December 6, 2010 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

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The Recent Correction Is Not Deep Enough Headley ‘A little good economic news (consumer confidence, challenger job cuts) early in the week sent stocks tumbling last Monday and Tuesday. Then a little bad news later last week (higher unemployment, factory orders) sent stocks soaring. Go figure. All told, it was the best (i.e. most gainful) week we've seen in the last four. Yet....As exciting as the last three trading days of last week must have been for the bulls, the wild rally carried the market back into an uncomfortably overbought condition again. That's not to say stocks can't keep rallying. In fact, the market was pretty much overbought throughout the September/November rally. Just know that without a healthy correction since the early November peak we've not seen a capitulation strong enough to really 'reload' the market and spur another big rally; from that peak to the mid-November low was only a 5.1% correction.We'll look at that idea below, after working through some of the key economic data.
Economic Outlook
There was plenty of good news about the economy last week. The Case-Shiller Index, for instance, confirmed that home prices inched higher again, consumer confidence swelled, construction spending was up, and more jobs were created than lost.Before popping the cork on the champagne bottle though, digest the fact that the unemployment rate moved up (by more than a little), factory orders were down, and mortgage applications plummeted.There was more going on than that though; the entire report card is below. As for grading the economy based on the sum of last week's data, we'd have to give it another C. In some ways that's good, and in some bad. It's good in the sense of "could be worse, while the 'bad' is that it's not a conclusive snapshot, which allows investors to interpret and reinterpret the data on a whim. And clearly, that's what happened last week.
Economic Calendar
[chart]
The coming week will be much less eventful, though important all the same. The pros are looking for another contraction in consumer credit levels (-$2.3B), which crimps the consumer spending that's needed to spur the recovery.Of course we'll hear about new and ingoing unemployment clams on Thursday - both should be flat. On Friday we'll get the initial Michigan Sentiment Index level for December, which at this point is expected to move higher, to 72.5.
S&P 500
The good news is, the S&P 500 jumped 35.31 points (+2.97%) last week to close out at 1224.71. The bad news is - and don't assume the worst just yet - there's a great deal of overbought pressure piling up.... not to mention a couple of other red flags. That in itself isn't the end of the world. In fact, being reeled in now may be just what the doctor ordered. It's better to start out a rally by first establishing a good base, and then methodically working past prior highs. To simply blast through prior ceilings while still in the shadow of a 14.3% rally (from late August to early November) like we seem to be attempting to do as of last week is a setup/invitation for some huge and rapid profit taking.Just for perspective, the average correction for the S&P 500 since March of 2009 has been on the order of 9%... and that was the average, meaning some were bigger. The smallest during that time was 7.8%. The November dip? A mere 5.1%. And the 14.3% rally that got us there in the first place? That's on the upper end of the 'normal' scale for bull market runs since March of 2009. Point being, we're really pushing our luck here by counting on significant more upside from here without a significant selloff first. As for what a 'significant selloff' would be, a pullback to the 1136 area would do just fine. That's where the lower Bollinger band is aligning with the 200-day moving average line, both of which have proven to be significant factors (reversal points) for quite some time. Although the idea of such a dip is alarming, it would only be about a 7.5% pullback from Friday's close. In those terms, a correction doesn't sound nearly as troubling; it would actually be a welcome release of all that overbought pressure. And, there are a couple of hints such a dip could be brewing. One is the fading buying volume over the past three trading days. The other is how the VIX is back near its lower Bollinger band again, which is pretty much where the market has rolled over - or at least stalled for a few days - since August. Putting all the pitfalls and red flags together technically puts the odds in favor of the bears, and against the bulls.
S&P 500 - Daily Chart
[chart]
What the market "should be doing" and what it "is doing", however, are often two different things. As overdue as we are for a dip, we can't fight the tape. If for some reason the S&P 500 does manage to punch through that upper band at 1230 (and subsequently hit new highs), that may well be enough to jump-start another leg of this bull market regardless of driving us further into the overbought problem. 'Tis the season, after all.The next couple of days are critical, for obvious reasons.
Industry Performance
It's been a while since we've posted an industry-ranking chart. There wasn't much need to, as everything was rallying or selling off in tandem. The same even goes for the broad sectors. Last week, however, we started to see some separation between the men and the boys... enough separation to suggest emerging leaders or decided laggards as we head into the New Year. There's a clear theme to most of the winners... industrial materials. If it's used to build a house or a machine or infrastructure, it was hot. Just be careful though, as many of those winners are also sitting atop big longer-term rallies. Aluminum may be an area you want to really focus on first.Many of the laggards were recently the market's leaders, proving it's not wise to try and lasso every shooting star. Indeed, some of those recent winners may now be prime short candidates now that they're starting to crumble; apparel and Internet stocks come to mind...’

Awful Employment Number, But Investors Act as if Bad News Is Good ‘ …Payrolls rose by only 39,000 employees in November, versus +150,000 that had been expected. There were net upward revisions of 38,000 to prior months, so that the net increase in jobs was 77,000. Moreover, the Unemployment Rate wasn’t steady. It didn’t go up 0.1%. It went up 0.2%, to 9.8%; it was actually 9.817%, so it wasn’t even that it was rounded up…the Rate legitimately rose. The labor force participation rate held at a 24-year-low of 64.5%; note that when the labor force participation rate rises, it tends to increase the Unemployment Rate at first since at first the new people in the labor force are merely looking. Believe it or not, there is a possibility that we haven’t seen the cyclical high in Unemployment yet…’

Why Not Silver, Too?: Dave's Daily ‘Goldfinger may "love only gold" but methinks he's more versatile. While gold continued its steady rally to new highs Monday, silver continues to put on a show rising nearly 3%. What's driving this? Some suggest there's still trouble with JPMs short position whether that's old news or not. Further silver bulls argue silver should be priced at its historical price ratio relationship to gold at around 18-1. If that were the case we'd be pushing $80. Finally, has Bernanke and the Fed given the green light to higher prices by saying POMO could increase if necessary?During Bernanke's 60 Minutes interview he stated he could reverse inflation in minutes if the Fed chose to raise interest rates. Since he said there was no inflation during the interview and added the possibility of greater POMO it seems he can't reverse himself now. Commodity exchanges will be pressured to raise margin requirements to cool markets. That can work spectacularly in the short-run anyway; but, the sense is silver is in short supply. Look, I've been in the business long enough to remember the Hunt Bros debacle in the late 70s. I also remember having a Commodity Trading Advisor being long silver futures in the mid-80s. Our clients were long at $8 and I went into a meeting with the price at $12. There I pondered what color my new Porsche would be and smirked at my peers. (Do you guys know how smart and sharp I am?) But, alas, I left the meeting an hour later to find silver back at $8. Given the experiences, I'd advise caution. Europe still has its ubiquitous problems that seem never to end. It's scary in the sense the current episode is reminiscent of the "drip, drip, drip" of bad news from late 2007. This still troubles investors as they flock to precious metals. Meanwhile back to conventional markets things were rather slow unless you were one of the gang of 500 scam artists preparing for perp-walks. Light volume must have set a record for a typical Monday in December. Breadth was positive to flat.’

China Is `Scared’ of U.S. Monetary Policy, Rogoff, Rickards Say Bloomberg | Policy makers in China, which holds $883.5 billion in U.S. Treasuries, are concerned the nation with the world’s biggest economy is debasing its currency, according to Kenneth S. Rogoff and James Rickards.

Jobless Recovery?: 25 Unemployment Statistics That Are Almost Too Depressing To Read Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That’s right – even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that “the recession is over”, the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? Economic Collapse Blog Dec 4, 2010 ‘Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That’s right – even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that “the recession is over”, the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? The truth is that there should not be any talk of a “recovery” as long as the “official” unemployment rate remains at around 10 percent and the “real” unemployment continues to hover around 17 percent. There are millions and millions of American families that are living every day in deep pain because of the lack of jobs. Meanwhile, there are all of these economic pundits that are declaring that we are just going to have to realize that chronic unemployment is the “new normal” and that if other nations can handle high rates of unemployment then so can we. The most optimistic economists are projecting that we can perhaps get the unemployment rate down to around 8 percent by 2012. On the other hand, there are many economists that are convinced that things are going to get even worse.If you have never been unemployed, it can be hard to describe how soul-crushing it can be. As the bills pile up and the financial obligations mount, the pressure can be debilitating. Being unemployed for an extended period of time can easily plunge you into depression and grind your self-worth away to almost nothing. After getting rejected dozens of times (or even hundreds of times), many Americans simply give up. There are countless marriages and countless families that are being ripped to shreds by financial pressure even as you read this. When the money is gone and there is no job in sight it can be a really, really empty feeling.Of course there is a whole lot more to life than money, but it can be difficult to tell that to someone who can barely sleep at night because of the intense pressure to find a job.The vast majority of Americans have at least one family member or close friend that is looking for work right now. Times are really, really tough and unfortunately the long-term outlook is very bleak. We should have compassion on those who are out of work right now, because soon many of us may join them.

The following are 25 unemployment statistics that are almost too depressing to read….

#1 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate for November was 9.8 percent. This was up from 9.6 percent in October, and it continues a trend of depressingly high unemployment rates. The official unemployment number has been at 9.5 percent or higher for well over a year at this point.

#2 In November 2006, the “official” U.S. unemployment rate was just 4.5 percent.

#3 Most economists had been expecting the U.S. economy to add about 150,000 jobs in November. Instead, it only added 39,000.

#4 In the United States today, there are over 15 million people who are “officially” considered to be unemployed for statistical purposes. But everyone knows that the “real” number is even much larger than that.

#5 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#6 The number of “persons not in the labor force” in the United States recently set another new all-time record.

#7 It now takes the average unemployed American over 33 weeks to find a job.

#8 When you throw in “discouraged workers” and “underemployed workers”, the “real” unemployment rate in the state of California is actually about 22 percent.

#9 In America today there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. In fact, there are now approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every single job opening.

#10 According to The New York Times, Americans that have been unemployed for five weeks or less are three times more likely to find a new job in the coming month than Americans that have been unemployed for over a year.

#11 The U.S. economy would need to create 235,120 new jobs a month to get the unemployment rate down to pre-recession levels by 2016. Does anyone think that there is even a prayer that is going to happen?

#12 There are 9 million Americans that are working part-time for “economic reasons”. In other words, those Americans would gladly take full-time jobs if they could get them, but all they have been able to find is part-time work.

#13 In 2009, total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined in the United States.

#14 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#15 The United States has lost at least 7.5 million jobs since the recession began.

#16 Today, only about 40 percent of Ford Motor Company’s 178,000 workers are employed in North America, and a big percentage of those jobs are in Canada and Mexico.

#17 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#18 Earlier this year, one poll found that 28% of all American households had at least one member that was looking for a full-time job.

#19 In the United States today, over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees.

#20 The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#21 As the employment situation continues to stagnate, millions of American families have decided to cut back on things such as insurance coverage. For example, the percentage of American households that have life insurance coverage is at its lowest level in 50 years.

