HurricaneZoo.com

Our Recession officially ended in June 2009 so where is the recovery.?

We have 17 million unemployed and 8 million foreclosures coming in the next two years (Realtytrac.com)

The fed’s current policy of “Quantitative Easing” may have unintended consequences.  We are paralleling Japan’s 20 years of economic stagnation in our economy.
John Hussman and Mike Shedlock provide some insight as to what is happening and why. See “Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis” Oct 26, 2010

This policy is causing the next asset bubble in commodities, especially precious metals and the stock market which some are now saying is overpriced.

Mish states we should not have thrown trillions of tax dollars at the banks but should  have allowed them to go to bankruptcy.  This is actually what the law says we should have done.

So why did our Congress not follow “the law”?  In two words “Scare tactics”  They were told (by the bankers) there would be “a financial crisis of biblical proportions”  So instead we bailed them out . FYI we are preparing for another bailout of the banks, A second TARP.

In essence the investors (stock holders) would have been wiped out and the bond holders ( the wealthy) would have taken a hit BUT the banks would have reorganized with clean balance sheets and the ability to make loans overnight. The so called ”toxic assets” would have been removed from the bank’s portfolios and allowed a market readjustment of their value.

Note: Mark to Market valuation of assets is now a major contention with  Wells Fargo and other major banks, with the Accounting Board’s GAAP proposal changes. If the banks are forced to report current housing asset values (which have dropped up to 50%) their balance sheets will be in the dumpster and they will be forced to declare bankruptcy.

Yes, the economy would have gone through some rough time maybe 6 months to a year until people realized “the sky was not falling” but we would have already started a true recovery. Instead the banks are not lending to people who need the money to expand business AND can pay it back!!

Paulix

I woke today around seven. I am sleeping better now than I have in the past. I use to wake up around 4am. I said I liked getting up early, but I really wished that I could have been sleeping.  I am glad to be sleeping in a little longer. I don’t know why I just feel better.

The sleeping pills probably help. I only take a half at a time; even with a whole one I can only sleep three to four hours. So I take a half, and then the other half when I wake at 2am. I scan the TV channels and look at late night programming, while I wait for the sleeping pill to work. The only thing entertaining is reruns of Glen Beck on Fox.

Beck is a serious snake oil salesman, with his blackboards and his time-lines and his cardboard cutouts. He needs to start his show by walking on screen pulling a handcart, a gipsy-wagon with all his props in tow. Then he could break out the Ouija board and see the future. I have seen him in a red bandana and black cumber-bun, a mystic, magical look for him; add a turban and he’s done. It is hard to believe there are people out there that take him serious, Jesus that is a scary thought. I think he will eventually follow in Ron Parsleys footsteps and be a TV evangelical preacher. I am certain as I can be, sitting here in my backyard  writing this down, that he will be a success. Hell, I might even buy a sweat anointed prayer cloth from him.  Strictly as an investment to sell to one of his devoted followers on eBay.

I turn off the TV and go back to bed. Funny, late night TV use to be off beat, the strange hours, now it’s reruns of Glen Beck. Just knowing that will help me sleep nights.

David Helmericks

We are global now there can be no doubt. Capitalism is inserting its hand into the pocket of the undeveloped world and raising its ugly head. The current US economic crisis helped bring this into focus. The American dream is struggling to find a different way, a change in philosophy, a new kind of truth. A way for more of mankind to prosper and share the American dream… if it still exists?

 Prosperity isn’t a bad thing and there is no reason why more people on a global scale can’t participate. The planet certainly contains the resources for all to live a prosperous life.  The ideas will have to be reworked, maybe with a brutal hand, for a more benevolent implementation of capitalism. America exports its particular brand of capitalism to the rest of the world with little regard for the local inhabitant and their customs. America always bring the heavy equipment.

Expansion is needed to continue the pace of corporate growth and more importantly corporate profit. Remote locations with untapped resources are always in the cross hairs of multi-national corporations. And never let the lack of an invitation stop the advance of capitalism.  The development of new untapped markets is a must. And if anyone raised an objection, a few strategic pay-offs to malcontents and officials in high places can over-come most obstacles to development. And those that money can’t buy? A special group of negotiators will be flown in after dark to deal with these holdouts. And negotiations this sensitive take place in remote locations behind close doors were no sounds can be heard. America knows what the rest of the world needs…Capitalism.

