Making 65 cents, spending a buck

[Jorma]

On the missing deficit.

 

To recap the fiscal year deficit passed 1 trillion yesterday and all the stories say it might go to 2 trillion, which was Doc's estimate long ago for fiscal 09, but there is no way the Treasury is going to come to market for 1 trillion dollars between now to 9/30. So where is the missing deficit? I think it's hidden in the latest game out of congress. That is the "line of credit" that has been given to the FDIC, 500 billion, and I forget how many hundreds of billions for the Treasury to give to the IMF.

 

Of course if they don't draw on those "lines" before 9/30 then the final deficit number will be more like 1.25 or 1.35 trillion, and everyone can celebrate. The can gets kicked down the road. Anyway the widely reported fact that the Treasury might have to borrow 1 trillion dollars in 75 days didn't seem to ruffle anyone's feathers. Of course 90% of the populous doesn't quite grasp that the Treasury borrows the money that comprises the deficit. It's impossible to imagine how they think the process works. Those more in the know and what they think is hard to gauge as well.

 

The faith that the money will always be there for Uncle Sam to spend is as solid as belief in the sunrise.

[Bungster]

Next couple of days will tell a lot....McClellan Oscillator right at down sloping trend lines.....gotta hold or another leg up we go...

 

 

[potatohead]

just confirmed HSBC is closing down their individual precious metal storage business in the USA.

Clients either have to move it or sell it.....

[hokahay]

"They" are absolutely desperate now to be coming up with crap like this:

 

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. government officials are weighing a plan that would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes instead, sources familiar with the administration's thinking said on Tuesday.

 

Under one idea being discussed, delinquent homeowners would surrender ownership of their homes but would continue to live in the property for several years, the sources told Reuters.

 

Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans, tapping an unused portion of a $50 billion housing aid kitty.

 

Rooters Source

 

 

Making payments on behalf of borrowers? U F B

 

 

Will they pay my rent on my behalf too?

 

Sure, and your healthcare costs as well. The rich are going to pay. They can do that by passing the cost on to the middle and lower classes. Not only that, but it will be in a giant database. So, the authorities can monitor your "care" just like Bernie Madoffs. I hope the legislators abandon their plan and join the rest of us in line. Pelosi can fly home in her jet and hang out at the health care/welfare office with the people from the Tent cities. They have free rent already.

 

What's good for Goldman Sachs is errrr good for amerika?

[DrStool]

Market Update 7/14/09- Professional Edition

by Lee Adler, Tuesday, July 14, 2009, in Professional Edition, Today's Markets | Permalink |Comments (0) Edit Cycle based stock screening data was stronger across the board for the second day in a row, with the big gains again concentrated in the short term time frames. Click here to download complete report in pdf format (Professional Edition Subscribers). Try the Professional Edition risk free for thirty days. If, within that time, you don’t find the information useful, I will give you a full refund. It’s that simple. Click here for more information.

[Bungster]

Bungster must do honorable thing....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcO4MMzdYE8

 

[Jetlag]

"California had its credit rating, already the lowest of all U.S. states, cut for the second time in as many weeks over lawmakers’ failure to close a $26 billion deficit that left the most-populous U.S. state issuing IOUs to creditors.

 

Moody’s Investors Service said it lowered California’s credit rating two steps to Baa1 from A2 and said it could be reduced further if legislators don’t quickly address the state’s cash problem. The new grade is three levels above non-investment grade. Fitch Investors on July 6 lowered its evaluation of California’s general obligation bonds by two steps to BBB from A-, placing the debt two ranks above so-called high-yield, high- risk junk ratings. "

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=auvwToNOkxxA

[Speakeasy]

On the missing deficit.

 

To recap the fiscal year deficit passed 1 trillion yesterday and all the stories say it might go to 2 trillion, which was Doc's estimate long ago for fiscal 09, but there is no way the Treasury is going to come to market for 1 trillion dollars between now to 9/30. So where is the missing deficit? I think it's hidden in the latest game out of congress. That is the "line of credit" that has been given to the FDIC, 500 billion, and I forget how many hundreds of billions for the Treasury to give to the IMF.

