Here is an excellent article that was published to one of my Astrology discussion groups.
I do agree that the economy is in for far more hard times than it’s experienced so far, and also that this stock ‘high’ is as false and temporary as any other drug.
I will be posting another article to go over this list of upcoming transits and what they mean to the economy. Also, bear in mind that there is no mention of the Mars Retro cycle here, which I see being the trigger point for a series of economic disasters. I will put my timing into my next article on this.
Here is that article:
Mundane Forecast: The Messenger Wore A Skirt
The Economy, Politics, And The 2010s
By Theodore White; judicial astrologer
October 19, 2006–Washington D.C. — There’s a surreal feeling in the
air over America these days. After the Dow Jones Index passed 10,000
points on October 15, 2009 it was reported that New York traders tossed
around commemorative caps and popped champagne bottles like World Series
winners.
Can anyone say “stock bubble time” again?
Because the Dow reached the 10,000 mark and rose 53 percent since March
2009, a month that saw its lowest levels in ten years announcements that
the recession was over was shouted from the rooftops – that is – from
the penthouse rooftops of many of the Robber Barons responsible for the
economic mess in the first place.
“It’s almost like an announcement that the bear market is over,” said
Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston. “That
is an eye-opener – ‘Hey, you know what, things must be getting better
because the Dow is over 10,000.”
Back in October 2007 the Dow Jones peaked at 14,164 points. By October
2008 the Dow had lost half its value and was at 6,547 points at its
lowest points. The market rally that is said to have started in March
2009 has seen the Dow Jones rise to its current level above 10,000
points – seeing stocks breaking even over the last decade.
So, what is really going on here?
One economist says that the current stock uptick is “”relief rally that
the world is not coming to an end,” while another says, “”The market by
all technical indicators is completely overbought, just like back in
March it was completely oversold.”
Who to believe?
Some economists say that the rally is psychologically needed since it
convinces older people that they can replenish their 401 K retirement
accounts and urges people to start spending again in the run-up towards
the Christmas holidays.
On top of this, investors need to be persuaded to get back into the
stock market. “Psychology plays a huge role in investing,” says one
financial adviser, “So when you’re trying to overcome the huge levels of
panic and fear that we’ve seen over the last year, psychology shouldn’t
be discounted.”
Global Transits
I continue to be very, very worried. As a mundane astrologer, what I am
seeing is a mirage created by those in power to continue the illusion
that all is well so their banking friends in high places can continue to
horde billions in cash while the dollar is devalued enough to drive down
the enormous amounts of debt losses the banks still have on their books.
The trillions of dollars in residential and commercial credit-default
swaps from investing in the corrupt and unregulated derivatives market
has not gone anywhere.
These enormous losses are still there. On the books as lender and
banking insolvencies continue right to this very day.
See – http://builder-implode.com/ <http://builder-implode.com/>
Foreclosures, the implosions of small and medium level banks,
bankruptcies of companies large and small continue feeding even more
double-digit unemployment as states cut back on public services seeing
how their pension accounts have been reduced because of the corruption
of derivatives gambling over the last ten years.
Americans are very upset. And they should be. Since 2007, Americans are
nearly every stripe and economic means have lost homes, businesses,
jobs, and their savings while seeing their debt balloon to levels not
witnessed since the Great Depression.
“When sober-minded individuals begin to regard an enterprise within a
nation as ‘an enemy of the people’ you can bet that some serious blood
is going to flow,” says commentator William Howard Kunstler in a recent
column.
“This is now essentially the situation for the Goldman Sachs company,
which last week announced third-quarter earnings of over $3 billion
largely derived from converting zero percent loans from taxpayers into
zero risk profits off of anything paying more than zero percent in
interest, revenue, or dividends.
The “people” across this big country may not have a clue how any of this
is done, and there may be much to fault them on from the
care-and-feeding of their own bodies to the content of their dreams, but
you can’t argue with the fact that they are heavily armed to an extreme.
And although it may be hard to measure with precision, one might venture
to state that they are increasingly pissed off. How else explain popular
entertainments like “Zombieland?”
