fewer workers. Globally, U.S. companies are leaders in productivity due to the corporate culture prevalent in the U.S. and the fierce competition in many industries. Hence, in the current situation, they are wringing out more profits with fewer workers. This concept was illustrated in a recent Bloomberg article:
Campbell (CPB), the world’s largest soup maker, DuPont Co. (DD), the third-biggest U.S. chemical maker, and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the world’s largest package-delivery business, are asking workers to help save cash by working smarter with existing technology. A potential cost: Efficiency gains reduce the chances recession-casualty jobs will come back.“When the productivity growth comes, then watch out because that is when companies start not needing so much labor,” Edmund Phelps, a Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate, said in an interview.Some 142 non-financial companies in the S&P 500 had improvements in operating margins of three percentage points or more from the final three months of 2007, when the previous expansion peaked, compared with the most recent quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of yesterday.
The chart below shows annualized corporate profits, both before and after taxes, since 1947: [chart]
The following chart shows corporate profit growth in terms of GDP: [chart]
(Charts source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, via Haver Analytics, as published by The New York Times.)
It represented 11.2% of GDP last quarter, a figure that has been growing for seven consecutive quarters. Therefore, for the past seven quarters, companies have been earning higher profits with almost no hiring of workers, since unemployment remains stubbornly high at around 10 percent. The Economist wrote about this dichotomy in the U.S. economy back in August in an article entitled “Profits, But No Jobs“:
Americans used to love to hear tales of success in business. One of the many oddities of the current joyless economic recovery is that this traditional enthusiasm is strikingly lacking. Corporate America has bounced back impressively. The quarterly results season that is now nearly over has revealed that profits are back within a whisker of the all-time highs achieved before the downturn in late 2008. By some calculations, the rate of recovery of profits from their trough is the strongest since the end of the Great Depression. Yet nobody seems pleased. Not investors, who have failed to push up share prices in the way this sort of earnings growth would have caused them to do at this stage of previous economic cycles. Certainly not politicians, who complain that firms are “hoarding” cash and creating hardly any new jobs. As Robert Reich, an economist at Berkeley and former labour secretary under Bill Clinton, puts it: “Bottom line: higher corporate profits no longer lead to higher employment. We’re witnessing a great decoupling of company profits from jobs.” [Emphasis mine.] Corporate America is reaping the rewards for tough actions taken after the financial markets collapsed in September 2008.
Yes indeed. There is a huge disconnect between rising corporate earnings and job growth. This recovery is not only a “jobless recovery” but also a “joyless recovery." According to S&P, non-financial companies in the S&P 500 held over $1 trillion in cash at the end of the first quarter. Much of this cash is neither getting paid out as higher dividends to investors, nor being spent on capital investments …’
Debt turmoil, contagion fears sweep Europe (AP) ‘LISBON, Portugal – Europe struggled mightily Friday to keep the debt crisis from engulfing country after country. Portugal passed austerity measures to fend off the speculative trades pushing it toward a bailout and Ireland rushed to negotiate its own imminent rescue.As Portugal and Spain insisted they will not seek outside help, creating an eery sense of deja-vu for investors, Europe braced for what seems inevitable — more expensive bailouts.The Portuguese Parliament approved an unpopular debt-reducing package, including tax hikes and cuts in pay and welfare benefits. But while that helped to avoid a sharper deterioration in bond markets, the sense among analysts was that the move had only bought a little time.Adding to the pressure, Ireland's major banks were hit with credit downgrades — one to junk bond status — as speculation mounted that the EU-IMF bailout of Ireland, to be revealed within days, would require investors to take losses, a possibility earlier denied by officials."This confusing `pea-soup' of indecision, vacillation and disunity by the EU is beginning to create unnecessarily seismic waves of fear in international bond and money markets," said David Buik, markets analyst at BGC Partners.Yields in fiscally weak eurozone countries remained near record highs Friday, stocks slumped across the board and the 16-nation euro lost another 0.8 percent on the day to trade at $1.3241, just off two-month lows.Portugal's high debt and low growth have alarmed investors, but the government insists it doesn't require an international rescue — a line ominously reminiscent of claims by Greece and Ireland before their massive rescues.Analysts say markets need more reassurance from EU leaders that the rot can be stopped in Portugal before spreading to Spain, the continent's fourth-largest economy — a scenario that would threaten the 16-nation euro currency itself …’
Investor Sentiment and Fund Flows Templeton ‘Two weeks ago bullish investor sentiment was reported at its highest level of the year coming in at 57.56%. At the same time the S&P 500 Index hit its yearly high of 1,225. In the following week the bullish sentiment level fell over 17 percentage points to 40% and the market has trended lower since that time. In the latest week the bullish sentiment level has ticked higher to 47.4% with the market trading pretty much in a volatile range. [chart] From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors Click, Data Source: American Association of Individual Investors This market volatility seems to be resulting in investors having uncertainty about investing in equities. The below chart (click to enlarge) shows investors continue to pour money into bond mutual funds at the expense of equity mutual funds. The chart captures data through mid September and the subsequent table (click to enlarge) contains weekly data for November. [chart] From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors
[chart] From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors Table Data Source: ICI …’
Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Escalates Wall Street Journal | The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Putin proposes EU become reserve currency [ As previously stated, Putin’s positions on matters of global concern should be given great deference. ] Russia Today | Russia and Germany should dramatically increase their economic co-operation. That’s the message from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to some of Germany’s top industrialists at a business forum in Berlin.
