in the news: job deflation and naked shorts

While quantitative easing continues to work its magic by nominally reflating risk assets,



CPI and wages are reportedly flat,

(NPR) Social Security: No Cost Of Living Increase Next Year
(AP) Colorado Minimum Wage to Drop as Living Costs Fall

Employment for Wall Street traders is also in decline as the 'smart guys' have replaced the 'average guys.'

The 'smart guys' have become analysts, quants, traders, and risk managers. Increasingly complicated derivatives were developed and sold short in progressively unsustainable size (RIP: LTCM, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia),

(NYT) Wall Street Smarts
(NYT) Rivals Pose Threat to New York Stock Exchange



Some perspective from the good old days of trading, when 'average guys' with modestly capitalized accounts learned to respect the market. Floor traders knew the practice of picking up pennies in front of trains would eventually lead to unrecoverable losses over the long run,

down with the USD

The short USD trade has become even more crowded.

The blogosphere and news media were lit up yesterday with dollar bearish headlines. The hub bub stemmed from an article by Robert Fisk in The Independent, The Demise of the Dollar.

Gold broke to an all time nominal high, topping the $1032.70 high of March 2008. This is significant and may mark the next leg of the gold bull market when, as Richard Russell believes, the general public finally gets involved.

(2 year reverse head and shoulders formation in Gold)