Out of gold and into Equities? Give me your best arguement why not.

[EE_]

The "Fiscal Cliff" nonsense was nothing more than a ploy to take the stock market higher. It worked!

Next, the "Debt Ceiling" stage is set to take the market to new all time highs...do you want to miss out on this next rally?

The economy is doing just fine, albeit not like the old economy. This is the "new economy" and plenty of people have money out there to keep it going.

It looks like money will be leaving treasuries soon and going back into the market. QE will be ending this year and interest rates are set to rise. Housing is recovering and home inventory is nil. Oil is plentiful.
Where is the problem?

Why shouldn't I sell my gold now and get back in the stock market?
Give me your best argument (if you have one)...I think I can shoot it down.

[chad]

are you drunk already? it's only 3:30 where i'm at.

[mamboni]

The "Fiscal Cliff" nonsense was nothing more than a ploy to take the stock market higher. It worked!

Next, the "Debt Ceiling" stage is set to take the market to new all time highs...do you want to miss out on this next rally?

The economy is doing just fine, albeit not like the old economy. This is the "new economy" and plenty of people have money out there to keep it going.

It looks like money will be leaving treasuries soon and going back into the market. QE will be ending this year and interest rates are set to rise. Housing is recovering and home inventory is nil. Oil is plentiful.
Where is the problem?

Why shouldn't I sell my gold now and get back in the stock market?
Give me your best argument (if you have one)...I think I can shoot it down.

So let me understand you: the Treasury Secretary Little Timmy "The Gimp" Geithner is seriously considering have the US Treasury mint a platinum coin with face value of $1000,000,000,000.00 and you are considering selling your gold to buy [paper] certificates because you might earn 5% in the next month if you're lucky?

Do you want my answer? Are you sitting down?














Because it would qualify as the biggest bonehead investment play of the last 2,000 years.

[mamboni]

are you drunk already? it's only 3:30 where i'm at.

I suspect hard drugs.......and alcohol are at work here.

[mick silver]

dam .... do you have anymore of that pot . dam

[madfranks]

QE will be ending this year

Are you sure about that? I thought the latest QEs were to be maintained indefinitely. What's your source that it's ending this year?

[joboo]

These "best arguments" are compelling! ;)

QE is a factor....I thought it was open ended are well.

Question is are they going to raise it, and when, and do they have to say anything about it?

They could have setup breathing room plan that works for a 5 year run? ??

Stocks up, profits taken, dollar down. PM's slapped sideways. ???

[EE_]

Are you sure about that? I thought the latest QEs were to be maintained indefinitely. What's your source that it's ending this year?

The Jews at CNBC.
We know QE will never end, but if the Jews say it has ended, that will be good enough.
There's a big difference between saying you're doing it, and doing it while saying you're not.
Perception is reality!

[EE_]

Hey! I don't want to be told I'm coo coo, I want your best arguement damn it!
This could be hypothetical ya know.
Give me a real arguement!

[joboo]

The sheeple factor is still very strong. The idiot box is still very much their daily bible.

Will it be enough?

[Serpo]

Bath salts

[EE_]

The sheeple factor is still very strong. The idiot box is still very much their daily bible.

Will it be enough?

If it's one thing these Jews know, it's greed! Soon greed will take over the masses...they will think they are missing out on the biggest bull market run of their lives.
Face it, there is no where else to make money on your money without working.

[Serpo]

Hey! I don't want to be told I'm coo coo, I want your best arguement damn it!
This could be hypothetical ya know.
Give me a real arguement!

Well let me see......America is bankrupt ......gold isnt.......and this isnt hypothetical..........

[joboo]

If it's one thing these Jews know, it's greed! Soon greed will take over the masses...they will think they are missing out on the biggest bull market run of their lives.
Face it, there is no where else to make money on your money without working.

I wouldn't go all in...but I'm wondering...no pain no gain.

PM's will pop, but there's still a lot of juice left in the dollar to wring out...(no pun intended).

How are you thinking of investing it?

[EE_]

Well let me see......America is bankrupt ......gold isnt.......and this isnt hypothetical..........

Okay...let's ask who owns Amerika? Then let's ask who owns the the ability to produce 'unlimited' digital currency.

What is being broke...when there is no more money? Are you saying our owners don't have anymore money?

[EE_]

I wouldn't go all in...but I'm wondering...no pain no gain.

PM's will pop, but there's still a lot of juice left in the dollar to wring out...(no pun intended).

