Playing with charts again.. WOOHOO! LMAO
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Romans 13:8-14
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The Day Is Near
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
The Day Is Near
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Predator State Attacks Google – For Big Pharma | The Daily Bell
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – by Lew Rockwell
The American pharmaceutical system is a highly controlled apparatus for restricting access to much-needed drugs and violating the rights of those who want to purchase them. This has long been true.
Vast amounts of drugs that people should be permitted to purchase of their own free will are withheld from the market (of course, many others are outlawed). Instead, people who know what they need are forced first to fork over their money to a physician – who then gets overpaid by insurance – then part of the buck is passed to the over-trained checkout clerks at the pharmacy. We are all treated like babies in order to sustain and fund an industry filled with bamboozlers in white coats.
The Internet in its early days (perhaps 1998 to 2008) represented a wonderful alternative to this apparatus. Suppliers all over the world popped up to give us what we wanted, bypassing the whole cage of government regulations and private monopolists who rule them like prison wardens. You know what you need, so just click and buy it!
So the pharmaceutical industry solicited the help of government. Together, they worked to crack down on "counterfeit" medicines – meaning the real thing that bypasses patent restrictions and supplier monopolies. In their view, people must not be allowed to get prescription medications without doctor approval – else an entire fake industry could collapse. So they banded together and instituted a medieval guild system for the digital age.
Over the years, Google has accepted some advertising from some of these so-called rogue elements. In a free market, they would be perfectly legitimate advertisers. Google makes no guarantee of the exact nature of the goods and services of all those who choose to advertise on its network. It has some degree of interest in quality control, of course, but if the customers are buying and happy, what could be the problem?
Well, the medical cartel, of course, and it asked for the Justice Department to intervene. As of this writing, Google is assuming that it is going to be in hot water very soon. Its recent report to stockholders says that it has put half a billion dollars in escrow to deal with the Justice Department investigation. The presumption here is that Google is going to be held liable for permitting ads to run from market-based drug sellers.
Read more on The Daily Bell
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – by Lew Rockwell
The American pharmaceutical system is a highly controlled apparatus for restricting access to much-needed drugs and violating the rights of those who want to purchase them. This has long been true.
Vast amounts of drugs that people should be permitted to purchase of their own free will are withheld from the market (of course, many others are outlawed). Instead, people who know what they need are forced first to fork over their money to a physician – who then gets overpaid by insurance – then part of the buck is passed to the over-trained checkout clerks at the pharmacy. We are all treated like babies in order to sustain and fund an industry filled with bamboozlers in white coats.
The Internet in its early days (perhaps 1998 to 2008) represented a wonderful alternative to this apparatus. Suppliers all over the world popped up to give us what we wanted, bypassing the whole cage of government regulations and private monopolists who rule them like prison wardens. You know what you need, so just click and buy it!
So the pharmaceutical industry solicited the help of government. Together, they worked to crack down on "counterfeit" medicines – meaning the real thing that bypasses patent restrictions and supplier monopolies. In their view, people must not be allowed to get prescription medications without doctor approval – else an entire fake industry could collapse. So they banded together and instituted a medieval guild system for the digital age.
Over the years, Google has accepted some advertising from some of these so-called rogue elements. In a free market, they would be perfectly legitimate advertisers. Google makes no guarantee of the exact nature of the goods and services of all those who choose to advertise on its network. It has some degree of interest in quality control, of course, but if the customers are buying and happy, what could be the problem?
Well, the medical cartel, of course, and it asked for the Justice Department to intervene. As of this writing, Google is assuming that it is going to be in hot water very soon. Its recent report to stockholders says that it has put half a billion dollars in escrow to deal with the Justice Department investigation. The presumption here is that Google is going to be held liable for permitting ads to run from market-based drug sellers.
Read more on The Daily Bell
Mainstream Media Already Ignoring Ron Paul
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You may click here for the source post if you prefer
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Both Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee announced on Monday that they won’t be running for the GOP nomination to become President. This evening, Dick Morris, who is a frequent guest on FOX News shows including the O’Reilly Factor and was the campaign manager for Bill Clinton’s successful 1996 re-election bid, published an article he wrote entitled, “The Big Winner: Romney”. Morris claims that Romney will get most of the votes from people who were supporting Trump and Huckabee up until now.
In Morris’ article, he published a “survey” he conducted before Trump and Huckabee pulled out, showing who he claims voters are supporting for the GOP nomination. His survey showed: “Romney-22, Huckabee-20, Trump-15, Gingrich-11, Palin-9, Bachmann-6, Pawlenty-3, and Daniels-2.”
Dick Morris’ survey 100% ignored Ron Paul, who announced on Friday that he is running for President and seeking the GOP nomination, and recently raised $1 million in a single day money bomb. Some of the others who he included in the survey aren’t even officially running for President! According to several other recent polls, Ron Paul has been either tied or within two percentage points of Gingrich, Trump, Palin, and Bachmann.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who voted 100% of the time throughout his political career against all spending increases and 100% of the time to protect the U.S. constitution. If the rest of Washington, DC, was like Ron Paul, NIA is 100% sure that not only would the U.S. economy not be in the crisis it is today with hyperinflation likely to breakout in the upcoming years, but we would have a healthy, strong, and growing economy with a balanced budget and a solid currency that is backed by gold and silver.
Not only is the mainstream media ignoring Ron Paul, but it is ignoring the fact that price inflation in the U.S. is spiraling out of control. NIA’s popularity is growing by leaps and bounds because the American public is beginning to wake up in masses and they are seeking alternative media sources like the NIA to learn the facts and truth about the U.S. economy that they can’t find anywhere in the mainstream media.
NIA doesn’t understand how anybody with an ounce of intelligence could possibly support Romney. It is absolutely insane that Morris could proclaim Romney “the big winner” when Romney has said that he won’t make the Federal Reserve a campaign issue. NIA has been working tirelessly to educate Americans into understanding that unless something is done about the Federal Reserve and its ability to print trillions of dollars out of thin air all in the name of stimulating job creation, nothing that is done in Washington has any meaning. Congress can cut $100 billion in spending tomorrow, but it won’t mean a thing if the Federal Reserve creates another $500 billion in “quantitative easing” (or whatever new phony name it comes up with for money printing) the very next day.
Ron Paul is the only candidate running for President who understands how the Federal Reserve has stolen 97% of the dollar-denominated wealth of Americans over the past century through inflation. If more Americans became members of NIA and were educated to the truth about why their standard of living is in such rapid decline, and why prices for food, gas, health care, and college tuition are skyrocketing even with real unemployment at 22%, Ron Paul would be elected as President in a heartbeat.
Find more great articles about America on the NIA website
You may click here for the source post if you prefer
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Both Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee announced on Monday that they won’t be running for the GOP nomination to become President. This evening, Dick Morris, who is a frequent guest on FOX News shows including the O’Reilly Factor and was the campaign manager for Bill Clinton’s successful 1996 re-election bid, published an article he wrote entitled, “The Big Winner: Romney”. Morris claims that Romney will get most of the votes from people who were supporting Trump and Huckabee up until now.
In Morris’ article, he published a “survey” he conducted before Trump and Huckabee pulled out, showing who he claims voters are supporting for the GOP nomination. His survey showed: “Romney-22, Huckabee-20, Trump-15, Gingrich-11, Palin-9, Bachmann-6, Pawlenty-3, and Daniels-2.”
Dick Morris’ survey 100% ignored Ron Paul, who announced on Friday that he is running for President and seeking the GOP nomination, and recently raised $1 million in a single day money bomb. Some of the others who he included in the survey aren’t even officially running for President! According to several other recent polls, Ron Paul has been either tied or within two percentage points of Gingrich, Trump, Palin, and Bachmann.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who voted 100% of the time throughout his political career against all spending increases and 100% of the time to protect the U.S. constitution. If the rest of Washington, DC, was like Ron Paul, NIA is 100% sure that not only would the U.S. economy not be in the crisis it is today with hyperinflation likely to breakout in the upcoming years, but we would have a healthy, strong, and growing economy with a balanced budget and a solid currency that is backed by gold and silver.
