Weekly Update 11 July 2009

Happy week after Dependence Day.

I didn't publish the weekend of July 4th. I hope you survived. I'm back this week stories stories from the world of finance and economics that are interesting and pertinent to those who care about the cause of freedom. But first...

...I received a note this week from someone who was hysterical about the impending nationalised healthcare debacle. Before I make my comments, let me make one thing clear:

I am opposed without reservation to nationalized healthcare.

With that said, I want to respond to some of the scare-mongering coming from "my side".

The letter I was sent warned that seniors in England and Canada who need various sorts of cardio procedures cannot get them because they are too expensive. This is not true. In England and Canada, anyone who can afford to pay for healthcare outside the public system can still get whatever healthcare they want. That is just like America today, and just like it will be in America after healthcare is nationalized. If you can afford to pay for it, you will be able to get it.

It doesn't help us to claim that "old people won't be able to get healthcare". Seniors who cannot afford to pay for healthcare today will get less healthcare in the future. Those who can afford to pay for it will still be able to get it.

2. Many Americans who oppose nationalized healthcare talk as if the current American system works. It does not. Our current healthcare system is hopelessly broken. We have medical cartels, rules against publishing prices, price gouging, fraud and a ridiculous bureaucracy. I am not remotely in favor of nationalizing healthcare, but it is lunacy to argue that the current system is not broken.

If you truly care about individual liberty, then you must take responsibility to think for yourself. Personal Freedom and Personal Responsibility are the two sides of the same coin. Don't mindlessly parrot arguments - think for yourself.

Now, on to the headlines:

Artificial Trading Volume on the NYSE
What It Is: The biggest banks in the world - Goldman-Sachs, Morgan-Stanley, BofA, Deutsche Bank, UBS, et.al - are exploiting a loophole in securities laws to artificially drive up trading volume on the NYSE.
Why It Matters: These banks are making money simply by creating artificial volume. It is manipulation without being technically illegal.
What It Means to the World: Once again, the largest financial institutions in the world are cheating. They are literally stealing from investors.
What It Means to You: The recent rise in the market in the last 3 months is bogus. If you are long stocks, keep your stops tight; a reversal is coming.

Emails indicate EPA Suppressed Report Skeptical of Global Warming
What It Is: Exactly what the headline says: EPA scientists submitted a 98 page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data." An EPA official told the scientists that the Obama adminstration had already decided what to do and that this report was not welcome.
Why It Matters: Politics - not hard science - is driving the "Climate Change" agenda. Anyone who questions it is - at the moment - merely an irritant. In coming days, those who question the political orthodoxy will be treated as enemies of the state.
What It Means to the World: Not much. Were the US not running pell-mell down the path of economic destruction with all the debt the government has already incurred, the economic lunacy of the Kyoto Convention would be alarming. But the Billionaire Banker Bailout will destroy us long before the EPA can.
What It Means to You: Trading carbon-emission credits is going to be big business. If you own a business, it is time to educate yourself in "cap and trade".

Goldman-Sachs is the Epicenter or Evil in the World Today - if you read nothing else this week, please read this article.
What It Is: Matt Taibbi documents all the ways that Goldman Sachs has manipulated the financial markets in the last 20 years, how they have callously destroyed the bank accounts and the lives of literally millions of people, and how they are still doing it.
Why It Matters: There is no more evil organization in the world today. Those who defend GS thinking they are paragons of capitalism don't know what they are talking about. GS does not compete like a capitalist, they compete like a Mafia don. In fact, the Mob has nothing on GS.
What It Means to the World: GS operates for the benefit of GS and no one else. Laws that allow GS to lie, cheat, still and kill must be applied to these people.
What It Means to You: Goldman Sachs is directly, (although not solely) responsible for the financial crisis, the rise in your taxes, the rise in unemployment and the destruction of many large companies. They are enriching themselves at your expense and the government is acting as their agent. Just like the Mafia, as long as you tolerate it, they will continue it.