How are you thinking of investing it?

I guess I would have to look at it this way. The empire of the Jews are the big banks...they must not fail. (financial stocks)
How can they protect these banks, their power and money...by spreading their military all over the world to stop any threat against them. (military industrial complex stocks)
This is a start.

[madfranks]

We know QE will never end, but if the Jews say it has ended, that will be good enough.
There's a big difference between saying you're doing it, and doing it while saying you're not.
Perception is reality!

As long as the music is playing, people will play and make money. You're right about that. Money is currently being made in the stock market. But history has shown how this sort of system ends, and it shows that when it ends, those with hard money (gold and silver) do better than those with paper promises. If you think there's enough music left for you to get in the system, make some plays and get out, by all means. If you think the music is going to play forever and you want to make a permanent move into the paper game, I think that's a bad idea. If you believe the game is going to be over soon, then you're out of your mind to jump into a sinking ship.

[Serpo]

Okay...let's ask who owns Amerika? Then let's ask who owns the the ability to produce 'unlimited' digital currency.

What is being broke...when there is no more money? Are you saying our owners don't have anymore money?


Its a complex question but buy equities if you wish,depends on your age ect but at my age it dosnt make sense,at yours it might.

and in answer too your question being broke is owing more money than you can ever pay back from income....unless of course you can print money.....there is your answer ....equities are great as long as they can keep printing more money......mmmmmmmmm

[joboo]

I guess I would have to look at it this way. The empire of the Jews are the big banks...they must not fail. (financial stocks)
How can they protect these banks, their power and money...by spreading their military all over the world to stop any threat against them. (military industrial complex stocks)
This is a start.

Saw the same thing around 2004, and decided for the long play approach. Got the feeling I jumped too soon, but the wind will catch up, and hopefully make up for it.

I thought about Halliburton way back knowing the score, and how it's going to play out, (perpetual war on boogey man...kaching) could have made a killing, but ethics kicked in. It's a judgement call, but you're right.

Could also see a lot of tech related stuff to pop (phones, gadgets, and games) as peole look for daily distraction items to numb away reality.

[EE_]

As long as the music is playing, people will play and make money. You're right about that. Money is currently being made in the stock market. But history has shown how this sort of system ends, and it shows that when it ends, those with hard money (gold and silver) do better than those with paper promises. If you think there's enough music left for you to get in the system, make some plays and get out, by all means. If you think the music is going to play forever and you want to make a permanent move into the paper game, I think that's a bad idea. If you believe the game is going to be over soon, then you're out of your mind to jump into a sinking ship.

I think this is the biggest attack on gold since most of us has been in it.
Watch what happens when the Dow goes to 16,000 this year and gold is sitting at $1,400.
Greed never learns a lesson. The masses will pile on again in a big way.
These guys can print all the money they need to create and manipulate any market they please.
Very little of this money ever reaches the real economy.

[chad]

okay, i'll be serious. here's the reason why you shouldn't do it:

because you're playing. trying to make a fast buck against the house. you have something solid. you're thinking about risking it. chasing the next big win. don't be a gambler. know when to run. the dealing is almost done.

[Serpo]

also about retaining what we have and not losing it......

[EE_]

okay, i'll be serious. here's the reason why you shouldn't do it:

because you're playing. trying to make a fast buck against the house. you have something solid. you're thinking about risking it. chasing the next big win. don't be a gambler. know when to run. the dealing is almost done.

Is the dealing really almost done, or will it go on for another decade or two?
If they can finally push the masses back into the stock market, what will that do to gold price?
How much money is being created just to destroy real money?

[EE_]

also about retaining what we have and not losing it......

Inflation and falling gold prices is losing it. You must have gains just to stay in the game.

[joboo]

In a sense one is losing by not playing. They are wringing it out of people. Stagnant money sitting in a pile = lost potential earnings. Will the upside cover it?

I think it's risky, but what do I know. I could have killed on Apple. v.s. shiny given the same time frame.

[EE_]

I think a lot of people would like the see our country return to the days of prosperity for everyone.
The fact is, we don't need everyone to be prosperous anymore...technology and globalization made sure of that.
The weak do not need to be saved...they are no longer needed. They only need to be managed.

[Serpo]

They smash gold down and prop equities up....go figure


personally anything they like smashing must be good..........

[EE_]

Now why do you think they want to cut everything that has already been paid for and keep spending more to grow their military?

