The Market Ticker

The "stuporcommittee" fails, or so we think anyway.  Meanwhile Newt tells OWS to "take a shower then go get a job" while demonstrators who are peacefully sitting at UC -- actual students who paid tuition and thus have a right to be there -- are attacked by the police with bear spray.  And it's the demonstrators who are initiating violence?  Hmmm.... We'll look at the upcoming silly season but more importantly look at what is not being talked about but must be - the fact that we cannot continue to spend more than we take in, either as a nation, as a government, or as people.

The latest - improper and arguable illegal transfers of bond-funded monies from one place to another in state and local governments.  Why am I not surprised?  Then you have the 60 minutes piece. Citi gets rebuked by Rakoff as well; one honest judge, thousands of dishonest lawmakers. We'll talk about it all

We'll try it again!  Blogtalk is working we hope - no power outage this time...... we'll explore the European mess, OWS and what both mean for us.

So what is "Occupy Wall Street" and why should you care?  How about the upcoming "silly season" in politics? I've been to OWS locally, and has received hundreds of emails with pictures and videos.  If you think silly season this time around is going to be quiet, you're wrong - and the possibility of a 2008 repeat in the economy is very real. We'll cover it.

We have a special guest: The first formally-declared political candidate to make his campaign slogan "Stop the looting and START PROSECUTING!" His first proposal is to put forward a modern day PECORA COMMISSION to identify and refer for prosecution those who did evil and illegal things. Join us for a half-hour with Kerry and we'll go over the issues and what will hopefully be a victory in 2012.

It's here, and it's now.  We're days - maybe hours - from another credit lockup. I hope you're prepared... but if you're not, let's channel our anger constructively.  We'll go over it all in 30 minutes or less.

Unbelievable.  The latest sticksave is that the Eurozone intends to use the EFSF to "lever up" by creating a SPV and then playing with the ECB on the bonds it issues. This, of course, is the same crap that ENRON pulled, and the opacity of SPVs makes them inherently a "trust me" off-balance sheet instrument.  I've ranted about these "structures" before, and now they're being proposed at a sovereign level. We'll look at it, but you don't have to listen if you want to know if I like it.

But but but Timmy protests, the Europeans must bail out Greece! Oh really?  Maybe not.  And more importantly, maybe it doesn't really matter much.  We'll look at the underlying economics of why this path - bailouts - is doomed, and why the logic behind them is breaking down.

Anyone remember Buffett?  How'd that work out for you back in 2007 and 2008 if you bought into the rumors?  Oh yeah, that's right - you lost all your money. Well they're at it again, this time with China.  If you want one of my famous rants on the "story of bailouts" and rumor-mongering, you're going to get it with both barrels today in this episode.

It's over folks.  Government-sponsored fraud: FAIL.  Sovereign debt: FAIL.  Greece: FAIL. And our government: FAIL. Markets are collapsing around the world as the reality of the situation - cash flow always wins - becomes apparent. We'll spend a half-hour between grilling for Labor Day - why not?  A bit of doom to spice the ribs and chicken never hurt anyone, right?

Nice rally eh?  So this means it's all fixed, right?  Well, no.  The head of the IMF said so (and was ignored), Bernanke tossed it all back at Congress, and we have a criminal class in DC. This isn't going to end well.....

Which do you care to believe?  The claims that there are no liquidity problems, or Bank of America, which is trading down more than 6% today and has credit protection blowing wide. Remember in 2008 that we were told that both Bear Stearns and Lehman were just fine, right up until they blew up.  In the latter case we have a forensic report on the bankruptcy that discloses the fact that Citibank, along with many others (including with essential certainty the NY Fed) knew full well the company had no valid collateral for repos for quite a long time before they blew up. They said nothing, but you can bet those who knew traded on it. Is it happening again?  We'll explore not just here but the same implications in Europe - and what, politically, must be done right now.

Oh, you think it'll be maintained eh?  That federal spending can continue?  I assure you - it cannot.  We'll spend our time on dispelling the Obama myth - that "we all just must do our fair share" - and look at some very inconvenient facts. Facts that will, ultimately, destroy Obama's chances at a second term.

Crash time in the markets. Obama tanks it instead of moving it higher, he plays the "I'm King" card - again.  Sorry Obama, the market is not impressed with your BS - at all.  At its peak the market was down more than 500pts.  We'll talk about why, and some very ominous signs among certain stocks - including the banks.

Deal?  What deal? Cut spending?  Uh, no.  There's no spending cuts, only claims of reducted increases.  More debt?  Yes, and lots of it.  Balanced budget?  Never. The economics are clear - unless this gets fixed, and soon, we will start down the gravity well inside the escape radius, and get to choose only between spiraling into the singularity and hitting it head-on.  Incidentally, both end the same way.