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A few things *my* dad used to say when we were growing up..
You have to learn from your mistakes
I used to have to walk to school 2 miles, barefoot in the snow
You made your bed, now you have to lie in it
Honesty is the best policy
Anyone who works hard in life can succeed
Love God or go to hell and burn in fire and torment forever
Every Sunday morning he used to walk around on that hardwood floor (a very nice one though ;) in those Sunday shoes singing Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay It used to drive me crazy.. I was into Led Zeppelin at the time for crying out loud lol And on Sunday morning all I wanted to do was sleep myself..
But it was "As long as you live under my roof you are going to church" Needless to say that discussion didn't last long or recur often.. LMAO Where TF was *I* going to go 14 or 15 years old?
I wish my dad only the very best life has to offer, all the joy and happiness humanly possible. He was and still is an honorable man, honest to a fault (kinda like me ;) He believes in God and the rule of law.
He grew up on a farm in Arkansas.. He told me once the best Christmas present he ever got when he was a kid was a wooden flute his dad, my grand father, carved for him. There wasn't a lot of money to waste on frivolous things and getting that one gift that one year was a really big deal to him.
My sister and I were pretty much your standard spoiled brat Americans of the day. We got plenty of plastic toys for Christmas.
But that was more my mom.. a whole different story! LMAO
He and my mother slipped away in the cover of darkness to get married. He was 26, she was 17.
Dad served in the Korean war. That was a long time ago, 1950ish. Thank God that's over lol He was actually a cook in the war, which I always thought was cool ;) He cooked the meals for an artillery unit. He was a staff Sargent. He even had some old pictures of himself and some fellow soldiers passing out candy and playing with some little Korean kids. I don't know if they were north or south.. I still remember those pictures even though it was 45 years or more ago when I last saw them. It was my first look at war I suppose.. Gee, we're STILL there aren't we? And not only that, that situation gets worse daily. Makes me nervous, war.. I somehow, over the last few years, seem to have lost my ability to understand what purpose it serves, how it ever improves anything. We beat the evil Russian Empire too.. Remember that? Or did we? LMAO
Oh well, I expect more war, not less..
My dad had a rock solid work ethic and he made damn sure that I understood what that was all about. I learned. I have always worked as hard as I possibly could not to be good at what I did but to be the very BEST at what I did.
This was one of life's lessons that I have truly always valued greatly.
I have been an office machine repairman, a computer programmer, and now a lowly trader. lol
My dad was an office machine repairman and later salesman and later business owner. He worked with office machines his entire life. He started out working for the United States government but got fed up with them over fairness issues and quit after awhile, several years I think.
He repaired office machines for decades. Some of my readers might not even be sure what those are lol Things like old manual typewriters and, later, the new electric models too lol Old mechanical calculators, time clocks, check writing machines, cash registers. It ain't easy stuff to master, to be the BEST at, let me tell you. I did that myself for about 17 years.
That's all gone now. Good quality manufactured office equipment. Made right here in the USA. Good stuff also from Germany and Italy. It has all been replaced now by cheap slave labor throw away plastic junk from China and Japan.. That entire industry has pretty much vanished now. It didn't take long either. Thank God I was able to just move on to the next 'machine level' myself. I used to tell f'ing computers what to do and how to go about doing it. Now days 'they' watch everything *I* do.. LMAO
I helped build the matrix in a way I guess, helped pave the way. I understand how it works, what makes it tick, what it is capable of.. May God forgive me for what I have done, I didn't know what was going to happen. Did you know the government now tracks credit card purchases in real time? Maybe that's good to help catch a few criminals..
Maybe it is also good for tracking, censoring, controlling anything and everything the government might decide they would like to know about.. citizens.
You and I..
Dad eventually decided there was more money in sales than in repair. He was right as it turned out. We had a comfortable life throughout the 1960's. Hell.. my sister and I always had a comfortable life, not much hardship came our way.
If ever there were an honest salesman on the face of this planet it was my dad. Seriously. Like I said before, honest to a fault.
When I was 14 years old he and mom divorced after 15 years of marriage.
Dad decided to move back home and start his own business. He wanted to get my sister and I away from the obvious evils of 'big city' life in Springfield, MO LMAO So we packed up, minus mom, which seemed very odd, and headed for Harrison Arkansas. Population at that time about 10,000 or 12,000 people. Most all of them Southern Baptists too LMAO The kind of town that has a grade school, a Jr high school and a high school. Where everyone knows everyone else and likely their personal business too lol
Turns out those same damned 'big city' evils had somehow even found their way to Harrison Arkansas though! LMAO I'll never forget all those people holding me down and forcing me to have sex and use drugs ;) Seems like the more I fought it the more those 'big city' wannabe evildoers forced me to do it.. Drugs are a lot easier to find in a small town, ask anyone who spent their teen years growing up in one. You might not take them yourself but you damned sure know who does and likely where you might go to 'get some'. Hell when we lived in Harrison, it is/was a 'dry county', no alcohol sales ALLOWED, in the entire county! But plenty of moonshine in those hills. and *I* was buying booze myself with no ID at the Missouri state line when I was 16 years old..
At some point it apparently got so bad that someone ? thought I might have been possessed by Satan himself or some of his evil minions. So it was decided that our Southern Baptist pastor should perform an exorcism on me.. I'm NOT making this sh*t up! LMAO I'm pretty sure that in the end everyone felt pretty silly about that sh*t! No my head didn't spin all the way around and I didn't puke green soup.. LMAO I thought that was the Catholics deal?!
Oh well, maybe I am inoculated against future demonic assaults should they occur.. ;)
One other time, just once, I had to go see a psychologist. I understand that the psychologist may have somehow implied that dad himself might somehow end up being implicated in my behavioral difficulties. Dad KNEW that was bullsh*t! LMAO
F'ing psychologists.. Who TF do they think they are anyway? LMAO
Boone county Arkansas 'voted' to go wet this year, Nov, 2010. LMAO It'll likely kill that Missouri state line business. I have 2 brother-in-laws who live there now. One of them his entire life. He is INSISTING that by God he is STILL 'driving to the line'. It has been a part of his life for 35 years or more! He likes beer, a lot.
Old habits are hard to break.
I ended up moving in with mom and finishing high school in Springfield, MO. after about 2 or 3 years in Harrison.. From one evil filled place to another LMAO
Dad's business was very successful for decades in Harrison. The man has ALWAYS worked very hard.
Dad kept his building but ended up selling his business. The guy he sold it to ended up filing for bankruptcy a few years later. dad didn't much care for the way that whole thing went down. You can get kinda screwed in that situation it seems.. But he did fine. A beautiful 80 acre cattle ranch surrounded by gentle rolling hills with views surely from Heaven itself. Wood heat only in a smallish new home. Real honest to God country living. I think dad always missed that throughout his entire life. So I'm very happy for him.
Dad and my step mother of some 40 years now and dad's brother and my aunt were going to an eye doctor appointment in Springfield, MO. in 1998 when a truck on the road lost a full load of lumber right onto their car. Broke my aunt's neck and killed her on the spot. Broke my step mother's neck. Dad suffered sever head injuries, among other things. My uncle was in horrible shape, hanging onto life by a mere thread. But the man was tough as boot leather.
Dad too we thought might be gone, unconscious for days after the accident. His entire forehead had been pealed back.
We had the big family meeting with the doctor and he said dad had likely suffered brain damage as testing showed some sort of tearing or fissures of the brain itself. Not a good day week or month.. I stayed there with dad. For a couple of weeks. He regained conscientiousness I believe about the 3rd day he was in the hospital. He didn't have a clue WTF was going on but he seemed pretty sure that he did not like having 3 broken ribs. Lots of morphine for dad. He needed it. Hell, I could use some myself lol
Long story short he got better over time. He's 'different' but in a good way. It's hard to explain but the brain jar changed his personality in subtle ways. In my opinion mostly in positive ways. Not that I recommend it as treatment lol But he seems more patient, more at ease, more relaxed and confident than before the accident. A bit more emotional and a bit softer around the edges. It's weird and I can't really hope to explain it well ;)
So now, 12 years after the accident, at the age of 81, he runs his little cattle ranch and works in his garden with a zeal and passion that would make a man half his age jealous.
My step mother is fine too. she's a perfectly wonderful woman.
My uncle not as lucky. He never fully recovered from his serious injuries and the loss of his wife. He had some decent years years after the accident but has now succumbed to Alzheimer disease. His children and family are dealing with that now.. It's never easy is it?
I must admit that dad and I had some issues when I was young. And for a very long time there were some things that I truly resented about the way I was raised, my up bring.
I finally realized in my 30s that there is a lot involved in these things.. How your parents were raised in yet another generation, now far removed, for one. Kids don't come with instruction manuals. Neither do marriages. People, hopefully, do the very best they can with whatever knowledge they have available to them at the time.
My dad did that. I'm proud of him. He is a great American Patriot in my book ;)
Greg
Would you like to hear about my mom someday?
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Dutch #government steals from pension fund : How 'bout a little #Dutch News?
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This contribution is from a good friend many of you know on twitter as @ATTechFX Here is a link
This sh*t is happening all over the world.. not only in the USA.. Governments and central banks are up to no good everywhere.. beware..
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Dutch government steals from pension fund'
Door: ANP | 25 december 2010
The government stole billions of guilders from the ABP pensionfund in the mid 90's says former chief financial officer Van de Poel in an interview
According to Van de Poel, chief financial officer from 1997 to 2002 to the Pension Fund ABP, the government has stolen 30 billion guilders from the fund. "When I was finance director was a report of the General Court on my desk. It said that the government demolished 30 billion guilders from the fund, "explains the ex-head in the afternoon newspaper.
"The Court was furious about it. But no one read that report and not a journalist wrote about it. "Van der Poel is furious about the politicians who control the ABP pension fund. According to the ex- chief financial officer they are egoists who always blame others when problems get in the open, writes the newspaper.
Ruthless exploitation
in November Jean Frijns, former director of investments at ABP, already expressed his dissatisfaction about the robbery that the government committed to the pension fund. When the financial crisis two years ago broke out the ABP had a coverage ratio of 130 percent and the pension fund was at 95% coverage in November.
"When the coverage of ABP would have been 160 - 170 percent after a long period of economic prosperity which would have been reasonable, the fund would now have been much better, " Frijns said. "It's obviously a tough decision, but yes, the government has contributed."
Pyramid Game
Ex- chief financial officer Van de Poel also commented further on the aging and the problems it generates in the pension funds. He calls the problem simple.
"With rising life expectancy and our current lifestyle it cannot be that you start working on your 27th, and then stop at 64 years and take a free vacation for over 40 years, " says Van de Poel. "This is a demographic time bomb that is already ticking for a long time, a Ponzi scheme."
My Conclusion: (@ATTechFX comment)
On November of this year the coverage was 95% and way below the safety line. Just this week the ABP pension fund announced they were back above that 105% safety line and out of the danger zone. It's ok with me when you want to believe that But I don't.
Unless they hired some extra out of this world super traders that can make 15% return on investment in just 1 month it all comes down to changing the rules or fraudulent actions in their book keeping so the criminals can get their yearly bonus again. And nobody not even one has reacted on this news article.
Wake up everybody out there and don't say in the future you didn't know.
This contribution is from a good friend many of you know on twitter as @ATTechFX Here is a link
This sh*t is happening all over the world.. not only in the USA.. Governments and central banks are up to no good everywhere.. beware..
---
Dutch government steals from pension fund'
Door: ANP | 25 december 2010
The government stole billions of guilders from the ABP pensionfund in the mid 90's says former chief financial officer Van de Poel in an interview
According to Van de Poel, chief financial officer from 1997 to 2002 to the Pension Fund ABP, the government has stolen 30 billion guilders from the fund. "When I was finance director was a report of the General Court on my desk. It said that the government demolished 30 billion guilders from the fund, "explains the ex-head in the afternoon newspaper.
"The Court was furious about it. But no one read that report and not a journalist wrote about it. "Van der Poel is furious about the politicians who control the ABP pension fund. According to the ex- chief financial officer they are egoists who always blame others when problems get in the open, writes the newspaper.
Ruthless exploitation
in November Jean Frijns, former director of investments at ABP, already expressed his dissatisfaction about the robbery that the government committed to the pension fund. When the financial crisis two years ago broke out the ABP had a coverage ratio of 130 percent and the pension fund was at 95% coverage in November.
"When the coverage of ABP would have been 160 - 170 percent after a long period of economic prosperity which would have been reasonable, the fund would now have been much better, " Frijns said. "It's obviously a tough decision, but yes, the government has contributed."
Pyramid Game
Ex- chief financial officer Van de Poel also commented further on the aging and the problems it generates in the pension funds. He calls the problem simple.
"With rising life expectancy and our current lifestyle it cannot be that you start working on your 27th, and then stop at 64 years and take a free vacation for over 40 years, " says Van de Poel. "This is a demographic time bomb that is already ticking for a long time, a Ponzi scheme."
My Conclusion: (@ATTechFX comment)
On November of this year the coverage was 95% and way below the safety line. Just this week the ABP pension fund announced they were back above that 105% safety line and out of the danger zone. It's ok with me when you want to believe that But I don't.
Unless they hired some extra out of this world super traders that can make 15% return on investment in just 1 month it all comes down to changing the rules or fraudulent actions in their book keeping so the criminals can get their yearly bonus again. And nobody not even one has reacted on this news article.
Wake up everybody out there and don't say in the future you didn't know.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Way to Fight #FED & #government: Ditch Paper #Money
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There is a monetary system in place that benefits a few well-connected people and corporations at the expense of all the rest of us. This system is by its nature, corrupt, secretive, and purposely confusing so as to ward off inquisitive minds. This system enables governments to go to war and, in doing so, transfer wealth from one class of society to another. If rejected by the Good People of Earth, this system will collapse and afflict us no longer; I am, of course, referring to the central banking model the world operates under.
Please click here to view the balance of this important article including very informative, thoughtful accompanying charts..
Greg
There is a monetary system in place that benefits a few well-connected people and corporations at the expense of all the rest of us. This system is by its nature, corrupt, secretive, and purposely confusing so as to ward off inquisitive minds. This system enables governments to go to war and, in doing so, transfer wealth from one class of society to another. If rejected by the Good People of Earth, this system will collapse and afflict us no longer; I am, of course, referring to the central banking model the world operates under.
Please click here to view the balance of this important article including very informative, thoughtful accompanying charts..
Greg
Global systemic #crisis: Second half of 2011 - European context and US catalyst - Explosion of the Western public #debt #bubble
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- Public announcement GEAB N°50 (December 16, 2010)
GEAB N°50 is available! Global systemic crisis: Second half of 2011 - European context and US catalyst - Explosion of the Western public debt bubble
The second half of 2011 will mark the point in time when all the world’s financial operators will finally understand that the West will not repay in full a significant portion of the loans advanced over the last two decades. For LEAP/E2020 it is, in effect, around October 2011, due to the plunge of a large number of US cities and states into an inextricable financial situation following the end of the federal funding of their deficits, whilst Europe will face a very significant debt refinancing requirement (1), that this explosive situation will be fully revealed. Media escalation of the European crisis regarding sovereign debt of Euroland’s peripheral countries will have created the favourable context for such an explosion, of which the US “Muni” (2) market incidentally has just given a foretaste in November 2010 (as our team anticipated last June in GEAB No. 46 ) with a mini-crash that saw all the year’s gains go up in smoke in a few days. This time this crash (including the failure of the monoline reinsurer Ambac (3)) took place discreetly (4) since the Anglo-Saxon media machine (5) succeeded in focusing world attention on a further episode of the fantasy sitcom "The end of the Euro, or the financial remake of Swine fever" (6). Yet the contemporaneous shocks in the United States and Europe make for a very disturbing set-up comparable, according to our team, to the "Bear Stearn " crash which preceded Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the collapse of Wall Street in September 2008 by eight months. But the GEAB readers know very well that major crashes rarely make headlines in the media several months in advance, so false alarms are customary (7)!
