Moyers: Andrew Bacevich On US Policy in the Mideast and Syria

I found this to be interesting. I have not encountered Mr. Bacevich and his ideas before.

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Vietnam from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Later he held posts in Germany, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; the United States; and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990s.

Bacevich conceived The New American Militarism not only as "a corrective to what has become the conventional critique of U.S. policies since 9/11 but as a challenge to the orthodox historical context employed to justify those policies."

He holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, and taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Here Comes the Twitter IPO After the Bell

Just when you think that they cannot do anything more foolish, there they go again.

Some joker dumped 2000 contracts on the gold market in the quiet, early morning trade and took it down so hard the market hit limits and halted.   Cat burglars wearing bell suits and clown shoes.  The rest of the day was about the same.

Here is James McShirley's count of the at market mayhem:

2:55 AM: 4,330 contracts dumped, gold smashed $10.70
8:31 AM: 2,842 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 5.60
9:00 AM: 2,595 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 2.00
9:01 AM: 2,768 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 3.00

Blatant frauds will continue until confidence and support for the status quo and markets return.

They just do not get it. 

After the bell the news that Twitter is filing its IPO came out.  Goldman Sachs will be the lead underwriter.  That ought to help support the equity market until they squeeze that one out.

Let's see if the statistics from the COMEX tell us something interesting tonight, other than they were selling more gold that they don't have and probably can't get.

PostNote:  there was no movement of bullion in or out of the COMEX warehouses yesterday.

I have to say, though, that analyzing US metals market data is starting to be like analyzing Bernie Madoff's quarterly returns to get a sense for fair market value performance.  Or counting cards in a game of three card monty.

How are the mighty fallen.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Today was particularly nauseating. No not because of the action on the metals markets.

Hank Paulson was on Bloomberg TV today explaining how everything he did for the Wall Street banks, he was really doing for the common people like you.  He is out touting the movie, Hank.

I would like to see Hank visit a few town meetings in different areas around the country, perhaps some rural areas down South and out West, and lay out that I was really helping you line, so the people could personally thank him for all that he has done.

He *might* actually believe what he is saying. But I would not bet on it. 

Have a pleasant evening.

Gold Chart Intraday - Is the COMEX Still 'The Market' For Anything Except Paper?

There is some talk that JPM has 'cornered' the gold market on the COMEX.

This is based on COMEX released data.

I don't know. That might be technically correct, but it overlooks one important fact.

The 'COMEX' is no longer the 'gold market' or the 'silver market.'

Given that the COMEX could supply the gold markets around the world for about two months before rolling over and shutting down, I think it more of a conceptual market than THE market.

Like some outworn custom, people still pay attention to the paper prices on the COMEX out of force of habit. But the locus of buying and selling of the actual product has been moving elsewhere for some time now. 

The LBMA can make a better claim to the title of 'the market' for precious metals, but even that is slipping away.  It is just harder to see because the association is so opaque with regard to its statistics on sales and inventories.   

But I think this current arrangement is more historical than practical, given the weakness of the regulatory climate in the US and the UK.   Is there any price discovery and market clearing going on in New York, or it is just some big game of Liar's Poker with a vestigial connection to reality?

What good are a set of nice statistics when what they represent is a pretty facade over a hollowed shell?  And given the lack of position limits and basic limitations on price manipulation without consequences in physical delivery it is unfortunately taking on the character of a control fraud.

Given all the scandals that have been surfacing since the market rigging of real goods and services by Enron I don't think that is such an unreasonable point of view.  These jokers are off the hook, and out of control.

If the NYC and London punters keep this up, the price of the metals will diverge from the COMEX paper prices, like the currency markets in the eastern bloc and Russia widely diverged from official exchange rates in the 1990's. 

But, they never listen.  Once confidence is broken, it is very hard to regain.  Even in a culture that holds that there should be no consequences for extra legal actions by wealthy and powerful insiders.