Each New Rally Stinks Worse Than Beached Clams

With a closet Marxist in the White House for four more years and the U.S. economy headed into something worse than recession, we should view any significant stock-market rally as a golden opportunity to bet against the house. Under the circumstances, yesterday’s 107-point tumescence in the Dow offered a tempting opening.  Not quite yet, though.  Our coldly mechanical technical indicators say stocks could go at least somewhat higher before they become engorged to the bursting point. Speaking more subjectively, any market-watcher with olfactories could tell you that the broad averages, currently hovering within easy distance of new all-time highs, stink worse than a clam’s crotch. Consider the backdrop: taxes on income and investment are about to rise steeply; public spending outside of Washington is imploding; corporate earnings have been deflating since summer; new hiring will be asphyxiated by 2000 pages of Obamacare; and America’s drug-induced housing “recovery” is about to breathe its last.

That last item has been a source of hope and comfort for the Administration and Wall Street, but why should we, too, be comforted by a story that has been spun by thieves, mountebanks, liars, drop culls, arse bandits and worse? When you consider what went into creating the current real estate blip-let, you start to understand why it cannot go on indefinitely.  Sure, the Fed could continue to monetize mortgage securities at the rate of $40+ billion a month, and to warehouse mountains of worthless paper associated with untold inventories of vacant houses. Unfortunately for the spinmeisters, however, the supply of qualified buyers and re-fi seekers is certain to dry up well ahead of the economy’s impending crash.

Heavy Supply

Concerning the stock market, look at the Dow chart above and you can almost feel the weight of supply as each distributive rally has struggled harder and harder to match the last.  From a technical perspective, we’ll be watching most immediately for opportunities to get short speculatively near ‘p’. If you don’t subscribe but would like to know the exact location of this “hidden” resistance point, click here.  The set-up we’re aiming for would probably use puts or calls in the Diamonds, a proxy for the Dow Industrials. Our further goal would be to lay off our bets if the reversal from ‘p’ occurs as expected.  Please note as well that Rick’s Picks seldom advises initiating long or short positions exactly at Hidden Pivots. Rather, we look for “camouflage” entry opportunities near these numbers, the goal being to dramatically lower our entry risk. With a little luck and very good timing, we can actually hope to make money even when we are wrong. Skeptical of that claim?  Drop by the chat room and ask some Hidden Pivot traders yourself.

  • Jill December 2, 2012, 9:25 pm
  • gary leibowitz December 1, 2012, 5:05 am

    Limit me, or ban me. Was my tone, attitude, behavior more vile than all the others? Nope. I guess the one thing you pretend to hate from this government is being practiced right here. I guess you can’t see it. Too bad. Has it ever occurred to you that your long standing theories and expectations have already been disproved based on the amount of time and direction this market has taken? A wise man would adapt to his environment, and not try to make the environment adapt to him. Frustrated? Yes I can see why.

    Cocky? Well based on historic data points and technical’s there is hardly any suggestion of an imminent fall. As for my comment on Buffett and Soros I stand by it. All you have to do is look at your response from Rick’s prior article and explain where I erred.

    &&&&&

    You erred, for one, in implying that Soros is other than a self-hating Jew. This would be inconsequential but for the fact that he is rich enough to endow an entire organization of self-hating Jews, J Street, that seeks nothing less than the destruction of Israel, and, by extension, the Jewish people. I won’t argue this point with you — the guy did in fact work for the Nazis — so don’t bother responding. Nor need you attempt to defend that loathsome hypocrite Buffett, who is okay with taxing the $200,000-a-year “rich” after having sequestered his own $50 billion fortune from taxation. RA

    &&&&&&

    One other point everyone here loves to forget. I have the exact same expectations for the final outcome of this market as you all do. The big difference is I don’t try to force my impatience and expectations into an immediate gratifying vindication. I don’t care what my social or political bias is when it comes to betting the market. You have been in the market for a very long time. You should know by now you can’t bet with a bias. You certainly can’t with an extremely one-sided bias. It only works by luck if you stay in the market long enough. The problem with that style is you go broke first.

    Playing the market and being frustrated only proves that you are betting with emotions. You have been in the game long enough to know that is a killer.

    The reason I see another big leg up should be obvious.

