Barry (aka Obama) has brought forth a new wave a blather and bloviation to pander to his base, viz. unions, the hard left and government workers.
His vaunted "jobs" plan was touted to a joint session of Congress as something big, but it turned out simply to be a plan to tax the private sector to fund public sector jobs. And the taxes were permanent, while the "jobs" were temporary. Short term thinking, thy name is Barry.
He comes out with a new tax on 'Millionaires" - I wonder what his definition for that is? Don't we already have a minimum tax that forces them to pay? Would his tax get to big mouth Warren Buffet's billions? I doubt it, unless he goes after the charitable deduction for them.
He already has some rather large tax increases coming in 2013 from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the new taxes for his health care boondoggle.
Does he want to cut spending? Nope. Are any government departments or even sub-departments headed for the dust bin? Nope. Will government "workers" get a pay cut? Nope.
Barry is in campaign mode. He's done his polling. Now he's doing the one thing he knows how to do - talk. Blather. Bloviate. Blab.
When one reads the news stories about his "plans", we find no details. For example, the Buffet "Millionaires Tax". Here is the gist of it: (WSJ) "On the Buffett Rule, for example, the president is likely to stop short of saying what the minimum tax rate should be for millionaires or how much money the new policy would raise." In other words, it's just a talking point now.
Why bother listening to him any more?
Actions
None. The past few weeks have been much ado about nothing.
Word of the Day
"Pronate" - verb [$10]
Pronate means to rotate the hand and forearm so the palm faces backward or downward.
Sentence: To indicate the judgment on Barry's plan, pronate your right hand and extend its thumb. Yes, that's a fancy way to say, "give it thumbs down".
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Obama and the Hogs
What a disgrace!
To solve the problems of the economy, Obama decides to ask ... the CEO hog corps. That's vomitous! They are part of the problem. They grind down and fire thousands of common man & woman employees, and then pay themselves millions upon millions for doing just that.
They move plants to Mexico, China, India, etc. and then re-import the products tariff-free. The profits? They leave overseas in tax havens. And then, of course, they pay themselves more and more for gutting the US domestic economy.
They lobby for more immigrant visas, yet use their low pay to hold down wages of US engineers, etc. More students would go into engineering in college IF the pay and job security was better. Yet those very immigrant visas help make pay and job security worse. The "solution" for an engineering shortage makes the problem WORSE. Of course, it makes corporate profits and CEO pay higher.
Big corporate CEOs and the entire executive suite of these corporations are cluster hogs at the trough. They just can't get enough, yet are always doing something to grind down the common man, and lobby for more laws and ways to do it.
Obama wants their help ... huh? For what?
My guess ... for campaign contributions for 2012. And to co-opt them onto his team. Maybe to signal to them he wants what they want. More power for the Ruling Class. Heck, that big tax benefit he proposes to give them 100% deduction for new equipment is anti-worker, but helps the CEOs grab more pay.
They are all part of the problem. These "solutions" to the nation's economic problems, devised in DC and by the Ruling Class, are all subterfuges to give themselves more income & power. Don't trust any "solution" unless it has real input by persons from the outside - outside of DC and the Ruling Class.
Grrr. And of course the media sycophants cheer that passel of hogs as they devise more ways to slurp down everything.
Actions
Bought some more municipal bonds yesterday; got about 5.25% yield to maturity on some bonds offered at 92, rated AA. Good deal. We'll keep nibbling ... with patience.
Word of the Day
"Groat" - noun [$10] a T. S. Eliot word
Groat means 1. a silver coin worth four old pence; 2. (archaic) a small sum (don't care a groat).
Groats (noun, plural) means hulled or crushed grain, esp. oats.
Sentence: The meeting of Obama and the CEOs won't produce a groat of help for the common man.
To solve the problems of the economy, Obama decides to ask ... the CEO hog corps. That's vomitous! They are part of the problem. They grind down and fire thousands of common man & woman employees, and then pay themselves millions upon millions for doing just that.
They move plants to Mexico, China, India, etc. and then re-import the products tariff-free. The profits? They leave overseas in tax havens. And then, of course, they pay themselves more and more for gutting the US domestic economy.
They lobby for more immigrant visas, yet use their low pay to hold down wages of US engineers, etc. More students would go into engineering in college IF the pay and job security was better. Yet those very immigrant visas help make pay and job security worse. The "solution" for an engineering shortage makes the problem WORSE. Of course, it makes corporate profits and CEO pay higher.
Big corporate CEOs and the entire executive suite of these corporations are cluster hogs at the trough. They just can't get enough, yet are always doing something to grind down the common man, and lobby for more laws and ways to do it.
Obama wants their help ... huh? For what?
My guess ... for campaign contributions for 2012. And to co-opt them onto his team. Maybe to signal to them he wants what they want. More power for the Ruling Class. Heck, that big tax benefit he proposes to give them 100% deduction for new equipment is anti-worker, but helps the CEOs grab more pay.
They are all part of the problem. These "solutions" to the nation's economic problems, devised in DC and by the Ruling Class, are all subterfuges to give themselves more income & power. Don't trust any "solution" unless it has real input by persons from the outside - outside of DC and the Ruling Class.
Grrr. And of course the media sycophants cheer that passel of hogs as they devise more ways to slurp down everything.
Actions
Bought some more municipal bonds yesterday; got about 5.25% yield to maturity on some bonds offered at 92, rated AA. Good deal. We'll keep nibbling ... with patience.
Word of the Day
"Groat" - noun [$10] a T. S. Eliot word
Groat means 1. a silver coin worth four old pence; 2. (archaic) a small sum (don't care a groat).
Groats (noun, plural) means hulled or crushed grain, esp. oats.
Sentence: The meeting of Obama and the CEOs won't produce a groat of help for the common man.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Obama's Values
The announcement of Barry's picks for the Medal of Freedom, which is America's highest civilian honor, are enlightening. Here we go:
Warren Buffet - a multi-billionaire. He's done zero for the American common man.
George H. W. Bush (aka Bush I) - he led the repeal of the Reagan Revolution, raised taxes, presided over the 1990 recession, and failed to complete the job in the first Gulf War, leaving a festering mess.
Angela Merkel - the chancellor of Germany. Huh?
John H. Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, an anti-freedom greenie group that wants to impose crypto-greenie fascism on all common people.
Bill Russell, the basketball player for the Boston Celtics.
Stan Musial, the baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Gerda Weissman Klein, a Holocaust survivor. A naturalized citizen, she recently founded Citizenship Counts, an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship. Klein has spoken to audiences of all ages and faith around the world about the value of freedom and has dedicated her life to promoting tolerance and understanding among all people.
Maya Angelou, a writer-poet.
Jasper Johns, a painter.
Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist.
Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland. The "Kennedy" names says it all.
John J. Sweeney, labor leader (& bigtime Obama-Dem supporter).
Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. As an eight-year-old, her parents attempted to enroll Mendez in an all-white school in their community, but were denied entry at and were told to go to the school for Mexican children. Her father and other parents sued and prevailed.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the first lunch-counter sit-in in 1959 and the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965, where he was beaten.
Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan. .
I suppose I'll be criticized for being harsh, but of that list I see only three persons who truly deserve that medal, which is supposed to be the civilian equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Their names are in bold. The others don't. I put some info in italics regarding ones that I see as undeserving. They are so incongruous* to the concept of a Medal of Freedom that the awards are ridiculous.
Barry continues to devalue American values. Can anyone now not realize that he simply does not like the common American man and woman nor their way of life or core values?
*Word of the Day
"Incongruous" - adjective [$10]
Incongruous means 1. not harmonious: incompatible; 2. not conforming; 3. inconsistent within itself; 4. lacking propriety.
Sentence: see * above.
Warren Buffet - a multi-billionaire. He's done zero for the American common man.
George H. W. Bush (aka Bush I) - he led the repeal of the Reagan Revolution, raised taxes, presided over the 1990 recession, and failed to complete the job in the first Gulf War, leaving a festering mess.
Angela Merkel - the chancellor of Germany. Huh?
John H. Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, an anti-freedom greenie group that wants to impose crypto-greenie fascism on all common people.
Bill Russell, the basketball player for the Boston Celtics.
Stan Musial, the baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Gerda Weissman Klein, a Holocaust survivor. A naturalized citizen, she recently founded Citizenship Counts, an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship. Klein has spoken to audiences of all ages and faith around the world about the value of freedom and has dedicated her life to promoting tolerance and understanding among all people.
Maya Angelou, a writer-poet.
Jasper Johns, a painter.
Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist.
Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland. The "Kennedy" names says it all.
John J. Sweeney, labor leader (& bigtime Obama-Dem supporter).
Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. As an eight-year-old, her parents attempted to enroll Mendez in an all-white school in their community, but were denied entry at and were told to go to the school for Mexican children. Her father and other parents sued and prevailed.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the first lunch-counter sit-in in 1959 and the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965, where he was beaten.
Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan. .
I suppose I'll be criticized for being harsh, but of that list I see only three persons who truly deserve that medal, which is supposed to be the civilian equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Their names are in bold. The others don't. I put some info in italics regarding ones that I see as undeserving. They are so incongruous* to the concept of a Medal of Freedom that the awards are ridiculous.
Barry continues to devalue American values. Can anyone now not realize that he simply does not like the common American man and woman nor their way of life or core values?
*Word of the Day
"Incongruous" - adjective [$10]
Incongruous means 1. not harmonious: incompatible; 2. not conforming; 3. inconsistent within itself; 4. lacking propriety.
Sentence: see * above.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A Poem about P-O-R
Yesterday I beat up on modern poets. Today I publish one that I wrote for a lark yesterday; it's sort of a retort to imagined comments from poets angry with me, saying, "you're so smart, Bman, can you write a poem that meets some of your criteria for a true poem". I did it as you'll see below, expanding a metaphor that I've thought fits the attitude of modern liberals for decades.
The P-O-R Three, the Man and the Cow
O Nancy of pearls and wine and brie,
O’bama of wind and blath’r and scowl,
O Ried of des’rt and city of glee,
When you see Man of prosper’ty,
We know your mind’s eye does see
A cow dropping to its knee.
You will tax and tax,
To the max and max,
As a leech does a bleed,
As the vampire does feed,
You fix leechs more and more
To those men as cow’s herd of your,
To feed the hogs of your trough,
Until the cows all fall to rough.
Then with feigned grace all you three
Will scrape some leaches from backs
‘til said cows - Men - stand and be,
Slaves again to feed you tax.
***End of Poem***
Actions
Waiting. Still riding that Brontosaurus, looking for the next water hole. I think the model will give some sell orders if the S&P 500 nears 1200. Krypto is far outperforming the S&P 500 and most beefers managers. Good doggie ... here's a bonus biscuit.
Word of the Day
"Fie" - interjection [$10] archaic
Fie expresses 1. disgust, shame or a pretense of outraged propriety; 2. distaste or shock.
A Poem about P-O-R
Fie!
You lie!
The P-O-R Three, the Man and the Cow
O Nancy of pearls and wine and brie,
O’bama of wind and blath’r and scowl,
O Ried of des’rt and city of glee,
When you see Man of prosper’ty,
We know your mind’s eye does see
A cow dropping to its knee.
You will tax and tax,
To the max and max,
As a leech does a bleed,
As the vampire does feed,
You fix leechs more and more
To those men as cow’s herd of your,
To feed the hogs of your trough,
Until the cows all fall to rough.
Then with feigned grace all you three
Will scrape some leaches from backs
‘til said cows - Men - stand and be,
Slaves again to feed you tax.
