Another eye opener......

Nine Myths about Socialism in the US

By Bill Quigley

Glenn Beck and other far right multi-millionaires are claiming that the US is hot on the path towards socialism. Part of their claim is that the US is much more generous and supportive of our working and poor people than other countries. People may wish it was so, but it is not.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25187.htm

Sovereign debt crisis at 'boiling point', warns Bank for International Settlements:

Sovereign debt is already starting to cross the danger threshold in the United States, Japan, Britain, and most of Western Europe, threatening to set off a bond crisis at the heart of the global economy.
http://snipurl.com/vew1a

Over Half Of Detroit Homeless Population At Risk Of Dying On City Streets:

The homeless in Detroit face a dire situation. The Detroit Free Press reports, that living on the streets puts more than half of them at risk for dying -- a far greater percentage than in any other American city.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/over-half-of-detroit-home_n_532037.html

In this article it made no mention of the homeless who have lost their homes due to the economy. What are those numbers? And how well will they fare?
No mention because why? Because they are living in their cars and not on the street? Curious.

42nd US bank failure in '10 is South Carolina bank:

Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in South Carolina, marking 42 bank failures in the U.S. so far this year amid mounting loan defaults, especially in commercial real estate.
http://snipurl.com/vew1h

The Inverse Relationship Of The Real Economy And The Stock Market In USA
By Sam Hamod, PH.D.

April 11, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- - Just the other day, a man who has been in business and has also been in commercial real estate said that he was mystified as to why the “economy is in recovery, but we aren’t seeing any evidence of it in business or commercial real estate.” I explained to him that the STOCK MARKET WORKS IN AN INVERSE RELATIONSHIP TO THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR ECONOMY. THE TRUTH IS THAT MOST OF THE TIME WHEN THE STOCK MARKET IS UP, IT IS AT THE EXPENSE OF WORKERS AND THEIR JOBS. IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME, THEN READ ON, PLEASE.

If you watch CNBC and other such channels talking about the economy, they continually talk as if the stock market is the economy; this is phony and as wrong as a $3.00 dollar bill.

What you must really watch, to understand what the REAL ECONOMY is has to do with THE NUMBER OF NEW JOBS BEING CREATED THAT PAY A LIVING WAGE, not the rocketing value of the stock market or the phony “unemployment numbers.” I say they are phony because since Ronald Reagan’s era, if a person was out of work for a selected amount of time, usually 18 months, even if they were looking for a job and were willing to work, THEY WERE NO COUNTED. Thus, today, we have countless thousands who have been out of work for even more than 18 months, but they do not count—THEY ARE NOT EVEN COUNTED AS UNEMPLOYED. Thus, the real unemployment figures are closer to 25% or more, because, in order to inflate the employment numbers, the Reagan people started counting the military in the equation of “employed” as well as anyone working half-time or more; something that had not been done before. Of course, no president since has wanted to tell the truth, so the lies continue.

Now then, you may ask, why do I say there is an inverse relationship between the stock market and the real economy, it’s because CORPORATIONS INCREASE THEIR STOCK VALUE AND ALLEGED PROFITS BY CUTTING BACK ON THE WORK FORCE OR BE OUTSOURCING JOBS, SO THAT THEIR COSTS ARE DOWN; THUS, THEIR STOCK GOES UP ON THE STOCK MARKET CHARTS. Of course, the “commentators, “ who are hustling stocks at all times on CNBC know this, but they will say nary a word about this—instead, they keep saying, “Wow, the market is up, and that shows the economy is recovering.” In fact, I’D SAY, OFTEN WHEN THE PROFITS OF THE CORPORATIONS ARE UP AND THEIR MARKET VALUES ARE UP, AND THE MARKET IS UP, YOU HAD BETTER WATCH OUT BECAUSE THE REAL UNEMPLOYMENT IS RISING.

SO, INSTEAD OF TELLING US WHO MANY “LIVING WAGE JOBS” ARE BEING CREATED, WHICH ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN, THEY KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE “MARKET IS UP” AND ALSO, THAT THE “UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS” ARE DOWN (and of course they are down because so many who are out of work and have been out of work are no longer being counted!)