Not only is the mainstream media ignoring Ron Paul, but it is ignoring the fact that price inflation in the U.S. is spiraling out of control. NIA’s popularity is growing by leaps and bounds because the American public is beginning to wake up in masses and they are seeking alternative media sources like the NIA to learn the facts and truth about the U.S. economy that they can’t find anywhere in the mainstream media.
NIA doesn’t understand how anybody with an ounce of intelligence could possibly support Romney. It is absolutely insane that Morris could proclaim Romney “the big winner” when Romney has said that he won’t make the Federal Reserve a campaign issue. NIA has been working tirelessly to educate Americans into understanding that unless something is done about the Federal Reserve and its ability to print trillions of dollars out of thin air all in the name of stimulating job creation, nothing that is done in Washington has any meaning. Congress can cut $100 billion in spending tomorrow, but it won’t mean a thing if the Federal Reserve creates another $500 billion in “quantitative easing” (or whatever new phony name it comes up with for money printing) the very next day.
Ron Paul is the only candidate running for President who understands how the Federal Reserve has stolen 97% of the dollar-denominated wealth of Americans over the past century through inflation. If more Americans became members of NIA and were educated to the truth about why their standard of living is in such rapid decline, and why prices for food, gas, health care, and college tuition are skyrocketing even with real unemployment at 22%, Ron Paul would be elected as President in a heartbeat.
Find more great articles about America on the NIA website
The Extreme Cost of Government Money-Saving
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By Joel Bowman
05/17/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Are you paying attention, Fellow Reckoner? What may well go down as the greatest tragicomedy in history is playing out right before our very eyes.
Lucky us!
Some time today – or was it yesterday? And does it even matter? – The United States of America will crash through its so-called “debt ceiling,” the somewhat arbitrary $14.29 trillion dollar mark above which it must implement “extraordinary measures” in order to keep the lights on and its “services” running. Such are the extraordinary times in which we live. The event – which inspired little more than a rather sanguine “Humph” in the markets yesterday – sets in motion what The Wall Street Journal describes as an “uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.”
No doubt about it. The Leviathan is starving, unable to sustain the cost of output the modern welfare/warfare model requires of it. Flailing and squealing under the weight of its own self-imposed obligations, the beast portrays a curious, almost pitiful kind of incompetence, like a slug writhing in the middle of the road on a hot summer’s day. We almost – almost – feel pity for the poor, wretched thing. Then we remember what it is, what it does, and we are happy to see it firmly, resolutely marching down the road to perdition.
Read more: The Extreme Cost of Government Money-Saving http://dailyreckoning.com/the-extreme-cost-of-government-money-saving/#ixzz1Mjw8GBqP
By Joel Bowman
05/17/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Are you paying attention, Fellow Reckoner? What may well go down as the greatest tragicomedy in history is playing out right before our very eyes.
Lucky us!
Some time today – or was it yesterday? And does it even matter? – The United States of America will crash through its so-called “debt ceiling,” the somewhat arbitrary $14.29 trillion dollar mark above which it must implement “extraordinary measures” in order to keep the lights on and its “services” running. Such are the extraordinary times in which we live. The event – which inspired little more than a rather sanguine “Humph” in the markets yesterday – sets in motion what The Wall Street Journal describes as an “uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.”
No doubt about it. The Leviathan is starving, unable to sustain the cost of output the modern welfare/warfare model requires of it. Flailing and squealing under the weight of its own self-imposed obligations, the beast portrays a curious, almost pitiful kind of incompetence, like a slug writhing in the middle of the road on a hot summer’s day. We almost – almost – feel pity for the poor, wretched thing. Then we remember what it is, what it does, and we are happy to see it firmly, resolutely marching down the road to perdition.
Read more: The Extreme Cost of Government Money-Saving http://dailyreckoning.com/the-extreme-cost-of-government-money-saving/#ixzz1Mjw8GBqP
Raising the Roof on Debt
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Today the U.S. government officially borrowed beyond its $14.29 trillion statutory debt limit. And even though the Obama administration has assured us that accounting gimmickry will allow the government to borrow for another few months, the breach has given seeming urgency to Congressional negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans are making a great show of acting tough by linking their "yes" votes with promises for future budget cuts (that could even slow the rate of debt increases at some uncertain point in the future). But as we go through the process, many novice observers may wonder why we have a debt ceiling at all when our government has never shown the slightest inclination to respect its prior self-imposed limits.
The ceiling was first imposed in 1917 as part of a deal that passed the Liberty Bond Act that funded America's entry into the First World War. To make it easy for the Treasury to sell those bonds, Congress also amended the Federal Reserve Act to allow the Fed to hold government bonds as collateral. But given the potential for unchecked Federal deficits, Congress sought to limit taxpayer exposure to $11.5 billion.
Read more on Lew Rockwell
Today the U.S. government officially borrowed beyond its $14.29 trillion statutory debt limit. And even though the Obama administration has assured us that accounting gimmickry will allow the government to borrow for another few months, the breach has given seeming urgency to Congressional negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans are making a great show of acting tough by linking their "yes" votes with promises for future budget cuts (that could even slow the rate of debt increases at some uncertain point in the future). But as we go through the process, many novice observers may wonder why we have a debt ceiling at all when our government has never shown the slightest inclination to respect its prior self-imposed limits.
The ceiling was first imposed in 1917 as part of a deal that passed the Liberty Bond Act that funded America's entry into the First World War. To make it easy for the Treasury to sell those bonds, Congress also amended the Federal Reserve Act to allow the Fed to hold government bonds as collateral. But given the potential for unchecked Federal deficits, Congress sought to limit taxpayer exposure to $11.5 billion.
Read more on Lew Rockwell
How Totalitarian Police States Are Built
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Totalitarian state powers grow by great leaps and bounds in the midst of obvious threats to the safety of the people, such as major wars and great financial crises. This has happened repeatedly in the U.S. from Lincoln's Civil War to Bush and Obama's Global "War On Terrorism" and their "Saving" the American people and the world from the Great Financial Crisis the government created through the wild pump-priming of the Federal Reserve and Big Banks. When the crisis is over some of those powers are reduced, but not eliminated, so the totalitarian powers ratchet up one big step at each major crisis and over a century and a half the U.S. government would by those big steps alone have created most of the totalitarian police powers it now possesses.
The Secret Police and federal banking system are extreme examples of that. There were no Secret Police or federal banking system before the Civil War, though the U.S. Bank Jackson eliminated was in small part a federal bank de facto. We now have sixteen publicly known secret police armies at the federal level and no doubt many top secret ones not admitted to exist, as the NSA and others were long top-secrets. The Fed and Ten Big Banks it guarantees and oversees control about 75% of all banking loans now and are a gigantic financial tyranny working almost entirely in secret on the crucial issues.
Read more on Lew Rockwell
Totalitarian state powers grow by great leaps and bounds in the midst of obvious threats to the safety of the people, such as major wars and great financial crises. This has happened repeatedly in the U.S. from Lincoln's Civil War to Bush and Obama's Global "War On Terrorism" and their "Saving" the American people and the world from the Great Financial Crisis the government created through the wild pump-priming of the Federal Reserve and Big Banks. When the crisis is over some of those powers are reduced, but not eliminated, so the totalitarian powers ratchet up one big step at each major crisis and over a century and a half the U.S. government would by those big steps alone have created most of the totalitarian police powers it now possesses.
The Secret Police and federal banking system are extreme examples of that. There were no Secret Police or federal banking system before the Civil War, though the U.S. Bank Jackson eliminated was in small part a federal bank de facto. We now have sixteen publicly known secret police armies at the federal level and no doubt many top secret ones not admitted to exist, as the NSA and others were long top-secrets. The Fed and Ten Big Banks it guarantees and oversees control about 75% of all banking loans now and are a gigantic financial tyranny working almost entirely in secret on the crucial issues.
Read more on Lew Rockwell
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Revelation 21:1-8 (King James Version)
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Revelation 21
1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 21
1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Open Letter to John Stossel @FBNStossel @foxnews
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I enjoyed your show on energy
You and your guests spent a little time on speculators and the extent of their role on oil prices. However, no one spent any time on what speculators speculate on..
