Actions have Consequences

Nothing more ridiculous than the idea of a politician who has never had a job thinking they know better and can run a company . History has proven over and over again that this is pure folly This weeks nationalisation of the auto industry looks like its going to lead to massive layoffs in the auto sector . Already workers complain they are being treated worse than wall street by the Obama administration .I think over the next couple of months many of Obama's biggest supporters are going to feel the same . Good to remember there are consequences to the way you think and act .

Market Up on Obama's Failure to make lasting changes ?

So Obama turns to private enterprise to save the sinking financial ship.The Geitner plan depends on private investors buying up the segregated toxic assets after the treasury goes for the no money down strategy and picks up the dead wood off the banks books .But Wait aren't these the same investors that are saddled with the toxic junk now? So the real story is tax payer gives private investors a better price.There is more private investors better get a pre-nup from the administration which seems to have a new policy inactive every minute and depending which way the wind blows can turn you from hero to target in one media cycle.

On thing is clear about the presidents recent campaign stop on jay Leno ,the white house dog is getting a more serious vetting than the Secretary of the treasury . Obama seems more in campaign mode than presidential mode but I am not sure even with all the hero worship from the mainstream media or stone age media is working.

Congress on the other hand looks to reward the mainstream media for there support with a nationalization of news papers plan,ah to work once again for the fuhrer !

This week Obama got some breaks with housing and durable goods orders posting upside surprises and the market continued its upside rally. Investors continue to wonder was this the bottom ? The sure fire wall street answer is when people stop asking if its the bottom it is the bottom . However given the significant down turn in the market since the election of Obama and his socialist leaning became more apparent the market has taken a perspicuous drop ,so we be infor a very vigorous Bear Market rally in the offering .The other big plus is the Citibank signal giving investors an "its over" cheer .

Some traders feel the markets strenght signals the inability of Obama to create lasting change toward socialism and that as in the past the 80's generation will reject and change everything the 70's generation tries to put in place . This last explanation seems to square better with Obama's sinking popularity and the lefts continued isolation from middle class Americans with their tax every thing that moves and any body that works policy .

time to man up?

Chinese warm on US debt, while some US financial institutions fight to return TARP funds. It seems the strings were just too great and there is just too much government interference for some to stomach. The wholesale branding of all bankers who take the money as crooks put many legit unaffected institutions over the edge and they have now given the treasury the resounding “take your TARP and shove it “!

Previous warnings to the Obama administration from China and Russia on the evils of socialism have so far gone unheeded ,But now you have more signs of the a growing concern of both allies and trading partners with many of the new administrations policy’s. It is no coincidence that China, the US’s largest debtor picks this time to extend its warning on the administrations policy of borrowing to borrow.

One wonders if Senators Charles Grassley will take his own advice. I would suggesting instead of just withholding bonuses form AIG employees Congress should set and example and forfeit there own pay for the foreseeable future.
Given the gross incompetence and the all the effort to cover up the fact that Congress aided and abetted the creation of the sub prime crisis or some would say created the sub prime crisis it seems only fair that the chief instigators would take a leadership role admit their folly fess up and fall on the sword ? Come on Senator Dodd and Frank time to man up.

Buffett's comments are more about Buffett than the down home investor friendly myth would have you believe

So Buffett loses his AAA credit rating and continues to rationalize his use of derivatives that he has over the years so often decried. This blogger often wonders when the public will catch on to the real “Buffett agenda” and recognize that Buffetts comments are often driven by business interests and not the investor friendly aura he would have you believe. Let’s face it even a man as brilliant as he is still runs an insurance company and seems often compelled regardless of his claims to push for regulatory ,governmental and tax policies that lead to more insurance business above all else. No harm in that but I am not sure I buy the folksy investor friendly Buffet of the media hype, he seems more an astute investor and business manager operating like the rest of us for the preservation of his self interest.

REPEAT after me ; all Roads lead to Citibank

Once again as I have repeated many times on this blog that in almost every financial crisis since the 1970's all roads lead to Citibank and with the combo or a very oversold market ,some very unexpected positive news from Citi bank and an increase in auto sales in China ,coupled with no major faux pas from the new administration and the market rejoiced . The key here is follow through accompanied with significant volume building !

3 ways industries fail with new technology ,Ignore it ,Fight it and shun it

three very short stories....

