Bernanke's "Black Helicopters" are over Europe

Well folks, what was strongly suspected has now been confirmed by no less an authority than a former V. P. of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Gerald O'Driscoll, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal on December 28, 2011. 

Namely, Mr. O’Driscoll states that the central bank of the United States of America, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a several hundred billion dollar stealth bailout of European banks. And this is AFTER the Chairman of the Federal Reserve stated before the US Senate several weeks ago that the Fed “did not have the intention nor the authority” to lend our (not Benanke’s) US money to the Europeans.

The legal issue at question revolves around whether or not a ‘swap’ is a ‘loan’ and should be considered to be a ‘bailout.’  On CNBC Mr. O’Driscoll said, “A swap is a defacto bailout” and by implication is a loan.  I do believe that he would know ‘what is what’ in the area of the “FED’s Magic Money Machine” (FMMM).   Unfortunately, this revelation confirms our most horrendous fears that we wrote of on Polestar’s Home page way back in early October. 

So, another of our predictions comes true, BUT much, much quicker than we ever thought possible, which only proves that Bernanke and his ‘Buds’ at the Fed are scared out of their minds, as are we!

The facts are; that, the Fed's authority to issue Dollars in Currency swaps with the ECB is unlimited.  Consider that it was nearly three years before we learned that the FED effectively 'swapped' roughly $669,000,000,000 of our money with our Banksters in 2008-09 without anyone knowing.  Now that money was largely lent here.  And they really did 'Swap' over $1,250,000,000,000 of US Dollars for the Bankster's Toxic Waste Loans, which our FED still owns to this day! 

Therefore, the unlimited Swap line with the ECB can easily approach and surpass those amounts and here is the reason. The ECB just lent $640,000,000,000 to 523 European Banks.  Do you think they now are in need of a few extra Dollars?

The answer is, YES!

And that's where the FED's largess with our money should become important to all of us.  These backroom machinations have the appearance (and we believe really are) of the FED's funding of the ECB's back door funding of the BbBDBBs.  It's really that simple.  The unlimited FED's Dollar Swaps with the ECB will go directly to the effectively bankrupt European Banks to fund their purchases of Toxic Sovereign Country debts and European common stocks!

And, there is the absolutely ordained beginning of the "Great Deception of 2012" and the great stock rallies of 2012, which will be utilized to herd the Sheeple - yet again - into the wrong investments at EXACTLY the wrong time.

In other words, could the ECB just have lent hundreds Billions of Dollars of Euros to their effectively bankrupt European Banks, if they had not known that this avenue to unlimited US Dollars would soon be available to them and very, very  shortly indeed and unlimited at that?  This is likely to go into the hundreds and hundreds of Billions of US Dollar Swaps over the next three years.

In the final analysis, it is now becoming quite obvious to one and to all that probably hundreds of Billions of our US Dollars are going to Europe to be repaid in massively depreciated US Dollars in three years or so! So everyone should get ready for the inevitability of massive inflation before then.  Otherwise the Europeans will have no chance in Hell of ever returning these Dollars.

To put this into perspective, the entire cost of World War II (fighting BOTH Japan in the Pacific and Germany and giving a TON of money to the British and to the Russians) cost the United States of America roughly $306,000,000,000.
Yep and yep!  That's right folks, panicked Bernanke is probably going to lend the Europeans over TWICE AS MUCH AS THIS COUNTRY SPENT IN FOUR YEARS OF  WORLD WAR II!

For anyone who would like to claim that in this comparison I am not calculating the cost of inflation; I would politely ask, "Who gave us the inflation?"  
 

And just a couple of years ago, after nearly 100 years of operation, the Fed’s Balance Sheet held roughly $800,000,000,000, which was identified as the Fed’s monetary base. It has subsequently ballooned to a monetary base of roughly $2,400,000,000,000 and now is obviously heading much higher yet!

Do you NOW understand why Wendy’s burgers are going to roughly $27 and to $49 with fries and a shake before 2018 and that gasoline is going to $12 a gallon in 2015 and will ratchet MUCH higher each year after that - until the final of the three waves of the Super "Kondratieff" Long-Wave sweeps the US & World's economies clean of their massive accumulation of Bad-Debts and near worthless Fiat currencies?

Five things quite naturally follow from these machinations of the FED:

#1 this clears the way for the great charade of 2012 when the fiscal side of the European Union will be implemented in a ‘gradualist fashion,’ see our many Blogs on this issue,

#2 following the great charade of a fiscal bond being implemented in the European States, will be the “Great Deception of 2012,”

#3 concurrent with the explosion of all equity markets in mid 2012 to early 2013, will be the VERY last insane buying-binge of the DCBF's (for meaning of  DCBF, see our acronym lexicon at bottom of our Home page on www.polestarcomm.com),
#4 with the ebbing of the DCBF's insanity in early 2013  will begin the surge of truly brutal inflation,
#5 contiguous with surging inflation will be the second Tsunami Super “Kondratieff” Long - Wave.

The rest of the horrors awaiting the entire world are covered in our inaugural issue of our Market Review and quarterly updates.

Are you and your company ready for the “Show?”

Wall Street Journal; Editorial; December 28, 2011; BY GERALD P. O'DRISCOLL JR.

“America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here.

The Fed is using what is termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades or "swaps" dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an interest rate (currently 50 basis points, or one-half of 1%) above the overnight index swap rate. The ECB, which guarantees to return the dollars at an exchange ...”

Apparently, Bernanke’s Black Helicopters have only failed to drop OUR US Dollars over Russia and China and India and Africa.  But, the readers of our Market Review do know the reason for that oversight.