The machinations of Wall Street illusion continues to be punctuated by
the year-long conjunction of Jupiter in Aquarius to Neptune in Aquarius.
This has been the cause of the 53-percent rise in stocks to force a
rebound for surviving companies before earnings season reports later in
the year. At this time in October, as Jupiter turns direct, the planet
is moving towards its last conjunction with Neptune that is exact on
December 20, 2009.
The stability of a semi-sextile between Neptune in Aquarius and Uranus
in Pisces is shaky, but provides some comfort for those who are fearful
that their retirement savings will be further depleted after losing more
than half their values in 2008-2009. This mutual reception between
Uranus and Neptune is a warning of times to come in the decade of the
2010s.
Moreover, we are about to see a “preview” of mid-2010′s Cardinal Crisis
World Transits with this autumn’s Saturn/Pluto square in the early
degrees of Libra/Capricorn. There are hidden problems and severe
stresses within government, banks, and corporations directly connected
to the theft and waste of trillions in American wealth.
Next year, we see the full strength of the coming Saturn/Uranus/Pluto
T-Square – a cardinal T-square similar to the one that occurred in the
years 1930-33. However, during autumn 2009, we see transiting Saturn
about to square Pluto, a square that will continue into the winter
months of 2010.
At this time of writing [mid-October 2009] there is an uneasy calm in
the country that Kunstler points out is leading up to Christmas:
“All these tensions beat a path into the holiday season when emotions
run high, when blessings are counted and sorrows taste most bitter. So
the big question now floating above the sheer data of Goldman Sachs
profit announcement is: what kind of year-end bonuses will they dare to
pay their executives and minions, and how will the “people” react? It
seems to me that conditions are ripening for a bloodbath.”
The tensions in the country certainly are running high, and as the first
part of next year’s T-square sets up between Saturn in Libra and Pluto
in Capricorn, some economists are scratching their heads while debating
the strength and realities of the Dow Jones’ rise above the 10,000 mark
point:
“The questions lately revolve around whether the nation is destroying
itself by inflation or deflation,” Kunstler says, “By the willful
destruction of the value of our currency to evade the repayment of debt,
or by the hapless destruction of households, companies, and governments
by default and bankruptcy.
It’s a fire-or-ice debate. Either way the nation is going down as a
viable enterprise. The fiction that we can return to a Crate-and-Barrel
credit card orgy has sustained the false of heart and mind for some
months now, but even that pleasant reverie will come to an end as the
foreclosures mount. Only remember, men living in their cars who have
lost nearly everything else will still have guns.”
My forecast for 2010 is the emergence of a second recession, which will
complete the full entry into another economic Depression for the United
States, and many other countries, particularly in the western
hemisphere.
We cannot ignore the coming global transits of 2010 – especially the
Cardinal Crisis Crisis of that time that are shown here in next summer’s
planetary activity:
I believe this is kicked off by the fourth Saturn/Uranus opposition on
the Virgo/Pisces axis that arrives on April 26, 2010. This opposition is
followed by the first Jupiter/Saturn opposition a month later on May
22-23, 2010, then followed by Saturn’s station to direct motion May
30th, which is also followed by a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction on June 8,
2010.
This shows that the transits of spring 2010 leading into early summer
2010 are quite powerful. There are mass protests in the cities as
people, now into their second and third years without jobs, and with the
economy still reeling from the collapse of residential and commercial
real estate – have had enough.
Next year, it is important to clear your schedules for spring & summer
2010 because the energies will simply be too powerful for most people to
handle. The second half of 2010 contains some of the most powerful world
transits witnessed in some time and indicates a need to restrain from
emotional outbursts and gathering in large groups, though this will not
stop many from doing just that.
I advise those reading this to prepare in advance for the powerful time
next year – as 2010 will go down as one of the historic years of the
early 21st century. The economies of many countries will crash, and some
governments will fall leading to a decade of revolutionary sentiment in
many regions of the world.
