Monday, February 9, 2009

Too Much Going On

The full moon was very bright last night. With all the snow cover it was bright enough to read by moonlight around 10pm last night. Pretty wild.

Too Much Going On
Got home a touch late and I have really been swamped trying to get caught up on my reading. Add to this that developments are coming fast and furious as I write, and I simply cannot put together anything coherent this evening. Some quick hits of some things I am looking at:

-from CNBC: 'Bad Bank' Is Dropped From Financial-Rescue Package
Headline is misleading; it seems that the "Bad Bank" idea will not extend to thrifts and insurance companies, but bad asset disposal onto the taxpayer is still in place.

-Old News for Gold Bugs
Latest article by "The Mogambo Guru". As he says, this investing thing is easy!

-I was thinking today that within the next 5 years you will bank at Bank of America, shop at Wall Mart, buy electronics at Best Buy, and get books at Barnes and Noble. All other stores will no longer exist. No choice and no competition.

-When IS Nationalization going to occur?
Jesse's Cafe Americain has some thoughts on this that include a rumor of a bank holiday coming soon.

-Reading some mainstream media and listening to some CNBC I get the feeling that even though the mess we are in has been going strong for around 6 months now, most seem of the opinion that in two quarters things will turn around. Hope is not a plan.

-I caught Obama at the town hall he held in Indiana today. I could sum up with the following line: "The only thing we have to fear is that you all are not fearful enough!" He did not sell the stimulus plan very well at all.

-What happens in California over the next 4 months will show exactly how the United States is going to end up. Call it a free preview.

-One question nobody asks is :"If 1 trillion is going to save us from the economic abyss, why not spend 2 Trillion? Why not 3 trillion? What about 10 trillion?" The answer is both revealing and scary.

-The possible dropping of some aspects of the "Bad Bank" plan should show you once and for all why trading this market with overnight positions is a sure loser. If you were long the banks thinking this plan was in, maybe the banks get clobbered tomorrow on this news. If you were short, maybe this will be seen as positive for the banks in the sense that they do not need the help. Either way, any position is subject to the whim of government intervention. Stay nimble!

-Kevin Depew's 5 Things to Know is a must read today. Number 3 bears careful reading. Remember, the government right now is using authority never before seen. Not good.

Have a good night.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, now I have a question, today over at KD's site Karl said this about the Kanjorski bank run "incident" i.e. #3 of Kevin Depew's "5 Things To Know:

"The problem with the thesis is that they didn't shut down the system. What they did was come out and promise to backstop it."

So my question is did they shut it down or did they promise to backstop it?

Anonymous said...

Karl Denningers site (Market Ticker)is linked to the side but here is the post in question:

http://tinyurl.com/djh47o

EconomicDisconnect said...

Watchtower,
I had seen that piece, another item I just could not get to tonight. It is hard to know if the money markets weere "locked down" or if the FED said they would backstop it. Just another vital piece of information that is being kept from the general public. My hunch is that the FED/Treasury backstopped the market, but needed time to get it through red tape and threatened closng the whole show to get compliance. My 2 cents.
P.S: What a total disaster tonights Obama press conference was. Fear mongering at its finest, and the terrible delivery should not be assuring.

Anonymous said...

Obama did seem to stumble more than I have ever seen. Can't wait to hear what Geithner rolls out. Take care.

Anonymous said...

"This is not your ordinary, run of the mill recession," he said. Obama said the United States aims to avoid the kind of economic pain that Japan endured in the 1990s -- the "lost decade" when that nation showed no economic growth.

That's all you need to know. It didn't work there and it won't work here.

Kevin

EconomicDisconnect said...

Kevin,
really that is my point of contention. We have already seen this show with Japan, yet we expect different results. We need to accept that we are going to have to get by with less. All this subsidizing only keeps things bad. take collge tuition, it should not cost 150k to send a kid to a 4 year school. Add in government funds, low rate financing, and prsto! 250K college bills are the norm. And they are turning out dumber fools every year. Let everything survive or die on its own merits and college will not cost more tha 20k for 4 years.

Anonymous said...

CEO JOHN STUMPF SAYS TREASURY INVESTMENT OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS INTO BANK "A WISE AND PROFITABLE INVESTMENT" FOR COUNTRY AND ECONOMY
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7162037&action=article

Uh-Huh. Next

CEO LEWIS SAYS BANKS' ROLE IS TO HELP CREATORS OF ECONOMIC VALUE
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7162035&action=article

These asshats. What the hell can you say about a bunch of thieves that just don't frigging get it.

Kevin