Holy Crap! Ba-LING BLING (redux)!
Sep 19th, 2008 by RSmitty
UPDATE on Friday, Sept 19th...
These are numbers I pulled around 2:45PM…looks like the rebound is on, but I’m concerned it’s built upon a foundation of straw.
US Treasury Bonds Rates Maturity Yield Yesterday Last Week Last Month 3 Month 0.82 0.05 1.39 1.63 6 Month 1.37 0.61 1.74 1.84 2 Year 2.09 1.64 2.20 2.24 3 Year 1.99 1.55 2.06 2.10
UPDATE on Thursday, Sept 18th...
These are numbers I pulled around 1:30PM….
US Treasury Bonds Rates Maturity Yield Yesterday Last Week Last Month 3 Month 0.01 0.01 1.55 1.72 6 Month 0.52 0.69 1.80 1.90 2 Year 1.33 1.56 2.21 2.29 3 Year 1.23 1.41 2.07 2.15
Look at those rates in the change periods from last week to yesterday to today. If you still believe that there isn’t erosion in the confidence of the US monetary system, well, you just ain’t been payin’ attention (or you’re drinking the Jim Jones Kool-Aid).
Last Open Open High Low Most Change
High Low Recent
Settle
Sep 2008 910.90 n/a 869.90 910.90 859.90 846.60 +64.30
I will point out that I am ephasizing the current CHANGE in price here of gold. It’s not the overall current price but the DELTA OF TODAY’S VALUE versus yesterday. Apparently, I needed to make that distinction yesterday.
The point to be taken here, again, is the complete erosion of what crumbs of confidence were left. Like I said yesterday, though, I have some of my own confidence that we will see a reversal in these numbers soon. I think it will be slower to react, but it will reverse soon.
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Gold (CMX) December 08 ($US per Troy oz.) Price Change High Low Settle Last Update 850.50 +70.00 851.00 784.00 850.50 9/17 1:34pm
BIGGEST one-day increase, ever! I’ve read that in after-hours, it made it up to $870.90! Hear this…a panic-investment into metals, like today, just reeks of fear about impending worthlessness of the US dollar. I personally think this will subside soon and fairly well. I don’t think it will drop as quick as it went up today, though.
Continuing the good news (snark), Dow closes just under 450 points down today.
1.20/09
You know anon , if it weren’t for my fear of the devistation that an Obama administration would have on this country it would be fun to watch folk like you try and cover for him when all the worlds troubles that you have so gleefuly laid at the feet of Pres. Bush didn’t suddenly vanish. Of course I’m sure the small brains will continue to focas their hatred on Pres. Bush for many years no matter who wins.
RSmitty, gold is most often a fear investment because like the ad says “it’s never been worth zero”. The question is how long can the government keep stepping in before that actualy has the opposite effect? Well so far today this plan of bail outs has not worked. The market sees the government stepping in but they still fear the trend will continue , and actually the governments actions will lead to more failures because companies will think it better to bail on their debt and let the tax payers take the hit. If their is no fear of failure and loss on the part of these companies then they can conitinue taking risk they can’t afford.
The question we should really be asking is , what is worse , these companies failing and dragging down who knows how many others?
Or is it worse that our Federal Government has begun nationalizing our private banking industry? The government now owns 79.9 % of AIG with the power to fire executives which it has begun doing. They are not just regulating but actually running the banks or in this case the insurance company and we the tax payers are the one taking the risk with know real say in the decision. Make know mistake this is socialism .
Yes, exciting gold news…if you didnt buy in July thinking it was falling apart then when Gold was 975.
I am aware that gold was worth much more in the early to mid summer. My point was the one-day increase today, hence why the $70 price-change is in BOLD print. The one day change is incredible. GOLD…a freaking METAL…changed in price almost 10% in one day!
I told myself to point that out, but I convinced myself it wasn’t necessary. My bad.