What we have then is one big scam on top of another, and yet everyday, the networks, the media and the Wall Street Journal keep trumpeting we are in “recovery,” but they never speak of the creation of living wage jobs because those are the jobs and situations that tell you where the REAL ECONOMY is.

Professor Hamod writes about world, cultural, economic and social matters for a variety of journals in the U.S. and overseas. In addition he is a poet with 12 books to his credit. He may be reached at: samhamod2@gmail.com for lectures and readings.

C: PROFESSOR SAM HAMOD, PH.D, April 10,2010

Exactly. About time you figured it out.

A real eye opener for me. I knew I damned sure wasn't a liberal so I figured I must be a conservative even though I didn't agree with alot of their crap either. LOL

Happy to know what I am. Off with their heads. Hahahahaha

Thanks for the info :)
Maybe I'll sit this one out LOL

EW

FCX gapping down

AGU looking good.

ROTFLMFAO and that my freinds is how it's done across the world.

Great article.

A one-day near-1% correction is all we got last week. Markets seemed poised to head lower than they actually did as the S&P 500 futures dropped to 1,171 in Wednesday (4-7-10) night's trading session. Instead of trading down from pivot to support however, the futures rallied back and the S&P 500 Index closed above pivot on Thursday, which means the uptrend remains intact for now.

Volume remains anemic with volume on down-days higher than on up-days. At 16.06, the Volatility Index (VIX) recorded its lowest reading since October 9, 2007 on Tuesday.

Even though the market is extremely overbought, pivot points and percentR point towards slightly higher prices early this week. The S&P 500 should open above the weekly pivot, which is at 1,190. Resistance for the week is at 1,205 and 1,213.

Support levels for the week are 1,187 and 1,173. Resistance for the month continues to be 1,232 while support rests at 1,154, 1,128 and 1,081. It is likely that the S&P will spike above 1,200 before retracing some of its recent gains. Various earnings reports will be released this week. "Buy the rumor, sell the news" might be the theme for this earnings season, as it was in January. Following some early week strength we could see late week selling that spills over into next week with a potential downside target of 1,154.

Bullish sentiment tracked by AAII increased slightly to 42.9%. Bullish sentiment tracked by II edged higher to 48.9%. While both readings are elevated, they are below the January extremes and point towards higher prices, likely later on in April/May.

Where's my leather jacket?

LOL A great analogy Vex.

Yes it is....for people who ordinarily don't think about these things it opens their head up a little. :)

Very. I learned a few years ago that they are rewarding unmarried kids for having babies. Here in Michigan at least, the father is eligible for state medical insurance too if his girlfreind and baby are on the dole.
I had a single working 24 year old female (no baby) ask me if she could pay part of her rent with foodstamps.

I am thoroughly discusted.

A test on your comprehension skills too maybe?

I liked it. Was the first one I've taken though so how can I compare it to anything. LOL
Mostly educational for me......like most dumbed down Americans I didn't know what a libertarian was. When it told me I was one I was pissed and thought the test was fecked up.

And yes, straight up top is where my star landed.

This is a test that requires a while to finish.
There are only 10 mutiple-choice questions but each takes a while to answer.

http://www.nolanchart.com/survey.php

You might find the answer interesting though.



I found out I am a libertarian. LOL Wasn't sure was that was.

Vroom vroom vroom 5-24-48

May be an unpopular point of view, LOL, but to whom?

I am a taxpayer, been a tax payer since I was 16 years old. I have a family on my father's side who has lived on the dole most of their lives and their kids (my cousins) are on the dole too and they are my age. They have no worries about how to pay the bills, they don't have an alarm clock to get them up for work, nor do they wonder if they can afford groceries. It's all taken care of for them.

I always thought I was better off than they were...............now I wonder.

Looks like a nice retracement and the start of consolidation at a higher level. :)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=48581547

Posted by: stuffit Date: Monday, April 05, 2010 5:50:24 AM
In reply to: FoodStamps4stocks who wrote msg# 310756 Post # of 311469

Denninger:Be warned: Language contained in this Ticker may not be suitable for polite company. Tell the kids to go watch cartoons or better yet, toss a football out in the yard.

