27 FEB 2011, Sunday

• Seems that the current budgetary wisdom is springing forth from the heartland vice the coasts!
• Wisconsin is a recent stand out with Governor Scott Walker and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of the US Congress.  The governors of Indiana, Ohio and New Jersey are leading in that same direction.  OK...small ha tip to Governor Cuomo of New York who seems to realize the mess...how he attacks it is yet to be determined.
• Thank God that reasoned thought yet exists somewhere in America!
• Let us hope that such rational ideas, such as fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers, hasn't been completely discarded as an old idea.
• Even more, let us hope that it takes deep root and we actually confront our challenges before the bond markets force them upon us.

23 FEB 2011, Wednesday (AM)

• That's why I hate those non-stop eeky, squeaky minimal up days back to back.  Multiple days gains can be wiped quickly.
• Big down day on Tuesday that was foretold in the After Hour Globex session on Sunday and Monday.
• One day does not a trend make...watching subsequent action.

21 FEB 2011, Monday

• Well, the Obama rally has defeated the Bush rally in the SP500.  Or is it because he went to steroid usage via the Federal Reserve's QE programs (Bernanke, You Stupid Bastard)?  
• The After Hours (ie, when normal cash markets are closed) Globex trading session on Sunday evening and into Monday morning has resulted in 1% fall.  Chart below covering various markets.
• Similar happened over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and it came right back the next day.  
• Will have to see...

19 FEB 2011, Saturday

• The more things change, the more they remain the same.
• 1819: America's First housing Bubble.
• Does any of this sound oddly familiar?
• What exactly is it that the Federal government does best?  Graph below is (should be) surprising to most...was to me.

• So what's the breakdown?  Below...scary it seems.  And as a military pensioner (complete disclosure)...I get one of those checks, too.

17 FEB 2011, Thursday

• By this time after the late 1980's FSLIC Crisis, there were well over 1,000 actual CONVICTIONS WITH JAIL TIME.
• To date in the current crisis....NONE, Zip, Zilch, Zero.  Yes...it appears as if the Banksters will get away with it.  And funny enough, you the taxpayer get handed the bill.  But nobody cares so long as Dancing With the Stars, American Idol and the Super Bowl are on.  Bread and circuses, baby.  Bread and circuses.  (To those who don't understand that reference...read some history.)
• Doubt it???   Here is a video discussion of it.
• But, hey...if you own the politicians and regulators which are responsible to the populace to enforce the law.....NO PROBLEMO!!!
• And people wonder why I'm so forking frustrated and absolutely convinced that the country is, in fact, already lost and it's just a matter of time for the masses to realize it.
• Frightening times.
• Perhaps I'm a bit reactionary...and I honestly hope that I am.  Time will tell.

16 FEB 2011, Wednesday

• Nothing different.
• Amazing move it has been.  Not many instances like it in history, below.

• Global warming?  No problem.  We'll do wind farms...except doesn't always work...click to read about wind farm that's been out of commission for several weeks due to heavy icing on the blades.
• Here's what they won't tell you at the Wind Energy Pep Rallies.... the use of wind energy results in increased levels of SO2 (acid rain), NOx (smog) and CO2 (greenhouse gas).  Go ahead...click and read it, I dare ya.
• Even the Dutch (Home of the Windmill) are giving up on wind power as a viable energy source.
• And for those that claim global warming is to blame for this winter's large snow falls...Keep trying Al!

• Even better still for all the Chicken Little global warming supporters out there...comments from the First Earth Day Celebration (APR 1970).  By now we're supposed to all be dead or trying to eat one another based on their Malthusian commentary.  What a load of crap.  And the crap just keeps coming.  Perhaps, we're eating too much?
• Or go here to see the Top Five Environmental Disasters that Never Happened.
• In fact, the world is cleaner and greener (below).
• Had enough of this preposterous nonsense?

15 FEB 2011, Tuesday

• Sorry...had to!
• Now...for Obama's 2012 Budget Proposal:  How $3.7 trillion is spent.  That military retirement reduction catches my eye.  Don't mind it if there are equivalent across the board cuts...only, they're not there.

