It is my thesis that the inflation, deflation debate is flawed because we no longer have reliable price signals. The overwhelming domination of program trading on various exchanges has fundamentally changed the way prices are created and represented in the economy. All ‘efficient market’ theories are dead.

In place of reliable price signals (based on the supply and demand of buying and selling) we have price signals that are generated by computer algorithms; i.e., computers executing program trading, high frequency trading and algorithmic trading — that account for up to 70% of the trading activity on the NYSE (or 100%, if you consider any shares traded — not involved in program trading — can’t buck the pricing monopoly of the computers).

Program traders have a virtually infinite line of credit, pay virtually zero commissions, and are backed by banks on Wall St. with strong political connections who are ready to bail out any losing bets these computers make.

Plus, the computers are able to do something normal buyers and sellers can’t do. They can pick a price they want a security to trade at and then fill in all the necessary trading volume needed to get the price of the security to that point. In other words, you can program computers to rig markets.

In this new rigged market capitalist model, the corrupt bank picks the price it wants a security to trade at and the computers buy and sell with each other until that price is reached; thus providing an audit trail of trades that looks on the surface like actual price discovery.

• Sorry Wall Street, Your Worst Nightmare Won Re-Election Last Night

• Will Hollywood Go the Way of Enron?

Whether a movie’s stock price rises or falls is considered to be a predictor of the movie’s future success; but Keiser warns that today, the prediction value of market pricing is largely a hoax. Traders using sophisticated computer programs have learned how to manipulate prices, and market rigging has become institutionalized.

“The only difference between the new box office futures contracts being manipulated and blowing up,” he says, “and stocks in companies like Lehman Brothers being manipulated and blowing up, is that people losing their money can imagine getting screwed by Scarlett Johansson instead of Dick Fuld.”

Keiser predicts that his altered HSX computer technology, if approved by the CFTC for use in a real-money exchange, will produce an insider trader’s paradise, with Hollywood going the way of Enron and Lehman Brothers in two years or less.

“But this is what rigged market capitalism is all about,” he says. “It’s not economics really. It’s arson. They bet against a company or a country and then burn it down.”

The IMF Flag reads: ECONOMIC SLAVERY
By Nikos Katzilaki

“The IMF will not have a restricted role” in the recently decided support plan for Greece, because “it wants to insure the control of valuable Greek infrastructures”, alleges economic analyst Max Keiser on international television networks such as the BBC, Al Jazeera and Russia Today.

Often also called an activist, Mr. Keiser created quite a stir a few days ago when, on an Al Jazeera program, he claimed that Greece, for the past decade, has fallen victim to the “economic terrorists” of the Wall Street banking systems and the IMF. In the interview which followed, he claimed “if the Greeks want to be protected from the IMF, then they should nationalize their banks thus establishing government owned institutions so as to revive the banking system”, while at the same time “ceasing to pay back the loans which were issued illegally” via “cooking the books” of the Greek economy by Goldman Sachs. He proposed the expulsion from the country of American banks as well as the IMF. The consequence will be “two or three years of heavy recession”, during which time Greece will be able “to rebuild its economy”, ensuring its economic independence.

Mr. Keiser, what is your opinion concerning the EU decision to support Greece while also including the IMF?

“It is problematic solution, because the IMF isn’t a desirable institution of control for your finances as it will bring with it budget austerity measures which serve the interests of the Wall Street and not the Greek population. Greece has fallen victim to the Wall Street bankers since 2000. The first thing that needs to done is an assessment of the relationships between the Wall Street banks, Greek banks and the Greek government. If the Greeks want to be protected from the IMF, they should immediately nationalize all the banks thereby reviving the banking system and exempting themselves from the unfair austerity measures which are being imposed on them . The people are not the cause of the problem. Why is the Greek population being forced to pay for the actions of corrupt bankers and politicians? This is absurd”.

Is your proposal realistic? Can a country do such a thing within the bounds of the E.U. and the eurozone?

“The Greeks have a good excuse to do so…. Since 2000 all the loans are fraudulent having been issued illegally with the help of Goldman Sachs. Because they were victimized by unscrupulous Wall Street bankers, the Greek government can now cease repaying these fraudulent loans while in the meantime, nationalizing their banking system. A crime has been committed that should be compensated for by Goldman Sachs and the other Wall Street banks.”

