WHY IS THE STOCK MARKET RALLYING? 

    

         Goldman Sachs Gave Obama More Than A Million in Campaign Contributions.. 
       It Was A Very Good Investment.  Under Treasury Secretary Paulson, the ex-Goldman CEO
         gave Goldman Sachs $10B in bailout funds.   Goldman paid $6.5B in bonuses to their executives in 2008.
         Obama continues the incestuous relationship at the taxpayer expense.
          



                     
                          OBAMA PLANS TO GIVE HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS MORE TO BANKS.
                                    HIS ADVISORS ARE ALL TO CLOSE TO THESE BANKS

                     Obama's solution to the failure of the American Banking system - keep all the  banksters
               in office and give them hundreds of billions.   This will not fix what ails America or the world.
               The problem is not that banks aren't lending.  It's that too many people are broke.   Wealth
               (and political power) is too concentrated.  One percent of Americans own 50% of the wealth.
               Obama, his Treatsury Secretary (Geithner) and his Chief Economic Advisor (Summers) all
               believe banks aren't lending because their banance sheets are loaded with "bad assets"
               that the market has temporarily grossly underpriced.  The truth is the banks and businesses
               won't make loans because they realize too  many people are too broke to trust that they will
               be able to pay back their loans. 

                     Obama believes that "once the banks start lending, the economy will recover.

                  ( http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-geithners-three-big-misconceptions-2009-3 )
                                           

                                                       A Personal Note

                   Wall Street insider tips and excessive pay offend my Mid-Western values. When I worked
            on Wall Street 40 years ago, I saw first hand how partners in a major brokerage got inside information
            which they did not share with their public clients.  (An obscure shipping company named Natomas had
            an interest in a major new oil discovery in Indonesia.  This I learned from a telegram that came into
            the Research Department of Harris, Upham at 120 Broadway, New York - later bought out my Smith
            Barney.  I was a trainee stock broker at the headquarters of this stock brokerage.  Naively,  I thought
            I would see how important information would be disseminated in the firm.  That did not take place
            for several months.   First, the partners, I was told, bought the stock between 22 and 25.  Only after
            it had doubled, did I see a public report on the stock for customers of Harris Upham.  The partners
            then sold some of their shares and helped provide the stock to meet the newly created demand.
            It was a very speculative market.  The stock had tripled by the time the broader public heard
           about Natomas in Time magazine on 8/29/1969.  This is the experience that made me see how
            insiders buy long before the full story is released to the public.

                When I worked at Harris, Upham & Co I saw a lot of other things that made me distrust
            Wall Street.  I saw the filing cabinets, one after another, of numbered Swiss Bank bank accounts
            in the margin department.  The margin clerk laughed about how little the wealthy owners of
            stocks had to pay in taxes if they used Swiss Bank accounts.  I also watched the Mafia rig
            and manipulate a series of  low priced stocks.  A customer worked for the Mafia (he was a pimp
            for homosexual celebrities) and bought 7 straight stocks through me that tripled or quadrupled.
            I also saw the good-old boys' trade stock tips.  They got rich because of who they knew not what
            they created or accomplished professionally.  They had every reason to obsequiously ingratiate
            themselves with the well-connected.  They had no reason to think independently or critically
            about the workings of Wall Street. 

                  I say these things so, you will understand how  it offends me when I see that Obama's
            Treasury Secretary kow-tow to big Wall Street interests all the while Obama pretends to
            represent Main Street.    Last night on C-Span I saw Geithner refuse to promise to publish the
            number (not the names) of employees receiving more than a million dollars a year in pay
            and bonuses from banks getting public TARP funds.  House Rep. Sherman had asked him to
            provide Congress this information in House Banking and Finance Committee hearings. 
            Geithner, Obama's Treasury Secretary, demurred and refused to say "Yes".  He said he would
            have to think about   the request.   (Who says Congress runs the the show even though it
            appropriates the money for these bailouts?  So much for responsible government under Obama!)

                       Readers may be interested in my take on what has gone so terribly wrong.

