Tick Talk Live

Honestly, I’m emotionally exhausted. I’ve put my heart, might, mind and strength into a dozen conversations in an effort to help family, friends, neighbors, strangers and my children understand what is happening and how it will impact each of us. I’m pleased that the House did not pass the EESA and even more pleased to finally start seeing consumer-centric solutions as opposed to the continuation of corporate and government opportunism.

The demographic that is slated to retire in the next 5-10 years is being dishonored by the country it built. Some people want to protect endangered species, or children, or the hungry, or the disabled, or the veterans, etc.  But not me.  It is the current injustice being dealt to the baby boomers that makes me LIVID. Think about it. Just as they reach the finish line for retirement, the market tanks (along with the 401k, 403b, 457, IRA, values) , Social Security is projected to go bankrupt, inflation goes through the roof, and the healthiest first quarter (about 5 years) of their golden years is ripped away from them. This noble generation is being defrauded by the U.S. government. The mandatory payments to Social Security have been mismanaged and the qualified contributions to personal retirement plans are at the mercy of the markets. And why? Why did they buy mutual funds and stocks and annuities in their retirement accounts? BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICES FOR TAX-DEFERRED INVESTING. Arm in arm the greedy government and greedier financial institutions go skipping into the sunset together as the betrayed, plundered, and aged generation prepares for the Dutch Hunger Winters of 2009 – 20__.    

Participation in any market should be a choice. For this group, there was no choice.  Now consider the schemes of the most influential forces in the market (the wealthiest 10% of individuals constitute 85% of stock ownership), who have the sophistication to absolutely understand the risks of the game and can transfer wealth at will. It appears that they are grabbing their cash and getting out of Dodge.   

For rising generation, let me suggest two things: 

1. Honor and support the baby boomers.

2. There is more salvation and security in wheat than in all the political schemes in the world. -Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, 2:207     

p.s. This is for Phil: per my calculations and the 2007 Census data, $700B, if evenly distributed to U.S. citizens 18 years and older, would enrich each individual by $3,073.96; if evenly distributed to U.S. households, would be $5,472.92.

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Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. Quote from Ali G. (@ 00:04:01), “ain’t da problem wit selling things when you is high is that you sometimes get really bad deals? Like one time when me was high, me sold my car for like, 24 chicken McNuggets? Ain’t it wrong to do dat?” 

There are a handful of authentic traders (like yours truly) who are shaking their heads and thinking: politicians are amatuers. Any real decision maker with the sense G-d gave a goose knows that the height of emotion abides at the precipice of irrationality, and to rush forward with an ad-hoc plan is to hasten losses exponentially and irredeemably. These politicians are nothing more than rank salesmen pitching an overpriced tickets for debtors prison.

Ali G. learns that one must not place trades if one is high.

First 45 seconds is the key to Election 2008

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Just add this issue on the ballot. California does it all the time. Another 30 days won’t kill anyone.  In fact, this country does not need elected representatives at all anymore.  Nearly everyone already has encrypted machinery (personal computers) and ID’s and the right to vote. Bush mentioned that one causal factor for the debt was 20th century technology in a 21st century age. Well, I say LET THE PEOPLE decide if they want this corporate debt lashed to their backs or not. I’ll bet they choose freedom – like their ancestors did.

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Money swaps are fascinating things. Yet sometimes I wonder how we send billions of dollars around the globe so quickly. Fedex and UPS have global overnight capabilities (as does the Army), but with so much at stake, I’ll bet the Central Banks turn to an operation that for centuries has delivered valuable packages globally and gained the goodwill of nearly every nation - Santa Claus. 

Honestly, it’s like magic. Money flies from nation to nation at the speed of light (ACH, Bank Wire, Western Union [see Reg. E]). In regulation E, the “E” is for electronic. This electronic transfer does not convey anything tangible. It is merely a message of transfer (like texting) of a fiat currency.  You may have seen currencies around, they are multi-colored papers minted (special word for printed) by a government to conveniently fit into your back pocket. They are not backed by gold, silver, debt, or equity. Right, they don’t represent anything of value, they just have bad art and a bunch of numbers on them. But here’s the kicker – if you try to pay your taxes with anything other than your national fiat currency, it won’t be accepted.

With that in mind, the $700B from the Federal Reserve to bail out banks (or $277B to foreign nations) is only accepted by those concerns because they know that the U.S. government, by power of taxation, will force value into those papers on the backs of the masses. Yep, the full faith and value of the national currency is lashed inextricably to the citizenry.   

Here is why I bring this up. I think the economy is going to completely tank in the next 10 years. As it does, by virtue of unemployment, diminished house prices, corporate outmigration, etc., our collective tax-ability will falter. All of the billions of text messages the central banks sent to foreign banks and were backed by the new digital standard (just made that up) will, like an epiphany or panic, be valued according to what they really are (and always were), which is short electrical pulses. 