I speculate on the fluctuation of currency exchange rates. However I speculate about the same things oil speculators speculate about..
"You" mentioned the effect of uncertainty about government energy policy on the price of oil. One of your "guests" briefly mentioned the decline in the value of the dollar.
The one thing no one mentioned at all, in the whole show, was the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of America.
No one talked about the fact that nearly all commodities, world wide, are priced in United States dollars, the world's "reserve currency".
No one ever seems to talk about the fact that the United States dollar has lost some 96% of it's value, through intentional inflation, since the inception of the Federal Reserve Bank.
But back to your show on energy. No one even mentioned the effect Federal Reserve monetary policy has on the value of our fiat currency or the effect the intentional devaluing of our currency has on the price of commodities all over the world.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last year that inflation was.. too low.
That the deflation bogeyman was right around the corner and that we needed MORE inflation.
And it's easy for the central bank to intentionally create inflation by deflating the value of our fiat currency.
And it worked too. Commodity prices, I think we can agree, are inflated.
No one, in the main stream media, talks much about the irresponsible actions of the Federal Reserve being the sole purchaser of United States debt. What is commonly called "monetizing the debt". Something that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said he would not do.
No one talks much about the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank has pumped trillions of, as yet unearned, tax payer dollars into a bankrupt banking system or the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank balance sheet is filled with worthless MBS paper that no one else wanted. Formerly known as toxic assets. As seen here and here.
There are many very smart people who DO cover the lies and manipulations of the Federal Reserve Bank.
No one talks much about the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank intentional creation of high inflation has been a major factor in global unrest, including in the middle east.
No one talks much about the Federal Reserve Bank holding interest rates at or near ZERO for the last decade. Thereby punishing savers. Obviously a blatant, and somewhat effective, effort to FORCE people into risky assets to receive a decent return on their investment.
We have heard Fed chairman Ben Bernanke brag about how he has manipulated the stock market higher, the so-called "wealth effect" while at the same time denying any responsibility for higher inflation. Even though his publicly stated goal has been to create inflation by forcing people into risky assets via irresponsible Fed policy.
The "wealth effect" isn't working this time around because most people now realize that the markets and Wall St. are a completely rigged game, operated by the Fed and Primary Dealers / banks.
In my opinion people have lost faith / confidence in our monetary system as a whole. They are waking up to the fact that our own fiat currency is backed by absolutely nothing but more.. paper..
My point being.. Speculators speculate on tangible things taking place in the real world. At the top of this list is United States government and Federal Reserve Bank POLICY.
Thank you for your time.
Gregory S. Phillips
I enjoyed your show on energy
You and your guests spent a little time on speculators and the extent of their role on oil prices. However, no one spent any time on what speculators speculate on..
I speculate on the fluctuation of currency exchange rates. However I speculate about the same things oil speculators speculate about..
"You" mentioned the effect of uncertainty about government energy policy on the price of oil. One of your "guests" briefly mentioned the decline in the value of the dollar.
The one thing no one mentioned at all, in the whole show, was the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of America.
No one talked about the fact that nearly all commodities, world wide, are priced in United States dollars, the world's "reserve currency".
No one ever seems to talk about the fact that the United States dollar has lost some 96% of it's value, through intentional inflation, since the inception of the Federal Reserve Bank.
But back to your show on energy. No one even mentioned the effect Federal Reserve monetary policy has on the value of our fiat currency or the effect the intentional devaluing of our currency has on the price of commodities all over the world.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last year that inflation was.. too low.
That the deflation bogeyman was right around the corner and that we needed MORE inflation.
And it's easy for the central bank to intentionally create inflation by deflating the value of our fiat currency.
And it worked too. Commodity prices, I think we can agree, are inflated.
No one, in the main stream media, talks much about the irresponsible actions of the Federal Reserve being the sole purchaser of United States debt. What is commonly called "monetizing the debt". Something that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said he would not do.
No one talks much about the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank has pumped trillions of, as yet unearned, tax payer dollars into a bankrupt banking system or the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank balance sheet is filled with worthless MBS paper that no one else wanted. Formerly known as toxic assets. As seen here and here.
There are many very smart people who DO cover the lies and manipulations of the Federal Reserve Bank.
No one talks much about the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank intentional creation of high inflation has been a major factor in global unrest, including in the middle east.
No one talks much about the Federal Reserve Bank holding interest rates at or near ZERO for the last decade. Thereby punishing savers. Obviously a blatant, and somewhat effective, effort to FORCE people into risky assets to receive a decent return on their investment.
We have heard Fed chairman Ben Bernanke brag about how he has manipulated the stock market higher, the so-called "wealth effect" while at the same time denying any responsibility for higher inflation. Even though his publicly stated goal has been to create inflation by forcing people into risky assets via irresponsible Fed policy.
The "wealth effect" isn't working this time around because most people now realize that the markets and Wall St. are a completely rigged game, operated by the Fed and Primary Dealers / banks.
In my opinion people have lost faith / confidence in our monetary system as a whole. They are waking up to the fact that our own fiat currency is backed by absolutely nothing but more.. paper..
My point being.. Speculators speculate on tangible things taking place in the real world. At the top of this list is United States government and Federal Reserve Bank POLICY.
Thank you for your time.
Gregory S. Phillips
Friday, May 13, 2011
Update SLV Weekly Chart - Buyer beware
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I know there are MANY people out there who have been PRAYING for a silver pullback so they can jump in.. That's what caused the spike and test of the 13 [week] EMA this week and look what happened to those people who bought..
Just saying..
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I know there are MANY people out there who have been PRAYING for a silver pullback so they can jump in.. That's what caused the spike and test of the 13 [week] EMA this week and look what happened to those people who bought..
Just saying..
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Thursday, May 12, 2011
Random FX Rants
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My problem is sometimes I think I f'ing KNOW what's going 2 happen & I'm dead wrong to make it worse I chase.. This is because what works perfectly one day is JUST AS LIKELY to fail miserably the next day!
Level touch & rejection, downtrend, closing below multiple 13 EMAs & as a hedge on my uj.. Or.. all systems go everything I'm watching says lower
All I know is taking a day job as a janitor is becoming more & more a dream of mine ;)
Broke that trend line.. ej
I have 10 locked in but expecting more downside.. Mucho pips ;)
You were below the 13 EMA & attempting to break a trend line.. That makes sense to me..
It's all BS man.. that's why U can make 350 pips one day & lose 350 pips the next
You can do exactly the SAME f'ing thing two days in a row & one day it works perfect & the next not at all It's BS
Momentum candle closed below 13 EMA & then momentum candle closed above 13 EMA.. It's impossible 2 depend on anything
Closed below the last trend line support, rose above the last trend line.. It's impossible to deal with..
We are only kidding ourselves if we think we can trade.. there is SOMETHING going on.. Something that we STILL do not understand
B/c the f'ing charts always say long, no short, no long, no short, no long, no short..
So & so says the euro will climb as do you..
They ALL can ALWAYS go both ways! That's my point.. Especially when stops are involved.. What works one time may not the next
Here's what I am talking about & also what pisses me off.. http://twitpic.com/4wo0kb You tell me why this happens
Anything that WORKS on h4 &/or daily MUST also work the same on m5 / m1 If not then it is simply UNRELIABLE!
That is simple logic! We are ALL looking for CONSISTENCY! Something that works RELIABLY all the time on all time frames. If that is not the case then it is NEITHER consistent OR reliable!
I'm thinking about taking much more than one day off If everyone quit trading maybe it would collapse Maybe we're part of the problem just by continuing to play their rigged financial market games
It's f'ing gambling, period.. I may switch to on-line poker instead
Why do we have a million different indicators? Why do we constantly CHANGE the way we trade? B/c NOTHING works CONSISTENTLY across time frames!
Sometimes we get LUCKY.. that's all there is to it..
Yen is killing the dollar.. Yet aud & euro surging against the yen.. It's all a f'ing LIE..
I fall for every f'ing trick every f'ing time! I'm the biggest f'ing CHUMP on the planet!
Mon/Teus 18 wins 7 losses
Since 3 wins 15 losses
Total 21 - 22 net -35 pips
So am I great trader on Mondays & Tuesdays but suck on wed & Thursdays?