 

Of course if they don't draw on those "lines" before 9/30 then the final deficit number will be more like 1.25 or 1.35 trillion, and everyone can celebrate. The can gets kicked down the road. Anyway the widely reported fact that the Treasury might have to borrow 1 trillion dollars in 75 days didn't seem to ruffle anyone's feathers. Of course 90% of the populous doesn't quite grasp that the Treasury borrows the money that comprises the deficit. It's impossible to imagine how they think the process works. Those more in the know and what they think is hard to gauge as well.

 

The faith that the money will always be there for Uncle Sam to spend is as solid as belief in the sunrise.

Very insightful idea! Seeing they had inherited a MUCH bigger disaster than they had realized, the Obamanos squirrel away nuts at the FDIC and other tree holes for later use.

 

As for the faith and CONfidence that life will continue unchanged, True. Contemplating what lies ahead is mindboggling and awe-inspiring and just plain to hard and scary for most folks. But the fat is starting to hit the fire in Kali this month. Witness a nuts’n’bolts discussion in a great sailing rag in SF this month. In the letters section of the mag downloadable @ http://www.latitude38.com/

 

⇑⇓PERMANENT DRAWBRIDGE CLOSURES

I am a shop steward for Union Local 342 representing the

drawbridge operators & mechanics, pump station personnel

and traffic signal personnel. It's extremely important for

everyone living in Alameda County to be aware that Gov.

Schwarzenegger plans to sign a budget that permanently takes

away the 3 cents/gal gas tax revenue that normally goes to

cities and counties. This money — which comes to $20 million

a year for Alameda County — is what pays for the Public

Works Department. Without this money, traffic signals and

roads won't be repaired, flood control will be shut down, and

most important to local boaters, all of the drawbridges on the

Oakland/Alameda Estuary will be permanently closed and all

the personnel laid off. The bridges will not open for vessels at

all.

Obviously the Coast Guard will have something to say

about it, but the word from Daniel Woldesenbet, the Deputy

Director of Public Works, is that the bridges will be shut down

because there will be no money to pay the operators. There

is funding until July 1, but that's it.

I have been informed that an official seniority layoff list is

being made in preparation for layoffs later this month. I have

also been given a copy of the official layoff procedure for my

review. So this is real. Alameda County is actually being forced

to dissolve their Public Works Department. Let the boaters

know!

Dave Kelly

 

Readers — In an era when the average government worker

makes $77,000 a year, we at Latitude — and we think most

other taxpayers — are interested in what we pay our civil

servants to do various jobs. As such, we wrote the following

response to Kelly:

"Very interesting letter. Given that the state has limited

funds, it would be interesting to know how much it costs in

terms of labor to keep the bridges open. Are the bridges manned

24 hours a day? How much is a bridgekeeper paid, including

benefits and retirement? What skills are required to do the

job? How much traffic is there? What about limiting the bridge

openings to twice a day?”

Kelly responded as follows: “The bridges are operational

24 hours a day, and opened between 95-125 times a month.

Given the budget problems, all options are being considered,

including limiting openings, automation and no midnight openings.

The Tidewater Sand & Gravel Company, which is inside

the High Street Bridge, is not very happy with these ideas, as

their vessels need to move with the tides, and the tides change

every day. They would have to locate elsewhere. As you might

expect, many people who keep their boats on the Estuary past

the bridges feel that they should be able to go sailing whenever

they want. That would no longer be possible under some of the

newly suggested procedures. As for the whole benefit package

for bridge operators, I’m not sure what it all comes to, but as a

frame of reference, they are at the lower end of the wage scale,

 

along with laborers, in Alameda County."