US will boost funding for military adventures at the expense of public

Thu Jan 3, 2013 7:33PM
By Dave Lindorff

I was asked earlier this week by an reporter for PressTV, English-language television network in Iran, if I could explain why the US political system seemed to be so dysfunctional, with Congress and the President having created an artificial budget crisis 17 months ago, not “solving” it until the last hour before a Congressional deadline would have created financial chaos, and even then not solving the problem and instead just pushing it off for two months until the next crisis moment.

I thought for a moment, trying to come up with a simple way to explain the peculiar politics of a fake democracy where two equally pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist parties vie with genuine bitterness for patronage spoils and legal bribes, all the while ignoring the real wishes and needs of the public, and then it hit me: it is really all about US militarism and the unwillingness of the either of the two political parties to admit honestly to American people how much they are being gouged to allow the US government and its corporate owners to continue in their attempt to control the world.

It really is that simple.

The US currently spends almost as much on its military and on paying for current and past wars in terms of interest on war debt and care for wounded and aging soldiers as the entire rest of the world spends on arms and war. Approximately $1.3 trillion gets spent each year in taxpayer’s dollars and in more borrowed funds (50 cents of every federal tax dollar goes to pay for the US military, the intelligence apparatus, veterans’ benefits and other related military costs). It is simply ludicrous, given this situation, to imagine that the US can significantly reduce its budget deficit either by raising taxes or by cutting social spending.

Think of it this way. The US is currently running a $1.3 trillion deficit (that is federal spending less tax revenue). That deficit, significantly one must note, almost exactly matches the amount that is being spent annually on the US military, and on military/intelligence-related activities.

In contrast, the federal government budget in 2012 allocated $870 billion for Medicare, Medicaid and all other programs under the aegis of Department of Health and Human Services. The total Department of State budget is $56 billion, and a portion of that is actually for military activities, such as intelligence operations and protection of embassies and consulates. The Department of Agriculture got $150 billion, and that includes the Food Stamp program. Federal spending on education was just $100 billion a year. Social Security is not part of the tax take or the federal budget, as it is all paid from the Social Security Trust Fund, which in turn has been financed by the dedicated payroll tax paid by working people and employers.

None of these non-military budget spending categories could possibly be cut sufficiently to make any real dent in the nation’s massive deficit, which is running at $1.3 trillion a year and which now totals $16.3 trillion. Certainly cuts of 50% could theoretically be made in health and welfare spending, in education, and in other parts of the budget, but cuts of that scale would cause such mass suffering and chaos that the nation would erupt in open rebellion.

The military budget, on the other hand, could be slashed by 50% and nobody would know the difference! The public in the US barely knows there is are wars going on. We read about an occasional soldier killed or plane downed, but there is no day-to-day evidence that the US is a nation perpetually in a state of war. If the military were to end those wars, which are costing over $160 billion a year, pull out of all its far-flung bases, which are costing $250 billion a year, slash its huge Special Operations Command, which now number nearly 70,000 people at a cost of over $10 billion, eliminate or massively reduce its strategic nuclear forces, which costs $60 billion a year, and decommission its fleet of aircraft carrier battle groups, which counting construction and operation costs, plus the cost of the planes and missiles they carry, probably cost in the range of $100 billion a year, the US would be no less safe, but the federal budget deficit could be instantly slashed by close to $600 billion a year. That is the amount that is being cut in the current so-called “Fiscal Cliff” bargain over a period of ten years.

In a genuine democracy, there would be politicians and a political party that would be calling for just such an end to US militarism and the massive spending that is needed to support it. It is something that polls show the majority of Americans want to see happen, even though there are no people in government calling for doing it, and even though the very idea of seriously cutting military spending is blacked out by the US corporate media.

Instead, what the American public gets is a fake debate between Democrats and Republicans, and between the White House and the Republicans in the House of Representatives, all focussed on the rest of the US budget -- the non-military part. This “debate” is basically a matter of Republicans saying they want to cut the non-military budget deficit by slashing “social spending” and Democrats saying that they are willing to cut “some” social spending, but they would rather raise taxes.

The thing is, cutting social program spending more than by a small amount would be catastrophic, leading to even more mass teacher layoffs, declining health, hunger, collapsing bridges, and to fewer people being able to afford to go to college. It would lead to even more homeless Americans, including returned veterans. Nobody would accept this. We’re already suffering from such cuts. And as for taxes, in a long-running economic crisis such as we are experiencing, nobody but the rich can afford to pay more, and the rich are given a free hand at escaping taxes through loopholes, offshore banking, and high priced accountants.

