alstry (99.47)

10 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On September 01, 2009 at 9:32 PM, alstry (99.47) wrote:

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Florida’s pension lost $250 million it invested in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan’s largest rental-apartment complex, the fund’s trustees were told.

CALPERS losing a billion on Landsource....

Many pension funds are severely underfunded due to losing hundreds of billions on bad debt deals and credit default swaps

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Philadelphia will take out a $275 million short-term loan from JPMorgan Chase to pay vendors that have gone without compensation since July because of one of the worst budget crises in nearly 50 years, Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter said on Tuesday.

The privately placed loan has an interest rate of 3 percent until December 1 when the rate is scheduled to rise to 8 percent

JP doing a similar deal for much more money to California

All the while the taxpayers are basisically giving the bankers money for free.

Could you imagine if you could borrow a billion from the Fed at 1/2% and loan it back to government at 3%.  Not a bad way to make a living and give yourself a big bonus at the end of the year for screwing the taxpayers.

Our cities, counties, and states and pensions are all going broke while Benny B is telling the recession is over?????

You will learn.....it is now 9.09.

Report this comment

#2) On September 01, 2009 at 9:36 PM, jddubya (77.83) wrote:

If you already know about this, and we have yet to learn about it... and our numbers are in the tens... maybe one hundred tops that "will soon learn"....

So?!?!?

 Why aren't you trying to convince the people that really need to know.  The masses.  Why why why?!?!?!?

If you're right about what you claim (and Alstry[nomics] is all about being right), then I can assure you that in ten years you will be not even a footnote in the pages of history.  But if you brought your claims to the masses, and you're right, you'll have a lasting legacy...

 LOL... I'm cracking myself up...  ooops, sorry...my mind started wandering...

Report this comment

#3) On September 01, 2009 at 9:41 PM, alstry (99.47) wrote:

The question you should ask yourself....is why aren't you doing anything....by your numbers, I have told one hundred just on this forum.

If they each tell 10 and they each tell 9, and they each tell 8, and they each tell 7, and they each tell 6, and they each tell 5, and they each tell 4, and they each tell 3, and they each tell 2.....we pretty much have the country covered.......

Hmmmm.  This sounds like a good business model.

Report this comment

#4) On September 01, 2009 at 10:03 PM, alstry (99.47) wrote:

As money dries up....America will get angry!!!!  And just wait until the learn what happend.

ESCONDIDO – A group of gun advocates openly carried their unloaded firearms to an Escondido mall Tuesday afternoon.

Many of the patrons at nearby restaurants said their actions were intimidating.

The gathering was organized by Escondido Open Carry, founded by Escondido residents Gerald Reaster, 69, and Donna Woods, 77, in response to the growing movement nationwide to openly carry guns.

The movement asserts an individual's right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and the privilege to wear an unloaded gun openly in California.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/01/bn01guns-open-carry/?northcounty

I think this behavior is dangerous....it will not take much to get out of control...but we are seeing the trend increasing all across the nation.

Health Care reform taught you how to get angry.....Benny B and the banker scandel will make you want to fight.

Report this comment

#5) On September 01, 2009 at 10:20 PM, alstry (99.47) wrote:

Get ready...as poverty rises....so does stress....

For the 12-month period ended June 30, the Fresno Community Food Bank distributed a record 14.5 million pounds of food to residents of a three-county area -- double the previous year. So many people mobbed one food-distribution center two weeks ago that some who had waited in triple-digit heat for hours were turned away empty-handed after the food ran out.

"There's never been this kind of need in the Central Valley, ever," said Dana Wilkie, chief executive of the Fresno food bank. "In some communities, we're serving 80% of the residents."

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AMERICA LEARNS IT IS BROKE?

Report this comment

#6) On September 01, 2009 at 10:25 PM, whereaminow (94.04) wrote:

Rock on, alstry!  You've nailed it! Especially note the part of this review that I boldfaced.  (But the whole review is good).

