The Market Ticker

Dimon's words about Bear Stearns, cited on CNBS.

Then the $30 billion JP Morgan had guaranteed by the taxpayer can be withdrawn right here and now, yes?

No?  Why the hell not?  If they got such a "great deal" then why should the US Taxpayer continue to take risk on Morgan's behalf?

And more importantly, did you just admit to something that might lead to a few lawsuits?  You know, all those people who were long the stock and got rammed by a forced "buy-under" that you said under oath you wouldn't have done absent that Fed guarantee?  I don't know if there's an actionable statement in there but I bet a bunch of securities lawyers are gonna be sleeping on it over the next few days.

Or is this just double-speak - that's a long way to say "lies" - coming out of your mouth Dimon?  After all, we've seen plenty of that lately, with virtually every firm on the street saying they don't need more capital - days before they go out and raise it.

Our wonderful CONgress is unlikely to act on this latest revelation of skulduggery, as they all seem to be far too busy making calls to Angelo Mozilo to refinance their latest investment property at favorable rates.

If you think housing is going to bottom this year, have a look at this:

 Maybe you can explain how?

See, this (hattip to Provega on the forum) is the 30 year rate.  Its gone from 5.6% to 6.3% in the last two months.  To put this in perspective your purchasing power has been cut by roughly 7.2% - in the last two months.

Why?  Bernanke.

Price inflation fears (justified), Bernanke's attempt to create a "positive slope yield curve" so his buddies at the banks can "recapitalize" and the Treasury's issue of new government debt to fund your "stimulus check" have driven up the long end of the yield curve.  This in turn drives up the cost of 30 year money, and which is reflected in the mortgage rate.

That is in turn inversely reflected in how much house you can buy.

Oh, and if you already own a house, it is also reflected in its value.  That's right - your government and The Fed have devalued every home in America by over 7% since Bear Stearns was bailed out, and arguably, as a consequence of bailing out Bear Stearns.

Still think Ben has done a "great job"?

Well, how about you look at what a Haaarrrrvaaaarrrddddd education is worth - or more precisely, what it says about your intelligence to have that claim on your resume:

"House prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years. Although speculative activity has increased in some areas, at a national level these price increases largely reflect strong economic fundamentals, including robust growth in jobs and incomes, low mortgage rates, steady rates of household formation, and factors that limit the expansion of housing supply in some areas.

House prices are unlikely to continue rising at current rates. However, as reflected in many private-sector forecasts such as the Blue Chip forecast mentioned earlier, a moderate cooling in the housing market, should one occur, would not be inconsistent with the economy continuing to grow at or near its potential next year."

This is a direct quote from October of 2005 - at the near-exact top of the market.

Now was Bernanke practicing intentional deception (a simpler word is lying), or was he really that wrong?  If the former, Harvard should revoke his degree for a rank violation of any reasonable definition of ethical behavior.  If the latter, how the hell did he earn it in the first place? 

The bigger question is that if Bernanke was this wrong on the housing mess, is anything he wrote in his famous thesis worth more than a wooden nickel?

In any event this sort of horsecrap, on the record, will certainly give me pause as my daughter gets closer to college age should she decide she'd like to attend one of these "Ivy League" joints.

Oh, speaking of housing, The Senate appears to have a "deal" on their bailout package. 

Are you going to stand for this America? 

$300 billion we do not have when Congresspeople got "VIP" treatment for their mortgages, at the same time they were supposed to keep you from getting screwed?

"U.S. Senate leaders have agreed to a bipartisan bill to establish a $300 billion rescue fund for troubled mortgages and a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, lawmakers said on Tuesday."

I guess we the people haven't (yet) made the phones ring off the hook about MortgageGate, have we?

Oh, and lest you think I'm just banging a drum for profit, otherwise called "talking my book", you might want to read this:

"The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.

"A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist.

A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets."

And this:

""We see striking similarities between the transatlantic tensions that built up in the early 1990s and those that are accumulating again today. The outcome of the 1992 deadlock was a major currency crisis and a recession in Europe," said a report by Morgan Stanley's European experts."

Gee, someone's been reading The Ticker eh?  Or is it simpler - a few people picked up this device called a calculator, and did the math.

Its not that hard.

Any more questions?

FedEx told the truth and got hammered:

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- FedEx Corp., the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $241 million, reflecting rising fuel costs and a writedown on the FedEx Kinko's unit.

The net loss was 78 cents a share, compared with a year- earlier profit of $610 million, or $1.96 a share, the Memphis, Tennessee-based company said today in a statement. Revenue rose 7.8 percent, to $9.87 billion. Shares fell in early New York trading as FedEx predicted a ``very difficult'' environment and gave an earnings forecast below analysts' estimates.

No kidding?  The futures didn't like that one bit, but again, exactly why should this have been a surprise?  "The economy sucks and high oil prices are a major problem" is news?  Where have people been, under a rock?

Time to choose folks. 

The Wall Street folks and Politicians don't give a damn about you.  They never have, despite their claims, and now you have proof.  The only question is whether you're going to continue to be good little sheep, going to work like zombies every day and letting yourselves, your spouses, your children and grandchildren be savaged from the rear every morning and night by these modern-day robber barons, or whether you will take decisive - legal, peaceful, but decisive - action to stop it.

One final thought - you can't rape the willing. If you consent, whether by overt act or silence, then the financial boning you're taking isn't rape - its consensual sex.

None of this, however, changes the fact that its 5 minutes to midnight.