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The loss of our freedom and liberty is a VERY serious issue.. Do we still have time to stop it?
You may click here for the source of this post if you prefer..
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Amy Goodman | national columnist | Posted: Thursday, September 30, 2010 4:45 am
Early in the morning on Friday, Sept. 24, FBI agents in Chicago and Minnesota’s Twin Cities kicked in the doors of anti-war activists, brandishing guns, spending hours rifling through their homes. The FBI took away computers, photos, notebooks and other personal property. Residents were issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury in Chicago.
It was just the latest in the ongoing crackdown on dissent in the U.S., targeting peace organizers as supporters of “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Coleen Rowley knows about the FBI. She was a career special agent with the FBI who blew the whistle on the bureau’s failures in the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks. TIME magazine named her Person of the Year in 2002.
A few days after the raids in her hometown of Minneapolis, she told me, “This is not the first time that you’ve seen this Orwellian turn of the war on terror onto domestic peace groups and social justice groups ... we had that begin very quickly after 9/11, and there were Office of Legal Counsel opinions that said the First Amendment no longer controls the war on terror.”
Jess Sundin’s home was raided. She was the lead organizer of the St. Paul, Minn., anti-war march on Labor Day 2008 that occurred as the Republican National Convention began.
She described the raid: “They spent probably about four hours going through all of our personal belongings, every book, paper, our clothes, and filled several boxes and crates with our computers, our phones, my passport ... with which they left my house.”
They smashed activist Mick Kelly’s fish tank when they barged into his home.
The net cast by the FBI that morning included not only anti-war activists, but those who actively support a changed foreign policy toward Israel-Palestine and Colombia. The warrant for Kelly sought all records of his travel, not only to those countries, but also all his domestic U.S. travel since 2000, and all his personal contacts.
No one was arrested. No one was charged with a crime. Days later, hundreds of protesters rallied outside FBI offices nationally.
The raids happened just days after the U.S. Department of Justice’s inspector general released a report, “A Review of the FBI’s Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups.” The inspector general looked at FBI surveillance and investigation of, among others, the environmental group Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Pittsburgh-based Thomas Merton Center.
Founded in 1972 to support opposition to the war in Vietnam, the Merton Center continues to be a hub of anti-war activism in Pittsburgh. In 2002, the FBI spied on a Merton-organized rally, claiming “persons with links to international terrorism would be present.” As the inspector general reports, this claim was a fabrication, which was then relayed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, who repeated it, under oath, to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The illegal surveillance trickles down, through “Joint Terrorism Task Forces” that bring together federal, state and local law enforcement, homeland security and military agencies, often under the roof of a “fusion center,” the name given to shadowy transjurisdictional intelligence centers. There, it seems, slapping the “domestic terror” tag on activists is standard.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell recently apologized when it was revealed that his state homeland security director, James Powers, had contracted with a private company to research and distribute information about citizen groups engaged in legal activity. Groups opposed to the environmentally destructive extraction of natural gas known as “fracking,” for example, were referred to as “environmental extremists.” Their crime: holding a screening of the Sundance-winning documentary “Gasland.”
Back in the Twin Cities, the state has been forced to back off eight other activists, dubbed the “RNC 8,” who were part of organizing the protests at the Republican National Convention. They all were pre-emptively arrested, before the convention started, and charged, under Minnesota state law, as terrorists. The prosecution has since dropped all terrorism charges (four of them will go to trial on other charges).
This is all happening while the Obama administration uses fear of terrorism to seek expanded authority to spy on Internet users, and as another scandal is brewing: The Justice Department also revealed this week that FBI agents regularly cheated on an exam testing knowledge of proper rules and procedures governing domestic surveillance.
This is more than just a cheating scandal. It’s about basic freedoms at the core of our democracy, the abuse of power and the erosion of civil liberties.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 800 stations, including WYOU cable access TV and WORT/FM 89.9 radio here. Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
BEWARE the #Utility Companies
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I WAS having a pretty good, as in fun, day today UNTIL I picked up the local newspaper at lunch time..
The headline that soured my mood a bit was..
Empire asks state regulators for [another] rate increase
Have you ever tried to find a specific story out of the paper on-line? It often proves to be a very difficult, if not impossible, task.. It seems the SAME so-called news story is chopped up and edited and presented in many different forms in many different places.. For many different audiences???
Empire District Electric Company filed for another rate increase on Tuesday, 09/28/2010. The utilities last rate hike went into effect earlier THIS month!
I can't find this article on the on-line version of the paper or with a google search.. I CAN find bits and pieces of it with select pieces mysteriously 'missing'..
I run into this pretty often and it seems very strange to me.. Like even our NEWS is being heavily manipulated..
Here's a part of the original article that I can't seem to find on the net in heavily edited versions of the article..
"When they want more money, they come to us," Filson said. "We residents don't have anyone to go to. In other words, we are the bottom line."
Filson said his income hasn't budged. He receives a fixed pension, and his Social Security hasn't risen because, he said with a laugh, government officials say there has been no inflation.
"I have done all I can do," he said. We can't keep up with them. What the heck are we supposed to do?"
Click the link above to see one of the many chopped up versions of this story that exist on the net.. Mysteriously missing in all of them seems to be the concerns of the citizens who are affected by these relentless utility price increases..
Bastards..
Greg
I WAS having a pretty good, as in fun, day today UNTIL I picked up the local newspaper at lunch time..
The headline that soured my mood a bit was..
Empire asks state regulators for [another] rate increase
Have you ever tried to find a specific story out of the paper on-line? It often proves to be a very difficult, if not impossible, task.. It seems the SAME so-called news story is chopped up and edited and presented in many different forms in many different places.. For many different audiences???
Empire District Electric Company filed for another rate increase on Tuesday, 09/28/2010. The utilities last rate hike went into effect earlier THIS month!
I can't find this article on the on-line version of the paper or with a google search.. I CAN find bits and pieces of it with select pieces mysteriously 'missing'..
I run into this pretty often and it seems very strange to me.. Like even our NEWS is being heavily manipulated..
Here's a part of the original article that I can't seem to find on the net in heavily edited versions of the article..
"When they want more money, they come to us," Filson said. "We residents don't have anyone to go to. In other words, we are the bottom line."
Filson said his income hasn't budged. He receives a fixed pension, and his Social Security hasn't risen because, he said with a laugh, government officials say there has been no inflation.
"I have done all I can do," he said. We can't keep up with them. What the heck are we supposed to do?"
Click the link above to see one of the many chopped up versions of this story that exist on the net.. Mysteriously missing in all of them seems to be the concerns of the citizens who are affected by these relentless utility price increases..
Bastards..
Greg
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
#America Caught in Catch-22
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Click here for the source post on Yahoo News if you prefer
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By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer Anne D'innocenzio, Ap Retail Writer – Tue Sep 28, 7:51 pm ET
NEW YORK – Americans in both the living room and the boardroom are growing more fearful about the economy, creating a Catch-22 for the job market: Shoppers won't spend until they feel more secure, and business won't hire until people start spending.
The eroding views were revealed Tuesday by two separate surveys, one that found everyday Americans are increasingly pessimistic about jobs and another that found CEOs have grimmer predictions about upcoming sales.
"The economy is stuck in an unvirtuous cycle," said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo. "Consumers are waiting for more jobs to be created, and businesses are waiting for consumers."
The monthly consumer confidence index from the Conference Board, a private research group, fell to 48.5 in September, its lowest point since February and down from 53.2 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting 52.5 for September.
It takes a reading of 90 to indicate a healthy economy — a level not approached since the recession began in December 2007.
Meanwhile, a poll by Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big companies, found two-thirds of chief executives expected sales to grow over the next six months. That's down from 79 percent in June.
Causing uncertainty for both groups, Vitner says, are the Nov. 2 elections, when voters worried about increasing deficits and the economy's slow recovery will decide whether to keep Democrats in power in Congress.
The Federal Reserve's [idiotic]efforts to pump up [inflate] the economy and lower the unemployment rate, stuck at almost 10 percent, have fallen short. Fed chief Ben Bernanke has signaled that the Fed is prepared to take new action if things get worse, but there's no easy solution.
Some companies that had big rounds of layoffs during the worst of the recession, such as drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., are still trimming work forces to bring down costs.
The CEO survey suggests companies will be wary about adding workers into 2011. Only 31 percent of CEOs said they expected to increase their payrolls in the next six months, down from 39 percent in June, which was the best reading since before the recession.
The recession is technically over — a panel of economists declared this month that it lasted 18 months and came to an end in July 2009 — but Americans are just as downbeat as they were a year ago [WOOHOO!].
Consumer confidence "remains quite grim," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "There's been no consistency and no momentum."
While unemployment is the biggest factor in depressing Americans' moods, they're also dealing with tight credit and depressed home values [no demand or credit]. Home prices ticked up in July for the fourth straight month, helped by the now-expired home credits, but many cities are bracing for declines in the year ahead, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index.
The declining confidence came as stocks staged a [bullsh*t] rally in September, putting the Dow Jones industrial average ahead for 2010. Tuesday's report made investors jittery, but major indexes broke even as traders were encouraged by a flurry of corporate deals.
The consumer confidence index was based on a random survey mailed to 5,000 households from Sept. 1 to Sept. 21.
Click here for the source post on Yahoo News if you prefer
---
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer Anne D'innocenzio, Ap Retail Writer – Tue Sep 28, 7:51 pm ET
NEW YORK – Americans in both the living room and the boardroom are growing more fearful about the economy, creating a Catch-22 for the job market: Shoppers won't spend until they feel more secure, and business won't hire until people start spending.
The eroding views were revealed Tuesday by two separate surveys, one that found everyday Americans are increasingly pessimistic about jobs and another that found CEOs have grimmer predictions about upcoming sales.
"The economy is stuck in an unvirtuous cycle," said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo. "Consumers are waiting for more jobs to be created, and businesses are waiting for consumers."
The monthly consumer confidence index from the Conference Board, a private research group, fell to 48.5 in September, its lowest point since February and down from 53.2 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting 52.5 for September.
It takes a reading of 90 to indicate a healthy economy — a level not approached since the recession began in December 2007.
Meanwhile, a poll by Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of big companies, found two-thirds of chief executives expected sales to grow over the next six months. That's down from 79 percent in June.
Causing uncertainty for both groups, Vitner says, are the Nov. 2 elections, when voters worried about increasing deficits and the economy's slow recovery will decide whether to keep Democrats in power in Congress.
The Federal Reserve's [idiotic]efforts to pump up [inflate] the economy and lower the unemployment rate, stuck at almost 10 percent, have fallen short. Fed chief Ben Bernanke has signaled that the Fed is prepared to take new action if things get worse, but there's no easy solution.
Some companies that had big rounds of layoffs during the worst of the recession, such as drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., are still trimming work forces to bring down costs.
The CEO survey suggests companies will be wary about adding workers into 2011. Only 31 percent of CEOs said they expected to increase their payrolls in the next six months, down from 39 percent in June, which was the best reading since before the recession.
The recession is technically over — a panel of economists declared this month that it lasted 18 months and came to an end in July 2009 — but Americans are just as downbeat as they were a year ago [WOOHOO!].
Consumer confidence "remains quite grim," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "There's been no consistency and no momentum."
While unemployment is the biggest factor in depressing Americans' moods, they're also dealing with tight credit and depressed home values [no demand or credit]. Home prices ticked up in July for the fourth straight month, helped by the now-expired home credits, but many cities are bracing for declines in the year ahead, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index.
The declining confidence came as stocks staged a [bullsh*t] rally in September, putting the Dow Jones industrial average ahead for 2010. Tuesday's report made investors jittery, but major indexes broke even as traders were encouraged by a flurry of corporate deals.
The consumer confidence index was based on a random survey mailed to 5,000 households from Sept. 1 to Sept. 21.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Like #Freedom, #Gold Cramps The #Politicians Style
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Click here for a link to the source of this post on www.investors.com if you prefer..
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By THOMAS SOWELL Posted 09/27/2010 06:44 PM ET
One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive ObamaCare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.
Gold has long been a source of frustration for politicians who want to extend their power over the economy. First of all, the gold standard cramped their style because there is only so much money you can print when every dollar bill can be turned in to the government, to be exchanged for the equivalent amount of gold.
When the amount of money the government can print is limited by how much gold the government has, politicians cannot pay off a massive national debt by just printing more money and repaying the owners of government bonds with dollars that are cheaper than the dollars with which the bonds were bought. In other words, politicians cannot cheat people as easily.
That was just one of the ways that the gold standard cramped politicians' style — and just one of the reasons they got rid of it. One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.
But, even with the gold standard gone, the ability of private individuals to buy gold reduces the ability of the government to steal the value of their money by printing more money.
Inflation is a quiet but effective way for the government to transfer resources from the people to itself, without raising taxes. A hundred dollar bill would buy less in 1998 than a $20 bill would buy in the 1960s. This means that anyone who kept his money in a safe over those years would have lost 80% of its value, because no safe can keep your money safe from politicians who control the printing presses.
That is why some people buy gold when they lose confidence in the government's managing of its money. Usually that is when inflation is either under way or looming on the horizon. When many people start transferring their wealth from dollars into gold, that restricts the ability of politicians to steal from them through inflation.
Even though there is currently very little inflation, purchases of gold have nevertheless skyrocketed. Ordinarily, most gold is bought for producing jewelry or for various industrial purposes, more so than as an investment. But, at times within the past two years, most gold has been bought by investors.
What that suggests is that increasing numbers of people don't trust this administration's economic policies, especially their huge and growing deficits, which add up to a record-breaking national debt.
When a national debt reaches an unsustainable amount, there is always a temptation to pay it off with inflated dollars. There is the same temptation when the Social Security system starts paying out more money to baby boom retirees than it is taking in from current workers.
Whether gold is a good investment for individuals, and whether the gold standard is the right system for a country, are much more complicated questions than can be answered here. But what is clear is that the Obama administration sees people's freedom to buy and sell gold as something that can limit what the government can do.
Indeed, freedom in general cramps the government's style. Those on the left may not be against freedom in general. But, at every turn, they find the freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States hampering the left's agenda of imposing their superior wisdom and virtue on the rest of us.
The desire to restrain or control the buying and selling of gold is just one of the many signs of the inherent conflict between the freedom of the individual and the left's attempts to control our lives.
Sneaking a provision on gold purchases and sales into massive legislation that is supposedly about medical care is just one of the many cynical tricks used to circumvent the public's right to know how they are being governed. The Constitution begins, "We the people" but, to the left, both the people and the Constitution are just things to circumvent in order to carry out their agenda.
Click here for a link to the source of this post on www.investors.com if you prefer..
---
By THOMAS SOWELL Posted 09/27/2010 06:44 PM ET
One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive ObamaCare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.
Gold has long been a source of frustration for politicians who want to extend their power over the economy. First of all, the gold standard cramped their style because there is only so much money you can print when every dollar bill can be turned in to the government, to be exchanged for the equivalent amount of gold.
When the amount of money the government can print is limited by how much gold the government has, politicians cannot pay off a massive national debt by just printing more money and repaying the owners of government bonds with dollars that are cheaper than the dollars with which the bonds were bought. In other words, politicians cannot cheat people as easily.
That was just one of the ways that the gold standard cramped politicians' style — and just one of the reasons they got rid of it. One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.
But, even with the gold standard gone, the ability of private individuals to buy gold reduces the ability of the government to steal the value of their money by printing more money.
Inflation is a quiet but effective way for the government to transfer resources from the people to itself, without raising taxes. A hundred dollar bill would buy less in 1998 than a $20 bill would buy in the 1960s. This means that anyone who kept his money in a safe over those years would have lost 80% of its value, because no safe can keep your money safe from politicians who control the printing presses.
That is why some people buy gold when they lose confidence in the government's managing of its money. Usually that is when inflation is either under way or looming on the horizon. When many people start transferring their wealth from dollars into gold, that restricts the ability of politicians to steal from them through inflation.
Even though there is currently very little inflation, purchases of gold have nevertheless skyrocketed. Ordinarily, most gold is bought for producing jewelry or for various industrial purposes, more so than as an investment. But, at times within the past two years, most gold has been bought by investors.
What that suggests is that increasing numbers of people don't trust this administration's economic policies, especially their huge and growing deficits, which add up to a record-breaking national debt.
When a national debt reaches an unsustainable amount, there is always a temptation to pay it off with inflated dollars. There is the same temptation when the Social Security system starts paying out more money to baby boom retirees than it is taking in from current workers.
Whether gold is a good investment for individuals, and whether the gold standard is the right system for a country, are much more complicated questions than can be answered here. But what is clear is that the Obama administration sees people's freedom to buy and sell gold as something that can limit what the government can do.
Indeed, freedom in general cramps the government's style. Those on the left may not be against freedom in general. But, at every turn, they find the freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States hampering the left's agenda of imposing their superior wisdom and virtue on the rest of us.
The desire to restrain or control the buying and selling of gold is just one of the many signs of the inherent conflict between the freedom of the individual and the left's attempts to control our lives.
Sneaking a provision on gold purchases and sales into massive legislation that is supposedly about medical care is just one of the many cynical tricks used to circumvent the public's right to know how they are being governed. The Constitution begins, "We the people" but, to the left, both the people and the Constitution are just things to circumvent in order to carry out their agenda.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The Greatest #Stock #Market Mania of All Time
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Ran across this today on www.cross-currents.net while looking around..
Wanted to share it as it contains some great charts and commentary on our markets..
Hope you enjoy it
Greg
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Ran across this today on www.cross-currents.net while looking around..
Wanted to share it as it contains some great charts and commentary on our markets..
Hope you enjoy it
Greg
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Obama Stimulus Made Economic Crisis Worse, `Black Swan' Author Taleb Says
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You may click here for the original source post on Bloomberg if you prefer
I am posting this because I agree 100% with the assertion that it is the arrogance of our government and the Federal Reserve bank that led them to believe they could manipulate and control any economic situation that came their way..
Obviously, to me anyway, that is not at all the case..
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By Frederic Tomesco - Sep 25, 2010 7:36 AM PT
U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration weakened the country’s economy by seeking to foster growth instead of paying down the federal debt, said Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan.”
“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”
Today, Taleb said, “total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.”
Obama this month proposed a package of $180 billion in business tax breaks and infrastructure outlays to boost spending and job growth. That would come on top of the $814 billion stimulus measure enacted last year. The U.S. government’s total outstanding debt is about $13.5 trillion, according to U.S. Treasury Department figures.
Obama, 49, inherited what the National Bureau of Economic Research said this week was the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Even after the stimulus measure and other government actions, the U.S. unemployment rate is 9.6 percent.
Governments globally need to cut debt and avoid bailing out struggling companies because that’s the only way they can shield their economies from the negative consequences of erroneous budget forecasts, Taleb said.
Errant Forecasts
“Today there is a dependency on people who have never been able to forecast anything,” Taleb said. “What kind of system is insulated from forecasting errors? A system where debts are low and companies are allowed to die young when they are fragile. Companies always end up dying one day anyway.”
Taleb, a native of Lebanon who gave his speech in French to an audience of Quebec business people, said Canada’s fiscal situation makes the country a safer investment than its southern neighbor.
Canada has the lowest ratio of net debt to gross domestic product among the Group of Seven industrialized countries and will keep that distinction until at least 2014, the country’s finance department said in March. Canada’s ratio, 24 percent in 2007, will rise to about 30 percent by 2014. The U.S. ratio, now above 40 percent, will top 80 percent in four years, the department said, citing IMF data.
“I am bullish on Canada,” he told the audience. “I prefer Canada to the U.S. or even Europe.”
Mortgage Interest
Canada’s economy also benefits from the fact that homeowners, unlike their U.S. neighbors, can’t take mortgage interest as a tax deduction, Taleb said. That removes the incentive to take on too much debt, he said.
“The first thing to do if you want to solve the mortgage problem in the U.S. is to stop making these interest payments deductible,” he said. “Has someone dared to talk about this in Washington? No, because the U.S. homebuilders’ lobby is hyperactive and doesn’t want people to talk about this.”
Taleb also criticized banks and securities firms, saying they don’t adequately warn clients of the risks they run when they invest their retirement savings in the stock market.
‘Have Fun’
“People should use financial markets to have fun, but not as a depository of value,” Taleb said. “Investors have been deceived. People were told that markets go up regularly, but if you look at the last 10 years that’s not been the case. The risks are always greater than what people are told.”
Asked by an audience member if returns such as those posted by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett -- who amassed the world’s third-biggest personal fortune through decades of stock picks and takeovers -- are the product of luck or talent, Taleb said both played a part.
If given a choice between investing with Buffett and billionaire investor George Soros, Taleb also said he would probably pick the latter.