  The Caterpillar D11T rains down unimaginable devastation to the forest, looking like a monster to the natives. With its 22ft blade the D11T clears enough land to make a two-lane road in the most remote wilderness on the planet. Development is a sign of progress to many. To others, like the native Tawahkan tribe, it is devastating to their way of life. But these are small detail and have never stopped America’s expansion. They know what is best for progress and the new frontier. For good or ill, it is dam the torpedoes and full speed ahead.

 The torpedoes will come in the form of protest and outrage from liberals and tree huggers. People who disagree with US expansionist policies, and people with too much time on their hands. Protest is fine if you have the media’s ear and the pen of the press to write your story. If not, other factors come into play. Questions arise? Who will finance the journey, what is needed to get there, and where are the accommodations? It is never easy to get into these remote locations. The most over looked factor, when considering a campaign of this nature, is the weather. Nobody wants to be in the jungle at the start of the rainy season. Mudslides and flash floods will fuck you every time. 

 The indigenous population, stripped of their land and way of life, will be guaranteed economic partnership in the new development. This partnership will come in the form of employment, entry-level low paying jobs. People who use to live in complete harmony with nature, in tune with the rhythms and mysteries of the rain forest, are reduced to bellhops, bus boys, and maids. The children of the indigenous people are given exclusive rights to rummage the trash, of course.

 It is hard for the indigenous people to understand what has happened. The destruction of the forest, their homes, and their way of life is complete. Days of living as Mother Nature’s children are gone forever. This makes them sad.  In fact, missionaries will be flown in to deal with this emotion, swiftly. Bringing with them bags of trinkets, cheap plastic widgets, and other meaningless trash. Group counseling on Christ, hygiene, and dressing in proper attire, will be mandatory. Little brown people running around half naked will make some nervous and be bad for business. It is all done in the name of progress.

 When it is all said and done, nothing displays expansion and opulence more than a 75-story Casino glistening in the sun above the jungle canopy, whatever the cost.

David Helmericks

More than 56,000 square miles of forest are lost each year.

This is the deal. Some of my loyal followers need to go someplace else and sell crazy. Quit putting up malicious viral links; what the *#%* are you thinking? I am tolerant of dammed near anything except mean spirited malicious fu*ks, got it! Good, now let’s move on.

 If you are interested in advertising something useful or other wise, as I suspect, I can make it happen. Let me know. The first thing I will need is a valid… good…accurate… email address with your post. A bad e-mail addresses is a major problem. Don’t be bashful; say what you mean, mean what you say. Now is not the time to be anonymous.  Now is the time to speak out, we are confronted with a shit-storm on all fronts.

  Me, I am clinging to the edge. Staying high and dry for now, living life as an artist. David Helmericks

My guess is it was a perfect financial storm. A financial event that rarely comes along, and some recognized it for what it was, taking advantage of the situation.  Some investors made money and some lost money. Investors need to accept that these kinds of things happen. I cant say this strongly enough… If you don’t have money to lose, stay out of the markets, preserve capital! Unless you are a long term investor and don’t care about short term volatility.

 The stock market is more a fool’s game, a rigged game, that ever before; and a lot of people are getting out of the market. This is evident by the declining volume in the stock market and the vanishing yield on bonds. Fear is beginning to take hold. And that is what the bailout money is for, to calm the fear.

 The bail out money given to the banks is not intended to help the public sector financially. It is reserve cash held in bank vaults in case the public gets nervous. The banks are preparing for the eventuality of a run on the bank.  If this was to happen, and the banks were not prepared to cash out customers, there would be panic and a complete loss of confidence in the system. This has not happened yet, and I hope that it doesn’t. We need to get back to basic philosophies like pay as you go .

 Investors have to sign all kind of documents, a customer profile. Agreeing that they understand the inherent risk in investing and that they may lose all of their investment. Obviously there have been many losses to investors – the Bernie Madoffs are front-page news, the tip of the ice-burg – and there is no end in site.

 Politics, Rob Blagojevich, what can you say? Charles Rangel, accused of misconduct seems smug and in a bit of pickle. I believe he knows more than a spoonful about the nonsense that goes on in Washington, DC. You watch, old Charlie won’t admit to anything… that amounts to more than a pat on the back. And they wont take him to trial either. He has something bigger that all of them: the entire political system hanging by a thread. Nobody wants Charlie to start spreading the sunshine. No, Charles will come out smelling like honey-suckle.

