Societal corruption expands slowly and inexorably - one debased moral standard at a time. The next thing you know, a corrupt casino croupier is running the entire government for maximum personal profit, under the ad-slogan "drain the swamp"...
One year ago next week, Republicans passed their vaunted tax bill, and yet 2018 has been the most volatile year for stocks since the financial crisis. I assert that it will go down as the largest pump and dump in human history. Bulls see this chart of the S&P and imagine a repeat of the Spring rally. I see this chart of the S&P and picture $1 trillion in stock buybacks down the shit hole. Sadly, not everyone can be right. In this case, almost no one. Market bears are now extinct...
"Death cross"
One year ago next week, Republicans passed their vaunted tax bill, and yet 2018 has been the most volatile year for stocks since the financial crisis. I assert that it will go down as the largest pump and dump in human history. Bulls see this chart of the S&P and imagine a repeat of the Spring rally. I see this chart of the S&P and picture $1 trillion in stock buybacks down the shit hole. Sadly, not everyone can be right. In this case, almost no one. Market bears are now extinct...
"Death cross"
Sadly, the Trump gong show is over, save for the indictments and the Twitter gibberish. The "perks" of working for Trump now include mandatory jail time and unceremonious firing via Twitter. It's now abundantly clear why Russia picked Trump as president: Gary Busey wasn't available.
Archaeologists will have only one question of this presidency. How does this happen?
Archaeologists will have only one question of this presidency. How does this happen?
Getting back to the last pump and dump, I have steadfastly maintained that the casino does not exist for the sake of public investors at large. It exists as a public dumping ground for insider option/share disbursements and Wall Street IPOs. It's their exit strategy. When deployed in conjunction with stock buybacks using corporate profits to offset the dilution, it's quite a seedy racket indeed: Using public shareholders' own money to buy out a small cadre of insiders at elevated prices.
Speaking of which, it appears that CEOs timed the market well this cycle:
September 26th, 2018:
"Corporate insiders are dumping stock in their companies at a rate not seen in 10 years...At the same time, stock buybacks are roaring ahead, pumping up U.S. share prices to new heights.
"Insiders have been committing lots of money for stock buybacks, and they're not doing buybacks because they think stocks are cheap. They're doing to it to pump up the stock so they can sell it,"
Share buybacks were illegal up until 1982, because they were considered a form of stock market manipulation. Fast forward ~35 years and now, stock buybacks are 4% of GDP i.e. the same amount as Trump's tax-cut driven Federal deficit. All under the well-cultivated delusion that what is good for the stock market is good for the arbitraged U.S. economy. Even Trump doesn't believe that bullshit.
No one is allowed to be the least bit bearish because massively manipulated "stocks" now represent the sole Powerball lottery for millions of workers, unduly stripped of traditional retirement plans by the same companies they are investing in.
The Finance industry is now dominated by used care salesmen who learned in 2008 that Fiduciary Duty is a relic of a bygone era:
Nevertheless, all pump and dumps must end, and this one is in its death throes. We wouldn't know it by the news - talking up the news of Uber and Lyft IPOs in 2019, but the IPO market is on thin ice.
The largest IPOs of 2018 are imploding:
2017's largest IPO a likewise disaster:
Sadly, there are no more muppets in Trump casino...