“I am not saying Buffett isn’t as good as Soros,” he said. “I am saying that the probability Soros’s returns come from randomness is much smaller because he did almost everything: he bought currencies, he sold currencies, he did arbitrages. He made a lot more decisions. Buffett followed a strategy to buy companies that had a certain earnings profile, and it worked for him. There is a lot more luck involved in this strategy.”
Soros gained fame in the 1990s when he reportedly made $1 billion correctly betting against the British pound.
Taleb’s 2007 best-seller, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable,” argues that history is littered with rare, high-impact events. The black-swan theory stems from the ancient misconception that all swans were white.
A former trader, Taleb teaches risk engineering at New York University and advises Universa Investments LP, a Santa Monica, California-based fund that bets on extreme market moves.
To contact the reporter for this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at tomesco@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net
You may click here for the original source post on Bloomberg if you prefer
I am posting this because I agree 100% with the assertion that it is the arrogance of our government and the Federal Reserve bank that led them to believe they could manipulate and control any economic situation that came their way..
Obviously, to me anyway, that is not at all the case..
---
By Frederic Tomesco - Sep 25, 2010 7:36 AM PT
U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration weakened the country’s economy by seeking to foster growth instead of paying down the federal debt, said Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan.”
“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”
Today, Taleb said, “total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.”
Obama this month proposed a package of $180 billion in business tax breaks and infrastructure outlays to boost spending and job growth. That would come on top of the $814 billion stimulus measure enacted last year. The U.S. government’s total outstanding debt is about $13.5 trillion, according to U.S. Treasury Department figures.
Obama, 49, inherited what the National Bureau of Economic Research said this week was the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Even after the stimulus measure and other government actions, the U.S. unemployment rate is 9.6 percent.
Governments globally need to cut debt and avoid bailing out struggling companies because that’s the only way they can shield their economies from the negative consequences of erroneous budget forecasts, Taleb said.
Errant Forecasts
“Today there is a dependency on people who have never been able to forecast anything,” Taleb said. “What kind of system is insulated from forecasting errors? A system where debts are low and companies are allowed to die young when they are fragile. Companies always end up dying one day anyway.”
Taleb, a native of Lebanon who gave his speech in French to an audience of Quebec business people, said Canada’s fiscal situation makes the country a safer investment than its southern neighbor.
Canada has the lowest ratio of net debt to gross domestic product among the Group of Seven industrialized countries and will keep that distinction until at least 2014, the country’s finance department said in March. Canada’s ratio, 24 percent in 2007, will rise to about 30 percent by 2014. The U.S. ratio, now above 40 percent, will top 80 percent in four years, the department said, citing IMF data.
“I am bullish on Canada,” he told the audience. “I prefer Canada to the U.S. or even Europe.”
Mortgage Interest
Canada’s economy also benefits from the fact that homeowners, unlike their U.S. neighbors, can’t take mortgage interest as a tax deduction, Taleb said. That removes the incentive to take on too much debt, he said.
“The first thing to do if you want to solve the mortgage problem in the U.S. is to stop making these interest payments deductible,” he said. “Has someone dared to talk about this in Washington? No, because the U.S. homebuilders’ lobby is hyperactive and doesn’t want people to talk about this.”
Taleb also criticized banks and securities firms, saying they don’t adequately warn clients of the risks they run when they invest their retirement savings in the stock market.
‘Have Fun’
“People should use financial markets to have fun, but not as a depository of value,” Taleb said. “Investors have been deceived. People were told that markets go up regularly, but if you look at the last 10 years that’s not been the case. The risks are always greater than what people are told.”
Asked by an audience member if returns such as those posted by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett -- who amassed the world’s third-biggest personal fortune through decades of stock picks and takeovers -- are the product of luck or talent, Taleb said both played a part.
If given a choice between investing with Buffett and billionaire investor George Soros, Taleb also said he would probably pick the latter.
“I am not saying Buffett isn’t as good as Soros,” he said. “I am saying that the probability Soros’s returns come from randomness is much smaller because he did almost everything: he bought currencies, he sold currencies, he did arbitrages. He made a lot more decisions. Buffett followed a strategy to buy companies that had a certain earnings profile, and it worked for him. There is a lot more luck involved in this strategy.”
Soros gained fame in the 1990s when he reportedly made $1 billion correctly betting against the British pound.
Taleb’s 2007 best-seller, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable,” argues that history is littered with rare, high-impact events. The black-swan theory stems from the ancient misconception that all swans were white.
A former trader, Taleb teaches risk engineering at New York University and advises Universa Investments LP, a Santa Monica, California-based fund that bets on extreme market moves.
To contact the reporter for this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at tomesco@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net
Saturday, September 25, 2010
#Complexity in calculating #Economic data (Garbage in, garbage out?)
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From the AP Sept 25, 2010
U.S. companies invested last month in computers, communications equipment and machinery, boosting capital goods orders for the third time in 4 months.
The 4.1 percent increase to capital goods in August 'signaled' a rebound in business spending after orders fell by 5.3 percent in July. It also suggests manufacturing, which has helped drive economic growth since 'the recession ended' in June 2009, is still a bright spot in a weak recovery.
Click here for a link to this entire AP story 'Business spending on rise'
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These 'stories' are driving me insane..
"The gains in capital goods orders, along with a jump in business confidence in Germany, helped send stocks soaring"
"The overall demand for durable goods fell 1.3 percent in August" -Commerce Dept
"The sales of new homes was the 2nd worst on records dating back to 1963" paraphrased
"Home sales in August were down 29 percent from the same month a year earlier"
"The manufacturing sector has expanded for 13 straight months, as measured by the Institute for Supply Management"
"Business spending on equipment and software has been growing at a 20 percent annual rate over the past three quarters"
"Cisco Systems Inc, in August reported a 79 percent increase in earnings in the latest quarter"
"Oracle Corp., the world's biggest maker of database software, last week said it had a 20 percent increase in net income in the latest quarter, which it attributed to increased purchases of its products by corporations."
"The Commerce report said that orders for machinery rose 3.9 percent in August after tumbling 9.6 percent in July. Demand for computers and related products was up 12 percent. Orders for communications equipment rose 9.2 percent last month. Orders for primary metals rose 2.4 percent."
"The overall decline in August was the largest since a 2.6 percent decrease in August 2009 and the third overall decline in four months."
"Demand for transportation goods fell 10.3 percent last month, after having been up 11.6 percent in July. The swing reflected a 40.2 percent plunge in orders for commercial airplanes, a volatile category which had surged 69 percent in July. Boeing Co. saw its orders climb to 103 planes in July and then drop to just seven planes in August."
"Orders for motor vehicles and parts fell 4.4 percent in August after a 4.6 percent increase in July."
To cut o the chase here.. It has become my own opinion that MANY things economists and market participants seem to take for granted as being perfectly fine indicators of our current economic situation are easily manipulated by government and business themselves (the Plutocracy).
Things like
Capital goods
"But a recovering economy and brighter outlook for airlines point to a stronger 2010. Boeing found more demand than expected at the Farnborough Airshow last week, logging orders for 103 planes with a list price of $10.4 billion." < WHO bought/ordered all these planes? It wasn't me..
Durable Goods
"A 'surprise' jump in durable goods orders and corporate spending provided the boost to U.S. stocks" < Surprise huh? Wonder how that happened?
"Industrial stocks including General Electric Co., Caterpillar Inc. and United Technologies Corp. gained after the Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose last month at their fastest pace in five months, while corporate spending also rose." < What is igniting all this durable goods orders and corporate spending? Do you know? Is it the economy?
GDP
CPI
Unemployment
If you'll just take a quick glance at the links above you will see that ALL economic data is based on THEORIES of calculation..
It is my suggestion that during this time of great economic upheaval our government has been, and continues to be, working closely with business interests in the United States to manipulate economic data (collusion). When you have an operating Plutocracy to begin with it is not hard at all to plug in a number here or there in all the economic calculations above, and also many more, to produce a number which is more in line with presenting the economic situation in any light you desire..
What i have a difficult time believing is that trained economists and active market participants seems to accept these, easily manipulated, numbers as Gospel..
For a clearer understanding of what is going on in our economy without all the government hype and data manipulation PLEASE visit..
Shadow Government Statistics
Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting
And WHY would our own government and business sectors be trying to conceal from citizens the true state of the economy?
Take a look at this article..
Special army unit ready to be deployed on American soil just before Nov. elections (Update)
Nobody Told Me.. Strange days indeed.. -John Lennon
Greg
From the AP Sept 25, 2010
U.S. companies invested last month in computers, communications equipment and machinery, boosting capital goods orders for the third time in 4 months.
The 4.1 percent increase to capital goods in August 'signaled' a rebound in business spending after orders fell by 5.3 percent in July. It also suggests manufacturing, which has helped drive economic growth since 'the recession ended' in June 2009, is still a bright spot in a weak recovery.
Click here for a link to this entire AP story 'Business spending on rise'
---
These 'stories' are driving me insane..
"The gains in capital goods orders, along with a jump in business confidence in Germany, helped send stocks soaring"
"The overall demand for durable goods fell 1.3 percent in August" -Commerce Dept
"The sales of new homes was the 2nd worst on records dating back to 1963" paraphrased
"Home sales in August were down 29 percent from the same month a year earlier"
"The manufacturing sector has expanded for 13 straight months, as measured by the Institute for Supply Management"
"Business spending on equipment and software has been growing at a 20 percent annual rate over the past three quarters"
"Cisco Systems Inc, in August reported a 79 percent increase in earnings in the latest quarter"
"Oracle Corp., the world's biggest maker of database software, last week said it had a 20 percent increase in net income in the latest quarter, which it attributed to increased purchases of its products by corporations."
"The Commerce report said that orders for machinery rose 3.9 percent in August after tumbling 9.6 percent in July. Demand for computers and related products was up 12 percent. Orders for communications equipment rose 9.2 percent last month. Orders for primary metals rose 2.4 percent."
"The overall decline in August was the largest since a 2.6 percent decrease in August 2009 and the third overall decline in four months."
"Demand for transportation goods fell 10.3 percent last month, after having been up 11.6 percent in July. The swing reflected a 40.2 percent plunge in orders for commercial airplanes, a volatile category which had surged 69 percent in July. Boeing Co. saw its orders climb to 103 planes in July and then drop to just seven planes in August."
"Orders for motor vehicles and parts fell 4.4 percent in August after a 4.6 percent increase in July."
To cut o the chase here.. It has become my own opinion that MANY things economists and market participants seem to take for granted as being perfectly fine indicators of our current economic situation are easily manipulated by government and business themselves (the Plutocracy).
Things like
Capital goods
"But a recovering economy and brighter outlook for airlines point to a stronger 2010. Boeing found more demand than expected at the Farnborough Airshow last week, logging orders for 103 planes with a list price of $10.4 billion." < WHO bought/ordered all these planes? It wasn't me..
Durable Goods
"A 'surprise' jump in durable goods orders and corporate spending provided the boost to U.S. stocks" < Surprise huh? Wonder how that happened?
"Industrial stocks including General Electric Co., Caterpillar Inc. and United Technologies Corp. gained after the Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose last month at their fastest pace in five months, while corporate spending also rose." < What is igniting all this durable goods orders and corporate spending? Do you know? Is it the economy?
GDP
CPI
Unemployment
If you'll just take a quick glance at the links above you will see that ALL economic data is based on THEORIES of calculation..
It is my suggestion that during this time of great economic upheaval our government has been, and continues to be, working closely with business interests in the United States to manipulate economic data (collusion). When you have an operating Plutocracy to begin with it is not hard at all to plug in a number here or there in all the economic calculations above, and also many more, to produce a number which is more in line with presenting the economic situation in any light you desire..
What i have a difficult time believing is that trained economists and active market participants seems to accept these, easily manipulated, numbers as Gospel..
For a clearer understanding of what is going on in our economy without all the government hype and data manipulation PLEASE visit..
Shadow Government Statistics
Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting
And WHY would our own government and business sectors be trying to conceal from citizens the true state of the economy?
Take a look at this article..
Special army unit ready to be deployed on American soil just before Nov. elections (Update)
Nobody Told Me.. Strange days indeed.. -John Lennon
Greg
Thursday, September 23, 2010
#Deflation Is Good
---
Click here for the source post on The Daily Bell if you prefer..
I wanted to do a post on deflation myself.. But my programming experience of the past convinced me to see if I could save myself a lot of work by finding an adult discussion of the deflation vs inflation debate by someone who might present the arguments better than I.. I think I succeeded..
---
Thursday, June 10, 2010 – by Staff Report
David Cameron's new Government in Britain announced Tuesday that it will introduce austerity measures to begin paying down the estimated one trillion (U.S. value) in debts held by the British Government. Lets let that sink in for a moment, for it is a stunning announcement. Now repeat it: Britain will introduce austerity measures in order to eliminate the deficit and begin paying down the national debt. And that being said, we have just received the signal to an end to global stimulus measures — one that puts a nail in the coffin of the debate on whether or not Britain would "print" her way out of the debt crisis. That would have virtually guaranteed an eventual hyperinflation that would have spread to all Western nations, destroying the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency in the process and ending several hundred years of Western economic dominance. ... This is actually a celebratory moment although it will not feel like it for most. – Rick Ackerman's blog
Dominant Social Theme: Fiat money deflation is good ... for the powers-that-be, not for you and me!
Free-Market Analysis: We wrote an article about inflation and price inflation recently and came down on the side of inflation (both price and monetary) – in the long term anyway. This article on Rick Ackerman's blog seems to be getting a lot of attention and comes to the opposite conclusion. The West is headed toward a deflationary depression and the British government is making the right decision – or so the consensus seems to be, even in the alternative press.
We were initially clued into the article from Lila Rajiva's blog. Rajiva provides fine feedback to the Bell from time to time, often from a free-market-oriented perspective. From what we can tell, she seems generally supportive of the deflationary argument, as many are, even (as noted above) within the alternative press. Interestingly, Rick Ackerman himself does not seem to have written the article that he bylines as his lead story on June 9. In the feedback section beneath the article, in response to a reader who questions the deflationary scenario, he offers the following:
I didn't write that essay, Larry, but it is my policy to publish essays that I do not necessarily agree with. In this instance, I share your doubts that politicians will be able to stay the course, paying off debts the old-fashioned way. In fact, the debts are so large that even if they wanted to pay them off, they/we taxpayers could not not. However, given that borrowers are incapable of growing debt at the moment, deflation will out. All the blather about how Bernanke et al. "won't let it happen" is just that — blather. It is dumbfounding that some people still believe that the Fed is in control of an imploding debt juggernaut that aggregates into the hundreds of trillion of dollars.
Like many (even we here at the Bell), Ackerman seems a bit ambivalent about inflation – and we don't see a careful distinction between price and monetary issues. In the above response he observes that politicians will not be able to maintain austerity programs yet predicts substantial deflation anyway (presumably he is referring to price-deflation). We've read many articles in the recent past that seem to waver a bit. To us, and we think to those who read the alternative press, the inflation-deflation argument (both price-wise and monetary) is a core one that affects everything from one's personal economic and political philosophy to one's pocketbook and, ultimately, how one invests.
Believe in significant price-deflation, long-term, and you may not wish to put your cash into current high performing assets such as gold and silver. You may come to the conclusion that politicians, chastened and disciplined, will stick to austerity programs and that therefore cash is king. Believe in a coming wave of inflation or hyperinflation, and you'll probably lean toward gold or silver, or at least tangible assets. Maybe fixed income as well and derivative securities such as annuities.
But there is a significant political angle to all of this. Many of those who believe in uncontrollable monetary inflation are either implying or stating that inflation is monetary phenomenon created by central banking policies. Those who focus on deflation and argue for its increased presence often seem to argue that the spending came in large part from the electorate that insisted on public spending "We have met the enemy and he is us." (Pogo) Here's some more from the article:
So deflation it is. It will come to Canada eventually, too, so let's start having a real debate about what that will look like and get familiar with the idea. We have already experienced stark restraint in this country in a program that was masterfully crafted by Jean Chretien and Paul Martin in the 1990's. Sanity was restored after three hard years of belt tightening. But this next phase will be a much more bitter pill to swallow. We need to look to our leadership to guide us through the crisis as it unfolds. The inflationist camp can now leave the room because none of us can stand to hear their anguished cries, angry foot-stomping and teary, selfish objections. How pathetic!
What to Expect:
Here is a very short list of what can be expected — and trust me, this is a much more palatable list than the ones I have analyzed involving an unthinkable and devastating hyperinflation. So put away the placards and protest signs. We all need to get on board with paying down debt like any responsible citizen debtor would do. We owe big-time, and this is but a taste of how it may cost us:
• Major employment reductions in the public-service sector
• Rationing of health care services, fewer nurses, health practitioners and support staff
• Larger class-size in schools, and large reductions in the number of teachers
• Reduced public pensions and benefits, including social service payments
• Interest rates that will gradually rise and eventually settle at around six percent
• Strikes, labor unrest and supply chain breakdowns
• Widespread unemployment affecting virtually every sector of the economy. No one will be spared
• An expansion of public works programs and green initiatives
• Civil disobedience, arrests, targeting of threatening movements by security agencies and government
• Increasing taxation, particularly on the wealthy and buoyant businesses
• Shortages of all kinds and the loss of variety on store shelves
• An erosion in the standard of living for most, but particularly for those who are in debt
• Cutbacks in military spending, defense, coastal patrols and overseas engagements
• Cherished programs that governments usually support will be eliminated
• Larger police forces, prison expansions and a judiciary that is strained to the breaking point
• Cities, states and counties will be denied bailouts, forcing them into bankruptcy
• Services that protect the environment, animal rights and special interests will be reduced
• Universities will close
The list could stretch on and on, but you get the picture. It will be a very difficult and long-lasting correction that will purge waste and inefficiency from the system. Few will be happy, but the alternative is just too distressing to consider. The only thing that will give you true immunity in the mean time is a fat blanket of cash. Be sure to have some. Be liquid. Pay off debts. Rejoice in your good decisions. And live free.
The above list of corrective issues is expansive of course, but we would make the case that it is political as well – especially the point about "an expansion of public works programs and green initiatives." The author seems in general to believe that such a laundry list of "austerity" programs (an inevitable result of deflation) are "palatable" and much to be preferred to aggressive inflation (certainly hyperinflation). The overall point: "We all need to get on board with paying down debt like any responsible citizen debtor would."
Is this so? We don't happen to believe the average citizen is responsible for this mess. Just as we disagree with the idea that democracy gets the leadership it deserves. In America, certainly, the political system has been actively manipulated by the power elite since the end of the Civil War. The electoral system has been transformed to emphasize direct democracy and various laws have been passed to help ensure that America (indeed the West) ends up with the most wretched kind of evolutionary regulatory democracy – one that emphasizes high taxes, endless laws and mercantilist, abusive central banking and its endless debasement.
The current economic crisis, in fact, seems the deliberate result of obscenely manipulative fiscal and monetary policies. We believe that suggesting the individual citizen now has a moral calling to live in penury and starvation because of the planned irresponsibility of central banking policies is absurd. We believe it is a kind of dominant social theme, as follows: "Nations have been living beyond their means for decades and it cannot go on without social chaos. Austerity measures will be implemented by the authorities for everyone's good." This meme certainly shoves the blame for the current situation directly onto citizens living in the West's profligate nation states.
We believe, indeed, as we stated above, that the idea that citizens of Western nations must now submit to this sort of austerity so that money center banks can maintain solvency is verging on the immoral. Central banks have deliberately inflated for decades to ensure that people would accept the system and support it. But now that the system is literally disintegrating – as fiat money systems always do – the same powers-that-be are marshalling their allies and the mainstream media to declare the immanence of deflation and the beginning of long term "austerity."
We are not so sure as some that the Great Depression saw across-the-board deflation. Certainly gold stocks went up during the Depression and we think in certain areas at certain times prices may have been rising as well. What seems more certain is that central banks may have tightened, instead of loosening, during the Depression, following the logic that the money supply should contract along with economic activity. This may have aggravated deflationary trends.
From a (fiat) monetary standpoint, we have a hard time figure out where the money goes when assets collapse. In fact, the main argument of deflationists seems to be that the money "goes away" during bankruptcies, etc. But in fact, banks that are damaged by recessionary ruin will almost always receive further monetization by the West's mercantilist central banks – as we have just seen these past two years. Thus, it doesn't seem to us that there may be any huge depreciation of the money stock itself.
Certainly, it may be the money will not CIRCULATE, and this is what has happened already during this latest crisis. But there is a difference between monetary deflation and price deflation. Most popular articles deal with price deflation as if it were general deflation. But there is a dramatic difference. In fact, we are very worried about these deflationary arguments. We have seen how the mainstream media distorts financial information. There is no doubt from our point of view that power elite memes can extend to shaping the perception of the public when it comes to financial affairs. Just as the elite can virtually halve the number of unemployed in America and then declare a recovery in motion, so we think the same sorts of games can be played as regards deflation and especially price deflation.
