Well, which "outrage" (WICS of Feb 15th) bandwagon to join? The one surrounding the Goodwin creature's massive, taxpayer - funded pension? Or the one concerning the "hidden" (and also about to become UK taxpayer - funded) major toxic waste nasties that are coming to light in the Lloyds/HBOS fiasco? Gosh - it's hard to know what NOT to be annoyed about if you're that way inclined! One of you emailed during the week to suggest that the Goodwin item ought to be "put in his place" - nae chance of that I'm afraid. Generally speaking, bank robbers go to jail......it was amusing to hear said robber suggest that he is "legally and morally" entitled to his £693000 a year pension. Knowing nothing of the law, I accept he may be correct anent the first part of his claim. And as for the other email received about the matter from "John" - John, you should be ashamed of yourself. Suggesting that the former chief exec of RBS is "swamp life" is just plain unfair. What have the wee beasties that live in the gloopy stuff ever done to you, to warrant that kind of comparison? It seems RBS is now more or less 100% owned by the happy, compliant UK taxpayer - it needs to tap these easy to con patsies for yet another £19bn or so, in order to buy an insurance policy to cover potential defaults on about £300bn of what it euphemistically terms its "most troublesome assets". Listen guys, if you need to pay £19bn to insure something you admit is "most troublesome", surely the other word should be "liabilities", not "assets"?

Anyway, since IW is not a UK taxpayer, the "outrage" level here is muted at best - in fact it's non existent because life's energy can be directed into more productive areas. Goodness, I don't even get outraged at the presence of snowboarders these days - only mildly annoyed at their total inability to cope with the concepts of politeness and consideration for others.

Moving on, but still on the subject of bank ex - directors, it's amusing/amazing to note that National Express is considering appointing the Crosby person (ex HBOS and FSA etc etc) as their new chairman. Goodness me. He could probably handle a snacks trolley on one of their trains but even to think about offering him a higher position rather reinforces the many reasons why the share price of that sorry company has achieved its stunning performance from September 2008 onwards. Ho ho ho.

Before leaving banks behind for today, what about this next Broon initiative that is going to "force" Lloyds and RBS to lend an "extra" £40bn to small businesses? Sometimes it's just as well the banks will continue to do exactly as THEY please - because lending even more at present on Broon's say - so would be just plain daft.

And thanks to "Mary" for her email about Abbey International's (aka Santander Bank) latest "regular savings" offer. 12% gross for sterling accounts, 10% for euro savings. Hmm, how can they offer that kind of return? Either (or both) they're lending out your savings at pretty horrific interest rates, or they're "investing" in corporate or municipal bonds....."go figure", in the inimitable phraseology of my Yank brother in law.

Still with Spain, what about this idea for a "Las Vegas" competitor to be built in the middle of the Aragon desert? "A town as big as Bath" with mega casinos, hotels etc etc, according to the British promoters. "Bath" is about as dumb a comparison as it's possible to dream up - water is already very scarce in that part of the world.....the whole idea is farcical but doubtless there are some patsies out there who will seek to "invest". I feel another "Ho ho ho" coming on.....

Next, but sticking with "farcical" it appears the UK's Financial Services Authority is planning to ban products that it considers "too risky". A tad behind the curve yet again, guys......but maybe it will spell the end of "with profits" insurance bonds? Oh, sorry - I didn't realise these things are NOT considered as being risky. That'll be why they're making such losses then.

Talking of "bonds" - also mentioned above re the Abbey interest rate offer - they were also mentioned in passing in the last two WICS when we spoke about the gold price, and there have been a few emails asking for a bit more by way of explanation. Basically they are just IOUs issued by "whoever". Depending upon "who" that "whoever" happens to be, the interest rate available will vary. For example, US government bonds are backed by Uncle Sam and in theory, will never default. Thus, the interest rate thereon will be low because people are willing to accept that, in return for perceived "safety". At the other end of the scale, bonds issued by General Motors might require a bit higher return before anyone would buy into them. (Would ANYONE buy GM bonds - or shares for that matter - at the moment? Word is they WILL officially go bust soon.) There are lots of other types of bond - local authorities also issue them, and these are very big business indeed in the USA, where pension funds are buying 'em like there was no tomorrow. In fact, for many of these bonds (called "Munis" - "Municipal") there WILL indeed be "no tomorrow" because a lot are going to default. For example, the State of California has just "delayed" paying out tax refunds because it has no money to do so. What does that suggest about the condition of Californian bonds? The sad thing is that so many pension funds are run by idiots who think bonds are "safe" and a very nasty surprise awaits an awful lot of innocent people when they reach pension age. Try "Texas" in the search engine.........and yes, even Uncle Sam too may well end up unable to pay out in due course. Time will tell.

Moving along (see WICS of last October 19th too) we see that Warren Buffet lost $3bn in 2008. Even he admits he made a bit of a mess of thinking the "bottom" had been reached. Among many other very ill thought out acquisitions, he paid $244m for shares in a couple of Irish banks. Currently he values that holding at $27m but methinks he could remove the "m" from the figure. Ireland is bust - it's that simple, and its finance minister will be going to have a cosy chat with the IMF any day now. (Try "Irish banks" in the search engine for more, if you can be bothered.) The IMF has had its emergency fund doubled to a whole $500bn. Gosh, that will go a long way.

Speaking of "bust", mention has sometimes been made in these ramblings - and also in the video updates - about "rights issues" - it seems to this fella that what the term actually means is "We offer our existing shareholders the right to lose even more money....." Any bets on William Hill being next for the knackers' yard, anyone?