                  September 21, 2008   Monopolistic Finance Capitalism and Wall Street Are Dangerously Out of Control.
                  September 19, 2008   Bush Corruption and Cronyism Reach Dizzying Heights in Paulson's Plan
                                                                 for US Tax Payers To Spend A Trillion Dollars Buying Worthless
                                                                Mortgages from Private US Banks.  Someone Must Say "NO"!
                  September 18, 2008   The Greenspan "De-Regulation" of Banking, by Abolishing the
                                                               Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, Has Led Directly to the 2007-2008 Bear
                                                                Market.    Both Political Parties Are To Blame. Neither Admits This To
                                                                Be The Central Malady.


             Geithner   Defended The Bank Executives within The Administration. 

                Last month the NY Times reported that it was Geithner who "resisted those (in Obama's
           new Administration) who wanted to dictate how banks would spend their rescue money. And he
           prevailed over top administration aides who wanted to replace bank executives and wipe out
           shareholders at institutions receiving aid...  Abandoning any pretense about limiting the moral
           hazards at companies that made foolhardy investments, (Geithner's new TARP-II) plan ...
           will not require shareholders of companies receiving significant assistance to lose most or all
           of their investment."    

                  TARP II - Taxpayers Get The Downside Again
                      and Hedge Funds Get The Upside

              Geithner's proposed public-private buying of the banks' toxic assets and bad loans with an
          FDIC guarantees of 80% of the loan is actually a plan that Goldman Sachs developed.  They
          have convinced Geithner that the bad loans and mortgages are actually worth something. 
         That is not what banks who have have conducted some detailed investigations of a sampling
         of these debts.  At most, they may be worth only 5 cents on the dollar.  If this is true and such
         assets are sold to public-private consortiums for more than that,  the taxpayer will stand to lose
         a lot of money.   In effect, Geithner is betting the farm, our farm, on an idea that Goldman Sachs
         is promoting, so that it can get still more management fees from the Government.  ( Source. )

                  Geithner and Goldman Sachs

                  Goldman Sachs not only received TARP payments directly from the Government, it received
           100% of the money AIG owed it when the government took AIG over.  Goldman was AIG's biggest
           creditor.  AIG had insured the packaged mortgages that Goldman distributed and sold against
           failure.   These were the infamous Credit Default Swops.  Andrew Cuomo, NY Attorney General,
           on March 26th subpoened AIG credit default swap data to see whether Goldman Sachs and others
           were being improperly compensated by the taxpayers.  These CDS were at the "heart of the
          AIG meltdown"     "The question is whether the contracts are being wound down properly and
          efficiently or whether they have become a vehicle for funneling billions in taxpayer dollars to
          capitalize banks all over the world.” .  Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz also has said
           AIG’s settlement of credit-default swaps following its bailout by the U.S. government looks
           like “grand larceny.”  It is highly significant that it is Andrew Cuomo who is looking after
           the American public's interests in this, because Geithner and Obama have aided and abbetted
           the theft of taxpayer billions.  Source.   (The Federal Reserve had previously refused to provide
          Congress with the banks who benefitted from the bailout of AIG.  Many of these are foreign
            banks.  Additional source. ) 

                  The second bailout of AIG in February also sent large amounts indirectly to Goldman Sachs. 
           Goldman received 100% of what it was owed.  No one asked it to take a smaller amount considering
           AIG's bankruptcy.  How was this arranged?   The NY Times reported that Lloyd Blankfein, now the
           chief executive of Goldman, was the only Wall Street executive at a meeting at the New York
           Federal Reserve on Sept. 15 to discuss the A.I.G. bailout.  A Goldman spokesman said Mr. Blankfein
           was not there to represent his firm's interests, but rather that Goldman "engaged" the issue
           because of the implications to the entire system.  The fallout from the AIG bankruptcy was never
           publicly explained or detailed.  ( Source.    
                and   http://airamerica.com/content/jon-elliott-former-goldman-sachs-exec-nomi-prins-geithner )

         Treasury Secretary Geithner's chief of staff is Mark Patterson, a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.
         At Goldman Sachs, he worked against a bill that would have let shareholders voice symbolic disapproval
         for excessive executive pay and bonuses.   The bill was pushed by Obama.  It had another provision. 
         It would have been non-binding.  Source.   Still Goldman Sachs opposed it.  Its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein,
         who got $90 million in 2007, argued that shareholders were not "sophisticated" enough to understand
         the complex issue of why such high compensation was necessary.