Please click here to view the balance of this important article including very informative, thoughtful accompanying charts..
- Public announcement GEAB N°50 (December 16, 2010)
GEAB N°50 is available! Global systemic crisis: Second half of 2011 - European context and US catalyst - Explosion of the Western public debt bubble
The second half of 2011 will mark the point in time when all the world’s financial operators will finally understand that the West will not repay in full a significant portion of the loans advanced over the last two decades. For LEAP/E2020 it is, in effect, around October 2011, due to the plunge of a large number of US cities and states into an inextricable financial situation following the end of the federal funding of their deficits, whilst Europe will face a very significant debt refinancing requirement (1), that this explosive situation will be fully revealed. Media escalation of the European crisis regarding sovereign debt of Euroland’s peripheral countries will have created the favourable context for such an explosion, of which the US “Muni” (2) market incidentally has just given a foretaste in November 2010 (as our team anticipated last June in GEAB No. 46 ) with a mini-crash that saw all the year’s gains go up in smoke in a few days. This time this crash (including the failure of the monoline reinsurer Ambac (3)) took place discreetly (4) since the Anglo-Saxon media machine (5) succeeded in focusing world attention on a further episode of the fantasy sitcom "The end of the Euro, or the financial remake of Swine fever" (6). Yet the contemporaneous shocks in the United States and Europe make for a very disturbing set-up comparable, according to our team, to the "Bear Stearn " crash which preceded Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the collapse of Wall Street in September 2008 by eight months. But the GEAB readers know very well that major crashes rarely make headlines in the media several months in advance, so false alarms are customary (7)!
Please click here to view the balance of this important article including very informative, thoughtful accompanying charts..
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Understanding and Forecasting the #Credit Cycle—Why the Mainstream #Paradigm in #Economics and #Finance Collapsed
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If you prefer you may click here for the source post
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Introduction
Professor Richard A. Werner, DPhil (Oxon), BSc (Economics, LSE), began his academic career as Marie Curie Fellow of the European Commission at the University of Oxford. From 1997 to 2004 he was Assistant Professor at Sophia University, Tokyo. Since 2004 he has been at the University of Southampton, School of Management, where he is Chair in International Banking and founding director of the Centre for Banking, Finance and Sustainable Development.
Professor Werner has two decades of experience in the financial sector, including as chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd, Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns Asset Management, and as senior consultant or visiting researcher at the Asian Development Bank, the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, the Japan Development Bank and the Nomura Research Institute. Richard served as member of the asset allocation board of a US$6.5bn Japanese corporate pension fund, and has been working as global macro fund manager and provider of forecasting services and economic policy advice to investors and governments.
His book Princes of the Yen was a no. 1 bestseller in Japan in 2001. In his 2005 book New Paradigm in Macroeconomics, he warned about the dangers of “recurring banking crises,” including the pending financial collapse in the UK, and detailed the required policy responses. Richard has been voted one of the top economists by investor surveys and is sought as a commentator by the media. The World Economic Forum, Davos, selected him as “Global Leader for Tomorrow” in 2003.
Crises Have Disproven Mainstream Neo-Classical Economics
The global financial crisis has led many observers to question the success of an array of government policies adopted in the past decade or so in many countries. Most have been directly or indirectly based on the thinking that markets should be the ultimate arbiter, and hence deregulation, liberalization, and privatization was the policy mantra.
The doubters are now in good company. For about two decades, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from August 1987 to January 2006, has been considered the oracle on any issue involving banking, monetary, fiscal, and economic policy. The “Maestro” has been a staunch champion of the deregulation mantra and the belief that markets, if left unregulated and to their own devices, would produce the best possible outcome for society. Likewise, he also believed that bankers should not be further regulated as their self-interest would ensure an optimal result. This thinking is commonly known as “mainstream” or “neo-classical” economics. From about 1980 onwards, it was initially adopted by international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank in their policies imposed on dozens of developing countries, but since the mid-1980s it has became the guideline of other Washington-based decision-making bodies, such as the US government (hence it is often called the “Washington Consensus” on economic policy). It has since also become the basis of government policies worldwide, such as in Thatcherite and New Labour Britain, or more recently in Japan, Korea, or Germany. Even nonmarket economies such as China have begun to adopt a growing set of recommendations derived from this free market economics.
Dr Greenspan, an academically trained economist and key promoter of this creed, has, however, now changed his mind. On October 23, 2008, he admitted—reluctantly, under cross-examination by irate Congressmen—that this entire approach to economics is flawed and that his faith in the free markets had been wrong. Greenspan had been summoned to give formal testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the US House of Representatives about his role and involvement in the events that led to the financial crisis. His testimony must be considered a watershed in the debate about different economic theories and policy recommendations.
Representative Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the committee, asked him: “You had the authority to prevent irresponsible lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. You were advised to do so by many others. Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?”
Greenspan: “…Yes. I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact.” The exchange goes on:
Waxman: “You found a flaw in the reality.” Greenspan: “…[A] flaw in the model that I perceived as the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works, so to speak.”
Waxman: “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology was not right. It was not working.” Greenspan: “Precisely. That’s precisely the reason I was shocked…”
There was a second admission, concerning the methods used to calculate and manage risk in the entire financial sector: “This modern risk-management paradigm held sway for decades. The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year,” Greenspan testified.
The crisis has with one stroke not only discredited the particular decisions by those responsible for the crisis—central bankers, financial regulators, and bankers—but it has disproved the entire mainstream “neo-classical” paradigm of thinking about economics and economic policy. The Washington Consensus, the basis for recent government and central bank policies all over the world, has been proven wrong.
But the current crisis is not the only piece of evidence that there has been something seriously amiss with the mainstream economic theories and the policies based on them. Other evidence includes the increasingly visible environmental destruction, or the many previous financial and economic crises the world has seen. Indeed, banking and financial crises have recurred with such frequency over the past centuries that their occurrence must be considered one of the few constants in economic life. Each time, much surprise is exhibited by the experts. Over the past three decades, the number of banking and financial crises has increased (to over 100 countries) and the swings of the business cycle have become more pronounced. (It is noteworthy that this happened, as central bank independence and power over economic policy has increased significantly during this time period).
Thus the experience in many countries has contradicted key aspects of mainstream theories. There is one country, however, where the number of “anomalies” or contradictions of the mainstream approaches has been the largest: this is Japan, the second largest economy in the world. First, Japan’s meteoric postwar rise, which was based on nonmarket policies, cartels, and “guidance” of industries and credit, could not be explained. Then, in the 1980s, Japan experienced a surge in asset prices and capital outflows that economists had not expected (and could not explain). Just when observers were predicting that Japan was about to take over the world, in the early 1990s, asset prices fell sharply and economic growth decelerated for over a decade (soon we will have clocked up two decades). These almost twenty years of recession, deflation, and economic depression have occurred despite all the textbook recommendations having been implemented. During the 1990s, record fiscal spending delivered record government debts, but there was no recovery. Lowering interest rates to zero failed to accelerate growth. Structural changes increased deflation and bankruptcies, but did not boost demand.
What’s Wrong with Mainstream Economics?
Just why is it that, while science is constantly making visible progress, economics seems to be stuck in a time warp, without making any visible advances? Here we are in the 21st century, with man having been on the moon, and with the most advanced telecommunications technology spreading knowledge faster than ever before. Yet, the financial markets are allowed to generate the same kind of boom–bust cycle as in earlier centuries.
Could it be that mainstream economics suffers from adhering to some fundamental errors that must compromise all its results? The most familiar diagram in economics is that of a downward-sloping demand and an upward-sloping supply curve. Most observers, but also most economists believe that economics has shown that prices move to equalize demand and supply so that, thanks to the working of the markets, we experience “equilibrium” or market clearing. But, actually, economics has done no such thing. Quite to the contrary, it has shown that such market clearing would only be possible if and only if we lived in a world of perfect information, complete markets, and where many other unrealistic assumptions held—all of which are necessary to achieve this textbook outcome. Since it is evident to everyone that these assumptions do not hold on the planet we live on, it should be clear that economics really has proven that in our world we cannot expect any market ever to clear. But instead of learning from this finding that equilibrium cannot exist, and hence any economics based on equilibrium needs to be discarded, the unrealistic fictional equilibrium models have become the mainstream. Economists are obliged to pretend that the emperor is not naked, that markets clear, that there is equilibrium, and, even more preposterous, that markets deliver the best possible outcome for society.
For Dr Greenspan it took over 40 years to have his eyes opened. Let’s hope that others will be quicker. But how is it possible that theories that have no bearing on reality could become the foundation of an entire approach that in turn becomes the dominant ideology globally, influencing government policy and even the thinking of ordinary people?
The theoretical sleight of hand is that economics, as virtually the only discipline, has got away with arguing that its theories do not need to be based on the fundamentals of economic reality (a methodology called “inductive”), but can exclusively be based on “axioms” and assumptions (the deductive methodology) that have been assembled as it suited best to obtain a predetermined ideological goal—the goal to present market outcomes as supreme. No surprise, then, that the performance of such economics has been dismal.
So what would nonfiction economics look like? Markets cannot clear, because information, time, and money are rationed. So what happens in the world we live in, where markets do not clear? Demand does not equal supply. And such rationed markets are determined by quantities, not prices. Their outcome follows the “short-side principle:” whichever is smaller, demand or supply, that quantity will be transacted. And that short side can extract additional, nonmarket benefits.
This has far-reaching political implications. While the rhetoric is of a globalized world, dominated by anonymous market forces, which decide the flow of goods, services, and capital across the globe, the reality is that the majority of trade flows are decided by planners—bureaucrats or bureaucrat-like managers at large-scale corporations, who make discrete allocation decisions. The reality of “market capitalism” is therefore that the market plays a much smaller role than is widely claimed. Recognizing pervasive rationing and lack of market clearing implies that instead of the dream-world of efficient (and hence politically neutral) markets, we live in a reality of powerful allocators who make decisions that suit them, but which are in no way linked to what is best for the overall economy or society. This sharply lowers the hurdle for government intervention to be beneficial to society.
Mainstream economics purports to have shown that government intervention is almost always inefficient and creates distortions. However, this finding only comes about, because government intervention has to beat the super efficient markets of the illusory theoretical dream world – and by definition it cannot do that. But if we leave the dream world oftheoretical mainstream economics, we find that on our planet markets are not just often failing, they are virtually never in equilibrium. This sharply lowers the hurdle for government intervention to become beneficial to society. And it explains the otherwise puzzling finding that many countries, such as 20th century East Asian economies and 19th century Germany, succeeded so spectacularly in developing their economies quickly on the basis of strategic though pervasive government intervention.
The Reality of Credit Creation: There Is No Such Thing As a Bank Loan
What are the implications for finance and banking? For small firms, the price of money (the interest rate) is usually less important than the question of whether a loan can be obtained at all. Banks prefer to ration and allocate credit—even in the best of times—because due to the high demand for this useful thing called money, the theoretical market-clearing interest rate would be so high as to leave them with only risky projects, while sensible projects could not service the loans. This explains why interest rates are far less important in the economy than is generally claimed. Instead, the quantity of credit is the most important variable determining growth, asset prices, and exchange rates.
The most important institutional reality that has been neglected by theoretical equilibrium economics is the key function banks perform: they create between 95% and 98% of the money supply. The first and most important form of privatization that has swept the world has been the privatization of the creation and allocation of money, which is implemented by privately-owned commercial banks.
This means that there is no such thing as a “bank loan.” Banks do not lend money. “Lending” refers to transferring control of the lent object to the borrower. If I lend you my car, I can’t drive it at the same time. That’s not what banks do when they issue a “bank loan.” Instead, they are allowed by the current regulatory framework to create new money out of nothing—which is called “credit creation.” The collective decisions of commercial bank staff thus determine how much money is created, who gets the newly created money and to what use it is put.
Mainstream economics assumes that the best possible outcome will be achieved if banks are left alone in making their decisions about how much money should be created, to whom it should be handed over, and for what purpose. But the current crisis has demonstrated that we can’t expect banks’ credit decisions to be in any way beneficial to the overall economy, social welfare, or even the bankers themselves—as Alan Greenspan has now admitted. The incentive structure at banks is such that they tend to create too much credit, when not needed, and for unproductive use. This is followed by banks creating too little money, when more would be needed.
There are some simple rules for sound banking and sound economics that need to be followed. Whenever credit is created and used to increase the amount of goods and services provided, it will result in noninflationary growth; more money comes about, but also more goods and services. Whenever credit is created and used for unproductive purposes, inflation comes about; more money chases limited goods or assets. The unproductive credit creation can take two forms. When credit is extended for consumption, it will result in consumer price inflation. When credit is extended for non-GDP transactions (which means mainly financial and real estate transactions), there will be asset inflation. Both cases are unsustainable and, if sufficiently large, result in banking and economic crises.
In the research experience of this author, this framework (first proposed in a 1992 paper, published as Werner, 1997) delivers the most reliable models for forecasting nominal GDP growth, equity markets, bond markets, and even currencies. Credit used for GDP transactions is the most reliable forecaster of nominal GDP growth. Credit used for non-GDP transactions ends up driving up real estate and asset prices, and ultimately turns into bad debts. It is thus a key variable to watch by policy makers, if one wants to prevent asset bubbles and banking crises, as I have suggested many times in the past two decades. Empirical evidence and further details can be found in the book, New Paradigm in Macroeconomics.
To prevent banking crises, it must be ensured that the bulk of credit creation is used for productive purposes. Specifically, aggregate bank credit for transactions that are not part of GDP (something that can be easily verified by loan officers) needs to be monitored, and suppressed when it rises in excess of overall bank credit growth (see Werner, 1997, 1999). This simple measure would have prevented the credit bubbles in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and many emerging markets, which have now burst and caused the current crisis. It would also have prevented the Japanese depression since 1990 or the US Depression of the 1930s, among others. Central banks used to monitor precisely this but, following the deregulation advice of mainstream economics, they chose to abolish their “credit guidance” policies and instead let rip the unproductive bank credit expansions. Ironically, now the UK, French, and German governments want to monitor the allocation of new bank lending (to small firms) policy advice of the kind I have given consistently and repeatedly since 1991, but which was rejected as ‘inefficient interference’ in ‘free markets’. This amounts to closing stable doors when the horse has already bolted.
Thus one also needs to ask why those institutions that could have prevented the bubbles have singularly failed to do so, although they had been given unusually strong powers with little accountability to democratic institutions—the central banks. They cannot feign ignorance: apart from employing the largest number of economists of any institution and spending vast resources on ‘research’ (none of it on the taboo topic of credit creation), I have also contacted many central banks and finance ministries and have in the past twenty years published many articles based on my credit model, warning of pending crises (such as today’s UK banking collapse) and indicating that bubbles and subsequent collapses could easily be prevented by monitoring and restricting speculative (non-GDP) credit creation. Central banks – and governments for that matter – were not interested. This suggests that the very independence and lack of accountability of central banks has been a factor in allowing the creation of credit bubbles and the propagation of the current crisis. Central banks should be made to monitor credit flows and be more directly accountable to democratically elected assemblies for the macroeconomic results.
How to Fix the Banking System and Ensure Employment
What should be done to end the current crisis and avoid large-scale unemployment? Just like the Japanese government in the early 1990s, governments have responded by increasing fiscal expenditure, funded by borrowing, and central banks have responded by lowering interest rates. Neither will help. The privately owned creators of the bulk of the money supply are battening down the hatches; in their increased risk aversion they will reduce credit creation. Just as their excessive credit creation affects us all, so does their reduction of credit. For economic growth, as traditionally measured, credit creation is necessary. This is why the current policies will not help. Fiscal policy on its own does not create credit. By borrowing more, national debt is increased, but the money for the fiscal stimulation is the same money that is removed from the economy through bond issuance. Thus fiscal policy, if not backed by credit creation, will crowd out private demand dollar by dollar. And lower interest rates will not help—even if they drop to zero—if the quantity of credit does not increase. This is why Japan will soon be in the twentieth year of recession after its own credit bubble burst in 1990. (My predictions and recommendations to this effect over the past twenty years have been met with stony silence or outright rejection by policy makers.)
