jbde

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

Don't get me started on GS [so I will not]

The facts are:
There is plenty of oil production now
Iraq is about to come online in a big way with oilfield upgrades
There is record oil in storage
There is oil being 'parked' in barges

The results will be:
Price will correct when the commodity bubble bursts
After dropping into the 20's prices will recover to $50-60
All production costs [except oil sands] will be covered by this range
Oil producers will make a profit but cannot get price back up
[with margins cut, there will be quota cheating]

Why:
We are enterring a period of rampant defalation
Every commodity, finished good and trinket will be sold for cash

Blankfein Defends Goldman, Is Flippant with Facts

Goldman Sachs provides no worthwhile purpose.
They make nothing, they help nobody.

They trade for themselves with government money.
Ask yourself - for every $ profit they make, who did they TAKE it from?
It's simply a transfer of wealth TO THEM.

Banks should not be permitted to trade for their OWN accounts.

Plain and simple.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo Stocking Up on Liquidity

The large banks are preparing for the day of reckoning [wrecking]. They are hording liquidity because they know what is about to happen. They are hiding the losses and when they are forced to mark to market [by liquidating housing and commercial assets], the losses will pour.

Confidence in the banks will wane to zero and we will see bank runs. Expect the government to test its new 'not too big to fail' rules by breaking up Citi. BofA can avoid this by spinning MER off.

We are in a period of deflation that will start to spiral downward. There are no more piggybanks for consumers; and when you have to by oil or gas to heat your house, you will sell anything you can for whatever you can get.

Instead of giving 'stimulus' money to municipalities, the money should have been spent on creating jobs to old fashion way - work programs! Bridges, roads, grid, solar, nukes, wind. How many urban planners do you need writing reports? Get rid of the waste. The bloated positions added over the boom years need to go - instead they keep them and axe the teachers.

Five Reasons the Market Could Crash This Fall

The obvious problems with the banks have already happened. Now for the shockers - OREO's [other real estate owned] cannot be held forever as the upkeep [cutting the grass] and taxes [real estate] begin to take their toll. The banks 'hope' prices will recover, but the opposite is happening - prices are still falling and the assets are wasting [no warm bodies and propery climate control can deteriorate a house in a year as vermin and bugs take up residency]. And anyone who believes the commercial RE is not going to be a problem because everyone knows about it, is not living in the real world. Try to rollover a loan with a property needing repairs, half the tennants and the restdemanding lower rents - good luck.

BANKS SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO TRADE - GS will eventually get it's hat handed to it - calls for probes are mounting - the money they 'make' is stealing from society. Hiding behind 'providing liquidty' is total BS and disrupts markets.

The Smoking Gun of the Credit Crisis: FICO

And now FICO's are the problem. Everyone is now on the 'tightening of lending rules' bandwagon. Thus lenders immediately limit the market of buyers.
Second, as more and more people have problems, the avergae scores are dropping.
At some point creditors [sellers] will have to lower credit standards or the markets for houses, cars, white-goods and furniture will continue to shrink. Of course they can lower prices. Not just offer lower priced options, but lower prices on the same item - costs are dropping.

And what about the car pirces? House prices come down, commodity prices come down - even food us dropping as shipping costs are lower.

But not those car prices. Discounting is not lowering. When someone actually lowers prices on an established model instead of giving rebates, they will set the new trend as telling it like it is. Peopl will flock to the truth-teller.

As for US legacy employment costs, the unions have caused a wage bubble - no forklift operator should be getting $103K. No person who attaches part A to part B should be getting a 73K package.

There is only one solution - you have to get rid of the union contracts and BR is the only way.
The government then has to do two things - guarantee car warrantees and underwrite the mortgages of the autoworkers who have bought based on their inflated wages and will require mortgage assistance,

This is the cheapest way out! Otherwise, they come back to the trough.

The Hedge Fund of America, LP

The plan will buy assets in clearly defined tranches by permitting the holders to offer selling prices [reverse auction]. This means the first sale, where say $50B will be bought, will attract those who most need to raise cash - WB for example. The first $50B of the best prices are taken in for cash. The next tranches will probably yield a higher price for the sellers as the more toxic stuff will go first, but those who missed the boat the first round may again push prices down since there will still be some desparate sellers.

Such wholesale sales are great for the buyer, and this buyer has deep pockets. You will almost immediately see hedge funds wanting to get in on the action as the prices move up in successive auctions. Watch some stuff be sold immedaitely after purchase in some cases as the smart money will realize that the next sale will be at higher prices.

Thus the $700B credit line revolves and more than $700B in stuff can be moved from the banking system to other hands - hands other than the government as well.

The tax payers will win and win big as only the government can lend borrow at graet long term rates and hold for long term. The FED is the lender of last result, but the government is the buyer of last result.