SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

"This is the contempt in which they hold the majority of American people and the political process: the common people are easily led fools, and everyone else who is smart enough to know better has their price.

And they would beggar every middle class voter in the US before they will voluntarily give up one dime of their ill gotten gains."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

World markets were selling off overnight, and so were US markets early this morning.  The Greek stock market lost almost 13 percent in one day.

 

Encouraging words about printing euros from the ECB helped to turn the markets around, with a buying campaign in the SP futures and some opportunistic dip buying in techs saving the day.

 

The pigmen are rubbing their hands and licking their chops, looking for a 'Santa Claus rally' to fill their bellies into the quiet trading of year end.   That is a stock market rally that occurs in the very quiet holiday trading at year end and the first week in the new year.

 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

Reprise: The Quiet Coup d'Etat in the Anglo-American Financial System

 

“The fine thing about pacts with the devil is that when you sign them you are well aware of their conditions.   Otherwise, why would you be recompensed with hell?”

Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

 

This is a reprise of an interview with MIT economist Simon Johnson which I first wrote about in February, 2009.

 

I think I ought to republish this as a reminder every few years, until reform has been achieved, or until the Internet as we know it goes dark.

 

Have we heeded Simon Johnson's warning? Has he proven to be prescient? Is crony capitalism and the kleptocracy becoming bolder, more aggressive, ever more demanding?

"I think I'm signaling something a little bit shocking to Americans, and to myself, actually. Which is the situation we find ourselves in at this moment, this week, is very strongly reminiscent of the situations we've seen many times in other places.

But they're places we don't like to think of ourselves as being similar to. They're emerging markets. It's Russia or Indonesia or a Thailand type situation, or Korea. That's not comfortable. America is different. America is special. America is rich. And, yet, we've somehow find ourselves in the grip of the same sort of crisis and the same sort of oligarchs...

But, exactly what you said, it's a small group with a lot of power. A lot of wealth. They don't necessarily - they're not necessarily always the names, the household names that spring to mind, in this kind of context. But they are the people who could pull the strings. Who have the influence. Who call the shots...

...the signs that I see this week, the body language, the words, the op-eds, the testimony, the way they're treated by certain Congressional committees, it makes me feel very worried.

I have this feeling in my stomach that I felt in other countries, much poorer countries, countries that were headed into really difficult economic situation. When there's a small group of people who got you into a disaster, and who were still powerful. Disaster even made them more powerful. And you know you need to come in and break that power. And you can't. You're stuck....

The powerful people are the insiders. They're the CEOs of these banks. They're the people who run these banks. They're the people who pay themselves the massive bonuses at the end of the last year. Now, those bonuses are not the essence of the problem, but they are a symptom of an arrogance, and a feeling of invincibility, that tells you a lot about the culture of those organizations, and the attitudes of the people who lead them...

But it really shows you the arrogance, and I think these people think that they've won. They think it's over. They think it's won. They think that we're going to pay out ten or 20 percent of GDP to basically make them whole. It's astonishing....

...these people are throughout the system of government. They are very much at the forefront of the Treasury. The Treasury is apparently calling the shots on their economic policies.

This is a decisive moment. Either you break the power or we're stuck for a long time with this arrangement."

Bill Moyer's Journal - Interview with Simon Johnson, February, 2009.

Johnson also wrote a piece in the Atlantic Magazine titled The Quiet Coup. It may be worth re-reading.

"I am not so optimistic that this reform is possible, because there has in fact been a soft coup d'etat in the US, which now exists in a state of crony corporatism that wields enormous influence over the media and within the government.

Let's be clear about this, the oligarchs are flush with victory, and feel that they are firmly in control, able to subvert and direct any popular movement to the support of their own fascist ends and unslakable will to power.

This is the contempt in which they hold the majority of American people and the political process: the common people are easily led fools, and everyone else who is smart enough to know better has their price. And they would beggar every middle class voter in the US before they will voluntarily give up one dime of their ill gotten gains.

But my model says that the oligarchs will continue to press their advantages, being flushed with victory, until they provoke a strong reaction that frightens everyone, like a wake up call, and the tide then turns to genuine reform."

As far as I can tell, we are right on track for a very bad time of it. And you might be surprised at how far a belief in exceptionalism and arrogant superiority can go before it finally ends, or more likely, fails.

“Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.”

Mary Midgley

US Middle Class Wealth Has Collapsed, Consumed by the Gods of Finance

"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods.

They kill us for their sport."

William Shakespeare, King Lear

“Reality denied comes back to haunt.”

Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Let's file this under 'why aren't people buying things and saving more?'

Yes I know that wealth is not income. That is a small consolation when you don't have much of either.

The Recovery™ is like Equal Justice™ these days of the Pax Americana and Pax Brittanica.

It is reserved for some, and keeps two sets of books.

Median Household Net Worth is back to what it was in the 1960's.

At least we had better music then.

So who are you going to vote for this time?  Bush, or Clinton?

And may the odds be ever in your favour.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up

Gold got quite a pop intraday, as repeated attempts to take gold below the key support at 1190 failed.

Oil was down, stocks were down, but gold was not going lower.

And so the metals bears seemed to throw in the towel, and gold rebounded sharply running almost straight up towards the 1210 level.

I thought this was almost certainly a 'technical bounce' with a little flight to safety sprinkled in.

Gold needs to break out of this pattern. I have included a closeup of the relevant part of the chart so you can see the levels.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - The Eternal Footman Snickers

Stocks were weak today, with a decided lack of new economic news, based I think on 'jitters' with stock valuations at these lofty levels, and yet so many hedge funds underperforming the indices.

Oil took a 4 percent hit, and concern is growing that this is a sign of slackness in aggregate demand, and not a over production move by the US and some of its allies to punish Russia, or the Saudis to give the shale oil crowd a stiff gut check on their long term viability.

But all in all, today was just a pullback. Let's see if we get any follow through anywhere in this market.

There is a surprising lack of liquidity in the market, despite the massive printing that has been done by the Fed.

If the markets get in trouble, it could develop into a blood bath. But that is a big *could*.

Have a pleasant evening.

NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds - Another Sprott Gold Redemption

There has been another redemption of bullion from the Sprott Physical Gold Trust.

Someone has redeemed units in the Trust to obtain 36,915 ounces of gold bullion.

Physical gold is not plentiful in the West at these prices.

The premium on the Sprott Physical Silver Trust has moderated significantly from its recent levels.

Given the cash on hand for the Trust, it would not be unreasonable to expect a secondary offering for the Trust to raise some cash by sometime early next year.