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.3120x.3320
With oil breaking down below $50 BBL I don't see gold going to $900 oz anytime soon. But when the rest of the world realizes we are broke and still printing more and more worthless paper there will be a decoupling like we haven't seen before I suspect. Maybe they need to decouple oil from the dollar for stabilty, but that would surely cause us pain.
Greenspan, Cox: Not Too Big to Flail
by: Joseph Shaefer October 24, 2008
Joseph L. Shaefer
Alan Greenspan, in his testimony to Congress yesterday, professed to be in "a state of shocked disbelief" that putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse resulted in fewer chickens and fewer eggs, golden or otherwise. Greenspan actually said he still believes that the "self-interest" of banks and other financial firms is the best protection against malfeasance!
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said – with a straight face -- "We have learned that voluntary regulation does not work." Whoever “we” is, “we” is slow learners. The “fox in the hen-house” fable was written over 2500 years ago. Guess they didn’t teach folk wisdom at Harvard.
While these are the only two who were flailing before Congress yesterday, they shouldn’t be. The former CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS) should be there, too. Oh, wait, he can’t be. He’s now the Treasury Secretary responsible for selecting the foxes! Well, then, let’s drag the other Wall Street CEOs and the big regional and multi-national bank CEOs in. Tell ‘em to bring their dark pool and algorithm-loving heads of their trading desks as well. (For more on dark pools and algorithm trading and their destructive influence on the investing of our life savings by actual human beings, see my article, Program Trading, Dark Pools and Gold.)
John Kenneth Galbraith, writing on the Great Depression, pointed out the foibles or trusting Wall Street to regulate themselves:
This took a variety of forms, of which by far the most common was the organization of corporations to hold stock in yet other corporations, which in turn held stock in yet other corporations. During 1929 one investment house, Goldman, Sachs & Company, organized and sold nearly a billion dollars’ worth of securities in three interconnected investment trusts—Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation; Shenandoah Corporation; and Blue Ridge Corporation. All eventually depreciated virtually to nothing.
The Glass-Stegall Act was a well-conceived response to shenanigans like those from Goldman Sachs, above. It created a Chinese Wall between stock brokerage (dressed up with the fancy phrase “investment banking” to give it a better cachet) and commercial banking. As a US Supreme Court opinion held in 1971, it did its job well:
Congress was concerned that commercial banks ...had both aggravated and been damaged by stock market decline partly because of their direct and indirect involvement in the trading and ownership of speculative securities. Congress also...repeatedly focused on the...hazards that arise when a commercial bank goes beyond the business of acting as fiduciary... and enters the investment banking business either directly or by establishing an affiliate to hold and sell particular investments.
So who did away with the Chinese Wall of safety that Glass-Stegall provided for two-thirds of a century? Republican Phil Gramm was the primary sponsor of the bill but almost every legislator voted in favor and then-President Clinton was only too happy to sign it. Within a month of the abolition of Glass-Stegall, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, became Sandy Weill’s top lieutenant at Citigroup (C), the bank that led the charge into using depositors’ money to speculate on sub-prime mortgages, algorithmic trading, and six-sigma derivatives.
Weill spent $100 million of Citigroup’s earnings in just one year to lobby for the destruction of Glass-Stegall. One company. One year. He still proudly displays the pen President Clinton used on his wall. Some people collect animal heads. Weill has trophy pens. And recently, Goldman’s current boss noted, “We’ve come full circle, because this is exactly what the Rothschilds or J. P. Morgan, the banker were doing in their heyday. What caused an aberration was the Glass Stegall Act.”
The head of the biggest stockbrokerage – now a commercial bank, so they can accept depositors’ funds and get government protection against losses – describes Glass-Stegall as “an aberration.”
It was not an aberration. It was an essential safeguard protecting America’s hard-working people. So was the uptick rule, also tossed away just last year. So were trading collars, most of which were tossed aside last year.
Then came the advent of naked short selling. Not for you and me, you understand. Mere mortals would find themselves in felony court for doing this. But big-spending campaign contributors prove yet again that we have the best politicians money can buy as they were given carte blanche to sell short more shares of a given company than there are shares of that company. Then there is program trading which I would allow only on days when the market moved less than 250 points, but today run unopposed to take a market up 300 points in a day, and down 500 in less than two minutes.
What can you do to protect yourself? Demand reinstatement of Glass-Stegall or vote out the legislator who won’t reinstate it. Demand the reinstatement of the uptick rule. Demand the abolition of naked shorting. Demand the resumption of effective trading collars. Demand that limits be placed on computer-to-computer program trading. Revel in the flailing of those who did this to you. Revenge may be a dish best eaten cold but, what the heck, it’s cold.
