Posts Tagged ‘ FEDERAL RESERVE ’

05.20.12 AEP: Rising US recession risk poses the real threat to Europe

by John Galt May 20, 2012 23:59 ET But, butt, butt, butttttt, butttttttt, I was told on the teevee that Mr. Obama had saved the day according to the Vice-President, Mrs. Biden. Oopsies, again! Tonight’s editorial/commentary from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sums up the ultimate definition of “critical mass” if and when the American economy collapses in this article: Again; do what? I thought Obamanomics cured cancer, AIDS, divorce, unwanted pregnancy, herpes, and common toe nail fungus. Apparently, according to the...

by John Galt May 20, 2012 22:00 ET No comment is necessary. This excerpt from the latest editorial from the Mogambo Guru should provide a clue for those who are ignoring reality: Of course, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, so famously said that inflation is only a problem for people who buy things or put the money under their mattress to save it instead of putting the money into investments that will, hopefully, grow as fast as inflation, to...

by John Galt March 30, 2012 05:00 ET The world is on fire, the banking system in total confusion and preparing for another great consolidation, Europe is teetering, and what does the Federal Reserve Chairman, aka “America’s Financial Academic,” decide to speak on during some collegiate lecture series? The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis (click on the title to read the story in full) Any of my readers can click on the link above to watch the series or read the program...

by John Galt February 26, 2012 21:55 ET Hard as this to believe, I’m no longer going to pound my head on an exposed nail in the wall and preach to the insane that the world is about to end. In fact, I have no intention of any longer telling the foolish that the world is about implode. I’ve warned. I’ve preached. I’ve provided the warning signs. The financial system is irrevocably broken and the idiots in charge continue to preach that all is...

By John Galt December 30, 2011 07:50 ET Buckle up. 2012 is almost here. Last year I was so-so in my predictions and for 2012 I probably will be also. If you are meek put on your Depends for this show or just assume the fetal position when the theme music stops. In the first half hour I’ll cover the news of the day, the financial news and then begin the prognostications which cover geopolitics, sports, U.S. politics, the economy, weather, and whatever else...

By John Galt December 28, 2011 – 08:15 ET When these pages say “preparing for the fall” I am not referring to a change in seasons. The one chart, a bear among the most bearish, says it all: The breakdown of of Goldman Sachs is a leading, not lagging indicator of future activity. This collapse after the death cross as pictured above is usually a warning for a stock and in this case the financials that further stresses are about to impact the markets....

By John Galt December 05, 2011 – 12:20 ET A fascinating speech from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s President Charles Evans was delivered today and just released via the Fed website: A Risk Management Approach to Monetary Policy To read the speech in full, click on the link above. Two fascinating statements from the speech caught my attention and should signal that there is a level of deep concern within the Fed hierarchy that is not being discussed by the financial media. First...

By John Galt November 30, 2011 – 08:30 ET From the Federal Reserve website, Press Release on Monetary Policy release from September 18, 2008: Press Release Release Date: September 18, 2008 For release at 3:00 a.m. EDT Today, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank are announcing coordinated measures designed to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets. These measures, together with other...

By John Galt November 29, 2011 – 17:20 ET All but 7 of the Primary Dealers from the NY Federal Reserve list were downgraded today. Gee, maybe holding AAA crap paper from the U.S. Government isn’t enough to insulate the banksters from even more hurt. Or maybe all parties involved just need to print more money, more bonds, more equities, and call it the largest crap issue in history. All banks in bold and italicized were downgraded today. Bank of Nova Scotia, New York...

By John Galt November 27, 2011 – 16:15 ET In another not so shocking development in the Cirque de EU, now the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States is being asked to bail out the European Union so the banksters can continue their grand plans for a worldwide political and economic union based on their vision of the future. Last I checked that damned piece of paper under glass in Washington, D.C., there was no obligation of the U.S. to bail out the...

By John Galt November 22, 2011 – 17:50 ET This is not a show for the squeamish or weak of heart. Tonight I shall outline, on this show and this one only, how the Federal Reserve working with their minions within the administration the grand plan to seize control of the United States banking system far beyond their current reach and insure the two political parties and their economic masters maintain control at the expense of your freedom. The United States has become soft....

By John Galt November 21, 2011 – 07:15 ET With futures looking pretty ugly already, the blame game has begun. Blame the Spanish election. Blame the Italians. Blame the Greeks. Blame the ECB. Blame the extra-Constitutional super-committee. In reality these entities have been the problem all along, creating a nightmarish if not illegal Ponzi economy which as it implodes takes layer upon layer of their citizen’s wealth with them. The desperation expressed by the financial and political elites to preserve their power base and...

By John Galt November 2, 2011 – 12:35 ET Press Release Release Date: November 2, 2011 For immediate release Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September indicates that economic growth strengthened somewhat in the third quarter, reflecting in part a reversal of the temporary factors that had weighed on growth earlier in the year. Nonetheless, recent indicators point to continuing weakness in overall labor market conditions, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Household spending has increased at a somewhat faster...

