A Sobering Look at the Stock Market in 2016

     Several longstanding dominant trends will continue to impact domestic equity investment through the foreseeable future, including 2016:  1) the slow and steady pilferage of shareholder family savings by management "stock option" flimflams, 2) the pertinacious ebbing tide of repurchased stock being removed from the share count at so many profitable behemoth corporations, and 3) the perverse restructuring of the U. S. labor force with anything other than White Christian male citizens of the United States of America. 

     Corporate management is in the business of making what's yours theirs, and the business description published by any public company engaged in equity compensation is only used as cover for the slippery-fingered purse snatching operation that's been taking place in the footnotes to the Shareholder's Equity section of the Balance Sheet since January 1, 1981.

     Instead of fingering the perps as grifters and prosecuting their blatant bamboozle as grand larceny-family savings, enabling legislation out of Washington showers these bunko artists with a never-ending trickle of whatever wherewithal you and I manage to sock away and "invest" in their swindle, and media dimwits have taken to calling them the 1% rather than the lowlife crooked motherf#cking scum they really are.

     As for the replacement of white Christian male citizens in the labor force, that began with the job obliteration treaties Wigglin' Willy Clinton signed, giving away all those manufacturing jobs we used to have in return for 1) big Asian contributions to Wigglin' Willy's family non-profit and 2) promises of big bucks for Hillary's campaigns so that that bitch could f#ck us some more too.  Currently, the job obliteration initiative has morphed into a "diversity" movement, code for making sure that no White male ever gets a job he's qualified for again.

     In view of the above, enlightened CEO's and them have no choice but to put excess cash to work by buying back their own shares.  Nobody in his right mind would invest in new plant and equipment, or whatever, under conditions such as we see suffocating Truth, Justice, and The American Way today.

     Basically then, American business leaders no longer care whether their company grows or not, just as long as there's enough value in the stock to keep your net worth trickling through their sticky fingers, they're retiring company stock to keep earnings per share high enough to make that happen, and the quality of the domestic labor force has deteriorated to the point where the economy can't possibly grow anyway, so while White investors continue to watch their families and neighborhoods erode, it may begin to dawn on them that keeping the stock market in the crapper goes hand in hand with that too, in which case they'd pull out of the market rather than try to deal with this sh!t, possibly in a big way.

     You may want to think about finding something else to do with your money too.  

     

     

     

Merry Christmas

     With all that's going on in today's world, it's easy to lose sight of who we are.  Once again, your MacDougal Post staff asks our valued subscribers to take a moment out of their busy holiday schedules and reflect on what Christmas is really all about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooF27ABwmg&list=PL9rHRePyBr68a1iy5bh4RLkpouZcf2BDx&index=17

France Takes on the Enemy War Machine. What about Us?

     While Washington continues plotting to expand the Muslim military foothold already established here on our own shores, with civilian support units tucked inside a blatantly superficial religious pretense political apologists are also painstakingly cloaking themselves with, officials in France have begun to crack down on enemy headquarter units, labelled "mosques" by the worldwide Islamic propaganda machine.  Three local HQ's were shuttered in the latest attack, and 334 war-grade weapons seized.  Earlier raids uncovered Kalishnikov rifles, bullet-proof vests, pistols, and a rocket launcher - this in a Liberal culture touted by their kind as one of the toughest gun-control nations in the world.

      One hundred and thirty civilians lost their lives in November's Paris Massacre.  What is our homeland security response to this?  Bringing more enemy infrastructure to our rear lines?

     It's long past time to remove Liberals from office.  The blood of every American downed, and soon to be downed, by homegrown Muslim butchers is already on their hands.  

Central Bankers Pretend Economy Has Improved, Raise Benchmark Rates

     The bimbo-led Federal Reserve (Fed) raised short term interest rates today, and like an oversexed floozy faking orgasm to make tonight's guy think he's really something special, postured that the economy is improving - postured by omitting mention of such matters as the 1) missing purchasing power tied to those lost manufacturing jobs now permanently residing in Asia, 2) crippling strength of the U.S. Dollar, 3) suffocating burden of Obamacare, 4) future cost of our exploding national debt, and 5) ginormous number of damaged souls who've left the labor force, never apparently to return, not to mention the 6) Fed's Trotsky-style seizure of the T-Bond market to keep the failed politicians generating all the above in power.