***End of Poem***
Actions
Waiting. Still riding that Brontosaurus, looking for the next water hole. I think the model will give some sell orders if the S&P 500 nears 1200. Krypto is far outperforming the S&P 500 and most beefers managers. Good doggie ... here's a bonus biscuit.
Word of the Day
"Fie" - interjection [$10] archaic
Fie expresses 1. disgust, shame or a pretense of outraged propriety; 2. distaste or shock.
A Poem about P-O-R
Fie!
You lie!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
More Blather from the Bloviator
La Grande Bouche ... The Bloviator in Chief ...
speaks again ... and again ... and again.
Does he think ? Nope.
On Labor Day he comes out with some more ... talk. He want to give business $200 billion in tax savings on investments in plant & equipment. Uh ... is not the problem a lack of jobs for HUMANS ? So why is he subsidizing replacing humans with machines ?
He want to spend $50 billion on "road, railways, and runways". Uh ... wasn't the P-O-R stimulus plan supposed to do that ? It had $700 billion. I guess he is tacitly admitting that money was squandered on unproductive spending. And the people are supposed to suppose that crowd of knaves for MORE spending ?
Meanwhile, the massive taxes on jobs continue. As do the onerous new IRS reporting requirements for small business expenditures. As does the favored tax rates for the billionaire hedge fund managers (the capital gains treatment for "carried interest").
The working poor pay higher tax rates than the billionaire hedge fund and private equity managers. A single person making $15,000 per year in a small business pays 15.3% tax for Social Security and Medicare [ no deductions here ! ] AND a 15% marginal tax rate on taxable income (after the standard deduction and personal exemptions). There is almost no "Earned Income Credit" for single people OR married people with no children. Thus those people are paying 15.3% on the gross plus 15% more on their net household "profit", for a total a 30.3% tax rate.
The billionaire hedge fund or private equity manager pays 15% capital gains rate on his "carried interest". This is not a capital investment. He invested NOTHING - he gets the carried interest for free as a management fee. And the multimillionaire who inherited their wealth and has invested in municipal bands pays NOTHING, TOO.
So Obama still wants to tax jobs, give companies tax breaks for replacing people with machines and give billionaires and multimillionaires free ride.
Is that the "Audacity of Hope" ?
No. That's just lazy sleaze and bloviation to get and keep power. No thought is happening in the White House, but a simple calculation of how to change the subject ... from his failures to anything else.
The P-O-R [Pelosi-Obama-Reid] knaves need to be ejected from power. I hope the public gives them the boot this fall.
PS: The Tea Party activists who are listening to libertarian billionaires like the Koch brothers are being fooled. All they want is free rein to turn themselves into a new aristocracy and gain more wealth and power. Notice how they love to adulated at those social events. They want the public to kowtow to them like they were Dukes or Princes in old Europe. Pericles would scorn them. And the public should, too. Ugh.
PPPS: The health care debate is rather false, too. Those opposed to some kind of national benefit keep screeching that the poor get health care via Medicaid. BUT anyone checking would find out that is given almost exclusively to people with children. The common man without a job gets almost nothing. Thus if he gets sick and a big health care bill, he can lose his home, too. And his life savings. Some fairness. The US system is a disgrace.
Word of the Day
"Zetetic" - adjective [$10]
Zetetic means proceeding by inquiry, investigating.
Sentence: Good solutions to national problem of lack of jobs must come from true zetetic analysis of the actual factors forming the situation, not from political calculations for gaining or retaining power. From my own zetetic thinking, it seems obvious that the US has too few jobs because it taxes jobs too heavily.
speaks again ... and again ... and again.
Does he think ? Nope.
On Labor Day he comes out with some more ... talk. He want to give business $200 billion in tax savings on investments in plant & equipment. Uh ... is not the problem a lack of jobs for HUMANS ? So why is he subsidizing replacing humans with machines ?
He want to spend $50 billion on "road, railways, and runways". Uh ... wasn't the P-O-R stimulus plan supposed to do that ? It had $700 billion. I guess he is tacitly admitting that money was squandered on unproductive spending. And the people are supposed to suppose that crowd of knaves for MORE spending ?
Meanwhile, the massive taxes on jobs continue. As do the onerous new IRS reporting requirements for small business expenditures. As does the favored tax rates for the billionaire hedge fund managers (the capital gains treatment for "carried interest").
The working poor pay higher tax rates than the billionaire hedge fund and private equity managers. A single person making $15,000 per year in a small business pays 15.3% tax for Social Security and Medicare [ no deductions here ! ] AND a 15% marginal tax rate on taxable income (after the standard deduction and personal exemptions). There is almost no "Earned Income Credit" for single people OR married people with no children. Thus those people are paying 15.3% on the gross plus 15% more on their net household "profit", for a total a 30.3% tax rate.
The billionaire hedge fund or private equity manager pays 15% capital gains rate on his "carried interest". This is not a capital investment. He invested NOTHING - he gets the carried interest for free as a management fee. And the multimillionaire who inherited their wealth and has invested in municipal bands pays NOTHING, TOO.
So Obama still wants to tax jobs, give companies tax breaks for replacing people with machines and give billionaires and multimillionaires free ride.
Is that the "Audacity of Hope" ?
No. That's just lazy sleaze and bloviation to get and keep power. No thought is happening in the White House, but a simple calculation of how to change the subject ... from his failures to anything else.
The P-O-R [Pelosi-Obama-Reid] knaves need to be ejected from power. I hope the public gives them the boot this fall.
PS: The Tea Party activists who are listening to libertarian billionaires like the Koch brothers are being fooled. All they want is free rein to turn themselves into a new aristocracy and gain more wealth and power. Notice how they love to adulated at those social events. They want the public to kowtow to them like they were Dukes or Princes in old Europe. Pericles would scorn them. And the public should, too. Ugh.
PPS: One of the biggest lies being shouted is that the working poor pay little or no tax. I guess they've never even looked at a tax return and are making it up. Economists and people in think tanks are like that. They have little or no practical experience in the world.
PPPS: The health care debate is rather false, too. Those opposed to some kind of national benefit keep screeching that the poor get health care via Medicaid. BUT anyone checking would find out that is given almost exclusively to people with children. The common man without a job gets almost nothing. Thus if he gets sick and a big health care bill, he can lose his home, too. And his life savings. Some fairness. The US system is a disgrace.
Word of the Day
"Zetetic" - adjective [$10]
Zetetic means proceeding by inquiry, investigating.
Sentence: Good solutions to national problem of lack of jobs must come from true zetetic analysis of the actual factors forming the situation, not from political calculations for gaining or retaining power. From my own zetetic thinking, it seems obvious that the US has too few jobs because it taxes jobs too heavily.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Double Dip ?
Why oh why are people talking about a "double dip" for the economy ? To have a "second" dip presumes a recovery is underway. Where is there any evidence for that ? Every week, week after week, over 450,000 NEW unemployment claims are filed, That's hard data - no major adjustments. real people go to the unemployment office and file claims for benefits - they lost their jobs. That pain is real. That whole family is directly impacted. And loss of that job has a major, major word of mouth secondary effect on neighbors, friends, relatives who hear about it.
Recovery ? Nonsense, at least nationally. [New England seems to be recovering well, anecdotally.]
The correct question is whether there will be a second leg down.
The US economy is still in the swamp, slogging along with huge drag. Correct metaphor is whether is, "Will it step into quicksand and drop more ?"
The stimulus was squandered. A proper stimulus would now be seeing major spending on internal improvements (bridges, ports, rail, high speed Internet, conservation, water projects, historic rehabilitation, etc.) Little was done and little is happening.
Homes values are stagnant or are still dropping in the hard hit areas. The only thing that prevents them from falling faster in those areas is the very slow rate of forced sales by banks as they ration supply to the market to prevent more declines. The big talk in DC of loan modifications is and was boob bait - nothing is or was being done that had a major impact. People are stuck in underwater homes - and when / if something bad happens to their income, a foreclosure or bankruptcy occurs. More pain.
Major taxes rises are scheduled for 2011. That will hurt the economy a lot. Obama is doing nothing to change that and he's even piling more on.
Savers aren't making any money as interest rates are very low. Retiree incomes are down and will likely stay down.
State and local governments have still not restructured their huge pension obligations nor significantly cut the future accrual of benefits.
Three things are fighting a second leg down: The Fed, the natural tendency of those Americans with jobs to spend, and the entrepreneurial nature of free Americans. If they can't find a job, they often scrap and scrimp and create one by starting a business of some kind.
We can only hope that Obama won't shoot off one of the three legs on that shaky stool. He has no leadership ability nor ideas. The "book" on Obama before the election was that he's simply a "speech". That is now proven true before our eyes. The public was fooled by his media sycophants and shills.
Have they learned their lesson ?
Word of the Day
"Duoliteral" - adjective [$100]
Duoliteral means consisting of two letters only.
Sentence: What's a duoliteral description of Obama's Presidential performance ? BS.
Recovery ? Nonsense, at least nationally. [New England seems to be recovering well, anecdotally.]
The correct question is whether there will be a second leg down.
The US economy is still in the swamp, slogging along with huge drag. Correct metaphor is whether is, "Will it step into quicksand and drop more ?"
The stimulus was squandered. A proper stimulus would now be seeing major spending on internal improvements (bridges, ports, rail, high speed Internet, conservation, water projects, historic rehabilitation, etc.) Little was done and little is happening.
Homes values are stagnant or are still dropping in the hard hit areas. The only thing that prevents them from falling faster in those areas is the very slow rate of forced sales by banks as they ration supply to the market to prevent more declines. The big talk in DC of loan modifications is and was boob bait - nothing is or was being done that had a major impact. People are stuck in underwater homes - and when / if something bad happens to their income, a foreclosure or bankruptcy occurs. More pain.
Major taxes rises are scheduled for 2011. That will hurt the economy a lot. Obama is doing nothing to change that and he's even piling more on.
Savers aren't making any money as interest rates are very low. Retiree incomes are down and will likely stay down.
State and local governments have still not restructured their huge pension obligations nor significantly cut the future accrual of benefits.
Three things are fighting a second leg down: The Fed, the natural tendency of those Americans with jobs to spend, and the entrepreneurial nature of free Americans. If they can't find a job, they often scrap and scrimp and create one by starting a business of some kind.
We can only hope that Obama won't shoot off one of the three legs on that shaky stool. He has no leadership ability nor ideas. The "book" on Obama before the election was that he's simply a "speech". That is now proven true before our eyes. The public was fooled by his media sycophants and shills.
Have they learned their lesson ?
Word of the Day
"Duoliteral" - adjective [$100]
Duoliteral means consisting of two letters only.
Sentence: What's a duoliteral description of Obama's Presidential performance ? BS.
Monday, June 7, 2010
As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap
"Ye" is an archaic, obsolete form for the nominative 2nd person plural of "you".
On Friday we saw an instantiation of this proverb in the monthly jobs report. The report showed the private sector created merely 41,000 jobs in May, of which 31,000 were thought to be temporary, making a net private sector job creation of 10,000. Abysmal ! That is the jobs harvest of the Pelosi-Obama "Stimulus" bill [aka the "POS" bill ] passed about 15 months ago, which had a price tag of about $800 billion. All the time lags one could expect have passed. So much for the "jump-starting" metaphor and the "shovel-ready" projects. The rhetoric was all there was in the POS.
