Have Questions On Obamacare? Call 1-800-F U-CKYO

Sorry, I couldn't make this up if I tried.

- Rinx

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-03/have-questions-obamacare-call-1-800-f-u-ckyo

Presented with a stunned level of WTFness... the Obamacare Help-Line - available 24/7 is 1-800-318-2596 as we have been told a number of times by the President... it seems someone did not do their due diligence on what that telephone number's mnemomic is...

1-800-F U-CKYO

Indeed, Mr. President, 1-800-318-2596 to you too.

2009 redux

Decided to revisit a post from 4 years ago, I was lamenting the fact another round of quantitative easing  - and thinking perhaps this "money printing" was, well, just not right, - 4 years later and $1.7Trillion in further fed balance sheet expansion it seems this is the new normal.  I can't help but think this will end badly

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The Fed created another $50Bil or so last week...what's a few Billion, it doesn't seem like much...but when you stop and think a few key strokes on Ben's cash register equates to the combined enterprise value of Petro Canada and Suncor (roughly), it puts that kind of illegitimate "wealth" creation in perspective...sooner or later the shit will hit the fan...got gold?

- Rinx

Fed Assets Increase 2.3% on Buying of MBS, Treasuries (Update1)

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet rose 2.3 percent as the central bank bought more U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.
Fed assets gained $46.2 billion to $2.06 trillion in the week that ended yesterday, the central bank said today in Washington. Holdings of mortgage-backed securities jumped $66.6 billion to $609.5 billion, and the Fed’s portfolio of U.S. Treasury securities increased $7.1 billion to $736.1 billion.

U.S. central bankers kept the benchmark lending rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent at their Aug. 12 meeting and extended a $300 billion Treasury purchase program until the end of October. The Fed said economic activity is “leveling out,” and conditions in financial markets have “improved further.”

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has flooded the banking system with reserves, providing billions in financing and liquidity for banks, and the commercial paper, asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities markets. Fed officials are studying the tools needed to roll back monetary expansion.

Credit extended through the Fed’s Term Auction Facility, a mechanism to provide greater distribution of reserves to commercial banks, declined by $12.5 billion to $221.1 billion.
Discount-window lending to commercial banks stood at $29.9 billion yesterday versus $38 billion the previous week. Commercial paper held by the Fed under an emergency program begun in October fell to $49.5 billion from $53.8 billion

COMEX Warehouse Gold Bullion: Price Moves Smell of Desperation As Inventory Remains Thin

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.ca/2013/10/comex-warehouse-gold-bullion-price.html

Paper claims on gold are 50x the physical availability! 

China bought 60 percent of global output last month...at some point (getting closer every day) the paper price of gold will run smack into the physical availability.

Rinx

Tiber

The amount of hype new oil discoveries receive these days is telling.

BP's latest "giant" oil field discovery "Tiber" is said to contain 3B barrels of oil in place.

Peak Oil debunked. Gas up the hummer. Energy crisis solved.

But consider;

1) 20% of the field is actually recoverable, or 600M barrels. Divide that by 75M barrels a day oil consumption - and you get 8 days supply

2) The field is supposed to be developed in 2015...in the intervening 6 years, the world will have burned 164 Billion barrels of oil, or 273 Tibers. Depletion is relentless, and discoveries are no where close to replacing what we are using

3) The oil is 6 miles below the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in hurricane alley, the easy oil is long gone

4) If this project actually moves forward, it will mean one thing, high oil prices. The cost to develop this field is enormous, mind boggling - only in a high oil price environment would BP consider allocating capital in hope for a return to shareholders.

Next time the media announces a major oil find, take it with a grain of salt

- Rinx

Ben is working overtime

The Fed created another $50Bil or so last week...what's a few Billion, it doesn't seem like much...but when you stop and think a few key strokes on Ben's cash register equates to the combined enterprise value of Petro Canada and Suncor (roughly), it puts that kind of illegitimate "wealth" creation in perspective...sooner or later the shit will hit the fan...got gold?

- Rinx

Fed Assets Increase 2.3% on Buying of MBS, Treasuries (Update1)

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet rose 2.3 percent as the central bank bought more U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.
Fed assets gained $46.2 billion to $2.06 trillion in the week that ended yesterday, the central bank said today in Washington. Holdings of mortgage-backed securities jumped $66.6 billion to $609.5 billion, and the Fed’s portfolio of U.S. Treasury securities increased $7.1 billion to $736.1 billion.

U.S. central bankers kept the benchmark lending rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent at their Aug. 12 meeting and extended a $300 billion Treasury purchase program until the end of October. The Fed said economic activity is “leveling out,” and conditions in financial markets have “improved further.”

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has flooded the banking system with reserves, providing billions in financing and liquidity for banks, and the commercial paper, asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities markets. Fed officials are studying the tools needed to roll back monetary expansion.

Credit extended through the Fed’s Term Auction Facility, a mechanism to provide greater distribution of reserves to commercial banks, declined by $12.5 billion to $221.1 billion.
Discount-window lending to commercial banks stood at $29.9 billion yesterday versus $38 billion the previous week. Commercial paper held by the Fed under an emergency program begun in October fell to $49.5 billion from $53.8 billion

Czars

It seems you can't swing a dead cat in Washington anymore without pelting a "czar" of some sort or another. They have a "car czar", "bank czar", "pay czar" among many others.

Used to be a czar was some disingenuous Russina oligarch from a century ago. Somehow Obama has resurrected the term, cleaned it up, and appointed modern day "czars" rulers of industry. Washington media seems to like the term, maybe this is the royalty they have always been envious of.

Wasn't too long ago entrepeneurs were celebrated leaders of American industry.

Elite government rule is a cancer to prosperity, is there a better reason to be short America?

- Rinx

Underwater’ Mortgages to Hit 48%

If these numbers are anywhere near correct, the US banking system will continue to bleed red ink...when this current stock market rally peters out, look out for another major leg down in the markets.

- Rinx

‘Underwater’ Mortgages to Hit 48%, Deutsche Bank Says

By Jody ShennAugust 5, 2009 15:32 EDTAug. 5 (Bloomberg) --

Almost half of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage are likely to owe more than their properties are worth before the housing recession ends, Deutsche Bank AG said.

The percentage of “underwater” loans may rise to 48 percent, or 25 million homes, as prices drop through the first quarter of 2011, Karen Weaver and Ying Shen, analysts in New York at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a report today.

As of March 31, the share of homes mortgaged for more than their value was 26 percent, or about 14 million properties, according to Deutsche Bank. Further deterioration will depress consumer spending and boost defaults by borrowers who face unemployment, divorce, disability or other financial challenges, the securitization analysts said.

“Borrowers may also ‘ruthlessly’ or strategically default even without such life events,” they wrote.

Seven markets in states with the fastest appreciation during the five-year housing boom -- including Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida; Merced and Modesto, California; and Las Vegas -- may find 90 percent of borrowers underwater, according to the report.

The share of borrowers owing more than 125 percent of their property’s value will increase to 28 percent from 13 percent, according to Weaver and Shen.Home prices will decline another 14 percent on average, the analysts wrote.