IMF Creates $100 Billion Fund
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 9:00pm (131 comments)
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Being first, that would be like a dream come true.
1st. Where is Nemo?
Funded by the "supernote"
FromMacroMan:
2) "Over-leveraged emerging economies face crisis" and "IMF to lend up to five times its asset base to ease crisis". Uhhhhhh......OK. So the answer to a problem sourced in leverage is for a multilateral institution with a proud history of failure to lever itself up? Good luck with that. (As an aside, apparently the IMF has sought to re-mortgage its Washington, DC headquarters to increase its capital base. Unfortunately, they don't qualify for a jumbo mortgage and so couldn't obtain a loan.)
Nemo sleeps on occasio
Where's Nemo?
YouTube -
If you don't have a three year old, don't bother.
Ponies for the world!
100 billion? Bah chump change. Didn't the US public debt increase by that much in 2 days?
100 billion supernotes is not going to go very far. "defend currency", "recapitalize banks"... they have enough to cover how many nations???
Why didn't we just lend them the money (like Singapore, et al, today)?
There are never any strings attached to U.S. loans. It's almost like free money.
This continues to be unreal. When do we wake from this bad dream?
Here is my plan:
VOILA - THE PROBLEM IS FIXED.
Before: car payments of $600/month, new car payment at 0% interest only, exactly $0.0!
Before: mortgage payments of $2500/month, new mortgage payments of $0.0!
If savings and money are treated as worthless, lets just get to the end then.
Tell me this isn't where we're going.
OT - had a birthday party for my daughter tonight with family and everyone I spoke with agreed that 'something's not right' with the economy.
These folks don't read CR and don't get the details, but they watch the news and read the newspaper.
My in-laws are reasonable folks and they are pretty worried. They don't understand how everyone can get bailed out. They seem to be puzzled about that.
My other family members are very skeptical about the government. They are mad at the lack of accountability (old school folks). Not exactly sure how they're voting.
Pretty interesting. Definitely a conversation piece.
I think I hate Henry Paulson.
Tell me this isn't where we're going.
Uhh, I'm tired. Gotta go get some rest. Yeah, that's it. Some rest. Night all.
"They don't understand how everyone can get bailed out."
"Everyone" needs to be defined. Only about 100 people are getting bailed out. Of course those 100 people are friends of Bush, Bernanke and Paulson.
IMF to lend up to five times its asset base to ease crisis".
RE,
You know that's not exactly true. The IMF is sitting on over $80B US in gold. It's just not in it's asset base at over $3.6B
sportsfan,
You are correct! My mistake.
OMG! Short term, super high risk lending... a "new type" of loan. And you thought only wall st could innovate!
sportsfan,
However, what we also do not know is how much of that gold might have been leased out. Who knows...
Man, if I were Iceland, Hungary or Ukraine, I'd be pissed tonight.
The clusterf*ck continues...
Some countries are more equal than others.
Something bad is going to come from these bailouts. Something really bad that has never happened.
RE,
Not you're mistake. It's MacroMan's, whoever that is.
As to leasing, I think they claim they don't allow it, but then I have no idea how good their word is.
Those countries have shunned the IMF because of the strings attached to the loans, which often force sharp budget cuts or interest-rate increases. The conditions are designed to help governments save money and pay for necessary imports, but they also often deepen an economic downturn, making the IMF deeply unpopular around the world.
Sounds like the real problem is these types of policies were not employed in the US, leading to a global bubble (that hit emerging markets especially hard) driven by excessively low interest rates and monstrous current account deficits that flooded foreign economies with US capital.
I guess the US is a special case, and what is necessary for the long term health of other economies doesn't apply to us.
Something bad is going to come from these bailouts. Something really bad that has never happened.
This is my fear. The unintended consequences of these massive market interventions are impossible to predict.
MacroMan is a worthwhile read every day:
Macro Man
Good night.
