More economic GOOD News...DOW hits new record..on track to hit 17K.

[KissMy]

Market sentiment poll only shows 29% of stockholders are bullish, yet the Dow is up 50 & S&P is above record close. The P/E was a totally ridiculous unsustainable 65 under Bush & now at the normal 18. That indicates the market is still climbing a wall of worry which is bullish.

What P/E was 65 under Bush? When?

S&P 500 PE Ratio

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Market sentiment poll only shows 29% of stockholders are bullish, yet the Dow is up 50 & S&P is above record close. The P/E was a totally ridiculous unsustainable 65 under Bush & now at the normal 18. That indicates the market is still climbing a wall of worry which is bullish.

What P/E was 65 under Bush? When?

S&P 500 PE Ratio

Current S&P 500 PE Ratio: 18.97 +0.08 (0.42%)
4:29 pm EDT, Fri May 23

Mean:
15.51

Median:
14.55

Min:
5.31
(Dec 1917)


Max:
123.79
(May 2009)

65 is better than 123, under Obama, as long as we're throwing out silly numbers.

 

[Vigilante]

VIXtermination Sends Stocks To All Time High On Lowest Volume Of The Year As Bond Yields Tumble

For now equity futures have failed to be dragged along although with the S&P all time high just around the horizon, the psychological level of 1900 staring the rigged market in the face, and the weekend just around the corner, it is virtually assured that the S&P will close at an all time high today - after all the people need to be confident when they go shopping at malls with money they don't have (but delighted by paper profits they haven't booked) so they boost the US non-GAAP GDP (at least before like Italy, the BEA too changes the definition of GDP to include cocaine and hookers). Finally, assuring a (record?) low-volume levitation today is the early closure of the bond pit ahead of Memorial Day holiday which also means only a skeleton crew of algos will be frontrunning each other to push the S&P over 1,900.
Everything turned out precisely as predicted. Summing it all up perfectly - VIX closed at 15-month lows, Russell 2000 had its best week in 3 months, and Treasury yields are 13bps lower than when the S&P was last here... un-rigged.......

VIXtermination Sends Stocks To All Time High On Lowest Volume Of The Year As Bond Yields Tumble | Zero Hedge

 

[Zander]

Market sentiment poll only shows 29% of stockholders are bullish, yet the Dow is up 50 & S&P is above record close. The P/E was a totally ridiculous unsustainable 65 under Bush & now at the normal 18. That indicates the market is still climbing a wall of worry which is bullish.

Link?

 

[eagle1462010]

The Market Guys and Gals are going to miss Helicopter Berny's Golf Game.............

Will Yellen Putt like him...............Nothing like Rigging ever since Heller started putting.............

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[eagle1462010]

10 Things That Every American Should Know About The Federal Reserve

#4 The Federal Reserve Can Bail Out Whoever It Wants To With No Accountability

The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131 of the audit report....

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion

#6 The Federal Reserve Creates Artificial Economic Bubbles That Are Extremely Damaging

By allowing a centralized authority such as the Federal Reserve to dictate interest rates, it creates an environment where financial bubbles can be created very easily.

Over the past several decades, we have seen bubble after bubble. Most of these have been the result of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low. If the free market had been setting interest rates all this time, things would have never gotten so far out of hand.

For example, the housing crash would have never been so horrific if the Federal Reserve had not created such ideal conditions for a housing bubble in the first place. But we allow the Fed to continue to make the same mistakes.

Right now, the Federal Reserve continues to set interest rates much, much lower than they should be. This is causing a tremendous misallocation of economic resources, and there will be massive consequences for that down the line.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDDswGsJ60]Dire Straits - Money For Nothing + lyrics - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Chris]

The crash was caused by Wall Street's derivatives Ponzi scheme, not the housing market.

 

[Listening]

The crash was caused by Wall Street's derivatives Ponzi scheme, not the housing market.

Because Chris said so.

Why don't you explain it to us....Chrissy ?

 

[eagle1462010]

The crash was caused by Wall Street's derivatives Ponzi scheme, not the housing market.

I normally don't agree with Chris, but in this instance I agree. The Housing Market was part of the speculative bubble and was the straw that broke the camel's back, but in NO WAY was the ultimate cause of the whole dang thing.

We sent derivatives to the next universe in the same mentality that caused the Great Depression. Stocks not in compliance with the laws of NORMAL GRAVITY. In 2008 the markets found out that GRAVITY SUCKS...................