#22 Unless Congress acts, and there is no indication that is going to happen, approximately 2 million Americans will stop receiving unemployment checks over the next couple of months.

#23 A poll that was released by the Pew Research Center back in June discovered that an astounding 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the economic downturn began.

#24 According to Richard McCormack, the United States has lost over 42,000 factories (and counting) since 2001.

#25 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

But this is what we get for creating the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. For decades we have been digging a deeper hole for ourselves by going into increasingly larger amounts of debt. In America today, our entire economy is based on debt. Even our money is debt. We were fools if we ever thought this could go on forever. Just think about it. Have you ever gone out and run up a bunch of debt? It can be a lot of fun sitting behind the wheel of a new car, running your credit cards up to the limit and buying a beautiful big house that you cannot afford. But in the end what happens? It always catches up with you. Well, our collective debt is starting to catch up with us. There is a sea of red ink on every level of American society. It is only a matter of time before it destroys our economy. IF YOU THINK THAT THINGS ARE BAD NOW, JUST WAIT. THINGS ARE GOING TO GET A WHOLE LOT WORSE. A HORRIFIC ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IS COMING, AND IT IS GOING TO BE VERY, VERY PAINFUL.’

Fed Created Conflicts in Improvising $3.3 Trillion Financial System Rescue Bloomberg | Deborah A. Cunningham, the manager of $261 billion at Federated Investors Inc., was squeezed into the bathroom of her family’s recreational vehicle, trying to help save the $3.6 trillion money market industry.

Ford, BMW, Toyota Took Secret Government Money Jalopnik | In the depths of the financial collapse, the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped $3.3 trillion into keeping credit moving through the economy. It eventually lent $57.9 billion to the auto industry — including $26.8 billion to Ford, Toyota and BMW.

Senate blocks Obama’s tax plan Washington Times | The Senate blocked President Obama’s and Democratic leaders’ tax cut plans Saturday in a foreordained symbolic vote that now sends both sides back to the negotiating table to work out a viable deal.

Senate Blocks Middle Class Tax Cut Extension, As Treasury Will Soon Need To Issue Yet More Trillions In Bonds To Fund Revenue Shortfall (Which Fed Will Monetize) The recent passage of the middle class tax cut extension by Congress was roundly refuted by the Senate today as republicans and even some democrats voted against the proposal.

AT&T is rated worst cellphone service provider by Consumer Reports [ They should have also added land lines to this ‘distinction’. ] Los Angeles Times The magazine, known for independent testing of consumer products, said AT&T came in last behind top scorer US Cellular. Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile also scored higher than the exclusive service provider of ...

Gold ends at record on Europe’s woes, dollar fears MarketWatch | Gold futures settled at a record Monday.

‘Scariest jobs chart ever’ shows post-recession unemployment is at its worst since World War Two Mail Online | Some commentators have described the comparison as ‘the scariest jobs chart ever’, pointing to the fact that only the 2001 recession took longer to bring employment back to pre-crisis levels.

Irony: Printing Presses Break Leaving $110 Billion In Worthless $100 Bills A significant production problem with new high-tech $100 bills has caused government printers to shut down production of the new notes and to quarantine more than one billion of the bills in huge vaults in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, DC, CNBC has learned.

David Einhorn: Gold Will Keep Going Higher, As Long As Monetary And Fiscal Policy Is So Bad Hedge fund manager David Einhorn is on CNBC this morning talking policy, the financial system, moral hazard, and the issue of “too big to fail,” which hasn’t yet been solved at all.

Does Bernanke Look Like a Man Who is Confident About the State of the Economy and the Prospects for Recovery? There is a lot to say about Bernanke’s comments on 60 Minutes today.

Silvergoldsilver.com Runs Out Of All Precious Metals In Hours Since Zero Hedge posted (unsolicited and uncompensated) the “Crash The JP Morgue” now-viral video late last night , it appears that among the tens of thousands of viewers who have subsequently gone to the goldsilvergold.com website, there have been quite a few conversions.

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

Timid Tuesday: Is it Safe? Davis ‘… This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘

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.

Jobless rate jumps to 9.8% as hiring slows (Washington Post) [ The reality is not a mystery! The nation’s been thrown under the bus for the greater good (wealth) of the very few (frauds on wall street, etc.); wall street giving out record bonuses from their accomplished fraud (with no-recession b.s. bernanke help) of $144 BILLION:

Come on! This is gettin’ even more downright ridiculous (if that’s even possible)! Pending home foreclosure / distress sales up, oil prices (and oil stocks) up, debased dollar down, plus a little familiar ‘better than expected’ thrown in along with prospects of a ‘no-recession bernanke’ market-frothing bull session on 60 minutes and, voila, suckers’ rally into the close to keep the suckers suckered! What’s good for the frauds on wall street is bad for just about everyone else which includes the vast majority of people and businesses, domestically and globally, as current dollar manipulation / debasement ultimately results in higher costs and loss of purchasing power (ie., oil, etc.). Clearly, this is one of those fraudulent wealth transfers to the frauds on wall street et als which will ultimately be paid for by those who least are in a position to afford it, courtesy of the ever more worthless Weimar dollar, etc., inflating earnings, eps, lowering p/e multiples, etc., see infra. This is an especially great time to sell / take profits while you can since there's much worse to come! 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 ]

(12-06-10) Dow 11,362 -20 Nasdaq 2,595 +3 S&P 500 1,223 -2 [CLOSE- OIL $89.38 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.00 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.20 REG./ $3.29 MID-GRADE/ $3.39 PREM./ $3.79 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,408 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $29.27 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,723 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .75 EURO, 82 YEN, .63 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.95% …..… 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

The Secret Behind Ted Turner’s Call For A Global One Child Policy [ The real secret is he forgot to take his lithium. ] Just months after a leaked UN blueprint that revealed climate change alarmists would start pushing “overpopulation” fears in favor of the discredited mantra of global warming as a means of dismantling the middle class, billionaire globalist Ted Turner followed suit during a Cancun luncheon yesterday when he urged the world to adopt China’s brutal one-child policy, and even suggested poor people should be sterilized in return for government handouts.

DHS Telescreens To Encourage Walmart Shoppers To Spy On Each Other More than 230 Walmart stores nationwide launched the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign today, with a total of 588 Walmart stores in 27 states joining in the coming weeks. A short video message, available here, will play at select checkout locations to remind shoppers to contact local law enforcement to report suspicious activity.

Western Civilization Has Shed Its Values Western Civilization no longer upholds the values it proclaims, so what is the basis for its claim to virtue? For example, the U.S. print and TV media and the U.S. government have made it completely clear that they have no regard for the First Amendment.

Gold Trades Close To All Time Record, Silver Hits 30 Year High Gold prices rose close to all time highs on Monday following Ben Bernanke’s comments on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday, as the Fed chairman indicated that even more quantitative easing is being considered.

No end in sight to U.S. economic crisis as ‘scariest jobs chart ever’ shows post-recession unemployment is at its worst since World War Two As unemployment in the U.S. nears the dreaded 10 per cent mark, it is a chart to chill the bones of any job hunter.

Western Civilization Has Shed Its Values Paul Craig Roberts | Western Civilization no longer upholds the values it proclaims, so what is the basis for its claim to virtue?

1984 Arrives in America Drudge Report | Big Sis to address public via telescreens at checkout lanes.

The Secret Behind Ted Turner’s Call For A Global One Child Policy [ The real secret is he forgot to take his lithium. ] Paul Joseph Watson | Uncle Ted has 5 children, but once the new world order is done with its economic raping of the middle class, you may be forced to get sterilized for cash.

Alex Jones & Webster Tarpley: The Hidden Agenda Behind WikiLeaks Infowars.com | Alex talks with Webster Tarpley, historian and researcher. Tarpley covers the latest in the explosive story surrounding Wikileaks.

Martial Law Comes to the Suburbs: Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire Infowars.com | Scary vision of totalitarian police state in Austin, Texas.

US soldier admits to sport killing Press TV | A US military court has spared an American soldier from an early discharge from the US Army after he admitted to shooting unarmed Afghan civilians for fun.

Is the Internet 9/11 Under Way? Zen Gardner | Where is this seemingly staged Wikileaks furor taking us?

Newt Gingrich: Julian Assange is Enemy Combatant Engaged in Warfare [ The slimey, scandal-scarred newt, has no credibility. The truth really hurts his ilk. ]Kurt Nimmo | Neocons declare war on truth and truth-tellers.

More, Please Charles Featherstone | To WikiLeaks I say, “Yes! More! Better! Faster!”

NFL commercial makes joke of TSA selective screening Andrew Steele | Arrogant NFL stars waved past TSA security as they flash Super Bowl rings while “ordinary” passengers are forced to wait in line.

Rosalind Peterson: The Chemtrail Cover-Up Prison Planet.tv | Rosalind Peterson of California Skywatch exposes how chemtrails are being sprayed in our skies as part of a clandestine NASA-military program.

WikiLeaks Turns to Swiss Party for Help With Web Address New York Times LONDON - The battle lines between supporters of the whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks and its detractors began to form on Sunday, as supporters erected numerous copies of the site on the Internet and the United States put pressure on ... WikiLeaks founder threatens to release entire cache of unfiltered files Globe and Mail Australia says Assange entitled to consular help The Associated Press

TSA Policing Media’s Use of Scanner Images We knew the TSA was sensitive about this whole scanner thing, but not this sensitive: This morning, SF Weekly got a phone call and a wrist-slap from the Transportation Security Administration’s press department. It turns out the TSA doesn’t like the image of body scans we used with our piece last week about how the scanners do not bombard people with an unhealthy dose of radiation.

Assange lawyer blames ‘state actor’ for cyberattacks The lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Friday that a ‘state actor’ is likely to blame for massive cyber attacks on the whistleblower website after it released secret US diplomatic cables.

Newt Gingrich: Julian Assange is Enemy Combatant Engaged in Warfare Outspoken neocon and former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Fox’s Judge Napolitano over the weekend that Wikileaks is a terrorist organization and its founder Julian Assange should be considered an enemy combatant.

Assange Lawyers Harassed By Security Services Lawyers representing the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, say that they have been surveilled by members of the security services and have accused the US state department of behaving “inappropriately” by failing to respect attorney-client protocol.

State Department To Columbia University Students: DO NOT Discuss WikiLeaks On Facebook, Twitter Talking about WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter could endanger your job prospects, a State Department official warned students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs this week.

Government agencies restrict employee access to WikiLeaks The White House told government agencies to take measures to prevent employees without proper authorization from accessing classified US diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks website stops again; shifting to Sweden The whistle-blower WikiLeaks’ website has gone offline again after facing some unknown technical errors.

Paypal cuts off donations to WikiLeaks The online payment service PayPal suspended the account used by WikiLeaks to collect donations.