Insider-Trading Probe Reinforces Belief Market is Rigged Fox Business | The insider-trading dragnet that has rocked Wall Street this week appears likely to reinforce the feeling that the house always wins.
Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Escalates The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Insider-Trading Probe Reinforces Belief Market is Rigged The insider-trading dragnet that has rocked Wall Street this week appears likely to reinforce the feeling that the house always wins.
CLSA’s Chris Wood Chimes In On The Endless European Banker Bailouts CLSA’s Chris Wood has released his latest outlook on the world is out, and it is getting progressively gloomy: when even a banker says that he is “aghast” at the “grotesque” extent to which senior creditors are being bailed out left and right in Europe, one has to stop and wonder.
Economic Implosion Sets The Blame Game In Motion When a child bounds about the house and breaks his mother’s favorite flower vase or creepy ‘Precious Moments’ figurine, he usually blames the dog before he blames himself.
The 17 Things Worrying Investors This Week Lloyd's Wall of Worry
Week of November 22-26
Worry Count: 17
CHINA: 1,330,044,605 people can’t be wrong.
The PIIGS: Fasten your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a long, bumpy, expensive, weird, (insert your own adjective here) freak show of a ride.
CALIFORNIA AND THE OTHER 49 STATES: Not yet as dire as “The PIIGS”. Might I suggest the classier moniker of “The Prosciuttos” for the American basket-case states?
QE II: Gobble?
U.S. ECONOMY: The “Punky Brewster” of the global economic landscape.
UNEMPLOYMENT: Only thing worse than losing your job, losing your unemployment check. At least there’s the holiday season to cheer everyone up (read: heavy sarcasm).
TAXES: Praying to the Financial Market Gods that we don’t have another TARP-like vote fiasco.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PART II: Still two years before the Pres. election and the peanut gallery is already pleading for a Hail Mary Pass to get them back in the game.
HFT: Instead of beating up these liquidity supplying traders, let’s honor them with their very own stock exchange. But wait -- with no retail saps to pick-off they will never get that Day 1 opening bell tick. Perfect.
XMAS 2010: As my professor friend Nick says, “Nowadays Americans are dining off of two menus – The Million Dollar and the $0.99 Cent.” And both are pissed about it.
CURRENCIES: Poor Mr. Greenback. Does someone need a hug?
HOUSING CRISIS: Price Stabilization – Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more. Are we there yet? Just a little bit more….
INFLATION/DEFLATION: Fed Chief Ben B. comes out swinging from his heels in defense of inflation promotion. Don’t punch yourself out as this one is likely to go the distance.
COMMODITIES: Corrected but still sky high; fortunately these prices are only affecting core, basic, life-sustaining necessities and sparing our electronic gadgets and plus-sized SUVs. Whew!
INSIDER TRADING: Another black eye for Hedge Funds. I estimate that makes black eye number 6,597.
INTEREST RATES: South Korea and China slowly turning up the dial to “11”. On the other hand the U.S. has removed the dial altogether. This never ends well….
NORTH KOREA: Here we go again.