The reality is that there really is only one way to attack the nation’s massive and growing budget deficit without destroying both people’s lives and the nation’s economy, and that is to slash military spending and to put an end to the country’s militarism and imperialism.

The US today, as former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel famously said during an early televised Democratic presidential primary debate in 2008, “has no enemies.” It is not threatened by any nation, has a military that is without equal, and has a populace that is armed to the teeth. The United States simply does not need to be spending in excess of a trillion dollars -- at least on defense. The country would be just as safe -- it would be much safer actually since it wouldn’t be destroying lives around the globe and creating enemies where there were none -- if it were a tenth of its current size.

The time for a real debate about cutting the US budget by focusing on military spending has come. It is long overdue. If it isn’t addressed now, it will be eventually, not by choice perhaps, but because the US will simply no longer be able to pay for its addiction to war.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/03/281614/us-will-never-stop-funding-militarism/

[joboo]

My torrent of the four horsemen has completed. The opening text...(seems highly apt to this topic):

"All experience has shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer
-while evils are sufferable- than to right themselves by abolishing
the forms to which they are accustomed to."

-American Declaration of Independence

15 mins into this documentary.....must watch material.

[Serpo]

it is starting to appear more and more obvious that America is basically just a war machine that cares very little about its people and in fact is turning on its people.

This war machine is controlled by unknown people (above top secret or even the above above top secret level)and seems willing to turn on anyone.

[mamboni]

I think this is the biggest attack on gold since most of us has been in it.
Watch what happens when the Dow goes to 16,000 this year and gold is sitting at $1,400.
Greed never learns a lesson. The masses will pile on again in a big way.
These guys can print all the money they need to create and manipulate any market they please.
Very little of this money ever reaches the real economy.

The pressure on gold and silver will be relentless from here on. They (The FED and their minions on Wall Street) are painting the metals charts, trying to destroy the technical gold chart. They know that we are in the endgame for the dollar and there is nothing to lose at this time of desperation. They will not succeed. You cannot use TA on the gold and silver charts. You must buy and hold physical gold and silver and be patient. You must put your faith in the fundamentals: the dollar is a dead currency walking, the US federal government is insolvent and slip sliding into bankruptcy, all western paper currencies are being devalued continuously, and the only refuge for wealth protection is gold and silver, as history as demonstrated time and time again. Trade for paper profits if you must. But the bulk of your wealth must be in physical gold and silver because the fiat money system is highly unstable and prone to sudden failure at any time.

[EE_]

The pressure on gold and silver will be relentless from here on. They (The FED and their minions on Wall Street) are painting the metals charts, trying to destroy the technical gold chart. They know that we are in the endgame for the dollar and there is nothing to lose at this time of desperation. They will not succeed. You cannot use TA on the gold and silver charts. You must buy and hold physical gold and silver and be patient. You must put your faith in the fundamentals: the dollar is a dead currency walking, the US federal government is insolvent and slip sliding into bankruptcy, all western paper currencies are being devalued continuously, and the only refuge for wealth protection is gold and silver, as history as demonstrated time and time again. Trade for paper profits if you must. But the bulk of your wealth must be in physical gold and silver because the fiat money system is highly unstable and prone to sudden failure at any time.

Is it possible they can keep the game going as long as there is gold to supply?
This isn't pressure on gold...it's war!

I saw one Jew on CNBC today say silver traditionally has a ratio of 60/1 with gold and that it should pull back another 10/15%. Also saw one of the CNBC shiksa's-->(Jew owned whore) ridicule Peter Schiff again today.

[midnight rambler]

Anyone stupid (and greedy) enough to walk into the Wall St. Casino with ca$h in hand ready to gamble deserves to get fucked. This is what they're counting on.

The house always wins.

[gunDriller]

Why shouldn't I sell my gold now and get back in the stock market?
Give me your best argument (if you have one)...I think I can shoot it down.

Lagunitas Brown Shugga, 10% alcohol, $8 a six pack on sale - but only during Christmas.
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale, 10% alcohol, got to special order it usually, about $10 a six.
Pyramid Outburst, 8.5% alcohol, $8 a six pack on sale.


