555 TRADERS

• A basic economic FACT every story about the current budget deficit glosses over: All EVERY plan focusing on spending cuts does IS SLOW THE RATE OF INCREASE in the budget deficit. Unless the government takes in more money than it spends (what we call a “budget surplus”) not only is the budget deficit not reduced, it will continue to increase. Further, every cut in taxes or tax rates, if not accompanied by a larger spending cuts (or more revenue), only increases the deficit further. The model for this situation is not 1980 and President Reagan, it’s 1930 and President Hoover. In the face of a catastrophic stock market drop and pullback in business and consumer spending, President Hoover – following the “conventional wisdom” of the times – directed cuts in government spending to “balance the budget” at all costs. That’s exactly what’s happening worldwide today as cuts in consumer and business spending are matched by cuts in government spending. The best outcome in this situation is a generation of slow growth. The worst outcome is a depression matching that of the 1930s.
• The opposite of that is what we’ve got at the moment, blowing cash like it’s going out of fashion.

  The other point about ‘austerity’ and living within your means is this – EVERYONE CAN STILL GET WHAT THEY WANT. All governments have to do is this -

  1. By next month ALL budgets are cut my 10%. Now, tell me this everyone, if you were forced to cut your own budget by 10% could you a) easily do it, and b) chances are it would have little effect. See?

  2. Tackle government waste. Hire crack teams of accountants and managers with REAL BUSINESS EXPERIENCE and pay them a damn FORTUNE. Also, publish their results to see how they earn their money.

  Do both of those and like I said EVERYONE CAN STILL GET PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING THEY WANT. continue reading »

• This is just another case of the “new American way” – where leaders who make mistakes and damage businesses decide who gets fired from the top down (and get large bonuses for “restoring profitability” if they throw enough innocent workers under the bus), while people who worked hard to implement the ideas of these geniuses in boom times are cut loose or forced to work double duty, and loyal customers who got bad advice (or were victims of outright double dealing) are forced to pick up the slack.
  I’m waiting for a Board with more stones than comp consultants in their pockets to start a layoff from the bottom up, by asking workers to weed out the useless jerks in the ranks of their supervisors, the remaining supervisors to weed out middle managers, remaining middle managers to weed out executives, and remaining executives to decide on whether to retain the CEO. This strategy should result in savings that are a multiple of those from a top down headcount reduction, due to the leverage provided by identifying the greatest amount of dead wood at the highest salary levels.
• As a kind gesture, I would also offer people at each succeeding rung up the corporate ladder the option to waive their bonuses and take a proportionate cut in compensation to save their fellow employees’ jobs – not because any of them would ever take it, but because it would be fun to see them experience the acrimony, fear, bitterness and survivor guilt which so far seem to have been reserved for working people who are given that “generous” offer when their bosses need cost reductions to hit their bonus targets and option strike prices.
  At least the executives, traders and deal makers would understand the importance of keeping their compensation packages strong in the face of layoffs so that the ones left behind would not all jump ship, unlike lower level workers who somehow think that it’s fair for everyone to make less money when the firm makes less. And with the leverage of weeding the numbers of these people out from below, the firm would still save more money than by keeping them ALL on at comp levels disconnected from performance. continue reading »

• Good…
  GS should follow Lehman and dive off a steep cliff.
  As for the article stating people who bought and held stocks was a good thing…keep doing just that, so when the SHT fan, you’ll lose all of your holdings and will be left with zero!
  Wake up…
  Also, It’s time to disconnect Wall st with Washington don’t u think?

  Hey Traveler40…I most certainly care what these corrupt greedy bastards do…it’s my future and my familiy’s too. They all need to be tried as criminals and should be behind bars for their heinous crimes against Americans.
  BTW..these Elitist pigs are Bilderbergs…
  If you do not know who these dogs are, you are out of the loop!

• GOLDMAN IS RIGHT ON THE DIRECTION OF GDP WHICH IS DOWNWARDS BUT THEIR ESTIMATE IS NOT RIGHT..
  IN FACT GDP WILL CONTRACT MUCH FURTHER DOWN TO 0.5 OR EVEN 0.0% GROWTH FOR Q3 AND -0.5 TO -1.0% FOR Q4
• You are exactly right. “Blabby” Abby comes out and says “blue sky, full speed ahead – buy, buy, buy.” Then this clown comes out and says “the sky is falling; bail, bail, bail.”

  It is the old divide and conquer strategy. They have adopted the same strategy as the Fed. Why not; they are all on the same team. Ever notice how Zimbabwe Ben comes out one day and “black”; and, then in a day or two (sometimes same day) one of the other Fed crooks comes out and says “white”. Their objective is to keep you befuddled (as Cramer claims he is), bewildered, and confused. They want you act like deer-in-the-headlights. All the while they are all on the same page (WS Banksters, Little Timmy (aka “The Weasel”) and the Fed.

