The Obama Justice Department is the worst in the history of this country. It's an absolute joke. It makes the old Soviet Politburo look like a system based on rule of law. Eric Holder is one of the most corrupt Federal officials that I have witnessed in my lifetime, starting with the pardon letter that he drafted, to pardon infamous tax evader Marc Rich, for Clinton to sign as Clinton was walking out of the Oval Office for the final time. - Dave in DenverThe Orwellian cloud of Government deceit that is hanging over our system is now thicker than the 420 cloud that will hang over most cities where people are having big 420 celebrations, like the one in Denver at Civic Park. Civic Park sits between the Colorado State Capitol and the Denver City and County Courthouse.
It was reported today that the SEC has decided to pursue enforcement actions against the Egan Jones credit rating agency for making "material misstatements" on its 2008 application to begin rating asset-backed and sovereign (e.g. U.S. Government bonds) LINK
Egan Jones is the least well known of the major credit rating agencies (Moody's, S&P, Fitch, Egan Jones). But anyone who has been around the credit markets for a long time knows that Egan Jones is the most honest and forthright. To be sure, Egan Jones is not influenced by the undo monetary and political persuasion that is successfully exerted on, and happily received by, Moodys and S&P.
Literally two weeks ago, Egan Jones downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. Government from AA+ to AA: LINK Of course, anyone who understands the factors that go into assessing any entity's credit rating knows that the U.S. Government, in reality, has a C credit rating for being on the verge of default. If it weren't for the U.S. Government's unfettered ability to print money, it would have already defaulted. So a AA credit rating by any standard of measurement should be welcomed with a red carpet by the Obama Administration. And really, the move in gold from $250 to $1650, despite the considerable headwinds presented by Central Bank manipulation, is telling us that the U.S. is in de facto default.
Be all of that as it may, the SEC has decided to go after Egan Jones for these "misstatements" from 2008. Why all of a sudden did the SEC decide that Egan Jones committed violations four years after the fact? Having been through SEC/FINRA regulatory application processes several times over the past 25 years, I can say with certainty that, at most, the Egan Jones "misstatements" were most likely nothing more than clerical errors or general oversight. I'm sure 90% of all regulatory applications have these issues. It was certainly, to be sure, nothing to do with Egan Jones' ability and competency to analyze and assess credit ratings.
What really blows my mind is that the SEC looks the other way when Jon Corzine, MF Global, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America et al, ad nauseum commit grave and obvious crimes of theft and fraud. Why isn't the SEC scouring over these firms' regulatory applications in order to come up with meaningless filing violations?
Anyone who truly believes that this action by the SEC is merely coincidental to Egan's ratings downgrade of Treasury bonds two weeks ago has been spending too much time at too many 420 celebrations. It's getting worse by the day, as the Government enables the big wealthy entities who fund elections and Presidencies to get away with murder and capriciously enforces rules and laws against those who are not always in a position to properly defend themselves. Hopefully Sean Egan owns his own politician or Government official who is in a position to deflect this nonsense, although I doubt he does because this would not have happened in the first place if he did.
And Obama was supposed to change all of this. Everyone remember his mantra of "Hope" and "Change?" Has there been any real, material change created by Obama? I was at lunch yesterday with two attorneys who are staunch, dogmatic Democrats. I mentioned to them that Obama had not delivered on one single campaign promise he issued during his campaign. I also reminded them that I attended his campaign rally as a supporter in October 2008, so I heard these promises firsthand. My lunch friends were not there. (I subsequently withdrew my support for Obama as soon as he nominated Geithner for Treasury Secretary - it's been all downhill since then...). I explained to them that Obama had not delivered on ONE single promise that I heard, firsthand, in person that day. Not one. Even the health care bill, which is one giant clusterfuck and does not even come close to delivering on the health care agenda set by Obama during his campaign, can not be used as an example of something Obama has achieved (one of them threw that at me).
The Golden Truth is that not only has Obama failed as a leader and has turned out to be just another straw man, farce of a human being, but he's continued down the path set by his predecessors of ignoring and shredding the Constitution and completely eliminating habeus corpas and Rule of Law. Our system as we've known it for 236 years just can not survive without habeus corpas and Rule of Law. Obama will be written about by historians who are motivated to present the facts and the truth as the President who ushered in totalitarianism and Rule of Privilege.