I guess the US is a special case, and what is necessary for the long term health of other economies doesn't apply to us.
ac,
I had the same thought when I read what CR wrote:
The IMF has always required painful, some would argue too painful, changes to a country's fiscal policies in exchange for help.
Yeah, because it's always been dem dere third world types in trouble, not US.
Something bad is going to come from these bailouts. Something really bad that has never happened.
Republicans are TRAITORS | 10.30.08 - 1:33 am | #
Orwellian Global Feudalism, and yeah, it's gonna be really really bad.
At this point, it appears that flooding the world with dollars is slowly restoring confidence. Certainly the stock markets around the world are taking notice.
Among the many looming problems: How can markets be unhooked from government liquidity systems?
Do we have a future full of political, zombie companies?
Will only the politically connected get the best deals?
Everyone's so pessimistic about this plan. Come on, when was the last time an unprecedented intervention went awry?
"The IMF's new program, called the Short Term Liquidity Facility, would be used largely to pad a country's reserves, which could help the recipient defend its currency."
Worldwide guarantees
Worldwide Socialism
Something bad = massive inflation or 20 years of zero growth due to the slow drain of the current liquidity additions.
$100 billion isn't much in proportion to the $100 trillion in bad debt out there.
Why not just cancel the outstanding debt? Okay, everyone will be screwed, not sure how the stock market would react, not sure what companies have exposure to the debt, etc... but isn't that what is causing everything to clog up?
I don't get the bailouts... let's create zombies!
Republicans are TRAITORS writes:
Something bad is going to come from these bailouts. Something really bad that has never happened.
First off, LOVE your name.
I was thinking the same thing today. All the stuff they're pulling...translation, inventing out of thin air...is going to lead to something completely unexpected and potentially catastrophic.
I think they are truly entering uncharted waters, and attempting to defy the basics of economic theory.
I also wonder if someday Mr. Roubini will look back and apologize for being too optimistic.
I think we're gonna need a bigger TARP.
Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again.
I also wonder if someday Mr. Roubini will look back and apologize for being too optimistic.
Comrade Scared Shitless
That is good,
By the way, what is Meredith's latest?
But the new plan also puts the IMF in the position of deciding who can have money with few strings attached, and who can't.
As opposed to the neoliberal remedy of, "Privatize everything and come out with your hands up," which worked so well in Argentina.
This time around, there's less of value to loot in troubled countries. What Uncle Greed would like to get his hands on isn't state services but energy resources, which remain for now elusive; but give Commander-In-Chief Obama time to get together some invasions we can believe in.
Is this part of the plan to rescue E. Europe property markets from their swissie denominated mortgages?
Good luck with that, you're gonna need a bigger boat.
unirealist writes:
$100 billion isn't much in proportion to the $100 trillion in bad debt out there.
Here's one of my confusions. What is the dollar value of side-bet derivatives (written based on now deflated RE assets or bad loans) that were syndicated and sold. I have seen numbers up in the 80 trillion to 100T. Would it be correct to say that the original loans, i.e. prime debt/paper is something like 1.5 trillion a year for years 2006/07 ? So about 3 trillion?
and that this amount was resold over and over to equate to 80 to 100 trillion in debt? Am i close?
Do you think every night before going to bed Paulson reads some CR and cries himself to sleep?
Wow. Nobody mentioning USD collapse that seems to have started yesterday.
I'm not predicting anything, USD index could reverse again and hit 90, but it sure looks like a top is in.
INO - (N...S=NYBOT:DX) Price Chart and Quote v=d6
If this keeps up gold and silver will be at records in a couple weeks.
My GDX at 19.77 is in the money after today.
something bad = end of paper
Man, look at that bitch fight to the very end
What is the dollar value of side-bet derivatives (written based on now deflated RE assets or bad loans) that were syndicated and sold
I have no idea. The 100 trillion figure I usually deploy is merely a convenience. NOBODY has ANY clue how much quasi-money has been created globally. It could be half as much, or it could be 600 trillion.
