Or silver?

First maybe second

This confirms the high quality of Nouriel Roubini’s analysis during the buildup of the current economic crisis. It may be even harder to predict its further evolution and outcome. I’m looking forward to his upcoming writings about it.

When it crosses $900/oz many more investors will beleive (based on technicals) that gold has broken a long downtrend and is climbing to new levels.PeteCA

As the USA stands on the brink of fiscal insanity, with over $8 trillion committed by the Bush administration to various economic bailouts and rescues, we read the following news clips this morning:1. (CNN) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite President Bush’s low approval ratings, people will soon “start to thank this president for what he’s done.”Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says “there is no greater honor than to serve this country, so we can sit here and talk about the long record, but what I would say to you is that this president has faced tougher circumstances than perhaps at any time since the end of World War II, and he has delivered policies that are going to stand the test of time,” Rice said in an interview that aired on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.”——2. CNN) — A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush’s departure from office is coming not a moment too soon. Twenty-eight percent of those polled say President Bush is the worst president in U.S. history. Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they’re glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they’ll miss him.——————–Clearly someone is out of touch.PeteCA

Kudos to Nouriel for his predictions, but being on the same list as the Grand Ayatollah and Revered Wright, two lowlifes, is not something that should be flaunted.t

i guess this site has turned into people magazine

I have to say, I like the drawing/caricature of Dr. Roubini in the previous article/thread much more than this one. This one looks more like Boris Karloff.

The SPLURGE worked!

The incompetence of the Bush Administration is unprecedented. We could have elected a chimp to succeed him and would have been better off. As it is, we elected an erudite, intelligent individual of measured temperament. Sure, the Obama administration will make it’s share of mistakes, but they will pale by comparison to those of the inept scofflaws who currently inhabit the apex of the executive branch.SWK

For those of you who follow my investing moves, I just covered MY APOL short at a small 1.1% gain. The reason I took the profit is that IMO, after all the reading I did, I think it is too early to short. The catalysts that would make it drop are not close to kicking in. In fact they hired a new CEO whose background indicates he is more interested in promoting the stock than improving the quality of the education at UOP. But his short term actions will very likely prop up the stock, as I will explain below.

Charles B. Edelstein (48) became Chief Executive Officer and a director of Apollo Groupin August 2008. Prior to joining Apollo Group, Mr. Edelstein was employed byCredit Suisse, a financial services firm, since 1987, and served as a ManagingDirector since 1998. He was also the head of the Global Services Group within theInvestment Banking Division of Credit Suisse. His focus was on providing advisoryservices regarding acquisitions, dispositions and capital raising transactions.Mr. Edelstein founded and oversaw Credit Suisse’s leading advisory practice in theeducation industry, where he served as advisor to many of the largest educationcompanies, including Apollo Group. Prior to that, he worked at Price Waterhouse(now PricewaterhouseCoopers) for three years as an auditor and managementconsultant. Mr. Edelstein sits on the Chicago board of directors for both Teach forAmerica and Junior Achievement. He received a Bachelor of Arts with highestdistinction from the University of Illinois and a Master of Business Administrationfrom the Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar with highdistinction.

When such a CEO takes the helm, he starts promoting the stock through presentations at investor conferences organized by the investment banks and others. At these gatherings lots of Money managers bite the bullet and establish new positions. Mr. Edelstein is a new broom, and as we say in Spanish, “toda escoba nueva barre bien” (a new broom always sweeps well). The market will give him the benefit of the doubt until a bad number comes out.Now, I Will tell you more about how I learnt about the consultant in auditing/banking/management that then becomes a company CEO operates.The year was 1998, the company was Bally Total Fitness. I, as Pancho Villa at Silicon Investor, predicted the stock would go to zero (Ticker used to be BFIT then BFT when they moved to the big board, now it is delisted traded last as BFT.BE in Berlin at 60 cents a share). and it is very close to that it is a BB stock trading at around 60 cent per share. But at the time I issued my sell report the had just hired as CEO a former auditor, Lee Hillman who had all this wonderful plans that I knew wouldn’t work, but “brain dead” money managers decided to go long and then more jumped in the momentum wagon. I had to cover at a significant loss despite the fact that I was right.So going back to APOL,on Mr. Edelstein, IMO it will take some time to show his stock promoting efforts will do nothing for the business. One would imagine that if they were really interested in the academic side they would hire as CEO a provost or president away from a prestigious school.If you look at institutional ownership you will see this:http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?Symbol=APOL There have been net sellers of the stock. But apparently Maverick Capital, Ltd. a quality outfit profiled in KB Hedge Hunters book sees something I don’t. And Viking Global Investors LP, a Julian Robertson disciple shop, decreased its position but it is still a huge holder.What is their reason? APOL education is low quality compared to a regular university (actually below community college level) but it is the highest quality on-line education you can get, even if UOP degrees are not worth much in the market place. Their main target market are busy working adults with kids that cannot attend a regular university. They get the UOP piece of paper, keep it in the drawer while at their current job and when they try to use it to switch jobs, they find out it is worthless in the market place. But in the short term they fool themselves into believing they have done something worthwhile to improve their skills.The story on the stock now goes that it is “recession proof” as unemployed people flock to them to retool and the % of students that us title 4 money is low.I will continue to monitor closely.