Did POS fund any permanent improvements for the US ? Did it fund needed rail transport improvements to provide long term alternatives to gasoline/diesel cars & trucks ? Nope. Did it fund a national high-speed Internet improvements ? Nope. Did it fund port improvements and improve rail connections to help US companies export ? Nope. Did it fund nuclear power construction to provide domestic sources of energy ? Nope. Did it fund better cell phone access for remote (and not so remote) areas of the US ? Nope. Did it fund urban high speed wireless Internet access ? Nope. Did it fund improvements in tourist sites or wilderness areas or historical rehabilitation to increase tourism and domestic demand ? Nope.
It's rather hard to see any highway improvements, either, beyond what seems like ordinary repairs & maintenance.
All the POS did was throw money at wasteful state & local governments and fritter away that $800 billion on innumerable pet projects of the ruling classes in DC. In other words, it was spent like the earmarks that Congress loves to feed on in their trough - payoffs for their supporters.
The POS sowed nothing and now the US reaps only scattered weeds. And more ... in the interim, did Obama use any fertilizer ? Nope. He did NOTHING to help the private sector - and in fact has harmed it with his health care monstrosity, which will impose huge new burdens and costs on the private sector.
Meanwhile, every week we see over 400,000 new layoffs. Who in their right mind can think this "recovery" has legs ? Just imagine the effect of those layoffs on the 400,000 families affected. And the Obama propaganda machine rolls on, spreading happy-talk and outright lies. His economic "plan" is now in tatters - but was there ever a plan ? I think not. He did nothing and even cooperated while the Pelosi crowd of ruling class hogs slurped up the money for their friends.
The people need to act and kick that passel of hogs out of office at every level of government. And get the government off the backs of the private sector. And take charge of this recovery themselves.
Btw, I see no "double-dip", just stagnation for awhile while the people act.
Actions
None planned or foreseen. Krypto seems content.
Word of the Day
"Cautelous" - adjective [$1000] from "Cautel" - noun, verb (substantive) [$1000] Obsolete, archaic.
Cautel means (noun) 1. a crafty device, artifice, stratagem, trick, sleight, deceit; 2. cunning, craftiness, wiliness, trickery; 3. caution, wariness, heedfulness; 4. a precaution: in Law, an exception, restriction, or reservation made for precaution's sake; (verb) to deceive, beguile, to devise cunningly or craftily.
Cautelous means 1. full of cautels, deceitful, crafty, artful, wiliy; cautious, wary, heedful, circumspect.
Sentence: (A) [from Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1] "Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous" - spoken by Brutus disclaiming any need for the "noble" conspirators to swear to murder Caesar. (B) The people need leaders, true leaders who will lead with DEEDS, not words, and who are not mere cautelous knaves.
On Friday we saw an instantiation of this proverb in the monthly jobs report. The report showed the private sector created merely 41,000 jobs in May, of which 31,000 were thought to be temporary, making a net private sector job creation of 10,000. Abysmal ! That is the jobs harvest of the Pelosi-Obama "Stimulus" bill [aka the "POS" bill ] passed about 15 months ago, which had a price tag of about $800 billion. All the time lags one could expect have passed. So much for the "jump-starting" metaphor and the "shovel-ready" projects. The rhetoric was all there was in the POS.
Did POS fund any permanent improvements for the US ? Did it fund needed rail transport improvements to provide long term alternatives to gasoline/diesel cars & trucks ? Nope. Did it fund a national high-speed Internet improvements ? Nope. Did it fund port improvements and improve rail connections to help US companies export ? Nope. Did it fund nuclear power construction to provide domestic sources of energy ? Nope. Did it fund better cell phone access for remote (and not so remote) areas of the US ? Nope. Did it fund urban high speed wireless Internet access ? Nope. Did it fund improvements in tourist sites or wilderness areas or historical rehabilitation to increase tourism and domestic demand ? Nope.
It's rather hard to see any highway improvements, either, beyond what seems like ordinary repairs & maintenance.
All the POS did was throw money at wasteful state & local governments and fritter away that $800 billion on innumerable pet projects of the ruling classes in DC. In other words, it was spent like the earmarks that Congress loves to feed on in their trough - payoffs for their supporters.
The POS sowed nothing and now the US reaps only scattered weeds. And more ... in the interim, did Obama use any fertilizer ? Nope. He did NOTHING to help the private sector - and in fact has harmed it with his health care monstrosity, which will impose huge new burdens and costs on the private sector.
Meanwhile, every week we see over 400,000 new layoffs. Who in their right mind can think this "recovery" has legs ? Just imagine the effect of those layoffs on the 400,000 families affected. And the Obama propaganda machine rolls on, spreading happy-talk and outright lies. His economic "plan" is now in tatters - but was there ever a plan ? I think not. He did nothing and even cooperated while the Pelosi crowd of ruling class hogs slurped up the money for their friends.
The people need to act and kick that passel of hogs out of office at every level of government. And get the government off the backs of the private sector. And take charge of this recovery themselves.
Btw, I see no "double-dip", just stagnation for awhile while the people act.
Actions
None planned or foreseen. Krypto seems content.
Word of the Day
"Cautelous" - adjective [$1000] from "Cautel" - noun, verb (substantive) [$1000] Obsolete, archaic.
Cautel means (noun) 1. a crafty device, artifice, stratagem, trick, sleight, deceit; 2. cunning, craftiness, wiliness, trickery; 3. caution, wariness, heedfulness; 4. a precaution: in Law, an exception, restriction, or reservation made for precaution's sake; (verb) to deceive, beguile, to devise cunningly or craftily.
Cautelous means 1. full of cautels, deceitful, crafty, artful, wiliy; cautious, wary, heedful, circumspect.
Sentence: (A) [from Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1] "Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous" - spoken by Brutus disclaiming any need for the "noble" conspirators to swear to murder Caesar. (B) The people need leaders, true leaders who will lead with DEEDS, not words, and who are not mere cautelous knaves.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Whither Now ?
Markets
Yesterday's ringing rejection of sub 10,000 territory of the Dow seems likely, barring new "news", to be an intermediate term bottom. The bears found few US sellers lower and upon that miss, buyers - short covering and nibblers following this blog's recent moves ;) - ran the table.
Euro-fears still abound but what else is knew ... or different from what has already been experienced ? The world seems OK except for Korea. European companies can still make plenty of money selling goods in the US and in the emerging markets. Obviously the Euro is now dead for a decade as a reserve currency. That realization simply means that perception matches reality. This site exposed the delusion of the near-term idea of the Euro getting that status months ago.
Fears of the dollar losing its position in the world - so prevalent late last year - are now shown to be the silly blather that this site called them at the time.
Korea
Why is North Korea so bold now compared to a year ago ?
The answer is Barry's big mouth. Barry (aka Obama) changed US nuclear policy recently to state the US will not use nuclear weapons first. Sure, he added some qualifiers, but who believes those ? Not Kim Jong Il.
If North Korea attacks the South, Barry will have been the enabler.
Derivatives
A famous quote from T. S. Eliot is "We had the experience, but missed the meaning ... "
That seems likely coming true in the derivatives regulation fight in DC - at least it applies to Barney Frank. What makes a bank "Too Big to Fail " ? The answer is the counterparty risks. What are the biggest of those other than mostly overnight trades ? Derivatives.
Derivatives can persist for years and extend to all other financial institutions. Breaking that link is absolutely crucial to prevent one firm from dragging down the rest. Ring-fencing a bank's derivatives operations would do that. Barney the Boob wants to cut that part from the bill. That's simply foolish and exemplifies the T. S. Eliot quote.
Word of the Day
"Aporia" - noun [$10]
Aporia means 1. Rhetorical. an expression of doubt; 2. a doubtful matter; a perplexing difficulty.
Sentence: [T. S. Eliot quoted in "The Cambridge Companion of T. S. Eliot", page 48] "the old aporia of Authority v. Individual Judgement". That phrase uses aporia in the sense of "a perplexing difficulty". Fraternal Libertarianism resolves that aporia by limiting regulation and Authority to be used only on (not by) the ruling classes (aka the rich & powerful).
Yesterday's ringing rejection of sub 10,000 territory of the Dow seems likely, barring new "news", to be an intermediate term bottom. The bears found few US sellers lower and upon that miss, buyers - short covering and nibblers following this blog's recent moves ;) - ran the table.
Euro-fears still abound but what else is knew ... or different from what has already been experienced ? The world seems OK except for Korea. European companies can still make plenty of money selling goods in the US and in the emerging markets. Obviously the Euro is now dead for a decade as a reserve currency. That realization simply means that perception matches reality. This site exposed the delusion of the near-term idea of the Euro getting that status months ago.
Fears of the dollar losing its position in the world - so prevalent late last year - are now shown to be the silly blather that this site called them at the time.
Korea
Why is North Korea so bold now compared to a year ago ?
The answer is Barry's big mouth. Barry (aka Obama) changed US nuclear policy recently to state the US will not use nuclear weapons first. Sure, he added some qualifiers, but who believes those ? Not Kim Jong Il.
If North Korea attacks the South, Barry will have been the enabler.
Derivatives
A famous quote from T. S. Eliot is "We had the experience, but missed the meaning ... "
That seems likely coming true in the derivatives regulation fight in DC - at least it applies to Barney Frank. What makes a bank "Too Big to Fail " ? The answer is the counterparty risks. What are the biggest of those other than mostly overnight trades ? Derivatives.
Derivatives can persist for years and extend to all other financial institutions. Breaking that link is absolutely crucial to prevent one firm from dragging down the rest. Ring-fencing a bank's derivatives operations would do that. Barney the Boob wants to cut that part from the bill. That's simply foolish and exemplifies the T. S. Eliot quote.
Word of the Day
"Aporia" - noun [$10]
Aporia means 1. Rhetorical. an expression of doubt; 2. a doubtful matter; a perplexing difficulty.
Sentence: [T. S. Eliot quoted in "The Cambridge Companion of T. S. Eliot", page 48] "the old aporia of Authority v. Individual Judgement". That phrase uses aporia in the sense of "a perplexing difficulty". Fraternal Libertarianism resolves that aporia by limiting regulation and Authority to be used only on (not by) the ruling classes (aka the rich & powerful).
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Failures of Obama
Today's news is littered with specific examples of the failures of Obama's economic policies. It is now about 15 months AFTER the passage of the purported "stimulus bill" of the Obama-Pelosi-Ried axis . That is plenty of time for all lags in its effects. And what so we see ? Nothing but a whimpering economy with huge numbers of unemployed and underemployed people, scrapping to find or create work. Now there's nothing wrong with that - that shows the nobility of the American people, their work ethic and the entrepreneurial spirit.
BUT for spending almost $1 trillion, one would expect - demand - solid successes. What does the US have to show for that $1 trillion ? Almost nothing. Why ? Because it was frittered away and wasted on the politically favored. Do we have new rail networks being built or refurbished to save energy and provided infrastructure to move people and exports goods ? Nope. What about America's ports ? Are they getting infrastructure support ? Nope. How about high speed Internet for help our people become more globally connected ? Nope. A modernized air traffic control system ? Nope. The tale of lost opportunities is endless.
Here are a few examples from the WSJ of proof that Obama is a cluster FUBAR for the American people:
Joblessness Hits the Pulpit
More Churches Lay Off Clergy as Donations Drop; Few Get Severance Benefits
States' Tax Collections Falter, Widening Budget Gaps
April tax collections are falling short of forecasts and even dropping below last year's depressed levels in a number of states, complicating budget troubles and prompting some governors to dip into rainy-day funds. Following several months of modest improvement, the weak April revenue numbers are disappointing for states that hoped for economic recovery soon.
