When the Free Ride is Over, Everyone Gets Off

Today as of this writing (11a), the Dow is down 75pts..

You know how we feel by now.. add a '1' and a '0' before the 75 and you will really have us smiling..

The reason for the drop is the fear by the rats and roaches that profit amid the muck that their free meal ticket will be if not eventually taken from them, at least scaled back.   Also the very real likelihood that ultimately the Fed is going to have to raise interest rates-- can't keep them at near zero forever..

Poor Babies!  Aww..

And the everyday Joe?

From MarketWatch.com (in blue font):

"This is what Wall Street Journal’s Matt Wirz wrote in March: 

"The Fed won’t be able to keep a lid on interest rates forever. So large money managers such as BlackRock, TCW Group and Pimco are getting ready for the day when rates take their first turn higher. It isn’t coming anytime soon, these investors say. But when it does, they worry, the ascent will be swift and steep.”

Get defensive now, start preparing for a crash ... later is too late

Get it? Rates will go up. Way up. Very fast. And America’s 95 million Main Street investors will be unprepared. Markets will crash. Like 1994’s 24% bond crash after Fed rate increases, notes Wirz... 

Warning, a crash is more likely to happen in August 2013 than in 2015 when the next presidential election campaign is kicking into high gear. So start preparing for a crash when the new Fed chairman ends cheap money. "

Did you know: Stock markets have recovered all of the $10 trillion lost in the recession, but homeowners are still $5 trillion underwater..

And did you know according to the Pew Research Center, the highest-earning 7% of the population saw their net worth grow by 28% between 2009 and 2011, while overall the net worth of the remaining 93% of Americans dropped by 4%..

Did ya?

The math on $85 Billion is really amazing when you take the time to play around with the trusty ole' calculator.

For instance you take $85,000,000,000  (that's what it looks like- 9 zeros) which of course as you all know by know is what the Fed is spending Monthly to buy toxic assets and other crap to artificially inflate the economy..

OK, so you take $85,000,000,000 and divide by 30 days in a month..

That equals $2,833,333,333 a day  ($2.83 billion)

Now take that number and divide by 24 hours...

That equals $118,055,555  or a little over $118 Million spent per hour

Now take that number and divide by 60 seconds...

That equals $1,967,592 every second... tick.. tock.. tick.. tock..

Here's another way to look at it..

People like to complain that the government spends too much and depending on their political affiliation, they target different things.. 'Too much spending on military.. too much on Medicare...

The proposed military budget for the Department of Defense 2014 is $614 Billion.   This covers everything from munitions to weaponry to maintaining bases to salary..

So if you divide $614 billion by $85 billion...

That means the Fed will spend in a little over 7 months, the entire totality of National Defense and the salaries of hundreds of thousands of people who are employed in this area...

The estimated government outlay for Medicare in 2014 is $512 Billion.

So if you divide $512 billion by $85 billion...

That means it will take that despicable parasite Ben Bernanke only six months to pump into the stock market what will cost the Federal Government to cover medical costs for millions of elderly and disabled over a 12 month period.

And rarely anyone complains about this expensive monthly outlay... Most brains just can't wrap themselves around the idea of that much money being spend open-ended for the benefit of so few..

And these piece of Garbage investors and traders are so accustomed to living high on the hog, that the slightest sniff-whiff of a pullback and they will pull back and potentially derail the Fed's imaginary 'recovery'...

No different from 'The Great Gatsby' -- as long as the champagne was flowing and the band was playing, everyone would stay till dawn to enjoy the big free shindig and no one could have cared less who the host was, much less what he looked like or how he got his money..

And when the free cocktails were kaput, you had a barren mansion.

You know...Bernanke is quite pathetic.  Think about it...

$85 billion monthly is quite an exorbitant sum to toss out just to be liked...

The 'Weekend At Bernie's' Economy

Amid last night's staggering 7.3% drop in Japan's market, the Nikkei in only one trading day and the fact it Should have pulled this market down with it, a small group of us were sitting around trying to analyze it.

One astute colleague summarized it so succinctly:

"We are living through a 'Weekend at Bernies' economy.

For those not familiar with the 1980s film, the basic plot involved two losers who make a serious financial error while working for Bernie.  He pretends to be thrilled and invites them over to his beach house for the weekend but in reality is going to have them killed.

What ends up happening is Bernie himself is killed due to a Mafia hit because he's having an affair with the mob boss' wife.

