I believe that Humungous Bank and Broker (HB&B) is purposefully and systematically destroying the stock-broking, insurance-broking and mortgage-broking industries and that nothing good will come of this process. Because the principle of independent research, objective analysis and free choice is being increasingly denied us, the public is becoming a bank chattel. At some point, there will be a massive rebellion. I believe this event will occur on President Obama’s watch.

At the end of the day, the President and HB&B will see they have gone down the wrong road. That will become obvious when depositors cause runs on the banks, withdrawing their paper money to exchange it in the streets for gold and silver.

The bankers’ scam of precious metals futures that fail to deliver anything but fiat money and their phony derivatives-based precious metals exchange traded funds (ETFs) like GLD and SLV will crash at some point as investors increasingly put their faith in physical money, not in the credit system or the US Dollar.

I implore President Obama to reject the advice he is getting from bankers, and to listen to the anti-bank lobby before the people take matters, like money, into their own hands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_run
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange-traded_fund
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

February 8, 2009: “Nationalizing” the banks doesn’t mean anything in itself. It is a term that could be applied to so many specific situations that it is almost meaningless. When Hanky Panky “recapitalized” Citigroup, which then had a market cap of $20 billion, with an additional $20 billion of government funds, the government should have received roughly 50% of the equity in the bank. For example, if there were 4 billion shares outstanding at $5, then Citi would sell the government another 4 billion shares at $5 for $20 billion, so the government would own 4 billion of the 8 billion shares outstanding. This is how it’s supposed to work. (Actually, the new capital is supposed to get a discount to the market, or at the very least some bells and whistles like warrants.) Thus, Citi would already be 50%+ owned by the government, which is pretty close to “nationalization” if you ask me. Remember, what really happened was that the government spent $20 billion for a 7.8% stake, or more like $47 a share — while it was $5 share in the open market — which is how Wall Street steals from stupid people and the government. We were given this moronic story in the media about how Hanky Panky got all the bankers in a room and “forced” them to take the governments money and give almost nothing in return (a puny 7.8% stake), and how the bankers were so reluctant and all that to steal from the taxpayer instead of going bust the following Monday morning.

Whether the government got 50% or 7.8% of the equity, the end result would have been the same: namely, that Citi is a dead duck. This is because its losses are vastly in excess of $20 billion — more like $400 billion I’d expect, on its $2,100 billion of assets, which is to say a 19% loss on its assets. As for its off-balance-sheet losses, such as derivatives or SIVs or whatnot — well, who the hell knows really. Could be a lot, a whole lot considering that Citi is a major CDS dealer.

Usually, “nationalizing” just means who is in charge. The real question is: once the government is in charge, what do they do? Typically, the answer is: all the debt holders are bailed out, and often there is some poor management of assets such as selling assets at ridiculous firesale prices to well-connected insiders (see RTC). In short, it is yet another way to fleece the taxpayer. (Actually, other governments such as those in Asia seem to be rather better behaed about this.) Unfortunately, potential losses (especially considering derivatives) are so large at U.S. banks that even the U.S. government might not be able to bail everyone out. This will cause conflict — the entire system, and everyone in it, is aligned toward sucking resources from the government. But, if the government is unable to deliver, then someone is going to have to take a hit. I suggest the derivatives counterparties, first, and the debt holders second. That is sensible, but it would be interesting to see what happens in real life.

The headlines today read, “Obama, Congress and Treasury all moving to stimulate collapsing economy and rescue banks.” Interesting that words like that are used and few people have seen the spending bill or heard the plan from the new Treasury Secretary. All we heard were the words, “The bill won’t be perfect – after all it’s coming from Washington” and “Wait for it; Tim will be terrific.” …Hardly inspiring words, yet this morning America is ready to move forward, feeling confident in the country’s leadership. Waiting to hear the details.

The headlines today scream, “Where are the details Mr. Geithner?”

I also wrote that Monday had been eerily quiet and so yesterday was a time to be patient.

Sometimes the hardest thing professional traders can do is to simply observe the action, awaiting better entry points. But, every day brings new opportunities, so there is no need to force the action if the trade you want isn’t there. Patience, patience, patience.

By the end of the session, the S&P had plunged -4.91% and we suffered too, down about -1.3% with our net long percentage cut to 33%. Not bad considering. I figure if you are going to go into combat, you need to avoid the incoming and save your ammunition for when it can be put to good use.

The question today is, who sold this market down at 11:00am ET, when apparently Tim Geithner started his remarks, and why?

Continue reading…

The country will go bankrupt if the government continues giving out subsidies, says Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. I suppose this is a statement of support for the recent increase in the price of petrol and a vote of no confidence on Anwar Ibrahim’s pledge that Pakatan Rakyat will reduce the price of petrol if or when it comes to power.

I do not quite agree with Tengku Razaleigh’s statement or with what Anwar Ibrahim has pledged. First of all, for Anwar to say that the petrol price should not have been increased is easy. We don’t want to know about what should not have been. We want to know what should be.

Can Anwar please table his economic blueprint so that we can see what he has up his sleeve? Malaysians no longer want to buy this ‘vote me in first and then I will show you how I can do it’ — or what the Americans would label as ‘read my lips’ rhetoric.

Nope, no more read my lips rhetoric please. We have had enough of all this over the last 50 years. What we want now is for you to put your money where your mouth is. ‘Show me the money’, the Americans would say. Yes, money talks, bullshit walks — and bullshit is what has been dished out these last 50 years. It is time everyone come clean and put their cards on the table, face up. We want to see what hand they are playing with. Do they have a full hand or is this mere poker playing?

Continue reading at www.malayisa-today.net

We’re very excited to tell you that real-time quotes on NASDAQ securities are now available on Google Finance. This is an important (and way overdue) development for everyone who consumes financial information. Historically, real-time stock data was not freely and widely accessible. Either buried behind subscription walls or brokerage sites, consumers typically had to live with 15 or 20 minute price delays. In the world of finance, time is indeed money, and it’s critical to have timely and accurate data.

Providing free real-time stock quotes is consistent with our mission, and we’ll continue to work hard to offer tools, features and more real-time data so investors can make informed and timely financial decisions.

I can’t recall when was the last time Members of Parliament were so enthusiastic in grilling chief executive of a corporate organization. Perhaps it didn’t ever happen considering the government had never (since 1969) lost their precious two-third majority and hence strong voice before. Malayan Banking Berhad’s (KLSE: MAYBANK, stock-code 1155) new CEO, Wahid Omar, just joined the company and sympathizers might argue that he knows nut about the whole transaction but this argument is not strong enough to sweep the RM3 billion over-paid money under the carpet.

Continue reading this article at stocktube.blogspot.com

I cannot recall a time when the issues were so clear: Save the banks or save the People. The shame of it.

As a trader, I am a mechanic. A brain without a soul. I trade prices. But as a human being, I find it pretty hard to take watching greedy bankers snuff out the lives of hundreds of millions, and steal from the future of our children and their children. I believe these bankers and central bankers should be criminally prosecuted for crimes against humanity.