Why We Should Be Skeptical of Any Near Term Strength in the Markets [ Keep in mind, the scenario is even worse than the dismal one described as follows because the debasement of the dollar has artificially inflated earnings substantially and lowered P/E multiples thereby (see, ie., Davis, etc., infra)] The Big Disconnect: U.S. Corporate Profits Rising With No Job Growth [ This dynamic is far more dire than presented hereafter; first, profits are inflated by the debasement of the u.s. fiat paper currency ( see infra, ie., Davis, etc.) ; second, there has been an irrevocable structural shift in the u.s. economy in the most negative sense, formally cheered by the churn-and-earn frauds on wall street, and, those jobs really have been shipped overseas and won’t be coming back. ‘The nation’s been taken to the cleaners’ as wall street cheered. Another example: DOW down 142, up 150, down 95 on three successive days. What changed? Hundreds of millions in (computerized high frequency trade) commissions each day taken out of the real economy by those parasitic frauds on wall street. ] Come on! Rosy numbers on consumer sentiment, unemployment (far better than private forecasts) from the government prior to the holiday so-called ‘shop till you drop’? How can anyone believe anything they say? Najerian interviewed by Motek chimes in with the reason for good retail cheer; viz., people have stopped paying their mortgages and are using the funds to purchase retail goods; while Davidowitz adds that with record numbers of americans on food stamps, real unemployment at 17+, and wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION … the high end stores / jewelers will do well … daaaaah! And, with insiders and wall street frauds selling into the bubble as preceded last crash, this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally on light volume, full moon, and government complicity (false data / reports) 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 ]
Who Will Any Form of Intermediate Term Wealth Effect Really Help? [ The so-called ‘wealth effect touted by no-recession helicopter ben‘ is just a continuation of the fraudulent wall street bailout / subsidization churn-and-earn scam / fraud. Bill Fleckenstein Has Some Thoughts On QE2: “These Idiots Think We Can Print Our Way To Prosperity” ( I disagree! I believe they are well aware of the folly of their fraudulent and ultimately disastrous approach but are, as in the last debacle, creating a fraudulent bubble for the wall street frauds and insiders to sell into, which they are indeed doing as we speak. (INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS) (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. ) ] 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! ] In addition to a question for Bloomberg TV anchor Betty Lui, who asked Bill to “admit” that “the markets were in a better mood yesterday after QE2,” which is simply this: “Betty? Betty? Betty? How about in summer 2008, 2007, were the markets in a good mood? Were the markets in a good mood then?” Quite right! The same pattern that preceded the last crash. Falling dollar, high volume programmed high frequency trades to the upside creating an even larger, gravity-defying bubble for the wall street frauds and insiders to sell into. They’re not too big or important to fail and jail! Prospective economic health depends on that reality! ]
John Hussman: Bubble, Crash, Bubble, Crash, Bubble... [ This really is the story and far worse than the bad scenario presented herefter by Hussman in light of the debased dollar and the inflated earnings and lower P / E ratios thereby, etc. ] Excerpt from the Hussman Funds' Weekly Market Comment (11/8/10):
‘We will continue this cycle until we catch on. The problem isn't only that the Fed is treating the symptoms instead of the disease. Rather, by irresponsibly promoting reckless speculation, misallocation of capital, moral hazard (careless lending without repercussions), and illusory "wealth effects," the Fed has become the disease ... It is difficult to interpret Bernanke's defense of QE2 as anything else but an attempt to replace the recent bubble with yet another - to drive already overvalued risky assets to further overvaluation in hopes that consumers will view the "wealth" as permanent. The problem here is that unlike housing, which consumers had viewed as immune from major price declines, investors have observed two separate stock market plunges of over 50% each, within the past decade alone. While investors have obviously demonstrated an aptitude for ignoring risk over short periods of time, it is a simple fact that raising the price of a risky asset comes at the sacrifice of lower long-term returns, except when there is a proportional increase in the long-term stream cash flows that can be expected from the security. As a result of Bernanke's actions, investors now own higher priced securities that can be expected to deliver commensurately lower long-term returns, leaving their lifetime "wealth" unaffected, but exposing them to enormous risk of price declines over the intermediate (2-5 year) horizon. This is not a basis on which consumers are likely to shift their spending patterns. What Bernanke doesn't seem to absorb is that stocks are nothing but a claim on a long-term stream of cash flows that investors expect to be delivered over time. Propping up the price of stocks changes the distribution of long-term investment returns, but it doesn't materially affect the cash flows. This reckless policy has done nothing but to promote further overvaluation of already overvalued assets. The current Shiller P/E above 22 has historically been associated with subsequent total returns in the S&P 500 of less than 5% annually, on average, over every investment horizon shorter than a decade ... We are betting on the wrong horse. When the Fed acts outside of the role of liquidity provision, it does more harm than good. Worse, we have somehow accepted a situation where the Fed's actions are increasingly independent of our democratically elected government. Bernanke's unsound leadership has placed the nation's economic stability on two pillars: inflated asset prices, and actions that - in Bernanke's own words - should be "correctly viewed as an end run around the authority of the legislature" (see below). The right horse is ourselves, and the ability of our elected representatives to create an economic environment that encourages productive investment, research, development, infrastructure, and education, while avoiding policies that promote speculation, discourage work, or defend reckless lenders from experiencing losses on bad investments.’