And that huge sucking sound was the Markets crashing due to their Fiat Money Ponzi scheme, backed up by the Federal Reserve currency policies.

Presently the influx of 4 Trillion by the Fed is the real reason behind the Record Stock Market, and as a result we have RECORD BORROWING to PAY THE MARGINS.

Why do so many here brag about how Great it is, when the markets HAVE BEEN RIGGED by the FED...............................

We've again created a FIAT CURRENCY EATING MONSTER...................
If we stop feeding it, IT EATS THE ECONOMY.......................................

Why the Joy? As we destroy the dollar........................................

 

[eagle1462010]

Welcome to the Currency War, Part 14: Russia, China, India Bypass the Petrodollar

Russia Prepares Mega-Deal With India After Locking Up China With “Holy Grail” Gas Deal

Last week we reported that while the West was busy alienating Russia in every diplomatic way possible, without of course exposing its crushing overreliance on Russian energy exports to keep European industries alive, Russia was just as busy cementing its ties with China, in this case courtesy of Europe’s most important company, Gazprom, which is preparing to announce the completion of a “holy grail” natural gas supply deal to Beijing. We also noted the following: “And as if pushing Russia into the warm embrace of the world’s most populous nation was not enough, there is also the second most populated country in the world, India.” Today we learn just how prescient this particular comment also was, when Reuters reported that Rosneft, the world’s top listed oil producer by output, may join forces with Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp to supply oil to India over the long term, the Russian state-controlled company said on Tuesday.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, travelled to India on Sunday, part of a wider Asian trip to shore up ties with eastern allies at a time when Moscow is being shunned by the West over its annexation of Crimea. Rosneft said it had also agreed with ONGC they may join forces in Rosneft’s yet-to-be built liquefied natural gas plant in the far east of Russia to the benefit of Indian consumers.

We just have one question: will payment for crude and LNG be made in Rubles or Rupees? Or in gold. Because it certainly won’t be in dollars.

 

[deltex1]

We get to help Europe limp along...Russia makes big bucks with china and India...how did that red line work out for ya, Obabble?

 

[eagle1462010]

We get to help Europe limp along...Russia makes big bucks with china and India...how did that red line work out for ya, Obabble?

It's not looking well for the Incompetent one...........

We now may see the currency War in full scale........

Not to mention that Europe needs Russian oil and gas........

Not to mention that our Currency Policy is INSANE.

 

[eagle1462010]

Panic of 1819: The First Major U.S. Depression - The Globalist

As early as 1814, Thomas Jefferson warned, "We are to be ruined by paper, as we were formerly by the old Continental paper." Two years later, he asserted that "we are under a bank bubble" that would soon burst.

The Second Bank of the United States was supposed to steady the economy, but gross mismanagement in its early phase sapped its effectiveness.

The bank's first president, William Jones, instead of taking steps to regulate the nation's currency, doled out huge loans that fed speculation and inflation. He also kept lax watch over state banks, where fraud and embezzlement created chaos.

A congressional committee's proposal to terminate the nearly insolvent Bank of the United States had little backing — because 40 members of Congress held stock in the bank.

The bank's problems arose at precisely the wrong moment, when the economy needed a firm rudder during its postwar expansion. Jones resigned and was replaced by the South Carolina congressman Langdon Chews — and later by the Philadelphia lawyer Nicholas Biddle.

Although the bank sharply contracted loans in 1818, the damage had been done. The Bank of the United States, far from helping the economy, was among the destabilizing forces that led to the depression of 1819.

Andrew Jackson declared War on the banks. Through executive order he ended the 2nd National Bank of America, who helped the country into a depression after only being in existence 3 years before the crash.

This lasted until 1913, which led to the Roaring 20's..........And later an exploding market where everyone bought Stocks on Credit. Why? Because the Markets would never go down again.

Then the Great Depression happened basically the same way it happened in 1819.

The Glass Steagall Act was the answer to prevent another depression.

In recent history, specifically in 2000, that law was outdated and not necessary. 7 years later the same dang thing happened again with rampant speculation and borrowing leading to the crash in 2008.

Our answer to this, print more Fiat currency and do it again.

And history will repeat itself again.

 

[eagle1462010]

What is the Commodity Futures Modernization Act?