The solution is simple: fiscal stimulation, in the form of purchases of nonperforming assets from banks, and public purchases of bank equity, should be funded either by the issuance of government money (such as Kennedy’s 1963 “United States Notes,” to give a graphic example), or, failing that, undertaken directly by the central banks, for their own account. In both cases, national debt and interest liabilities will not increase, but credit creation will. Growth will not collapse. This also makes sense from a moral hazard perspective. The tax payer is not responsible for the current mess, the central banks are—so let them pay.
In countries, where central banks are not cooperative with governments, credit creation can still be jump-started by stopping the issuance of government bonds and instead funding the public sector borrowing requirement through direct borrowing from the commercial banks (a policy I first proposed in 1996). All of the above proposals I termed ‘quantitative easing’ in my publications, such as articles for the Nikkei in 1995 and 1996. When the Bank of Japan adopted my terminology (which has now conquered the world), it unfortunately chose to use my label, but not the actual policies: it focused on expanding banks’ reserves, which I had already explained would not help.
If you prefer you may click here for the source post
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Introduction
Professor Richard A. Werner, DPhil (Oxon), BSc (Economics, LSE), began his academic career as Marie Curie Fellow of the European Commission at the University of Oxford. From 1997 to 2004 he was Assistant Professor at Sophia University, Tokyo. Since 2004 he has been at the University of Southampton, School of Management, where he is Chair in International Banking and founding director of the Centre for Banking, Finance and Sustainable Development.
Professor Werner has two decades of experience in the financial sector, including as chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd, Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns Asset Management, and as senior consultant or visiting researcher at the Asian Development Bank, the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, the Japan Development Bank and the Nomura Research Institute. Richard served as member of the asset allocation board of a US$6.5bn Japanese corporate pension fund, and has been working as global macro fund manager and provider of forecasting services and economic policy advice to investors and governments.
His book Princes of the Yen was a no. 1 bestseller in Japan in 2001. In his 2005 book New Paradigm in Macroeconomics, he warned about the dangers of “recurring banking crises,” including the pending financial collapse in the UK, and detailed the required policy responses. Richard has been voted one of the top economists by investor surveys and is sought as a commentator by the media. The World Economic Forum, Davos, selected him as “Global Leader for Tomorrow” in 2003.
Crises Have Disproven Mainstream Neo-Classical Economics
The global financial crisis has led many observers to question the success of an array of government policies adopted in the past decade or so in many countries. Most have been directly or indirectly based on the thinking that markets should be the ultimate arbiter, and hence deregulation, liberalization, and privatization was the policy mantra.
The doubters are now in good company. For about two decades, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from August 1987 to January 2006, has been considered the oracle on any issue involving banking, monetary, fiscal, and economic policy. The “Maestro” has been a staunch champion of the deregulation mantra and the belief that markets, if left unregulated and to their own devices, would produce the best possible outcome for society. Likewise, he also believed that bankers should not be further regulated as their self-interest would ensure an optimal result. This thinking is commonly known as “mainstream” or “neo-classical” economics. From about 1980 onwards, it was initially adopted by international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank in their policies imposed on dozens of developing countries, but since the mid-1980s it has became the guideline of other Washington-based decision-making bodies, such as the US government (hence it is often called the “Washington Consensus” on economic policy). It has since also become the basis of government policies worldwide, such as in Thatcherite and New Labour Britain, or more recently in Japan, Korea, or Germany. Even nonmarket economies such as China have begun to adopt a growing set of recommendations derived from this free market economics.
Dr Greenspan, an academically trained economist and key promoter of this creed, has, however, now changed his mind. On October 23, 2008, he admitted—reluctantly, under cross-examination by irate Congressmen—that this entire approach to economics is flawed and that his faith in the free markets had been wrong. Greenspan had been summoned to give formal testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the US House of Representatives about his role and involvement in the events that led to the financial crisis. His testimony must be considered a watershed in the debate about different economic theories and policy recommendations.
Representative Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the committee, asked him: “You had the authority to prevent irresponsible lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. You were advised to do so by many others. Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?”
Greenspan: “…Yes. I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact.” The exchange goes on:
Waxman: “You found a flaw in the reality.” Greenspan: “…[A] flaw in the model that I perceived as the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works, so to speak.”
Waxman: “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology was not right. It was not working.” Greenspan: “Precisely. That’s precisely the reason I was shocked…”
There was a second admission, concerning the methods used to calculate and manage risk in the entire financial sector: “This modern risk-management paradigm held sway for decades. The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year,” Greenspan testified.
The crisis has with one stroke not only discredited the particular decisions by those responsible for the crisis—central bankers, financial regulators, and bankers—but it has disproved the entire mainstream “neo-classical” paradigm of thinking about economics and economic policy. The Washington Consensus, the basis for recent government and central bank policies all over the world, has been proven wrong.
But the current crisis is not the only piece of evidence that there has been something seriously amiss with the mainstream economic theories and the policies based on them. Other evidence includes the increasingly visible environmental destruction, or the many previous financial and economic crises the world has seen. Indeed, banking and financial crises have recurred with such frequency over the past centuries that their occurrence must be considered one of the few constants in economic life. Each time, much surprise is exhibited by the experts. Over the past three decades, the number of banking and financial crises has increased (to over 100 countries) and the swings of the business cycle have become more pronounced. (It is noteworthy that this happened, as central bank independence and power over economic policy has increased significantly during this time period).
Thus the experience in many countries has contradicted key aspects of mainstream theories. There is one country, however, where the number of “anomalies” or contradictions of the mainstream approaches has been the largest: this is Japan, the second largest economy in the world. First, Japan’s meteoric postwar rise, which was based on nonmarket policies, cartels, and “guidance” of industries and credit, could not be explained. Then, in the 1980s, Japan experienced a surge in asset prices and capital outflows that economists had not expected (and could not explain). Just when observers were predicting that Japan was about to take over the world, in the early 1990s, asset prices fell sharply and economic growth decelerated for over a decade (soon we will have clocked up two decades). These almost twenty years of recession, deflation, and economic depression have occurred despite all the textbook recommendations having been implemented. During the 1990s, record fiscal spending delivered record government debts, but there was no recovery. Lowering interest rates to zero failed to accelerate growth. Structural changes increased deflation and bankruptcies, but did not boost demand.
What’s Wrong with Mainstream Economics?
Just why is it that, while science is constantly making visible progress, economics seems to be stuck in a time warp, without making any visible advances? Here we are in the 21st century, with man having been on the moon, and with the most advanced telecommunications technology spreading knowledge faster than ever before. Yet, the financial markets are allowed to generate the same kind of boom–bust cycle as in earlier centuries.
Could it be that mainstream economics suffers from adhering to some fundamental errors that must compromise all its results? The most familiar diagram in economics is that of a downward-sloping demand and an upward-sloping supply curve. Most observers, but also most economists believe that economics has shown that prices move to equalize demand and supply so that, thanks to the working of the markets, we experience “equilibrium” or market clearing. But, actually, economics has done no such thing. Quite to the contrary, it has shown that such market clearing would only be possible if and only if we lived in a world of perfect information, complete markets, and where many other unrealistic assumptions held—all of which are necessary to achieve this textbook outcome. Since it is evident to everyone that these assumptions do not hold on the planet we live on, it should be clear that economics really has proven that in our world we cannot expect any market ever to clear. But instead of learning from this finding that equilibrium cannot exist, and hence any economics based on equilibrium needs to be discarded, the unrealistic fictional equilibrium models have become the mainstream. Economists are obliged to pretend that the emperor is not naked, that markets clear, that there is equilibrium, and, even more preposterous, that markets deliver the best possible outcome for society.
For Dr Greenspan it took over 40 years to have his eyes opened. Let’s hope that others will be quicker. But how is it possible that theories that have no bearing on reality could become the foundation of an entire approach that in turn becomes the dominant ideology globally, influencing government policy and even the thinking of ordinary people?
The theoretical sleight of hand is that economics, as virtually the only discipline, has got away with arguing that its theories do not need to be based on the fundamentals of economic reality (a methodology called “inductive”), but can exclusively be based on “axioms” and assumptions (the deductive methodology) that have been assembled as it suited best to obtain a predetermined ideological goal—the goal to present market outcomes as supreme. No surprise, then, that the performance of such economics has been dismal.
So what would nonfiction economics look like? Markets cannot clear, because information, time, and money are rationed. So what happens in the world we live in, where markets do not clear? Demand does not equal supply. And such rationed markets are determined by quantities, not prices. Their outcome follows the “short-side principle:” whichever is smaller, demand or supply, that quantity will be transacted. And that short side can extract additional, nonmarket benefits.
This has far-reaching political implications. While the rhetoric is of a globalized world, dominated by anonymous market forces, which decide the flow of goods, services, and capital across the globe, the reality is that the majority of trade flows are decided by planners—bureaucrats or bureaucrat-like managers at large-scale corporations, who make discrete allocation decisions. The reality of “market capitalism” is therefore that the market plays a much smaller role than is widely claimed. Recognizing pervasive rationing and lack of market clearing implies that instead of the dream-world of efficient (and hence politically neutral) markets, we live in a reality of powerful allocators who make decisions that suit them, but which are in no way linked to what is best for the overall economy or society. This sharply lowers the hurdle for government intervention to be beneficial to society.
Mainstream economics purports to have shown that government intervention is almost always inefficient and creates distortions. However, this finding only comes about, because government intervention has to beat the super efficient markets of the illusory theoretical dream world – and by definition it cannot do that. But if we leave the dream world oftheoretical mainstream economics, we find that on our planet markets are not just often failing, they are virtually never in equilibrium. This sharply lowers the hurdle for government intervention to become beneficial to society. And it explains the otherwise puzzling finding that many countries, such as 20th century East Asian economies and 19th century Germany, succeeded so spectacularly in developing their economies quickly on the basis of strategic though pervasive government intervention.
The Reality of Credit Creation: There Is No Such Thing As a Bank Loan
What are the implications for finance and banking? For small firms, the price of money (the interest rate) is usually less important than the question of whether a loan can be obtained at all. Banks prefer to ration and allocate credit—even in the best of times—because due to the high demand for this useful thing called money, the theoretical market-clearing interest rate would be so high as to leave them with only risky projects, while sensible projects could not service the loans. This explains why interest rates are far less important in the economy than is generally claimed. Instead, the quantity of credit is the most important variable determining growth, asset prices, and exchange rates.
The most important institutional reality that has been neglected by theoretical equilibrium economics is the key function banks perform: they create between 95% and 98% of the money supply. The first and most important form of privatization that has swept the world has been the privatization of the creation and allocation of money, which is implemented by privately-owned commercial banks.
This means that there is no such thing as a “bank loan.” Banks do not lend money. “Lending” refers to transferring control of the lent object to the borrower. If I lend you my car, I can’t drive it at the same time. That’s not what banks do when they issue a “bank loan.” Instead, they are allowed by the current regulatory framework to create new money out of nothing—which is called “credit creation.” The collective decisions of commercial bank staff thus determine how much money is created, who gets the newly created money and to what use it is put.
Mainstream economics assumes that the best possible outcome will be achieved if banks are left alone in making their decisions about how much money should be created, to whom it should be handed over, and for what purpose. But the current crisis has demonstrated that we can’t expect banks’ credit decisions to be in any way beneficial to the overall economy, social welfare, or even the bankers themselves—as Alan Greenspan has now admitted. The incentive structure at banks is such that they tend to create too much credit, when not needed, and for unproductive use. This is followed by banks creating too little money, when more would be needed.
There are some simple rules for sound banking and sound economics that need to be followed. Whenever credit is created and used to increase the amount of goods and services provided, it will result in noninflationary growth; more money comes about, but also more goods and services. Whenever credit is created and used for unproductive purposes, inflation comes about; more money chases limited goods or assets. The unproductive credit creation can take two forms. When credit is extended for consumption, it will result in consumer price inflation. When credit is extended for non-GDP transactions (which means mainly financial and real estate transactions), there will be asset inflation. Both cases are unsustainable and, if sufficiently large, result in banking and economic crises.
In the research experience of this author, this framework (first proposed in a 1992 paper, published as Werner, 1997) delivers the most reliable models for forecasting nominal GDP growth, equity markets, bond markets, and even currencies. Credit used for GDP transactions is the most reliable forecaster of nominal GDP growth. Credit used for non-GDP transactions ends up driving up real estate and asset prices, and ultimately turns into bad debts. It is thus a key variable to watch by policy makers, if one wants to prevent asset bubbles and banking crises, as I have suggested many times in the past two decades. Empirical evidence and further details can be found in the book, New Paradigm in Macroeconomics.
To prevent banking crises, it must be ensured that the bulk of credit creation is used for productive purposes. Specifically, aggregate bank credit for transactions that are not part of GDP (something that can be easily verified by loan officers) needs to be monitored, and suppressed when it rises in excess of overall bank credit growth (see Werner, 1997, 1999). This simple measure would have prevented the credit bubbles in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and many emerging markets, which have now burst and caused the current crisis. It would also have prevented the Japanese depression since 1990 or the US Depression of the 1930s, among others. Central banks used to monitor precisely this but, following the deregulation advice of mainstream economics, they chose to abolish their “credit guidance” policies and instead let rip the unproductive bank credit expansions. Ironically, now the UK, French, and German governments want to monitor the allocation of new bank lending (to small firms) policy advice of the kind I have given consistently and repeatedly since 1991, but which was rejected as ‘inefficient interference’ in ‘free markets’. This amounts to closing stable doors when the horse has already bolted.
Thus one also needs to ask why those institutions that could have prevented the bubbles have singularly failed to do so, although they had been given unusually strong powers with little accountability to democratic institutions—the central banks. They cannot feign ignorance: apart from employing the largest number of economists of any institution and spending vast resources on ‘research’ (none of it on the taboo topic of credit creation), I have also contacted many central banks and finance ministries and have in the past twenty years published many articles based on my credit model, warning of pending crises (such as today’s UK banking collapse) and indicating that bubbles and subsequent collapses could easily be prevented by monitoring and restricting speculative (non-GDP) credit creation. Central banks – and governments for that matter – were not interested. This suggests that the very independence and lack of accountability of central banks has been a factor in allowing the creation of credit bubbles and the propagation of the current crisis. Central banks should be made to monitor credit flows and be more directly accountable to democratically elected assemblies for the macroeconomic results.
How to Fix the Banking System and Ensure Employment
What should be done to end the current crisis and avoid large-scale unemployment? Just like the Japanese government in the early 1990s, governments have responded by increasing fiscal expenditure, funded by borrowing, and central banks have responded by lowering interest rates. Neither will help. The privately owned creators of the bulk of the money supply are battening down the hatches; in their increased risk aversion they will reduce credit creation. Just as their excessive credit creation affects us all, so does their reduction of credit. For economic growth, as traditionally measured, credit creation is necessary. This is why the current policies will not help. Fiscal policy on its own does not create credit. By borrowing more, national debt is increased, but the money for the fiscal stimulation is the same money that is removed from the economy through bond issuance. Thus fiscal policy, if not backed by credit creation, will crowd out private demand dollar by dollar. And lower interest rates will not help—even if they drop to zero—if the quantity of credit does not increase. This is why Japan will soon be in the twentieth year of recession after its own credit bubble burst in 1990. (My predictions and recommendations to this effect over the past twenty years have been met with stony silence or outright rejection by policy makers.)
The solution is simple: fiscal stimulation, in the form of purchases of nonperforming assets from banks, and public purchases of bank equity, should be funded either by the issuance of government money (such as Kennedy’s 1963 “United States Notes,” to give a graphic example), or, failing that, undertaken directly by the central banks, for their own account. In both cases, national debt and interest liabilities will not increase, but credit creation will. Growth will not collapse. This also makes sense from a moral hazard perspective. The tax payer is not responsible for the current mess, the central banks are—so let them pay.