    &&&&&&

    Duly noted. I couldn’t disagree with you more. Incidentally, I am still waiting to hear back from you about the specific bets you’ve placed for the “big leg up.”RA

    &&&&&

    All the negatives that were already expected to hurt the market have in fact been shown to be very resilient. No data point showing a dramatic reversal, no fallout from EU, etc…. If you keep making excuses like conspiracies, faked numbers, and manipulation, than there is no bases to predict anything. Therefore get out and instead prepare for Armageddon.

    You complain about a fixed game, yet you still play that game when your own expectation is that you will lose. I can understand you playing with the odds, but by your own words you are betting against a market that is stacked against you. Masochistic in my book. Me, I will continue to ignore my bias and assume the game is being played like it always has. All prior crashes and long period of economic disasters happened simply because human nature gets caught up in emotional highs as well as lows. I’ll wait for that high to show itself. With very tame low expectations today I just can’t raise that flag yet. You can call that cocky if you wish, but remember my expectations hasn’t changed in 12 months, but my stop losses did take me out numerous times simply because I stayed unemotional.

    Stick to Rick’s micro bets, without allowing the macro view from distracting you. For talking points its fine to express your prejudices. For making money, never.

  • roger erickson November 30, 2012, 9:02 pm

    still more looming issues with Facebook, not that anyone’s sure they won’t be ignored;

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-tavakoli/facebook-sec-should-inves_b_2217853.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

    &&&&&

    Turns out that the author of this scurrilous hit-piece, one Janet Tavakoli, has held put options on Facebook during the stock’s recent, 50% surge. No wonder she sounds like a sore loser. Notice how she put the knock on Facebook’s new gift strategy with two verifiably false statements: 1) the potentially lucrative gift option is “similar” to a failed strategy tried several years ago; and, 2) it will require sponsored stories and suggested posts to deliver this option. Any Facebook user knows that anniversary and birthday reminders are automated at the discretion of the user.

    I also question Tavakoli’s claim of having made money on put options when the stock fell after the IPO. Put premiums were so fat initially that unless her timing was absolutely perfect, she’d have been lucky to have done much better than break even.

    The linked article, incidentally, is sponsored by ‘Huffington Post’, a newsmonger that makes the ‘National Enquirer’ look like a model of journalistic rectitude and restraint. RA

  • Cam Fitzgerald November 30, 2012, 7:10 pm

    “…America’s drug-induced housing “recovery” is about to breathe its last. That last item has been a source of hope and comfort for the Administration and Wall Street, but why should we, too, be comforted by a story that has been spun by thieves, mountebanks, liars, drop culls, arse bandits and worse?”

    Gee Rick…..you sound kind of angry.

    &&&&&

    Just fed up with all the lies, Cam. RA

    • roger erickson November 30, 2012, 9:08 pm

      Many people frequenting this blog seem angry. If more about the readers & their distribution were known, the proportion angry on a given day could be used as a alternative to the VIX. 🙂

      AAFI – Ackerman Anger & Frustration Index
      (affectionately known as the CC index, after the clams)
      [code word ST]

      &&&&&&&

      Interesting coincidence, Roger. I’ve been in talks with Disney to redo this site the way they re-did Times Square. I want readers to have a song in their heart and a spring in their step when they leave this page. RA

    • Cam Fitzgerald November 30, 2012, 9:49 pm

      No sweat Rick. I do understand.

    • redwilldanaher November 30, 2012, 10:17 pm

      Your analysis seem accurate to me roger. I am angry and frustrated because the lives of my children are effectively being drug down into collectivist Hell with the aid of happy collaborators like the “progs” described above. This is one of the few place I know of where the frequenters have, for the most part, seen through lies that Rick mentioned. You have to have not been paying attention for years to not recognize that everything has become a fraud. Fraud wrapped inside of even larger frauds and the world now accepts fraud and acts on it. I don’t think that bodes well for the future. At some point a significant minority somewhere will realize that trying to work within, or preserve the status quo is counterproductive to their own freedoms etc. That’s all that I can hope for now…

  • gary leibowitz November 30, 2012, 6:12 pm

    Bush, the most destructive president in modern history, and you are still waiting for the “real” Obama to emerge?

    Imagine no social programs when the depression hits. I guess thats the dream of most on this board. Sink or swim. Survive or die. Prosper from others or become the “other”.

    Still touting, forever, the crash scenario? Well I must say the timeline is getting squeezed. You will eventually get it right. With the fiscal cliff out of the way your timeline will once again be frustratingly pushed forward. Sorry for my presumption but it does look like a done deal. In this political arena when one side is losing badly they always change their stance to entice public support back. The 10 for 1 spending to tax increase can’t be ignored this time around. If it is, even Karl Rove knows the outcome of that.

