Obama is doing the right thing with his clawbacks of obscene Wall Street thief salaries.

But Obama is treating just one symptom of Wall Street corruption not any of the causes of this systematic pilfering of public trust by Wall Street aristocrat-management.

For at least twenty years the world's corporate stockholders have been looted by management who rule just as the filthy rich and corrupt rulers of France when France was forced to apply the guillotine to solve their excessive top ececutive pay problem. Today corporate managers are able to loot because the boards of directors have become rubber stamps of pay raises because the board members lose their posh jobs if they do not approve. It is the same reason Moodys and S&P failed to honestly to report the true risks of the derivatives that brought down the banks. Moodys and S&P lied because they liked their easy jobs and knew they would lose their work contracts if they did not play along and report favorably. Wall Street is corrupt because like the old European Aristocracy everyone must play along and be dishonest to collect their income from the Emperor who today is usually the CEO.

Wall Street is rotten to the core right now because there are no checks and balances just as Obama's government is rotten because the Obama administration currently has the power to override opponents, abandon allies and even abandon our own troops in Afghanistan. When Lafayette was a General his personal income was 60,000 time what the average French Soldier was paid. Therefore General George Washington required that Lafayette personally pay for the food, transportation, clothing and housing of all the American troops Lafayette commanded.

The symptom of obscene pay is the result of widespread Wall Street intellectual corruption. The solution is independent checks and balances which requires that Wall Street lose its power to rubber stamp executives by stuffing the ballots as they do in Afghanistan. In addition the FED with the help of the FBI should have the power to claw back the money that was corruptly taken by executives. They must freeze corrupt executive thief's accounts just as America would freeze the accounts of a corrupt banana republic dictator thief. Clawbacks should go on all the time.

Market Outlook
US leading economic indicators rise again
The latest U.S. economic data suggest the American economy will grow next year despite continued high unemployment. The consensus view among economists is that the U.S. economy is expanding at a 3 percent annual rate in the final months of the year, marking the end of a recession that began in late 2007.
The New York-based Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose 1 percent last month, following a 0.4 percent gain in August. The index, which takes into account factors ranging from manufacturing hours worked to orders for goods to interest rates, is seen as a reliable indicator of where the U.S. economy is headed. "The six-month rise in the leading economic indicators really tells us that this recession looks to be done," said economist Joel Naroff.

October 22, 2009 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases
Manufacturing labor productivity decreased in 12 of 17 world economies compared in 2008. The Republic of Korea and the United States had the largest productivity increases (1.2 percent each) among the five economies where productivity increased.

In September, employers took 2,561 mass layoff actions involving 248,006 workers. Mass layoff events decreased by 129 and associated initial claims by 11,301 from August. Year-to-date events and initial claims are now 23,745 and 2,410,208, respectively.


Today, Oct. 23 AM
Existing home sales may actually increase due to foreclosures and the coming expiration of the first time buyer's tax credit of $9000.

Relative to the declines seen last year (i.e. seasonally adjusted) this will be a week of positive reporting. But relative to last month's reports this week will likely show several economic sectors remain in decline.


Market forces October 23

The very good economic news yesterday went largely unreported due to absurd sympathy shown for CEOs who are being forced to take pay cuts after nearly bankrupting not just their own firms but the entire world. At least Obama did not suggest the Guillotine for them.

Asian markets were up sharply last night; China up 1.8%, Hong Kong up 1.7%, India up 0.1%, Japan up 0.2, and Seoul up 0.6%.

European markets are up sharply in a range from 1% to 1.5% this morning about half way through their day.

US pre-market futures are up 0.1% today and rising at 8:30 AM EST.