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Congratulations to The Stock Market…new record highs!!!
mariner67
Posts: 2,746 ✭✭✭
I was recently reminiscing about the old thread entitled "Congratulations to Silver…." that ran here a while back.
I guess those days are over for a while anyway and it is time for a new story line(at least tempoarily for now).
Oh yeah, it seems the new equity highs do affect the prices of PMs.
I guess those days are over for a while anyway and it is time for a new story line(at least tempoarily for now).
Oh yeah, it seems the new equity highs do affect the prices of PMs.
Successful trades/buys/sells with gdavis70, adriana, wondercoin, Weiss, nibanny, IrishMike, commoncents05, pf70collector, kyleknap, barefootjuan, coindeuce, WhiteTornado, Nefprollc, ajw, JamesM, PCcoins, slinc, coindudeonebay,beernuts, and many more
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Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
<< <i>Heh, I wish my federal and state capital gains bills were smoke and mirrors
Just because you got lucky and made a few bucks doesn't mean the thing isn't built on sand. Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market. It's a sucker's game that some like to play. The key is just be sure you are not the guy standing there holding the sack or worthless goods when the music stops. If it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. Nothing more..
<< <i>
<< <i>Heh, I wish my federal and state capital gains bills were smoke and mirrors
Just because you got lucky and made a few bucks doesn't mean the thing isn't built on sand. Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market. It's a sucker's game that some like to play. The key is just be sure you are not the guy standing there holding the sack or worthless goods when the music stops. If it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. Nothing more.. >>
You sound bitter, my guess, you're a "everything on this earth is conspiracy driven theorist" stacking PM's or ammo. Reality check "many others have lost everything etc?" Who are those many others? Even the Madoff's investors received about 50 cents on the dollar back. In reality, it's a tiny percentage of "speculators" who've lost everything by gambling on high risk ventures.
<< <i>It's all smoke and mirrors. The 'Tower Of Babel' will fall in due time. >>
every thing will fall in due time... meaningless...
Those of that have no children or grandchildren can gloat and enjoy a nice shot of 21 year old whiskey. Those with decendents may have some splainen to do.
<< <i>
<< <i>Heh, I wish my federal and state capital gains bills were smoke and mirrors
Just because you got lucky and made a few bucks doesn't mean the thing isn't built on sand. Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market. It's a sucker's game that some like to play. The key is just be sure you are not the guy standing there holding the sack or worthless goods when the music stops. If it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. Nothing more.. >>
words of a scorned playa... many made tons of $$$ over many many years and some over short time frames, but many made big $$$,
so what?...
every game can be a suckers game if one has no skill in it... so what?...
does that paper clothe u, move u, feed u, etc? and those before u... so what?...
<< <i>You sound bitter, my guess, you're a "everything on this earth is conspiracy driven theorist" stacking PM's or ammo. Reality check "many others have lost everything etc?" Who are those many others? Even the Madoff's investors received about 50 cents on the dollar back. In reality, it's a tiny percentage of "speculators" who've lost everything by gambling on high risk ventures. >>
First time I've ever heard that the SM is a low risk venture. And getting back 50% of the Madoff losses is not exactly a win. The way everyone seems to be talking, the SM is totally immune from a crash. Yet it's happened several times in the past 85 years. Last time was 2008-2009. Not so long ago. Low risk venture? Probably stacking ammo as the price of that stuff has only been going up. At some point in time there will be strict limits on how much you can buy. If Homeland Security can "stack" over 1 BILL hollow points, it must be good for something.
<< <i>
<< <i>You sound bitter, my guess, you're a "everything on this earth is conspiracy driven theorist" stacking PM's or ammo. Reality check "many others have lost everything etc?" Who are those many others? Even the Madoff's investors received about 50 cents on the dollar back. In reality, it's a tiny percentage of "speculators" who've lost everything by gambling on high risk ventures. >>
First time I've ever heard that the SM is a low risk venture. And getting back 50% of the Madoff losses is not exactly a win. The way everyone seems to be talking, the SM is totally immune from a crash. Yet it's happened several times in the past 85 years. Last time was 2008-2009. Not so long ago. Low risk venture? Probably stacking ammo as the price of that stuff has only been going up. At some point in time there will be strict limits on how much you can buy. If Homeland Security can "stack" over 1 BILL hollow points, it must be good for something.
No one indicated that the SM is a low risk venture..My comment was based in this: "Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market." And once again, who are those Many Others?
<< <i>Tens of billions of real USD are skimmed off the equity markets daily. It's very real money in today's terms. Holding for over 24 hours is now "long" with the stockholder being king and the American worker being the pawn. 60% of public school children in the U.S. are now from low income households. The number grows daily and is on the verge of exploding to 75% in the next decade. Wall Street has insured that government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy shall not perish until they're all billionaires. The clock is ticking.
Yeah, the people living in denial mock us for pointing out what is so obvious that a blind man could see it if they just opened their eyes. They can make fun of the people warning them now, but it won't be so funny later. George Orwell once said that “during times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act“. That statement so applies to these current times.
I forgot to add that your comments above, roadrunner, stand so true. Not picking at you, but the latest shows they have stockpiled over 2.2 billion rounds. I wonder what they need that for? Nah, nothing to see here folks!