And I think nobody has any clue how much of the notional value of global derivatives constitutes quasi-money, and how much cancels out. If it can, in fact cancel out - and I'm not sure anyone knows even that.
stocks are under valued
I guess when the economic pundits were talking about all the money on the sidelines waiting to get in, they were really talking about the IMF. Would you like leverage with your decaf non-fat latte?
Cash Only,
$ is as volitile as the rest of the markets... huge gains over a short period of time will revert to the mean. Although that mean would be tough to hit with a 12 gauge from 2 ft.
Silly rabbit, houses are under valued, not stocks.
How much longer do we have? CR normally early so I'll say a year, at least. Some people still think our stakes in the banks and whatever else are worth something. I think we are in the middle of great short squeeze... there's some bad feedback as people cover shorts, no?
i need to learn how to spell volatile.
unirealist writes:
And I think nobody has any clue how much of the notional value of global derivatives constitutes quasi-money, and how much cancels out. If it can, in fact cancel out - and I'm not sure anyone knows even that.
Great, i really appreciate that comment because that was about what i thought. Much of it probably cancels out between houses, but i guess there is a fraction that has been converted into consumer sales, and therefore real money has changed hands.... correct?
Paulson reads CR every night and says to himself "I am now the Invisible Hand of the market", smiles in the mirror, puts some johnson and johnson baby oil on the cue ball, and sleeps like a baby. When morning comes, the Invisible Hand slaps him and he awakens.
I was thinking the same thing today. All the stuff they're pulling...translation, inventing out of thin air...is going to lead to something completely unexpected and potentially catastrophic.
I think they are truly entering uncharted waters, and attempting to defy the basics of economic theory.
I also wonder if someday Mr. Roubini will look back and apologize for being too optimistic.
Comrade Scared Shitless | 10.30.08 - 1:56 am | #
Who is we? Last time I looked Dems have owned Congress since 06 and Bush has been a lame duck for at least a year.
I hate discussing politics here... but both parties have zero cred on this issue. Start looking for individuals aka Ron P.
B& B dope... J&J was down graded today... If Mr. P was in control he would have made sure the maker of his favorite lubricant was protected.
good night.
Paulson's manic bailing-out of every financial sector on the globe reminds me of...
Saddam Hussein, who set hundreds of oil wells ablaze as his army retreated out of Iraq.
"Do you think you've crushed the Republican Party?," he snarls, as he destroys the dollar. "Well, see how you like this inferno of hell we're leaving you with."
(It is worth noting that the Iraqi army, during their occupation of Kuwait, plundered it of all assets they could carry away. Paulson's friends did the same here.)
Seriously, isn't it possible this is the Republican Party's way of saying fuck-you to the witnesses of this, the Party's ultimate disgrace?
dryfly: any new readings on the economy out there in the midwest? thanks!
unirealist writes:
Saddam Hussein, who set hundreds of oil wells ablaze as his army retreated out of Iraq.
I was in Bahrain a few weeks before Saddam invaded. That was the biggest set up of the century. Saddam was the ultimate patsy.
Seems like the IMF may soon overextend its ability for further loans.
And guess what? They may look to "tap" western taxpayers for additional funding.
IMF may need to "print money" as crisis spreads - Telegraph
Much of it probably cancels out between houses...
--Canucklehead
I assume that's correct. However, it may not help.
Imagine a small town where everyone has bets with each other, bets on bets, and bets on bets on bets. All these bets are on different types of possible events, and for different amounts, in different currencies. The notional amount of all the bets is ten times the GDP of the town.
Even if ALL the bets theoretically cancel out, there's no exchange on which to effect that process. Same with our globe.
Buffett tells a story about how some company he bought ten years ago had a small amount of derviatives on its books. He thought at the time, no problem. After almost a decade and thousands of hours of efforts by his lawyers and accountants, BH had STILL not settled them all.
Hence his sardonic term, "weapons of financial mass destruction."
Saddam was the ultimate patsy.
