Silent Service Method

And that's the biggest issue. It is a systemic problem as well - the bankers (central bankers included) get to play games with numbers, and if there is a loss.....they walk away. If they win, well....they are quite happy to stay in the game.

My question is what broker do I sign up with that covers my losses, but lets me keep the gains?

Did the US Government open a Brokerage?

Hey Chris,

What do you think about the Swissy? Looks like were going to be creating a daily bear candle at the top of this UTL. I might take a cheeky short at close.

...stumbled across this thread, and read the latest exchanges. Please continue, it makes for interesting reading.

Welcome! It's always interesting here! This is the only place I will visit on the FF, most other threads seem to attract a :rougher: crowd. Chris does a nice job of keeping some sort of order.

I hope you contribute as well!

Stolen from another member.....

ha ha ....

Yes, they did. But I believe you need a few billion, and a Congressperson in your pocket to open an account. lol

Mubarek is supposedly stepping down. The next day or two will probably be the start of something bigger.

Is this like Eastern Europe in '89?

Or like Iran in '79?

Remember, the people in Iran were allowed to vote too. Of course, once they did - that was that.

It's been a while since the Middle East has been such a headache - they were due I suppose.

If we could only operate on LNG, then none of this would matter.

GBP/CHF

Absolutely totally smashed that zone

Will it consolidate and then resume it's down trend or will it consolidate and then begin a new leg going up?

What exactly did that Buba President dude from the UK say yesterday? All other reports were at par, not above or exceeding. What's so special about the pound ?

I wondered that myself. But then again - it doesn't really matter.....

Check out this chart:

this one too:

http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/...0_1624_001.png

That's an ugly chart. Don't like the colors.

I think that the JPY may have had it's run for now - we will see, but it makes sense as anyone who borrowed in Yen certainly would have brought that money back by now. On the fundamental side - you wouldn't want Yen, so maybe we are starting to return to a sense of normalcy?

If that's the case, Forex is about to become a lot easier again.

Surely the rumblings against QE from Fed members can't be hurting the expectation for rate rises and will be getting many back interested in the usd-jpy carry trade.

Unfortunately though the US gov can't afford for rates to rise in reality so I think we can pencil in QE3 in the second half and if not then god help the markets and everyone in the US as they start to experience real austerity.

QE3 will help push inflation to more influential levels and once it starts toppling more governments the US will be the last man standing Which is my conspiracy theorist view of what they are trying here.

Tell you what though, watching a CSPAN stream of the Bernanke testimony I could not believe the epic intellectual mediocrity displayed by so many members of the budget committee. The number of people saying, "but Mr Bernanke, are you saying we need to pay overseas creditors like China before the pensions of our veterans and elderly?" Of course you f!/)ing do, that's a taste of the medicine the US has dealt every debtor nation in its black book for decades. If you don't interest rates will go to double figures and there will incredible poverty in the US and likely war. Funnily and alarmingly enough I feel this is why so many were asking that question as they believe they can just smart bomb their way out of this.

Anyway, jpy weakness in the near term looks really compelling but not sure we will get the real follow through (above 86) until the future of QE is sorted out. Notice those making noise are not voting members this year and Axel Weber the king of anti-QE has now exited stage right for a job at DB to make way for someone who will happily keep printing.

If QE finishes this year in the US or Europe it will be a miracle.

Just watching live broadcast from Tahrir sq in Cairo of the celebrations and a guy dressed like an imam is there singing and shouting at the camera with his pet rooster. Why again did they need a dictator if people go out celebrating with roosters on international TV? They seem normal enough to me

Good news though for people in Egypt, just hope the military follows through with delivering real elections.

Enjoy your weekend all,

4x.

Not big on the skin charts either mate but nice divergence on the RSI against the most immediate push lower.

It appears that Egypt will have a new government in September. Meanwhile, there are various protests planned over the weekend in the Middle East. Beware of the various issues just waiting to ignite out there. There is a lot risk out there right now - and as soon as the trading world figures out that this is how we got modern day Iran, and that having a "vote" in a very angry populace isn't necessarily the greatest thing, we may fall.

Of course, stock markets keep ignoring the obvious, so why start now?

Which begs the next question on my mind: Are we doomed to repeat the Boom/Bust cycle? I know my opinion on that question.....

It's not a cycle....its a lifestyle. LOL.

10/10

Well - LNG might have its pros, but this is the superior way forward: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor

This has been clear for a long time. Well, not to the politicians of course...

I'm not sure I share your sentiments entirely. It is certainly de-stabilizing and could lead to bad outcomes, but for a people living under an autocratic dictator, if you're a supporter of democracy, you have to believe this is a good thing for the people of Egypt to have some self-determination. We value the rights of the people to select their own government -- they've had a man in power for 30yrs who has crushed freedom but was friendly to the US' interests, so I guess that was OK with us (he was also getting something like $70bn/year in state "aid" from the US, but there's no need to talk about that).

Democracies can certainly select bad governments -- Many people (i'm guessing you may be one of them) would argue that we selected a bad one in Barack Obama. I would argue we selected a bad one in GWB from 2000-2008 (although I suppose technically a majority selected Al Gore! - but that's another argument entirely!).

All I'm saying is, i don't get your argument. Yes, political change leads to economic uncertainty and higher going-forward volatility, but are you really arguing that you'd rather the people of Egypt have a strong-man, politically corrupt, repressive government with 20%+ youth unemployment than a self-directed one?

Maybe it turns into Iran, but maybe it turns into Turkey (a majority Muslim population but with a secular government).



With respect to American democracy, I'd highly recommend Bob Herberts latest musings on the topic that can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/op...t.html?_r=1&hp

Or put more succinctly by Mr Gordon Gekko in 1987: "You're not naive enough to think you're living in a democracy are you? It's the free market and you're part of it."