<< <i>The 2008 Market crash did nothing to long term investors who realize the stock market averages a yield of 7 percent annually.
Six years ago the market went from 14 thousand to 6 thousand, but is now flirting with 18 thousand. Not bad in my book. >>
All built with those devalued dollars thanks to the bankers. Not bad? Oh boy....
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>You sound bitter, my guess, you're a "everything on this earth is conspiracy driven theorist" stacking PM's or ammo. Reality check "many others have lost everything etc?" Who are those many others? Even the Madoff's investors received about 50 cents on the dollar back. In reality, it's a tiny percentage of "speculators" who've lost everything by gambling on high risk ventures. >>
First time I've ever heard that the SM is a low risk venture. And getting back 50% of the Madoff losses is not exactly a win. The way everyone seems to be talking, the SM is totally immune from a crash. Yet it's happened several times in the past 85 years. Last time was 2008-2009. Not so long ago. Low risk venture? Probably stacking ammo as the price of that stuff has only been going up. At some point in time there will be strict limits on how much you can buy. If Homeland Security can "stack" over 1 BILL hollow points, it must be good for something.
No one indicated that the SM is a low risk venture..My comment was based in this: "Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market." And once again, who are those Many Others? >>
The many others I suspect are the ones who sold low and bought high and have to much self pride to find a good advisor.
So it becomes like the fox and grapes experience or them.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
<<<<Financial Market Manipulation Is The New Trend: Can It Continue?
A dangerous new trend is the successful manipulation of the financial markets by the Federal Reserve, other central banks, private banks, and the US Treasury. The Federal Reserve reduced real interest rates on US government debt obligations first to zero and then pushed real interest rates into negative territory. Today the government charges you for the privilege of purchasing its bonds.
People pay to park their money in Treasury debt obligations, because they do not trust the banks and they know that the government can print the money to pay off the bonds. Today Treasury bond investors pay a fee in order to guarantee that they will receive the nominal face value (minus the fee) of their investment in government debt instruments.
The fee is paid in a premium, which raises the cost of the debt instrument above its face value and is paid again in accepting a negative rate of return, as the interest rate is less than the inflation rate.
Think about this for a minute. Allegedly the US is experiencing economic recovery. Normally with rising economic activity interest rates rise as consumers and investors bid for credit. But not in this “recovery.”
Normally an economic recovery produces rising consumer spending, rising profits, and more investment. But what we experience is flat and declining consumer spending as jobs are offshored and retail stores close. Profits result from labor cost savings from employee layoffs.
The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
In other words, in America today there are no free financial markets. The markets are rigged by the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing, by gold price manipulation, by the Treasury’s Plunge Protection Team and Exchange Stabilization Fund, and by the big private banks.
Allegedly, QE is over, but it is not. The Fed intends to roll over the interest and principle from its bloated $4.5 trillion bond portfolio into purchases of more bonds, and the banks intend to fill in the gaps by using the $2.6 trillion in their cash on deposit with the Fed to purchase bonds. QE has morphed, not ended. The money the Fed paid the banks for bonds will now be used by the banks to support the bond price by purchasing bonds.
Normally when massive amounts of debt and money are created the currency collapses, but the dollar has been strengthening. The dollar gains strength from the
rigging of the gold price in the futures market. The Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, print paper futures contracts representing many tonnes of gold and dump them them into the market during periods of light or nonexistent trading. This drives down the gold price despite rising demand for the physical metal. This manipulation is done in order to counteract the effect of the expansion of money and debt on the dollar’s exchange value. A declining dollar price of gold makes the dollar look strong.
The dollar also gains the appearance of strength from debt monetization by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The Bank of Japan’s Quantitative Easing program is even larger than the Fed’s. Even Switzerland is rigging the price of the Swiss franc. Since all currencies are inflating, the dollar does not decline in exchange value.
As Japan is Washington’s vassal, it is conceivable that some of the money being printed by the Bank of Japan will be used to purchase US Treasuries, thus taking the place along with purchases by the large US banks of the Fed’s QE.
The large private US and UK banks are also manipulating markets hand over fist. Remember the scandal over the banks fixing the LIBOR rate (the London Interbank Borrowing Rate) and the opening gold price on the London exchange. Now the banks have been caught rigging currency markets with algorithms developed to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
When the banks get caught in felonies, they avoid prosecution by paying a fine. You try doing that.
The government even manipulates economic statistics in order to paint a rosy economic picture that sustains economic confidence. GDP growth is exaggerated by understating inflation. High unemployment is swept under the table by not counting discouraged workers as unemployed. We are told we are enjoying economic recovery and have an improving housing market. Yet the facts are that almost half of 25 year old Americans have been forced to return to live with their parents, and 30% of 30 year olds are back with their parents. Since 2006 the home ownership rate of 30 year old Americans has collapsed.
.
The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act during the Clinton regime allowed the big banks to gamble with their depositors’ money. The Dodd-Frank Act tried to stop some of this by requiring the banks-turned-gambling-casinos to carry on their gambling in subsidiaries with no access to deposits in the depository institution. If the banks gamble with depositors money, the banks’ losses are covered by FDIC, and in the case of bank failure, bail-in provisions could give the banks access to depositors’ funds. With the banks still protected by being “too big to fail,” whether Dodd-Frank would succeed in protecting depositors when a subsidiary’s failure pulls down the entire bank is unclear.
