Comment on Sportsnet after the Blue Jays front office decided to sit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the Victoria Day Monday matinee...
"This bizarre management duo is acting like they think they are the smartest people in baseball; that players are mere cogs in an algorithm; that money is irrelevant - both revenues foregone and cash spent to send players away; and like the fans are not especially necessary. The human element is missing. They tore this team down to build the farm system - absent any depth at the starting pitching position. Trust the process!!! OK, but if the Jays are not at least in the conversation for the playoffs in 2 years, "fan-alytics" suggests they need to go. There is a time table for that as well, isn't there?"
Tuesday 21 May 2019
Sunday 19 May 2019
House Prices Canada
Eight months with no rise in house prices in Canada - no price rise in April is the first time this has happened in the 21 year history ofthis market measure...
https://housepriceindex.ca/2019/05/april2019/
What goes up too fast always comes down with a crash.
Absurdly low interest rates in Canada since 2008 have driven a bubble and have prebuilt an impending real estate market catastrophe.
Blame the Bank of Canada when it happens.
https://housepriceindex.ca/2019/05/april2019/
What goes up too fast always comes down with a crash.
Absurdly low interest rates in Canada since 2008 have driven a bubble and have prebuilt an impending real estate market catastrophe.
Blame the Bank of Canada when it happens.
Steele Dossier
The Right-Wing media and commentators in the USA, fresh from their victory in the Mueller Report (i.e. the witch hunt that didn't find a witch...almost as if it was a legitimate investigation!) are up in arms again about the dossier about Trump and the Russians that was crafted by Christopher Steele, who is a former member of Britain's MI-6.
The allegation of the shameless shills for Trump is that this dossier was the purported rationale for the start of an FBI investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, including what became surveillance into the activities of Trump himself and his campaign in the 2016 election.
This is a bold faced lie.
From the Mueller Report..."...within a week of the release (of DNC documents on Wikileaks), a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and the individuals associated with the Trump Campaign."
The Steele dossier was written starting in June and ending in December, 2016. The investigation of the FBI into possible links between Trump and the Russians began only two months after Steele even started writing his dossier, and four months before he was finished.
There are serious questions about the involvement of Clinton and her hacks in creating this dossier, and how it was released and used during the campaign. This issue, as well as how Obama may have used his White House to gain a political advange over Trump - and especially the botched investigation into Clinton's use of an illegal e-mail server while she was Secretary of State - needs to be investigated.
Nonetheless, the suggestion that the investigation of Trump started with the Steel Dossier is a total fabrication.
The allegation of the shameless shills for Trump is that this dossier was the purported rationale for the start of an FBI investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, including what became surveillance into the activities of Trump himself and his campaign in the 2016 election.
This is a bold faced lie.
From the Mueller Report..."...within a week of the release (of DNC documents on Wikileaks), a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and the individuals associated with the Trump Campaign."
The Steele dossier was written starting in June and ending in December, 2016. The investigation of the FBI into possible links between Trump and the Russians began only two months after Steele even started writing his dossier, and four months before he was finished.
There are serious questions about the involvement of Clinton and her hacks in creating this dossier, and how it was released and used during the campaign. This issue, as well as how Obama may have used his White House to gain a political advange over Trump - and especially the botched investigation into Clinton's use of an illegal e-mail server while she was Secretary of State - needs to be investigated.
Nonetheless, the suggestion that the investigation of Trump started with the Steel Dossier is a total fabrication.
Saturday 11 May 2019
Buy Back Binge
This is very good...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEH0w1sEZw
The stock market is where it is because of corporate buy backs. Those buy backs are designed to pump the earnings of the people managing these companies, not the companies themselves. The debt that has been incurred to finance this outrageous behaviour is increasingly bad.
When this slows or stops, the market will pull back very sharply.
It will happen. When it does, don't get caught in this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEH0w1sEZw
The stock market is where it is because of corporate buy backs. Those buy backs are designed to pump the earnings of the people managing these companies, not the companies themselves. The debt that has been incurred to finance this outrageous behaviour is increasingly bad.
When this slows or stops, the market will pull back very sharply.
It will happen. When it does, don't get caught in this...
Sunday 5 May 2019
Welfare for Banksters
Do you recall "Quantitative Easing"?
This was a program of buying of US Treasuries and mortgage backed assets by the US Fed from major US banks from 2008 to 2015 in order to provide liquidity that was to be lend into the US economy to stimulate growth. It was worth $4.05 Trillion. It should have prompted massive economic growth in the USA.
What happened?
The first phase of QE was about $1.5 Trillion, and most of it ended up being lent into the US economy....about $1.1 Trillion worth. The result was economic growth of about 2.8% in 2010.
The second phase of QE actually saw US banks taking cash OUT of the US economy! The result was a dramatic slowing of economic growth in 2011.
The third phase saw major US banks simply leave the cash on deposit with the US Fed. At its peak, major US banks had $2.7 Trillion on deposit, and they still have over $2 Trillion sitting on the sidelines. The legally required level of deposits is only about $90 Billion.
Some comments.
QE was supposed to stimulate the economy by providing cash to flow into the economy through lending. It was only partially successful, specifically because major US banks simply did not lend about half of the cash that was provided.
