I had some morning "relief" as well. Right into the toilet. I daresay that it had as much value as Greek bonds.

isn't iceland an example of one government that did the right thing?

You are definitely right in the long run, but how can you continue to put a timeline on the collapse? A few months/weeks? Maybe its right, but at this point I would just call it luck being able to time it. Folks have been saying since 2009 that the collapse is just around the corner and it never comes. Nothing has been fixed, but we haven't collapsed yet. The power of governments and central banks kicking the can has been greatly underestimated.

Really?

How are you doing with that TOPIX stock portfolio?

The numbers tell the story, but the markets do not seem to care about the numbers as long as there is sufficient liquidity to continue ramping up the credit card.

Pretty much all the periods of volatility we've seen since the March 2009 low have been induced by Europe, not the US.

I wonder if there is a flight from Asia and Europe into US equities that's keeping the market from crashing through the basement as it should be doing right now. A hope for QE3 (saver theft part 3) may be a part, too.

A good excuse for Bernanke and the Fed to step in and QE. Bernanke will QE until there is an adverse market reaction to any further QEing. Commodities have come down enough for him to play his game.

Trades - I'm not sure that I agree with that. If Bernanke does another round of QE, it will raise gas prices maybe another $1 a gallon and make food even more expensive... which Obama does not want right now.

The QE already done has driven more people onto public assistance and raised the deficit precipitously, at the same time it RAISES the TNX.

Go ahead and believe that if you want.....

Quote:

The power of governments and central banks kicking the can has been greatly underestimated.

Yes it has. The harbinger is that the need to 'kick the can' is occurring with greater and greater frequency. One day one of the kicks will not be successful and it will be all over. When that is I can't say but, with Portugal, Spain, and maybe Italy joining Greece in needing banking help I would not be surprised if it happened this summer. There is simply not enough money to patch over those three in addition to Greece.

Also, another sign is that the EU 'leaders' are floating talk of a plan in the latter half of the year of a more EU wide binding agreement. This to me smacks of desperation in that they are talking about talking later about devising a solution to a pressing problem.

Europe's big problem is that they are rapidily running out of each other's money to patch over their problems.

Quote:

How are you doing with that TOPIX stock portfolio?

If anything this is proof of how long things can go without a real blow-up. Perhaps it was able to go so far down without a big blowup because of the nature of the Japanese people and becuase it is the only major index to do so. If several of these around the world fell like the TOPIX it would probably spell the end.

My take on the collapse is that it is impossible to predict it with any accuracy but, knowing that it is coming is a different animal all together. As far as predictions, sometime before the end of the year is as far as I will go.

Flap

whole lotta eek for me in such a short ticker

Quote:

If Bernanke does another round of QE, it will raise gas prices maybe another $1 a gallon and make food even more expensive

Except for gold, commodities like oil have come down enough where Bernanke and the fed have room for additional QE. The further commodities are driven down the more Bernanke believes his past statement that high commodity prices are transitory. You absolutely correct if commodity prices ramp back up. If oil prices were to stay above $100/barrel as the bottom it would limit Bernanke's actions.

Too many stakeholders. The FSA, this that mode the welfare state, greedy geezers, dolt pot head college debt suckers, the cop/lawyers/ court/prison industrial complex,mercantile hacks, pension pirates, ....

They'll haven't even begun to print. If, and the can and have, take your son or father and send him to war, the the command/taking/tax of your wealth has only begun. Like Stalin said about quantity, the US has a quality all its own. Rome was destroyed overnight. There is a lot of ruin in the USA. Heck, the rats are still fattening off of the carcass of Detroit.and a hundred other cities. For decades. Imagine how long the USA can be milked.

Trades - while it is clear that these prices have declined, the question as to whether prices have declined enough whereby QE is a possibility is uncertain. QE has done massive harm to the American people in terms of price increases, while doing nothing to help the underlying economy. It's sole effect would be to try to prop up asset prices. And Obama does not want that right now. It could cost him the election (not being partisan, just saying)

QE is simply a tax increase that is funneled privately to the banksters.

Here it is, the Nth market "stick save" due to a probably BS rumor:

"News reports over the weekend indicated European officials are weighing a move to increase fiscal coordination across the euro zone. The Wall Street Journal late Sunday said Germany has signaled it may be open to euro bonds or further support for the region’s banking sector, provided other countries agree to transfer more power to Europe."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-....

I thought this was an interesting article showing that slowly but surely, people are becoming aware of the problems in governmental spending...

