There Must Be Some Way Out Of Here

The Economist ^ | July 18, 2002 | Staff - Print edition

[Uncle Bill]

THE MOB ON WALL STREET

Market's Late Rebound May Revive Manipulation Rumors

SOURCE

THE PLUNGE PROTECTION TEAM

Back to the Bubble: Why P/E Matters for the Dow - Ben Stein
"The market hasn't corrected at all for the sad truth that the New Economy's underlying assumptions turned out to be mistaken, and we're back in the same Old Economy with uniquely cruel business cycles, booms and busts. Just to give you an idea of how far out of historical whack the stock market is, consider this: Profits rise over the long term by about 4% a year, with immense deviations around the mean. If the earnings depression ends tomorrow and profits rise at 4% a year again, it will take roughly 14 years (not months, years) for the Dow's P/E to reach historical norms -- even if the Dow doesn't rise 1 point in those 14 years. Or, to look at it another way, the Dow would have to fall by about half for it to resume historical P/E behavior."

[Uncle Bill]

Stocks Hit 5-Year Low on Dismal Profits

[Uncle Bill]

BTTT

[Uncle Bill]

"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
Samuel Adams — Speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

[Uncle Bill]

90 Billion Euros wiped off market value in a few minutes!

Asian Shares Dive on Wall St. Woes

Asian Markets Plunge

Ouch

Europe's 300 biggest firms had 130 billion euros wiped off their market value on Friday after U.S. shares fell to five-year lows

Dollar Hits New Low on Euro Amid Worries

Forget the Market - Invest in Your Mattress

[Uncle Bill]

"Considerable uncertainties ... still confront us,"

[Uncle Bill]

The Great Telecoms Crash - "The telecoms bust is some ten times bigger than the better-known dotcom crash"

[rdavis84]

"Mr Bush has lost the moral high ground."

In this case, the "high ground" was nothing but a floating piece of 'solid matter' in the Cesspool called Washington, D.C.

[MissAmericanPie]

I say, since we owe most of that money to ourself, that we forgive ourselves that debt and lower it. Tell the Japanese and Europe to dock our rebuilding them after WW2 from what it would cost today and deduct it from our debt to them.=o)

[Uncle Bill]

BTTT! 8-)

[Uncle Bill]

So many folks doubt the Plunge Protection Team exists. At times, when two elephants are dancing, they just can't hold them and force them up. You just get out of the way and exit the dance floor. Listen to Greenspan himself:

Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan
"In practice, the policy choice of how much, if any, of the extreme market risk that government authorities should absorb is fraught with many complexities. Yet we central bankers make this decision every day, either explicitly or by default. Moreover, we can never know for sure whether the decisions we made were appropriate. The question is not whether our actions are seen to have been necessary in retrospect; the absence of a fire does not mean that we should not have paid for fire insurance. Rather, the question is whether, ex ante, the probability of a systemic collapse was sufficient to warrant intervention. Often, we cannot wait to see whether, in hindsight, the problem will be judged to have been an isolated event and largely benign.

Thus, governments, including central banks, have been given certain responsibilities related to their banking and financial systems that must be balanced. We have the responsibility to prevent major financial market disruptions through development and enforcement of prudent regulatory standards and, if necessary in rare circumstances, through direct intervention in market events. But we also have the responsibility to ensure that private sector institutions have the capacity to take prudent and appropriate risks, even though such risks will sometimes result in unanticipated bank losses or even bank failures."

[grania]

We have the responsibility to prevent major financial market disruptions through development and enforcement of prudent regulatory standards and, if necessary in rare circumstances, through direct intervention in market events.

Interesting...the PPT believers are going to love this. Are we experiencing a "rare circumstance" where the government props up certain stocks, hmmmm.........

Here's one thing I've wondered about. Buying stock is so easy today. Could wealthy interests not fond of the US end up owning large proportions of companies which are important to the US economy and defense?

[2sheep]

>if necessary in rare circumstances, through direct intervention in market events.

Looks like after having killed the bull, they are stripping out the last drop of milk from the cow now for themselves.

[Uncle Bill]

"Could wealthy interests not fond of the US end up owning large proportions of companies which are important to the US economy and defense?"

Red Gold Rising

Red China was moving to penetrate the U.S. securities markets

Capital-Rich Chinese Firms Look Abroad for Acquisitions

While America Sleeps

PLA Espionage Means Business
"The trail of Chinese agents of influence and enablers leads from corporate boardrooms to the White House. It is a vast spy network that now has tapped into billions of dollars of U.S. pension funds to support military activity, according to Roger Robinson, former senior director of international economic affairs at the National Security Council.

...All of this is part of a master plan that uses U.S. political leaders and lobbying efforts from big-bucks political donors to get export licenses for China, intelligence sources say."

High-Tech Transfers To China Continue Under Bush

Li Ka-Shing's Growing Empire

Who's To Blame In Bank Of NY, Russian Mafia Scandal?

"Russian" Mafia Involved in Stock Fraud in USA

LONDON 'IS LAUNDERING CENTRE FOR RUSSIAN MAFIA CASH'

It can work both ways:

The Harvard Boys Do Russia

An Inconvenient History - The Russian Money Laundering Pyramid

[grania]

Looks like I've got some reading material there.

I'm actually kind of discouraged by the short time frame of those who are calling this "capitulation" and "destruction of financial well being" and all. I don't see "room for rent" signs on palatial-like houses, or "for sale cheap" signs on gas guzzlers. No people who've lost their jobs are offering to do manual labor in order to feed the kids. There are no massive crowds at day old vegetable counters or used clothes outlets.

I just don't think anyone knows where this is going; there are too many unknowns and new input in the current mix. And still those with agendas keep on looking out for their own interests, not what's best for the country as a whole.

You know what got me? All that money to prop up the airlines, and a reluctance to help AMTRAK break even. There are people who, for physical or psychological reasons, depend on the train, to get around the country. The shortfall is miniscule...yet it took an outcry to get this funding.

People at the lower rungs lose jobs to immigrants. Their 401Ks have been decimated. Their lifestyles are threatened. It's their children who would fight a physical war on terror. Yet, it's still about corporate crooks and business, not about average people.

I'm still formulated my reactions to all of this, obviously. But it seems pretty naive for anyone to say they can predict or control the future.

[philman_36]

There Must Be Some Way Out Of Here
said the joker to the thief

[MissAmericanPie]

So given Greenspans love of the Bush family, it would be beneath him to send the market in a spin in order to influence Presidential elections?

[CIB-173RDABN]

Bias takes many forms, using an unflattering photograph of someone is one such form. Of all the photos available of President Bush, they selected this one?