Finally, buy yourself some of the fallen angels that this lunacy has created. Even with Wall Street’s greed and stupidity, a well-run company selling a desirable product is still a going business, no matter what the current stock price shows. Value will out over the intermediate term. Buy some gold, too. It’s the only money governments can’t print more of.
Greenspan, Cox: Not Too Big to Flail
by: Joseph Shaefer October 24, 2008
Joseph L. Shaefer
Alan Greenspan, in his testimony to Congress yesterday, professed to be in "a state of shocked disbelief" that putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse resulted in fewer chickens and fewer eggs, golden or otherwise. Greenspan actually said he still believes that the "self-interest" of banks and other financial firms is the best protection against malfeasance!
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said – with a straight face -- "We have learned that voluntary regulation does not work." Whoever “we” is, “we” is slow learners. The “fox in the hen-house” fable was written over 2500 years ago. Guess they didn’t teach folk wisdom at Harvard.
While these are the only two who were flailing before Congress yesterday, they shouldn’t be. The former CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS) should be there, too. Oh, wait, he can’t be. He’s now the Treasury Secretary responsible for selecting the foxes! Well, then, let’s drag the other Wall Street CEOs and the big regional and multi-national bank CEOs in. Tell ‘em to bring their dark pool and algorithm-loving heads of their trading desks as well. (For more on dark pools and algorithm trading and their destructive influence on the investing of our life savings by actual human beings, see my article, Program Trading, Dark Pools and Gold.)
John Kenneth Galbraith, writing on the Great Depression, pointed out the foibles or trusting Wall Street to regulate themselves:
This took a variety of forms, of which by far the most common was the organization of corporations to hold stock in yet other corporations, which in turn held stock in yet other corporations. During 1929 one investment house, Goldman, Sachs & Company, organized and sold nearly a billion dollars’ worth of securities in three interconnected investment trusts—Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation; Shenandoah Corporation; and Blue Ridge Corporation. All eventually depreciated virtually to nothing.
The Glass-Stegall Act was a well-conceived response to shenanigans like those from Goldman Sachs, above. It created a Chinese Wall between stock brokerage (dressed up with the fancy phrase “investment banking” to give it a better cachet) and commercial banking. As a US Supreme Court opinion held in 1971, it did its job well:
Congress was concerned that commercial banks ...had both aggravated and been damaged by stock market decline partly because of their direct and indirect involvement in the trading and ownership of speculative securities. Congress also...repeatedly focused on the...hazards that arise when a commercial bank goes beyond the business of acting as fiduciary... and enters the investment banking business either directly or by establishing an affiliate to hold and sell particular investments.
So who did away with the Chinese Wall of safety that Glass-Stegall provided for two-thirds of a century? Republican Phil Gramm was the primary sponsor of the bill but almost every legislator voted in favor and then-President Clinton was only too happy to sign it. Within a month of the abolition of Glass-Stegall, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, became Sandy Weill’s top lieutenant at Citigroup (C), the bank that led the charge into using depositors’ money to speculate on sub-prime mortgages, algorithmic trading, and six-sigma derivatives.
Weill spent $100 million of Citigroup’s earnings in just one year to lobby for the destruction of Glass-Stegall. One company. One year. He still proudly displays the pen President Clinton used on his wall. Some people collect animal heads. Weill has trophy pens. And recently, Goldman’s current boss noted, “We’ve come full circle, because this is exactly what the Rothschilds or J. P. Morgan, the banker were doing in their heyday. What caused an aberration was the Glass Stegall Act.”
The head of the biggest stockbrokerage – now a commercial bank, so they can accept depositors’ funds and get government protection against losses – describes Glass-Stegall as “an aberration.”
It was not an aberration. It was an essential safeguard protecting America’s hard-working people. So was the uptick rule, also tossed away just last year. So were trading collars, most of which were tossed aside last year.
Then came the advent of naked short selling. Not for you and me, you understand. Mere mortals would find themselves in felony court for doing this. But big-spending campaign contributors prove yet again that we have the best politicians money can buy as they were given carte blanche to sell short more shares of a given company than there are shares of that company. Then there is program trading which I would allow only on days when the market moved less than 250 points, but today run unopposed to take a market up 300 points in a day, and down 500 in less than two minutes.
What can you do to protect yourself? Demand reinstatement of Glass-Stegall or vote out the legislator who won’t reinstate it. Demand the reinstatement of the uptick rule. Demand the abolition of naked shorting. Demand the resumption of effective trading collars. Demand that limits be placed on computer-to-computer program trading. Revel in the flailing of those who did this to you. Revenge may be a dish best eaten cold but, what the heck, it’s cold.