Some days I know EXACTLY what to do because of my amazing chart reading skills? But other days I'm as clueless as the newest of newbies?
That makes absolutely NO f'ing sense..
I got pissed & shorted some more so WTF happened? They came up, took all my stops to the pip & then reversed..
All of it is BS.. What works on h4 doesn't on m5 What works on m5 doesn't on h1 What works on m30 doesn't on daily..
What works in fact does NOT work.. What works changes constantly and for a f'ing REASON.. That reason is money.. Primary Dealers want it all and they are NOT shy about taking it.
When/if something works great on m5 one day it is just as likely to fail miserably the next day.. So OH the time frame is my problem! I should be trading m30, or h4 or daily.. NO! It's the SAME on EVERY time frame! One day it may work perfectly and the next day NOT AT ALL! No MATTER the time frame!
OH! So it must be the indicators I use then?! I need to change them and find some indicators that are actually reliable.. They DON'T f'ing EXIST!
OH! So if indicators lag and are not at all consistent then why not just throw them out altogether and trade without them?!
What time frame are you going to trade? Are you still going to use levels? The SAME levels that work PERFECTLY one day and NOT AT ALL the next day? Are you going to use the same fib levels that always work yesterday when you were not in the market but always FAIL when you are?
Technically speaking what works on one time frame one day HAS to work on EVERY time frame every day or it is NOT consistent! It CANNOT be relied on!
I've had it man..
It's ME! It HAS to be me.. Maybe I'm too greedy because I want more pips? Maybe I'm not greedy enough because I cut my winners short? Maybe I'm too fearful of missing a trade? Maybe I stay out when I know I should be in? Maybe working 12 hours a day is not enough? Maybe I should be working 16 hours a day? Or maybe I work too hard? Maybe I should be working one hour a day? Maybe I need to use tighter stops? Or maybe I need to use wider stops? Or maybe I shouldn't use stops at all? Maybe I need to learn when to stay OUT of the market? Maybe I need to learn when to be IN the market? Maybe if I ONLY trade on Monday and Friday between 8:30 am & 11:30 am? Maybe if I keep this indicator but tweak it a little? Maybe if I throw everything in the trash and just start over from scratch?
Maybe I'm tired of being made a f'ing fool?
So.. let the revenge trading begin..
Everything I have ever done in my life I can tell after about 4 years whether I AM going to be able to do it well or I am NOT going to be able to do it well..
At one point in my life I was an office machine repairman. For 17 years of my life actually. Why? Because I was good at it. Damn good. After about 4 years of it I KNEW I was damn good. I GOT it and I had a strong desire not to BE an office machine repairman but to be the BEST office machine repairman.
At one point in my life I was a computer programmer. I wrote software for 25 years. Why? Because I LOVED it! Because I GOT it! Because I was GOOD at it and I was determined not to be a computer programmer but to be the BEST computer programmer! I landed my first programming job with a big publicly traded company and after about 4 years I was I was in solid. I had written and supported so much crap for them that they HAD to have me. They couldn't live without me. And they paid for that.
So I left.. I went to a company that went bankrupt a few years later in 2003 and I lost my job.
At the time, like so many people today, we had too much debt. And the loss of 60% of our income was difficult to say the least. Also like now, jobs were hard to come by. But I had unemployment, first. And then I had extended unemployment.
And then, one fine day, I got the job I had always dreamed of having.. I was a big shot executive computer programmer for Kansas City Southern Railroad. Complete with railroad benefits (look them up). I worked in a beautiful office in downtown Kansas City. One among many of the IT staff.
So I left..
And now I trade.. I have been trading FX since 2007. That makes 2011 4 years doesn't it?
I'm tired of being made a f'ing fool? I don't take failure lightly. However, after 4 years of working my ass off I'm still not sure I GET IT! And I'm beginning to have serious doubts that I ever will. I'm still not sure I can be the BEST forex trader.
To be honest.. after 4 years it SEEMS like all that matters in the forex market is which market direction would net the most money for Primary Dealers?
Primary Dealers can SEE everyone's stop losses.. They SEE where these accumulate. They SEE layers of stop losses and entry orders.
They also happen to control 73% of FX trading volume..
"Their activities extend well beyond the Treasury market, for example, according to the Wall Street Journal Europe (2/9/06 p. 20), all of the top ten dealers in the foreign exchange market are also primary dealers, and between them account for almost 73% of forex trading volume."
And to be honest it "seems" to me like market direction is determined by colluding Primary Dealers guiding it cooperatively to suck up as many stop losses, and hence profits, as possible..
Call me paranoid if you want.. I don't really give a F
Greg
My problem is sometimes I think I f'ing KNOW what's going 2 happen & I'm dead wrong to make it worse I chase.. This is because what works perfectly one day is JUST AS LIKELY to fail miserably the next day!
Level touch & rejection, downtrend, closing below multiple 13 EMAs & as a hedge on my uj.. Or.. all systems go everything I'm watching says lower
All I know is taking a day job as a janitor is becoming more & more a dream of mine ;)
Broke that trend line.. ej
I have 10 locked in but expecting more downside.. Mucho pips ;)
You were below the 13 EMA & attempting to break a trend line.. That makes sense to me..
It's all BS man.. that's why U can make 350 pips one day & lose 350 pips the next
You can do exactly the SAME f'ing thing two days in a row & one day it works perfect & the next not at all It's BS
Momentum candle closed below 13 EMA & then momentum candle closed above 13 EMA.. It's impossible 2 depend on anything
Closed below the last trend line support, rose above the last trend line.. It's impossible to deal with..
We are only kidding ourselves if we think we can trade.. there is SOMETHING going on.. Something that we STILL do not understand
B/c the f'ing charts always say long, no short, no long, no short, no long, no short..
So & so says the euro will climb as do you..
They ALL can ALWAYS go both ways! That's my point.. Especially when stops are involved.. What works one time may not the next
Here's what I am talking about & also what pisses me off.. http://twitpic.com/4wo0kb You tell me why this happens
Anything that WORKS on h4 &/or daily MUST also work the same on m5 / m1 If not then it is simply UNRELIABLE!
That is simple logic! We are ALL looking for CONSISTENCY! Something that works RELIABLY all the time on all time frames. If that is not the case then it is NEITHER consistent OR reliable!
I'm thinking about taking much more than one day off If everyone quit trading maybe it would collapse Maybe we're part of the problem just by continuing to play their rigged financial market games
It's f'ing gambling, period.. I may switch to on-line poker instead
Why do we have a million different indicators? Why do we constantly CHANGE the way we trade? B/c NOTHING works CONSISTENTLY across time frames!
Sometimes we get LUCKY.. that's all there is to it..
Yen is killing the dollar.. Yet aud & euro surging against the yen.. It's all a f'ing LIE..
I fall for every f'ing trick every f'ing time! I'm the biggest f'ing CHUMP on the planet!
Mon/Teus 18 wins 7 losses
Since 3 wins 15 losses
Total 21 - 22 net -35 pips
So am I great trader on Mondays & Tuesdays but suck on wed & Thursdays?
Some days I know EXACTLY what to do because of my amazing chart reading skills? But other days I'm as clueless as the newest of newbies?
That makes absolutely NO f'ing sense..
I got pissed & shorted some more so WTF happened? They came up, took all my stops to the pip & then reversed..
All of it is BS.. What works on h4 doesn't on m5 What works on m5 doesn't on h1 What works on m30 doesn't on daily..
What works in fact does NOT work.. What works changes constantly and for a f'ing REASON.. That reason is money.. Primary Dealers want it all and they are NOT shy about taking it.
When/if something works great on m5 one day it is just as likely to fail miserably the next day.. So OH the time frame is my problem! I should be trading m30, or h4 or daily.. NO! It's the SAME on EVERY time frame! One day it may work perfectly and the next day NOT AT ALL! No MATTER the time frame!
OH! So it must be the indicators I use then?! I need to change them and find some indicators that are actually reliable.. They DON'T f'ing EXIST!
OH! So if indicators lag and are not at all consistent then why not just throw them out altogether and trade without them?!
