Germany Leading ...

in putting the financial markets back to reality. Germany acted alone, why ? I'd guess they are sick and tired of the platitudes and theoretical baloney bantered about in London and the US at the behest of hedge funds and the Street, mostly by people getting paid by, or in the pocket of those same parties.

FT: "... The euro fell to a fresh four-year low overnight as traders were spooked by news that Germany was banning ‘naked’ short-selling – selling securities such as shares and bonds that are not owned or borrowed – of some banks’ stocks and bonds. This provided a deadly compound for the market to swallow ... "

Oh woe !!! Traders can't sell shares they don't own or haven't borrowed.

!NOT! IT'S ABOUT BLEEPING TIME THIS FRAUD WAS STOPPED ABSOLUTELY 100%.

Thank you, Germany, for showing some reason and leadership.

And "Germany is also prohibiting investors from buying credit-default swaps on sovereign debt unless they own the underlying bonds. "

GOOD !!! That ban should be worldwide and apply to all credit default swaps.

SEC

How STUPID is the SEC ? Their report on the "flash crash" say ETFs got hit hardest. Why ? That's because the market makers can do naked shorts on ETFs. So when e-minis go down a lot, the market makers who might not be able to do naked shorts on stocks in the S&P 500, can do them on ETFs. So they dumped them.

Ban ALL naked shorts by ANYONE, including market makers.

Elections

The sleazy politician, Arlen Specter, was defeated. Excellent !

Richard Blumenthal, the current Connecticut Attorney General and a candidate for the US Senate, lied about serving in Vietnam. That is a particularly despicable lie and proves he is a knave. We don't need more knaves in the US Senate.

Actions

Krypto is salivating, awaiting a chance to buy more stocks at good prices. But having feasted last Friday, she will wait at least one week. One must diversify over time, too.

Word of the Day

"Bricole" - noun [$100]; - verb [$1000] obsolete, rare.
"Bricolage" - noun [$100] from bricole.
Bricole means (noun) 1. (from Billiards) a shot in which the cue ball strikes a cushion after touching the object ball and before hitting the carom ball; 2. an indirect action or unexpected stroke; 3. an ancient military engine or catapult for throwing stones or bolts; (verb) to cause to rebound, to pass a ball, toss it sideways.
Bricolage means a pattern or collection of the bricoles or the results of bricoles.
Sentence: (A) (from "How to Live: A Life of Montaigne" by Sarah Bakewell, p 242) "In the city, as with his book, he [Montaigne] thought creative bricolage and imperfection preferable to sterile orderliness, and took pleasure in contemplating the result." (B) The bricole that Germany provided last evening to financial markets overnight - by imposing a ban on naked short selling of government debt and putting some restriction on some credit default swaps - is causing some volatiliy this morning.