End the Fed

52 of 61 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Ron Paul's Long Fight and the Window of Opportunity, August 30, 2009 By Citizen John (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews Author Ron Paul, M.D., a medical doctor and Republican Congressman for Texas, introduced H.R. 833. This bill would abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and repeal the Federal Reserve Act. The majority of bills never make it out of committee, but Dr. Paul has appealed to the public through his new book, End the Fed.

Ron Paul has had some success advancing his other bill, H.R. 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009. H.R. 1207 has 282 co-sponsors and would reform the manner in which the Federal Reserve is audited. Paul's long term motivation for entering politics and fighting uphill all these years is his views on the nature of money. He wants money of real value, not political money. There is no other elected official like Ron Paul.

Paul is solidly on the side of the Austrian School of economics. His upbringing is inspirational and conveys the frugality and ethic of savings that used to be common in this country. Like Paul, I developed an interest in coins. I collect nickels. I first got interested in nickels when I realized that some from the 1920s are still circulating. They don't buy as much now but they're virtually indestructible. They're made of the more expensive base metals: 75% copper and 25% nickel. My nickel collection weighs a lot because it doesn't take a lot of money to own hundreds of pounds of nickels. Like Paul, I believe the U.S. Mint will make steel coins within several years.

End the Fed offers easy-to-understand solutions to our problems: live within our means, stick to the Constitution and make the legal tender of the country sound money. Because of his lifelong passion, personal integrity and courage, the bills he is sponsoring and this well-written book, I must award the maximum number of Amazon stars - 5 stars. I don't think there's a way to reform the Fed. We have to end the Fed. My personal opinion is that we need a central bank, but let's start over.

It feels good to know we have Ron Paul in Congress. Still, End the Fed provoked feelings of outrage. To consider all the abuse of monetary power and its effect on our lives captured in one book is almost overwhelming. In places I realized how naïve I had been earlier with regard to my faith in the Fed. For example, I had earlier bought into a particular idea espoused by Bill Gross, founder of PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company). Gross correctly predicted the crisis and prescribed a Keynesian approach, eloquently advocating that the Fed should dramatically increase the size of its balance sheet (by trillions) to counterbalance the lack of asset carrying capacity of the public. It was a beautiful theoretical approach but in practice it fell due to corruption. Ron Paul did not believe in that approach because he didn't trust the Fed. Paul turned out to be correct.

Ron Paul spent his entire professional political career fighting the secrecy of the Fed in order to prevent the collapse that occurred. His book shows that economic growth slowed after the establishment of the Federal Reserve, explains how the Fed made a depression into The Great Depression and how the Fed burdens the middle class with the stealth tax of inflation. Whenever credit cycles reach their peak and a financial accident occurs, the Fed pours out liquidity at the cost of runaway federal debt that never gets paid back. Paul convinced me that our military engagements would not have played out as they did if our government had to pay for them by raising taxes the old fashioned way rather than finance them with endless sales of Treasury bonds.

There are several arguments made against maintaining the powers of the Fed. One is that it has not performed well. Another is that it should not have authority to oversee monetary policy without any accountability. Yet another is that non-transparent financing has encouraged some political leaders to take an aggressive approach to war.

Paul's bill, H.R. 1207 would allow genuine auditing of the Federal Reserve. This would open a Pandora's Box. Auditors would find out where all the public money went, report it to Congress, and make the information public. Then investigations into the scandal would become the hallmark of the next several years and could even contribute to civil unrest if the foreclosure rate increases. I feel that Paul's arguments for ending the secrecy of the Fed are irrefutable. I believe any thinking person will arrive at the same conclusion if they read the book.

The Fed is fighting this bill on several fronts and has the means to win. If H.R. 1207 passes the House and the Senate, President Obama will almost certainly veto it. One naturally wonders if any sitting President can stand up to the Fed or even be elected without the Fed's imprimatur. The Fed is determined to never allow such a bill to go this far again. However, if the public becomes truly engaged, all bets are off and then even H.R. 833 might get co-sponsors.