What time frame are you going to trade? Are you still going to use levels? The SAME levels that work PERFECTLY one day and NOT AT ALL the next day? Are you going to use the same fib levels that always work yesterday when you were not in the market but always FAIL when you are?
Technically speaking what works on one time frame one day HAS to work on EVERY time frame every day or it is NOT consistent! It CANNOT be relied on!
I've had it man..
It's ME! It HAS to be me.. Maybe I'm too greedy because I want more pips? Maybe I'm not greedy enough because I cut my winners short? Maybe I'm too fearful of missing a trade? Maybe I stay out when I know I should be in? Maybe working 12 hours a day is not enough? Maybe I should be working 16 hours a day? Or maybe I work too hard? Maybe I should be working one hour a day? Maybe I need to use tighter stops? Or maybe I need to use wider stops? Or maybe I shouldn't use stops at all? Maybe I need to learn when to stay OUT of the market? Maybe I need to learn when to be IN the market? Maybe if I ONLY trade on Monday and Friday between 8:30 am & 11:30 am? Maybe if I keep this indicator but tweak it a little? Maybe if I throw everything in the trash and just start over from scratch?
Maybe I'm tired of being made a f'ing fool?
So.. let the revenge trading begin..
Everything I have ever done in my life I can tell after about 4 years whether I AM going to be able to do it well or I am NOT going to be able to do it well..
At one point in my life I was an office machine repairman. For 17 years of my life actually. Why? Because I was good at it. Damn good. After about 4 years of it I KNEW I was damn good. I GOT it and I had a strong desire not to BE an office machine repairman but to be the BEST office machine repairman.
At one point in my life I was a computer programmer. I wrote software for 25 years. Why? Because I LOVED it! Because I GOT it! Because I was GOOD at it and I was determined not to be a computer programmer but to be the BEST computer programmer! I landed my first programming job with a big publicly traded company and after about 4 years I was I was in solid. I had written and supported so much crap for them that they HAD to have me. They couldn't live without me. And they paid for that.
So I left.. I went to a company that went bankrupt a few years later in 2003 and I lost my job.
At the time, like so many people today, we had too much debt. And the loss of 60% of our income was difficult to say the least. Also like now, jobs were hard to come by. But I had unemployment, first. And then I had extended unemployment.
And then, one fine day, I got the job I had always dreamed of having.. I was a big shot executive computer programmer for Kansas City Southern Railroad. Complete with railroad benefits (look them up). I worked in a beautiful office in downtown Kansas City. One among many of the IT staff.
So I left..
And now I trade.. I have been trading FX since 2007. That makes 2011 4 years doesn't it?
I'm tired of being made a f'ing fool? I don't take failure lightly. However, after 4 years of working my ass off I'm still not sure I GET IT! And I'm beginning to have serious doubts that I ever will. I'm still not sure I can be the BEST forex trader.
To be honest.. after 4 years it SEEMS like all that matters in the forex market is which market direction would net the most money for Primary Dealers?
Primary Dealers can SEE everyone's stop losses.. They SEE where these accumulate. They SEE layers of stop losses and entry orders.
They also happen to control 73% of FX trading volume..
"Their activities extend well beyond the Treasury market, for example, according to the Wall Street Journal Europe (2/9/06 p. 20), all of the top ten dealers in the foreign exchange market are also primary dealers, and between them account for almost 73% of forex trading volume."
And to be honest it "seems" to me like market direction is determined by colluding Primary Dealers guiding it cooperatively to suck up as many stop losses, and hence profits, as possible..
Call me paranoid if you want.. I don't really give a F
Greg
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A look @ yesterday's $EURJPY long trade
---
I'd like to talk about yesterday's EURJPY long trade a bit this morning..
I make trade decisions based mainly on daily and 4 hour charts most of the time. Unless I'm intentionally scalping.
For daily charts I use mainly my FXCM charting while I use MT4 platform for entries.
Yesterday's EURJPY long was mainly based on a test and bounce for the second day in a row of the tunnel on the daily. That's what sold me on the idea of entering the trade. You can see this test on the daily chart. I have removed my ICHI cloud for the sake of clarity. The tunnel, as most of you likely know by now, is 2 EMAs set to 144 and 169 making it sort of the core of the 100 and 200 EMA.
Since it was below the 13 EMA [dark black line] it would have to be considered a counter-trend trade.
While this was a small counter-trend move it yielded a total of about 151 pips.
Entries were 115.64 and a 2nd was added on a pullback at 115.47
Exits were 116.15 and 116.46 respectively.
Here is a 30 minute chart showing approximately where the entries / exits took place.
Most of the time I watch 5 minute and 30 minute on MT4
Hope this can help someone out there in some way ;)
Greg
I'd like to talk about yesterday's EURJPY long trade a bit this morning..
I make trade decisions based mainly on daily and 4 hour charts most of the time. Unless I'm intentionally scalping.
For daily charts I use mainly my FXCM charting while I use MT4 platform for entries.
Yesterday's EURJPY long was mainly based on a test and bounce for the second day in a row of the tunnel on the daily. That's what sold me on the idea of entering the trade. You can see this test on the daily chart. I have removed my ICHI cloud for the sake of clarity. The tunnel, as most of you likely know by now, is 2 EMAs set to 144 and 169 making it sort of the core of the 100 and 200 EMA.
Since it was below the 13 EMA [dark black line] it would have to be considered a counter-trend trade.
While this was a small counter-trend move it yielded a total of about 151 pips.
Entries were 115.64 and a 2nd was added on a pullback at 115.47
Exits were 116.15 and 116.46 respectively.
Here is a 30 minute chart showing approximately where the entries / exits took place.
Most of the time I watch 5 minute and 30 minute on MT4
Hope this can help someone out there in some way ;)
Greg
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Guest Post: Fundamentals and Market Manipulation | From our good friend @ATTechFX
---
Silver oil and all other commodities were dumped the last couple of days and I think sometime you need to find the reason why to put it in perspective.
There is a lot of talk about deflation and inflation and analysts all have reasons and explanations for that. Do I care? No not at all.
Why well what can be deflation in one part of the world could inflation in another part of the world.
Some of you know I wrote an article about the markets every day for 3 years but stopped with that because of the fact people want to stay stupid and against manipulation it’s hard to fight.
I predicted the fall of the banks in 2006-2007 and much more.
When you are the best poker player In the world but all others cheat you cannot win.
Just a few simple facts.
Printing of money causes inflation no matter with what kind of hocus pocus you come up with in the end it will break and bust.
1 billion Chinese also want the steak we eat, the coffee we drink, the energy we use and lots more. This will cause inflation as well.
There is only one reason for the decline of commodities the last couple of days and there is only one reason why it went up.
Commodities are going up not only because of inflation but the main reason is mistrust in governments and banks. Gold you can place under your bed something you can’t do with a piece of paper that says you own so much. Yes you can but what do you have? The promise of lying #bastards (#copyright Greg) like banks, governments and other financial institutions you own something!!!
The fast rise in commodities is a sign people are waking up and in the past banks with the ok of governments because they are one told you, you can buy a house or whatever with only 10% own money. Now this is all backfiring against them ( the loss of confidence in money they can manipulate so easy) so they change the rules and tell you, you now need 30% of your own money and tomorrow they will bring it to 50% and so on. But the seeds of war against money are already planted and can’t be stopped anymore.
Don’t forget when you have gold under your mattress it is very hard for them to tax you on that. It has no number and no chip. And when many people start to realize this the whole system will collapse.
You can’t trade on these facts because you can’t fight manipulators but you can buy solid stuff like gold and silver when it gets to lows again. Never forget this.
My head is spinning and want to write again but it has no use because people want to stay stupid and against cheaters it’s hard to play.
Silver oil and all other commodities were dumped the last couple of days and I think sometime you need to find the reason why to put it in perspective.
There is a lot of talk about deflation and inflation and analysts all have reasons and explanations for that. Do I care? No not at all.
Why well what can be deflation in one part of the world could inflation in another part of the world.
Some of you know I wrote an article about the markets every day for 3 years but stopped with that because of the fact people want to stay stupid and against manipulation it’s hard to fight.
