A little more creepy, three and half years later?
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Small plebs, I can see now why my good friend, le Monsieur de la Mosca, supported the inexperienced young Senator from Illinois way back in the day when we knew little about him other than that he sported a dimwitted hairplugged running mate that did not dog sled, rassle bear, or wear a brassiere. You see, my friend is very perceptive, and seeking a strong hand in the Executive Branch in our time of trouble, he saw the inner-Generalissimo in the fresh faced Barack Obama. He knew this guy was not going to be bothered by any such niceties as separation of powers, or heck, eveen recognition of any other powers in our triune system.
And so today, we recognize that the Monsieur’s perspicacity has won out. The drumbeat that began with an increasingly monarchial delegation of legislative power to the President’s various bureaucratic armies at DOJ, EPA, FDA, TSA, DOE, etc. has now culminated in an unprecedented display of Caesarian flair.
Leveraging the work of his long expelled Democrat Congress of 2006-2010, the Emperor has now done the good work “for the people” by ignoring the Senate’s inquiries regarding the new Dodd-Frank Bank Bill-created Orwellian New-Speak-monikered Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and installing a “Czar” who will now benevolantly overlook our every credit card transaction, from your innocuous swipes at the gas station to your most illicit anonymous internet transaction.
Gosh forbid you should not know what you are doing with those credit cards that have been around since the early-1950’s boys and girls! Don’t worry, though Papa-Doc Barack’s main man, deposed Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray — aka, “The Fat Ohio Farmers’ Elliot Spitzer” — will be holding your hand every step of the way. Just don’t you dare try to break that hand grip, though, boys and girls.
Not happy with that one questionable “recess appointment,” (made when Congress was not actually in recess!), however, Caesar Obamustus also decided he was tired of waiting for the Senate to approve his three hard left candidates to the already newsworthy National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) of Boeing Aircraft meddling fame. Again, this unprecendented assertion of Executive power provoked questions of dicatatorial/monarchial transition across the Republic.
The real question, however, is why would an embattled President take such broad risks now, given the sordid reputation of these installed parties? The cynical answer? To create a political battle that will make the POTUS an aggrieved victim during an election year. This would be a confirmation that the President believes the economy will be of little help to him in 2012, and that the “full-populist” Chavista appeal is his only angle. Moreover, like Chavez early on in his populist socialist campaigns, the President knows he has most of the press in his pocket… at least today. But will that be enough to carry him through to November?
Only the advancing electoral process will tell. My bet? The press will get sick of covering for this kind of Executive excess. He’ll keep the hard-liners like Paul Krugman and EJ Dionne, but some of the more traditional populist lefties will start to break from the fugue soon, and begin questioning the Emperor’s “new” prêt-à-porter selections….
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Whether it’s the current political imbroglio, or perhaps the “great news” coming out of the employment front, the dollar has decided to break back out of its recent consolidation-retrace and blast ahead nearly 75 cents on the DX Index. Interestingly, gold and silver are not taking this big move very hard, with most of my miners down between 1.0%-2.5% (which is de minimus in our world) and even AGQ (double silver) only down about 2%.
That said, this rebound will likely last for a couple of days given my target for the dollar here at $81.50 or thereabouts, and I will likely lighten up on some of my miner holdings as a result. I shaved a little bit of ERX yesterday and will take some more of that down as well. One doesn’t want to be holding double-ETF’s in this environment. I think I will be targeting around 50% cash so that I will have dry powder for when the dollar turns again. I’ll make my moves on any retrace of the dollar today.
Best to you all.
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