In countries, where central banks are not cooperative with governments, credit creation can still be jump-started by stopping the issuance of government bonds and instead funding the public sector borrowing requirement through direct borrowing from the commercial banks (a policy I first proposed in 1996). All of the above proposals I termed ‘quantitative easing’ in my publications, such as articles for the Nikkei in 1995 and 1996. When the Bank of Japan adopted my terminology (which has now conquered the world), it unfortunately chose to use my label, but not the actual policies: it focused on expanding banks’ reserves, which I had already explained would not help.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Dueling headlines "#Economic picture looking brighter" #FED #manipulation vs Yahoo trimming work force ahead of holidays" to prop earnings
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I have two excerpts from two different financial articles in my local paper on the same day..
The first is titled "Economic picture looking brighter" and includes this paragraph within it..
"The signs of growth were not enough to persuade the Fed to pull back on its bond purchases, which are intended to lower long-term interest rates, lift stock prices and encourage higher spending."
To me the above paragraph clearly demonstrates the manipulation *I* talk about on a regular basis. The manipulation of nearly everything economic by the government and the Bernanke led Federal Reserve Bank.
That small paragraph clearly states that the purpose of the bond purchases by the FED (currently 600 billion this time, during QE2) are intended to artificially MANIPULATE long term interest rates lower, to artificially MANIPULATE stock prices higher (this as a result of the freshly printed money of the FED being passed on to banks who use the free money to speculate in markets driving commodity prices higher, creating the inflation the FED wants and harming struggling consumers even more), and the intentional attempted MANIPULATION of consumer behavior in convincing Americans to increase spending in spite of record high debt levels throughout the economy!
The second article is entitled "Yahoo trimming it's work force ahead of holidays"
Couple of interesting notes from this one..
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is reducing its work force 4 percent as it hands out 600 layoff notices for the holidays."
"This marks the fourth time in three years that Yahoo has resorted to mass firings to boost its earnings."
"Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace," the company said in a statement.
Although Yahoo clearly needed to tighten its belt to widen its profit margin, the timing of the layoffs was horrible, said Gleacher & Co. analyst Yun Kim. "I don't think this is going to score them any PR points," he said.
To me these excerpts clearly show what has been going on for more than TWO years now (actually much longer than that).. Companies, retailers, are hurting everywhere and in American business the ONLY thing that counts is the bottom line, keeping those earnings up and growing whatever the cost so the big bad stock market will not punish your companies stock price mercilessly.. This is a clear insensitive to companies to continue to lay off workers in this, using Bernanke's term "unusually uncertain" economic period.. As ALL that matters in this economy is growth of earnings and ever higher stock prices..
So are stocks a good buy right now? As nearly everyone in the main stream economic media seems to be saying they are?
Here is a clue..
Check this from the Market Ticker.. The Market Ticker Corporate Leverage Index
The economy is TRYING to do what capitalism DOES.. The economy WANTS a severe market correction (think SPX 400) and DEFLATION. The government and the Federal Reserve Bank seek to avoid that outcome at all costs! But.. ONLY for themselves and the protection of their own power and wealth, not for you..
It's ALL a lie people.. Please don't be deceived.. Trust me, they are after YOUR money any way they can get their hands on it.. Nearly ALL economic data is being manipulated CPI, GDP, unemployment and, no doubt, everything else that CAN be (reference ShadowStats.com)..Unemployment has now become an entitlement or welfare however you want to look at it.. the banks collapsed in 2008 & are f'ing ZOMBIES now, government spending, via military in large part, is being used as never before in our history in an effort to stave off total financial collapse and the Greatest Depression..
Is it really worth YOU giving up your freedoms so the elites in Washington and Wall Street can maintain their wealth and power?
Just asking..
Greg
I have two excerpts from two different financial articles in my local paper on the same day..
The first is titled "Economic picture looking brighter" and includes this paragraph within it..
"The signs of growth were not enough to persuade the Fed to pull back on its bond purchases, which are intended to lower long-term interest rates, lift stock prices and encourage higher spending."
To me the above paragraph clearly demonstrates the manipulation *I* talk about on a regular basis. The manipulation of nearly everything economic by the government and the Bernanke led Federal Reserve Bank.
That small paragraph clearly states that the purpose of the bond purchases by the FED (currently 600 billion this time, during QE2) are intended to artificially MANIPULATE long term interest rates lower, to artificially MANIPULATE stock prices higher (this as a result of the freshly printed money of the FED being passed on to banks who use the free money to speculate in markets driving commodity prices higher, creating the inflation the FED wants and harming struggling consumers even more), and the intentional attempted MANIPULATION of consumer behavior in convincing Americans to increase spending in spite of record high debt levels throughout the economy!
The second article is entitled "Yahoo trimming it's work force ahead of holidays"
Couple of interesting notes from this one..
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is reducing its work force 4 percent as it hands out 600 layoff notices for the holidays."
"This marks the fourth time in three years that Yahoo has resorted to mass firings to boost its earnings."
"Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace," the company said in a statement.
Although Yahoo clearly needed to tighten its belt to widen its profit margin, the timing of the layoffs was horrible, said Gleacher & Co. analyst Yun Kim. "I don't think this is going to score them any PR points," he said.
To me these excerpts clearly show what has been going on for more than TWO years now (actually much longer than that).. Companies, retailers, are hurting everywhere and in American business the ONLY thing that counts is the bottom line, keeping those earnings up and growing whatever the cost so the big bad stock market will not punish your companies stock price mercilessly.. This is a clear insensitive to companies to continue to lay off workers in this, using Bernanke's term "unusually uncertain" economic period.. As ALL that matters in this economy is growth of earnings and ever higher stock prices..
So are stocks a good buy right now? As nearly everyone in the main stream economic media seems to be saying they are?
Here is a clue..
Check this from the Market Ticker.. The Market Ticker Corporate Leverage Index
The economy is TRYING to do what capitalism DOES.. The economy WANTS a severe market correction (think SPX 400) and DEFLATION. The government and the Federal Reserve Bank seek to avoid that outcome at all costs! But.. ONLY for themselves and the protection of their own power and wealth, not for you..
It's ALL a lie people.. Please don't be deceived.. Trust me, they are after YOUR money any way they can get their hands on it.. Nearly ALL economic data is being manipulated CPI, GDP, unemployment and, no doubt, everything else that CAN be (reference ShadowStats.com)..Unemployment has now become an entitlement or welfare however you want to look at it.. the banks collapsed in 2008 & are f'ing ZOMBIES now, government spending, via military in large part, is being used as never before in our history in an effort to stave off total financial collapse and the Greatest Depression..
Is it really worth YOU giving up your freedoms so the elites in Washington and Wall Street can maintain their wealth and power?
Just asking..
Greg
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
#Rex 84 (it's real all right..) & other things you should know about
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Source Wikipedia
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Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, is a contingency plan developed by the United States federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens who were deemed to be "national security threats", in the event that the President declared a "State of Domestic National Emergency". The plan stated that events that might cause such a declaration would be widespread U.S. opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad, such as if the United States were to directly invade Central America[1][2][3][4][5][6]. To combat what the government perceived as "subversive activities", the plan also authorized the military to direct ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels.[7]
Rex 84 was written by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, who was both the NSC White House Aide and NSC liaison to FEMA, and John Brinkerhoff, the deputy director of "national preparedness" programs for FEMA. They patterned the plan on a 1970 report written by FEMA chief Louis Giuffrida, at the Army War College, which proposed the detention of up to 21 million "American Negroes", if there were a black militant uprising in the United States.[1] [8] Existence of a master military contingency plan (of which REX-84 was a part), "Garden Plot" and a similar earlier exercise, "Lantern Spike" were originally revealed by journalist Ron Ridenhour, who summarized his findings in "Garden Plot and the New Action Army."[9]
Rex 84 was publicly mentioned during the Iran-Contra Hearings in 1987. [10][11] Transcripts from the hearing in the New York Times record the following dialogue between Congressman Jack Brooks, North's attorney Brendan Sullivan and Senator Daniel Inouye, the Democratic Chair of the Committee[12]:
[Congressman Jack] Brooks: Colonel North, in your work at the N.S.C. were you not assigned, at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in the event of a major disaster?
Brendan Sullivan [North's counsel, agitatedly]: Mr. Chairman?
[Senator Daniel] Inouye: I believe that question touches upon a highly sensitive and classified area so may I request that you not touch upon that?
Brooks: I was particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, because I read in Miami papers, and several others, that there had been a plan developed, by that same agency, a contingency plan in the event of emergency, that would suspend the American constitution. And I was deeply concerned about it and wondered if that was an area in which he had worked. I believe that it was and I wanted to get his confirmation.
Inouye: May I most respectfully request that that matter not be touched upon at this stage. If we wish to get into this, I'm certain arrangements can be made for an executive session.
Exercises similar to Rex 84 happen regularly.[13] For example, from 1967 to 1971 the FBI kept a list of over 100,000 persons to be rounded up as subversive, dubbed the "ADEX" list.[14]
---Note
I HAVE to wonder if *I* am on some such list at this point in time..
---
The basic facts about Rex 84 and other contingency planning readiness exercises—and the potential threat they pose to civil liberties if fully implemented in a real operation—are taken seriously by scholars and civil libertarians.[15]
See also (Be AWARE of the laws that govern you..)
* NSPD-51
* HR 1955
* COINTELPRO
* Posse Comitatus Act
Source Wikipedia
---
Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, is a contingency plan developed by the United States federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens who were deemed to be "national security threats", in the event that the President declared a "State of Domestic National Emergency". The plan stated that events that might cause such a declaration would be widespread U.S. opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad, such as if the United States were to directly invade Central America[1][2][3][4][5][6]. To combat what the government perceived as "subversive activities", the plan also authorized the military to direct ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels.[7]
Rex 84 was written by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, who was both the NSC White House Aide and NSC liaison to FEMA, and John Brinkerhoff, the deputy director of "national preparedness" programs for FEMA. They patterned the plan on a 1970 report written by FEMA chief Louis Giuffrida, at the Army War College, which proposed the detention of up to 21 million "American Negroes", if there were a black militant uprising in the United States.[1] [8] Existence of a master military contingency plan (of which REX-84 was a part), "Garden Plot" and a similar earlier exercise, "Lantern Spike" were originally revealed by journalist Ron Ridenhour, who summarized his findings in "Garden Plot and the New Action Army."[9]
Rex 84 was publicly mentioned during the Iran-Contra Hearings in 1987. [10][11] Transcripts from the hearing in the New York Times record the following dialogue between Congressman Jack Brooks, North's attorney Brendan Sullivan and Senator Daniel Inouye, the Democratic Chair of the Committee[12]:
[Congressman Jack] Brooks: Colonel North, in your work at the N.S.C. were you not assigned, at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in the event of a major disaster?
Brendan Sullivan [North's counsel, agitatedly]: Mr. Chairman?
[Senator Daniel] Inouye: I believe that question touches upon a highly sensitive and classified area so may I request that you not touch upon that?
Brooks: I was particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, because I read in Miami papers, and several others, that there had been a plan developed, by that same agency, a contingency plan in the event of emergency, that would suspend the American constitution. And I was deeply concerned about it and wondered if that was an area in which he had worked. I believe that it was and I wanted to get his confirmation.
Inouye: May I most respectfully request that that matter not be touched upon at this stage. If we wish to get into this, I'm certain arrangements can be made for an executive session.
Exercises similar to Rex 84 happen regularly.[13] For example, from 1967 to 1971 the FBI kept a list of over 100,000 persons to be rounded up as subversive, dubbed the "ADEX" list.[14]
---Note
I HAVE to wonder if *I* am on some such list at this point in time..
---
The basic facts about Rex 84 and other contingency planning readiness exercises—and the potential threat they pose to civil liberties if fully implemented in a real operation—are taken seriously by scholars and civil libertarians.[15]
See also (Be AWARE of the laws that govern you..)
* NSPD-51
* HR 1955
* COINTELPRO
* Posse Comitatus Act
Monday, December 13, 2010
#WikiLeaks, #Bernanke and #Hyperinflation
---
National Inflation Association
---
WikiLeaks, Bernanke, and Hyperinflation
NIA is deeply disturbed by how U.S. politicians and the mainstream media
have been calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be charged with
treason. Some people in Washington are even calling for the assassination of
Assange like he is some kind of a terrorist, all because he helped spread
the truth about our country's foreign policy and other sensitive topics. The
U.S. is in very serious trouble if it has now become a crime to speak the
truth.
In recent years with the help of the Internet, there has been a rise in
alternative media sites that speak the truth, while the mainstream media has
simultaneously experienced collapsing television ratings and newspaper
circulation levels. CNBC's average television show now only has 47,000 U.S.
viewers in the 25-54 demographic, down 36% from one year ago. NIA's latest
inflationary depression update video has already surpassed 47,000 views, and
we don't have the advantage of being on cable television in 95 million
American homes.
Americans today have an appetite for the truth. For decades, Americans were
brainwashed into believing anything the mainstream media said as the truth.
Now that America is waking up and realizing that they have been deceived and
lied to their whole lives by the mainstream media, the media is losing its
stranglehold over the public. The politicians and corporate elites who
control the media are becoming very scared.
Although NIA is not a supporter of Assange, we are a supporter of
constitutional rights and there is no more important constitutional right
than our freedom of speech. If Americans don't take a stand now to protect
their freedom of speech, the U.S. government soon might make it a crime to
warn Americans about the hyperinflation that is ahead. With the current path
our country is on, there is a chance that as the U.S. approaches the point
of hyperinflation, organizations like NIA will be made illegal to exist in
the U.S. Those associated with NIA and organizations like us may one day be
charged with treason or targeted for assassination, just for warning
Americans to get out of fiat paper money (U.S. dollars) and into real money
(gold and silver).
If there is one American who deserves to be charged with treason, it is
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke, this past Sunday on '60
Minutes', outright lied to the American public when he said that the Federal
Reserve isn't printing money. Less than two years earlier on the same
television program, Bernanke admitted that the Federal Reserve is printing
money. However, back then, nobody was questioning the Federal Reserve's
actions. Thanks to alternative media organizations that have worked
tirelessly to help expose the Federal Reserve's dangerous and destructive
actions, Americans are starting to finally question the Federal Reserve and
Bernanke is now clearly on the defensive.
Bernanke's lie on '60 Minutes' that the Federal Reserve isn't printing money
is similar to the lie he made under oath on June 3rd, 2009, when he
testified in front of Congress saying, "The Federal Reserve will not
monetize the debt." Today, the Federal Reserve is monetizing the debt (as
admitted by both the Kansas City and Dallas Fed Presidents). When Bernanke
uses the term "quantitative easing", he is insulting the intelligence of
Americans. "Quantitative easing" is nothing more than printing money.
Bernanke said in his interview that the purpose of the Federal Reserve's
"quantitative easing" is to keep interest rates low, but the yield on
10-year U.S. treasuries rose to a new six month high today. The truth is,
"quantitative easing" is causing interest rates to rise because all of the
money being printed is about to cause an outbreak of massive price
inflation. The yield on the 10-year bond has risen by 38 basis points during
the past three days alone and is now up to 3.26%. NIA continues to believe
that interest rates have seen their lows and yields on the 10-year bond will
likely rise above 4% in the first half of 2011.
When the 10-year bond yield rises to above 4%, instead of Bernanke admitting
that he lied to the American public and his money printing actually caused
interest rates to rise, Bernanke will likely claim that his "quantitative
easing" just wasn't large enough. Bernanke will use rising interest rates as
an excuse to expand the size of QE2 and/or possibly launch QE3. Remember,
every 1% rise in interest rates means an extra $100 billion that will need
to be spent each year on interest payments on our national debt. Rising
interest payments on our national debt can only be paid by Bernanke printing
even more money.