Don't forget Manuel Noriega, also. They've been holding him incommunicado for two decades now. Not hard to guess why.
unirealist writes:
Imagine a small town where everyone has bets with each other, bets on bets, and bets on bets on bets. All these bets are on different types of possible events, and for different amounts, in different currencies. The notional amount of all the bets is ten times the GDP of the town.
Yes, that is exactly what i am trying to imagine. And thank you again for the tutorial. This is a lot to get one's mind around. I am trying to grasp the end game. The only solution i can see is a reset to the world's base currency. Spoken like a farmer, but that's how i see it. USD wiped out. Start over.
Massive mortgage aid planned in the US (Will/should rest of the world follow particularly England?)
MarketWarnings: Massive mortgage aid planned in the US (Will rest of the world follow particularly England)
PS: unirealist , its probably more like 500X .. not to bug you for more insight, cause its way late. But there was no restraint ...let's ask the question....how many times could 3 trillion be resold in this market off the books. The answer is unlimited times.
RE other: war is a business..as we know, ever bigger.
Inter bank lending is dead,
long live inter bail-out lending.
Imagine a small town where everyone has bets with each other, bets on bets, and bets on bets on bets. All these bets are on different types of possible events, and for different amounts
It's a little worse than that.
Some of the bettors have died, leaving a bet in place that can't be settled. Other bets were made by people without money, other bets are vague in their conditions so their settlement is asymmetrical of the outcomes.
This is the end of paper money.
Get Bent, mild mannered international banker, steps into a water closet, emerges seconds later wearing green tights and a red cape. He rushes to his double parked Trabant coupe, rips the parking citations from the windscreen and sputters off to solve the latest financial crisis.
Meanwhile, Jane Doe, the hooker with a heart of gold lolls against a lamppost, bathed in the foggy light, one leg propped against it making a figure four, the tops of her stockings peeking from the hem of her skirt. Business isn't good.
Get Bent rolls to a stop in the halo of light. He taps on the passenger window, motioning Jane to open the door. She gets in expecting some action. She likes the occasional kinkster who costume in spandex, even the ones like Get Bent who looks like a an over-stuffed pepper. What the hey, she thinks, his money spends.
She is surprised when he hands her briefcase filled with something that resembles money. HE says he'll be back in three months and will want it back and no, he doesn't want a date.
Volker the Viking that was too good...my only editorial would be 'heart of gold' .. i think you might need a little more experience in that quarter... hehe..well, call them as you might want to see them...not as they are.
Man of a 1,000 interviews.
“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” — John Adams
[From earlier thread]
"Plantagenet writes:
'"Quadrillion" does not even have a settled definition in English.'
Let's settle it. One quadrillion is defined hereafter as 71.428% of the total notional value of over the counter derivatives, in Federal Reserve Notes, as of 31 March 2008.
Simple."
Can you get this in to Wikipedia?
canucklehead writes:
Volker the Viking that was too good...
Thanks, I welcome all favorable reviews. It was tossed off as I sat before the screen. Who knows, maybe if I get rid of the grammatical errors and flesh it out a bit a network prime time series might come of it. Or, maybe I'll go back to selling magnets door to door.
I'm new to CR and am grateful for all the info I've gathered from the posts and comments. Because there's so many knowledgeable folks on this blog, I'm hoping someone will give their two cents about whether they think the systemic meltdown of the economy is a result of unintended or intended consequences. Specifically, I'm asking for thoughts about the role economic hitmen may be playing in this current crisis. At times it feels like we're in the middle of a financial war and Main Street is the collateral damage.
A while back, I read the transcripts of an interview with John Perkins, self-proclaimed economic hitman, on Democracy Now!. Seems like economic hitmen could currently be doing some dirty work.
An excerpt from the Democracy Now! interview:
"AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Okay, explain this term, “economic hit man,” e.h.m., as you call it.
