Fed Interventions & Why Clinton was A Much Better Prez Economically than Obama

Gotta admit-- we find days like today in the market quite frustrating..

The Fed.. specifically that deeply evil Fed Chair will simply not allow Capitalism to occur.

You remember Capitalism.. That quaint economic principle where one survives or fails on their own abilities, with no outside forces to pick that person up and give preferential restarts or offer special favor...

And Capitalism in the stock market means you invest your money freely as you choose and if the stock or commodity goes up, 'Good for you!'  And if it goes down, then 'Aww, that's too bad!'

And if it keeps going down and you have a margin call, then 'Tough luck, buddy!'

That bearded bastard, Ben Bernanke refuses to allow this market to drop.. He has subtly or covertly intervened three times in the 10 trading days...

Intervention #1 -- After investors pulled out of the market a couple weeks ago due to a belief that QE tapering was imminent, Bernanke went out of his way via his shill mouthpiece Jon Hilsenbrand at the Wall St Journal to say QE was not going to be tapered any time soon..

This was a direct reversal of his statement a week prior that tapering could begin as soon as September but the evil one saw the market dropped around 700 pts based on fear and investing cowardice of QE slowing, so Bernanke was determined to turn that tide...

Intervention #2 --  We wrote on this one last Friday--  The June jobs report made those Wall Street vermin scared once again QE would be tapered because even though the numbers were not great, they weren't dramatically awful either..

So what does the Fed do?  After seeing the market drop 125 pts on the day within a 90min period, and not wanting any negative market news to affect the 4th of July Weekend, covertly injected additional liquidity into the market to cause a 150pt spike precisely at noon..

The market closed on a high...

Intervention #3 -- Yesterday investors were nervous because Fed minutes of their last meeting were released showing there is building more and more of a consensus that QE has run its course and time to put on the breaks slowly..

Markets didn't like that.. nope..  So the 'Bastard' came out after the market closed and did a Q&A session with financial reporters assuring them he wasn't satisfied with economic conditions, QE wouldn't get scaled back, and essentially, let the good times roll!

The bloodsucking parasites who make their living in the stock market responded with a gain of +144 pts at 15,436 as of this moment 12:30p est..

Yep..  The market is only allowed to go in one direction folks.

And I know what you're thinking...  If a million-billion poisonous red ants attacked good ole' Ben at once with crippling bites and thus no more Ben, would it make a bit of difference?

Honestly.. nope.

As much as we despise Bernanke, its not the man, its the ideology...

One goes down and you replace with another person who has the same worldview that the stock market is the most important entity in the nation, banks, corps and major investors can never take losses, etc...

It must be frustrating to sit on the Board of Federal Reserves and see the train wreck which this US economy is headed and powerless to do anything but the current course of action..

So frustrating that today one of the Board members resigned her post...

Some members believed QE needed to cease by the end of 2013...

One of them-- Elizabeth Duke realized after Bernanke's third intervention stunt yesterday that she was basically banging her head against a wall..

So she pretty much saved her soul and submitted her resignation.

Bernanke of course has no soul so there is nothing to 'sell' and thus will be no resignation forthcoming from him...

So let's get beyond the emotion and the annoyance and focus on logic and fact..  What do all these interventions and lack of commitment to end QE mean?

For one thing, it reaffirms that 57 months since Lehman Bros. collapsed and this economy still can not stand on its two feet without its life-support machines.

We've never seen a person in 'recovery' in a hospital who couldn't breathe or eat or poop without tubes attached to every orifice.

That's our economy and don't let anyone mislead you otherwise...

Every year our government runs deficits i.e. we spend more than we take in via tax revenue and they act so proud of themselves that they can cut down the deficit while ignoring the elephant that the debt itself is unmanageable...

And because pretty much every Senator, Congressperson and yes even the President is a millionaire with investments in the market, they are not about to do a thing to curb their profits by dealing with this Fed corruption head-on..

It was only recently that under much public pressure, a law was passed curbing insider information for those in Congress.  Before, it was perfectly legal for an official to possess insider information and invest or pull out accordingly..

Notice how not one elected politician got financially burnt by the post-Lehman stock collapse...

Not one..

Below is the list of GDP growth for every positive quarter we've had since 1Q 2010 to 1Q 2013.. Thirteen quarters in all..

Mar 31, 2013 1.80%
Dec 31, 2012 1.67%
Sep 30, 2012 2.60%
Jun 30, 2012 2.14%
Mar 31, 2012 2.45%
Dec 31, 2011 1.97%
Sep 30, 2011 1.55%
Jun 30, 2011 1.88%
Mar 31, 2011 1.82%
Dec 31, 2010 2.39%
Sep 30, 2010 2.80%
Jun 30, 2010 2.51%
Mar 31, 2010 1.86%

QE has been an abject failure.. $85 billion a month..  near $4 Trillion spent since March 2009 and this nation still can't get its GDP above 2% with any consistency.

In fact, the last time GDP was over 4% in any calendar quarter took place in 1Q of 2004

For comparison, here's how GDP looked during the latter part of the Clinton years:

Sep 30, 2000 4.14%
Jun 30, 2000 5.38%
Mar 31, 2000 4.17%
Dec 31, 1999 4.82%
Sep 30, 1999 4.75%
Jun 30, 1999 4.80%
Mar 31, 1999 4.93%
Dec 31, 1998 4.98%
Sep 30, 1998 3.99%
Jun 30, 1998 3.92%
Mar 31, 1998 4.52%
Dec 31, 1997 4.34%

So what is the point?

Economically, Clinton was a very good President and the market as well as overall economy grew dramatically but based on real growth and expansion in hiring..  He will always be remembered fondly..

On the other hand, Obama is a shit President; a super speaker but extremely weak policy maker who is unable or unwilling to take the economic decision-making reins away from the Fed..

Unwilling to even make the sincere attempt to push forth his own policies to get people working again..

And that tired line about 'obstructionist' Reps blocking legislation? Guess he never heard of something called Executive Orders

We'll never understand how a man is so loved, especially by some segments of the population when he has done so little to make their day to day real lives any better??

Can't speak for you Mr or Ms Reader, but temping, part-time work and employment in the service sector isn't the employment opportunities we quite 'Hoped' for...