  The news is constantly chock full of conflicting information. That is why charts are so important. I don’t care what any of these rotten crooks tell us. It is all designed to confuse the crap out of us. The charts never lie!! continue reading »

• Perry is saying now what Ron Paul has been saying for 3 decades. Monetary policy is now a hot button item that the American people are now starting to care about, just like the wars were the hot button item in 2008. The guy that won that election promised to end the wars and to close Guantanamo. Well Guantanamo is still open and we are in more wars/conflicts now than ever.

  Perry is a Bilderberg bankster puppet and, if elected, will NOT do a damn thing about the international bank owned ponzy scheme known as the Federal Reserve. Do not buy the parroting of Ron Paul’s long time political stance by Perry.

  More and more candidates will start to copy Ron Paul because he is the real deal.

• Of course, talking about a real issue like the FED is going to get you in trouble, just ask Dr Ron Paul. Dr Paul was tied in Iowa straw poll, but who would have known. Media black out!
  Hopefully he will win. Ron Paul 2012
• First I thought this guy was a smarter version of GW who kept his foot out of his mouth, I was wrong. You could hand him the Fed’s open books and he wouldn’t know it from the funny papers.
• I’m sure a lot of US jobs would be created with the the cash influx from overseas … chauffeurs, Ferrari mechanics, h00kers …

• Yes, Mr. Buffet, you have a choice. Choose to be a man of integrity, where you actions match your words and write the check to the Treasury. Or, be the sniveling coward that you most probably are and keep wasting oxygen talking about it, making yourself feel good, but in reality you are a tool of big government.
• How exactly do you give tax cuts to the poor when they don’t pay taxes as it is?

  … and just because people will “spend money” is not a good reason to just “give them” somebody elses money.

  50% of the country doesn’t pay Fed Tax, yet they use the same services (actually more) than the rest of us. Why should I pay 5x what the guy down the street pays for these same services (I mean I think I already pay 3x)… because I actually managed my life better?? Sorry that’s not a good enough reason.

  And if I am going to pay so much more, are the lower middle class people going to help me pay my more expensive student loans for me?

  Financial success is a long series of choices and sacrifices – I don’t ask for reembursement on those, but by the same token, the people who didn’t make those choices/sacrifices and ended up w/ less money don’t get to simply take more from us.

  I’m not rich, but I imagine I’ve already paid more in taxes over the last 15 year than the average American pays in 15 lifetimes. When is it enough??? continue reading »

• AMERICAN company is sending our astronauts to the space station until the Russians can do it for us? Why outsource America? Yes, it is cheaper in the short haul, and killing this country in the long haul, but who cares? Not corporate America!!! We need to make laws against outsourcing America, and American jobs unless there is only 1% unemployment.
• Data centers are closing down all around the United States and sending the work to….you guessed it India! that is where your Social Security information is being kept. We have to get a handle on Outsourcing not only for American Jobs, but for National Security, and our ability to remain a free nation.
• The tax rates are lower than ever for the rich and the super rich and for the giant multi-national corporations (Corporate America) that are actually countries with no national loyalty to America, Americans or the values this nation is founded upon.

  As a result, the rich are far richer, the middle class is a shadow of its former self and workers are making substantially less on average than they were in 1978.

  The propaganda machine that advocates for more of this has done a very good job of convincing the rank and file that more trickle down (no new taxes and in fact ever lower taxes) and no health, safety, highway, or social safety net systems is the key to “building America” and that a government that serves the needs of its citizens is “bad medicine”, “socialism” and even “communism.”
  continue reading »

• You are allowing the Almighty to penetrate your heart. Congratulations Warren, that is the only way we human beings feel REAL HAPPINESS. Rabbi Jesus adored the poor, he didn’t like the rich, but He did not condemn all of them. Warren, Jesus wants to be inside your heart before GOD calls you home. With my wet eyes, I tell you, you are NOW in the REAL PATH to VICTORY. May The Good Lord Bless You and Yours!
• I would much rather see the Buffets of the world take their own money and use to benefit The Greater Good than to have Government take it from them so They can have even more money to mismanage. If Warren Buffet wants to use money to save the world he should get to it rather than providing cover for Government to tax and spend more – I have way more confidence in Buffet’s abilities than I do in any Politician.
• Why is it always assumed at 40% rates on ordinary labor are okay and we have to raise rates on the capital people? Duh, why not lower rates on ordinary people to the level of capital so that more people work for themselves and we can cut the welfare spending.
• Warren Buffett is a colossal disingenuous shylock. If he wants to pay more he can. Does he really think the U.S. Government will spend the extra money on stuff that actually creates jobs and does some good? Surely not. He’s just looking to line his own pockets. If we simplify the tax system by eliminating all deductions, and reducing nominal tax rates so that everyone pays their fair share then everybody wins except the blood sucking tax attorneys and tax accountants that will no longer have jobs because tax returns will become a one-page document that even a grade-schooler can fill out.
• continue reading »

These geniuses should realize that horse racing is in a serious decline in this country already. Tracks are losing patrons to casinos. The takeout is already too high which is also helping to drive away patrons. Only a sucker would gamble in an online casino. The house advantage always wins out no matter how small it is. The longer you play, the better the law of averages will wipe you out.