JOHN PERKINS: Basically what we were trained to do and what our job is to do is to build up the American empire. To bring—to create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful. We’ve built the largest empire in the history of the world. It’s been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It’s only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that."
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
Volker the Viking
We all toss off sitting before the screen selling magnets. my editorial was on content, not form. Read it again pls and at least tell me you understood the point. Otherwise court some other VC.
Read it again pls and at least tell me you understood the point. Otherwise court some other VC.
canucklehead
Okay, I read it again. I can admit, now that you have re-responded, to not understanding what you meant. And I'm not courting you, my friend. Further I also have a limited fund of knowledge as to what a VC is.
Volker the Viking
It was just a joke on two levels. First, hookers do not anywhere ever have a heart of gold (sorry i had to explain that, it pulls the carpet on any chance at poetry) ; and second VC = venture capitalist; my cryptic response to your idea of funding a TV show. Forget I spoke. I like your stuff, i was only having some fun after too many beers.
Strap on your tin foil super colanders. They really are reading our brain waves and making us buy this market, these government schemes, and these candidates.
The fact is, 8 out of 10 new offerings fail to win consumersÂ’ devotion, despite extensive market research and investment. And with todayÂ’s economic belt-tightening, those odds are likely to get even worse, as consumers think twice before opening their wallets. Result? Millions of wasted product-development and advertising dollars for companies already struggling to stay alive.
How can managers defy these alarming odds? They can leverage the findings of neuromarketing research, a powerful new methodology that augments qualitative and quantitative approaches and that illuminates why consumers really buy—and why they don’t.
In Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, Martin Lindstrom shares the startling results of a $7 million neuromarketing study involving 2,000 volunteers from five nations—the largest such study ever. Using two brain-scanning technologies—fMRI and SST (a variation of EEG)—researchers identified consumers’ subconscious responses to marketing messages ranging from logos and ads to brands and actual products.
Compelling and even shocking,
Buyology unveils surprising truths about how specific marketing moves—including product placement, subliminal messaging, and use of spiritual and sexual imagery—affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. And it sheds valuable light on how neuromarketing research can help companies develop relevant offerings backed by marketing messages that hit the intended target. Timely and packed with engaging, inside stories, Buyology is a fascinating journey into the mind of today’s consumer—and a must-read for every leader.
Amazon.com: Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (9780385523882): Martin Lindstrom, Paco Underhill: Books
Sorry Ben, they read my deepest desires and I couldn't help but destroy the republic.
I like your stuff, i was only having some fun after too many beers.
canucklehead
My wife is the writer, she's published all over the world in her third language. She teaches the writing process at the university level. I am presently unsupervised until she returns from delivering a paper at some sort of international conference on writing centers.
She fusses at me because I don't submit anything for publication. I keep telling her I don't submit to shit. If I want to publish my stuff, I'll do it. I own the ISBN #'s and know how to make something like that happen.
Besides, I may just take up the challenge of being a pro sports franchise owner. Then again, maybe I'll start a home delivery dairy company. Or market a line of specialty spices featuring a fictional Mama Dix.
I have a name for this, Mama Dix Dry Rub. I think this would resonate in the marketplace. A feisty looking woman with an up-do and lipstick, a pencil skirt and fashionable pumps. No wait, the republicans already cornered that. Shit.
My wife is the writer
--V the V
LOL. So's mine.
She likes to flatter me to new acquaintances by saying, "He's the one with the brains - I'm the one with the credentials."
Volker the Viking
I like it. You have an adventurous mind capable of original thought. This is the value. How many of us are capable of original thought? So few. The world is starving for it.
When I was five years old, we had a dairy delivery. Lorne came up the driveway to our farmhouse in a milk wagon pulled by a horse. I consider myself so lucky to be there, then. To remember the cream on top of the milk. I was chopping wood. My mother hated it - a five year old with an axe. My father intervened. I was allowed to work with the axe he ruled.
I like your stuff. Tough it out.
what about the Dix Dry Rub?
Volker the Viking writes:
what about the Dix Dry Rub?