    So far so good on spending this holiday. Watch the numbers surprise even the most optimistic. People are itching to spend, like the old days. Throw caution to the wind. Once the tax package is signed and sealed corporations will realize their fears were unfounded. Watch corporate spending, which has been down right anemic, pick up at a fast pace.

    That is all. You may now return to your FOX NEWS commentators.

    My die-hard top is still SPX over 1600. A crash going into December and the New Year? I always thought those were very good months, and I can’t recall any plunge in that time frame. Guess my mind is slipping. I am sure someone will correct my false assumptions.

    Have a good holiday folks!

    • gary leibowitz November 30, 2012, 6:23 pm

      Rick, just read your response from the last article. The people you seem to hate the most are the most philanthropic. I see a trend here. You would prefer the rich keep to the high ground and not dirty themselves with the trash on the other side of the river. How these blogs slant the facts is simply amazing. I guess you cater to your biased base, and let the lie confirm that bias without any need to fact check. Buffett a crook, Soros a jew hater and collaborator, even as they spend billions on charities. The rich people you seem to love don’t give their money away, as it should be.

      &&&&&&&

      How could you possibly get everything so completely wrong? I can’t find a single idea or notion in your post that is not 180 degree opposite from truth/fact/logic. I’ll let others deal with this idiotic claptrap, since it’s not worth my time. RA

    • Chuck November 30, 2012, 7:16 pm

      Gary,
      most of the posters on this blog are FISCALLY conservative…..try this one on…and it’s not Fox News….
      http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1354203163.php

    • Cam Fitzgerald November 30, 2012, 7:18 pm

      To be honest, Gary, I agree with Ricks assessment. Not so long ago you were interjecting ideas that were interesting and sometimes contrary (worth debating), but lately you have gotten all cocky and over-confident with the not so subtle whiff of hoary arrogance and repulsive thin insults imbued in all too many of your posts.

    • Larry D November 30, 2012, 9:09 pm

      Gary’s leg is tingling again ala Chris Matthews, non-stop since 11/6.

      Like statues on Easter Island or Polaris in the night, certain things remain fixed and immutable, such as the belief that any and all dissent of O originates from Faux News and Karl Rove, and that all prosperity comes from the munificence of kings.

      That’s what my wacky Granny thought, anyways.

    • Benjamin November 30, 2012, 9:23 pm

      Holy****, gary… You and that kool-aid mascot are friends with benefits, aren’t ya? Oh yeah! That’s okay with me, though. But it bothers you to no end that so many of us here aren’t guzzlin’ it down like you are. So I dedicate this song to you…

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ6qr6X3nSc

      Oh, and you, martin, and all the other progs of the world can get bent!

    • Andrew Gutterman December 2, 2012, 2:12 pm

      I can’t figure out who is going to do all this spending past Christmas to keep the economy rolling along. I understand the Christmas spending, that’s usually when consumers stop thinking and start spending. Sort of like a junkie being offered free smack.

      For some insight into what’s actually happening bookmark and read this site, which takes apart each GNP release and gets down the the real facts:

      http://www.consumerindexes.com/index.html

      “This report’s headline number substantially misrepresents the state of the domestic economy, particularly the consumer portion of that economy. Removing the impact of the Federal spending surge, growing inventories and exports removes nearly two-thirds of the apparent growth. If that remaining growth is then deflated using BLS inflation data, the consumer portion of the economy is actually shrinking at an annualized rate in excess of -1.0%.”

  • Carls November 30, 2012, 3:56 pm

    Rick. Just want to say I agree with your 9:33AM comment 100%. Your political analysis of Obama and his next four years

  • Bob November 29, 2012, 11:21 pm

    What do you call a person who does the bidding of the ruling class oligarchs? A Marxist? Are you… kidding me?

  • C.C. November 29, 2012, 6:36 pm

    “…currently hovering within easy distance of new all-time highs, stink worse than a clam’s crotch.”

    Bearded species…?

    &&&&&&

    Close. The more vulgar phrase, which I first heard on an episode of Boardwalk Empire, was, “sardine’s twat.” RA

  • Andrew Gutterman November 29, 2012, 4:21 pm

    Rick,

    You must be a hard-core Republican. In my 61 years of observation I have found the following to be true:

    I’m hard-core common-sense and reality, Andrew, not that you would have noticed.