Republicans Move to Block Ron Paul from Monetary Policy Subcommittee Chair Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, and a handful of other House and Senate renegades who are not reading from the bankster script like John Boehner and the establishment Republicans will not be allowed to hold the Federal Reserve to account.

ACLU: Flying Americans Fear Being Put On Government Watch List The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it is still receiving high volumes of complaints about the new airport screening procedures, and that some travelers say they have not filed official complaints with the TSA because they are fearful of being placed on a government watch list.

Drudgereport: OBAMA RACES TO CUT TAXES BEFORE REPUBLICANS: 6.2% Social Security tax would drop to 4.2% for workers for one year... MORE
THE NEW OBAMA!
SURPRISE TAX CUT MOVE [ As with defacto bankrupt america generally, more defacto bankrupt social security system, etc., are distinctions without significant differences. ]
OIL HITS $89...
Pump prices hit 2-year high...
Schwarzenegger Declares Fiscal Emergency, Proposes $9.9 Billion In Cuts...
Top Democrats defect, join unified GOP...
WIKILEAKS' Assange Will Release Encrypted Files If Arrested...
Cables Reveal How US Manipulated Climate Accord...
Cable: China Leaders Ordered Hacking on GOOGLE...
Meddling by Neighbors Adds to Iraq's Woes...
Government Workers Ordered Not to Read Cables...
Gingrich: Leaks Show Admin 'Shallow,' 'Amateurish'...
McConnell: Assange a 'High-Tech Terrorist'...
List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked...
Mirror Sites Appear by the Hundreds...
Assange Speaks...
Hillary Jokes...
US forced to shake up embassies around world...
THE DOOMSDAY FILES
PAPER: Wave goodbye to Internet freedom...
[ I’m absolutely astounded that the world is not profoundly grateful to Assange et als for providing insight into the machinations and insanity of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, et als who wreaked havoc on the world as they pillage, plunder, and destroy (lives, nations, etc.). ]
+39,000 JOBS IN NOVEMBER...
BOEHNER: Dem Leaders Should Stop Wasting Time on Tax Hike Votes...
HALPERIN: Dems 'In Midst of Nervous Breakdown'...
Obama Makes Surprise Trip to Afghanistan...
Flies 7,000 miles -- talks to Karzai for 15 minutes on phone!
Forgets the Coast Guard...
Leaves Biden behind to handle 'disappointing' jobs report...
Reid, funded by casinos, pushes online gambling...
ABCNEWS accused of breaking embargo...
2010 death toll of US troops nears that of 2001-2008 combined...
OBAMA SPEECHWRITER JOKES ABOUT TSA GROPING: Allows 'defrocked priests to give back to society'...
US Deficit-Cutting Plan Falls Short of Needed Votes...
UNEMPLOYMENT UP TO 9.8%
HILLARY: Secretary of State will be 'my last public position'... ... PITCHE$ $IGNED DVD ON HOME $HOPPING NETWORK..
US TO BAILOUT EU [ Riiiiight! Sounds like a plan! After all, in defacto bankrupt america money does grow on trees … derivatively (pun intended) that is … you know … that ever more worthless fiat paper currency … and ultimately, existentially, philosophically, doesn’t paper come from trees … sure it does …so, no problemo since money grows on trees. ]
BOMBSHELL: European banks took big slice of Fed aid...
Hundreds of billions of dollars...
Fed reveals global extent of its backing... ]

Funds went to stalwarts of American industry including GE and Caterpillar and household-name companies such as Verizon, new data show.
GEORGIA: HUNDREDS LINE UP IN COLD FOR HEAT HELP...
Assistance Funds Quickly Depleted...
'Almost like being in soup line during great depression'...
VIDEO...
DELAYING TAX VOTE COULD 'CRASH STOCK MARKET' STARTING 12/15 [ Come on! There’s no way to justify the tax cut to the top 1% including the frauds on wall street … their threats don’t hunt no more … the nation’s defacto bankrupt … see Davis, supra! ]
Chase Bank orders branch to remove Christmas tree...
Cyber attack forces WIKILEAKS to change web address...
Respected media outlets collaborate with organization... [ Said outlets and other disseminators and of course Wikileaks deserve accolades for the advancement of first amendment liberties in the name of an informed global body politick for all.]
UPDATE: Latest developments...
Foreign contractors hired Afghan 'dancing boys'...
Embassy cables portray Karzai as corrupt, erratic...
CIA drew up UN spying wishlist...
Assange speaks...
UPDATE: Latest WIKILEAKS developments...
Foreign contractors hired Afghan 'dancing boys'...
Embassy cables portray Karzai as corrupt, erratic...
CIA drew up UN spying wishlist...
SANTA CLAUSE: FED AID WENT TO COMPANIES, BANKS, OFFSHORE...
SECRETLY BAILED OUT GE -- GE NEWS OUTLETS FAILED TO REVEAL IN FED COVERAGE...
SANTA CLAUSE: FORD, BMW, TOYOTA Took Secret Government Money......
Fed Created Conflicts in Improvising Financial System Rescue...
Tax Breaks for Bailout Recipients Spark Debate...
MORE SECRETS: Fed Withholds Data for $885 Billion in Loans...
RUSSIA TO HOST '18 WORLD CUP FINALS...
Qatar selected '22 host over USA, others...
'AMERICAN PSYCHO' musical in works... [ I recommend the derivative films, American Psycho and American Psycho 2, for insight! ]
National Board of Review: SOCIAL NETWORK named best film... [ National board of what? ‘Inception’ is by far and away the ‘Best Film’ across the board, in all categories, and on the list! ] LIST...

BANK OF AMERICA Becoming 'Bank of Asia' as Revenue Increases 30% ...
RESET: PUTIN CRITICIZES USA OVER WIKILEAKS … [ Putin deserves the greatest deference in matters of global concern in light of his greater rationality; america’s self-serving accusations are merely envy and projection / displacement (in psychoanalytic terms) of america’s pervasively corrupt, criminal, broken system which is a far cry in reality from defacto bankrupt america’s propaganda.]...
REWARD: [ The payoff. Bribe complete! Next bribe scenario … ] CITI to Hire Obama's Ex-Budget Chief Orszag...
FLASHBACK: Rubin and friends ride NY-DC shuttle...
ZUCKERMAN: Watching America's Decline and Fall [the moral authority of the West has dramatically declined in the face of the financial crisis. It has revealed deep fault lines within Western economies that have spread to the global economy. The majority of Western governments are running fiscal deficits of 10 percent or more relative to GDP, but it is increasingly clear that there will be no quick fixes, that big government and fiscal deficits will not bring us back to the status quo ante. Indeed, the tidal wave of red ink has meant that the leverage-led or debt-led growth model is dead. Developed countries will be forced to deal with their debt on every level, from the personal to the corporate to the sovereign. Being able to borrow may have made people feel richer, but having to repay the debt is certainly making them feel poorer, particularly since the unfunded liabilities that many governments face from aging populations will have to be paid for by a shrinking band of workers. (Ecoutez, mes amis!) Demography is destiny. As a result, there is a burgeoning consensus that we are witnessing an inevitable rise of the East and a decline of the West…( Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012). ) ]...
Interpol issues wanted notice for Julian Assange [ They just can’t take the truth! ] ...
US cuts access to files [ Think about it. Really think about it. Their policies are in the tank, along with the nation and the rest of this world as a consequence. Don’t those so detrimentally affected (everyone) have a right to know? I think in light of the global frauds, contrived perpetual wars though defacto bankruptcy of this and other nations, pervasive corruption and crime, failed policies domestically and geo-politically while serving the very parochial interests of the self-interested few, the answer is an unequivocal, YES! I believe that world history will write Mr. Assange as a hero in the truest sense. He should be given a medal; and, certainly, since mr. b*** s*** wobama undeservingly got a ‘nobel peace prize’ (what he does, not what he says, ie., Afghanistan, etc.), who more than Julian Assange is deserving of that and more? Cover-up / propaganda … thy name is fallen america.]...
WIKILECTURE: 'HILLARY SHOULD RESIGN' ‘…Hillary Clinton, Julian Assange said, "should resign." Speaking over Skype from an undisclosed location on Tuesday, the WikiLeaks founder was replying to a question by TIME managing editor Richard Stengel over the diplomatic-cable dump that Assange's organization loosed on the world this past weekend. Stengel had said the U.S. Secretary of State was looking like "the fall guy" in the ensuing controversy, and had asked whether her firing or resignation was an outcome that Assange wanted. "I don't think it would make much of a difference either way," Assange said. "But she should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up. Yes, she should resign over that."…’
CITY ON EDGE: Cash-Strapped Newark, new jersey Forced To Lay Off 14% Of Police Force... [ From decades old (1978-1985) direct personal experience with newark, n.j., the police are the absolute last cuts that can be afforded to be made. Indeed, while walking through Military Park (a sliver of a “park” - more a pedestrian thoroughfare/cement walks) in newark, new jersey on the way to the bank during lunch hour, I heard the clearly audible screams/cries of what turned out to be an old lady on the ground with blood streaming from her mouth. I ran toward the sound of the cries, the source of which I could not see because there were so many people in and about this thoroughfare so as to block any vision of the source of the cries. When I came to the woman, on the ground, blood streaming from her mouth, I asked what happened, to which she responded she had been hit in the mouth and knocked to the ground, her purse stolen/put inside her shopping bag, and she pointed out the criminal casually now walking across the main street. Nobody stopped to help her, many having passed her by. I slammed the thug to the ground so hard that, in light of all the blood and confusion (limbic system / adrenalin flow) I thought I had been stabbed (the blood was from his elbows hitting the pavement so hard - no one helped / a crowd gathered / an undercover cop happened along). When I testified at the Grand Jury Proceeding I made sure his threat on my life was set forth in prima facie fashion so as to maximize the DA’s position with both felonies ( he went to prison – pled out ). The other case I wrote about here ( This was included on my website in the Psychology forum discussion of ‘bystander effect’ / diffusion of responsibility. ) - Having had occasion to have run down a mugger in newark, n.j. who apparently had followed a girl from the bank on her way to the bursar to pay tuition, though in pretty good shape, I was astounded by how totally exhausting such a pursuit was, how much like rubber my arms were when I traded punches with the perpetrator, and truth be told, if I had a flashlight on my belt, I have little doubt that I would have probably used it to subdue the perp. The girl was not that seriously injured, did get her pocketbook and tuition back, and the criminal went to jail. The other thing about such a pursuit that amazed me was that no one else assisted the girl or me despite being in a position to do so). (Other newark / new jersey and new york, n.y. metro, viz., ie., connecticut, and of course, d.c., d.c. metro, viz., ie., virginia experience … corrupt federal judges as maryanne trump barry, sam alito, shiff, matz (california), hall, underhill, dorsey, etc.. Defacto bankrupt america’s so-called system is pervasively corrupt and broken (AP) Abolish the corrupt, costly, economically wasteful lifetime extravagantly appointed federal courts - see RICO case http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ) ]
Nation's '2nd Most Dangerous City' (camden, new jersey) To Lay Off Nearly Half Of Police Force...
Chicagoland: Vandals torch Christmas charity van...

