How the SEC Can End the Deceitful Practice of “Window Dressing”

There are certain widespread practices that have existed in the financial industry for many years that seem to have no purpose but to defraud the retail investor that I’ve often wondered how they can still be legal. Window dressing is one such practice and as we approach the end of the second quarter 2009, now is an apropros time to broach a discussion about this controversial practice. If you are not familiar with the term “window dressing” it is the practice whereby fund managers, at the very end of each quarter,

(1) Dump many of the worst performing stocks in their portfolios; and/or

(2) Add some stocks that had the highest returns of that quarter to their portfolios.

Why do fund managers engage in this practice? Because investment firms are required to disclose their funds’ holdings to their clients and shareholders, and the holdings at the end of each quarter is the list of stocks disclosed to clients and future prospects. Thus, a good number of fund managers attempt to make themselves appear much smarter than they really are to clients and to prospects by “window dressing” their portfolios.
Read more …

2 comments June 28th, 2009

The Underground Investor™ Database Archives

We’ve moved the archives to the bottom of the page but they are still here. Of course you may always access the archives by clicking on the listed categories in the left hand column of this page as well. Learn the best ways to invest money during the developing dollar crisis, possible stock market crash, and developing financial crisis. Our goal is to be the only website that consistently provides you, the reader, with the REAL stories behind the stories in the investment world today and the facts you need to know about gold investments, the oil crisis and how to recession proof your investment portfolio against coming bank failures and continuing economic mayhem.

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Most Read Posts (64 articles) – Discover which articles Underground Investor™ readers are most interested in. See the full database, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below,  by clicking the link above.

Sept. 27, 2007 – 101 Reasons Why Managing Your Money is the Quickest Way to Build Wealth
Sept. 25, 2007 – 10 Surefire Ways to Make an Investment Fortune
Sept. 15, 2007 – Why the U.S. Feds 0.50% Rate Cut Won’t Save the Markets
Sept. 15, 2007 – U.S. Interest Rate Cut to Have Little Long-Term Positive Effect
Aug. 20, 2007 – How Much Does the Gov’t Really Manipulate Markets
Aug. 9, 2007 – More Gov’t Foolishness (or Lies) Again: Markets are Sound…NOT!
Aug. 9, 2007 – Chinese Tariffs and the Nuclear Option
Jul. 24, 2007 – How to Invest Like the World’s Greatest Investors
Jun. 17, 2007 – Get Out of Dollar-Denominated Bonds While You Still Can!
May 1, 2007 – Uranium Stocks are Finally Getting the Attention They Deserve
Apr. 23, 2007 – The Emperor’s New Clothes Abound in the Investment Industry. Don’t Get Cheated by Your Advisor
Apr. 20, 2007 – Use Intelligent Strategies to Push Risk Back onto Investment Firms
Apr. 19, 2007 – In Risky Markets, Follow the Behavior of the Ultra-Rich, Not the Rich
Apr. 12, 2007 – The Secret to Investing

Gold Investments (37 articles) - Use traditional rules to invest in gold stocks and you’ll lose money hand over fist with this asset class. Learn more about one of the most important components of every portfolio for future years to come. See the full database, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below, by clicking the above link.