Happy 420 day, if that's your thing. Please try to enjoy what you can, while you can, as much as you can. I plan on enjoying playing in a big tennis tournament this weekend, starting this afternoon.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/images/sp_en_6.gif)
sigh: when your expectations are low, you will not be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteGood, hard hitting reporting Dave. I have not seen this story anywhere else... really scary to think that our own Gov't is capable of this kind of retribution..put this together with other stories like this;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-16-20/pentagon-smears-usa-today-reporters-investigating-%E2%80%A6-wait-it-%E2%80%A6-illegal-pentago
and a picture emerges of a Gov't literally run Amok. Most amazing of all is that most people have no idea what is happening right under their noses. I have tried to open the eyes of others and run in to mostly brick walls.. the person I tried the hardest with recently, a boutique farmer who runs a small CSA I am a member of, told me in no uncertain terms (in email exchanges) that I am not to talk about this currency stuff when I come to pick up my food this summer (I had offered to pay in Silver). Man are we in trouble Dave..... 1 Kg Lunar Dragon
The Farce
ReplyDeleteThat said, the prior farce is very distinct from the current farce. At least in those days interest rates would manipulate behavior but beyond that basic macro backdrop the Central Planners allowed markets to generally do whatever they wanted until in their infinite wisdom they decided to pull the plug. Ever since the banksters blew up the world in 2008, our Central Planners clearly made a decision that a new playbook was needed. They needed to manage markets much more aggressively in order to “save the system” and restore confidence to the ponzi scheme that is the global financial system. This increased manipulation was obvious to anyone paying attention in the markets, but investment managers were so terrified they justified it and largely continue to do so.
Well we are in a whole other ballgame now. Ever since U.S. debt was downgraded last summer the manipulation has now taken on biblical proportions and markets are now nothing but a total farce. Then when the theft in broad daylight occurred at MF Global in an attempt to steal customers precious metals position as well and instill total fear in the hearts minds of commodities investors, I knew it was really over. I said so publicly at the time and I continue to this very day. I told anyone that was listening that unless you are a professional investor prepared to withstand heavy losses in a rigged casino you better move out. You should be in physical gold and silver as well as getting hunkered down in general as best you can to brace for the inevitable impact of systemic failure. This continues to be the best advice I can give. For me, part of that meant moving away from NYC and the east coast population center generally. For others, it may mean a host of different things.
I want to conclude this section with a quote that Angel Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, said back in May 2010. She said: “In some ways it’s a battle of the politicians against the markets. That’s how I do see it. But I’m determined to win this battle.”
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2012/04/20/inaugural-thought-of-the-day-the-farce/
Dave what I don't understand is the lack of involvement from the various State attorney generals. Are they afraid of the politics? I don't get it. Good luck with the tournament.
ReplyDeleteState AG's are useless for the most part. They crack down on pot dealers. The Obama Administration has been completely useless at enforcing financial fraud and criminal activity. It's beyond appalling. If fact, they've enabled it.
DeleteSEC goes after Egan Jones for one mistake, SEC ignores Madoff for 20 years...
ReplyDeleteSEC, candidate for Failblog poster child.
You supported that clown??? I just lost a lot of respect. wtf.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I was so hungry, like everyone else, to get someone in there who would undo what the Bush criminals did to our system that I had no choice. I ended up not voting because I started not trusting Obama about 3 weeks before the election and I couldn't stomach voting for a Republican ticket with Sarah Palin on it.
DeleteThere's some other bloggers who you probably read who voted for Obama but eventually went bad on him well before his first term.
Dave in Denver,
ReplyDeleteYour anger shows (to me, I think of myself as a amateur PSY.D (accepting no 'paper' Phs. BS) that you are having a stress reaction. Manipulated markets always correct over time.
The anger shows that you need to walk the dog, for like an hour.
Take it easy, being correct is not worth dying over. I would hate to lose you (or Santa) to stress right before we become the r***est monkeys on Earth,
FWIW
The Other Dave in SF (not for lomg now, we're getting ready to bugout into a pop-up we have in an Undisclosed Location.
P.S. (a modern update to a very old/bad joke)
=="So, when I was in Botswana, an elephant sh*t King Jaun Cerlos in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas, I shall never know."
Dave, you are my hero.
ReplyDeleteMay you whip everyone's ass with the help of divine intervention. I am going to link this one up.
Thank you.
Jon Corzine Still Bundling for Obama
ReplyDeleteAs ABC reported, "President Obama once hailed [Corzine] as an 'honorable man' and one of his 'best partners' in the White House." Since that time, Obama has tried to distance himself from Corzine, who at one point was considered for the treasury secretary slot.
