Hey!! I resemble that remark…lol

In other words, our treasury sec traveled abroad again to kiss our creditors’ asses again, hoping they won’t cut us off. It’s really pathetic ain’t it? Of course our president traveled there recently to kiss their asses hoping for them to help get our energy costs down. And that’s a regular trip in recent years. (Witness Bush holding hands for a stroll through garden with the Saudi king; blech)

We’re no better than a dope ridden, strung out, broke hooker on the streets of NY, begging her dope dealer and pimp for mercy.

The borrower is indeed slave to the lender.

Having said that, signals aren’t everything. E.g., while I observed & called the very top in Oct ’07 (to the day) by way of fractal analysis, it didn’t help me one bit as I was at that time handcuffed to a well-intended but inexperienced trading partner who demanded “no more shorts” (literal quotation) 2 days prior to the peak.

Not blaming, and I mean that quite seriously,…but the red pill does clearly have its side-effects as well.

AP’s writeup:

Foreign demand for US financial assets down in May
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign demand for long-term U.S. financial
assets plummeted in May as Japan and Russia trimmed their holdings
of Treasury securities.

The Treasury Department said Thursday that foreigners actually
sold $19.8 billion more long-term U.S. securities than they
purchased in May. That compared with net purchases of $11.5 billion
in April.

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities,
bucked that trend. Its holdings rose to $801.5 billion, an increase
of 5 percent from $763.5 billion in April.

China’s holdings are a direct result of the huge trade deficits
the U.S. runs with the emerging Asian power. The Chinese take the
dollars Americans pay for Chinese products and invest them in
Treasury securities.

American manufacturers argue that gives China unfair trade
advantages by keeping the dollar overvalued against the Chinese
currency, which makes U.S. goods more expensive for Chinese
consumers and Chinese products cheaper here.

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have argued that China
should allow its currency to rise faster in value against the
dollar but the yuan has stopped appreciating against the dollar in
recent months.

Japan, the second largest foreign owner of Treasury securities,
trimmed its holdings 1.3 percent to $677.2 billion in May, from
$685.9 billion in April.

Russia cut holdings even more sharply, reducing them 9.1 percent
to $124.5 billion in May from April.

Oil exporting countries, another large holder of Treasury
securities, boosted their holdings by 1.8 percent to $192.9
billion.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner traveled to Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates this week to assure those governments that
the administration is committed to getting its soaring budget
deficits under control once the current recession and financial
crisis have been contained. Geithner delivered a similar message to
the Chinese in a trip to Beijing a month ago.

*LB likes the 5-year.

Isn’t it cute the way Johnny Retail buys a few stocks early in the morning after a big squeeze day??
Even Jamie “Erin Burnett’s dreamboat” Dimon couldn’t perk up the market this morning.
So I’m thinking, what chance do Pandit and Lewis have on options expiration day?

~~~

BR: Fair points (mostly).

The blog has a mix of longer more detailed posts, and quick hits. This was obviously the latter.

If it interests me enough to post about, the enthusiasm is always there.

No material exposure to AIG either apparently?
I thought they had 19 Billion of exposure that taxpayers coughed up for.