1 Ah, great, the DOOM is here. I was gettin hungry.  Just gimme a cup of the worst shit you've got, and I'm ready for the morning's worst news.

2 whether the GOP will blink if the Donks play hardball.

Hey, it's what the GOP is best at. 

3 That Portugal link may not work for you (FT is a paid site). If you have trouble viewing it, just search Google for "FT" and "Portugal" and it should let you read the link.

4 more quotidian stuff

Monty, would you be insulted if I said you were a little to highbrow for a moron blog?

5 thank GOd.....i was afraid things were getting better......

6 This doesn't matter. Obama's personal headshot of UBL guarantees his reelection.

7 Posted in the headlines thread but needed here:

Get ready for another sellout by the GOP

The CR was fair warning that they would cave. Well it looks like they are going to cave on the debt ceiling and possibly even cutting the budget.

Only DOOM will save us now. But the saving will be much more painful.

8 Am I the only one who thinks "Finger Hut" is mildly obscene?

9 On the "defined benefit plans" by public employees, why not make them go to "cash balance" plans like most other big companies have done?

10 Worm-food?  Really?  Did you miss the part where we dumped his body in the sea?  Fish-food, my friend.  Fish-food.

11 Come on, so food and fuel prices are soaring?

Big fucking deal --go forth and shop!!!!11!!!!1!

12

Fish gotta eat. Same as worms.

13

So, aside from pretending to care about the deficit, what's our side doing about any of this?  Are they saving up all the big ideas for election season to avoid Leftist misinformation campaigns?  Or are they just the usual crop of clueless Republicans who have already forgotten Reagan?

Cutting the deficit, even if they could do it (they can't) isn't enough.  We need policy improvements.  What is our side offering?  If anything?

14

Don't get so upset!  We'll be fine.

You, on the other hand...

15 interestingl;y enough, from the "jobs recovery" article, 8.01 million people were out of work and collecting some kind of benefits last week. 8 million.  And this isn't a bad thing to continue to punish the private sector, so say the dems?

16 Am I the only one who thinks "Finger Hut" is mildly obscene?

Posted by: Truman North at May 05, 2011 09:20 AM (8ay4x)

Gonna fingerbang bang you into my life!

17 More "unexpected" news:

Treasurys Yields Hit 2011 Lows

NEW YORK—Treasury yields fell to their lowest level of the year after a dismal jobless claims report fed growing fears of a slowing economic recovery, sending investors scurrying to the safety of U.S. government bonds.

Worries about the recovery, already fueled by recent disheartening economic indicators, were accentuated by an unexpected jump in weekly ...

18

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

Obama's proposal seems to follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office. It would be tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems."

 

Brilliant plan Barry. Roll it out October 2012

19 Civility Watch : Loon wishes doom on Dubya

20

"Billionaires and hedge funds took part in todays drop as George Soros and others were sellers of gold and silver today.

Fund managers have said that Soros could, in theory, sell gold and silver to take profits and then build positions back up within days, or even hours".

Monty I sold enough silver to cover my original investment so now I"m playing with the house's money.

But yeah, the minute CNBC jumps on the old band wagon and ol george decides to bolt you knew.

21

From Insty:

WORRIED ABOUT DEFAULT? RELAX. A Wall Street reader emails: “Treasury officials reportedly told Wall Street bond dealers they plan to roll over existing bonds if the debt ceiling is hit…they just can’t issue paper that would raise new cash. Default is off the table.”

22 If you are all gonna say POCK-ee-stohn, then I am gonna say oo-BAM-uh. Rhymes with you-slam-uh. Check it out with the Kenyans, they'll tell ya how to say it.

23 So I read somewhere that the flooding Mississippi River could disrupt barge traffic, which might be a big deal for some supplies getting from somewhere to somewhere else. Can't wait to see the price of groceries after that!

24 Clear Capital Home Price Index shows Double Dip
"We know that a higher percentage of distress sales put downward pressure on house prices, and these graphs make that relationship pretty clear."

25 Images of the Mississippi flood

26 Unemployment went up because of Anomalies.  Like people out of work is such an unusual thing these days. Such an anomaly. Expect the new catch phrase out of the administration to be anomaly.  Unexpectedly is so yesterday.

27 "DEFLATION ALERT!"

28 Are you looking for novelty acts?

29 interesting article over at HA about Gold

30

Posted by: curious at May 05, 2011 09:50 AM (k1rwm)

Oil price deflation is deflation we can live with.  Imagine what would happen if we decided to allow drilling in the gulf again.  Or ANWR.  Or off the coast of California, or in the Great Lakes.  Or invested in more nuke plants (preferably thorium reactors). 

If such decisions were announced oil prices would begin to fall.