    Democrats talk socialism, but generally speaking they represent the real wealth in this country. Most of the very rich are Democrat. Obama feeds Wall Street like no other president before him, after all he reappointed Bernanke the Helicopter Pilot who was going to drown the economy in worthless paper if given half a chance.

    It was just political expediency. What else was he supposed to have done with the financial system collapsing? Economically and financially speaking, all presidents are interchangeable, subject to forces larger than political policy. If they are very lucky, as Bill Clinton was, they get to preside over a feel-good economy; if not, they wind up subservient to the Fed.

    Republicans talk conservatism but mostly represent the middle and lower classes. I find it ironic that very broke Republicans vote for the Republican promise to keep them broke and possibly even take money away from them. Yet that is what happened in the last election. 9 of the top 10 poorest states are Republican.

    Your sweeping, factually incorrrect generalities wouldn’t pass muster even on Rachel Maddow’s show. Concerning the poorest states, let’s start with the State/state of Detroit, which has received more Federal handouts than any other city in America.

    In order to consider programs to help the less fortunate you have to be comfortable with the money you have. Broke people don’t vote for programs for broke people, only the rich can do that. Notice that its Democrats that mostly vote for programs to help the poor.

    Handouts don’t help anyone, nor does “taxing the rich.”

    If you want to know more about this then try:

    Yeah, right. Like I’ll actually learn something of value by clicking on one of your links.

    http://funancials.biz/democrats-are-richer-than-republicans/

    Andy

  • John Jay November 29, 2012, 3:59 pm

    I wonder if the Fed buying more and more of the Treasury paper is the reason the ZB and ZN contracts are trading in such a tight range? The housing market and the bond market and the banking system, all held up by the Federal governments interventions. Better than collapse I suppose.
    Look at Greece, Egypt, Spain, etc.
    If reality ever intrudes here in the States it will be chaos.

  • Erin November 29, 2012, 1:50 pm

    I am 100% certain that this essay is the only one ever published with the words…White House and clam’s crotch in it. This is exactly why I keep coming back to read the work of the RA. The stink part really pulls it all together!

    Speaking of stink…
    http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/27/time-nominates-sandra-fluke-for-person-of-the-year/

    It is official in our household…My health insurance premiums went up 35% and now my wife, who is in medical billing and coding just got their health care plans and guess what? They only went up 33%. So right off the bat, we are going to be reaping the benefits of the AFFORDABLE CARE ACT. We can save 2% by going with hers.

    That great vile pissant communist agitator in charge was right. I mis-interpreted his statement when he said ” he will bring us all together”. He meant on the battlefield! Silly me..

    Communism is “not a state of the future, but the real movement which destroys the existing state of being”.

    • redwilldanaher November 29, 2012, 7:10 pm

      Time=Sandra Fluke, both are irrelevant. Nice post Erin.

  • Denver November 29, 2012, 5:20 am

    It could be that the recent redefinition of “Fulltime” for Obamacare purposes from 35 to 30 hrs per week could result in more new 29 hr a week hires rather than less. Neat trick to boast employment numbers.
    As to housing, I agree if you define “Qualified Buyers” as individuals. But there may be plenty of domestic and foreign entities eager to snatch up tax payer subsidized heavily discounted property in bulk. Rather than risk further declines in fiat purchasing power.
    Just throwing out my .02.

  • martin schnell November 29, 2012, 4:40 am

    Need to think who has benefited from the current administration’s policies:
    1. Big pharma/insurance … Check
    2. Defense contractors … Check
    3. Banksters … Check
    4. Car makers … Check
    5. The 1% … Check
    6. Corporate profits soared … check

    Now if Obama is a socialist all I can say is that be is a bloody lousy one. The idea under socialism is that the masses benefit and the elites suffer. Well all we have seen is the opposite.

    I do agree that this market wants shorting … but that would require the intrusion of reality, a commodity that has been MIA for a long long time … remember “deficit don’t matter”.

    • Rick Ackerman November 29, 2012, 9:33 am

      “Bloody lousy”? Nice try, Martin, but even you can’t get to the left of Obama, a guy whose pantheon of heroes surely includes the Chicago Seven, the Shining Path, Eldridge Cleaver, Bill Ayers and every jihadist at Guantanamo. If he has disappointed you nonetheless, it’s only because he has been politically constrained from following his heart. However, with four more years to execute Alinsky’s entire playbook, let’s see how far he can stretch Obamacare, for starters.