Sucker sell-off successful! Green rally time? CM?

(CNN) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite President Bush’s low approval ratings, people will soon “start to thank this president for what he’s done.”– Only those people who want to see the US destroyed.Bin Ladden’s attacks on 9/11 were to bankrupt our country. It is appalling to see how close he is from succeeding.

DECEMBER 29, 2008, 1:54 P.M. ET As if Things Weren’t Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.In Moscow, Igor Panarin’s Forecasts Are All the Rage, America ‘Disintegrates’ in 2010By ANDREW OSBORNMOSCOW For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument, that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S.very seriously. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.Igor PanarinIn recent weeks, he’s been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. “It’s a record,” says Prof. Panarin. “But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger.”Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.But it’s his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin’s views also fit neatly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.”There’s a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur,” he says. “One could rejoice in that process,” he adds, poker-faced. “But if we’re talking reasonably, it’s not the best scenario — for Russia.” Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin’s ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry. The country’s top international relations school has hosted him as a keynote speaker. During an appearance on the state TV channel Rossiya, the station cut between his comments and TV footage of lines at soup kitchens and crowds of homeless people in the U.S. The professor has also been featured on the Kremlin’s English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.Mr. Panarin’s apocalyptic vision “reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today,” says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. “It’s much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union.”Mr. Pozner and other Russian commentators and experts on the U.S. dismiss Mr. Panarin’s predictions. “Crazy ideas are not usually discussed by serious people,” says Sergei Rogov, director of the government-run Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, who thinks Mr. Panarin’s theories don’t hold water.Mr. Panarin’s résumé includes many years in the Soviet KGB, an experience shared by other top Russian officials. His office, in downtown Moscow, shows his national pride, with pennants on the wall bearing the emblem of the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency. It is also full of statuettes of eagles; a double-headed eagle was the symbol of czarist Russia.The professor says he began his career in the KGB in 1976. In post-Soviet Russia, he got a doctorate in political science, studied U.S. economics, and worked for FAPSI, then the Russian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. He says he did strategy forecasts for then-President Boris Yeltsin, adding that the details are “classified.”In September 1998, he attended a conference in Linz, Austria, devoted to information warfare, the use of data to get an edge over a rival. It was there, in front of 400 fellow delegates, that he first presented his theory about the collapse of the U.S. in 2010.”When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise,” he remembers. He says most in the audience were skeptical. “They didn’t believe me.”At the end of the presentation, he says many delegates asked him to autograph copies of the map showing a dismembered U.S.He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls “The Central North American Republic.” Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.”It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time.” A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. “It’s not there for no reason,” he says with a sly grin.Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia’s biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt “a pyramid scheme,” and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington’s role as a global financial regulator.Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama “can work miracles,” he wrote. “But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.”The article prompted a question about the White House’s reaction to Prof. Panarin’s forecast at a December news conference. “I’ll have to decline to comment,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.For Prof. Panarin, Ms. Perino’s response was significant. “The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully,” he says.The professor says he’s convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union — 15 years beforehand. “When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him,” says Prof. Panarin.

Crap!