The monthly report dashes the expectations of economists, many of whom have predicted much more robust job growth. The news also punctures some of the optimism that has been building because of other recent positive signs in the economy.

A resurgent Syria alarms u.s., israel (Washington Post) [ Tell me! What doesn’t alarm these two paranoid, zionist neo-nazi regimes of oppression, suppression, aggression, and regression. If they were individuals, they’d undoubtedly be diagnosed as psychopaths, sociopaths totally ignorant of the rights of others, laws, civilized behavior as israel pads her illegal nuke arsenals with american supplied weaponry / support while expecting all other nations to ‘role over and die’. Bipolar / manic / depressive, the ups and downs are increasingly difficult for even americans to follow. Obssessive / compulsive thy names are zionist israel / america. Projection / displacement regarding their own illegal acts, war crimes, etc.; what they say as distinguished from what they do … dissociative fugue? Yes … the u.s. and israel are the world’s lunatics, sorely in need of therapy! ] Syria's fresh interference in Lebanon and its increasingly sophisticated weapons shipments to Hezbollah have alarm officials and prompt Israel's military to consider striking a Syrian weapons depot.

Milbank: The House's disgrace (Washington Post) Rangel's sad fall Broder: He played the Washington game with sheer joy. [ Messieurs Broder and Milbank, you are both hurting my eyes and ears. Mr. Broder, this is no game … the suffering of innocent men, women, and children domestically and internationally is a direct consequence of their foibles at best, and gross incompetence and criminality at worst! This is no game! Mr. Milbank, you are preposterous in implying that there is honor among thieves. Censure? Don’t make me laugh! … particularly when cognizant of what they typically do should make one cry! (Do you recall how hard they fought the FBI’s disruption of Jefferson’s ‘bribe stash’?)]

Super PACs boost super wealthy's clout (Washington Post) [ Oh yeah! It’s really worked like a charm … for them … as the nation’s decline and fall is no longer a matter of debate but reality. What really gets me is the blather about american ‘democracy’ as if it’s something that’s real as opposed to fantasy / propaganda; especially in the context of (illegally) ‘bringing democracy’ to such nations as Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.. At best, pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt america is a plutocracy, albeit a failed one; and quite frankly, I think america to be no more than a huge mob, cartel, of meaningfully lawless thugs. ZUCKERMAN: Watching America's Decline and Fall [the moral authority of the West has dramatically declined in the face of the financial crisis. It has revealed deep fault lines within Western economies that have spread to the global economy. The majority of Western governments are running fiscal deficits of 10 percent or more relative to GDP, but it is increasingly clear that there will be no quick fixes, that big government and fiscal deficits will not bring us back to the status quo ante. Indeed, the tidal wave of red ink has meant that the leverage-led or debt-led growth model is dead. Developed countries will be forced to deal with their debt on every level, from the personal to the corporate to the sovereign. Being able to borrow may have made people feel richer, but having to repay the debt is certainly making them feel poorer, particularly since the unfunded liabilities that many governments face from aging populations will have to be paid for by a shrinking band of workers. (Ecoutez, mes amis!) Demography is destiny. As a result, there is a burgeoning consensus that we are witnessing an inevitable rise of the East and a decline of the West…( Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012). ) ]... ]

OPINION: Why prosecuting Assange won't be easy (Washington Post) [ ‘charges he denies and claims are part of an effort to shut him down’ … I believe Assange. Indeed, such as this is typical and ultimately part of america’s decline and fall as spurious charges / no action against major criminals (ie., wall street frauds, criminal acts by government employees in all three branches of the u.s. government, etc.) have long been america’s injustice department’s strong suit. Yeah! One, Assange, against the many / mighty is also the bully scenario evidenced by america’s contrived / illegal conflicts / wars; ie., Granada, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., while real criminals who’ve been greasing palms have not a care in the world beyond their next scam / fraud as the fruits of their last financial crisis inducing fraud continue to be consummated by those worthless now ‘marked to anything’ paper assets are converted to hard fiat currency with a complicit fed, all three branches of the u.s. government (see RICO case http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ), and surprisingly, the lemmings of Europe. ]

Short-Term, High-Probability Mean-Reversion Indicator: Overbought and Ready Crowder ‘Thursday the bulls continued their recent push and now just as the market is ready to absorb another jobs report, the majority of the ETFs I follow using my short-term indicators have moved into an overbought state. Yes, finally after three weeks of patiently waiting on the sidelines while the market muddled around in a fairly tight range the High-Probability, Mean-Reversion Strategy could have a signal forthcoming. In most cases, I would have placed a trade at the end of the day, but given the upcoming jobs report out tomorrow before the open I decided to wait on the sidelines. Remember, opportunities are made up easier than losses. As with any good trading strategy, patience is key.So, if we happen to open higher today, I will be sending out a trade alert to my loyal paid subscribers. Short-Term High-Probability, Mean-Reversion Indicator – as of close 12/02/10

BENCHMARK ETFS

* S&P 500 (SPY) – 72.4 (overbought)

* Dow Jones (DIA) –71.9 (overbought)

* Russell 2000 (IWM) – 75.2 (overbought)

* NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) – 67.9 (neutral)

SECTOR ETFS

* Biotech (IBB) – 59.5 (neutral)

* Consumer Discretionary (XLY) – 77.4 (overbought)

* Health Care (XLV) – 64.0 (neutral)

* Financial (XLF) – 72.2 (overbought)

* Energy (XLE) – 77.4 (overbought)

* Gold Miners (GDX) – 74.3 (overbought)

* Industrial (XLI) – 79.9 (overbought)

* Materials (XLB) – 76.7 (overbought)

* Real Estate (IYR) – 72.3 (overbought)

* Retail (RTH) – 82.1 (very overbought)

* Semiconductor (SMH) – 78.1 (overbought)

* United States Oil Fund (USO) – 73.1 (overbought)

* Utilities (XLU) – 61.3 (neutral)

INTERNATIONAL ETFS

* Brazil (EWZ) – 64.6 (neutral)

* China 25 (FXI) – 62.1 (neutral)

* EAFE (EFA) – 61.0 (neutral)

* South Korea (EWY) – 65.9 (neutral)

COMMODITY ETFS

* Gold (GLD) – 64.6 (neutral)

ULTRA EXTREMES

* Small Cap Bear 3x (TZA) – 24.1 (oversold)

* Small-Cap Bull 3x (TNA) – 75.7 (overbought)

* UltraLong QQQQ (QLD) – 67.8 (neutral)

* Ultra Long S&P 500 (SSO) – 72.1 (overbought)

* Ultra Short S&P 500 (SDS) – 26.9 (oversold)

* UltraShort 20+ Treasury (TBT) – 59.2 (neutral)’

Pending Home Sales Up; Pending Stock Sales Down The Inflation Trader ‘The stock market continues to look like a one-decision investment, as investors piled in for a second day and drove prices still higher. The S&P rose 1.3%, reflecting the ebullience and dare I say exuberance in European bond markets. Portuguese 10-year debt rallied 55bps, Ireland improved 36bps, and Greece and Spain both picked up 24bps (poor Ireland rallied a mere 14bps). The occasion for this show of enthusiasm was the meeting of the ECB – actually, more to the point it was that the ECB went into the market to buy bonds right after the meeting. Clearly banks and investors had been pleading for additional support of the sovereign bond market (which they got) and an extension and even expansion of the special liquidity facilities (they got a one-quarter extension of special loans from the ECB, but no expansion of the program). But the ECB didn’t exactly surprise the market. ECB President Trichet, insisting that recent growth numbers have surprised on the upside … imagine how many banks would have failed already if growth had surprised on the downside!! … admitted that growth risks are currently tilted to the downside although he saw inflation risks as balanced. Yawn. The equity market rally was aided by a surge in October Pending Home Sales, which leapt 10% month-over-month. Investors overlooked the worse-than-expected Initial Claims (although 436k is still better than we have seen for a while) to focus on this rather unimportant report. To put the jump into context, I think it is worthwhile to look at the year-on-year number. See the chart below, click to enlarge, (Source: Bloomberg) for that. You see, we also had a surge in Pending Home Sales last fall, so that the monthly spike appears more likely to be the result of poor seasonal adjustment affecting the report in the autumn.

[chart]

Yeah, the monthly surge in pending home sales doesn't really look impressive on a y/y basis. U.S. Treasury note yields rose on all of the (scoff!) good news, with the 10y yield rising to a heady 2.99%. The dollar weakened, and the VIX weakened. It would seem that many investors feel the crisis is over. Again. Or perhaps they just hope that it is over for this year. Before we get too far out in front of this wonderful, powerful, riskless recovery, we probably should pause to look at today’s Employment report. Recall that last month’s report was a mess, with strong private payrolls yet an Unemployment Rate that barely missed ticking higher and a labor force participation rate that fell to a 24-year low. The market that day initially focused on the Jobs number but was unable to hold early gains. However, looking back on it now, people seem to recall that it was a strong Employment report and they are looking to draw grand conclusions if today’s report makes it two in a row. The Consensus forecast is achievable, with expectations for 150k new jobs and a 9.6% Unemployment Rate (unchanged, but this probably implies a small improvement). But while Initial Claims have recently looked positive, there are other indicators that are not so strong. In particular I am mindful of the Jobs-Hard-To-Get element of the Consumer Confidence report. The ADP, which clocked in at a better-than-expected +93k on Wednesday, is consistent with a 101k showing from private payrolls (see chart below, click to enlarge).

[chart]

The 93k ADP figure suggests that +100k is roughly what we should expect from private payrolls. Accordingly, I am not very sanguine about the number later today, although I don’t expect a huge miss; given the recent rally into previous resistance I think that playing stocks from the short side is a defensible trading strategy. It also is not clear to me that, once the ECB stops buying PIIGS bonds, there will be lots of other buyers lined up behind them – so while I wouldn’t short PIIGS bonds for spite (it is usually a bad short-term bet to fade the central bankers), if I were long I would get out. The Non-Manufacturing ISM (Consensus: 54.8 from 54.3) is also scheduled for a mid-morning release. This isn’t likely to be a market mover.’

AP Business Highlights - Job growth weak for Nov. in setback for economy [ Stocks rally … Riiiiight! ]

Investors in Wonderland: Dave's Daily

U.S. Jobs Report Likely to be Robust Chandler [ Here’s a post before the bell … definitely listening to the frauds on wall street and their cottage industries including the ‘money honeys’, etc.. Yeah! He’s with ‘Alice in Wonderland’ … magic mushrooms anybody?

