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My elation at Representative Mark Kirk’s taking President O’Bama’s seat in the Irish Districts of Chicago, Illinois away from the Democrat “Gangstah Bankah” Alexi Giannoulias, is somewhat tempered by the news that Senate Leader Harry Reid and the SEIU have managed to steal the elections once again in Nevada.
I have no further comment, save to say that we’ve much work to do, now that this piece of scum — who stood in the well of the Senate and said the Iraq War was “lost” while we had troops under fire — is back in his seat.
We must march on, that is all.
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UPDATE: Republicans have “officially” taken the 39 seats necessary to take control of the House… with an overall projection total of about 60 seats, according to Fox Snooze.
Three times three!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
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Hells yeah.
With regard to Nevada and California, just say it ain’t so!
Wish I could….can’t win ’em all in two years… but this is a good start.
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I hope you are as happy come 2012. (speaking as a cynic, not a partisan)
Me too. The good news there is, there’ll be a lot more red state senatorial slots opening up in 2012, which bodes well for the Senate being “accomodative” of the Republican House over the next two years.
It’s kind of a win-win. At worst, we get gridlock and the ability to paint O’Bammer and the Dem Senate as “obstructionist,” and at best, we get a lot of useful stuff done.
Like “repeal” and “extend.”
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Meanwhile, how much more useful would this news have been a week BEFORE the Barney Frank election?
Troubling that that Grande Jambe Asshat retained his seat so liberally. You are not going to get a finer opposition candidate than Marine Sean Bielat. Cambridge is as daft as Cally.
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Cambridge?
Try Wellesley down to Taunton & Fall River …. He spent a lot of time in blue collar Taunton. The GOP candidate even went after his gay spouse but it backfired with the working class. Frank went into a rant during his acceptance speech about how “dirty” the campaign was … quite entertaining, check it out.
Why bother going “dirty?” The guy’s record is dirty enough. I would have just featured his Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac defense speeches from back in the mid-2000’s on an auto-rotation.
Tough to beat an incumbent that’s getting funded by TARP dollars, though.
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Barney went into his own pocket to finance his campaign as the Dems gave him no funding as was reported here … Either they didn’t want to save him or they figured his pockets were full.
– or he was getting too much money from the banks who took bailout money.
The fact that he said he wouldn’t accept campaign donations from said banks didn’t seem to slow him down one bit.
What does the election result do to your investment thesis? Shouldn’t all the new republicans put the brakes on the inflation trade (as Fly said in his latest)?
Healthcare stocks are the canary in the coal mine, no? If the dems can’t stop spending there they certainly won’t be able to rein in Ben. Their #1 priority is Bush Tax Cut extension, right Jake?
Tea — you’ll have to be more clear… the Dems are going to stop spending on healthcare stocks??
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They will try to slow down implementation of Obamacare but won’t be able to stop it. Had the GOP gained real control then the Healthcare stocks would be flying today. There’s no follow through hence the market doesn’t believe the GOP will be very successful at delaying or reducing the bill as passed.
I don’t think there’s much market reaction because a GOP change was already baked in. That said, most of O’BammaCare doesn’t get implemented until after the 2012 elections. Funny that, no?
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Well, the GOP House can’t really do much about an allegedly independent Fed, but I do think Rand Paul’s presence in the Senate will create some heat for them.
The thing you have to realize, however, is that much of the damage has been done already, liquidity wise. There’s tons of dollars sloshing around out there… when they start coming home, we will be up sheets creek without the customary propulsion device.
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Why, all that $ will go to Asia … hence the GS pronouncement of 29K HS.
Still has to come back here in one way or another. Dollars can’t be stored forever in reserve balances.
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Go2Mars … Here’s my response to your question on the other thread:
http://ibankcoin.com/jakegint/2010/11/02/and-the-results-start-rolling-in/#comment-19510
Ah. Thanks for the elaboration. I agree. That article that you linked to mentions that the cuts in U.K. only bring spending back to 2008 levels. I find that interesting. Someone must have really ratcheted up spending over the last couple years. Alberta did this in the mid-90’s. Drop taxes, drop spending. Creating the Alberta advantage. Every public employee had a 5% wage roll-back, and it eventually ushered in an era of blissful prosperity (tens years until new gov’t started messing with a good thing) with surplus budget after surplus budget. There were strikes, and lots of people pissed off, but someone had to draw a line in the sand, and it worked wonders. I am always amazed at how most governments around the world find the concept of overspending so difficult.