If you haven't read the original, penned in 2007, it's here.

Here's my 2010 update.

Many of you think that the rally off the lows last March is some indication of a "new bull market" or that "they saved us." Still more look around and see people spending tax refunds and think "oh wow, look at all the pretty iDouches being sold today."

Let me post - once again - my chart from this morning's Ticker.

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

That red line is the REAL GDP in the economy going back to the early 1990s. It is final private demand on a y/o/y basis. You will note that it is in fact down more than 20% from the peak (these are compound annual change rates.)

The reason we have not seen an all-on collapse - yet - is that the government has stepped in and has borrowed and spent a literal $3 trillion over the last two years for the purpose of hiding the insolvency of virtually every bank and a good number of citizens in this nation, along with virtually every pension plan, annuity and other "defined benefit" plan and institution. They also changed the rules of the game regarding asset valuations - that is, they cheated.

This gambit has produced a veneer of recovery.

There was no meaningful recovery from 2003-2007. GDP growth in the private sector never went over 2%. Never. The Federal Government literally borrowed and spent from $500-600 billion every single year from 2003 - 2008, when the banking system essentially collapsed. This "support" allowed the markets to croon on about 5% GDP growth rates (quite healthy) that were in fact false. This, in turn, led to the mis-allocation of credit that resulted in home prices spiking higher as credit was granted to people who had no ability to pay.

That debt, by and large, still exists. Only a tiny fraction of it has been defaulted or paid down, as I cover every single month in the Federal Reserve G.19 (and quarterly Z1) reports.

So now you have "economic recovery", you say? Like hell. You have an economy that is literally bleeding from the femoral artery as the nation's left leg has been severed above the knee by a bunch of homicidal maniacs on both Wall and K Streets. The patient is alive only because they are pumping in blood at a rate that exceeds that which is spraying all over the floor while you're calling the patient "healing"?

BULLSHIT!

The stock market is the economy? Like hell. The fact of the matter is that there are people right now liquidating 401ks, IRAs and money funds. Where the hell is money going? On balance there is a huge hole between reported inflows and outflows in asset classes. An educated guess says it's being spent.

Last time around (2003) the American Consumer had a reasonably decent balance sheet. What blew up in the 2000 crash was tech companies, and while those who were heavily into those firms' stock lost it all most ordinary Americans weren't hurt particularly badly by it. This was decidedly not true this time around; a huge percentage of Americans were snookered into becoming part of the America that "has it all", and got themselves so far into debt that even when their home mortgage is "restructured" with a government handout they still have 60% of their PRE TAX income going to debt service. That's not going to fly and what's worse, if you're underwater on your mortgage you can't just up and sell the house to move somewhere that has better job prospects. You're trapped like a rat in a fucking maze.

This is today's economy:

* 42.8% of the unemployed - more than 6.7 million workers - have been unemployed 27 weeks or longer.

* 425,000 of those workers joined the "27 weeks and over" club last month alone. The average duration of unemployment rose by 2.8 weeks last month alone; may I remind everyone that a month only has 4.5 weeks in it?

* Hourly earnings fell last month. How does consumer spending recover if average hourly earnings are going down?

* The government spent $333 billion more than it taxed in March. That's 28% of GDP - or nearly one in THREE dollars spent in the economy.

If you are investing in this market you are taking a terrible risk. There was much money to be made coming off the 2002 bottom, of course. I was in that market (re-entered in the middle of 2003) and did quite well. It was easy - buy an index and sit.

Back when this rally had just begun, I said that there was a decent chance it could retrace all the way to 1220. This wasn't some sort of wild "out my ass" guess, it was a simple 61.8% retracement of the dive in the S&P 500. A similar move would take the DOW to 11,170 - about where it is now.

The Nasdaq and Russell have already surpassed these benchmarks handily.

So is this the time to buy?

Do you buy something when it's cheap, or when it's expensive?

Is that impulse to buy analysis, is it fear, is it because you're being told you're "stupid" if you don't go all-in by friends and brokers who cold-call you - or is it GREED?

Do you believe the government can run a trillion dollar+ deficit for another nine years?

