Spectrism
30th September 2011, 05:36 AM
Back in 2008, my strategy was to use inverse ETFs and put options, profitting as the market dropped and then load up on physical metals (in their depressed prices) as well as other preps. If things went really well, I would cash out before the new money system and buy up a good piece of land and get off the grid.
I agreed with much of Carl & Hypertiger reasoning as there was (and still is) tremendous deflation happening. One thing I did not count on was the absolute infusion of corruption and government controls on everything- at least so early in the game. They destroyed the true market while my financial positions were wiped out.
Here we are more than 2 years later. We have the federal reserve openly buying treasury paper, stocks, international funds and bailing out with (US) federal reserve "money" international banks. Of the banks I was shorting in 2008 (Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, CitiGroup, STI, Wells Fargo, and a few others) they are now either out of business or at less than 50% of what they were. That any are still alive is only due to government intervention. My positions were correct in a true market sense, but the evil manipulations of the money system controllers only allowed the insiders to win all the time. High Frequency Traders (HFT) using supercomputers on Wall Street battled for pennies on transactions to win better than 95% of their trading days. Market volatility made it impossible for normal traders to buy and hold longer than hours. The "day trader" has become the minute trader.
So now we have an unpayable debt as we watch European countries default- although nobody is officially calling "default". Here is an interesting article by one of the guys at Weiss research that I like.
Hunt for European bailout enters “Theatre of the Absurd” territory!
Mike Larson | Friday, September 30, 2011 at 7:30 am
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/hunt-for-european-bailout-enters-%e2%80%9ctheatre-of-the-absurd%e2%80%9d-territory-47417
an excerpt from the article-
So what do I mean when I call the current search for a solution absurd? Here’s Exhibit A …
Earlier this week, some bureaucrat apparently decided he or she had to spike the stock markets higher. So details of a new bailout “plan” were leaked to CNBC mouthpiece Steve Liesman. I put the word plan in quotes because it has to be one of the most convoluted solutions I’ve ever seen cooked up.
According to the plan:
Money from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) would be used to help “seed” …
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would be backed by …
The European Investment Bank (EIB) …
That SPV would buy bad sovereign bonds from banks, who …
Would buy the SPV’s own bonds, then …
Use those bonds to get more money from the European Central Bank (ECB).
If that sounds like the messiest, most doomed-to-fail plan you’ve ever heard of, you’re not alone! But just a few hours after the plan was leaked to the media, things got even WEIRDER!
He goes on to explain how they used Steve LIESman to broadcast a completely false bailout bank plan. It is hilarious and criminal. It is Pink Panther meets The GodFather type stuff.
BTW- I am now short (and have been): Citi, PRUdential. I have made back some of my losses and keep on looking to game the corrupt market as it gets boxed into reality. At some point, they will not be able to fake certain things... and being nimble at the right times is a prerequisite. The convoluted plans described by Mike Larson above can only put a temporary wallpaper over crumbling walls. There is a limit on how much can be "borrowed" against the future and using paper as a substitute for productivity. I think we are pretty close to that limit.
I agreed with much of Carl & Hypertiger reasoning as there was (and still is) tremendous deflation happening. One thing I did not count on was the absolute infusion of corruption and government controls on everything- at least so early in the game. They destroyed the true market while my financial positions were wiped out.
Here we are more than 2 years later. We have the federal reserve openly buying treasury paper, stocks, international funds and bailing out with (US) federal reserve "money" international banks. Of the banks I was shorting in 2008 (Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, CitiGroup, STI, Wells Fargo, and a few others) they are now either out of business or at less than 50% of what they were. That any are still alive is only due to government intervention. My positions were correct in a true market sense, but the evil manipulations of the money system controllers only allowed the insiders to win all the time. High Frequency Traders (HFT) using supercomputers on Wall Street battled for pennies on transactions to win better than 95% of their trading days. Market volatility made it impossible for normal traders to buy and hold longer than hours. The "day trader" has become the minute trader.
So now we have an unpayable debt as we watch European countries default- although nobody is officially calling "default". Here is an interesting article by one of the guys at Weiss research that I like.
Hunt for European bailout enters “Theatre of the Absurd” territory!
Mike Larson | Friday, September 30, 2011 at 7:30 am
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/hunt-for-european-bailout-enters-%e2%80%9ctheatre-of-the-absurd%e2%80%9d-territory-47417
an excerpt from the article-
So what do I mean when I call the current search for a solution absurd? Here’s Exhibit A …
Earlier this week, some bureaucrat apparently decided he or she had to spike the stock markets higher. So details of a new bailout “plan” were leaked to CNBC mouthpiece Steve Liesman. I put the word plan in quotes because it has to be one of the most convoluted solutions I’ve ever seen cooked up.
According to the plan:
Money from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) would be used to help “seed” …
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would be backed by …
The European Investment Bank (EIB) …
That SPV would buy bad sovereign bonds from banks, who …
Would buy the SPV’s own bonds, then …
Use those bonds to get more money from the European Central Bank (ECB).
If that sounds like the messiest, most doomed-to-fail plan you’ve ever heard of, you’re not alone! But just a few hours after the plan was leaked to the media, things got even WEIRDER!
He goes on to explain how they used Steve LIESman to broadcast a completely false bailout bank plan. It is hilarious and criminal. It is Pink Panther meets The GodFather type stuff.
BTW- I am now short (and have been): Citi, PRUdential. I have made back some of my losses and keep on looking to game the corrupt market as it gets boxed into reality. At some point, they will not be able to fake certain things... and being nimble at the right times is a prerequisite. The convoluted plans described by Mike Larson above can only put a temporary wallpaper over crumbling walls. There is a limit on how much can be "borrowed" against the future and using paper as a substitute for productivity. I think we are pretty close to that limit.