Census Takers Provide Early Snapshot of U.S.
Many of Bureau's Workers Hold Advanced Degrees, Showing State of Economy
... Thanks to double-digit unemployment and battered retirement plans, unusually high numbers of people with advanced degrees and top-level management experience have applied for temporary census jobs, many of which pay $10 to $25 an hour depending on level and location.
Auction Highlights a Drop in U.S. Capacity
MOBILE, Ala.—The slow unraveling of a piece of the U.S. economy was visible last week on the waterfront of this port city as much of what was left of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. went on the auction block. More than 2,500 "lots" were laid out on the floor of one of Bender's faded buildings and on the ground outside. Items ranging from bundles of chain hoists to a 700-ton machine for bending steel girders were up for sale. ... Sitting on a giant metal valve slated for auction, he said he worries that if more shipbuilders like him go out of business, he'll have a harder time getting the supplies he needs. "The guy who's making this," he said, rapping his knuckles on the valve. "I don't know where he's going to be" if there aren't enough customers.
So what to do ?
The Tea parties seems to be successful in targeting some incuments, BUT to me they might be being co-opted by big mouth demagogues with foolish conspiratorial ideas. The people's misdirected anger is frittering away the opportunity of a generation for real change. In the anger of the 1970s was born the tax cut movement and Ronald Reagan. What do we see now ? Tea party people in partnership with socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont in attacking the Federal Reserve. Shades of the old John Birch Society villain list - the CFR. Sheesh, good people are being duped too easily, perhaps from not knowing enough history.
A couple HS friends and I are starting a new not-for-profit corporation to try to re-direct the energy of the American people to more productive, positive efforts. I'll write more later when the entity is officially formed. To me, it's self-evident that the wealth of America is our own people; what we have and do with our current human, economic and physical assets will determine our future. There is no magic bullet or free lunch ... or free money from DC. We have what we do and make by ourselves. Period.
Actions
On Friday Krypto bought her first slug of stocks (US, Europe and Emerging market index funds) with money from selling some TIPS. Now, patience. On significant further declines, Krypto will buy more from TIP sales.
Sky intends to buy some CLF soon. It's pulled back a lot and being an American company, does not have the risks inherent in BHP or FCX. Also, it is more likely a takeover target, not an acquiror.
Word of the Day
"Refractory" - adjective and noun [$10]
Refractory means (adjective) 1. stubborn, unmanageable, rebellious; 2. a. (of a wound, disease, etc.) not yielding to treatment; 2. b. (of a person, etc.) resistant to infection; 2. c. (of a substance) hard to use or work; (noun) a substance especially resistant to corrosion, heat, etc.
Sentence: Pundits are now calling America's employment problem a refractory, long term problem; but that's just foolish when no real efforts have been made and more anti-jobs government taxes and mandates are still being imposed.
BUT for spending almost $1 trillion, one would expect - demand - solid successes. What does the US have to show for that $1 trillion ? Almost nothing. Why ? Because it was frittered away and wasted on the politically favored. Do we have new rail networks being built or refurbished to save energy and provided infrastructure to move people and exports goods ? Nope. What about America's ports ? Are they getting infrastructure support ? Nope. How about high speed Internet for help our people become more globally connected ? Nope. A modernized air traffic control system ? Nope. The tale of lost opportunities is endless.
Here are a few examples from the WSJ of proof that Obama is a cluster FUBAR for the American people:
Joblessness Hits the Pulpit
More Churches Lay Off Clergy as Donations Drop; Few Get Severance Benefits
States' Tax Collections Falter, Widening Budget Gaps
April tax collections are falling short of forecasts and even dropping below last year's depressed levels in a number of states, complicating budget troubles and prompting some governors to dip into rainy-day funds. Following several months of modest improvement, the weak April revenue numbers are disappointing for states that hoped for economic recovery soon.
Census Takers Provide Early Snapshot of U.S.
Many of Bureau's Workers Hold Advanced Degrees, Showing State of Economy
... Thanks to double-digit unemployment and battered retirement plans, unusually high numbers of people with advanced degrees and top-level management experience have applied for temporary census jobs, many of which pay $10 to $25 an hour depending on level and location.
Auction Highlights a Drop in U.S. Capacity
MOBILE, Ala.—The slow unraveling of a piece of the U.S. economy was visible last week on the waterfront of this port city as much of what was left of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. went on the auction block. More than 2,500 "lots" were laid out on the floor of one of Bender's faded buildings and on the ground outside. Items ranging from bundles of chain hoists to a 700-ton machine for bending steel girders were up for sale. ... Sitting on a giant metal valve slated for auction, he said he worries that if more shipbuilders like him go out of business, he'll have a harder time getting the supplies he needs. "The guy who's making this," he said, rapping his knuckles on the valve. "I don't know where he's going to be" if there aren't enough customers.
So what to do ?
The Tea parties seems to be successful in targeting some incuments, BUT to me they might be being co-opted by big mouth demagogues with foolish conspiratorial ideas. The people's misdirected anger is frittering away the opportunity of a generation for real change. In the anger of the 1970s was born the tax cut movement and Ronald Reagan. What do we see now ? Tea party people in partnership with socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont in attacking the Federal Reserve. Shades of the old John Birch Society villain list - the CFR. Sheesh, good people are being duped too easily, perhaps from not knowing enough history.
A couple HS friends and I are starting a new not-for-profit corporation to try to re-direct the energy of the American people to more productive, positive efforts. I'll write more later when the entity is officially formed. To me, it's self-evident that the wealth of America is our own people; what we have and do with our current human, economic and physical assets will determine our future. There is no magic bullet or free lunch ... or free money from DC. We have what we do and make by ourselves. Period.
Actions
On Friday Krypto bought her first slug of stocks (US, Europe and Emerging market index funds) with money from selling some TIPS. Now, patience. On significant further declines, Krypto will buy more from TIP sales.
Sky intends to buy some CLF soon. It's pulled back a lot and being an American company, does not have the risks inherent in BHP or FCX. Also, it is more likely a takeover target, not an acquiror.
Word of the Day
"Refractory" - adjective and noun [$10]
Refractory means (adjective) 1. stubborn, unmanageable, rebellious; 2. a. (of a wound, disease, etc.) not yielding to treatment; 2. b. (of a person, etc.) resistant to infection; 2. c. (of a substance) hard to use or work; (noun) a substance especially resistant to corrosion, heat, etc.
Sentence: Pundits are now calling America's employment problem a refractory, long term problem; but that's just foolish when no real efforts have been made and more anti-jobs government taxes and mandates are still being imposed.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Don't Get Angry ...
Do something !
Over 400 years ago the famous French philosopher Montaigne wrote his essay #4 titled "How the soul discharges its passions on false objects when the true are wanting" [Great Books, vol. 23, page 57-58]. In that essay he gave many examples from history how rulers misdirected anger according to superstitions and myths of the time (such as Xerxes having the waters of the Hellespont whipped for making his crossing difficult), or beating their own bodies in some manner (Augustus Caesar beating his head against the wall saying "Varus, give me back my soldiers" after the defeat at the Teutoberg Forest in A. D. 9). Or referring to a tale of a man pulling his hair out in grief, "Does this man think baldness relieves grief ?" Montaigne observes: "So it seems the soul, once stirred and set in motion, is lost in itself unless we give it something to grasp; and we must give it an object to aim and act on." If a legitimate object is not found, the soul "forges a false and frivolous one." [loc. cit.]
Now in our time currently, many of the public at large display much anger at Obama's crypto-fascist maneuvers to impose obligations on the people via sheer power politics. The "Tea Party" movement is channeling some of the anger into positive political responses. These remind me of the Howard Jarvis led Proposition 13 movement in California in the 1970s that brought real estate tax relief to California homeowners. And Barbara Anderson's similar effort in Massachusetts brought forth Proposition 2 1/2 which gave Massachusetts citizens a direct vote in their towns on real estate tax hikes over a 2.5% per annum trigger. Those were successful, peaceful rebellions against oppressive government.
Obama's shills are screeching against the efforts of the common man to regain some power. That means they are worried. A good blog I read yesterday about the Anger described a New York Times writer calling all the angry people 'racists'. That's sheer nonsense and a polemical, ad hominen fallacy to disrupt the debate. How should we interpret the anger, though ? Is it more general than anti-Obama feeling ? Yes, in my opinion. Past commentors here raised the issue even before Obama was elected. I've pondered it myself, but can't remember putting the ideas into one cogent statement that encapsulated the frustration and despair of the common man. Here's how the perspicacious* blogger cited above put it: "The real cause of the rage is the sense that money seems to be flowing only upward (away from the middle class) and not circulating in small business and consumer lending or in the form of pay raises, and the resulting fear and sense of general disease is horrifying to people." [cited from link given above.]
That sounds about right to me. The common man is getting the short end of so many sticks he is fed up ... or in despair. Government and the ruling classes have gone too far. When an average family faces a 45% marginal tax rate on income from extra effort, that's far, far too high. Obama is now resorting to mandates as raising taxes with rates already so high is soon to be counterproductive. Big corporations and the ruling classes are his co-conspirators in putting new burdens on the common man, and in sucking more money from him and his communities. It is infuriating !
As Montaigne pointed out 400 years ago, one needs to direct one's anger properly. Miss-directed anger at myths does nothing. Stop mere sloganeering & griping to your own circle of friends. Volunteer some time or money or both to help nascent movements get off the ground. Find local, HONEST candidates to support. Contact representatives with ideas. Early money donations are crucial for getting campaigns started - whether for candidates or for initiative efforts.
Stop shopping at Wal-Mart and other conduits for China. A huge amount of the money spent there flows straight to China. Cut your use of imported oil (yes, Sun Boy is right). Take your money out of mega-banks and money market funds and put it into local banks.
"Fear and rage accomplish nothing productive. But working together, we are some of the most productive people on earth. It is time to face up to what is bothering so many of us and get back to being the "can-do" nation that we are." [loc. cit.]
Markets
Ms. Market seems tired of dancing. Every jig lately runs out of steam fast. Beware of complacency. This is no place to be leveraged long. Seasonal strength runs out soon. Take some profits so you'll have some money to buy a big dip. Lots of events can cause it and it will be unpredictable. Constant Vigilance is the watch word.
Word of the Day
"Perspicacious" - adjective [$10]; "Perspicacity" - noun [$10]
Perspicacious means of acute mental vision or discernment.
Perspicacity means acuteness of perception, discernment or understanding.
Sentence: Writing a trenchant blog post requires perspicacious observation and insight, and the ability to express thoughts verbally with simpicity and clarity.
Over 400 years ago the famous French philosopher Montaigne wrote his essay #4 titled "How the soul discharges its passions on false objects when the true are wanting" [Great Books, vol. 23, page 57-58]. In that essay he gave many examples from history how rulers misdirected anger according to superstitions and myths of the time (such as Xerxes having the waters of the Hellespont whipped for making his crossing difficult), or beating their own bodies in some manner (Augustus Caesar beating his head against the wall saying "Varus, give me back my soldiers" after the defeat at the Teutoberg Forest in A. D. 9). Or referring to a tale of a man pulling his hair out in grief, "Does this man think baldness relieves grief ?" Montaigne observes: "So it seems the soul, once stirred and set in motion, is lost in itself unless we give it something to grasp; and we must give it an object to aim and act on." If a legitimate object is not found, the soul "forges a false and frivolous one." [loc. cit.]