31 "National Home Prices Double Dip"
confirmation #2

32 Am I the only one who thinks "Finger Hut" is mildly obscene?
Tell me about! And Hutts are really funky too like that Jabba dick.

33 That cat is my financial advisor. I dropped him after he suggested I invest my IRA heavily into Beanie Babies.

34 interesting article over at HA about Gold

Posted by: Ben at May 05, 2011 09:55 AM (wuv1c)

I feel as though, if Gold and Silver had a facebook page it would say "it's complicated"

35 Depth of Mortgage Revenue Drop Shocks Small Banks

American Banker  |  Thursday, May 5, 2011

By Robert Barba

When long-term interest rates ticked up late last year, it was widely believed that mortgage revenues would modestly decline in the first quarter. The drop was anything but modest...

36 "They're totally freaked out about Volcker," said a Goldman lobbyist who declined to speak on the record for fear of losing the contract. "People are working on that a lot, with agency staff, with lawmakers, you name it."

37 "The bill, sponsored by Sean Duffy, Republican congressman from Wisconsin, would reduce that standard, so that the FSOC could veto rules that are inconsistent with the “safe and sound” operation of financial-services firms. The bill also would allow a veto to pass by a simple majority."

38

The kind of "reporting" that annoys me is at JWF:

These are just a few of the things you could have bought if you weren't spending $368.09 a month on gasoline.

They have a graph to show the increase, but then they want to talk about it as though people were spending nothing before.

/pet peeve off

 

39 So this is tin foil-hattish, to be sure, but ...

Is it possible the Obama Regime wants high unemployment because it not only makes more people dependent on Government largess, but because it depresses Treasury yields (as investors "scurry" to the [perceived] safety of Treasuries)?

Face it, the easiest way to usher in teh painful restructuring would be to have interest rates rise to a level we simply can't pay. Is this just a way to kick the can of DOOM down the road a ways?

40 Any MFM article running with this notion that the Rs are outright dropping Medicare reform is a lie. The trouble started last night when the WaPo took two contradictory paragraphs and chose the one they liked. They later issued a correction, but the MFM might not be admitting they're doing that.

Series of posts from last night:

(1) The update and actual quotes from the WaPo article are most important
(2) Giving Up on Medicare? Not So Fast
(3) RE: Giving Up on Medicare? Not So Fast

41 If I am taxed by the mile, doesn't that incentivise me to move into a dense urban area and drive the biggest. Suburban my wife can park?

42 You take your car in to the mechanic and say 'it isn't running right'. He calls you up and tells you he has good news and bad news. Your V8 engine is running great in 4 cylinders, 1 cylinder is kinda weak, but the other 3 are toast.
 
This is our economy. None of the statistics about our economy are real, when 42% of all government spending is borrowed money. It just isn't a comparable set of numbers to previous experience. This is why the economy doesn't respond as expected to the various stimulus methods used. So the numbers continue to decline, even though consumer spending (70% of GDP) has held pretty steady.
 
To cure this, government spending has to be cut hard and regulations pared waaay back. This approach will of course create even more short term unemployment as cash flows decrease. Given time, things will turn around and real growth will occur but the pain will be intense.
 
Of all the politicians, I think only Rand Paul is telling it like it is. He has called for a 50% cut in spending. All the kabuki in DC doesn't even dance close to the edge of the truth about the problems. Ryan's Roadmap is an example of this; it's kind of presented as a solution but too harsh to pass, when it is really only one step of a much larger change in the ways of government. Yet it has nearly no chance of being enacted.
 
So yeah, we are doomed.

43 ...and whether the GOP will blink if the Donks play hardball.

Of course they'll blink. They do it more often than not.

44

Boy, did I call that stock market top on Monday or what?  I'm a frickin investing genius!

Sell now, morons!

45 It's actually the Non-Manufacturing Index--entertainment, services, etc.

46 Update on the credit card thing where my friend received a letter raising his interest rate to 30%.  He is not tech savvy, he couldn't scan it in but he showed it to me the other night and told me what he did.   He called the bank and disputed the interest rate.  Basically, he cancelled the card but not after yelling at them about why should he pay for other people's mistakes with taking more credit than they could handle and for the bad housing market.  Ultimately he yelled a lot about paying off other people's mortgages and isn't this against the law.  He said it felt good to  yell and the woman refused to send him up the chain.  she also admitted that he was correct and there was nothing he could do about it.  The last straw was her intimation that if he didn't shut up she might make sure he doesn't keep the card at all.   He cancelled the card immediately and he's since gotten another card from another bank with better interest rates.

We did have a discussion about the fact that he could afford to lose the use of the card but what if you are using your credit card to keep yourself eating?  