April 23, 2008 – Will U.S. Markets Crash Now or Later?
Feb. 4, 2008 – Could Chinese New Year’s Fuel the Next Rally Higher for Gold Stocks?
Jan. 29, 2008 – Even After This Strong Run, Gold Stocks are Still a Bargain Today. Here’s Why.
Jan. 5, 2008 – A Sneak Peak at Our Premium Level Information
Nov. 4, 2007 – Is Hyperinflation Coming to the U.S.? It’s Time to Stock Up on Gold.
Nov. 4. 2007 – Gold is the Best Investment Today, History Tells Us So.
Nov. 2, 3007 – Gold Expensive at $791/oz.? Not by a Longshot
Jun. 5, 2007 – Learn How NOT to Invest in Gold
Mar. 30, 2007 – Navigate the Minefields of the Investment Information Highway
Mar. 7, 2007 – This Bounce in Gold Markets Merits a Cautious Approach
Mar. 6, 2007 – Gold Stocks Correction – What it Means?
Feb. 28, 2007 – How to Profit from a Weakening Market, Gold Stocks, & More, Part II
Feb. 28, 2007 – Buying Opportunity in Gold Stocks
Feb. 28, 2007 – How to Profit from a Weakening Market, Gold Stocks, & More, Part I
Feb. 23, 2007 – Uncover the Ignored Asset Classes
Feb. 12, 2007 – How Do I Know that Institutional Money is Still Not on Board with Gold?
Jan. 25, 2007 – If You Don’t Own Gold Stocks, You Need To
Jan. 23, 2007 – Building Wealth Requires More than Just Contrarian Investing
Jan. 14, 2007 – Use the Long Tail of Investing to Accurately Predict the Price of Gold
Jan. 11, 2007 – The REAL DEAL about Gold and Energy
Dec. 13, 2007 – Commodities and Asians: Apparently We All Look Alike
Nov. 6, 2006 – Sometimes Silence is Golden
Oct. 10, 2006 – Shock and Awe Awaits Global Markets
Oct. 4, 2006 – Is Gold’s Correction Over Yet?
Oct. 2, 2006 – Fiat Currency Concerns Give Rise to a Gold & Silver Backed Currency System
Oct. 1, 2006 – The Gold Timeline – A History of Gold Prices
Sept. 16, 2006 – Has the Commodities Bubble Burst? No, No, No!
Sept. 13, 2006 – Sell the Rumor, Buy the News
Sept. 11, 2006 – Gold’s Speculative Stigma is Unwarranted
Sept. 3, 2006 – Gold’s Glitter is Genuine
Aug. 14, 2006- Knowing Your History is More Important to Creating Wealth than Fundamental Analysis

Financial Crisis, Dollar Crisis & Recession Proof Investing (30 articles) – Foolish investors’ eyes lit up as New Century Financial dropped from $30 to $20 a share during the recent subprime mortgage fiasco. Their hearts thumped with excitement as shares dropped from $20 to $10 and they doubled down. When shares dropped to $5 they thought it had to be the bottom and put their last remaining money into New Century. A month later, they lost everything. There is similar optimism surrounding the dollar today from self-declared currency experts. Discover why the dollar is much more likely to go the way of New Century than experience a comeback like Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle. For the most recent articles, perhaps not listed below, click the above category link.

June 26, 2008 – The One Question That Will Have the Greatest Impact on Your Financial Future
May 14, 2008 – What’s Driving the Price of Oil Higher? It’s the Dollar, Stupid!
April 30, 2008 - How Low Will the Feds Go?
April 17, 2008 – Monetary Inflation. How Increased Paper Wealth Can Translate into a Lower Standard of Living
March 3, 2008 – Why Investors Will Never Make Money in this Bear Market
Feb. 20, 2008 – The Secret to Building Wealth in Volatile Markets
Feb. 6, 2008 – Is Recession in the U.S. Coming? We’re Already in One.
Jan. 28, 2008 – The Outcome of the Fed’s Interest Rate Cuts? History is the Best Oracle.
Jan. 24, 2008 – The Fed’s 0.75% Interest Rate Cut – A Recipe for Future Disaster
Dec. 7, 2007 – The Dollar Panic. Is it Real?
Sept. 19, 2007 – Signs of a Peak Investment Crisis Keep Coming
June 18, 2007 – Alan Greenspan’s Call of Checkmate on China is Premature
June 17, 2007 – PIMCO’s Bill Gross and the Economist Agree with SmartKnowledgeU 6 Months After the Fact!
May 28, 2007 – The Politics of Higher Oil Prices
May 26, 2007 – Asian Countries Pooling Reserves to Protect Themselves from the Incredible Shrinking Dollar, Part II
May 25, 2007 – Asian Countries Pooling Reserves, Part I
May 3, 2007 – The Death of the 3-Year Treasury Note
Apr. 1, 2007 – The Next Cold War Will be an Economic One
Jan. 25, 2007 – Dollar-Denominated Bonds Faltering
Jan. 9, 2007 – Use the Longtail of Investing to Accurately Predict Dollar Behavior
Jan 7, 2007 – 10 Reasons Why Dollar-Denominate Bonds Aren’t Safe
Dec. 21, 2006 – Iran Presents More Trouble for the U.S. Dollar
Dec. 7, 2006 – The U.S. has Perfected the Incredible Shrinking Dollar