Everything in the public markets tends quickly to become regulated by some governing body. A single stock futures contract had features of both a commodity, which is governed by the CFTC, and a stock, which is governed by the SEC. Both agencies wanted jurisdiction over transactions of this type of financial instrument. They could not come to an agreement in the 1980s, and the result was that this type of financial instrument was banned. Since there was demand for this instrument, and this sort of instrument was being sold on European markets, Congress stepped into the dispute with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. The purpose of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was to resolve the dispute between the two governing bodies since they could not come to an agreement on their own.

Commodities speculation was basically banned. After this law passed the trading went up up and away. Driving vital Commodities up that every American would need. Leading to rampant speculation which seems to be the only thing the dang markets are good for. Supply and Demand be damned.

Phil Gramm’s Enron Favor | Village Voice

In an apparent response to a 1992 plea from Enron, Dr. Wendy Gramm, then chair of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, moved to exempt the company's energy-swap operation from government oversight. By then, the Houston-based Enron was a major contributor to Senator Gramm's campaign.

A few days after she got the ball rolling on the exemption, Wendy Gramm resigned from the commission. Enron soon appointed her to its board of directors, where she served on the audit committee, which oversees the inner financial workings of the corporation. For this, the company paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in stocks and dividends, as much as $50,000 in annual salary, and $176,000 in attendance fees, according to a report by Public Citizen, a group that has relentlessly tracked Enron, which in turn has called the report unfair.

Meanwhile Enron had become Phil Gramm's largest corporate contributor—and according to Public Citizen, the largest across-the board donor in its industry. Between 1989 and 2001, the company tossed Gramm just under $100,000.

In 1998, Wendy Gramm cashed in her Enron stock for $276,912. There's nothing unusual about a Washington regulator quitting the government and going to work for a private company she was regulating. And people often get rich in the process. Wendy Gramm, whose office didn't return Voice calls, has told reporters she sold the stock expressly to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest.

Nice sponsor of the law. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

What is the Commodity Futures Modernization Act?

Everything in the public markets tends quickly to become regulated by some governing body. A single stock futures contract had features of both a commodity, which is governed by the CFTC, and a stock, which is governed by the SEC. Both agencies wanted jurisdiction over transactions of this type of financial instrument. They could not come to an agreement in the 1980s, and the result was that this type of financial instrument was banned. Since there was demand for this instrument, and this sort of instrument was being sold on European markets, Congress stepped into the dispute with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. The purpose of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was to resolve the dispute between the two governing bodies since they could not come to an agreement on their own.

Commodities speculation was basically banned. After this law passed the trading went up up and away. Driving vital Commodities up that every American would need. Leading to rampant speculation which seems to be the only thing the dang markets are good for. Supply and Demand be damned.

Phil Gramm’s Enron Favor | Village Voice

In an apparent response to a 1992 plea from Enron, Dr. Wendy Gramm, then chair of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, moved to exempt the company's energy-swap operation from government oversight. By then, the Houston-based Enron was a major contributor to Senator Gramm's campaign.

A few days after she got the ball rolling on the exemption, Wendy Gramm resigned from the commission. Enron soon appointed her to its board of directors, where she served on the audit committee, which oversees the inner financial workings of the corporation. For this, the company paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in stocks and dividends, as much as $50,000 in annual salary, and $176,000 in attendance fees, according to a report by Public Citizen, a group that has relentlessly tracked Enron, which in turn has called the report unfair.

Meanwhile Enron had become Phil Gramm's largest corporate contributor—and according to Public Citizen, the largest across-the board donor in its industry. Between 1989 and 2001, the company tossed Gramm just under $100,000.

In 1998, Wendy Gramm cashed in her Enron stock for $276,912. There's nothing unusual about a Washington regulator quitting the government and going to work for a private company she was regulating. And people often get rich in the process. Wendy Gramm, whose office didn't return Voice calls, has told reporters she sold the stock expressly to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest.

Nice sponsor of the law. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They could not come to an agreement in the 1980s, and the result was that this type of financial instrument was banned.

Stock futures contracts were banned? That's funny.

Commodities speculation was basically banned.

Stop it, you're killing me.

 

[eagle1462010]

What is the Commodity Futures Modernization Act?

Everything in the public markets tends quickly to become regulated by some governing body. A single stock futures contract had features of both a commodity, which is governed by the CFTC, and a stock, which is governed by the SEC. Both agencies wanted jurisdiction over transactions of this type of financial instrument. They could not come to an agreement in the 1980s, and the result was that this type of financial instrument was banned. Since there was demand for this instrument, and this sort of instrument was being sold on European markets, Congress stepped into the dispute with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. The purpose of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was to resolve the dispute between the two governing bodies since they could not come to an agreement on their own.