OHHHH, you mean the equity stock market.

i thought you meant the BEER stock market. :)


how about the Beer Equity stock market ?

if the Stone Brewery ever packages Double Bastard (11.5% alcohol) in a six-pack, then Stone might be a good equity stock.

until then ... Lady Liberty beckons -

http://www.tulving.com/bullion/Standing%20Liberty%20Quarter%20Design%201oz%20Silv er%20Round.jpg

[EE_]

Mom and Pop Call It Quits
Heckuva Job, Bernanke!
by MIKE WHITNEY

Despite the dire “fiscal cliff” predictions, stocks ended the year on a high-note led by the Dow Jones crossing the 13K mark with an impressive 166 point gain on the day. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 followed closely behind posting 59 point and 23 point gains respectively. The S&P ended the year up 13.4 percent, while blue chips saw an uptick of 7.3 percent. Since the recession ended in March 2009, all three indices have more than doubled in value due to the Fed’s unconventional monetary policies. The Central Bank has added more than $2 trillion to its balance sheet in the last 36 months. Its bond buying program, dubbed Quantitative Easing, has reduced the supply of risk-free assets (USTs), thus, pushing up the price of equities.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is committed to keeping stock prices high hoping that the “wealth effect” will spur more spending and stronger growth. That, in turn, will lower unemployment and strengthen the recovery. Surprisingly, retail investors are still liquidating their stock holdings even though Bernanke appears to be ready to stop any correction before it gets started.

So why are smalltime investors so reluctant to get back into the market when the so-called “Bernanke Put” basically guarantees that the Fed will keep stock prices bubbly for the foreseeable future?

The main reason is lack of confidence. People have lost faith in the stock market, the Fed, and the government. So they are doing what people do when they are afraid; they’re pooling their resources, hunkering down, saving more of their weekly paycheck, and ignoring the cheery business-channel propaganda. Experience has taught them that the basic institutions they used to trust are no longer reliable, and that the data is skewed to boost the profits of insiders who have gamed the system. The belief that the system is rigged is no longer limited to conspiracy nuts and perma-bears. It’s the prevailing view among reasonable people who simply acknowledge that the Fed’s thumb is firmly planted on the free market scales. Everyone knows that the deck is stacked against them and that the Bernanke’s interventionist policies are merely a means of diverting more loot to his primary constituents, the big banks and brokerage firms. But there is a price for all the Fed’s hanky panky, and that price is the steady erosion of confidence and the withdrawal of Mom and Pop investors from the equities markets. Here’s more on the topic from AP News in an article titled ”Ordinary folks losing faith in stocks”:

“Defying decades of investment history, ordinary Americans are selling stocks for a fifth year in a row. The selling has not let up despite unprecedented measures by the Federal Reserve to persuade people to buy and the come-hither allure of a levitating market. Stock prices have doubled from March 2009, their low point during the Great Recession.

It’s the first time ordinary folks have sold during a sustained bull market since relevant records were first kept during World War II, an examination by The Associated Press has found. The AP analyzed money flowing into and out of stock funds of all kinds, including relatively new exchange-traded funds, which investors like because of their low fees.

“People don’t trust the market anymore,” says financial historian Charles Geisst of Manhattan College. He says a “crisis of confidence” similar to one after the Crash of 1929 will keep people away from stocks for a generation or more.”….

Since they started selling in April 2007, eight months before the start of the Great Recession, individual investors have pulled at least $380 billion from U.S. stock funds, a category that includes both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, according to estimates by the AP. That is the equivalent of all the money they put into the market in the previous five years.” (“AP IMPACT: Ordinary folks losing faith in stocks”, AP News)

There’s been a seismic shift in the average “Joes” perception of the market and that shift is going to have a dramatic effect on everything from business investment to retirement nesteggs. It may even be effecting consumer spending which represents 70 percent of GDP. Take a look at this article titled “Dismal holiday sales belie talk of US recovery”:

“US retail sales over the holiday shopping period grew at the slowest pace since the depths of the 2008 recession, according to a report released Tuesday by MasterCard Inc.’s SpendingPulse unit.

SpendingPulse tracks all retail sales in the form of credit card payments, cash and checks, excluding only restaurants and sales of autos, groceries and gasoline. It reported that over the eight-week period from October 28 through December 24, retail sales rose only 0.7 percent from the year before.

…. most retail analysts had predicted holiday sales would rise 3 to 4 percent. The general presentation was that a steadily improving economy would encourage consumers to spend more freely this season than in the past. But according to the MasterCard unit, sales grew by less than half the 2 percent rise in 2011.