"It Can Happen Here: Europe’s Screwed Generation and America’s"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20....

from what i have been reading, another QE would have to be much for massive than the previous, to little effect.... Ben would be out of his ever lovin' mind to do that. He should save any dry powder for as long as possible.

much "more" massive... not "for"

Blueskies -

No need to post again. You can edit the original post for an hour after posting it.

George Soros has (At least the Euro/Europe Collasping) in about 3 months..

Soros: 3 Months to Euro Collapse - Real Time Insight

On Saturday, famed hedge fund billionaire and economic theorist George Soros gave a speech in Trento, Italy before the Festival of Economics about the European financial crisis. It's quite long, but still well worth reading because his understanding of Europe's problems is clear and deep.

Some of the controversial headlines that have been drawn out in Reuters and elsewhere are that Germany and its central bank are unlikely to lead the way out of the euro zone debt crisis within three months time , after which it will be too late and thus they threaten to destroy the European Union and plunge it into a lost decade like Latin America in the 1980s.

From Reuters...

"The Greek crisis is liable to come to a climax in the fall. By that time the German economy will also be weakening so that Chancellor Merkel will find it even more difficult than today to persuade the German public to accept any additional European responsibilities. That is what creates a three-month window," Soros said.



Read more: http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-06....

Again, the politicians are more interested in protecting the banks then worrying about spending. They need to pass a bill making sure that we the taxpayers are no liable for any dervative contracts that wall street underwrites. Then they need to go after spending.

These morons will play out another AIG and make us eat it. Until they face reality, this country is finacially doomed..........

Soros has Europe collasping in 3 months? Good guess. It has already collapsed. Kind of like having a dead man on life support. They just haven't actually balanced the books. The market knows the books aren't balanced, but much of the market is wishing for a rally, so the market will rally on any kind of bull**** put out there.

As far as what Karl is writing? All we need is a point of recognition. What we have is a point of denial. Listen to the bankrupts in Europe, namely the socialists in Greece and Bernesconi in Italy over the weekend. What the **** do they think they are going to spend? Listen to Krugman over here. When the rest of the world realizes it is being ripped off, the gig on the US is up. There are merely more important issues now, like getting the hell out of Europe.

Anyone who keeps bringing up QE is clueless as to what QE is. Who has been pushing the risk assets? The banks. As long as Bernanke has pushed more chips their way, the fictional profits on their balance sheet (they mark to market the winners and mark to fantasy the losers)can be pushed higher, by bubbling what they already possess. Their problem is, the amount of QE is dwarfed by the fictional money they pass between themselves. MF Global was merely make believe the customers money was theirs, making the money available to trade as well as fund other ventures until the other ventures turned to loss.

The market thinks Morgan Stanley is in the crapper. The rumor is Europe. I think its China. In fact, I think Wall Street is up to its ass in China, which is why we never hear them admit the truth in China. The truth is the commodity guzzler of the world has run out of things to build and what they have built is about as useful as all the excess housing built a few years ago in Vegas. Much of it is merely building more capacity, but there is a pyramid in that game, capacity, capacity to build more capacity, capacity to build more capacity to build more capacity. Just as you mine iron to build Catepillars to mine more iron.

The entire world is a bubble. Karl's favorite topic, health care spending is one of the biggest bubbles of all. Think the housing in parts of CA and FL was high? Think about how fast the medical industry can get $20,000 to $100,000 out of your pocket? There are boxes of pharmaceuticals that will retail for more than most of our homes. What would they sell for without the insurance scam being run? Kind of what these houses, if there was no FHA, FNM, FRE.

The temporary beauty of blowing up the cost of health care is it all appears to be domestic. The government gets to claim GDP growth. Problem is, it is a cost that is levied on the rest of the economy, hence the manufacturing capacity goes over seas. Figure nominal growth in the US economy is 5%. Health is nearly 20%, so 1.8% of that is health. That leaves 3.2% for the rest. If inflation is 2.5%, which was a figure I came up with about 10 years ago, growth of the rest of the economy is .7%, which might be enough to pay the increase in health care costs. It leaves nothing to grow the rest of the economy.

Why can they do successful heart operations in India for $2000 when a root canal costs that much in suburban Dallas? The bull**** you hear is the drugs and the machinery costs so much. $2000 in India, $50,000 to $250,000 here. Same machinery. Is it the fact there are so many lawyers in legislatures around the country? Pre-law quite often equals political science. Anyone ever take basic political science in college? Straight socialism.

They are going to make us.... Look at NYC? Bloomberg is going to make us buy Cokes in 16 OZ and smaller containers. When the hell we going to make them? The government has used this crap to get into our business. We need to make them get out of our business.

700,000 every two weeks to meet city payroll here where i live. local paper reads that the city is borrowing to make payroll and other expenses.

is that normal?