National / World
Spain, Portugal and Belgium set to follow Ireland into abyss as debt crisis threatens to destroy the euro New fears have been raised about the future of the euro with the domino effect of faltering economies spreading today. The latest nation to get sucked into the crisis is Belgium after market traders pushed the cost of insuring the country’s debt to record levels.
South Korea to defy North by sending in troops South Korea’s president vowed today to increase the number of troops on the island hit by a North Korean artillery barrage.
N. Korea vows more attacks North Korea threatened further provocation against South Korea, Thursday, raising the question of its next move as Washington and Seoul prepare military drills in the wake of Pyongyang’s deadly artillery attack earlier this week.
Tarpley: US using Korea to make money North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire yesterday. All the while the United States dollar has strengthened as bad blood between North and South Korea means big business for the US. Investigative journalist Webster Tarpley says the financial district is taking part in a flight to safety moving money in the US treasury, using North Korea as a catalyst to make other nations depend on the US.
China Warns U.S. On Naval Exercises as North Korea Promises Retaliation China has warned the United States against engaging in military activity on its coastline. It was reported today that Obama would be speaking with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in coming days. China has refused to condemn North Korea’s attack.
CHINA TELLS AMERICA: Turn Around The USS George Washington China has warned against military activity near its coastline ahead of U.S.-Korea naval exercises, according to Reuters.China’s Foreign Ministry said in an online posting that naval exercises risks starting a war: “We oppose any military act by any party conducted in China’s exclusive economic zone without approval.”
The TSA and America’s Turning Point Hobbes | This battle must be won, for to lose it means losing everything.
Doctors sound TSA germ alert Bob Unruh | Some of the infections are “a tough little beast” and easily would be spread through the contact being used by the TSA.
Big Sis’ Street Scanners Target Of FOIA Request Paul Joseph Watson | EPIC attempts to uncover why feds are radiating Americans in their homes and vehicles at internal checkpoints.
Ten Essential Steps To End A Nightmare We cannot be rescued by the current system because it is that system which is destroying our nations and families by design: using corrupted media-culture with divide-and-rule and false-flag terror deceptions to remove our freedoms.
Currency Crisis! So What Happens If The Dollar And The Euro Both Collapse? Some analysts are warning that the U.S. dollar is in danger of collapse because of the exploding U.S. government debt, the horrific U.S. trade deficit and the new round of quantitative easing recently announced by the Federal Reserve.
Syrian FM warns of war with Israel Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on Friday warned of the ramifications of a war with Israel. “There is no doubt that closing the horizons to peace may lead to a possible war. This option always exists in our region, as Israel usually outrageously evades the commitment to peace,” he told Russian newspaper Moscow News.
Potential Next UK Prime Minister Admits: “I’m a Socialist” ‘Yeah, I am a socialist,’ he replied. ‘I’m not embarrassed about it. I’ll tell you why I’m not embarrassed about it … there are big unfairnesses in our society, and part of the job of government is to bring about social justice and to tackle those unfairnesses. And that’s why I’m a politician, that’s why I’m in politics.’
