Tony Soprano

Milli Vanilli Government: Latest Casualties - Bear and VISA

Two of America's greatest friends and allies are Israel and Britain.

I believe we should do everything necessary to support Israel.

I'm not a Yahoo board spammer!

Big Banks: Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Bail

Since there is so much angst directed toward the Fed and the US Government, I decided to listed some events, not all of them, that had dramatic ramifications on lives, cost and the psychology of our country. I started in 1906 because it’s just a little over a hundred years. As I compiled the list, I could not help but feel the great sacrifices that many American’s have made and what a resilient country, economy and government we have in American.

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire, registered 8.25 on the Richter scale; estimates range from 700 to 3,000 dead or missing, approximately 225,000 injuries and $400,000,000 in 1906 dollars.

Recession, May 1907-June 1908, 13 mo

Recession Jan. 1910-Jan. 1912, 24 months

Completion of the Panama Canal, 1914 – 27,500 workers are estimated to have died

Recession Jan. 1913-Dec. 1914 23 months

World War I -- 116,708 killed – 33 billion

Spanish influenza, 1918, killed over 500,000 people in the worst single U.S. epidemic.

Recession Aug. 1918-March 1919 7 months

Recession Jan. 1920-July 1921, 18 months

Recession May 1923-July 1924 14 months

Recession Oct. 1926-Nov. 1927 13 months

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, flooded 27,000 square miles, 246 killed

The Great Depression, Black Tuesday, crop prices fell by 40 to 60 percent, after the panic of 1929, and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 US banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s). By 1933, depositors had lost $140 billion in deposits.

The Dirty Thirties, longest drought of 20th century. Peak periods were 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, and 1940. The "dust bowl" covered 50 million acres in the south-central plains during the winter of 1935-1936.

Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, 400 killed

Recession May 1937-June 1938 13 months

World War II – 408,306 killed – 360 billion

Wartime Controls: 1941-1945 rationed consumer items ranging from sugar to gasoline

Recession Feb. 1945-Oct. 1945 8 months

The Marshall Plan, July 1947 – 13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries

Recession Nov. 1948-Oct. 1949 11 months

Korean War, July 1951 - July 1953 – 33,000 killed in action

Recession July 1953-May 1954 10 months

Recession Aug. 1957-April 1958 8 months

Recession April 1960-Feb. 1961 10 months

The Cold War, some estimates shows $8 trillion was spent, worldwide, on nuclear and other weapons between 1945 and 1996

The Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 1962

Good Friday Earthquake (1964) In Alaska, it was the fourth biggest earthquake recorded

Vietnam War, 1963 – 47,378 killed in action

The murder of JFK, 1963 Nov

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Aug 1964

The murder of Dr King, April 1968 and Bobby Kennedy, June 1968

The city riots of April, 1968 – 30 cities affected

Hurricane Camille, Aug 1969, 259 killed

Recession Dec. 1969-Nov. 1970 11 months

Stagflation of the 1970s began

Nixon first imposed wage and price controls on August 15, 1971

Oil Embargo, Oct 1973 long gas lines

Recession Nov. 1973-March 1975 16 months

Articles of Impeachment of Nixon started
(Approved by a vote of 27-11 by the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday, July 27, 1974.)

Deregulation: 1974-1992 this era began when Nixon left office

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis, March 1979

Mount St. Helens eruption 1980

Recession Jan. 1980-July 1980 6 months

Prime reached unbelievable 20% in January 1981,

AIDS was first reported June 5, 1981 by the government – It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

Recession July 1981-Nov. 1982 16 months

California earthquake 1983

The 87 market crash - Black Monday

California earthquake, 1989

Recession July 1990-March 1991 8 months

Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990

The Persian Gulf War, 1991 or Desert Storm Jan 1991

Hurricane Andrew 1992 very destructive United States hurricane

The Great USA Flood of 1993

Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia,

Dot Com Bubble, climaxed on March 10th, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52

9/11 Attack, 2,974 people died

Recession March 2001-Nov. 2001 8 months, Airline Industry Collapsed

Enron bankruptcy in late 2001, employed 22,000

WorldCom, July 21, 2002, filed for Chapter 11

Iraq War, March 19, 2003 – 4,000 dead

Hurricane Katrina, late August 2005, 1,836 people lost their lives

Start of the Great Housing Recession or Sub-prime Recession 2006 or 07, 08? Date to be determined.

Current Financial Crisis Going Into Extra Innings

Since there is so much angst directed toward the Fed and the US Government, I decided to listed some events, not all of them, that had dramatic ramifications on lives, cost and the psychology of our country. I started in 1906 because it’s just a little over a hundred years. As I compiled the list, I could not help but feel the great sacrifices that many American’s have made and what a resilient country, economy and government we have in American.