But apparently Obama is still willing to use campaign funds from the embattled Corzine.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/jon-corzine-still-bundling-obama_640493.html
Jon "Teflon Don" Corzine and his Posse Roam Free ahead of new MF Global Hearing
http://youtu.be/454NpJfjfhw
Open Letter to the Chief Confidence Officer of the United States of America
ReplyDeleteThere are a few differences in terms of the decision you made and the decision I made. For example, who, for you, is the equivalent of my brother? And who, for you, is the equivalent of my mother? And I was using my own money - thus the money was used in a way that would benefit me and my interests. Whose money were you using?
I am playing with you, Dr. Bernanke. I know where your allegiances lie, and whose money you used; you used my money. And your brothers and nephew are bankers - bad bankers. You took my money, and you funded your posse so that they would not have to face the repercussions of their dangerous ways. That is not moral, Dr. Bernanke. And it is a lot more dangerous than me letting my no-good nephew continue down his self-destructive path. I protected an insignificant fool with my own money, while you took my money and protected a behemoth - a massive, corrupt, and systemically dangerous juggernaut - in a way that ultimately imperils me, my family, and my community.
I may have done something unseemly from a public perspective, but it was my prerogative and I did what I had to do to protect my family. You did something obscene from a public perspective; you used the public's money to protect a corrupt core of powerful criminals who had imperiled our entire economy - and who, thanks to your largess, will eventually do so again. That is not central banking, Dr. Bernanke; that is centralized criminality.
http://www.capitalismwithoutfailure.com/2012/04/open-letter-to-chief-confidence-officer.html
And I thought the available choices of candidates was bad in 2008. If this trend continues imagine how pathetic the choices will be in 2016! Actually, there may not be a 2016 election at the rate we're going...
ReplyDeleteElections are so 17th century!
DeleteWhy don't we just decide who is the next executive/executioner is by 'Likes' on FB.
I mean: Who do you trust more? DieBold or FB?
I trust that a president Ron Paul would not order summary murders.
And to Barry's supporters out there: 'How's that hope-y, change-y thing going for you now?
The Other Dave in SF (where all of the swans are pink AND WE'RE F***ING PROUD OF IT!)
Sorry, my Rant Key was stuck on again.
Unplugging Americans From The Matrix
ReplyDeleteAs for economic management, there is no comparison. Unz reports that during the past three decades China has achieved the most rapid rate of economic development in human history. Moreover, most of the new income has flowed into the pockets of Chinese workers, not to the one percent. While American real median incomes have been stagnant for decades, incomes for Chinese workers have doubled every decade for three decades. A recent World Bank report attributes more than 100 percent of the drop in global poverty rates to China’s rise.
In the last decade China’s industrial output quadrupled. China now produces more automobiles than America and Japan combined and accounted for 85 percent of the increase in the world’s production of cars in the past decade.
In 1978 the American economy was 15 times larger than China’s. In the next few years China’s GDP is expected to exceed that of the US.
This is heady stuff providing astonishing details of how poorly Americans are served by their elites.
America’s economists, or most of them, have so prostituted themselves that propaganda has become wisdom. Most Americans believe that if China would simply let the value of its currency rise more rapidly relative to the dollar, America’s economic woes would be at an end. It is beyond belief that any economist could think that Americans with stagnant and declining incomes would be made better off by a sharp rise in the prices of goods manufactured in China on which Americans are dependent, or that the US dollar’s role as reserve currency, the main source of American power, could survive such a manifestation of Chinese economic superiority.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/04/19/unplugging-americans-from-the-matrix/
Well - anger is sort of the second, or so, stage of realizing that you are wrong in something. Denial is the first. This goes for the Gold Bugs. If gold cannot get it up even when the Dollar goes down against currencies that are "worthless". What else do you need for it to go up.
ReplyDeleteGold Miners - it was said that the GDX only consists of crap miners. Well then that means that there is more crap than good. Look at every single major Gold Miners is coming out with bad news and the "real" analysts have got the projection correct.
Newmont, Kinross, Barrick, Anglo Ashanti, Goldfields, Harmony, ... Barrick's costs have shot up 41%.
Is everyone serious about how undervalued the miners are? You must be joking.
The only good part is that if costs rise like they do then the metals prices will need to go up or miners will have to stop mining!!!!
So Turk's chart is worthless in two respects. There are always reason why in 30 years they could keep up with the gold price.