Free Stock Picks (24 articles) – While our top-shelf stock picks and ideas that have since returned 100% to 200% returns are reserved for our members only, here read articles about some mid-shelf stock picks and ideas that have already returned 30% returns in less than a year. Access the full database, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below,  by clicking the topic link above.

Jun. 4, 2007 – To Prove the Effectiveness of Our SmartKnowledgeU™ Investment System, Even Our Weakest Picks that We’ve Given Away for FREE Have Soared
Apr. 29, 2007 – After BAIDU, Possibly Focus Media
Apr. 2, 2007 – Profit, Don’t Lose From Market Corrections
Apr. 2, 2007 – Global Warming Presents Easy 30% Gains for Underground Investor Readers
Mar. 13, 2007 – Beware the Perpetual Bulls, Part II
Feb. 18, 2007 – Banking Sector FY 2008 – Positive for Japan & India, Negative for China
Jan. 4, 2007 – Chinese Technology Companies to Watch in 2007
Dec. 19, 2007 – MSFT and Internet Protocol Version 6
Dec. 12, 2006 – It’s Time to Keep a Close Eye on Indian Stocks ICICI & HDFC
Dec. 7, 2006 – The Ocean Becomes a New Growth Point in the World Economy
Oct. 30, 2006 – What’s the Safest Place to Invest in the Oil Industry Now?
Oct. 30, 2006 – You’ll Find Ignored Investment Opportunities in the DRC & Libya
Oct. 23, 2006 – Indian Banks Anyone? Four Letters: HDFC
Oct. 9, 2006 – Don’t Believe the Hype – Avoid Chinese Bank Stocks

The Peak Investment Crisis & Stock Market Crash (57 articles) – Bubbling underneath the surface, there lies a peak investment crisis. When it hits, savvy investors will build a fortune. Unfortunately, most investors will be blindsided and lose great fortunes instead. Access the entire database, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below,  by clicking on the above category link.

Nov. 4, 2007 – Is Hyperinflation Coming to the U.S.? It’s Time to Stock Up on Gold.
Nov. 4. 2007 – Gold is the Best Investment Today, Part II
Oct. 15, 2007 – Our New Forum on Facebook: Crisis Investing
Oct. 9, 2007 – Beware the Turbulence that Lies Beneath the Surface, Part I
Sept. 20, 2007 -The Signs of a Peak Investment Crisis Keep Coming
Sept. 19, 2007 -Why the U.S. Fed’s 0.50% Rate Cut Won’t Save the Markets
Aug. 9, 2007 – More Gov’t Foolishness Again
Jun. 29, 2007 – Don’t Let the Strength of the U.S. Markets in the First Half of 2007 Fool You
Mar. 11, 2007 – It’s the Difference Between Chasing & Building Wealth
Mar. 6, 2007 – What this Correction Means for Gold Stocks
Feb. 28, 2007 – How to Profit From a Weakening Market & Gold Stocks
Sept. 9, 2006 – The Peak Investment Crisis
Aug. 11, 2006 – How to Protect Your Portfolio During Turbulent Markets

A New Investment Paradigm for the 21st Century (11 articles) – Fundamental and Value investing may take years of patience to pay off (i.e. Apple Computers was a huge value stock at $13 a share and took more than four years of waiting to pay off huge), Growth investing often leads to chasing hot sectors that correct rapidly. Discover why changing conditions in today’s global market has created a new investment paradigm that is hands down the best way to invest today. Click the link above to see all articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below,  in this category.