But if it brings in tax revenue then I guess it’s okay (sarcasm).

Cheesebag, I’m not really in favor of Local Governments getting into the businesses of Brothels and Narcotics… I’m just trying to show how gluttony and immoral they’ve become to be considering making money off Gambling to fund their Govt. Employee mutli-million$ pensions. THEY’LL DO ANYTHING. Basically they’re moving in on what the Mob used to do.

Your point about illegals and foreigners coming here to do the same is true. Our country has gone way downhill. Even that African-Guinean woman who accused the French IMF Chief DSK of raping her in the hotel — turned out she had $250,000 of drug money deposited in her name around the USA. YET SHE’S STILL NOT PROSECUTED? Plus she’s living in Govern. Subsidized housing in the Bronx, supposed to be for people with AIDS — she lied about that too. So many of these foreigners come here to live off rest of us.

To invest in stocks, one has to have a brokerage account set up. Perhaps to gamble online, one should have to have a gambling account set up, with legal requirements for similar or better screening to keep out the gambling addicts and those who don’t have the financial resources to risk on gambling. That would take care of a lot of the critics’ complaints about gambling while making it available for those who can afford it and who won’t get out of control with it. continue reading »

It was quite clear that someone high up within S&P had informed some of its clients of their intent to downgrade that day and they had to make good on it by changing the story when the mistake was found. I want this to go one step further by opening a Congressional Hearing and SEC investigation into the financial affairs of all members of Congress and families for the 60 period prior to the debt ceiling debate and the downgrade.

hmmm. S&P was in pretty constant communications with the Administration, Geitner (and his staff of friends to the banks and hedgies) and Bernanke (and his staff of friends to the banks and hediges).

I wonder why the SEC isn’t looking into the possibility that the leak came out of the government? The government, especially the political offices, seem to often be the originators of too many leaks.

Again, I think in this case, it is all for naught as most all of us suspected the US was in for a downgrade. S&P, and the others, had the US on negative watch and S&P didn’t hide the fact that a decision was going to be made.

That all being said, the SEC should pursue all insider trading cases – even if they (the info or leak) originally starts within political offices!

This sounds to me that the S&P downgrade is effecting Obamas re-election, SEC looking for insuder trading is a big joke coming from the SEC and the supreme ruler Obama. The us Debt was downgraded a long time ago, when Bill Gross of PIMCO pulled all of his funds from US Traesuries. It is known as mis-management from the administration and Congress which needs to be fixed, not checking into some trumped up charge on a rating agency. continue reading »

firstly the financial system is flooded with cash. Banks are charging if businesses deposit funds over $50 million. So the feds keeping interest rates low is a moot point because there is no demand for credit. That said, traders should grow up and stop pumping up or down the market based on what the feds say. In the long term the market will reflect the stock performance and the underlying economy where the business makes its profit will have a big bearing. So, really, bidding up stocks on what “fed says” is childish at worst and dumb at best.

Get cash right now and waiting for bargain when S&P500 at 1010 to get back rather than keep your money on stock market for lost more than 50% from now on. No worries about where you hiding your cash, you can get back when S&P500 at 1010 to make a lot more money.

Wake up sheeple, The Fed (banks and primary dealers) does not have to do ANYTHING, they are getting money for nothing thanks to ZIRP. Moreover, people are now piling into treasuries and hence the rates are crashing. This is doubleplusgood for The Fed as it keeps the interest on the government debt low and service able (i.e. keep fleecing the taxpayer).
Want to cause panic, SELL YOUR BONDS. China won’t be happy about this, maybe they will sell. Unbelievable that people are piling into bonds because the USA is simply the best looking horse at the glue factory.

The bank is not lending because the rate is too low. NO profit. They rather keep all the cash they have and all the cash they got from Fed reserve. The central bank needs to raise rate little by little so that there would be some normalcy restored. People can put their money in CDs or money market instead of throwing every dime into stock market. That’s not how investment should be. Government’s job is to provide investment tools for people to diversify. If they just want people to buy stocks, they mind as well tell people to go to casino with their money. There is absolutely no difference. continue reading »