LOL, Dow and S&P rally all the way back to virtually unchanged during the magical hour! Thine eye’s do deceive me…

Great one from Krugman: A good summary of what is wrong with the financial industry/our society. Te world has gone Mad-Off! Some great points on what many money managers did/do is not much different from what Mad-Off did.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/opinion/19krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rssOp-Ed ColumnistThe Madoff EconomyRecommendcomments (571)E-MailPrintSaveShareLinkedinDiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalinkBy PAUL KRUGMANPublished: December 19, 2008The revelation that Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought), philanthropist, pillar of the community — was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably so. The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend.Skip to next paragraphFred R. Conrad/The New York TimesPaul KrugmanGo to Columnist Page » Blog: The Conscience of a LiberalRelatedTimes Topics: Bernard L. Madoff | Ponzi SchemesReaders’ CommentsReaders shared their thoughts on this article.Read All Comments (571) »Yet surely I’m not the only person to ask the obvious question: How different, really, is Mr. Madoff’s tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole?The financial services industry has claimed an ever-growing share of the nation’s income over the past generation, making the people who run the industry incredibly rich. Yet, at this point, it looks as if much of the industry has been destroying value, not creating it. And it’s not just a matter of money: the vast riches achieved by those who managed other people’s money have had a corrupting effect on our society as a whole.Let’s start with those paychecks. Last year, the average salary of employees in “securities, commodity contracts, and investments” was more than four times the average salary in the rest of the economy. Earning a million dollars was nothing special, and even incomes of $20 million or more were fairly common. The incomes of the richest Americans have exploded over the past generation, even as wages of ordinary workers have stagnated; high pay on Wall Street was a major cause of that divergence.But surely those financial superstars must have been earning their millions, right? No, not necessarily. The pay system on Wall Street lavishly rewards the appearance of profit, even if that appearance later turns out to have been an illusion.Consider the hypothetical example of a money manager who leverages up his clients’ money with lots of debt, then invests the bulked-up total in high-yielding but risky assets, such as dubious mortgage-backed securities. For a while — say, as long as a housing bubble continues to inflate — he (it’s almost always a he) will make big profits and receive big bonuses. Then, when the bubble bursts and his investments turn into toxic waste, his investors will lose big — but he’ll keep those bonuses.O.K., maybe my example wasn’t hypothetical after all.So, how different is what Wall Street in general did from the Madoff affair? Well, Mr. Madoff allegedly skipped a few steps, simply stealing his clients’ money rather than collecting big fees while exposing investors to risks they didn’t understand. And while Mr. Madoff was apparently a self-conscious fraud, many people on Wall Street believed their own hype. Still, the end result was the same (except for the house arrest): the money managers got rich; the investors saw their money disappear.We’re talking about a lot of money here. In recent years the finance sector accounted for 8 percent of America’s G.D.P., up from less than 5 percent a generation earlier. If that extra 3 percent was money for nothing — and it probably was — we’re talking about $400 billion a year in waste, fraud and abuse.But the costs of America’s Ponzi era surely went beyond the direct waste of dollars and cents.At the crudest level, Wall Street’s ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to corrupt politics, in a nicely bipartisan way. From Bush administration officials like Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who looked the other way as evidence of financial fraud mounted, to Democrats who still haven’t closed the outrageous tax loophole that benefits executives at hedge funds and private equity firms (hello, Senator Schumer), politicians have walked when money talked.Meanwhile, how much has our nation’s future been damaged by the magnetic pull of quick personal wealth, which for years has drawn many of our best and brightest young people into investment banking, at the expense of science, public service and just about everything else?Most of all, the vast riches being earned — or maybe that should be “earned” — in our bloated financial industry undermined our sense of reality and degraded our judgment.Think of the way almost everyone important missed the warning signs of an impending crisis. How was that possible? How, for example, could Alan Greenspan have declared, just a few years ago, that “the financial system as a whole has become more resilient” — thanks to derivatives, no less? The answer, I believe, is that there’s an innate tendency on the part of even the elite to idolize men who are making a lot of money, and assume that they know what they’re doing.After all, that’s why so many people trusted Mr. Madoff.Now, as we survey the wreckage and try to understand how things can have gone so wrong, so fast, the answer is actually quite simple: What we’re looking at now are the consequences of a world gone Madoff.

http://www.hussman.net/wmc/wmc081229.htmHussman this week. His equity positions are hedged but if market goes up he will not up the strike price on the puts becoming 70-80% unhedged.Fixed income T forget about them. Corporates still to risky. He likes TIPS

h,…fool me twice…. won’t get fooled again.” g.w.that one?.you might like this. speaking of being perpetually fooled..Monday, December 29, 2008 1:00 pmPublic Affairs.http://archive.wbai.org/index.php

I was busy during the final hour – man this thing is so fixed – SSO popped twenty cents in the final second – nothing ventured nothing gained -

or,i really liked that one. p.k. can write.

