Missing_Link

The global downturn is over, OECD says (.pdf). "Clear signals of recovery are now visible in all major seven economies."

Oh. Well! I guess that's that then.

Time to buy buy buy.

450,000: pounds of yellowcake uranium left on Lehman Brothers' books from a commodity trade, and more of the Lehman collapse by the numbers.

Good idea, Herbert. Might as well send in the Marines at this point. NYC needs to be cleaned up far worse than New Orleans did after Katrina.

Stock market advisers have become markedly more bearish as the market has essentially flatlined over the past month, suggesting to contrarians that this rally may still have legs.

Ah! But my contrarian analysis of contrarian analysis indicates that contrarians are usually wrong.

Therefore the rally must fail!

But I too am a contrarian ... therefore I must be wrong, and the rally must continue!

But then -- wait ... hold on a sec ...

Michael Moore declares all-out war on capitalism with the debut of his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, in Venice today. It's clear the time has never been riper for an anti-capitalist rant; what's less clear is whether horrified movie-goers will be aroused to revolt, or return home to watch the cat-flushing-a-toilet video.

The real pity is that there WAS so much foul play going on, and there IS so much that needs to be done to fix it, and Michael Moore's idiotic rant is only going to distract people from that.

Michael Moore declares all-out war on capitalism with the debut of his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, in Venice today. It's clear the time has never been riper for an anti-capitalist rant; what's less clear is whether horrified movie-goers will be aroused to revolt, or return home to watch the cat-flushing-a-toilet video.

What a flaming idiot. As usual, Michael Moore completely misunderstands the problem and recommends a vague and unworkable solution as a panacea.

How long before we follow Shanghai off the cliff?

I don't see any reason why we'd need to follow Shanghai off the cliff.

In fact, I think there's a good chance we'll hang-glide for a while as Shanghai falls, for the simple reason that our market is obviously being manipulated.

And frankly, Shanghai's probably is, too, in the other direction. The China stock market bubble since March was far too big to be a natural phenomenon.

Citigroup (C -1.7%) has been testing $5 after March lows near $1, WSJ MarketBeat notes, and pushing through that barrier could make it easier for institutional investors to buy - or make it a lot easier to short. Things could get volatile.

Well, which is it? Make up your mind already.

Closing Update for Tuesday, August 25: Dow Makes It Six Straight Gains

On Aug 25 04:55 PM David White wrote:

> Dr. Kris observed that the VIX had a rather dramatic candlestick
> hammer pattern for today on its daily chart.

Candlestick patterns are even more bogus. When we get to interpreting candlestick patterns on the VIX, we're way off in tea leaves and goat entrails territory.

Seriously, look at the VIX.

www.traderslog.com/sto...=$VIX&data=W

You're trying to tell me that even though the VIX has been dropping steadily since February, the appearance of a magical candlestick hammer means the VIX *might* go up soon, and the "soon" might be tomorrow, and that *might* have a negative effect on the markets?

That's a whole long list of "mights" and "maybes" based on an unproven indicator of an unproven indicator.

Closing Update for Tuesday, August 25: Dow Makes It Six Straight Gains

On Aug 25 07:59 PM David White wrote:

> Missing_Link: The VIX works to some extent. It is not fool proof,
> but it does generally seem to work opposite the major market indices
> (not always). If you use a combination of indices, you can increase
> your chances of being correct.

You can say that for any indicator. Where is the evidence that the VIX works any better than chance? And I do mean EVIDENCE, not just you saying it's good.

Closing Update for Tuesday, August 25: Dow Makes It Six Straight Gains

VIX is an irrelevant indicator and does not move opposite the market nearly as often as claimed.

I dare you to do actual backtesting on the VIX and prove that you can get a positive result with any trading algorithm that uses it.

China's Growth an Accounting 'Miracle'

> The rule of law is a nascent concept in China.

Vitaliy, here you have it exactly wrong. The rule of law is very strong in China, and has been since Mao Zedong. What China lacks is freedom, democracy, free speech, and any sort of substantial cultural diversity.

Caution Warranted Despite Full Spectrum of Bullish Indicators Worldwide

On Aug 09 12:34 PM mineralt wrote:

> I don't understand why people insist on trying to make sense of the
> market, as if the economy and the stock market move in tandem. We
> have a nice bull market for four years, and it was due to the fake
> economy of HELOC purchases that blew up. In the 90's, we had a nice
> bull market due to overvalued internet companies that could never
> make money.
>
> There is no relation, IMHO, between the Dow and reality. We are in
> for a terrible ten years, and the Dow, S&P or Nasdaq will go
> up and down, irrespective of the reality.


Words of wisdom. All the hot air of the economy and its relation to the market is only there to fool investors and make regulators forget that Wall Street is playing a game with Americans' 401(k) plans.

Consumerism is eating the future: "Globalism and consumerism have succeeded in banishing moderation and sanctifying greed, thereby liberating Homo economicus from any moral or ethical constraints on consumption."

On Aug 09 04:20 PM shrike wrote:

> This article is right on.
>
> Population always expands until it exhausts its food supply or until
> its environment is compromised. There has been at least 3 mass extinctions
> in earth's history.
>
> "When" is the only question.


I don't suppose you ignorant shit-wits happen to have noticed that:

-There's this amazing thing called "technology" that dramatically expands the number of people that can be supported on the planet each time it advances.

-The earth is not a petri dish, but part of a universe the human race can eventually expand into. The gap between earth and space is for us what the Atlantic Ocean was for Columbus -- a significant challenge, not an insurmountable obstacle.


I am not a fan of the idea of unrestrained population growth, but the kind of infantile "OMG we will eventually run out of resources" argument in this article is just asinine.

Consumerism is eating the future: "Globalism and consumerism have succeeded in banishing moderation and sanctifying greed, thereby liberating Homo economicus from any moral or ethical constraints on consumption."

On Aug 09 04:24 PM User 283977 wrote:

> I wonder how many people read this comment because of its use of
> the word Hippopotamus in its title?


/facepalm

Consumerism is eating the future: "Globalism and consumerism have succeeded in banishing moderation and sanctifying greed, thereby liberating Homo economicus from any moral or ethical constraints on consumption."

On Aug 09 02:31 PM Niner wrote:

> I agree with everything you said (rick flair) except the wing. It
> sounds right wing to me. Kinda like something R Limbaugh would say.


I take it you've never actually listened to Limbaugh?

He's about as far as you get from the kind of let's - turn - all - the - lights - off - and - go - live - in - the - woods kind of pantywaist anti - establishment thinking that this author seems to embrace.