CBO says they're going to try to, and the CBO is usually low in its estimates on deficits. History says they're going to try to do exactly that - just as they did in the 2000s.

If you believe in the capacity of the government to run a trillion dollar a year or more deficit for the next decade, then you have an argument for the markets recovering to their highs. Just for reference, you still missed 2/3rds of the move, and "getting back to even" just puts you where you were in January of 2008 - when you should have been (and were if you were listening to those of us who got it right in 2007 and early 2008) OUT!

But assuming you weren't, that's what you're chasing now. If you held on the way down and now are clawing for the "get even" point, you're ascending into the rarified atmosphere of government-sanctioned fraud and corruption, praying that it can continue just so you can get back to where you were - not even to make a profit, but just to "get even."

What are the odds folks? Hairdressers getting $500,000 mortgages again? You think so? HELOC's out the Wazoo while all the existing dead ones are still around everyone's neck? Government borrowing a trillion a year from whoever will lend it, all while taxes are going up, health care legislation has been passed, all manner of other cock-and-bull economy-destroying crap is coming (Carbon taxes anyone?) and yet - it will all be ok?

BULLSHIT.

Further, every one of those crooners on the Internet and on CNBS is trying to goad you into buying because they need someone to sell to. Their profits are paper promises that can't be turned into money unless you are a buyer. If those buyers do not materialize their paper profits will be nothing more than a wet dream that leaves them messy and unsatisfied when they wake up.

Their motivation is to get you to buy from them - at the top - so you lose again while they rob you once more.

You want an exact time when it will come apart?

I don't have it.

Neither does anyone else.

I didn't know precisely when it would blow up in the summer of 2007 and I don't this time either. But what I do know is that the math is never wrong and that despite all the bullshit and games eventually the cash flow always wins.

Unlike the 2008 collapse I don't think you're going to get any warning at all this time around. The reason is that the gearing that has been taken on and the bets being placed are several times as large as those of the last time.

The distortions in the economy today, net-on-net, are nearly triple what we saw in 2007.

If 2007 was a pipe bomb in relative terms, this is a jar of nitroglycerine and the guy carrying it both has a bum leg and is walking through a swarm of hornets.

How 'ya like those odds, sucker?

If you want to trade - bull or bear - then have at it. Plenty of money to be made there, if you're quick and nimble.

But if you're investing in this market today then your bet is that the government can borrow and spend a trillion or more beyond tax receipts in perpetuity, that cash flow will never catch up with the banksters, and that none of the nations currently in trouble (such as Greece) will actually default.

That's your wager in a nutshell, and IMHO those trying to get you to either be or stay involved here have motives that have absolutely nothing to do with your financial success.

Down the road don't say you weren't warned - because you just were.

Stealing this for my board. :)

American Debt Threatens Status as World Power:

Can America Still be the World's Greatest Power, as the World's Greatest Borrower?
http://snipurl.com/vcylw

A tale of two photos:

If there is one thing this war has taught us all, it's that we can't believe what we're told.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2838.htm

Greenspan's Testimony:

Two hours of buck-passing

By Mike Whitney

What a shameful, cowardly man. Instead of regret or contrition, all he thinks about is covering his ass.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25181.htm

The Surveillance Regime

Editorial - The Nation

Ever since Barack Obama took office, accountability for rights violations during the "war on terror" has been thin. Victims of wrongful overseas detention, surveillance and torture have received no apology and no reparations.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25176.htm

90% reduction in global population is in the works........

PTSD, Infertility and other Consequences of War

By Bob Nichols

The American war machine has consequences. PTSD is just one of them. The poison gas cannot be contained, undone or recalled. There is no antidote; there is no cure. There is no escape.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25183.htm

Olbermann on Obama's Assassination Program

By Glenn Greenwald

There are many legitimate criticisms voiced about Keith Olbermann, but he deserves substantial credit for his coverage night of a story that is as self-evidently significant as it is under-covered: Barack Obama's assassination program aimed at American citizens.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25174.htm


What is our next prez gonna throw down on us?

