So this morning NY and Chicago wake up to the news that DOWn Chemical has decided that due to the incessant (and insane) cost-push pressure coming from feed stocks, they will increase prices (another) 25%.

That would be a 45% increase (if you failed math) in the last two months, or a roughly 50% increase if you passed.

Yeah.

This, of course, resulted in an immediate reaction in the futures, as well it should.  This sort of "pricing pressure" has no way to be spun as a "positive" by anyone. 

And let's not kid ourselves about why these feed stocks have increased in price - it is simply too much liquidity chasing the goods out there in the market, and that is Bernanke's responsibility.

Ben claims to have a dual mandate to protect both the economy and price stability, but in fact he has intentionally abused that mandate to protect not the economy but rather his banking buddies on Wall Street, who made bad bets and instead of having to eat them, are being allowed to foist them off on you and I.

See, Bernanke thinks he's immune from all of the laws of economics, not to mention the securities marketplace.  In the case of the latter, he is - The Fed "trades" on inside, undisclosed information literally on a daily basis.

But in the case of the former, nobody is immune from the laws of economics.

Unfortunately the damage done from Ben's "reliquification campaign" is now quickly snowballing.  The banks which allegedly have a "backstop" are finding that the money flow for their secondary offerings are starting to close, as people get real tired of buying stock at $10 only to see the price fall to $5 a week later.  That's a real 50% loss!

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but eventually, if they lose enough money, you get the middle finger in response to your entreaties to come play in the sandbox once again.

The down payment assistance game is getting more heat, as well it should.