Seeing the demise of the newspaper business shows us once again how even the most entrenched and successful business can fail if they fail to adapt to the newest technologies. In the case of News Papers what seemed like a natural fit or perfect match soon turned the publishing world on its head . News Papers were not only bad on the net they just ignored it . Leading to a huge customer migration to new media start ups ,who embraced the new technology.

The music industry is the next causality ,because instead of embracing the mp3 they tried to put the genie back in the bottle and make the world act like there was never digital music .Well the rest is history leading to a great decline in music sales and giving away the entire distribution system over to Apple.Who with their ITunes they quickly created a proper environment to commercialize the new technology .

The third is the retail brokerage business ,never was a business so tailor made for the Internet with all its customer interactivity than the the retail broker ,but the industry feared and shunned it.They couldn't even figure out how to regulate it and there business has since left and reestablished itself under the helm of day trading and online discount no service brokerage . So the one thing the Internet is best at creating mass produced customised solutions is barely evident in the retail brokerage business today.

Dow Drops below 6500 first time since 1997

Market continues to slide ,Obama says data signals need for bold action . Perhaps thats the problem a lttle too much bold action?

TGIF ,Obama Bear Market ,and a little CYA for Bernie Maddoff

Surprise surprise ,rumors spread of a Maddoff Deal nothing like a little CYA on a Friday afternoon .

Unemployment hits a 25 year high ,while wall street has finally begone calling the current market sell down the Obama Bear market . Not for nothing but dispute his over whelming support during the campaign from Wall Street ,street patients is about as long as the average fruit fly . You don't perform they turn on you very quickly. and very aggressively . The ridiculously high expectations created by the image machine in the mainstream media coupled with a pretty benign competitor in the general election looks like its already backfiring.

Lets face it,you expect it from RUSH ,but out burst from wimps on CNBC like Kerry loving Crammer or even to a lesser degree Rick Santelli seem to spell doom for this already floundering some say failed administration.

DOW Slides Nearly 300 Points

Dow hits lowest level in 12 years
Nasdq lowest since 2003

Egg Foo Young ,News on the News and Tim Geither

Chinese :Apparently Chinese Egg Foo Young in the face, plan to boost growth carriers more creditability than anything the Obama administration has produced so far. Markets rallied on news of added Chinese stimulus and fell on news that no additional stimulus would be forth coming..

Stimulus ?:The simple fact is that most of the Obama administrations current vain attempts to revive the economy will have upon careful examination do the exact opposite . Like "welfare " and its war on the poor of previous generations most of the policy initiatives so far are doomed to abject failure like all the great society programs of the past .Welfare the worst example did a good job at entirely the opposite of its intended purpose ,or did it? It destroyed families ,created ghettos ,destroyed initiative and created a second class citizenry .

News in the News :The problem is not the Internet ,the problem is that news papers were so slow to adapt to the new technology. It should have been a layup ,and the WSJ proved it .The other problem is the mainstream medias drive to push agendas instead of reporting news ,in the Internet age it is just too obvious to all your readers . Finaly spending all your time telling your customers you know better than they is just another failed strategy.The Dan Rather incident with the forged documents epitomised this "we know better than you" attitude and it has progressively turned off more and more readers or viewers in the case of TV.

Tim Geithner :Tim Geithner has the big problem ,the US Treasury Sectary has a major credibility problem with global markets . Lets face it the former Wall Street darling comes off as nothing more than a class warfare hack with little or no market experience.He sounds neither serious nor professional .

The stock market right now is a better barometer of Americans’ wealth than the president and his press secretary seem to realize,

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday pushed back against Cramer’s comments that President Obama has caused “the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president.”

“I’m not sure what he’s pointing to, to make some of the statements,” Gibbs told reporters, adding that Mad Money is geared toward a small audience while Obama has to help the entire country.

Cramer in response pointed to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Russell Index, all of which are down huge since Inauguration Day. And the only small thing about the MadMo audience, he said, is its 401(k)s, pension plans and annuities after the damage Obama’s proposed spending plans have caused the markets.

The stock market right now is a better barometer of Americans’ wealth than the president and his press secretary seem to realize, Cramer said. And while Obama said he’s focused on Main Street rather than Wall Street, he needs to realize the two are merging. Everyday people today have a tremendous amount of exposure to stocks and the declining markets.

President Obama even went so far as to say that right now was a good time to buy stocks.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Keeps Sinking

Dow continues to plummet on "stimulus package" .


Markets don't like socialism

its got to be said

How much longer will it be before someone notices that the market seems to have gone down everyday since Obama got elected?

now ask yourself why?

So here's the good news its in the music ......