A world gone Madoff?Thought it more was like a world being Madoff, with some exception here and there (me not being an exception).

g,use of the word “splurge” IS funny and appropriate. but i ask , what is the meaning ofpaying your enemy to be your ally in this case? why didn’t the u.s. just send them a check,rather than send an army, and then, deliver pallets of freshly printed large bills?less casualties, no ? hmm.? cut out the middleman, war toys, death and maiming.is the death and suffering contractor lobby that strong? yea, it is.is the message “if you want justice, or financial remuneration, you need to get someweapons and kill some innocent people.”.who is sending that message?.structural and functional contradictions abound. see “moral hazard.” bush doctrine..

Could not have said it better myself Professor Krugaman. This is exactly how I think.I would add the abuses by the management of most publicly traded companies to the list. Reading about the abuses in compensation and other money matters MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE THROWING UP eg:APOL:http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/DisplayFilingInfo.aspx?TabIndex=2&FilingID=6305418&type=convpdf&companyid=8112&ppu=%2fDefault.aspx%3fticker%3dAPOLFor example, in addition to all the stock he owns, look at what this old fart gets just because he founded the company (and I am skipping his son):

Dr. John G. Sperling (87)is the founder and the Executive Chairman of the Board ofApollo Group. Dr. Sperling was President of Apollo Group until February 1998,Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Group until August 2001 and Chairman of theBoard until June 2004. Dr. Sperling served as Acting Executive Chairman of theBoard from January 2006 to September 2008 and has served as Executive Chairmanof the Board since September 2008. Prior to his involvement with Apollo Group,from 1961 to 1973, Dr. Sperling was a professor of Humanities at San Jose StateUniversity where he was the Director of the Right to Read Project and the Director ofthe NSF Cooperative College-School Science Program in Economics. At varioustimes from 1955 to 1961, Dr. Sperling was a member of the faculty at the Universityof Maryland, Ohio State University and Northern Illinois University. Dr. Sperlingreceived his Doctor of Philosophy from Cambridge University, a Master of Arts fromthe University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts from Reed College. Dr.Sperling is the father of Peter V. Sperling.Certain Relationships andTransactions with RelatedPersonsDr. John G. Sperling Note ReceivableIn August 1998, we, together with Hughes Network Systems and Hermes Onetouch, LLC,formed Interactive Distance Learning, Inc., a new corporation, to acquire One Touch Systems, aprovider of interactive distance learning solutions. We contributed $10.8 million inOctober 1999 and $1.2 million in December 1999, in exchange for a 19% interest in InteractiveDistance Learning. We accounted for our investment in Interactive Distance Learning under thecost method. Hermes is owned by Dr. John G. Sperling, our Founder and Executive Chairmanof the Board.On December 14, 2001, Hermes acquired our investment in Interactive Distance Learning inexchange for a promissory note in the principal amount of $11.9 million, which represented therelated carrying value. The promissory note accrues interest at a fixed annual rate of six percentand is due at the earlier of December 14, 2021 or nine months after Dr. Sperling’s death. Thepromissory note is included in other assets as a receivable from a related party in theConsolidated Balance Sheets as of August 31, 2008 and 2007.Apollo International, Inc.As of August 31, 2008, we directly own approximately 3.8% of the preferred stock of ApolloInternational, Inc., which provides educational products and services in India. Dr. John G.Sperling was a director of Apollo International until November 2005. In addition, we beneficially own shares of Apollo International stock indirectly through our 17% investment ina venture capital fund that owns approximately 4.1% of Apollo International stock. We received shareholder distributions of $0.6 million in 2007, and no distributions in 2008 and2006.Effective September 2002, Western International University entered into an agreement withApollo International that allows for Western International University’s educational offerings tobe made available in India through a joint venture between Apollo International and K.K. ModiInvestment and Financial Services Private Limited. The joint venture company is named ModiApollo International Group Private Limited. Apollo International is responsible for therelationship with the entities in India that are offering the Western International Universityprograms while Western International University maintains the educational content and otheracademic aspects of the programs pursuant to an agreement with Apollo International. WesternInternational University received approximately $0.2 million during the fiscal years 2008, 2007and 2006 in