I predicted the fall of the banks in 2006-2007 and much more.
When you are the best poker player In the world but all others cheat you cannot win.
Just a few simple facts.
Printing of money causes inflation no matter with what kind of hocus pocus you come up with in the end it will break and bust.
1 billion Chinese also want the steak we eat, the coffee we drink, the energy we use and lots more. This will cause inflation as well.
There is only one reason for the decline of commodities the last couple of days and there is only one reason why it went up.
Commodities are going up not only because of inflation but the main reason is mistrust in governments and banks. Gold you can place under your bed something you can’t do with a piece of paper that says you own so much. Yes you can but what do you have? The promise of lying #bastards (#copyright Greg) like banks, governments and other financial institutions you own something!!!
The fast rise in commodities is a sign people are waking up and in the past banks with the ok of governments because they are one told you, you can buy a house or whatever with only 10% own money. Now this is all backfiring against them ( the loss of confidence in money they can manipulate so easy) so they change the rules and tell you, you now need 30% of your own money and tomorrow they will bring it to 50% and so on. But the seeds of war against money are already planted and can’t be stopped anymore.
Don’t forget when you have gold under your mattress it is very hard for them to tax you on that. It has no number and no chip. And when many people start to realize this the whole system will collapse.
You can’t trade on these facts because you can’t fight manipulators but you can buy solid stuff like gold and silver when it gets to lows again. Never forget this.
My head is spinning and want to write again but it has no use because people want to stay stupid and against cheaters it’s hard to play.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Terrorist attacks prompted homeland security grants
---
You may click here for the source post
---
May 5, 2011
From staff reports news@joplinglobe.com The Joplin Globe Thu May 05, 2011, 11:14 PM CDT
PITTSBURG, Kan. — On Thursday, Scott Crain, fire chief in Pittsburg, Kan., climbed in the basket of the city’s new 100-foot aerial fire engine.
“I’m standing on the truck right now, in Appleton, Wis., at Pierce Manufacturing, and am doing the final inspection,” Crain said via cellphone. “We’ll test it out Friday, and it’s due to be delivered to us next week.”
That truck, which replaces a 30-year-old, 85-foot platform aerial, can reach the eighth floor of the historic Besse Hotel in Pittsburg, which has been renovated into apartments.
Crain said the city wouldn’t have been able to afford such a truck on its own, since the bid came in at $765,931. But, the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants — a program of the Department of Homeland Security — picked up $712,500, with the city paying the remainder.
---
That is 97% of a new fire engine for a podunk little town in KS. Pittsburg paid for with.. tax dollars..
---
That’s how it has been in the past decade, with the federal government through its new department underwriting much of the cost for equipment in cities, large and small, across the nation. In fact, the Department of Home Security, created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, is now the third-largest Cabinet department of the federal government. It has awarded about $31 billion in grants to state and local governments.
---
31 billion in grants (funded by tax payer money) to state and local governments?
---
The Girard (Kan.) Fire Department received $94,000 that helped it purchase a 3,000-gallon tanker trunk. Bill Dunn, fire chief in Carl Junction, said "homeland security grants paid for air packs and portable radios". Several Southwest Missouri cities and counties, including the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, secured federal grants to buy "computers for vehicles".
“We didn’t have any (computers in our vehicles), so it certainly helped us,” said Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland.
In Webb City, Don Melton, assistant police chief, said "homeland security grants provided $197,000 to outfit patrol cars with laptop computers and $150,000 to upgrade the radio system".
Carl Junction police Chief Delmar Haase used an $8,000 grant for thermal imaging equipment.
Why here?
It may seem odd for small communities that aren’t on terrorist radar to receive homeland security grants — Golden City has received $199,000 and Redings Mill ( population 159! That's 371.00 for every person living there!) $59,000 since 9/11.
And there have been critics of the practice.
A paper, published in 2004-2005 by Veronique de Rugby with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, questioned how the homeland security money was being spent. She couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, but her report concluded that too much of the money was going to less-populous rural areas, where terrorist attacks are unlikely, and diverted from highly populated urban areas, where terrorist attacks are more likely.
“A large portion of homeland security spending decisions are made on a political basis rather than on a sound cost-benefit analysis, leading to the traditional public choice failures that plague government spending more generally,” she wrote. “As a result, homeland security funding is likely to be misallocated.”
But there are reasons for it, according local recipients.
“If terrorists would hit Kansas City, a big city, and all the equipment has been put in that big city, then where are responders going to get it when they need it? They contact us, and we’ll be there with ours,” said Eldon Bedene, emergency manager in Crawford County, Kan.
“When we got money, we used it for a 35-foot Winnebago that’s a full-blown communications vehicle, as well as a portable, 100-foot communications tower and four portable generators in case dispatch centers are lost or emergency shelters are needed.”
Joplin’s role
Joplin has been the designated city in Southwest Missouri from Nevada south to the state line and from Kansas east to Greene County to be equipped for a security or disaster response.
Leslie Jones, Joplin’s finance director, said Joplin received $3.1 million between 2002 and 2010.
Most of it has gone to buy equipment for area police and fire departments, for the Joplin Regional Airport, and for health department equipment and programs that deal with emergencies throughout a 20-county area.
Mitch Randles, Joplin’s fire chief, said Joplin is teamed with Springfield and Branson/western Taney County to respond to any major or widespread incident of terrorism or a natural disaster in those counties.
The money Joplin has received also has been used to buy equipment for responding to an incident involving hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction, such as gases, nerve agents or explosives.
The city also has bought an array of heavy equipment that could be used to conduct searches and rescues after building and trench collapses, “any time someone would be trapped under heavy items (and we) couldn’t get to them using normal tools,” Randles said.
Mass-casualty treatment equipment "to care for a large number of people who are injured or contaminated" also has been bought, along with "a decontamination unit that can be used for several hundred people, Randles said".
He said some of the equipment has been used in emergencies such as the 2003 tornado that destroyed a number of houses and buildings in Carl Junction.
He said some of the smaller cities, such as Neosho and Nevada, field advance teams that go out first on a call to scout out a situation, and tell Joplin what type of response needs to be made and what equipment needs to be provided.
Cherokee County
The bulk of homeland security money in Cherokee County, Kan., has gone to "improved communication equipment" for emergency workers, said county emergency management director Jason Allison and Sheriff David Groves. That includes "a $70,000 radio tower at the Sheriff’s Department and a $160,000 countywide paging system for first responders".
"In 2006, the county received a $140,000 homeland security grant to provide 10 repeaters and 150 portable and mobile radios for all police and emergency agencies in the county". Then last year, the county received $90,000 "to purchase 20 other radios for communicating with emergency workers statewide".
Allison and Groves said that regardless of the terrorist threat, "the radio equipment can be used for all types of emergencies".
Groves said he thinks the most likely terrorist threat in Cherokee County is that of agroterrorism, targeting the nation’s food supply.
STAFF WRITERS Andra Bryan Stefanoni, Roger McKinney, Debby Woodin and Emily Younker contributed to this report.
---
Is this really how you want your tax dollars spent? On a town with a population of 159?! What say you Iowa? New York? California? New Mexico?
And why is it so important to upgrade communications systems in small midwest communities with tax payer dollars?
Why all this focus on emergency management?
I'm not sure, yet, what I think about HAARP and the rumors swirling about the New Madrid fault line..
But articles like this make me wonder.. Is this not socialism? The Federal government buying equipment and even paying the salaries of new hires in tiny communities?
Just file under things that make you go.. hmmmmm
---
Greg
You may click here for the source post
---
May 5, 2011
From staff reports news@joplinglobe.com The Joplin Globe Thu May 05, 2011, 11:14 PM CDT
PITTSBURG, Kan. — On Thursday, Scott Crain, fire chief in Pittsburg, Kan., climbed in the basket of the city’s new 100-foot aerial fire engine.
“I’m standing on the truck right now, in Appleton, Wis., at Pierce Manufacturing, and am doing the final inspection,” Crain said via cellphone. “We’ll test it out Friday, and it’s due to be delivered to us next week.”
That truck, which replaces a 30-year-old, 85-foot platform aerial, can reach the eighth floor of the historic Besse Hotel in Pittsburg, which has been renovated into apartments.
