Kneel before Foamy!

The fires of Vesta burn brightly atop the Stoa this morning. The Foamy awards are being lined up for their new owners. By the beard of Xeno the Stoic there has been much to award over the last few weeks.

You must pardon the energy of this posting, but when the fires of Vesta are stoked, things get less formal.

Our first winner, in no particular order, since all of these awards are going to IDIOTS is:

Vice President Joseph Biden. From the mouth of morons, the King of vapidity, Mr. Biden stated that the Taliban were "not our enemies, per se". PER SE? What the hell does that mean, Joe? People fly planes into the WTC, kill more civilians than the Japanese at Pearl Harbor (who at least attacked a MILITARY target) and you do not classify them as an ENEMY...PER SE! However, someone who wants to keep more of the money they EARN is classified as a terrorist and enemy of the State.
Huge FOAMY award for you Joe, AND TRY NOT TO SIT ON IT OR YOU'LL SEE WHICH FINGER FOAMY IS POINTING SKYWARD IN YOUR HONOR!

The second award goes to President Barak Obama, for. Oh. So. Many. Things.
First, he launches a campaign ad where he calls himself a TAX CUTTER. Man, you can draw in some swirls over my head on that one. THEN, he calls himself a FISCAL CONSERVATIVE. This from a man who spent more money that we didn't have than any president since 1787! Not just that, but ALL the deficits EVER accumulated since 1787! Where is my golden back scratcher BARACK for all that money my children will have to pay back. Oh, it when to SEIU and all your other cronies...FIGURES! THEN, he takes his photos with every uniformed soldier he can find. Salutes until he drops a belt size, sends out CHRISTMAS cards and gets all warm and fuzzy with the troops. The very troops that make him want to vomit and cringe whenever he sees them. The very troops that he ignored for A YEAR under his first commander in the Afghanistan theater. Yeah, that guy. Here is your Foamy you Communist twit! And lastly, tying back into how "fiscally conservative" he is, he spends $4 million on a 17 day VACATION TO HAWAII. His wife flies separate of course, which increases the cost of the trip. Want some Kobe steak while you are on the flight, Mrs. President? Can you PRETEND, at least, to follow your own dietary restrictions! Here is YOUR foamy as well, thunder thighs!

The third award goes to our NKVD wanna-be, Mr. Eric Holder, Attorney General of these Socializing United States. Here is a guy that accuses America of being timid and afraid to address race--to discuss it openly. Then, when his own political chickens come home to roost, by the names of "Gun Walker", "Black Panthers", "Nation of Islam", "Tea Party", "Selective Enforcement of Executive Laws", "Affirmative Action", "Laws for Whites and Laws for Blacks" he goes and CRIES "YOU ARE ONLY GOING AFTER ME BECAUSE I'M BLACK!" Also known as the RACE CARD!. You faaarreeeekkkkin' COWARD! Enjoy your FOAMY you black racist bastard!

The fourth award (fifth, if you include the Award Ms. Obama was given...unless she already ATE it) goes to the Walter Reed Hospital outside of Washington D.C. They passed a new regulation that bans ALL expressions of faith on the campus. No crosses, no bibles (not even for the patients), priests must wear street clothes, and no open prayer. This one has three dots popping into view next to my ear. WHAT THE HELL! (oops, that is an overt religious comment). Can I even wear my WEDDING RING on campus! That is a religious article. Did you think about that one you pinheads! Of course, no one is taking credit for this little policy. Believe me, no policy gets written ANYWHERE without a sponsor or someone who has to sign off. ANYWHERE! This just goes to show you that people take their direction from the one in charge. Again, WHO WROTE THAT POLICY AND WHO APPROVED IT! Tell me now, bitch! Who do I get to say gets the honor of this Foamy award! SOMEONE WROTE IT, OUT WITH IT...YOU WORK FOR ME, JERK!

