Using animation, Warren Buffett eloquently explains in just more than two minutes why trade imbalances lead to serfdom. Put differently, and in the context of President Obama’s visit to China, “Thriftville” owns “Squanderville” in the endgame, as he explained in “I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt“.

Source: YouTube.com, November 16, 2009 (hat tip: Wall St Cheat Sheet).

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The bank failure scene in the U.S. turned a shade uglier over the weekend. By this time tomorrow, it’ll probably be even worse.

For starters, Guaranty Financial of Texas went belly up late Friday and secured a spot in the history books. With $13 billion in “assets,” the bank is the third largest to fail this year and tied for the 11th biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

Even more interestingly, the FDIC brokered Guaranty’s assets to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a bank from northern Spain. We’re surprised on two fronts here: 1) That a bank from Spain — strapped with double-digit unemployment and a wretched housing bust — wants to bring their euros to I.O.U.S.A. 2) That BBVA already has a huge presence in Texas. With this acquisition, they will be the fourth largest banking chain in the Lone Star State. That could be an interesting trend to watch.

Three other

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Idiocracy in action: Congress blocks bill to audit the Fed… No surprise: American loan defaults hit record… Surprise: Could Canadians be next? China takes another “World’s No. 1” from U.S. … Dan Denning, Byron King on recent triumph and tragedy in the oil patch…

Great news: The Federal Reserve will retain its right to operate in secrecy.

“Thank God for Rule 16!”

Late yesterday, the Senate majority put the kibosh on a last-hour provision in the 2010 spending bill that would audit the Fed. Not because it’s a bad idea… but because of the arcane Rule 16, which prohibits policy legislation from being added to spending bills. (The kind of “rule” that’s only evoked when the majority gets uncomfortable.)

“The Federal Reserve will create and disburse trillions of dollars in response to our current financial crisis,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, who spearheaded

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Currencies rebound…  G-8 has no fireworks…  Aussie / China and coal… Entitlements… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! I’m late, I’m late! I don’t believe I ever heard the alarm go off this morning! I overslept by more than an hour, and will still be here more than an hour before any sign of someone else! But! That puts me behind by more than an hour today… I’ve got to play catch-up! So, let’s get this Tub Thumpin’ Thursday going!

Well… Let’s see… G-8 never had the opportunity to shoot fireworks because China’s leader had to return home to deal with the street riots going on in his country. So… The call for a replacement for the dollar as the reserve currency will have to wait for another day! And, with that news, the dollar got to remain in the sunlight, and bask in the glory of being

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Foreclosures rise…  Green Shoots, no so green!  Getting on a bus…  Losing a triple A rating? And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Not wanting to start the day off with bad news… But I just saw a flash on the TV that said, “foreclosures jumped 32% last month”… More Blood in the Streets, eh? That just happens to be the title of my presentation today… Blood in the Street: Bargain time or just a cease fire? Hey! I don’t make these things up…

OK… Another day here in Sin City… This city is packed with people, everywhere

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Stocks break-even for 2009… 2 charts detail the strange path to “profitability”… Chris Mayer on Buffett, Berkshire and the latest shareholder’s meeting…Dan Amoss with a sector begging to be shorted…Our in-house bankruptcy adviser on the fate of Chrysler…Plus, a rare Overtime Briefing… investing in the “swine flu”

Arriba! Cinco de Mayo heralds big news for the S&P 500 this morning:

After a manic 36% bounce from its March lows, the S&P 500 has turned positive for the year. It’s now sitting on a whopping 0.4% gain, thank you very much.

But before you down the Cuervo Gold and shimmy onto the parquet for a hat dance… consider this: The resurgence in S&P 500 is being driven by only three sectors: Consumer discretionary, materials and tech. See for yourself.

It’s hard to believe in “bull market”

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In the newspapers there is much discussion of what General Motors (NYSE:GM) should do. This discussion has gone on for many years. Until now, it was a conversation carried on by serious analysts and auto industry experts. They all said the same thing: GM needed to clear out its management, dump much of its expensive, “legacy” overhead, and produce better cars. Why didn’t it do so?

And now, it’s broke. And even politicians think they know how to run an auto company. Just read the papers. “Obama insists on changes,” says one headline.

Normally, the politicos should hold their tongues…and let an industry’s owners run their businesses. Alas, as of a few days ago, the politicians ARE the owners.

Here’s a question:

When the government takes a majority stake in the auto business you know you are:

A) In a bad dream B) In a bad way C) In a bad country D) In

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Notes from theInvestment Underground

Tuesday, March 24, 2009Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The 15-year depression is coming… Drink yourself to death! Martin Weiss’s deflationary outlook… A sucker’s rally with legs… Protecting your wealth from inflation… Jeff Clark: the S&P will go below 600… The truth behind China’s dollar holdings… Big government gets bigger… And more! 

*** “This is the big one,” says Republican Congressman Ron Paul, who yesterday said the depression will last 15 years. It makes a nice change from all the hooting and wailing about a bottom being in for stocks.

“The U.S. government just won’t allow the correction the economy needs,” says Paul, citing the mini-depression of 1921, which lasted just a year. This was because insolvent companies were allowed to fail. “No one remembers that one. They’ll remember this one, because it will last 15 years.”

Paul

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More tough news for U.S. jobs… what you need to know in today’s BLS employment report…Dow setting records left and right… two historic looks at just how lousy 2009 has been…Chris Mayer on the next megatrend… far bigger than the current crisis…Chuck Butler explores “a strange thing happening in currencies”…Plus, a reader exposes our “simple-minded,” “right-wing babbling” for what it is… at last…

Employment will make or break this depression. Today, it’s not looking so good. 12.5 million Americans are out of work, and counting. Here’s the quick and dirty on the rest of the employment numbers this morning:

The economy shed 651,000 jobs in February, right in line with Wall Street’s expectations. That’s the 14th month in a row of net job losses January and December jobs losses were revised down heavily. January was bumped down another 57,000 jobs, to a 655,000 loss. And the ...

Citi sets a record… how it could signal a market bottom by June…Dan Amoss on a “rescue” program that might work as advertised — and even touch off a stock rally… Buffett dispenses more pearls of wisdom… highlights of his annual letter to shareholders… Byron King on the energy crisis the government must solve… soon… U.S. still doesn’t have it that bad… the new Iron Curtain forming in the EU

1.87 billion shares of Citigroup exchanged hands on Friday. That’s easily a record, not just for Citi, but for any stock in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Shares in the company dropped almost 40%, to $1.40.

The former record holder WorldCom traded 1.5 billion shares on July 1, 2002. The S&P 500 set a bottom three months later.

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