         There has been a revolving door between government and Goldman Sachs.  Henry Paulson, ex-CEO
         at Goldman Sachs was Bush's Treasury Secretary as the stock market crashed.  He had been assistant
         to John Erlichman, who was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury.  Gerald Corrigan,
         former vice chairman of the FOMC, was hired by Goldman.  The firm has encouraged senior staffers
         to seek government posts.  Bring home the bacon.  The foxes will run the hen-house under Obama.

                    Chris Whalen:
                          Geithner mishandled Bear Stearns and let Lehman (a competitor to Goldman) Fail.
                          Goldman Sachs was primary beneficiary of Bailout.
                          Goldman controls the NY Fed.  The charirman works for Goldman.  There is no
                                  public interest representation.

                  "Goldman Sachs is the most powerful investment bank in the world. It owns the US Treasury...
         Rubin, Paulson and now Geithner. GS also has its own "inside man" in the White House watching
         and advising Obama in the form of Lawrence Summers. Goldman Sachs is like an octopus. Don't be
         surprised when BB leaves the Fed, someone from GS will take over the helm of the Fed.GS already
         owns the Canadian and Italian central banks (all are headed by former GS employees).GS also owns
         a signiciant shareholding in the NYSE (via backdoor listing prior to its listing).I suspect John Thain
         will be returning to GS in one form or another."
         (Source: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/01/another-geithner-ethics-compromise-let.html?showComment=1233129420000    )

         Goldman Sachs' derivatives trader Gary Gensler was Obama's choice to head the Commodity
         Futures Trading Commission.   According to Senator Sanders, "Gensler worked with Sen. Phil Gramm
         and Alan Greenspan to exempt credit default swaps from regulation, which led to the collapse of A.I.G.
         and has resulted in the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history. He supported Gramm-Leach-Bliley,
         which allowed banks like Citigroup to become “too big to fail.” He worked to deregulate electronic
         energy trading, which led to the downfall of Enron and the spike in energy prices. Why would Obama
         pick someone who was "part of the greed, recklessness and ilegal behavior" to run our economy?

         Total Bailout Cost Heads Towards $5 TRILLION
         Fox Guarding The Henhouse: Ex-Goldman Sachs Exec To Oversee Bailout

        

                                                   

         Rep. Maxine Waters (DEM-CA) asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about his connections
         to Goldman Sachs at a House banking hearing Tuesday morning. Goldman Sachs is known to have
         received bailout money given to A.I.G.    Source.   She complained that Goldman Sachs is going to
         be one of the five firms managing the public-private program to buy toxic bank assets.

               OBAMA'S FIRST PRIORITY EMERGING CLEARLY:

    PROTECT HIS WALL STREET CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS 

           At What Cost Has Obama Boosted The Stock Market?

                    In the last two weeks, as the market has rallied, Obama has stopped criticizing banks
            and Wall Street.   He denies that they have committed economic crimes.   His Administration
            is now signaling Wall Street that they will protect its executives.   That Obama, Geithner and
            Summers would not legally challenge the AIG bonuses was another signal.  This week's TARP-II
            bank bailout proposal (which could easily cost taxpayers a trillion more dollars) would have the
            taxpayer generously guarantee the private investment into the "toxic debts" of the big banks.
            This was another clear signal that Obama was Wall Street's friend.  Obama said on Leno's
            show that nothing illegal was done by bankers or brokers to cause the Crash of 2008.  He did
            not even choose to say he favored a thorough investigation of what caused the Crash of 2007-2008. 
            So, I think it's fair to say that Wall Street is rising now because it considers its $3 million
            in campaign contributions to Obama will, in fact, be honored by Obama and turn out to be a
            superb investment.  