We have some problems with Kelly's response. First, when

a shop steward tells us he doesn't know how much a bridge

operator makes in salary and benefits, our bullshit alarm starts

clanging and just won't stop. We can only assume the bridge

operators make so much money that Kelly was too embarrassed

to reveal that information. It's our feeling that if the state is ever

to become solvent again, what should be close-to-minimum

wage jobs can no longer be paid for as if they were careers.

And mind you, we make a distinction between those who push

a button or throw a lever to operate a bridge and those who do

maintenance and repairs.

Even if it turns out that legislators and city officials don't

want to prioritize expenditures so there is money to operate the

bridges full time, we don't think it would have to be a catastrophe.

For instance, the bridges could be operated by volunteers

under the supervision of entities such as yacht clubs. We think

a lot of old geezers would love to run the bridges for free. In fact,

there could be two on duty at a time keep each other company

and to make sure nobody falls asleep. And as is done in many

other places — including the Delta — bridge openings could be

limited to several times a day during summer weekends, and

less often than that during weekdays and in the offseason. As

for Tidewater Sand & Gravel, they wouldn't have to relocate

if they'd just be willing to pay a fee to have the bridge opened

when they needed it. In relation to the value of each load, a

$100 fee would be insignificant.

The old 'normal' was that we Americans could expect to have

just about everything we wanted when we wanted it. The new

'normal' is that we're going to have to give up some things. How

much or how little we're going to have to give up will be almost

entirely dependent on how successful our elected officials and

government agencies can be at eliminating waste and corruption.

The only problem is that there is no incentive for them to do either.

Bridge up!

[Jetlag]

Bungster must do honorable thing....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcO4MMzdYE8

 

 

Just your pinky will do fine

 

 

http://two--plus--two.blogspot.com/2009/04...-recession.html

 

"The yakuza have been hit by the financial crisis because they've invested in the stock market among other things," said Hiramatsu, the number two of his crime gang until he was unceremoniously kicked out last year."

 

"Adelstein said some gangs now resemble legitimate corporate giants.

 

"People think of the yakuza as wielding swords and having tattoos and missing fingers," he said. "What you should be thinking of the modern-day yakuza is Goldman Sachs with guns.""

 

Goldham is becoming evermore omnipresent and potent.

[AgentSmith]

FWIW Bungster I'm with you. I sold all FAZ/calls pre-reverse split last Wednesday. I've reloaded ~95% late yesterday and today in FAZ shares and Aug 50/Oct calls. FAZ is absolutely dreamie .. as long as you nail it.

 

The July $5 FAZ calls hit > $1.00 last Wednesday!!! Quite the jackpot....I immediately swept some $ to the cash account. I think these Aug. $50 at $6 could be quite profitable (probably be $5.60 tomorrow morning). I too feel we are close to the top (again).

[shorty]

"They" are absolutely desperate now to be coming up with crap like this:

 

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. government officials are weighing a plan that would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes instead, sources familiar with the administration's thinking said on Tuesday.

 

Under one idea being discussed, delinquent homeowners would surrender ownership of their homes but would continue to live in the property for several years, the sources told Reuters.

 

Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans, tapping an unused portion of a $50 billion housing aid kitty.

 

Rooters Source

I'm having trouble drawing any significant distinction between the delinquents "owning" their crapboxes, i.e., renting them from the mrotgouge conpany and taxman, vs. now renting directly form the almighty gov't (from whom all good things come and on which we are totally dependent) butt anyway they'll probably stiff Uncle Sam too so he'll have to collect more from your paycheck to cover that scam too

[shorty]

Making payments on behalf of borrowers? U F B

 

Will they pay my rent on my behalf too?

that depends, are you a Schmuck like me?

 

I copied the following from another bored, sorry fer any typos, I just bulkchanged the original names so aSS not to offend anyone

 

I did not write this, I merely copied it, please don't crap on the messenger!

 

Basic Economics - here is why California is broke! Let me explain... There

are two families. Mr. HonestSchmuck and Mr. Parasite- Both families have two

parents, two children, and they live in California.