U.S. dollar extends weekly loss with 1% drop

Here are some very basic financial ratios that always deserve attention in fundamental analysis [from investopedia – but it’s really ultimately the art of projecting, ie., income statements, balance sheets, and first and foremost the economy, then select industries, which counts in security analysis / valuation, which of course also takes account of factors such as quality of the earnings (clearly absent in this market of dollar debasement) , stability and growth (not too great in light of structural shift away from u.s. economically, financially, and geopolitically, etc.), (they appeared as a link so I’m including them here) ] .

Soft Jobs Figure Halts Run Of Upbeat Data ‘The U.S. economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, a far cry below expectations, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%. Friday's nonfarm payrolls from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics stunned Wall Street, sending index futures from modest gains to losses of better than 0.5% in pre-market trading. The weak report – private sector payrolls added just 50,000 jobs, compared with expectations for about 140,000 – came amid a string of more upbeat data, including Thursday's weekly jobless claims report. The number of discouraged workers climbed to 1.3 million in November, up 421,000 from a year ago. The closely-watched measure of the average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours and hourly earnings inched up just a penny to $22.75. With those figures it comes as little surprise that the number of workers involuntarily working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs was barely changed at 9 million.Temp jobs continued to rise, adding another 40,000 jobs, as did healthcare with a gain of 19,000, but retail trade employment was down 28,000 and manufacturing shed 13,000 jobs. ‘

Initial Weekly Claims Rise 26,000 [ Bad, worse than expected news … stocks rally … what fraud / b*** s***. ] ]NEW YORK (TheStreet) – ‘The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for the first time rose more than expected last week, the Labor Department said early Thursday. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased by a higher-than-expected 26,000 to 436,000 in the week ended Nov. 27, from the previous week's upwardly revised estimate of 410,000. Analysts were expecting initial claims to rise to 422,000, after it dropped to 407,000, its lowest level since July 2008 in the previous week. The number of Americans filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in higher than expected at 4.27 million for the week ended Nov. 20, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 4.217 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to come in at 4.2 million. The four-week moving average in initial claims, which smoothes the volatility in week-to-week reports, was 431,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 436,750. The four-week moving average in continuing claims was 4.288 million, a decrease of 29,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4.317 million. The numbers do not include millions of those who claim benefits under the extended unemployment benefits program. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4% for the week ending Nov. 20, unchanged from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 3.4 percent…’

Economy Needs To Create 235K Jobs A Month To Return To Pre-Depression Levels By End Of Obama Second Term When we last ran this number, the economy needed to create 232,400 jobs per month to get to the same unemployment rate as last seen in December 2007, just before the depression started, courtesy of today’s massive disappointment we can now increase the creation requirement to 235,120.

The Confiscation Con If you’ve spent enough time in the gold community, you might be under the impression that the most imminent threat to the average American isn’t terrorism or unemployment, but rather gold confiscation.

Delaying Tax Vote Could Crash Stock Market Failure by Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts, especially locking in the 15 percent capital gains tax rate, will spark a stock market sell off starting December 15 as investors move to lock in gains at a lower rate than the 20 percent it would jump to next year, warn analysts.

From the “Wealth of Nations” to the “Debt of Nations” As everyone from Paul Krugman to Simon Johnson has noted, the banks are so big and politically powerful that they have bought the politicians and captured the regulators.

It’s The Bankers Or Us Problem, Reaction, Solution: Derivatives, Crash, Too Big To Fail, Bailout, Nationalization, Budget Crisis, Privatization, Debt Slavery, Austerity, Evaporating Pensions, Central Banks, Big Government, World Government…’

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.

National / World

‘Ventura show FEMA’ and ‘feminizing uranium’ lead Google Trends Infowars.com | Two terms dealing with the controversial information released via Gov. Ventura’s Conspiracy Theory have topped Google Trends today.

ACLU: Flying Americans Fear Being Put On Government Watch List Steve Watson | TSA complaints continue to flood in, travelers afraid of government “retaliation” if they complain.

Stop the John Boehner scam: Give Ron Paul monetary subcommittee chair Infowars | Boehner’s underhanded tactic to silence Ron Paul and the will of the people to hold the Federal Reserve accountable is absolutely disgusting. Be heard and stop this bureaucratic tyranny.

Republicans Move to Block Ron Paul from Monetary Policy Subcommittee Chair Kurt Nimmo | Ron Paul will not head up the House’s monetary policy subcommittee if John Boehner has anything to say about it.

Shocker: Feminizing-uranium, fluoride & lithium in water to be exposed on Ventura TV show Aaron Dykes | Tonight’s Great Lakes episode of Conspiracy Theory has now expanded into a startling exposé of the dangerous toxins being added to our water by design.

Shocker: Feminizing-uranium, fluoride & lithium in water to be exposed on Ventura TV show As producer Michael Braverman announced yesterday, what was once an episode just dealing with schemes to profit off the Great Lakes has now expanded into a startling exposé of the dangerous toxins being added to our water by design.

Trillions In Secret Fed Bailouts For Global Corporations And Foreign Banks Has the Federal Reserve become the Central Bank of the World? That is what some members of Congress are asking after the Federal Reserve revealed the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion on Wednesday.

joe ‘zelig zionist incompetent and corrupt‘ lieberman’s Campaign To Trample The First Amendment Is Proceeding Right On Schedule As if it wasn’t enough that America’s ruling oligarchs were sufficiently happy with abdicating their governing duties to the Federal Reserve, they have now decided to imitate China in every possible way.

Arrest Assange? Arrest the Banksters Instead [ I quite agree, and for the reason stated plus the fact that Assange is a world class hero! ] Kurt Nimmo | Assange’s supposed crimes pale in comparison to the unprecedented grand theft larceny pulled off by Wall Street, the banksters, and the global financial elite.

Robinson: White House is eerily silent on taxes (Washington Post) [ Eerily? I think not! Expectantly? I think so! That is, once you get beyond the wobama b*** s*** ! And, truth be told party distinctions are merely distinctions without significant differences (no prosecution of the wall street frauds, wars raging in Afghanistan / Middle East, etc.. But alas, as to the ‘wobama whitehouse’ this was predictable early on as by David Icke : Barack Obama: The Naked Emperor Shocking but true revelations from David Icke (a must read) | ‘Vast numbers of people across the world, including many who should know better, have been duped by the mind-game called Operation Obama... (excerpts) Obama has been the chosen one for a long time, a fact known only to a few in the deep inner circle, and his relationship with Brzezinski almost certainly goes back to the start of the 1980s when he attended the Ivy League, and big-time Illuminati, Columbia University where Brzezinski was head of the Institute for Communist Affairs. Obama simply will not talk in any detail about this period. He has been covertly funded and supported ever since by the Trilateral Commission and its network of foundations connecting into the Ford Foundation, for whom Obama's mother worked. And a question: Does anyone really believe that someone, a 'man of the people', would simply appear from apparently nowhere to run the slickest and best-funded presidential campaign in American history? He was chosen long ago by those who wish to enslave the very people that Obama says he wants to 'set free'. The sources of Obama funding read like a Wall Street Who's Who - Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and so on. No wonder he went back on his pledge to accept the limitations of public funding for his campaign and instead took the no-limit option of 'private funding. Then there is the Jewish financier, George Soros, the multi-billionaire associate of Brzezinski and closely involved with the funding and marketing of Obama. Soros is a former board member of the Illuminati's Council on Foreign Relations and funds the European Council on Foreign Relations. In short, he is a major insider' You can certainly see the Soros/Brzezinski techniques in the Obama 'revolution' in the United States. It was the complex and secretive network of Soros foundations and organisations, connected to the intelligence agencies of the US and Israel, that trained and funded students in the Ukraine, Georgia and elsewhere in the art of mass protest and overthrowing governments. These manufactured protests were sold to the world as peoples' revolutions, but it just so happened that when they were over and the old regime was removed the new leaders were those waiting in the wings all along - the puppets of Soros, Brzezinski and their associated networks. Obama is just more of the same, a big smile with strings attached, and controlled completely by the Illuminati networks that chose him, trained him, sold him and provided his record funding. It was they who kept his many skeletons under wraps, like the gay sex and crack cocaine allegations of Larry Sinclair (from affidavit: 1. Who is Ron Allen that claims to be with your Presidential camp, who is alleged to claim that someone claiming to represent me called asking for $100,000, to keep me from coming forward about our (Obama and I) November 1999 encounter of sex and cocaine use?), and they will continue to do so as long as he jumps to their bidding. Obama is just another Banksters' moll prostituting himself for fame and power, and that's why he supported the grotesque bail-out of the banking system and why he will always put their interests before the people. His financial advisors are straight from the Wall Street 'A' list, including Paul Adolph Volker (Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg Group), the head of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987 and Illuminati to his fingertips. Obama has made him head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which is dominated by insiders, including its staff director and chief economist, Austan Goolsbee, a close Obama associate from the University of Chicago. Goolsbee is an initiate of the infamous Illuminati Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, which also includes Boy and Father Bush. It was Goolsbee who told the Canadian government not to worry about Obama's attacks on the economic effects of free trade agreements because his words were just to win votes in the election campaign. Another Wall Street insider, the Zionist Timothy Geithner (Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations), was appointed by Obama to be his Treasury Secretary. Geithner was the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the most powerful in the private Federal Reserve cartel that masquerades as America's central bank, and he is a former employee of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the appalling Kissinger Associates. Obama's Treasury team locks into the inner circle around the Zionist Robert Rubin, the Director and Senior Counselor of Citigroup, co-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and economic advisor to Obama. Rubin, a member of the Illuminati Bilderberg Group, was the man behind Citigroup's strategy of expanding its risk in debt markets which forced it to be rescued by taxpayers' money. The very people who caused the financial crisis are being appointed by Obama to decide how to respond to it (more taxpayers' money for them and their friends) ‘
The following youtube video is well worth the look and explains how and why the frauds on wall street have gotten away with their devastating fraud thus far. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed. ( UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL TO PURSUE FED PROBE IN BLACK PANTHER CASE... ‘In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ...’ US v. AZ... Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud Washington Post | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. ):

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=PlayList&p=2EFAB57B44063742&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1 – well worth a look. [ The Obama Deception Number 1 on U.S. Google Trends ]

While boner and barton are indeed jokes / vegetables that bespeak the single-digit approval rate for congress, obama’s failure to deliver on promises with as well, endless war spending despite defacto bankruptcy of the nation and a watered down nothing financial regulation bill for talking points but little substance, make him as big a joker. This well researched / produced video tells the real story : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=PlayList&p=2EFAB57B44063742&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1 ‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ – well worth the view. [ The Obama Deception Number 1 on U.S. Google Trends ]

‘The Obama Deception’ Censored A viral You Tube upload of one of Alex Jones’ most popular feature films ‘The Obama Deception’ has been censored following a spur of the moment campaign to elevate the movie’s title to the top of the major internet search engines. In light of this development, I provide an archived site version which appears to be complete (but will be compared with earlier version and replaced with same if incomplete) http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

Then there is the well researched, produced, and informative ‘ESOTERIC AGENDA’ which explains how we’ve gotten to this forlorn point: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7052400717834950257# [ youtube is often down – website archived version is available as follows: http://www.albertpeia.com/esotericagenda.flv http://www.albertpeia.com/esotericagendalinktoarchive.htm ]

Communications lay bare Afghan corruption (Washington Post) [ Corruption? The same, along with the american re-invigorated heroin trade there go hand in hand. There were no illusions concerning karzai and brother’s ties to same and the cia and the same also the very reason for choosing him. ‘Tens of millions of dollars are carried out of Afghanistan each month, with no telling how much is illicit. The country's dominant money exchange caters to "narco-traffickers, insurgents, and criminals" also known as the cia and friends. Come on! Wake up! You’re paying for this and their enrichment. These revelations confirm the obvious.] WikiLeaks disclosures provide new details showing how corruption has undermined progress in a country that is in many ways a 9-year-old project in U.S. nation-(destruction, including defacto bankrupt america) building. Leaks reveal frustration with Karzai Inquiry: Troop killed aid worker

Three key senators on deficit panel say they'll back plan (Washington Post) [ Well, that settles it! Three key senators … our worries are over … happy days are here again … NOT! … Note the prospective assumptions for, ie., GDP, etc.. Preposterous! There has been a structural change, economically, financially, etc., that’s not going to change. We’re witnessing only the beginnings of a dismal reality and turmoil masked by huge bubble-spending of funds not really there other than the paper on which they’re printed, or computers on which the entries are made, enabling the continued frauds by wall street, insiders, politically connected, etc., who are cashing out at everyone else’s expense. ] Proposal plans to rein in runaway federal deficits by allowing taxes to rise sharply in coming years.