Finally, buy yourself some of the fallen angels that this lunacy has created. Even with Wall Street’s greed and stupidity, a well-run company selling a desirable product is still a going business, no matter what the current stock price shows. Value will out over the intermediate term. Buy some gold, too. It’s the only money governments can’t print more of.
Some of my favorite fallen angels and gold companies include:
Anglo American (AAUK), the big platinum, diamond, coal, iron, steel and gold firm, at less than $10.
Keppel Corp (KPELY) the Singaporean giant that is the world’s leading builder of jackup drilling rigs for deep-water exploration, one of the biggest infrastructure firms in Asia, and a leading developer of residential townships in China. It sells for less than $6.
Penn Virginia Resources (PVR) and Natural Resource Partners (NRP), two coal-royalty firms now yielding more than 10% and providing solid cash flow. (Less than $15 and $22, respectively.) And, for gold,
Goldcorp (GG), one of the best-managed, lowest-cost gold miners in the world. Less than $16.
Anglogold Ashanti (AU), which has a large forward hedge in gold but, with the current pullback, ample opportunity to reduce that hedge. Less than $15.
never mind
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson
DD or Due Diligence invoves reading 8k (quarterly filings), 10k (annual filings), and any other filings like S8s which shows new shares issued in private placements to be aware of or a change in priciples or directors, PRs (press releases), their websites etc
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson
Hat Trick Beverages (HKBV) Announces Completion Italian Manufacturing Deal
Monday October 13, 6:56 am ET
TORONTO, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - www.hattrickdrinks.com PINKSHEETS: HKBV.PK is pleased to announce the company has executed and finalized the agreement with Drop Coffee SLR (Drop) an Italian coffee manufacturer to begin utilizing Drops existing infrastructure.
Mr.Sender Vaiser Chairman and CEO of Hat Trick Beverages. said: "We are very pleased with this transaction. We can see ourselves completely utilizing our own manufacturing plant for both of our hot and cold drink divisions. The savings could be substantial. In addition this also gives us the ability to have control over our own destiny versus having to rely on 3rd party suppliers. We intend to release further info on this exciting deal including posting pictures of the infrastructure shortly"
The issuer expects to be in a position to begin its own development and the new business direction as a manufacturer of hot and cold machines versus being a reseller as it is now.
For corporate matters contact: corporate@hattrickdrinks.com
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain forward information contained in this release contains forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties, including but not limited to, those relating to development and expansion activities, domestic and global conditions, and market competition.
CONTACT: For corporate matters contact: corporate@hattrickdrinks.com
From Vanscan board
Best Quotes of September 2008
(Something here for all... check out Ted Butler!!!)
By John A. Rubino
Oct 1 2008 4:13PM
http://www.dollarcollapse.com
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Rubino/oct012008.html
Ty Andros, Tedbits
The greatest transfer of wealth from those that store their wealth in paper to those that don't is unfolding. ALL markets will have to price in the reality that the G7 in general and the financial and banking industries in particular (there are exceptions to this) are INSOLVENT. Rather than default through the normal process they will default through the printing press.
Ted Butler, Investment Rarities
This week I received an e-mail from a Swiss money manager, a friend and trusted source. He informed me that a very large and conservative Swiss bank had informed a number of their clients that they would no longer be offered paper gold or silver certificates in the bank’s name. It seems the bank had previously granted the accounts because it was able to protect itself against an upside move with a derivatives contract with another financial institution. Due to the financial turmoil, the bank was no longer comfortable with the counterparty risk from the other financial institution. Instead, the Swiss bank informed its clients, all paper transactions had to be converted to physical or physical ETF positions (There are Swiss ETFs for gold and silver). My friend informed me that other Swiss banks were likely to follow this bank’s lead.
In essence, the banks that issued such certificates were short the metal, and taking an enormous risk in the event of a sharp price rise. Because they had been issued for decades, the cumulative amount of the short position in silver amounted to, perhaps, billions of ounces. This was a short position separate and distinct from the massive COMEX short position.
That the large and conservative Swiss bank is seeking to reduce or eliminate its short exposure to silver at this time makes sense. The bank has seen that silver prices can move sharply higher and that counterparty guarantees can vanish in an instant. It is sensible and practical that it would take such actions now, after silver prices moved sharply lower.
The resultant move by former paper owners of silver into real metal is destined to put additional pressure on the existing supplies of metal. It is hard to imagine a more critical time for this to occur than now. Every indication is one of tightness in the physical silver supply. The potential creation of a brand new source of silver physical demand could be profound.