I think you could sell almost anything right now using that brunette as the launching pad. It a temporary wave.
Personally, i have always preferred brunettes. She is the clever embodiment of a fantasy - liza doolittle - you need to target a market. Its probably women - they spend 8:1 verses men. If the product reduces weight, you might have something.
Today the sucker rally continues. All part of the grind to Dow 1450.
Some of the bettors have died, leaving a bet in place that can't be settled. Other bets were made by people without money, other bets are vague in their conditions so their settlement is asymmetrical of the outcomes.
This is the end of paper money.
--Broward Horne
Yes. The derivative mess is probably an insoluble problem. We'll have to tear up all the bets and throw them away. Which I expect means the end of existing currencies.
The CB's can keep bailing out all the quasi-money (which includes at least a large fraction of derivatives, as well as securitized loans, ABCP, muni- and other bonds, etc.), but...
...they simply can't raise enough money to do that without hyperinflating the monetary base.
Money is a symbolic representation of productive assets in society, and if you try to monetize the quasi-money that's been created over the past few decades you inevitably over-represent the productive assets.
And that doesn't even take into account the "pushing on a string" aspect of the dilemma.
you need to target a market. Its probably women - they spend 8:1 verses men. If the product reduces weight, you might have something.
canucklehead
You really have had too many beers.
Use of cliche (heart of gold) is often meant for duality of meaning.
Dix Dry Rub--for women? I know you guys are polite and never raise your voice, unless of course you're at a titty bar populated by some Latvian pole dancers, but c'mon. Think about this.
Volker the Viking
I don't do the pole bars. I long ago progressed to renting verses watching. Actual bang for the buck.
Well, i gave you my best thoughts. You're on your own now. Don't squander good thinking. nite!
Money is a symbolic representation of productive assets in society, and if you try to monetize the quasi-money that's been created over the past few decades you inevitably over-represent the productive assets.
unirealist
Some of us call it inflation.
What's headed our way is a jubilee.
Don't try to pour any cold water on this, you'll just come off looking and sounding like an asshole.
International Debt Forgiveness: Applying an Ancient Principle to a Modern Problem
When I was five years old, we had a dairy delivery. Lorne came up the driveway to our farmhouse in a milk wagon pulled by a horse. I consider myself so lucky to be there, then. To remember the cream on top of the milk.
Holy smokes! I consider myself lucky to remember when the milkman came in a truck, delivering glass bottle quarts. In winter the cream would freeze as it rose, and push the bottlecaps off, forming a cylindrical spout sticking above the bottle neck. We got six quarts a day - lots of kids.
But horsedrawn carts? I suddenly feel so... young.
unirealist writes:
But horsedrawn carts? I suddenly feel so... young.
hehe..ya.. I thank you for that. I am lucky enough to have raised baby chickens in a box behind a cast iron coal fired kitchen stove...and then later in life flown first class BA to London business meetings... go figure.
Perspective is great. We are going to need it now,
What's headed our way is a jubilee.
Don't try to pour any cold water on this, you'll just come off looking and sounding like an asshole.
Actually, my wife also believes the Jubilee is the optimal answer.
The site you link to just calls for forgiveness of the Two-Thirds World debts. That, in my view, would be a negligible loss for the First World Countries. We're spending three times that amount on AIG alone.
So why not wipe ALL the slates clean?
I scanned a few googles and posted one
I agree, the jubilee must be worldwide and universal in scope. All debts, a re-do, a mulligan, a re-boot of the C drive. I have seen this coming for many years. Most people I mention it to scoff at the ridiculousness of the idea.
Faith requires one to be ridiculous.
This is about doing the right thing for the right reason. Take a big old rag and some Windex and get the streaks out of the view. Clear sailing, woo hoo!
I nearly broke out in song just then.
unirealist writes:
So why not wipe ALL the slates clean?