'Fleecing' of the POOR to Subsidize Falling Tax Revenues

Well, the continued disintegration of the moral fiber of this Once Great Christian Country (OGCC) races along at a very rapid pace. In fact so quickly are the constraints - against congenital evil and the exploitation of the innate stupidity of the average citizen - falling that prior generations of Americans would NOT recognize this country today, let alone in the very next few years.

And here is another example that has been necessitated by the collapsing revenue base of the 50 States and the exploding needs for human services that are now so desperately needed in this country, because the middle classes are rapidly shrinking in the aftermath of the onrushing Tsunami Super “Kondratieff” Long-Wave that hit the US and the world in 2007-08, which wave is JUST the first of three waves!

The “Kondratieff” Long-Waves are covered in great detail in Polestar’s inaugural Market Review and in our 1^st Qtr 2012 update.

The following quote on the transformation of America into a Third World Nation is from our Blog on this subject on December, 8^th and it needs no edits:

“…Another of the primary forces (in addition to that of collapsing RE prices noted in the prior Blog), that will unleash the above noted ills, is the now wide spread acceptance and promulgation of GAMBLING by our State Governments, almost all of which are in dire financial straits. 

And as Mark Twain noted almost 140 years ago ubiquitous ‘numbers’ runners and venders and rampant prostitution are the two most salient features of a decadent and poverty stricken and broken country.  The ‘Numbers’ games of 19^th century were verisimilar in concept to the modern day computerized Lottery, except that the ‘numbers’ of the late 19^th century offered much higher odds of a ticket buyer actually winning something than does the modern day Lotto.

The United States, as noted in the footnote to this Blog, is well on its way to the ‘state of perdition’ observed by Mark Twain in those extremely poverty stricken states of the 19^th century.  His comments are doubly ironic since Twain made his mark as a great author of and commentator on the uniquely powerful elements of a Once Great Christian Country (OGCC) - the United States of America.. . “

With the evisceration of the manufacturing base of America and the viciously conspired elimination of 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 jobs in that sector over the last 39 years and the out-sourcing and off-shoring of more and more support jobs, many changes in America are ahead of us that will be increasingly emergent and widely visible as the former American ‘middle class’ sinks into poverty. 

One very obvious societal ill of the poorest countries, as noted by Mark Twain 140 years ago, was the ubiquitous forms of gambling, especially the ‘Numbers’ games in the poorest Nations of the latter half of the 19^th Century.  As he reported back then, the poorest of ALL ages have always resorted to Lady Luck, magic or astrology when attempting to affect their dismal fortunes and futures.  Now you can witness this phenomenon exploding in ALL the poorer neighborhoods in this OGCC, because the gambling phenomenon is the only hope for today’s poor in America, see our Blog of November 30^th .

As the middle class continually shrinks, the formerly huge retail markets in the United States of America will be forever altered, and eventually ‘disappeared’ leaving an enormous destitute bottom 90% and a wealthy top 9% and a Super-Wealthy 1% that can easily afford the $110,000,000 penthouse that just went on sale today in Manhattan!

The following article most clearly reveals that the 50 States of this OGCC are getting prepared for these inevitable shifts in demographics, which will force them to compensate for the continual collapse of their tax receipts that they, quite obviously, do foresee long into the future.

Are you and your company getting ready for these societal and cultural changes that will inevitably alter the market for your company’s products or services?

States Seek Internet Lottery Jackpots After U.S. Legal Ruling

Bloomberg: By Freeman Klopott - Dec 30, 2011 12:00 AM ET

“Buying a lottery ticket may soon be no more difficult than clicking a computer mouse, and U.S. states grappling with budget deficits are seeking to cash in.

. . . In New York, that may mean selling so-called virtual tickets on mobile phones or computers. . . . “All state lotteries are looking at how we can expand our base and sell tickets,” said Andi Brancato, a spokeswoman for the Michigan (STOMI1) Lottery. …Online tickets may bring much-needed revenue to states facing a collective $31.9 billion budget gap in the next fiscal year, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. In 2010, Americans spent more than $4 billion to gamble online, up from $2.4 billion in 2003, according to the American Gaming Association….

(As you read the following expose of “where they want to go” with this perniciously evil and morally destructive and unGodly pastime of Satan the Devil, does anyone question the appropriateness of this insanity?  There is obviously a well orchestrated move afoot, when these types of rulings - that will negatively affect every community  - are just unilaterally and blithely and cavalierly implemented by a National Administration that is supposedly working for the benefit of the ‘little guy.’

Remember, it is very nearly ONLY the poor, destitute and desperate ‘little guys and gals’ that will take advantage of this new channel to gamble away their money and their future, on a gambling format that offers ABSOLUTELY the worst odds known to man!)

 

The Justice Department said a 40-year-old federal law that prohibits wagering over telecommunication systems that cross state or national borders doesn’t bar states from using the Internet and outside processors to sell lottery tickets to their adult residents. The ruling came in a memo responding to requests for clarification of the statute from New York and Illinois.

Wire Act

The Wire Act “prohibits only the transmission of communications related to bets or wagers on sporting events or contests,” Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, who heads the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, wrote in the Sept. 20 memo, which was released Dec. 23.

Lottery officials will now feel freer to set up online games and perhaps join other states on Internet sales, said Joseph Kelly, a professor of business law at Buffalo State College in New York and consultant for the gambling industry.

“It could be very important for the states,” Kelly said.

…Some states are also looking to expand traditional gambling. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation Nov. 22 authorizing as many as three resort casinos. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is pressing lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment making Las Vegas-style casinos legal in the Empire State. Both governors are Democrats.