Richard Daughty, the Mogambo Guru
I can tell you EXACTLY what is going to happen 'after taking all relevant factors into account', because what is going to happen is the same thing that ALWAYS happens when an idiot government starts creating, or allows to be created, excess money and credit, which is that the money in question will expand and expand, and end up with zero purchasing power while gold, when priced in a currency that has no purchasing power, soars to infinite levels when priced in that currency, and that is what has always happened, anyway, and that is why I am 100% sure, dead-bang sure, no-doubt-about-it sure, can't-miss sure that it will happen again! Betting with gold against a fiat currency in the hands of politicians is the biggest no-brainer on the planet! Whee! This investing stuff is easy!
John Embry, Sprott Asset Management
I don’t understand why the majors aren't acquiring because I've never seen anything like the discrepancy in value between the big cap stocks and the small stuff. Many interesting smaller companies are trading for a song; whereas, Agnico-Eagle and Goldcorp and Kinross are aggressively valued.
The Gold Report: Some of the juniors have lost 80%.
John Embry: If you had told me we'd see this kind of carnage in the juniors while gold was still north of $800, I would have said impossible. One of the reasons is that investors are giving up and gold funds, ours included, are under redemption pressure. This creates forced selling with insufficient buying and that leads to the most depressed prices since this cycle began in 2000.
TGR: How long can this go on?
JE: I don’t know but I’ve got some that actually are selling below the cash on their balance sheets.
Ambrose Evans-Prichard, Telegraph UK
An entire generation of American policy-makers - Clinton, Bush, Rubin, Greenspan, and the Congressional leadership of both parties - has come perilously close to ruining a great nation. The creation of the credit bubble was one of the most disgraceful episodes of economic government in western history.
Nothing can justify it. There is no parallel to the Spain of Phillip II, who ruined his empire to pursue the religious cause of Counter-Reformation, or to the bankruptcy of the British Empire combating fascism. It occurred because America abandoned all restraint and gave license to consumer hedonism.
Antal Fekete, Gold Standard University
The role of gold in the monetary system is anchored in the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers were no fools. They knew exactly what they were talking about when they insisted on a blanket denial of power for the government to monetize its own debt, or any debt for that matter. They knew perfectly well that a metallic monetary standard is the only effective prophylactic that can deny that power. The fact that the U.S. government never considered proposing an amendment to the Constitution to legalize fiat money is a telltale. Policy-makers could not muster the necessary moral courage to face counter-arguments in an open debate. Irredeemable currency has no integrity: the issuer is given privileges with no countervailing responsibilities. He is granted unlimited power in a republic based on the principle of limited and enumerated powers. The principle of checks and balances is thrown to the winds. These features are all alien to the spirit of the Constitution, not just to its letter.
James Grant, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer
Which failing financial institution will the administration pluck from the flames of crisis? Which will it let roast? Which market, or investment technique, will the regulators bless? Which — in a capricious change of the rules — will it condemn or outlaw? Just how shall the Treasury secretary spend the $700 billion he’s begging for? Viewed from Wall Street, the administration’s recent actions appear erratic enough. Seen from the perch of a foreign investor, they must look very much like “political risk,” a phrase we Americans usually associate with so-called emerging markets, not with our own very developed one.
Kurt Kasun, Greenfaucet
We are now on the brink of a collapse in confidence that brings the whole world financial system to its knees. Each market intervening action is becoming more extraordinary. The rallies which pull the suckers in following the intervening actions are becoming more brief and less powerful. I expect this one to be no different. This sequence has now become a broken record. Markets threaten to take out technical support levels and the government comes to the rescue. Armageddon is avoided until another day and a relief rally ensues on the belief that the government has fixed the problem and a new bull market can begin. After all, this is how investors have been conditioned over the last three decades.
I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves for the next debacle. Ed Sullivan would say “we are in for a really big show.” They better think up something fast because they are up against a multi-decade extended market that is now headed down after just having reached a major double top.
Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation
Instead of rounding up the escaped felons from their Wall Street dens and re-imposing law and order, Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been running to the scenes of the crimes committed by the escapees to attend to the wounded and cart off the dead. All fine and noble, but in their ill-considered attempts to help they are creating anarchy. They are making various state capitalist precedents which have no pattern or direction but will open us up to the depredations of every business lobby and special-interest group. Soon Paulson and company are going to have to deal with a desperate automobile industry pleading for a $25 billion loan. Once upon a time the car companies were too big to fail. They are now so shrunken they are merely too important to fail. When they get their money, another chaotic step into state capitalism will have been taken.
