Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Wall Street (homo Wall Streetiens): The Stupidest People On Earth (Continued)

What else can you say about the traders on Wall Street and their comuter games? Last week the market went down 900 points in two days. On Friday and Monday the Dow went up 900 points in two days. If you think that is rational, you belong either on Wall Street or in "journalism". The economic situation did not materially change. Just how stupid were people continuing to buy as the Dow up 800 points over two days, or who got themselves caught in a "short squeeze" (or other computer program strategy) that forced them to buy? As I have stated, no more stupid individuals have ever existed on this Earth as members of the species homo sapiens. I am doubtful whether many Neanderthals were this stupid--as stupid as homo Wall Streetiens.

What are the reasons given for this insanity--the false reasons (this blog having given you the real explanation of computer program, momentum trading out of control)? Most of those irrational moves occurred in the last hour of trading, which emphasizes that the "logical" explanations, based on economic fundamentals, are false.

The explanation given is words. I admit it. I think we are becoming an "Obama nation" (Gwen Ifill's book subtitle: "in the Age of Obma"). Did Oba a say anything different--much less anything to change the economic situation "on the ground"? Don't be silly. In fact, the people he has named to his economic team are people, including the Paulson clone--New York Fed chief--named Secretary of the Treasury, who got us into this revolting situation. They are mainly Clinton Administration retreads who have not distinguished themselves with great foresight, and ideas to keep us from reaching this poiint.

Nope. The "words" were not really the c"cause" of the market rally, just as Obama's election was not the "cause" of the worst post-election drop in the Dow ever. Computer program, irrational trading (irrational from the point of view of any rational trading system--even when the people doing the manipulative trading expect to rationally make money doing it) is the explanation for these wild stock market swings. No evonomic events, and no words, are a real explanation. To assert that they are a real explanation is to expose yourself as stupid.

Nevertheless, the "journalistic" idea that it is rational for the market to move 900 points on mere words of intention from Obama, and yet another (expected) bailout of Citigroup, puts us so squarely in the "age of Obama" that it is truly scary. The Age of Obama is obviously an age where fantasy reigns, and words and symbols are assumed to have more power than they could ever actually have.

The Age of Obama is an age where we will have ever wilder market swings, as fantasy manipulation and the siren song of discredited central planning rule. It is a fantasy world where the government can solve all problems, and where the government can print infinite amounts of money without consequences.

As I have said, there are two separate (if interrelated) problems in the Age of Obama. One is that Wall STreet is broken, with the stupid inmates running to asylum. Wall Street seems determined to sink our financial system with irrational trading alone. Then there is the "real world" economy, apart from the fantasy, computer gaming world that Wall Street has become. Obama is taking care of creating the fantasy world there which will destroy us. With so many people out to destroy us, we may have little chance.

P.S. Yes, Wall Street had an apparently rational day today, as the Dow was up 36 and the NASDAQ down 7. When the economic situation is not changing, those are the kind of days we should be having. This, of course, ignores (and they can't be ignored) the gyrations within the day. A stock market is broken that routinely goes up or down 500 Dow points in an hour (or less), with no "game changing" economic "news" to cause such wild swings. They very fact that the market keeps swinging back and forth (both ways) conclusively proves this point, as well as showing that the people how trade at the extremes of these swings (in the direction of the swing) are the stupidest people on Earth.

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