The sharp practices in which banks engage today are risky. Why gamble with their own money if they can gamble with depositors’ money. The banks led by Citigroup have lobbied hard to overturn the provision in Dodd-Frank that puts depositors’ money out of their reach as backup for certain types of troubled financial instruments, with apparently only Senator Elizabeth Warren and a few others opposing them. Senator Warren is outgunned as Citigroup controls the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve.
The falling oil price has brought concern that oil derivatives are in jeopardy. Citigroup has a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill that shifts the liability for Citigroup’s credit default swaps to depositors and taxpayers. It was only six years ago that Citigroup was bailed out to the tune of a half trillion dollars. Already Citigroup is back for more while nothing whatsoever is done to bail the American people out of their hardships caused by Citigroup and the other financial gangsters.
What we are experiencing is not a repeat of the past. The ability or, rather, the audacity of the US government itself to manipulate the major financial markets is new. Can this new trend continue? The government is supposed to be the enforcer of laws against market manipulation but is itself manipulating the markets.
Governments and economists take their hats off to free markets. Yet, the markets are rigged, not free. How long can stocks stay up in a lackluster or declining economy? How long can bonds pay negative real interest rates when debt and money are rising. How long can bullion prices be manipulated down when the world’s demand for gold exceeds the annual production?
For as long as governments and banks can rig the markets.
The manipulations are dangerous. Manipulations blow a bigger bubble economy, and manipulations are now being used by Washington as an act of war by driving down the exchange value of the Russian ruble.
If every time the stock market tries to correct and adjust to the real economic situation, the plunge protection team or some government “stabilization” entity stops the correction by purchasing S&P futures, unrealistic values are perpetuated.
The price of gold is not determined in the physical market but in the futures market where contracts are settled in cash. If every time the demand for gold pushes up the price, the Federal Reserve or its bullion bank agents dump massive amounts of uncovered futures contracts in the futures market and drive down the price of gold, the result is to subsidize the gold purchases of Russia, China, and India. The artificially low gold price also artificially inflates the value of the US dollar.
The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of the bond market has driven bond prices so high that purchasers receive a zero or negative return on their investment. At the present time fear of the safety of bank deposits makes people willing to pay a fee in order to have the protection of the government’s ability to print money in order to redeem its bonds. A number of events could end the tolerance of zero or negative real interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s policy has the bond market positioned for collapse.
The US government, perhaps surprised at the ease at which all financial markets can be rigged, is now rigging, or permitting large hedge funds and perhaps George Soros, to drive down the exchange value of the Russian ruble by massive short-selling in the currency market. On December 15 the ruble was driven down 19%.
Just as there is no economic reason for the price of gold to decline in the futures market when the demand for physical gold is rising, there is no economic reason for the ruble to suddenly loose much of its exchange value. Unlike the US, which has a massive trade deficit, Russia has a trade surplus. Unlike the US economy, the Russian economy has not been offshored. Russia has just completed large energy and trade deals with China, Turkey, and India.
If economic forces were determining outcomes, it would be the dollar that is losing exchange value, not the ruble.
The illegal economic sanctions that Washington has decreed on Russia appear to be doing more harm to Europe and US energy companies than to Russia. The impact on
Russia of the American attack on the ruble is unclear, as the suppression of the ruble’s value is artificial.
There is a difference between economic factors causing foreign investors to withdraw their capital from a country, thereby causing the currency to lose value, and manipulation of a currency’s value by heavy short-selling in the currency market. The latter can cause the former also to occur. But the outcome for Russia can be positive.
No country dependent on foreign capital is sovereign. A country dependent on foreign capital, especially from enemies seeking to subvert the economy, is subject to destabilizing currency and economic swings. Russia should self-finance. If Russia needs foreign capital, Russia should turn to its ally China. China has a stake in Russia’s strength as part of China’s protection from US aggression, whether economic or military.
The American attack on the ruble is also teaching sovereign governments that are not US vassals the extreme cost of allowing their currencies to trade in currency markets dominated by the US. China should think twice before it allows full convertibility of its currency. Of course, the Chinese have a lot of dollar assets with which to defend their currency from attack, and the sale of the assets and use of the dollar proceeds to support the yuan could knock down the dollar’s exchange value and US bond prices and cause US interest rates and inflation to rise. Still, considering the gangster nature of financial markets in which the US is the heavy player, a country that permits free trading of its currency sets itself up for trouble.
The greatest harm that is being done to the Russian economy is not due to sanctions and the US attack on the ruble. The greatest harm is being done by Russia’s neoliberal economists.
Neoliberal economics is not merely incorrect. It is an ideology that fosters US economic imperialism. By following neoliberal prescriptions, Russian economists are helping Washington’s attack on the Russian economy.
Apparently, Putin has been sold, along with his internal enemies, the Atlanticist integrationists, on “free trade globalism.” Globalism destroys the sovereignty of every country except the world reserve currency country that controls the system.
As Michael Hudson has shown, neoliberal economics is “junk economics.” But it is also a tool of American financial imperialism, and this makes neoliberal Russian economists tools of American imperialism.