France has operated under a form of state capitalism since before its revolution. It is carried out with a modicum of planning and self-discipline. When the French state invests in a company, it has a plausible rationale for what it is doing. The United States has none. Without realizing it, we are ripping holes in our free-market system and filling them with a jumble of ineffectual expedients. The Freddie and Fannie takeover will not take care of our problems. It will not hold back the night.
Eric Janszen, iTulip
Politicians forget that a short seller is a buyer albeit at a lower price. Take him away and in a market panic there are no buyers at all. A market can in theory then fall to zero. You've been warned.
At this point in the race between the disinflationary impact of recession and debt deflation and the inflationary impact of moving all manner of worthless assets onto the Fed’s and Federal Government’s balance sheets, disinflation may be winning. At some point before the zero bound is reached, never mind the point of actual deflation (negative inflation rate such as -2%), if the US experience is like any other net debtor's in history a currency accident will occur as global financial markets realize that the US position as a safe haven relative to its trade partners has reversed. A rapid, self-reinforcing process of capital flight and dollar depreciation will begin.
Ron Paul, Texas Congressman
Can sound money give you financial security? There is something very comforting in knowing that what you earn today will retain its purchasing power in the years to come. Indeed, the same silver dime that bought a loaf of bread in the 1960's can still buy a loaf of bread with its precious metal content - which is worth about $1.00 today. An ounce of gold has always been about evenly exchangeable for a finely tailored men's suit, which these days is roughly $800. And in these days of fluctuating gas prices, when priced in gold, oil has been stable. Meanwhile, since the creation of the Federal Reserve, the fiat dollar has lost 94% of its purchasing power. The erosion of purchasing power rapidly accelerated when it was completely uncoupled from gold in 1971. This sort of fluctuation in the medium of exchange creates a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace and necessitates that you either take extraordinary defensive maneuvers, or face financial ruin.
The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess! There goes your country.
Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley
"The American consumer is toast, done, finished."
Nouriel Roubini, RGE Monitor
The US has performed the greatest nationalization in the history of humanity. By nationalizing Fannie and Freddie the US has increased its public assets by almost $6 trillion and has increased its public debt/liabilities by another $6 trillion. The US has also turned itself into the largest government-owned hedge fund in the world: by injecting a likely $200 billion of capital into Fannie and Freddie and taking on almost $6 trillion of liabilities of such GSEs the US has also undertaken the biggest and most levered LBO (“leveraged buy-out”) in human history that has a debt to equity ratio of 30 ($6,000 billion of debt against $200 billion of equity).
So Comrades Bush, Paulson and Bernanke (as originally nicknamed by Willem Buiter) have now turned the USA into the USSRA (the United Socialist State Republic of America). Socialism is indeed alive and well in America; but this is socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street. A socialism where profits are privatized and losses are socialized with the US tax-payer being charged the bill of $300 billion.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., LewRockwell.com
Let us address this claim that not bailing out the system, and not nationalizing the mortgage market, would lead to a financial meltdown on the level of the Great Depression. It makes no sense to warn that we will repeat the past if we fail to do the things that actually made the past as bad as it was. The truth is exactly the opposite: to avoid another Depression-length downturn, we need to avoid the mistakes of the past, among which were the policies that attempted to keep failing firms and industries afloat in difficult economic times.
What should have happened in 1929 is precisely what should happen now. The government should completely remove itself from the course of action and let the market reevaluate resource values. That means bankruptcies, yes. That means bank closures, yes. But these are part of the capitalistic system. They are part of the free-market economy. What is regrettable is not the readjustment process, but that the process was ever made necessary by the preceding interventions.
Richard Russell, Dow Theory Letter
Question --Russell, would you talk a bit more about your preference for gold coins in one's possession vs. GLD, which you term "paper gold" and SLV, which you call "paper silver."
Answer -- Yes, as I see it the authorities are doing whatever they want. I'm more inclined to hold actual gold coins. The SEC now disallows shorting in 799 financial equities, an amazing turn of events. Now with central banks all over the world releasing vast quantities of fiat money, it's entirely possible that gold will embark on a major rise. If this happens, it will throw suspicion on all fiat currency which is the last thing the central banks want. Under these conditions, it would not surprise me for the Fed and the SEC to halt all trading in gold, and the easiest place to monitor such an edict would be GLD. In 1933 the government ordered in all gold held by the US population. I can't see that happening, but I can see all trading halted. This would throw gold into the black market and make it very difficult to price or sell your gold. In France, people are forbidden to take any gold out of the country. Remember, gold is the enemy of fiat paper, and in that there is a story. Rising gold throws suspicion on ALL fiat and central bank issued currency.