…

Internet sales could attract 300,000 to 500,000 new customers “who philosophically support the lottery but blow right past” ticket outlets at convenience stores, Jones said. That may create “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue, he said.

The real jackpot won’t be in ticket sales; it will be when states offer Internet poker and video slots online, Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the gaming association, a Washington, based group representing casinos.

“It’s now clear that not only can lotteries sell tickets online, but also games that look like slot machines and poker,” Fahrenkopf said in a telephone interview. “That’s where they want to go.”

Classic MSM PORE is HAMMERING Gold

Today’s activities will prove NO surprise to readers of Polestar’s Market Review and 1^st Qtr update.

Namely, when any asset class is being set up for attack by the MSMS’s PORE, they will pull out one or two “Big Guns” and then unleash an almost instantaneous “Barrage“ of experts to pound the target into the dirt!  (PORE is "Psy-Ops Reporting & Editorializing." See bottom of our Home page for other Polestar acronyms.)

And the louder and the more incessant the “Barrage,” the more likely it is that the move being set in motion is FALSE!

And that is because the MSM does not assist the “Sheeple.”  In fact, when the real moves are underway they will obfuscate, veil and obscure as they did with Real Estate in 2005-07 

So, in our opinion, the following article sets the stage for  a FALSE move down on Gold that we VERY clearly predicted in our earlier Blogs.  This downturn in Gold will be followed by an enormous explosion to the upside AFTER the “Great Deception of 2012” that will have pulled all the “Sheeple” into stocks.

So, three “Big Guns” have been unlimbered and aimed DIRECTLY, POINT BLANK and FIRED at the Gold Bulls in just the last two days:

#1 Dennis Gartman two days ago,

#2 George Soros today,

#3 Jim Rogers today.

And then three ‘little guns,’ in the following article, followed these - ALL today.

Translation:  the “Sheeple” are being set up to move out of Gold and into stocks massively in the “Great Deception of 2012!”

And the “Great Deception of 2012” will effect a massive turn in consumer psychology and directly precipitate the very last massive buying surge of nearly all durables and non-durables by the DCBF’s in the fall winter of 2012/13!

Is your company stuffing your inventory channels NOW and gearing up Marketing and Advertising campaigns?  Will your company be ready for the “Surprise” (DCBF ‘buying binge’ in the second half of 2012 and into the winter of 2013 ) that should be “No Surprise” to anybody that can read the pages of the MSM’s PORE - ahead of time.

BUT, most importantly, are you and your company ready for what will follow these things?

If your company is not getting ready for that, then you should read the partial list of companies that were NOT ready for the Credit-Crisis of 2007/08 that we included on the bottom of our Home Page @ www.polestarcomm.com.

Hint: the economic contraction that will follow the “Great Deception of 2012” will make the Credit-Crisis of 2007/08 look like an economic EXPANSION!

Soros Sees Gold Prices on Brink of Bear Market

Bloomberg; By Nicholas Larkin, Maria Kolesnikova and Debarati Roy - Dec 29, 2011 9:38 AM ET

“Gold is poised to complete its 11th consecutive annual gain, the longest winning streak in at least nine decades, on the brink of a bear market.

George Soros, the billionaire who two years ago called it the “ultimate asset bubble,” cut 99 percent of his holdings in the first quarter, Securities and Exchange Commission data show. Hedge fund managers John Paulson, Paul Touradji and Eric Mindich also sold bullion this year. While speculators in New York futures are the least bullish (.MMGCNET) in 31 months, the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 44 traders and analysts is for prices to rally as much as 40 percent to $2,140 an ounce in 2012. …

(All readers should WATCH this “Bloomberg Survey” number very closely next summer/fall and winter and into 2013: when it falls significantly, then Gold is ready to “Ride Again!”

This game is really too simple – folks!)  

… The U.S. Mint’s sales of American Eagle gold coins in November were the weakest since June 2008, data on its web site show. Holdings in bullion- backed ETPs fell about 35 metric tons since reaching a record on Dec. 14, according to data (.GLDTONS) compiled by Bloomberg. …

(The following guy, Tom Wimmill)  is actually right and he is ONLY included to give “journalistic balance” and his comments are the set-up for the “BARRAGE” that is to follow!)

… “The longer-term trends, mainly government fiscal and monetary policies, haven’t changed,” said Tom Winmill, who helps manage more than $200 million of assets from Walpole, New Hampshire, for Midas Funds and whose Midas Perpetual Portfolio may increase its 19 percent investment in bullion and gold mining companies in the next quarter. “Gold has that preservation-of-wealth role and was probably used quite a bit in the last several weeks.” …

(At turns, the following guys are ALWAYS wrong. Gold is very likely to be in the $1.250 range in March to May 2012!)

Options traders are also bullish, with the top nine holdings all betting on higher prices. The two most widely held contracts give holders the right to buy gold at $2,000 by the end of March and May, data from the Comex exchange show.

….

(I actually salute Bloomberg for including Mr. Morris’s following comments, which are dead on!)

… “Gold became very overbought,” said Charles Morris, who oversees about $2.2 billion of assets at HSBC Global Asset Management in London and cut his bullion holdings to 6 percent at the end of November from 15 percent six months ago. “It will at least consolidate following this almighty rally. When the new bull market arrives, maybe a year or so away from now, then gold will once again prove to be a leading asset.”

(BUT, now the following “BARRAGE” of four guns in the MSM’s PORE on Gold and all the “Dopes,” who will soon be selling after they read this!)

