thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
Some things to know about the Swine Flu. -TheStatedTruth.com Swine Flu: Costs of a Crisis? James Anderson Apr 27, 2009 I don’t want to belittle the risk at the moment or the suffering of victims, but there’s been some research recently published that explains a lot about how the flu spreads. A paper published in [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
As if there wasn’t enough for us to worry about already,………. From Bloomberg: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. is worried about the “unthinkable” in Pakistan – – that the Taliban and al-Qaeda could topple the government, giving them “the keys to the nuclear arsenal.” Clinton, in an interview with Fox News last [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
More of the same for economies around the world……………..Japan Cuts Economic Forecast to 3.3% Decline, Worst on Record. Japan’s government lowered its economic forecast, saying gross domestic product will shrink a record 3.3 percent this fiscal year as exports and corporate spending tumble at an unprecedented pace. The Cabinet Office cut the estimate today from [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
This may be of interest to everyone concerning the Suspected Swine Influenza A (H1N1) Virus……………PURE Bioscience (NASDAQ: PURE), creators of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, confirmed today that all EPA-registered SDC-based disinfectants meet the recommendations by the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for infection control for care of patients with confirmed [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
This is an excellent article from the Sunday NY Times, we should all read it, and Thank Our Lucky Stars……………….(the current best seller book, “Outliers,” by Malcolm Gladwell) explains the following very well. Although people are often quick to ascribe their own success to skill and hard work, even those qualities entail heavy elements of luck. Debate continues [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
Key points made by John Mauldin in his most recent newsletter “Thoughts From The Frontline”……..Back to the Future Recession, The trend is not your friend when it ends! John Mauldin thinks the country could re-enter a recession in 2010 and 2011; we would go right back into it when those (new) tax hikes start to hit. [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
Listen up everyone, lets hope this isn’t the early stages of a global pandemic………………..U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu. American health officials on Sunday declared a public health emergency over increasing cases of swine flu, saying that they had confirmed 20 cases of the disease in the United States and expected to see more [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
This doesn’t sound good……….summer time flu! April 24, 2009 This just in from Bloomberg…….Deadly Swine Flu Strikes Mexico, California, Texas Swine flu struck hundreds people in Mexico City, California and Texas, raising the threat of pandemic. At least 68 died and more than 1,000 became sick with flu- like symptoms in the Mexico City region in [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 27, 2009
“If you think that you can be a beneficiary of some commodity strategies, just stick with it in the downturn,” says John J. Licata, chief investment strategist at Blue Phoenix Inc., adding “you’ll be all the better for it.” Bullish on gold, platinum, palladium and natural gas, John is anything but bullish on the recovery, [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
Some interesting questions from Andy Kessler………………Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke needs to spell out how he plans to head off hyperinflation. The Fed has been cranking money out like water over Niagara Falls. The monetary base has increased by a trillion dollars in just the last six months. And he’s not done, furiously printing dollars [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
Rick Ackerman checks in with his resourceful and out of the box thoughts……. We once wrote here that white collar workers would someday be jealous of their mailman. It would appear that that day has finally arrived. Read on. -TheStatedTruth.com Why Working Stiffs Envy the Mailman By: Rick Ackerman – Posted Thursday, 23 April 2009 [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
The following cartoon is from the 1934 Chicago Tribune. Does it sound familiar? -TheStatedTruth.com
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
Hmm…….. U.S. banks may need another $1 trillion in capital to cushion losses , not a surprise, or is it? -TheStatedTruth.com Banks May Need $1 Trillion After U.S. Tests, KBW Says By Andrew Frye April 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. banks may need another $1 trillion in capital to cushion losses as unemployment rises and borrowers [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
Interesting thoughts from days past……………maybe we should pay attention here! -TheStatedTruth.com The Power of Gold April 23, 2009 “Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
If I were a BofA shareholder, I’d say fire them all…………….This from The Wall Street Journal. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Department chief Henry Paulson pressured Bank of America Corp. to not discuss its increasingly troubled plan to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. — a deal that later triggered a government bailout of [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
This can’t be good…………..From Bloomberg. A record number of empty homes across the U.S. will depress rents, the largest item in the Labor Department’s consumer price index, into 2010, analysts said. “There’s just so much slack in the economy, including the high level of vacancies, that the Fed doesn’t need to worry about inflation for [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