Peter Schiff, EuroPacific Capital
Of course the biggest collateral damage caused by Paulson’s bazooka is the large hole ripped through the already tattered U.S. Constitution. If the government can do this, does anyone believe there is anything it cannot do? In effect the Federal government now has absolute power to corrupt absolutely.
…While it is dizzying to predict how this plan will be implemented, it is fairly simple to foresee the macroeconomic consequences. The U.S. dollar will be shattered beyond repair. The government simply has no means to make good on the trillions of new liabilities. Interestingly, while both Paulson and President Bush acknowledge that the plan will put “significant amounts of taxpayer dollars on the line,” they did not mention any tax increases. Given the politics, no such move is forthcoming. The printing press is their only solution.
Mike Shedlock, Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis
Paulson: "If you have a bazooka in your pocket, and people know you have a bazooka, you may never have to take it out."
Mish: "It seems to me Paulson took out his bazooka, fired it, and shot Fannie Mae in the arse. After Fannie Mae blew sky high, Paulson was adamant not to fire another shot."
Martin Weiss, Money and Markets
Yes, the Fed can inject hundreds of billions into the banking system. But if banks don't lend, the money goes nowhere. Sure, the Treasury can inject up to $200 billion of capital into Fannie and Freddie. But if their mortgage portfolio is full of holes, all that new capital goes down the drain. And of course, the U.S. government has vast resources. But if the $49 trillion mountain of U.S. debts and the $180 trillion pile-up of U.S. derivatives are beginning to crumble, all those resources don't amount to more than a band-aid and a prayer.
Christopher Whalen, Institutional Risk Analyst
The demise of the GSEs and now the monoline investment banks, those dealers not affiliated with a commercial bank, may be considered the appetizer and soup courses of this dismal meal.
By telling Americans that their deposits were insured by the federal government, Washington desensitized generations of Americans to risk from bank failures. Now that risk is apparent and menacing to many Americans with deposits above the $100,000 FDIC insurance cap, as reflected by the user traffic on the IRA web site. Not only have we seen the search requests on our site over the past six months shift from large, publicly traded banks to smaller private banks, but the volume of search requests on our demonstration tools has risen five-fold and continues to rise. We interpret the changes in traffic patterns on the IRA web site as growing evidence of a slowly but steadily building retail bank panic. Older Americans particularly are running scared, pulling funds out of still solvent and safe institutions for fear of losing their retirement nest eggs.
* The novelist George Eliot once said that "it is never too late to become what you might have been." That quote inspires me to seek those investments in the future that I didn't in the past.
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I talked to John a week or so ago and he said Doug would be in SL till Christmas
SPOT MARKET IS OPEN
closes in 7 hrs. 50 mins.
Oct 06, 2008 09:25 NY Time
Bid/Ask 866.20 - 867.20
Low/High 822.60 - 867.80
Change +31.40 +3.76%
30daychg +63.30 +7.88%
1yearchg +124.90 +16.85%
Since we are trading on the greys with no PRs, whats the point of constantly posting every daily fluctuation in the price of oil? Every day I check my boardmarks and see there are posts on this thread and I come to see 70% are useless posts on the momentary price of oil. Being on the greys limits our trading and has nothing to do with the price of oil. Wish more posts were about CHAG so that I don't waste my time being reminded how little the stock price has to do with the daily oil quote. Nothing personnal, just tired of seeing 8 posts available and hoping that it is something different, but not so. By the way, I have been in this for over 6 months and am just aggravated enough about the situation to say something now. Everyone here is aware of the price of oil, or should be.
I tried to buy with order in before the market open @.0043 and no fill....pissed at Eturd...asked for trade inquiry just to give them grief
Any news this am as I see 250K traded at .0042 with bid ask @ .0041 x .0043?
What happened?
Posted by: kumqwatt Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:59:38 PM
>> > I'm against bailing out AIG and other financial
> >> firms;
> >> > I'm in favor of
> >> > giving the $85,000,000,000 to America in a
> We Deserve It Dividend.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > To make the math simple, let's assume there are
> >> > 200,000,000 bona fide U.S. Citizens 18+.
> >> >
> >> > Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every
> >> man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at
> >> adults 18 and up..
> >> >
> >> > So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that
> >> > equals $425,000.
> >> >
> >> > My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
> >> >
> >> > We Deserve It Dividend.
> >> >
> >> > Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
> >> >
> >> > So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.
> >> >
> >> > Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
> >> >
> >> > That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
> >> >
> >> > But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in
> >> their pocket.
> >> >
> >> > A husband and wife have $595,000.00.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in
> >> your family?