connection with its agreement with Apollo International.Governmental Advocates, Inc.Effective July 1, 1989, we entered into an agreement with Governmental Advocates, Inc. toprovide consulting services to us with respect to matters concerning legislation, regulations,public policy, electoral politics, and any other topics of concern to us relating to stategovernment in the State of California. Hedy F. Govenar, a director of University of Phoenix anda former director of Apollo, is the founder and Chairwoman of Governmental Advocates, Inc.On June 1, 2008, we renewed this agreement for an additional year. Pursuant to the agreement,we paid consulting fees to Governmental Advocates, Inc. of $0.1 million in fiscal years 2008,2007 and 2006.Yo Pegasus, LLCYo Pegasus, LLC, an entity controlled by Dr. John G. Sperling, leases an aircraft to us as wellas to other entities. Payments to Yo Pegasus for the business use of the airplane, includinghourly flight charges, fuel, and direct operating expenses during fiscal years 2008, 2007, and2006 were $0.4 million, $0.3 million, and $0.4 million, respectively. These amounts areincluded in general and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Income.Additionally, through May 2007 the pilots were employed by us and the costs of salaries andfringe benefits were paid through our payroll and are included in general and administrativeexpenses in the Consolidated Statements of Income. The cost to us, including payments made toYo Pegasus and the cost of pilots’ wages (including fringe benefits) during fiscal years 2008,2007 and 2006 were $0.4 million, $0.5 million, and $0.6 million, respectively.TKG Contact Center, Inc.We entered into a sublease with TKG Contact Center, Inc., an entity controlled by Dr. John G.Sperling, to lease 56,410 square feet of office space in Tempe, Arizona, for the period fromJuly 1, 2006 to November 30, 2007. We extended the lease to December 7, 2007. Payments tothis entity during fiscal years 2008, 2007, and 2006 were $0.3 million, $0.9 million, and$0.2 million, respectively.Sperling GalleryWe lease certain artwork pursuant to a contract between Apollo Group and an art gallery ownedby Virginia Sperling. Virginia Sperling is the former wife of Dr. John Sperling and the motherof Mr. Peter Sperling. Lease payments under the contract during fiscal years 2008, 2007, and2006 were $37,000, $37,000, and $39,000, respectively.PoliPoint Press, LLCPoliPoint Press, LLC, an entity controlled by Dr. John G. Sperling, provides editorial servicesfor Apollo. Payments made to PoliPoint Press during fiscal year 2008 were $5,000.Credit Suisse Share Repurchase ServicesDuring fiscal years 2008 and 2007, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, an affiliate of theprevious employer of Charles B. Edelstein, our Chief Executive Officer, and Gregory W.Cappelli, our Executive Vice President, Global Strategy and Assistant to the ExecutiveChairman, managed a share repurchase program for Apollo. We paid Credit Suisse Securitiesapproximately $196,000 and $143,000 in commissions for this service during fiscal years 2008and 2007, respectively. Our engagement of Credit Suisse Securities and payment of these feesoccurred after Mr. Cappelli joined Apollo in March 2007, and prior to the time Mr. Edelsteinaccepted employment with Apollo in July 2008.Earth Day NetworkDuring fiscal year 2008, University of Phoenix Foundation, a non-profit entity affiliated withthe University of Phoenix, provided a grant of $50,000 to Earth Day Network in response to agrant request received in May 2008. Art Edelstein, the Director of Development of Earth DayNetwork, is the brother of Charles B. Edelstein, our Chief Executive Officer. The Foundationreceived and approved this grant request prior to the time Mr. Edelstein accepted employmentwith Apollo in July 2008.Deferred Compensation Agreement with Dr. John G. SperlingApollo and Dr. John G. Sperling are parties to a Deferred Compensation Agreement, for whichwe recorded long-term liability of $2,326,000 in 2008 and $2,197,000 in 2007.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aApG5YFe53Q0Madoff, under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment, faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted. Doesn’t this sound a bit lite? What does one get for armed robbery with forced entrance into an inhabited apartment, 1000 bucks stolen, no-one injured?

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/10-20-life/10-20-LIFEPoster is available in English and Spanish versions and can be ordered online.- Mandates a minimum 10 year prison term for certain felonies, or attempted felonies in which the offender possesses a firearm or destructive device- Mandates a minimum 20 year prison term when the firearm is discharged- Mandates a minimum 25 years to LIFE if someone is injured or killed- Mandates a minimum 3 year prison term for possession of a firearm by a felon- Mandates that the minimum prison term is to be served consecutively to any other term of imprisonment imposedIMO, mother$&@^! Mad-Off should get life!