‘End of Road’ (This ‘header’ is clearly intended to Scare the S__T out of the “Sheeple”)

(#1) Dennis Gartman, the economist and author of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, said Dec. 13 that traders were witnessing the “death of a bull.” He sold the last of his gold the previous day and said Dec. 23 his outlook was neutral. The “megatrend” in bullion is “in all likelihood near the end of the road,” (#2) Markus Mezger, co-founder of Zug, Switzerland-based Tiberius Asset Management AG, which manages about $2.5 billion of assets, said in its 2012 outlook report on Dec. 23.

Eton Park Capital Management LP, founded by 44-year-old (#3) Mindich, sold the last of its SPDR Gold Trust (GLDNV) shares in the third quarter, according to SEC data. The holding was valued at $135 million based on the average price over those three months. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for the New York-based company, declined to comment.

(#4) Touradji Capital Management LP, led by its 40-year-old founder, sold all of its shares in the SPDR Gold Trust in the first three months of the year before buying back about 26 percent of that stake in the third quarter, the data show. Its largest holding in publicly traded equities remains Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world’s biggest miner of the metal. Prelog, also a spokesman for Touradji, declined to comment.

(And then at the end - once again - a counter punch for “journalistic balance” and to leave the poor “Sheeple” reeling and ready to load up on equities of common stocks in the “Great Deception of 2012”)

… “The bubble is in paper currency creation, not in physical gold,” said Ben Davies, the London-based manager of the Hinde Gold Fund, which gained 22 percent in the first 11 months of the year and invests in bullion stored in a Swiss private bank’s vaults. “Calls for a top in the market are premature.”

(Mr. Ben Davies is actually right, so watch him and Mr. Charles Morris, above, and of course Polestar Communications, too!)

A BIG one is "Going Down!"

The following tragic implosion of Sears is seen by many to be specific and intrinsic to this retailer, but we do respectfully submit that the 8 noted negative affects are being (or WILL be) experienced by all retailers.  Furthermore, we do propose that these are the primary effects of the ongoing surge of the Tsunami Super wave of the unstoppable “Kondratieff” Long- Wave, that is even now breaking over everybody’s head!

This once premier - and still largest retailer - in the US is finally biting the dust; i.e. (#1) sales imploding in SHLD’s big box stores.

(#2) ALL SHLD’s “Bubble” priced Commercial Real Estate (that Lambert was “Betting the Farm” on) is still plummeting (and will for decades, see our New Normal tab) with the continued onslaught of the “Kondratieff.”

(#3) All small retailers do recognize the ‘falling sales’ effects of the “Kondratieff” over the last 4 and ½ years that is now taking SHLD down, but the US Government fails to measure or to report those numbers, leaving everyone to conclude that everything is just fine with the little guys. 

Well, we do have an ALERT:  the small and medium sized retailers are dying all over the country, except Washington DC. 

Would anyone hazard a guess why that is?  

(#4) All retailers recognized MUCH too late the power of the Internet, but there does exist a counter-measure to the Web that is unrecognized and that we do explain in some great detail in our inaugural issue of Polestars’ Market Review.  It is actually quite remarkable that NO one else among the many Marketing and Advertising companies has ever mentioned this “Achilles Heal” of Amazon & ALL Web-based retailers. 

(#5)  All retailers HAD better recognize this trend that will only viciously accelerate in the coming onslaught of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave that we do explain in a cursory fashion on our New Normal tab and in our Blogs.  For a much fuller and detailed explanation you need to subscribe to our Market Review.

(#6)  That Lambert would have implemented a cannibalization of the Sears brand  - now – is quite literally insane, as the Craftsman and Die Hard and Kenmore brands   were the ONLY consumer ”draws” left to SHLD. 

(#7) Now other than for the completely phony economic upturn and the contiguous and insanely manipulated PE expansion of the Equity Markets coming with the “Great Deception of 2012,” the next upturn in the US economy will be around the winter of 2037.  Do you think Paul Swinand of Morningstar Inc. knows this?  We don’t think he has a clue.

(#8) If only Mr. Swinand knew how right he got this.

Lambert of SHLD really needed us a couple of years ago. If he had known of us then and listened to us, he would never have made this Bad Bet on the “Bubble” priced RE of SHLD! But we still have valuable ideas that he should listen to, and we will try to reach him.

However, It does look like “Hasta la vista,” “Adios,” “Arrivederci,” “Sayonara,” and “So Long Dudes” to SHLD!

Is your company next? 

If you would like to avoid the onslaught of the coming Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave by preparing for it, rather than quite blissfully (for the next few months) ignoring it, then you need to subscribe to our inaugural Market Review, and quick.

Sears Plunges on Plans to Close as Many as 120 Stores

Bloomberg:By Cotten Timberlake - Dec 27, 2011 12:30 PM ET

Sears Holdings Corp. tumbled the most in 8 1/2 years after saying it will close as many as 120 stores, with a deeper-than-expected sales decline casting doubt on Chairman Edward Lampert’sefforts to turn around the chain.

Lampert has tried several strategies since merging Sears with Kmart in 2005, none of which have reversed falling sales. His latest push involves moving toward smaller stores and licensing the Craftsman, DieHard and Kenmore brands. As a result, the larger stores have received less investment and prompted customers to shop elsewhere, according to Gary Balter, an analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG in New York.

Same-store sales at the largest U.S. department store chain (#1) fell 5.2 percent in the eight weeks ended Dec. 25, Sears said today. By contrast, such sales in the department-store sector as a whole will climb an estimated 4 percent in November and December, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade group.

