Rebel Traders – Analysis Without The Hype

The clip shown below from last nights opening for Saturday Night Live pretty much sums up how it is we are led to believe all is well.

In the clip the actor portraying VP Joe Biden waves his hand and says “The stimulus is working“. Unless you are a fan of Star Wars you would probably have missed the meaning of his waving of the hand as he spoke.

The tale of the Jedi Knights from Star Wars is that they can induce a thought by employing a mind control technique which was always highlighted by a wave of the hand in front of those with weaker minds.

The point I am emphasizing here is that we have always known that the Government will tell us one thing while reality is in many cases something completely different. But the level of putting on a happy face and hand waving by the Government has ramped up to what must be an all time high of ‘inducing  good karma”.

There are so  many examples of this technique from Washington that I would not even know where to begin. During this current economic crisis that the nation still finds itself embroiled in we only have to look back to the past few years with then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.  Mr. Paulson  spoke many times before the economy slid down the mountain that the fundamentals of the economy were sound. That sentiment was echoed by many others, Democrat and Republican were guilty of spreading good cheer when everyone else in the private media (bloggers) were saying the opposite. In the end we found out which was telling the truth.

On Friday we received the University of Michigan consumer confidence data and it dropped lower yet again. Consumer confidence is a ‘forward’ looking indicator as it conveys the attitude of the people who will be spending the money.  And just where will that money come from to fuel organic growth with real unemployment nearing 18% (U-6 measurement), credit card companies jacking up interest rates to 30% and even cutting off millions of card holders by reducing their spending limit or outright canceling their accounts. Heck, you don’t even to have to have bad credit yourself anymore, but if you even shop at stores that is known to have a higher average of shoppers with bad credit then guess what… you are labeled one of them as well even if you have good credit history.

I hope one day more and more people will wake up and realize they keep getting sold a bag of lies and crap by those who supposedly represent us. Unfortunately when people do speak up the mainstream media (and Government) paints those individuals as radicals. The last time I checked the 1st amendment to the Constitution still allowed free speech. Even though the 1st amendment is still there the people are slowly giving up that freedom by allowing themselves to be taunted in the media and being spoken down to by the Government.

It was said centuries ago that when the people fear the Government, there is tyranny; when the Government fears the people there is liberty (Thomas Jefferson).

Today the situation goes one step further by adding into the mix the thousands of lobbyists who speak for the corporations and not the people. If you are rich and powerful you have a direct line to the White House. If you are a lobbyist you have elected officials on speed dial, if you are blue collar middle class you have no one that will listen to you, and if you are the poor you have no voice whatsoever.

Today I learned that some talking points echoed by Congress during the health care reform bill debate were actually provided by lobbyists that were hired by Genentech (ref NY Times).

The men and woman in Washington are supposed to represent YOU. But just try to call your local Representative and schedule an appointment to meet with him or her. The majority of the time their staff will just tell you they don’t have the time and request that you send a letter instead (I know this, I have tried it many times). If you are a representative of a major corporation and you contact the Representative you move to the head of the line.

So the next time your elected official waves his hand in front of your face telling you that ‘all is well’ surprise him by saying “your Jedi mind tricks won’t work with me any more”. And tell them to represent you for a change.

Lookup information on how to reach your representative —>  CLICK HERE

Lookup information on how to reach your State Senator  —->  CLICK HERE

Want to learn who is paying who in Washington  —–> Open Secrets.org

Just for example, let us take Senator Chris Dodd (D- CT). Last week he released a draft bill that would provide regulation to the financial industry. But will his draft bill have any meat to it? Of course not, his biggest contributors are the financial firms themselves.

Chris Dodd top contributors 2003-2008 shown here.

The only way our elected officials will ever listen to us is if we outnumber the power of their pimps; the lobbyists.

How sad it is that people in this Country will take the time to send a message to American Idol to cast a vote, but won’t take the time to send a message to those who represent them in Washington.

Is this the United States of America or is it the United Corporations of America?

From the “Unbelievable File”…

June 5 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.

Linda Robertson currently handles government, community and public affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp., the energy trading company that collapsed in 2002 after an accounting scandal. She was also an adviser to all three of the Clinton administration’s Treasury secretaries.

Robertson would help the Fed manage relations with lawmakers seeking greater oversight of a central bank that has used emergency powers to prevent Wall Street’s demise. While she wasn’t tied to Enron’s fraud, her association with the firm may raise questions, analysts said.[...]

[...]Robertson served under Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin and Lloyd Bentsen. She didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Robertson is likely to start at the Fed in July and have the title of senior adviser to the Board of Governors, the people familiar with the situation said.

She was considered for a senior post under Geithner at the Treasury but ran up against the Obama administration’s restrictions on hiring lobbyists, the people said.

[...]While Robertson’s Hopkins biography makes no mention of her work at Enron, federal disclosure documents show she joined the company in 2000 after working at the Treasury. Robertson, who signed some of the forms, said she lobbied on energy and tax issues.

The Federal Reserve taking on a professional lobbyist in order to sooth the relations with Congress is a disgrace to the American people. Just when tough questions need to be asked (and answered) about the Federal Reserves actions they will now use a lobbyist to smooth things over. This is simply unbelievable.

I guess the Federal Reserve does not want to see this happen again (see video below).