France believes the existing economic rules of the Eurozone should be withdrawn and replaced by new rules based on current conditions. Do you agree?

“A stranger is applying their policy in the Eurozone. The question is, why is Germany and Trichet of the ECB allowing the IMF to come in and start controlling eurozone matters? This is a tyranny because they are allowing a foreign entity to come in and dictate Eurozone policies.

Germany has proven that it doesn’t care at all about Greece and that it is more interested in what’s going on in London. Meanwhile, Germany uses Greece to do its dirty work because it actually wants the IMF to redefine eurozone banking regulations.

It (Germany) wants a shock factor as it is really seeking exchange equivalence with Britain. Greece now finding itself caught in the middle of this game and should say “That’s it! No more!” , the debts were created fraudulently and we demand compensation from Wall Street! We want our money back, we want it now and there is no more room for discussion concerning the matter.”

It is said of course, the presence of the IMF in Europe will be limited.

“That’s what is said, however, looking at the history of the IMF, there is not a single example of its having a limited involvement in any country in which it was called into operation. It (IMF) went in and imposed austerity measures which benefited the Wall Street banks. It will enslave you economically.

Show me one country in which the IMF had a limited presence and operated responsibly. Whoever believes the IMF will have a limited role, such as the propaganda the Mass Media reports, should be ashamed as the history of the IMF is not being referred to. It’s role will be limited only if Greece adheres to the austerity measures. Meanwhile, it will be impossible for the Greeks to follow the measures and once that happens, from that point on… the IMF will have a major role. It is somehow believed the IMF will say to the people “Conform to the measures and you will exit the crisis.” One would be crazy to believe it would happen like that though. The IMF wants to ensure control of the valuable Greek ports and then to sell them.

The Greek people will lose control of the infrastructure of the country, the ports and the industry tied with it. All of this will be lost and it (IMF) will then take the gained assets which it created and lease them out. This is called slavery. Therefore, if the Greeks don’t revolt, they will loose there economic independence. The Greek government is not doing enough to stop the hawks.

Decide how you want to live.

What consequences will there be if Greece throws out the elements that you have mentioned?

There will be consequences, but the questions is do you want to live as human beings or as slaves? If you want to live freely, you will have to fight for your freedom and there will be consequences. Or… you can surrender your children and your grandchildren to the IMF as slaves. Those are the choices. You either take bitter medicine now or you prostitute your children to the IMF.

If Greece decides to rid itself of the IMF and Goldman Sachs now, the consequence will be that for two or three years there will be a severe recession. However, this time will allow for the rebuilding of the Greek economy. Why doesn’t the Greek government block Goldman Sachs from its country as they have admitted to cooking the books of the economy? In other words, Greece can state it wants each and every Goldman Sachs representative expelled or to stay and face the law for economic fraud.

From Mr. Max Keiser.
Sir, Caveat Emptor. George Soros is speaking his mind again. But before buying into his euro analysis (“The euro will face bigger tests than Greece” February 22), keep in mind that at Davos this year Mr. Soros talked about gold as the “ultimate bubble”. Less than two months later, it was revealed that he had doubled his gold stake.
Sure, Mr Soros can turn a phrase and sound quite erudite at times, but ask yourself: is he walking the walk or talking his book?

Max Keiser
Paris, France

The website Mininova, one of the freedom fighters for free speech and innovation in the land of permissiveness, progressive politics and tolerance — the Netherlands — is getting harassed by a scared Dutch government kowtowing to the post 9-11 civil- and human-rights-infringing, copyright-cartel lobbyists in Washington and Hollywood.

Read the rest (and comment) at Huffington Post

Britain is completely on the wrong side of this issue. Copyrights are the public’s rights to help manage the public’s intellectual property. A limited period of time, like 28 years (per the original Constitutional statute), giving individuals monopoly rights over intellectual property is the outer most boundary of time that a society invested in the speech rights and intellectual rights of its people would allow in good conscience. Britain, and it is easy to understand, given the massive cock ups of this Labor government, is allowing themselves to be steered by the copyright cartel just like they allow themselves to be strong armed by the banking, pharmaceutical, and defense industries.

Read more here at Huffington Post

One of the last monopolies in America – one that appears somewhat resistant to the deflationary pressures of the general economy is Hollywood.