Several issues will emerge if and when the Fed's disbursements of public funds get made public. Most involve the favoritism with which the Fed distributed liquidity. We know that bailout money went to where wealth was already concentrated, the big banks. Small banks were generally excluded. We know that money was routed through entities in order to pay the politically powerful investment banks, where the public made good on unregulated derivatives bets. We might even find that some well-connected hedge funds were bailed out. While money is fungible, we're likely to be surprised at the amount that ended up as executive bonuses.

H.R. 1207 is intended to audit the Fed's dealings with financial entities of all types, foreign and domestic. Ron Paul says he does not intend for the Congressional investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to influence monetary policy or to interfere with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets interest rates. The Fed has counterarguments that H.R. 1207 will subject interest rates to the political influence of Congress. The Fed doesn't want to let any outsiders in on the secrets of their transactions. As author David Wessel has warned, the Fed has become the fourth branch of government and it is not directly accountable to voters.

H.R. 833 would abolish the Fed, the subject of the book. This is the type of thing many lawmakers probably privately believe is in the best interests of the country, but will not risk their careers by co-sponsoring. Nevertheless, this is the first time a well-known person (Ron Paul) has tried to persuade Congress to end the Fed.

Recall that many people were questioning whether the pushing out of credit during the time of the Bush Administration was creating a housing bubble. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan would only allow that in some parts of the country things were "frothy." He denied the bubble when it was obvious. Greenspan at the same time verbally encouraged mortgage equity withdrawals by homeowners. This turned out to be a trap for many trusting citizens. Homeowners trusted the Fed.

Later Mr. Greenspan insisted that one cannot spot a bubble before it bursts. However, the following is a selection of high-profile people that clearly identified the housing bubble and predicted a possible financial collapse: Ron Paul, Nouriel Roubini, David Walker, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Joseph Stiglitz, Stephen Roach, Stephanie Pomboy, Naomi Klein, Robert D. Manning, Danny Schechter, Juliet Schor, Alf Field, Peter G. Peterson, John Rubino, Daniel A. Arnold, John R. Talbott, Park Dae-sung, Bill Gross, Jim Sinclair, John Mauldin, Fred Hickey, Robert J. Shiller, Barry Ritholtz, Marc Faber, Richard Rainwater, George Soros, Peter Schiff, Bob Bixby, Martin Weiss, Robert Prechter, David Tice, James D. Scurlock, Elizabeth Warren and Paul Krugman.

The Fed got supercharged when circumstances became unusual and exigent. That gives the Fed unlimited power to create and disburse money. The Fed with its battalions of $350K/yr economists decided that public money would be used to make good on unregulated derivatives in the case of AIG, for example. This meant more than $173 billion of public funds went to AIG and then a lot of that got routed to AIG's derivatives counterparties. We don't know how much went to which counterparties because the Fed isn't telling. We do know that this action saved the bonus system. This generosity with public funds toward financial industry leaders made a hero out of Ben Bernanke. End the Fed would stop this abuse for good.

As background, AIG derivatives traders appear to have deliberately written and sold losing derivatives. These derivatives methodically took the wrong side of the bet but matured years later, so they wouldn't be exercised for some years. In return for taking the wrong side of the bet, they received cash up-front. Goldman Sachs and many investment banks from around the world bought into the scheme, which promised enormous returns that one could never get in a normal investment, but they had to pay AIG a fee for each contract.

AIG immediately took the windfall cash receipts and paid them out as huge multi-million dollar bonuses. When the derivatives matured, AIG would owe a magnitude beyond anything any corporation on earth could pay. But the Fed could pay up if and only if circumstances were unusual and exigent. That is how the Great Panic saved the leaders of the financial industry and preserved the bonus system.

