Here Comes the 'Freedom to Invest Act'

As a general rule of thumb, any law in America that contains the word 'Freedom' or 'Patriot' in its title is brazenly promoting a crime, or a fraud, or some self serving corruption of the common good.

I suppose that this indirect level of freedom will just have to do until a bipartisan committee can come up with a plan to more directly 'free up' your IRA and 401k for the use of corporate America.

At least you are still free to vote, although the corporations get to pick the candidates and count the votes.

Some animals are more equal than others.

Rolling Stone
Evil Corporate Tax Holiday Deal Still Alive
By Matt Taibbi
August 4, 9:29 AM ET

There was some talk that a corporate tax holiday might be rolled up somehow into the debt-ceiling deal. I heard that from a few quarters in DC in the weeks leading up to Obama’s Bighornesque debt/supercommittee massacre.

However, the tax holiday turned out to not be part of that deal. That does not mean, however, that the proposal is dead. In fact, calling around in the last few days, I’m hearing that it is very much alive.

The action revolves around a bill sponsored in May by Texas Republican Kevin Brady (and co-sponsored by Utah Democrat Jim Matheson) called the Freedom To Invest Act, which would “temporarily” lower the effective corporate tax rate to 5.25 percent for all profits being repatriated.

Essentially, this is a one-time tax holiday rewarding companies for systematically offshoring their profits since 2004 – the last time they did this “one-time” deal...

J P Morgan Says "We Love Gold"

JPM loves gold, and recommends buying the miners to play it with gusto no less.

I know, it's kind of creepy at first blush, isn't it?  Do Bankers blush?   Do their algos dream of electronic sheep?

Curiouser and curiouser.

What's next, will Jonny Nads turn bullish on what his people have been selling for years, and many times over it appears? Perhaps that would be just too much, and contrarian indeed.

It must make that other craven crow, Jeffery boy, just flip his wig a hundredfold to hear such heresy from the princes of the metal bashing set.

Well, it could be a nicer look for Blythe.  Gold flatters the face, whereas silver makes one pale.

Perhaps it is just a distraction from silver, which their central bank cronies cannot lend to them, having little or none anymore. Or perhaps a central bank chum whispered some words of hidden wisdom into their ear.  I have heard faint whisperings as well.

"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each...
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

Well perhaps not so much human, as dismal voices, the mumblings from the bearded men of the financial demimonde.

Was that a bear hug they gave it today?  Or were they just clearing the decks for their own trades.  Hard to tell in all this excitement, who is zooming whom.

But what goes around apparently comes around, and this has been a long time coming. As the founder of their bank, James Pierpont Morgan himself, once said:

"Gold is money. Everything else is credit."

Mirabile dictu. Barbarous is Back.

WSJ
Gold: J.P. Morgan ‘Loves’ It Big Time
By Dave Kansas
August 4, 2011, 9:49 AM ET

As Old Yeller races higher, J.P. Morgan comes out today with a report banging the drum for the barbarous relic.

“We love gold,” J.P. Morgan says. They add: “Many investors may look at the gold price chart with disappointment and assert it’s too late for them to buy. We disagree.”

The bank says that Western governments need to either raise taxes or cut spending or both, and nobody in authority seems ready to take those kinds of tough decisions. As long as everyone’s punting, J.P. Morgan believes gold will keep rising.

J.P. Morgan also points out that South Korea’s central bank recently snapped up 25 tons of gold, joining Mexico, Russia and Thailand as big buyers of the yellow stuff.

In a twist, JPM says gold stocks, which have lagged the surge in gold prices, might be a good vehicle to get into the gold game. They like Goldcorp, Kinross, Newmont and Barrick.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - La Douleur - FOMC Next Week - QE3

The overnight and early morning rally in the metals was met with heavy liquidation selling around noon in New York. Gold finished down only 14 dollars from yesterday's close, but it was a much larger intraday reversal.

I think the Street and the monied interests are prepping the markets for QE3. The Fed meets next Tuesday.

I took a little time from my 'vacation' today to put some money to work in the market in the latter half of the New York trading day.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - VIX - SELLOFF! - Fresh Calls for QE3

There was a major selloff in Europe and the US today as fears of slowing economies and a sovereign debt crisis intensified.

There was a flight to safety in the dollar and Treasuries, and early on in gold. But the price rise in gold and silver was cut short as selling increased and it turned into a general liquidation.

Non-Farm Payrolls will be released tomorrow morning.

The Federal Open Market Committee will be meeting next Tuesday. The cynical part of me suggests that this week is a setup for QE3.