Mr. HonestSchmuck works in construction, has a Social Security number, and makes

$25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted - Mr. Parasite also works

construction, has NO Social Security number and gets paid $15.00 cash per

hour "under the table."

Mr. HonestSchmuck - $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week or $52,000 per

year minus 30% away for state and federal taxes... Mr. HonestSchmuck now has

$31,231.00 per year.

Mr. Parasite- $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week or $31,200 per

year. Mr. Parasite pays NO taxes out of his illegal $31,200.00 per year

salary.

Mr. HonestSchmuck pays Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage $1000.00

per month (in California) or $12,000 per year. Mr. HonestSchmuck now has $19,231.00.

 

Mr. Parasite has full Medical and Dental coverage through the State of

California and Local 'City of Angels' (L.A) Health Clinics at an annual cost

of $0.00 per year. Mr. Parasite still has his $31,200.00 yearly salary.

Mr. HonestSchmuck makes too much money is therefore NOT eligible for Food Stamps or

Welfare, so he pays for food at around $1,000.00 per month or $12,000 per

year. Mr. HonestSchmuck now has $7,231.00.

Mr. Parasite has no documented income therefore, he is eligible for Food

Stamps and various forms of Welfare. Mr. Parasite still has his $31,200.00

(Cha-Ching!).

Mr. HonestSchmuck also has a house payment of $1,000.00 per month or $12,000.00

per year and he is now in the hole to the tune of (-) $4,769.00.

Since Mr. Parasite... Remember, has no documented income... He also receives

a $500 per month Federal Rent Subsidy - this subsidy pays his rent at

$500.00 per month or $6,000.00 per year - he still has $31,200.00 in his

pocket.

Mr. HonestSchmuck sees this happening and realizes he has to figure out some way to

make ends meet or he is going to lose his house - so... He now works as much

overtime as he can. He finds a part time job on the weekends and evenings.

Mr. Parasite has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Mr. HonestSchmuck's and Mr. Parasite's children both attend the same school. Mr. HonestSchmuck

pays for his children's lunches while Mr. Parasite's children get a

government sponsored breakfast and lunch.

Mr. Parasite's children have an after school ESL program. Mr. HonestSchmuck's

children go home after school. Mr. HonestSchmuck and Mr. Parasite both enjoy the

same Police and Fire Protection Services, but Mr. HonestSchmuck paid for them and

Mr. Parasite did not.

Mr. HonestSchmuck must repay educational loans for his children to go to college -

Mr. Parasite does not. Therefore Mr. HonestSchmuck cannot afford to send his

children to College - Mr. Parasite can!

California taxpayers (like Mr. HonestSchmuck ) pay for all of Mr. Parasite's stuff.

That totals over $42,000 in this example. So Mr. Parasite has his $31,200

plus at least $42,000 of value received each year or the equivalent of

$73,200 after tax income. Mr. HonestSchmuck is struggling and Mr. Parasite leads a

pretty good life.

And Voila - California is now broke, busted, and disgusted. And now, you and

I will bail them out.

[Jetlag]

Too big to... diversify

 

 

"For China to hold 5 percent of its reserves in gold, it would need to buy more than 3,000 tons of the metal, the equivalent of about a year’s global production, Wang said. "

 

"China’s foreign-exchange reserves topped $2 trillion for the first time, highlighting the difficulty the government faces in finding places to invest the world’s largest holdings. "

 

"The reserves rose a record $178 billion in the second quarter to $2.132 trillion, the People’s Bank of China said today"

 

"The reserves are double those of Japan, the country with the second-largest holdings, and account for 29 percent of the global total, according to Bloomberg data before today’s announcement. "

 

"“It’s inevitable that China will continue investing in Treasuries because of the sheer scale of its reserves,” said Ken Peng, an economist with Citigroup Inc. in Beijing. “Diversification will happen at a slow pace, with commodities the favored alternative.” "

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=alZgI4B1lt3s

 

They're buying up land and mining rights in Africa and S.America.

[psyche doctor]

[psyche doctor]

The nascrack futures not quite to its downtrend line.