Now in our time currently, many of the public at large display much anger at Obama's crypto-fascist maneuvers to impose obligations on the people via sheer power politics. The "Tea Party" movement is channeling some of the anger into positive political responses. These remind me of the Howard Jarvis led Proposition 13 movement in California in the 1970s that brought real estate tax relief to California homeowners. And Barbara Anderson's similar effort in Massachusetts brought forth Proposition 2 1/2 which gave Massachusetts citizens a direct vote in their towns on real estate tax hikes over a 2.5% per annum trigger. Those were successful, peaceful rebellions against oppressive government.
Obama's shills are screeching against the efforts of the common man to regain some power. That means they are worried. A good blog I read yesterday about the Anger described a New York Times writer calling all the angry people 'racists'. That's sheer nonsense and a polemical, ad hominen fallacy to disrupt the debate. How should we interpret the anger, though ? Is it more general than anti-Obama feeling ? Yes, in my opinion. Past commentors here raised the issue even before Obama was elected. I've pondered it myself, but can't remember putting the ideas into one cogent statement that encapsulated the frustration and despair of the common man. Here's how the perspicacious* blogger cited above put it: "The real cause of the rage is the sense that money seems to be flowing only upward (away from the middle class) and not circulating in small business and consumer lending or in the form of pay raises, and the resulting fear and sense of general disease is horrifying to people." [cited from link given above.]
That sounds about right to me. The common man is getting the short end of so many sticks he is fed up ... or in despair. Government and the ruling classes have gone too far. When an average family faces a 45% marginal tax rate on income from extra effort, that's far, far too high. Obama is now resorting to mandates as raising taxes with rates already so high is soon to be counterproductive. Big corporations and the ruling classes are his co-conspirators in putting new burdens on the common man, and in sucking more money from him and his communities. It is infuriating !
As Montaigne pointed out 400 years ago, one needs to direct one's anger properly. Miss-directed anger at myths does nothing. Stop mere sloganeering & griping to your own circle of friends. Volunteer some time or money or both to help nascent movements get off the ground. Find local, HONEST candidates to support. Contact representatives with ideas. Early money donations are crucial for getting campaigns started - whether for candidates or for initiative efforts.
Stop shopping at Wal-Mart and other conduits for China. A huge amount of the money spent there flows straight to China. Cut your use of imported oil (yes, Sun Boy is right). Take your money out of mega-banks and money market funds and put it into local banks.
"Fear and rage accomplish nothing productive. But working together, we are some of the most productive people on earth. It is time to face up to what is bothering so many of us and get back to being the "can-do" nation that we are." [loc. cit.]
Markets
Ms. Market seems tired of dancing. Every jig lately runs out of steam fast. Beware of complacency. This is no place to be leveraged long. Seasonal strength runs out soon. Take some profits so you'll have some money to buy a big dip. Lots of events can cause it and it will be unpredictable. Constant Vigilance is the watch word.
Word of the Day
"Perspicacious" - adjective [$10]; "Perspicacity" - noun [$10]
Perspicacious means of acute mental vision or discernment.
Perspicacity means acuteness of perception, discernment or understanding.
Sentence: Writing a trenchant blog post requires perspicacious observation and insight, and the ability to express thoughts verbally with simpicity and clarity.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
A Typical Wednesday
That means nothing is happening. Sighhhh.
Spring is arriving here on time. Meteorological winter ended on Sunday and the daffodils are perking up, poking their heads up in places with southern exposure.
I'll still reading Empires of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. The book has 500+ packed pages. I just started on the times of Genghis Khan. He's a fascinating figure and leader who made a remarkable comeback. Reading about how people lived then is a dividend: in the steppes and hunting and fishing in the forests north of the steppes. Their epic tales sound a whole lot like those of the American Indians, being laced with animal metaphors. Perhaps that's no accident, as the ancestors of the American Indians came from that area of Asia.
Obama is still playing Captain Ahab, seeking to take the whole Democratic party down in his lust for his Great White Whale, viz. ObamaCare.
Regulators are looking at beefer attacks on the Euro and at naked credit default swaps. Gosh, such diligence ! It's only 18 months after the Panic of 2008. Does anyone else notice the regulators seem to care only when their own financial status is at stake ? It's obvious they care nothing about the common man.
Markets
I put on the last slug of my put position. When fully in the money, that will make my 1-2-3 Fund 300% short effectively. That's enough, IF I'm right. This might not work ...
Word of the Day
"Longanimity" - noun [$100]
Longanimity means patience, forebearing, long suffering; patient endurance of hardship, injuries or offense; forebearance.
Sentence: (A) Genghis Khan's longanimty as a vassal of Wang-khan let him survive until his forces were strong enough to survive the final betrayal that Wang-khan perpetrated against him. (B) The common American man's longanimity as Racketeer Central continues to feed on his product must soon end in a taxpayer revolt.
Spring is arriving here on time. Meteorological winter ended on Sunday and the daffodils are perking up, poking their heads up in places with southern exposure.
I'll still reading Empires of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. The book has 500+ packed pages. I just started on the times of Genghis Khan. He's a fascinating figure and leader who made a remarkable comeback. Reading about how people lived then is a dividend: in the steppes and hunting and fishing in the forests north of the steppes. Their epic tales sound a whole lot like those of the American Indians, being laced with animal metaphors. Perhaps that's no accident, as the ancestors of the American Indians came from that area of Asia.
Obama is still playing Captain Ahab, seeking to take the whole Democratic party down in his lust for his Great White Whale, viz. ObamaCare.
Regulators are looking at beefer attacks on the Euro and at naked credit default swaps. Gosh, such diligence ! It's only 18 months after the Panic of 2008. Does anyone else notice the regulators seem to care only when their own financial status is at stake ? It's obvious they care nothing about the common man.
Markets
I put on the last slug of my put position. When fully in the money, that will make my 1-2-3 Fund 300% short effectively. That's enough, IF I'm right. This might not work ...
Word of the Day
"Longanimity" - noun [$100]
Longanimity means patience, forebearing, long suffering; patient endurance of hardship, injuries or offense; forebearance.
Sentence: (A) Genghis Khan's longanimty as a vassal of Wang-khan let him survive until his forces were strong enough to survive the final betrayal that Wang-khan perpetrated against him. (B) The common American man's longanimity as Racketeer Central continues to feed on his product must soon end in a taxpayer revolt.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Market Muddle
The stock markets moved up yesterday. So far, it has recovered about 2/3 of its Greek panic losses. For this blogger, I have not been able to visualize a path for much higher prices grounded in reality, not hope. My old target from 2009 was 1200 on the S&P, and perhaps that can be hit. World trade has recovered considerably. Today's FT online: "Global trade in goods has continued to bounce back rapidly from its huge fall a year ago, with an authoritative index recording the fastest monthly increase in December in its 19-year history. Data from the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, a Dutch research institute, suggest that little permanent damage has been done to the world trading system by the financial crisis."
More: "Richard Baldwin, professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, said that the rapid recovery suggested that it was largely a fall in demand that had caused trade to contract. 'A large part of the fall was the shock to expectations – the ‘Oh my God’ factor,” he said. “Anything postponable largely got postponed.' "
That was my analysis from early 2009 published here at various times - a Panic caused by the beefers in the fall of 2008 led to the huge economic contraction as everythign was deferred. Here's the link to the full FT article -> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/296dedc0-2564-11df-9cdb-00144feab49a.html
By the way, FT is my first read in the morning. Sometimes I read it online the prior evening - many stories are current then as it's ready for the European morning ahead of ours.
Another very interesting article in FT is this one, on similarities - and differences - between quantitative easing in Japan after 2001 and the current Fed adn ECB policies. See -> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af295c08-255d-11df-9cdb-00144feab49a.html
Back to the markets, my thinking is a slow slide down this year until around S&P 1000. Jobs numbers stink. The Fed will cease buying mortgages in March. Obama's stimulus plan was crappy and did not work as the Pelosi-Reid crowd wasted it. State governments have huge pain to go through and must but pay and benefits, particularly for retirees. I expect a wave of taxpayer revolts.
The US will recover from all this eventually and do well. But lots of restructuring must be done and Obama is NOT providing any leadership to a stable future. His plans and efforts want to push the US to a proto-fascist swamp where the US economy is run by the EPA and his bureaucrats control and ration the health care of everyone. That's not a "glide path" to optimism. Hence my moderate bearishness.
BUT that opinion and $1 will get you a cup of Joe in most diners or corner coffee shops. Make the $5 for Starbucks, $2 for Dunkin Donuts.
1-2-3 Fund
My April puts are red. Ugh. My original plan was to buy three slugs to go 300% short. I never got the third slug as the market dropped. Now perhaps I can get it. I'll wait for S&P 1120 to improve my average price enough for the added risk. Well .... that's the rationale I'm using to violate my Green-Red rule. This might not work. Rule violations can bring punishment from the market gods.
Word of the Day
"Dolorous" - adjective [$10]
Dolorous means 1. distressing, painful, doleful, dismal; 2. distressed, sad.
Sentence: US state and local governments face a dolorous future: the bubble of easy tax money from capital gains taxes, high income persons and real estate was squandered and is gone. They locked in a huge cost base in employee pay and benefits, particularly retiree benefits. Now they must cut and the squeals from the public sector hogs will be shrill.
More: "Richard Baldwin, professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, said that the rapid recovery suggested that it was largely a fall in demand that had caused trade to contract. 'A large part of the fall was the shock to expectations – the ‘Oh my God’ factor,” he said. “Anything postponable largely got postponed.' "
That was my analysis from early 2009 published here at various times - a Panic caused by the beefers in the fall of 2008 led to the huge economic contraction as everythign was deferred. Here's the link to the full FT article -> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/296dedc0-2564-11df-9cdb-00144feab49a.html
By the way, FT is my first read in the morning. Sometimes I read it online the prior evening - many stories are current then as it's ready for the European morning ahead of ours.
Another very interesting article in FT is this one, on similarities - and differences - between quantitative easing in Japan after 2001 and the current Fed adn ECB policies. See -> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af295c08-255d-11df-9cdb-00144feab49a.html
Back to the markets, my thinking is a slow slide down this year until around S&P 1000. Jobs numbers stink. The Fed will cease buying mortgages in March. Obama's stimulus plan was crappy and did not work as the Pelosi-Reid crowd wasted it. State governments have huge pain to go through and must but pay and benefits, particularly for retirees. I expect a wave of taxpayer revolts.
The US will recover from all this eventually and do well. But lots of restructuring must be done and Obama is NOT providing any leadership to a stable future. His plans and efforts want to push the US to a proto-fascist swamp where the US economy is run by the EPA and his bureaucrats control and ration the health care of everyone. That's not a "glide path" to optimism. Hence my moderate bearishness.
BUT that opinion and $1 will get you a cup of Joe in most diners or corner coffee shops. Make the $5 for Starbucks, $2 for Dunkin Donuts.
1-2-3 Fund
My April puts are red. Ugh. My original plan was to buy three slugs to go 300% short. I never got the third slug as the market dropped. Now perhaps I can get it. I'll wait for S&P 1120 to improve my average price enough for the added risk. Well .... that's the rationale I'm using to violate my Green-Red rule. This might not work. Rule violations can bring punishment from the market gods.
Word of the Day
"Dolorous" - adjective [$10]
Dolorous means 1. distressing, painful, doleful, dismal; 2. distressed, sad.