Here in Argentina there was a piece of news in Cronica TV (like the National Enquirer) saying GWB is having an affair with C. Rice and will divorce Laura to marry her as soon as his presidency is over:-)

Remember when the Prof. first started talking about the trillion number and many thought he was crazy?Madoff Hearing Set as House Weighs Regulatory Changes (Update2)http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adTqu0BDRIR4&refer=home“Congress is planning a regulatory overhaul after a financial crisis that has led to more than $1 trillion in writedowns and credit losses since 2007. “

Monday, December 29, 2008 3:00 pmPublic Affairs.http://archive.wbai.org/index.php..the curious shoe and it’s relativesignificance.smoking ruin? min. 31 . 00david lindorff.then …the story of gold.

Not to worry OR – there is justice after all:

An ex-convict could face a life prison term after being charged Friday with five robberies of 7-Eleven stores in Oakland and Berkeley, authorities said.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n21039365

I meant to say (sarcastically) “skeptical that there is no justice – but I think the way I put it is even more appropriate.

How many more civilians to be killed will be considered wrong?I vote professor for top #1.

Here’s a two-phase approach that we should have used to win a war against both the Taliban and Saddam Hussein without shooting a single bullet:PHASE ONE:Provide each family in Afghanistan and Iraq with1. free key communication technology: laptop computers, plasma TVs, satellite TV receivers, and the like.2. inexpensive food.PHASE TWO:Transmit friendly, entertaining, and useful programming that helps your country win over the hearts of the populace. Do this for a period of a few years, while gradually ‘corrupting’ the programming (in an underhanded, not-so-obvious way of course).

So funny how no one was complaining when their portfolios were doing gangbusters, now that the proverbial chickens have come home to roost, the moral outrage is deafening. I can hear the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth all the way up here. Didn’t hear anything prior to the party coming to an end. Just wonderment and blissful sighs of satisfaction whilst reading the monthly statements. Don’t ask, don’t tell…until one day Kaboom! Now we have to find all the bad guys and make examples of them, show them to the world for what they are. Oh! The humanity. Such hypocrisy.

EXCERT FROM A LETTER I JUST SENT TO Andrew CuomoIn investigating Bernie Madoff I find that he had 3 types of businesses, an investment advisor arm, a Hedge Fund, and as a Market Maker. Bernie Madoff was at one point chairman of the board of the NASDAQ. Earlier in his career according to his own admission (in a taped gathering) at the forefront of electronic trading. He had developed contacts all around the world and in particular Switzerland.The news media keeps calling this a Ponzi scheme and that nobody can figure out where the money went. They all suspect that he was robbing Peter (new investors) to pay Paul (old investors) and hail him as almost a genius to have kept this fraud hidden from investigators and only due to economic conditions ( redemptions) that finally wiped him out exposing his fraud.I totally disagree with this conclusion. I believe that the BULK of the fraud he committed was carried out via Naked Shorting. I have found many pieces of information that leads me to this conclusion. I am well versed on the issue of Naked Shorting and have been an advocate since 2003 on eliminating this fraud through several investment groups.First of all he was a Market Maker. He boasted on one of his tapes that his yearly trades exceeded 1 trillion dollars. As a Market Maker and with his background experience of electronic trading, chairman of the NASDAQ and other advisory position. Madoff knew exactly how the system worked. He was able to “game” the system via Naked Shorting through his market making firm. Madoff even had an SEC exemption rule named after him called the Madoff exception rule ( ) this rule allows Market Makers to naked short an illiquid stock in order to maintain an orderly market. But, this is normally a rare occurrenceIMHO, it was through this exception rule that Bernie perpetrated his fraud. This exception rule was used to “naked” short many stocks and the SEC turned its head for the longest time. I believe it was only when the pressure was put on politicians and regulators by certain groups of individual and small investors like myself that this fraud of Naked shorting was exposed and that the “Bernie Madoffs” of the worlds will begin to come to light. I believe the Madoff case is only the tip of the iceberg.I actually believe that the United States was under attack via a form of financial terrorism. I believe we were attacked from both offshore Hedge Funds and onshore white collar criminal associates. I believe that it will surface that Organize crime is involved as well as white collar individuals and entities driven by GREED.I will list below a few of the links I found that support my conclusion and these links come from legitimate websites including the SEC.I would also ask since I am only an amateur investor that you would try and contact some of the professionals who are champions of Naked shorting who may support my conclusion. I believe as you view these links you will be shocked to learn how prevalent the fraud of Naked Shorting is/was.They are as follows:1. Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com who I think is a genius and has taken this issue head on.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIHw7C73s3E must watch Patrick Byrnehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_FZO9-ZIWU&feature=related2. Robert J. Shapiro – economist and current member of Obama’s transition team.http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s72303/rshapiro122403.htm3. Dave Patch – of Investigatethesec.com who is also a champion of eliminating Naked Shorting and fraud from our markets.http://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/?q=node/105 Jan 4th 2007 stockgate article mentioning Madoff.http://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/?q=node/517http://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/files/Madoff%20Mtg%20w%20SEC.pdfhttp://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/files/Madoff%20Comment%20letter.pdf Madoff comment to the SEC’s on REG SHO rule in Jan 8th 2004http://www.investigatethesec.com/drupal-5.5/?q=node/531 article Sept 5th 1985 Wall Street Journalhttp://www.sec.gov/rules/final.shtml SEC final rules page. Read the following Oct 14th 2008 rules. Amendment to regulation SHO. Naked short Anti-fraud rule ,etc.http://camrhon.proboards102.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=safe&thread=5073 A must read. Proof of DTCC role is helping facilitate Naked Shorting.DTCC = Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation which is a division of the Federal Reserve.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2008/12/dancing-on-precipice-balance-of-terror.htmlA good analysis of the currentl position of the USD hegemony. This is a ticking timebomb.Make no mistake, the forthcoming crisis in the USD will shake the world financial system to it’s core. At worst, it will cause a meltdown in the US bond markets precipitating a radical and far reaching response from the US (default, hyperinflation or war).