Bernanke promises that he won't let price inflation in the U.S. rise above
2%, but all Americans who live in the real world realize that price
inflation is already well above 2%. Whether it be food, gas, heat, clothes,
healthcare, college tuition, entertainment, or just about anything else,
prices have risen over the past twelve months for just about all goods and
services in America by a lot more than 2%. It is a real shame that
absolutely nobody in the mainstream media has acknowledged this fact and
called Bernanke out on it. Bernanke deserves to be impeached for his
previous acts of perjury and for blatantly ignoring the price inflation that
exists all around us.
Bernanke is currently leading a misinformation campaign that will prevent
the majority of Americans from preparing for and surviving U.S.
hyperinflation. Bernanke's misinformation campaign is similar to what took
place in Weimar Germany in the 1920s when they experienced hyperinflation.
In Weimar Germany, the misinformed public always focused on rising prices,
but never understood that prices were rising because the German mark was
losing its purchasing power.
The Germans believed that there was a shortage of marks and it was therefore
necessary to print as many marks as possible. Germans placed all of the
blame for their crisis on the symptoms of inflation. They blamed greedy
tourists, selfish industrialists and profiteers, the wage demands of
labourers, speculators in Germany who were buying foreign currencies and
sending their wealth out of the country, and other nations that were buying
up German assets with foreign currencies. They failed to grasp that it was
their government's own printing of marks and increasing the money supply
that caused the inflationary disease.
Bernanke is trying to convince the world that he can create an economic
recovery through "quantitative easing" (printing money), without creating
price inflation, because he claims to have the tools to unwind the Federal
Reserve's massive asset purchases. He is trying to trick the world into
believing that he has the ability to pinpoint an exact time in which the
U.S. economy is recovering without massive price inflation, where he can
exit his inflationary strategy before prices start to dramatically rise.
Bernanke has no exit strategy that he can implement without sending the U.S.
economy into the next Great Depression.
Bernanke, being a self-proclaimed scholar of the Great Depression, is not
going to allow another one to occur. Bernanke didn't like the market's
reaction when he allowed Lehman Brothers to fail (the only right decision he
made during the whole panic of 2008). After the failure of Lehman Brothers
caused the stock market to crash, Bernanke didn't allow another major U.S.
bank to fail. NIA predicts that we will one day see Bernanke attempt to
launch his exit strategy by raising the Federal Funds Rate, but as soon as
the stock market begins to go south like in late-2008, Bernanke will reverse
his decision and either lower the Federal Funds Rate again or leave it at
artificially low levels until the U.S. dollar loses all of its purchasing
power.
One organization out there that has perhaps played the largest role in
helping expose the Federal Reserve's manipulation of gold and silver prices
is the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA). NIA considers GATA's
President Bill Murphy to be a hero for having the courage to expose evidence
of gold and silver price manipulation at the CFTC hearing on position limits
that was held on March 25th of this year. A short time after the hearing
took place, Murphy was leaving a restaurant less than two blocks from where
he lives when somebody jumped out from behind a wall and sucker-punched him
with brass knuckles. He was knocked out cold and thought his jaw was broken.
NIA just conducted a shocking interview with Bill Murphy that we will be
releasing Friday evening. You will definitely want to listen to this
interview.
It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible,
as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation.
Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately
at: http://inflation.us
National Inflation Association
---
WikiLeaks, Bernanke, and Hyperinflation
NIA is deeply disturbed by how U.S. politicians and the mainstream media
have been calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be charged with
treason. Some people in Washington are even calling for the assassination of
Assange like he is some kind of a terrorist, all because he helped spread
the truth about our country's foreign policy and other sensitive topics. The
U.S. is in very serious trouble if it has now become a crime to speak the
truth.
In recent years with the help of the Internet, there has been a rise in
alternative media sites that speak the truth, while the mainstream media has
simultaneously experienced collapsing television ratings and newspaper
circulation levels. CNBC's average television show now only has 47,000 U.S.
viewers in the 25-54 demographic, down 36% from one year ago. NIA's latest
inflationary depression update video has already surpassed 47,000 views, and
we don't have the advantage of being on cable television in 95 million
American homes.
Americans today have an appetite for the truth. For decades, Americans were
brainwashed into believing anything the mainstream media said as the truth.
Now that America is waking up and realizing that they have been deceived and
lied to their whole lives by the mainstream media, the media is losing its
stranglehold over the public. The politicians and corporate elites who
control the media are becoming very scared.
Although NIA is not a supporter of Assange, we are a supporter of
constitutional rights and there is no more important constitutional right
than our freedom of speech. If Americans don't take a stand now to protect
their freedom of speech, the U.S. government soon might make it a crime to
warn Americans about the hyperinflation that is ahead. With the current path
our country is on, there is a chance that as the U.S. approaches the point
of hyperinflation, organizations like NIA will be made illegal to exist in
the U.S. Those associated with NIA and organizations like us may one day be
charged with treason or targeted for assassination, just for warning
Americans to get out of fiat paper money (U.S. dollars) and into real money
(gold and silver).
If there is one American who deserves to be charged with treason, it is
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke, this past Sunday on '60
Minutes', outright lied to the American public when he said that the Federal
Reserve isn't printing money. Less than two years earlier on the same
television program, Bernanke admitted that the Federal Reserve is printing
money. However, back then, nobody was questioning the Federal Reserve's
actions. Thanks to alternative media organizations that have worked
tirelessly to help expose the Federal Reserve's dangerous and destructive
actions, Americans are starting to finally question the Federal Reserve and
Bernanke is now clearly on the defensive.
Bernanke's lie on '60 Minutes' that the Federal Reserve isn't printing money
is similar to the lie he made under oath on June 3rd, 2009, when he
testified in front of Congress saying, "The Federal Reserve will not
monetize the debt." Today, the Federal Reserve is monetizing the debt (as
admitted by both the Kansas City and Dallas Fed Presidents). When Bernanke
uses the term "quantitative easing", he is insulting the intelligence of
Americans. "Quantitative easing" is nothing more than printing money.
Bernanke said in his interview that the purpose of the Federal Reserve's
"quantitative easing" is to keep interest rates low, but the yield on
10-year U.S. treasuries rose to a new six month high today. The truth is,
"quantitative easing" is causing interest rates to rise because all of the
money being printed is about to cause an outbreak of massive price
inflation. The yield on the 10-year bond has risen by 38 basis points during
the past three days alone and is now up to 3.26%. NIA continues to believe
that interest rates have seen their lows and yields on the 10-year bond will
likely rise above 4% in the first half of 2011.
When the 10-year bond yield rises to above 4%, instead of Bernanke admitting
that he lied to the American public and his money printing actually caused
interest rates to rise, Bernanke will likely claim that his "quantitative
easing" just wasn't large enough. Bernanke will use rising interest rates as
an excuse to expand the size of QE2 and/or possibly launch QE3. Remember,
every 1% rise in interest rates means an extra $100 billion that will need
to be spent each year on interest payments on our national debt. Rising
interest payments on our national debt can only be paid by Bernanke printing
even more money.
Bernanke promises that he won't let price inflation in the U.S. rise above
2%, but all Americans who live in the real world realize that price
inflation is already well above 2%. Whether it be food, gas, heat, clothes,
healthcare, college tuition, entertainment, or just about anything else,
prices have risen over the past twelve months for just about all goods and
services in America by a lot more than 2%. It is a real shame that
absolutely nobody in the mainstream media has acknowledged this fact and
called Bernanke out on it. Bernanke deserves to be impeached for his
previous acts of perjury and for blatantly ignoring the price inflation that
exists all around us.
Bernanke is currently leading a misinformation campaign that will prevent
the majority of Americans from preparing for and surviving U.S.
hyperinflation. Bernanke's misinformation campaign is similar to what took
place in Weimar Germany in the 1920s when they experienced hyperinflation.
In Weimar Germany, the misinformed public always focused on rising prices,
but never understood that prices were rising because the German mark was
losing its purchasing power.
The Germans believed that there was a shortage of marks and it was therefore
necessary to print as many marks as possible. Germans placed all of the
blame for their crisis on the symptoms of inflation. They blamed greedy
tourists, selfish industrialists and profiteers, the wage demands of
labourers, speculators in Germany who were buying foreign currencies and
sending their wealth out of the country, and other nations that were buying
up German assets with foreign currencies. They failed to grasp that it was
their government's own printing of marks and increasing the money supply
that caused the inflationary disease.
Bernanke is trying to convince the world that he can create an economic
recovery through "quantitative easing" (printing money), without creating
price inflation, because he claims to have the tools to unwind the Federal
Reserve's massive asset purchases. He is trying to trick the world into
believing that he has the ability to pinpoint an exact time in which the
U.S. economy is recovering without massive price inflation, where he can
exit his inflationary strategy before prices start to dramatically rise.
Bernanke has no exit strategy that he can implement without sending the U.S.
economy into the next Great Depression.
Bernanke, being a self-proclaimed scholar of the Great Depression, is not
going to allow another one to occur. Bernanke didn't like the market's
reaction when he allowed Lehman Brothers to fail (the only right decision he
made during the whole panic of 2008). After the failure of Lehman Brothers
caused the stock market to crash, Bernanke didn't allow another major U.S.
bank to fail. NIA predicts that we will one day see Bernanke attempt to
launch his exit strategy by raising the Federal Funds Rate, but as soon as
the stock market begins to go south like in late-2008, Bernanke will reverse
his decision and either lower the Federal Funds Rate again or leave it at
artificially low levels until the U.S. dollar loses all of its purchasing
power.
One organization out there that has perhaps played the largest role in
helping expose the Federal Reserve's manipulation of gold and silver prices
is the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA). NIA considers GATA's
President Bill Murphy to be a hero for having the courage to expose evidence
of gold and silver price manipulation at the CFTC hearing on position limits
that was held on March 25th of this year. A short time after the hearing
took place, Murphy was leaving a restaurant less than two blocks from where
he lives when somebody jumped out from behind a wall and sucker-punched him
with brass knuckles. He was knocked out cold and thought his jaw was broken.
NIA just conducted a shocking interview with Bill Murphy that we will be
releasing Friday evening. You will definitely want to listen to this
interview.
It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible,
as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation.
Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately
at: http://inflation.us
Admission of #guilt
---
Or at least as close as we're going to get from any politician..
This quote can be found in the article here
---
On the bipartisan tax deal..
“No one wants to see 2 million people lose their unemployment insurance, and everybody understands what it would mean for the economy if we don’t get this done." -David Axelrod
---
To me this is as close to the truth of the matter as we are likely to get from Washington.. That being that NOTHING they are doing is about creating jobs or growing the economy.. They KNOW what kind of (bad) shape this country is really in..
So all Axelrod is saying here is that we MUST continue to prop things up with taxpayer dollars because we have no other choice! We must continue to bail out EVERYONE, business' and individuals alike, apparently forever!
Their solutions are the SAME AS ALWAYS! Add another TRILLION dollars to the national debt and hope that works!
Make extended unemployment a new entitlement, an expansion of welfare, so those poor unemployed slobs can continue giving their money (only NOW forever taxpayer money!) to the BANKS for the mortgage they can no longer afford and for the car payments they can no longer afford and so they can spend money with retailers to help support the Christmas shopping season!
Don't you see it's ALL BULLSHIT?!
It's NOT about showing compassion to sheeple and helping them.. It's about continuing to artificially prop up a debt based ponzi scheme economy that has ALREADY COLLAPSED!
Capitalism has failed but only because government and multinational corporations got in there and bastardized it to the point where it no longer even resembles capitalism! It is debt driven consumerism now and nothing more!
We have NO manufacturing base anymore! It's GONE and it isn't coming back. The only manufacturing being done now is supported by government spending of tax payer dollars.
Everything being done in Washington right now is designed to prop things up.. Because if the government and the FED stop doing that we will be facing the Greatest Depression! Cascading bankruptcies, much higher unemployment, failing banks, business' and homes across the nation and throughout the entire world..
That is what is headed our way, sooner or later.. Please be prepared. Don't be caught off guard..
It always seems so insane to me that business would would freely give as much easy money debt as it takes to destroy their own entire customer base.. F'ing idiots if you ask me..
Greg
Or at least as close as we're going to get from any politician..
This quote can be found in the article here
---
On the bipartisan tax deal..
“No one wants to see 2 million people lose their unemployment insurance, and everybody understands what it would mean for the economy if we don’t get this done." -David Axelrod
---
To me this is as close to the truth of the matter as we are likely to get from Washington.. That being that NOTHING they are doing is about creating jobs or growing the economy.. They KNOW what kind of (bad) shape this country is really in..
So all Axelrod is saying here is that we MUST continue to prop things up with taxpayer dollars because we have no other choice! We must continue to bail out EVERYONE, business' and individuals alike, apparently forever!
Their solutions are the SAME AS ALWAYS! Add another TRILLION dollars to the national debt and hope that works!
Make extended unemployment a new entitlement, an expansion of welfare, so those poor unemployed slobs can continue giving their money (only NOW forever taxpayer money!) to the BANKS for the mortgage they can no longer afford and for the car payments they can no longer afford and so they can spend money with retailers to help support the Christmas shopping season!
Don't you see it's ALL BULLSHIT?!
It's NOT about showing compassion to sheeple and helping them.. It's about continuing to artificially prop up a debt based ponzi scheme economy that has ALREADY COLLAPSED!
Capitalism has failed but only because government and multinational corporations got in there and bastardized it to the point where it no longer even resembles capitalism! It is debt driven consumerism now and nothing more!
We have NO manufacturing base anymore! It's GONE and it isn't coming back. The only manufacturing being done now is supported by government spending of tax payer dollars.
Everything being done in Washington right now is designed to prop things up.. Because if the government and the FED stop doing that we will be facing the Greatest Depression! Cascading bankruptcies, much higher unemployment, failing banks, business' and homes across the nation and throughout the entire world..
That is what is headed our way, sooner or later.. Please be prepared. Don't be caught off guard..
It always seems so insane to me that business would would freely give as much easy money debt as it takes to destroy their own entire customer base.. F'ing idiots if you ask me..
Greg
Saturday, December 11, 2010
A #Declaration of the #Independence of #Cyberspace
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
by John Perry Barlow
Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.
You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.
Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.
We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.
Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us.
You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.
In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.
Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.
These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.
Davos, Switzerland
February 8, 1996
==================
Excerpt from the article The Decline and Fall of the American Empire on TheNation.com
In the summer of 2010, military tensions between the US and China began to rise in the western Pacific, once considered an American “lake.” Even a year earlier no one would have predicted such a development. As Washington played upon its alliance with London to appropriate much of Britain's global power after World War II, so China is now using the profits from its export trade with the US to fund what is likely to become a military challenge to American dominion over the waterways of Asia and the Pacific.
With its growing resources, Beijing is claiming a vast maritime arc from Korea to Indonesia long dominated by the US Navy. In August, after Washington expressed a “national interest” in the South China Sea and conducted naval exercises there to reinforce that claim, Beijing's official Global Times responded angrily, saying, “The US-China wrestling match over the South China Sea issue has raised the stakes in deciding who the real future ruler of the planet will be.”
Amid growing tensions, the Pentagon reported that Beijing now holds “the capability to attack… [US] aircraft carriers in the western Pacific Ocean” and target “nuclear forces throughout… the continental United States.” By developing “offensive nuclear, space, and cyberwarfare capabilities,” China seems determined to vie for dominance of what the Pentagon calls “the information spectrum in all dimensions of the modern battlespace.” With ongoing development of the powerful Long March V booster rocket, as well as the launch of two satellites in January 2010 and another in July, for a total of five, Beijing signaled that the country was making rapid strides toward an “independent” network of 35 satellites for global positioning, communications, and reconnaissance capabilities by 2020.
