Barack Obama: 50-State Sweep?

How many people today understand this to be true?

No one knew better than I that bank deposits were simply a figment of your imagination. Once you gave the money to the bank it became theirs, not yours. To them it was simply nothing more than an electronic ledger transaction, and if they got in trouble, good luck standing in an FDIC line behind millions of other suckers desperately waiting to retrieve your savings.

If the recent and continuing disastrous occurrence(s) in economic fortune(s) of most Americans (let alone the rest of the astonished world), who will rely mainly on their pensions and 401(k) savings plans for retirement means anything politically, I would guess it means a rapid, drastic turn to new leadership. Reading the various websites discussing Obama's creeping progress in so many formerly "red" states (particularly North Carolina (which I've predicted will fall to Obama's positive campaign style) and current surprise, Indiana(!)), I can only think of one scenario: Barack Obama: 50-State Sweep! I'm undoubtedly not the first person to predict something along this heretofore extremely unlikely turn of events, but, as I see it, the new game will be trying to pick states that do not have enough educated/responsible citizens who will realize in time that they should vote for the candidate who will provide the temperament and leadership for building a new, safer, well-regulated financial system (not to mention a quick, safe exit from the Cheney/Bush Wars): Barack Obama. And if he's not your candidate, well, he's all we've got now. Oh yes, and I still think John McCain will want to get rid of (I mean "replace") Scarahy Impaled before November 4, 2008, to at least give his candidacy a fighting chance (and as I believe he is very aware that this is his last campaign, given his overweening pride in his self-perceived virtues (and that he probably doesn't even like her) the odds are even better now). Bets are down. Is This The End of The World?

Is this the end of the world? The fact that I ask this question probably means that it’s not. However sometime around 2 AM EST on Friday night it certainly felt that way. The Nikkei which had been plummeting all night on a bad Sony warning, collapsed completely dropping well below the 8000 level, and ending the session -10%. The yen then started a swan dive that culminated in a stomach-churning drop of 150 points in about 15 seconds. At first I was amused at the price action, then thrilled at being able to capture some of the move; then suddenly I became very, very afraid as the full implications of a total global financial meltdown began to dawn on me. A few days earlier I had opened a direct account with the US Treasury, but the documentation would take a few weeks to process, and in the meantime my money was scattered in three separate bank accounts, vulnerable to failure at any time. No one knew better than I that bank deposits were simply a figment of your imagination. Once you gave the money to the bank it became theirs, not yours. To them it was simply nothing more than an electronic ledger transaction, and if they got in trouble, good luck standing in an FDIC line behind millions of other suckers desperately waiting to retrieve your savings. As these dark thoughts ran through my mind, the markets became completely unhinged. EURJPY which only a few hours ago traded at 123.00 was down to 114.00. US stock index futures were shut limit down and my friends on Squawkbox looked frightened. But then I noticed something. The carry pairs had lifted off the lows and were actually running up pre-market despite the fact that the index futures were still locked limit down. I called the guys at CNBC and told them that the open was not going to be as bad as everyone feared. Sure enough after a -500 point open, the Dow stabilized and traded up off the lows for the rest of the day. Panic selling did not materialize, and while no one was celebrating any rallies, for one day at least it appeared that the worst had been averted. Was last Friday just a taste of things to come? Hard to say. I certainly hope not. Every commentator on TV bravely announces that this is NOT the start of the second Great Depression. I tend to agree, if for no other reason than I can’t imagine such wanton suffering thrust upon our society. One thing is clear however. We do need radical change in how we govern ourselves and our markets. Last week I was accused my some readers of being a socialist. First of all let me say that “socialist” is not an insult. Most Scandinavian societies with a much better standard of living and far higher life expectancy than ours are democratic socialist societies. So is Canada. Ontario, by the way, has been named the best place on earth to live by a United Nations survey that weighed such variables as wealth, health and social justice. So maybe we should all have a more open mind to the idea of social democracy. The irony however, is that I myself come from Soviet Russia. No one knows the horrors of collectivist thought and the ineptitude of the communist system better than I. I am actually a big believer in free markets, which through competition, produce creative, wonderful products and services we all enjoy. What I despise, are rigged markets. I hate Vegas for that very same reason, because it provides the illusion of success while in fact creating the reality of theft. Unfortunately, over the past decade Wall Street has adopted the Las Vegas model of business and we have all been grifted on a scale far greater than any con job ever done. Rigged markets in my opinion are just as evil as collectivist governments because they concentrate the power in the hands of small group of elite leaders that do not reward merit but promote corruption and graft. As I argued two weeks ago we need free, but fair markets if we are to survive this mess. That means no more side bets in the over-the-counter world. No more shadowy off-shore hedge funds. You want to play? Play by the rules. Disclose your positions and trade only on a centralized exchange where everyone has a fair shot at success and counter party risk is eliminated. Until these changes are made, I am afraid the nightmares of Friday will continue to repeat themselves.

Suzan