The months of April, May, June, July & August 2010 feature the build-up,
and then, the total force of the Cardinal Crisis transits worldwide:
* April 6-7 – Pluto stations retrograde at 5-Capricorn
* April 7, 2010 – Saturn re-enters tropical Virgo
* April 26, 2010 – Saturn opposes Uranus (4th opposition)
* May 23, 2010 – Jupiter opposes Saturn (first time since 1990-91)
* May 27-28, 2010 – Uranus enters tropical Aries
* May 30th, 2010 – Saturn stations direct motion
* June 5-6, 2010 – Jupiter enters tropical Aries
* June 6-7, 2010 – Mars enters tropical Virgo
* June 8, 2010 – Jupiter conjoins Uranus
* July 5, 2010 – Uranus stations retrograde at 0-Aries
* July 8, 2010 – Jupiter turns North in declination
* July 11, 2010 – New Moon total eclipse at 19-Cancer (not seen in
N. America)
* July 21, 2010 – Saturn re-enters tropical Libra for good
* July 23, 2010 – Jupiter stations retrograde
* July 25, 2010 – Jupiter Squares Pluto
* July 26, 2010 – Fifth Saturn/Uranus opposition
* July 31, 2010 – Mars & Jupiter turn S in Declination
* August 3, 2010 – Jupiter, retrograde, Squares Pluto again
* August 6, 2010 – Venus turns South in Declination
* August 13-14, 2010 – Uranus re-enters tropical Pisces
* August 16, 2010 – Jupiter Opposes Saturn
* August 20, 2010 – Mercury retrogrades in Virgo
* August 21, 2010 – Saturn Squares Pluto
* September 8, 2010 – Saturn turns South in declination
* September 8, 2010 – New Moon at 15-Virgo
* September 8, 2010 – Venus enters Scorpio
* September 8-9, 2010 – Jupiter re-enters tropical Pisces
* September 12, 2010 – Mercury stations direct
* September 14, 2010 – Pluto stations direct
* September 14, 2010 – Mars enters Scorpio
* September 19, 2010 – Jupiter conjoins Uranus in Pisces
* October 8, 2010 – Venus stations retrograde in Scorpio
My forecast is not positive: The planetary transits above clearly show
that the economy will contract further. The Treasury bond market is not
favorable; moreover, according to my calculations, I see the rise to
10,000+ points of the Dow Jones to be an “illusion” considering
double-digit unemployment, the housing crash, the coming commercial real
estate crash and continued weak consumer spending. Because the banks are
not lending – which is what they are in business to do in the first
place – we can expect the credit crunch and business contraction to
continue into 2010.
Some technical economists are seeing red flags appear on their charts,
seeing that the Dow is only 18 points about its own average of the last
200+ plus days. This indicates that the stock market is overbought.
Commentator James Howard Kunstler observes:
“The sense that Wall Street has pulled off a coup d’etat and taken over
the machinery of the United States is the most powerful meme out there
now, and its power is growing in magnitude every day among all classes
of Americans. I can’t say how much it reflects reality. Even if it is
a result of sheer happenstance – the tragic evolution of an industrial
economy into a financial finagling economy – the citizens will still
experience it as a stealing of their future.
Whatever else one might say about American culture, it is keenly attuned
to a sense of heroes and villains. We take great pride in our ability
to blow away the bad guys. And life imitates art, as Oscar Wilde
observed. If a zombie virus is on the loose in America, the first
infections showed up in the zombie banks, among the zombie bankers.
Watch out, Lloyd Blankfein! Woody is on his way….”
The Messenger Wore A Skirt
None of this would have happened if the powers that be back in the 1990s
had listened to one woman and her team at the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC) who was forced out by then-Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan and Clinton’s U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
“History already has shown that Greenspan was wrong about virtually
everything, and Brooksley was right,” says Frank Partnoy, a former
Wall Street investment banker who is now a professor at the University
of San Diego law school. “I think she has been entirely vindicated.
. . . If there is one person we should have listened to, it was
Brooksley.”
