Student Debt Bubble

In its latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that student loan debt continues to grow even as consumers reduce mortgage debt and credit card balances.  And, what is very alarming from the report is that delinquency rates for student loans steadily increased from 6.13% in the first quarter of 2003 to its current level of 8.69%.  The student loan delinquency rate is higher than that of mortgages, auto loans, and home equity lines of credit, which is indeed very alarming! 

Critical Price Support for $INDU

Facebook: Under $30

Facebook (FB) continues to struggle, currently at $29.46.  However, its chart still shows distinct support level at zero.

Let's Remember

We have thrown over $1.3 trillion down Middle East rat holes over the last 11 years with no discernible benefit to the citizens of the United States.  Our foreign policy during the last eleven years has been a dismal failure.  Our polices are designed not to win but lose.  (By the way, when was the last time our country had a military victory?)  How many of our brave men have been lost over those 11 years?  For what?  (Do a Google search to find out.  You will be shocked, especially when you count the number of innocent, civilian lives in that total.)

These endless foreign interventions under the guise of a War on Terror are a smoke screen for what is really going on in this country. When a government has unsolvable domestic problems, they try to distract the willfully ignorant masses by proactively creating foreign conflicts based upon false pretenses.  General Douglas MacArthur understood this danger to our liberty when he stated, “I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.” [Quote from the Burning Platform]

Therefore, as we celebrate another Memorial Day with cookouts and burgers, let's us be truly mindful of those that have lost their lives for our freedom, not for those that have put our nation in harm's way.  For those individuals, I want to hold them accountable.

The Main Factor Why President Obama Will Be Re-elected in November

Nearly 50% of the U.S. population do live in households receiving government benefits.  The following chart needs no further explanation as for the reason why President Obama will have another four years in office -- Hail to the Chief!

Bank Holiday, Are You Ready?

"Another FDR-style 'bank holiday' of indefinite length, perhaps soon, to let the insiders sort out the bank mess, which despite their rosy propaganda campaign, is getting more out of their control every day.  Insiders want to impose new bank rules.  Widespread nationalization could result, already underway. It could also lead to a formal U.S. dollar devaluation, as FDR did by revaluing gold and then confiscating gold from the American people."  It happened before, it can happen again, and it will.  However, 98.875% of the American public are totally oblivious to the truth.  Will it occur over this weekend?  Probably not here in America, but it would not surprise me if it occurs in Greece.  

Budget Deficits as a % of GDP by Administation

The following graph is fully self-explanatory and needs no comments. 

Police Urging Greeks To Stop Stuffing Mattresses

Police are urging Greeks to keep their money in bank accounts.  The withdrawals from Greek banks, which is close to 25% of all deposits, have occurred over the past two years

Greece's national police spokesman, Thanassis Kokkalakis, told Reuters: "Many people have withdrawn their money from the banks fearing a financial crash, and they either carry it on them, find a hideout at home or in storage rooms. We urge people to trust the banking system, leave their money there, or at least in a safe place, not hide it at home."

Uhm, does anyone remember Ben Bernanke when he told us in 2008 that the Fed has the "Sub-prime Mortgage" debacle well under control?  Trust the central banks?  I don't think so!  When in fact, these central bankers are the "root" cause of the world's financial problems. 

Airline Greed

What do American, Delta, Frontier and United Airlines have in common?  Charging couples and families $25 to guarantee seats next to each other.  It means children and parents who don't pay the $25 supplement are often forced to sit separately.  Just what you want is your child to be sitting next to that pedophile.  Right?  So, shut-up and pay your extortion to the airlines!

Oversold, More Oversold, and Extremely Oversold

The market, as depicted by DJIA (See the following chart.), continues to be "oversold."  I still expect a so-called relief rally from these levels. From a technical perspective, the price has penetrated the 200-day EMA, which is very bearish over the intermediate term. (Just look at how both moving averages, 50-day and 200-day EMAs, are rolling over, not conducive for the bull camp.  Therefore, as indicated, I expect a bounce from these levels before the downward trend can continue.

Bear Alert!

Will it stick this time?  That is, does the bear have any claws?  Yes, according to Doug Short, who follows the OEXA200R. (More on this indicator in another post later this week.)  It closed out the day at the critical 65% level.  This is the point at which Doug Short advises one to sell all long positions in anticipation of a major market decline.  What is particularly disturbing, according to Short, is the velocity with which the indicator has crashed - from 89% to 65% in just the past 14 days.  At this point, one can probably expect a rebound from these very oversold levels before the down trend completely takes hold once Operation Twist (Fed's quantitative easing) ends on June 30. 

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

I would say that you have probably never heard of this bank in your life.  Well, that is about to change very quickly; because, today, the Federal Reserve opened its banking market to ICBC, which is China's largest bank.  This is the first time the United States cleared a takeover of a U.S. bank by a Chinese state-controlled financial entity.  (According to the Fed, ICBC has total assets of roughly $2.5 trillion.)  In other words, the Chinese have arrived on our doorsteps. I guess it was to be expected, since they manufacture just about everything that we import.  The only viable export that we had to the world was our financial service industry.  Well, we probably can "kick that goodbye."

Finally, I would highly recommend that you start learning Mandarin, because all your bank statements will soon be in that dialect.  A great resource to start this language training is over at Fluenz, which is suppose to be better than Rosetta Stone. 

I leave you with the following statement: 这个问题没有向任何人，直到它的事项给大家。

Good News on Paying Off Your Student Loans

Aren't You Tired of the BLS Lies?

The BLS reported this past Friday that the economy created 115,000 new jobs in April. Wow!  However, this number deeply disappointed the markets. DJIA was off something 168 points.  Why?  The job creation number of 115,000 failed to cover the breakeven number of 150,000 jobs needed to simply cover legal population growth, let alone eat into the ranks of the unemployed.  As a matter of fact, the 115,000 is vastly overstated.  It was really one, big continuous lie by the BLS.  The infamous "Birth/Death" adjustment for April was a whopper 206,000. In other words, the BLS created 206,000 jobs out of thin air.  The real number was actually a net lost 91,000 jobs in April.  Stop listening to the lies and become economic literate!

What's Awaiting the College Graduating Class of 2012?

The answer is a high probability of no jobs but lots of debt! The following chart says it all. Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.

More Americans are Stashing Cash in Home Safes

Have Americans lost trust in banks? No, they are just being smart.  According to an article in Smart Money, more people, today, are keeping valuables at home, whether in room-size vaults or under-bed safes.  Why?  Because Americans are finally realizing that when we have a so-called "bank holiday" (And, we will! I believe that the majority of banks will close by the end of 2017.) all those safe deposit boxes will be of no avail to you.  The reason being is that if your bank is closed, you can not access your safe deposit box!