AndrewBaker

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

The "them and us" is becoming more obvious by the day. Markets are rising on hot air and statements from politicians and business leaders that are very economical with the truth, to say the least and best. Those actually investing in stocks in these markets now, which will not be those same politicians and business leaders - who are selling their stakes, as we know - will lose heavily when real values finally assert themselves, whilst our great leaders are pocketing the cash now and feathering their own nests. Perhaps they are also the ones investing in other countries' stocks and also buying commodities, because they know that the cash will be no good once they've destroyed the dollar and caused rampant inflation, which after a short period of deflation, will rise like the Zimbabwean dollar from the ashes to make the rest of us poor, having made wealthy our masters who will claim to have done so well. Third world no longer describes it properly: fourth world corruption is here and now radiating out from Washington.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Again we see the banks and financials with problems, and these are only the glossed-up versions: there is so much more bad news as yet undisclosed. But what is happening is that we are being lied to about how well things are looking so that we bid up their stock prices to even more ridiculous levels. Goldman Sachs, and people previously with them, want us to believe it's getting better: well, it is for them, as they rake in even more cash; but for you and me, it's going to be a long hard road, and we are not even far from the start even now.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

I hope CALPERS wins big damages. The rating agencies put big bucks ahead of veracity when they gave these SIV the high ratings they did. There were those within the companies concerned who were concerned about the viability and strength of these vehicles given a worsening credit environment, but they were ignored by others with more power and far greedier for the profits and bonuses they would get.

The failures of these SIV have now worked through to the real economy causing home and job losses, uncertainty about both for those still with homes and jobs, and substantial falls in savings and worth for all but the most profligate and indebted.

The government's answer of printing yet more worthless money and trying to inflate away the debt problem will only cause us even more financial loss, and many years of yet more hard work to get back to where we were before this recession/depression began courtesy of, initially, the banks' greed in constructing and selling flawed SIV.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Truth is, no-one knows how we're doing. The IMF is predicting big losses ahead and the need for nationalization of banks and financials in certain situations, yet Geithner says the banks have enough money. Mortgage loans are supposedly on the up, but more people are losing their homes. Will we have a viable auto industry going forward? People are not spending so much, showing they feel poorer and everyone agrees jobs are being lost; so where are these green shoots we keep hearing about from various commentators? Until we get some real meaningful financial numbers, the yo-yo of the markets caused by not being able to make up their minds whether to go down or up, will continue.