untiringeagle

The Treasury's Pump and Dump Scheme for Bank Stocks

"By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens...There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."---John Maynard Keynes


On Jul 09 06:56 AM apppro wrote:

> I'm sick & tired of all you 'let it all fails' & 'new normals'
> preaching to everyone about what is wrong.
> Where were you all to question how we allowed 'The Shorting of America'
> to proceed with such abandonment that it brought down our entire
> system over 4 weekends.
>
> Just go away already and let the rest of us to pick up the pieces
> to a disaster people like you enabled to happen.

Has Gold Been Manipulated?

Well, I think....ummm.....what was the topic again?

Don't Blame Mark-to-Market for This Crisis

Man, you just don't get it. Those leveraged investments were done so a handful of Wall Street types could take a cut of "money from nothing" and collect a big bonus and then sell it to the next guy who took a cut. And the decline in the stock market is from some of these same guys trading to make the money they lost back. I don't blame the OTC stock holder for being confused by what amounts to a giant con game.


On Mar 12 07:30 AM apppro wrote:

> Those leveraged investments were done so that all the rest rest of
> our piggy selves could buy that 3rd flatscreen or 2nd SUV. We all
> pigged out, but for a few dickheads to destroy those leveraged assests,
> just to come back and buy them back on the cheap - now that is creating
> a false reality.

Don't Blame Mark-to-Market for This Crisis

One root cause is Hedge funds, Investment Banks, Insurance companies, and other speculators who had to sell the best assets (or stocks) that they held in order to cover margin calls on risky, leveraged investments that their computer models showed to be perfectly "reasonable". Now, to cover their "assets" they want to re-write the rules of accounting and physics. Talk about experiencing separate realities!

On Mar 12 06:54 AM apppro wrote:

> No, I don't blame M2M. I BLAME ALL THE SHORT SELLERS WHO RUMORBOARDED,
> NAKED SHORTED, & GANGSHORTED every major company by USE OF manipulated
> prices on various financial instruments (CDO's are just 1) achieved
> by overly exagerated scenarios that caused the collapse of prices
> and exagerated M2M!!
>
> That's who I blame.

World War III: U.S. vs. China?

The Chinese are patient and take the long view of history. For the near term, they need the Western markets but in the long run, as the balance of power shifts, China will project that power more and more. Radical islam and the Middle East is an interim skermish that has already failed. Go to any of the wealthier muslim countries and see how many want to live like the Middle East equivalent of the Amish.

Don't Blame Mark-to-Market for This Crisis

Au contraire mon frer whisperonthewind. Mr Gonzalez' outburst sounds justified to me in the face of the outrageous events that have occurred and continue to occur around us. You should drop your overly sensitive pretensions and join the rapidly growing crowd of blameless people shouting "you [edited]s deal with that yourselves"!

World War III: U.S. vs. China?

Great article and spot on. China has recently greatly increased it's defense budget by double digits and is expanding it's naval capabilities in recognition of the importance of maintaining control of shipping lanes and importance of projecting power to areas of strategic interest. They are also increasing strategic stockpiles of vital commodities like oil and bringing online further storage capacity. Given the enormous energy resources in Central and SW Asia and China's influence and self-interests going back to at least the old Silk Routes one can see a potential conflict over pipeline and distribution routes (google pre-Operation Enduring Freedom efforts by Unocal to negotiate pipleline thru Afghanistan and look at current alt route for NATO resupply thru Central Asia while routes thru Pakistan are temporarily disrupted). Don't be too certain the WWIII won't involve WMDs. This is just the preliminary testing and probing.

Don't Blame Mark-to-Market for This Crisis

Now is the time for all honest men to stand up and be counted. Speak Truth to Power. Spread the truth. Refuse to be part of the scam. If your hard earned tax dollars are being squandered and used in a manner that promotes self-suicide then it becomes our civic duty to change the system. Maybe a movement for a nationwide "tax holiday" is in order. No taxation without (honest) representation.

Dollar Shines in a Depression, While China Buys Metals

Maybe I'm simplistic but it seems that 1)Depression in US would lead to a decrease in the purchase of imported goods which would mean fewer dollars circulating overseas. People overseas then scramble in a flight to safety to accumulate dollars to purchase US Treasuries or assets denominated in dollars like gold or oil. 2) when the Fed begins quantitative easing and buys US Treasuries directly from Dept of Treasury,by controlling the supply released for sale to overseas purchasers, they can ensure a relative shortage of Treasuries for purchase by other countries, thus driving price up and yields down.

Given this scenario one can see how the dollar could continue to strengthen and Treasury prices remain high

Depression Avoided? Not Anymore

Great sense of humor. These will be the kinds of jokes we'll tell each other while sitting around the campfire down by the railroad tracks and waiting for the beans to boil for supper. LOL

Chart of the Week: Four 'Good' Banks

When the banks and Fed won't be transparent as to where the money is going (won't even tell Congress) then it is wise and prudent to "panic" and divest from what is now a blind or speculative investment.


On Mar 08 11:41 AM jasonjim wrote:

> A lot of the fall in value of the four banks mentioned is due to
> panic in the streets by investors who have been convinced by a negative
> media machine that Armageddon is rapidly approaching. The resulting
> panic sales and redemptions have knocked down share values to absolutely
> ridiculous levels. The market is irrational,and as a result the inherent
> value of these 4 banks is also irrational. Only when the market wakes
> up to reality instead of panic will the real value of these companies
> be reflected.

Historical Patterns Predict This Crisis Will Last Through 2025

Cycles are a common subconcious archetype. Yeats believed in overlapping and opposing vortices of time called gyres (see is poem The Second Coming) with intervals of 2000 years. Mark Twain said that history may not repeat...but it sure does rhyme. The next war will be over competition for dwindling resources and most likely with China. Alea iacta est.

Friday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets

Who is John Galt? It's a classical case of irony where Life imitates Art. Greenspan was John Galt hidden in plain sight right in front of everyone. Mild mannered economist to the public and politicos but behind the scenes a broad shouldered Atlas shrugging his shoulders, setting the conditions that would cause the collapse of a corrupt system and the parasites that fed on it. Now, as the system crashes, those capable and creative individuals that were being suffocated by the whining masses and stifled by blood-sucking lobbyists are free to come together and create an new Shangrila hidden from the jealous eyes of the proletariat.

Chapter Two: John Galt meets Mad Max