By declaring the imminence of a Western deflationary depression, the powers that be can take control of the larger economic argument to campaign for across-the-board austerity policies. After all, what are governments to do if there is no inflation to ease the economic blow-off? The solution must be to cut, and cut again. The ultimate outcome, of course, will not only be a terrible austerity but, sooner or later, a campaign to realign the monetary environment. We have already suggested one solution – a gold-backed IMF SDR. We are not sure this is the solution that will ultimately be presented. But ... out of chaos, order.
What is in store for the West going forward? In a money-metals environment, an asset blow-off of any size would probably be followed by a brief bout of deflation that would readjust prices fairly quickly. In this context, deflation can be seen as an economic good, lowering prices at a time when people are experiencing financial stress. In a fiat money economy, however, deflation (whatever there is of it) can become a more ambivalent creature – mostly because fiat money itself is such a distortive monetary environment.
Here at the Bell, we do see some continued significant price deflation in certain areas and regions, mixed with price inflation as well. Eventually, we see significant inflation, however, as we do not believe the money supply will ever be much reduced – and inflation itself, in terms of money printed, is already built into the system. We think eventually, somehow, someday, some of this money (too much of it) will circulate.
Conclusion: One might eventually call this state of affairs stagflation, ultimately, especially as it will not be accompanied by much hiring. However, we think it may well be reported, generically, as "deflation." The austerity measures to be put into place as a result will be at least partially designed to generate compliance with a new and more global monetary system – one that could be floated when the pain generally becomes intolerable. Seen from this perspective, deflation, whether or not it exists in reality, could simply serve as another bogeyman (meme) to stampede the West and eventually the rest of the world toward global governance.
Click here for the source post on The Daily Bell if you prefer..
I wanted to do a post on deflation myself.. But my programming experience of the past convinced me to see if I could save myself a lot of work by finding an adult discussion of the deflation vs inflation debate by someone who might present the arguments better than I.. I think I succeeded..
---
Thursday, June 10, 2010 – by Staff Report
David Cameron's new Government in Britain announced Tuesday that it will introduce austerity measures to begin paying down the estimated one trillion (U.S. value) in debts held by the British Government. Lets let that sink in for a moment, for it is a stunning announcement. Now repeat it: Britain will introduce austerity measures in order to eliminate the deficit and begin paying down the national debt. And that being said, we have just received the signal to an end to global stimulus measures — one that puts a nail in the coffin of the debate on whether or not Britain would "print" her way out of the debt crisis. That would have virtually guaranteed an eventual hyperinflation that would have spread to all Western nations, destroying the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency in the process and ending several hundred years of Western economic dominance. ... This is actually a celebratory moment although it will not feel like it for most. – Rick Ackerman's blog
Dominant Social Theme: Fiat money deflation is good ... for the powers-that-be, not for you and me!
Free-Market Analysis: We wrote an article about inflation and price inflation recently and came down on the side of inflation (both price and monetary) – in the long term anyway. This article on Rick Ackerman's blog seems to be getting a lot of attention and comes to the opposite conclusion. The West is headed toward a deflationary depression and the British government is making the right decision – or so the consensus seems to be, even in the alternative press.
We were initially clued into the article from Lila Rajiva's blog. Rajiva provides fine feedback to the Bell from time to time, often from a free-market-oriented perspective. From what we can tell, she seems generally supportive of the deflationary argument, as many are, even (as noted above) within the alternative press. Interestingly, Rick Ackerman himself does not seem to have written the article that he bylines as his lead story on June 9. In the feedback section beneath the article, in response to a reader who questions the deflationary scenario, he offers the following:
I didn't write that essay, Larry, but it is my policy to publish essays that I do not necessarily agree with. In this instance, I share your doubts that politicians will be able to stay the course, paying off debts the old-fashioned way. In fact, the debts are so large that even if they wanted to pay them off, they/we taxpayers could not not. However, given that borrowers are incapable of growing debt at the moment, deflation will out. All the blather about how Bernanke et al. "won't let it happen" is just that — blather. It is dumbfounding that some people still believe that the Fed is in control of an imploding debt juggernaut that aggregates into the hundreds of trillion of dollars.
Like many (even we here at the Bell), Ackerman seems a bit ambivalent about inflation – and we don't see a careful distinction between price and monetary issues. In the above response he observes that politicians will not be able to maintain austerity programs yet predicts substantial deflation anyway (presumably he is referring to price-deflation). We've read many articles in the recent past that seem to waver a bit. To us, and we think to those who read the alternative press, the inflation-deflation argument (both price-wise and monetary) is a core one that affects everything from one's personal economic and political philosophy to one's pocketbook and, ultimately, how one invests.
Believe in significant price-deflation, long-term, and you may not wish to put your cash into current high performing assets such as gold and silver. You may come to the conclusion that politicians, chastened and disciplined, will stick to austerity programs and that therefore cash is king. Believe in a coming wave of inflation or hyperinflation, and you'll probably lean toward gold or silver, or at least tangible assets. Maybe fixed income as well and derivative securities such as annuities.
But there is a significant political angle to all of this. Many of those who believe in uncontrollable monetary inflation are either implying or stating that inflation is monetary phenomenon created by central banking policies. Those who focus on deflation and argue for its increased presence often seem to argue that the spending came in large part from the electorate that insisted on public spending "We have met the enemy and he is us." (Pogo) Here's some more from the article:
So deflation it is. It will come to Canada eventually, too, so let's start having a real debate about what that will look like and get familiar with the idea. We have already experienced stark restraint in this country in a program that was masterfully crafted by Jean Chretien and Paul Martin in the 1990's. Sanity was restored after three hard years of belt tightening. But this next phase will be a much more bitter pill to swallow. We need to look to our leadership to guide us through the crisis as it unfolds. The inflationist camp can now leave the room because none of us can stand to hear their anguished cries, angry foot-stomping and teary, selfish objections. How pathetic!
What to Expect:
Here is a very short list of what can be expected — and trust me, this is a much more palatable list than the ones I have analyzed involving an unthinkable and devastating hyperinflation. So put away the placards and protest signs. We all need to get on board with paying down debt like any responsible citizen debtor would do. We owe big-time, and this is but a taste of how it may cost us:
• Major employment reductions in the public-service sector
• Rationing of health care services, fewer nurses, health practitioners and support staff
• Larger class-size in schools, and large reductions in the number of teachers
• Reduced public pensions and benefits, including social service payments
• Interest rates that will gradually rise and eventually settle at around six percent
• Strikes, labor unrest and supply chain breakdowns
• Widespread unemployment affecting virtually every sector of the economy. No one will be spared
• An expansion of public works programs and green initiatives
• Civil disobedience, arrests, targeting of threatening movements by security agencies and government
• Increasing taxation, particularly on the wealthy and buoyant businesses
• Shortages of all kinds and the loss of variety on store shelves
• An erosion in the standard of living for most, but particularly for those who are in debt
• Cutbacks in military spending, defense, coastal patrols and overseas engagements
• Cherished programs that governments usually support will be eliminated
• Larger police forces, prison expansions and a judiciary that is strained to the breaking point
• Cities, states and counties will be denied bailouts, forcing them into bankruptcy
• Services that protect the environment, animal rights and special interests will be reduced
• Universities will close
The list could stretch on and on, but you get the picture. It will be a very difficult and long-lasting correction that will purge waste and inefficiency from the system. Few will be happy, but the alternative is just too distressing to consider. The only thing that will give you true immunity in the mean time is a fat blanket of cash. Be sure to have some. Be liquid. Pay off debts. Rejoice in your good decisions. And live free.
The above list of corrective issues is expansive of course, but we would make the case that it is political as well – especially the point about "an expansion of public works programs and green initiatives." The author seems in general to believe that such a laundry list of "austerity" programs (an inevitable result of deflation) are "palatable" and much to be preferred to aggressive inflation (certainly hyperinflation). The overall point: "We all need to get on board with paying down debt like any responsible citizen debtor would."
Is this so? We don't happen to believe the average citizen is responsible for this mess. Just as we disagree with the idea that democracy gets the leadership it deserves. In America, certainly, the political system has been actively manipulated by the power elite since the end of the Civil War. The electoral system has been transformed to emphasize direct democracy and various laws have been passed to help ensure that America (indeed the West) ends up with the most wretched kind of evolutionary regulatory democracy – one that emphasizes high taxes, endless laws and mercantilist, abusive central banking and its endless debasement.
The current economic crisis, in fact, seems the deliberate result of obscenely manipulative fiscal and monetary policies. We believe that suggesting the individual citizen now has a moral calling to live in penury and starvation because of the planned irresponsibility of central banking policies is absurd. We believe it is a kind of dominant social theme, as follows: "Nations have been living beyond their means for decades and it cannot go on without social chaos. Austerity measures will be implemented by the authorities for everyone's good." This meme certainly shoves the blame for the current situation directly onto citizens living in the West's profligate nation states.
We believe, indeed, as we stated above, that the idea that citizens of Western nations must now submit to this sort of austerity so that money center banks can maintain solvency is verging on the immoral. Central banks have deliberately inflated for decades to ensure that people would accept the system and support it. But now that the system is literally disintegrating – as fiat money systems always do – the same powers-that-be are marshalling their allies and the mainstream media to declare the immanence of deflation and the beginning of long term "austerity."
We are not so sure as some that the Great Depression saw across-the-board deflation. Certainly gold stocks went up during the Depression and we think in certain areas at certain times prices may have been rising as well. What seems more certain is that central banks may have tightened, instead of loosening, during the Depression, following the logic that the money supply should contract along with economic activity. This may have aggravated deflationary trends.
From a (fiat) monetary standpoint, we have a hard time figure out where the money goes when assets collapse. In fact, the main argument of deflationists seems to be that the money "goes away" during bankruptcies, etc. But in fact, banks that are damaged by recessionary ruin will almost always receive further monetization by the West's mercantilist central banks – as we have just seen these past two years. Thus, it doesn't seem to us that there may be any huge depreciation of the money stock itself.
Certainly, it may be the money will not CIRCULATE, and this is what has happened already during this latest crisis. But there is a difference between monetary deflation and price deflation. Most popular articles deal with price deflation as if it were general deflation. But there is a dramatic difference. In fact, we are very worried about these deflationary arguments. We have seen how the mainstream media distorts financial information. There is no doubt from our point of view that power elite memes can extend to shaping the perception of the public when it comes to financial affairs. Just as the elite can virtually halve the number of unemployed in America and then declare a recovery in motion, so we think the same sorts of games can be played as regards deflation and especially price deflation.
By declaring the imminence of a Western deflationary depression, the powers that be can take control of the larger economic argument to campaign for across-the-board austerity policies. After all, what are governments to do if there is no inflation to ease the economic blow-off? The solution must be to cut, and cut again. The ultimate outcome, of course, will not only be a terrible austerity but, sooner or later, a campaign to realign the monetary environment. We have already suggested one solution – a gold-backed IMF SDR. We are not sure this is the solution that will ultimately be presented. But ... out of chaos, order.
What is in store for the West going forward? In a money-metals environment, an asset blow-off of any size would probably be followed by a brief bout of deflation that would readjust prices fairly quickly. In this context, deflation can be seen as an economic good, lowering prices at a time when people are experiencing financial stress. In a fiat money economy, however, deflation (whatever there is of it) can become a more ambivalent creature – mostly because fiat money itself is such a distortive monetary environment.
Here at the Bell, we do see some continued significant price deflation in certain areas and regions, mixed with price inflation as well. Eventually, we see significant inflation, however, as we do not believe the money supply will ever be much reduced – and inflation itself, in terms of money printed, is already built into the system. We think eventually, somehow, someday, some of this money (too much of it) will circulate.
Conclusion: One might eventually call this state of affairs stagflation, ultimately, especially as it will not be accompanied by much hiring. However, we think it may well be reported, generically, as "deflation." The austerity measures to be put into place as a result will be at least partially designed to generate compliance with a new and more global monetary system – one that could be floated when the pain generally becomes intolerable. Seen from this perspective, deflation, whether or not it exists in reality, could simply serve as another bogeyman (meme) to stampede the West and eventually the rest of the world toward global governance.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Me on #markets & #trading
---
I think my problem is that I want justice and honesty because I am an American and we have always been able to depend on getting those things to a large degree here.. Including in markets..
But no more..
This is a fucking war and that is how I see it and will continue to see it.
The most important goal is not to be right but to understand and take advantage of the plans and propaganda of your enemy (the United States government and the FED).
There are tricks the government and the FED use to manipulate the markets in any direction they like at any time they like. And the fewer retail traders there are the easier this is for them to do.. I have come to believe the forex market is no different.. They have all the money, they can do whatever the fuck they decide to do through simple collusion and coordination.. We don't stand a chance in hell betting against monied interests..
The problem with the market going down, as we all know it should, is that it would completely destroy the United States economy and the political class as well. That is why they cannot allow it to happen at any cost. When/if we were to get a next leg down and take out the previous lows it would effectively BE the end of the world.. It would be the beginning of something much worse than the great depression ever thought about being..
I am convinced that the US government, including the Federal Reserve and most governments and central banks around the world, will do ANYTHING and I mean anything to prevent that. If it takes Martial Law they will do it. If it takes a Police State then they will do that.
We are currently in the eye of the storm.. Where government and FED manipulations of everything economic have succeeded in 'propping things up' better than I ever imagined they would be able to do. But nothing is fixed.. Everything is worse now than it was before. The market is only a mirage. A fantasy..
I work to understand HOW the market works.. When they pull their dirty tricks I want to understand what is going on.. A good example was my GBPJPY longs yesterday.. I had 3 of them x2 with 2 stops at 132.43 and one at 132.33 They moved the price down to 132.33 to the pip to clean me out on all 3 positions.. THEN it turned higher violently! I jumped back in as fast as I could for 5 lots but only managed to get 132.50 still. I entered on m1 but that was still the best price I could get it happened so fast. I got most if not all my money back.
Sure I agree that the trend is your friend.. But I want to understand EVERYTHING about what those bastards do to manipulate people out of their money. If I can do that I can, and will, use it against them..
Greg
I think my problem is that I want justice and honesty because I am an American and we have always been able to depend on getting those things to a large degree here.. Including in markets..
But no more..
This is a fucking war and that is how I see it and will continue to see it.
The most important goal is not to be right but to understand and take advantage of the plans and propaganda of your enemy (the United States government and the FED).
There are tricks the government and the FED use to manipulate the markets in any direction they like at any time they like. And the fewer retail traders there are the easier this is for them to do.. I have come to believe the forex market is no different.. They have all the money, they can do whatever the fuck they decide to do through simple collusion and coordination.. We don't stand a chance in hell betting against monied interests..
The problem with the market going down, as we all know it should, is that it would completely destroy the United States economy and the political class as well. That is why they cannot allow it to happen at any cost. When/if we were to get a next leg down and take out the previous lows it would effectively BE the end of the world.. It would be the beginning of something much worse than the great depression ever thought about being..
I am convinced that the US government, including the Federal Reserve and most governments and central banks around the world, will do ANYTHING and I mean anything to prevent that. If it takes Martial Law they will do it. If it takes a Police State then they will do that.
We are currently in the eye of the storm.. Where government and FED manipulations of everything economic have succeeded in 'propping things up' better than I ever imagined they would be able to do. But nothing is fixed.. Everything is worse now than it was before. The market is only a mirage. A fantasy..
I work to understand HOW the market works.. When they pull their dirty tricks I want to understand what is going on.. A good example was my GBPJPY longs yesterday.. I had 3 of them x2 with 2 stops at 132.43 and one at 132.33 They moved the price down to 132.33 to the pip to clean me out on all 3 positions.. THEN it turned higher violently! I jumped back in as fast as I could for 5 lots but only managed to get 132.50 still. I entered on m1 but that was still the best price I could get it happened so fast. I got most if not all my money back.
Sure I agree that the trend is your friend.. But I want to understand EVERYTHING about what those bastards do to manipulate people out of their money. If I can do that I can, and will, use it against them..
Greg
#FED signals its ready for action
---
Click here for the source of this post if you prefer..
---
By McClatchy-Tribune News Service From MCT From MCT Wed Sep 22, 2010, 08:16 AM CDT
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve, meeting for the last time before an election that hinges on the weak economy, edged closer Tuesday to jumping in to help and suggested it’s more worried about prices falling than rising.
The central bank gathered as new figures showed some improvement in home construction. But those same figures showed the pace of building would have to double to contribute much to job growth, underscoring the dire state of the housing market.
The Fed announced no new steps. It signaled that for now it will stand back and see whether the economy can heal on its own.
But a change in its policy language, which is examined with precision by the financial world, showed it was moving closer to acting. The Fed said it was “prepared to provide additional accommodation,” where before it said it would “employ its tools as necessary.” It also concluded that economic growth had slowed over the summer.
That’s all too clear to the nearly 15 million Americans out of work, some of whom scoffed at news earlier this week that the recession had technically ended in June of last year.
Voters will go to the polls Nov. 2 for midterm elections, and polls have suggested two things: They’re worried about the economy more than any other issue. And they’re ready to punish Democrats.
President Barack Obama’s Democrats are at risk of losing control of the House and perhaps the Senate as well. Both parties agree there’s little the president and his party can do to change voters’ attitudes before the election.
Obama acknowledged the economic hardships many Americans are enduring, saying Monday: “If you’re out of work right now, the only thing that you’re going to be hearing is, when do I get a job? If you’re about to lose your home, all you’re thinking about is, when can I get my home?”
The central bank’s statement Tuesday didn’t explicitly mention deflation. But it said inflation measures are “somewhat below” what’s desirable for the economy. Some economists have raised fears about a deflationary spiral — a widespread drop in wages, prices of goods and services and the value of stocks and homes.
“They are more worried about the economy and deflation than I thought they would be,” Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University, said of Fed officials.
Bond prices jumped after the Fed news as traders surmised that the Fed might eventually buy more Treasury bonds to try to drive down long-term rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank to 2.58 percent from 2.70 percent the day before. Stocks rallied briefly on the news but ended mainly lower.
Home construction rose last month and applications for building permits also grew, the government said Tuesday. But the building of homes and apartments is still running at an annual pace of just 598,000, a far cry from the robust housing-market activity it takes to generate many jobs.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Fed once again left a key short-term interest rate near zero, where it has been since December 2008. It also repeated its pledge to hold rates at those ultra-low levels for an “extended period.”
If the economy keeps losing momentum, the Fed will be likelier to act when it meets again, either at its meeting Nov. 2-3 or its last regularly scheduled session of the year on Dec. 14.
If the Fed does act, Chairman Ben Bernanke last month indicated a preference to buy large amounts of government debt — a move to lower rates on mortgages, corporate loans and other debt and get people and businesses to spend more money.
Unconventional steps like that, known in economic circles as “quantitative easing,” have helped the Fed’s balance sheet balloon to $2.3 trillion, nearly triple its level before the financial crisis.
Even if the Fed made such a move, economists don’t think it would help much. Already low interest rates haven’t managed to get Americans to spend much more. Companies and people alike have remained cautious as they rebuild their finances and pare debt.
At its last meeting in August, the Fed took a small step: It decided to use proceeds from its huge mortgage portfolio and buy government debt. That nudged down mortgage rates. But it would take a bigger buying binge to push rates down further.
---
Same old same old.. HOW can we FORCE people / small business to SPEND more MONEY against their will?! Such a tough question! LMAO
F*uck the FED
Greg
Click here for the source of this post if you prefer..
---
By McClatchy-Tribune News Service From MCT From MCT Wed Sep 22, 2010, 08:16 AM CDT
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve, meeting for the last time before an election that hinges on the weak economy, edged closer Tuesday to jumping in to help and suggested it’s more worried about prices falling than rising.
The central bank gathered as new figures showed some improvement in home construction. But those same figures showed the pace of building would have to double to contribute much to job growth, underscoring the dire state of the housing market.
The Fed announced no new steps. It signaled that for now it will stand back and see whether the economy can heal on its own.
But a change in its policy language, which is examined with precision by the financial world, showed it was moving closer to acting. The Fed said it was “prepared to provide additional accommodation,” where before it said it would “employ its tools as necessary.” It also concluded that economic growth had slowed over the summer.
That’s all too clear to the nearly 15 million Americans out of work, some of whom scoffed at news earlier this week that the recession had technically ended in June of last year.
Voters will go to the polls Nov. 2 for midterm elections, and polls have suggested two things: They’re worried about the economy more than any other issue. And they’re ready to punish Democrats.
President Barack Obama’s Democrats are at risk of losing control of the House and perhaps the Senate as well. Both parties agree there’s little the president and his party can do to change voters’ attitudes before the election.