Much information about money movements was withheld from Congress and much continues to be withheld. The Fed strategically placed almost $2 trillion in the financial sector in addition to other financial commitments. The Bloomberg news service pursued information from the Board of Governors of the Fed regarding which banks have received financial aid under its programs. This is "the follow the money" approach. It was vigorously resisted by the Fed in court. Bloomberg used Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This is the most famous FOIA case of our time.

The Fed made several arguments. They claimed release of the information would harm the banking industry. They claimed that the money moved through the New York Fed and that the Board has no knowledge of what the New York Fed does and would need a lot of time to find out. But at the heart of the matter were attempts by the Fed to benefit from being a private agency when that was beneficial and a governmental agency that was beneficial. This was no simple FIOA case. The court ruled that the Fed must make this information public. The judge set September 30, 2009 as the deadline for the Fed to appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, H.R. 1207 is languishing in committee in the House of Representatives. US Representative Barney Frank (D), representing the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts is responsible for this holdup, preventing Ron Paul from calling expert witnesses to testify. By holding up the bill in committee, Frank is giving time for the Fed's lobbying effort to turn things around in the House. I fear the Fed can selectively dispense liquidity as concessions for votes.

We now know that when circumstances become unusual and exigent, the Fed is able to exercise unlimited power. Catching the nation at its most vulnerable moment, at the end of the second term of a disengaged president, the Fed distributed liquidity with incredible unfairness. Citizens know we are not beneficiaries of Fed largess. One only needs to visit a bank for a mortgage or business loan to confirm it. This has put the Fed on the defensive for the first time in its history.

In response, the Fed implemented a public relations campaign. Bernanke went on 60 minutes and made a fine appearance. Bernanke also recently starting telling the public what it wants to hear, basically that we've hit bottom and we're on the way up again. Of course, he always hedges himself by adding disclaimers such as warnings about slow growth and possible job growth lag. These pronouncements appear to be part of an extensive defense of the Fed's actions, and an effort to buy time.

Eventually new events and stories will emerge to dominate media coverage and capture the public's attention. The Fed is counting on that. Also, in a display of raw power, the Fed hired a former Enron lobbyist as its own lead lobbyist to Congress. Congressional votes are now in play, worked by top gun Fed lobbyists. Whatever the price, the Fed has "crossed the Rubicon." In other words, Ron Paul is outgunned and we have only a short window of time to get the public on board. Report this comment

#7) On September 01, 2009 at 10:39 PM, AdirondackFund (27.68) wrote:

 For the unitiated, this is Ray Merriman's work.  He is one of America's finest Financial Astrologers.  09/09/09 isn't the exact date Astrologers have in mind.  They are mostly concerned about 09/12/09 ... and yes it is a Friday. 

 

 

Week of August 31

Review and Preview

Two weeks ago I mentioned that we were entering a time band of one of the most intense geocosmic signatures for this year, August 10-26. Indeed it was remarkable, although more in terms of mundane astrology than financial astrology. In the geophysical realm, there were at least four tropical storms started in the Caribbean and Atlantic. There was a devastating typhoon in Taiwan, forest fires in California and earthquakes in Japan. In the geopolitical realm, there was great sadness as the second Kennedy in a month made a transition. This time it was Edward Kennedy, who some consider the most effective Senator in modern history. This is consistent with one of the principles of Jupiter conjunct Neptune, which can be a theme of great sadness and tears. In financial news, President Barack Obama announced his re-appointment of Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke. In my opinion, this was one of the best decisions—and best timed decisions—made by the president so far. To have waited much longer, or to not reappoint Bernanke, would have caused great chaos in the markets at a time when they need assurance and consistency. Although President Obama ran on a campaign of “change,” there are some things that are not wise to change when the economy has experienced such a trauma. Tax increases for small businesses would be another area that should not be changed, in my opinion, until we start seeing signs meaningful employment growth—real signs, back to where we were a year ago. Yet being in the downside of the Saturn-Pluto cycle, history is not on my side regarding holding small business taxes steady until employment picks up substantially.

