Bush convenes Plunge Protection Team

Telegraph ^ | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

[Kickass Conservative]

Oh goody, I’m gettin me one of them big fancy flat screen TV’s with that big Gubmint check. Maybe a trip to Vegas to see them there showgirls and play me some Blackjack.
If Hillary gets her way and stops those foreclosures for three months I can skip those damn house payments and use the money as a down payment on one of them there new Dodge Challengers with that cool Hemi engine.
Oh wait, I’m a taxpayer. I don’t think they’re talking about helping me.

Exercising Sarcasm with extreme prejudice..

[AndyJackson]

That's nothing but a conspiracy theory, and Greenspan is retired.

Really? None of us knew that. You clearly missed the point of the article. It is not just a conspiracy theory. It is a real live conspiracy, and it involves the President, the secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, among others.

[AndyJackson]

Exercising Sarcasm

Careful with that around here. A lot of folks are too dumb to duck when you swing it around.

[AndyJackson]

Funny, the are still ignorant folks on FR that argue this is a MSM/Dim/Clinton conspiracy

I know. I just caught one. Who kept appointing Greenspan? Who appointed Bernanke? {oops that's right. Until someone just pointed it out I didn't really know Greenspan retired. Should I have known? Couldn't tell it from monetary policy. [/sarcasm]

[JasonC]

The best single line in the article, though, is the remark that inflation will nuke bonds just as much as not inflating will nuke real estate. The hit is already in the cards. Squabbling over where it should land will only make it take five times as long and be felt in every possible place until it actually does.

[Moonman62]

There is no such thing as a PPT, and they’ve never bought stocks.

[Jaysun]

You are becoming the minority.

I am right there with you.

I'll stay in the minority for as long as the majority is made up of idiots.

[Travis McGee]

if the gov’t keeps trying to mnipulate markets instead of letting them correct we’ll be in the same situation as Japan was.

Yep. Was and still is.

[AndyJackson]

Well, I am glad all it took was a post by an anonymous poster to clear that up. Of course no one said they bought stocks. Pritchard’s claim is that they buy index futures letting the index arbitrageurs do the actual stock purchases, I guess, but hey they don’t do this. You just told me.

[Travis McGee]

"The US Treasury is about to shower households with rebate cheques to head off a full-blown slump, and save the Bush presidency.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? The Bush presidency will end next January, recession or not.

Save the Bush presidency's legacy or reputation is what I think he meant. Nobody wants to go down in history as the new Herbert Hoover, who was on duty for the 8 years leading into a depression.

[Travis McGee]

It sure is handy to have the last CEO of Goldman Sachs as your new Secretary of the Treasury.

[AndyJackson]

Now I read that France’s largest bank lost money in this mess too. I thought the guys running everything were supposed to be so much smarter than the rest of us, but none of them saw it was coming except GS, who had their hands in everyone’s pocket, long, short, up down.

[Moonman62]

First, the PPT doesn't exist. People who believe it does after all these years are kooks.

Second, there is no government agency that buys stocks either directly or through any other means such as derivatives in order to manipulate the market. If they did, they would announce it. There would be no purpose in keeping it secret. After all the Federal Reserve announces its purchases and sales of government securities. And on the rare occasions that the Treasury intervenes in the currencies market, it announces that too.

[Soren]

It’s pretty simple really. Our economic growth is based on increasing debt levels. Consumers are maxed out, so now we will see how far federal deficit spending can take us. And then we implode.

[Soren]

What do you think about the idea of increasing capital gains taxes and sharply lowering taxes on dividends? It seems like that would tend to reduce speculation, as well as corporate accounting shenanigans.

[Moonman62]

What do you think about the idea of increasing capital gains taxes and sharply lowering taxes on dividends? It seems like that would tend to reduce speculation, as well as corporate accounting shenanigans.

I think capital gains taxes should be eliminated (they are the only tax cuts that have been shown to pay for themselves). Dividend cuts are fine with me too. I think Sarbanes Oxley should be eliminated. We should be focusing more on the corruption of government and its waste of money than that of private businesses. As far as speculators go, their influence is greatly exaggerated. Speculators are like surfers who ride the wave. They don't create the wave.

Not that you asked, but the Federal Reserve should stop blaming economic growth and unemployment for inflation, and therefore should stop manipulating the economy with interest rates, which is highly inefficient and destructive.

[Proud_texan]

I love it. The government, who pretty much can't even issue a passport much less protect a border or "manage the economy" somehow controls the stock market.

Yup, yup, uh-huh, sure.

Fact is the DOW will rally between 500-1000 points (actually I'm picking 800 but I'll give myself some wiggle room) and then it'll go down and retest the lows.

I ain't no genius, I've just invested for a long time and the above is pretty much how it goes on a percentage basis. Of course there are always exceptions and being an investor I don't trade that but yesterday and today are pretty typical after what we've been through.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Raise barriers to trade in a slowing economy. It worked so well the last time it was tried!

[Travis McGee]

Yep, GS made a killing, touting long to the suckers while selling short in house.

Bastards. And their CEO is the SecTreas. Very convenient.

[hedgetrimmer]

LOL.Why don’t you post one of your phony charts showing how great the economy is?