Hmm………………this looks like more unintended consequences because of government actions! The head of Greenwich Financial Services LLC warned bond investors in Washington last month that government efforts to reverse the housing slump are doing more harm than good by undermining debt contracts. More than 30 money managers with stakes in the $6.7 trillion mortgage bond [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
I would suspect that as the real estate price decline moderates to the down side, that sellers will come out of the wood work putting a cap on much, if any price rise!…………..California and Florida metropolitan areas led the U.S. in foreclosures in the first quarter as unemployment and falling property values deepened the housing [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 26, 2009
When General Electric speaks, people listen……….. From The Wall Street Journal-General Electric Co. Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt told shareholders it is “difficult to predict” the length and depth of the recession, but that GE is “set to thrive in a global economy that favors clean energy, affordable health care and services.” Speaking at GE’s [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
The computer breaches are every where, and they originated from where? You guessed it, China!…………………..Homeland Security, are your eyes shut! From The Wall Street Journal……….Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon‘s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project — the Defense Department’s costliest weapons program ever — according to current and former government officials familiar with [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
Here is why the economy hasn’t turned……bank lending needs to be rising, but instead bank lending is falling. From The Wall Street Journal……Lending at the biggest U.S. banks has fallen more sharply than realized, despite government efforts to pump billions of dollars into the financial sector. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
Uh oh, bank stocks falling very hard this morning………….if the report below is true, and I can’t confirm it anywhere else, we’re in big trouble……………….as we all should know by now, if things do get really bad, it’s the derivatives that will take down everything! The Turner Radio Network has obtained “stress test” results for the top 19 [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
Interesting comments from Minyanville on why commercial real estate won’t rebound for a very long time! Sounds pretty dire if you read the well written piece below. This is just another reason why we are looking at a lost decade. Even worse, a lost generation of investors! -TheStatedTruth.com Ten Reasons Commercial Real Estate Will Not [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
John Mauldin updates us with his well placed thoughts about the future of housing and of the economy in general………….. So at the height of the Depression, in 1933, as Roosevelt was coming into his first term, we had 25% total unemployment; 37% (!) of non-farm workers were unemployed; 4004 banks had failed; $3.6 billion [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 23, 2009
A good idea gets even better…………….at least this kind of a subsidy would go directly into building something. U.S. lawmakers may let cars made overseas qualify for a proposed “cash-for-clunkers” program in a bid to secure passage of the measure, designed to help revive domestic auto sales at a 27-year low. An option under consideration [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 22, 2009
Interesting comments from the man that should know…………………..Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the collapse of U.S. lending will probably cause “long-lasting” damage to home prices, household wealth and borrowers’ credit scores. “One would be forgiven for concluding that the assumed benefits of financial innovation are not all they were cracked up to be,” [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 22, 2009
These stories are very sad indeed……….from the New York Times…………….. Rick Williamson, a Chicago banker turned junk-loan buyer, knew the name-calling would start again when he moved to foreclose on the Fayetteville Athletic Club, a sprawling, family-run gym and spa complex in this corner of northwest Arkansas. “Vulture, bottom feeder,” Mr. Williamson said, recalling insults [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 21, 2009
Here is why the markets haven’t bottomed…………..Comstock Partners have a long history of being very savy. Read on……………….. -TheStatedTruth.com Comstock Partners, Inc. $13–The First Quarter Earnings Estimate for 2009 (until yesterday) April 16, 2009 There was sort of a debate recently in the Wall Street Journal about whether the first quarter earnings of the S&P [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 21, 2009
An interesting article on The Coming Siege of Austerity………………The idea that we’re about to resume the insane behavior that induced the current epochal malaise of economy is so absurd it will only be heard in the faculty dining halls of the Ivy League. And if America is not picking up where it left off eighteen [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
Fed Economists Say Mortgage Changes May Not Stem Foreclosures …………..All the more reason to doubt the intentions of the big banks in pre announcing positive earnings to the investment world. Let’s be clear about one thing, the better earnings are from mortgage refi’s. It is my opinion we’ll see billions of new shares created by the big [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
With all due respect to the idiots in the world of finance, it literally amazes me that Goldman Sachs in particular and the major New York banks could possibly find enough dumb doe does still with money to pull off another stock offering with Goldman stock currently 250% off its lows. Where were the buyers for this crap 3-4 months ago [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