The remaining sovereign countries, which excludes all of Europe, are slowly learning that Western economic institutions are deceptive and that placing trust in them is a threat to national sovereignty.
Washington intends to subvert Russia and to turn Russia into a vassal state like Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and Ukraine. If Russia is to survive, Putin must protect Russia from Western economic institutions and Western trained economists.
It is too risky for the US to take on Russia militarily. Instead, Washington is using its unique symbiotic relationship with Western financial institutions to attack an incautious Russia that foolishly opened herself to Western financial predation.>>>>
Link to the entire article here:
Financial Market Manipulation
Business as usual. There will be one day when the markets will not listen to her no matter what she says.
Box of 20
Coke sells overpriced fake sugar-water poison that's slowly killing our bodies, and Apple sells dangerous hypno-device addictions that's slowly enslaving our minds.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Heh, I wish my federal and state capital gains bills were smoke and mirrors
Just because you got lucky and made a few bucks doesn't mean the thing isn't built on sand. Many others have lost everything playing the manipulated market. It's a sucker's game that some like to play. The key is just be sure you are not the guy standing there holding the sack or worthless goods when the music stops. If it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. Nothing more.. >>
I'm not sure if you are bitter or not, but you are CLEARLY DELUSIONAL. Who EVER lost "everything" in the stock market unless they were literally GAMBLING. Just buy the S&P 500 and be done with it. It has proven to increase dramatically over long periods of time. I'm not sure where your comments are even remotely coming from. Companies such as Apple, Coca Cola, etc. are "worthless" and provide nothing of value in your mind??? I certainly won't disagree with anyone who thinks its currently overvalued (and my positions would support that supposition). However, the notion that it is worthless or "built on sand" or "worth the paper it's written on" are just flat out IDIOTIC statements. >>
They are only idiotic statements to an uninformed person who buys in to this system and fails to see that it is rigged and manipulated.
Here you go in case you missed the article I posted on the previous page written by Paul Craig Roberts who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy.
<<<<Financial Market Manipulation Is The New Trend: Can It Continue?
A dangerous new trend is the successful manipulation of the financial markets by the Federal Reserve, other central banks, private banks, and the US Treasury. The Federal Reserve reduced real interest rates on US government debt obligations first to zero and then pushed real interest rates into negative territory. Today the government charges you for the privilege of purchasing its bonds.
People pay to park their money in Treasury debt obligations, because they do not trust the banks and they know that the government can print the money to pay off the bonds. Today Treasury bond investors pay a fee in order to guarantee that they will receive the nominal face value (minus the fee) of their investment in government debt instruments.
The fee is paid in a premium, which raises the cost of the debt instrument above its face value and is paid again in accepting a negative rate of return, as the interest rate is less than the inflation rate.
Think about this for a minute. Allegedly the US is experiencing economic recovery. Normally with rising economic activity interest rates rise as consumers and investors bid for credit. But not in this “recovery.”
Normally an economic recovery produces rising consumer spending, rising profits, and more investment. But what we experience is flat and declining consumer spending as jobs are offshored and retail stores close. Profits result from labor cost savings from employee layoffs.
The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
In other words, in America today there are no free financial markets. The markets are rigged by the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing, by gold price manipulation, by the Treasury’s Plunge Protection Team and Exchange Stabilization Fund, and by the big private banks.
Allegedly, QE is over, but it is not. The Fed intends to roll over the interest and principle from its bloated $4.5 trillion bond portfolio into purchases of more bonds, and the banks intend to fill in the gaps by using the $2.6 trillion in their cash on deposit with the Fed to purchase bonds. QE has morphed, not ended. The money the Fed paid the banks for bonds will now be used by the banks to support the bond price by purchasing bonds.
Normally when massive amounts of debt and money are created the currency collapses, but the dollar has been strengthening. The dollar gains strength from the
rigging of the gold price in the futures market. The Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, print paper futures contracts representing many tonnes of gold and dump them them into the market during periods of light or nonexistent trading. This drives down the gold price despite rising demand for the physical metal. This manipulation is done in order to counteract the effect of the expansion of money and debt on the dollar’s exchange value. A declining dollar price of gold makes the dollar look strong.
The dollar also gains the appearance of strength from debt monetization by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The Bank of Japan’s Quantitative Easing program is even larger than the Fed’s. Even Switzerland is rigging the price of the Swiss franc. Since all currencies are inflating, the dollar does not decline in exchange value.
As Japan is Washington’s vassal, it is conceivable that some of the money being printed by the Bank of Japan will be used to purchase US Treasuries, thus taking the place along with purchases by the large US banks of the Fed’s QE.
The large private US and UK banks are also manipulating markets hand over fist. Remember the scandal over the banks fixing the LIBOR rate (the London Interbank Borrowing Rate) and the opening gold price on the London exchange. Now the banks have been caught rigging currency markets with algorithms developed to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
When the banks get caught in felonies, they avoid prosecution by paying a fine. You try doing that. >>>>
The entire article is here:
The Financial Markets Are Being Manipulated
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
<< <i>Here is a long read, but worth the time. Written by Paul Craig Roberts who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy:
<<<<Financial Market Manipulation Is The New Trend: Can It Continue?