QE also created a false economy for US treasuries and mortgage backed securities at a time - a.k.a. during a recession - when it was reasonable to conclude that these assets would not be worth nearly what major US banks paid for them, and then what the US Fed paid the banks in turn. The US Fed is now gingerly selling some of these assets into the market.
Query...I have to wonder if US banks are doing the US Fed a favour, and simply buying these assets back at full price with cash that the US Fed itself provided. Would you buy mortgage-backed securities in the USA now?
The US Fed pays these banks $36 Billion a year in interest payments. This cash is simply printed - ultimately, US taxpayers could be liable for this. Major US banks made $120 Billion in 2018. This $36 Billion a year represents about 30% of major bank profits; provided free from their friends at the US Fed.
"The swindle continues."
This was a program of buying of US Treasuries and mortgage backed assets by the US Fed from major US banks from 2008 to 2015 in order to provide liquidity that was to be lend into the US economy to stimulate growth. It was worth $4.05 Trillion. It should have prompted massive economic growth in the USA.
What happened?
The first phase of QE was about $1.5 Trillion, and most of it ended up being lent into the US economy....about $1.1 Trillion worth. The result was economic growth of about 2.8% in 2010.
The second phase of QE actually saw US banks taking cash OUT of the US economy! The result was a dramatic slowing of economic growth in 2011.
The third phase saw major US banks simply leave the cash on deposit with the US Fed. At its peak, major US banks had $2.7 Trillion on deposit, and they still have over $2 Trillion sitting on the sidelines. The legally required level of deposits is only about $90 Billion.
Some comments.
QE was supposed to stimulate the economy by providing cash to flow into the economy through lending. It was only partially successful, specifically because major US banks simply did not lend about half of the cash that was provided.
QE also created a false economy for US treasuries and mortgage backed securities at a time - a.k.a. during a recession - when it was reasonable to conclude that these assets would not be worth nearly what major US banks paid for them, and then what the US Fed paid the banks in turn. The US Fed is now gingerly selling some of these assets into the market.
Query...I have to wonder if US banks are doing the US Fed a favour, and simply buying these assets back at full price with cash that the US Fed itself provided. Would you buy mortgage-backed securities in the USA now?
The US Fed pays these banks $36 Billion a year in interest payments. This cash is simply printed - ultimately, US taxpayers could be liable for this. Major US banks made $120 Billion in 2018. This $36 Billion a year represents about 30% of major bank profits; provided free from their friends at the US Fed.
"The swindle continues."
Saturday 4 May 2019
Mueller v Barr
The Mueller Probe continues to beguile!
Mueller has written to AG Barr to advise that the four-page summary that Barr released "...did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance..." of the work of the Special Prosecutor. On its own, this is a devestating indictment of Barr, who Mueller has essentially said is a shameless shill for Trump. It is important to hear from Mueller himself on this, and he is almost guaranteed to be asked to testify at some point. Stay tuned.
Whether Mueller wrote to Bar or not is irrelevant - the fact is that no one cares. The investigation did not lead to charges against Trump Jr., and Kushner, and Manafort did not rat out his friends, so it was what it was and it was a bust. The fact that it did not do these things, and it did not find that Trump colluded, should suggest to any thinking person that this was not a "deep state" set up...but there are not many thinking people who are commenting on this, whether in favour of Trump or against him.
Barr has launched an investigation into the actions of senior Obama officials and officials in the FBI regarding possible subterfuge vis a vis the Trump Campaign. There seems to be no question that some in the Obama White House overstepped and tried to use their offices for partisan political purposes during the 2016 election (a.k.a. Rice.) As well, the failure to prosecute Clinton for her illegal e-mail use, which was clearly illegal, will also be looked at by Barr's enquiry.
This is an investigation that should proceed, as it is very possible that before Trump obstructed justice Obama's people may have done so, and that some FBI officials may have behaved improperly. Comey, in particular, needs to answer some questions regarding his conduct.
I have down loaded the entire report and intend to read it...will provide my thoughts soon.
Mueller has written to AG Barr to advise that the four-page summary that Barr released "...did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance..." of the work of the Special Prosecutor. On its own, this is a devestating indictment of Barr, who Mueller has essentially said is a shameless shill for Trump. It is important to hear from Mueller himself on this, and he is almost guaranteed to be asked to testify at some point. Stay tuned.
Whether Mueller wrote to Bar or not is irrelevant - the fact is that no one cares. The investigation did not lead to charges against Trump Jr., and Kushner, and Manafort did not rat out his friends, so it was what it was and it was a bust. The fact that it did not do these things, and it did not find that Trump colluded, should suggest to any thinking person that this was not a "deep state" set up...but there are not many thinking people who are commenting on this, whether in favour of Trump or against him.
Barr has launched an investigation into the actions of senior Obama officials and officials in the FBI regarding possible subterfuge vis a vis the Trump Campaign. There seems to be no question that some in the Obama White House overstepped and tried to use their offices for partisan political purposes during the 2016 election (a.k.a. Rice.) As well, the failure to prosecute Clinton for her illegal e-mail use, which was clearly illegal, will also be looked at by Barr's enquiry.
This is an investigation that should proceed, as it is very possible that before Trump obstructed justice Obama's people may have done so, and that some FBI officials may have behaved improperly. Comey, in particular, needs to answer some questions regarding his conduct.
I have down loaded the entire report and intend to read it...will provide my thoughts soon.
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