Jul. 24, 2007 – How to Invest Like the World’s Greatest Investors
Feb. 25, 2007 – Frontrunning Can Make You a Fortune
Jan. 30, 2007 – The New Paradigm of Successful Investment Strategies
Jan. 21, 2007 – 10 Reasons the Longtail of Investing is the Only Way to Build Wealth
Jan. 16, 2007 – Use the Longtail of Investing to Predict Major Market Events with High Accuracy
Jan. 9, 2007 – Accurately Predict U.S. Dollar Behavior
Sept. 1, 2006 – What Mark Cuban Failed to Realize About Investing

The Biggest Investment Myths (62 articles) – All investment professionals, from investment firms to financial consultants to the financial journal purposely spread tales of lies and deception. Jim Cramer, an investment professional that amassed a fortune as a hedge fund manager, recently stated that the last thing he ever wanted to do is to tell the truth. Find out why deception is part of the game in the investment industry.  Click the category link above to access the full database, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

Oct. 25, 2007 – New Home Sales Went Up. So What?
Oct. 15, 2007 – Beware the Turbulence that Lies Beneath the Surface, II
May 6, 2007 – Economic Reports Drive Short-Term Behavior, but Hardly Represent the Truth
Mar. 21, 2007 – The Short-Term May be Rosy, but Beware the Financial Crisis that is Building Steam
Mar. 4, 2007 – Foreign Markets aren’t as Risky as the Pundits Say
Feb. 23, 3007 – Evolve Your Investment Strategies with Evolving Technology
Feb. 6, 2007 – My Problem with Investment Newsletters (except ours, of course!)
Feb. 4, 2007 – 10 Questions to Help You Find a Superior Financial Consultant
Jan. 30, 2007 – A New Paradigm of Successful Investment Strategies
Jan. 25, 2007 – Despite Evidence to the Contrary, Millions of Investors Will Believe Whatever they Want to Believe
Jan. 7, 2007 – 10 Reasons Why Dollar Denominated Bonds Aren’t as Safe as You Think
Jan. 5, 2007 – How Understanding MMA Champions will Make You a Better Investor
Dec. 18, 2006 – The True Determinants of Wealth Have Nothing to do with Asset Allocation
Nov. 12, 2006 – The Greatest Investment Myth Exposed: Why Modern Portfolio Theory WILL NEVER Make You Rich.

Wealth Literacy (88 articles) – Wealth Literacy is the new Financial Literacy. Financial Literacy may teach you to be fiscally responsible but you can still be financially literate and remain poor. Wealth Literacy fills in all the holes of Financial Literacy and teaches you how to build wealth today. Click the category link above to see new articles that may not be listed below.

Oct. 15, 2007 – Our New Facebook Investment Group – Crisis Investing
Oct. 9, 2007 – Beware the Turbulence that Lies Beneath the Surface, I
Apr. 23, 2007 – Beware the Emperor’s New Clothes -Don’t Get Cheated by Your Adviser
Apr. 20, 2007 – Intelligent Investment Strategies Push Risk Off of You & Back onto Investment Firms
Apr. 19, 2007 – In Risky Markets, Follow the Behavior of the Ultra-Rich, Not the Rich
Apr. 17, 2007 – Why Wealth Literacy is More Important than Financial Literacy, Part II
Apr. 15, 2007 – Why Wealth Literacy is More Important than Financial Literacy, Part I
Apr. 13, 2007 – Pop Investing is All the Rage, but it’s a Loser’s Game
Apr. 12, 2007 – The Secret to Investing in 3 Easy Rules
Apr. 10, 2007 – Build Wealth by Answering These 5 Questions
Mar. 30, 2007 - How to Navigate the Minefields of the Investment Information Highway
Mar. 12, 2007 – The Short-Term May be Rosy, But Beware the Financial Crisis that is Building Steam
Mar. 11, 2007 – The Difference Between Chasing Wealth and Building Wealth
Feb 23, 2007 – Uncover the Ignored Asset Classes
Feb. 21, 2007 – Why Traditional Education Stifles Your Ability to Build Wealth
Feb. 15, 2007 – 7 Habits of Highly Effective Investors
Feb. 8, 2007 – 10 Reasons Why a Professional Athlete’s Best Friend Needs to be his Financial Adviser

