(Melchizedek Communique, MC010610) Already the latest Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering, "The Elephant Is In the Tent", is being compared with a bizarre poem from 1972. (Background: "The Elephant Is In the Tent", http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc010510.html)

On January 7, 1972, it was announced that 8-year-old Gerald "Little Milton" Bostock had been disqualified by the Society for Literary Advancement and Gestation (SLAG) following the hundreds of protests and threats received after the reading of his epic poem "Thick as a Brick" on BBC Television. A hastily reconvened panel of judges accepted the decision by four leading child psychiatrists that the boy's mind was seriously unbalanced.

"What ever happened to 'Little Milton' Bostock?" ask some. "Did he change his name to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard?"

The comparisons between the suppressed "Little Milton" Bostock poem and the outcry over Evans-Pritchard's "The Elephant Is In the Tent" are inevitable. Both poems are inscrutable in their meaning and display a marked cynicism. Consider lines such as the following, from the Evans-Pritchard poem:

"Bernanke will get religion, and ram down the 10-year yields."

"Exit strategies will go back into the deep freeze."

"The Dunkirk spirit will rise again."

Professor Herr Dumkoff, leader of the prestigious Heidelberg symposium, uses the Roland Barthes semiotic analysis to dissect the Evans-Pritchard poem. "Going back to the original text," stated the learned professor, "we find an alleged contraction of M3 money in the US and Europe over the last six months. But this is all relative, to invoke Derrida. For Bernanke to 'get religion' evokes a conversion, from 'Helicopter Ben' to, let us say, 'Submarine Ben.' Hence, a contraction in order to 'ram down the 10-year yields' is hinted."

This "ramming down of the 10-year yields" appears to be in consequence of helicopter dumpings driving up the M3 accompanied by a sharp rise in interest on the 10-year T-bills. Reportedly, Bill Gross, investment officer for PIMCO, now favors a flight from U.S. Treasuries for "sovereign bonds of potentially higher quality." U.S. securities carry "sovereign risk" and the dollar is "over owned," Gross told Time. ("Pimco May Favor German Bonds Over U.S. Treasuries, Time Reports", by Wes Goodman. Bloomberg, Jan. 6, 2010)

"Never have Treasuries underperformed stocks as much as in 2009," reports Cordell Eddings of the Bloomberg news. Investors have shunned government debt while the U.S. raised a record $2.11 trillion selling securities. ("Why Bonds May Trail Stocks Again in 2010", Jan. 4, 2010) This "evacuation of Dunkirk" leads to higher yields being demanded, in defiance of Bernanke's proclaimed low interest rates.

But what exactly does Evans-Pritchard mean when he pens, "Exit strategies will go back into the deep freeze." Does it mean "Submarine Ben" will become an apostate to his "new religion" and go back to being "Helicopter Ben"? But wouldn't that further increase Treasury yields? Perhaps not, opines Professor Dumkoff: "If Bernanke himself buys the T-bills, then he can set the rates."