Wells Fargo & Co., the second- biggest U.S. home lender, reported a record first-quarter profit that beat the most optimistic Wall Street estimates. “There is a lot of activity at the lower end of the housing market,” Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said in a telephone interview. …….. Soo, what does everybody expect here, with the government encouraging massive refi’s because of interest rates at all [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
It’s not just GM pensions that are at risk, basically every municipality is in the same boat. $20 Billion Short, that’s a big number and guess who will be right square in the middle of this……. the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.., which has to take over problem plans, according to the agency. The retirees will be the ones that get [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
Nouriel Roubini checked in with further candid insight today……………….Bank takeovers worsened the financial crisis by making firms that were already too big even bigger, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the financial crisis. “The institutions are insolvent,” Roubini said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “You have to take them over and you have to split them up [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
This just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger………… IMF Boosts Global Loss Estimate To $4 Trillion: RGE Monitor Calculates $1.8 Trillion Fall On U.S. Banks/Brokers, $2 Trillion On European Banks, Remainder On Asia April 7: IMF to say that toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers around the world could spiral to $4 trillion. The IMF [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 10, 2009
I guess it had to be…..I mean everything seems to be compromised in one way or another. Anybody wonder why the Chinese or Russians are so interested in this…..Hmmm This from The Wall Street Journal…… Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 6, 2009
Listen up everyone……..our economy is falling years behind its full speed capacity. This is the first study I’ve seen on this matter as reported by the NY Times.. Very Interesting indeed! As the recession grinds on, more and more of the nation’s means of production — its workers, its factories, its retail outlets, its freight [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 6, 2009
George Soros has more to say………………… Billionaire George Soros said the change to fair-value accounting rules will keep troubled banks in business, stalling a recovery of the U.S. economy. “This is part of the muddling through scenario where we are going to keep zombie banks alive,” Soros, 78, said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It’s going to sap [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 6, 2009
Sooo…..everybody seems to think the stock market has bottomed…….not so fast! While this rally may pull back here and now, then move higher into a May to July time frame, I think it very unlikely this was the bottom. When we do finally hit the bottom, there will most likely be total despair as to [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
Unintended consequences will be at work here……..just as things get going, the Fed is likely to pull in much of the stimulus. I would expect an uneven recovery at best, and that is why the stock market will be range bound for years to come or until growth revives on its own (unlikely anytime soon). [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
There are short term positives based on the G-20 meetings in London….the more important thing to watch will be if and how credit gets things moving again! The real estate problems are not going to be fixed this year and commercial is still the slippery rock here. Companies struggling to cut costs dumped a near-record 25 [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
They riot in London over failed capitalism at the G-20 meetings, and I can’t say that I’m surprised! U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets will fail to revitalize the financial system, “Black Swan” author Nassim Nicholas Taleb said. “We’re heading in exactly the wrong direction,” Taleb said in a Bloomberg television interview. “I want an overhaul, [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
This is what I’ve been calling unintended consequences, and it covers a broad range of problem areas…….we’re going to see more of this kind of stuff going forward………………Boat owners are abandoning ship. They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
Pay attention to the road everyone…..Survival will go to the fittest…….let’s all remember that! Rick Ackeman has worked on the trading floors of both the commodities and stock markets. He has been around the horn, his opinion on markets matter! -John Schultz Falling Home Prices Mock Inflationists by Rick Ackerman on April 1, 2009 2:12 am Inflationists and [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
It’s the end of the quarter for investment minds…..and Gold beat Stocks and Bonds in the First Quarter…….and not unexpectedly, US Treasury bonds today compounded their worst start to a year since 1996, delivering a total 1.7% loss since New Year’s Eve according to Merrill Lynch. Both China and Russia have now said they favor replacing US Dollars as the [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
This is a big deal………..and interestingly enough, it looks like a new car purchase IRS tax deduction is being set up……..Plan Would Separate ‘Bad’ and ‘Good’ Assets of Two Companies; Historic Intervention Carries Big Political Risk for Obama………. President Obama, who announced the plans Monday with Treasury Secretary Geithner, said the U.S. would not let the auto industry “simply [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 4, 2009