In Oz, Babcock and Brown (big property company) has managed to go from a valuation of $12bn in 2007, to exactly zero as of last Friday....faster than a Maserati in reverse! In the UK, Savills, the "posh estate agency" has seen a big jump in its share price.......hmm. They will doubtless have had a fat "up front" fee for trying to raise another $150m to invest in the Indian REIT they're involved in, but.......anyway, time will tell what happens to the price. It's interesting to note that a big hedge fund (Lansdowne) is "calling the bottom" in the property market - and indeed in the banking sector. Well, if they want to do that and end up looking foolish, that's entirely up to them. Certainly the talking heads will get all excited and we'll possibly see a bit of a price bounce in these sectors.....for a while.

In fact, the "Maserati" comment above reminds me - (not strictly "matters economic" as such, but worth a wee remark methinks) of Sarkozy's chum who suggested in France the other week, that anyone who didn't own a Rolex watch by the age of 50 was clearly a "failure." How crass is that? Anyway, je suis now totally desolé because of being such a failure. Oh - hang on a minute - isn't Rolex itself a little on the crass side? It's one of these "triumphs of brilliant marketing over questionable quality" in this fella's eyes - promoted by "the stars" - who get paid to wear one! It's a bit like Glenfiddich whisky, to use another example. Or Walker's shortbread....or Rémy Martin cognac. You can probably think of other examples - they're everywhere. Ferrari cars? And yes, here's a wee list of "IW alternatives": Springbank whisky, Dean's shortbread, Hennessy cognac, Maserati cars, Omega/Jaeger Lecoultre/Henri Blancpain watches.....etc etc.

Anyway, onward!

Scam of the week? "Fairtrade week"! (Try the search engine re "Fairtrade" for more.) And what about that London meeting of the "Fortune Forum" eh? All the fat cats begging for tax relief so that they can give money to charity.... how dumb can you get? No answer required, thanks!

On the "dumb" side too perhaps, was the journalist who was writing about all the bad economic news in the UK. One of his comments was "The good news is that retail sales held up well in January as retailers slashed prices to shift goods..." Another "Go figure"??

Next, on the topic of "good news", just a wee personal comment - if I may - about the many emails received that ask me why I am such a pessimist. Save yourself the bother of writing! This guy is most assuredly NOT a pessimist, not about anything at all. My glass is ALWAYS half full (well, maybe nearer "fully full" in fact.) The overcast weather is ALWAYS about to clear. The icy piste is ALWAYS about to get softer....and so on. Don't confuse PESSIMISM with REALISM. If you trade for a living, it's a serious business, as is any business. If you can't be realistic and objective, you will FAIL as a trader. That is a simple fact. The world economy is in meltdown. Is that a pessimistic view, or a plain, simple and realistic fact? YOU decide! And in due course, the world economy will recover, and markets will provide ongoing trading opportunities, either "up" or "down" in the same way as usual. Then the world economy wil tank again.......and so on. Tell me when human nature is going to completely change and I'll accept that point as the one when being able to make money as a trader might end. Nae chance - so stop agonising about it!

Finally before we look at a chart or two, here's an interesting email from "Tom" - thanks for this, Tom. A sign of the times indeed, and competition for Starbucks? Perhaps the idea could be franchised?

"Hi Ian,
Thought you might be interested in this bit of "news" observed at the end of my road:
The estate agent which I rent my flat from has an office just down the road, directly opposite Tooting Bec tube station (SW London) It's quite a big office, in a prime position, on a major crossroads, and as I say, right next to the tube station.
Two or three years ago, in boom times, they refurbished the office and put in several huge plasma screens in the windows to display the latest 3 bedroom house going for "only" £450,000 or whatever the ridiculous asking price was.
Each agent had a huge desk and very plush leather chairs etc. There were always plenty of customers looking at properties to buy and rent.
Two weeks ago they "refurbished" again - but this time to convert 3/4 of the office into a coffee shop (good location) selling cappucinos and the like.
The somewhat smaller number of agents are now crammed into a tiny office behind a glass screen - and not doing very much besides watching people buy their espressos.
A desperate attempt to drag in some punters and get them interested in property, or at least make a bit of money by selling them coffee and croissants!
Cheers, Tom."

On that note, on to a chart or two - I won't bother with those of estate agents because you can look at them yourself - but this latest push up would need a bit more "confirmation" before suggesting it's a sector to be trading to the upside....and if anyone is actually thinking of BUYING the shares, well, I'm sure there are loads of good psychiatrists to be found in Yellow Pages. First today we'll see how the HSBC triangle we spoke about in video clip 2169, seems to be stopping the recent advance. Then we'll see how the chosen DMA is keeping the "sell" on Wolseley open (assuming you hadn't taken the windfall discussed here on 8th February of course). Next there's a nice countertrend channel on the Cairn Energy chart, and finally we'll update the Nasdaq comments from last weekend.

OK - that's all for this weekend - just one final comment directed to some of you newer subscribers: please read the excellent information provided by my webmaster regarding "email issues". There are a few matters needing attention by some of you at the moment and if this applies to you, please take heed. I never would wish to appear "awkward" but my time is valuable and email hassles with the likes of AOL, ntlworld, hotmail et al are frankly avoidable.

All the best then, until next weekend as usual - NB by the way, that with the end of the French school holidays next weekend (yippee!) mentoring replies may not be quite as immediate as they have been these past few weeks. Certainly, if the weather is any good, there will be a whole lot of "Williams skiing" going on throughout the rest of March and April!

Ian.

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.