Yeah, only to 2008 levels!
So we (USA) could do something similar here by rolling back the tax cuts to pre-Bush levels for the top 5% of taxpayers while cutting spending on pork, defense and federal wages/pensions/benefits just for starters.
A real jobs bill for infrastructure spending on airports, seaports, power grid, rail, bridges etc would also help the unemployment issue and encourage private investment by foreign and domestic business.
That’s my take anyway …. I just don’t see how we get out of this jam without government taking the lead on jobs since our businesses can’t or won’t invest in employment here as long as their profits continue to boom to pre-2008 levels now that they’ve cut to the bone and gone offshore for production.
Expansionary Fiscal Austerity or Contraction won’t work here … but we have Britain to monitor now. If they sink the putt then we can follow their lead but something tells me they roll into the bunker.
Tax cuts are not spending. If you allow the Bush cuts to lapse you are increasing taxes at at a period of acute vulnerability, with unemployment at 10%.
You want more jobs? You want investment? Keep the tax rates where they are, make a commitment to cutting spending, and give employers the assurance that you are going to fix this disasterous Obamacare.
Stand back, and watch the private sector take over once again.
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Who would be vulnerable … those with too much cash not yet invested in art work, precious metals, foreign currencies etc or the ones on unemployment?
Why would corporations act differently all of a sudden Jake …. just because the GOP is in control of the House they will start employing Americans? Now that would be a conspiracy or scandal!
They had the Bush Tax Benefits extended over and over … so what you’re saying is they refuse to invest & hire until the cuts are PERMANENT? … if that’s the case then America has been held hostage by our domestic businesses and I call TREASON! And they deserve constitutional privileges? BS!
You are really making foolish talk now. Do you own a business? Do you employ people?
Let me tell you because I have (we recently sold) and I do. The most important part of owning a business is planning. The worst risk is political uncertainty. It’s been one of our huge competitive advantages for two centuries now that we have a very predictable and reliable political system while many– even other Western countries — do not.
Not so much anymore. Let me tell you a truism –we sold a year early because we didn’t know what the hey Obamacare was going to do to our internals, and more important, our client base.
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Political uncertainty? Business fears Obama that much … like he’s Hugo Chavez, please. The cost of health care was already a thorn in the side of business … Obamacare isn’t/won’t be the death nail as much as input costs and unemployment and going forward and that’s not a result of political uncertainty.
You sold as a result of Obamacare (excuses) or the potential for a Japanese style slow growth economy (real threat) with eroding income and expanding operating costs other than or including health care? C’mon Jake … I’m sure there were many more variables used in the final determination to sell … not just health care costs. Be honest with your self and your readers … that’s too self serving to pin a game changing decision on just that one input.
“Do you own a business? Do you employ people?”
No but I was self employed for a good number of years and my accounting background put me in the offices of many a small business so I am well versed on the ups and downs of the business cycle. Et tu Brutus?
So you should know that small businesses have enough headaches and major risks to deal with that they do not need the Fed’s making their lives miserable to boot.
I mean — did you hear about that goofy “1099 any supplier over $600” directive hidden in the finance bill? How could anyone w. half a brain implement such a senseless and yet authoritarian directive?
Mein gott in himmell!
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My partner was concerned about the future w. Obama as the President. I (who am 15 years younger) saw it as an opportunity as a lot of people also look to sell in tough times.
The healthcare expenditure unknowns was what convinced me to go along, or I’d have voted “no.”
Not saying that would’ve stayed the decision, as my partner owned more than 51%, but it’s what pushed me over the brink. That and the cap gains tax situation, which now looks like it’s going to go “unchanged.”
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Britain is nearly useless as a bellwether as the country is nearly under control of Sharia law. It will be a mess in short order. They need another Churchill or thatcher over there PDQ.