And it continues………….. How wrong can these guys be?…..Economists projected the Chicago purchasers index would climb to 34.3, based on the median estimate of 59 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from 28 to 40. However…….U.S. business activity contracted in March for a sixth consecutive months……The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
Looks (more) guys in the know are saying 2009 is a lost cause……….will 2010 be better, well let’s hope so. Just when the month long rally in bank shares is signaling a thaw in the credit freeze that gripped the world?s financial capitals since August 2007, some of the securities industry’s most experienced executives are predicting no end to Wall Street’s [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
Things continue to fall apart…………Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Fell by a Record 19% in January ……… The S&P/Case-Shiller index‘s decrease was more than forecast and compares with an 18.6 percent decrease in December. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007, and year- over-year records began in 2001. Downward Path….All 20 cities in the index [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
Insured’s are in a tough situation for as far as the eye can see………………Once a seemingly stable sector, life insurers are looking like a concentrated bet on the broader market. Shares of life insurers have come under pressure in recent months due to weakness in their portfolios of bonds and turmoil in their variable-annuity products — retirement [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
Ditto………….. Investors should sell U.S. stocks following the steepest rally since the 1930s because earnings are likely to keep weakening, according to Morgan Stanley. The Standard & Poor?s 500 Index has advanced 21 percent in the past 14 trading days, the most since 1938, according to data compiled by New York-based S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt. It closed at 815.94 last week, rebounding [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
I think everyone that has a business should read this well written review by Gary North………..This is probably going to happen in many small towns across America. The small town banks will be at the center of the hurricane. George Soros recently made two predictions. First, commercial real estate will decline by at least 30% in the [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
This is called a numbers game……………run by the U.S. government…………..AND A GIFT SUBSIDY TO THE BANKS only in the USA………. Some Questions. Will this process set a true “market price” for these toxic assets or are we using a gambler’s pricing mechanism? Has Geithner been transparent about this risk transfer to the FDIC? What will the FDIC [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 2, 2009
Listen up everyone…….regardless of your politics, George Soros is one of the smartest guys anywhere. His opinions deserve special consideration and deep thought……………..From The Times of London, The man who has a phobia about maths has made his name as the philosopher king of economics – his book The Crash of 2008, out in paper-back next week, has been a bestseller [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
Looks like the U. S. is putting the screws to the Hugo Chavez government of Venezuela……………………..We should be seeing a revolution shortly I would think. In case anyone is curious, the Venezuela government owns CITCO gas stations in the states, usually they are hooked up with Seven-Eleven convenience stores. This from the WSJ…….Venezuela’s economically crucial black market for [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
Bill Bonner with another good essay…………………………..Can this be happening in America? They organize bus tours to gawk at AIG executives’ houses…and howl for blood. Apologize, resign…or commit suicide, suggested Senator Grassley. Today’s International Herald Tribune tells that “shanty-towns” are beginning to appear throughout the United States. People are setting up tent communities…shacks…and Rio-style favelas – in [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
This is very telling………………….From KB Homes and the Wall Street Journal………. KB Home reported a narrower fiscal first-quarter loss on fewer write-downs and a 26% rise in net orders, but the home builder held out little hope for a housing rebound this year. KB Home Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said the builder sees “no meaningful improvement in market conditions” and continues to [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
Bill Bonner checks in with his opinions……………………Don’t mistake a rebound for a real bull market. House prices in California were down 41% last month, over prices from a year ago. Airlines are expected to lose $5 billion this year. IBM announced a further 5,000 job cuts. German business sentiment is at a 26-year low… In short, [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
This is the next area for us to pay attention to……………………Commercial real-estate loans are going sour at an accelerating pace, threatening to cause tens of billions of dollars in losses to banks already hurt by the housing downturn. The delinquency rate on about $700 billion in securitized loans backed by office buildings, hotels, stores and [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
There you have it……Goldman Sachs is the bull in the china shop, and they are trashing financials. Buyer beware! The surge in financial shares won?t last because the Treasury hasn?t shown how it will convince investors to help banks get toxic assets off their books, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. With concerns still swirling, and in light of sharp [...]
thestatedtruth.com | April 1, 2009
This prety much tells us theat when the housing recoverty does finally come, that it will be subdued, and led by real buyers that will have to put at least 20% down. and this will narrow down the number of buyers. As of now the foreclosure market is creating the buying demand…………….California home prices dropped 41 percent last month [...]