The budget announcement was not digested enough for me to write about it yesterday, but the paint is dry now. Other intriguing developments include the global meltdown countdown and other fraud related items that are the standard fare. Oh, did I mention we're fucked? Get your air sickness bags out again.
Two items you must read from ZH. First a mind blowing post , Obama's Budget Has One Small, Missing Piece.... For $6.3 Trillion Dollars. WTF do they think we are, stupid? (don't answer that). Get this, "This amounts to a total of $6.3 trillion in liabilities which should be counted toward the budget. And yet, oddly, the error-checker somehow made this rather justifiable omission: after all if we were to look at a number which written out looks as follows $6,264,000,000,000.00, we would also probably just avoid it - it is somewhat difficult to hide a number that big even in the 1,420 pages of the budget's appendix." Just read it. Friggin fantasy land man. I'm telling you, these people are not in touch with reality. I guess when you are playing with numbers that big (they are dwarfed but the invisible derivatives quadrillion mess). And this, "What we definitely know is that we now live in a system where delusion is the norm: we have an administration that willfully and consistently deludes its population from representing just how bad our economic debacle really is, and we have a population, that willfully and consistently is happy to accept lies and delusions from every media and administrative outlet, and in turn deludes the administration that it will pays it taxes, or not walk away from yet another underwater mortgage. Rinse. Repeat." Just read it and then pay close attention to the next doozy I offer.
If you thought that was bad, try this one on for size. The Next Leg Of The Housing Crisis In Five Simple Charts is a delightful expose on how there will be no avoidance of the impending housing implosion. "A bearish report by CIBC 1captures precisely the highly unstable system that U.S. housing has become, and deconstructs it along the five key axes of weakness which while individually may be controllable to a degree, combined represent a recipe for disaster. CIBC's main sources of concern arise from:" This report is really scary. OK, now put the last two posts together and .....5 ...4....3.....2.....1.....BOOM! Also see, Obama's Two-Faced Poisonous Plan Sure To Please No One
Greece is getting interesting. Bailout, no bailout, leave EU, not leave EU, get expelled from EU, find an additional $40 billion in debt you never told anyone about? Say what? Yeah, uh, hey boss, what about this $40B we go over here? You recon we should tell everyone about that as well? Greece "Discovers" $40 Billion Of Previously Unknown Debt, CDS Gaps. Did we mention that Dubai is back under the gun as well?
Sorry for the overly zealous ZH regurgitation but they happen to be THE ONLY SOURCE that makes this information available to the masses in a timely and informative manner. What else is on the web today?
Since we are discussing housing collapses and other countries in trouble, this next story fits right in. Pool of Greater Housing Fools in Australia Finally Runs Out; OZ Dollar, Where to From Here? Surprise! "Today the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) unexpectedly held interest rates at 3.75%. No doubt this was in fear of the Australia's enormous housing bubble that exceeds the height of the bubble that long ago burst in the US. 20 economists predicted the RBA would hike. Not a single one predicted anything else." They have fed on China for so long and lived in disbelief that "this" could happen to them. Well, the insanity (definition - expecting a different result) award goes to Australia (followed closely by China), You just gotta shake your head.
You know I like to speculate about market maipulation and so does Denninger. Karl asks a valid question in Where Did They Get The Money? (BlackRock)? This one is quite funny when you think about it. "The underlying question remains - if and when something goes wrong, what does Blackrock have available to them to deal with it when they're managing an asset base larger than that of The Federal Reserve??" Just read it.
We'll end with this one from Ritholtz at The Big Picture - Botching Financial Reform "I understand that positioning for the next election, partisan politics and lobbying money are a deadly combination to any possible reform. But its so obvious to me watching these folks push and shove good ideas away that they: 1) are utterly clueless how all of this (credit crisis, recession, housing bust) happened; b) have absolutely no idea how to fix any of it; iii) are primarily concerned with getting re-elected." BINGO. The order of being saved: 1)TBTF, 2) be a representative, 3) be a GSE, 4) ...there is not a 4.
I agree with what you are thinking right now. How the hell? Right? It is mind boggling. Three points that I harp on a lot 1) we are ignorant and 2) they only care about getting reelected and 3) the market is rigged were covered nicely tonight. As I like to say, I don't make this shit up and neither do the blogs I read. It is truly amazing what the masters of fantasy believe. Sadly reality will slap everyone in the face eventually and the only things that won't change will the 1) we are ignorant and 2) they only care about getting reelected and 3) the market is rigged.
Have a great evening!