So here's the good news ,and yes the good news .The seeds of destruction for the 70's generation and all this big government lunacy are already being sown. Listen carefully ,its in the music . New music is everywhere ,and for the first time in decades new bands ,good bands are breaking onto the scene . The clubs are already being filled with remixed eighties music and like the resurrection of DISCO in the late 90's foretold the end of an era and significant decline in equities and the rebirth of the bigger government is best concept ,The remixed eighties music signifies the raise of the 80's can do generation which will work hard first to undue all that is the 1970's and the 70's generation . And with its belief in itself and a willingness ,is ready and able to remake the world in a more open ,independent free environment limited government view.After all the 80's generation grew up and all knows that the government is the problem !

Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And More

We'll say it Larry ,"we told you so"

Posted By: Larry Kudlow Anchor
cnbc.com 27 Feb 2009 04:39 PM ET

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29434104

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget.

He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.

That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow.

Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for his sweeping government-planning-and-spending program, which will wind up raising federal outlays as a share of GDP to at least 30 percent, if not more, over the next 10 years.

This is nearly double the government-spending low-point reached during the late 1990s by the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton administration. While not quite as high as spending levels in Western Europe, we regrettably will be gaining on this statist-planning approach.

Study after study over the past several decades has shown how countries that spend more produce less, while nations that tax less produce more. Obama is doing it wrong on both counts.

And as far as middle-class tax cuts are concerned, Obama’s cap-and-trade program will be a huge across-the-board tax increase on blue-collar workers, including unionized workers. Industrial production is plunging, but new carbon taxes will prevent production from ever recovering. While the country wants more fuel and power, cap-and-trade will deliver less.

The tax hikes will generate lower growth and fewer revenues. Yes, the economy will recover. But Obama’s rosy scenario of 4 percent recovery growth in the out years of his budget is not likely to occur. The combination of easy money from the Fed and below-potential economic growth is a prescription for stagflation. That’s one of the messages of the falling stock market.

Essentially, the Obama economic policies represent a major Democratic party relapse into Great Society social spending and taxing. It is a return to the LBJ/Nixon era, and a move away from the Reagan/Clinton period. House Republicans, fortunately, are 90 days sober, as they are putting up a valiant fight to stop the big-government onslaught and move the GOP back to first principles.

Noteworthy up here on Wall Street, a great many Obama supporters — especially hedge-fund types who voted for “change” — are becoming disillusioned with the performances of Obama and Treasury man Geithner.

There is a growing sense of buyer’s remorse.

Well then, do conservatives dare say: We told you so?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29434104

St. Louis riverfront draws rally against Obama stimulus plan

St. Louis riverfront draws rally against Obama stimulus plan

By Tim O'Neil
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Feb. 28 2009

ST. LOUIS — Critics of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan gathered beneath the Arch Friday to cheer speeches over a bullhorn and toss tea into the Mississippi River.A few conservative activists organized and promoted the rally, with help from talk-radio hosts. Pleased with the turnout in 35-degree bluster, leaders said they had stolen a page from liberal tradition by taking to the streets with homemade signs."If I had known this many people would show up, I'd have charged admission," said Bill Hennessy of Ballwin, the lead organizer. "We'll do this every chance we get until Congress repeals the pork — or we retire them from public life."

Hennessy estimated that more than 1,000 people showed up. There was no official count, but the crowd spilled across roughly one-fourth of the grand staircase from the Arch to Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard. Former state Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, said, "We conservatives are usually pretty pathetic at making crowds. But this one's good."Hennessy said he got the idea after Rick Santelli, a CNBC market commentator in Chicago, last week called for a tea party to protest Obama's anti-recession plan. Santelli's comments became a YouTube hit, and similar "tea parties" were planned in other cities.

The original took place on Dec. 16, 1773, when American patriots dumped imported tea from merchant ships into Boston harbor to protest British colonial taxes.

Dana Loesch, a radio host on 97.1 FM, had talked up Friday's rally and served as emcee. Signs waved around her included, "Pork, the new 'Red' meat," and "King Barack III and the House of Lards."Jackie Smith, former tight end for the old St. Louis football Cardinals, said, "We are mad as hell and we need to stay mad as hell. Don't let up."Megan Dunham of Maplewood brought her four daughters with some painted signs "because it's important that the kids take part." She said it was her first protest. "All I'd ever done before is yell at the TV. This is exciting."


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/1D9D9B78798122B28625756B00076A57?OpenDocument