14 FEB 2011, Monday (AM)

• Still up.  Nothing has changed.
• Above, just an interesting time symmetry over the past 2 years.
• Good luck.
• Just another chart below for chuckles...

9 FEB 2011, Wednesday (AM)

• Is the market approaching an Icarus moment?
• Really hasn't been much to say as the market keeps, ever so slowly, eeking and squeaking steadily upward.  Yes upward out of the sideways.  Still above 20, 50 and 90 day moving averages and the first daily pivot is down at 1291 while 1275 is much more important.  
• I just think that the risk to the downside is greater than the potential to the upside.  Having said that, it doesn't have to come down.  It can continue it's slow steady crawl upward, and to see that......
• I'd recommend looking at the charts on the sidebar that include the "envelopes" and "standard deviation (std dev)" charts.
• For now, just feels like....

• Thoughts regarding cutting military spending?  Sure, just as soon as ALL OTHER programs take the same percentage based cuts.  I've no problem with that!  Anyway, here's an article on the subject.

3 FEB 2011, Thursday

• The Administration who would be King.
• Majority of population against the Stimulus Bill 2009...passed anyway.
• Auto companies bailed out...cuz I wanted to.
• Obamacare, despite faulty savings assumptions and major opposition...passed anyway.  And the heck with the courts saying it's unconstitutional, we're pressing ahead because we think it is anyway.  3 MAR Update:  Showdown brewing between Judicial and Executive branches?  It's about forking time!  What happens when the Executive over reaches?  Perhaps we'll be reminded (ahem Richard Nixon) soon!
• Ben "keep the printing presses humming" Bernanke reappointed Head of Federal Reserve...I needed it for re-election, screw the consequences.
• Cap and Trade defeated...that's OK cuz I'll have the EPA put regulations in place to meet the same ends and that is more expensive energy for the masses.  Ya know...to wean us off foreign oil.  Screw nuke plants!
• Patriot Act to be renewed again...you didn't honestly believe my campaign promise to repeal it.  Did you?
• Despite the Senate having the constitutional responsibility to ratify treaties, START Treaty signed by President without making the final wording in the document available for review to the Senate...I'll modify and sign what I wanna sign.  Oh yeah, and no press coverage either.
• Pressing ahead with the offshore drilling moratorium anyway despite the US now being in contempt of court over this issue.
• 23 FEB Update:  President Obama and Eric Holder unilaterally determine that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional....nevermind that pesky separation of powers concept in the Constitution...BAH!
• Look.  It's good to be King and I'm gonna do whatever I want...Kapishe?!!
• Aahhh....all this from a Harvard educated constitutional lawyer.  Just proves that more money doesn't mean a better education.
• Refreshing!!!
• As to the markets...nothing has changed from prior posts.

2 FEB 2011, Wednesday (AM...Odds and Ends)

• Hey...it's all a game, right?

• Above, interesting comparison of Secular Bear Markets.  You'll notice that the stock returns are inflation adjusted which means that stocks don't necessarily have to go down.  Instead, they may just appreciate at a slower rate than inflation (reference here...scary) which drives their real value down.  Also, of note is the ending P/E (price to earnings) ratio.  Just a historical reference for the curious.
• Speaking of inflation...Info on the German Weimar Republic in the 1920's.
• Reminder...Ben Bernanke got it wrong pre-crisis.  What makes you think he's right now?
• Eliminating teacher tenure as a way to improve school results?  Interesting example.
• Below, Employment Report day tendencies.

1 FEB 2011, Tuesday (AM)

• Well...market is looking sideways.  Out of sideways comes up or down...which way no one knows.  
• Bernanke has still got his foot on the POMO gas pedal which makes me hesitant to guess...witness its effect since August.  Many indicators on the daily and weekly have been overbought for awhile...all that fuel is keeping them aloft.  
• Could this be just a trip down to the 50MA and then back up or down toward the November congestion area?  Dunno.
• Will wait for the market to tip it's hand.