 I am outraged by the government action to finance corrupt business practice at taxpayer expense. Sarbanes-Oxley was not enforced. The banks books were cooked; it was all over looked and swept under the carpet. They made whole, the crooks that created the problem in the first place. The courts served up no justice. And the politicians talked the issue to death, calling for study groups and more regulation. 

 As to the question: did GM bondholders take a backseat to UAW in the Bailout of GM? Well, that is one hell of a question. Of course they did. 

 DH

Yesterday’s action in the stock market was intense; you needed a brass pair… to be short the market, or not watching TV. It was  explosive to the down side around 2:45.  The market dropped nearly a thousand points in a mater of minutes. There hasn’t been a move like that in the market since 1987… maybe never, depending on which matrix you use. If you are into that sort of drama, I hope you saw it; it was a sight to consider.

 If you were waiting on a pullback, you got it. You didn’t have time to think about the move, it came like a bolt of lighting. If your strategy was not clear in your mind before the pullback, chances are good that you missed the boat.  There was no time to call your broker, do any chart work, or get a cup of coffee for that matter. The action was that fast.

 The disbelief had triggered outrage, and commentators on the business channel made understated accusations of manipulation. Calling for an explanation from the traders on the floor of the NY stock exchange, which were standing stunned as if frozen in the headlights. There will be questions and comities formed to study the event. Tens of millions will be spent to find the answer to what went wrong. What happened? And who made a profit and who lost from the event. The media discussion will be historic. Still the answers will only lead to more questions about the rules of trading regarding individual investors – which should mean equal access to investing and trading the market; not more regulation for the little guy.

 There were huge losses for some and gains for others. The losers will cry foul; and those that gained will keep quiet! It will all be blamed on a computer glitch, along with human error. The early story was that a City Bank trader entered an order for a billion shares when he meant a million, but that is fodder for the masses. The real story, or at least one I can digest easily, is this: when strange trading action occurs in a particular stock, a specialist on the floor of the NY stock exchange can halt trading for thirty seconds to sort out events and find an honest bid and ask. The electronic exchange has no such time out.

 When the specialist halts trading, he notifies the electronic market that he is halting trading for thirty seconds. During the halt in trading by the specialists, the computers in the electronic exchange take over and fill market orders.  If you are selling at the market and the bid is 30, you expect to get around 30. But if the only buyer is at 15,  you only get 15 and not the thirty you expect. I believe this is what happened, but  I need time to take it apart and smell the fumes.

 The latest update, as to the cause of the sell off, is that it was the specialists trading halt that caused the melt down. I can see it. There are lessons to be learned from all of this. Always place limit orders never market orders.

 David Helmericks

To the president of Columbus Bank & Trust

Billy,

Your company CB&T (Columbus Bank & Trust), which is an amalgamation of small financial companies, put me in a bad spot today, declined my credit card purchase. The vendor was on the phone with one of the dullards in your customer service department trying to rectify the problem. After they had extracted all of my personnel information, including social security number, which I had to give to the check out clerk, my purchase was declined. No reason was given. So when I got home, I had to call your people back and go through the entire process again. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do than to be put on hold for twenty minuets. I found out my credit limit had been reduced from $5,500.00 to $800.00 and that my 50.00 purchase put me over the new reduced limit. I have had the First Equity bank card for over three years and can’t remember ever running a balance, too bad for you. But you still get you cut from each purchase.

It seems to me, you want to extend credit to people who pay their bill in full and on time. But you and I both know that is not true. Currently the interest rate stands at 23.99 percent and goes up to 29.99 percent if I am late. Is the banks logo a shark fin? You make little money from people who pay the bill in full and on time each month. The banks extend credit to people who can’t pay their bill, that way you make the vigorous interest rate you charge. That kind of logic is what got the banks into the current crisis; moreover, it seems your bank has not learned the lesson.

 I am tired of dealing with idiots and thought I could profit by shorting your company stock (SNV), but found the share price to be under five dollars making it unavailable for shorting. I also found out that Gail Baker Page, a former Columbus Bank & Trust vice president was sentenced to eight months in prison for bank fraud. I can no longer, in good conscious, continue to do business with a bank on its way out, and would advise you to start sending out your resume.

 Good luck,

 David Helmericks

Charleston SC 29416