Mostly it's a lottery getting the correct management, country, weather, oil price, grade etc etc.
So what comes after anger - acceptance??? Miners are a trade - not an investment and Gartman is correct if you don't get in at the correct time - are an excellent timer - then miners are a mugs game.
Everything is worthless in a rigged market...
DeleteGoodbye Exchanges: Hello Internalization and Dark Pools
"While some traders are upset that their orders are being surreptitiously spammed around the market and others complain about fleeting quotes and inexecutable liquidity, there is a core group of traders who view higher ark execution ratges and lower commission levels as outweighing the information leakages messaging barrage," write Larry Tabb, founder of Tabb Group and research analyst Cheyenne Morgan who co-authored the report entitled "Tales from the Dark Side, Out of Sight, but Very Much in Mind."
Tabb and Morgan cite several reasons why exchanges are ending up with orders nobody wants. The obvious one -- reducing market impact. Yet others: as trading volumes decline, buy-side traders are turning to internalizers and dark pools much earlier in the trading process than in the past to find the necessary liquidity. Second, an increasing amount of order flow is being managed electronically as humans don't have the ability to track liquidity across 50 venues operating under such low latencies. As a result, managing cost is becoming critical. Matching orders internally is a lot cheaper than executing orders on exchanges.
http://www.iss-mag.com/news/goodbye-exchanges-hello-internalization-and-dar
until they're not a mugs game...
Dave in Denver,
ReplyDeleteJust because we are only presented bad choices doesn't mean we have to choose from the only 2 candidates.
I knew that Ron Paul never had a chance to win in 2008, but I wrote in his name anyway, and will do so again in 2012 (assuming there is an election in November).
I mean, if one had to choose between eating dog poop or eating a hand grenade, which one would one eat?!
I didn't vote for Barry 'O', and I take no responsibility for his criminal cronies.
The Other Dave in SF (where all of the swans are pink and WE'RE F***ING PROUD OF IT)
/RANT OFF
Dave in Denver,
ReplyDeleteWhat is that pic at the bottom of the post, The Spanish Inquisition?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_(Monty_Python)
LOL. I miss Graham Chapman and his crew.
DeleteUSA Today Website - Politics Page has ALL the Presidential Candidates in the Race.... Except ONE Candidate is not listed at all... Guess who that is.
ReplyDeleteI know, you will just never guess who that one person is that does not exist it seems.
Seriously?! Do they really think people are going to believe Ron Paul never existed? Do they really think that people are going to just forget about Ron Paul?
http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/usa-today-website-politics-page-has-all.html
http://sgtreport.com/2012/04/my-rant-to-usa-today/
401(k)s About To Be Corzined By Politicians In Need Of Money
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/plunder_CrD9s6MElVsEIJj2IVgHuK
US skies to be full of drones
ReplyDeleteThe American skies may soon be full of drones after it was disclosed that domestic law enforcement agencies – from the FBI to local police – have been granted permission to deploy the unmanned aircraft.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that show that more than 50 non-military organisations have asked to fly drone aircraft, many of which can carry cameras and surveillance equipment for spying within the US.
The figures from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group pledged to defending Americans from digital snooping by government, showed that major agencies like the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice had been cleared to launch drones.
But more alarmingly, the documents reveal that individual city police forces are also drawing up plans to use the reconnaissance aircraft more regularly associated with top secret missions against terror suspects in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Police chiefs in Miami, Seattle and even North Little Rock – a city in Arkansas of less than 70,000 people – were all cleared by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to launch drones within their jurisdictions.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9219787/US-skies-to-be-full-of-drones.html
Friend of mine who is getting ready to leave the country and lives a little north of Palm Beach told me the other day that the local police in south Florida have been loading up on drones.
DeleteThey will be used for crowd control, among other things.
Harvey Organ: Get Physical Gold & Silver!
ReplyDeleteAnd he minces no words: Gold and silver prices are suppressed. With extreme prejudice.
In this detailed interview, Harvey explains to Chris the mechanics of how he sees this manipulation occurring, why he predicts this fraudulent pricing scheme will collapse soon, and why it's critical to be holding physical (vs. paper) bullion when it does.
And the game ends when the last ounce of gold has left London -- not COMEX, because in a nanosecond it will come back to here.
The big problem in London is that their derivatives on gold are about 50 to 100-to-1. That’s the amount of derivatives. So if I take out that 1 ounce, the balloon around it -- the derivative -- is getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it’s ready to totally implode.