> >> >
> >> > Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
> >> >
> >> > Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
> >> >
> >> > Put away money for college - it'll be there
> >> >
> >> > Save in a bank - create money to loan to
> >> entrepreneurs.
> >> >
> >> > Buy a new car - create jobs
> >> >
> >> > Invest in the market - capital drives growth
> >> >
> >> > Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health
> >> care improvements
> >> >
> >> > Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+
> >> including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every
> >> other
> >> > company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving
> in our Armed Forces.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's
> >> really do it...instead of trickling out >> > a puny $1000.00 ( "vote
> >> buy" ) economic
> >> incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for
> >> President.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > If we're going to d o an $85 billion bailout,
> >> let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
> >> >
> >> > As for AIG - liquidate it.
> >> >
> >> > Sell off its parts.
> >> >
> >> > Let American General go back to being American
> >> General.
> >> >
> >> > Sell off the real estate.
> >> >
> >> > Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and
> >> clean
> >> > it up.
> >> >
> >> > Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG
> >> doesn't.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never
> >> work."
> >> >
> >> > How do you spell Economic Boom?
> >> >
> >> > I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use
> >> the $85 Billion.
> >> >
> >> > We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at
> >> AIG or in Washington DC .
> >> >
> >> > And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5
> >> Billion
> >> > because
> >> > $25.5 Billion is returned
> >> > instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my
> >> chest.
>
>
> >> >
> >> > Again, the money is coming from somewhere and going
> >> > somewhere anyway.
> >> > What is the fallacy?
> >> >
>
>
>
removed my bid...hope it comes back down some, but not going to chase
I also have been chasing this am, currently at .0575. Tried all day yesterday at .04 and no fill
With Bear Sterns, Lehman, Merril Lynch, Morgan Stanley, investor departments at Wachovia, JP Morgan and other large banks laying off broker dealers, I think it will take some time to find those naked shorts and admit or deliver the stocks. Seems like the DTC has been a failure and has always done the bidding of the security companies and hedge funds and needs a complete house cleaning. I guess some laid off brokers will tell whoever asks about their transactions
hey, I don't work here anymore...you figure it out
Before this new rule, the previous fail to delivers were grandfathered in. Hopefully they will get this mess straightened out, but I think the DTC will be overwhemed for at least a month
With Bear Sterns, Lehman, Merril Lynch, Morgan Stanley, investor departments at Wachovia, JP Morgan and other large banks laying off broker dealers, I think it will take some time to find those naked shorts and admit or deliver the stocks. Seems like the DTC has been a failure and has always done the bidding of the security companies and hedge funds and needs a complete house cleaning. I guess some laid off brokers will tell whoever asks about their transactions
hey, I don't work here anymore...you figure it out
Before this new rule, the previous fail to delivers were grandfathered in. Hopefully they will get this mess straightened out, but I think the DTC will be overwhemed for at least a month
I hope the chain store allows for seasonality. Last year HKBV's sales were really down in the winter months as it is more of a hot weather drink. This trial period of january may help our sales numbers, but it may cut both ways if sales don't go as expected and we don't get to continue stocking the stores. Our sales for Jan- March of last year were not good due to seasonality
Ken Heebner of the CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX) has just come out with a public game changing move for his portfolio. On a CNBC interview with Erin Burnett, Heenber was asked about his positions in two key stocks in the oil sector as Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras. Heebner said that because of the slowing changes in the emerging growth markets and the recent bad news out of China and India slowing down, HE HAS CUT COMMODITY STOCKS DOWN TO UNDER 10% OF THE PORTFOLIO. This is a major change.
My prayers are with Pat. I called my cousin from NW Houston tonight, who is now upstate, and he said 80% of Houston without power and Galveston is in worse shape.
I went to Millsaps College in Jackson, MS where the New Orleans Saints now hold there training camp. It was Millsaps against Trinity game where there were like 15 laterals.Enjoy!
Priceless Olympic moments
David Stocker in SEC trouble again
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20681.htm
OT but interesting email I received
THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL !!!!!!!
HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?
This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.
I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government."
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
"From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years"
"During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage"
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA as we know it in fewer than five years.
WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE,
ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE
REMEMBER: "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE
Saw this on the ADNY board and has a nice writeup on DPDW
http://www.qualitystocks.net/newsletter/newsletter.html
Too late for me on not buying DNR c option and only $250 at risk, but thought a near 10% drop too much. Thats why I did not buy 25s in the money, rather the Aug 30s.
thanks for the reply, we will see
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson
Anyone like DNR here down $2.50 to $25.97. earnings due tommorrow and one of T Boone Pickens largest holdings. Picked up 10 Aug 30 c @ .25 for a bounce hopefully
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson
Denbury Resources (DNR), one of T Boone Pickens largest and favorite, is falling off a cliff with earnings due tomorrow. Largest CO2 supplier east of the MS. Bought some DNRHF @ .25 for a bounce. It hasn't been this low in quite awhile.