… “There is not enough value in the real estate (#2) to do much with,” Balter said. “Who is going to buy the stores? There are no buyers. There is no one growing in U.S. retail.”

Hedge Fund

Lampert, who along with his hedge fund owns 60 percent of Sears, has presided over 18 consecutive quarters of declining sales (#3). Before today’s announcement, Sears had closed 171 of its large U.S. stores since 2005. Besides turning to smaller stores and franchising, Lampert also has been leasing space to other retailers and trying to boost Web sales(#4).

Instead of reviving growth, Sears has lost customers and market share to discounters (#5) such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Target Corp. (TGT), which are attracting budget-minded consumers.

…

The company is allowing other retailers to sell its DieHard, Craftsman and Kenmore (#6) products. Sears has also cut deals with such retailers as Costco Wholesale Corp. and Ace Hardware to sell Craftsman tools in their stores.

“If they can just create enough cash flow to get through the downturn (#7), at some point there is going to be a huge uptick in appliance sales,” Paul Swinand, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “They just have to make sure that when that happens they are not cut off at the knees, and that it doesn’t all go to Home Depot and Best Buy.”

… “The market is assuming there’s more bad news to come(#8),” Swinand said.

This day's 3rd Set Up for the "Great Deception of 2012"

3rd item of today for the setting up of the ‘Sheeple’ for the “Great Deception for 2012” is this MSM’s PORE that US home sales were up 4% in latest month!

Now this is supposed to be GOOD NEWS and will be promulgated as the beginning of the ‘bottoming process’ of the US housing Market, which improving metric is essential if the ‘Sheeple’ are ever to be to reawakened,

since the heart of the economic problem in the US is the housing market.

However. this report from the NAR also contains some real gems that are evidence of nothing less than past criminal activity of juggling the numbers so as to hide the ugly truth, until much later when nobody will care - IMO:

# 1 Home sales were revised downwards by the NAR for the LAST FOUR YEARS by 14%!

2 This massive downward revision was prompted by an internal audit by the NAR, after they were accused of reporting massively inflated numbers of home sales. 

#3 The body that made the charge actually charged that NAR’s numbers were inflated by 33%!

Now, after these revelations, can there realistically be any dispute whether or not the recent downturn should have been categorized as a Recession or a Depression?

Also, does everybody feel so very happy and relieved to hear that the very same body – the NAR – reports that home sales are now up 4% for the latest period?

And in light of this massive revision of rather simple economic metrics, do our suspicions of the US Commerce Department’s reported data, voiced in our Market Review and 1^st Quarter update and on these Blogs, seem more entertainable? 

Especially since the US CD is dealing with infinitely more complex data metrics, such as GDP & CPI?

Existing Homes Sold Since ’07 Revised Down

Bloomberg: By Timothy R. Homan - Dec 21, 2011 2:15 PM ET

“Purchases climbed 4 percent to a 4.42 million annual pace, the most since January, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The group revised down figures going back to 2007 by an average 14 percent, putting them more in line with other measures of demand.

“Perhaps signs of life are increasing for the housing market,” said Ellen Zentner, a senior U.S. economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York, who forecast a sales rate of 4.4 million for last month. “Housing is finally not going to be a drag on economic growth in 2012. (I would like you all to remember this forecast in light of our own forecast of down for the next roughly 20 years; that is, down for next 1 &1/2 years in ‘absolute’ terms and next 18 & ½ years in ‘inflation adjusted’ terms!) 

That’s not to say that risks don’t abound. We know that there’s a substantial shadow inventory of distressed properties that we’re still waiting to come onto the market.”

… The median estimate of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 5.05 million pace in November existing home sales. Forecasts ranged from 4.38 million to 5.25 million, a wider-than-usual range because some took into account assumptions for the benchmark revisions and others didn’t. October’s reading was revised down to a 4.25 million rate from a previous estimate of 4.97 million, reflecting the NAR’s benchmark updates.

Total purchases were revised to 4.19 million for 2010, down 15 percent from a prior estimate of 4.91 million. Sales were trimmed by 16 percent for 2009, by 16 percent for 2008 and by 11 percent for 2007.

“Before the revisions things were bad, now they are even worse,” Lawrence Yun, the group’s chief economist, said in a news conference today as the figures were released.

Figures from other trackers of home sales showed a slower pace of purchases compared with NAR, prompting the agents’ group to revisit their data. CoreLogic Inc., a real-estate analytics company, released a report in February showing that 3.3 million existing homes were sold in 2010, less than the 4.91 million initially tallied by NAR.

Independent Data

CoreLogic, based in Santa Ana, California, monitors sales figures through property records at local courthouses, while NAR follows sales through the multiple-listing services used by real-estate agents. The property-deed records contain “huge statistical noise,” said Yun, making CoreLogic’s numbers too low.

NAR tallies in recent years were overstated because the consolidation of multiple listing services caused distortions in the data, according to Yun. He said overestimates of direct sales by owners and home builders’ use of the listing services to sell new homes also helped inflate the data. (Could there possibly have been any intent of these parties to fudge the numbers?)

….said Michelle Meyer, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “The big take-away is that there was an even bigger gap between affordability and housing demand, making it even more difficult to trigger the rebound,” Meyer said in an interview.  …The median price of a previously owned home decreased 3.5 percent to $164,200 from $170,200 in November 2010, today’s report showed. (Prices continue falling quite nicely0

….Federal Reserve policy makers reiterated at a meeting this month that they will keep the benchmark interest rate near zero until at least mid-2013. (Such trumpeting of the ZIRP for such an extended period of time is going to distort all markets, just as did the Greenspan’s AZIRP) The central bank in September decided to reinvest maturing housing debt into new mortgage-backed securities (This is another form of QE that qualifies as ersatz QE3) instead of Treasuries. .,..”