Obama acknowledged the economic hardships many Americans are enduring, saying Monday: “If you’re out of work right now, the only thing that you’re going to be hearing is, when do I get a job? If you’re about to lose your home, all you’re thinking about is, when can I get my home?”
The central bank’s statement Tuesday didn’t explicitly mention deflation. But it said inflation measures are “somewhat below” what’s desirable for the economy. Some economists have raised fears about a deflationary spiral — a widespread drop in wages, prices of goods and services and the value of stocks and homes.
“They are more worried about the economy and deflation than I thought they would be,” Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University, said of Fed officials.
Bond prices jumped after the Fed news as traders surmised that the Fed might eventually buy more Treasury bonds to try to drive down long-term rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank to 2.58 percent from 2.70 percent the day before. Stocks rallied briefly on the news but ended mainly lower.
Home construction rose last month and applications for building permits also grew, the government said Tuesday. But the building of homes and apartments is still running at an annual pace of just 598,000, a far cry from the robust housing-market activity it takes to generate many jobs.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Fed once again left a key short-term interest rate near zero, where it has been since December 2008. It also repeated its pledge to hold rates at those ultra-low levels for an “extended period.”
If the economy keeps losing momentum, the Fed will be likelier to act when it meets again, either at its meeting Nov. 2-3 or its last regularly scheduled session of the year on Dec. 14.
If the Fed does act, Chairman Ben Bernanke last month indicated a preference to buy large amounts of government debt — a move to lower rates on mortgages, corporate loans and other debt and get people and businesses to spend more money.
Unconventional steps like that, known in economic circles as “quantitative easing,” have helped the Fed’s balance sheet balloon to $2.3 trillion, nearly triple its level before the financial crisis.
Even if the Fed made such a move, economists don’t think it would help much. Already low interest rates haven’t managed to get Americans to spend much more. Companies and people alike have remained cautious as they rebuild their finances and pare debt.
At its last meeting in August, the Fed took a small step: It decided to use proceeds from its huge mortgage portfolio and buy government debt. That nudged down mortgage rates. But it would take a bigger buying binge to push rates down further.
---
Same old same old.. HOW can we FORCE people / small business to SPEND more MONEY against their will?! Such a tough question! LMAO
F*uck the FED
Greg
Saturday, September 18, 2010
#Complexity, The Enemy of Freedom And the Harbinger of #Revolution
---
A VERY important read, IMO.. Here is the source post if you prefer..
---
America's salvation as a free country rests, not in complexity, but in simplicity and fewer law
Complexity, The Enemy of Freedom And the Harbinger of Revolution
By Ron Ewart Saturday, January 23, 2010
“There is an inviolate law in nature. Complexity in organisms can lead to the emergence of order. Biological evolution and the diversity of life on Earth is a result of that law. However, it has also been shown that too much complexity in these organisms, in almost all cases, leads to chaos and finally extinction of the organism.” Ron Ewart
Years ago we had a small company that did business with the military, wherein we installed electronic equipment on military bases. We would get the bid specifications, submit our bid and then if accepted, wait for the contract that would seal the deal. The contract would come, consisting of a hundred pages or more and we would read it over as best we could without really knowing its full content and what would happen if their was a breach by either party, or what would happen with all the other contingencies that were buried in those pages. Nevertheless, we signed the contract and proceeded on faith with the work. We couldn’t afford the lawyers that would be necessary to review the contract to make sure that our financial behinds were covered. We knew that there was no modifying the contract with the military. It was their way, or we simply didn’t get the work.
One of the great tricks with the lawyers that write these contracts, is to bury references to other statutes or laws, or agreements in the wording. We could read the contract, but would have no way of obtaining the documents that were referenced in it, without much more work than our little company could afford. We were not alone in this phenomenon of doing business, either with the government, or very large companies. Many a business has failed because they violated a provision in a contract of which they were not aware.
For 233 years politicians and lawyers have been adding law, after law, after law to the 17 pages contained in the Supreme Law of the Land, our Constitution. On top of the legislation are the millions of court decisions adding to or modifying existing law. On top of the federal law are all the laws that are passed by state and local legislatures. On top of federal, state and local law, comes the “rules” that are promulgated by the ever-growing fourth branch of government, the bureaucracies. It isn’t negligence or ineptness, it is just plain insane. It is a spider gone mad and spinning a web from which there is no escape, even for the spider.
Essentially, each new law requires new administration and enforcement. Government employment continuously grows, exponentially. By just sheer numbers, the more laws that are written, the less likely the entire population will even know about the laws, or understand them, or know of their consequences or penalties for violation, much less be in compliance with them. The consequence of too many laws is that huge segments of the public are totally unaware of the laws existence. And yet, under the law, ignorance of the law is not a defense. Then, when the hapless individual comes face-to-face with the law, it results in anger and frustration for that individual and a spiraling degradation of freedom and liberty for all of us. Sometimes it can lead to huge fines and extended incarceration.
Many laws are written at the insistence of lobbying or special interest groups with very narrow and purposely hidden agendas. The public never has an opportunity for real input and society as a whole is not benefited. Partisan politics often compromises a new law into meaningless, often conflicting legislation, leaving loopholes over which lawyers can argue over for decades. The House version of the Health Care bill was over 2,000 pages containing thousands of references to other laws. The Senate version is a little smaller but just as complex. The “Crap” and Trade bill is also over 1,500 pages and contains more references ..... more restrictions ..... more regulations which can only lead to less freedom and less liberty.
Each new bill out of the U. S. Congress, all state legislatures and all local governments are so complex that conflict in either the new law or other existing laws, is virtually assured. Why are they complex? Because lawyers write them and lawyers get paid very well for interpreting the laws they write and “fixing” the conflicts. Further, they are purposely complex to keep a naive’ public from knowing what’s in them, much less taking the time to read them.
America’s salvation as a free country rests, not in complexity, but in simplicity and fewer laws. Yes, a complex society needs laws to maintain “reasonable” societal order. But as laws increase, after a certain point, order begins to breakdown under its own weight of the people trying to comply with often conflicting and confusing codes, ordinances, regulations and acts. As the IRS code has increased over the years because Congress plays “social” games with it, general compliance of the code has decreased. As a result there is a growing shadow commerce from which no revenue to the government is realized. Some people are so frustrated they just never file a return, risking fines and jail times.
And worse, the more laws there are, the more opportunities for emotionally and financially draining lawsuits between aggrieved parties, egged on by lawyers who make their living off of human weaknesses and interpreting laws that no one else can understand.
Special interest groups use the law to sue the government when they allege the government is not in compliance with the law. If the government loses, and they lose often, they have to pay the special interest group damages, court costs and attorneys fees. But what is worse, government has no money of its own, it must pay the special interest group with our money. Billions of our tax dollars are wasted in this manner.
In the final analysis, extending legislating and law creation to its absurdity, one arrives at a point where there are so many laws that no one is in compliance and we end up losing our ability to fully enforce any of them. We become in fact, lawless by the very chaos that lawmakers have created. From lawlessness comes enslavement due to increased enforcement. If there is a general uprising against the law, government can instantly invoke martial law. Eventually, from enslavement, comes revolution.
Without exception, every nation who has either ruled by brute force, or ruled by the ever-rising complexity in their laws, ends in revolution. There is no reason that history will not repeat itself in America, as we travel down the road towards irrational complexity. Only the combined will of the people can stop it. But will they?
A VERY important read, IMO.. Here is the source post if you prefer..
---
America's salvation as a free country rests, not in complexity, but in simplicity and fewer law
Complexity, The Enemy of Freedom And the Harbinger of Revolution
By Ron Ewart Saturday, January 23, 2010
“There is an inviolate law in nature. Complexity in organisms can lead to the emergence of order. Biological evolution and the diversity of life on Earth is a result of that law. However, it has also been shown that too much complexity in these organisms, in almost all cases, leads to chaos and finally extinction of the organism.” Ron Ewart
Years ago we had a small company that did business with the military, wherein we installed electronic equipment on military bases. We would get the bid specifications, submit our bid and then if accepted, wait for the contract that would seal the deal. The contract would come, consisting of a hundred pages or more and we would read it over as best we could without really knowing its full content and what would happen if their was a breach by either party, or what would happen with all the other contingencies that were buried in those pages. Nevertheless, we signed the contract and proceeded on faith with the work. We couldn’t afford the lawyers that would be necessary to review the contract to make sure that our financial behinds were covered. We knew that there was no modifying the contract with the military. It was their way, or we simply didn’t get the work.
One of the great tricks with the lawyers that write these contracts, is to bury references to other statutes or laws, or agreements in the wording. We could read the contract, but would have no way of obtaining the documents that were referenced in it, without much more work than our little company could afford. We were not alone in this phenomenon of doing business, either with the government, or very large companies. Many a business has failed because they violated a provision in a contract of which they were not aware.
For 233 years politicians and lawyers have been adding law, after law, after law to the 17 pages contained in the Supreme Law of the Land, our Constitution. On top of the legislation are the millions of court decisions adding to or modifying existing law. On top of the federal law are all the laws that are passed by state and local legislatures. On top of federal, state and local law, comes the “rules” that are promulgated by the ever-growing fourth branch of government, the bureaucracies. It isn’t negligence or ineptness, it is just plain insane. It is a spider gone mad and spinning a web from which there is no escape, even for the spider.
Essentially, each new law requires new administration and enforcement. Government employment continuously grows, exponentially. By just sheer numbers, the more laws that are written, the less likely the entire population will even know about the laws, or understand them, or know of their consequences or penalties for violation, much less be in compliance with them. The consequence of too many laws is that huge segments of the public are totally unaware of the laws existence. And yet, under the law, ignorance of the law is not a defense. Then, when the hapless individual comes face-to-face with the law, it results in anger and frustration for that individual and a spiraling degradation of freedom and liberty for all of us. Sometimes it can lead to huge fines and extended incarceration.
Many laws are written at the insistence of lobbying or special interest groups with very narrow and purposely hidden agendas. The public never has an opportunity for real input and society as a whole is not benefited. Partisan politics often compromises a new law into meaningless, often conflicting legislation, leaving loopholes over which lawyers can argue over for decades. The House version of the Health Care bill was over 2,000 pages containing thousands of references to other laws. The Senate version is a little smaller but just as complex. The “Crap” and Trade bill is also over 1,500 pages and contains more references ..... more restrictions ..... more regulations which can only lead to less freedom and less liberty.
Each new bill out of the U. S. Congress, all state legislatures and all local governments are so complex that conflict in either the new law or other existing laws, is virtually assured. Why are they complex? Because lawyers write them and lawyers get paid very well for interpreting the laws they write and “fixing” the conflicts. Further, they are purposely complex to keep a naive’ public from knowing what’s in them, much less taking the time to read them.
America’s salvation as a free country rests, not in complexity, but in simplicity and fewer laws. Yes, a complex society needs laws to maintain “reasonable” societal order. But as laws increase, after a certain point, order begins to breakdown under its own weight of the people trying to comply with often conflicting and confusing codes, ordinances, regulations and acts. As the IRS code has increased over the years because Congress plays “social” games with it, general compliance of the code has decreased. As a result there is a growing shadow commerce from which no revenue to the government is realized. Some people are so frustrated they just never file a return, risking fines and jail times.
And worse, the more laws there are, the more opportunities for emotionally and financially draining lawsuits between aggrieved parties, egged on by lawyers who make their living off of human weaknesses and interpreting laws that no one else can understand.
Special interest groups use the law to sue the government when they allege the government is not in compliance with the law. If the government loses, and they lose often, they have to pay the special interest group damages, court costs and attorneys fees. But what is worse, government has no money of its own, it must pay the special interest group with our money. Billions of our tax dollars are wasted in this manner.
In the final analysis, extending legislating and law creation to its absurdity, one arrives at a point where there are so many laws that no one is in compliance and we end up losing our ability to fully enforce any of them. We become in fact, lawless by the very chaos that lawmakers have created. From lawlessness comes enslavement due to increased enforcement. If there is a general uprising against the law, government can instantly invoke martial law. Eventually, from enslavement, comes revolution.
Without exception, every nation who has either ruled by brute force, or ruled by the ever-rising complexity in their laws, ends in revolution. There is no reason that history will not repeat itself in America, as we travel down the road towards irrational complexity. Only the combined will of the people can stop it. But will they?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Retailers Extend Federal Lobbying
---
This is weird.. This small article was in my local paper today & I wanted to post it but it is NO WHERE to be found on the papers website (everything 'else' seems to be there) nor can I find it at all on Google..
It's listed as From Staff, AP Reports..
I'll just type it in by hand I guess ;)
Ah ha! Found it on CNBC
---
Retail group spends $684,939 on 2Q lobbying
Published: Tuesday, 7 Sep 2010 | 6:27 PM ET
NEW YORK - The Retail Industry Leaders Association spent $684,939 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on a variety of issues from health care reform to clothing tariffs, according to a recent disclosure report.
That's more than the $550,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2010 and the $480,000 the group spent during 2009's second quarter.
The Arlington, Va.-based trade group — whose members include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The Home Depot Inc. and Target Corp. — also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving credit card reform, consumer product safety, organized crime, health care reform and food safety, according to a form filed July 20.
---
(In this next little paragraph you can plainly see how the deck is stacked against the American consumer.. Retailer's are spending millions of dollars to 'prevent' any sort of common sense control on abusive credit card practices by corporations and are loathe to 'educate' the public any more than is required by law.. F them I say..)
---
A high-profile issue the group watched closely was the Credit CARD act, meant to give credit card users more information and limit policies that consumer rights groups consider abusive. The bulk of the law — which focuses on "credit card accountability, responsibility and disclosure" — took effect in February.
---
From April through June, RILA lobbied Congress and such federal agencies as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the departments of Treasury, Justice, Commerce, Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission and Homeland Security.
--- End story
IMO, any and all lobbyists must go.. Our entire political system is so utterly FILLED with fraud and corruption that it is downright FRIGHTENING! They STILL want to continue to STEAL every penny from every consumer that they can get away with! It just makes me SICK!
Consumers beware..
Greg
This is weird.. This small article was in my local paper today & I wanted to post it but it is NO WHERE to be found on the papers website (everything 'else' seems to be there) nor can I find it at all on Google..
It's listed as From Staff, AP Reports..
I'll just type it in by hand I guess ;)
Ah ha! Found it on CNBC
---
Retail group spends $684,939 on 2Q lobbying
Published: Tuesday, 7 Sep 2010 | 6:27 PM ET
NEW YORK - The Retail Industry Leaders Association spent $684,939 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on a variety of issues from health care reform to clothing tariffs, according to a recent disclosure report.
That's more than the $550,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2010 and the $480,000 the group spent during 2009's second quarter.
The Arlington, Va.-based trade group — whose members include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The Home Depot Inc. and Target Corp. — also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving credit card reform, consumer product safety, organized crime, health care reform and food safety, according to a form filed July 20.
---
(In this next little paragraph you can plainly see how the deck is stacked against the American consumer.. Retailer's are spending millions of dollars to 'prevent' any sort of common sense control on abusive credit card practices by corporations and are loathe to 'educate' the public any more than is required by law.. F them I say..)
---
A high-profile issue the group watched closely was the Credit CARD act, meant to give credit card users more information and limit policies that consumer rights groups consider abusive. The bulk of the law — which focuses on "credit card accountability, responsibility and disclosure" — took effect in February.
---
From April through June, RILA lobbied Congress and such federal agencies as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the departments of Treasury, Justice, Commerce, Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission and Homeland Security.
--- End story
IMO, any and all lobbyists must go.. Our entire political system is so utterly FILLED with fraud and corruption that it is downright FRIGHTENING! They STILL want to continue to STEAL every penny from every consumer that they can get away with! It just makes me SICK!
Consumers beware..
Greg
Monday, September 13, 2010
*My* #Food #Stamp #Reform
---
Seeing as how it is tax payer money we are talking about. And, seeing as how we need to save money on entitlements (I don't think anyone would argue with that..). Why don't we try to do something that could possibly improve the health of the nation?
Here is my suggested Food Stamp program reform..
Here's what would be covered, nothing else but these things..
Fats and oils
Milk, yogurt and cheese, no ice cream etc..
Uncooked meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts
Fresh uncooked vegetables
Fresh fruit and 100% fruit juice
Bread, cereal, rice and pasta, no cake etc..
Period..
All anyone 'needs' for a healthy diet.. Plus uses tax payer money wisely.
Perfect, period.
Greg
Seeing as how it is tax payer money we are talking about. And, seeing as how we need to save money on entitlements (I don't think anyone would argue with that..). Why don't we try to do something that could possibly improve the health of the nation?
Here is my suggested Food Stamp program reform..
Here's what would be covered, nothing else but these things..
Fats and oils
Milk, yogurt and cheese, no ice cream etc..
Uncooked meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts
Fresh uncooked vegetables
Fresh fruit and 100% fruit juice
Bread, cereal, rice and pasta, no cake etc..
Period..
All anyone 'needs' for a healthy diet.. Plus uses tax payer money wisely.
Perfect, period.
Greg
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A Dirty Little #government #Secret
---
It's a well known and published fact that many, if not most, United States government entitlement programs are filled with waste and fraud.
That is non-debatable and widely well understood..
I would like to present to you one scenario that I 'imagine' to be prevalent in the medicaid program..
Drug abuse and distribution are wildly under-reported in the media and completely ignored by Washington bureaucrats.
Any 'poor' drug abuser can easily take advantage of the, failed, heath-care system if they are inclined to do so.. In my opinion many are so inclined and they do..
Here is how it 'might' take place.. In a conspiratorial sort of way lol
Someone claims 'stress' or some other disability. Hire an attorney to expedite the 'process' of being 'approved' to receive entitlement 'benefits'.
Go to your 'free' doctor's appointment and get a prescription for xanax and, if possible, some high quality 'pain killing' medication.
Being a medicaid recipient what is your 'cost' for filling a prescription? I'm too lazy to 'verify' but I feel 'safe' betting on a dollar or two per 'script'.
I know, well.. of course I 'mean' I have heard, that xanax can command a street price as high as 5.00 per 2 mg tablet. And I saw in the local paper just the other day that some 'pain killing' medication can go for as much as $60.00 a pill !!!
So what if a guy/gal gets say 300 xanax (candy for grownups..) a month and say 100 'pain killers' that have a 'low' street value of $30.00 each. Say 'they' could get 4.00 each for the xanax.
Xanax (300 - 50) for 'personal' / 'recreational' use = 250 x $4.00 = $1,000.00 And some good 'pain killers' (100 - 25) for 'personal' / 'recreational' use = 75 x $30.00 = $2,250.00.
Jeeze.. that sounds like a decent living to me.. $3,250.00 a month.. And free 'recreational' drugs to boot..
It's really SIMPLE to do..
It's not 'rocket science' (or physics ;) to be able to figure this 'stuff' out but the people who do this do seem 'smart' enough to 'game' the system.
Maybe they're 'smart' enough to run a business and 'contribute' to society too?
Nawwwww..
But, if the government thinks the public 'mood' in the country is mean and nasty right now they should try taking away people's 'drugs'.. LMFAO
Greg
It's a well known and published fact that many, if not most, United States government entitlement programs are filled with waste and fraud.
That is non-debatable and widely well understood..
I would like to present to you one scenario that I 'imagine' to be prevalent in the medicaid program..
Drug abuse and distribution are wildly under-reported in the media and completely ignored by Washington bureaucrats.
Any 'poor' drug abuser can easily take advantage of the, failed, heath-care system if they are inclined to do so.. In my opinion many are so inclined and they do..
Here is how it 'might' take place.. In a conspiratorial sort of way lol
Someone claims 'stress' or some other disability. Hire an attorney to expedite the 'process' of being 'approved' to receive entitlement 'benefits'.
Go to your 'free' doctor's appointment and get a prescription for xanax and, if possible, some high quality 'pain killing' medication.
Being a medicaid recipient what is your 'cost' for filling a prescription? I'm too lazy to 'verify' but I feel 'safe' betting on a dollar or two per 'script'.
I know, well.. of course I 'mean' I have heard, that xanax can command a street price as high as 5.00 per 2 mg tablet. And I saw in the local paper just the other day that some 'pain killing' medication can go for as much as $60.00 a pill !!!
So what if a guy/gal gets say 300 xanax (candy for grownups..) a month and say 100 'pain killers' that have a 'low' street value of $30.00 each. Say 'they' could get 4.00 each for the xanax.
Xanax (300 - 50) for 'personal' / 'recreational' use = 250 x $4.00 = $1,000.00 And some good 'pain killers' (100 - 25) for 'personal' / 'recreational' use = 75 x $30.00 = $2,250.00.
Jeeze.. that sounds like a decent living to me.. $3,250.00 a month.. And free 'recreational' drugs to boot..
