Feckless Friday

In another example of my own fecklessness, I attempted to re-enter the market this week with a couple of stock plays on financial ETFs. It was an unrewarding experience and somewhat costly.

I managed to be on the wrong side of the market no matter if financials went up or down. What a joke. Luckily for me I held tight stops and minimized the pain and loss. I made an attempt at trading these highly volatile instruments that represent leveraged sector gains and losses and missed the trend going either way. Wow, I had to work extra hard to accomplish that.

The truly ironic thing about all this is I know the banks are lying about their holdings and their value. I know they're in worse shape than they're letting on and I know eventually they will go back down and end up needing more taxpayer money. But for now they're showing some made-up profits and the guys who really control the market are making money; right up to the point when they dump the crappy bank stops and the fecal matter hits the fan again.

On other Feckless fronts, the second largest holder of Mall Properties in the U.S. went bankrupt today. Not because their Malls are worthless, but because the debt that had accrued in buying Malls could not be refinanced under current conditions. The banks that we've given billions of taxpayer money to wouldn't lend them any more money. Go figure.

During the Teabaggery of this weeks Faux News and Conservative think tank funded and inspired protests the Governor of Texas brought up the idea of secession. Go for it Dude. That way we can charge duties on all the bullshit that comes out of the state/country. In addition, it would mean no more dickhead politicians from the Lone Star running for President. Works for me.

The current president backed up on the domestic spying front and did not stop NSA from viewing our emails and listening to our cell phone calls. No doubt some one gave him good reason. I'm thinking he was shown intel picked up that stopped a domestic terrorists attack or something like that. Even if that is the case: He should stop our intelligence agencies from spying on us. It's a much scarier prospect than the deficit or taxes.

Speaking of President Obama, he went to Mexico this week and assured the Mexican president we would step up cooperation in fighting the drug lords. Good luck on that. Without s serious effort to reform our drug and gun policies it's more of a token measure than real help. We've had a couple of decades or more of crummy and ineffective drug policy both domestically and internationally. I've yet to hear anything out of the white house that addresses real reform and new initiatives with meaning.

Measuring a perfect 10 on the Feckless Scale, the legislature of our state (Arizona) continues to struggle with a 3 billion $ deficit. The state announced layoffs of over 4,000 school teachers today. We are 47th out of 50 in the nation on Education; wonder why, huh? These guys are opposed to any taxes of any sort and are insisting on more business and corporate tax decreases at a time the state needs revenue desperately. Have you heard the saying "Can't get blood out of a turnip?"

Finally, if you didn't believe eating at McDonalds could kill you, then think again. An elderly couple at a Mickie Dees on the Res was hospitalized after the Golden Arches was blown over by high winds yesterday crushing their car. One of them remains in critical condition. The picture of their car flattened under the famous symbol says it all.

This week flew by and was moderately weird. Hope yours was much less Feckless.

RT