Hmm. Gold is good collateral for derivatives trades, but apparently treasury bonds are as good or better collateral. Most people reuse gold as collateral over and over, same with bonds. Not sure people know how levered up gold really is.

Oh, and Peter, please renounce your view that racism should be a civil right. I know you say you aren't racist and I take you at your word. But you do believe racism and refusal to serve people on the basis of race should be a civil right. And you know that is wrong.

Mike, I trust you to deliver that message.

I would like to see all speculation stopped, both up and down. But better to have this speculation stopped than no speculation stopped. No use exacerbating a bad situation through forcing stocks down by shorting.

If the rest of the market is a bubble as suggested by Harry Dent, perhaps this is a good call. Don't buy the transports!

China is upfront about this. We drive markets up and down in an artificial manner in the US all the time. Only when it goes down we don't prosecute. Now, all nations love when markets are churned upwards. The US insiders take profits and run, leaving the average Joe to carry the losses in America.

China hates hot money, especially when it leaves. You all saw what happened to our interest only housing market when the hot money (according to the Fed), and the lending dried up.

So, I don't feel sorry for the hedge funds. They are the chief engineers in market manipulations worldwide. I hate to be callous, but it is nice to see them suffer for once.

Lol, the Dollarzone. Cute. Well, one thing is certain, if the hedge funds demand austerity, PR is dead in the water, both literally and figuratively. And certainly, it would be better to let these hedge funds die a slow and agonizing death. It is just more practical in the long run.

I think that the private TBTF banks really want Fannie and Freddie business. They want to take over the function of those GSE's with guarantees from the government, of course. But the 30 year fixed mortgage is already a relic of the past. So, FDR's vision is being destroyed for many but the larger investors and professionals.

Wow, creating the illusion of demand. Wow.

Apparently that may have happened at the CME for years. It could still be happening as there was a lawsuit stating that half the trades at the CME were FAKE.

Interesting viewpoint. But surely, building roads and fixing bridges, as you point out on page 2, would add to aggregate demand and be useful in saving man hours and boost productivity as well. If we need to spend to get the economy going, it should be domestically and you clearly agree that is a way out, a sensible one.

We already lap other nations in defense spending many times over.

To go to war for the economy when there are other ways of improving the economy is just wrong, dangerous, and less efficient than building at home. I believe there are economists and politicians who would make decisions for war, factoring in the economy, but going to war with Iran could create a nuclear war, and it is hard to trade stocks and build houses when nukes are crossing continents!

Carol, thanks for commenting. I am of the opinion that banks control much of the media. Often, banks sponsor the sites where the articles appear. Or they may even pay journalists to convey their point of view. On some sites you can see patterns, where sometimes the views of the banks are highlighted, and sometimes the position of the government on certain issues like the Ukraine and Russia, are highlighted.

Then you can see favorable articles en masse about Tesla, or Apple, or other companies and you wonder if the articles are sponsored in some way. I have no way of proving those sponsorships, but these companies volunteer a lot of information to the sites. And they do it on a pretty regular basis.

You may be right about that, but someone may be there if they are a multigenerational household. :) I know the bankers are frustrated, but they went for the easy money payday, and pets were abandoned, marriages ruined, and children, millennials, treated roughly from a financial perspective.

I knew a lady who took in all the abandoned cats on the block, as many families simply could not afford to pay for them. Las Vegas was hit hard, and these millennials may never forget, or forgive, the bankers.