Pirate Myfilm has the ability to disintermediate much of what adds costs to the films that make their way to theaters as such bloated behemoths. The talent agencies; WMA, CAA and ICM control the pricing of the talent and this in turn exerts control over production and distribution. But as the Internet creates ‘stars’ outside of the Hollywood system we see the emergence of a new entertainment industry. The only thing missing is a correspondingly creative way to finance media properties that also lives outside the studios and their extremely cosy banking relationships.

To read more click here

Read more here

Read the rest of my blog at PirateMyFilm

beta.piratemyfilm.com

The top project at the moment is Stacy’s  – - ON THE ROAD.

The Casino Gulag model works as follows:

First, the huge debts incurred by consumers around the world and most particularly in the US and UK will continue to increase in size. The price of credit (interest rates) will never rise enough to change the behaviour of debt addicts plus, the Federal Government will, vis a vis the ongoing bailouts and restructuring of the public and private markets, transfer tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded pension and Medicare/Medicaid liabilities – that are now hidden from view due to ‘off the books accounting’ – onto the public’s balance sheet by selling these debts to America’s biggest creditors; China, Japan, and the Mid East countries.

America will be surprised to wake up one day and find that each one of them owes these creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of the hundreds of thousans they alrady owe on mortgages, credit cards and cars.  Aiding in this ‘bait and switch’ will be the religious supremacists in America who will push a revisionist message transforming the meaning of the concept of ‘original sin’ to be interpreted as ‘original debt’ meaning that to be born into debt is to be disabused of any doubt of God’s (read: Visa’s) existence.

America already has the biggest and fastest growing prison population in the world and these prisons, like America’s various wars of convenience, are hugely profitable for the private prison operators here and abroad. Why not extend the prison brand and lifestyle beyond rap music and lopsided baseball caps to include all the amenities of the casino industry?

How?  The growing prison population; expanding due to law changes that will criminalize all late payments, will be given cheap online accounts and free gifts of dollars from the government to speculate on online casinos sponsored by the Golden Nugget and Goldman Sachs.

‘Justice’ will be in the hands of the prisoner who will not be collecting their winnings in the form of cash, but in seconds, days, and weeks lopped off their prison sentences. Losses will result in prison term extensions. ‘Justice’ itself will be taken public on NASDAQ; ticker symbol, JSTC.

The return of time for dollars, per this model, will be very profitable for the Golden Nugget-Goldman Sachs axis of prison gulag debt slave underwriters on Wall St.

Additionally, a gulag-casino reality TV show that features debt slaves winning their freedom with winning bets can add to the bottom line. As long as the MSM and gulag-casino operators push the idea that everyone in prison has a ‘fair’ chance of gambling their way out of prison, Americans will never question the underlying premise that the only way this works; the only way this model ‘grows’ the economy is to incarcerate everyone will never be questioned.

No worries! You actually believed there was a problem when Paulson and Bernanke threatened Congress last year with Martial Law; to blast the U.S. economy back to the 16th century; to crash the market unless ransom was paid requiring each American to fork over $100,000, give or take, in impossible-to-payback future loans today to add to the hundreds of thousands of dollars each American already owes forever?

HAHAHA. It’s all good, bro. Goldman Sachs and the other cruel sisters of syphilitic lending are reporting huge profits and bonuses. Analysts are begging Wall St. to raise their debt ratios and risk profiles to increase leverage to thousands of times equity back to where it was before their competition BearSteans and Lehman Brothers were murdered. The bubble machine is whipping up cash like cotton candy machines at the end of an endless pier stretched over an ocean of easy credit, pay check loans and Cash for Clunkers.

All efforts to remove the investment banking tapeworm from our collective colon have failed, but that’s a good thing. We poked the monster at 85 Broad St. and made it angrier and greedier in ways never thought possible and daddy’s feeling fine. Ain’t no audit going on at the Fed, bud. I’m so happy I could just plotz. You’re gonna LOVE what happens next. Insatiable greed meets infinite moral hazard when Goldman eats the Fed.

We’re on the cusp of another financial eclipse. The Shadow of Wall St.’s banking pyramid is covering the U.S. dollar in a blanket of Chinese sell orders.

