skopros

The Unsustainable Lie of Inflation

Geobbels was a copy-cat; as is attribution of Big Lie to Hitler.

original Big Liar was VI Lenin, of course.

U.S. Pension Nightmare Has Begun

in reply to did u think's blare, yeah, i made the first 2 political contributions in 40 years to ron paul, knowing full well that he hadn't a chance. I worked in NYC media for 30 years. the fix was in from the beginning. ron paul's great deficit is he tends to tell the unpopular truth--rarely a vote-getter and NEVER a way to curry favor among the MSM or DC pols.

sad but true, we are marching to Zimbabwe's fate--and it'll turn into a kind of death march too. and look out for repealed posse comitatus if you try to protest in any way that cuts ice.

where is all the anger and anxiety going? where's is all this mental/emotional energy going? we could run cities on the energy expended in the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

truly a dilemma--which actually means: no solution.

The Worst Case Scenario (Someone Has to Say It)

am astonished at volume of feedback on this article but Ican attest to one market that clearly reflects some of Jake's doomsday scenario fear, however rational or irrational: the handgun ammo market. It's just flying off the shelves and even dealers at gun shows are gouging customers on marked-up sales. like it or not, fear stalks the nation on back-street if not Main Street.

Seeing Through Bank of America's Earnings; Ousting Ken Lewis

totally agree w dcb. these guys are still fixated on hiking their pay checks. the worst. but the blackmail is of the wink-wink variety, sub rosa deals between the bankers and the bankers-in-power now. whatta world archie.

Note to Nassim Taleb: You Can't Kill Off Black Swans

we don't need more right answers, or more-or-less-right-ans... or more observations about what went wrong or who's doing what wrongly...we need some actual, institutional method/vehicle/legal tool for making the right things happen, for getting the Fed crowd off their crack, stopping the banksters from pricing up the lousy assets on the backs of taxpayers.

voting doesn't do it. complaining (in numbers) hardly makes a dent. tea parties may be a start but Americans have no recourse from the momentum of bad ideas and bad policy coming from the seat of government.

so maybe Taleb's "right"--what good does it do other than assuage some feelings of angst and impotence? maybe the traders making money are the only people who are indulging in the Realpolitik of these economic times. more power to them.

PPIP Gaming Potential in a Nutshell

excellent article by JW Keller in April 6 2009 Barron's (p. 41), "How Not to Price Toxic Bonds," pointing out how "shadow banking system" which "evolved over 20 years and imploded in just six months" is busted and Geithner's PPIP ignores reality to inflate assets and reward big players. He concurs w rortybomb's sharp, witty observations; Keller's well worth reading as companion piece.

is there any way to STOP these crooks??

PPIP Watch: Banks as Bidders and Sellers...Hmm, Remember Enron?

i wish we could get mad and discover some sort of constructive outlet for that anger, some way to actually influence a corrupt congress, a corrupt circle of corporate and bankster raiders and plunderers. i'm fully aware that name-calling means nothing, or venting rage, or hand-wrining about the unfariness of it all is almost useless. the problem is no institutional or community means for really affecting change or reform exist on adrastic enough scale to make a difference. all the rancor and indignation just gets absorbed and diffused into the system's ether.

we need a revolution but there's no repository of energy and action sufficient to change direction of the current flow of events. if we tried drying up the money, depriving Washington and Wall Street of the money to keep the plunder going, they just collude and create more money.

big dilemma (which actually means, no solution, I think)! wish i could suggest a plan, a program or a magnet to attract and amalgamate all this negative energy!? it's really what we need as a people being shorn of our wealth, or power and our national health.

Stick with Gold and the Oil Stocks

couldn't agree with you more. all the bi-partisan hand-wringing in the world, all the finger-pointing and tsk-tsking, all the righteous indignation may simulate "sound and fury" but signifies--means--noth... the only way to stop the carnage, the waste, the plunder, the nation- and empire-building madness and the sell-out of US citizens is to dry up the funds, deny them the money...tax revolt or tax "evasion" will put you in prison but, sadly, it's the only way to starve the crooks in Washington/Wall Street and their corporate lobby cronies. taxpayer money fuels the broken system and no free-loader in power really wants to seal the cracks.

Book Market Enters Era of Ubiquity

oops....forgot a query: who thinks a P2P market/"file sharing"/download circuit will appear (or are the downloaded kindle2 "books" completely copy protected?).

Book Market Enters Era of Ubiquity

i had one in my hand this weekend and used to read books (hard copy) for a living as a critic. something about the technology, cute and clever as it is, distracts, though it sure beats lugging around a really heavy tome, which for my old hands get harder and harder to handle. agree there's an I-phone gee-whiz attraction but i felt no compelling need to switch (esp. at that price). maybe i'm spoiled: i used to get review copies gratis. i think it'll be a novelty and maybe a status symbol but won't displace hard copy books. as to its green-ness--looks like a helluva lot of petrochemical feedstock and electrical nasties go into its creation. like ethanol from corn...

newspapers aren't going obsolete because of form but because they're full of mis- or disinformation and can;t afford their traditional mission--being there, ferreting out the truth and telling it in print.

10 Reasons Why We Still Haven't Hit Bottom

alas, no bottom yet...i'm with you, esp. on #s 4, 7 & 8.

my question is: what happens to all this volcanic negative emotion the sheeple are feeling? it's looking for someplace to go--like lightning looking for ground. spmebody gave me some recent issues of vanity fair magazine and mike schnayerson's articles are a sorry but lucid indictment of the criminal cooperation between congress and banksters.

Rating the Top 12 U.S. Banks - From Hidden Gems to Zombies

Martin--i admire and follow your work here and at prudent bear, but i wonder how JPM comes out so strongly in your estimate when in a recent OCC report, it heads the list in table after table of credit risk due to notional derivative values ($175 plus Trillion total for top 25 banks).

it's total exposure seems to be some $87.6 Trillion.

Granted, not all the value falls to zero but isn't this a really worrying level of exposure to derivative risk?

Tough Times for ETF and ETN Providers

one burning question seems to me is: are the depositories of assets backing ETFs or ETNs a safe bet, when banks seem to creaking and cracking on the edge of a precipice. Is there any danger of a Barclays or JPM going over the edge--and taking the supposed underlying assets with them. it's an argument (or query) similar to rumors that funds such as GLD don't really have the physical gold to back their liabilities to shareholders if something blows up.

i'm finding it hard to get any real answers...maye i'm not asking the right questions. advice appreciated.

All Big U.S. Banks May Need More Aid in Severe Scenario

this is not a direct subject-related question, but does anyone have a handle on the relative safety--or danger-- of JPM viability, esp. the London branch, as depository for the Proshares currency funds recently mentioned as possible risk in Merkel's excellent SA blog?

Wld appreciate any guidance.

The Hidden Credit Risk in Currency Funds

David--useful info; i came late to it...is the risk to FXF, FXY, FXA, etc., that whatever underlying "value" resides in JMP London is at jeopardy if JMP goes down. Am I reading correctly--that U.S. claims take precedence over UK claims in UK branch of US bank?

And can we know if those actual swiss francs, or yen or kiwis are actually deposited somewhere at JPM, rather than leased or optioned or "lent" out like gold often seems to be.

Martin Weiss recently claimed that JMP was more leveraged (to 400%) on risky "assets" than either Citi and BAC. Does this square with what you know?

Many thanks for your insightful articles and commentary.