In Case You Missed it
The President's Real Goal in Iraq

By JAY BOOKMAN

As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2319.htm

George W. Bush 'Knew Guantánamo Prisoners Were Innocent'

By Tim Reid

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document obtained by The Times.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25173.htm

Heading into Monday, the S&P 500 has gone 28 consecutive sessions without a decline of 1% or more. This has pushed 90% of S&P 500 constituents above their 50-day moving averages.

The Percent R indicator, a relative strength indicator that measures overbought or oversold conditions, has been above 80 (80 = overbought) for 21 consecutive days. The 2001 and 2007 market tops saw the Percent R indicator above 80 for 25 days before reversing sharply. It remains to be seen whether stocks can withstand a correction long enough to match or exceed the 2001 and 2007 80+ Percent R oversold streak.

The percentage of bullish investors tracked by the American Association for Individual Investors (AAII) climbed 8.9% to 41.3% while cash allocation dropped to 18%, the lowest level since December 2009 and July 2000. As a point of reference, cash allocation in March 2009 stood at 45%.

At current prices, stocks (short and long) are a risky proposition as the momentum still points up but the rally is running out of steam. Some follow through buying on Monday is likely. Monday has had a tendency to open strong over the past few months. The spillover effect from the positive unemployment numbers (that's at least how they are perceived) might contribute to another up gap Monday morning.

The pivot point for the S&P 500 for the upcoming week is 1,176. Resistance lies at 1,188 and 1,194. The S&P should find support at 1,170 and 1,159. If the S&P closes above pivot it is likely to trade between pivot and resistance. If the S&P closes below pivot it is likely to trade between support and pivot. A close below pivot would be the first sign of a shallow correction.

Such a correction, would give the market an heir of legitimacy, afterall the market can't go only up. Another rally following this correction should get support from investors in general and lead to more extreme sentiment readings which should coincide with a market top, perhaps between S&P 1,200 and 1,225.

My SPY/TIE puts are dead meat. LMFAO

Thank you Stuffit. I had heard of the term before and wasn't sure how it worked. Wondering now if there is a way to play it. :)

Pacified

By Kathy Kelly

March 30, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- If the U.S. public looked long and hard into a mirror reflecting the civilian atrocities that have occurred in Afghanistan, over the past ten months, we would see ourselves as people who have collaborated with and paid for war crimes committed against innocent civilians who meant us no harm.

Two reporters, Jerome Starkey (the Times UK), and David Lindorff, (Counterpunch), have persistently drawn attention to U.S. war crimes committed in Afghanistan. Makers of the film “Rethinking Afghanistan” have steadily provided updates about the suffering endured by Afghan civilians. Here is a short list of atrocities that have occurred in the months since General McChrystal assumed his post in Afghanistan.

December 26th, 2009: US-led forces, (whether soldiers or “security contractors” (mercenaries) is still uncertain), raided a home in Kunar Province and pulled eight young men out of their beds, handcuffed them, and gunned them down execution-style. The Pentagon initially reported that the victims had been running a bomb factory, although distraught villagers were willing to swear that the victims, youngsters, aged 11 – 18, were just seven normal schoolboys and one shepherd boy. Following courageous reporting by Jerome Starkey, the U.S. military carried out its own investigation and on February 24th, 2010, issued an apology, attesting the boys’ innocence.

February 12, 2010: U.S. and Afghan forces raided a home during a party and killed five people, including a local district attorney, a local police commander two pregnant mothers and a teenaged girl engaged to be married. Neither Commander Dawood, shot in the doorway of his home while pleading for calm waving his badge, nor the teenaged Gulalai, died immediately, but the gunmen refused to allow relatives to take them to the hospital. Instead, they forced them to wait for hours barefoot in the winter cold outside.

Despite crowds of witnesses on the scene, the NATO report insisted that the two pregnant women at the

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25107.htm

You ain't gonna beleive this one.
Make sure you are sitting down. LMFAO

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=48535933

1Best is dead on that they are squeezing longs and shorts alike. And the how and why. LOL

Springtime cleanup FCX HAL and them pennies you don't like LOL. With the market trading sideways like it has I got my butt kicked on my SPY puts. Still holding them though. They make a great hedge on my calls. :)
Happy to see you back.

You back home and ready to roll again? :)