Sentence: US state and local governments face a dolorous future: the bubble of easy tax money from capital gains taxes, high income persons and real estate was squandered and is gone. They locked in a huge cost base in employee pay and benefits, particularly retiree benefits. Now they must cut and the squeals from the public sector hogs will be shrill.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Septalingual Exercises
No, boys, this is NOT a post out of the Kama Sutra or any other sex manual. This post is about languages - seven of them. I'm studying six of them to try to become "literate" and have some simple speaking skills; that's the goal for now and it's reasonable. The six foreign languages are French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Latin: all the major languages of Europe that use the Latin alphabet. I speak English, that is, American, making seven. Reading and writing is a lot easier for me than speaking. Listening comprehension is easier than speaking, too. I've been doing this now for nine months for all six and have made very good progress. I started French earlier, hence am much further along in it. Spanish lags since it's confusing vs. Italian, and I like Italian better.
But I can now often grasp the gist of the headlines in their major newspapers (except for Poland - one cannot "guess" the meaning of Polish words). The news in these nations is really quite different that in the US. I suppose that's no surprise to many, but when one gets the Obama propaganda day-in, day-out, the understanding that most people in the world couldn't care less is actually refreshing.
Today the lead headline in Il Tempo (Italy) is about Iran accusing the government of Italy of being under the influence of the US in connection with nuclear policy. It's a typical lie from the Iranian dictatorship, but that headline sure adds to one's perspective about the issue of Itan obtaining nuclear weapons. Europe is in range (now), NOT the US.
In Germany, it's the Luftansa strike.
In France, LeMonde leads with problems with air traffic control.
In Spain, it's the economic crisis.
In Poland, it's the Olympics. Poland has a very accomplished woman in cross-country skiing who has won two medals.
Another way I get some enjoyment from all this work is to work out how to write (say) simple phrases into all seven langauges. That's a bit of fun and the bonus is that intriguiing connnections appear between these Indo-European languages. You've seen my septalingual "I am doing nothing" quite often in the Markets section of this blog.
Here's another one: In Roman times during a triumph, a slave would ride in the chariot of the honoree and and as the crowds were cheering wildly, he would whisper in the grandee's ear, "you are not a god". This was to remind the fellow just that - he was a man and could fall from grace like any man. Well, of course the slave spoke Latin.
Here is the septalingual "You are not a god".
Non es deus.
Sie sind kein Gott.
Vous n'est pas un dieu.
Pan nie jest bógiem.
Lei non è un dio.
Usted non es un dios.
You are not a god.
Another one, more appropriate for this winter, is "It's snowing" ->
Nevica.
Il neige.
Pada śneig.
Nieva OR Está nevando
Es schneit.
Ningit
It's snowing.
By the way, the language order is NOT the same in both examples.
As I improve, I intend to incorporate more "worldly" information in this blog.
Government
This week's "Economist" magazine has a cover asking what's wrong with American politics. Walter Lippmann would understand. The American voter is making a fundamental error in how he/she chooses his/her representatives. The voter either lets positions on issues dominate and influence him/her, or worse, lets the "bring home the bacon" slogan guide the choice. BOTH are wrong. The common voter has little information that could possibly permit him/her to make a rational choice on issues, and the latter selection style is simply swallowing the pitch of a mountebank.
The correct method is to vote for the most honest person with good principles.
Be bipartisan - vote for honesty. Don't vote for liars, anyone corrupt in any way, or for slime who are trying to buy your vote. He's paying you to bend over so he can have his way with you.
Markets
I bought more puts yesterday. My speculative 1-2-3 Fund is now effectively 200% short. I don't like recent unemployment claims and Obama's jobs "death star" is now alive again. That's very bad development. Now I wait.
Word of the Day
"Abjure" - verb [$10]
Abjure means 1. to renounce upon oath; 2. to reject solemnly; 3. to abstain from.
Sentence: If most of the American voters would abjure voting for any candidate not very, very honest, the nation's problems could be solved rather quickly. But ....
But I can now often grasp the gist of the headlines in their major newspapers (except for Poland - one cannot "guess" the meaning of Polish words). The news in these nations is really quite different that in the US. I suppose that's no surprise to many, but when one gets the Obama propaganda day-in, day-out, the understanding that most people in the world couldn't care less is actually refreshing.
Today the lead headline in Il Tempo (Italy) is about Iran accusing the government of Italy of being under the influence of the US in connection with nuclear policy. It's a typical lie from the Iranian dictatorship, but that headline sure adds to one's perspective about the issue of Itan obtaining nuclear weapons. Europe is in range (now), NOT the US.
In Germany, it's the Luftansa strike.
In France, LeMonde leads with problems with air traffic control.
In Spain, it's the economic crisis.
In Poland, it's the Olympics. Poland has a very accomplished woman in cross-country skiing who has won two medals.
Another way I get some enjoyment from all this work is to work out how to write (say) simple phrases into all seven langauges. That's a bit of fun and the bonus is that intriguiing connnections appear between these Indo-European languages. You've seen my septalingual "I am doing nothing" quite often in the Markets section of this blog.
Here's another one: In Roman times during a triumph, a slave would ride in the chariot of the honoree and and as the crowds were cheering wildly, he would whisper in the grandee's ear, "you are not a god". This was to remind the fellow just that - he was a man and could fall from grace like any man. Well, of course the slave spoke Latin.
Here is the septalingual "You are not a god".
Non es deus.
Sie sind kein Gott.
Vous n'est pas un dieu.
Pan nie jest bógiem.
Lei non è un dio.
Usted non es un dios.
You are not a god.
Another one, more appropriate for this winter, is "It's snowing" ->
Nevica.
Il neige.
Pada śneig.
Nieva OR Está nevando
Es schneit.
Ningit
It's snowing.
By the way, the language order is NOT the same in both examples.
As I improve, I intend to incorporate more "worldly" information in this blog.
Government
This week's "Economist" magazine has a cover asking what's wrong with American politics. Walter Lippmann would understand. The American voter is making a fundamental error in how he/she chooses his/her representatives. The voter either lets positions on issues dominate and influence him/her, or worse, lets the "bring home the bacon" slogan guide the choice. BOTH are wrong. The common voter has little information that could possibly permit him/her to make a rational choice on issues, and the latter selection style is simply swallowing the pitch of a mountebank.
The correct method is to vote for the most honest person with good principles.
Be bipartisan - vote for honesty. Don't vote for liars, anyone corrupt in any way, or for slime who are trying to buy your vote. He's paying you to bend over so he can have his way with you.
Markets
I bought more puts yesterday. My speculative 1-2-3 Fund is now effectively 200% short. I don't like recent unemployment claims and Obama's jobs "death star" is now alive again. That's very bad development. Now I wait.
Word of the Day
"Abjure" - verb [$10]
Abjure means 1. to renounce upon oath; 2. to reject solemnly; 3. to abstain from.
Sentence: If most of the American voters would abjure voting for any candidate not very, very honest, the nation's problems could be solved rather quickly. But ....
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Beginning of the End
That is how one must understand the Fed's decision yesterday afternoon after the markets closed to raise the discount rate 0.25% to 0.75%. That rate is now 50 bps over the target fed funds range of 0% to 0.25%, which a more normal level. Before this, the Fed's actions were more passive, simply letting announced special lending programs to lapse. Those expirations were the end of the middle phase of the emergency Federal Reserve programs. There's a bit of overlap as the Fed programs to buy mortgage securities has a few weeks to run. To me, that overlap is the surprise of this discount rate rise. Why now and not in April ?
Yesterday's unemployment claims number stunk again. Wal-Mart showed a sales decline and a larger comparable store sales decline. The PPI inflation numbers were poor, but the PPI is a really poor clue for inflation. There just is no apparent reason to raise the discount rate now.
Unless they perceive that rate's low prior level as a temporary funding measure like the other lending programs. Perhaps. If so, they are trying hard to get all the emergency programs ended by the end of March. Then they will have flexibility to start withdrawing liquidity and raise rates.
My guess is a small rate rise sometime in Q3.
I see no good reason to be bullish at these levels. Jobs are poor. A fed rate rise looms later this year. The stimulus spending was wasted and generated no follow-thru due its poor structure. Horrible tax hikes for sole proprietors loom. Obama is trying to generate bandwagon for more tax hikes. He's not doing anything to cut spending - so much of Federal spending is wasted. States and municipalities must cut spending, especially on employee pay, benefits and yes, retiree benefits. Why should any municipal worker get to retire early ? If the private sector requires retirement at age 65, then the public sector should, too.
All this is going to cause social unrest as those now lying in feathered nests will have to get used to a plain bed, the same as the common man sees. This election in November is going to bring much of that into the glaring light.
Obama
He continues to play the mountebank. "Tell' em what they want to hear". He's truly a man of no principles or independent thought or vision. A speech. That's what the pre-election book said about him and its being proven true. Sighhhhhh. The public chose badly.
Markets
I bought quite a few puts on SPY yesterday. [SPY is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 - its puts are rather liquid, even for long strikes and in the money strikes.] I saw the recent decline as an "A" wave - a five wave Elliot Wave down pulse and the ensuing rally as a "B" reaction wave. That means another "C" wave down - a significant five wave move down. My target area is S&P 1000. The puts were bought in my 1-2-3 Fund - that's what I call my speculative accounts.
I'm checking for Krypto Fund for re-allocations. It's run by the numbers by my dog, Krypto, using a computer spreadsheet.
Word of the Day
"Loth" - verb [$10]
Loth means disinclined, reluctant, unwilling. A spelling variant is "loath". Both are pronounced the same, with a short 'o'. The 'th' can be a normal 'th' like moth or the 'th' in loathe, which is bit extended as in 'the'.
Sentence: I am loth to have any long exposure to equities beyond the Krypto Fund target allocations, as I envision a few months of market pain to find a level for growth into 2011 IF some issues get resolved, principally, a cut in government spending.
Lincoln used this word in the final paragraph of his first inaugural address, which is how it came to be added to my card file.
Btw, please keep this word of the day distinct from "loathe". Loth is pronounced with a short 'o'. 'Loathe' has a long 'o' and extended 'th' as in 'the'.
Yesterday's unemployment claims number stunk again. Wal-Mart showed a sales decline and a larger comparable store sales decline. The PPI inflation numbers were poor, but the PPI is a really poor clue for inflation. There just is no apparent reason to raise the discount rate now.
Unless they perceive that rate's low prior level as a temporary funding measure like the other lending programs. Perhaps. If so, they are trying hard to get all the emergency programs ended by the end of March. Then they will have flexibility to start withdrawing liquidity and raise rates.
My guess is a small rate rise sometime in Q3.
I see no good reason to be bullish at these levels. Jobs are poor. A fed rate rise looms later this year. The stimulus spending was wasted and generated no follow-thru due its poor structure. Horrible tax hikes for sole proprietors loom. Obama is trying to generate bandwagon for more tax hikes. He's not doing anything to cut spending - so much of Federal spending is wasted. States and municipalities must cut spending, especially on employee pay, benefits and yes, retiree benefits. Why should any municipal worker get to retire early ? If the private sector requires retirement at age 65, then the public sector should, too.
All this is going to cause social unrest as those now lying in feathered nests will have to get used to a plain bed, the same as the common man sees. This election in November is going to bring much of that into the glaring light.
Obama
He continues to play the mountebank. "Tell' em what they want to hear". He's truly a man of no principles or independent thought or vision. A speech. That's what the pre-election book said about him and its being proven true. Sighhhhhh. The public chose badly.