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire, registered 8.25 on the Richter scale; estimates range from 700 to 3,000 dead or missing, approximately 225,000 injuries and $400,000,000 in 1906 dollars.

Recession, May 1907-June 1908, 13 mo

Recession Jan. 1910-Jan. 1912, 24 months

Completion of the Panama Canal, 1914 – 27,500 workers are estimated to have died

Recession Jan. 1913-Dec. 1914 23 months

World War I -- 116,708 killed – 33 billion

Spanish influenza, 1918, killed over 500,000 people in the worst single U.S. epidemic.

Recession Aug. 1918-March 1919 7 months

Recession Jan. 1920-July 1921, 18 months

Recession May 1923-July 1924 14 months

Recession Oct. 1926-Nov. 1927 13 months

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, flooded 27,000 square miles, 246 killed

The Great Depression, Black Tuesday, crop prices fell by 40 to 60 percent, after the panic of 1929, and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 US banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s). By 1933, depositors had lost $140 billion in deposits.

The Dirty Thirties, longest drought of 20th century. Peak periods were 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, and 1940. The "dust bowl" covered 50 million acres in the south-central plains during the winter of 1935-1936.

Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, 400 killed

Recession May 1937-June 1938 13 months

World War II – 408,306 killed – 360 billion

Wartime Controls: 1941-1945 rationed consumer items ranging from sugar to gasoline

Recession Feb. 1945-Oct. 1945 8 months

The Marshall Plan, July 1947 – 13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries

Recession Nov. 1948-Oct. 1949 11 months

Korean War, July 1951 - July 1953 – 33,000 killed in action

Recession July 1953-May 1954 10 months

Recession Aug. 1957-April 1958 8 months

Recession April 1960-Feb. 1961 10 months

The Cold War, some estimates shows $8 trillion was spent, worldwide, on nuclear and other weapons between 1945 and 1996

The Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 1962

Good Friday Earthquake (1964) In Alaska, it was the fourth biggest earthquake recorded

Vietnam War, 1963 – 47,378 killed in action

The murder of JFK, 1963 Nov

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Aug 1964

The murder of Dr King, April 1968 and Bobby Kennedy, June 1968

The city riots of April, 1968 – 30 cities affected

Hurricane Camille, Aug 1969, 259 killed

Recession Dec. 1969-Nov. 1970 11 months

Stagflation of the 1970s began

Nixon first imposed wage and price controls on August 15, 1971

Oil Embargo, Oct 1973 long gas lines

Recession Nov. 1973-March 1975 16 months

Articles of Impeachment of Nixon started
(Approved by a vote of 27-11 by the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday, July 27, 1974.)

Deregulation: 1974-1992 this era began when Nixon left office

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis, March 1979

Mount St. Helens eruption 1980

Recession Jan. 1980-July 1980 6 months

Prime reached unbelievable 20% in January 1981,

AIDS was first reported June 5, 1981 by the government – It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

Recession July 1981-Nov. 1982 16 months

California earthquake 1983

The 87 market crash - Black Monday

California earthquake, 1989

Recession July 1990-March 1991 8 months

Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990

The Persian Gulf War, 1991 or Desert Storm Jan 1991

Hurricane Andrew 1992 very destructive United States hurricane

The Great USA Flood of 1993

Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia,

Dot Com Bubble, climaxed on March 10th, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52

9/11 Attack, 2,974 people died

Recession March 2001-Nov. 2001 8 months, Airline Industry Collapsed

Enron bankruptcy in late 2001, employed 22,000

WorldCom, July 21, 2002, filed for Chapter 11

Iraq War, March 19, 2003 – 4,000 dead

Hurricane Katrina, late August 2005, 1,836 people lost their lives

Start of the Great Housing Recession or Sub-prime Recession 2006 or 07, 08? Date to be determined.

It's Not a Crisis, But a Chaotic Calamity

Articles like this are getting long in the tooth. Most of the publisher's to this site are bearish.

The above piece is long and confusing. In my opinion, the short of it (no pun intended) is that we will prevail. We have the best government in the world. Every time our govt has intervened in some crisis it has worked and that goes all the way back to 1914.

Jim Rogers will have to take a sleeping pill tonight. He is so angry at the Fed. The weak dollar will mean that China, (Jim Rogers dream country) will sell fewer goods to us. That will slow their economy. China already has high inflation. Commodities dropped like a bric today. (no pun intended) China could burst. They have problems, in Tibet, more pollution than septic tank, very high inflation and more govt intervention than Al Gore, Ralph Nader, or Ted Kennedy could dream up in ten thousand years.

Gartman today on Fast Money said he is now long of JP Morgan – a bank stock. For those of you who don't know him he has been short of stocks and long of gold for a good while. But he has reversed his position.

Bear Stearns: 'Remain Calm! All Is Well!'