OK, now the plot itself is irrelevant to what we're referring to..  That was just provided to familiarize those who may not quite have remembered this comedy.

Here's the relevant part:  These two losers take this dead guy Bernie; this motionless corpse and keep him 'alive' for the weekend.

So Bernie is propped up, carted around..  Everyone who interacts with Bernie is so deeply stupid, they buy the premise and accept he's alive.  Some characters in the film even have lengthy one-sided conversations that go on and on while completely oblivious.

And that's our economy.

The two losers are played by a bearded soft-spoken loser named Ben Bernanke who has taken a dead stock market and given it a fake 'life' and all the genuinely stupid people-- the amateur investor, the common folk who judge the success of the economy by a Dow number, etc.. they have swallowed this up.

The professional Investor, banks, major corporations, hedge fund managers, derivatives traders, etc... They all know 'Bernie' is dead as a donkey.  But it serves their nefarious purposes to not only play along but encourage the ruse.

We make no secret of this-- we want the market to drop precipitously and for extended duration...  We want the stock market to once again accurately reflect the True state of the US economy.

And if/when our desires become reality, you will see the market drop from this artificial 15,300 or such to the 7,500 to 8,000 range.

That is where the market should be because That is where the US economy is.

We don't want the economy where it is now.. this Fiction.  We want to see these super-wealthy people lose Everything ideally and end once and for all, this confidence con-game of carrying around a flat-lined economy and dancing it around like there's a pulse.

And as long as Fed Chairs can manipulate the stock market to give the ruse of 'recovery' and it bumps up Presidential and Congressional polls, very little to nothing will ever be done legislatively to pass bills that create jobs or much of anything the bottom 99% can feel.

Remember the vast majority of Congresspeople of both parties are Filthy rich multi-millionaires.  Even President Obama has a net worth of over $6.5 million mainly due to the success of his books.

Where do these wealthy people keep all their money?  In banks??

No-- the stock market.  So they will do whatever is necessary i.e spend whatever is necessary... Spend billions or trillions or even quadrillions to protect their millions.  

And why not go all-in?  Its taxpayer money, not theirs.

And if it takes carrying around a dead 'Bernie' and flailing its arms all about to give the appearance of life, then that's what they're going to do until they're either stopped or its no longer in their interest...

When enough everyday American suckers prop up the market by investing their sacred nest-eggs and re-stimulate the economy via debt-based consumption, then the financial elite can put 'Bernie' back in the box

We want this stock market to Crash badly..  You really should to.

Why We Wish McCain was President today (and its not for reasons you think)

They keep using the word 'recovery'...  the filthy excrement at the Fed and in the White House and Congress and corporate media..

Even when admitting today the job market is weak, that bastard Fed Chair tells Congress it is vital to continue the $85billion/month in asset purchases ($1.967 million per SECOND) to keep the market strong and continue the 'recovery'...

And of course the idiots on Capital Hill swallowed it up..

Recovery.. Recovery.. Recovery..

"Look into my eyes... Recovery.. Recovery.. Recovery..."

~ Ahh Protests!-- remember the 'good ole days' when 'W' was in office?

We know we will upset a few people in saying this, and possibly stir a contentious debate but its really a shame McCain did not win election in 2008 and thus be serving a second term today...

Why?

Simple.. Because no way in Hell would anyone allow a Republican President to get away with taking positive credit for an economy that for the last five years have been closer to that of a beached whale!

You would have seen mass demonstrations on the streets by every liberal group under the sun demanding the White House do something to fix the economy and get people back to work.. To stop the wars.. To stop funneling trillions of dollars into that God Damn stock market!

You'd see protesters young and old take to the street in masses like they did in 2003 to protest the ultimate invasion of Iraq by Bush.

You'd see perhaps another 'Million-Man march' by black leaders to protest the fact they've been utterly ignored and their social and economic problems have gotten dramatically worse!  Unfortunately they're either cowards or still in sycophantic awe of their guy...

Maybe you'd see confrontations with police.. Maybe Riots..

Who knows..

Where's the demonstrators calling Obama the same things they called Bush--  'War Mongerer'.. 'Hitler-like'.. 'A God Damn Liar'...  Where's all the passionate defenders of democracy and freedom?  Where's the vicious, cruel signs against a do-nothing still in office?

Its quite hypocritical but what can one do..

Some groups tried to protest the Obama Administration's handling of the economy and being so cozy-cozy with Wall Street.  But then the DNC threatened to take away funding -- no way would they allow liberal groups to embarrass them -- and that was that..