It's really SIMPLE to do..
It's not 'rocket science' (or physics ;) to be able to figure this 'stuff' out but the people who do this do seem 'smart' enough to 'game' the system.
Maybe they're 'smart' enough to run a business and 'contribute' to society too?
Nawwwww..
But, if the government thinks the public 'mood' in the country is mean and nasty right now they should try taking away people's 'drugs'.. LMFAO
Greg
Nervous Americans want easy access to their cash
---
You may click here for the source page of this post if you prefer..
---
Nervous Americans want easy access to their cash
By PALLAVI GOGOI (AP) – 21 hours ago
NEW YORK — Americans want to be close to their cash.
People are bailing out of bank certificates of deposit and parking their cash in checking and savings accounts that earn little or no interest but also don't exact penalties for early withdrawal.
It's another signal of how nervous Americans are about their finances as the U.S. economy struggles. Consumers are stuck with few options to make their money work. The Standard & Poor's 500 is down 0.5 percent for the year, one big reason why people have pulled a net $145.3 billion out of mutual funds in the first eight months of the year, according to Lipper Inc.
"At times of uncertainty, there is a natural human tendency to stay liquid and have money easily accessible," says Dan Geller, executive vice president at financial data analysis firm Market Rates Insight.
The firm's analysis of domestic banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, found CD deposits declined by $200 billion in the first six months of the year. Deposits in checking, savings and money market accounts rose by $171 billion.
A CD commonly carries an interest rate for a fixed term ranging from three months to five years. Depositors typically pay a penalty if they withdraw their money prior to the end of the CD's term.
A big part of the blame for the shift in money: The interest rates people can earn are at historic lows. The national average rate for deposits decreased from 1.20 percent to 0.99 percent in the first half of 2010. It was the first time the measure fell below 1 percent since the 1950s, according to Market Rates Insight.
"Interest rates on short-term instruments like CDs are so low, why bother when you can leave money in the bank?" says Martin Feldstein, professor of economics at Harvard University.
Andrea Perez, a 34-year-old New York resident, placed $15,000 of her savings in a CD two years ago that yielded about 5 percent. When the CD matured recently, she moved the money to a checking account because she didn't think the new rate of 1 percent was worth it.
"I just switched jobs and wanted to make sure that I had easy access to cash," she says.
Things could be looking up though. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond just in the first 10 days of September increased to 2.80 percent from 2.48 percent.
For now, beaten down consumers have already shunned spending. The Federal Reserve's latest data showed consumer spending at retail stores in key cities such as New York, Atlanta and Dallas either slowed or declined in July and August. Nationwide, credit card use dropped for a 23rd consecutive month in July, and overall borrowing dropped at an annual rate of $3.6 billion, the 17th drop in the past 18 months.
As American households spend less, chances of higher economic activity and a healthy recovery continues to diminish. It's no surprise that overall deposits in U.S. banks fell for two consecutive quarters for the first time in two decades.
"As consumers stop borrowing, money stops flowing around the economy and deposits start to shrink," says Sherief Meleis, managing director at New York-based management consultant Novantas.
Allen Tischler, vice president at Moody's Investors Service banking team, says the drop in deposits is partly the result of a deliberate effort by banks to save money. Many of the weaker banks that don't exist any more, like National City and Washington Mutual, wrote high interest CDs during the financial crisis in 2008 to attract cash to overcome their own liquidity crunch. However, these banks were acquired by PNC Bank and JP Morgan Chase, and those CDs aren't being rolled over now because the new ones offer much lower interest rates.
Of course, interest rates are so low in part because of government policy. The U.S. Federal Reserve has championed rock-bottom rates in the hope that they would prompt companies and consumers to borrow and spend again. Ironically, they're also adding to consumers' anxiety.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
You may click here for the source page of this post if you prefer..
---
Nervous Americans want easy access to their cash
By PALLAVI GOGOI (AP) – 21 hours ago
NEW YORK — Americans want to be close to their cash.
People are bailing out of bank certificates of deposit and parking their cash in checking and savings accounts that earn little or no interest but also don't exact penalties for early withdrawal.
It's another signal of how nervous Americans are about their finances as the U.S. economy struggles. Consumers are stuck with few options to make their money work. The Standard & Poor's 500 is down 0.5 percent for the year, one big reason why people have pulled a net $145.3 billion out of mutual funds in the first eight months of the year, according to Lipper Inc.
"At times of uncertainty, there is a natural human tendency to stay liquid and have money easily accessible," says Dan Geller, executive vice president at financial data analysis firm Market Rates Insight.
The firm's analysis of domestic banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, found CD deposits declined by $200 billion in the first six months of the year. Deposits in checking, savings and money market accounts rose by $171 billion.
A CD commonly carries an interest rate for a fixed term ranging from three months to five years. Depositors typically pay a penalty if they withdraw their money prior to the end of the CD's term.
A big part of the blame for the shift in money: The interest rates people can earn are at historic lows. The national average rate for deposits decreased from 1.20 percent to 0.99 percent in the first half of 2010. It was the first time the measure fell below 1 percent since the 1950s, according to Market Rates Insight.
"Interest rates on short-term instruments like CDs are so low, why bother when you can leave money in the bank?" says Martin Feldstein, professor of economics at Harvard University.
Andrea Perez, a 34-year-old New York resident, placed $15,000 of her savings in a CD two years ago that yielded about 5 percent. When the CD matured recently, she moved the money to a checking account because she didn't think the new rate of 1 percent was worth it.
"I just switched jobs and wanted to make sure that I had easy access to cash," she says.
Things could be looking up though. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond just in the first 10 days of September increased to 2.80 percent from 2.48 percent.
For now, beaten down consumers have already shunned spending. The Federal Reserve's latest data showed consumer spending at retail stores in key cities such as New York, Atlanta and Dallas either slowed or declined in July and August. Nationwide, credit card use dropped for a 23rd consecutive month in July, and overall borrowing dropped at an annual rate of $3.6 billion, the 17th drop in the past 18 months.
As American households spend less, chances of higher economic activity and a healthy recovery continues to diminish. It's no surprise that overall deposits in U.S. banks fell for two consecutive quarters for the first time in two decades.
"As consumers stop borrowing, money stops flowing around the economy and deposits start to shrink," says Sherief Meleis, managing director at New York-based management consultant Novantas.
Allen Tischler, vice president at Moody's Investors Service banking team, says the drop in deposits is partly the result of a deliberate effort by banks to save money. Many of the weaker banks that don't exist any more, like National City and Washington Mutual, wrote high interest CDs during the financial crisis in 2008 to attract cash to overcome their own liquidity crunch. However, these banks were acquired by PNC Bank and JP Morgan Chase, and those CDs aren't being rolled over now because the new ones offer much lower interest rates.
Of course, interest rates are so low in part because of government policy. The U.S. Federal Reserve has championed rock-bottom rates in the hope that they would prompt companies and consumers to borrow and spend again. Ironically, they're also adding to consumers' anxiety.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Friday, September 10, 2010
'Welcome to the Machine' #Ancient #Alien research
---
I suspect maybe Syd Barrett was here against his will.. Perhaps similar to a 6th tour of duty in Iraq.. Perhaps it drove him insane..
The BEST Syd Barret history on the net..
People always ask why I do not have the history section of The Syd Barrett Archives up yet, and this is because the stories that are out there are wildly incorrect and incomplete and before I put something up here, I want it to be as accurate as possible and as complete as possible so please be patient. Thank You! -Stephen Schneider - Webmaster
---
Welcome 'MY' son
Welcome to the machine
-
Where have you been?
-
It's alright 'WE' KNOW where you've been
-
You've been in the pipeline
Filling in time
-
Provided with toys and scouting for boys
You brought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school
-
AND YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOBODY'S FOOL
-
So welcome to the machine
-
Welcome 'MY' son
Welcome to the machine
-
What did you dream?
-
It's alright 'WE' TOLD you what to dream
You dreamed of a BIG STAR
-
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the Steak Bar
He loved to drive in his Jaguar
'
So welcome to the Machine
-
Thank YOU MY Heavenly Father ;)
Greg
I suspect maybe Syd Barrett was here against his will.. Perhaps similar to a 6th tour of duty in Iraq.. Perhaps it drove him insane..
The BEST Syd Barret history on the net..
People always ask why I do not have the history section of The Syd Barrett Archives up yet, and this is because the stories that are out there are wildly incorrect and incomplete and before I put something up here, I want it to be as accurate as possible and as complete as possible so please be patient. Thank You! -Stephen Schneider - Webmaster
---
Welcome 'MY' son
Welcome to the machine
-
Where have you been?
-
It's alright 'WE' KNOW where you've been
-
You've been in the pipeline
Filling in time
-
Provided with toys and scouting for boys
You brought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school
-
AND YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOBODY'S FOOL
-
So welcome to the machine
-
Welcome 'MY' son
Welcome to the machine
-
What did you dream?
-
It's alright 'WE' TOLD you what to dream
You dreamed of a BIG STAR
-
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the Steak Bar
He loved to drive in his Jaguar
'
So welcome to the Machine
-
Thank YOU MY Heavenly Father ;)
Greg
Jekyll Island
Following excerpt is from the book Secrets of the Temple -How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider
---
The Aldrich plan, it was said, was hatched at an infamous secret meeting at Jekyll Island, an isolated retreat in Georgia where key leaders of Wall Street finance met clandestinely in 1910 to settle on the terms for reform. The Jekyll Island meeting, which became a staple in the conspiracy theories surrounding the Fed, included Frank A. Vanderlip of National City (now Citibank), Henry P. Davidson from the Morgan bank and Paul Warburg of the Kuhn, Loeb investment house.
---
You see folks.. this 'stuff' has been going on for a very long time.. a hundred years even..
Since the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 the dollar has lost 95% of it's purchasing power.
Mere coincidence?
Or the culmination of the plan hatched in 1910?
Greg
Editorial Review Secrets of the Temple -How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider
From Publishers Weekly
In this penetrating study of the Federal Reserve Board in the Reagan era, Rolling Stone writer Greider (The Education of David Stockman) views the "Fed" chairman (until recently Paul Volcker) as the "second most powerful" officer of government, the high priest of a temple as mysterious as money itself, its processes unknown to the public and yet to be fully understood by any modern president. Controlling the money supply by secretly buying and selling government bonds and thus affecting interest rates, the Fed can manipulate billions in business profits or losses and millions in worker employment and stock, bond or bank account values, the author explains. Greider's conclusions are startling at times. The Fed, he maintains, could have prevented the 1929 crash. He also asserts the "awkward little secret" that the federal government deliberately induces recessions, usually to bring down inflation and interest rates. A time-consuming but extremely informative read.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
---
The Aldrich plan, it was said, was hatched at an infamous secret meeting at Jekyll Island, an isolated retreat in Georgia where key leaders of Wall Street finance met clandestinely in 1910 to settle on the terms for reform. The Jekyll Island meeting, which became a staple in the conspiracy theories surrounding the Fed, included Frank A. Vanderlip of National City (now Citibank), Henry P. Davidson from the Morgan bank and Paul Warburg of the Kuhn, Loeb investment house.
---
You see folks.. this 'stuff' has been going on for a very long time.. a hundred years even..
Since the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 the dollar has lost 95% of it's purchasing power.
Mere coincidence?
Or the culmination of the plan hatched in 1910?
Greg
Editorial Review Secrets of the Temple -How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider
From Publishers Weekly
In this penetrating study of the Federal Reserve Board in the Reagan era, Rolling Stone writer Greider (The Education of David Stockman) views the "Fed" chairman (until recently Paul Volcker) as the "second most powerful" officer of government, the high priest of a temple as mysterious as money itself, its processes unknown to the public and yet to be fully understood by any modern president. Controlling the money supply by secretly buying and selling government bonds and thus affecting interest rates, the Fed can manipulate billions in business profits or losses and millions in worker employment and stock, bond or bank account values, the author explains. Greider's conclusions are startling at times. The Fed, he maintains, could have prevented the 1929 crash. He also asserts the "awkward little secret" that the federal government deliberately induces recessions, usually to bring down inflation and interest rates. A time-consuming but extremely informative read.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
My complaint to the SEC $SRS
---
Tell Us About the Firm or Individual You Have a Complaint Against
Subject type: Firm
Name : Federal Reserve Bank
Type : Federal Government Agency
Nature of complaint: Manipulation of Security Price/Volume
Type of Security: Equity Security (general)
Security Symbol : SRS
How you Learned about the Transaction or other Activity:
It's not at all hard to see the blatant manipulation in this ETF
* Details About the Transactions or other Activity:
If you'll take a look at the chart below (link provided) you will see that the price of this ETF is OBVIOUSLY being manipulated by the United States government and/or the Federal Reserve bank of the United States of America.
It is my personal opinion that the government / Federal Reserve, at the time, was desperately looking for ways in which to crush the life out of market shorts..
This particular ETF (SRS ProShares UltraShort Real Estate ETF (NYSE ARCA)) traded around a split adjusted price of 400.00 per share in the fall of 2006, the height of the real estate bubble. During the panic in the fall of 2008 it hit a split adjusted price of nearly 1,500.00 per share.
It trades today (09/08/2010) about 21.50 per share..
I can't imagine that ANYONE could look at this 4 year chart with monthly candles and NOT see price / volume manipulation..
Relevant Internet Addresses:
http://twitpic.com/2mf9dg
Any Additional Information
Use this area to add any additional information that you wish:
IF investors cannot trust even our own governmental institutions to be honest and fair then where are they to turn for assistance of any kind?
Admittedly this complaint is somewhat tounge in cheek because obviously the SEC is not about to investigate the United States government and/or the Federal Reserve Bank..
However.. therein lies the problem.. You will NEVER be able to restore investor/consumer confidence in any part of this ponzi market or ponzi economy as a whole as long as the federal government is heavily manipulating same..
I have no hard proof for you.. LOOK and you will see.. But I'm sure you already are well aware of all the market / economic manipulation being undertaken by the United States government, the Federal Reserve Bank, The FHA, the the SEC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, on and on..
YOU are helping to destroy ALL confidence in government / finance as a whole.
I will be publishing the content of this complaint and will look forward to your cooperation and findings in this matter..
Gregory S. Phillips
This was my exit page on the SEC site after submission..
Enforcement Complaint Form
Thank you for your submission to the Division of Enforcement at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us. This automated response confirms that you have successfully submitted information to the Division of Enforcement. You can rest assured that an attorney in the Office of Internet Enforcement will review your information promptly.
We are always interested in hearing from members of the public, and you may be assured that the matter you have raised is being given careful consideration in view of the Commission's overall enforcement responsibilities under the federal securities laws. It is, however, the Commission's policy to conduct its inquiries on a non-public basis -- so this may be the only response that you receive. If your complaint is more in the nature of a consumer complaint (such as a dispute with your broker or a problem with your brokerage or retirement account), you should contact our Office of Investor Education and Assistance -- they may be able to help you. You may reach the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy via telephone at (202) 551-6551 or through the Web at HYPERLINK "http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml ".
The Commission conducts its investigations on a non-public basis to preserve the integrity of its investigative process as well as to protect persons against whom unfounded charges may be made or against whom the Commission determines that enforcement action is not necessary or appropriate. Subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, we cannot disclose to you any information which we may gather and we cannot confirm to you the existence or non-existence of an investigation, unless made a matter of public record in proceedings brought before the Commission or in the courts.
If you are unsure where you should direct your inquiry or you want to learn more about how the SEC handles inquiries and complaints, please visit the SEC Complaint Center at HYPERLINK "http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml".
We appreciate your interest in the work of the Commission and its Division of Enforcement.
Tell Us About the Firm or Individual You Have a Complaint Against
Subject type: Firm
Name : Federal Reserve Bank
Type : Federal Government Agency
Nature of complaint: Manipulation of Security Price/Volume
Type of Security: Equity Security (general)
Security Symbol : SRS
How you Learned about the Transaction or other Activity:
It's not at all hard to see the blatant manipulation in this ETF
* Details About the Transactions or other Activity:
If you'll take a look at the chart below (link provided) you will see that the price of this ETF is OBVIOUSLY being manipulated by the United States government and/or the Federal Reserve bank of the United States of America.
It is my personal opinion that the government / Federal Reserve, at the time, was desperately looking for ways in which to crush the life out of market shorts..
This particular ETF (SRS ProShares UltraShort Real Estate ETF (NYSE ARCA)) traded around a split adjusted price of 400.00 per share in the fall of 2006, the height of the real estate bubble. During the panic in the fall of 2008 it hit a split adjusted price of nearly 1,500.00 per share.
It trades today (09/08/2010) about 21.50 per share..
I can't imagine that ANYONE could look at this 4 year chart with monthly candles and NOT see price / volume manipulation..
Relevant Internet Addresses:
http://twitpic.com/2mf9dg
Any Additional Information
Use this area to add any additional information that you wish:
IF investors cannot trust even our own governmental institutions to be honest and fair then where are they to turn for assistance of any kind?
Admittedly this complaint is somewhat tounge in cheek because obviously the SEC is not about to investigate the United States government and/or the Federal Reserve Bank..
However.. therein lies the problem.. You will NEVER be able to restore investor/consumer confidence in any part of this ponzi market or ponzi economy as a whole as long as the federal government is heavily manipulating same..
I have no hard proof for you.. LOOK and you will see.. But I'm sure you already are well aware of all the market / economic manipulation being undertaken by the United States government, the Federal Reserve Bank, The FHA, the the SEC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, on and on..
YOU are helping to destroy ALL confidence in government / finance as a whole.
I will be publishing the content of this complaint and will look forward to your cooperation and findings in this matter..
Gregory S. Phillips
This was my exit page on the SEC site after submission..
Enforcement Complaint Form
Thank you for your submission to the Division of Enforcement at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us. This automated response confirms that you have successfully submitted information to the Division of Enforcement. You can rest assured that an attorney in the Office of Internet Enforcement will review your information promptly.
We are always interested in hearing from members of the public, and you may be assured that the matter you have raised is being given careful consideration in view of the Commission's overall enforcement responsibilities under the federal securities laws. It is, however, the Commission's policy to conduct its inquiries on a non-public basis -- so this may be the only response that you receive. If your complaint is more in the nature of a consumer complaint (such as a dispute with your broker or a problem with your brokerage or retirement account), you should contact our Office of Investor Education and Assistance -- they may be able to help you. You may reach the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy via telephone at (202) 551-6551 or through the Web at HYPERLINK "http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml ".
The Commission conducts its investigations on a non-public basis to preserve the integrity of its investigative process as well as to protect persons against whom unfounded charges may be made or against whom the Commission determines that enforcement action is not necessary or appropriate. Subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, we cannot disclose to you any information which we may gather and we cannot confirm to you the existence or non-existence of an investigation, unless made a matter of public record in proceedings brought before the Commission or in the courts.
If you are unsure where you should direct your inquiry or you want to learn more about how the SEC handles inquiries and complaints, please visit the SEC Complaint Center at HYPERLINK "http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml".
We appreciate your interest in the work of the Commission and its Division of Enforcement.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
#ETF #manipulation???
I don't (..)ing know.. I'm just asking.. Can someone/anyone out there analyze this better than I? If so please have at it! (And be sure and let me know what you discover..)
It 'looks' to me as though after the outright panic in the fall of 2008 these two ETFs (and I suspect many more) were heavily weighted by someone, in some way, to only go south as a way to punish market shorts mercilessly.. Perhaps effectively 'locking them out of the market' After a short bounce in Feb / March of 2009 these two ETFs have been driven ever lower ever since.. It's as if we have a STRONG real estate market and a STRONG consumer.. Which, I personally, don't consider to be the case.. SCC has lost 60% and SRS nearly an astounding 100% This AFTER a 10 - 1 reverse split?!
IYR = iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index ETF SRS = ProShares UltraShort Real Estate ETF SCC = ProShares UltraShort Consumer Services
Greg
Monday, September 6, 2010
Future Hiring Will Mainly Benefit The High-Skilled
---
I, and I'm sure many others, saw these problems coming nearly two years ago at the height of the collapse.. It seems one of the favored 'techniques' of politicians and a cooperative (controlled) main stream media has been to leak information (truth) out very gradually, a story at a time, over an extended period.. This to prevent a full blown public panic (think bank runs) and, also IMO, to partially hide the truth of the situation for as long as possible while the government and the Federal Reserve make 'plans' for how to deal with the deteriorating situations.. God only knows what those 'plans' might be.. Personally I'm rather afraid to find out..
In my personal opinion, even the future presented in this story is rather more rosy than the truth will end up being..
Pulled this AP story from The Huffington Post click here for the original post if you prefer
---
Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay – or none at all.