A dangerous new trend is the successful manipulation of the financial markets by the Federal Reserve, other central banks, private banks, and the US Treasury. The Federal Reserve reduced real interest rates on US government debt obligations first to zero and then pushed real interest rates into negative territory. Today the government charges you for the privilege of purchasing its bonds.
People pay to park their money in Treasury debt obligations, because they do not trust the banks and they know that the government can print the money to pay off the bonds. Today Treasury bond investors pay a fee in order to guarantee that they will receive the nominal face value (minus the fee) of their investment in government debt instruments.
The fee is paid in a premium, which raises the cost of the debt instrument above its face value and is paid again in accepting a negative rate of return, as the interest rate is less than the inflation rate.
Think about this for a minute. Allegedly the US is experiencing economic recovery. Normally with rising economic activity interest rates rise as consumers and investors bid for credit. But not in this “recovery.”
Normally an economic recovery produces rising consumer spending, rising profits, and more investment. But what we experience is flat and declining consumer spending as jobs are offshored and retail stores close. Profits result from labor cost savings from
employee layoffs.
Yes, there is a lot of manipulation in the stock market, just as there is in any of the markets. What do you propose, put everything into PM's and hope for economic catastrophe? My PM's and REITs helped me weather the stock market fall in '09, my portfolio lost 30%, it was not any fun but because I am diversified I lived through it and now I'm ahead of where I was, this after living on my "worthless paper" during that time.
No one knows what the future holds, and IMHO diversification gives you the best chance at hanging on to what you have. If you can throw some real estate into the mix, all the better.
The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
In other words, in America today there are no free financial markets. The markets are rigged by the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing, by gold price manipulation, by the Treasury’s Plunge Protection Team and Exchange Stabilization Fund, and by the big private banks.
Allegedly, QE is over, but it is not. The Fed intends to roll over the interest and principle from its bloated $4.5 trillion bond portfolio into purchases of more bonds, and the banks intend to fill in the gaps by using the $2.6 trillion in their cash on deposit with the Fed to purchase bonds. QE has morphed, not ended. The money the Fed paid the banks for bonds will now be used by the banks to support the bond price by purchasing bonds.
Normally when massive amounts of debt and money are created the currency collapses, but the dollar has been strengthening. The dollar gains strength from the
rigging of the gold price in the futures market. The Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, print paper futures contracts representing many tonnes of gold and dump them them into the market during periods of light or nonexistent trading. This drives down the gold price despite rising demand for the physical metal. This manipulation is done in order to counteract the effect of the expansion of money and debt on the dollar’s exchange value. A declining dollar price of gold makes the dollar look strong.
The dollar also gains the appearance of strength from debt monetization by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The Bank of Japan’s Quantitative Easing program is even larger than the Fed’s. Even Switzerland is rigging the price of the Swiss franc. Since all currencies are inflating, the dollar does not decline in exchange value.
As Japan is Washington’s vassal, it is conceivable that some of the money being printed by the Bank of Japan will be used to purchase US Treasuries, thus taking the place along with purchases by the large US banks of the Fed’s QE.
The large private US and UK banks are also manipulating markets hand over fist. Remember the scandal over the banks fixing the LIBOR rate (the London Interbank Borrowing Rate) and the opening gold price on the London exchange. Now the banks have been caught rigging currency markets with algorithms developed to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
When the banks get caught in felonies, they avoid prosecution by paying a fine. You try doing that.
The government even manipulates economic statistics in order to paint a rosy economic picture that sustains economic confidence. GDP growth is exaggerated by understating inflation. High unemployment is swept under the table by not counting discouraged workers as unemployed. We are told we are enjoying economic recovery and have an improving housing market. Yet the facts are that almost half of 25 year old Americans have been forced to return to live with their parents, and 30% of 30 year olds are back with their parents. Since 2006 the home ownership rate of 30 year old Americans has collapsed.
.
The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act during the Clinton regime allowed the big banks to gamble with their depositors’ money. The Dodd-Frank Act tried to stop some of this by requiring the banks-turned-gambling-casinos to carry on their gambling in subsidiaries with no access to deposits in the depository institution. If the banks gamble with depositors money, the banks’ losses are covered by FDIC, and in the case of bank failure, bail-in provisions could give the banks access to depositors’ funds. With the banks still protected by being “too big to fail,” whether Dodd-Frank would succeed in protecting depositors when a subsidiary’s failure pulls down the entire bank is unclear.
The sharp practices in which banks engage today are risky. Why gamble with their own money if they can gamble with depositors’ money. The banks led by Citigroup have lobbied hard to overturn the provision in Dodd-Frank that puts depositors’ money out of their reach as backup for certain types of troubled financial instruments, with apparently only Senator Elizabeth Warren and a few others opposing them. Senator Warren is outgunned as Citigroup controls the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve.
The falling oil price has brought concern that oil derivatives are in jeopardy. Citigroup has a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill that shifts the liability for Citigroup’s credit default swaps to depositors and taxpayers. It was only six years ago that Citigroup was bailed out to the tune of a half trillion dollars. Already Citigroup is back for more while nothing whatsoever is done to bail the American people out of their hardships caused by Citigroup and the other financial gangsters.
What we are experiencing is not a repeat of the past. The ability or, rather, the audacity of the US government itself to manipulate the major financial markets is new. Can this new trend continue? The government is supposed to be the enforcer of laws against market manipulation but is itself manipulating the markets.