It is coming…Recession Opens U.S.-China Rift Paulson Talks Bridged (Update1)http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ai3pbN.JY7tY&refer=home

How about all of us Roubini-ites making predictions ourselves. Here’s one from me: Dollar goes to 60 on the USD index in 2009. Gold goes to 1500 USD. Euro goes to 1.60 USD.

Well I am definetly not a Roubini-ite. Any person suggesting that 1 trillion stimulus package will ease up the economy, this when the country already has an 1-2 trillion budget deficit plus is bankrupt, is insane!! Furthermore any person that beleives that zero interstrates and a Fed printig press going mad will make the economy recover must also be insane.

i saw him around that time in greenport theater.

After all the talk, inflation or deflation?

200 year chart of the DOW/GOLD ratio which was at 70:1 in 1999 is going to trend towards a ratio of 1:1 in the next decade. (DOW 1000:GOLD 1000 or DOW 5000:GOLD 5000) What say you ?

I think that is why the sentence that introduces the dude says “…Petraeus, who holds a PhD from Princeton…”. Otherwise people might think how is that guy classified as an intellectual. Well all respect to him from one point of view, or actually two:1. he probably got involved with the army because he thought it is a way to do something for the people in his own country (or something along those lines)2. the reason why he is listed could also be because some people are thankful he has stuck out with the Iraq assignment and has not resigned (or something along those lines)

With KGB analysts like that, it’s no wonder they lost the cold war.

Ah, but inflation is the perfect answer for the cowardly bureaucrat.

g, u 2 smart.

well that sort of “predictions” are just as dumb as some crazy anglo-saxon journalist predicting the break-up of EU or the Euro-zone. The fact is that governmental leaders have far more power than what is publicly admitted (at least if you are a leader of a nuclear armed government, or a “western” non-nuclear government).

gunbelievable. the real deal. gets better every year.

23 percent indicated they’ll miss him? I think these are those who cannot prefers Bush’s State of the Union address to Saturday Night Live for the same sort of comedy effect

In an honest, non manipulated world, this is a likely scenario. However, the U.S. govt will do anything and I mean anything to not let this happen. It’s one thing to let 10% of homeowners lose their homes or their jobs, but those in power have learned from history in order to stave off a revolution, they must maintain the economy by “hook or crook”. The money needed will come from somewhere even if the U.S. govt has to tell us that foreigners are still buying our debt when they aren’t. How would we really know? No one has ever been able to force the Fed/Treasury to be open and transparent or have independent auditing: they can and will do whatever they want to preserve the current balance of power! Suffering will only be allowed to a certain point which is determined by the elite and until the average American wakes up and stops spending all of his time in front of a TV or continually consuming the “latest and greatest”, he will remain in bondage to his own ignorance!

Can I be third second?