Update 8/9/2011: Good morning. While I am educating myself this morning, I would like to share what I have been reading/watching: Yesterday’s 634 rout was primarily blamed on S&P downgrading US debt. I believe it is just a trigger. But trouble has been brewing for a while. Indecisive leadership from Obama and a dysfunctional political […]
Monday August 8, 2011 The Forecloser John Oliver gets the scoop on a Florida couple and rookie lawyer who foreclosed on Bank of America and turns their incredible story into a movie. (05:51) The Daily Show – The Forecloser Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
Following Friday’s (Aug 5) downgrade of US credit rating, S&P is rumored to set France as its next downgrade target. France’s SocGen and UK’s Unicredit are rumored to be on the ‘brink of disaster’ Europe pledged to use the EFSF to buy Italian and Spain bonds. This puts Germany, the only healthy economy in the […]
First, futures update: Dow futures are down 289 and S&P futures are down about 32. I would say, it is not as bad as many feared. We just have to wait till Monday and see how things will shape up. [I would venture to guess, the markets will be down big at the open and […]
On April 18th, I posted this note about Goldman’s take on S&P’s outlook change on US debt. There is a saying in Telugu, “dongalu dongalu oollu panchukunntlu” (Just like thieves divided the villages among themselves to rob). True to this age old maxim, Wall Street banks and the ratings agencies robbed us of our retirement […]
On Friday, Aug 5 2011 at 8:01 PM when all financial markets (ex ForEx) in all western countries have closed for trading, Standard and Poor’s downgraded US Debt. Via Bloomberg: S&P lowered the U.S. one level to AA+ while keeping the outlook at “negative” as it becomes less confident Congress will end Bush-era tax cuts […]
Financial markets have given an unforgettable 50th birthday gift to the President. Today is nothing less than a massacre for stock markets across the world. There are any number of reasons for today’s massacre. Happy Birthday, Mr. President. The fundamental reason is imploding confidence in sovereign debts, US included. Back in 2008, many market savvy […]
Short-Term Yields Going Negative In simple English, it means that you have to PAY THE BANK TO KEEP YOUR money. This kind of imbalance happens in extreme panic situations.Via Zero Hedge: The stunner in this morning’s newsflow (the long, long overdue market collapse which is a much needed catalyst for QE3 should not surprise anyone), […]
As of May 2011, 45 million Americans, or 15% of the population are on food stamps. In 2007 the number is a mere 26 million. The great recession added nearly 20 million people (or as the well healed right-wing talk show bigots call them, “parasites”) into this social safety net. ZedroHedge noted a peculiarity in […]
Debt ceiling debate is over. Once again, Republicans won the fight (not the debate). Congress passed a bill that would have no “revenue increases” (Democratic euphemism for taxes) on the “job creators” (Republican euphemism for corporations on welfare, tax dodgers, and those who are in the top 1% of earners). Grandma on Social Security, tough […]
Once again, Jon Stewart gives Fix News taste of their Own Medicine on his Jul 19th show. Cal Thomas on Fox: “The biggest case of piling on since the last rugby game I saw.” Jon picked from that moment and pounced. Jon contrasted Fox’s hysteric coverage of a comment made by NPR executive to virtual […]
The American economy is 2/3rd consumer spending. In the 1990, cheap credit boosted consumer spending via revolving. In the 2000s, the meteoric rise in home prices led to consumers tapping their home equity to keep spending (referred to as ‘the Home ATM’). Now, both credit spigots have been stopped. Furthermore, the consumer is already in […]
“The president’s failure to demand a reckoning from the moneyed interests who brought the economy down has cursed his first term, and could prevent a second.” This is a good article and a must read. It reflects most of my thinking on Obama’s presidency. What haunts the Obama administration is what still haunts the country: […]
A little over a year ago the pronouncement that Greek was rescued from the brink was a big fat Greek lie. Anybody who paid a slight bit of attention to the truth behind the headlines would have known this. In the 2010 deal mainly Germany and other European nations came to the rescue of Greece […]
For those ideologues who keep bashing “librul” media for a bias that is only real in their twisted way of thinking, I don’t expect Jon Stewart to make sense. But he does make a lot of sense to me because, he, at times takes words out of my mouth. In this epic 25 min interview, […]