#2 event for today is MASSIVE EURO MONEY DUMP!

Well, well!  For subscribers to our Market Review and even to readers of only these Blogs, it is quite revelatory to see our predictions coming true right before your eyes, is it not?

The “Masters of the Universe” are pumping out tons and tons of “Free Money“ in Europe and the desperate ‘Banksters’ are revealing their full-fledged panic by gobbling the stuff up!  Incidentally (like here in the US) none of the people's money is dumped on their doorsteps.  

No, of course not!  They will have to pay exorbitant fees and outlandishly high interest, if they are so lucky as to be lent some of this  "Free Money!" 

Now, this insanely crafted “Money Dump” has just removed from the table – for the next twelve months - all the issues of the Euro debt dilemma that have been so artfully crafted and presented, Daily, to “Scare the S__t out of the “Sheeple,” for the last many months.  See our many Blogs on this very subject.

Are you and your company ready for the ‘Surprise’ that should be ‘No Surprise’ that will be unfolding soon; and the miraculously rising equity markets; and the VERY LAST buying surge of the "Fleeced Sheeple" in the latter half of 2012, before the end of things as we know them?

You should be ramping up your inventories massively, right now, and getting really ‘Hot’ Advertising and Marketing campaigns ready, right now, for the after-effects of the “Great Deception of 2012” which is now absolutely ordained for the summer,fall and winter of 2012/13!

Unfortunately, so is the horrific and devastating economic debacle fully ordained, that is set to follow all these events in 2013!

European Banks Devour ECB Emergency Funds

Bloomberg; By Gavin Finch and Liam Vaughan - Dec 21, 2011 9:39 AM ET

“European banks borrowed enough cash from the European Central Bank at its first three-year offering to refinance almost two-thirds of the debt they have maturing next year amid concern that markets will remain frozen.

The 523 euro-area lenders took a record 489 billion euros ($638 billion) from the Frankfurt-based central bank in 1,134- day loans today, more than economists’ median estimate of 293 billion euros in a Bloomberg News survey. That equals about 63 percent of the European bank debt maturing in 2012, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts.

“The perceived stigma attached to central bank borrowing has not prevented euro-zone banks from making extensive use of the ECB’s offer,” said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING Group in Amsterdam. “The take-up of loans is massive.”

By flooding the banking system with cheap money, policy makers are attempting to stave off a looming credit crunch by encouraging banks to maintain lending. Politicians, including French President Nicholas Sarkozy, are also pushing the banks to use the cash, which is borrowed at a current interest rate of 1 percent, to purchase higher-yielding southern European sovereign debt, thereby forcing down borrowing costs in the region. ….

Banks have become increasingly reliant on the ECB for funding after the market for bank debt seized up and U.S. money markets withdrew lending. Senior unsecured bank bond sales have tumbled 80 percent to 14.6 billion euro since the markets constricted at the end of July compared with the year earlier period, according to Morgan Stanley data....."

MSM's set up to "Great Deception of 2012" NOW FULLY in play!

Well folks, essential for a very clear understanding of today’s three Blogs please review our Blogs of 11/11, 11/18, 11/21, 11/25 & 12/15.  For premium subscribers to our Market Review, the things covered in these five Blogs were fully explained and then predicted in great detail in our 1^st Qtr 2012 Quarterly update.

Namely, the MSM promulgated ‘Charade’ to precipitate the ‘Surprising’ economic developments that MUST precede the “Great Deception of 2012” are now being rolled out at ‘light speed.’  The ‘False’ shepherds are totally panicked and realize that the ‘Sheeple’ must be fully prepped so that they will have been suitably prepped by the MSM’s “Psy-Ops” programming sufficiently in advance; so that, the “Sheeple” will be quite madly and insanely avoiding inflation hedges and chasing the equity markets in the latter half of 2012.

For those watching the unfolding ‘Charade,’ once the players are fully identified and the scripts are clearly understood, then all becomes clear.  So, here we go with three MAJOR ‘opening moves’ in the set up to the “Great Deception of 2012” that have all been rolled out on ONE day – today! 

First we cover Bloomberg’s article of today.  Herein, the FED’s Bernanke is credited with saving the world by sprinkling “Happy Dust” and making everything just fine for the nearly financially destroyed “Sheeple!”

Notice that the perniciously horrifying “money drops” from “Helicopters” (Bernankes’ very own words) are now represented as the sprinkling of “Happy Dust,” which quite magically makes the whole process of insanely inflating the money supply (beyond all known historical parameters) by massively creating new electronic ‘Book Entry” credits for the banks, to be presented to the ‘Sheeple’ as a very innocent and childlike and harmless process by which the magical Bernanke will ‘make everything right’ for the ‘Sheeple!’

The following nearly “Holy Encomium” of the profligate (WITH OUR MONEY) head of the FED is really Quite sickening, when you clearly do understand what Bernanke’s ZIRP is doing the US Dollar and to the very future and lifeblood of this Country!

Oh, and to complete this MSM ‘Psy-Ops’ piece, the ‘Sheeple’ are told to go out and spend, which will only effect two things:

#1 enrich the banks, because the ‘Sheeple’ will have to borrow to spend,

#2 impoverish the ‘Sheeple,’ for the very same reason.

Bernanke Prods Savers to Become Consumers

Bloomberg;By Rich Miller - Dec 20, 2011 8:02 PM ET

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke finally may be catching a break: His easy-money policies are showing signs of speeding up the economic rebound three years after he cut interest rates to zero.