Crain said the city wouldn’t have been able to afford such a truck on its own, since the bid came in at $765,931. But, the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants — a program of the Department of Homeland Security — picked up $712,500, with the city paying the remainder.
---
That is 97% of a new fire engine for a podunk little town in KS. Pittsburg paid for with.. tax dollars..
---
That’s how it has been in the past decade, with the federal government through its new department underwriting much of the cost for equipment in cities, large and small, across the nation. In fact, the Department of Home Security, created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, is now the third-largest Cabinet department of the federal government. It has awarded about $31 billion in grants to state and local governments.
---
31 billion in grants (funded by tax payer money) to state and local governments?
---
The Girard (Kan.) Fire Department received $94,000 that helped it purchase a 3,000-gallon tanker trunk. Bill Dunn, fire chief in Carl Junction, said "homeland security grants paid for air packs and portable radios". Several Southwest Missouri cities and counties, including the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, secured federal grants to buy "computers for vehicles".
“We didn’t have any (computers in our vehicles), so it certainly helped us,” said Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland.
In Webb City, Don Melton, assistant police chief, said "homeland security grants provided $197,000 to outfit patrol cars with laptop computers and $150,000 to upgrade the radio system".
Carl Junction police Chief Delmar Haase used an $8,000 grant for thermal imaging equipment.
Why here?
It may seem odd for small communities that aren’t on terrorist radar to receive homeland security grants — Golden City has received $199,000 and Redings Mill ( population 159! That's 371.00 for every person living there!) $59,000 since 9/11.
And there have been critics of the practice.
A paper, published in 2004-2005 by Veronique de Rugby with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, questioned how the homeland security money was being spent. She couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, but her report concluded that too much of the money was going to less-populous rural areas, where terrorist attacks are unlikely, and diverted from highly populated urban areas, where terrorist attacks are more likely.
“A large portion of homeland security spending decisions are made on a political basis rather than on a sound cost-benefit analysis, leading to the traditional public choice failures that plague government spending more generally,” she wrote. “As a result, homeland security funding is likely to be misallocated.”
But there are reasons for it, according local recipients.
“If terrorists would hit Kansas City, a big city, and all the equipment has been put in that big city, then where are responders going to get it when they need it? They contact us, and we’ll be there with ours,” said Eldon Bedene, emergency manager in Crawford County, Kan.
“When we got money, we used it for a 35-foot Winnebago that’s a full-blown communications vehicle, as well as a portable, 100-foot communications tower and four portable generators in case dispatch centers are lost or emergency shelters are needed.”
Joplin’s role
Joplin has been the designated city in Southwest Missouri from Nevada south to the state line and from Kansas east to Greene County to be equipped for a security or disaster response.
Leslie Jones, Joplin’s finance director, said Joplin received $3.1 million between 2002 and 2010.
Most of it has gone to buy equipment for area police and fire departments, for the Joplin Regional Airport, and for health department equipment and programs that deal with emergencies throughout a 20-county area.
Mitch Randles, Joplin’s fire chief, said Joplin is teamed with Springfield and Branson/western Taney County to respond to any major or widespread incident of terrorism or a natural disaster in those counties.
The money Joplin has received also has been used to buy equipment for responding to an incident involving hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction, such as gases, nerve agents or explosives.
The city also has bought an array of heavy equipment that could be used to conduct searches and rescues after building and trench collapses, “any time someone would be trapped under heavy items (and we) couldn’t get to them using normal tools,” Randles said.
Mass-casualty treatment equipment "to care for a large number of people who are injured or contaminated" also has been bought, along with "a decontamination unit that can be used for several hundred people, Randles said".
He said some of the equipment has been used in emergencies such as the 2003 tornado that destroyed a number of houses and buildings in Carl Junction.
He said some of the smaller cities, such as Neosho and Nevada, field advance teams that go out first on a call to scout out a situation, and tell Joplin what type of response needs to be made and what equipment needs to be provided.
Cherokee County
The bulk of homeland security money in Cherokee County, Kan., has gone to "improved communication equipment" for emergency workers, said county emergency management director Jason Allison and Sheriff David Groves. That includes "a $70,000 radio tower at the Sheriff’s Department and a $160,000 countywide paging system for first responders".
"In 2006, the county received a $140,000 homeland security grant to provide 10 repeaters and 150 portable and mobile radios for all police and emergency agencies in the county". Then last year, the county received $90,000 "to purchase 20 other radios for communicating with emergency workers statewide".
Allison and Groves said that regardless of the terrorist threat, "the radio equipment can be used for all types of emergencies".
Groves said he thinks the most likely terrorist threat in Cherokee County is that of agroterrorism, targeting the nation’s food supply.
STAFF WRITERS Andra Bryan Stefanoni, Roger McKinney, Debby Woodin and Emily Younker contributed to this report.
---
Is this really how you want your tax dollars spent? On a town with a population of 159?! What say you Iowa? New York? California? New Mexico?
And why is it so important to upgrade communications systems in small midwest communities with tax payer dollars?
Why all this focus on emergency management?
I'm not sure, yet, what I think about HAARP and the rumors swirling about the New Madrid fault line..
But articles like this make me wonder.. Is this not socialism? The Federal government buying equipment and even paying the salaries of new hires in tiny communities?
Just file under things that make you go.. hmmmmm
---
Greg
I found an Edge (or two) in 2004 - #Market & #Stupid #Brokers
---
I don't know anything about your broker but my broker is stupid..
I'm not going to tell you who my [stock] broker is but I am going to tell you about some of the stupid crap they have done that allowed me to.. profit.
They made me.. profitable through their own inefficient and at times downright dishonest actions.
I was SO f'ing stupid when I first started trading stocks on a full time basis. All I knew was that I thought charts were cool and that they seemed to be trying to tell a story.
I always called my broker on the phone, still do as a matter of fact, to buy and/or sell stocks. I started studying charts in about 1998 but I'm talking about 2004 here when I made the decision to [trade] my cushy corporate job with the fantastic benefits in for a life of trading the markets..
I made about 4k per month before I quit my last job. However in that very same month I made 16k trading. It seemed like a no brainer to give full time trading a shot.
Though I didn't really realize it the charts I was using to "day trade" were at least 20 minute delayed! Before then I had used entry / exit orders most of the time put in the day before.
That's what I'm saying.. I was a newbie and too stupid at the time to even realize I was using charts that were 20 minutes delayed..
As it turned out my broker DID realize how stupid was..
They played right along with me!
They would intentionally quote me a delayed price so I could experience the the true thrill of day trading.
It went on like that for awhile. My broker acting as if the prices I was trading were live prices.
Then one day I decided to cough up 30 bucks a month for a live data feed [it's 50.00 a month now but maybe that's only transitory inflation]. I used that live data feed with a great FREE program that I still use today called QuoteTracker. I pay the 60 bucks a year for it now though because it's worth more than that to me. I may try to buy the company some day lol
So anyway.. After I got the live price feed I realized at some point that my broker thought I was f'ing stupid. That pissed me off..
They were still quoting me prices that were 15 or 20 minutes delayed.
Once I realized that I had the brand new ability to actually SEE into the f'ing FUTURE I decided to be careful not to let my broker know that I knew that they thought I was f'ing stupid..
I found some high flying day trader favorites of the day and studied price action.
When I found something that blasted off to the upside in a violent breakout I waited about 15 or 20 minutes, watched what it did, and THEN called my broker..
I almost always got a price quote 15 or 20 minutes in the PAST ;)
Do you understand what I'm saying here?
I could SEE 15 or 20 minutes into the f'ing FUTURE!
So I did very well for awhile.. I would call and buy and go ahead and put in a take profit right where I knew the price was going to end up. Almost all of my buys were about 15 minutes before a huge breakout LMAO
Eventually the dumb asses managed to figure out that I had real data LMAO
Who's stupid now MF'ers?
So that was my first foray into f'ing stupid brokers..
But I found out they had OTHER stupid sh*t for me to take advantage of!
One they called a "Now or close" order..
It was a proprietary client service, I discovered later..