Consumers show renewed strength (Washington Post) [ Come on! Who’s buyin’ their b*** s*** ! You can’t believe a word they say / report. Previously Najerian was interviewed by Motek and stated the reason for good retail cheer; viz., people have stopped paying their mortgages and are using the funds to purchase retail goods; while Davidowitz added 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! Drudgereport: GEORGIA: HUNDREDS LINE UP IN COLD FOR HEAT HELP...
Assistance Funds Quickly Depleted...
'Almost like being in soup line during great depression'...
VIDEO...
DELAYING TAX VOTE COULD 'CRASH STOCK MARKET' STARTING 12/15 [ Come on! There’s no way to justify the tax cut to the top 1% including the frauds on wall street … their threats don’t hunt no more … the nation’s defacto bankrupt … see Davis, supra! ]
] Retail and housing data indicate that American consumers are spending again and raising hopes that they are ready to shoulder the burden of the nation's economic recovery.

Obama, GOP in quiet talks to extend tax cuts (Washington Post) [ How can this be justified for the ‘top 1%’ economically, financially, fiscally, rationally, morally, etc.. The nation’s defacto bankrupt and not by a small margin. Davis weighs in with reality (and see infra) ‘ … This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! … ‘ ] The discussions, which parallel a more public set of talks, have left many Democrats grousing that the president is being too quick to accommodate GOP.

Bulls Charge On With Blinders: Dave's Daily ‘More POMO ($8.3 billion), better Retail Sales reports and Pending Home Sales data (+10.4%) allow bulls to build on yesterday's rally. Any worries from Europe, China tightening, higher Jobless Claims are mere inconveniences when the light is a bright green. Let's face it. This is what the Fed stated they wanted with their POMO activities -- higher prices overall with higher stock prices emphasized. The Fed prints money and buys bonds from the Primary Dealers and (wink, wink) they know what they're supposed to do with it. Bears just better get out of the way. Friday presents the unemployment report which should be a nonevent if numbers are bad -- remember, and keep repeating this mantra as you try to reason with events: "bad news is good, good news is better." That should do the trick…’

Phillips ‘…Goldman analysts opine about the potential for euro-credit “contagion,” as well as freakouts tied to the parlous state of U.S. finances. Likewise, UBS analysts are expecting problems — should they arise — to erupt from the bond markets. “We believe that credit disruptions — whether they emanate from the banking system, the mortgage market, U.S. municipalities, or from abroad — will be the likely culprit should the stock market behave poorly in 2011,” they wrote.’

Initial Weekly Claims Rise 26,000 [ Bad, worse than expected news … stocks rally … what fraud / b*** s***. ] ]NEW YORK (TheStreet) – ‘The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for the first time rose more than expected last week, the Labor Department said early Thursday. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased by a higher-than-expected 26,000 to 436,000 in the week ended Nov. 27, from the previous week's upwardly revised estimate of 410,000. Analysts were expecting initial claims to rise to 422,000, after it dropped to 407,000, its lowest level since July 2008 in the previous week. The number of Americans filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in higher than expected at 4.27 million for the week ended Nov. 20, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 4.217 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to come in at 4.2 million. The four-week moving average in initial claims, which smoothes the volatility in week-to-week reports, was 431,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 436,750. The four-week moving average in continuing claims was 4.288 million, a decrease of 29,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4.317 million. The numbers do not include millions of those who claim benefits under the extended unemployment benefits program. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4% for the week ending Nov. 20, unchanged from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 3.4 percent…’

Come on! Suckers’ rally to keep the suckers suckered! Clearly, this is one of those fraudulent wealth transfers to the frauds on wall street et als which will ultimately be paid for by those who least are in a position to afford it, courtesy of the ever more worthless Weimar dollar, etc., inflating earnings, eps, lowering p/e multiples, etc., see infra. This is an especially great time to sell / take profits while you can since there's much worse to come! 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 ]

Smart Money Playing Defense

Delegge ‘… Is the euro (NYSEArca: FXE - News) heading for a breakup? Many well-heeled investors like George Soros have publicly expressed their doubts about the long-term viability of the euro. The cost of borrowing has jumped for euro-land governments with weaker economies even though they are all part of the same currency union, which implies ongoing financial aid from stronger members…’

Arrest Assange? Arrest the Banksters Instead [ I quite agree, and for the reason stated plus the fact that Assange is a world class hero! ] Kurt Nimmo | Assange’s supposed crimes pale in comparison to the unprecedented grand theft larceny pulled off by Wall Street, the banksters, and the global financial elite.

Financial oligarchy dictates terms of Irish bailout Jordan Shilton | While ordinary working people will suffer the devastating consequences of the deal, the bailout ensures that the financial speculators whose criminal activity brought about the crisis will escape unpunished.

Fed Withholds Collateral Data for $885 Billion in Financial-Crisis Loans Bloomberg | The Federal Reserve withheld details on individual securities pledged as collateral by recipients of $885 billion in central bank loans.

Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign firms Washington Post | The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized.

Chinese Gold Imports Surge By 500% Through October All who thought that China was merely posturing when it announced a few days back it was creating a fund to allow its domestic investor base to allocated capital to foreign gold ETF, may wish to reconsider after it was disclosed late last night that China gold imports jumped by 500% in the first 10 months compared to all of 2009 on concerns of rising inflation according to the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Fed May Be `Central Bank of the World’ After UBS, Barclays Aid Federal Reserve data showing UBS AG and Barclays Plc ranked among the top users of $3.3 trillion from emergency programs is stoking debate on whether U.S. regulators bear responsibility for aiding other nations’ banks.

Fed Data Shows Foreign Banks Huge Beneficiaries of Emergency Lending Programs, Hedge Funds, McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson and Others Also Bailed Out Under orders from Congress pursuant to the Dodd-Frank financial legislation, the Fed has finally released details of its emergency lending starting in 2007.

Fed Wealth Grows While Others Drown In Debt [ Yet, these ledger entries / transactions are, as in the kiting of checks, ultimately illusory, worth less, and with the rest of the worthless paper, will end quite badly. ] The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet grew a 4th straight week to $2,328 trillion, up $31 billion in a week. In May the balance sheet was $2,333 trillion.

Are Stocks Cheap? [ Reality’s short anwer: NO! NO! NO! ] Simon Maierhofer, On Tuesday November 30, 2010 Are Stocks Over Loved and Over Valued? [ Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears s*** in the woods? … Reality’s short answer: YES! YES! YES! ]
Simon Maierhofer, On Monday November 22, 2010 ‘Momentum and perception are the big intangibles of the investing universe. Nobody knows exactly when the investing masses' mojo will turn on or off, overheat or over correct.Valuations, similar to gravity, are the big equalizer. In a world of uncertainty, valuations are the one thing you can rely on. Getting valuations right is one thing, figuring out when valuations will exercise their gravitational pull on stocks (NYSEArca: VTI - News) is another.
Using Valuations as a Guide
When planning a trip from point A to B, you need to know where A and B are. If you don't know your destination, you will most likely end up some place you don't want to be. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.Fair valuations are the final investment destination. If you invest in an undervalued market or stock and have the patience to let the market do its magic, your investment will be profitable 9 out of 10 times.If you invest in an overvalued market and don't get out in time, odds are that your journey will end in tears.
Asking the 'Valuation Guru'
Charles Dow, the founder of the Wall Street Journal and inventor of the Dow Jones Averages was an astute student of valuations. According to Mr. Dow, a correct understanding of valuations is the single most important ingredient to investment success. If Mr. Dow was still alive, what would he say about today's market? Would he tell you to buy or sell?Let's examine the most basic and probably purest measure of value: Dividend yields.Unlike P/E ratios, dividend yields can't be fudged and massaged. Companies with a healthy cash flow use their financial prowess to attract and retain buy-and hold type investors with juicy dividend checks.The dividend yield is expressed as a percentage of the stock price and can rise for two reasons: 1) stock price drops or 2) dividend payment increases. As a rule of thumb, the higher dividend yields, the healthier valuations.
Dividend Yield - Buy High, Sell Low
It's human nature to want what you can't get. Current yields are low, but everybody wants income, so investors are willing to risk the return of their money for return on their money. Current yields are close to an all-time low, so it's fair to assume that stocks are overvalued.The opposite was true in the first quarter of 2009. A variety of ETFs yielded close to or even more than 10%. The Financial Select Sector SPDRs (NYSEArca: XLF - News) and Vanguard Financial ETF (NYSEArca: VFH - News) paid more than 7%.Dividend ETFs like the iShares DJ Select Dividend (NYSEArca: DVY - News) and SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (NYSEArca: SDY - News) had yields north of 6%, and even plain value ETFs like Vanguard Value (NYSEArca: VTV - News) and iShares Russell 1000 Value (NYSEArca: IWD - News) paid more than 4%.The problem at that time was that nobody was interested in yield. Investors shunned stocks and yields like cats shun water. Within a week of prices bottoming and stocks beginning to rally, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter recommended to load up on dividend-rich ETFs.Here's the newsletter's March 2, 2009 recommendation: 'This counter trend rally will have to be broad and powerful in order to relieve investor's pent-up urge to buy. Dividend ETFs with a higher allocation to financials are likely to rise higher than the broad market. Some of the dividend yields are quite juicy and can help to offset timing mistakes.'