And last, but not least, the next Foamy goes to none other than NEWT GINGRICH. I haven't a clue why the media is calling him the new GOP darling. He had his shot in the 90's and he BAHHHHLEEEWWWW IT!!!! It was his Congresses that began to adore the attention and mewling of the media. It was his Congresses, and those of his next in line that began to act like DEMOCRATS! You waffling intellectual effete! Do you think that anyone with two brain cells still functional while you were the Speaker has forgotten how you BUNGLED your opportunities? Sure, you kept Clinton in line, but only because he chose to buckle. YOU buckled when they shut the government down. YOU admitted defeat like a whiny coward. If you had truth and right on your side then backing down was the WORST thing you could have done. Don't own what you don't own. Don't claim to be a TEA PARTY conservative when you still have the jam stains on your cheeks and chins from the special interest parties thrown in your honor while in power. You are no Tea Party conservative, I don't care how many TP cells you have hoodwinked. If the MEDIA LOVES YOU THEN I MUST WONDER WHY! The ABR (anyone but Romney) angle doesn't clear the smell test. Cain is crushed and third party conservative phantoms rise every day. THANKS NEWT!!!!!! Hear is your FREEKIN' FOAMY! Put that next to your RINO certificate on the mantle!

God you all make me sick today. All the GOP out there. COWARDS and game players. Ron Paul is a NUT. Newt is a RINO, Romney is a RINO, Bachman is being ignored....COME ON...GIVE ME A BREAK!

That has been your Foamy report. The fellows with white lab coats are currently trying to force me down and inject huge amounts of Thorazine into my thrashing limbs. Yeah, well I'll show them. I won't pay my medical bill.

Pione, folks.

Live well,

--Zavost

CLEAR!!!

I can hear this over and over from upon the Stoa. The European patient is expiring. adrenaline has been administered at least twice already. The Federal Reserve and world Central Banks trying oh so very hard to save their patient.

The whine of the shock pad capacitors is heavy in the air again as the Federal Reserve once again makes dollars available in unlimited supply; applying aid through several back doors since the ECB has already called a "time of death" out on the patient.

Dollars pouring out of the Treasure to support "dollar denominated" transactions. I wonder if trading in a portfolio of Greek bonds, to the tune of $5 Billion Euros can be classified as a "dollar" denominated transaction since the action taking place is the trading of Euros for Dollars?

How much is really being converted? How much of this debt is the American taxpayer retiring for the Europeans?

The first group of doctors has stepped back from the patient. The IMF, the ECB, a variety of "Residents" that were helping, part of the EU alphabet soup of professional leaches; all have stepped back, unable to decide what to do next to save the patient.

Good old Barak to the rescue. The United States has stepped in and plunged a central line into the neck of this corpse called the Euro and has attached the other end to our own Carotid. We will infuse this patient with our own life force and win the day...

...or doom ourselves to die with them.

The lending markets in Europe are dead. The lights are off and the only trades taking place are sales to non-European entities. And those transactions are being done in dollars, not Euros. The Euro is collapsing and the US will not be able to stop it.

Now I have to ask, does it need saving? Traditionally, if an economy goes in the tank, the currency would be devalued and the cost of doing business would dramatically shift downward. If Greece were to pull out and just thumb their noses at the rest of Europe, what would be the downside for Greece?

They will go back to the drachma, stick their tongues out at the EU and then begin to roll in the new business as folks from the rest of Europe begin to re-invest in a cheaper Greece. Happens all the time.

Greece was not ready, yet, to join the Euro. It should never have been allowed to join. The culture is not conducive to a Northern European concept. Greece shares more with Italy, Spain, and Portugal than it does with France, Germany, or Denmark. The economies are constituted very, very differently. Wrapping them up in a slick Euro did not eliminate the Black Economy that permeates the Mediterranean nations. Business is done differently down there. The governments have their own way of collecting taxes and disbursing them to the masses.

The vital signs are fading. There is a rally every few days, but the decline is clear. Sooner or later...likely very soon, we will lose this patient.

Once the Euro has passed, the world will look in terror at the issues facing the United States, issues made worse everyday with bailouts to Europe and the crony capitalism that has taken over in America.

The contagion will spread to the United States and then things will get very scary after that. Very scary indeed.

Live well, everyone.

--Zavost

World Economic Deathwatch

There is resigned acceptance upon the Stoa this day. It is not everyday you stand on Deathwatch for an entire economic way of life.

The world markets are dying. I will explain why I'm saying that, but first I want to demonstrate its equivalence in nature.

I have had the honor, due to my career in the healthcare field, to be present at the passing of many individuals. There is a power and energy in the room at those moments that is difficult to describe. It is the feeling that something important is happening.

