Atlanta Feds Lockhart...............

Why does the media take such bullshit artists like Dennis Lockhart  seriously?

Borrowing and reckless spending is modeled by our bloated government.  They know that austerity now equals a crash.  There is NO WAY BACK.  When the Fed raises, it comes apart.

The game is about over.

 

Be very careful when you speak to your children!

My wife hosted a dinner party for all our friends, some of whom we hadn't seen for ages, and everyone was encouraged to bring their children along as well. 

All throughout dinner my wife's best friend's four-year-old daughter stared at me as I sat opposite her. The girl could hardly eat her food for staring. 
 

I checked my shirt for spots, felt my face for food, and patted my hair in place; but nothing stopped her from staring at me. I tried my best to just ignore her, but finally it was too much for me. 
 

I asked her, "Why are you staring at me?" 

Everyone at the table had noticed her behavior, and the table went quiet, waiting for her response. 

The little girl said, "I'm just waiting to see how you drink like a fish." 

GOP debate last night...........

I don't have a clue who "won" last night but I can tell you who lost.  Ben Carson got taken to the woodshed and the American people lost big.

Is this really the best group of Presidential hopefuls in a country of 320,000,000? 

I weep for our future.  So should you.

As an investment manager I thought it rather lame that  QE, ZIRP, federal debt, global debt, corporate debt, debt funded stock buy-backs, deflation, inflation, crude prices (after all what are middle eastern wars being fought for?), commodity prices and global trade crashing were topics that were NOT addressed.  Amazing isn't it?  Think about it.  $19 trillion in the hole and not a shred of discussion.  Winning!!!    Bend over America!

Aren't you glad we could listen to the gay marriage debate and  discuss who should be on the $10 bill?  Jeb Bush have a MJ buzzkill going with that Margaret Thatcher response regarding the $10 bill?  What the hell is up with that Jeb?   Get off the pipe pal, geesh.........

Nobody in America gives a shit about who is on the $10 bill.  Nobody.  NO ONE!

What a circus!

Who makes it to President?

Hopefully ANYONE who is not an attorney or a professional politician.

About that fabled Morgan Stanley research.........

Seven years ago today, Lehman Brothers failed. But it is what took place just over two weeks prior that is of interest for the scope of this article.

On August 27, less than 20 days before the failure of Lehman, Morgan Stanley analyst Patrick Pinschmidt revised his forecast on Lehman's Q3 earnings from an 8 cent profit to a Q3 loss of $2.80 a share.

Patrick cautioned: "For the franchise and shares to turn the corner, we think management needs to announce a significant bulk asset sale or framework for investors to evaluate the structure or pricing of likely asset disposals."

Also he wasn't very far off when he said that "we believe a key question for investors is not the size of the writedown, but how remaining illiquid asset exposure squares with capital cushion."

And yet, despite his clear concerns about the longevity of Lehman, did the then-Morgan Stanley analyst cut his rating on Lehman? As Reuters reminds us, the answer was a resounding no:

"The analyst maintained his "overweight" rating on shares of Lehman and Goldman."

One month later Lehman did not exist, and Goldman would have followed into the abyss had it not been bailed out first by Buffett and then by the FDIC and the Fed.

Why is this episode relevant? After all virtually everyone was saying Lehman is fine and that there is no risk for the longevity of the bank, at least until the very end, when it was revealed that Goldman's alumnus at the US Treasury had decided to sacrifice Lehman (in the process eliminating Goldman's biggest fixed income trading competitor).

Patrick Pinschmidt is now one of the top-placed people in charge of the US Treasury's FSOC. Yes, the same person who 2 weeks before Lehman failed, had an "overweight" rating on the Lehman stock, is not in charge of financial stability.

Is there any doubt why nobody has any faith that without the perpetual backing of the central money printer, US capital markets can no longer exist?

Listening to Hillary Clinton campaign on TV

.....reminds me of when I had a bad case of hemorrhoids.........the pain just won't go away.........

the class warfare, the bullshit,  the promises,  the war on women,  ad nauseum...........

would somebody just whack that criminal syndicate sooner rather than later?

I swear America needs muck boots to listen to this nag............. and to think she is wanting to take the place of a President who was supposedly a professor of constitutional law.

GMAFB.......

Just a matter of time boys and girls...........

Coming to a shore near you.  Europe's refugee crisis is getting worse by the day. Less than 24 hours after Germany announced it would impose border controls with Austria, followed promptly by the Czech Republic, Slovenia and now the Netherlands, German vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel predicted that as many as 1 million refugees may arrive by the end of the year as other nations moved to fortify their frontiers. In the meantime, however, Europe is dramatically escalating measures to halt the influx and as AFP reported earlier today, the European Union has now approved military action against human traffickers in the Mediterranean Sea.

Peyton Barber, Auburn running back

Five very short years ago I had the opportunity to watch Peyton Barber as a Junior in high school when he played for the Milton Georgia high school program.  My son, Jordan Parisian, was in his first year at Milton playing football as a freshman and it was Coach DeCristofaro's first year in bringing the Milton program up to where it needed to be.  Coach D got the Milton players to buy into the hard work year 'round.  The off-season weight training was special.

It took me all of about 3 plays watching the fall practice to see this Barber kid was special.  It took watching him about 6 plays to see he was going to be a hell of a college running back.  It took a game to see that he could play at whatever college he wanted whether he was recruited or not. 

In football, cream still rises to the top.

I can't believe it took Peyton this long to garner a starting spot but hey, the Auburn coaches finally figured it out.

They couldn't have a better running back and person on the field to represent their University.

What a nice young man.  Humble, hard-working and gifted with the ball.

I hope he signs a massive professional contract some day.  The kid is a winner.