Tell you one thing and you know this to be true..

Absolutely No way in Hell would those who are Awake and see the continual economic decline of this once great nation ever allow John McCain to have a moment's peace; to have his 'legacy',

They would Never allow VP Sarah Palin, someone the political left irrationally despises to the point of blood lust, the opportunity to springboard a supposedly 'successful' two terms in office as a rallying point to run for President herself..

Nope.. you would see social action as you've never seen it before!

You would see television and newspaper coverage non-stop of people being evicted from their homes.. living in cars... children crying as mothers hold them and try to give some comfort..

You'd see interviews with people now homeless and destitute who once had gainful employment..  There'd be stories on the fracturing of the family.. high divorce rates.. suicides..  A disenchanted and detached youth who feel no hope for the future..

You'd see All the news stories that outside US news like Russia Today accurately covers but the mainstream media does not..  And the media didn't choose to protect your sensitive eyes and ears to the truth or fear of dwindling ratings..

~ Where's the anti-war protesters who needed to show the coffins today?

If McCain/Palin ran the show, you'd see the same pro-Fed, pro-wealthy, pro-war policies as Obama.. Its just the media would counter with 24/7 gloom and doom

And the only reason you don't see this depression covered properly and responsively is that the wrong party is in office to go all negative and paint a picture of utter despair.

Especially the first black president...

Would set a bad precedent.  Too politically incorrect.

Sorry, that's just the blunt truth of it...

So we wish a Republican was in office today.

Not because we think things would be better..

It's just that people would be outwardly Far, Far angrier and despondent... Without the bullshit veneer of empty 'hope' clouding the eyes which Obama peddled so well

And maybe, just maybe you might have a populace that was, to borrow a famous phrase, "Mad as Hell and Not going to take it Anymore!"

Who/What is Sincerely the Biggest threat to All Americans?

As of this writing around noon-time, one suspect in the Boston terror attack has been killed with another on the run...

Good.  The first part we mean..

If it turns out the two suspects were indeed the ones who set those pressure cooker bombs to detonate during the Boston Marathon, they were brothers born in Chechnya, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass., and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26

From AP:  "The suspects' uncle told the local CBS News station that the pair had lived in the country since 2002. The uncle, when told that one of his nephews was killed, replied that he deserved it. “He deserved his. He absolutely deserved his,” Ruslan Tsarni said. “They do not deserve to live on this earth.”

Not a glowing endorsement is it?

All week we've mourned the casualties-- the dead and wounded, but to be honest about it, at no time whatsoever did we ever fear for the US as a nation.

That's not stated as one of those 'ugly American blaggart' type statements one often hears...Chants of USA! USA! just never felt appropriate in times like this.

But the truth is with all the terrorism in the world; the threats of bombings, shootings and other violence aimed at US soil and insane world leaders flapping their nuclear weapons in the proverbial wind to compensate for small penises...

The truth is there's only one genuine threat to the existence of the United States as a nation, and it isn't not outward...  its inward.

No terrorist act or coordinated acts has the power to take the dollar in my hand devalue it by 10% or 40% or 80%...  

No savage murderer strapped with explosives has the power to weaken the value of currency to the point where it triggers bread to hit $10 or $15 a loaf...  Or to affect the cost of milk, eggs, meat, gasoline..

No jihadist has the means at his (or her) disposal to provoke any kind of situation where a bank holiday is needed to be called; where money can not be accessed from one's account outside of mere dribs or drabs and which the longer the 'holiday' continues, it triggers empty shelves and long lines for basics of survival...

Sorry Charlie..  No terrorist group or individual with hate in their heart and a desire to seek so-called 'Nirvana' can screw up the lives of over 310 million people as dramatically and permanently as one institution..

The Federal Reserve.

We do not write that lightly and there's nothing humorous in that statement.  

Those who understand the Fed and how dangerous it is, are nodding in agreement.   And for those who may not, let us explain extremely brief what they do and the powers they possess...

The Federal Reserve is essentially a private bank that run by and works for the other banks.  It is as 'Federal' as Fed-Ex.

The main job of the Fed to keep the banks solvent by any means necessary, even if its decisions and policies hurt Main Street Americans.  It does not seek approval from the President or Congress in any of its decisions..  Votes are taken by the heads of the 12 smaller branches of the Fed and policy enacted.

At one time there was something called 'trusts' which were meant to be the fiscal 'backstop' in case there was a financial crisis or 'Panic'.  But in 1907, the Panic hit the trusts and wiped them out completely.