     The interest rate on overnight reverse repurchase agreements, formerly 0%, will rise to .25%, while the interest rate on excess reserves is getting upped from .25% to .50%.  These comprise the floor and ceiling, respectively, for short term interest rates under Fed control, and influence, if not dictate, where short term rates will fall when set everywhere throughout the economy.

     In tribute to the Central Party's success at driving free market capitalism out of Washington's hair, the Fed unabashedly added that, through Stalinist central planning, they would further raise those rates 1% a year over the next three years, ending at 3.3% by 1019.

     Welcome to the UASR (Union of American Socialist Republics), fellow comrades.  Peace-mongering Liberals have pulled off the silent communist revolution as Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) told them to such a short time ago.

     Nostrovia!

Back to the Future, Part IV - The Kinder Morgan Nosedive

     Tuesday, Kinder Morgan, Inc. common stock (KMI) hit a low of 15.72, down from its 44.57 April peak.  The bloodletting into 15.72 took out a tad under 9 points in 9 consecutive down days from November 24 to December 8.  That part smacks of collusion.  Back in the day, Wall Street Crime Families scared retail clients out of their investments by engineering precipitous drops like that, following up with the inevitable phone calls by bullying brokers.  Dons loved to do income investors this way.  Got folks living off portfolio dividends and interest to hand their holdings over to the Crime Families at absurd prices by pulling out the Family rug over this curious hole the mob would dig by totally thrashing prices going into the bottom.  

     Nowadays, with the Fed shutting down the T-bond market a while back, Washington has yanked away the primary source of safe investment income for all market participants, adding to the sense of urgency in preserving capital at dire times like this.  From what we've read, more than one guru believes that the Fed played a huge role in setting up what may well turn out to be a Kinder Morgan con.

     Friday, Kinder Morgan, known to us as a great big pipeline outfit and to themselves as the largest energy infrastructure company in North America, filed a Form 8-K informing the Securities and Excuses Commission that one of its directors had left their board.  Turns out the man's partnership, an investment fund management firm, whose sizable KMI holdings had given them the right to nominate a director in the past, had reduced that position below the threshold (2.5% of total outstanding shares), and, no longer having said right, the partnership's nominee resigned.

     Those circumstances recalled a method of short-selling used by the crime families back in the day.  Market makers had to maintain a position in each stock they assumed responsibility for.  In upswings, that would be long, in downswings, they'd reduce the size of that long position or actually go short. Both downswing moves were called "shorting against the box" because the trading desk would eventually restore the original long position at lower price levels.

     It sounds kind of silly to tag this simple practice with a name, only it opened the door for Family traders to run some interesting cons, like "front running" client sell orders - in effect, getting clients to kind of momentarily hold the Family long position for the trading desk - a practice so sophisticated it's against the law, or would be if securities laws came with an actual law enforcement agency actually enforcing actual securities laws.

     Moreover, this Kinder Morgan bloodbath comes with two longstanding non-issues being bandied about as if they were all of a sudden hot-button topics today: 1) to decide how much it should pay in dividends, the company uses Distributable Cash Flow (DCF) instead of net income calculated under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), 2) in determining the certainty of Kinder Morgan's income, hence the quality of its bonds, ratings agencies don't give anywhere near enough weight to the basic need people have to keep warm in the winter.

     Thing is, these non-issues have been around since at least the 1950's, and probably way further back than that since the 50's are when MacDougal started studying this stuff.  We decided to touch base with Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown, Ph.D., inventor of the DeLorean Time Machine, to see if MacDougal could go back to those rock 'n' roll days for his valued subscribers.  Maybe talk to some of his old finance professors or something.

     Doc wasn't available and sidekick Marty McFly was off somewhen with him, so MacDougal had to tap into his own Gordon's London Dry Time Machine, and speak with whoever showed up.

WHOEVER (SHOWING UP):  Whattaya want from me?

MACDOUGAL:  Who are you?