Politics and Stocks (30 articles) – Think you don’t need to understand politics to be a good investor? Think again. If you don’t understand politics, you’ll never fully understand the most likely future direction of global stock markets, oil, gold, and currency markets. Click the above category link to see the full database of articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

Apr. 11, 2007 – Building Great Wealth in Stocks Requires Understanding Politics
Apr. 1, 2007 – The Next Cold War will be an Economic One
Apr. 1, 2007 – Possible U.S. Military Intervention in Iran
Mar. 13, 2007 – To Err on the Subject of Chinese Tariffs May Expedite a Shakespearean Tragedy
Dec. 17, 2007 – Do Free Markets and Free Trade Exist?

Oil Crisis (15 articles) – Think oil prices are controlled by supply and demand, futures traders, or Peak Oil Theory? Think again. Discover the true determinants of oil price behavior, primarily dollar devaluation. Click the above category link to see the full database of articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

May 14, 2009 – What’s Driving the Price of Oil Higher? It’s the Dollar, Stupid!
May 28, 2007 – The Politics of Higher Oil Prices
Nov. 26, 2006 – Does the end of Mid-Term Elections Mean Higher Gas Prices Again?
Nov. 8, 2006 – The Peak Oil Theory was Created by – You Guessed it – Big Oil!
Oct. 30, 2006 – The Safest Place to Invest in the Oil Industry Now? – Oil Refiners, Pipeline Manufacturers, Deep Sea Platform & Drilling Manufacturers, and 4D Imaging Companies
Oct. 30, 2006 – You’ll Find Ignored Investment Opportunities in the DRC and Libya
Oct. 12, 2006 – How Has Prince Bandar bin Sultan Affected Oil Prices in Years Past?

Uranium Investments (3 articles)– The bulk of this information is contained within our members only area, but you’ll find an article or two here. Click the above category link to see the full database of articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

May 1, 2007 – Uranium Stocks are Finally Getting Some Attention. Better Late than Never.
May 1, 2007 – What Does Uranium Futures Mean for the Future of Uranium Stocks?

Africa Investments (5 articles) – For the more daring investor willing to place small bets for HUGE returns, Africa awaits.

Canada Investments (4 articles) – Articles about Canada and the Canadian stock market and hands down some of the best opportunities in ANY global stock market.

China Investments (21 articles) – Articles about Chinese stocks and the Chinese stock market.

India Investments (4 articles) – Articles about Indian stocks and the Indian stock market.

Japan Investments (4 articles) – Articles about the Japanese economy and stock market.

Russia Investments (1 articles) – Articles about the Russian economy and stock market

U.S. Stocks (25 articles) – Articles about U.S. stocks and the American stock market.

Vietnam Investments (3 article) – Articles about Vietnam and the explosive yet unregulated Vietnamese market.

Investment Psychology (22 articles) – One of the most important but yet most overlooked and ignored aspects of investing is psychology. Discover how an improper mindset can be the difference between huge losses and huge gains in your portfolio. Click the above category link to see the full database of articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