Now It’s Italy: Students Occupy Colosseum, Leaning Tower Of Pisa To Protest Cuts STUDENTS ACROSS ITALY have occupied buildings all around the country – including two of the its most iconic tourist attractions – in protest at proposed government cutbacks to university fundings.
Europe a financial powder keg Europe is sinking ever deeper into a crisis of confidence that its leaders seem unable to stop, threatening the region’s political and social stability.
Deadlier Than Scanners: TSA To Spread Flesh-Eating Bacteria Paul Joseph Watson | Doctors warn of spread of communicable diseases through direct contact with skin; poses far greater risk to public health than statistical chance of being a victim of terrorism.
Violent Crime Rises in New York as … s New York Times
Sanitary Towel Prompts TSA To Grope Sexual Assault Victim Menstruating women beware. If you intend to travel, your panty-liners are now considered suspicious objects, after all you could be concealing a bomb in there.
TSA Hired Sex Offender Despite Prior Convictions Of Harassment and Stalking Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan reviewed court records from Clinton County, Pennsylvania. According to the records, King was charged with nine offenses of harassment and stalking by communication in January 2001. A court clerk told Regan that King pleaded guilty and spent three months in jail for skipping a court appearance.
Daily Kos Obamanoids: TSA Just Following Orders When They Sexually Molest Your Child The Daily Kos says that TSA goons are just following orders when they sexually molest your child, therefore they are not to blame. Even their own readers go off big style in reaction to this putrid and pathetic defense of the indefensible.
Homeland Security To Install Hundreds Of Surveillance Cameras In Houston The city is installing 250 to 300 cameras at downtown intersections in an effort to prevent and fight terrorism and crime, part of a security initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Confirmed: TSA Switched Off Scanners To Defuse Opt Out Protest The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to.
Deadlier Than Scanners: TSA To Spread Flesh-Eating Bacteria Now that the TSA’s new pat down procedures include reaching inside people’s clothing and directly touching their skin and genitals, communicable diseases are set to soar, with doctors warning of a new wave of infections that will pose a greater risk to public health than any statistical probability of being a victim of terrorism.
Drudgereport: NKorea warns region is on brink of war...
China issues warning ahead of US-SKorea drills...
Sounds of new fire near island cause panic...
american HOLIDAY NUTS:VIDEO: Crazed shoppers stampede at TARGET...
Marine stabbed at BEST BUY...
Shopper arrested after packing gun in belt; knives, 'pepper grenade'...
Mall food court placed on lockdown after fight, reports of gunshots...
Shopper arrested after cutting in line, raging...
Police called after 'thousands' rush TOYS R US...
Woman busted after gun threat at toy store...
Shoppers accuse WAL-MART of false advertising...
FACEBOOK posting leads to assault with frying pan, stabbing...
Woman jumps from bridge onto I-95...
EU Debt Crisis Escalates...
Now rescue threatens Germany...
Irish bond yields hit high, banks sink...
'Day of Reckoning' Nears...
Banks downgraded -- one to junk bond status...
Portugal Denies Report on Bailout...
Spain Bets on Budget Cuts...
Pentagon to test 2nd space strike craft (illegal militarization of space … oh, they can afford it … riiiiight!) ...
Next Debt Crisis 'May Start in Washington'...
Progress in Afghan war called 'uneven' ( Washington Post ) [ Uneven? Riiiiight! The real question consonant with reality: Is there EVEN progress at all … just a little bit … un petit peux … teeny weeny, itsy bitsy, one iota of progress … A resounding NO! … unless you’re counting the magnitude of america’s defacto bankruptcy, anti-american sentiment, etc.. ]
U.S. deployment sends a message to China ( Washington Post ) [ And what message is that, pray tell … I’d say they’ve gotten the message and here’s the first installment of a reply to the multi-front contrived war / war mongering / pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt nation america … Drudgereport: CHINA, RUSSIA QUIT DOLLAR … Previous: N.Korean attack leaves U.S. with few options I’d be very concerned about the contrived nature of the incident as set forth by infowars.com / prisonplanet.com as follows: Korean War Crisis: Brought To You By Uncle Sam Despite the fact that South Korea admits it fired the first shots that prompted the North to retaliate, the vast majority of the establishment press are feverishly blaming North Korea for a new escalation in the crisis, while failing completely to acknowledge the fact that the whole fiasco was generated as a direct result of Uncle Sam’s policy through two separate administrations to ensure hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il and his successors acquired the atom bomb. North Korea Attack Part Of RAND Plan For Total War? The exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea, which the North says was started by South Korea firing shells during a military drill, could act as the catalyst for a huge new conflict that the RAND Corporation has been lobbying for over the past two years. ] North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island Tuesday, coupled with its choreographed rollout of a new nuclear program, has presented the U.S. with a massive strategic challenge. Photos: Artillery fire exchanged In sending the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea, the Obama administration says it is putting on a show of U.S. support for South Korea. Poll: How should U.S. proceed? Few good options for U.S.