Relax, this won’t happen until all paper and coin currency is confiscated by a Presidential Executive Order, like the gold confiscation order of 1933.   Once all cash is confiscated (and citizen accounts credited), our country can finally rid itself of the menacing responsibility of accounting for a tangible currency and move in to the liberating and perfectly secret realm of computer cloud banking. The procedure will be sold as a public safety measure (no more bank robbers), but will effectively eliminate the possibility of a “rush on banks,” a phenomenon we will likely see in 2-3 months (or sooner). It will also entirely cut the cost of minting.

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“In sum, these changes represent a $13 billion addition to the $277 billion previously authorized temporary reciprocal currency arrangements with other central banks. In addition to the swap lines with ECB and the Swiss National Bank, temporary swap lines previously have been authorized with:  the Bank of Japan ($60 billion), the Bank of England ($40 billion), the Reserve Bank of Australia ($10 billion), the Bank of Canada ($10 billion), the Bank of Sweden ($10 billion), the National Bank of Denmark ($5 billion), and the Bank of Norway ($5 billion).

These arrangements have been authorized through January 30, 2009.”  – FRB Press Release, Sept. 26, 2008

      Looks like the U.S. Banking club has reduced itself to the part of the unpopular kid in junior high that used money to buy friends. I’m so embarrased for them! But, like the desperate and short-sighted kid in Jr. High, nothing I say or do will cure the insecurity. How the prestigious money men in this country went from this:

to this… (pertinent lyrics @ 1:15: Big in japan, alright, pay, then I’ll sleep by your side)

is beyond me. *Note that Japan landed the largest bribe, 60B, which probably has something to do with the fact that they own more US public debt than any other country, but China is a close second, and they didn’t get squat. 

This is how the grovelling group looks as an ETF:

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“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. ”

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)

me_and_franklin

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That piece about Japanese Banks that I wrote yesterday, well, the long-winded journalistsare finally covering it today. 

Now for a rant. I submitted my well-researched, cross referenced, prophetic and actionable article to what I consider a respectable financial blog content aggregator and they passed it up because it wasn’t “in-depth.”  Seems they have their priorities wrong. If the weightiest matters are correctly discerned, interpreted for price impact, and then delivered to the masses in a few entertaining lines; isn’t that the highest form of information delivery? Fact is, unnecessarily text-heavy content is a time-wasting ocular burden to most readers (okay, maybe I’m the only one that thinks it sucks). Furthermore, I find it curious that any editor would suggest that I write a novel when explaining what an educated subscriber base should be able to digest in six lines, two graphs and a music video. Maybe their readers aren’t that sharp. Maybe their writers dwell on materially insignificant facts. Maybe that’s why none of their readers or writers post third-party verified investing results like I do [p.s. I'm in cash right now - see my Covestor stats in the column on the right].

I think I’m done with SeekingAlpha. I’m getting too wordy just talking about this, and that can’t be good. In addition, they have that wrought with fraud, abomination of guru service, advertising at their place. I refuse to have my credibility juxtaposed to that scam. A web friend suggested that SA will ”cramp your style.” I think he’s right. My wife observed that they are behind the times – and she’s always right.

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Now that U.S. Treasuries yields are in the negative  (due to inflation), does it makes sense that U.S. banks would become acquisition targets for Japanese banks who had 0% treasuries for over a decade and are finally emerging from their own crisis?

Press Release Date: September 23, 2008
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced the approval of an application by The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd., Shizuoka, Japan, to establish a branch in New York, New York. Attached is the Order relating to this action.

Attachment (28 KB PDF)    2008 Orders on Banking Applications

Disclosure: I’m only watching EWJ & FXY (turning):

The Vapors had it right in 1981: Turning Japanese.

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Okay, shorting is prohibited until October 2, 2008. Good to know. Sometimes circuit breakers (trading halts) are necessary to keep things from burning to the ground. Sometimes uptick rules are employed. And sometimes, just sometimes, economies collapse despite government intervention (think of Russia and Rubles). While on the topic of monetary disasters, it seems wise to consider REFCO. They were the largest independent futures trader in the world. They participated in trillions of dollars of transactions DAILY and their assets were once valued near 48B. Their CEO hid a paltry 450M debt from shareholders and when it was discovered, their accounts were frozen and the company quickly sought relief via Chapter 11.

Friends, three years ago my currencies trading account was alive and well at REFCO. On October 11, 2005, I learned a valuable lesson regarding the dirty games people play with our money. Today, that company is defunct and I have $0.23 for every $1.00 that was on deposit with them. That was a 77% drawdown that was not factored into my risk assumptions. With a watchful eye, I have witnessed a similar depth of corruption in ALL financial dealings and it has rotted out the bottom of this economy. But this time, I’m ready. I am my own central bank, food bank and value analyst. It’s a little thing my ancestors called self-reliance.

The last ten seconds of this 45 second video sums up the U.S. economic future:

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The International Monetary Fund recently declared that the US has not seen times like this since the 1930′s. Well, the above photo was taken in that time frame. So who cares about financial markets, right?

Well, after money fails, food is next. Here are two articles, one regarding domestic subsistence conditions, the other regarding International subsistence conditions. If being poor and unemployed doesn’t bother you, perhaps being hungry will. It is time to get back to the land.

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