Markets
I bought quite a few puts on SPY yesterday. [SPY is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 - its puts are rather liquid, even for long strikes and in the money strikes.] I saw the recent decline as an "A" wave - a five wave Elliot Wave down pulse and the ensuing rally as a "B" reaction wave. That means another "C" wave down - a significant five wave move down. My target area is S&P 1000. The puts were bought in my 1-2-3 Fund - that's what I call my speculative accounts.
I'm checking for Krypto Fund for re-allocations. It's run by the numbers by my dog, Krypto, using a computer spreadsheet.
Word of the Day
"Loth" - verb [$10]
Loth means disinclined, reluctant, unwilling. A spelling variant is "loath". Both are pronounced the same, with a short 'o'. The 'th' can be a normal 'th' like moth or the 'th' in loathe, which is bit extended as in 'the'.
Sentence: I am loth to have any long exposure to equities beyond the Krypto Fund target allocations, as I envision a few months of market pain to find a level for growth into 2011 IF some issues get resolved, principally, a cut in government spending.
Lincoln used this word in the final paragraph of his first inaugural address, which is how it came to be added to my card file.
Btw, please keep this word of the day distinct from "loathe". Loth is pronounced with a short 'o'. 'Loathe' has a long 'o' and extended 'th' as in 'the'.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Welcome Back ...
Obama, as a reader of this blog. He had stopped reading this blog quite awhile ago as he moved to the Statist camp with his foolish and fiendishly complex ObamaCare plan. But now, duly chastened by the Scott Brown win in Massachusetts, he's adopting some of my long propounded policies regarding banks and hedge funds.
In its essence, proprietary trading in a bank or securities firm is trading against their own customers. Every single $ of that profit comes at the expense of their own customers. Obviously, no financial institution with the privileged position of serving the public markets should be permitted to do that.
And that is precisely what destroyed Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and almost Merrill Lynch until Bank of American ate that road kill. Their balance sheets were swollen with illiquid, unmarketable proprietary trades and their cousin, unsold chunks of underwritings.
Not all failed banks failed from proprietary trading: Wachovia and Washington Mutual died from bad loans. BUT some did.
Why should a bank with access to the Fed be able to speculate with that money ? They should be prohibited from doing so.
And who hasn't been harmed by the giant banks gobbling up fine small banks ? The big boys raise fees and gouge customers. There is no economy of scale in community banking; the big banks buy them and then suck the community's money to "invest" in securities. This trend has been going on for years and it is not good.
Economies of scale ? Nope. Most bank fees much less at small banks that at the big ones ? And service is better at the small banks, too. Banks can and do contract out a lot of their computer services now anyway.
Of course SECURITIES firms do have some economies of scale. But the level of scale that provides those efficiencies has long been passed. Size is necessary for underwriting large bond issues. That critical size is way below the size of the big Wall Street Banks. And the reality is, they bank should pre-sell most of an issue anyway. If a bank gets stuck with anything, they miss-priced it.
One the the reason Citibank was in so much trouble is the leveraged loans it made (to get a big fee) and did not re-sell. That is simply bad business.
That whole industry needs a heavy dose of rationality and POPULISM.
Welcome back, Obama, as a reader. Keep reading this blog and adopt more of my populist libertarian ideas.
Word of the Day
"Orotund" - adjective [$10]
Orotund means 1. (of the voice or phrasing) full, round, imposing; 2. (of writing, style, expression) pompous, pretentious.
Sentence: Obama used his orotund rhetorical skills to propose some well-need reforms on bloated banks that have strayed so far from their mission they seem to no longer understand why their privileged positions exist.
In its essence, proprietary trading in a bank or securities firm is trading against their own customers. Every single $ of that profit comes at the expense of their own customers. Obviously, no financial institution with the privileged position of serving the public markets should be permitted to do that.
And that is precisely what destroyed Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and almost Merrill Lynch until Bank of American ate that road kill. Their balance sheets were swollen with illiquid, unmarketable proprietary trades and their cousin, unsold chunks of underwritings.
Not all failed banks failed from proprietary trading: Wachovia and Washington Mutual died from bad loans. BUT some did.
Why should a bank with access to the Fed be able to speculate with that money ? They should be prohibited from doing so.
And who hasn't been harmed by the giant banks gobbling up fine small banks ? The big boys raise fees and gouge customers. There is no economy of scale in community banking; the big banks buy them and then suck the community's money to "invest" in securities. This trend has been going on for years and it is not good.
Economies of scale ? Nope. Most bank fees much less at small banks that at the big ones ? And service is better at the small banks, too. Banks can and do contract out a lot of their computer services now anyway.
Of course SECURITIES firms do have some economies of scale. But the level of scale that provides those efficiencies has long been passed. Size is necessary for underwriting large bond issues. That critical size is way below the size of the big Wall Street Banks. And the reality is, they bank should pre-sell most of an issue anyway. If a bank gets stuck with anything, they miss-priced it.
One the the reason Citibank was in so much trouble is the leveraged loans it made (to get a big fee) and did not re-sell. That is simply bad business.
That whole industry needs a heavy dose of rationality and POPULISM.
Welcome back, Obama, as a reader. Keep reading this blog and adopt more of my populist libertarian ideas.
Word of the Day
"Orotund" - adjective [$10]
Orotund means 1. (of the voice or phrasing) full, round, imposing; 2. (of writing, style, expression) pompous, pretentious.
Sentence: Obama used his orotund rhetorical skills to propose some well-need reforms on bloated banks that have strayed so far from their mission they seem to no longer understand why their privileged positions exist.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A New Tea Party
The common man did it in Massachusetts - defeating the corrupt ruling cliques that run this formerly one party state. The energetic Scott Brown won the Senate election in a huge surge of support over the past month. Obama gets a poke in the eye from voters. Brown hugely carried independent voters. This election signals HUGE troubles for the overbearing and selfish Democratic party. In normal times, Coakley would have won by 20 pts.; she lost by 5 pts. That's a 25 point swing. With good candidates, the Republicans can regain the House in November.
In my thinking, the Rs need to go populist libertarian [ideologically] and run against the bosses, earmarks, public employee unions, hedge funds and lobbyists. They should emphasize truly pro-job policies, pro-common man policies, pro-freedom adn pro-human rights, not the phony Obama policies that would be the Death Star for US jobs and personal freedom. Uh ... read this blog for ideas.
Markets
A good rally yesterday, erasing Friday's losses. Here is a rule I use for "trades" - For a trade that ever shows even a modest gain [being "green"], IF it later shows a loss [going "red", I close it out at once. This rule eliminates wishful thinking and prevents holding on and on and enduring large losses. Now I will hold a trade awhile that shows a small loss at once. BUT if it later goes green, then red again, I close it. This is my "green-red" rule for closing trades.
The trouble ... sometimes I forget the rule.
For an application, it's now effective for my call option play: that trade shows a modest profit now. IF it ever goes red, that will be the sign for me to exit stage left, 23 skiddoo.
Word of the Day
"Uremic" - adjective [$10] and "Uremia" - noun [$10]
Uremia means a toxic condition resulting form kidney disease in which there is retention of waste products normally excreted in the urine, usually accompanied by headache, nausea, vomiting and coma.
Uremic means of or involving excess nitrogenous waste products in the urine (usu. due to kidney insufficiency). People with uremic poisoning can develop skin color that is a pale yellow. Used figuratively, a uremic color is a dirty yellow - the most hideous of hues.
Sentence: The Democratic party shows signs of uremia; it hasn't cleansed itself for many years. But have the Rs reformed and can they look fresh and clean and not uremic ?
In my thinking, the Rs need to go populist libertarian [ideologically] and run against the bosses, earmarks, public employee unions, hedge funds and lobbyists. They should emphasize truly pro-job policies, pro-common man policies, pro-freedom adn pro-human rights, not the phony Obama policies that would be the Death Star for US jobs and personal freedom. Uh ... read this blog for ideas.
Markets
A good rally yesterday, erasing Friday's losses. Here is a rule I use for "trades" - For a trade that ever shows even a modest gain [being "green"], IF it later shows a loss [going "red", I close it out at once. This rule eliminates wishful thinking and prevents holding on and on and enduring large losses. Now I will hold a trade awhile that shows a small loss at once. BUT if it later goes green, then red again, I close it. This is my "green-red" rule for closing trades.
The trouble ... sometimes I forget the rule.
For an application, it's now effective for my call option play: that trade shows a modest profit now. IF it ever goes red, that will be the sign for me to exit stage left, 23 skiddoo.
Word of the Day
"Uremic" - adjective [$10] and "Uremia" - noun [$10]
Uremia means a toxic condition resulting form kidney disease in which there is retention of waste products normally excreted in the urine, usually accompanied by headache, nausea, vomiting and coma.
Uremic means of or involving excess nitrogenous waste products in the urine (usu. due to kidney insufficiency). People with uremic poisoning can develop skin color that is a pale yellow. Used figuratively, a uremic color is a dirty yellow - the most hideous of hues.
Sentence: The Democratic party shows signs of uremia; it hasn't cleansed itself for many years. But have the Rs reformed and can they look fresh and clean and not uremic ?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Flounder
Perhaps that will become Obama's nickname. He continues to flail away and flop from issue to issue and go nowhere. He's delivered nothing for the economy, nothing for jobs, nothing for the common man and done nothing for human rights all over the world.
The book I heard about him before the election seems true - an empty suit with a speech. He seems to be in the pocket of Congressional leaders and is unable to push through a reasonable compromise on health care. Instead, he huddles with the Duchess of the wine & pearls set, the Dishonorable Nancy Pelosi, and the hack from Las Vegas, Harry Reid, shuts out moderates and crafts a secret bill with the plenty of payoffs to buy votes. What a disgrace !
Perhaps Massachusetts will put a stake into the heart of this monster today. That would be fitting - having a Massachusetts tea party to toss this 2,000 page oppressive law into the sea.
Markets
I put on a speculative long Friday on the pullback, by buying some call options on the S&P 500. I'm wary, but think there is more money flowing to stocks. News could change my mind, or the tape could. I'll post adds or sales in the comments in near real time.
Book of the Week
Classical Mechanics by L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz. This is volume one of the famous Russian Course of Theoretical Physics for advanced undergraduates or graduate students. One needs calculus to the level of vector calculus to understand the mathematics, but the concepts are explained in simple, clear language.
The book derives the major classical conservation laws that govern the motions of all matter from simple principles and symmetries of the Universe: the principle of Least Action, Galileo's classical relativity principle, that space is homogeneous and isotropic and that time is homogeneous. Conservation of energy is derived from time symmetry, conservation of momentum is derived from the homogeneity of space and conservation of angular momentum is derived from isotropy of space.
The laws of motion of matter arise from the Principal of Least Action, which is an extremely broad, deep and remarkably universal method of deriving fundamental laws of physics. This principal has been used from classical mechanics and classical electrodynamic to quantum mechanics to relativistic quantum chromodynamics. It's mathematical form seems to capture something extraordinarily deep about the structure of the Universe. Understanding the classical formulation for the simplest particle mechanics gives one the firmest foundation for those other fields and for philosophical thought.
All that is covered in the first 24 pages of this 164 page book. This is one of my top ten books.
Word of the Day
"Avatar" - noun [$10]
Avatar means 1a. an incarnation or embodiment, as of a quality or concept; 1b. a varying manifestation or aspect of a particular deity.
Sentence: "Avatars Widen Realm of Virtual Reality on Internet", a headline from the WSJ 1/24/2001, page B1. Avatar is also the title of a blockbuster movie that I will NOT see in the theater.