….“When the Fed sprinkles happy dust on the economy, we always respond,” said Allen Sinai, co-founder and chief global economist and strategist at Decision Economics in New York. “The happy dust has been out there a long, long time, and I think it finally may be settling in some places.”

Since the recovery began in June 2009, households have focused on saving rather than spending, while banks have concentrated on rebuilding capital instead of lending. That may be changing, as both have made progress in rebuilding their balance sheets, Sinai said.

He sees growth accelerating in the range of 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent next year from 1.5 percent to 2 percent this year…

….Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey, is even more optimistic than Sinai. Crandall -- the most-accurate forecaster of the U.S. economy as of Dec. 1, based on Bloomberg calculations -- predicts growth next year of just over 3 percent, as companies become more confident about the outlook and expand their businesses. (Here is yet another hint of the “Great Deception of 2012.”)

… “Next year, stocks will do better than bonds,” Hoffman said. He sees stock returns in the “high single digits,” including dividends, compared with yields on 10-year Treasury notes below 2 percent.. . .

(This is such a clear MSM PORE piece that is crafted to move the befuddled ‘Sheeple’ into equities next year (thus fulfilling our most dire predictions) that I almost vomited while working on this Blog, because the periods AFTER the ”Great Deception of 2012” will finally bankrupt the ‘Sheeple.’  How very sad!)

Fastest Expansion

The economy appears to be ending 2011 with the fastest expansion of the year, said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. He forecasts growth of 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with what he said will be a downwardly revised 1.5 percent in the third.. . . 

…. “We’re going to breach 14 million” for 2012 as a whole, said Ballew, a former director of global market and industry analysis for General Motors Co. (GM) in Detroit. He reckons sales this year will come in just below 13 million.

…. “We are going to see more and more of this pent-up demand realized,” Lin told analysts and reporters. …

The story is much the same in housing. Low mortgage rates and the steep drop in prices have made homes more affordable than they’ve been in years, said Thomas Lawler, a former economist with government-backed mortgage company Fannie Mae in Washington, who now is an independent housing consultant in Leesburg, Virginia.

There’s also a lot of pent-up demand in this market, as many young adults put off moving away from their parents because of the tough economic times, he added. . . .

Some "Kondratieff" After Effects

The surging “Kondratieff” Long-Wave is in the process of creating a “New Normal” and will generate many predictable and many surprising demographic changes.  The following article identifies one of each.

#1 The first waves of the Super “Kondratieff” Long-Wave have utterly destroyed roughly $13,000,000,000,000 of RE and Stock values from the Balance Sheets of the average American.  The net of this is that they must go somewhere in this country where they can afford to live.  Whereas, in the past we often witnessed "Gentrification" of neighborhoods, we will now see "Gentrification" of the entire country! This holds many challenges and many unforeseen opportunities for Advertising and Marketing executives.  We have covered many of them in our inaugural Market Review.

#2 The current generation of youth has been ‘Psy-Oped’ into tragic role reversals.  Namely women are empowered and taught to be more like men, and males are taught to be more sensitive and to be more like women.

The net of this is that the new generation of males are more prone to be impotently powerless and in need of ‘nurturing’ beyond the teen years.  The evidence of this trend is right here in these statistics, which proves quite surprising to those of us from earlier generations, because we could NOT wait to leave home, and we did at the very first opportunity!  

Now 25 to 34 year old males are living at home.  The societal and cultural implications of this newly emerging demographic trend are quite devastating for the nation and most especially for  the 'emotionally castrated' males.

This and associated trends also hold tremendous challenges and dangers for Advertising and Marketing executives, as well.  And we have covered these issues in some great detail in or inaugural issue of our Market Review, as well.

U.S. Population Migrates From Coasts for Income

Bloomberg; By Brian Chappatta - Dec 20, 2011 7:00 AM ET

“…New York, California and other high- cost U.S. states may lose residents as the economy recovers, continuing a trend during the past decade of Americans searching for more affordable regions to settle.

The U.S. population climbed 9.7 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to Census Bureau data. Five states -- Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah and Idaho -- grew at more than twice the national pace, as California, the most-populous, had its smallest increase ever, the data show.

…., the effects of the economic downturn may rekindle movements away from high-priced areas, said Joel Kotkin, author of “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” a book about demographics.

“If you move from New York to Houston, you just gave yourself a gigantic raise,” Kotkin said in a telephone interview. “As the country has become more stressed, people have to move to those places where they can achieve a middle- class lifestyle at a lower cost.”

Living With Parents

….Men 25 to 34 years old, who are usually among the most frequent migrants, have increasingly opted to live with their parents during the past five years, according to government figures.

“A lot of people who would have been out-migrants have not yet left home,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who has studied census data for more than three decades. “There is this pent-up demand for migration, and it could be that once things pick up, there will be an exodus again from these places.”

….

 “When migration picks up, to what degree will there still be this gulf between where the middle class can afford to live and where they can’t?” Frey said. “Coastal California will likely still be out of a lot of middle-class homeowners’ reach, as will living in the more expensive parts of the Northeast.”