                  We saw this coming.  I have written many articles that discussed Obama's true loyalties.
            I have repeatedly said that he was no populist.  He favored the Zombie bank approach. 
            Regretfully, I reported that "No Drama Obama" had little backbone, that he picked the
            very people Wall Street liked the most and got much more money (campaign contributions) from
            Wall Street than John McCain.   So, when the Peerless chart gave a buy signal one day off
            the the 6600 low, I advocated buying.  A day earlier at the bottom I recommended covering
            out short sales.   The market is now knocking on 7800 at this time without a reversing sell from
            the applicable Peerless software.  Meanwhile professionals are still pushing the market higher.
            I say this because of the still rising trend in TigerSoft's copyrighted "Closing Power".  As one
            market timing professional wrote me, Peerless/Tiger is a "game changer".  

                             Watch Tomorrow To See if Geithner
   Asks To Restore The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933
                           Geithner to outline extensive overhaul of financial regulations

                  Geithner could stop the rally tomorrow by calling for aggressive regulation of Wall Street.
             But I suspect he will not.  I would bet that he has been  ordered by Obama to do nothing to offend
             Wall Street.    Tomorrow Geithner will be explaining before Congress his proposals to "regulate"
             banking and Wall Street.  I take it as very significant that Obama has not called for a blue ribbon
             investigation of what really caused the 2008 Crash.  Instead, recommendations are quickly being
             made without an investigation.  A thorough investigation was done in 1933 by the Senate.  It is known
             for Senate's lead counsel, Ferdinand Pecora.    A similar Congressional investigation looked into the
             steep 1946 decline.  I remember reading it in the Business School Library at Columbia University
             in 1969.  It investigated manipulation by short sellers of stock prices at particular brokerages.   
            The 1946 chart shows an easily recognized head and shoulders pattern.  Obama's silence on
            the need for such an investigation speaks loudly where his true loyalties lie.

                 I have criticized Obama for picking as his closest advisors those who helped create the
            financial mess we are in: Robert Rubin - who helped him select his leading officials, Geithner,
           Summers...   Instead of picking the very people that helped make the financial mess, he might
            have chosen some of those who saw the Crash coming and tried to warn regulators to take
            action.:
                             Nouriel Roubini - TigerSoft News 11/1/2008
                             Senator Byron Dorgan - see below

The most significant change that seems necessary is to restore the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that prevented banks from becoming brokerages and insurance companies.  In November 1999, Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota warned his colleagues and the public that the de-regulation banks would be disastrous.  With amazing prescience he said:  "I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010... I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.' Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/24/democratic-north-dak.html     At the time, Senator Bob Kerrey, a Democrat from Nebraska poo-pooed Dorgan's warnings.  ''The concerns that we will have a meltdown like 1929 are dramatically overblown,'' said Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska."    Here is a great link: "The Long Demise of Glass-Steagall"

                     Geithner's Regulatory Proposals: 3/26/2009
            
             • Imposing tougher standards on financial institutions judged to be so big that their failure would
             represent a risk to the entire system. 
                            ==> Nothing about Glass Steagall - the breaking up the big banks. It is the concentration
                             of banks that led to the disastrous decline.

             • Extending federal regulations for the first time to all trading in financial derivatives, exotic financial
              instruments such as credit default swaps that were blamed for much of the damage in the meltdown.
                              ==> Why are these not made illegal?  Why is there nothing about abolishing negative
                              tick short sales.  These led directly to the disastrous decline in 2007-2009..

              •Requiring hedge funds and other private pools of capital, including private equity funds and venture
              capital funds, to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission if their assets exceed a certain size.
              The threshold amount has yet to be determined. 
                               ==> What will registration by itself accomplish? They must be treated as a mutual fund
              and regulated as such.

               • Creating a systemic risk regulator to monitor the biggest institutions. Geithner did not designate
               where such authority should reside, but the administration is expected to support awarding this power
               to the Federal Reserve.
                              ==> Nothing about Glass Steagall - the breaking up the big banks. It is the concentration
                             of banks that led to the disastrous decline.

             

Fed Hides Destination Of $2 Trillion In Bailout Money