      Meanwhile, your note has prompted me to change the word “socialist” in my commentary to the more accurate “closet Marxist”.

    • Craig November 29, 2012, 6:26 pm

      Rick is spot on. Socialism / Oligarchal collectivism is about the elite. Marx / Engels hack writer for the ruling banksters, nothing more, nothing less for concentration of power.

      We shall grind the bourgeoisie between the millstones of inflation and taxation. – Vladimir I. Lenin

      The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are…

      1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.
      Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)

      2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
      Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State “income” taxes. We call it “paying your fair share”.

      3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
      Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.

      4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
      Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public “law” 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of “terrorists” and those who speak out or write against the “government” (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, and ATF etc…).

      5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
      Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately-owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.

      6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.
      Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver’s licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.

      7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
      Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read “controlled or subsidized” rather than “owned”… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.

      8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
      Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two “income” family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920’s, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.

      9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.
      Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public “law” 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.

      10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
      Americans are being taxed to support what we call ‘public’ schools, but are actually “government force-tax-funded schools” Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based “Education”. These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like “majority rules”, and “pay your fair share”. WHERE are the words “fair share” in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is “fair share” even suggested!! The philosophical concept of “fair share” comes from the Communist maxim, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. … America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC … Teaching ourselves and others how to “fish” to be self-sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be “needy”… Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.

      Do changing words, change the end result? … By using different words, is it all of a sudden OK to ignore or violate the provisions or intent of the Constitution of the United States of America?????

      The people (politicians) who believe in the SOCIALISTIC and COMMUNISTIC concepts, especially those who pass more and more laws implementing these slavery ideas, are traitors to their oath of office and to the Constitution of the United States of America… KNOW YOUR ENEMY …Remove the enemy from within and from among us.

      None are more hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free… Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

    • fallingman November 29, 2012, 6:59 pm

      I agree with both of you. How is that possible?

      Mussolini and Hitler were socialists…state socialists…otherwise known as corporatists. That’s the term Mussolini’s preferred. Nazi translates as National SOCIALIST Workers party.

      Obama may well have Marxist sympathies. I believe he does, but really, what’s the difference in the end? The left/right thing is more or less meaningless. He favors the concentration of power in the hands of the few…the elite…the “best and the brightest”…the ones who know better how to run our lives than we do. In this regard, Obama is descended more from Plato than from Marx.

      The desire to expand the state is all that counts. He’s a statist thug who rose to power by playing ball with the “money power” while employing rhetoric that appeals to the idiot “masses.” Insider cash married to the politics of envy. That’s a winning combination. Make ’em think you’re gonna take on the man while you dance for the man.

      Bottom line: It doesn’t matter what label you put on your socialism as long as the system can be made to pay off for the rulers.

      Is the guy in favor of a larger, more powerful, more intrusive state? Of course he is, as were GWB and Clinton and GHWB and Reagan before him…all the way back to Coolidge. Reagan talked a small government game, but gave us the opposite. The state continued to grow.

      All were corporatists. They’ve all done the bidding of the powerful insider elite Eisenhower termed the “military industrial complex.”

      The con under socialism is that the masses benefit. That’s a sad sad joke. The reality is that an insider elite always runs the show to a greater or lesser extent. That would explain your list, which is wholly accurate, except that it was the unions who got bailed out as much as the car markers. But hey, they qualify as insiders. The idea that they’re working for the little guy is a ludicrous as the idea that the Democrat party is.

      No one in government is working for the little guy, except for a handful of fully outgunned legitimately small-government types serving in the Congress.

      Goldman uber alles…and screw the peasants, who don’t revolt, because they’re allowed to vote. A sweet con.

      That’s the reality.

      &&&&&&

      Even though Obama has looked and acted like just another corporatist/statist, as you say, my fear is that his political ambitions for America are far more radical than any of his predecessors’. I really do believe that, for one, he views Guantanamo’s jihadists as freedom fighters — a point that was made persuasively in Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary film.

      However, because of the checks and balances embedded in U.S. governance by the Founders, he will be no more capable of implementing an extremist agenda than Ron Paul would have been of eliminating the Federal Reserve. The bad news is that with just a slight shift in the Supreme Court’s axis, Obama could conceivably institutionalize half-measures that will cause the country great harm. Obamacare is a very significant step in this direction, and its ratification didn’t even require a liberal majority on the high court. RA

    • redwilldanaher November 29, 2012, 7:09 pm

      Rick, love the piece and rebuke of hopeless Martin.