Job creation will likely remain weak for months or even years. But once employers do step up hiring, some economists expect job openings to fall mainly into two categories of roughly equal numbers:
_ Professional fields with higher pay. Think lawyers, research scientists and software engineers.
_ Lower-skill and lower-paying jobs, like home health care aides and store clerks.
And those in between? Their outlook is bleaker. Economists foresee fewer moderately paid factory supervisors, postal workers and office administrators.
That's the sobering message American workers face as they celebrate Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security. Not until 2014 or later is the nation expected to have regained all, or nearly all, the 8.4 million jobs lost to the recession. Millions of lost jobs in real estate, for example, aren't likely to be restored this decade, if ever.
On Friday, the government said the August unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6 percent. Not enough jobs were created to absorb the growing number of people seeking work. The unemployment rate has exceeded 9 percent for 16 months, the longest such stretch in nearly 30 years.
The crisis poses a threat to President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress, whose hold on the House and Senate appears to be at increasing risk because of voter discontent.
Even when the job market picks up, many people will be left behind. The threat stems, in part, from the economy's continuing shift from one driven by manufacturing to one fueled by service industries.
Story continues below
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Pay for future service-sector jobs will tend to vary from very high to very low. At the same time, the number of middle-income service-sector jobs will shrink, according to government projections. Any job that can be automated or outsourced overseas is likely to continue to decline.
The service sector's growth could also magnify the nation's income inequality, with more people either affluent or financially squeezed. The nation isn't educating enough people for the higher-skilled service-sector jobs of the future, economists warn.
"There will be jobs," says Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. "The big question is what they are going to pay, and what kind of lives they will allow people to lead? This will be a big issue for how broad a middle class we are going to have."
On one point there's broad agreement: Of 8 million-plus jobs lost to the recession – in fields like manufacturing, real estate and financial services – many, perhaps most, aren't coming back.
In their place will be jobs in health care, information technology and statistical analysis. Some of the new positions will require complex skills or higher education. Others won't – but they won't pay very much, either.
"Our occupational structure is really becoming bifurcated," says Richard Florida, a professor at University of Toronto. "We're becoming more of a divided nation by the work we do."
By 2018, the government forecasts a net total of 15.3 million new jobs. If that proves true, unemployment would drop far closer to a historical norm of 5 percent.
Nearly all the new jobs will be in the service sector, the Labor Department says. The nation's 78 million baby boomers will need more health care services as they age, for example. Demand for medical jobs will rise. And innovations in high technology and alternative energy are likely to spur growth in occupations that don't yet exist.
Hiring can't come fast enough for the 14.9 million unemployed Americans. Counting part-time employees who would prefer full-time jobs, plus out-of-work people who have stopped looking for jobs, the number of "underemployed" is 26.2 million.
Manufacturing has shed 2 million jobs since the recession began. Construction has lost 1.9 million, financial services 651,000.
But the biggest factor has been the bust in real estate. The vanished jobs range from construction workers and furniture makers to loan officers, appraisers and material suppliers. Moody's Analytics estimates the total number of housing-related jobs lost at 2.4 million. When you include commercial real estate, the number is far higher.
One of them is Martha Escobar, who last month lost her $13.50-an-hour job cleaning an office tower owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Century City, Calif. She was one of 16 janitors, mostly single mothers, who lost jobs as part of the real estate crunch that's squeezed landlords.
Some of them traveled to New York on Thursday to try to pressure JPMorgan to get its cleaning contractor to take them back, given that the bank earned $8.1 billion during the first half of this year.
"I don't know what I am going to do if I can't get my job back," Escobar, 41, said.
JPMorgan Chase spokesman Gary Kishner said the bank has no say over the layoffs, which he said are handled by the building's cleaning contractor.
On top of real estate-related job losses, manufacturing is likely to keep shedding jobs, sending lower-skilled work overseas. Millions who worked in those fields will need to find jobs in higher-skilled or lower-paying occupations.
"The big fear is the country is simply not preparing workers for the kind of skills that the country is going to need," says Gautam Godhwani, CEO of SimplyHired.com, which tracks job listings.
Sectors likely to grow fastest, according to economists and government projections, are:
_ HEALTH CARE
The sector is expected to be the leading job generator, adding 4 million by 2018, according to Labor Department data. An aging population requires more doctors and nurses, physical therapists, home health aides and pharmacists.
Many of these jobs will pay well. Physical therapists averaged about $76,000 last year, according to the department's data. Others pay far less. Home health care aides earned an average of just $21,600.
Home health care and personal care aides are expected to add about 900,000 jobs by 2018 – 50 percent more than in 2008.
Jennifer Gamboa of Body Dynamics Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based physical therapy firm, says the drive to reduce health care costs should benefit her profession, which can treat pain less expensively than surgery. Gamboa plans to add two employees in the next year.
_ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Technology could be an economic elixir as computers and online networks expand ways to automate services, distribute media and communicate.
Companies will need people to build and secure those networks. That should boost the number of programmers, network administrators and security specialists by 45 percent to 2.1 million by 2018, the government forecasts. Most of these jobs will provide above-average pay.
Technology pay averaged $84,400 in 2008 – nearly double the average private-sector pay of $45,400, according to an analysis of the most recent full-year data by the TechAmerica Foundation, a research group.
_ NEW INDUSTRIES: Deepak Advani, an IBM executive, has a title he says didn't exist five years ago: "Vice president of predictive analytics."
Companies and government agencies have amassed data on behavior ranging from shopping habits to criminal activity. Predictive analytics is the art of determining what to do with that data. How should workers' time be deployed? How best to target customers? Such jobs could grow 20 percent by 2018, the government predicts.
Still, economists say more will be needed to boost job growth. The answer may be some technological breakthrough akin to the personal computer or the Internet.
"Most big booms come from a particular sector that moves the rest of the economy," said Richard Freeman, a Harvard labor economist.
Technology spurred job growth after the 1982 and 1991 recessions. The PC became revolutionary in the early 1980s. Internet use exploded after the Mosaic Web browser was introduced in 1994. Housing eventually lifted employment after the 2001 dot-com bust.
"There's a lack of clarity on what the next big thing is going to be this time," said David Card, an economics professor at the University of California.
Until there is, many people will have to lower expectations and living standards as they enter fields with less pay and less job stability, said Dan Finnigan, CEO of online employment service Jobvite.
"People who are unemployed have to embrace this future that they are going to have many jobs," he said. "We will always be working on the next gig."
I, and I'm sure many others, saw these problems coming nearly two years ago at the height of the collapse.. It seems one of the favored 'techniques' of politicians and a cooperative (controlled) main stream media has been to leak information (truth) out very gradually, a story at a time, over an extended period.. This to prevent a full blown public panic (think bank runs) and, also IMO, to partially hide the truth of the situation for as long as possible while the government and the Federal Reserve make 'plans' for how to deal with the deteriorating situations.. God only knows what those 'plans' might be.. Personally I'm rather afraid to find out..
In my personal opinion, even the future presented in this story is rather more rosy than the truth will end up being..
Pulled this AP story from The Huffington Post click here for the original post if you prefer
---
Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay – or none at all.
Job creation will likely remain weak for months or even years. But once employers do step up hiring, some economists expect job openings to fall mainly into two categories of roughly equal numbers:
_ Professional fields with higher pay. Think lawyers, research scientists and software engineers.
_ Lower-skill and lower-paying jobs, like home health care aides and store clerks.
And those in between? Their outlook is bleaker. Economists foresee fewer moderately paid factory supervisors, postal workers and office administrators.
That's the sobering message American workers face as they celebrate Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security. Not until 2014 or later is the nation expected to have regained all, or nearly all, the 8.4 million jobs lost to the recession. Millions of lost jobs in real estate, for example, aren't likely to be restored this decade, if ever.
On Friday, the government said the August unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6 percent. Not enough jobs were created to absorb the growing number of people seeking work. The unemployment rate has exceeded 9 percent for 16 months, the longest such stretch in nearly 30 years.
The crisis poses a threat to President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress, whose hold on the House and Senate appears to be at increasing risk because of voter discontent.
Even when the job market picks up, many people will be left behind. The threat stems, in part, from the economy's continuing shift from one driven by manufacturing to one fueled by service industries.
Story continues below
Advertisement
Pay for future service-sector jobs will tend to vary from very high to very low. At the same time, the number of middle-income service-sector jobs will shrink, according to government projections. Any job that can be automated or outsourced overseas is likely to continue to decline.
The service sector's growth could also magnify the nation's income inequality, with more people either affluent or financially squeezed. The nation isn't educating enough people for the higher-skilled service-sector jobs of the future, economists warn.
"There will be jobs," says Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. "The big question is what they are going to pay, and what kind of lives they will allow people to lead? This will be a big issue for how broad a middle class we are going to have."
On one point there's broad agreement: Of 8 million-plus jobs lost to the recession – in fields like manufacturing, real estate and financial services – many, perhaps most, aren't coming back.
In their place will be jobs in health care, information technology and statistical analysis. Some of the new positions will require complex skills or higher education. Others won't – but they won't pay very much, either.
"Our occupational structure is really becoming bifurcated," says Richard Florida, a professor at University of Toronto. "We're becoming more of a divided nation by the work we do."
By 2018, the government forecasts a net total of 15.3 million new jobs. If that proves true, unemployment would drop far closer to a historical norm of 5 percent.
Nearly all the new jobs will be in the service sector, the Labor Department says. The nation's 78 million baby boomers will need more health care services as they age, for example. Demand for medical jobs will rise. And innovations in high technology and alternative energy are likely to spur growth in occupations that don't yet exist.
Hiring can't come fast enough for the 14.9 million unemployed Americans. Counting part-time employees who would prefer full-time jobs, plus out-of-work people who have stopped looking for jobs, the number of "underemployed" is 26.2 million.
Manufacturing has shed 2 million jobs since the recession began. Construction has lost 1.9 million, financial services 651,000.
But the biggest factor has been the bust in real estate. The vanished jobs range from construction workers and furniture makers to loan officers, appraisers and material suppliers. Moody's Analytics estimates the total number of housing-related jobs lost at 2.4 million. When you include commercial real estate, the number is far higher.
One of them is Martha Escobar, who last month lost her $13.50-an-hour job cleaning an office tower owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Century City, Calif. She was one of 16 janitors, mostly single mothers, who lost jobs as part of the real estate crunch that's squeezed landlords.
Some of them traveled to New York on Thursday to try to pressure JPMorgan to get its cleaning contractor to take them back, given that the bank earned $8.1 billion during the first half of this year.
"I don't know what I am going to do if I can't get my job back," Escobar, 41, said.
JPMorgan Chase spokesman Gary Kishner said the bank has no say over the layoffs, which he said are handled by the building's cleaning contractor.
On top of real estate-related job losses, manufacturing is likely to keep shedding jobs, sending lower-skilled work overseas. Millions who worked in those fields will need to find jobs in higher-skilled or lower-paying occupations.
"The big fear is the country is simply not preparing workers for the kind of skills that the country is going to need," says Gautam Godhwani, CEO of SimplyHired.com, which tracks job listings.
Sectors likely to grow fastest, according to economists and government projections, are:
_ HEALTH CARE
The sector is expected to be the leading job generator, adding 4 million by 2018, according to Labor Department data. An aging population requires more doctors and nurses, physical therapists, home health aides and pharmacists.
Many of these jobs will pay well. Physical therapists averaged about $76,000 last year, according to the department's data. Others pay far less. Home health care aides earned an average of just $21,600.
Home health care and personal care aides are expected to add about 900,000 jobs by 2018 – 50 percent more than in 2008.
Jennifer Gamboa of Body Dynamics Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based physical therapy firm, says the drive to reduce health care costs should benefit her profession, which can treat pain less expensively than surgery. Gamboa plans to add two employees in the next year.
_ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Technology could be an economic elixir as computers and online networks expand ways to automate services, distribute media and communicate.
Companies will need people to build and secure those networks. That should boost the number of programmers, network administrators and security specialists by 45 percent to 2.1 million by 2018, the government forecasts. Most of these jobs will provide above-average pay.
Technology pay averaged $84,400 in 2008 – nearly double the average private-sector pay of $45,400, according to an analysis of the most recent full-year data by the TechAmerica Foundation, a research group.
_ NEW INDUSTRIES: Deepak Advani, an IBM executive, has a title he says didn't exist five years ago: "Vice president of predictive analytics."
Companies and government agencies have amassed data on behavior ranging from shopping habits to criminal activity. Predictive analytics is the art of determining what to do with that data. How should workers' time be deployed? How best to target customers? Such jobs could grow 20 percent by 2018, the government predicts.
Still, economists say more will be needed to boost job growth. The answer may be some technological breakthrough akin to the personal computer or the Internet.
"Most big booms come from a particular sector that moves the rest of the economy," said Richard Freeman, a Harvard labor economist.
Technology spurred job growth after the 1982 and 1991 recessions. The PC became revolutionary in the early 1980s. Internet use exploded after the Mosaic Web browser was introduced in 1994. Housing eventually lifted employment after the 2001 dot-com bust.
"There's a lack of clarity on what the next big thing is going to be this time," said David Card, an economics professor at the University of California.
Until there is, many people will have to lower expectations and living standards as they enter fields with less pay and less job stability, said Dan Finnigan, CEO of online employment service Jobvite.
"People who are unemployed have to embrace this future that they are going to have many jobs," he said. "We will always be working on the next gig."
Friday, September 3, 2010
The #Market is Rigged High Frequency Chicanery
---
Click here for the original post on CounterPunch.org if you like..
---
The Market is Rigged
High Frequency Chicanery
By MIKE WHITNEY
Here's something to munch on from Dennis K. Berman in last week's Wall Street Journal:
"Today, small investors are fleeing the equities markets in droves, according to data from the Investment Company Institute, pulling out a net $34 billion from stock funds so far this year.....They say, "I still feel like someone is screwing me......trading feels different than it used to."
Berman traces the problem to its source, the "inscrutable interplay between myriad exchanges and high-frequency traders, whose volume now accounts for an estimated two-thirds of all trading"..."a market that many perceive as tainted and prone to gaming by a cadre of insiders."
That sounds like a long-winded way of saying the market is rigged.
High-frequency trading (HFT) is algorithmic-computer trading that finds "statistical patterns and pricing anomalies" by scanning the various stock exchanges. It's high-speed robo-trading that oftentimes executes orders without human intervention. HFT allows one group of investors to see the data on other people's orders ahead of time and use their supercomputers to buy in front of them. It's called frontloading, and it goes on every day right under the SEC's nose.
In an interview on CNBC, market analyst Joe Saluzzi was asked if the big HFT players were able to see other investors orders (and execute trades) before them. Saluzzi said, "Yes. The answer is absolutely yes. The exchanges supply you with the data, giving you the flash order, and if your fixed connection goes into their lines first, you are disadvantaging the retail and institutional investor."
Frontloading is cheating pure and simple, but rather than go after the "big fish" who run these enormous computerized skimming operations; regulators have been rolling up rogue traders who abscond with the trading code.
Here's a blurp from wired.com:
"Monday’s arrest of Samarth Agrawal, 26, came nine months after a Goldman Sachs programmer was arrested on similar charges that he, too, stole his employers source code for software, his employer used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the use of these programs that many believe give their users an unfair advantage over other traders. Nevertheless, stealing the code to these suspect programs remains illegal. ("Second banker accused of stealing high frequency trading code", wired.com)
Right; so stealing from stock cheats who are gaming the system is against the law? Roger.
Today's market is configured in a way that the only reliable way to make money is by increasing volume and trading on myriad venues. We're talking about gains of mere pennies per trade on zillions of trades. The problem is that--when there's a glitch in the system--the high frequency bullyboys head for the exits taking an ocean of liquidity with them. That leads to a "flash crash" like the one on May 6 when the markets tumbled nearly 1,000 points in a matter of minutes. And, there's nothing to prevent a similar cataclysm from taking place in the future, because nothing's changed. The SEC still has its head in the sand.
There appears to be general agreement about the nature of the problem. (Though see Pam Martens’ The May 6 Stock Crash Revisited and The Big Plunge on this site, AC/JSC) Here's Berman again:
"When BlackRock Inc. surveyed 380 financial advisers earlier this summer about the flash crash, their perceptions said it all: The mayhem had been primarily caused by an "overreliance on computer systems and some types of high frequency trading" strategies that roam the market en masse, looking to pick off pennies of profit." ("A Market Solution That Put Investors in a Fix", Dennis K. Berman, Wall Street Journal)
No one wants to fix the problem, because then the big players would lose boatloads of money, and that just won't do. So the vehicle continues to speed faster and faster down the mountain veering wildly from one side of the road to the other. How long before it jumps the guardrail and plunges to the bottom of the canyon? Stay tuned....
Capital Hill is awash in Wall Street's dirty money, which means that congress will block any law that threatens the main profit-centers of the big banks or brokerage houses. HFT, complex derivatives, securitization and repo transactions will all be preserved in their present state until the next big tremor rumbles through lower Manhattan bringing the markets down in a thunderous roar. Make sure the cuboards are full.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state and can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com
Click here for the original post on CounterPunch.org if you like..
---
The Market is Rigged
High Frequency Chicanery
By MIKE WHITNEY
Here's something to munch on from Dennis K. Berman in last week's Wall Street Journal:
"Today, small investors are fleeing the equities markets in droves, according to data from the Investment Company Institute, pulling out a net $34 billion from stock funds so far this year.....They say, "I still feel like someone is screwing me......trading feels different than it used to."
Berman traces the problem to its source, the "inscrutable interplay between myriad exchanges and high-frequency traders, whose volume now accounts for an estimated two-thirds of all trading"..."a market that many perceive as tainted and prone to gaming by a cadre of insiders."
That sounds like a long-winded way of saying the market is rigged.
High-frequency trading (HFT) is algorithmic-computer trading that finds "statistical patterns and pricing anomalies" by scanning the various stock exchanges. It's high-speed robo-trading that oftentimes executes orders without human intervention. HFT allows one group of investors to see the data on other people's orders ahead of time and use their supercomputers to buy in front of them. It's called frontloading, and it goes on every day right under the SEC's nose.
In an interview on CNBC, market analyst Joe Saluzzi was asked if the big HFT players were able to see other investors orders (and execute trades) before them. Saluzzi said, "Yes. The answer is absolutely yes. The exchanges supply you with the data, giving you the flash order, and if your fixed connection goes into their lines first, you are disadvantaging the retail and institutional investor."
Frontloading is cheating pure and simple, but rather than go after the "big fish" who run these enormous computerized skimming operations; regulators have been rolling up rogue traders who abscond with the trading code.
Here's a blurp from wired.com:
"Monday’s arrest of Samarth Agrawal, 26, came nine months after a Goldman Sachs programmer was arrested on similar charges that he, too, stole his employers source code for software, his employer used to make sophisticated, high-speed, high-volume stock and commodities trades.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the use of these programs that many believe give their users an unfair advantage over other traders. Nevertheless, stealing the code to these suspect programs remains illegal. ("Second banker accused of stealing high frequency trading code", wired.com)
Right; so stealing from stock cheats who are gaming the system is against the law? Roger.
Today's market is configured in a way that the only reliable way to make money is by increasing volume and trading on myriad venues. We're talking about gains of mere pennies per trade on zillions of trades. The problem is that--when there's a glitch in the system--the high frequency bullyboys head for the exits taking an ocean of liquidity with them. That leads to a "flash crash" like the one on May 6 when the markets tumbled nearly 1,000 points in a matter of minutes. And, there's nothing to prevent a similar cataclysm from taking place in the future, because nothing's changed. The SEC still has its head in the sand.
There appears to be general agreement about the nature of the problem. (Though see Pam Martens’ The May 6 Stock Crash Revisited and The Big Plunge on this site, AC/JSC) Here's Berman again:
"When BlackRock Inc. surveyed 380 financial advisers earlier this summer about the flash crash, their perceptions said it all: The mayhem had been primarily caused by an "overreliance on computer systems and some types of high frequency trading" strategies that roam the market en masse, looking to pick off pennies of profit." ("A Market Solution That Put Investors in a Fix", Dennis K. Berman, Wall Street Journal)
No one wants to fix the problem, because then the big players would lose boatloads of money, and that just won't do. So the vehicle continues to speed faster and faster down the mountain veering wildly from one side of the road to the other. How long before it jumps the guardrail and plunges to the bottom of the canyon? Stay tuned....
Capital Hill is awash in Wall Street's dirty money, which means that congress will block any law that threatens the main profit-centers of the big banks or brokerage houses. HFT, complex derivatives, securitization and repo transactions will all be preserved in their present state until the next big tremor rumbles through lower Manhattan bringing the markets down in a thunderous roar. Make sure the cuboards are full.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state and can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com
Want vs Need
In my own personal opinion there is nothing wrong with capitalism that can't be fixed with honesty and integrity.. The real problem lies with consumerism..
