Debt ceilings and oil rallies

September 8th, 2009 by stacyherbert

Stacy Summary: Hopefully Mike/Liverpool’s thing of beauty will happen soon so we can move past that . . . !  And please please let’s talk about some financial news headlines and lay off the lizard people stuff for just one night.  Unless you are being paid to post such comments, of course; don’t want to put you out of a job in these tough times.

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175 responses so far ↓

  • ray
    Sep 8, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    heck, raise it to 20 trillion save some time. Slow death picks up speed

  • MAJMUN
    Sep 8, 2009 at 9:47 pm

    Dear Esteemed Chairman and Savior of the World Economy:

    On behalf of your many Chinese friends and all of the Chinese people, we wish to congratulate you on your recent reappointment as Chairman of the American Federal Reserve. We could not be more pleased to know that the man who saved the value of our Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities last year will be the Great Monetary Helmsman for another four years.

    We also note with satisfaction, and admiration, your many recent assurances, via the Wall Street Journal and various eloquent speeches, that you and the Fed have no intention of permitting a revival of dollar inflation. This is a source of great reassurance to the Chinese people, not to mention the bureaucracy in Beijing that made the decision to invest $1 trillion or more in dollar-denominated securities.

    As you can imagine, this has become a source of some political controversy inside the government of the People’s Republic, as we have also noted it has become in the irresponsible American financial press. Fortunately, we don’t have the latter problem. But please know that we share your disdain for any voices in the unpatriotic media who would question your resolve to maintain the value of the world’s reserve currency.

    At the same time, and with the deepest respect, we also note with concern your decision this year to purchase U.S. Treasurys, which directly monetizes the debt built up by irresponsible democratic politicians. (This is one reason we Chinese are so skeptical of democracy; it always leads to a welfare state!) We must admit that that Treasury decision caught us by surprise, considering the many lectures over the years from our American friends about the importance of an independent central bank. Then again, the last year has seen America do many things that we once thought a capitalist economy would never do, wouldn’t you agree?

    With this in mind, we have decided to hedge our dollar bets and buy gold, oil and other commodities which will rise in value if the dollar falls. You may have therefore noticed that oil has risen above $71 a barrel, despite slack global demand, and in particular that gold has climbed this week above $1,000 an ounce.

    Perhaps you have seen reports that we Chinese are doubling our reserves of gold and buying other related metals. Please do not be alarmed. This is the normal process of diversification that any trillion-dollar creditor would take, just in case the Federal Reserve’s definition of an “extended period” for monetary easing turns out to be even more extended than we already assume it will be. We will only be too happy to cease this flight from dollar assets when we observe your determination to tighten money; surely this must be why President Obama selected you over the distinguished White House economic adviser, Lawrence Summers.

    Once again, on behalf of all of the Chinese people, our heartiest congratulations.

    Sincerely,

    Ministry of Finance

    Beijing

  • Tofu Charlie
    Sep 8, 2009 at 10:46 pm

    Follow-up on story about well-heeled Pakistan residents upset with Blackwater mercenaries moving into their neighbourhood… it seems they had local security forces raid the house, arrest the alleged Blackwater ringleader and deport him for consorting with the Taliban. Then the US state dept has him returned a few weeks later! “Lizard People!”

    http://ringobot.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/pakistani-tv-also-sick-of-suspicious-foreigners/

  • Dedo
    Sep 8, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    @Frances,……It’s being brought to the publics attention, that everything is being centralized. That’s for sure!

  • max keiser
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:06 am

    i come in about :39 of this vid on RT

  • sharon
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:21 am

    Just been listening to the radio news and apparantly we’re out of recession (again) and our employment is beginning to go up. Oh goody!
    Also heard a snippet of an interview with Greenspan in which he stated that the problem is human nature, that no matter the type of recession (deep or whatever) it is always human nature that is to blame and that if we don’t change human nature we will continue to see recessions. So all this is our fault – nothing at all to do with oligarchs or weapons of financial destruction, no, no, no. WE are very naughty children.
    Also, here in the UK we have to severely cut back on our greenhouse gases (90% by 2050) in order to enable people to continue flying…Oh, but the gov still wants to expand Heathrow Airport (bloody hypocrites) and who’s to bet that there’ll still be a class of people flying here, there and everywhere and driving big posh cars whilst the rest of us go back to the middle ages -we’ll be using buckets and mangles soon (for the men out there that’s what they used to use to do the laundry).
    Don’t see why we can’t all have solar panels….Oh, silly me – they can’t charge for the sun can they? Oh well that’ll never get a look in then.
    Nice bit of bullshit to start the day off.