WHOEVER:  Does it matter?

MACDOUGAL:  I Suppose not.  Look, about this Kinder Morgan thing ...

WHOEVER (AGITATED):  "Thing"?  "Thing"?  Grand larceny is more like it.  Widows, orphans, seniors getting fleeced.  This nosedive is no "thing", Mac.  It's grand larceny - widows, orphans, and senior retirees.

MACDOUGAL:  Okay, okay.  Point taken.  Look, I brought you here to ask about the 50's.

WHOEVER (STEELY EYED. HEROICALLY FOR THE REST OF THE CUT):  Yeah, the non-issues and shorting against the box. I remember those days well.  And you, you were just a pup then.

MACDOUGAL (FROWNING AT THAT LAST PART, KIND OF STUNG):  How about the non-issues?  Not using GAAP to come up with a dividend payout ratio, and lousy math behind the barely-investment-grade bond ratings.

WHOEVER:  GAAP isn't even GAAP.  That's why we need security analysts.  Kinder Morgan management says they can calculate depreciation precisely, and they can, and GAAP there is basically a joke based on nonsensical numbers, both historical and projected.   As for the ratings, 1) the agencies have never given enough weight to the need you and I have to keep our homes and offices heated, and 2) low interest rates have rendered some of their standards completely irrelevant for a while.

     Management is right on both points.  And security analysts have been looking at them Kinder Morgan's way for more than half a century now.  Why all the fuss over the general public getting let in on these things is a mystery to me.  

MACDOUGAL:  Look, you remember "shorting against the box"?

WHOEVER:  Not as fondly as you do.

MACDOUGAL:  You think the ex-director's investment management operation is going to buy back the shares they sold?

WHOEVER:  I think those shares added to the selling pressure.  Who knows about the rest?

MACDOUGAL:  How about collusion?

WHOEVER:  Wall Street Crime Families reducing their positions from 44.57 on down, only to restore every share from 15.72 on up?

MACDOUGAL:  Together.

WHOEVER:  Got me.  Maybe, is the best I can do there. 

MACDOUGAL:  B#st#rds.

WHOEVER:  Maybe, on that one too.  Look, MacDougal, KMI stock's worth 30 something.   Someone'll make a bundle riding it back there.  History says the Families will be in on that lock, stock, and barrel.

MACDOUGAL:  How'd you get 30's?

WHOEVER:  Allocate half of Kinder's Distributable Cash Flow to dividends and apply a 3% yield.  Industry norm for these times.  And KMI is selling at book value now.  That's your standard bargain basement level.

MACDOUGAL:  So dividend investors have nothing to worry about?

WHOEVER:  Dividend investors always have something to worry about.  Invest in companies, not dividends, MacDougal.  You know that.

MACDOUGAL:  Yeah, right.  So what happens from here?

WHOEVER:  How would I know?  I use a Gordon's London Dry Time Machine, not a Delorean.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AS THE TIME TRAVELLER DISAPPEARS IN A PUFF OF SPARKLY SMOKE.  FADE TO SPACY MYSTERIOUS TIME-WARP MUSIC

Media Pussies Attack American Hero to Curry Favor with Jihadists

     Terrified that raghead psychos are targeting Christian and/or Jewish publications supporting Jesus and Moses in the Muslim War brought against the two holy figures by whatshisname, the New York Daily News and Detroit Free Press both launched vicious smear campaigns ragging the only hope western civilization has to destroy whatshisname's centuries-old Islamic war machine, the Great Donald Trump.

     We've already urged patriotic subscribers to stop reading newspapers and watching television, and suggest that you now just go ahead and piss on The New York Daily News or Detroit Free Press anytime you spot one somewhere, especially if it happens to be in the hands of one of their goddam freaking peace-mongering Liberal readers at the time.

The McCafe is Here

     Serving urbanites who nibble on rabbit food, or whatever effetes call that these days, McDonald's is in the early stages of rolling out trendy spots where the malnourished can bring adventurous regular folk along too, and everybody gets fed, albeit curiously.  Will wonders ever cease?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-opening-restaurant-serves-quinoa-145856042.html