With the Fed in game big time it is capitulation. Maybe not from a purely technical point of view.

Shorts are now competing with the Fed. Every time our government has intervened in a crisis it has worked going back to 1914.

Our markets are holding up better than what I thought. But commodities are starting to drop. The weak dollar will hurt China's exports to the US. Can China survive slow and maybe very slow growth and high inflation at the same time?

More Thoughts on the Fed & JPM's BSC Liquidation

"“• I think the Fed is acting appropriately to avert an entire financial system meltdown. Whether they will be successful is as of yet, unknown. As we are so fond of saying, there will be costs: Financial, economic, psychological, and prestige-wise to this debacle.”
______________________...

Bravo! The island must stay afloat or we all drown.

However, every time the government intervened it worked. Also, cost: Financial, economic, psychological, and prestige-wise to this debacle has been, to some degree, factored into the markets.

Don't forget what Jan Hatzius said last Friday: a depreciating dollar is normal for the currency of a country that is about to go into a recession. We fight inflation later.

Two Dollars per Share, or an "Orderly Liquidation"?

When you read history and each time our government intervened it worked. It did not work in a day or month but over time it worked.

Jimmy Rogers is very angry now because the Fed intervened. Why? He complains that the bosses at Bear will still get their bonuses. Well Okay. But what is he really mad about? Hmm, let me think, viola, our system works.

China does not have a system like ours. The dollar is falling and Americans will be buy less from China. Demand for commodities will decease. Inflation in China will and cannot continue and their government is managed to the maximum. The bubble will burst or deflate and Jim will lose a lot of money. Remember and he said this himself that he was going to move and live in China but decided not to because of pollution. American is the best place to live and invest. Jim can go to China if wants to.

Two Dollars per Share, or an "Orderly Liquidation"?

I did not say to buy last August, last September, or even last October. Not even in January but I did start to nibble some then and I am doing just fine.

The sentiment now is so negative. Some are saying that the fix we are in is not fixable. To me that's really good news.

Other shorts are just piling on . . . well you can pile on only so much and the news like above, even though its very true, becomes redundant.

LEH may go next. But we know what will happen. The Fed will be there. The shorts are now going to have to compete with the government. By govt. I mean the Fed, the Treasury, and Congress and even other world economies.

Two Dollars per Share, or an "Orderly Liquidation"?

Heap it on and pile it on, doom and gloom, its time to start buying and stay long.

Bear Stearns: 'Remain Calm! All Is Well!'

Stop it already lol -- no way. Even if my finger nails wear to the bone I will not stop.

Milli Vanilli Government: Latest Casualties - Bear and VISA

BUY TODAY!!! AND STAY LONG!!!

IT’S NOW THE FED AGAINST THE SHORTS. THE FED WILL WIN.

THE FED WILL KEEP THE ISLAND AFLOAT.

THIS IS CAPITULATION!!!

DON'T BUY INTO ALL THAT NEGATIVE THOUGHT ABOVE!

Bear Stearns: 'Remain Calm! All Is Well!'

BUY TODAY!!! AND STAY LONG!!!

IT’S NOW THE FED AGAINST THE SHORTS. THE FED WILL WIN.

THE FED WILL KEEP THE ISLAND AFLOAT.

THIS IS CAPITULATION!!!

DON'T BUY INTO ALL THAT NEGATIVE THOUGHT ABOVE!

Watching the Fed as Records Continue to Be Broken

To the author:

Forget all this short, and call, and put stuff. You are young and I am old and I say this with great conviction: buy long now. It’s a great, great time to do it. If the market dips again you should buy long again and stay long a long time. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

Let the bulk of your money work for you like a locomotive. It takes a good while for a long train to stop and the same is true when starting. The train is powerful and will pull you a long way. When it stops again or slows down again and it will, you will still be further along in your journey.

I am not saying that you can't make money in what you are doing but you are working ten times harder than what is necessary. You yourself pointed out how you missed some profits with Bear. Its difficult to short. If you really must do it keep just a small portion of your funds exposed and let the locomotive really do the very big and very hard work for you.

______________________...

A must read it was published today:

"Bear Stearns Bailout Was `Finger in the Dike,' Historians Say
By Elliot Blair Smith" Bloomberg.com

It points out how every single Fed or Treasury intervention has worked going back to 1914. We have one hell of a brilliant system. Never, ever, sell America short.

Buying Bear's HQ

A must read it was published today:

"Bear Stearns Bailout Was `Finger in the Dike,' Historians Say
By Elliot Blair Smith" Bloomberg.com

It points out how every single Fed or Treasury intervention has worked going back to 1914. We have one hell of a brilliant system. Never, ever, sell America short.

Buying Bear's HQ

Like a Russian general pinning another metal to his jacket.

A least if Barry did buy the building he would be putting American dollars back to work in the United States.

It's time to buy America!!!