To check China and extend its military position globally, Washington is intent on building a new digital network of air and space robotics, advanced cyberwarfare capabilities, and electronic surveillance. Military planners expect this integrated system to envelop the Earth in a cyber-grid capable of blinding entire armies on the battlefield or taking out a single terrorist in field or favela. By 2020, if all goes according to plan, the Pentagon will launch a three-tiered shield of space drones—reaching from stratosphere to exosphere, armed with agile missiles, linked by a resilient modular satellite system, and operated through total telescopic surveillance.
Last April, the Pentagon made history. It extended drone operations into the exosphere by quietly launching the X-37B unmanned space shuttle into a low orbit 255 miles above the planet. The X-37B is the first in a new generation of unmanned vehicles that will mark the full weaponization of space, creating an arena for future warfare unlike anything that has gone before.
===================
Is that the kind of world we want?
It's time for humanity to control it's own fate, to make it's own rules, to create it's own reality.. The days of government(s) are coming to an end all over the world..
Join the New Paradigm
Greg
by John Perry Barlow
Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.
You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.
You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.
Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.
We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.
Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us.
You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.
In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.
Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.
These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.
Davos, Switzerland
February 8, 1996
==================
Excerpt from the article The Decline and Fall of the American Empire on TheNation.com
In the summer of 2010, military tensions between the US and China began to rise in the western Pacific, once considered an American “lake.” Even a year earlier no one would have predicted such a development. As Washington played upon its alliance with London to appropriate much of Britain's global power after World War II, so China is now using the profits from its export trade with the US to fund what is likely to become a military challenge to American dominion over the waterways of Asia and the Pacific.
With its growing resources, Beijing is claiming a vast maritime arc from Korea to Indonesia long dominated by the US Navy. In August, after Washington expressed a “national interest” in the South China Sea and conducted naval exercises there to reinforce that claim, Beijing's official Global Times responded angrily, saying, “The US-China wrestling match over the South China Sea issue has raised the stakes in deciding who the real future ruler of the planet will be.”
Amid growing tensions, the Pentagon reported that Beijing now holds “the capability to attack… [US] aircraft carriers in the western Pacific Ocean” and target “nuclear forces throughout… the continental United States.” By developing “offensive nuclear, space, and cyberwarfare capabilities,” China seems determined to vie for dominance of what the Pentagon calls “the information spectrum in all dimensions of the modern battlespace.” With ongoing development of the powerful Long March V booster rocket, as well as the launch of two satellites in January 2010 and another in July, for a total of five, Beijing signaled that the country was making rapid strides toward an “independent” network of 35 satellites for global positioning, communications, and reconnaissance capabilities by 2020.
To check China and extend its military position globally, Washington is intent on building a new digital network of air and space robotics, advanced cyberwarfare capabilities, and electronic surveillance. Military planners expect this integrated system to envelop the Earth in a cyber-grid capable of blinding entire armies on the battlefield or taking out a single terrorist in field or favela. By 2020, if all goes according to plan, the Pentagon will launch a three-tiered shield of space drones—reaching from stratosphere to exosphere, armed with agile missiles, linked by a resilient modular satellite system, and operated through total telescopic surveillance.
Last April, the Pentagon made history. It extended drone operations into the exosphere by quietly launching the X-37B unmanned space shuttle into a low orbit 255 miles above the planet. The X-37B is the first in a new generation of unmanned vehicles that will mark the full weaponization of space, creating an arena for future warfare unlike anything that has gone before.
===================
Is that the kind of world we want?
It's time for humanity to control it's own fate, to make it's own rules, to create it's own reality.. The days of government(s) are coming to an end all over the world..
Join the New Paradigm
Greg
Friday, December 10, 2010
Glenn Beck Channels Alex Jones: #Economic Crisis, #Food Riots & #Martial #Law Coming PLEASE wake up America!
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You HAVE to watch this video.. I worry so much about so many people NOT being prepared for what is coming our way.. We are facing the Greatest Depression! Wise up!
I have been warning about this same stuff for over two years now.. The government and the Federal Reserve Bank and the corporate elites have done a fantastic job of manipulating all the economic data and propping everything up while they make their military contingency plans behind closed doors!
Glenn Beck
PLEASE wake up America! Before America is lost forever..
Greg
You HAVE to watch this video.. I worry so much about so many people NOT being prepared for what is coming our way.. We are facing the Greatest Depression! Wise up!
I have been warning about this same stuff for over two years now.. The government and the Federal Reserve Bank and the corporate elites have done a fantastic job of manipulating all the economic data and propping everything up while they make their military contingency plans behind closed doors!
Glenn Beck
PLEASE wake up America! Before America is lost forever..
Greg
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Fiscal warnings - #economy #debt #USA #politicians #government #Washington #TeaParty
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From the Joplin Globe editorial page
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December 8, 2010
Other views: Fiscal warnings
The Norman Transcript, Norman, Okla. The Joplin Globe Wed Dec 08, 2010, 08:02 AM CST
— The massive deficit carried by the federal government has gotten considerable attention from congressional candidates. But less discussed is the massive debt load carried by state and local governments.
The New York Times says the same folks who were warning of the crisis in the subprime housing market are now throwing up flags over the state and municipal debts. If left unchecked, analysts fear that investors could stop lending money to the states with the weakest credit, setting off a crisis that could spread to stronger states, much like the turmoil in Europe has spread from country to country, the newspaper said.
Federal stimulus dollars have propped up many state budgets this past year but that is set to run out soon. Some analysts are predicting 2011 will be the worst year yet for states in the four- or five-year downturn budget cycle.
Some states are balancing their operating budgets by postponing payments made to pension funds. They are merely borrowing against future liabilities, gambling that the economy will get better before it gets worse again.
The Norman Transcript, Norman, Okla.
From the Joplin Globe editorial page
---
December 8, 2010
Other views: Fiscal warnings
The Norman Transcript, Norman, Okla. The Joplin Globe Wed Dec 08, 2010, 08:02 AM CST
— The massive deficit carried by the federal government has gotten considerable attention from congressional candidates. But less discussed is the massive debt load carried by state and local governments.
The New York Times says the same folks who were warning of the crisis in the subprime housing market are now throwing up flags over the state and municipal debts. If left unchecked, analysts fear that investors could stop lending money to the states with the weakest credit, setting off a crisis that could spread to stronger states, much like the turmoil in Europe has spread from country to country, the newspaper said.
Federal stimulus dollars have propped up many state budgets this past year but that is set to run out soon. Some analysts are predicting 2011 will be the worst year yet for states in the four- or five-year downturn budget cycle.
Some states are balancing their operating budgets by postponing payments made to pension funds. They are merely borrowing against future liabilities, gambling that the economy will get better before it gets worse again.
The Norman Transcript, Norman, Okla.
#Politicians continue to ignore real problems
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Editorial from the Joplin Globe
---
December 8, 2010
Our view: Politics win out
The Joplin Globe Wed Dec 08, 2010, 08:01 AM CST
Politics reigned supreme over principles on both sides in the latest “deal” between Republicans and Democrats in Washington on Monday night.
President Obama has agreed to delay increasing income taxes on the rich, and Republicans have agreed to increase the deficit through extension of unemployment benefits for 13 months.
In reaching such a compromise, both sides ignored the most pressing problem facing the country: the massive debt and deficit spending.
If this compromise passes congressional votes in the next week or so, both debt and deficits will skyrocket by more than $100 billion per year.
And both sides will try to spin this compromise as a positive step for the country, though for different reasons.
And neither side will show how such an agreement violates the fundamental challenge for government to begin to live within our means.
Politics has surely trumped that important, even vital objective for the federal government.
How could this have been avoided? If increasing taxes is so important to economic livelihood, then simply let all the Bush tax cuts expire and require all Americans (at least those who pay taxes) carry the burden. If unemployment benefits are deemed critical, then keep them in place but find other cuts in federal spending to prevent deficit spending to pay for them.
We are sure the Debt Commission has found some short-term cuts that could support that effort if anyone reads those recommendations in depth, not just the sound bites contained therein.
Republican principles are not to raise taxes. Democratic principles are to protect the poor and middle classes from spending cuts or tax increases. Neither side has a clue how to restore economic prosperity by sticking only to their principles. Debt control and elimination of deficit spending are the keys.
The Debt Commission made that point and suggested a starting point to both raise taxes and cut spending simultaneously.
Now, see how the politicians are approaching the problem.
Editorial from the Joplin Globe
---
December 8, 2010
Our view: Politics win out
The Joplin Globe Wed Dec 08, 2010, 08:01 AM CST
Politics reigned supreme over principles on both sides in the latest “deal” between Republicans and Democrats in Washington on Monday night.
President Obama has agreed to delay increasing income taxes on the rich, and Republicans have agreed to increase the deficit through extension of unemployment benefits for 13 months.
In reaching such a compromise, both sides ignored the most pressing problem facing the country: the massive debt and deficit spending.
If this compromise passes congressional votes in the next week or so, both debt and deficits will skyrocket by more than $100 billion per year.
And both sides will try to spin this compromise as a positive step for the country, though for different reasons.
And neither side will show how such an agreement violates the fundamental challenge for government to begin to live within our means.
Politics has surely trumped that important, even vital objective for the federal government.
How could this have been avoided? If increasing taxes is so important to economic livelihood, then simply let all the Bush tax cuts expire and require all Americans (at least those who pay taxes) carry the burden. If unemployment benefits are deemed critical, then keep them in place but find other cuts in federal spending to prevent deficit spending to pay for them.
We are sure the Debt Commission has found some short-term cuts that could support that effort if anyone reads those recommendations in depth, not just the sound bites contained therein.
Republican principles are not to raise taxes. Democratic principles are to protect the poor and middle classes from spending cuts or tax increases. Neither side has a clue how to restore economic prosperity by sticking only to their principles. Debt control and elimination of deficit spending are the keys.
The Debt Commission made that point and suggested a starting point to both raise taxes and cut spending simultaneously.
Now, see how the politicians are approaching the problem.
More #information that you CANNOT live without Be #smart, don't be a #fool
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I have 3 fantastic links/reads for you today.. I hope you enjoy them and the knowledge they impart ;)
---
From The Survival Station
Why Democrats And Republicans Are Both Wrong About The Bush Tax Cuts
---
The following two links are available within the link above but I am listing them separately here for your convenience..
---
From The Economic Collapse Blog
It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt
And..
Debt = Money, Money = Debt
I have 3 fantastic links/reads for you today.. I hope you enjoy them and the knowledge they impart ;)
---
From The Survival Station
Why Democrats And Republicans Are Both Wrong About The Bush Tax Cuts
---
The following two links are available within the link above but I am listing them separately here for your convenience..
---
From The Economic Collapse Blog
It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt
And..
Debt = Money, Money = Debt
Monday, December 6, 2010
Self #Reliance = #Budget = #Nirvana
---
Seriously, I have thought about this off and on throughout my life, since I was 15 or 16 years old..
'This' being, what if I didn't have to depend on anyone, or anything, else in the world but myself and my own ingenuity?
I used to daydream about living deep in the woods in a rustic cabin, fishing and hunting for food, taking care of myself..
Perhaps even without a smart phone or a LED HD 3D Flat Panel TV LMAO
I'm just a somewhat worn out middle aged man now.. 53 YEARS of age! Just try to imagine.. LMAO
However I STILL think about it to this day.. That's what 'dreams' are all about I suppose..
In fact, I think I may have improved on the entire fantasy now.. ;)
Just imagine, if you can..
I'd love to have just 40 or 50 acres in the real boonies. A place where, if I wanted, I could have a still to make my own liqueur, make my own wine too. And I even want to try my hand at beer.. Grow my own medicinal pot if I want to.. So far out on the edge of society that I no longer have to worry about man's laws.. Only God's laws..
But, obviously I hope, that's not to say that God wants me to get drunk and high lol
But grow my own food, produce, too. A nice large garden watered with collected rain water. Filled with organic produce. Free from genetic engineering and cancer causing pesticides and other man made additives..
A well stocked pond too, with bass, catfish and perch..
And hunt and trap for meat.. Deer, turkey, rabbit, quail, dove and maybe some duck..
Here's what my budget looks like right now.. This is pretty much where our income goes..
Housing = 21%
Food = 11%
Car payment = 8% (B/c we pay extra)
Utilities = 7.7%
electric = 2.7%
gas = 2.3%
water = 1.5%
water "mysterious customer charge" = 0.6%
sewer = 0.8%
sewer "mysterious customer charge" = 0.5%
About those mysterious "customer charges" on
the water = 0.6%
and the sewer = 0.5%
When we 'asked' the utility company about these mysterious extra
"customer charges" on our bill their answer was simply that "we are allowed,
by law, to charge those.."
Great, thanks for letting us know..
We also pay a mandatory trash pickup bill = 0.4%
I have an answer for the utility companies myself.. Dig a well on that small piece of land.
Install a septic tank to deal with waste.
Heat and cook with your own harvested wood.
I mean come on.. it's not like these things have never been done before.. At one time the were the standard..
And as for electricity spend the worthless fiat currency for a high tech solar system.. Generate MORE than you need for your own use and sell the excess to a f'ing power company.. Make them pay you!
Transportation cost (gas/fuel only) = 1%
And these we spend now.. Mostly because we are so civilized.. lol
Misc/entertainment/vices = 26%
Cable TV = 3%
Car insurance = 3%
phone = 1%
And last but not least our saving = about 5%
Add all those together and I come up with about 88.8%
100% - 88.8% = 11.2% left over which is there to cover expected and unexpected costs.. car repair, trips, major appliance purchases, whatever.. You know what I mean here lol
I have no idea how these numbers/statistics/percentages stack up as far as national averages or whatever.. And i don't really care that much..
I can live like this because we TRY to watch our spending and be sensible.. We TRY to live within our means while still having a comfortable lifestyle.. We don't BORROW money at high interest rates because we don't care about being good little debt slaves for the government, banksters, multinational corporations and retailers. We don't waste money on the latest greatest tech toys when everything we have now seems to work just fine. We try not to buy a bunch of plastic junk from China that is intentionally designed to have to be replaced right away with more cheap, slave labor Chinese junk..
*I* feel like if everyone lived like that.. Concentrate on paying yourself FIRST, treat your money with the respect it deserves (even though that is debatable now lol) All the rest of our problems would likely take care of themselves..
The banks, the government, Federal Reserve Bank, the multinational corporations, retailers and the rest would all collapse, as they already should have..
Good riddance to all is what I would have to say about it.. We'd all be much better off without them.. IMHO
it is TIME for human beings to evolve.. to improve.. To refuse to be ruled by the greed and corruption of an elite few..
Maybe America needs to return to a simpler time.. Perhaps we are a bit too progressive? Is that blasphemy?
Greg
Seriously, I have thought about this off and on throughout my life, since I was 15 or 16 years old..
'This' being, what if I didn't have to depend on anyone, or anything, else in the world but myself and my own ingenuity?
I used to daydream about living deep in the woods in a rustic cabin, fishing and hunting for food, taking care of myself..
Perhaps even without a smart phone or a LED HD 3D Flat Panel TV LMAO
I'm just a somewhat worn out middle aged man now.. 53 YEARS of age! Just try to imagine.. LMAO
However I STILL think about it to this day.. That's what 'dreams' are all about I suppose..
In fact, I think I may have improved on the entire fantasy now.. ;)
Just imagine, if you can..
I'd love to have just 40 or 50 acres in the real boonies. A place where, if I wanted, I could have a still to make my own liqueur, make my own wine too. And I even want to try my hand at beer.. Grow my own medicinal pot if I want to.. So far out on the edge of society that I no longer have to worry about man's laws.. Only God's laws..
But, obviously I hope, that's not to say that God wants me to get drunk and high lol
But grow my own food, produce, too. A nice large garden watered with collected rain water. Filled with organic produce. Free from genetic engineering and cancer causing pesticides and other man made additives..
A well stocked pond too, with bass, catfish and perch..
And hunt and trap for meat.. Deer, turkey, rabbit, quail, dove and maybe some duck..
Here's what my budget looks like right now.. This is pretty much where our income goes..