Another firm that tracks retail sales, Customer Growth Partners, said 2012 looked to be the worst holiday shopping season since 2009.” (“Dismal holiday sales belie talk of US “recovery”, World Socialist Web Site)

Consumers are spending less because they are worried about the future. Will they have a job? Will their benefits be cut? Will austerity measures raise their taxes? Will their house be worth less than what they paid for it? All of these things are constraining spending and thus, crimping growth. The fact that so many smalltime investors have exited the stock market and did not benefit from the surge in prices, only adds to their troubles and to those of the broader economy which is ailing from weak demand. Here’s more on the condition of the hobbled US consumer by economist Steven Roach at Project Syndicate:

“US consumers have pulled back as never before. In the 19 quarters since the start of 2008, annualized growth of inflation-adjusted consumer spending has averaged just 0.7% – almost three percentage points below the 3.6% trend increases recorded in the 11 years ending in 2006.”

Consumer spending hasn’t rebounded at all, not really. And, how could it? Unemployment is still high, wage growth is tepid to nonexistent, and the prospects for the future (gov cutbacks to spending due to fiscal cliff settlement) look grimmer than ever. So, who is going to do all the spending that’s needed to propel growth? That’s the question. The last big consumption binge was made possible by draining the equity out of homes and using it as disposable income. That’s not going to work now, because prices have collapsed and people have to live within their means, knowing full-well that gov belt tightening could leave them worse off then before. (Fiscal cliff negotiations eliminated the payroll tax holiday, which will increase taxes across the board while reducing growth.) That sort of insecurity does not strengthen the impulse to run up the credit card at the shopping malls or expensive restaurants. No. It persuades overstretched consumers that they need to live more modestly and get out of the red pronto or face the consequences.

Did you know that consumer sentiment hit its lowest level since July in the latest survey? It’s true, and the pessimism isn’t limited to just consumers either. If we look at who’s is ditching their stocks, we see that the big boys are feeling pretty bleak, too. Here’s more from the article in the AP News:

“Even foreigners, big purchasers in recent years, are selling now – $16 billion in the 12 months through September.

As these groups have sold, much of the stock buying has fallen to companies. They’ve bought $656 billion more than they have sold since April 2007. Companies are mostly buying back their own stock.” (“AP IMPACT: Ordinary folks losing faith in stocks”, AP News)

How do you like that, eh? So the market is being driven higher by companies buying back their own shares with money they borrowed at record low rates? (Check: “US credit expansion driven by corporate lending”, Sober look) What a racket! And defenders of the system still argue that “financial institutions provide capital for productive activity”. Yeah, right. In your dreams.

When a company buys back its own stock, it’s like taking a dollar out of one pocket and sticking it in the other. Does that make you richer? These companies are just inflating asset prices to fatten the bottom line. There’s nothing more to it than that. Take a look at this from Naked Capitalism:

“In the name of shareholder value over the decade 2001-2010, the 500 corporations in the S&P 500 Index (representing about 75 percent of US stock-market capitalization) expended not only 40 percent of their profits on cash dividends – the normal mode of rewarding shareholders – but also another 54 percent on stock buybacks, the purpose of which is to give a manipulative boost to a company’s own stock price. Large established companies did hardly any buybacks in the early 1980s. Over the past decade, buybacks by S&P 500 companies totaled about $3 trillion, which has left scant corporate resources for investment in innovation and high-value-added job creation.

When companies do massive buybacks to boost their own stock prices, the big winners are the very same top executives who make these resource-allocation decisions. Why? Because the largest single component of top executive pay is the income from exercising stock options – which become more lucrative when the stock price goes up, even if for just a short period of time during which the options can be exercised and the acquired stock sold.” (“Robots Don’t Destroy Jobs; Rapacious Corporate Executives Do”, Naked Capitalism)

So on the one hand, you have corporate execs goosing prices with massive stock buybacks, and on the other, you have Inkjet Bennie depleting the supply of risk-free financial assets to keep equities soaring. So, tell me, which part of this even vaguely resembles a “free market”?

It’s all manipulation, every bit of it, and yet, the stewards of this crooked casino expect honest hard-working people and fixed-income retirees to plunk down their life’s savings in the vain hope that they’ll beat the odds and come up winners? No thanks. The little guy would be better off going to Vegas, at least the drinks are free.