The book I heard about him before the election seems true - an empty suit with a speech. He seems to be in the pocket of Congressional leaders and is unable to push through a reasonable compromise on health care. Instead, he huddles with the Duchess of the wine & pearls set, the Dishonorable Nancy Pelosi, and the hack from Las Vegas, Harry Reid, shuts out moderates and crafts a secret bill with the plenty of payoffs to buy votes. What a disgrace !
Perhaps Massachusetts will put a stake into the heart of this monster today. That would be fitting - having a Massachusetts tea party to toss this 2,000 page oppressive law into the sea.
Markets
I put on a speculative long Friday on the pullback, by buying some call options on the S&P 500. I'm wary, but think there is more money flowing to stocks. News could change my mind, or the tape could. I'll post adds or sales in the comments in near real time.
Book of the Week
Classical Mechanics by L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz. This is volume one of the famous Russian Course of Theoretical Physics for advanced undergraduates or graduate students. One needs calculus to the level of vector calculus to understand the mathematics, but the concepts are explained in simple, clear language.
The book derives the major classical conservation laws that govern the motions of all matter from simple principles and symmetries of the Universe: the principle of Least Action, Galileo's classical relativity principle, that space is homogeneous and isotropic and that time is homogeneous. Conservation of energy is derived from time symmetry, conservation of momentum is derived from the homogeneity of space and conservation of angular momentum is derived from isotropy of space.
The laws of motion of matter arise from the Principal of Least Action, which is an extremely broad, deep and remarkably universal method of deriving fundamental laws of physics. This principal has been used from classical mechanics and classical electrodynamic to quantum mechanics to relativistic quantum chromodynamics. It's mathematical form seems to capture something extraordinarily deep about the structure of the Universe. Understanding the classical formulation for the simplest particle mechanics gives one the firmest foundation for those other fields and for philosophical thought.
All that is covered in the first 24 pages of this 164 page book. This is one of my top ten books.
Word of the Day
"Avatar" - noun [$10]
Avatar means 1a. an incarnation or embodiment, as of a quality or concept; 1b. a varying manifestation or aspect of a particular deity.
Sentence: "Avatars Widen Realm of Virtual Reality on Internet", a headline from the WSJ 1/24/2001, page B1. Avatar is also the title of a blockbuster movie that I will NOT see in the theater.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Rollin' Along ...
Old Man Winter rolls along. Britain and France are suffering from large snowfalls and below "normal" temperatures.
WSJ: "The U.K. and France on Tuesday braced for a front of severe weather as heavy snowfall and ice caused widespread disruption to air, rail and road networks.
Meanwhile, China faces potential power shortages as parts of the country struggle with the coldest weather in decades, authorities said. The cold spell is expected to persist through the week, driving up demand for heating and electricity." ...
"This winter has been the coldest in years, driving a surge in demand for heating fuel. U.K. authorities on Monday urged power suppliers to switch temporarily from gas to other fuels such as coal. The measure, known as a gas balancing alert, has been used only once before, in March 2006." ....
"In China, Beijing faced its coldest weather in half a century on Tuesday, near zero degrees Fahrenheit, while residents dug out from the worst snowfall in decades. Services were gradually being restored on Tuesday after schools, airports, roads and railroads closed Monday."
This seems like punishment from the weather gods for man's hubris in thinking that he controls climate. Where are the press releases from the climate pumpsters ? I suppose they are hiding ...
Iceland
What am I missing ? thousands of UK and Netherlands "investors" send billions to Icelandic banks over the Internet. The banks invest the money badly and collapse. Then for political reasons, UK and Netherlands governments pay off the "investors". And now they want the people of Iceland to pay them off. Iceland is a very small nation of only 300,000 people, less than 1/2 the population of Boston. The payoff would amount to $20,000 per person.
That's nuts. Tell UK and Netherlands to go fishing.
Actions
Futures are down early. If they stay down, I'll let my put play roll on. If not, it's 23 skiddoo.
Word of the Day
"Cognomen" = noun [$10]
Cognomen means 1. a nickname; 2. an ancient Roman's personal name or epithet, as in Marcus Tulius Cicero or Pubius Cornelius Scipio Africanus.
Sentence: Either cognomen applied to Obama by this blog seems to fit better and better: La Grande Boucher or The Bloviator.
WSJ: "The U.K. and France on Tuesday braced for a front of severe weather as heavy snowfall and ice caused widespread disruption to air, rail and road networks.
Meanwhile, China faces potential power shortages as parts of the country struggle with the coldest weather in decades, authorities said. The cold spell is expected to persist through the week, driving up demand for heating and electricity." ...
"This winter has been the coldest in years, driving a surge in demand for heating fuel. U.K. authorities on Monday urged power suppliers to switch temporarily from gas to other fuels such as coal. The measure, known as a gas balancing alert, has been used only once before, in March 2006." ....
"In China, Beijing faced its coldest weather in half a century on Tuesday, near zero degrees Fahrenheit, while residents dug out from the worst snowfall in decades. Services were gradually being restored on Tuesday after schools, airports, roads and railroads closed Monday."
This seems like punishment from the weather gods for man's hubris in thinking that he controls climate. Where are the press releases from the climate pumpsters ? I suppose they are hiding ...
Iceland
What am I missing ? thousands of UK and Netherlands "investors" send billions to Icelandic banks over the Internet. The banks invest the money badly and collapse. Then for political reasons, UK and Netherlands governments pay off the "investors". And now they want the people of Iceland to pay them off. Iceland is a very small nation of only 300,000 people, less than 1/2 the population of Boston. The payoff would amount to $20,000 per person.
That's nuts. Tell UK and Netherlands to go fishing.
Actions
Futures are down early. If they stay down, I'll let my put play roll on. If not, it's 23 skiddoo.
Word of the Day
"Cognomen" = noun [$10]
Cognomen means 1. a nickname; 2. an ancient Roman's personal name or epithet, as in Marcus Tulius Cicero or Pubius Cornelius Scipio Africanus.
Sentence: Either cognomen applied to Obama by this blog seems to fit better and better: La Grande Boucher or The Bloviator.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Polls in, Obama Speaks
Obama's pollsters got the overnight results in and ... he speaks !
His hand-picked appointee to the homeland Security Department was being bashed - rightfully, she's a fool - and the polls showed plenty of slippage for Obama's "leadership" and job approval, so he decides to get off the beach and away from the hula girls to speak about the terrorist attack.
WSJ: "A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable," the president said, referencing "a mix of human and systemic failure." In his comments, the president cited information "that could have and should have been pieced together."
Gosh, what a revelation ! Anyone, repeat anyone, motivated to protect the American people as a priority would have done something with any single piece of that data. But Obama's people did nothing. Why ? They have other priorities.
This seems to be a failure at the very top - much like W on the Katrina debacle. Three days of silence tells one all that is needed. He just doesn't see this as a priority. That's rather obvious, based on his record on Guantanamo. This is just more confirmation.
This clown is becoming dangerous. Let's hope the outcries force some changes.
Word of the Day
"Bastinado" - verb & noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Bastinado means (noun) punishment by a beating with a stick on the soles of the feet; (verb, transitive) to punish a person in this way.
Sentence: This blog intends to apply verbal bastinado to Obama and his minions whenever needed, even daily, until they start acting in the best interests of the American people.
His hand-picked appointee to the homeland Security Department was being bashed - rightfully, she's a fool - and the polls showed plenty of slippage for Obama's "leadership" and job approval, so he decides to get off the beach and away from the hula girls to speak about the terrorist attack.
WSJ: "A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable," the president said, referencing "a mix of human and systemic failure." In his comments, the president cited information "that could have and should have been pieced together."
Gosh, what a revelation ! Anyone, repeat anyone, motivated to protect the American people as a priority would have done something with any single piece of that data. But Obama's people did nothing. Why ? They have other priorities.
This seems to be a failure at the very top - much like W on the Katrina debacle. Three days of silence tells one all that is needed. He just doesn't see this as a priority. That's rather obvious, based on his record on Guantanamo. This is just more confirmation.
This clown is becoming dangerous. Let's hope the outcries force some changes.
Word of the Day
"Bastinado" - verb & noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Bastinado means (noun) punishment by a beating with a stick on the soles of the feet; (verb, transitive) to punish a person in this way.
Sentence: This blog intends to apply verbal bastinado to Obama and his minions whenever needed, even daily, until they start acting in the best interests of the American people.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
TO: Janet Napolitano - RESIGN !
The leader of the Homeland Security Department should resign at once. She is obviously a hack with no skills at enemy identification or willingness to protect the people. And she's a liar, going for the big lie to hide her own failures.
Over the weekend after the terrorist attack, she said the system worked, when it obviously utterly failed. Only the independent actions of a Dutch man prevented a disaster.
The terrorist was flagged as dangerous, but was not searched prior to boarding the plane. Now she covers her ass by having everyone searched. How ridiculous !
From today's WSJ: "The warning by Mr. Abdulmutallab's father should have been combined with information from airline personnel, such the suspect's purchase of his ticket with cash and his carrying only a backpack for an international flight. That behavioral profile "doesn't mean he should be on the no-fly list, but he should be checked out," the counterterrorism official said."
Napolitano was the fool who last spring said that returning US war veterans were a risk for terrorism.
Now they impose intrusive searches on everyone coming to the US. That's the typical leftist proto-fascist response. Don't identify and target the likely terrorists. Waste billions searching everyone in the name of "fairness".
Hey Barry ! Get you butt off those Hawaiian beaches and fire her ! Get a real leader for that job.
Actions
I bought a short ladder of puts on the S&P 500 - the January expiration puts on SPY with strikes at 110 and 113. My 1-2-3 Fund is now about 300% short effectively from the option deltas. If the year end / year beginning drop does not occur, I'll roll them into longer term puts that have more staying power.
Word of the Day
"Rapscallion" - noun [$10] archaic or jocular; from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.
Rapscallion means a rascal scamp, or rogue.
Sentence: Congress is full of rapscallions whose only actions are lining their own pockets and those of their supporters with or by means of tax money.
Over the weekend after the terrorist attack, she said the system worked, when it obviously utterly failed. Only the independent actions of a Dutch man prevented a disaster.
The terrorist was flagged as dangerous, but was not searched prior to boarding the plane. Now she covers her ass by having everyone searched. How ridiculous !
These clowns in government didn't even revoke the terrorist's visa. What the hell is going on ?
From today's WSJ: "The warning by Mr. Abdulmutallab's father should have been combined with information from airline personnel, such the suspect's purchase of his ticket with cash and his carrying only a backpack for an international flight. That behavioral profile "doesn't mean he should be on the no-fly list, but he should be checked out," the counterterrorism official said."
Napolitano was the fool who last spring said that returning US war veterans were a risk for terrorism.
Now they impose intrusive searches on everyone coming to the US. That's the typical leftist proto-fascist response. Don't identify and target the likely terrorists. Waste billions searching everyone in the name of "fairness".
Hey Barry ! Get you butt off those Hawaiian beaches and fire her ! Get a real leader for that job.
Actions
I bought a short ladder of puts on the S&P 500 - the January expiration puts on SPY with strikes at 110 and 113. My 1-2-3 Fund is now about 300% short effectively from the option deltas. If the year end / year beginning drop does not occur, I'll roll them into longer term puts that have more staying power.
Word of the Day
"Rapscallion" - noun [$10] archaic or jocular; from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.
Rapscallion means a rascal scamp, or rogue.
Sentence: Congress is full of rapscallions whose only actions are lining their own pockets and those of their supporters with or by means of tax money.
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