Jackson Jambalaya

Mish rips Citi's claim short-selling is responsible for its slide in the market, wondering out loud why Citi is paying dividends when it needs capital while he scrutinizes some Citi statistics:
"Citigroup is blaming shorts when the short interest is under 3%. That's ridiculous. If Citigroup does not understand this, it is a sign of incompetence. If Citigroup does understand how ridiculous their claim looks (and is), that is additional support for the desperation thesis.
Note the dividend. Citigroup is paying a dividend when it is clearly in need of capital . Is that a sign of arrogance or incompetence? That Citigroup is in this mess in the first place is clearly sign of incompetence somewhere..." (Disclosure: The Kingfish once worked at Citi and can say you have no idea how badly screwed up the management of that company is.)
Citi's Incompetence Its a good analysis of Citi and Mish delves into the issue of over $600 billion Citi is keeping off of its balance sheet and how much of those assets might be toxic.

Mish also writes an interesting post about The Collapse of Treasury Yields and uses some strong language in describing the futility of the Fed's lowering interest rates and what kind of shape the economy is in:
"Any cuts by the Fed now are purely symbolic. The Fed Funds Rate is effectively zero. Remember the claim that paying interest on reserves would put a floor under the Fed Fund Rate at 2? Another Bernanke academic solution meets real world experience.....
A "cloak a declining inflationary environment” is not what we have. We have outright deflation not disinflation. Yes, we are mirroring Japan...."

Has anyone heard such vinegar from Cramer or Varney?

Over at The Market Ticker, Karl Denninger bulldozes ahead with his daily dose of unvarnished truth. Mr. Denninger states the economy and markets will not improve until:
"1. Paulson is fired and his policies cease.
2. We have transparency in balance sheets - for every firm on the exchange. No exceptions. All Level 3 asset mark models and assets identified - period.
3. Bernanke withdraws all his alphabet soup programs or is removed from office and his successor does, and the "crowding out" in the credit markets ceases.
Its that simple, and all three must happen before we will see any sort of sustainable bottom put in.
This doesn't mean we can't have "rip your face off" rallies - we both can and will.
But the market and economy will not bottom until the three things above are done, and the only way that is going to happen is when you make it happen...." Paulson Must Go

However, Mr. Denninger doesn't stop with Paulson but instead redirects his artillery towards conservative idol and so-called genius, Ben Stein who was last seen looking of for Mr. Buehler:
"Ben Stein needs to be locked up - or BBQd and eaten - for penning this article:.....
"Mr" Stein is an ass - and that's being polite.
This sort of "beggar thy neighbor" concept - that is, mass and intentional devaluation of one's currency (what else do you think happens if you "reflate" by throwing money around?) is precisely how we wind up with a hyperinflationary depression, which is far worse than a deflationary one.
Deflationary depressions are nasty business, but they are created by governments who attempt to stimulate economies beyond the point of reasonable credit and business growth, thereby guaranteeing a deflationary bust...."

He doesn't stop with Mr. Stein nor does he carry him for a few rounds but instead brings up his predictions from the beginning of this year:
"In fact I distinctly remember Mr. Stein being unabashedly bullish back in January of 2008. Indeed, here's what he said January 4th of this year:
'This isn't a development to strike terror into your hearts -- if you're a long-term investor, it signals a time to buy. (As I've said many times, if you're a short-term investor you can just skip my column.) The history of stock market investing is unequivocal on this point: When the market is low, when the economy is in a recession, it is -- in the long run -- by far the best time to buy.'
Such a wonderful record you have there Mr. Stein! Why, you'd only have lost what - 40% of your money listening to this buttclown (the SPX was at 1440, more or less, on the date that column was published, down ~125 pts from its top! That was a time to buy?!)..." Will Listening to Ben Stein Win you Money?

Ouch!

Our last stop is over at RedState where Blackhedd muses on the earthquakes in the bond markets today and how we are now in the realm of negative interest rates where under some scenarios right now insitutions are paying investors to borrow money. He finishes with a sobering statement: "we’re witnessing a temporary, short-lived effect. But it’s like a major volcanic eruption, or a nine-magnitude earthquake. It won’t last for a very long time, but it will produce a completely unpredictable amount of lasting damage.." Bond Market Earthquakes