The Credibility Trap Is at the Heart of the Failure to Reform

Unfortunately it appears that the political process is bogged down in fighting an ideological trench warfare in which both sides are taking top down positions about what is right and wrong, without the ability to address the actual conditions that plague their nation in the sixth year of The Recovery™.

It reminds one of an old beer marketing campaign, in which one cadre of devotees yells 'Less filling' and the other shouts back, 'Tastes great!'

 

Why is this? What causes such willing blindness to what is actually happening?

The credibility trap explains much of it.

In this corrupt political process, the deeply complicit politicians say and do what they are being paid to think, say, and do by a narrow band of powerful constituents amongst the competing moneyed interests.

 

They seem less like political parties than competing crime families.  And they are deeply entrenched in exactly what has gone wrong.   So deeply, with such strong ties to past mistakes, influence peddling, and corrupt practices, that they can no longer even speak freely and frankly about it.

 

The SEC is 'probing why companies mistreat whistleblowers.'   Hah!  And where do you think that companies might have gotten the idea that cracking down on whistleblowers was the thing to do?

 

They talked about change and hope, but they never let up on deception and fear.

 

Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong..

Reforming the Fed: Who’s Right; Who’s Wrong?

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

February 26, 2015

...Republicans are locked in some kind of mind warp where the remedy for every problem is to deregulate. Despite six years of books, academic studies, investigative findings, and a 600-page report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission proving that deregulation was responsible for the financial crash of 2008 – the greatest financial implosion since the Great Depression – Republicans refuse to let facts get in the way of pushing for more deregulation.

Democrats on the other hand, despite overwhelming proof that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has actually allowed Wall Street to grow systemically more dangerous and more corrupt since its passage, is irrationally wedded to this legislation.

No amount of evidence will change the Democrats’ position on Dodd-Frank. JPMorgan gambling with hundreds of billions of bank depositors’ money in the London Whale fiasco where $6.2 billion got flushed down the toilet will not change their mind. Cartel activity among the big banks in the interest rate market, precious metals market, foreign currency market will not change their mind. Bank chat rooms called “The Bandits Club,” “The Mafia” and “The Cartel,” where brazen market rigging is alleged to have occurred will not change their mind. Endless criminal investigations and multi-billion dollar settlements will not change their mind. Scandal after scandal destroying public trust in Wall Street and its regulators will not change their mind...

Read the entire article here.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Sideways

Gold and silver took a sluggish drift higher that was challenged several times without much enthusiasm after the move higher in the overnight, with London and then New York weighing in to the downside, as they are often wont to do.

There was a little more 'delivery' action in gold as shown in the report below, but as the warehouses reflect, the bullion is mostly just moved around the plate.

What can one say about an exchange that is so heavy and volatile on wagering, but so lacking in actual exchange of real products?

Bucket shop.

The real world action is that gold, and to a lesser extent silver, are moving from West to East.

I watched Janet Yellen's testimony to the House today, and it was painful. Deer in headlights all the way. At least the Senators were a little more polite, but Janet Yellen,  whatever quality her economic credentials may be, is not a suitable political foil for the verbally acute, mentally and morally light, denizens on the Hill.

The exchange she had with Elizabeth Warren yesterday can be seen here. It was clearly not Janet's 'A game.'  And Liz Warren was not being particularly tough.  She was throwing relative cotton balls with some well thought precision, but was nevertheless knocking Chairperson Yellen for a loop. I think Warren was genuinely surprised at how off kilter Yellen became.

 

I was imagining how the great prevaricator, Chairman Greenspan, would have parried all those questions, turned them on their ears, and rope-a-doped his way through the entire testimony uintil the Congressmen were spinning like tops.  Yellen is clearly not in his obfuscatory league.

 

One thing I will give to the careless few and their marketing crews, they are excellent in role casting and selecting their players.   Obama was a great choice as the maverick 'change agent.' 

And now we have the hapless but lovable grandmotherly type, just as cute as a button, who valiantly battles on behalf of the Western Bank syndicates, the moneyed interests, and one of the most corrosive forces in Western democracy, the Federal Reserve.  The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) could not pick and preen their heroes and villains any better.  And the action is just about as scripted, and designed to distract from the reality.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - The Technical Fundamentals

This market feels heavier than it looks.

It is hard to judge 'sentiment' because the market is being almost totally dominated by a few institutions, a handful of very large trading desks, and a swirling crowd of HFT hit and run predators.

So given this concentration of power, the market can move in just about any direction that external events, or the lack thereof, may permit.

The 'fundamentals' are not in play, at least for now.  And so the markets may continue to diverge from the real economy, until they cannot.  And then the reckoning comes.

The Fed is absolutely NOT blameless in this exercise, as they were not blameless in the tech and housing crises past.  They publicly denied there was a stock or housing bubble, while discussing them in private. 

They just let their bubbles run their course without even taking the minimal actions which they possessed then as a regulator, which are much greater now.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

US Crude Oil Supply Landscape In Four Charts

"Total U.S. liquid fuels consumption rose by an estimated 60,000 bbl/d (0.3%) in 2014. Motor gasoline consumption increased by 80,000 bbl/d (0.8%) reflecting an increase in highway travel that was partially offset by fleetwide increases in fuel efficiency...

In 2015, total liquid fuels consumption is forecast to grow by 290,000 bbl/d (1.5%). Lower pump prices contribute to an 80,000-bbl/d increase (0.9%) in motor gasoline consumption."

EIA, Short Term Energy Outlook, 10 February 2015

The charts below are from today's This Week in Petroleum Report from the US EIA.