Even though stock markets of the world were not as volatile as I would have expected, given the aspects involving Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus, they were nonetheless significant. Many markets made a “major cycle” trough around the midpoint of the cluster, August 18. Then from that low, many stock indices made new yearly highs this past week. In Europe, the Netherlands AEX, British Financial Times, and Swiss SMI indices all reached their highest levels since last October on Friday. The German DAX did the same last Tuesday, three days before the others. Yet all of these indices closed with some troubling technical (momentum) readings.

In the Far East and Pacific Rim, the All Ordinaries of Australia and the NIFTY Index of India made new highs for this year on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei made a new high on Wednesday. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the MICEX Composite of Russia did not make new yearly highs last week, for a case of intermarket bearish divergence.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite both made new highs for this year during the day on Friday. But both closed with similar negative technical signs. Whether these signs of weakness relate to the fact that next week is a pre-holiday market (Labor Day is the following Monday), or whether they are real signs of deterioration starting to build, remains to be seen. The signs aren’t so bearish that we should give an outright sell signal yet. But it’s coming.

In other markets, both Crude Oil and precious metals shot up last week. Crude soared to 75.00/barrel for the first time in 2009 last Tuesday. Both Gold and Silver shot up sharply on Friday during the “Sagittarius Factor,” when the Moon was in Sagittarius.

Short-Term Geocosmics

Last week was significant because three planets changed signs. Last Tuesday, Mercury ingressed into Libra and Mars into Cancer. On Wednesday, Venus moved into Leo. Such numerous sign changes can correlate with a change in investor psychology, and indeed technicals suggest that the psychology may be changing from confidence to caution, perhaps more in line with the Mars movement into Cancer. That same Mars transit happens to hit the natal Pluto, opposite Sun, in the Federal Reserve Board chart. And with Pluto in Capricorn on the FRB Sun opposite Pluto, it is quite significant that Obama announced his reappointment of the Fed chair last Tuesday. The announcement was in line with the nature of Mars as far as timing is concerned. But there may be more problems than meets the eye with this decision, for they (Mars and Pluto) indicate a power play yet to come involving the Federal Reserve Board.

There are no major transits in effect this week that have a high correlation to market reversals. The next series starts on September 6 when Mercury again goes retrograde. It will last through September 29, and this one should be a stunner, for it happens with the third (of five) passages of Saturn in opposition to Uranus (September 15). That will also coincide with the one-year anniversary of the economic panic.

Longer-Term Thoughts

On September 15, Saturn will make its third opposition to Uranus. The first two were noteworthy. The first occurred on November 4, 2008 as the United States elected a new president. The stock market rallied to a major cycle crest that day. The second passage was on February 5, 2009, and again the U.S. stock market rallied to a major cycle crest. In both cases, the DJIA then dropped approximately 2000 points within the next 3-4 weeks. That doesn’t mean the pattern will repeat again, but traders need to be aware that it is possible.

From the point of view of Financial Astrology, we note that this one, or the fifth and final passage next July 26, may be the most important of all five passages, based on what else is happening at the time. In the case of the one coming up September 15, we note that the new moon of September 17-18 will conjunct Saturn, which is just the opposite of last year when it was a Full Moon occurring on this major geocosmic signature. The New Moon is different than the Full Moon. Whereas the Full Moon may coincide with over-excitement and even panic in this case, the New Moon may coincide with a sense of building something constructive and long lasting. But what is it that is being built? For after all, Mercury will also be retrograde during this New Moon and third passage. What kinds of decisions are being made? Last year, after the September 15 Full Moon and start of the crisis, Mercury went retrograde and the TARP programs were passed by Congress and the White House, and then had to be altered over and over again. In this respect, government leaders need to be careful again about rushing to decisions before their time is ripe. One would think with the new moon and Saturn in Virgo, sign of health, that the issue would be health care and/or insurance reform proposals. I don’t think many people disagree with the idea that reform is needed (other than insurance companies and their lobbyists). But there is a major problem with creating a sense of understanding as to the best way to go about this. And the danger is that the White House and Congress may force passage of a bill before the majority of the population truly understands it.

