Wonder how many times that's been covered up in the US already.

Typo alert: or you market

Daily Mail is quite the fishwrap, but Paul Myners' comments were stupid.

Will this lead to public musings about where are the other ****roaches? As Pika-Steph said in another post, "this ain't no stick save". unless the stick is being saved in a particular anatomical location where the sun doesn't shine.

Futures don't seem to be under too much pressure. ES is down about 6.

Maybe there will be some concerted effort on Tuesday with the Fed meeting.

FIRE!

at whom?

Asimov: The US currency blew out a few times in the 1790's and 1800's and one of those is what caused the gov to forget the constitution and put in place the federal reserve.

The problems with over-spending during the Vietnam war and the great society programs, had the USA dollar backing blowing up in the 1960's, so we took the last security (gold backing) off the USA dollar and reneged Brenton Woods.

We have been running with only the 'full faith' behind the dollar since then, and the other central banks give us a wink and a nod, as do we for them.

Quote:

But 60-year-old Lord Myners was accused last night of being 'completely irresponsible' for admitting the scale of the crisis while the recession was still deepening and major institutions such as Barclays remain under intense pressure.

Okay, I didn't get the newspaper story's use of the passive voice here in "was accused." By whom? It's further down in the story:

Quote:

Ruth Lea, economic adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group, said last night that it was 'highly irresponsible' for Lord Myners to reveal the scale of the problems because it could serve to further wreck already fragile levels of confidence.

Then again, the first quote says "completely" and the second says "highly."

I'd say this story is a case of either "completely" or "highly" muddled journalism.

hey dude: that's why we are supposed to have "independent" central banks.
but we obviously don't...

Quote:

hey dude: that's why we are supposed to have "independent" central banks.
but we obviously don't...

central banks are supposed to be independent from the federal government.

if you look at the construction, makeup, and who runs and controls the federal reserve, it is independent of the federal government, and that necessarily isn't a good thing.

they aren't "independent" at all in terms of making policy based on unbiased or neutral opinions. if that's what you meant, then they certainly aren't independent.

FIRE! AS IN: "THERE IS A FIRE" "RUN FOR THE EXITS!"

Again,

The Central Banks are there to fleece the public. Period. Get that through your heads.

It's called "Federal" Reserve so the sheeple don't ask uncomfortable questions like:

"Why do private shareholders control the USA's money supply and why can't we audit its books".

It's a scam. The biggest lies hide in plain sight. Think like a criminal.

OK....I'm confused. I'm a pretty intelligent guy but sometimes on this forum I
feel like a 2nd grader in a college calculus class.

I've read all the posts the past few days about Gen's idea for a government CDS sticksave. Sounds like a great idea and I was ready to plop down some money on XLF, FAS etc. if this idea gets legs. Now I read this Great Britain bankruptcy stuff and everybody is calling for a crash.

Could someone show a Newb some love and let me know their opinions on how this plays out? What if we get the CDS sticksave AND Britain goes under? Is this even possible? Any thoughts how to play it?

MITCH ALBOM
The worst lies of all? The ones you expect
BY MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • January 25, 2009

There's a movie trailer out for "Sunshine Cleaning" in which a father gives his daughter a sign for her new company. The sign says she has been in business "since 1963."

"It's a lie," the daughter says.

"Yeah," he answers, "but it's a business lie. It's not the same as a life lie."

I think we've become a country that believes that. We accept business lies. We almost expect them. In the past week alone, I've heard about:

• A frequent-flier program that has started charging up to $150 to use your free miles. They call it a service or activation fee. But, of course, that's a lie, designed to squeeze money out of something once promised as free.

• A credit card company that changed the rules on a lifetime low interest rate. Suddenly, the minimum payment has been doubled. If you can't afford it, that's OK, you can go back to the old minimum payment -- provided you accept a new, higher interest rate. The old promise became a new lie.