And that’s what you are seeing now. So right now, people are going to say: how high can it go? And I’m going to tell you: you are going to go to sleep on Thursday night and gold may be $1,670. And then you wake up the next day and it’s going to be a banking holiday. And gold will be $3,000 bid, no offer. No offer -- and it will be a banking holiday. Because there will be a failure to deliver.
http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/harvey-organ-get-physical-gold-silver/73933
Using Fear-Induced Churn To Build Tommorrow's Profits
ReplyDelete2012 retest, a period in which gold and gold stocks will have been pronounced dead numerous times, will be viewed no different than the retest of 1961-1962. Long-term capital will have used the fear-induced weakness and churn to build their positions for tomorrow's profits.
http://edegrootinsights.blogspot.com/2012/04/using-fear-induced-churn-to-build.html
For He’s a Jolly Good Scoundrel
ReplyDeletehttp://www.truthdig.com/report/item/for_hes_a_jolly_good_swindler_20120418/
Posted on Apr 18, 2012
By Robert Scheer
How evil is this? At a time when two-thirds of U.S. homeowners are drowning in mortgage debt and the American dream has crashed for tens of millions more, Sanford Weill, the banker most responsible for the nation’s economic collapse, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
So much for the academy’s proclaimed “230-plus year history of recognizing some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders.” George Washington, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Albert Einstein must be rolling in their graves at the news that Weill, “philanthropist and retired Citigroup Chairman,” has joined their ranks.
Weill is the Wall Street hustler who led the successful lobbying to reverse the Glass-Steagall law, which long had been a barrier between investment and commercial banks. That 1999 reversal permitted the merger of Travelers and Citibank, thereby creating Citigroup as the largest of the “too big to fail” banks eventually bailed out by taxpayers. Weill was instrumental in getting then-President Bill Clinton to sign off on the Republican-sponsored legislation that upended the sensible restraints on finance capital that had worked splendidly since the Great Depression.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/for_hes_a_jolly_good_swindler_20120418/
Boy it'd be nice to have a real journalist around...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6zbVXGNkFI
The case against Lehman Brothers
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7406224n&tag=component.0;topnews
Are Pawn Shops Running Out of Gold?
ReplyDeleteMy Two Cents: Last Thursday, EZCORP Inc., a pawn shop owner and operator in the United States, reported earnings and in that release they had some very interesting things to say that relate to the gold market. Take this line from their press release where they discuss why they are lowering guidance.
This revision in guidance is due to slightly slower than expected growth rates in the U.S. pawn business for both loans and sales (including scrap sales) as a result of customers’ using a greater proportion of general merchandise instead of gold to satisfy their immediate cash needs.
Furthermore, apparently the company had this to say on their conference call: “ ”Frankly, yes, their piggy banks are certainly emptier than they’ve been and what they have, they’re hanging on to.”
As if the precious metals market is not confusing enough right now, let me give you my take. I think this may actually hold much more significance to the silver market than the gold market. For one thing, for much of last year whenever I went to my local coin store I would see a considerable amount of scrap for sale. This saddened me as people were exchanging real money for paper, probably just to make the utility payment. In any event, the point is people were definitely selling scrap silver. At the same time people were pawning their gold. If folks have already pawned all of their gold, then my guess is that much of the silver that was for sale at these prices is now off the market. It was this scrap that allowed the manipulators to hold the price in check for these last 18 months or so, but if I am correct and silver scrap at these prices is largely sold then we are setting ourselves up for cleared market and a major rally later this year.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2012/04/23/are-pawn-shops-running-out-of-gold/
Bit of light relief .....
ReplyDeletehttp://screwtapefiles.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/james-turk-learn-from-master-of-chart.html
http://screwtapefiles.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/screwtape-world-news-broadcast.html#more
Dave in Denver:
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time on your site, so forgive me for not knowing anything about you. You don’t tell us what your education or profession is, but you are obviously an intelligent person. What I want to know is, how did someone like you miss what/who Obama really is during his campaign?
I was a high school drop-out, who later earned a GED and have only a community college education, and I knew it before I heard his first speech.
Good question. I was so hungry for ABB - Anyone But Bush - that I initially bought in to the Obama spin. Trust, I noticed that the media avoided asking the hard questions and then the hard questions disappeared completely. As the election drew near, I read an article from a publication based in England that confirmed all of my fears and decided to not vote at all. I couldn't stand McCain/Palin any more that I could stand Obama.
DeleteI've come the conclusion that this country is fucked not matter what happens or who's in office.