If it seems that I keep saying the same obvious things over and over again, it's because today's policy-makers keep doing the same stupid things over and over again, which keeps us death-locked in their downward spiral of stupidity.
Part of my reality-check program is to check around other blogs to see if what they are seeing in any way correlates with reality. Obviously I am biased toward ZeroHedge if only because they tend to operate on a similar intensity level. Just today, I checked in with Barry Ritholtz and he told me to "Reduce My Equity Exposure". You don't say. That said, he also told me that we should not expect a major crash, because "We um, already had that one". No shit, Sherlock. Now, the only reason I check Barry's blog, is because he wrote the book "Bailout Nation" basically explaining all of the corrupt things Wall Street did to cause the 2008 debacle i.e what he refers to as "..that one" (as if god has deigned that reality is a singular event). Barry of all people, should know, that not one thing has changed since that era to make us safe from an even greater collapse. In other words, Barry, like all the other overstuffed comfort seeking Baby Boomers, can't bring himself to contemplate what would happen if another event like 2008 were to occur right now.
Which only guarantees that it's going to happen.
The "Fiscal Cliff"
The latest morally bankrupt invention of the over 50 set is this bogus concept of the Fiscal Cliff. This refers to the automatic forced ending to all of the unaffordable tax cuts and spending programs that were concocted over the past 10 years. The entire reason these wasteful policies have a forced expiration is because it's the only way they could ram them through Congress with a straight face - as in, "this profligate and irresponsible giveaway will only last two years, so it won't cost that much in the long-term". And of course now that those arbitrary dates are all coming due, the Idiocrats of the day are now panicking because all of their totally unsustainable goodies are expiring. By inverting morality, they make it sound as if the "fiscal cliff" is some sort of national crisis. What they really mean, but won't say, is that they would rather prolong tax cuts for the ultra wealthy (who already have tax free offshore bank accounts) - prolong interminable military blunders - prolong unsustainable spending on the bloated Military Industrial Complex which has doubled in the past decade - all at the expense of borrowing yet more debt to be paid for by our grandchildren who will enjoy one tenth the standard of living of America's ultimate party generation - the Baby Boomers.
The Moral Cliff
This Baby Boomer generation is the most morally corrupt generation in the history of the United States, without comparison. They have lied and obfuscated and overspent for decades now. At this point, it would be far better to let these bloated comfort seekers who have ruined the U.S., eat dog foot for their rest of their lives than to allow them to put one more ounce of burden on future generations. They have an unlimited capacity for throwing money down the shit hole while leaving behind nothing to show for it. We can only hope that reality will arrive in time to put these corrupt morons out of our misery.
The Reality Cliff - Steep and Deep
Speaking of reality, getting back to Ritholtz's comment, it's abundantly clear that even those who express in depth knowledge of the events of 2008 are all bought in to the Bernanke Bargain. So the real question on the table is whether or not Bernanke's latest promise of indefinite money printing will be enough to break the market through that triple top shown above. Or will reality come back for the third and final round of ground and pound, catching the Idiocracy wholly unprepared to face the inevitable consequences of their actions. Given that this generation can't even win a battle with its own dinner fork, I don't expect too much of a contest. As you can see on the chart above, we have cliff dived twice before from this same level and survived, giving everyone a false sense of invincibility. Also, each dive has been steeper and deeper than the last, on increasing volume, so given the dopium-induced complacency at this juncture, this next dive should be even more exciting.
QE To Eternity What Could Go Wrong?
Lastly, this latest vacation from economic reality is sponsored by "QE Eternity", which is the indefinite money printing (debt monetization) program just implemented by the Federal Reserve. It's their latest increasingly desperate effort to cram more dopium into the addicted financial markets, which have overdosed already. These ever-increasing monetary programs have now driven a massive disconnect between market prices and underlying company fundamentals, as company after company is now reporting declining profits and reduced forward guidance. Therefore, Mr. Creosote provides the most apt depiction of monetary policy at this juncture:
