Euro trades past 1.42…  Geithner make a promise to China…  Central Bank meetings this week…  Canada’s Fin Min, speaks… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Well, on Friday I left you with the story of a currency rally for the ages… And it didn’t let up there! Although the rest of the day on Friday the bias was to sell dollars, the real chunk of the dollar wasn’t taken until last night in Asia… Here’s the deal folks, and this won’t be the first time you’ve heard this from me either!

Fundamentals! The fundamentals are coming home to roost, and the rot

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“The Big Takeover” by Matt Taibbi is probably the best article written to date explaining the financial crisis and how we got to where we are now. Taibbi’s necessarily lengthy article explains the problems, names the “poipetrators”, and exposes all of the conflicts of interest— absolutely a must read.

AIG, Goldman Sachs, and J. P. Morgan turn out to be the major players causing perhaps the greatest financial crisis in modern history— even if the pain is unlikely to get near Great Depression proportions, the dollar losses to individual investors have certainly gone as far.

JPM was the brewmeister of the CDO, a vat full of various kinds of income securities, determined to be less risky because the income on most would almost certainly keep flowing— kind of like the once popular junk bond fund that Wall Street insisted was not risky …

Every new controversy demands a look at similar situations of the past. Just what is a bailout anyway? In the early 80’s, Lee Iacocca arranged a government loan and tax concessions to bring Chrysler Corporation back from the brink of bankruptcy— during the Carter Administration, to save you a Google.

The economic domino effect of a major corporate death was clear, and Congress acted wisely when it saved this American icon from extinction— the loans were repaid. But was it poor management or shortsighted government that caused the problem. Politicians massaged and empowered the labor unions, implemented minimum wage legislation, and protected the steel industry from foreign competition.

Similar financial problems existed throughout the automotive industry and lower cost, better product was just starting to come ashore. Bailout or fix-up? Voteless corporations were perfect patsies then, and remain so today. But …

Dateline Washington, October 19th (get it?) 2010: the Peoples Bank & Trust of America has now established itself as the only bank of any kind in the USA, totally owned and managed by the US House of Representatives. A 2/3 majority must now approve all investment banking transactions; your district representative’s staff reviews individual mortgage applications; and all 401(k), IRA, and remaining employer pension assets have been rolled into the Social Security Slush Fund.

Only federal and state elected officials are exempt from the 45% all purpose Income Tax. The estimated time to bring new companies public is 4.5 years; all individual account dividends and interest are paid directly into your IRS “grabber” account; CEO’s salaries are limited to 50% of the amount paid to a first year congressman, and any government budget shortfalls are withdrawn from corporate earnings before …

By Shah Gilani It’s the end of the "American Dream." It’s the story of how the inevitable bailout of insolvent housing giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) - with the Federal Housing Administration soon to follow - will ultimately lead to such sorrowful sequels as "TheDeath of the Dollar," "The Downgrading of U.S. Government Debt" and, yes, "The Depression." Let’s be very clear on one point, however: There’s no question about it - Freddie and Fannie have to be supported. If the doctrine of "too big to fail" didn’t already exist, it would have to be invented - immediately. Although many are arguing against a "bailout," those "experts" never seem to address the fallout that would emanate from such a strategy. Nor do they ever discuss the sad series of events that brought us to ...