The way banks are treating card holders is really unbelievable.

47 On your silver comments Monty, here is my take. The previous bubble in silver in the 80s hit $50 per ounce. In commodities, chart points have great influence because everyone believes they do. So the latest run-up hit $50 per ounce. Guess what? The psychology of the market shifted since 'the run is over'.
 
I would expect massive ups and downs as the market tries to establish a new trend. In inflation adjusted dollars, the old high was nowhere near to being broached, so there is plenty of argument for more upside. But first, silver must close above $50. Then look out.
 
Note that gold did not sell off in a similar fashion; it has already broken above its 80s high and the uptrend is intact. If gold continues to rise, silver will eventually follow.
 
My $.02

48 "Part 6- The Paper Silver Manipulation Game at all time Highs"

49

Posted by: curious at May 05, 2011 09:37 AM (k1rwm)

Thanks for all the links curious, especially the "U.S. middle class is being shredded..."

They mentioned 20% of children in the US were living in poverty versus 10% in France in one of the links. We've debated that here before. I never trust poverty statistics. Especially since most of the people 'studying' the problem are receiving some sort of government money to study the issue and have an interest in seeing the problem overblown.

That, and I've owned Section 8 housing. Poverty in the United States does not compare to poverty elsewhere. My tenants were getting a lot of tax dollars to raise their bastard children.

50

Wouldn't the end of tax season and H&R Block being one of the largest seasonal employers have affected the unemployment numbers?

I just heard the unemployment numbers on Fox this morning after waking up. But they said the numbers went up the last 3 weeks. Tax season ended April 15th...

51 business in the asteroid belt.

Steam coming out of our ears or jumping up and down yelling are not capable of orbital velocity no matter how pissed off we get.

52 Oil price deflation is deflation we can live with.  Imagine what would happen if we decided to allow drilling in the gulf again.  Or ANWR.  Or off the coast of California, or in the Great Lakes.  Or invested in more nuke plants (preferably thorium reactors).

I'm in Metro Detroit. Yesterday, I saw unleaded gas for $4.37- that's the cash price. So now, when I have the opportunity to chat with random people, I talk about gas prices. They always say "well what can we do?" I reply, the government could drill for oil here, open new refineries, suspend the gas tax, open the strategic oil reserve...

Because I want as many people as possible to know they are being boned and boned hard by Teh Won.

53 (If this actually comes to pass, fair warning: I'm leaving the planet to open an off-world mining, manufacturing, and prostitution entertainment business in the asteroid belt.)

And I thought I was the only one thinking of that lately. Ceres is looking better all the time...

54 Posted by: Canadian Infidel at May 05, 2011 11:01 AM (GKQDR)

Oh you are welcome.  I had collected them and then I realized should just post them in monty's doom thread.

55 "This is the second highest net leverage ever seen on on the NYSE"

56

Recovery akin to "the twitching of a corpse".  Good simile.  The Bernank's pithed frog experiment.

Glad to see we're in need of more monetary stimulus with no need to raise rates or prove deflation.

57 "I'm in Metro Detroit. Yesterday, I saw unleaded gas for $4.37- that's the cash price." BFD. Here in Canada the price is currently about $1.35 Cdn per litre. A * And that's Canadian dollars which are now worth more than the funny money that the US keeps printing in massive volume in a desperate effort to inflate itself out of bankruptcy. * 1 US gallon = 3.78541178 liters 1 USD = 0.969 Cdn The US has built an entitlement system on cheap gas. Those days are gone now and they are NEVER coming back. Best get used to it. Wait until they REALLY start to tax the stuff like they do here or worse still in Euro-land. Then you will have something to complain about. That's coming too. You will NEVER be able to reduce spending enough to deal with the imbalance between spending and revenue. Taxes are going up and there is nothing you can do about it. The longer you delay the worse it will get.

58 Son, we live in a world that runs on dollars, and those dollars have to be "guarded" by men with Ivy League degrees and impeccable backgrounds. Who's gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for the economy, and you curse the Federal Reserve. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That the economy's death, while tragic, probably allowed the elites to purchase additional yachts and summer homes. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, supports their lifestyle. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that printing press; you need me on that printing press. We both use words like debt, deficit, depression. You use these words as the backbone of a life spent slaving away in mindless drudgery. I use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps worrying about the future of penniless servitude that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pay higher taxes, and spend more money. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

59 Dick Morris is saying the deal will be in the form of a Tax Trigger being hatched by Senate 'Rats, WH, and three traitors by the names of Senators Tom Coburn, Mike Crapo, and Saxby Chamblis. I can't get the link to post. It's at The Hill. The article is under Dick Morris, titled, Danger: Tax trigger ahead

60

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