Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, August 10, 2011


Hey, Mike... thanks again for the loan of the car all those years ago!

Oh... and by the way... don't be surprised if the above theme song is adopted by Obama 2012!

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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576498500461086730.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The Federal Reserve has kept its short-term interest-rate target at near-zero for 32 months, and yesterday its Open Market Committee announced that it'll keep the rate there for at least another 24 months.

* FOOLS...!

The Fed's statement was notable in particular for its dissent by three FOMC members, all of them regional bank presidents who weren't appointed by President Obama. ... [S]uch a major dissent is rare and a welcome signal of impatience with relentless easing.

* THE PROBLEM IS... THIS ACTUALLY IS STILL RELENTLESS EASING - JUST BY ANOTHER METHOD... ANOTHER NAME...

(*SIGH*)

We [here at the WSJ] supported the move to near-zero amid the financial panic in December 2008...

* I DIDN'T! (AND EVENTS HAVE BORN ME OUT!)

...but the Fed never did take advantage of the recession's end to return to a more normal risk environment. Had it gone back to 1% or so, it would have helped savers and encouraged more bank lending.

* UNDERSTAND, FOLKS... THIS IS PARTISAN POLITICS PURE AND SIMPLE! THEY'RE TRYING TO GIVE AN ADDICT ONE MORE "HIGH" BEFORE THE 2012 ELECTIONS AND TO HELL WITH THE LONG-TERM DAMAGE THIS LATEST FED ACTION WILL DO!

Meanwhile, the Fed's QE2 experiment, which began last September, ended on June 30 with little to show for it.

* FOLK... (*SIGH*)... AGAIN... THIS IS QE3 BY A DIFFERENT ROUTE - BY A DIFFERENT NAME! THEY'RE MONETIZING THE DEBT! THEY'RE DELIBERATELY CONTINUING TO DESTROY THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR!

Asset prices rose as the Fed's bond purchases pushed investors into riskier assets (stocks and commodities)...[but]...any wealth effect was offset by negative "income effects" as Americans suffered a decline in real income from paying more for food and energy because of the commodity-price bubble.

Economic growth has decelerated over the past year despite QE2, so we wonder what good Mr. Bernanke thinks it did. We're hard-pressed to see what good QE3 would do as well.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN HELPLESS HORROR AT WHAT'S HAPPENING*)

The larger error is to assume that monetary policy will save the economy from its current malaise. That's the latest mantra from the same economists who told us that $1 trillion in spending stimulus was the answer in 2009.

(*SNORT*)

[W]e are now told the economy needs a bout of extended inflation to reduce our debt burden. Harvard's Kenneth Rogoff says the Fed should allow a "sustained burst of moderate inflation, say, 4-6% for several years."

* YOU THOUGHT I WAS KIDDING UP ABOVE...?!?! "I WASN'T KIDDING...!!!" THESE BASTARDS WANT YOU TO PAY MORE FOR LESS...!!! THAT'S THEIR ACTUAL FUCKING PLAN...!!! (AND, FOLKS... IT'S "WORKING" IN THE SENSE THAT WE NOW HAVE STAGFLATION INSTEAD OF SIMPLY A RECESSION...!!!)

There's no doubt that inflation can erode the value of money and debt. Argentina tries this every few years. Debtors and "millionaires and billionaires" (to borrow a phrase) do fine, but the middle class pays a huge price in a debased standard of living. Once you encourage more inflation, it's also hard to stop at 4%. In today's global economy with investors already suspicious of U.S. economic management, an overt declaration of such a policy might trigger a wholesale run on the dollar.

* AND, FOLKS... YOU WON'T HEAR A PEEP AGAINST THIS INSANITY FROM MOST MEMBERS OF CONGRESS - REPUBLICRAT OR DEMPUBLICAN. GOD HELP US... GOD HELP OUR GROWN KIDS... GOD HELP FUTURE GENERATIONS...