Governments and economists take their hats off to free markets. Yet, the markets are rigged, not free. How long can stocks stay up in a lackluster or declining economy? How long can bonds pay negative real interest rates when debt and money are rising. How long can bullion prices be manipulated down when the world’s demand for gold exceeds the annual production?
For as long as governments and banks can rig the markets.
The manipulations are dangerous. Manipulations blow a bigger bubble economy, and manipulations are now being used by Washington as an act of war by driving down the exchange value of the Russian ruble.
If every time the stock market tries to correct and adjust to the real economic situation, the plunge protection team or some government “stabilization” entity stops the correction by purchasing S&P futures, unrealistic values are perpetuated.
The price of gold is not determined in the physical market but in the futures market where contracts are settled in cash. If every time the demand for gold pushes up the price, the Federal Reserve or its bullion bank agents dump massive amounts of uncovered futures contracts in the futures market and drive down the price of gold, the result is to subsidize the gold purchases of Russia, China, and India. The artificially low gold price also artificially inflates the value of the US dollar.
The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of the bond market has driven bond prices so high that purchasers receive a zero or negative return on their investment. At the present time fear of the safety of bank deposits makes people willing to pay a fee in order to have the protection of the government’s ability to print money in order to redeem its bonds. A number of events could end the tolerance of zero or negative real interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s policy has the bond market positioned for collapse.
The US government, perhaps surprised at the ease at which all financial markets can be rigged, is now rigging, or permitting large hedge funds and perhaps George Soros, to drive down the exchange value of the Russian ruble by massive short-selling in the currency market. On December 15 the ruble was driven down 19%.
Just as there is no economic reason for the price of gold to decline in the futures market when the demand for physical gold is rising, there is no economic reason for the ruble to suddenly loose much of its exchange value. Unlike the US, which has a massive trade deficit, Russia has a trade surplus. Unlike the US economy, the Russian economy has not been offshored. Russia has just completed large energy and trade deals with China, Turkey, and India.
If economic forces were determining outcomes, it would be the dollar that is losing exchange value, not the ruble.
The illegal economic sanctions that Washington has decreed on Russia appear to be doing more harm to Europe and US energy companies than to Russia. The impact on
Russia of the American attack on the ruble is unclear, as the suppression of the ruble’s value is artificial.
There is a difference between economic factors causing foreign investors to withdraw their capital from a country, thereby causing the currency to lose value, and manipulation of a currency’s value by heavy short-selling in the currency market. The latter can cause the former also to occur. But the outcome for Russia can be positive.
No country dependent on foreign capital is sovereign. A country dependent on foreign capital, especially from enemies seeking to subvert the economy, is subject to destabilizing currency and economic swings. Russia should self-finance. If Russia needs foreign capital, Russia should turn to its ally China. China has a stake in Russia’s strength as part of China’s protection from US aggression, whether economic or military.
The American attack on the ruble is also teaching sovereign governments that are not US vassals the extreme cost of allowing their currencies to trade in currency markets dominated by the US. China should think twice before it allows full convertibility of its currency. Of course, the Chinese have a lot of dollar assets with which to defend their currency from attack, and the sale of the assets and use of the dollar proceeds to support the yuan could knock down the dollar’s exchange value and US bond prices and cause US interest rates and inflation to rise. Still, considering the gangster nature of financial markets in which the US is the heavy player, a country that permits free trading of its currency sets itself up for trouble.
The greatest harm that is being done to the Russian economy is not due to sanctions and the US attack on the ruble. The greatest harm is being done by Russia’s neoliberal economists.
Neoliberal economics is not merely incorrect. It is an ideology that fosters US economic imperialism. By following neoliberal prescriptions, Russian economists are helping Washington’s attack on the Russian economy.
Apparently, Putin has been sold, along with his internal enemies, the Atlanticist integrationists, on “free trade globalism.” Globalism destroys the sovereignty of every country except the world reserve currency country that controls the system.
As Michael Hudson has shown, neoliberal economics is “junk economics.” But it is also a tool of American financial imperialism, and this makes neoliberal Russian economists tools of American imperialism.
The remaining sovereign countries, which excludes all of Europe, are slowly learning that Western economic institutions are deceptive and that placing trust in them is a threat to national sovereignty.
Washington intends to subvert Russia and to turn Russia into a vassal state like Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and Ukraine. If Russia is to survive, Putin must protect Russia from Western economic institutions and Western trained economists.
It is too risky for the US to take on Russia militarily. Instead, Washington is using its unique symbiotic relationship with Western financial institutions to attack an incautious Russia that foolishly opened herself to Western financial predation.>>>>
Link to the entire article here:
Financial Market Manipulation >>
<< <i>StanTheManMusial,
Stocks are ownership rights in businesses. I'm not sure if you realize that or not. Those business provide all kinds of goods and services that we ALL use on a daily basis and would freak out if they weren't available. I'm not sure how ANYONE could make some of the statements you do. The market may very well be propped up at times (as it is now), but the notion that it is worthless or anything of the kind is beyond ridiculous.
You make it sound like stocks are some sort of useless rocks that just sit around providing absolutely no function or value and that investors buy them just to sell to the next sucker in line. Human beings aren't THAT stupid. Oh wait... >>
Like I said, if it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. If you can't comprehend that, then it is you that needs educating.
