Thread: A major blow against the dollar today

Originally Posted by Platinum Pete

That address isn't working for me but I wonder if you meant zerohedge.net. Some interesting thoughts there.

No, Spats meant .com. I went to the .net site out of curiosity. I then proceeded to laugh my ass off because that site is taking the piss out of zerohedge.com and its readers. Pretty funny actually.

Originally Posted by Spats

...Read http://www.zerohedge.com if you want to get some idea of what's going on.

BLOGGER MAY HAVE A PAST

By KAJA WHITEHOUSE
Last Updated: 1:23 PM, September 2, 2009

A 30-year-old New Yorker who was barred from the securities industry last year may be behind an increasingly popular financial blog known as Zerohedge.com, which is catching flack for its obsession with anonymity.

Daniel Ivandjiiski, whose most recently listed address is on the Upper East Side, was barred last September by the financial industry's self regulatory authority, FINRA, for insider trading.

Ivandjiiski is also suspected of being one of the founders of controversial financial blog Zerohedge.com, sources tell The Post.

Ivandjiiski didn't return requests for comment, but he recently told industry publication Hedge Fund Alert that while he writes for Zerohedge, he's not a founder.

"He denied that he was a founder. He said he was just a contributor," Hedge Fund Alert Managing Editor Howard Kapiloff told The Post.

Ivandjiiski told Kapiloff that he's one of several writers who contributes to the site under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden," the charismatic, psychopathic alter-ego of the main character in the book and movie "Fight Club."

Several bloggers on the site appear to have been inspired by the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk, which was later adapted into movie starring Brad Pitt.

A man who answered the phone at Zerohedge declined to give his name or to comment. He offered vague statements like, "Zerohedge is not one person," and, "For us, its not about the messenger, its about the message."

A manifesto on the Web site suggests Zerohedge contributors are seeking to avoid the backlash their comments could unleash, saying anonymity protects "unpopular individuals from retaliation -- and their ideas from suppression -- at the hand of an intolerant society."

But its anonymity has also been a bit of a lightening rod, causing one commentator on CNBC to recently blast Zerohedge as residing in the "dark and cowardly corners of the blogosphere."

Still, the site has proven unusually popular since its launch in January, according to data from Web traffic data provider Alexa.com.

Alexa shows Zerohedge's Web traffic beating traffic from other, more established financial blog sites like Footnoted.org and Marketfolly.com and coming close to traffic from some of the most popular financial Web sites like Dealbreaker.com and Minyanville.com.

I'm not that deep into the financial issues, but that zerohedge.net parody IS funneh;

Zero Hedge Instruction Manual

1. Wake up, cruise thru web. Wish you had access to Bloomberg.

2. Try not to be bitter Goldman didn't call you back for a second interview a couple of years ago. And you're kidding yourself if you thought RenTech wouldn't immediately circular file your resumé.

3. Look up some random short-term economic indicator.

* If negative, extrapolate out to Armageddon.
* If positive, ignore it or come up with some excuse why people are stoopid to look at it.

4. Beg your buddies with jobs for screen grabs from Bloomberg. Wish again some idiot visitor would donate enough so that you can afford your own terminal.

5. Post some silly comment about VWAP.

6. Look to see if Rosie has written anything recently. Steal it.

7. Post some random item about REITs. Extrapolate out to Armageddon.

8. If Tuesday, sift thru DTCC data. Go crazy with terms like 'derisking'. Readers don't understand that but they are idiots devoted.

9. Work on that resumé. Good thing you stayed anonymous, easier to get back in the game.

10. Think of something insulting to say about Geithner.

11. Beg your friends with jobs to shoot you proprietary research. Upload to scribd and post it. Hey, information wants to be free.

12. Kick back and watch CNBC. Find a good clip to post with someone saying something idiotic. Fish in a barrel baby.

13. Post some unverifiable crap about quantitative hedge funds getting destroyed. No one will remember when the monthly performance data is published.

14. Has the dollar dropped, even slightly? Extrapolate out to Armageddon.

15. Wait for the Treasury curve to steepen by at least 1 basis point intraday, use the robo-poster to generate some poop about the US not being able to fund itself.

16. If SPY is up, break out a conspiracy theory about Goldman. The whole short-squeeze scenario didn't play out very well, need something more sinister. Keep running with the program-trading crap. Funny how Senators are geniuses when they agree with you.

