MooPig Government Shutdown Department :: "Who Profits?"

Default would be an inexpressibly stupid event
Mashed articles by Pat Darnell  |  Oct 12, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK unknown]

Every investor should be afraid of a U.S. government debt default. But tearing a portfolio apart because of the risk of a default is risky, too. A U.S. default would be catastrophic. Even one day in default would harm the nation's credit rating, and have serious ripple effects, including:
• Damage consumer confidence, and possibly the economy.
• Cause interest rates to spike higher.
• Hurt stock and bond prices.
• Wound the value of the U.S. dollar on international currency markets. (John Waggoner, USA TODAY 9:34 a.m. EDT October 7, 2013. LINK)

Here's Who Profits If the Government Defaults | Mother Jones: "1. Short sellers: Most folks invest in stocks and bonds hoping the value of their investments will increase. But there's also money to be made by short selling—betting that the value of a stock or bond will drop. Short selling is an investment strategy that's typically employed by sophisticated investors and financial firms, but technically anyone can do it. Investors who bet that the value of US Treasury securities will dip would likely profit. Because a default could cause the US stock market to crash, shorting almost any US stock could make you money. In fact, you can even invest in specific mutual funds that specialize in short selling. "It's a very powerful and disillusioning feeling to know that smart rich people can make money even when America goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel," says Jeff Connaughton, a former investment banker and White House lawyer during the Clinton administration."

'via Blog this'

Precious metals and Virtual Money [BitCoin] will ride out the Government shutdown. Housing will suffer and jolt owners into foreclosures due to soaring interest rates -- but the banks, and holding companies make out like banshees. It will be a wild west land grab for greedy bankers.

" ... Jacob Lew, the current Treasury secretary, said in a letter to Congress in September: "The debt limit impasse that took place in 2011 caused significant harm to the economy and an unheard of downgrade to the credit rating of the U.S.. The drawn-out dispute caused business uncertainty to increase, consumer confidence to drop, and financial markets to plunge. If Congress were to repeat that brinkmanship again this time, it could inflict even greater harm on the economy. And if the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic. (John Waggoner, USA TODAY 9:34 a.m. EDT October 7, 2013. LINK) ... "

With those poor credit ratings brought on by default, we pay higher interest rates for our credit. And government securities for sale would have to offer higher interest rates of return to attract buyers. That also increases interest rates for long term money like Housing, and would make borrowing for home buyers and businesses higher at the same time.


CONCLUSION
Markets will probably sell off as the deadline looms. If there's a last-minute resolution – as there was in 2011 – stocks and bonds should soar in value, as should the U.S. dollar.

 _________________________Reference
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/who-would-benefit-government-default
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/10/07/investments-in-default/2933457/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/10/07/position-your-portfolio-for-default/2935395/
http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold-investing-100720136
http://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/gold-gains-as-u.s.-government-shutdown,-default-fears-weaken-dollar-253567
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/what-is-bitcoin-explained
http://thegenesisblock.com/us-debt-ceiling-highlight-bitcoins-role-asset-class/
http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/12/30/106350-financial-crisis-gives-pawnshops-a-boost/
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-5-things-20131008,0,6197200.story
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/perverse-incentives-lead_n_328378.html
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/preppers-survivalist-doomsday-obama

Let's Create a Singularity with our American Solidarity

Retrieved from FWD :: FWD Emails by D2R2 and the Herd

Sept. 11, 2009

We have a little less than one month to get word across our great land and into every community of the United States of America.

The Program:
On Friday, Sept. 11, 2009, American flags will be displayed outside every home, apartment, office and store in the USA.

Every individual has the duty to display an American flag on this eighth anniversary of one of our country's worst tragedies.

We shall do this in honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11. We will show respect to their families, friends, loved ones -- who continue to endure pain. Also, for those who today are fighting to guard our borders, those on foreign lands preserving our freedom, we rasie the colors that do not run.

In the days, weeks and months following 9/11, our country was bathed in American flags as citizens mourned the incredible losses and stood shoulder to shoulder against terrorism.

Sadly, flags have not been flying. Patriotism pulls Americans worldwide through tough times; attacks further galvanize us in solidarity. Lets Create a Singularity with our American Solidarity...

Our American Flag is the fabric of our land and community shared by all. Fly your flag on 9\11 and don't let your light shine any less brighter; we prevail over terrorism of any kind.

Action Plan: Here's what we will do:

1. Forward this Statement to everyone you know. Take a moment to think back to how you felt on 9/11; let those sentiments guide you.

2. Fly the colors, our American flag, of any size on 9/11. Honestly, make it a priority to do so on this day.
#######**#######
MooPig adds -- God Bless our Country:

God Bless us.

Keeping Up to Date-- any Story has a Future

There is a way to keep up to date. However, it is burdensome to have it always on one's mind; why, when, where, and who is current, and how soon might that person, place, or thing be on the bank of the rapids, kicking back?

I pity, and envy, those who can day-to-day pick and choose events that push boulders down the wash. So far I stay on the shore, with my tube around my waist, waiting my turn to float.

Mistakenly, I assume that my enviable patron journalists are polymaths, or doctorate librarians, and/or actuaries who speak 722 different languages. But that is my unreasonable super-imposition on journalists; a personal problem of mine.

For starters, any story has a future. And, how many stories are available? Considering the world population, it could be total of one person -- one voice.

That makes the numbers too large.

I certainly can't keep up with 6 billion per day. That's a biblical parameter. I look at the USA, and then a city like New York and all its 'burbs. Say that every dollar passed in any one day has a story attached. It still makes me cathartic that 9 million dollars pass from hand to hand before breakfast in New York. Figure bus fare, train transfer, cup of java, postage stamps, parking meter...

Forget about it.

Pretty soon we won't be able to forfeit a day in the life and times of the collective activity of 6 billion voices. Some voices louder than others, but still 6 billion voices on the next generation of "internet-like" parlay.

I hear it coming, like a steam locomotive, with a rhythm and slippage all its own.

So, before I continue on this, I wonder if anyone within the sound of my keyboard has a similar foresight? I'm all ears.

Democrat Ears: Much of what I am saying comes from the sociopathic nature of Presidential candidates in the era of inter-play dynamics of one person/one voice. I suppose Obama age wise has the edge on the internet curve. No wonder the shift has been so dramatic... he is the Paris Hilton of hitting all the high points every time he speaks. It reminds me very much of Joel Olstein non-stop speaking. It appears unscripted to older generations, therefore sort of charismatic, but to young people it represents the freedom perceived in divulging "what ever you want to" to perfect strangers throughout the world.

Obama wrote a letter with these excerpted standards of promissory agenda:

'Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say... I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans... But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced... That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary....'(http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/members)

See: Also Democratic Underground

"This is part of the letter touted as proof of Obama's commitment to LGBT Americans. In all sincerity, those of you who ridicule those of us who were offended by the McClurkin incident, can you understand why I question the necessity of including this paragraph in a letter "proving" his commitment to us?

"What does he mean that "just as important" are the "voices" of those who need to be convinced?

"Why in 2008 do we need to appease bigots, sexists, homophobes? I don't think their "voices" are just as important as ours. I would prefer he would say that those people can "move forward" with us if THEY choose to, but move forward we will.

"Now, have at it. Again, I will vote for whoever our nominee will be, and someone will be bound to call me a 'scab-picker' again, but so be it." (Feb 28,2008, Retrieved 06.15.2008, 12:15 AM at at bluebear )