Beware of the Yields Trap

Since then, the S&P (SNP: ^GSPC) has risen as much as 84%, the performance for the Dow Jones (DJI: ^DJI) and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) has been similar. What about dividend yields?If the March 2009 lows marked a true market bottom, dividend payments should have increased somewhat proportionally to stock prices. They didn't. In fact, yields today are lower than they were at the March 2009 bottom.In March 2009 the dividend yield for S&P 500 constituents was 3.6%. By multiplying 3.6% with the March 2009 low of 666 we arrive at a dividend yield of 23.98 points. In October 2010, the S&P yielded 1.97%. Based on an S&P at 1,200 points, this represented 23.64 points, 0.34 points less than at the March 2009 bottom.Hunting after yield without considering the risk at current prices is similar to maxing out your credit cards just to rack up frequent flier miles. The return comes at a (long-term) cost.
Beware of the Earnings TrapIn my humble opinion, earnings are more than just a trap, they are a minefield. According to the numbers we are fed, earnings have already surpassed the threshold reached at the peak of the dot-com bubble and are projected to eclipse even the 2007 all-time record high in 2011.If this doesn't strike you as odd, take a moment to examine the chart below. Leading up to the 2007 stock market and earnings high, we had consistent GDP growth (not historically great but steady). The real unemployment rate (U-6, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) was 8.4%.[chart]Today, GDP is sputtering (and inflated by government subsidies) and U-6 unemployment has more than doubled to 17%. For those who prefer to go by the media's more palatable U-3 jobless number, it has soared from below 4.7% to 9.6%. Does that look like the kind of environment that would produce record high earnings?I don't think it would be presumptuous to wonder if financial engineering and massaging the books has something to do with high earnings. Remember the 157 rule change which allows banks (NYSEArca: KBE - News) to hide real estate losses (see June 2010 ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter for a detailed analysis).Even when assuming that current earnings are for real, the P/E ratio (high earnings translate into a lower P/E ratio) is still historically elevated. Admittedly not as much out of line as a year ago, but still high.

Don't Bet Against Valuations

Buying into an overvalued market and expecting a long-term gain, is like sowing seed in the winter and expecting to reap in the summer - it doesn't work that way.Of course, over the short-term, markets can defy valuations and make disciplined investors look like temporary fools. But, as the 2000 and 2008 declines have shown, there are no shortcuts to long-term success.The most intriguing facet of dividend yields and P/E ratios is that they tend to pinpoint major market bottoms. All historic market bottoms had one thing in common: super high dividend yields and ridiculously low P/E ratios.Based on this historic clue, the March 2009 bottom looks more like a fake than a major bottom. Just as ice doesn't thaw unless the temperature rises above 32 degrees, the market doesn't bottom until P/E ratios and dividend yields signal that a valuation reset has occurred.The December issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter includes a detailed analysis of P/E ratios, dividend yields, and two other benchmarks of value-based forecasting plotted against historic charts of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones.A picture paints more than a thousand words, and the featured chart shows how overvalued stocks are and how far they have to drop before a sustainable new bull market can begin.’

Timid Tuesday: Is it Safe? Davis ‘Is it safe?

Is what safe?

Is it safe?

I don’t know what you mean. I can’t tell you something’s safe or not, unless I know specifically what you’re talking about.

Is it safe?

Tell me what the "it" refers to.

Is it safe?

Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.

Is it safe?

No. It’s not safe, it’s… very dangerous, be careful.

One could only wish we could torture the MSM pundits the way the evil dentist tortured Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man - these guys cannot give us a straight answer and, frankly, we’re not even sure what the question is anymore. Is it safe to buy bonds? Is it safe to buy stocks? Is our currency safe? Are commodities safe?

All this uncertainty is certainly boosting gold and, although I am no fan of gold speculation, we did take a gold hedge in last Tuesday’s Alert to Members and on Wednesday our market hedge was a 500% hedge on the Russell that goes 100% in the money right about 730. Monday’s upside Alert play was a 1,000% payoff on FAS that’s already all in the money – it’s a crazy market when your longs and your shorts work at the same time!

That’s the sort of thing that gave us the confidence to restart the "$10,000 to $50,000 by Jan 21st" virtual portfolio as we were halfway to goal at $26,000 when we cashed out in early October. We didn’t like the market then for directional plays and we still don’t but now we’re taking the opportunity to practice our short-term trading techniques in this choppy market. As you can see from David Fry’s Nasdaq chart above, we’re in a critical zone and the chips are literally flying every which way – our job is just to reach in and grab a few.

Yesterday we focused on the DIA (always a favorite) $112 calls, which opened at .94 and we took 20 at the open and stopped out with a quick .10 loss ($200) just 10 minutes later as the Dow failed to hold 11,000. We took a re-load with 30 at .75 at 11:12, stuck out the dip to .70 and cashed back out at $1.05, for a very nice $900 gain on our second attempt. We need to average $500 a day to get to our goal by Jan 21st, so we’re off to a fine start already!

CHART

The key to day-trading options is paying close attention to your channels. In more certain market conditions, we would have rode out the initial drop and doubled down at .75 for a .80 average entry on 40 contracts but 11,000 was a key breakdown and we couldn’t be sure the S&P 500 would hold 1,177 so it wasn’t worth taking the chance.

CHART

As you can see from David’s S&P chart, we did get our hold at 1,177 and between looking stronger at the 1,180 line and our anticipation of the day’s POMO by the Fed, we were brave enough to test our buy premise for the 2nd time. We’re also getting used to these sell-offs into the close and we know to take the money and run sooner, rather than later. I called an end to this trade at 3:29 in Member Chat as we have no reason to be greedy on a 40% day’s gain.

That left us with a bearish play on one of our high flyers and a bullish play on the Financials as we need something to the upside, just in case but I can assure you our hearts are not in the bull side just yet because no one can answer the question – "Is it safe?"

That’s why we have 1,000% plays to the upside hedging 500% plays to the downside – we don’t know what’s going to happen but we sure do think something is going to happen pretty soon! So, we construct plays that give us great pay-offs in either direction which enables us to use just a little bit of our sideline cash on trades that can give us a 5x and 10x payoff. We don’t really care what the market does and, in fact, when it does nothing – as it has been for a week – we can win on both sides! This is what hedging is all about – striking a balance that allows us to take advantage of opportunities in either direction or no direction at all.

There is risk, of course, and the risk we take on these spreads is usually being forced to own the underlying stock or ETF at a discount (see "How to Buy Stocks for a 15-20% Discount"). This is just fine as long as you only play things you really do want to own at the assignment price so always keep that in mind – we expect to have the losing side put to us and we are pleasantly surprised if it isn’t but, if it is, we are happy to be long-term owners in, for example, QID.

Speaking of QID, it is the Nasdaq we’ll be looking to short if the Dow and the S&P 500 break down as they certainly have the most to lose next to the Russell, who we are already short on. We already have longer-term QID spreads, also in the 500% range, that we were using at the top to guard against a move back to $50 on the Qs. The Qs are always fun to play with as they have weekly options and we love our weekly option plays! Oil is another short play on our radar but we were hoping for a more bullish surge last night to give us a better entry than $86. Now the dollar is back to 81.40 and oil can’t even hold $85 – pathetic!

That’s not stopping gold as it is perceived as "safe" by millions of global investors who are liquidating their Euros. $130Bn floated to Ireland Monday morning didn’t even keep the EU markets up through lunch-time as they dropped about 2% on the day, closing at the lows. This morning, after gapping up (bouncing) half a point at the open, the EU markets are now down about half a point during lunch. As Martin Weiss points out:

The authorities had hoped that Irish bond yields would come down sharply, helping to avert a disastrous, additional interest burden for the government. Instead, bond investors have dumped Irish bonds with both hands, driving their prices down and yields up. Exactly seven days ago, on the morning after the big bailout announcement, the yield on Ireland’s benchmark 10-year government bond was near 8 percent. Now, it has surged by more than a full percentage point to 9.17 percent. That extra interest cost alone threatens to eat up a big chunk of the bailout money.

That doesn’t sound "safe" at all, does it? As I said to Members in my Weekend Post, where we examined the Dollar chart – "I’m not a TA guy, but dollar bears should be very concerned if we break up here as conditions are ripe for a big run." At the height of the last Greek debt crisis — on February 8, 2010, to be exact — the cost of insuring a €10 million 5-year Greek government bond reached a peak of €420,855. But last week, the cost on the exact same instrument had surged above €1,000,000! Who is going to keep their money in Europe under those conditions? Notorious bond pimp, Mohamed El Erian was on CNBC this morning, calling for action before his investments turn sour! Europe isn’t "safe", California isn’t "safe", giving money to Timmy certainly isn’t "safe" and borderlines irrational. Asia may not be "safe" either so where is a man with $1Tn under management supposed to go? I’ll be the first one to chip in to send El Erian and Bill Gross to another planet so they can wreck their economies for a change – who’s with me?

Of course the boys from Pimpco are already trapped in their own little hell with pretty much every nation on Earth defaulting on debt. What, you say? Who is defaulting on debt? Pretty much everybody says I and so says the Market Oracle, who have a nice article with "eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence" that makes the very good point that inflation, quantitative easing or whatever you want to call it is simply a default on debt only it’s the kind of default where you pretend to pay back the debt but you pay it back with worthless bits of paper that in no way, shape or form resembles the value of the paper you were lent. That’s default folks!

How is it better to have a global policy of "extend and pretend" that amounts to nothing more than a multi-trillion Dollar massive default against bondholders (as their debts get canceled for monopoly money) than to just honestly restructure global debt so we can all see where we actually stand and reorganize (because that’s what bankruptcies are supposed to help us do) in order to move forward more responsibly in the future. It is not "safe" to pretend that the global markets are functioning correctly and to keep taking new investors capital in this global Ponzi scheme that is, in fact, collapsing right now!

What’s beginning to unravel, even in this "brilliant" scheme is that investors are starting to wise up and are reluctant to put more money into money-printing nations like the US, the EU and Japan. Even China had a failed bond auction last week and Spain is having them weekly with the last auction not filling at 5% and we’re already up to 5.25 with 5.5% likely on the next offering. At 6%, the wheels begin to come off the El Autobus and then all bets will be off in the EU.

The US has "solved" the problem of waning interest in our TBills by selling them to the Fed and I encourage anyone who has debts to try this at home. Simply take out your checkbook and give your spouse some deposit slips. Let them go upstairs so you don’t feel like it’s all being done in the same room. Then have your spouse put down whatever number you need as a deposit, which you can then immediately write checks against. If anyone wants to know where your wife got the money – she can say – well my husband clearly made an entry in his checkbook that we had the money and that’s the money I’m using to give him! See, who can argue with that kind of logic?

This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘

National / World

“Police State” episode of hit Ventura show covering FEMA camps pulled from air Infowars | Alex Jones, a consultant to TruTV’s Conspiracy Theory, can confirm that the controversial episode “Police State,” dealing with FEMA camps and fusion centers, has been essentially “memory-holed” due to behind the scenes pressure.