Generally, if a person is about to die in their beds, either through a long illness or simple old age, there are two general styles of passing. If the person is conscious, they will become tired and take a nap. Their breathing will gradually slow until it becomes gently inconsistent. If one is still sitting nearby, you will also hear the last, long breath released from the lungs as all the muscles go slack in the chest. Frequently, I'm there looking at silenced monitors and know when this point is approaching. Sometimes it is the gentle release from the torment of cancer or some other painful ailment that has ravaged the body. Frequently, you can see the look of relief on their faces as they go.

The other way, which can be frightening to those who have not experienced it before, is a gasping and gulping that begins when death is near. I believe that the person has not completely resigned themselves, or accepted the fact that it is their time. No matter how they struggle, their moment has arrived. The underlying cause of their demise, be it heart failure, organ failure, cancer, etc. will not resolve, even if doctors are able to "keep" you alive on machines. Our technology is stupendous, but when it is your time, it is your time.

The body may "rally", but the ending is still a foregone conclusion.

Over night, the Federal Reserve and numerous Central Banks around the world stepped in and provided "Dollar Liquidity" to the world markets. Many companies, banks, and businesses...and governments, borrow and pay off debts every day in dollars. Loans and transactions are in dollar denominations.

In 2008, when Lehman Brothers was allowed to collapse, the credit market locked up around the world. There were not enough dollars to loan or pay in the world market (in circulation). No one wanted to take the risk of making loans in less stable currencies. No on wanted the exposure of someone making a run on shorting currency (think George Soros and Great Britain). At the time, the Fed made a special loan window available to keep the gears of finance turning with special interest rates.

That window opened wide last night and money like you have not seen before was made available to the world. Dollar denominate loans for everyone.

Why did this happen? The Euro is gasping. It knows the end is near and they are flailing. Except the Germans of course. There is a lot to admire and fear about those people. The European Central Bank, dominated by Germany, refused to participate in the world-wide bailout. Good for them. They understand what is happening and do not wish to squander their last reserves on this fools' dream.

Everyone looks at the world stock markets and smiles. Everything is up!

Did everyone's optimism leap because industry around the world came up with new technologies? No. Did the EU solve its debt crisis? No. Did the US Congress realize how deep the doo-doo is they are swimming in? Certainly not.

So, there has to be SOME reason why the markets were flush with cash. That is why. Everyone is looking for a place to "park" their money. The bond market in Europe is about gone. It is so expensive to sell debt, and the risk is simply too high that people with money are refusing to park it in Europe. There is not enough physical gold to purchase, and there are fewer and fewer people willing to buy "gold certificates".

So, they flee to the stock markets around the world. Central banks are not good places to keep money. Banks in general have begun to CHARGE rich people for the right to "park" their money with them, i.e. keep it safe since they know they can not grow that money safely.

The only problem is, the stock markets are not safe at all either and that will soon become very, starkly even, apparent to everyone. The United States has its own debt issues. Japan, in debt. EU, in debt. China, in debt despite all the favorable press they get. Oil nations, screwed because their customers are...in debt.

In 2008 I argued with my co-workers that the system, the entire system, be allowed to fail. It had to be allowed to reboot. Only by punishing those that made poor decisions would the rest of us learn what not to do. All the bail outs under Bush and Obama have done nothing but delay the day of reckoning...and make it much worse because we are in EVEN MORE debt.

We would be rebuilding now if not for that. Instead, we seek to entirely devastate the financial world as anyone alive has known it. It will be interesting to see what rises in its place.

The world market is gasping right now. The Unites States has shot the world full of adrenalin in an attempt to jump start things. An attempt to "give Europe more time to get things going in the right direction". That is not going to happen. The adrenalin will wear off and the US will have shot its last reserves off in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable for another few days.

Yes, I said days. I don't think this will last more than another week or 10 days. Consumer confidence simply can not grow in this political and economic environment.

So I will sit upon my Stoa and continue to watch the monitors as they slow and then stop. I will stand in respect when the lines flatten out and the tone begins to drone.

Death is one thing that we all must do, and we must do it alone. It is natural to be afraid. To fall into the darkness and rely on faith that someone will be on the other side to catch you. I too am afraid, though I hope that if I am old enough, I will be at peace to allow it to come.

So too with the world markets today. No one can see what will come after this. Governments know that someone will be to blame and their cushy jobs are on the line. Thus, they delay the agony that we find ourselves in.

Live well, everyone. The sun will rise tomorrow, and for the next 5 billion years after that. Come join me on the Stoa and we will watch it together.

--Zavost