By John Galt November 2, 2011 – 07:45 ET (chart from INO.com) If gold is up, the the Bernank must be speaking today. At 12:30 ET the FOMC decision will be released and it would appear that they are about to change the ZIRP policy from panic mode to cruise control as they shift the responsibility for inflation and employment growth to the fiscal mess in D.C. and off their list of responsibilities for the immediate future. Add in the fact that they have...

By John Galt October 23, 2011 – 14:15 ET The Financial Times just broke a story which apparently solves the debt crisis for the United States with the U.S. Treasury floating the idea, er, tossing the poop against the wall, to see if the concept of issuing “floating rate” bonds. The problem with this idea is summed up in this one extract from the story: In contrast to normal fixed-rate Treasuries, which pay the same coupon throughout their lifespan, the payment to investors from...

By John Galt October 14, 2011 – 05:00 ET The markets are in turmoil, the radicals are camped in various cities with faux protests against whatever, and the world is starting to despise America again because of our weak, vacillating leadership. 1979-1980 under President Carter comes to mind but in this case, but the danger is far more serious than a Soviet nuke accidentally being fired on a major U.S. city, in fact the detonation will occur due to our own “citizens” who elect...

By John Galt September 22, 2011 – 21:30 ET Ah yes, who can forget that Jib-Jab video I created back in 2009 with the dancing Bernanke: Well, old Ben just danced America and the West into a major recession to validate his theories and seize more power for the banksters this week. The move in the markets today was brutal, sharp, but not terminal. The headlines from some of the mainstream financial media reflect that fact: Bloomberg 9/22: Stocks Fall But Investor Panic Could...

By John Galt September 21, 2011 – 05:25 ET As many of my readers and listeners know, I am a huge proponent of pattern recognition not just within individual equities, markets, or commodities but in economic cycles also. Despite massive attempts at intervention in Europe and the United States, the actions since the summer of 2010 have been feeble at best, pathetic in reality. The chart pattern for gold was signaling a long term inflationary trend with the potential for hyperinflation until the double...

By John Galt September 20, 2011 – 23:00 ET Is the Vampire Squid telling us the results of 2011′s FOMC meetings? The term is not mine, it’s the term of affection assigned by Matt Taibbi in his Rolling Stone piece “The Great American Bubble Machine” where in his April 2010 the case was made that Goldman Sachs, aka one of the two largest shareholders in the Federal Reserve, was preparing to inflate one more bubble to profit on the backs of American citizens. Of...

By John Galt September 12, 2011 – 02:10 ET Uh, this morning could get brutal….let the beatings commence… Just wow. This is getting ugly or I need to consume more cigars and adult beverages…. FTSE, DAX and CAC Seen Sharply Lower on Greek Debt Fears Published: Monday, 12 Sep 2011 | 1:54 AM ET FTSE -74 DAX -76 CAC -46 European stocks are expected to fall sharply at the market open on Monday amid renewed fears about the euro zone debt crisis. ian stocks...

By John Galt September 8, 2011 – 16:55 ET The chart below from ForexPros of today’s action in the Euro currency should be a red flag IF it continues to collapse over the next few weeks and pierces key support levels at 1.34 and 1.30. Stay tuned as the trading tomorrow might well determine the path for the US Dollar until the FOMC meeting on September 21.

By John Galt September 5, 2011 – 23:00 ET The headlines tell the tale of woe over the past week: 430,000 Turn Out in Israeli Protests Marchers turn up heat over living costs, housing (Hong Kong Housing & Inflation Protest) Chile: Worker protests join student rising Mubarak’s Trial Resumes In Cairo Amidst Violent Clashes Swaziland: Phones Cut As Nation Protests No Holiday For BART Protests: Demonstrations Planned for Today, Thursday Hundreds of thousands protesters march in Yemen’s capital amid escalated tension, 4 injured West...

By John Galt August 26, 2011 – 05:30 ET Just a quick note before the insanity begins. I think Q2 GDP revision will disappoint with a 0.9% figure and Bernanke will follow with a Lewinsky and no concrete action to give financial markets a reason to rally. With the short end of the yield curve already trading in negative territory, if there is not a confirmation of Operation Twist and some declaration of more easing, there will be a massive sell off this afternoon...

By John Galt August 22, 2011 – 16:25 ET Oh the temptations to add a lot of commentary to this but here is an excerpt from the Reuters story: Exclusive: Goldman CEO hires high-profile defense attorney 3:39pm EDT By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has hired Reid Weingarten, a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose past clients include a former Enron accounting officer, according to a government source familiar with the matter. Blankfein, 56, is in his sixth year...

By John Galt August 22, 2011 – 08:55 ET Yup, it would appear the rumors of QE∞ and the removal of the whacky Colonel from power in Libya will be enough to power the markets higher today. Expect thin volume all week until GS receives the leak as to if there will be another round of Bernanke money bombs dropped on the economy. Remember to watch the one stock that the Fed loves to flaunt in your face, Goldman Sachs, to see what happens....

