Hacker Group Anonymous Brings Peaceful Revolution To America: Will Engage In Civil Disobedience Until Bernanke Steps Down

The world's most (in)famous hacker group - Anonymous - known for effectively shutting down their hacking nemesis security firm (with clients such as Morgan Stanley and, unfortunately for them, Bank of America)- HBGary, advocating the cause of Wikileaks, and the threat made by one of its members that evidence of fraud by Bank of America will be released on Monday, has just launched communication #1 in its Operation "Empire State Rebellion." The goal - engage in "a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience" until Ben Bernanke steps down and the "Primary Dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy effective immediately."

The Anonymous manifesto:

We are a decentralized non-violent resistance movement, which seeks to restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized criminal class.One-tenth of one percent of the population has consolidated wealth in unprecedented fashion and launched an all-out economic war against 99.9% of the population.We are not affiliated with either wing of the two-party oligarchy. We seek an end to the corrupted two-party system by ending the campaign finance and lobbying racket.Above all, we aim to break up the global banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlement and World Bank.We demand that the primary dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective immediately.As a first sign of good faith we demand Ben Bernanke step down as Federal Reserve chairman.Until our demands are met and a rule of law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.In our next communication we will announce Operation Empire State Rebellion.

Glorious Chairman Ben - our free advice to you: change your e-mail password stat...

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Peaceful Saudi Streets Won’t Curb Oil Prices

Don’t expect all hell to break loose in Saudi Arabia when demonstrators hit the streets today in a planned show of strength. Protests are likely to be subdued, according to a Rick’s Picks subscriber who lives there.  “You need to take what the news and Internet are saying with a grain of salt,” he wrote. “I am currently living in Saudi and have been talking to the locals the past few weeks. Everybody I have talked to does not believe anything will happen this weekend, nor do they want change. I am not saying nothing is going to happen, but that is the ground report. Everybody I have talked to, regardless of which Muslim religion they practice, loves the king and is grateful for what has occurred in thecountry over the past generation. You need to remember that these people were 98% nomads less than 30 years ago.” 

The “experts” would indeed have us braced for the worst. “Although most political analysts predict any demonstrations to be swiftly – and perhaps bloodily – suppressed by the government,” the Financial Times reported, “any hint that the protests enjoy wider-than-expected support is likely to spook investors once again.” We suspect that even if Riyadh remains relatively peaceful, however, that crude oil prices will continue to head higher.  A short while back, we wrote here that the spike in crude caused by mounting troubles in Egypt and Libya would seem relatively tame in comparison to what we might see if Saudi oil production were to come under threat. While we still think that’s true, we now expect a quiet weekend in Saudi Arabia to ultimately have little impact on energy markets that seem likely to remain in the grip of speculators. They are quite obviously determined to keep squeezing until the fever breaks, but will it? The Saudi demonstration is not the only one planned for today. There’s another in Bahrain, where Shia protestors are planning to march on the Sunni-dominated royal court in Riffa. That doesn’t sound like a very mellow mix. And in Libya, the battle could drag on indefinitely, perhaps turning even uglier if the country’s energy resources come under attack in an escalated conflict.

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Prohibitive Air Fares

Concerning the technical picture for crude oil futures, we are currently using a Hidden Pivot target at 109.17 as a minimum upside projection for the NYMEX continuous contract.  So far, it has gotten as high as 106.95. If the pivot fails to contain the rally, however, the breakout could go all the way to $151 before it hits a pocket of supply deposited on the charts as crude fell from a frenzied, all-time peak at $188 recorded in the summer of 2008. Even if this Middle East-driven short-squeeze does not break any price records, the persistence of tensions in the region is apt to keep quotes quite buoyant for the foreseeable future. Under the circumstances, we should tune out the ostentatious sighs of relief on Wall Street whenever stocks rise on a day when oil prices have fallen. The two are connected, for sure, but any bullishness based on cheaper crude is bound to be short-lived.  Fuel costs have already pushed air fares so high that airports are going to seem relatively deserted this summer.  How will the stimulus-addled stock market react if gasoline is headed toward $5 a gallon, as seems plausible?

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