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:28 am

    Good day Max: It appears that the G-2, G-8 and G-20 nations are stalling the fiat currency collapse by supporting yet another fiat currency: the SDR….as you so eloquently pointed this out so many moons ago…I wonder if the fiscal government debt to GDP ratio can be tolerated for each country as it nears 200% as is the case with Japan…with the Chinese imminent offering of sovereign bonds denominated in their own currency in the near future to foreigners, can the demise of the SDR be already in the mix? Even as the Chinese purchase $50 billion in IMF bonds…???? I have just purchased 100 silver ounces..wish my puny economic status could afford 100 gold ones instead….I am content…So Max will the bond rating agencies be coerced into permitting countries to approach and surpass the 200% ration I mentioned without readjusting the AAA rating?????

  • Dedo
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:30 am

    @sharon,………..Mangles,…I thought they were sweets!!

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:40 am

    @Sharon: “…good morning Morgantown…”…there that should satisfy both you and Phil( the Joni Mitchell admirer)…once again you are experiencing too much electronic media overload….back away from the telly……If you like I’ll send you either an adults or kids version of my daughter’s Yoga DVDs…breath….the folks behind the curtain are still there….the positive MSM statements of economic prosperity will continue…remember my bud Dano once asked me as we drove along the only road on Molokai in 1979: “do you think the government will let us know if a depression begins?” Well sweetie the greatest depression ( see Gerald Celente) is well under way…hold on to your knickers and your gardening spade…

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:42 am

    @Sharon and Dedo” Mangles…is that a washboard??? been there done that

  • stacyherbert
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:51 am

    @Tofu Charlie – great link re: the Blackwater lizards gentrifying the hood in Afpak (as it’s now known since the yuppies moved in)

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:55 am

    @Sherbert: wishing you every success w/ PMF fund raising and the eventual taping and screening of OTR

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:58 am

    Everyone: Just a short esoteric reminder today is 09/09/09….may the omens be kind

  • Dedo
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:58 am

    Sherbert,……..good nick name Richard,…..

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 12:59 am

    @Dedo: not originally mine check out her PMF web name:Sherbert

  • stacyherbert
    Sep 9, 2009 at 1:02 am

    @Dedo – I really wish you hadn’t mentioned pink elephants . . . now everyone knows.

    @buddhabob – Max lived in Harlem for a few years in the late seventies/early eighties, well before Bill moved in; so once a Harlemite, always a Harlemite and so he sees Superfly everywhere. But I will tell him that you had mentioned Superfly! Let’s see what he says about that in this weekend’s Truth About Markets.

  • sharon
    Sep 9, 2009 at 1:42 am

    @Richard……..thank you for your words of wisdom, though you failed on the definition of a mangle, tis not a wash board, it is a device with 2 big rollers next to each other through which an article of clothing is placed and then a handle is turned so that the rollers turn round pulling the article of clothing through and squeezing out the excess liquid (I remember using my grandmothers as a child – she had a twin tub washer/spinner so didn’t need it anymore but it sat in the garden where I played with it as a child). Anyway, you are difinitely right about the information overload and my brother has already given me some dvd’s in order that I take up yoga – I will do. Btw, sorry for assuming you didn’t like the word “kids” – I must have misinterpreted one of your previous posts (I’m good at that).

    @Dedo……….I didn’t expect anything less from you quite frankly.

  • sharon
    Sep 9, 2009 at 1:49 am

    @Richard…………re: 09/09/09.

    Talking about the internet there have been lots of postings in anticipation of this day. People assume that because the last biggest attack took place on 9/11 (emergency number for the US) the next biggest attack in the UK will be on 9/9/09 (999 is the emergency number for the UK). I’m not worried, too many premonitions never come true.

  • Richard@lattitude30N
    Sep 9, 2009 at 5:03 am

    @Sharon: Oh yes a mangle…owned one and used one in 1979/80 on Molokai…somehow my parents found one for us…I was married at the time, living in a jungle coffee shack half mile up Wailua Valley….we had a propane gas hot water heater too that we washed all the tie dyed diapers,dishes and tub too…water was gravity fed from the river upstream….oh the good ol’ days…yes Sharon life was a lot simpler once upon a time…glad you are focused on yoga DVDs…..currently listening to Max discuss the Chinese put….I feel I’ve been massaged into finally coming to terms that the fiat currency is on the wane( g-d bless G. Edwin Griffin and his expose on the FED)…and Max is perfectly spot on….it’s the speculators v. the savers….so I am preparing and investing in silver Lakota rounds…& readying to move to the 2 wooded acres up country…

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