"When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe." … Frederic Bastiat


Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak. When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it. So it always has been. So it always will be. And America has no special immunity to becoming an enemy of its own founding beliefs about human freedom, human dignity, the limited power of the state, and the sovereignty of God. – Archbishop Chaput

Trader Dan's Work is NOW AVAILABLE AT WWW.TRADERDAN.NET



Thursday, October 27, 2011

Save the Stock markets - destroy the Consumer

While money managers, talking heads and other assorted various market pundits are wildly cheering the actions of the Europeans who have agreed to a plan for papering over the Greek bond, Italian bond, Spanish bond, Portugal bond, and heaven only knows what other country's bond problem, I cannot help but shake my head in wonder at such incredibly shortsighted "wisdom".

I think it safe to say that the level of the various equity markets have now become national security issues for most of the industrialized nations of the world; so much so that bear markets in stocks are no longer permitted by the monetary and/or governing authorities. The notion seems to be that an adjustment in prices by a free market cannot be permitted because of the fallout such an event would have on the overall financial system. Therefore, the end justifies the means - the end being preventing a credit lockup justifies governments using taxpayer money to bail out banks which made poor investment decisions and nations which apparently cannot balance their budgets.

While the Ra-Ra crowd cheers this sort of thing on extolling how wonderful it is for the economy, they are ignorant of the fact that the BEAST once let loose, cannot be controlled. Do these shortsighted fools not realize that the hedge fund community is not going to selectively bid up the prices of equities and completely ignore the basics of life such as food and energy? The same speculators that these governing authorities are attempting to placate are going to devour the hand that feeds them, or better yet, the food that our hands use to feed ourselves.

Just look at what is happening to the Continuous Commodity Index ( CCI ) as a result of this spiking of the punch bowl. The hedge funds are piling back into the commodity sector as they now have a green light for their risk trades and will begin leveraging up all over again. In the process they are pushing back up the grains and the energy sector. While recently both had come down in price, giving cash-strapped and hard-pressed citizens a bit of relief from the double whammy of stagnant wages and rising food and energy prices, that now appears to be going with the wind.



One can already see the impact at the grocery store of the rise in prices earlier this year as the cost increase finally worked its way through the distribution channel. Buy a box of cereal and spend more than $5.00. What in the hell is the average citizen supposed to do by the time these pestilential governing authorities finish with us? Spend $10.00 for a single box of cereal?

We have reached a point in Western society where this non-stop interference by the monetary and governing authorities is steadily destroying what is left of the middle class. Nice job you clowns. Keep the stock market elevated and the price of the huge bank share prices elevated but destroy the very foundations of the society itself.

I hope I live long enough to see the history books accurately portray where the ruin of the West originated - the Central Banks and the stupidly clueless political leaders who led us down this rabbit hole.

6 comments:

  1. Bravo Dan !!

    Great commentary. Very inciteful and says it like it is. This is the stuff of which great blogs are made. Thanks again and keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think they are stupid, Dan.
    They are clever, cold blooded sociopath whose greed is limitless.
    I think they are very happy to ruin the whole middle class to their own profit.
    After all, all these measures have a consequence to protect the wealth of the wealthiest. Liberalism out of control.
    Collapse of a system, 20 years after the collapse of another extreme regime, communism.
    Collapse is not for tomorrow, though.
    Let's get into the skin of one of those cynical persons for a second : middle class is cattle. Only important thing is to get richer and wealthier.
    One easy way to achieve it : do it bit by bit. Not too fast. Let the water's temparature increase gradually, and the stupid frog will remain in the kettle until it dies.
    There is no stupidity out there. There is endless greed of a few people who control practically everything already.
    At least Europe said no to 50% of bank's debts. It's a beginning, maybe we'll become slaves a bit slower down there, but I'm not very optimistic...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dan,

    STILL finding many oblivious to what is really happening and why. While I agree that those who are orchestrating these events are clowns the majority in this country are to lazy to look deeply into these matters thus will be wiped out. People such as yourself do a great service to those searching and for free I might add. God bless you sir.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! Your best post ever...god help us all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. While the chosen suit in the White House goes for re-election, one challenger calls for 9-9-9, and another calls for a 20% flat tax, the elites must be doing cartwheels.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dan, thanks for writing on this blog what many of us are thinking. The masses are slowly starting to wake up and protest against the politico-financial-corporate establishment. The 99% movement (however disorganized and poorly articulated it is) is –I hope– just the beginning of it. We should eventually reach a point when the general despair will push the crowds against this fascist oligarchy that controls the system. The heads of Mari-Antoinette and other despots have rolled down the streets before. Their greed, selfish interest and shortsighted views will eventually cause their fall. This time will be no different. History books are packed with revolutions that have overthrown tyrants. All I regret is that there is still much pain and suffering to be unleashed upon the masses before this happens. Their downfall never comes without great pain.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.