Michael Aston on Flickr

Barry Ritholtz on Causes of the Financial Crisis
Big government and big corporations work hand-in-hand. If you want to know who is the puppet and who is the puppet master, it sure looks like Wall Street has been pulling the strings of Congress for many, many, many years. I remember the Dick Durbin quote,  right in the middle of the crisis. He was astonished at all the bankers and bank lobbyists running around the halls of Congress, and said, “I can’t believe these guys – they act as if they own the place.” The fact is, it’s not an act – they do own the place....


                                   ....................... Barry Ritholtz

The Market Is Starting To Recognize Reality
 
"As we have long expected, the economy is tracing out a trajectory typical of the weak recoveries that follow balance-sheet induced recessions and credit crises caused by highly excessive debt.....In a balance sheet recession, as is happening now, the dire effects of debt deleveraging overwhelm the efforts of the government to stimulate the economy....ahead is the so-called "fiscal cliff", another conflict as we approach the debt ceiling again... We believe that the correction is only the beginning of a major downturn..."

 

                                                             .......... Comstock Funds

                                    Secular Bear Market?

...the bottom line is that the technical position of the market looks very weak to us (and the swings from up about 100% and down about 50% we believe will continue, with the next move down) and the global economy is not what we would call supportive to U.S. growth. Also, the U.S. debt will be an anchor around our necks until we figure out a way to grow our way out, pay it down (deleveraging), or inflate our way out. All of these solutions will be extremely difficult and painful...
                                                             ..................Comstock Partners

Benefit and Cost Tradeoffs of Quantitative Easing

By Stephen Jen, SLJ Macro Partners LLP.

 "...the benefits of QE are temporary and the magnitude of the impact may be diminishing, while the costs are significant and have been accumulating. Investors presumably understand the benefits (e.g., positive for equity prices, and the low interest rates should be helpful for both indebted households as well as the government). The list of potential costs is long. The main ones include (1) persistent QE raises inflation risk over the medium term, (2) QE in the US has important negative side effects on other countries, (3) QE could lead to moral hazard problems such as delayed structural/fiscal reforms, and (4) QE could significantly elevate financial volatility."

                              The Repo Market Awaits
                                                                            By Greg Canavan
.... Politicians may be our nominal leaders...but the bankers sustain the politicians. Therefore the bankers call the shots.... Central banks...commercial banks...they're all complicit. After they stuffed debt down people's throats for decades, the world threw up on them in 2008. This created a problem. The bankers were losing control. But like cornered rats, the banks fought back. They have survived and grown bigger, sinking their teeth into the real economy. The big players have completely commandeered the world's resources for themselves....

.....Because while you're focusing on Greece or China or something else tangible, the real danger lies where you can't see. It's deep in the plumbing of the financial system...the repo market and derivatives. We're convinced that the next blow-up will come from deep within the bowels of the financial system....There will be other blow-ups before the US. Europe is first in line, Japan is next.

Here's a chart from Fitch Ratings that shows the increased use of 'repo' by US MMFs:

William Black on JP Morgan and the Failure to Regulate Wall Street Fraud 

Here are two pieces by William K. Black on JPMorgan and the rampant and ongoing fraud and speculation on Wall Street. It tells the backstory of the subversion of the democratic process and how it is being rationalized by the corporate media......

William K. Black: " JPMorgan’s flacks and apologists have, unintentionally, exposed the fact that their cover story – hedging gone bad – is false. JPMorgan runs the world’s largest gambling operation in financial derivatives...."                                        ......................... Jesse..........

The Big Print is Coming

 

Those that know me understand clear as crystal that I don’t approve of massive money printing.  I think it is theft, plain and simple, and represents an egregiously deceptive manner of transferring wealth from the poor to the wealthy and from the productive to parasitic financial oligarchs...the public was increasingly making the connection between Central Banking/fiat money and the rise in their cost of living. 

 ...Instead, what has happened is that the global ponzi is completely and totally incapable of holding itself together without consistent and increasingly large infusions of Central Bank money.  The debt burden is too large, the mal-investments too pervasive, the corruption too systemic.  The whole house of cards that is the global economy will vanish into dust rather quickly without more and more printing.  So what do you think they are going to do?....

                                                      ...................... Michael Krieger