naked capitalism

Glen says:

The HFTs have nothing to worry about. Getting wacked by the SEC is like being slapped by a wet tissue.

Bates says:

RE: “U.S. Avoids Recession as Data Can’t Get Much Worse”

This Bloomberg article wins the award for the most optomistic cheerleading comments compiled in one short article…also the most out of context quotes in one place.

Interesting that no opinions from businessmen on the Main St front lines were included in the article. No box occupants were quoted. No one on extended unemployment was consulted. No one working longer and harder for less money was asked. No one with a job offer in Alaska but unable to move because their home in NY cannot be sold even at a steep discount. No small businessmen that have been bankrupted by giganto-marts selling only items at manipulated price points.

What did the citizens expect Bernanke to say? ‘The economy is in the tank and getting worse’? Don’t hold your breath waiting for that one. How many examples of governments declaring ‘we are bankrupt and are handing over power to a constitutional assembly’ are there?

When almost all asset class prices are being controlled by the central bankers and gov fiscal policy why would economic indicators continue to matter?

Now comes an inkling that stats propping up MBS (actual real estate sales prices vs reported re sales prices) might be fudged as well. Would confirmation of this story surprise anyone?

“Are Existing Home Prices Overrepresented By Up To 40%?”

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/are-existing-home-prices-overrepresented-40

charles says:

Peak oil must be the reason why the DOD, being the largest consumer in the world, rather ‘prefers’ staying close to its suppliers; Irak, 12% of world’s oil reserves

attempter says:

Re Peak Oil and democracy:

There’s little to no chance oil will be apportioned in the future in any way other than the way it’s apportioned now, by ability to pay, with no rational distribution criteria whatsoever.

Of course, contrary to the drivel cited in that piece, that state of affairs already has nothing whatsoever to do with “free markets” or “democracy”, but rather with their subversion.

In a real free market oil, a finite natural resource, would never have been privatized, nor would its price be left to “the market”. It might sound paradoxical, but in a real free market things which cannot be rationally and equitably distributed by the market wouldn’t be left to it, where they inevitably become market failures and corrupt the entire market.

And in a real democracy such a critical strategic resource would have remained owned and closely overseen by the public.

So the article contains totalitarian code. When they say “Peak Oil may lead to anti-free market, anti-democratic rationing”, it’s really a signal that “we the elite had better step up our ongoing anti-free market, anti-democratic rationing by wealth and power, since oil supply is soon going to be constrained.”

Re Wikileaks:

Here’s another example of a stark defining line, which separates true citizen advocates and activists from elitist hacks.

Even among the “true progressives” who have rejected Obama, there’s been a lot of visceral hostility toward Assange and Wikileaks. Even they blanch at the proposition that the elites and their system have no right to ANY secrets; that ALL elite secrets are the property of the people and must be dragged into the sunshine, however much these criminals resist the shining of light onto their crimes.

So here we see how liberals, even the best of them, are indelibly elitist. After all, what’s the difference between a socialist or anarchist and even the best liberal? The former wants true democracy and worker control of the means of production; the liberal still wants elite control, elite monopoly of the produce, and then some trickling down.

The only difference between the Obama hack and the “true progressive” is that the latter may be sincere about wanting trickle-down to work. But he still has his “Obama Line” which he won’t cross. At that line he flips and sides with the elites. The elite monopoly of secrets is clearly part of that line for many of them, and the way Wikileaks challenges it goes over that line.

MyLessThanPrimeBeef says:

That heavey white powder on the face might mean that this is a Kabuki Tiger.

Stephanie says:

Re: renting vs. owning:

I’d think privacy is a driving for a lot of people pursuing ownership vs. continuing to rent, especially for a lot of people who were themselves raised in single-family homes and associate that lifestyle with “normal” family life.

Regarding flaky landlords: before we landed in our current situation my husband and I looked at a number of owner-occupied duplexes and it was clear to me that for most of those situations we wouldn’t be considered because we had children. Our current landlord doesn’t live in the building so the kids were a non-issue for him, but we’ve had complaints about them over the years from the steady stream of new neighbors in the other unit.

Immigration status seems to be an issue for other landlords in our neighborhood. For instance, the woman who owns the building next door appears to have two different leases she uses, one for native-born citizens and the other for immigrants. The latter stipulates that renters are not allowed to have overnight guests (even relatives), they are not allowed to have parties that last after 10 p.m., etc. While I’m aware there’s probably a huge amount of discrimination in lending for immigrants, I don’t know anyone whose mortgage makes those kinds of stipulations concerning personal life.

Nat says:

(spied this item on the net just now)

Joe Ortiz Exposes !

Joe Ortiz exposes some dishonest rapture gimmicks in his Apr. 10, 2010 “End Times Passover.”
Go there and read “Pretrib Rapture Secrecy”!