If I were to make one suggestion at this time to the White House and Congress, it would be to take that time necessary to make sure the general public is on board. With Uranus in Pisces and in mutual reception with Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius, the majority wants this reform and they want it this year. But they also want to understand it. And to force passage of this initiative just because the numbers are there, under Mercury retrograde and a New Moon conjunct Saturn in opposition to Uranus, will likely create a whole new problem involving trust with the public. If not developed and passed with this consideration in mind, be prepared for another Saturn-Uranus crisis. It may or may not be reflected immediately in the world equity markets, although it could, because these chart patterns look a lot like August-October 1987. The danger may be more akin to societal disturbances in the relationship between the masses (Uranus) and the government (Saturn). It is quite possible that the next few weeks will determine the success of the Obama first term. After all, this opposition and New Moon are occurring right near his natal Mars. Saturn on one’s Mars works best at building something with great attention paid to detail, tolerance, and patience. It fails when it tries to force something before it is ready, and in that case it often results in loss—loss of the battle or loss of one’s stature. Make it or break it—that is a symbolism for Saturn and Uranus in hard aspect. But make it or break it right, with support of others, if possible. 

 

Report this comment

#8) On September 01, 2009 at 10:49 PM, alstry (99.47) wrote:

JP Morgan is the bank that is lending money to Philadelphia and California.....the same bank in the following municipal deal?

Will the Securities and Exchange Commission at last take action against JPMorgan Chase & Co., relative to the egregious abuse against Jefferson County?

Now that the SEC has undertaken the investigation, I am heartened but wary. The flagrant fleecing of Jefferson County by JPMorgan began in 1997. The fact that it has taken 12 long years for this travesty to come to the attention of the SEC is outrageous. While the county continues to struggle against this possibly fatal injury, JPMorgan has sown seeds of malfeasance throughout the country. It is past time for the SEC to take strong steps to rectify this despicable situation, but I question its inclination to do so. I am gravely concerned the county will remain an uncompensated victim of unbridled greed perpetrated by JPMorgan.

Thanks to relentless prodding by U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus and, ultimately, intense scrutiny by Congress, the SEC finally responded to complaints that JPMorgan fleeced Jefferson County in the guise of financing the Jefferson County sewer debt.

SOON YOU WILL LEARN AS WE ARE NOW IN 9.09

Report this comment

#9) On September 02, 2009 at 12:33 AM, topsecret09 (52.60) wrote:

 http://www.examiner.com/x-7693-NY-Church--State-Examiner~y2009m9d1-Breaking-News--Barney-Frank-plans-to-water-down-Audit-the-Fed

Report this comment

#10) On September 02, 2009 at 10:13 PM, jddubya (77.83) wrote:

"The question you should ask yourself....is why aren't you doing anything....by your numbers, I have told one hundred just on this forum."

I'm not doing anything!  I've told you before, there is nothing anyone can do at this point.  Also, none of us know what you're talking about! "We will soon learn..." is all you keep spouting! 

Hmmmm.  This sounds like a good business model.

You obviously have no business sense. 

Too many outrageous "ifs"  LOL... IF anybody understood what you were talking about (which you claim we've all yet to learn)... it's already tooooooooooo late!  Especially with your business model.  LOL

Report this comment

Blog Archive

2010

February (31) January (78)

2009

December (84) November (97) October (104) September (104) August (91) July (114) June (120) May (107) April (77) March (99) February (44) January (84)

2008

December (72) November (31) October (41) September (83) August (54) July (62) June (70) May (60) April (50) March (77) February (49)