By John Galt August 9, 2011 -10:45 ET The economic circumstances which the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, and Washington, D.C. have been living in was shaken by the events of the past ten days thanks to the realization that both Main Street USA and Europe are in far worse condition than their delusional public statements indicated. Thus the crisis de jour has come upon their doorsteps and the reaction from Washington was to pass a new debt ceiling bill which does nothing to reduce...

By John Galt August 5, 2011 21:31 ET For immediate release August 5, 2011 Agencies Issue Guidance on Federal Debt Earlier today, Standard & Poor’s rating agency lowered the long-term rating of the U.S. government and federal agencies from AAA to AA . With regard to this action, the federal banking agencies are providing the following guidance to banks, savings associations, credit unions, and bank and savings and loan holding companies (collectively, banking organizations). For risk-based capital purposes, the risk weights for Treasury securities...

By John Galt August 5, 2011 The efforts by the JCB and SNB appear to have started to flail wildly and the lack of follow through by the ECB to save the markets was noticed around the world yesterday prompting and accelerating the currency and solvency awareness crisis worldwide. Watch the chart of the EUR/CHF after 7:30 a.m. ET and if it turns up sharply odds are the Fed, ECB, and SNB decided on a coordinated intervention on behalf of the European banking system...

By John Galt July 26, 2011 News happens. Get the real take tonight on the Voice of Galt only on Just Measures Radio. Especially Tonight. To call into the program dial: (877)213-6404 or (812)307-4363. Just click on the banner below to find the various audio players to listen or to participate in the chat room with like minded Americans.

The Federal Reserve Blunders of H1 2008 v. H1 2011

By John Galt July 5, 2011 On June 25, 2008, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee released the following statement after their meeting (Bold emphasis added by me): The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 2 percent. Recent information indicates that overall economic activity continues to expand, partly reflecting some firming in household spending. However, labor markets have softened further and financial markets remain under considerable stress. Tight credit conditions, the ongoing housing...

Bernanke’s Press Conference: A NASCAR Wreck in Progress

By John Galt June 22, 2011 I am not believing what I have heard from the head Central Banksters. This is what the powers that be were worried about, Professor Ben going out and cratering the world with his words. This is without a doubt like watching a 40 car NASCAR crash and this one statement sums it up: “We don’t have a precise reading as to why the pace of slower growth exists.” No damned way. He can’t be honest and say...

FOMC Economic Projections: Crack Don’t Smoke Itself

By John Galt June 22, 2011 Seriously. To smoke crack cocaine apparently requires human intervention. Since I have never indulged like Charlie “I’ve smoked 7 rocks” Sheen, I can’t proclaim to be an expert, but I am pretty sure you need some sort of device and a lighter. Straight from the release from the FOMC just published for your amusement and bewilderment. First the mind blowing GDP projections which would be hilarious if I were not a citizen of the United States: And...

By John Galt June 22, 2011 Ah yes, the sterling purity of our Federal Reserve building which contains the brilliance which has brought this nation from greatness into a state of fiat currency slavery in less than 100 years. Today is Fed Day as the Bubblevisions call it, the day when the Fed reveals its interest rate decision in less than fifteen minutes from now. I’ll post the entire statement here but I warn my readers now: There could be a surprise in...

By John Galt June 20, 2011 The Boomerang Effect (as taken from Wikipedia because I’m lazy): In social psychology, the boomerang effect is “the theory of psychological reactance (that people act to protect their sense of freedom) that is supported by experiments showing that attempts to restrict a person’s freedom often produce an anticonformity “boomerang effect”. The kerfuffle de jour on the internet are the stories from FOREX and CMC that they are discontinuing some of there gold and silver trading products due...

By John Galt June 13, 2011 The conspiracy theories are spiraling out of control but the reality of the failure of debt monetization and decades of “quantitative easing” since 1973 are starting to impact the planning and execution of the Federal Reserve from that of proactively attempting to influence economic outcomes to one of self-preservation. The apparent program for decades was for the Federal Reserve banking system to expand its reach far beyond America’s shores and work with other banks to create an international...

Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April: Worst Reading since August 2010

By John Galt May 23, 2011 The report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on the economy (CFNAI-Click here for the full report .pdf) is brutal. The reading came in at a -0.45, the worst reading since the -0.53 reading of August 2010. Only the employment aspect of the report showed an increase and that could be a part time hiring spree based on seasonal factors rather than sustained economic growth. Buckle up as it would appear we are heading into the recession...

Empire State Manufacturing Survey – Getting Ugly

By John Galt May 16, 2011 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just released their monthly survey and the ugliest data point beyond a huge decline from last month was the fact that prices paid were the second highest on record. The reading was 11.88 for May vs. 21.7 in April and does seem to add more ammunition to my theory that the Fed will pull the monetary reigns in during the summer and help to create a recession or at least a...

By John Galt November 28, 2007 The final vote was Yeas 398, Nays 21 and with that announcement on the floor of the House of Representatives, the motion was forwarded to the U.S. Senate in a rapid manner. The date was November 3, 2011 and the legislation was on the fast track to pass both houses and to be signed by Madame President the moment it hit her desk. The business community lobbied hard but considering the economic conditions drastic action was necessary. The...