Housing = 21%
Food = 11%
Car payment = 8% (B/c we pay extra)
Utilities = 7.7%
electric = 2.7%
gas = 2.3%
water = 1.5%
water "mysterious customer charge" = 0.6%
sewer = 0.8%
sewer "mysterious customer charge" = 0.5%
About those mysterious "customer charges" on
the water = 0.6%
and the sewer = 0.5%
When we 'asked' the utility company about these mysterious extra
"customer charges" on our bill their answer was simply that "we are allowed,
by law, to charge those.."
Great, thanks for letting us know..
We also pay a mandatory trash pickup bill = 0.4%
I have an answer for the utility companies myself.. Dig a well on that small piece of land.
Install a septic tank to deal with waste.
Heat and cook with your own harvested wood.
I mean come on.. it's not like these things have never been done before.. At one time the were the standard..
And as for electricity spend the worthless fiat currency for a high tech solar system.. Generate MORE than you need for your own use and sell the excess to a f'ing power company.. Make them pay you!
Transportation cost (gas/fuel only) = 1%
And these we spend now.. Mostly because we are so civilized.. lol
Misc/entertainment/vices = 26%
Cable TV = 3%
Car insurance = 3%
phone = 1%
And last but not least our saving = about 5%
Add all those together and I come up with about 88.8%
100% - 88.8% = 11.2% left over which is there to cover expected and unexpected costs.. car repair, trips, major appliance purchases, whatever.. You know what I mean here lol
I have no idea how these numbers/statistics/percentages stack up as far as national averages or whatever.. And i don't really care that much..
I can live like this because we TRY to watch our spending and be sensible.. We TRY to live within our means while still having a comfortable lifestyle.. We don't BORROW money at high interest rates because we don't care about being good little debt slaves for the government, banksters, multinational corporations and retailers. We don't waste money on the latest greatest tech toys when everything we have now seems to work just fine. We try not to buy a bunch of plastic junk from China that is intentionally designed to have to be replaced right away with more cheap, slave labor Chinese junk..
*I* feel like if everyone lived like that.. Concentrate on paying yourself FIRST, treat your money with the respect it deserves (even though that is debatable now lol) All the rest of our problems would likely take care of themselves..
The banks, the government, Federal Reserve Bank, the multinational corporations, retailers and the rest would all collapse, as they already should have..
Good riddance to all is what I would have to say about it.. We'd all be much better off without them.. IMHO
it is TIME for human beings to evolve.. to improve.. To refuse to be ruled by the greed and corruption of an elite few..
Maybe America needs to return to a simpler time.. Perhaps we are a bit too progressive? Is that blasphemy?
Greg
Special guest post 'Still Fed Up' loved by many as @Neo761 "Robinhood"
---
Hello Folks,
Michael Storm aka “Robinhood” from winnersedgetrading coming in again with another “rant and rave” that some might enjoy and others might hate. Perhaps you might have read my first article and are wondering if I have calmed down a bit… the answer is no, I am still “fed up”, lol.
I have been studying various countries for a few months now, as I am getting ready to leave mine and I saw some good, bad and ugly out there. But a few have really stood out as having really great prospects for growth and freedom. Ah, FREEDOM!!! That is what the soul craves for! That is what the people want!
I do NOT think that normal ordinary Americans like being microwaved with these new untested airport scanners, being felt up by strangers grabbing your private parts. Or worse watching some guy rub his hands all over your wife and kids while you have to sit back and shut up about it cause your fearful of being sued for $10K and besides you REALLY need to get where your going…… Folks, this is B.S. of the HIGHEST possible magnitude! WE are not the terrorists! This is being done under a ruse, to just encroach and steal more freedoms. To just erode more privacy and slap us into submission as a people. I am not an idiot, I have examined it from both sides of the argument. ALL arguments on the reverse side are weak!!!! Embarrassing old men in wheel chairs with steel pins in their legs? Embarrassing cancer victims with breast prosthesis? Embarrassing some teenager and making her pull out her nipple rings? Embarrassing some poor little 3 year old girl and making her cry her eyes out???? COME ON!!!!!!! Give me a break! TSA, you can……. (expletives deleted for the sensitive)!!!! This is making one company very rich. I bet they pushed hard for it. I wonder how much they are getting out of this deal selling these machines?
Enough of that, lets move on to the “meat” of this. As many of you know I have posted a few articles from Simon Black the Sovereign Mans website on twitter. If you have been reading his articles you know he pulls no punches and tells it like it is. The other day I saw an article on 6 countries where freedom still exists. That was a GREAT article. So, pulling a bit from that….. Who WOULDN’T want to go to a place where:
Freedom…. Is strong and the government leaves people alone and privacy and freedom are respected?
Corruption…. Is low and police are well respected rather than feared. (As for Police today in America, I find most of them to be arrogant Jerks and use intimidation tactics.)
Business….. Lots of opportunity, not punishing creativity. (Think about it, starting a business in America is very prohibitive in every way, From the red tape, to the ridiculous regulations, even the hiring now… So much lawsuits against employers your almost scared to take a chance with anyone. Firing them becomes a problem.)
Taxes….. Reasonable. Our taxes in America have pushed most people to the breaking point. The Government is like a giant parasite killing the host! The host is sick. But some countries actually have reasonable taxes. Go figure! What a novel idea! Singapore, rock on!
Immigration….. SOME countries make it easy. Some easier than others. But as I research this its still NOT that easy. I personally do not understand why the cost of entrance into a country is so high and the wait is so long. It is what it is and no country is perfect. This I just have to deal with.
Infrastructure… Lets face it. We ALL like clean and modern roads. We all like internet being stable and affordable. We all like cell phones. I just don’t like the idea of my calls being recorded without so much as a court order. Oh and my internet usage being tracked so now I have to hire a company to encrypt everything. Bummer.
Medical care…. Some countries are the envy of the world here. Singapore is number one and Thailand high on the list. Others are top notch too. Medical tourism is becoming HUGE. People LEAVE America, Canada, and other countries to go to Thailand, Singapore and Mexico to pay just under 20K for double hip replacement surgery come back here and SAVE over 80K. I have read countless stories of top quality surgery out of the US. People are flocking so SAVE. Why? Because our costs are insane, that is why. If these new laws go into effect America’s medical system may become a nightmare. I don’t want it, that is for sure.
Schools. Already covered that in my last article. America is being dumbed down continually. Lowering the SAT’s so some can make the grade. Our school system is a failure. But some countries (only a few) have world class schooling. Nice!
Banking: This is amazing. You can walk into Switzerland and cash a check for 50K without I.D. for it is the check being verified, not you. In America I cant cash a check for 3K without filling out a form, 5k? The next grade of form. 10K??? Heck with that! That one gets mailed right out to the IRS PRONTO! Who wouldn’t like the bank secrecy laws of the Swiss and Belize, Panama, Hong Kong and Singapore? What the heck America? WHO’s money is it????? If the money belongs to you and me, then I would prefer my bank to shut the heck up and stop giving me grief for me accessing my own funds. I don’t enjoy giving my thumb print at some banks to cash a check! Very darn un-cool. 2 forms of I.D. to boot. Would you like a dna sample too!?
What are some other issues plaguing America? I know this is not exhaustive. We have become a perfect “welfare” society. Where the Gov. shells out food stamps, housing assistance, heat assistance, etc… to countless thousands and thousands of people. This is just unsustainable. There are people that have NO incentive to go work, for they are paid more to sit at home than to go work. This is just plain stupid and is only hurting us as a country. America wake UP!!! The Gov. does not “have” to give, it must steal the money from those that work and pass it along to those that do not, it is simply wealth redistribution.
My end point is this. We should vote with our dollars and our bodies. We should vote with our support. Do I support America in all this corruption and wickedness? NO. I do not. Every country SHOULD look at their citizens as partners in a GOAL. What should the goal be? How about to be the BEST! I mean the most desired, beautiful, clean, safe, low crime, business friendly, lowest tax nation on earth! The Most stable economy, the best economic prospects, the happiest citizens, the FREEST nation where liberty REIGNS supreme ! Oh yeah, baby! That’s what I am talking about. How about the most civilized, tolerant, educated, friendliest, happiest people on earth?
Forget the “race to the bottom”. Why would we want to race to the bottom? Why is that even on the news these days, as if this is a good thing? This is stupid. How about a race to the TOP! How about lets see which country on the earth can be the most competitive for the brightest and the best minds on earth? That sounds like a nice race.
Truth be told the people of the world are NOT happy with corruption, crime, rapes, murders, corrupt judges, corrupt lawyers, corrupt politicians! We are NOT happy with our kids being fondled by the TSA or cops in schools, drugs in schools, knives and guns in schools! We are NOT happy with inferior medical at insane prices. We are NOT happy with taxes that absolutely HURT so bad it angers us all year. We are NOT happy that should we decide to paint our house of fix up and beautify our yards that our taxes go up several hundred dollars the very next year! We are NOT happy that we go and buy a new car and get a one thousand dollar tax bill 11 months later! Why punish me for buying a car? Why punish me for fixing my house? We are NOT happy! Lets face it! We are the crummy frog in the water pot! We are the frog that is having the heat turned up slowly but I swear, SOME of the people of this country are really darn uncomfortable and ready to jump right out of the pot. There are those of us that are looking for brighter shores. More opportunity, less corruption, more freedom, less taxes, cleaner air, lower crime. Etc and so on.
The nations of the world should look at it like this. They are in competition. People are going to hunt and look and vote and take themselves out of places that suck and get into places that have bright futures. Next Month I will be leaving. The next article WILL be from the new land. I hope that when I get to that new land, I can have a fresh impact on the people for good and for righteousness. For “a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country…” The people around me are not listening and have deaf ears, cold hearts and no concern. What are your thoughts about this people? How are we going to handle this? What kind of nation will America be for our kids in 20 years when they are going off into the world?
Lastly I will leave you with this: There once was a King. A GREAT King. He went down in history with the greatest nation on earth, the happiest people and the most prosperous kingdom EVER. His name? King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba had heard of his fame and when she showed up to “check it out” she said: “Behold, the half of the story was not told unto me! Happy are your servants… Happy are your people…” etc… and so on. He ruled in righteousness. The scriptures say that those that rule among men are to do so with righteousness.
We are no longer a righteous people. Take a hard look at the puritans and those that stepped off of the mayflower and the early part of our American History. We were a HARD working people! Strong! Men were men! Women were women, loved, honored respected and treasured by real men. We all had a strong work ethic. Honesty was far more in place than today. Used to be a mans word was his bond and a handshake sealed it. Not so now! Children could once play anywhere and roam anywhere and LIVE! Today? You can’t even let them out of your sight for a second in fear some psycho is going to get them. Bye the time they are 13 they are bratty to the extreme and expect the world to hand them everything. Masters at playing computer games or texting their friends but don’t know how to work! No more Values. Where is the nobility that we once had as a people? Long gone, dust in dusty pages of our history. How terribly sad.
Each one of us is faced with this ONE life. “ it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment” How are we doing? What are we standing for? Let EACH one of us STRIVE to be righteous and Godly and go back to the Old Paths that were once laid out for us. Let each of us speak up and do the very best we can as human beings on this earth. Treat our families right, treat our friends right. Be Helpful, be caring, be SOMETHING! We need some fire back in our spirits folks! Really we do. I don’t mean to just rant, and rave and complain. Seriously. I am STRIVING for something. I have a plan. I have weighed it out and counted the cost. I personally want to be all that I can be and to be the very best and die trying. What would it be like if everyone on earth just quit all the corruption and just starting living for the pure sake of righteousness? I think that would be a great place to live in. No matter what country we are in.
So, in conclusion, let us think about this, let us pray about this, let us meditate upon this. We got this one life, what are we going to do with it? How are we going to live? Where are we going to live? How are we going to use it for the best? I know I can’t change everyone, but I can change me. I can be a guide to my family. I am casting my vote! How bout you? Vote!
Till next time……..
--
I would like to specially Thank @neo761 for sharing his important thoughts with my readers..
Greg
Hello Folks,
Michael Storm aka “Robinhood” from winnersedgetrading coming in again with another “rant and rave” that some might enjoy and others might hate. Perhaps you might have read my first article and are wondering if I have calmed down a bit… the answer is no, I am still “fed up”, lol.
I have been studying various countries for a few months now, as I am getting ready to leave mine and I saw some good, bad and ugly out there. But a few have really stood out as having really great prospects for growth and freedom. Ah, FREEDOM!!! That is what the soul craves for! That is what the people want!
I do NOT think that normal ordinary Americans like being microwaved with these new untested airport scanners, being felt up by strangers grabbing your private parts. Or worse watching some guy rub his hands all over your wife and kids while you have to sit back and shut up about it cause your fearful of being sued for $10K and besides you REALLY need to get where your going…… Folks, this is B.S. of the HIGHEST possible magnitude! WE are not the terrorists! This is being done under a ruse, to just encroach and steal more freedoms. To just erode more privacy and slap us into submission as a people. I am not an idiot, I have examined it from both sides of the argument. ALL arguments on the reverse side are weak!!!! Embarrassing old men in wheel chairs with steel pins in their legs? Embarrassing cancer victims with breast prosthesis? Embarrassing some teenager and making her pull out her nipple rings? Embarrassing some poor little 3 year old girl and making her cry her eyes out???? COME ON!!!!!!! Give me a break! TSA, you can……. (expletives deleted for the sensitive)!!!! This is making one company very rich. I bet they pushed hard for it. I wonder how much they are getting out of this deal selling these machines?
Enough of that, lets move on to the “meat” of this. As many of you know I have posted a few articles from Simon Black the Sovereign Mans website on twitter. If you have been reading his articles you know he pulls no punches and tells it like it is. The other day I saw an article on 6 countries where freedom still exists. That was a GREAT article. So, pulling a bit from that….. Who WOULDN’T want to go to a place where:
Freedom…. Is strong and the government leaves people alone and privacy and freedom are respected?
Corruption…. Is low and police are well respected rather than feared. (As for Police today in America, I find most of them to be arrogant Jerks and use intimidation tactics.)
Business….. Lots of opportunity, not punishing creativity. (Think about it, starting a business in America is very prohibitive in every way, From the red tape, to the ridiculous regulations, even the hiring now… So much lawsuits against employers your almost scared to take a chance with anyone. Firing them becomes a problem.)
Taxes….. Reasonable. Our taxes in America have pushed most people to the breaking point. The Government is like a giant parasite killing the host! The host is sick. But some countries actually have reasonable taxes. Go figure! What a novel idea! Singapore, rock on!
Immigration….. SOME countries make it easy. Some easier than others. But as I research this its still NOT that easy. I personally do not understand why the cost of entrance into a country is so high and the wait is so long. It is what it is and no country is perfect. This I just have to deal with.
Infrastructure… Lets face it. We ALL like clean and modern roads. We all like internet being stable and affordable. We all like cell phones. I just don’t like the idea of my calls being recorded without so much as a court order. Oh and my internet usage being tracked so now I have to hire a company to encrypt everything. Bummer.
Medical care…. Some countries are the envy of the world here. Singapore is number one and Thailand high on the list. Others are top notch too. Medical tourism is becoming HUGE. People LEAVE America, Canada, and other countries to go to Thailand, Singapore and Mexico to pay just under 20K for double hip replacement surgery come back here and SAVE over 80K. I have read countless stories of top quality surgery out of the US. People are flocking so SAVE. Why? Because our costs are insane, that is why. If these new laws go into effect America’s medical system may become a nightmare. I don’t want it, that is for sure.
Schools. Already covered that in my last article. America is being dumbed down continually. Lowering the SAT’s so some can make the grade. Our school system is a failure. But some countries (only a few) have world class schooling. Nice!