August 10, 2011 at 8:50 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/granthams-latest-sp-worth-no-more-950

Back in May, when the market was once again trading purely on hopium and everyone's head was in the sand of denial, (or worse), Jeremy Grantham released his second quarter letter which was so bearish, it literally moved the market lower briefly (at which point visions of Ben Bernanke pushing CTRL-P repeatedly restored the levitation).

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

Anyone who took his advice then, about 15% higher, to get out, has saved substantial capital: "whether [the market] will reach 1500 or not, the environment has simply become too risky to justify prudent investors hanging around, hoping to get lucky. So now is not the time to float along with the Fed, but to fight it."

Well, to anyone hoping that the latest letter from the GMO manager has anything more optimistic after an epic rout in the past week, we have bad news: "as for global equities, they range from unattractive (August 2) to very unattractive. The S&P 500, for example, is worth no more than 950 on our estimates.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... GRANTHAM IS BEING A ROSY OPTIMIST WITH THAT 950 FIGURE!

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... CORPORATE PROFITS HAVE GONE UP ON THE BACKS OF DOWNSIZINGS AND FOREIGN RELOCATIONS! HOW MANY FACTORIES DO YOU SEE BEING BUILT AROUND YOU? AT THE SAME TIME EXISTING BUSINESSES (BORDERS FOR EXAMPLE) ARE GOING ALL THE WAY OUT OF BUSINESS - TAKING ALMOST 12,000 DIRECT JOBS WITH THEM NOT TO MENTION THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT.

* AGAIN... TO REMIND YOU.. THE WAY THE BANKS "MADE MONEY" FOLLOWING TARP AND THE BAILOUTS WAS BY BEING "LOANED" MONEY BY THE FED AT NEAR ZERO INTEREST RATES AND THEN THE BANKS WOULD TURN AROUND AND "INVEST" THIS MONEY IN TREASURIES PAYING HIGHER INTEREST RATES!!! IN OTHER WORDS, THE ILLUSION OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE BUT WHAT WAS REALLY HAPPENING WAS THE BANKERS, TRADERS, AND LAWYERS WERE CASHING IN - ALL ON THE TAXPAYER'S DIME!

* FOLKS... HOW DO YOU THINK OBAMA'S FRIENDS AT GOLDMAN-SACHS MADE A GREAT DEAL OF THEIR INCOME! (CAN YOU SAY "MIDDLE MAN"...?!?!)

August 10, 2011 at 9:17 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904007304576498793010276516.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to sell part of its [junk-filled] home-loan portfolio to government-controlled [taxpayer dollar bleeding "dead man walking"] housing giant Fannie Mae, as the bank looks to shed [bad] assets and pare its exposure to an array of mortgage woes.

* NOW DOESN'T THAT JUST MAKE YA FEEL GOOD, FOLKS!

* JUST AS BERNANKE'S TACTICS ARE QE3 BY A DIFFERENT ROUTE, SO NOW WE SEE ANOTHER GOVERNMENT BAILOUT (FANNIE MAE REPRESENTING THE GOVERNMENT) OF ANOTHER BANK - BANK OF AMERICA.

* FOLKS... REMEMBER HOW THE DEMS TOLD YOU DODD-FRANKS WOULD END BAILOUTS? (*SNICKER*) (*SNORT*) (*SMIRK*)

The move is part of the Charlotte, N.C., lender's strategy to sell noncore holdings, rid itself of mortgage problems and preserve capital as it repositions its balance sheet to withstand future economic shocks.

* SO NOW THESE "MORTGAGE PROBLEMS" THAT WERE BANK OF AMERICA'S RESPONSIBILITY ARE OUR PROBLEM - THE PROBLEM OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER. (HOW'S THE LOGIC OF THIS SOUND TO YOU FOLKS SO FAR...?) (*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*)

No U.S. bank is more exposed to troubled real estate than Bank of America...

* "WAS." AS IN "WAS" MORE EXPOSED. NOW THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER IS THE ONE EXPOSED.