We are just theorizing solutions now of course, and the fancy complex triple quadruple monidex triplex wave m3 print m1 solution might possibly work out - but when it doesn't - this will be the recourse - the only way. The Microsoft solution for the world's base currency. Reboot.
The quants have done such a superlative job so far, wonder what the odds of them working this out successfully really are... I dropped out of B school when I was mid-term on Quantitative Analysis. It was required, it was 'the thing'. No B school could be without it.
I didn't even bother to tell the instructor why, I just quit going. It made no sense to me then and doesn't today. Removing the humanity from the business equation left me cold. I knew it wouldn't work then and have been playing defense ever since.
Volker the Viking writes:
I knew it wouldn't work then and have been playing defense ever since.
The solution is this: Approach a wal-mart store (high pedestrian) , get a parking lot license to sell hot dogs. Go for the really high end products. Build a nice aluminum trailer to house the convection stand. Put a very good looking young thing to work behind counter. Sell 500 per day.
Do the math...
Volker I was an Economics major, before "Econometrics" was part of any requirement. By any valuation method, dollar denominated or otherwise, you will wind up ahead.
oneworldcurrency yogi writes:
Volker I was an Economics major, before "Econometrics" was part of any requirement. By any valuation method, dollar denominated or otherwise, you will wind up ahead.
Uh huh, how's that going?
Volker the Viking
PS that' $3.50 X 500 gross...work down from there
This Bloomberg headline says it all. Can't wait for CR's post.
"Deutsche Bank Posts Unexpected Profit as Rules Limit Writedowns"
Suggest we all start using MSM's convenient causation convention, as in,
"Deutsche bank's stock rose over 8% today on the firm's announcement that it may cut dividend."
Today the sucker rally continues.
Sucker rally is too kind. There really aren't that many suckers left.
"Jag-off rally" is more like it. Kind of like a death row inmate getting his rocks off one last time before the hangman comes.
This year I started investing my own funds, after reading "Empire of Debt".
I'm up over 300%.
So the futures market doesn't see GDP numbers as a rally killer?
Build a nice aluminum trailer to house the convection stand. Put a very good looking young thing to work behind counter. Sell 500 per day.
This made me chuckle. Are you planning to bake the hot dogs or the very good looking young thing? ;o)
Row Row Row your boat gentley down the stream. marrily marrily marrily marrily life is but a dream.
Blah, blah, blah... more money down the tubes that will never be paid back.
None of it matters: until we see crooks have their bonuses taken away and sent to prison, the long, grind recession will continue simply because the sociopaths in charge would much rather sit on hundrends of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains vs. providing jobs for "the commoners."
"Put a very good looking young thing to work behind counter. Sell 500 per day.
Do the math..."
canucklehead | 10.30.08 - 7:20 am |
A previous girlfriend did this exact thing. Only on her days off. I was stunned at the cash she made. I thought I thought I was doing good fixing cars on the side...
Chris
Wait until the public realized this is the US bailing out banks in Iceland, then Russia, Inidia, and other emerging markets... you thought TARP was unpopular!!
SpeciousRiches
Specious Riches
SpeciousRiches
oneworldcurrency yogi writes:
So the futures market doesn't see GDP numbers as a rally killer?
Look at the trading volume. Just 16191 contracts this session.
The mini-dow market knows it's master's voice.
And somewhere, Pavel Chichikov howls at my use of the wrong "its".
Sorry, banks in Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus, Romania, etc... I thought I read recently that the IMF had seen its deployable capital dwindle to around $300B How long before they are going around, hat in hand, to donor countries? Whose door will they know on first?
Specious Riches
SpeciousRiches
"troubled but basically sound"?
Is that like infected but not contagious?
Can these economies just take a shower and wash the icky off?
geesh.
It is what it is.
SEBASTIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
-.3!!!!
"It is what it is."
I like that phrase a lot.
What's somewhat ironic is that the U.S., controller of the largest block of IMF shares, could never meet the painful changes the IMF demands of smaller countries.