Once economic order was re-established, the biggest bankers of the day got together secretly and came up with the charter and functionality for the Fed.  From 1908-1912, both Congress and Pres. Taft were weary of this and voted the Fed charter down.

The bankers then threw their collective financial weight in support of Woodrow Wilson to replace Taft as President in exchange for pushing the Fed Reserve into law...  Wilson won, was inaugurated in early 1913 and very soon after, the Fed became a reality.

And what does the Fed do?  One thing is control and manipulate interest rates which affect how much interest you pay back on loans and how much if any interest you return on savings and investment such as CDs, savings bonds, etc..

The lower the interest, the more it kills savers, thus forcing them to spend it or put it into risky investing ventures to chase a livable rate of return.  It is an artificial enticement to get people to buy expensive things to propel them into increased levels of debt.

It also is a means of banks to be able to lend to each other as inexpensively as possible, and its a way to manipulate how much the nation pays back its creditors.  The lower the interest rate, the less the interest accumulated on the National Debt which keeps the deficit in somewhat manageable range.

The Fed can spend money at will to help its self-interests.  It spends by creating money from air, printing it then it becomes newly minted debt that must be repaid.  If we did it, that would be called counterfeiting and end up with lengthy prison sentences...

Sorry if our explanation was not brief or concise enough for you but you simply can not explain the Federal Reserve and its power in mere 25 words or less...

It controls interest, money printing, the ability to create and control inflation and the overall value of currency.  There is not a single aspect of economic life in America that the Fed is not actively involved in controlling and manipulating.

The Fed Chair is appointed by the President every 4 years but the Fed provides the list of candidates.  The President simply picks from it then Congress rubber stamps the approval.  Chairs tend to be Republican and fiscally conservative leaning but it hasn't prevented them from being approved and re-approved by Democrat Presidents when they're in power...

And beyond a monthly visit to a House of Representatives finance committee and releasing reports to calm and soothe Investors, it is under no legal obligation to do anything elected officials may seek of them.

That is why Ben Bernanke is truly the biggest threat to the safety and security of this nation.  He's creating a $1Tril/yr asset bubble via the stock market while using that $85 billion/mo via indefinite QE4 & 5 to fund not just national but international banks.

Some say the US President is the most powerful man in the world.  Maybe its true.. but the Fed Chair is the most powerful man in the financial world.

And ft suddenly Bernanke was attacked by a million poisonous bees and keeled over permanently, the Fed would elect a new person to become Chair quicker than you could sneeze and ideological order would be restored.

So in summary...

When you think of terrorists, think of mosquitoes i.e. nuisances..

When you think of the Federal Reserve, think of cancer...

How much $$ Truly is the $85Bil the Fed keeps throwing away?

$85 Billion is such a vast number.. really incomprehensible to picture.

The human mind is just not capable of picturing it; Th mind can not picture 85 individual and distinct 'things' at one time, much less 85 billion..

We've tried on a couple occasions to explain just how much precious money is being pissed away by that EVIL Federal Reserve to benefit that equally Evil stock market...

For instance, mathematically, $85 billion which is what QE4 and 5 equal... well,  when broken down into time fragments, it comes to just under $2 million spent per minute based on a 30 month day..

So let's try to put it into better perspective without risking inundating you with stats that simply blend into one another without meaning...

* When breaking $85 billion into measurement of seconds, based on a 30 day month, each second the Fed artificially inflates the stock market by $32,793.20

Now a person making minimum wage at $7.25/hr and working 40hrs a week will earn $15,080 over a 52 week year.

Thus, the Fed will spend in one second, the equivalent of 2 minimum wage workers' yearly salaries.

* LeBron James, arguably the best player in the NBA currently makes an annual salary of $17,545,000, which comes to a little under $214k for each NBA regular season game.

It will take the Fed just under 9.5 minutes to spend that amount.   That's less time than one regulation NBA quarter (12 minutes)

In fact, if you add up the total salary expenditures of All 30 NBA franchises for the 2012-13 season, it comes to around $22 Billion, which is around 28% of the monthly spending by the Fed

Remember, every dollar the Fed spends is created from thin air, printed and distributed and becomes public debt which all Americans are ultimately on the hook to repay.

*  According to the CIA World Factbook, Iceland, an island nation in Europe with 103k square miles of land and a population of just over 315k people has a Total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $12.95 billion...