There is news every day of how banks that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program are failing to lend it, or never should have gotten it in the first place. We were told that without it, the banks would fail and credit would never loosen. But with it, credit has not loosened, and some banks have used the money to simply enrich themselves and purchase more assets.

A business lie.

A motormouth in action
Now, I'm not saying we never get upset at such things. But we get much angrier over a football coach not getting fired or a New York governor hiring a prostitute. We will argue that stuff on the airwaves, over watercoolers. We'll scream until we're blue.

But celebrity lies or sports lies don't affect our lives. Business lies do. They affect many aspects of it. And yet we seem to shrug and sigh, "Ah, what are you gonna do?"

As such, big business has created a world in which lies are a tactic. It knows people aren't going to react. It assumes most people will just turn the cheek and take the slap. It knows exactly what it's doing when it plays a recording saying a "heavy call volume" is delaying your phone call or tells you the special sale item you came in for just -- coincidentally -- sold out.

Does anybody really believe a business ad anymore? Or is it assumed that at least part of it is a lie (which is why those TV announcers mumble lightning-fast disclaimers at the end)?

Isn't it just assumed that a bank's mortgage will have a bunch of hidden fees? Or that a phone bill advertised will include so many assorted niggling charges, you couldn't see the promised low rate with a telescope?

The little lies of business lead to the larger lies of business, which lead to the whoppers. The Bernard Madoff scandal, which cost investors billions of dollars. The Enron scandal, which shook the entire financial world.

Now, it seems, the TARP will be judged by history as a boondoggle for many financial firms, which took the money with no strings attached and balked when anyone suggested they reveal what they did with it.

Because that would require telling the truth.

A crime is a crime is crime
But, folks, as long as we accept lies as part of doing business, we are going to get lying businesses. We need to get indignant. We need to change laws. We will jail a common thief for robbing a liquor store far longer than we'll jail a CEO for robbing thousands of investors.

Why? Why shouldn't white-collar crime be as serious as drug trafficking or manslaughter? Don't both crimes ruin lives, destroy families, even lead to deaths? How often have we read in recent weeks about suicides by people who were overwhelmed by business trauma? Don't kid yourself that a white collar can't run blood red.

And yet we shrug and bite the bullet. We accept no truth in advertising. We accept all those weird assorted charges on a cable or phone bill. We accept multinational banks -- who view us as stupid little people -- taking our tax money and delivering nothing in return.

At a time when people are scraping for their last nickels, this kind of behavior is not only inexcusable, it's abhorrent, immoral and should be much more illegal.

When that movie father tells his daughter, "It's a business lie. It's not the same as a life lie" -- the truth is, he's right.

It's worse.

Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com.

I am shocked. Somebody in a leadership role lying the the people. Where will it end?
Actually the arrogance of these people make them believe they are doing whats best for others and in this case lies are order of the day. The sheep don't need to know and even if they realize there being lied to, indignation will wane and they will soon be back to grazing. So sad.

Britain Goes Under There Is No Stopping Anything ...

Comrade Ludwig,

I will give the Cliffs Notes version:

Too much debt. It's a mathematical certainty that this whole house of cards is in the process of collapsing. Most economies are going to crater, bleed-out and simply flatline.

Then we start over.

The USA's level of civil unrest will pale in comparison with others.

-Comrade EMB

FWIW; Thinking; If This is Being Leaked Today ... Is That Like a Final "Fair Warning?"

Thanks Widgeon & Emb! So even if Obama does the Gen CDS sticksave it will only
give a temporary bump in the markets. And if Britain goes boom it won't matter
what they do as we're going down immediately after, correct? I guess all the bullish talk on the CDS sticksave posts threw me a little....

Hey, it's ALWAYS JMO ... I Could Be Wrong.

Understood Widgeon. I'm here to learn and I appreciate your input...

Dude59: Sorry, I meant in the last year or so. Then covered up like it apparently was in the UK.

[Edit: Ok, how did I manage to double post that... ?]

Massive rally Monday.