The import is that Spanish is being elevated to equal status
with English. The elitists are trying to infuse two languages
upon us so Spanish speakers don’t necessarily have to speak
English. We recently encountered a man in Miami who
didn’t speak English. The problem is that he had lived in
Miami since 1970 and because his life evolved around other
Spanish speakers he never bothered to learn English. A
second language will also bring emotional conflict to our
nation and may in fact cause physical conflict between the
two speakers. The framers of our constitution knew from
their European experience how divisive having more than
one language in a country could be. They voted on the issue
and German lost by one vote.
Its no wonder home sales are booming, 30-year fixed rates
are at 7.05% but the real bargain is the ARM. One-year
adjustable rates, which are two full percentage points less
than the 30-year.
President Bush is attempting to close the barn door after
almost all the damage has been done. He has put eight to
30% tariffs on imported steel. He talks of a level playing
field, which has never and still doesn’t exist. The steel
industry and its employees like many other industries have
been badly damaged by our government and its purchased
politicians who voted for free trade. Free trade which is
destroying our country. Our generous president still refuses
to aid steel workers who are losing health care, insurance
and some part of their pensions.
The experts tell us the 11-month recession is over. We
disagree. As usual the recession’s effect is uneven. Thus far
California has done well due to diversity. In January they
added 30,200 new jobs, while Oregon lost 4,400 jobs, its 14th
consecutive monthly decline. Hawaii and Nevada, which in
each state travel and terrorism account for 30% of state
GDP have been hit badly. Employment fell 10% and 3%
respectively. Employment in Washington State is off 3% and
Boeing continues to cut as many as 30,000 jobs. In the fourth
quarter Arizona, Oregon and Washington saw construction
employment fall 13.3%, 14.6% and 12.5% respectively. Some
firms have hired employees back but how lasting that will be
remains to be seen.
Existing home sales were up 24.2% in New Mexico, 19.2% in
Idaho, 18.2% in W. Virginia, 17.7% in Alaska and 17.6% in
Oklahoma in the fourth quarter of 2001 versus the fourth
quarter of 2000. Washington was minus 6.5%, California
6.4%, Colorado 5.4%, Vermont 2.9% and Florida 2.7%.
Washington State and seven other states are considering
securitizing future tobacco payments to close their budget
gaps. Washington would sell $1.4 billion in future payments
to raise $525 million to help close a $1.6 billion budget gap.
All this does is put off structural budget problems that will
only get worse in subsequent years. Thirty cents on the
dollar is a terrible price to pay for continued malfeasance.
The Federal Trade Commission stepped up its legal battle
with Citigroup when it was forced to file a motion to compel
cooperation in its responses to predatory leveling. They
engaged in systemic predatory lending, deceptive market
practices and abusive and unfair collections tactics. The
bank has been completely uncooperative. You might
remember this while conducting your own business.
A New York judge has denied JP Morgan Chase’s request
for an immediate ruling in the bank’s dispute with insurers
over $1 billion in Enron bonds and oil contracts. Insurers
say Morgan camouflaged bank loans to Enron as commodity
transactions, which is fraud.
The FED is demanding Bank One follow in the steps of PNC
Financial and show its possible exposure for loans they push
off balance sheets into pools of debt called securitization
related to credit-card business. This method of cooking the
books has allowed the banking industry major expansion
over the past ten years. This is a way to hide risks or delay
recognition of losses. A perpetual parking lot for bad paper.
Reserves for losses could be $1 billion. Bank One had $70
billion in credit card debt in the first quarter of which $40
billion was securitized. So-called sellers’ interest was 30%
when the industry average is 4-7%. Bank one pulled a fast
one by classifying seller’s interest as an investment rather
than a loan, which reduces loss reserves. Securitization is a
method of hiding bad credit-card receivables. Now that this
slight of hand is being dealt with, let’s deal with bank
derivatives exposure as a percentage of assets.
Yields on jumbo CD’s over $95,000 for six months are 1.64%
and five-year jumbos are 4.4%. The average six-month yield
was 1.54% and the two-year 2.74%.
The corporate road is about to get bumpier. Moody’s says it
may no longer be able to give its top Aaa rating to bonds
backed by properties that cannot obtain insurance against
terrorist attacks. That of course would include commercial
mortgage backed securities CMBS. Borrowers require
insurance; if no terrorism insurance is available they’ll call
in their loans. If the government doesn’t step in the fallout
could be terrible.
Federal regulators have eased rules for 52 US branches of
foreign banks allowing them to free up $1.6 billion. The
office of the Comptroller of the currency has decided to
replace the 5% set aside for liabilities with a risk-weighted
system that will consider factors such as the activities of the
branch and the country risk. This is a big savings for foreign
banks.
For the sake of convenience Americans think nothing of
giving up their freedom. A Travelocity survey showed 71%
of US travelers favor the introduction of a voluntary
identification card that would enable them to pass security
checks more rapidly. It would carry encrypted information
including details of previous flights, fingerprints and retinal
characteristics. Federal law enforcement agencies would
have access to information or travel bookings. We have
come to the conclusion Americans don’t have a clue as to
what’s going on.
The stock market may be at 10,600 but we are still short. It
looks like the Plunge Protection team is creating another
bubble so their elitist friends can do more selling. The
market is unbelievably overpriced. Earnings and GDP will
be nowhere near projections. The balance of payments
deficit is horrendous. The dollar is weakening and probably
topping out. The consumer can’t be counted upon to
continue to spend wantonly. Savings are increasing and debt
levels have begun to drop. They can’t do that and increase
spending simultaneously. Business investment is at a
standstill. The housing boom can’t last indefinitely. You
can’t give away no or low profit autos forever. The budget
has gone from a surplus to a $150 billion deficit, which
means the Treasury has to again compete for funds in the
market place, which means higher interest rates. Deflation is
pulling at the economy and unemployment is still rising. We
guess for lack of anything else to do the money managers are
just spending what capital they have left. We’ll stay short
the market and long precious metals stocks, special
situations and the Prudent Bear Fund.
Monsanto, not content with trying to totally control world
agriculture with genetically altered seeds; they now want to
control water. They want to consolidate and control the
entire food chain. They are launching new water businesses
in India and Mexico. As rich as they are they are soliciting
non-conventional financing that lowers their investment
exposure and we get to pay for their takeover of these
resources.
Monsanto plans to earn revenues of $420 million and a net
income of $6.3 million by 2008 from its water businesses in
India and Mexico. By 2010, 2.5 billion people will lack safe
drinking water. Thirty percent of people in China, India,
Mexico and the US will face water stresses. Water is a
multi-billion business. The problem is a monopoly by
Monsanto on seed and water is a "threat to a right to life."
Bush justice is sure and swift. Former congressman from
Mississippi, Mike Parker, was fired as assistant secretary of
the Army after he criticized the Bush administration’s
proposed spending cuts on Army corps of engineer’s water
projects. You will not deviate or speak your mind under the
Bush-Napoleonic code. |