17. If SPY is down, use the Green Shoots/Brown Shoots randomizer to post some crap about the impending abyss. Toss in a snarky comment about Goldman.

18. Grab another Bloomberg screenshot from your buddies. Remind yourself that web glory comes at a price, namely no job and the adoration of idiots followers.

19. Above all, remember not to be too specific about the timing of Armageddon. That didn't work out too well back in March or April or May or June (although it looked like you had a shot there for a week in July). Use terms like "W-shaped recovery" and "bear-market rally" and make enough posts to plausibly claim you were not surprised by the continuing market rally. Sooner or later, the market will correct and then it is your time to shine. If it doesn't, well good thing you've been working on your resumé cuz you can always blow this taco stand once the severance pay runs out. Unless, of course, YOU'VE BEEN BANNED BY FINRA.

Originally Posted by MTT

...
California could solve all its money broblems ...

this thread is interesting and all, but can you provide more details on the bro blems??? BSL? # of mounts?? Soft or stiff???

Save the dollar Mr. President

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33246832

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

Save the dollar Mr. President

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33246832

One of the big lessons from the Great Depression is that emphasizing a stable currency over a domestic recovery is completely ruinous. The world’s major economies all tried a similar policy to the one outlined in that article, with France following it the most thoroughly—even clinging to the Gold standard—and suffered the most in terms of industrial output.

Its sweet the way some ideologues cling to their absurd theories, facts be damned. Sweet, except for the amount of chaos they caused. (Yummy, this KoolAid is delicious!)

Originally Posted by mocwvmit

I'm not that deep into the financial issues, but that zerohedge.net parody IS funneh;

Not if you really grasp the situation. If you do, it's like watching Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto making fun of the resistance. "Yeah, those guys trying to shoot Nazis and keep us alive...they're just sore losers because they can't be part of the Master Race."

That's their entire parody, right there -- they can't grasp the concept that some people might actually be MORALLY OUTRAGED by what's going on, and trying to stop the rape of the USA by the financial elite is a more powerful motivation for some of us than begging desperately to be allowed sloppy seconds.

Zerohedge.com, and people like them, are blowing the whistle on people that have stolen tens of thousands of dollars from each and every one of us just from the bailouts alone, and are continuing to extort money from us through insider trading, front-running, "flash trading" (a sophisticated term for front-running), naked shorting, and continually taking money from all of us via the Treasury and the Fed to cover their bad bets when they lose. There is a reason Wall Street executives are still taking home hundreds of millions while unemployment climbs relentlessly and the economy continues to tank: WE GAVE THEM ALL THE MONEY.

It's funny how the only argument against Zerohedge is total innuendo: "Well, one of the people who might write some of the articles might have been busted for doing a tiny scale what Goldman Sachs and co. do to the tune of millions of dollars EVERY DAY." Yeah, miT, and I hear you beat your wife and she got a restraining order against you for it.

The reason I started following Zerohedge.com is simple: they have been right. Their factual reporting and analysis has been more accurate than any "mainstream" source, and anyone who understands economics knows this -- which is why they've grown from a tiny blogspot page in early 2009 to the multi-contributor operation they are now.

Originally Posted by mocwvmit

I'm not that deep into the financial issues, but that zerohedge.net parody IS funneh;

I think the one in the comments section is a tad more realistic:

1. Wake up, wish you had access to a regular life and normal family. Promise to exercise next week.
2. Try not to wince while shaving ugly mug, plan morning sports suck up comments for water cooler.
3. Join 500,000 other jock straps parading over concrete and stone as if this country were founded on it and you were the next hier.
4. Click 'Start'. Cruise thru Bloomberg in typical stupor.
5. Spend 28 extra minutes refilling coffee, suck up to bosses, wave condescendingly at inferior peons.
6. Note what graph the geek is looking at while walking back, plan sabotage to client.
7. Email proprietary, confidential information intentionally to friends at competing corporate desks.
8. Look to see what Tyler has posted, attempt to laugh if in front of peers, covertly wish you had his tenacity.
9. Dig up your IRA REIT's and muster confidence for daily prayer that he's wrong.
10. Think up and register a dozen spam domain names for weekly allowance of ad revenue. -or-
Mock up a site to belittle a group of people with a common interest because thier opinion {sucks | is wrong | is different than mine}.
11. Meet affair for lunch:
- if Wednesday, blow off rest of work, write off rest of day, skip [family] dinner
- if thursday, liquid lunch and quickie in her {car | hotel room | pimps corner store}
- if friday, return to work and fire someone to sate ego
12. Call again on (pick one):
- that golf club membership
- the condo sale
- the yacht restoration
- your lawyer
- some politico that will always be better at sucking up than you, agree to everything you say, and ignore you routinely
13. Invite boss and boss' friends to expensive overclassed dinner, again, and foot the bill, again.
14. Get drunk, drive.
15. Curse at roommate, significant other, dog, walls, etc. that there was no way it was a cataclysmic short squeeze bear market rally that's over.
16. You are what you eat, so get to it.
17. Attempt to bang whatever made it to bed with you: shemale, mattress, fist, dog, etc.
18. Die; early, alone, bitter, poor, fat, shamed, with wet pants.