Embrace the moment. While Wall St. has been off-loading last year’s crooked schemes: CDOs, High Frequency Trading, and Ponzi profits engineered by pilot-less computers firing a million trades a second into the heart of capitalism. A whole new generation is waiting in the wings to get cold-called from Wall St. and sold a few thousand shares of today’s hot IPO:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT.N), which buys distressed home loans and is run by several former Countrywide Financial Corp executives, on Wednesday raised $320 million from an initial public offering, $80 million less than planned.
The Calabasas, California-based company sold 16 million shares at $20 each. It had on July 16 projected an offering of 20 million shares at $20 each. The company had also said it hoped to raise $400 million from the offering. The company plans to operate as a real estate investment trust. Its shares are expected to begin trading on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PMT.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc arranged the IPO.

Your neighbor will be ‘making a killing’ as re-re-re-repackaged sub-sub-sub-prime debts bought from the government – who bought them from Goldman – who bought them from the government before skyrocketing from $20 to $2,000 while you relax aboard the Virgin Galactic to outer space.

The CCX (Chicago Climate Exchange) owned in part by the same double dealing banks that have been rigging the game in New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow and all points in between invites you to play in the carbon futures market. In the UK, DTQs (Domestic Tradable Quotas) give homeless people a swipe card that will top up with credits as a result of having relatively minuscule carbon ‘footprints.’ Greed and good will finally be trading side-by-side 24/7 and anyone looking to hedge their wickedness can go long altruism for pennies on the dollar.

Political futures will become much bigger as state economies fail and gambling becomes legalized. Sites like InTrade that offer ways for punters to make political bets will bloom. Some bet that Obama would be President when his chances were less than 5% did and made a bundle. The McCain camp tried to manipulate that market. Remember? But you knew that. That’s why you shorted McCain at the top!

Hollywood futures will be much bigger. Look for studios to sabotage each other’s projects by short selling and ‘naked’ short selling competing projects on the Cantor Exchange to drive the perception of a film’s popularity down before it’s released. No problem, just spend more on marketing. More money will be made trading box office futures than at the box office. Inside information will become legal. Milton Friedman will rise from the dead and advise the Honduran government. Brat Pitt will star.

High Frequency Trading (HFT) aka ‘flash trading’ will continue to grow exponentially. Trading will become so fast, time itself will have a public offering after Microsoft secures a patent on it and trading time futures will catapult traders backwards and forwards through time until they need bailouts on debts they have not yet incurred. Tim Geithner will sell his house in Larchmont.

Cloning time traders will get Congressional approval confusing the boundary between time and money further causing Warren Buffet to pass a kidney stone that looks exactly like Larry Ellison. Time Bandits will steal the DNA of time trading clones and sell the proprietary code to a Japanese housewife who will use it to crash the Icelandic Krona (again) because she thinks she’s over paying for a plate of sushi in Reykjavik.

People will start taking themselves public on new Citizen Exchanges created by Obama; commit public sex acts to boost their stock price then short themselves before committing suicide to cash in out-of-the-money puts they bought on themselves. As a result, the porn industry will need a bailout.

Babies will abort themselves to avoid declaring bankruptcy on charges racked up on in vitro credit cards force-sold to them by Visa through their Verizon owned umbilical cords.

Facebook and Twitter will go public and will each have market caps bigger than Google causing the NASDAQ to shoot to all time new highs. Users will tweet and blog for insider stock. Perez Hilton will become a billionaire. The more you look in the mirror the more you get paid. Narcissism will get monetized by the Feds with some help by Nassim Taleb.

Thanks Lloyd Blankfein, current CEO of Goldman Sachs and future President of the United States. We are eternally in your debt.

• ‘Plain Old Slavery’ in America

• Max Keiser:  The Shadow Banking Pyramid (Huffington Post)

• Blankfein deflects ‘backlash’ by paying Geithner loans in full

• Banning ‘naked’ credit default swaps may raise corporate funding costs

• Fugitive Credit Suisse banker found in Spain

• Wells Fargo sells $600 million in toxic assets for 35 cents on the dollar

• Downing Street backs JP Morgan ‘executive,’ Tony Blair, for EU presidency

• FTSE jumps 3 pc on hopes of recovery

• VIX advances 3.5 pc as fear grows (h/t Phil)
  

“That is remarkable,” Randy Frederick, head of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas, said of the tandem move by the S&P 500 and VIX today. “The VIX is expecting something here, either a pull back this afternoon or tomorrow.”