The Secret The TSA Doesn’t Want You To Know Paul Joseph Watson | Big Sis has been quietly preparing the groundwork for the total takeover of all public transport and highways by federal government goon squads.

‘Bankers or us’ tops Google trends Infowars | Today’s #1 search term signifies a grassroots revolt in the Infowar against the economic war being waged against ordinary Americans

Who Precisely Is Attacking The World? Paul Craig Roberts | The stuck pigs are squealing.

Arrest Assange? Arrest the Banksters Instead [ I quite agree, and for the reason stated plus the fact that Assange is a world class hero! Sweden should focus on their own major criminals of old … Swedish royal family hit by fresh Nazi allegations Sweden’s royal family has been rocked by a new scandal which has exposed the hidden Nazi past of the Queen’s father, only weeks after its reputation was shattered by lurid disclosures about the king’s secret sex life. ] Kurt Nimmo | Assange’s supposed crimes pale in comparison to the unprecedented grand theft larceny pulled off by Wall Street, the banksters, and the global financial elite.

The Secret The TSA Doesn’t Want You To Know While many Americans think they can skip being sexually molested at the hands of the TSA by avoiding airports, Big Sis has been quietly preparing the groundwork for the total takeover of all public transport and highways by federal government goon squads.

Arrest Assange? Arrest the Banksters Instead So-called “fiscal conservative” radio talk show host Todd Schnitt has posted a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of “WikiLeaks menace” Julian Assange. Schnitt, who hosts a radio show in Tampa, Florida, says Assange is a terrorist and an enemy combatant “who needs to be treated as such,” according to a wanted poster on Schnitt’s website.

Ron Paul: US “Counterfeit Machine” Will Lead To Political, Social Chaos Texas Congressman Ron Paul, active member of the Committee on Financial Services, appeared on MSNBC today and issued a stark warning to viewers regarding the continuing debt crisis: reduce the deficit now or face mass political and social chaos.

Warrant To Be Issued For Cheney Arrest Via Interpol The prosecuting counsel for the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said that indictments will be handed down in the next three days and that an arrest warrant for Cheney “will be issued and transmitted through Interpol.”

Max Keiser’s Plan To Destroy JP Morgan Goes Mainstream, After The Guardian Posts His “Silver Squeeze” Thoughts As Zero Hedge readers know, the reason why the US mint sold a record amount of silver American Eagle coins in November is unlikely a coincidence, and very possibly an indication that the recently disclosed plan as espoused by the MKs (Mike Krieger and Max Keiser) to destroy JP Morgan is working.

WikiLeaks II – A Government Caught Up in Mendacity and Lies The reaction to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange tells us all we need to know about the total corruption of our “modern” world, which in fact is a throwback to the Dark Ages.

WTC Steel Was So Hot It Bent Without Cracking & Fused With The Concrete Carbon fire can’t melt steel.

Debt = Money, Money = Debt Where does money come from? You would think that question should be so simple that any 10-year-old child could answer it, but that is not the case. You see, the truth is that the vast majority of American adults cannot even answer that question.

Corrupt, incompetent, zionist ‘being there’ zelig of man, lieberman, Has Power To Shut Down Websites With A Phone Call The corrupt, incompetent, zionist ‘being there’ zelig of man, lieberman, the man behind legislation to give President Obama a kill switch for the Internet in the move towards a Chinese-style government controlled world wide web, now has the power to shut down websites with a mere phone call, as was underscored yesterday when Amazon axed Wikileaks from its servers after being pressured to do so by Lieberman’s Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Drudgereport: US TO BAILOUT EU [ Riiiiight! Sounds like a plan! After all, in defacto bankrupt america money does grow on trees … derivatively (pun intended) that is … you know … that ever more worthless fiat paper currency … and ultimately, existentially, philosophically, doesn’t paper come from trees … sure it does …so, no problemo since money grows on trees. ]
BOMBSHELL: European banks took big slice of Fed aid...
Hundreds of billions of dollars...
Fed reveals global extent of its backing... ]

Funds went to stalwarts of American industry including GE and Caterpillar and household-name companies such as Verizon, new data show.
GEORGIA: HUNDREDS LINE UP IN COLD FOR HEAT HELP...
Assistance Funds Quickly Depleted...
'Almost like being in soup line during great depression'...
VIDEO...
DELAYING TAX VOTE COULD 'CRASH STOCK MARKET' STARTING 12/15 [ Come on! There’s no way to justify the tax cut to the top 1% including the frauds on wall street … their threats don’t hunt no more … the nation’s defacto bankrupt … see Davis, supra! ]
Nation's '2nd Most Dangerous City' (camden, new jersey) To Lay Off Nearly Half Of Police Force...
UPDATE: Latest WIKILEAKS developments...
Foreign contractors hired Afghan 'dancing boys'...
Embassy cables portray Karzai as corrupt, erratic...
CIA drew up UN spying wishlist...
SANTA CLAUSE: FED AID WENT TO COMPANIES, BANKS, OFFSHORE...
SECRETLY BAILED OUT GE -- GE NEWS OUTLETS FAILED TO REVEAL IN FED COVERAGE...
MORE SECRETS: Fed Withholds Data for $885 Billion in Loans...
RUSSIA TO HOST '18 WORLD CUP FINALS...
Qatar selected '22 host over USA, others...
National Board of Review: SOCIAL NETWORK named best film... [ National board of what? ‘Inception’ is by far and away the ‘Best Film’ across the board and on the list! ] LIST...

BANK OF AMERICA Becoming 'Bank of Asia' as Revenue Increases 30% ...
RESET: PUTIN CRITICIZES USA OVER WIKILEAKS … [ Putin deserves the greatest deference in matters of global concern in light of his greater rationality; america’s self-serving accusations are merely envy and projection / displacement (in psychoanalytic terms) of america’s pervasively corrupt, criminal, broken system which is a far cry in reality from defacto bankrupt america’s propaganda.]...
REWARD: [ The payoff. Bribe complete! Next bribe scenario … ] CITI to Hire Obama's Ex-Budget Chief Orszag...
FLASHBACK: Rubin and friends ride NY-DC shuttle...
ZUCKERMAN: Watching America's Decline and Fall [the moral authority of the West has dramatically declined in the face of the financial crisis. It has revealed deep fault lines within Western economies that have spread to the global economy. The majority of Western governments are running fiscal deficits of 10 percent or more relative to GDP, but it is increasingly clear that there will be no quick fixes, that big government and fiscal deficits will not bring us back to the status quo ante. Indeed, the tidal wave of red ink has meant that the leverage-led or debt-led growth model is dead. Developed countries will be forced to deal with their debt on every level, from the personal to the corporate to the sovereign. Being able to borrow may have made people feel richer, but having to repay the debt is certainly making them feel poorer, particularly since the unfunded liabilities that many governments face from aging populations will have to be paid for by a shrinking band of workers. (Ecoutez, mes amis!) Demography is destiny. As a result, there is a burgeoning consensus that we are witnessing an inevitable rise of the East and a decline of the West…( Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012). ) ]...
Interpol issues wanted notice for Julian Assange [ They just can’t take the truth! ] ...
US cuts access to files [ Think about it. Really think about it. Their policies are in the tank, along with the nation and the rest of this world as a consequence. Don’t those so detrimentally affected (everyone) have a right to know? I think in light of the global frauds, contrived perpetual wars though defacto bankruptcy of this and other nations, pervasive corruption and crime, failed policies domestically and geo-politically while serving the very parochial interests of the self-interested few, the answer is an unequivocal, YES! I believe that world history will write Mr. Assange as a hero in the truest sense. He should be given a medal; and, certainly, since mr. b*** s*** wobama undeservingly got a ‘nobel peace prize’ (what he does, not what he says, ie., Afghanistan, etc.), who more than Julian Assange is deserving of that and more? Cover-up / propaganda … thy name is fallen america.]...
WIKILECTURE: 'HILLARY SHOULD RESIGN' ‘…Hillary Clinton, Julian Assange said, "should resign." Speaking over Skype from an undisclosed location on Tuesday, the WikiLeaks founder was replying to a question by TIME managing editor Richard Stengel over the diplomatic-cable dump that Assange's organization loosed on the world this past weekend. Stengel had said the U.S. Secretary of State was looking like "the fall guy" in the ensuing controversy, and had asked whether her firing or resignation was an outcome that Assange wanted. "I don't think it would make much of a difference either way," Assange said. "But she should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up. Yes, she should resign over that."…’
CITY ON EDGE: Cash-Strapped Newark, new jersey Forced To Lay Off 14% Of Police Force... [ From decades old (1978-1985) direct personal experience with newark, n.j., the police are the absolute last cuts that can be afforded to be made. Indeed, while walking through Military Park (a sliver of a “park” - more a pedestrian thoroughfare/cement walks) in newark, new jersey on the way to the bank during lunch hour, I heard the clearly audible screams/cries of what turned out to be an old lady on the ground with blood streaming from her mouth. I ran toward the sound of the cries, the source of which I could not see because there were so many people in and about this thoroughfare so as to block any vision of the source of the cries. When I came to the woman, on the ground, blood streaming from her mouth, I asked what happened, to which she responded she had been hit in the mouth and knocked to the ground, her purse stolen/put inside her shopping bag, and she pointed out the criminal casually now walking across the main street. Nobody stopped to help her, many having passed her by. I slammed the thug to the ground so hard that, in light of all the blood and confusion (limbic system / adrenalin flow) I thought I had been stabbed (the blood was from his elbows hitting the pavement so hard - no one helped / a crowd gathered / an undercover cop happened along). When I testified at the Grand Jury Proceeding I made sure his threat on my life was set forth in prima facie fashion so as to maximize the DA’s position with both felonies ( he went to prison – pled out ). The other case I wrote about here ( This was included on my website in the Psychology forum discussion of ‘bystander effect’ / diffusion of responsibility. ) - Having had occasion to have run down a mugger in newark, n.j. who apparently had followed a girl from the bank on her way to the bursar to pay tuition, though in pretty good shape, I was astounded by how totally exhausting such a pursuit was, how much like rubber my arms were when I traded punches with the perpetrator, and truth be told, if I had a flashlight on my belt, I have little doubt that I would have probably used it to subdue the perp. The girl was not that seriously injured, did get her pocketbook and tuition back, and the criminal went to jail. The other thing about such a pursuit that amazed me was that no one else assisted the girl or me despite being in a position to do so). (Other newark / new jersey and new york, n.y. metro, viz., ie., connecticut, and of course, d.c., d.c. metro, viz., ie., virginia experience … corrupt federal judges as maryanne trump barry, sam alito, shiff, matz (california), hall, underhill, dorsey, etc.. Defacto bankrupt america’s so-called system is pervasively corrupt and broken (AP) Abolish the corrupt, costly, economically wasteful lifetime extravagantly appointed federal courts - see RICO case http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ) ]