Originally Posted by Spats

Not if you really grasp the situation...

That's their entire parody, right there -- they can't grasp the concept that some people might actually be MORALLY OUTRAGED by what's going on, and trying to stop the rape of the USA by the financial elite is a more powerful motivation for some of us than begging desperately to be allowed sloppy seconds.

Zerohedge.com, and people like them, are blowing the whistle on people that have stolen tens of thousands of dollars from each and every one of us just from the bailouts alone, and are continuing to extort money from us through insider trading, front-running, "flash trading" (a sophisticated term for front-running), naked shorting, and continually taking money from all of us via the Treasury and the Fed to cover their bad bets when they lose. There is a reason Wall Street executives are still taking home hundreds of millions while unemployment climbs relentlessly and the economy continues to tank: WE GAVE THEM ALL THE MONEY...

Spats... I think you might misunderstand my issue(s) here? First, as I indicated I'm clearly a PoliDork, and am not big into the raw financial issues, so at a certain point I'll admit the more fine subtleties risk going over my head. But just because you and I may not agree, doesn't mean I haven't observed or don't understand the more obvious bigger picture issues. And my ignorance is certainly not because I don't care about the problem(s)... I haven't taken the effort to go deeper into these worm holes simply because there are only so many minutes in the day and my plate is kinda full now.

I think there IS hudge hudge amounts of fraud and abuse in our Banking and Wall Street systems... MUCH of it has been institutionalized so that these market makers and players can not loose, and unfortunately currently comes LEGALLY at the expense of the smaller players; Mom and Pop, You and I. I think there are many areas and ways we can change the system to remove these unfair advantages or built in cash pumps to level the field a bit. I think you and I likely share most of these type of concerns?

Where your and my opinion(s) seem to diverge are those market mechanisms which are not the simple free market (buyer pays money:seller gets goods/services) and may initially sound completely unnecessary. Now specifically, because of my trade/career I have LOTS of experience with the concept of the "Secondary Mortgage Market". (Local Banks/Mortgage companies originating loans then selling them to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc and repeating cycle).. which, assuming I've been paying attention well enough, you define as (part of?) "Fractional Reserve Lending"??? And because I personally see this Secondary Mortgage Market as a perfectly legitimate method to keep the real estate/mortgage money cycle working efficiently... In exactly the same way a Farmer needs to sell product to the consuming market, then use funds from that sale to purchase new seeds/fertilizer/etc from other suppliers to begin to grow a new "product"... I tend to lump anyone loudly arguing that it should be outlawed and shut down as misinformed at best, and stark raving loony on the other end. From what little I was able to read, I'd expect that the zerohedge.coms site is full of those raging against things like "Fractional Reserve Lending"... therefore my appreciation of the humor in the .net parody.

Now I'll admit however, that IF your issue is NOT with the Secondary Mortgage Market concept itself, but instead with a finer point within that system... say the ratio of reserves to outstanding loans. We might be closer to agreement than I think. I'd have no problem with someone arguing that reserve requirements for Banks should be doubled or quadrupled... I'm probably not conversant enough to make a completely cogent argument for or against it, but at least I'd think they were informed enough to grasp the concept and importance of the Secondary Mortgage Market in and of itself.

Either way... this PolAss exists exactly for you to rage against "Fractional Reserve Lending" and me to be schoolgirl giddy at every "Political Sex Scandal"... on that I hope we can agree? Beer is on me first time we are lucky enough to toast "...to Hookers and Blow" in person!!!