So your personal case is a good example of what has created this stalemate in DC …
GOPers’ #1 priority is to protect their constituents with businesses, artwork, PM’s etc from an escalating capital gains tax once the Bush Tax Cut expires. McConnell made it clear what he wants from Obama. Obama will hold their feet to the fire to except an extension but no permanent cut for the top tier earners. Surely the teaparty newcomers don’t want that $700B added to the deficit. And how bad will the GOP look if they turn down the extension cause they want the cuts to be permanent … the Dems would love to show the voters how concerned they are about the deficit except for when it comes to their pocketbooks.
Jake,
What’s going on with the PM’s here with the dollar down today? I hope just a bump in the road.
Sorry,
I guess the dollar is up. I don’t know what I was looking at!
It was down briefly, and then reversed up. Gold is due to have a rest here, so I wouldn’t get overly excited.
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Now it’s down again!
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Thanks Jake,
All happy again and I was able to add to my MVG position this morning.
Nice.
I actually just added some SLW calls to the pile. January 25’s at $5.45-.50.
Didn’t get all I wanted at those prices, but I’ll take the 33 or so I was able to snag.
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Watch FRG as well … new highs today!
What the FRiG??
++++++
DOLLAR PLUNGING, HOLD ALL BETS!
Pissed at my self for putting in a limit order instead of just buying those SLW calls at market last night. Only got about 60%.
Jake
I didn’t post it here but I put it on twitter.. I bought back EXK, SLW, PAAS, ANV when silver was down 2.5% and gold own 1.7% yesterday 😀
I am pleased for you, nice timing!
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Thanks man. I didn’t mean to sound arrogant but I am very happy with my trading but still envy your prowess, so I posted it here. Heh.
I know everything is going through the roof, but have you noticed our little, non-jacksonian, core holding-for -the-grandkids UBA, hitting all-time highs today?
long time coming.
Thanks for reminding me… I need to sell the preferreds I bot back down at $15 (when they were yielding some huge amount… 10+), since they can’t go any higher than “par” ($25) and they’ve hit that.
Time to roll back into the stock.
Yes, UBA is a “grandchirrens” stock… I hope you were DRIPping it.
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ameritrade didn’t offer drip on it until recently so, unfortunately, many shares were left behind.
Jake,
Thanks again!
25% + of the port is in PM’s, about 12% in equities and the rest in cash.
And yet the entire port is up about 1.75% and entirely powered by the PM’s!!!
I’m up about 5% right now, and selling some of my call positions. Sold 40 of the 200 ANV calls I bot last week for a cool double ($1.90-2.20 bot, sold at $4.30 and $4.40).
So pissed about not getting all the SLW calls I wanted last night… up 9% right now!
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Should of put the entire port in PM’s, but than you know.
I’m just glad you are up from your 5% allocation!
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Set phasers to stun, get every democrat!
Why is the Canadian dollar so in lock-step with the US? I mean, sure they are tied to a degree based on trade, but on significant moves that are American-centric (FEDERAL RESERVE stuff), why does the Canuck Buck only shift about a tenth of a percent off the US?
51st state kind of stuff. I guess if 98% of your output is consumed by dollars, your currency tends to synch.
Your CB could also be matching the Fed’s moves, btw.
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Darn international puppet masterbankers. Matching our CB to Fed moves is like a toddler signing up for a 3 legged race with a suicidal Jason Statham in his next movie “Crank Detonation”.
Just checking out some of the recent commentary on the election at Slope of Dopes (I know he prolly voted for Boxer and Moonbeam). Saw this in the 11/3/10 Timmah comment section from Timmah himself:
Incidentally, I am short a ton of GLD and GDX from early this morning. I hope Gary doesn’t track me down.
Track you down to laugh at you, or call for a doctor?
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Jake
I’m looking for something to sell, but I just can’t find it. All the charts look so perty!
I feel your pain. I did shave some of my calls today.
Not many, though… 😉
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Attending Freres —
6+ Pah-cent Day!!
I feel the Smokey!
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Fix ya collah!
Down the cellah!
I will be hitting the wine rack down the cellah tonight to celebrate… paid for the next 12 Napa trips… and Moooooooaaaah!
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good to know since i’m ready to go back.
Up 2+ pah-cent here and quite happy with it as it’s all PM’s now at 28% of the port.
Quite (Higgins from Magnum P.I.)
silver was up .99% a little earlier
http://www.kitco.com/market/