Banking: This is amazing. You can walk into Switzerland and cash a check for 50K without I.D. for it is the check being verified, not you. In America I cant cash a check for 3K without filling out a form, 5k? The next grade of form. 10K??? Heck with that! That one gets mailed right out to the IRS PRONTO! Who wouldn’t like the bank secrecy laws of the Swiss and Belize, Panama, Hong Kong and Singapore? What the heck America? WHO’s money is it????? If the money belongs to you and me, then I would prefer my bank to shut the heck up and stop giving me grief for me accessing my own funds. I don’t enjoy giving my thumb print at some banks to cash a check! Very darn un-cool. 2 forms of I.D. to boot. Would you like a dna sample too!?
What are some other issues plaguing America? I know this is not exhaustive. We have become a perfect “welfare” society. Where the Gov. shells out food stamps, housing assistance, heat assistance, etc… to countless thousands and thousands of people. This is just unsustainable. There are people that have NO incentive to go work, for they are paid more to sit at home than to go work. This is just plain stupid and is only hurting us as a country. America wake UP!!! The Gov. does not “have” to give, it must steal the money from those that work and pass it along to those that do not, it is simply wealth redistribution.
My end point is this. We should vote with our dollars and our bodies. We should vote with our support. Do I support America in all this corruption and wickedness? NO. I do not. Every country SHOULD look at their citizens as partners in a GOAL. What should the goal be? How about to be the BEST! I mean the most desired, beautiful, clean, safe, low crime, business friendly, lowest tax nation on earth! The Most stable economy, the best economic prospects, the happiest citizens, the FREEST nation where liberty REIGNS supreme ! Oh yeah, baby! That’s what I am talking about. How about the most civilized, tolerant, educated, friendliest, happiest people on earth?
Forget the “race to the bottom”. Why would we want to race to the bottom? Why is that even on the news these days, as if this is a good thing? This is stupid. How about a race to the TOP! How about lets see which country on the earth can be the most competitive for the brightest and the best minds on earth? That sounds like a nice race.
Truth be told the people of the world are NOT happy with corruption, crime, rapes, murders, corrupt judges, corrupt lawyers, corrupt politicians! We are NOT happy with our kids being fondled by the TSA or cops in schools, drugs in schools, knives and guns in schools! We are NOT happy with inferior medical at insane prices. We are NOT happy with taxes that absolutely HURT so bad it angers us all year. We are NOT happy that should we decide to paint our house of fix up and beautify our yards that our taxes go up several hundred dollars the very next year! We are NOT happy that we go and buy a new car and get a one thousand dollar tax bill 11 months later! Why punish me for buying a car? Why punish me for fixing my house? We are NOT happy! Lets face it! We are the crummy frog in the water pot! We are the frog that is having the heat turned up slowly but I swear, SOME of the people of this country are really darn uncomfortable and ready to jump right out of the pot. There are those of us that are looking for brighter shores. More opportunity, less corruption, more freedom, less taxes, cleaner air, lower crime. Etc and so on.
The nations of the world should look at it like this. They are in competition. People are going to hunt and look and vote and take themselves out of places that suck and get into places that have bright futures. Next Month I will be leaving. The next article WILL be from the new land. I hope that when I get to that new land, I can have a fresh impact on the people for good and for righteousness. For “a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country…” The people around me are not listening and have deaf ears, cold hearts and no concern. What are your thoughts about this people? How are we going to handle this? What kind of nation will America be for our kids in 20 years when they are going off into the world?
Lastly I will leave you with this: There once was a King. A GREAT King. He went down in history with the greatest nation on earth, the happiest people and the most prosperous kingdom EVER. His name? King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba had heard of his fame and when she showed up to “check it out” she said: “Behold, the half of the story was not told unto me! Happy are your servants… Happy are your people…” etc… and so on. He ruled in righteousness. The scriptures say that those that rule among men are to do so with righteousness.
We are no longer a righteous people. Take a hard look at the puritans and those that stepped off of the mayflower and the early part of our American History. We were a HARD working people! Strong! Men were men! Women were women, loved, honored respected and treasured by real men. We all had a strong work ethic. Honesty was far more in place than today. Used to be a mans word was his bond and a handshake sealed it. Not so now! Children could once play anywhere and roam anywhere and LIVE! Today? You can’t even let them out of your sight for a second in fear some psycho is going to get them. Bye the time they are 13 they are bratty to the extreme and expect the world to hand them everything. Masters at playing computer games or texting their friends but don’t know how to work! No more Values. Where is the nobility that we once had as a people? Long gone, dust in dusty pages of our history. How terribly sad.
Each one of us is faced with this ONE life. “ it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment” How are we doing? What are we standing for? Let EACH one of us STRIVE to be righteous and Godly and go back to the Old Paths that were once laid out for us. Let each of us speak up and do the very best we can as human beings on this earth. Treat our families right, treat our friends right. Be Helpful, be caring, be SOMETHING! We need some fire back in our spirits folks! Really we do. I don’t mean to just rant, and rave and complain. Seriously. I am STRIVING for something. I have a plan. I have weighed it out and counted the cost. I personally want to be all that I can be and to be the very best and die trying. What would it be like if everyone on earth just quit all the corruption and just starting living for the pure sake of righteousness? I think that would be a great place to live in. No matter what country we are in.
So, in conclusion, let us think about this, let us pray about this, let us meditate upon this. We got this one life, what are we going to do with it? How are we going to live? Where are we going to live? How are we going to use it for the best? I know I can’t change everyone, but I can change me. I can be a guide to my family. I am casting my vote! How bout you? Vote!
Till next time……..
--
I would like to specially Thank @neo761 for sharing his important thoughts with my readers..
Greg
Friday, December 3, 2010
All these people (#politicians / #FED Board members / #Bankers) should be in #PRISON!
---
Copied this from my Facebook page and HAD to post it! Everything you need to know to convince you that all these people (politicians / Federal Reserve Board members / Bankers) should be in PRISON!
My God! Somebody make it stop!
PLEASE send this out via blog, email, TV whatever to as many people as you possibly can! I BEG you!
If WE don't STOP this it will NEVER end and it is our children and their children and every generation after that will pay!
---
As 2011 approaches our country is in a very grave situation. We have Treason in high places.
If one pours gasoline on the side of a building and ignites the building while they profess that they are simply trying to help those inside stay warm; how long will people watch in disbelief before they conclude that the stated intent does not match the actions or results of the arsonist?
When we see this grand ceremony about cutting off $160 Billion in unemployment aid "to save the country", keep in mind the Federal Reserve Bank gave out trillions of dollars to foreigners and American financiers and bankers that will never be repaid. This money has gone to the direct benefit of the individual owners of these intuitions, many of which have conflicted interest as a result of their interest with the Federal Reserve Bank.
The level of fraud, corruption, secret transactions and insider backroom deals and sheer magnitude of the amount of money looted from the American people is incompressible. The actions of these bankers has destabilized our financial and economic markets and the currency of the United States of America so as to undermine the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic.
It is now time that every American call and send this to their Governor, State Attorney General, Congressman, US Attorney, local FBI office, US Senator ,state senators and legislators and demand Justice.
DEMAND that a full Congressional Inquiry and a United States Grand Jury be Convened immediately to consider the Un-American Activities and Treasonous Activities of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and conspirators that have participated fraud, corruption, perjury and looting of the United States.
Please forward this email to everyone American on your email list.
Will Pitts
Chairman
Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida
Fed made $9 trillion in emergency overnight loans
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/01/news/economy/fed_reserve_data_release/index.htm?hpt=T1
Meet The 35 Foreign Banks That Got Bailed Out By The Fed (And This Is Just The CPFF Banks)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/meet-35-foreign-banks-got-bailed-out-fed-and-just-cpff-banks
Fed Opens Books, Revealing European Megabanks Were Biggest Beneficiaries
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/fed-opens-books-revealing_n_790529.html
Hot mic catches senator saying agenda is "all rigged"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aDZy6zWeio&feature=player_embedded
MSNBC: Ratigan The Fed is a Criminal Con Job
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm1ntw_4dM&feature=player_embedded
Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSpCSzgB4MA&feature=player_embedded
SCANDAL EXPOSED: Paulson/Goldman/Center for Responsible Lending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E10bHAI7U68&feature=player_embedded
Goldman CEO Visited WH 4 Times During SEC Investigation
http://www.thefoxnation.com/business/2010/04/22/goldman-ceo-visited-wh-4-times-during-sec-investigation
Goldman's White House connections raise eyebrows
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92637/goldmans-connections-to-white.html
Indymac Boys Get Sweetheart Deal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssl5yb7FewA
Greenberg Agrees To Sell Up To 10M AIG Shares To UBS
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100319-713302.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
Obama's $6.3 Trillion Scam Is America's Shame:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.G6KFfaDdSc
Congress threatened with Martial Law if they do not give hundreds of billions to Bankers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8
Alan Grayson: "Which Foreigners Got the Fed's $500,000,000,000?" Bernanke: "I Don't Know."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ&feature=player_embedded
BoE Secretly Loaned $102.9 Billion to RBS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34126826
Bank of England tells of secret £62bn loan to save RBS and HBOS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/6646923/Bank-of-England-tells-of-secret-62bn-loan-to-save-RBS-and-HBOS.html
Bank of England advisers not told about secret £62bn loan to HBOS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/03/bank-england-secret-loan-hbos
Bankers Loot the Country
Federal Reserve refuses to tell the US Senate to Whom they have given $2.2 Trillion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQDrVKYWmc
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25164.html
Sticker Shock: $23.7 Trillion Bailout?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=814
Tracking the $19 Trillion Bailout Funds
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/wealthofnations/archive/2009/09/22/tracking-the-19-trillion-bailout-funds.aspx
Fed Lends Two Trillion Without Oversight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxuqmPyKqcs&feature=player_embedded
Final Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers when company was stolen from shareholders - More evidence of fraud by the Federal Reserve Bank and US Treasury and Lehman Brothers -Fascist Richard Fuld
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
How Lehman, With The Fed's Complicity, Created Another Illegal Precedent In Abusing The Primary Dealer Credit Facility
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-lehman-feds-complicity-created-another-illegal-precedent-abusing-primary-dealer-credit-f
Access to fed Money - One of few naked Short Sellers who destroyed Bear Stearns and Lehamn Bothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48eSoTNByQ&feature=related
Geithner: Pickpocketing Trillions from the People to Give to the Oligarchy Was "Deeply Unfair", But We ... Um ... Had To
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/04/geithner-looting-country-for-trillions.html
Why Is The Fed Actively Managing A $25 Billion Maiden Lane MBS Portfolio When Its $2.4 Trillion SOMA Holdings Have A $1 Billion DV01? (And Are Unhedged)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-fed-actively-managing-25-billion-maiden-lane-mbs-portfolio-when-its-24-trillion-soma-hol
Lehman was another Enron :MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
Did The Fed Just (Surreptitiously) Bail Out Europe?
http://www.themarketguardian.com/2010/04/did-the-fed-just-surreptitiously-bail-out-europe/
Copied this from my Facebook page and HAD to post it! Everything you need to know to convince you that all these people (politicians / Federal Reserve Board members / Bankers) should be in PRISON!
My God! Somebody make it stop!
PLEASE send this out via blog, email, TV whatever to as many people as you possibly can! I BEG you!
If WE don't STOP this it will NEVER end and it is our children and their children and every generation after that will pay!
---
As 2011 approaches our country is in a very grave situation. We have Treason in high places.
If one pours gasoline on the side of a building and ignites the building while they profess that they are simply trying to help those inside stay warm; how long will people watch in disbelief before they conclude that the stated intent does not match the actions or results of the arsonist?
When we see this grand ceremony about cutting off $160 Billion in unemployment aid "to save the country", keep in mind the Federal Reserve Bank gave out trillions of dollars to foreigners and American financiers and bankers that will never be repaid. This money has gone to the direct benefit of the individual owners of these intuitions, many of which have conflicted interest as a result of their interest with the Federal Reserve Bank.
The level of fraud, corruption, secret transactions and insider backroom deals and sheer magnitude of the amount of money looted from the American people is incompressible. The actions of these bankers has destabilized our financial and economic markets and the currency of the United States of America so as to undermine the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic.
It is now time that every American call and send this to their Governor, State Attorney General, Congressman, US Attorney, local FBI office, US Senator ,state senators and legislators and demand Justice.
DEMAND that a full Congressional Inquiry and a United States Grand Jury be Convened immediately to consider the Un-American Activities and Treasonous Activities of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and conspirators that have participated fraud, corruption, perjury and looting of the United States.
Please forward this email to everyone American on your email list.
Will Pitts
Chairman
Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida
Fed made $9 trillion in emergency overnight loans
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/01/news/economy/fed_reserve_data_release/index.htm?hpt=T1
Meet The 35 Foreign Banks That Got Bailed Out By The Fed (And This Is Just The CPFF Banks)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/meet-35-foreign-banks-got-bailed-out-fed-and-just-cpff-banks
Fed Opens Books, Revealing European Megabanks Were Biggest Beneficiaries
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/fed-opens-books-revealing_n_790529.html
Hot mic catches senator saying agenda is "all rigged"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aDZy6zWeio&feature=player_embedded
MSNBC: Ratigan The Fed is a Criminal Con Job
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm1ntw_4dM&feature=player_embedded
Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSpCSzgB4MA&feature=player_embedded
SCANDAL EXPOSED: Paulson/Goldman/Center for Responsible Lending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E10bHAI7U68&feature=player_embedded
Goldman CEO Visited WH 4 Times During SEC Investigation
http://www.thefoxnation.com/business/2010/04/22/goldman-ceo-visited-wh-4-times-during-sec-investigation
Goldman's White House connections raise eyebrows
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92637/goldmans-connections-to-white.html
Indymac Boys Get Sweetheart Deal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssl5yb7FewA
Greenberg Agrees To Sell Up To 10M AIG Shares To UBS
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100319-713302.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
Obama's $6.3 Trillion Scam Is America's Shame:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.G6KFfaDdSc
Congress threatened with Martial Law if they do not give hundreds of billions to Bankers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8
Alan Grayson: "Which Foreigners Got the Fed's $500,000,000,000?" Bernanke: "I Don't Know."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ&feature=player_embedded
BoE Secretly Loaned $102.9 Billion to RBS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34126826
Bank of England tells of secret £62bn loan to save RBS and HBOS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/6646923/Bank-of-England-tells-of-secret-62bn-loan-to-save-RBS-and-HBOS.html
Bank of England advisers not told about secret £62bn loan to HBOS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/03/bank-england-secret-loan-hbos
Bankers Loot the Country
Federal Reserve refuses to tell the US Senate to Whom they have given $2.2 Trillion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQDrVKYWmc
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25164.html
Sticker Shock: $23.7 Trillion Bailout?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=814
Tracking the $19 Trillion Bailout Funds
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/wealthofnations/archive/2009/09/22/tracking-the-19-trillion-bailout-funds.aspx
Fed Lends Two Trillion Without Oversight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxuqmPyKqcs&feature=player_embedded
Final Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers when company was stolen from shareholders - More evidence of fraud by the Federal Reserve Bank and US Treasury and Lehman Brothers -Fascist Richard Fuld
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
How Lehman, With The Fed's Complicity, Created Another Illegal Precedent In Abusing The Primary Dealer Credit Facility
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-lehman-feds-complicity-created-another-illegal-precedent-abusing-primary-dealer-credit-f
Access to fed Money - One of few naked Short Sellers who destroyed Bear Stearns and Lehamn Bothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48eSoTNByQ&feature=related
Geithner: Pickpocketing Trillions from the People to Give to the Oligarchy Was "Deeply Unfair", But We ... Um ... Had To
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/04/geithner-looting-country-for-trillions.html
Why Is The Fed Actively Managing A $25 Billion Maiden Lane MBS Portfolio When Its $2.4 Trillion SOMA Holdings Have A $1 Billion DV01? (And Are Unhedged)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-fed-actively-managing-25-billion-maiden-lane-mbs-portfolio-when-its-24-trillion-soma-hol
Lehman was another Enron :MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35841681#35841681
Did The Fed Just (Surreptitiously) Bail Out Europe?
http://www.themarketguardian.com/2010/04/did-the-fed-just-surreptitiously-bail-out-europe/
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