      As for fallingman, that post is Rick’s Forum Hall of Fame worthy!

    • redwilldanaher November 29, 2012, 7:22 pm

      Rick, a few observations and points of interest. Although your HP analysis isn’t not volume oriented, I’m sure you’d agree that the volume profile of the entire “rally off the bottom” has been pitiful. This most recent “rally” has been in line with that and has been a joke in terms of volume. Typical markup madness in front of and through a Holiday so that the masses aren’t talking about the recent plunge and are feeling better. This one though took the cake in terms of a dearth of volume and as you and many of us noted, most of the “rally” was achieved by rigging overnight futures buys courtesy no doubt of a PPT member. You know, most big players love to buy big when liquidity is the thinnest right?????

      The other thing that I wanted to mention is that ZeroHedge has about 2 to 3 pages of almost pure Kryptonite as far as Gary and his cadre of true believers would be concerned. So much for the “amazing earnings miracle” that that group likes to focus on. So concentrated but so easy to ignore for some:

      “It’s that time of year when 2013 outlooks and strategy pieces bog down an otherwise already overloaded inbox. Some are wise; some not so much. We thought the following four wise fun facts noted from Morgan Stanley’s Adam Parker would brighten-up an otherwise dull Wednesday evening. Full details below but: just 10 S&P 500 stocks accounted for 88% of 2012 EPS growth; those same 10 will account for only 34% of the growth next year; 5 stocks are projected to account for one-quarter of the entire S&P 500’s EPS growth in 2013; and of the 20 firms expected to grow earnings faster in 2013 than in 2012, 8 of them will be swinging from major slumps to miraculous gains. It seems that once the fiscal cliff is behind us then the whole world is fixed, equities can initiate ramp-mode, and analysts’ expectations have a chance of coming true. Parker, however, like us remains more stoic of reality with his 1434 end-2013 S&P 500 target (with downside 1135 possible).”

      &&&&&&&

      Interesting observations, RWD. It’s true that only relative nickels and dimes have been needed to push the broad averages steadily higher since the March 2009 bottom. The reason for this is that nearly all upward progress through bands of supply, along with occasional, breathtaking, volume-less spasms, are the product of manufactured short-squeezes.

      In the interim, with few long-term sellers other than corporate insiders, stocks can remain effortlessly aloft more or less indefinitely, waiting opportunistically for the next news item capable of triggering a short squeeze. Until recently, Europe’s monthly bailout announcements were a reliable catalyst for short-covering mania. But when U.S. stocks shrugged last week following ostensibly bullish news concerning Greece, it became clear that stimulating even fleeting euphoria with this tactic is no longer possible.

      It helps that supply has been greatly lightened by the desertion of individual investors from the stock market. What’s left is an institutional Ponzi game, and I doubt that the dominant players require help from any Plunge Protection Team, since the firms are able to create their own good fortune by running index futures higher in the wee hours, then selling into the catch-up, short-squeeze surges that are certain to follow on the opening bell. All that is required to succeed is an absence of particularly bad news.

      Of course, this fraud cannot continue forever. But with every central bank in the world joining in the Fed’s last-gasp credit blowout, it is impossible to predict when the ruinous epiphany will come.
      RA

    • Chuck November 29, 2012, 7:34 pm

      Fallingman is on point – once again. This whole short-squeeze market is politically manipulated by the MSM. Does anyone really think there will be cuts made for tax increases? In fact the ONLY way that will happen is with the fiscal-cliff. Also…..the use of certain political catch phrases like ‘vouchers’ is an indicator of the stupidity of the typical voter these days.

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-a-cliff-of-democrats-choosing/2012/11/28/0320513c-38ce-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html

    • DK November 29, 2012, 8:48 pm

      Rick/Fallingman/RWD/Chuck…
      THANK YOU!!!!
      Often I find all of your contributions to be Hall of Fame worthy.

    • mario cavolo November 30, 2012, 10:15 am

      This is a great thread describing what IS going on…thanks much guys. Funny, DC is more and more becoming the west’s Beijing while Beijing is more and more integrating its version of western capitalism into their otherwise centrally run govt into Chinese society’s expansion…

    • Larry D November 30, 2012, 6:01 pm

      *er* – martin,

      Gorbachev was a bloody lousy socialist, as well.