After a little over 4 and a half days of continual spending, the Fed would reach $12.95B then surpass it.   That's less than 5 days to surpass the total yearly GDP of a soverign nation...

*  There are currently 14...Yes, Fourteen US states with total yearly GDP under $85 billion.  For all the businesses, jobs and other means of taxable revenue, they generate LESS in a full calendar year than what that Bastard Ben Bernanke is spending to make investors wealthier...

Those 14 states are:

Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.

And remember, $85 billion is Monthly..

*  In 2012, luxury car manufacturer Mercedes Benz generated worldwide sales equaling 61.6 Billion Euros which when using a currency calculator from Euros to Dollars, equals just about $79.3 Billion in  Total revenue...

That's a major international corporation selling automobiles that price as high as $200k+  for the most wealthy, discriminate shoppers...

And in a Full year's time, they made less money than the Federal Reserve is spending in a month... a differencial of $6 billion.

~ We could present more stats but what we did present is quite sufficient..

Simply think about it.. When put into perspective, its horrible and so destructive to the well-being of this nation, but no one, even the President can stop it even if he wanted to (and honestly, who knows if he does...)

The Fed is more dangerous to the well-being and survival of this nation than any foreign foe... yes, even North Korea... And if you don't understand that by now, then reach around, give your butt a nice 'Spankk' and re-read this post.

A rising Dow as 'real' as body paint is 'clothing'

~ Psst.. don't tell any of the women in this post they are actually wearing body paint not clothing and thus are nude.. it might affect the Dow shhh..  shhh...

Cyprus-Shyprus..

Hard to take any island-nation seriously where its people protest the bank holiday on day 10 and still do so peacefully...  Guess they didn't get the memo that their leader extended the bank closings an additional two days to Thursday...

Oh well..  It's a new day.. time for a new topic..

Peeking in the stock market, we see the Dow is up another 100+ pts at 14,550 and counting..

Its funny.. we used to think the visualization of 'bullshit' was something brown and pungently nasty sitting somewhere in the grass...  Now just have to turn on CNBC or other finance news and see the TV drenched in it...

The traders screaming Buy & Sell like hyper ADD monkeys...  The analysts wearing $1,000 suits telling mom and pop their idiots for not buying into this market.. The attractive anchorwomen with their snug sweaters with intentional low-cleavage to make sure no one changes channels..

Ugh.. What else can be said..

Oh yes.. So Reuters writes the S&P 500 is within striking distance of its all-time high "as strong data on home prices showed an economy that was improving.."

Paragraph two, they explain, "Single-family home prices rose in January at the fastest pace in more than six years."

Hurrah!  Glory Be Thy Name.. Let's 'Rally round the Flag Boys (and Girls) and shout the Battle Cry of Freedom', and 'God Bless America' and "America #1-- rest of world Sux!'...  

OK, we made that last song title up but trust us, that's how Wall St thinks...

Now same article.. maybe 4-5 more paragraphs down.. what does it say?

"In a sign that growth continues to be slow, sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell more than expected in February, and the latest reading on consumer confidence was weaker than expected."

Huh??

So.. The market rallied over 100pts so far based on January 2013's single-family home sales figures, and Yet ignored the fact that February, 2013, which comes AFTER January, fell more than expected, dropping from 431K to 411K...

Ah..

And then there's consumer confidence..  The Consumer Confidence Board released its monthly estimates..  "March consumer confidence plunged to 59.7 from 69.6, and well below expectations of a 67.5 print."

Gee, that's never good is it.. Certainly not +100 pts or whatever 'good'

But most people really don't give a damn..  Let's be honest..   The finance media can point to a chart or graph or say the rising stock market is based on watching celebrities 'dance' and jump off diving boards..

As long as things keep going up and people's 401Ks and pensions keep rising, does anyone really have the guts to point out the "Emperor" is naked with his shriveled up grape-sized tally-wacker exposed for all to see??

Who wants to rock the boat and stop this 'exciting rally' based on fluff, fart blossoms and $85 billion/month in Fed money which breaks down to $1,967,592.59 spent Every MINUTE based on a 30 day month, 24 hrs/day, etc...

'Hells-bells, if my personal investment portfolio goes up a couple hundred dollars every month, that's $85 billion well spent.. heh heh~ '

Government and bankers and financiers can manipulate a lot..

But one thing they can not control fully is human behavior i.e. greed...  And when the day comes when people feel this market can not go any higher, there Will be a massive sell-off.. orderly then panicked...

Its just how the human animal was constructed...

And where will you be then?