* HEY... FOLKS... FANNIE MAE COULDN'T DO THIS WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THOROUGHLY OBAMA AND THE DEMS ARE TIED TO FAT CATS THEY PUBLICLY RAIL AGAINST. PAY NO ATTENTION TO WHAT OBAMA SAYS... JUST CONSIDER WHAT HE DOES!

The rights being picked up by Fannie Mae were originally worth more than the purchase price, said a person familiar with the deal.

* "...WERE ORIGINALLY..." (*SMIRK*) CUTE, HUH?!

The loans have a 13% delinquency rate, and more than half of the loans are in troubled U.S. real-estate markets.

(*LAUGHING AND CRYING SIMULTANEOUSLY*)

August 10, 2011 at 9:44 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Biker-Attacked-by-4-Teens-127320978.html

One man says he was attacked by four teens while riding his bike along Kelly Drive on July 31.

* FOUR "TEENS" HUH?

* ASIAN KIDS...? INDIAN KIDS...? WHITE KIDS...? BOYS...? GIRLS...? (*SMIRK*)

Christopher Dean says around 6 p.m., he was hit by at least one of the four teens and can’t remember what happened next.

* BUT HE REMEMBERS THE FOUR TEENS. AND YET... HE CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ELSE THAT WOULD ASSIST WITH A DESCRIPTION?

Two people barbecuing along Kelly Drive rushed to help him.

* AND DID EITHER OF THESE PEOPLE GET A BETTER... er... DESCRIPTION OF THE SCUM?

Dean’s skull was cracked and his face injured as a result of the alleged attack.

* NICE... (BTW... WHAT'S THIS NONSENSE ABOUT "ALLEGED" ATTACK...???)

* SEE, FOLKS... HERE'S THE PROBLEM WITH THAT "ALLEGED" BULLSHIT -- http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/08/09/third-flash-mob-attack-reported/

Police confirmed Dean’s story and said there have been no arrests.

(*SMIRK*)

Dean’s incident happened just two days after two other violent attacks by [black] teenagers in Center City.

Dean says the teens appeared to be between 15 and 18.

* AND YET... EITHER DEAN GAVE NO OTHER... er.. DETAILED DESCRIPTION, OR... THE NEWSPAPER SIMPLY REFUSES TO SHARE THE REALITY WITH READERS OUT OF SOME SORT OF SICK POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ON STEROIDS.

* HEY, FOLKS... BEFORE YOU DEAL WITH A PROBLEM YOU'VE GOT TO PROPERLY IDENTIFY IT. BLACK AND TO A CERTAIN EXTENT HISPANIC YOUTH SEEM TO BE AT THE HEART OF THESE "INCIDENTS" THAT KEEP ON HAPPENING IN CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

August 10, 2011 at 6:24 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_DEFICIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-10-14-14-10

The United States' budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a third straight year...

* WHAT A FRIGG'N COINCIDENCE, HUH?! IT JUST HAPPENS TO BE BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S THIRD YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE! IMAGINE THAT...!!!

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit through July totaled $1.1 trillion. Three years ago, that would have been a record high for the full year.

(*SIGH*) YEAH... WE'RE WELL AWARE... AS IS STANDARD & POOR'S... AS IS THE STOCK MARKET...

This year's deficit is on pace to exceed last year's imbalance of $1.29 trillion. But it is likely to fall short of the record $1.41 trillion set in 2009.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

For the first 10 months of the budget year, spending has risen 2.4%...

* AND REPUBLICANS ARE TO BE BLAMED FOR ALLOWING THIS! (THOUGH OF COURSE HAD DEMOCRATS CONTROLLED THE HOUSE AS WELL AS THE SENATE WE KNOW SPENDING WOULD HAVE RISEN FAR ABOVE 2.4%.)

[R]evenue has climbed 8%...

* WHICH MEANS THAT THIS YEAR'S DEFICIT SHOULD REALLY BE 10.4% BELOW WHAT IT IS!

* 8% + NOT SPENDING THE ADDITIONAL 2.4% = 10.4%.

August 10, 2011 at 6:35 PM

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