Here’s more from the same article:

“People who think the market will snap back to normal are underestimating how much the Great Recession scared investors, says Ulrike Malmendier, an economist who has studied the effect of the Great Depression on attitudes toward stocks.

She says people are ignoring something called the “experience effect,” or the tendency to place great weight on what you most recently went through in deciding how much financial risk to take, even if it runs counter to logic. Extrapolating from her research on “Depression Babies,” the title of a 2010 paper she co-wrote, she says many young investors won’t fully embrace stocks again for another two decades.

“The Great Recession will have a lasting impact beyond what a standard economic model would predict,” says Malmendier, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

She could be wrong, of course. But it’s a measure of the psychological blow from the Great Recession that, more than three years since it ended, big institutions, not just amateur investors, are still trimming stocks.” (“AP IMPACT: Ordinary folks losing faith in stocks”, AP News)

This is pure psycho-babble baloney. The “experience effect”?!? Give me a break. You mean, the fact that people understand when they’re getting fleeced, that’s Malmendier’s groundbreaking observation? And, besides, she’s totally wrong about the Great Recession turning people off to stocks. That’s not what turned them off. What turned them off is corruption. Everyone thinks the market is rigged, and they’re right! It is rigged.

Let’s do a simple thought experiment to prove that point:

Let’s say, the Fed suddenly announced that it planned to sell just $500 billion of the $2 trillion worth of financial assets currently on its balance sheet? What do you think would happen?

I’ll tell you what would happen; the market would tumble 1,000 points or more in a matter of hours, followed by another 2 or 3 thousand-point bloodbath on Day 2.

Find me one market analyst who doesn’t agree with this view? They all agree, because they know that stocks are artificially high due to the Fed’s helium-pumping operations. (QE) But doesn’t that prove that stocks are massively overpriced due to Fed manipulation, which is the same as saying “cheating”?

You bet it does. I mean, Bernanke doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. He just dumps the money in on one end, and then watches as stocks float higher on the other. It’s more like a physics lesson than a free market.

Now ask yourself this: How can Bernanke add $2 trillion to the market and talk about “strong fundamentals” with a straight face? Huh? It boggles the mind.

What fundamentals? Printing press “fundamentals”? Is that what he’s yapping about? What does that have to do with efficient, well-managed companies with strong earnings potential? Nothing, that’s what. It’s just more gas in the old stock Zepplin so his lotta-bucks buddies can skim bigger profits and keep the larder in the Hamptons stuffed with Beluga and Dover Sole.

None of this inspires confidence. Quite the contrary. That’s why retail investors are voting with their feet and fleeing in droves. They’ve seen enough of Dr. Bernanke’s 3-Ring Circus to last them a lifetime. They’re getting out while the getting is good. They’re putting their money in CDs, Treasuries, FDIC-insured accounts and gold. They’d rather take on beating on interest rates and get their money back, then plunk it into some dodgy equities fund that will implode in the next big crash. No thanks. That’s a mug’s game that fewer people are willing to play. And that’s why–according to Bloomberg: “The gap between U.S. bank deposits and loans is growing at the fastest pace in two years… As deposits increased 3.3 percent to $8.88 trillion in the two months ended July 31, business lending rose 0.7 percent to $7.11 trillion, Federal Reserve data show. The record gap of $1.77 trillion has expanded 15 percent since May, the biggest similar-period gain since July, 2010.” (Blooberg)

You read that right. Deposits now exceed loans by nearly $2 trillion. How’s that for a ringing endorsement of a shitty, ripoff system run by crooks and charlatans?

You’re doing a heckuva job, Bennie!

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/04/heckuva-job-bernanke/

[joboo]

So EE, how you feeling after reading that article? Any stomach tingles with your finger on the buy equities button? ;)

The trend would seem to be less return for stability but at least some return.

Really drives home the casino/lottery paradigm.

[EE_]

So EE, how you feeling after reading that article? Any stomach tingles with your finger on the buy equities button? ;)

The trend would seem to be less return for stability but at least some return.

Really drives home the casino/lottery paradigm.

I think the market/DOW is going higher and gold is going lower, at least until the "Debt Ceiling" BS is over.
These Jew pricks are so far past corruption, there's nothing they won't do to crush gold, to protect themselves and the dollar.

[old steel]

Of course they want the game to continue but how long will it?

I would say i hate them with a passion but they aren't worth that much energy for me to expend.

If you want to play their game prepare to get fleeced through program and insider trading. All the toxic debt is still in the system, just hidden.

I'm out, not going back.