Feb. 7, 2007 – Investors Should Apply the Rule of Shopping 101 to Buying Stocks
Jan. 3, 2007 – Will the 2006 Year End Rally Continue into 2007?
Dec. 21, 2006 - Perception Can Overrule Reality in Driving Behavior but Reality Will Overrule Perceptions in Driving Outcome
Nov. 30, 2006 – The Recency Effect Hurts Investment Decisions
Nov. 2, 2006- Canadian PM Stephen Harper & Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany – the More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
Nov. 2, 2006 – Irrational, Not Rational, Behavior Often Drives Markets
Oct. 24, 2006 – The Financial Media are Like Bad Weatherman
Oct. 8, 2006 – The SmartKnowledgeU Reader’s List
Oct. 4, 2006 – Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany: We LIED Morning, Noon, & Night!
Sept. 26, 2007 – Move Over Harry Potter! The Deceptive Wizardry of Fund Managers
Sept. 17, 2006 – When it Comes to Investing, You Get What You Pay For
Sept. 16, 2006 – Why Do People Believe One of the Dumbest, Most Flawed & Deceptive Measures of Economic Conditions?
Sept. 13, 2006 – Why Book Smarts Won’t Help You Build Wealth
Sept. 10, 2006 – Investment Psychology 101
Aug. 24, 2006 – To Become Wealthy, Abandon Widespread Beliefs About Investing
Aug. 18, 2006 – Following Mainstream Media Will Lead You Down a Disastrous Investment Road
Aug. 3, 2006 – Following Short-Term Fluctuations Will Create Poor Investment Decisions

Options Investing (10 articles) – We don’t discuss options much here but occasionally, if there is a compelling play, we’ll write an article or two.

Water Investing (1 article) – Read articles about investing in water as a commodity as the world’s fresh water supply becomes more scarce.

The Zen of Investing (42 posts) – Read articles from our resident martial arts expert regarding how understanding principles of martial arts can make you a much better investor. A combination of “The Art of War” and “The Art of Investing” if you will. Click the above category link to see the full database of articles, including the most recent articles that may not be listed below.

Technorati Tags: investment blog, investment strategies, dollar crisis, financial crisis, oil crisis, stock market crash, howto invest gold, recession proof, best ways to invest, Wall Street bailout

2 comments May 16th, 2009

FBI Investigates SEC Employees for Insider Trading

Below is a story that originated out of London today. In any event, it ties in nicely with my How the Financial Elites Enronized America story, so I’m just reposting it below for a quick review. It should be a self-evident truth that an honor system among regulators that have consistently failed to regulate is not the smartest system to use. Read more …

Add comment May 15th, 2009

US Bank Shares – The Pump is Almost Over, Get Ready for the Dump

For the past couple of weeks, bank shares have grown in share price faster than a steroid-induced bicep. There has not been much reported by the media in terms of negative news about the US financial industry from Ben Bernanke, bank CEOs, or even the Federal Reserve, even though the bank stress tests resembled a public relations campaign much more than a stress test. Despite the rosy picture painted by the financial media of the US banking industry and the consensus that “the worst is behind us now” by financial executives, the 3-ring circus that is the US Federal Reserve, the US financial industry, and the US Treasury still can’t seem to get their stories straight. Read more …

4 comments May 12th, 2009

Hundreds of Millions May Face Starvation in the Next 5-10 Years

More than 2-½ years ago when I predicted a global stock market crash on my investment blog, even foreshadowing the duration and the severity of the impending crisis by naming it the Peak Investment Crisis, many called my predictions ludicrous and far-fetched. In that article, I specifically stated that the declines in global stock market indexes could easily “dwarf the pullbacks that caused a 10% decline in the London FTSE, a 35% decline in the Indian markets, a 30% decline in the Brazilian markets, and 20% decline in the Japanese markets over a several week period in 2006” and that “it [was] a potential disaster that 99% of people [were] unaware of.” Today, I foresee another enormous disaster with far wider-reaching and more serious implications than even our current global financial crisis. Read more …