This country has for decades now been pushed too far by want rather than need..
There are indeed more important things in life than ever increasing corporate profits at any/all costs.
There are serious problems in this country that were caused by the greed driven expansion of credit to fill the pockets of bankers.. Our entire financial system, in my opinion, should indeed be dismantled and the greed and corruption removed.
I am a registered republican and have been for my entire voting life but I am ashamed of BOTH parties in this country..
So far to date NOTHING has been done to CHANGE anything! There are STILL payday loans. Every dealership is STILL shouting No Credit? Bad credit? NO PROBLEM! Every retailer STILL thinks THEIR money is worth 25 or 30% interest!
That's BS!
We should have reinstated USURY LAWS 2 years ago! Nearly ALL of our corporations prey on the ignorant among us.. It is a true shame.. We are still suffering with this debt based fiat driven ponzi of an economy that can do nothing but fail in the end.
Greg
This country has for decades now been pushed too far by want rather than need..
There are indeed more important things in life than ever increasing corporate profits at any/all costs.
There are serious problems in this country that were caused by the greed driven expansion of credit to fill the pockets of bankers.. Our entire financial system, in my opinion, should indeed be dismantled and the greed and corruption removed.
I am a registered republican and have been for my entire voting life but I am ashamed of BOTH parties in this country..
So far to date NOTHING has been done to CHANGE anything! There are STILL payday loans. Every dealership is STILL shouting No Credit? Bad credit? NO PROBLEM! Every retailer STILL thinks THEIR money is worth 25 or 30% interest!
That's BS!
We should have reinstated USURY LAWS 2 years ago! Nearly ALL of our corporations prey on the ignorant among us.. It is a true shame.. We are still suffering with this debt based fiat driven ponzi of an economy that can do nothing but fail in the end.
Greg
Clues.. The #Alien #Conspiracy Will you listen to the #messages?
---
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Produced by Norman Smith
Released August 7, 1967
Recorded in EMI Abbey Road Studios, April 1967 Frontcover photo: Vic Singh Backcover design: Syd Barrett
From Matilda Mother (Barrett)
There was a king who ruled the land.
His majesty was in command.
With silver eyes the scarlet eagle
Showers silver on the people.
Oh Mother, tell me more.
Why'd'ya have to leave me there
Hanging in my infant air
Waiting?
You only have to read the lines
They're scribbly black and everything shines.
From Flaming (Barrett)
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
Lazing in the foggy dew
Sitting on a unicorn.
No fair, you can't hear me
But I can you.
Watching buttercups cup the light
Sleeping on a dandelion.
Too much, I won't touch you
But then I might.
Screaming through the starlit sky
Traveling by telephone.
Hey ho, here we go
Ever so high.
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
From Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (Waters)
Gold is lead
Jesus bled
Pain is red
Music seems to help the pain
Seems to cultivate the brain.
From Chapter 24 (Barrett)
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.
The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
From Bike (Barrett)
I know a room full of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork.
Let's go into the other room and make them work.
A Saucerful of Secrets
Produced by Norman Smith
Released July 1968
Recorded at EMI Abbey Road Studios
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Let There Be More Light (Waters)
Far, far, far away - way
People heard him say - say
I will find a way - way
There will come a day - day
Something will be done.
Then at last the mighty ship
Descending on a point of flame
Made contact with the human race
at Mildenhall
Now, now, now is the time - time
Time to be - be - be aware
Carter's father saw him there and
Knew the road revealed to him
The living soul of .....
Oh, my, something in my eye - eye
Something in the sky - sky
Waiting there for me
The outer lock rolled slowly back
The service men were heard to sigh
For there revealed in glowing robes
Was Lucy in the sky
Oh - oh - did you ever know - know
Never ever will they
I cannot say
Something in his cosmic art
And glowing slightly from his toes
His psychic emanations flowed
From Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters)
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven.
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
From A Saucerful of Secrets (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
a. Something Else
b. Syncopated Pandemonium
---
Syncopated: a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent in music caused typically by stressing the weak beat
pan·de·mo·ni·um
/ˌpændəˈmoʊniəm/ Show Spelled[pan-duh-moh-nee-uhm] Show IPA
–noun
1. wild uproar or unrestrained disorder; tumult or chaos.
2. a place or scene of riotous uproar or utter chaos.
3. ( often initial capital letter ) the abode of all the demons.
4. hell.
---
c. Storm Signal
d. Celestial Voices
---
ce·les·tial (s-lschl)
adj.
1. Of or relating to the sky or the heavens: Planets are celestial bodies.
2. Of or relating to heaven; divine: celestial beings.
3. Supremely good; sublime: celestial happiness.
---
From Jugband Blues (Barrett)
It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.
I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.
And the sea isn't green
And I love the Queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.
More
Music from the film "More" by Barbet Schroder
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1969
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
Cirrus Minor (Waters)
On a trip to Cirrus Minor,
Saw a crater in the sun
A thousand miles of moonlight later.
From The Nile Song (Waters)
I was standing by the Nile
When I saw the lady smile.
I would take her out for a while,
For a while.
Oh, my tears wept like a child.
How her golden hair was blowing wild.
Then she spread her wings to fly,
For to fly.
Soaring high above the breezes,
Going always where she pleases.
She will make it to the islands in the sun.
I will follow in her shadow
As I watch her from my window.
One day I will catch her eye.
She is calling from the deep,
Summoning my soul to endless sleep.
She is bound to drag me down,
Drag me down.
From Crying Song (Waters)
Help me roll away the stone
From Green is the Colour (Waters)
Quickness of the eye deceives the mind
Envy is the bond between the hopeful and the damned
From Ibiza Bar (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Take me down, take me down, from the shelf above your head
So give me a time when the countries will lie on the storyline if kind
And if I live on the shelf like the rest
And if love bleeds like a sad song
Please pick-up your camera and use me again
So give me a time when the countries will lie on the storyline if kind
Yea
Ummagumma
Released 1969
Recorded at Mothers Birmingham, April 27th 1969 and Manchester College of Commerge, May 2nd 1969 Live album produced by Pink Floyd
Studio album produced by Norman Smith Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Astronomy Domine (Barrett)
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda
And Titania, Neptune, Titan.
Stars can frighten.
From Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters)
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven.
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
From Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict (Waters)
Aye! A roar he cried frae the bottom of his heart that I would nay fall
but as dead, dead as 'a can be by his feet; de ya ken?
From The Narrow Way Parts I,II, & III (Gilmour)
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't catch the words they say
And you must you realize be on your way
Hear the roar get louder in your ears
You know the folly was your own
But the force behind can't conquer all your fears
Throw your thoughts back many years
To the time when love was life with every morning
Perhaps a day will come when the match for me the curlers past warning
Soundtrack from the film Zabriskie Point
Released
From Crumbling land (Waters, Gilmour, Mason, Wright)
On a hill there lived a man with many shining things
shiny gold, shiny car and shiny diamond rings
wining, dining, shining king
Then a man appearing like a mirage on the sand
in his hand a moving picture of the crumbling land
screaming, dealing, movie man
Here we go, hold your breath to see if something blows
close your eyes, count till ten and see the sunrise rise
gliding high into the sky
By the holy mansion, let the guardian rise
upon the finger of the king
on high the eagle flies, that glitter all of gold
then wheeling in a cloudy sky, he flies into the sun
Atom Heart Mother
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1971
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From If (Waters) (And if I were a good 'man', I'd talk with you
More often than I do. Is this a reference to God?)
And if I were a good man,
I'd talk with you
More often than I do.
If I were to sleep, I could dream.
If I were afraid, I could hide.
If I go insane, please don't put
Your wires in my brain.
If I were the moon, I'd be cool.
If I were a book, I would bend for you.
If I were a good man, I'd understand
The spaces between friends.
If I were alone, I would cry.
And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry.
And if I go insane,
And they lock me away,
Will you still let me join in the game?
From Fat Old Sun (Gilmour)
Pick your feet up off the ground
And if you hear as the warm night falls
The silver sound from a time so strange
Sing to me, sing to me
When that fat old sun in the sky is falling
Relics
Released 1971
Produced by Normal Smith
Cover Design for UK release: Nick Mason Cover Design for US release: David Coleman
From Arnold Layne (Barrett)
On the wall hung a tall mirror
Distorted view, see through baby blue
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
From Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)
[nothing..]
From See Emily Play (Barrett) 2:54
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
From Remember a Day (Wright)
Climb your favorite apple tree
Try to catch the sun
Hide from your little brother's gun
Dream yourself away
Why can't we reach the sun
Why can't we blow the years away
Blow away
Blow away
Remember
Remember
From Julia Dream (Waters)
Will the misty master break me
Will the key unlock my mind
Will the following footsteps catch me
Am I really dying
From Biding My Time (Waters)
Wasting my time,
Resting my mind
And I'll never pine
For the sad days and the bad days
Meddle
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released in US October 30, 1971
Released in UK November 13, 1971
Recorded in AIR Studios, EMI Abbey Road Studios and Morgan Sound, January and March through August 1971 Cover Design by Pink Floyd Inner sleeve photo by Hipgnosis
Outer sleeve photos by Bob Dowling
From One of These Days (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces
From A Pillow of Winds (Waters, Gilmour)
Now wakes the hour
Now sleeps the swan
Behold the dream
The dream is gone.
Green fields are calling
It's falling, in a golden door.
From Fearless (Waters, Gilmour)
You say the hill's too steep to climb
Climb it.
You say you'd like to see me try
Climbing.
You pick the place and I'll choose the time
And I'll climb
That hill in my own way.
Just wait a while for the right day.
And as I rise above the tree lines and the clouds
I look down, hearing the sound of the things you've said today.
Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd
Smiling.
And who's the fool who wears the crown?
And go down,
in your own way
And every day is the right day
And as you rise above the fear-lines in his brow
You look down, hearing the sound of the faces in the crowd.
From San Tropez (Waters)
Sooner than wait for
A break in the weather,
I'll gather my far-flung
Thoughts together.
Speeding away
On the wind to a new day.
And if you're alone
I'll come home.
And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to the things they say.
Open a book
Take a look at the way things stand.
And you're leading me down
To the place by the sea.
I hear your soft voice
Calling to me.
Making a date for
Later by phone
And if you're alone
I'll come home.
From Seamus (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
Well, the sun sinks slowly
But my old hound just sat right down and cried
From Echoes (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.
And no one called us to the land
And no one knows the where's or why's.
Something stirs and something tries
Starts to climb toward the light.
And I am you and what I see is me.
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand
The best I can.
And no one called us to the land
And no one crosses there alive.
No one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun....
Almost everyday you fall
Upon my waking eyes,
Inviting and inciting me
To rise.
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning.
And no one sings me lullabyes
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky....
Obscured by Clouds
Soundtrack to the movie "La Vallee," by Barbet Schroder
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1972
Recorded at Chateau d'Herouville, Paris February 23 - 29, 1972
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Burning Bridges (Wright, Waters)
Bridges burning gladly
Merging with the shadows,
Flickering between the lines.
Stolen moments floating softly on the air,
Borne on wings of fire and climbing higher.
Ancient bonds are breaking,
Moving on and changing sides.
Dreaming of a new day,
Cast aside the other way.
Magic visions stirring,
Kindled by and burning flames rise in her eyes.
The doorway stands ajar,
The walls that once were high.
Beyond the gilded cage,
Beyond the reach of ties.
The moment is at hand.
She breaks the golden band.
From The Gold it's in The... (Waters, Gilmour) 3:07
All I want to tell you, all I want to say
Is count me in on the journey.
Don't expect me to stay.
From Wots...uh the Deal (Waters, Gilmour) 5:07
Heaven sent the promised land
Looks alright from where I stand
Cause I'm the man on the outside looking in
Waiting on the first step
Show where the key is kept
Point me down the right line because it's time
Try to keep up with the turning of the wheel.
Mile after mile
Stone after stone
Turn to speak but you're alone
Million mile from home you're on your own
Cause there's chill wind blowing in my soul
Someone said the promised land
And I grabbed it with both hands
Now I'm the man on the inside looking out
Hear me shout "Come on in,
What's the news and where you been?"
Cause there's no wind left in my soul
And I've grown old
From Childhood's End (Gilmour)
Who are you and who am I
To say we know the reason why?
Some are born; some men die
Beneath one infinite sky.
There'll be war, there'll be peace.
But everything one day will cease.
All the iron turned to rust;
All the proud men turned to dust.
And so all things, time will mend.
So this song will end.
From Free Four (Waters)
So all aboard for the American tour,
And maybe you'll make it to the top.
And mind how you go, and I can tell you, 'cause I know
You may find it hard to get off.
You are the angel of death
And I am the dead man's son.
And he was buried like a mole in a fox hole.
And everyone is still in the run.
And who is the master of fox hounds?
And who says the hunt has begun?
And who calls the tune in the courtroom?
And who beats the funeral drum?
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in gloom in the sickroom
And talk to yourself till you die.
The Dark Side of the Moon
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released March, 1973
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios between June 1972 and Junary 1973 Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Speak to Me (Mason) 1:16
"I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been
over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands..."
"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the
most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even
if you're not mad..."
From Breathe (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)
Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.
Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.
Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.
From Time (Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour)
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.
From Breathe (reprise)
Home, home again.
I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire.
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
From The Great Gig in the Sky (Wright)
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
"If you can hear this whispering you are dying."
"I never said I was frightened of dying."
From Money (Waters)
Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
From Us and Them (Waters, Wright)
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died.
And the general sat and the lines on the map
moved from side to side.
Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who.
Up and down.
But in the end it's only round and round.
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.
"I mean, they're not gunna kill ya, so if you give 'em a quick short,
sharp, shock, they won't do it again. Dig it? I mean he get off
lightly, 'cos I would've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!
It was only a difference of opinion, but really...I mean good manners
don't cost nothing do they, eh?"
Down and out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about.
With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
Out of the way, it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind.
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.
From Brain Damage (Waters)
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
The lunatic is in my head.
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'til I'm sane.
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvelous! HaHaHa!"
From Eclipse (Waters)
All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."
Wish You Were Here
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released September 15, 1975
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios between January 6th and July 19th, 1975 Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1-5)
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon,
You cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night,
And exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome
With random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
From Welcome to the Machine (Waters)
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?
It's alright we know where you've been.
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,
Provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'.
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
What did you dream?
It's alright we told you what to dream.
You dreamed of a big star
So welcome to the Machine.
From Have a Cigar (Waters)
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy,
We call it Riding the Gravy Train.
From Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
From Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Nobody knows where you are,
How near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers
And I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we'll bask in the shadow
Of yesterday's triumph,
And sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child,
You winner and loser,
Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
Animals
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released January 23, 1977
Recorded at Britannia Row Studios April through November 1976 Sleeve Design by Roger Waters Photography by Aubrey Powell, Peter Christopherson, Howard Bartrop, Nic Tucker, Bob Ellis, Rob Brimson, Colin Jones Inflatable Pig designed by E.R.G. Amsterdam
Pigs on the Wing (Part One) (Waters)
If you didn't care what happened to me,
And I didn't care for you,
We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain.
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
From Dogs (Waters, Gilmour)
You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.
From Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Waters)
Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are.
You well heeled big wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your heart,
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost a joker,
With your head down in the pig bin,
Saying "Keep on digging."
Pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find.
When you're down in the pig mine.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Bus stop rat bag, ha ha charade you are.
You fucked up old hag, ha ha charade you are.
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass.
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost worth a quick grin.
You like the feel of steel,
You're hot stuff with a hatpin,
And good fun with a hand gun.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Hey you, Whitehouse,
Ha ha charade you are.
You house proud town mouse,
Ha ha charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street.
You're nearly a real treat,
All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused?
.....! .....! .....! .....!
You gotta stem the evil tide,
And keep it all on the inside.
Mary you're nearly a treat,
Mary you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry.
From Sheep (Waters)
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away;
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air.
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.
What do you get for pretending the danger's not real.
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
No, this is no bad dream.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives He releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water.
Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told.
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.
From Pigs on the Wing (Part Two) (Waters)
You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me.
So I don't feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I've found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.
The Wall
Produced by David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin, and Roger Waters
Released November 30, 1979
Recorded in Super Bear Studios between April and November 1979 Sleeve Design by Gerald Scarfe and Roger Waters
From In the Flesh? (Waters)
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes
You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.
From The Thin Ice (Waters)
If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 (Waters)
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
From The Happiest Days of our Lives (Waters)
When we grew up and went to school
There were certain teachers who would
Hurt the children in any way they could
By pouring their derision
Upon anything we did
And exposing every weakness
However carefully hidden by the kids
But in the town, it was well known
When they got home at night, their fat and
Psychopathic wives would thrash them
Within inches of their lives.
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (Waters)
We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
From Mother (Waters)
Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build the wall?
Mother should I run for president?
Mother should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Ooooh is it just a waste of time?
Hush now baby, baby, dont you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She wont let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mother, did it need to be so high?
From Goodbye Blue Sky (Waters)
"Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky"
Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the
promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue
sky?
Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all gone, but the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
From Empty Spaces (Waters)
"Congratulations, You have just discovered the secret message.
From One of My Turns (Waters)
Nothing is very much fun any more.
And I can feel one of my turns coming on.
I feel cold as a razor blade,
Tight as a tourniquet,
Dry as a funeral drum.
Run to the bedroom,
In the suitcase on the left
You'll find my favorite axe.
Don't look so frightened
This is just a passing phase,
One of my bad days.
Would you like to watch T.V.?
Or get between the sheets?
Or contemplate the silent freeway?
Would you like something to eat?
Would you like to learn to fly?
Would'ya?
Would you like to see me try?
Would you like to call the cops?
Do you think it's time I stopped?
Why are you running away?
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 3 (Waters)
I have seen the writing on the wall.
Don't think I need anything at all.
No! Don't think I'll need anything at all.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall.
From Goodbye Cruel World (Waters)
Goodbye cruel world,
I'm leaving you today.
Goodbye,
Goodbye,
Goodbye.
Goodbye, all you people,
There's nothing you can say
To make me change my mind.
Goodbye.
From Hey You (Waters)
Hey you, out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old
Can you feel me?
Hey you, standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles
Can you feel me?
Hey you, dont help them to bury the light
Don't give in without a fight.
Hey you, out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone
Would you touch me?
Hey you, with your ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out
Would you touch me?
Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home.
But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high,
As you can see.
No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain.
Hey you, standing in the road
always doing what you're told,
Can you help me?
Hey you, out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.
From Is There Anybody Out There? (Waters)
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
From Nobody Home (Waters)
"Alright, I'll take care of them part of the time, but there's somebody else that needs taking care of in Washington"
Got thirteen channels of shit on the T.V. to choose from.
I've got electric light.
And I've got second sight.
And amazing powers of observation.
I've got wild staring eyes.
And I've got a strong urge to fly.
But I got nowhere to fly to.
From Vera (Waters)
What has become of you?
Does anybody else here
Feel the way I do?
From Comfortably Numb (Gilmour, Waters)
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
From The Show Must Go On (Waters)
There must be some mistake
I didnt mean to let them
Take away my soul.
Am I too old, is it too late?
From In The Flesh (Waters)
Are there any queers in the theater tonight?
Get them up against the wall!
There's one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me,
Get him up against the wall!
That one looks Jewish!
And that one's a coon!
Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?
There's one smoking a joint,
And another with spots!
If I had my way,
I'd have all of you shot!
From Run Like Hell (Gilmour, Waters)
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run,
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run.
You better make your face up in
Your favorite disguise.
With your button down lips and your
Roller blind eyes.
With your empty smile
And your hungry heart.
Feel the bile rising from your guilty past.
With your nerves in tatters
When the cockleshell shatters
And the hammers batter
Down the door.
You'd better run.
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run,
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run.
You better run all day
And run all night.
They're gonna send you back to mother
In a cardboard box.
You better run.
From Waiting for the Worms (Waters)
Goodbye, cruel world, it's over
Walk on by.
Sitting in a bunker here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come.
In perfect isolation here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come.
We're {waiting to succeed} and going to convene outside Brixton
Town Hall where we're going to be...
Waiting to cut out the deadwood.
Waiting to clean up the city.
Waiting to follow the worms.
Waiting to put on a black shirt.
Waiting to weed out the weaklings.
Waiting to smash in their windows
And kick in their doors.
Waiting for the final solution
To strengthen the strain.
Waiting to follow the worms.
Waiting to turn on the showers
And fire the ovens.
Waiting for the queens and the coons
and the reds and the jews.
Waiting to follow the worms.
All you need to do is follow the worms.
From Stop (Waters)
Stop!
I wanna go home
Take off this uniform
And leave the show.
But I'm waiting in this cell
Because I have to know.
Have I been guilty all this time?