Commodities speculation was basically banned. After this law passed the trading went up up and away. Driving vital Commodities up that every American would need. Leading to rampant speculation which seems to be the only thing the dang markets are good for. Supply and Demand be damned.

Phil Gramm’s Enron Favor | Village Voice

In an apparent response to a 1992 plea from Enron, Dr. Wendy Gramm, then chair of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, moved to exempt the company's energy-swap operation from government oversight. By then, the Houston-based Enron was a major contributor to Senator Gramm's campaign.

A few days after she got the ball rolling on the exemption, Wendy Gramm resigned from the commission. Enron soon appointed her to its board of directors, where she served on the audit committee, which oversees the inner financial workings of the corporation. For this, the company paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in stocks and dividends, as much as $50,000 in annual salary, and $176,000 in attendance fees, according to a report by Public Citizen, a group that has relentlessly tracked Enron, which in turn has called the report unfair.

Meanwhile Enron had become Phil Gramm's largest corporate contributor—and according to Public Citizen, the largest across-the board donor in its industry. Between 1989 and 2001, the company tossed Gramm just under $100,000.

In 1998, Wendy Gramm cashed in her Enron stock for $276,912. There's nothing unusual about a Washington regulator quitting the government and going to work for a private company she was regulating. And people often get rich in the process. Wendy Gramm, whose office didn't return Voice calls, has told reporters she sold the stock expressly to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest.

Nice sponsor of the law. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They could not come to an agreement in the 1980s, and the result was that this type of financial instrument was banned.

Stock futures contracts were banned? That's funny.

Commodities speculation was basically banned.

Stop it, you're killing me.

Not all was banned, but they were limited Todd.

That's all you have got to say on this subject..................

When are they going to crash the house of cards Todd...............

Perhaps when they stop getting the Fiat money from the Fed...........

You know this will not be sustained.........

 

[eagle1462010]

Enron loophole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Enron loophole" exempts most over-the-counter energy trades and trading on electronic energy commodity markets from government regulation.[1]
The "loophole" was enacted in sections § 2(h) and (g) of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, signed by U.S. president Bill Clinton on December 21, 2000.[1] It allowed for the creation, for U.S. exchanges, of a new kind of derivative security, the single-stock future, which had been prohibited since 1982 under the Shad-Johnson Accord, a jurisdictional pact between John S. R. Shad, then chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Phil Johnson, then chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In September 2007, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) introduced Senate Bill S. 2058 specifically to close the "Enron Loophole". This bill was later attached to H.R. 6124, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, also known as "The 2008 Farm Bill". President George W. Bush vetoed the bill, but was overridden by both the House and Senate, and on June 18, 2008 the bill was enacted into law

.

This time I used the word PROHIBITED TODD.............In the article of course.

Prohibited, banned..........hmmmmm........I think they mean the same thing Todd...........

 

[eagle1462010]

This is an interview known as the Warning. Brooksley Born talks about what happened and her warning to REGULATE OTC trading. Her warnings went unheeded even when a mini OTC caused crash happened under her watch.

Enjoy the interview of what her reactions were after the 2008 crash. She was IGNORED OF COURSE.

Interviews - Brooksley Born | The Warning | FRONTLINE | PBS

And how pervasive could it be?

I think it could include thousands of financial services industry participants and other large institutions all over the world. And I think that's what happened. As the market continued to grow, with even less oversight and regulation, until it reached more than $680 trillion in notional value, an enormous potential for disaster had grown.

What happened after I left the agency in June 1999 was the President's Working Group did come out with an over-the-counter derivatives report (PDF) to Congress that strongly suggested that ... there was no need for regulation.

And as a result of that report, a statute was passed in 2000 called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act [CFMA] that took away all jurisdiction over over-the-counter derivatives from the CFTC. It also took away any potential jurisdiction on the part of the SEC, and in fact, forbids state regulators from interfering with the over-the-counter derivatives markets. In other words, it exempted it from all government oversight, all oversight on behalf of the public interest. And that's been the situation since 2000.

 

[eagle1462010]

What an UGLY Bank. Just looking at that ugly building makes me want to see a very large crane and wrecking ball. It's in Switzerland. And CONTROLS most of the Central Banks of the World including all of the Federal Reserve Banks.

Sorry, I just can't get the image of a wrecking ball hitting that building. It gives me goose pimples.