3 comments May 6th, 2009

How the Lack of Transparency in World Gold Markets Translates into Poor Analysis

Every precious metals trader that has analyzed gold prices over the past several decades knows that a common ploy the IMF and leading global Central Banks utilize to suppress gold prices in the COMEX futures markets is to announce plans to sell gold despite their total lack of commitment to executing their announced plans. For example, the Bank of Italy announced in late July, 2007 their plan to sell an estimated 1,740 tonnes of its gold reserves to help pay down its national debt. At this time, this announcement moved the gold futures markets lower because many analysts found this announcement shocking in light of the fact that Italy had always previously stated that its gold reserves were “untouchable”. However, any gold analyst worth his or her weight in salt immediately knew that this announcement was a complete sham because Italy’s announced sales, as considerable as they were, would never have significantly contributed to its declared end goal of solving their national debt problem. Thus, simply by drilling down to the facts behind the Bank of Italy’s surface level announcement, one would have easily deduced that an ulterior motive much different than the stated motive existed. Sure enough, the Bank of Italy never followed through its announcement to sell its gold reserves yet still achieved its likely ulterior motive of temporarily halting the rise in gold prices and driving them lower. Read more …

Add comment April 28th, 2009

How We Can Save Our Country & Prevent Big Banks From Ruining America Forever

The recent comments of many on our nation’s top banking executives have been so consistently disingenuous that the subject of this article has been long overdue for some time now. On March 20, 2009, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit issued a memo to all Citigroup employees in which he stated, “Our industry has recently seen a tide of negative sentiment rising in Washington, D.C. regarding compensation. Of course, some of it is warranted. But I take exception when there is a discussion about spreading the blame to each and every employee in the financial services industry. At our company, we removed the people responsible for Citi’s financial distress and acted fast to strengthen and streamline the business, and install new risk processes and new risk personnel. You have been invaluable in our collective efforts to put the company on solid footing… please rest assured that senior management and experts in Washington are focused on these developments and trying to address issues raised in the debate with clarity about the real facts.”

I take great offense to Mr. Pandit’s willingness to remove all responsibility for this crisis from “each and every employee” in the financial services industry. What made America a great country in the past was each and every American citizen’s willingness to take personal responsibility for his or her mistakes instead of sloughing the blame onto someone else. What made America a great country in the past was the courageous transparency of American leaders to discuss the truth with her citizens, as painful as that truth may have been, versus the cowardice of deception to dishonorably fool the masses into believing a picture of reality that is a lie. Read more …

Add comment April 15th, 2009

Good Surprises This Earning Seasons Will Create Very Bad Future Surprises

With FASB demonstrating no backbone this Thursday and voting to change mark-to-market rules with not a single dissenting vote (demonstrating that not a single FASB board member has the guts to stand up for what is right), the Big Deception is now in play for earnings season which starts tomorrow on April 7th. Despite the fact that the consensus is for earnings to be brutal and consequently, for the global stock market rally to end, here’s what I think will happen.

The timing of FASB’s ruling was in no part coincidental. There was a rush to approve the suspension of mark-to-market rules that allows US financial companies to use their “significant judgment” to value illiquid assets such as mortgage securities and mortgage-backed securities. I’m sure investors appreciate that valuation will be left to the significant judgment of financial executives since it was their fine judgment that helped fuel many of the steps of this global economic quagmire we find ourselves in at the present time. Read more …

1 comment April 6th, 2009

Why the Investment Crisis Has Simplified the Search for Solid Investment Advice

If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it is that most of the investment scams for the past two decades have now been exposed and the search to find solid investment guidance has genuinely become easier. The dirty secret of Wall Street and many commercial investment firms was that their hiring processes were never about hiring the most talented people that truly understood stock markets and macroeconomic trends. Instead, their hiring processes were more about identifying psychological profiles that would produce the best salesmen and saleswomen. The industry’s endless TV and magazine advertisements that revolved around messages of trust and records of operational longevity, in the end, only meant that they were able to perpetuate their scams for several decades longer than the now infamous Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. But for the firms that have survived, you can be assured that they will not give up the scams that they’ve perfected for the last several decades. So how can you use this crisis to your advantage Read more …

Add comment March 31st, 2009

The Biggest Stock Market Scam of the Century, the Nuclear Option, is Being Unleashed – But Will it Succeed?