From The Trial (Waters, Bob Ezrin)
Good morning, Worm your honor.
The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red-handed showing feelings
Showing feelings of an almost human nature;
This will not do.
Call the schoolmaster!
I always said he'd come to no good
In the end your honor.
If they'd let me have my way I could
Have flayed him into shape.
But my hands were tied,
The bleeding hearts and artists
Let him get away with murder.
Let me hammer him today?
Crazy,
Toys in the attic I am crazy,
Truly gone fishing.
They must have taken my marbles away.
Crazy, toys in the attic he is crazy.
Crazy,
Over the rainbow, I am crazy,
Bars in the window.
There must have been a door there in the wall
When I came in.
Crazy, over the rainbow, he is crazy.
Since, my friend, you have revealed your
Deepest fear,
I sentence you to be exposed before
Your peers.
Tear down the wall!
From Outside the Wall (Waters)
All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
Greg
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Produced by Norman Smith
Released August 7, 1967
Recorded in EMI Abbey Road Studios, April 1967 Frontcover photo: Vic Singh Backcover design: Syd Barrett
From Matilda Mother (Barrett)
There was a king who ruled the land.
His majesty was in command.
With silver eyes the scarlet eagle
Showers silver on the people.
Oh Mother, tell me more.
Why'd'ya have to leave me there
Hanging in my infant air
Waiting?
You only have to read the lines
They're scribbly black and everything shines.
From Flaming (Barrett)
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
Lazing in the foggy dew
Sitting on a unicorn.
No fair, you can't hear me
But I can you.
Watching buttercups cup the light
Sleeping on a dandelion.
Too much, I won't touch you
But then I might.
Screaming through the starlit sky
Traveling by telephone.
Hey ho, here we go
Ever so high.
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
From Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (Waters)
Gold is lead
Jesus bled
Pain is red
Music seems to help the pain
Seems to cultivate the brain.
From Chapter 24 (Barrett)
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.
The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
From Bike (Barrett)
I know a room full of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork.
Let's go into the other room and make them work.
A Saucerful of Secrets
Produced by Norman Smith
Released July 1968
Recorded at EMI Abbey Road Studios
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Let There Be More Light (Waters)
Far, far, far away - way
People heard him say - say
I will find a way - way
There will come a day - day
Something will be done.
Then at last the mighty ship
Descending on a point of flame
Made contact with the human race
at Mildenhall
Now, now, now is the time - time
Time to be - be - be aware
Carter's father saw him there and
Knew the road revealed to him
The living soul of .....
Oh, my, something in my eye - eye
Something in the sky - sky
Waiting there for me
The outer lock rolled slowly back
The service men were heard to sigh
For there revealed in glowing robes
Was Lucy in the sky
Oh - oh - did you ever know - know
Never ever will they
I cannot say
Something in his cosmic art
And glowing slightly from his toes
His psychic emanations flowed
From Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters)
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven.
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
From A Saucerful of Secrets (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
a. Something Else
b. Syncopated Pandemonium
---
Syncopated: a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent in music caused typically by stressing the weak beat
pan·de·mo·ni·um
/ˌpændəˈmoʊniəm/ Show Spelled[pan-duh-moh-nee-uhm] Show IPA
–noun
1. wild uproar or unrestrained disorder; tumult or chaos.
2. a place or scene of riotous uproar or utter chaos.
3. ( often initial capital letter ) the abode of all the demons.
4. hell.
---
c. Storm Signal
d. Celestial Voices
---
ce·les·tial (s-lschl)
adj.
1. Of or relating to the sky or the heavens: Planets are celestial bodies.
2. Of or relating to heaven; divine: celestial beings.
3. Supremely good; sublime: celestial happiness.
---
From Jugband Blues (Barrett)
It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.
I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.
And the sea isn't green
And I love the Queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.
More
Music from the film "More" by Barbet Schroder
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1969
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
Cirrus Minor (Waters)
On a trip to Cirrus Minor,
Saw a crater in the sun
A thousand miles of moonlight later.
From The Nile Song (Waters)
I was standing by the Nile
When I saw the lady smile.
I would take her out for a while,
For a while.
Oh, my tears wept like a child.
How her golden hair was blowing wild.
Then she spread her wings to fly,
For to fly.
Soaring high above the breezes,
Going always where she pleases.
She will make it to the islands in the sun.
I will follow in her shadow
As I watch her from my window.
One day I will catch her eye.
She is calling from the deep,
Summoning my soul to endless sleep.
She is bound to drag me down,
Drag me down.
From Crying Song (Waters)
Help me roll away the stone
From Green is the Colour (Waters)
Quickness of the eye deceives the mind
Envy is the bond between the hopeful and the damned
From Ibiza Bar (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Take me down, take me down, from the shelf above your head
So give me a time when the countries will lie on the storyline if kind
And if I live on the shelf like the rest
And if love bleeds like a sad song
Please pick-up your camera and use me again
So give me a time when the countries will lie on the storyline if kind
Yea
Ummagumma
Released 1969
Recorded at Mothers Birmingham, April 27th 1969 and Manchester College of Commerge, May 2nd 1969 Live album produced by Pink Floyd
Studio album produced by Norman Smith Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Astronomy Domine (Barrett)
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda
And Titania, Neptune, Titan.
Stars can frighten.
From Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters)
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven.
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
From Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict (Waters)
Aye! A roar he cried frae the bottom of his heart that I would nay fall
but as dead, dead as 'a can be by his feet; de ya ken?
From The Narrow Way Parts I,II, & III (Gilmour)
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't catch the words they say
And you must you realize be on your way
Hear the roar get louder in your ears
You know the folly was your own
But the force behind can't conquer all your fears
Throw your thoughts back many years
To the time when love was life with every morning
Perhaps a day will come when the match for me the curlers past warning
Soundtrack from the film Zabriskie Point
Released
From Crumbling land (Waters, Gilmour, Mason, Wright)
On a hill there lived a man with many shining things
shiny gold, shiny car and shiny diamond rings
wining, dining, shining king
Then a man appearing like a mirage on the sand
in his hand a moving picture of the crumbling land
screaming, dealing, movie man
Here we go, hold your breath to see if something blows
close your eyes, count till ten and see the sunrise rise
gliding high into the sky
By the holy mansion, let the guardian rise
upon the finger of the king
on high the eagle flies, that glitter all of gold
then wheeling in a cloudy sky, he flies into the sun
Atom Heart Mother
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1971
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From If (Waters) (And if I were a good 'man', I'd talk with you
More often than I do. Is this a reference to God?)
And if I were a good man,
I'd talk with you
More often than I do.
If I were to sleep, I could dream.
If I were afraid, I could hide.
If I go insane, please don't put
Your wires in my brain.
If I were the moon, I'd be cool.
If I were a book, I would bend for you.
If I were a good man, I'd understand
The spaces between friends.
If I were alone, I would cry.
And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry.
And if I go insane,
And they lock me away,
Will you still let me join in the game?
From Fat Old Sun (Gilmour)
Pick your feet up off the ground
And if you hear as the warm night falls
The silver sound from a time so strange
Sing to me, sing to me
When that fat old sun in the sky is falling
Relics
Released 1971
Produced by Normal Smith
Cover Design for UK release: Nick Mason Cover Design for US release: David Coleman
From Arnold Layne (Barrett)
On the wall hung a tall mirror
Distorted view, see through baby blue
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
From Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)
[nothing..]
From See Emily Play (Barrett) 2:54
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
From Remember a Day (Wright)
Climb your favorite apple tree
Try to catch the sun
Hide from your little brother's gun
Dream yourself away
Why can't we reach the sun
Why can't we blow the years away
Blow away
Blow away
Remember
Remember
From Julia Dream (Waters)
Will the misty master break me
Will the key unlock my mind
Will the following footsteps catch me
Am I really dying
From Biding My Time (Waters)
Wasting my time,
Resting my mind
And I'll never pine
For the sad days and the bad days
Meddle
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released in US October 30, 1971
Released in UK November 13, 1971
Recorded in AIR Studios, EMI Abbey Road Studios and Morgan Sound, January and March through August 1971 Cover Design by Pink Floyd Inner sleeve photo by Hipgnosis
Outer sleeve photos by Bob Dowling
From One of These Days (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces
From A Pillow of Winds (Waters, Gilmour)
Now wakes the hour
Now sleeps the swan
Behold the dream
The dream is gone.
Green fields are calling
It's falling, in a golden door.
From Fearless (Waters, Gilmour)
You say the hill's too steep to climb
Climb it.
You say you'd like to see me try
Climbing.
You pick the place and I'll choose the time
And I'll climb
That hill in my own way.
Just wait a while for the right day.
And as I rise above the tree lines and the clouds
I look down, hearing the sound of the things you've said today.
Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd
Smiling.
And who's the fool who wears the crown?
And go down,
in your own way
And every day is the right day
And as you rise above the fear-lines in his brow
You look down, hearing the sound of the faces in the crowd.
From San Tropez (Waters)
Sooner than wait for
A break in the weather,
I'll gather my far-flung
Thoughts together.
Speeding away
On the wind to a new day.
And if you're alone
I'll come home.
And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to the things they say.
Open a book
Take a look at the way things stand.
And you're leading me down
To the place by the sea.
I hear your soft voice
Calling to me.
Making a date for
Later by phone
And if you're alone
I'll come home.
From Seamus (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
Well, the sun sinks slowly
But my old hound just sat right down and cried
From Echoes (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.
And no one called us to the land
And no one knows the where's or why's.
Something stirs and something tries
Starts to climb toward the light.
And I am you and what I see is me.
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand
The best I can.
And no one called us to the land
And no one crosses there alive.
No one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun....
Almost everyday you fall
Upon my waking eyes,
Inviting and inciting me
To rise.
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning.
And no one sings me lullabyes
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky....
Obscured by Clouds
Soundtrack to the movie "La Vallee," by Barbet Schroder
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released 1972
Recorded at Chateau d'Herouville, Paris February 23 - 29, 1972
Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Burning Bridges (Wright, Waters)
Bridges burning gladly
Merging with the shadows,
Flickering between the lines.
Stolen moments floating softly on the air,
Borne on wings of fire and climbing higher.
Ancient bonds are breaking,
Moving on and changing sides.
Dreaming of a new day,
Cast aside the other way.
Magic visions stirring,
Kindled by and burning flames rise in her eyes.
The doorway stands ajar,
The walls that once were high.
Beyond the gilded cage,
Beyond the reach of ties.
The moment is at hand.
She breaks the golden band.
From The Gold it's in The... (Waters, Gilmour) 3:07
All I want to tell you, all I want to say
Is count me in on the journey.
Don't expect me to stay.
From Wots...uh the Deal (Waters, Gilmour) 5:07
Heaven sent the promised land
Looks alright from where I stand
Cause I'm the man on the outside looking in
Waiting on the first step
Show where the key is kept
Point me down the right line because it's time
Try to keep up with the turning of the wheel.
Mile after mile
Stone after stone
Turn to speak but you're alone
Million mile from home you're on your own
Cause there's chill wind blowing in my soul
Someone said the promised land
And I grabbed it with both hands
Now I'm the man on the inside looking out
Hear me shout "Come on in,
What's the news and where you been?"
Cause there's no wind left in my soul
And I've grown old
From Childhood's End (Gilmour)
Who are you and who am I
To say we know the reason why?
Some are born; some men die
Beneath one infinite sky.
There'll be war, there'll be peace.
But everything one day will cease.
All the iron turned to rust;
All the proud men turned to dust.
And so all things, time will mend.
So this song will end.
From Free Four (Waters)
So all aboard for the American tour,
And maybe you'll make it to the top.
And mind how you go, and I can tell you, 'cause I know
You may find it hard to get off.
You are the angel of death
And I am the dead man's son.
And he was buried like a mole in a fox hole.
And everyone is still in the run.
And who is the master of fox hounds?
And who says the hunt has begun?
And who calls the tune in the courtroom?
And who beats the funeral drum?
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in gloom in the sickroom
And talk to yourself till you die.
The Dark Side of the Moon
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released March, 1973
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios between June 1972 and Junary 1973 Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Speak to Me (Mason) 1:16
"I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been
over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands..."
"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the
most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even
if you're not mad..."
From Breathe (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)
Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.
Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.
Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.
From Time (Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour)
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.
From Breathe (reprise)
Home, home again.
I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire.
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
From The Great Gig in the Sky (Wright)
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
"If you can hear this whispering you are dying."
"I never said I was frightened of dying."
From Money (Waters)
Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
From Us and Them (Waters, Wright)
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died.
And the general sat and the lines on the map
moved from side to side.
Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who.
Up and down.
But in the end it's only round and round.
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.
"I mean, they're not gunna kill ya, so if you give 'em a quick short,
sharp, shock, they won't do it again. Dig it? I mean he get off
lightly, 'cos I would've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!
It was only a difference of opinion, but really...I mean good manners
don't cost nothing do they, eh?"
Down and out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about.
With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
Out of the way, it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind.
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.
From Brain Damage (Waters)
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
The lunatic is in my head.
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'til I'm sane.
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvelous! HaHaHa!"
From Eclipse (Waters)
All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."
Wish You Were Here
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released September 15, 1975
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios between January 6th and July 19th, 1975 Cover Design by Hipgnosis
From Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1-5)
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon,
You cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night,
And exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome
With random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
From Welcome to the Machine (Waters)
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?
It's alright we know where you've been.
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,
Provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'.
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
What did you dream?
It's alright we told you what to dream.
You dreamed of a big star
So welcome to the Machine.
From Have a Cigar (Waters)
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy,
We call it Riding the Gravy Train.
From Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
From Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Nobody knows where you are,
How near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers
And I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we'll bask in the shadow
Of yesterday's triumph,
And sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child,
You winner and loser,
Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
Animals
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released January 23, 1977
Recorded at Britannia Row Studios April through November 1976 Sleeve Design by Roger Waters Photography by Aubrey Powell, Peter Christopherson, Howard Bartrop, Nic Tucker, Bob Ellis, Rob Brimson, Colin Jones Inflatable Pig designed by E.R.G. Amsterdam
Pigs on the Wing (Part One) (Waters)
If you didn't care what happened to me,
And I didn't care for you,
We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain.
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
From Dogs (Waters, Gilmour)
You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.
From Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Waters)
Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are.
You well heeled big wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your heart,
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost a joker,
With your head down in the pig bin,
Saying "Keep on digging."
Pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find.
When you're down in the pig mine.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Bus stop rat bag, ha ha charade you are.
You fucked up old hag, ha ha charade you are.
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass.
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost worth a quick grin.
You like the feel of steel,
You're hot stuff with a hatpin,
And good fun with a hand gun.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Hey you, Whitehouse,
Ha ha charade you are.
You house proud town mouse,
Ha ha charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street.
You're nearly a real treat,
All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused?
.....! .....! .....! .....!
You gotta stem the evil tide,
And keep it all on the inside.
Mary you're nearly a treat,
Mary you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry.
From Sheep (Waters)
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away;
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air.
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.
What do you get for pretending the danger's not real.
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
No, this is no bad dream.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives He releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water.
Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told.
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.
From Pigs on the Wing (Part Two) (Waters)
You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me.
So I don't feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I've found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.
The Wall
Produced by David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin, and Roger Waters
Released November 30, 1979
Recorded in Super Bear Studios between April and November 1979 Sleeve Design by Gerald Scarfe and Roger Waters
From In the Flesh? (Waters)
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes
You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.
From The Thin Ice (Waters)
If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 (Waters)
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
From The Happiest Days of our Lives (Waters)
When we grew up and went to school
There were certain teachers who would
Hurt the children in any way they could
By pouring their derision
Upon anything we did
And exposing every weakness
However carefully hidden by the kids
But in the town, it was well known
When they got home at night, their fat and
Psychopathic wives would thrash them
Within inches of their lives.
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (Waters)
We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
From Mother (Waters)
Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build the wall?
Mother should I run for president?
Mother should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Ooooh is it just a waste of time?
Hush now baby, baby, dont you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She wont let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mother, did it need to be so high?
From Goodbye Blue Sky (Waters)
"Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky"
Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the
promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue
sky?
Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all gone, but the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky
Goodbye, blue sky.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
From Empty Spaces (Waters)
"Congratulations, You have just discovered the secret message.
From One of My Turns (Waters)
Nothing is very much fun any more.
And I can feel one of my turns coming on.
I feel cold as a razor blade,
Tight as a tourniquet,
Dry as a funeral drum.
Run to the bedroom,
In the suitcase on the left
You'll find my favorite axe.
Don't look so frightened
This is just a passing phase,
One of my bad days.
Would you like to watch T.V.?
Or get between the sheets?
Or contemplate the silent freeway?
Would you like something to eat?
Would you like to learn to fly?
Would'ya?
Would you like to see me try?
Would you like to call the cops?
Do you think it's time I stopped?
Why are you running away?
From Another Brick in the Wall Part 3 (Waters)
I have seen the writing on the wall.
Don't think I need anything at all.
No! Don't think I'll need anything at all.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall.
From Goodbye Cruel World (Waters)
Goodbye cruel world,
I'm leaving you today.
Goodbye,
Goodbye,
Goodbye.
Goodbye, all you people,
There's nothing you can say
To make me change my mind.
Goodbye.
From Hey You (Waters)
Hey you, out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old
Can you feel me?
Hey you, standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles
Can you feel me?
Hey you, dont help them to bury the light
Don't give in without a fight.
Hey you, out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone
Would you touch me?
Hey you, with your ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out
Would you touch me?
Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home.
But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high,
As you can see.
No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain.
Hey you, standing in the road
always doing what you're told,
Can you help me?
Hey you, out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.
From Is There Anybody Out There? (Waters)
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
From Nobody Home (Waters)
"Alright, I'll take care of them part of the time, but there's somebody else that needs taking care of in Washington"
Got thirteen channels of shit on the T.V. to choose from.
I've got electric light.
And I've got second sight.
And amazing powers of observation.
I've got wild staring eyes.
And I've got a strong urge to fly.
But I got nowhere to fly to.
From Vera (Waters)
What has become of you?
Does anybody else here
Feel the way I do?
From Comfortably Numb (Gilmour, Waters)
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
From The Show Must Go On (Waters)
There must be some mistake
I didnt mean to let them
Take away my soul.
Am I too old, is it too late?
From In The Flesh (Waters)
Are there any queers in the theater tonight?
Get them up against the wall!
There's one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me,
Get him up against the wall!
That one looks Jewish!
And that one's a coon!
Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?
There's one smoking a joint,
And another with spots!
If I had my way,
I'd have all of you shot!
From Run Like Hell (Gilmour, Waters)
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run,
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run.
You better make your face up in
Your favorite disguise.
With your button down lips and your
Roller blind eyes.
With your empty smile
And your hungry heart.
Feel the bile rising from your guilty past.
With your nerves in tatters
When the cockleshell shatters
And the hammers batter
Down the door.
You'd better run.
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run,
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run.
You better run all day
And run all night.
They're gonna send you back to mother
In a cardboard box.
You better run.
From Waiting for the Worms (Waters)
Goodbye, cruel world, it's over
Walk on by.
Sitting in a bunker here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come.
In perfect isolation here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come.
We're {waiting to succeed} and going to convene outside Brixton
Town Hall where we're going to be...
Waiting to cut out the deadwood.
Waiting to clean up the city.
Waiting to follow the worms.
Waiting to put on a black shirt.
Waiting to weed out the weaklings.
Waiting to smash in their windows
And kick in their doors.
Waiting for the final solution
To strengthen the strain.
Waiting to follow the worms.
Waiting to turn on the showers
And fire the ovens.
Waiting for the queens and the coons
and the reds and the jews.
Waiting to follow the worms.
All you need to do is follow the worms.
From Stop (Waters)
Stop!
I wanna go home
Take off this uniform
And leave the show.
But I'm waiting in this cell
Because I have to know.
Have I been guilty all this time?
From The Trial (Waters, Bob Ezrin)
Good morning, Worm your honor.
The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red-handed showing feelings
Showing feelings of an almost human nature;
This will not do.
Call the schoolmaster!
I always said he'd come to no good
In the end your honor.
If they'd let me have my way I could
Have flayed him into shape.
But my hands were tied,
The bleeding hearts and artists
Let him get away with murder.
Let me hammer him today?
Crazy,
Toys in the attic I am crazy,
Truly gone fishing.
They must have taken my marbles away.
Crazy, toys in the attic he is crazy.
Crazy,
Over the rainbow, I am crazy,
Bars in the window.
There must have been a door there in the wall
When I came in.
Crazy, over the rainbow, he is crazy.
Since, my friend, you have revealed your
Deepest fear,
I sentence you to be exposed before
Your peers.
Tear down the wall!
From Outside the Wall (Waters)
All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
Greg
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