Obama is hostage to a tepid economic recovery (Washington Post) [ Cheerleader? Wobama the B (for b*** s***)? I think not … he’s been there, done that … that dog don’t hunt no more … this self-created fortress of failure is the direct consequence of failing to do as promised, particularly the war spending (could you imagine the macroeconomic effects of such funds if spent domestically rather than frittered away in foreign lands in illegal, contrived wars / conflicts which are contra-indicated by any rational criteria, prosecutions of the wall street fraud ‘big boys’, etc.. Don’t forget … america’s defacto bankrupt and pervasively corrupt. ] Obama faces the prospect of having to be a cheerleader for a tepid recovery.
Va. liquor privatization plan off by millions, report says (Washington Post) [ What can you expect from a d.c. suburb dominated by the cia, pentagon, et als, essentially an alphabet soup kitchen where ‘being there’ participants wrap themselves in flags as an excuse for their less than legitimate / productive activities which they posit as patriotism in the most self-interested forms otherwise known more colloquially as plain old-style corruption, crime, venality. Then there’s the purposeful lack of math skills that facilitates billions at at time going missing. I think for succinctness we may call this the moonshine effect which I observed, experienced directly: previous - Ex-Justice official: CIA may have exceeded limits (Washington Post) Wee doggies! This sounds like the stuff that SNL Weekend Update ‘Really’ skits are made of; also fitting into that list of queries as, ‘Is the Pope Catholic?’, ‘Do bears **** in the woods?’, etc.. Come on! Wake up! This is the kind of complicit cover-up / corruption found betwixt and between all three branches of the u.s. government leading ineluctably to america’s current decline and to which I’ve attested under penalty of perjury in the context of the RICO litigation [ http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ].
Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money And Getting Away With It Zach Carter | Wachovia was moving money behind literally tons of cocaine from violent drug cartels. It wasn’t an accident. ] A commission finds that the Republican governor's staff was too rosy in its estimates and also simply made mathematical errors.
Ireland unveils painful plan to cut spending (Washington Post) [ Things are gettin’ downright existential / philosophical; all this pain, suffering stuff … I’m waitin’ for them to start quotin’ Soren Kierkegaard’s ‘sickness unto death’ … yeah … things are that bad and coming soon to a region near you! Drudgereport:The Domino Effect... List of Problem Banks Grows... ‘…The number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp's confidential "problem" list grew over the summer even while the overall industry posted solid net income. The FDIC says its list of troubled banks rose to 860 in the July-September quarter from 829 in the previous quarter. At the same time, the FDIC says banks earned $14.5 billion during the third quarter. That was a decrease from the previous quarter's result of $21.4 billion, but well above the $2 billion banks earned a year earlier ..’ ]The move comes as the near-bankrupt government scrambles to show negotiators from the International Monetary Fund and European Union that it can cut spending and raise more revenue to meet the conditions of a $115 billion rescue package. Related News Europe contagion worsens on Merkel's plan Ireland rating lowered by S&P Spain excludes bailout amid 'speculative attacks'
Come on! Rosy numbers on consumer sentiment, unemployment (far better than private forecasts) from the government prior to the holiday so-called ‘shop till you drop’? How can anyone believe anything they say? Najerian interviewed by Motek chimes in with the reason for good retail cheer; viz., people have stopped paying their mortgages and are using the funds to purchase retail goods; while Davidowitz adds that with record numbers of americans on food stamps, real unemployment at 17+, and wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION … the high end stores / jewelers will do well … daaaaah! And, with insiders and wall street frauds selling into the bubble as preceded last crash, this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally on light volume, full moon, and government complicity (false data / reports) 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 ]
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