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<< <i>StanTheManMusial,
Stocks are ownership rights in businesses. I'm not sure if you realize that or not. Those business provide all kinds of goods and services that we ALL use on a daily basis and would freak out if they weren't available. I'm not sure how ANYONE could make some of the statements you do. The market may very well be propped up at times (as it is now), but the notion that it is worthless or anything of the kind is beyond ridiculous.
You make it sound like stocks are some sort of useless rocks that just sit around providing absolutely no function or value and that investors buy them just to sell to the next sucker in line. Human beings aren't THAT stupid. Oh wait... >>
Like I said, if it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. If you can comprehend that, then it is you that needs educating. >>
This whole society of ours is "written on paper". If you can't comprehend that, then you clearly just don't get it. >>
If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days.
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<< <i>StanTheManMusial,
Stocks are ownership rights in businesses. I'm not sure if you realize that or not. Those business provide all kinds of goods and services that we ALL use on a daily basis and would freak out if they weren't available. I'm not sure how ANYONE could make some of the statements you do. The market may very well be propped up at times (as it is now), but the notion that it is worthless or anything of the kind is beyond ridiculous.
You make it sound like stocks are some sort of useless rocks that just sit around providing absolutely no function or value and that investors buy them just to sell to the next sucker in line. Human beings aren't THAT stupid. Oh wait... >>
Like I said, if it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. If you can comprehend that, then it is you that needs educating. >>
This whole society of ours is "written on paper". If you can't comprehend that, then you clearly just don't get it. >>
If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days. >>
Well if your banking on the complete breakdown of American society or flat out worldwide apocalyptic Armageddon, then you would be absolutely right to feel that way. Call me crazy but I don't think either of those will happen during any of our lifetimes. >>
Did you even read the link I provided above? The whole financial world is in trouble. Many said the Titanic couldn't sink. Well, it did. You are like many others that fail to realize that life as you have known it can and more than likely will change in the not so distant future. Laugh while you can at those trying to do nothing more than warn you. It doesn't bother me one bit. The deniers are the ones who aren't going to see it coming and will be hurt the most.
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<< <i>StanTheManMusial,
Stocks are ownership rights in businesses. I'm not sure if you realize that or not. Those business provide all kinds of goods and services that we ALL use on a daily basis and would freak out if they weren't available. I'm not sure how ANYONE could make some of the statements you do. The market may very well be propped up at times (as it is now), but the notion that it is worthless or anything of the kind is beyond ridiculous.
You make it sound like stocks are some sort of useless rocks that just sit around providing absolutely no function or value and that investors buy them just to sell to the next sucker in line. Human beings aren't THAT stupid. Oh wait... >>
Like I said, if it's written on paper, it's worth the paper it's written on. If you can comprehend that, then it is you that needs educating. >>
This whole society of ours is "written on paper". If you can't comprehend that, then you clearly just don't get it. >>
If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days. >>
Well if your banking on the complete breakdown of American society or flat out worldwide apocalyptic Armageddon, then you would be absolutely right to feel that way. Call me crazy but I don't think either of those will happen during any of our lifetimes. >>
Did you even read the link I provided above? The whole financial world is in trouble. Many said the Titanic couldn't sink. Well, it did. You are like many others that fail to realize that life as you have known it can and more than likely will change in the not so distant future. Laugh while you can at those trying to do nothing more than warn you. It doesn't bother me one bit. The deniers are the ones who aren't going to see it coming and will be hurt the most. >>
Who needs to read the endless amount of drivel professing their self importance on the internet? There are ALWAYS people spouting doomsday scenarios in the best and worst of times. And through it all, societies usually move on. Crashes will continue and more than just once. So what? >>
Think of a point of view, and you can find a dozen sites that support it, many of them offer you a "way out" if you buy something they sell.
<< <i>If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days. >>
Those that owned K-Mart and General Motors stock pre bankruptcy figured that out.
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Think of a point of view, and you can find a dozen sites that support it, many of them offer you a "way out" if you buy something they sell. >>
No one is trying to sell you anything. Just trying to wake up some people who fail to understand just how manipulated the markets are and how this could end in the collapse of our dollar sooner than many can comprehend. Like I said, you can go back to sleep if you wish. The deniers will be the ones affected most since they won't listen or prepare for what is coming our way.
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<< <i>If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days. >>
Those that owned K-Mart and General Motors stock pre bankruptcy figured that out. >>
Try explaining that to Mr. Yankee Baseball.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
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<< <i>If you don't physically possess/own something, it's truly not yours. It's just a promise made on paper. Many will figure that out a little too late one of these days. >>
Those that owned K-Mart and General Motors stock pre bankruptcy figured that out. >>
Try explaining that to Mr. Yankee Baseball.
I think the both of you together would have difficult time explaining the ABCs to a high school classroom as you constantly talk in circles saying absolutely nothing but spouting "The end is nigh!!!" >>
You are a very rude person that I am done trying to have a civilized debate with. I hate to be mean, but go ahead and invest everything you have in the market. Trust the people playing you like a fiddle with their rigged market. You were warned.