It never amazes me how gender discrimination can lead to wide-spread
later catastrophe such as the one that the United States now faces. This
discrimination was faced former CFTC Chair Brooksley Born – one of the
most fascinating women many Americans have never heard of.
Women are often attacked by groups of males for not being “reasonable”
and for being “stubborn” when being warned about the future consequences
of their actions. This is especially true for brilliant women in
positions of power and was no less true for Brooksley Born, whose
removal from a important position led to the economic meltdown that the
country now experiences.
See -
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/marapr/features/born.ht\
ml
<http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/marapr/features/born.h\
tml>
A former prospect for Attorney General in the Clinton Administration,
Born was passed over in favor of Janet Reno because Bill Clinton found
her “too boring.” A long-time friend of Hilliary Clinton, Brooksley Born
was offered the chairmanship of the CFTC in 1996. Her battles with the
powers-that-be in the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department would
later led to her ousting in what has been called a “typical Washington
turf war.”
This “turf war” ultimately resulted in Greenspan and Rubin allowing the
derivatives market to continue wholly unregulated – and no questions
asked – leading to what is now surely another Great Depression.
Born, a 1960′s-era graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law
School who was the first female president of the Stanford Law Review,
was an expert on derivatives. Because Over-The-Counter (OTC) derivatives
were under the CFTC’s jurisdiction Born was shocked at the threat
these posed to the economy of the United States.
In a 1996 conversation with Greenspan, who was chairman of the Federal
Reserve Bank, Born related what Greenspan said to her while probing her
philosophy over lunch in Greenspan’s private dining room at the Fed
Bank’s headquarters in Washington D.C.
“Well, Brooksley, I guess you and I will never agree about
fraud,” Born, said she clearly remembers Greenspan saying.
“What is there not to agree on?” Born says she replied.
“Well, you probably will always believe there should be laws against
fraud, and I don’t think there is any need for a law against
fraud,” she recalls. Greenspan, Born says, believed the market would
take care of itself.
Undeterred, Born continued to warn Greenspan, Rubin, and anyone who
would listen that the unregulated market of OTC derivatives trading and
credit-default swaps was a tick time bomb. She was attacked for looking
into this area.
“Nominally and statutorily, OTC derivatives were under the CFTC’s
jurisdiction, and the CFTC had exercised its discretion to partly exempt
the market,” Born said. “But kept some powers and responsibilities that
it had no ability or possibility of exercising or enforcing. Although I
was willing to be persuaded otherwise, I felt strongly that while heavy
regulation was not required, transparency was needed, and some federal
regulator should have information before a disaster occurred rather than
only afterwards.”
Born wrote a “concept” paper on the effects of OTC derivatives.
“There was a firestorm of criticism from the large OTC derivatives
dealers, and they were supported by other financial regulators,” she
said.
Heading her off at the pass was Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin, who
were said to be “joined at the hip” in getting Born to back off.
See – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Brooksley_Born
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Brooksley_Born>
“It wasn’t a regulatory effort, Born said. “We were just asking
questions! The concept release didn’t propose any rules. Alan
Greenspan, Arthur Levitt, and Robert Rubin all said that these questions
should not be asked and urged Congress to pass a bill that would forbid
the commission from taking any regulatory steps on over-the-counter
derivatives.”
Now the story is finally coming out. On Tuesday, October 20, Frontline
will feature a report called “The Warning” on Born’s attempts to stop
the growth of the unregulated derivatives market.
See – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/>
The political part of what has to date appeared to be an economic
problem is resolving into a crisis of authority and legitimacy,”
Kunstler says. “When those in charge of a nation’s livelihood prove to
be comprehensively false and dishonest, the economic automatically turns
political.
“Nobody believes the bankers anymore, of course, and nobody believes the
interlocutors of the bankers – the Federal Reserve chairman, the
Secretary of the Treasury, the heads of the SEC and a dozen other
regulatory bodies – and increasingly the charming figure in the White
House cannot be believed on these issues of the nation’s livelihood.”
Theodore White; judicial astrologer