The Joker

Full Moons have a way of disclosing information.  They're supposed to be revelatory and bring things to a climax.  But with Mercury just turning Retrograde yesterday in the trickster sign of Gemini, who knows what to believe?

As it turns out, Mexico was indeed in the news since the New Moon, but it wasn't about the inherent violence of the drug lord gangs and the abuses thereof... it was about this H1N1, swine, avian flu with pretensions towards a pandemic that never materialized.  It was a lot of angst, which is that persistent Saturn in Virgo, retrograde atmosphere...  About a lot of nothing (Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius), but with a lot of potential to be something.  Many people died in Mexico, but no where else... Today the genetic code of the virus was revealed (full Moon stuff).  What it revealed is that it is not particularly virulent (Saturn is retrograde after all), and that it is made up of a stew of different strains, with a history that leads back to overcrowded pig farms no doubt.  It is due to the way that the pigs are kept in these close quarters, snout to snout, that these viruses spread so easily from one beast to the next.. and then are easily passed on to us. This is that whole Jupiter/Neptune lack of boundaries thing I went into in the last article.  Virgo rules farm animals.  Saturn Retrograde reveals inherent problems that need to be fixed.  Whether they will or not is another story.  

Banks need at least $65 Billion in Capital

Headline (May 7, 2009)-Wall St. Journal

The Full Moon chart this month has Capricorn Rising in the Washington, DC chart.  That places the ruler, Saturn, in Virgo, Retrograde, in the House of banks, foreign exchange, and loans.  For the Scorpio (others' money, banks, loans) Full Moon, the results of the "Stress Test" on the financial institutions was revealed, which was supposed to determine whether or not our banks and financial institutions would be able to continue to withstand the stresses of the recession in some model of a continued downturn.  Mega banks such as Chase and Amex will survive and not need more money. Yet they would have to repay their TARP loans, and in order to do so, would they have to borrow more money from somewhere other than the government?  Mmmmm.... like China(8th House foreign loans stuff)? However it was also determined that other banks that are not so solvent, or hugely monopolizing, such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo will need more capital...like $65 Billion worth...  and that's a lot of unwieldy capital, with very few limits.  Oh yes, we're back at Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius, this time in the House of the country's leaking treasury.  

There seems to be such a hypocritical dichotomy here between helping out these huge wealthy financial institutions, that are, in essence, responsible for the present fiscal crisis, and letting Joe Citizen flounder in an economic wasteland...

Onion Newswire:

Resumé consists of Name, 45 years at GM plant

At the New Moon there was talk of GM closing some of their plants for 9 weeks.  It is now revealed that they are shutting down plants for 11 weeks this Summer, affecting 18,000 workers.  This is part of their compulsory (Pluto in Capricorn) restructuring for taking their bail out money.  Well, who's going to bail out the workers?  Saturn in Virgo is never a wonderful time for the working classes.  

Mercury stationed in Gemini on the 7th, the sign of cars, transportation, communications, negotiations, education, and is going to go back to Taurus (money and stuff), where it will play with economic turmoil and confusion for 3 weeks until the 30th of May.  Mercury Retrograde periods are good for correcting mistakes, for reviews, for revisiting the past... but with Mercury's return to square Jupiter/Neptune in Aquarius, it does not bode well for the economic climate.  Oh there will be some progress in some social programs.. but the lack of limits and boundaries, the lack of control and regulations, inherent in this Jupiter/Neptune climate: the over-optimism, the assumption that there will always be more where that came from, the illusion and delusion of grandiosity.. could find us in a very difficult, or at least misleading, pecuniary state by mid-June.  Or maybe we're just being lied to about something.  It may take several weeks to realize that what seems to be true at present, will have all its faults and deceptions revealed later on when Mercury has turned Direct again....  Mercury sits in the house of the well-heeled.  Perhaps yet another ponzi scheme will be eventually revealed?  This is also the house of the "Market" as in stock market.. and this does not bode well for a stable market.  What use does it do to bail out Wall Street, and banks, if they're just going to turn around and continue to do business as usual?

Steve Weissman queries in his article, "Betting on a Global Crapshoot":

 ...the defenders of financial engineering insist on remaining free to create ever more complex derivatives, with all the incalculable risks they pose to the global economy. Will Obama and the Democratic-led Congress leave Wall Street with the freedom to rule and ruin? Or will wiser heads prevail? The debate has only just begun.