<< <i>the equivalent of the guy in the sandwich board ringing the bell on the streetcorner, and shouting at all the "robots" going about their lives >>
All of the evidence in the world will not wake some of you up. That's ok. All a person can do is try. When that doesn't work, I guess they get what they have coming to them.
<< <i>I bet Paul Craig Roberts is a friend of David Stockton. >>
Stockman Prediction
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
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<< <i>I bet Paul Craig Roberts is a friend of David Stockton. >>
Paul Krugman calls David Stockman an 'old man'. >>
Yeah, Krugman... What a joke. He is a puppet for the bankers..
So Stan.....what should we do? Cash everything in and stack PMs?
What exactly are you doing?
<< <i>Try explaining that to Mr. Yankee Baseball. >>
Stan, we seem to have a large populace of Mr. Yankee Baseball's. I have tried to explain to similar folks why The Affordable Care Act was a folly but they did not listen. I tried to explain why banning real light bulbs in favor of Hazmat bulbs was not a good thing and they would not listen. Why supporting a presidential candidate whose wife and preacher hated America was not wise and they did not listen.
Trying to educate this group about economics really has no chance. Fortunately it provides wonderful trading opportunities when assets get extremely out of whack and go bustoid.
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<< <i>the equivalent of the guy in the sandwich board ringing the bell on the streetcorner, and shouting at all the "robots" going about their lives >>
All of the evidence in the world will not wake some of you up. That's ok. All a person can do is try. When that doesn't work, I guess they get what they have coming to them. >>
I would agree with that. By ignoring the radical cries of the paranoid lunatic fringe, one can very well lead a productive life filled with contentment while building some financial security. >>
Guys like yourself that call people idiots and lunatics for telling the truth are the ones with the real problems. Place your future in the bankers' hands. Go ahead. They have great plans for people like yourself. You have no financial security in the system of manipulation. You are just deceived in to believing you do.
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<< <i>Try explaining that to Mr. Yankee Baseball. >>
Stan, we seem to have a large populace of Mr. Yankee Baseball's. I have tried to explain to similar folks why The Affordable Care Act was a folly but they did not listen. I tried to explain why banning real light bulbs in favor of Hazmat bulbs was not a good thing and they would not listen. Why supporting a presidential candidate whose wife and preacher hated America was not wise and they did not listen.
Trying to educate this group about economics really has no chance. Fortunately it provides wonderful trading opportunities when assets get extremely out of whack and go bustoid. >>
Yes, indeed. Like I said before, the bankers' mainstream media has been very effective on many, but they didn't deceive everyone.
<< <i>Where in all of this were we talking about economics? >>
Good point. Economics no longer have any place in an investment discussion. Perhaps winning craps would be a better description.
Outside of Bloomberg/Cuomo Happy Land we get to defend our holding with constitutionally protected devices.
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<< <i>the equivalent of the guy in the sandwich board ringing the bell on the streetcorner, and shouting at all the "robots" going about their lives >>
All of the evidence in the world will not wake some of you up. That's ok. All a person can do is try. When that doesn't work, I guess they get what they have coming to them. >>
I would agree with that. By ignoring the radical cries of the paranoid lunatic fringe, one can very well lead a productive life filled with contentment while building some financial security. >>
Guys like yourself that call people idiots and lunatics for telling the truth are the ones with the real problems. Place your future in the bankers' hands. Go ahead. They have great plans for people like yourself. You have no financial security in the system of manipulation. You are just deceived in to believing you do. >>
Guys like yourself that think that "their" views and thought are the only "truth" are the ones with the "real" problems. Place your future in unproductive useless rocks. Go ahead. You can at least throw those at the robbers that will come to steal your "physical" home and all of its goods when society breaks down in your cherished dream world. >>
I don't know everything, but I do have common sense and can research how the markets are being manipulated and know a scam when I see one. Those useless rocks sure seem to make the bankers happy. At the same time, they try to brainwash the masses in to investing in their worthless paper manipulation.
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<< <i>"""Place your future in unproductive useless rocks. Go ahead. You can at least throw those at the robbers that will come to steal your "physical" home and all of its goods when society breaks down in your cherished dream world."""
Outside of Bloomberg/Cuomo Happy Land we get to defend our holding with constitutionally protected devices. >>
Just like the French were "defending" their holdings with lawfully protected devices when Hitler overran the entire country and took everything lock stock and barrel in a matter of weeks. >>
Sure. French surrendered before a Nazi got his boot dirty on wet soil. Look to the British if you want to see how a battle is engaged.
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If you "researched" at all, you wouldn't make comments stating that that stocks are "worthless". That is CRAZY CRAZY talk. If you want to say that they are overvalued and have been manipulated upwards in recent years, then you're reaching to the choir. But that is NOT what you said or anything really of the kind. Your comments were altogether an entirely different and nonsensical perspective, unless once again, you believe in the complete impending breakdown of our society. >>
Totally false. Stocks are essentially worthless because they are nothing more than paper that is propped up by market manipulation. The only crazy talk is from people like yourself who fail to understand that fact.
Again; The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
Here is a trick; Place in one hand a gold coin, and in the other, a paper note. Which one is real wealth that has been wealth for thousands of years? Which one is nothing more than a paper scam created by bankers to control and manipulate people? Hmm.... Case closed!