Forget about the $50 billion Madoff Ponzi scheme. Forget about the $8 billion Stanford Ponzi schemes, forget about the $3.6 billion of bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives after the firm’s failure, and forget about the $200+ millions paid out to AIG executives. The biggest stock market scam of the century is now underway, hatched, given the stamp of approval, and about to be executed by Central Banks worldwide. Though this scam will undoubtedly be bigger than the all revelations of previous scams combined, this scam will engender less public anger, less disbelief, and less protest than any one of the recent individual scams, because very few people will understand it.

The Failure Of Special US Federal Reserve Programs

To understand the biggest stock market scam of the century, we must first pause for a moment to understand recent history. US Federal Reserve, in an attempt to turn the US economy around, first extended hundreds of billions of dollars of credit to US financial institutions through facilities like TALF (Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility), TAF (Term Auction Facility), AMLF (Asset Backed Read more …

1 comment March 23rd, 2009

New Home Sales Went Up. So What?

October 25, 2007 – Here’s another story that belongs in the “More Worthless Manufactured Key Economic Indicators Released by the Government” statistic. Out of Washington D.C. at 10 AM this morning, this story was released

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Sales of new homes (in the U.S.) rebounded in September from summer sales levels that were much weaker than previously reported, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Sales increased 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 from a revised 735,000 in August. Previously, August’s sales had been reported at a 795,000 pace. September’s sales were slightly higher than the 758,000 pace expected by economists. The three previous months were revised sharply lower, which means the housing market was much weaker in the middle of the year than previous believed. Sales of new homes are down 23.3% in the past year.

Now the consensus was for new home sales to come in around 760,000 to 780,000 which was about spot on as the reported figures came in at 770,000. Now that would have been a decline from previous month figures at 795,000 and more bad news for the housing market. So how do you spin bad news into good news that the sheep herd will follow? Read more …

1 comment October 25th, 2007

The Coming Investment Crisis: Beware the Turbulence that Lies Beneath the Surface, Part II

October 15, 2007 -

I’ve often mentioned that the U.S. stock market can APPEAR healthy even when the underlying economy is in worse shape than an alcoholic on a kidney dialysis machine. And this is just one of those instances right now. As markets continue to climb higher on manufactured, political-agenda serving government statistics and interest rate cuts, rally cries from all the bulls (aka sales people, I mean company men and women) that this is bull run of historical proportions and that you better come along for the ride started already a couple of weeks ago. And how soon people forget the dot.com crash in March 2000 that subtracted trillions of dollars from the personal financial statements of investors. Back then, the exact same statements were being offered to the public masses that will once again be offered in the very near future as the political juggernaut no doubt will try its best to manufacture one last bull run into the 2008 Presidential elections. Remember from the dot.com rally, that irrational movements higher can last an irrationally long time— this, I don’t dispute. I also have no doubt that any rally that is artificially manufactured with loose credit and low interest rates will experience a terrible ending (just look at how the artificially manufactured housing boom in the U.S. is playing out now). Peaks artificially manufactured by bankers are much different than the peaks of normal cycles that occur in the free market. Peaks that are artificially manufactured by bankers will always end up terribly. Read more …

1 comment October 15th, 2007

Why the U.S. Fed’s 0.50% Rate Cut Won’t Save the U.S. Markets

September 19, 2007 - “Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights” – Alan Greenspan, 1966, more than 20 years before he served as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 1987-2006. Obviously, Alan Greenspan’s feelings regarding deficit spending experienced a 180º reversal once he became the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman. However, one only need to understand the truth in that comment to understand where your money should be invested and why this mini-rally in global markets spurred by the Fed’s decision to cut the Federal Funds rate by 0.50%, even if it should extend into a larger rally, should cause you to be scared, and very scared at that.

Overshadowed by the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates and the subsequent rally in global stock markets was a much more critical story. U.S. Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson recently urged Congress to raise the national debt ceiling, stating that the U.S. would reach the current national debt ceiling by October 1st. Read more …

2 comments September 19th, 2007