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson
nice movement on TARM
another PR
Press Release Source: Hat Trick Beverages, Inc.
Hat Trick Beverages (HKBV) Adds Additional Sales Force
Monday August 4, 9:24 am ET
TORONTO, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - www.hattrickdrinks.com, PINKSHEETS: HKBV.PK is pleased to announce and welcome 2 new Executive Vice Presidents (EVP) to Tango Cafe (Operating subsidiary of Hat Trick). Both Steve Malatesta and Martin Charney will be based and operating from the issuers Toronto Canada home office. Their duties will include sales and business developments of the import - export division and direct sales of the hot and cold beverage units.
Mr.Sender Vaiser CEO of Hat Trick said "We continue to up ramp our sales force and our expansions, plans on the retail level and franchising level are well under way".
Contact:
new filing on pinksheets
about Italian coffe maker becoming our marketing director
http://www.pinksheets.com/otciq/ajax/showFinancialReportById.pdf?id=16392
Be sure to watch these videos in the order listed, very touching stuff....
This little girl is only 6. Check it out. Enjoy
Clip 1: http://www.tagtele.com/videos/voir/7383/1/ Try Outs.
http://www.tagtele.com/videos/voir/7440/1/ finals
Clip 2: http://www.tagtele.com/videos/voir/19214/1/ Connie the Recording Star.
As long as everyone is posting their option plays, bought some G EOY 22.50 Aug CQZY HX
Hat Trick Beverages (HKBV) Launches California and Ontario Logistics Centre
Thursday July 24, 9:30 am ET
TORONTO, July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - www.hattrickdrinks.com, PINKSHEETS: HKBV.PK. The issuer is pleased to announce that it has launched a Southern California Logistics Centre. The Warehouse facilities are approximately 3500 square feet. The company intends to use the logistics centre for distribution of its cold drinks in the south west area together with the soon to be announced USA launch of its hot drink division of Tango Cafe and the franchising opportunity throughout North America. The company also sees the centre as a spring board towards its entry into the China and Asian markets.
In other corporate updates, the company has recently opened up a show room facility in Toronto, Canada and a logistics centre in Ontario for its North East operations, where it commenced a beta launch program of its services in Canada only. The issuer intends to launch in the USA shortly however, as there are different franchising laws that apply to USA residents of each state, the issuer is in the process of completing its filings before commencing its launch into the USA. The company expects its filing to be completed shortly.
Contact:
Hellzhub, your tune never changes. Very tiring. Just maybe it takes some time to straighten out the mess. I personally see progress. For the weary, there is a new filing on Pink sheets. Page 9 is interesting. Looks to me at least, that the company is trying to get caught up to move up one tier on Pink sheets
http://www.pinksheets.com/otciq/ajax/showFinancialReportById.pdf?id=16326
I don't subscribe to this merger report but found the headlines intersting
Toxic Terms Could Cripple Fundraisings
Registration Requirements and Warrant Overhang Make for Unattractive Follow-ons
Reverse merger companies are particularly hungry for capital these days, but that cash is being offered at increasingly tough terms that could make it difficult to entice investors in future financings.
As little as a year ago, a company could offer straight discounted common shares with low warrant coverage and less stringent, even delayed registration requirements. Now the money will likely come as convertible debt, with high interest, full warrant coverage and with harsh penalties for delayed registration, according to several investors and attorneys. Full Story
Keating Getting Out of Reverse Merger Business
In a stark about-face, one of the more prominent players in the financed reverse merger market is getting out. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Keating Investments won't be sponsoring reverse mergers going forward and will focus it efforts on minority investments in private companies, which it will then take public through self-filed registration statements. Full Story
I totally agree with this peice!
Posted by: lootie Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:53:24 PM
In reply to: None Post # of 4941
The Federal Reserve.
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/BIGGESTSCAMINHISTORY.HTML
MWM Mining Corp, our JV partner that was formerly Columbia Metals has update on their website for the Lluvia de Oro Mine
http://nwmcorp.ca/
It amazes and disappoints me that they are at $.13 and we are out of wack at $.19
Not sure why, but there is a new filing on Pink Sheets about 3 Swordsmen Milk Co. If it's a joint venture and not a merger, why have their business plan posted?
http://www.pinksheets.com/otciq/ajax/showFinancialReportById.pdf?id=16174
My picks are my own and many times wrong, generally looking 3-6 months out
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' ........
Thomas Jefferson