Stimulate This!

Studies have been done on past stimulus programs which show that the government gets more bang for its buck when these groups are targeted:

Social Security recipients, those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and those who receive Food Stamps. There was ZERO allocation for these folks.

Good work Pelosi!! This is not a stimulus package, its an election year propaganda tool. Instead of “feeling good” about putting their bipartisan disagreements aside in order to hammer this out, they should feel ashamed because it leaves out the very people who could use the help the most and who would stimulate the economy the quickest.

Hey, what happened to the first cartoon. This one’s funny but the “cut-of-meat” chart was, maybe, even more so. Can you repost it ?

Bears are really getting fried. The web traffic here must be going down again Barry.

how come no post about tomorrow’s 50 pt rate cut?

the make or break for wall street.

Once malinvestment has taken place, any efforts of the authorities to avoid the subsequent capital restructuring through expansionary monetary policy can only postpone the associated recession, not avoid it. In fact, such efforts may in fact prolong the required adjustment.

Bottom is in ladies and gentlemen!! I told you guys I was going long last week! If GDP number is not ‘that bad’ (I’m confident they’ll spin it someway somehow) and we get a 50bps on Wednesday, the Dow will go have a 1,000 points up run!! You better believe it. To be fair, stocks were just too cheap to continue going down, can’t be too greedy as a bear or as a bull. No point on trashing Bernanke, he’s doing what he needs to do, he’s a perma bull by default. You can’t expect the Fed to be a bear, that’s reality, close those short positions or go long, yes, it’s that simple. Bad news will be good news from now on (for a few monthts).

Suge

I’ve been meaning to ask about the ultrashort ETFs, and basically how efficient or inefficient a tool they are. I have just posted my question on the “Homebuilders vs Financials” post. If anyone could help me out by taking a look at the question, I would be grateful. Thanks!

The guy with the End is Near sign a bank? So whoes going bk for all these bad loans… I thought 75 billion dollars was hard to get. How does a trader move that much money an not raise an alarm. How much is that bank worth ??

v:

I use the Nasdaq100 ultrashort ETF QID in my IRA, because I can’t short in an IRA. The prospectus is filled with all kinds of risks, but Google’s propectus has 14 pages of risks. The proof is in the pudding. During a volatile last 6 months, QID has performed essentially exactly as advertised. Look at the chart…at every turn, it has performed 2X the inverse of QQQQ. I haven’t looked at other inverse ETFs, but this is the one I love.

QID vs. QQQQ

Wonder what Bernake has been thinking lately? Hmm…Banking system collapse is a bitch (excuse my French)… just witness the Great Depression. Hence, 75bsp emergency cut. Inflation, though, is a bitch, too. Inflation (as it has been for a long time) has got to be on Bernake’s mind. It might just be possible that we just get a 25bsp cut on Wednesday…

With the market rallying (if it continues today’s action through Wednesday) in anticipation of a 50bsp cut, are these scenarios feasible??:

a. 25bsp cut… i.e., inflation wins: mass disappointment, and hence, mass selling… more cleansing that the market NEEDS;

b. 50bsp cut… mass satisfaction, and hence, some upward movement (I can’t see a major rally here with NO END in site for the continuing housing disaster… here is chart only a sadomasochist could love: http://web-xp2a-pws.ntrs.com/content//media/attachment/data/econ_research/0801/document/dd012808.pdf

And, earnings. Yes, the market can rally though bad earnings, but just how much bad earnings news can it swallow before getting sick… I am afraid we are about to find out.

c. 75bsp cut… what at first might appear to be a blessing, on second thought, might be scary as hell… remember the recession specter I mentioned earlier.

Just some thoughts…

Cameron,

The Dow is rallying to 13,000 with a 25bps (things are not that bad), 50bps (that’s what we wanted), 75bps (we got more than we wanted!). You can dice and slice things a thousand different ways, bad news are good news, etc. We’re here to make money, up or down, I rather be wrong and make some money, rather than be right and lose money.

Suge aka Bernanke’s boy

“Social Security recipients, those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and those who receive Food Stamps. There was ZERO allocation for these folks.”

Of course! These folks do not contribute to the Congress’s campaigns (how selfish of them!) nor do they vote. (bad example of citizenship duty!) So, pray tell why the Representatives of “The People” should should have given a murid hindquarter about them?

OTOH, Bush was not going to allow ANY stimulus package that couldn’t be presented as a tax cut, ( his #1 favorite obsession, or handouts that could not be targeted at corporations (his # 2favorite obsession)

Winston,

Then you should stay away from Calvin MonoCliners.

Mr. Mauldin says they’ll tear out at the seams.

Eclectic,

I heard the same thing about the Calvin MonoCliners – all that thread wasted stitching together fabric that shrinks when exposed to daylight.

I don’t know why all the guys over at Moody’s raved about the fit for so long, though – must have worn them in the dark is all I can guess.

the rebate plan as I recall:

$600 per taxpayer up to $75K
$1200 joint up to $150K
$300 per kid up to 4 kids

$300 for tax filer making more than $3K but less than a payment to IRS

that includes Social Security recipients, those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and those who receive Food Stamps … if they’ve been file’g forms

not sure where the dollar amount switch from $300 to $600 payout is tho … about $20K

Actually, I think that last answer was incorrect. I think it is a new combination drug mixing AL-ieve with BEN-adryl called ALieveBENadrylya-2.

Hey Eclectic and Winston! The Smothers Brothers Show was cancelled. It ain’t coming back.

Here is Time Magazine coverage of a previous stimulus package:

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,738193,00.html