Frank,
Irresponsible foreign policy and unregulated, greed based economic policy leads to where we are today. Maybe if republicans occasionally took responsibility for their actions and their misguided ideology we’d all be better off……..
It’s their philosophy, stupid.
Republicans and democrats have been playing musical chairs to somebody else’s tune for decaudes. For decades, corporate interests have been paying politicians handsomely, on both sides of the aisle, to look the other way while they dipped into the cookie jar. The answer is structural — moral, even — and not just partisan.
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Re: the current panic — a comprehensive government-sponsored trust system, designed to liquidate the debt crisis as a whole, should settle everything down. Action along those lines should be forthcoming.
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And, re: the rising value of gold — for the sort of dire economic catastrophe it supposedly provides a hedge against, well, if only it were edible.
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Let’s face it, the “liquidated debt crisis” is actually a default crisis involving virtually valueless paper having been peddled as though it had value to buyers who had confidence in our finance system.
That confidence has been shattered!
Our government will bail out the criminals, because it has to be done, otherwise another world-wide great depression is in store.
But the bailout will involve our country borrowing from other nations, creating a huge debt that will take years, perhaps generations to pay down.
The result may well be, probably will be a significant slowing down of the growth or our country. Combine this with our energy dependence and global warming, yes, we have many tough days ahead. Our standard of living is going to go down.
The ideology that produced this American default is owned by the Republicans, but is the fault of the Democrats as well for not pushing back effectively. The very effective Atwater/Rove politics of personal demonization (lies and swiftboating) contributed to the “success” of this laissez-faire free market economy with too little oversight, permitting the dominance of greed and the redistribution of wealth away from the middle class to the wealthy few who also control our government.
That’s the way I see it, and that’s the reason I think we need change so badly. Obama is the ONLY candidate who will bring us the change we need.
I’m with you, Perry, except for two things:
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“1. The ideology…is owned by the Republicans.” Bush is no more “responsible” for this than Clinton was for the “dot com” craziness during his administration, or for the shenanigans at Enron on his and Rubin’s watch. But, as in any such game of musical chairs, I’ll certainly grant that, now that the tune’s stopped playing, John McCain’s having a lot of trouble finding a comfortable place to sit. But, hey, that’s politics.
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“2. the bailout will leave us with a huge debt that will take generations to pay down.” Hmmm, maybe, but, looked at another way, this “investment” can also leave the government with a substantial profit that a future president — maybe even the next president, if he earns (and survives into) a second term — can apply to reducing the deficit. We already know that much of that “virtually valueless paper” actually has a great deal of value. We’ll know better when we learn how much of a discount the goverment’s getting in acquiring it.
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Both good points, Al.
I think there is a big difference between the dot com bubble and the sub-prime mortgage bubble/crisis. The first was a bubble based on overvaluation by the market, which happens all the time and gets corrected eventually by the very same market. Fraud was not a prominent feature, whereas in this case fraud was committed on a grand scale, to the extent that left to the market to correct, we faced a depression. That the current administration did not detect the fraud and react to it, is their shame for which they must be held accountable, so the “musical chairs” game can continue, hopefully with a better outcome this time.
And yes, John McCain is very confused, thus unfit to address this crisis in any kind of a consistent way.
I will grant you that a sufficient recovery might make the bailout seem more like an investment that pays dividends to the government and to the people. I hope you are right!
There clearly are structural differences between the two situations, Perry. But they share the common thread of moral hazard: the myopic “ends-justify-the-means” financial view that gain and profits are everything, that stewardship counts for nothing.
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Our modern, 21st Century Gordon-Gekko-style “executive” will pay governments (note the plural) handsomely to look the other way while they stop at nothing to milk the economy completely dry. Hell, even the infamous robber barons of the 19th Century knew better than to slaughter the cow.
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Getting back to politics — I gotta tell ya, I’d love to see someone with McCain’s ignorance of modern economics put in charge of our economy. More than canny finesse, the whole System desperately needs a can of whoop-ass.
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