Archive for August, 2007
August 20, 2007 – On Monday, October 23, 2006, reporter Deborah Solomon wrote in the Wall Street Journal:
“Mr. Paulson is chairman of the Working Group, which coordinates government policy on financial markets and includes the heads of the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mr. Paulson has insisted that they meet about every six weeks. Before his arrival, the group met every few months and sometimes as infrequently as once a quarter.”
The Working Group on Financial Markets, consisting of the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, The Federal Reserve, the SEC, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is also known in other circles as the Plunge Protection Team (PPT). The very existence of the Plunge Protection Team, and its supposed interference in stock markets, has been a hotly contested topic, with some people even doubting that it actually intervenes in markets altogether. The PPT has been accused of a widespread number of actions, from buying massive amounts of futures to prop up stock markets and prevent further panic during this recent correction to spurring Central Banks all over the world to release rumors about selling gold to artificially depress the price of gold and thus keep the dollar’s heartbeat, however feint, still alive. I for one, believe that it does exist and believe that it does manipulate markets to serve its own agenda. To what extent they manipulate markets is anybody’s guess however. If I had to guess, I would say it’s somewhat more than the disbelievers think but less than what the believers presuppose. Certainly we can conclude that the government is not forthright about its participation (or others may say, interference) in the markets. Read more …
August 20th, 2007
August 9, 2007 – Back in March, we had U.S. Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson telling investors not to worry because the economy was “fine” as he put it. Then just the other day President Bush issued statements saying that the economy was fine again. However, don’t say that I didn’t warn you against such foolish talk and I’ll warn you again here. This current volatility is just a small speck on the screen compared to what is eventually coming. What is happening in today’s global markets is not the Peak Investment Crisis I speak of on my homepage, but it’s coming. This current fallout are just the cracks that serve as warning signs of a greater danger. Read more …
August 9th, 2007
August 9, 2007 – Once again, something we predicted months ago is happening and being reported by a major world newspaper. And yet, the foolishness in the U.S. Congress continues, illustrating that they “just don’t get it.” Thank God U.S. Congressman and women are not responsible for our nation’s fiscal policy though they really couldn’t possibly have done a worse job then the U.S. Federal Reserve has in the past couple of decades. In any event, on March 13th, I wrote in this entry the following:
“If U.S. Congress imposes prohibitive tariffs on Chinese imports, if China then follows that move by dumping dollars, this would be a double negative blow to the Chinese economy. So in imposing tariffs, such a move would in essence be a pre-emptive economic strike against the Chinese government that prevents them from offloading U.S. dollars.”
“However, such a short term victory would only cause a long term, much more significant defeat. Such actions would certainly alienate the Chinese government further, and any pleas by President Bush, U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson to the Chinese government asking them not to offload dollars in the future would almost certainly fall on deaf ears. I would guess that if tariffs do pass through Congress, that in the future, if the Chinese can dump massive amounts of dollars without such actions seriously hurting their own economy, then they will do so without concern for its effect on the U.S. economy.”
Today, five months later, the London Telegraph reported that the Chinese are threatening to do exactly what I predicted. But there’s even more to this incredible story. Read more …
August 9th, 2007