The only thing that will bring discipline fiscal here will be foreigners balking at buying another $2-3T in Treasuries. That may do the trick.
Wow. GDP print not as bad as feared. Rip-roaring rally today!
The only thing that will bring discipline fiscal here will be foreigners balking at buying another $2-3T in Treasuries. That may do the trick.
Never going to happen. Those buyers would keep buying Treasuries for another century, if only the U.S. could find a use for those moneys.
canucklehead writes:
my only editorial would be 'heart of gold' .. i think you might need a little more experience in that quarter... hehe..well, call them as you might want to see them...not as they are.
I have known a lot of hookers of various types, although I don't use their services. They're mostly nice people if you're not a mark. Messed up folks, but fine enough to hang out with if you're not cruising for a freebie.
Speaking here of practicing whores, not strung-out streetwalkers & hustlers.
I wouldn't count on that. This sucker bounce is about tapped out IMO. Back to where we were yesterday at 3:50 and then a decided turn south is my prediction. Along with some more pathetic bleating from Maria within the next 5 trading days (bold prediction with what's happening on Tuesday, I know).
There's another way of looking at this universal turmoil: It's a kind of buffeting, transitional stage in which global structures are on their way to a new steady state, a new equilibrium. Perhaps this period of time has to be looked at as a gestalt, taking into account not only economics but technology and even political and social innovation.
Twenty or thirty years from now, a time traveler from 2008 might feel bewildered by what he sees in 2035.
"if you try to monetize the quasi-money that's been created over the past few decades you inevitably over-represent the productive assets."
I look at money as a promise of future work, and when you've promised more work than future people have time to do, you have a problem. Default or inflate... but not pay, because you cannot.
Pavel Chichikov writes:
Perhaps this period of time has to be looked at as a gestalt, taking into account not only economics but technology and even political and social innovation.
I think I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately, what I see seems roughly analogous to a feeder mouse colony reaching critical levels of overpopulation. I think the surprising thing to someone going to 2038 will be "where are all the PEOPLE?"
since we are sugar daddies to the world, let's rescue the state pensions next-
Market slide batters state pension funds
Market slide batters state pension funds
the states are already asking for a handout(stimulus package) from uncle sucker -
Paterson and Corzine Press Congress for State Rescue Package - NY Times
More viagra for eunuchs.
This scheme looked like crap last week and still looks like crap. Watch the second round effects.
BTW, Iceland, Hungary, the term you're looking for is "first mover disadvantage".
CC
Comrade Counterpointer:
BTW, Iceland, Hungary, the term you're looking for is "first mover disadvantage".
Who gets the komi? Bjork?
Someone posted the German word for this phenomenon recently but I don't recall it. On that score, India is consolidating chess power. Sorry Pavel.
oneworldcurrency yogi writes:
Someone posted the German word for this phenomenon recently but I don't recall it.
zugzwang.
The key chess term for today is "patzer". =)
I.O.W. The IMF is planning on bailing Pakistan for nothing.
To be clear zugzwang is a forced move where you must move but have the disadvantage in your new position compared to a nonexistent pass.
In chess, first move is generally advantaged.
So why not wipe ALL the slates clean?
Because it's an idiotic way to run an economy: It assigns large amounts of resources to those who have a demonstrated ability to fail miserably with cash.
A productive society wants to assign fewer resource to those people, not greater.
Twenty or thirty years from now, a time traveler from 2008 might feel bewildered by what he sees in 2035.
Hell, I just time traveled here from last month's drinking binge, and I'm already bewildered enough to down a fifth of Jack this morning.
'I think I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately, what I see seems roughly analogous to a feeder mouse colony reaching critical levels of overpopulation. I think the surprising thing to someone going to 2038 will be "where are all the PEOPLE?"'
The middle cage phenomenon? But what if the rodents can breed themselves, instead of being bred? Suppose they can design their own cages, and the experiments worked on them? They may not make adaptive decisions, but they can have a certain freedom of will - at least an apparent one.