Euro Crisis to be SOLVED in 2012 by 'Mule Trading'

The US Government has known for years that the really BIG BUCKS (as in Dollars) are in 'Mule Trading!' Back in January of 19 & 64 Curtis & Leroy saw an ad in the Starkville Daily in Starkville, MS. and bought a mule for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next morning the farmer – a distant relative of President Johnson, who was in a heated battle to push through his “War on Poverty” and a whole  slugfest of Social Programs and to enlarge that little war in South East Asia - drove up and said, "Sorry, fellows, I have some bad news, the mule died last night." Curtis &Leroy replied,"Well, then just give us our money back." The farmer said,"Can't do that. I went and spent it already." They said, "OK then, just bring us the dead mule." The farmer asked, "What in the world ya'll gonna do with a dead mule?" Curtis said, "We gonna raffle him off." The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead mule!" Leroy said, "We shore can! Heck, we don't hafta tell nobody he's dead!" A couple of weeks later, the farmer ran into Curtis & Leroy at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and asked. "What'd you fellers ever do with that dead mule?" They said,"We raffled him off like we said we wuz gonna do.." Leroy said,"Shucks, we sold 500 tickets fer two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898." The farmer said,"My Lord, didn't anyone complain?" Curtis said, "Well, the feller who won got upset. So we gave him his two dollars back." Well the farmer told his brother, who told his Uncle, who told his Brother, who told his second cousin, who told President Johnson about Curtis and Leroy and the outcome of their “Mule Raffle!” They were immediately brought to Washington DC and worked for the President Johnson in crafting and redrafting his proposals to Congress on ALL His Miraculous Social Programs and that 'little' war; that, “… would cost nobody nuthin, or next to Nuthin!” And they have worked on everything else passed by the government of this type; until their ‘passing’ in 1994. But, their sons – Clyde and Bubba – took their place under President Clinton and have been there ever since. And they're - right now - overseeing the Bailout Program & Social Security & they were brought in by Bernanke back in March of 09, when the FED Balance Sheet exploded from $800 Billion to $2.7 Trillion. And they are working overtime on QE 3 (already started in November with $39,600,000,000 to 'kick' the equity markets, see yesterday's Blog and our Home page) and on QE4 and on QE5 and on QE6, as well, because their talents will be in huge demand when the FED's Balance Sheet goes into the Multi-Trillions of Dollars and Wendy's burgers go to $27 and bread to $15 a loaf and a gallon of gasoline to $12.50! In fact - just like their fathers - they plan on working in Washington DC, until they die; just like all their peers who actually can't afford to retire, see Blog of 11/17. And now they are being called to Europe! Mdm. LaGarde @ the IMF has just requested Clyde and Bubba to fly over and become her “Super-Special Advisors.”  She is quite positive that with their input the European Sovereign Debt Crisis can be totally solved, thus setting the stage for the “Great Deception of 2012," covered in some detail in our Blogs of 11/14,11/18, 11/21& 11/24! Are you and your company ready for the last big surge in consumer spending next year, BEFORE the only the second of three Super 'Tsunami' “Kondratieff” Long-Wave engulfs all the world.   And that will happen because the "Great Deception of 2012" is doomed to be swamped in the 'Inflationary Explosion' that is even now ordained by Bernanke's insanely mandated ZIRP that will create even worse economic misallocations, dislocations and commodity inflation than did Greenspan's AZIRP do to Real Estate.  Incidentally, Greenspan's lunacy was prompted by none other than Bernanke. For exact timing of these things, your company should subscribe to our Market Review and Updates.

CNBC joins MSM's PORE on 'Gold' and 'Gold Bulls'

Now, very quickly, CNBC has joined the MSMS’s PORE against Gold and ‘Gold Bulls’ and ALL things ‘Gold!’ Read our earlier Blog, this very day, to understand what is the PORE and other things.

These things really do become uproariously hilarious when you do see the ‘puppets’ and the ‘strings’ and the ‘Puppet Master!’  The former should be obvious, from all our Blogs and web pages, and the latter will be revealed long into the future in a totally different forum.

This MSM PORE on Gold will very soon be a ‘Full Court Press!'

Are you ready for the rest of the machinations that will follow the coming year's insanity (that will be represented as sanity) and that will most severely rock you, your company, this country and the whole world?

I would strongly suggest that your company consider subscribing to our services.  And, I will lament for all those unprepared “Sheeple” and the "Sheeple Companies” that will be caught totally by surprise - with what is now in store for all the world!

Gold Sheds 'Can't Lose' Status: Now, No One Wants It

CNBC – 1 hour 59 minutes ago

“In just three months, gold (Exchange: XAU=) has gone from the trade that works in every kind of market to the trade that doesn't work in any market.

Bullion is off more than 17 percent from an all-time high reached in September as strapped hedge funds and sovereign funds sell the metal to raise funds and the strong U.S. dollar (Intercontinental Exchange US: .DXY) strips it of its safe haven status.

For a time, gold rose with stocks and other assets as central banks added liquidity to stem off a global financial crisis. It also climbed in down equity markets as investors crowded into the trade for its traditional status as a store of value in tough times.

"Gold was a safe haven, a hedge and a speculative trade all at the same time," said Michael Murphy, CEO of Rosecliff Capital, a hedge fund. "Long gold has been a winning trade for years. We expect the selloff in gold to gain momentum into 2012. Traders are finding better hedges, better safe havens, and better speculative commodity plays than long gold."…

…. In just four days, the gold sell-off has turned violent, plummeting more than $100 to breach the $1,600 level. On Wednesday gold fell with stocks. The next day, the metal fell even as the equity market rose.

"When an asset is thought to work in any market, that is the surest sign of a bubble," said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. "I believe we will hear about massive central bank selling to put currency in markets."… “    

This is the ‘real deal’ now folks.  I really do pray for all those that will not be ready for the events that will catch almost all the world unawares AFTER the “Great Deception of 2012.”

See, our many, earlier posts and web pages to get a sense of the economic turmoil and chaos that is so soon (after winter 2013) to envelope all the world.