2010 Consumer Contraction Worse Than 2008

Read the data for yourself here at Pragmatic Capitalism, but don't miss the second half of the entry which discusses the genesis and meaning of "the new frugality" and the devastating consequences of the Fed's war on the average American through ZIRP (zero interest rate policy):

On Wall Street and inside the Beltway there are no perceived victims of low interest rates, because low rates result in obscene spreads between the real cost of institutional borrowing (essentially zero) and the real rate of consumer lending (18% to 24% on real-world short term loans). Meanwhile every barrier possible has been raised to prevent those lower rates from propagating to those most in need of longer term relief.

Down with debt! Down with the Fed!

Making a List and Checking it Twice

Ears: They're Not Just For Presidents Anymore

Major Banks Appeal Federal Reserve Disclosure Ruling to Supreme Court

But the Federal Reserve did not join in the appeal, apparently in order to enhance the standing of the banks in the case.

At stake are the details of $2 trillion in Federal Reserve assistance to financial institutions beginning in late 2007 and running through the crisis of 2008, details which the Fed does not want to reveal to protect the institutions which received the dough.

Nevermind it's your money.

Down with the Fed!

Reuters.com has the story here.

US Treasury Still Stonewalling FOIA Request on Citigroup Guarantees

Twenty months and counting, including a non-response response on what securities $300 billion of taxpayer monies guarantee. It's our money! We have a right to know!

And tomorrow it will be the Federal Reserve's turn to continue the stonewalling on a separate FOIA request involving $2 trillion in taxpayer guarantees for financial institutions from two years ago, and we still don't know even though the courts have ordered the Federal Reserve to comply with the requests. When they finally do, how much do you want to bet it will be a similar non-response response?

No wonder the people want the Federal Reserve abolished, and the Treasury to burn down.

Bloomberg, which supports the FOIA requests, has the full story here.

National Debt Up $5 Trillion Under Pelosi, $3.1 Trillion Under Hastert

The woman said in January 2007 that under Democrats there wouldn't be any more deficit spending but pay as you go instead. Yea right.

Under Hastert the deficit increased so much not because of war spending, but because of social spending, particularly on Drugs for Seniors, the largest expansion of government since the 1960s at the time.

You can't trust either party as far as you can throw them.

The story was reported here.

A Libertarian Defends Local Bankers

An analyst of the banks and an increasingly visible commentator on the foreclosure mess, R. Christopher Whalen puts in a good word for local bankers on his blog at Reuters.com:

The bad guys in the housing bust are not the banks who must foreclose on homes, but the politicians in both political parties who used reckless housing policies to further their personal interests. This is a bipartisan national scandal. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Phil Graham, Alan Greenspan and their contemporaries are the authors of our collective misery, not the local banker who must clean up the mess created by government intervention in the housing market.

Read the rest here.

Corporate Cash Really Isn't

Mish has an interesting post which contrasts "corporate cash" with corporate debt. The upshot is the cash is concentrated in just four big financials (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America), and overall in about 50 companies. But corporates with cash are also in debt up to their eyeballs, so much so that the debt outweighs the cash by a TARP-size bailout amount:

As you can see, the total cash (in green) for the top 50 companies is $3.71 trillion, which sure sounds like a hell of a lot of cash, and it would be were it not for the debt (in red) totaling $4.45 trillion.

Read it all and see the graphic here.

Promises! Promises!: Hurt US Congress

Story here.

Hurt is running against Tom “If you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing” Perriello in VA-5. 

Los Angeles Times Says 2010 Obama Message is "Darker" Than 2008's

Seriously. Here.

Obama Doesn't Know His (Foreclosure) Constituency

John Judis for The New Republic almost says he knew FDR and that FDR was a friend of his, but he does say that Obama is no FDR:

The left will support Obama and Democrats. It’s the working-class voters who reluctantly backed Obama in 2008, but have been turned off by the impression that the administration cares more about the banks than about them. ... [FDR] knew who his constituency was: His was the party of the common man. The Obama administration, meanwhile, worries about the people who listen to "Charlie Rose." And they and the Democrats are going to pay a steep price for their inattention to common concerns this November.


Read the full commentary here.

Some Banksters May Yet Go To Jail for Fraud

According to a story today from CNBC.com:

In a number of cases in the past year — sources put it between five and ten — auditors have found enough evidence of fraud by bankers that they referred the cases to criminal investigators within the Treasury Inspector General’s office for a more detailed analysis.

The rest is here.

On the Lesson of the Log Cabin Republicans

"If you let in a bunch of pricks, eventually you'll get screwed."

-- Imam John

14 More Reasons Not To Be a Republican

One More Reason I'll Never Be a Republican Again

Obama Increases National Debt 29% in 22 Months

Eyeball news has the story here.

National debt on Obama Immaculation Day: $10.626 trillion.

National debt yesterday: $13.665 trillion.

That's about $138 billion of new debt every month Obama's been in office.

GDP in 2009 was about $14.26 trillion.

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness Against Chinese Protectionism

James Kostohryz here doesn't say so explicitly, but he's just a little embarrassed by the fact that Americans are so stupid that he needs to write an article explaining how "China's [currency] policies are blatantly and massively protectionist," because it hoards US dollars to prevent equilibration just like 19th century powers hoarded gold against the rules.

Praying for Clean Spirits: That's Not Weird?

Easily as weird as another First Lady who believed in astrology.

"It means all the world to us to know that there are prayer circles out there and people who are keeping the spirits clean around us," First Lady Michelle Obama said on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" today.

See that here.

Didn't anyone tell her there's an election coming up shortly and to put a sock in it, or at least some more shrimp, crab and lobster to keep that yap occupied until the danger passes? If she keeps this up that Marian Robinson voodoo stuff is going to start sounding plausible!

Serbians Try to Beat Up Marching Poofters in Belgrade

Thomson Reuters has the story here:

"This government [of President Boris Tadic of the Serbian Democratic Party in coalition with the Socialist Party] wants to protect a deviant, wicked and non-Christian minority against the good, law-abiding majority," said Milija, 28, a construction engineer who described himself as a religious nationalist.

Selling Gold? You'll Pay the IRS at 28%, not 15%

Paul Sullivan reminds us here of a little appreciated drawback to investing in gold:

And even if you invest in gold through an E.T.F. — as opposed to buying bullion — it has two significant costs. The first is that it does not pay a dividend, so there will not be a stream of income from it.

Selling it is easy, particularly with an E.T.F., but this leads to the second problem: gold is taxed at a much higher capital-gains rate. The Internal Revenue Service considers it a collectible and taxes gains at a rate of 28 percent, as opposed to the 15 percent capital gains tax for other securities. This means gold has to appreciate more than other securities to make up for a tax rate on gains that is almost double.