The way it worked was if you had an open long position you had the option of using this "Now or close" order. It was used to either close your position at the current market price OR the price at the market close. You got whichever price was better, in your favor.
I'm not sure if I ever understood the reason they offered it in the first place but I figured out a way to use it to my advantage.
I spent the morning looking for high fliers. Stocks that were up 30% or so in the morning session. So I would find something up 30 35% and wait for a pullback to say maybe a plus 12% or so price. At that point I would call my broker, buy it and immediately put a "Now or close" order on it.
As a result my risk on the trade was break even while my upside was unlimited!
Some of those damn things might close the day plus 50% to 70% and I got ALL of it! And, if they fell apart I got out break even LMAO
It wasn't too terribly long that my broker decided to "discontinue" that particular "client service". They mumbled something about "too many clients were using it like I was".
Ok.. LMAO
In that discussion I discovered that it was the broker who paid the difference out of their own pocket. So I was fleecing them pretty good LMAO
Who's stupid now MF'er?
By then I had some money and i was bound and determined that those bastards were not going to steal it back from me.
Then came the next discovery of how amazingly stupid my broker is that allowed me to play "market maker" for more than two years.
This major f*ck up is apparently a "company policy" issue because as far as I know it is still this way to this very day. I just eventually got tired of doing it and wanted to try being a "real" trader. (Big mistake LMAO)
It was something I noticed using my QuoteTracker software.. QuoteTracker displays the bid, the ask and the current market price of an equity.
I noticed, while calling, that my broker ALWAYS quoted me the current market price. Never the bid or the ask, always the current market price as it was displayed in QuoteTacker.
I figured out, pretty soon, that I could use this to play market maker.
I eventually figured out the best way to do it was to find stocks with a high volume and a very low price that traded in a range most days of maybe a penny or two..
One of my favorites at the time was Able Auctions It used to trade under the symbol AAC I believe and when I was trading it it was like a 22 cent per share stock that had high volume and normally traded within a one or two penny range all day long. I traded LU some too in the $3.00 range and had others as well. But I ended up focusing on the cheapest ones I could find because I could make about 4 or 5% per trade on a move of one penny.
I would just watch QuoteTracker to see when the current market price matched the bid. Then I would call my broker and buy. At the same time I would enter a take profit a penny higher, at the ask. Many trades were over in seconds but sometimes it took longer. About 91% were winners, about 7% were closed at break even and the remaining 1 to 2% were losers.
I traded like that for a long time. Usually averaging maybe 30 to 40 trades a day. One day I made 99 trades just for fun, mostly LU. It used to pop up and down a penny many many times in the course of a single minute.. And my broker would let me just sit on the phone buying and selling, buying and selling.
I guess I have seen it called flipping pennies or something and treated with downright disdain at times as if it should be beneath a "real" trader to resort to such tactics.. Whatever..
So.. who knows.. Maybe your broker is f'ing stupid too..
I urge you to try to find out! LMAO
Greg
Now.. if only I can find a way to do this effectively in the forex market..
Here are some of the symbols I used to trade.. Many of them are gone now but a few are still around..
Gone: AAC,QEE, HEC, CNXT, AVNX
still around: PPHM, XSNX, NVAX, GNBT
I don't know anything about your broker but my broker is stupid..
I'm not going to tell you who my [stock] broker is but I am going to tell you about some of the stupid crap they have done that allowed me to.. profit.
They made me.. profitable through their own inefficient and at times downright dishonest actions.
I was SO f'ing stupid when I first started trading stocks on a full time basis. All I knew was that I thought charts were cool and that they seemed to be trying to tell a story.
I always called my broker on the phone, still do as a matter of fact, to buy and/or sell stocks. I started studying charts in about 1998 but I'm talking about 2004 here when I made the decision to [trade] my cushy corporate job with the fantastic benefits in for a life of trading the markets..
I made about 4k per month before I quit my last job. However in that very same month I made 16k trading. It seemed like a no brainer to give full time trading a shot.
Though I didn't really realize it the charts I was using to "day trade" were at least 20 minute delayed! Before then I had used entry / exit orders most of the time put in the day before.
That's what I'm saying.. I was a newbie and too stupid at the time to even realize I was using charts that were 20 minutes delayed..
As it turned out my broker DID realize how stupid was..
They played right along with me!
They would intentionally quote me a delayed price so I could experience the the true thrill of day trading.
It went on like that for awhile. My broker acting as if the prices I was trading were live prices.
Then one day I decided to cough up 30 bucks a month for a live data feed [it's 50.00 a month now but maybe that's only transitory inflation]. I used that live data feed with a great FREE program that I still use today called QuoteTracker. I pay the 60 bucks a year for it now though because it's worth more than that to me. I may try to buy the company some day lol
So anyway.. After I got the live price feed I realized at some point that my broker thought I was f'ing stupid. That pissed me off..
They were still quoting me prices that were 15 or 20 minutes delayed.
Once I realized that I had the brand new ability to actually SEE into the f'ing FUTURE I decided to be careful not to let my broker know that I knew that they thought I was f'ing stupid..
I found some high flying day trader favorites of the day and studied price action.
When I found something that blasted off to the upside in a violent breakout I waited about 15 or 20 minutes, watched what it did, and THEN called my broker..
I almost always got a price quote 15 or 20 minutes in the PAST ;)
Do you understand what I'm saying here?
I could SEE 15 or 20 minutes into the f'ing FUTURE!
So I did very well for awhile.. I would call and buy and go ahead and put in a take profit right where I knew the price was going to end up. Almost all of my buys were about 15 minutes before a huge breakout LMAO
Eventually the dumb asses managed to figure out that I had real data LMAO
Who's stupid now MF'ers?
So that was my first foray into f'ing stupid brokers..
But I found out they had OTHER stupid sh*t for me to take advantage of!
One they called a "Now or close" order..
It was a proprietary client service, I discovered later..
The way it worked was if you had an open long position you had the option of using this "Now or close" order. It was used to either close your position at the current market price OR the price at the market close. You got whichever price was better, in your favor.
I'm not sure if I ever understood the reason they offered it in the first place but I figured out a way to use it to my advantage.
I spent the morning looking for high fliers. Stocks that were up 30% or so in the morning session. So I would find something up 30 35% and wait for a pullback to say maybe a plus 12% or so price. At that point I would call my broker, buy it and immediately put a "Now or close" order on it.
As a result my risk on the trade was break even while my upside was unlimited!
Some of those damn things might close the day plus 50% to 70% and I got ALL of it! And, if they fell apart I got out break even LMAO
It wasn't too terribly long that my broker decided to "discontinue" that particular "client service". They mumbled something about "too many clients were using it like I was".
Ok.. LMAO
In that discussion I discovered that it was the broker who paid the difference out of their own pocket. So I was fleecing them pretty good LMAO
Who's stupid now MF'er?
By then I had some money and i was bound and determined that those bastards were not going to steal it back from me.
Then came the next discovery of how amazingly stupid my broker is that allowed me to play "market maker" for more than two years.
This major f*ck up is apparently a "company policy" issue because as far as I know it is still this way to this very day. I just eventually got tired of doing it and wanted to try being a "real" trader. (Big mistake LMAO)
It was something I noticed using my QuoteTracker software.. QuoteTracker displays the bid, the ask and the current market price of an equity.
I noticed, while calling, that my broker ALWAYS quoted me the current market price. Never the bid or the ask, always the current market price as it was displayed in QuoteTacker.
I figured out, pretty soon, that I could use this to play market maker.
I eventually figured out the best way to do it was to find stocks with a high volume and a very low price that traded in a range most days of maybe a penny or two..
One of my favorites at the time was Able Auctions It used to trade under the symbol AAC I believe and when I was trading it it was like a 22 cent per share stock that had high volume and normally traded within a one or two penny range all day long. I traded LU some too in the $3.00 range and had others as well. But I ended up focusing on the cheapest ones I could find because I could make about 4 or 5% per trade on a move of one penny.
I would just watch QuoteTracker to see when the current market price matched the bid. Then I would call my broker and buy. At the same time I would enter a take profit a penny higher, at the ask. Many trades were over in seconds but sometimes it took longer. About 91% were winners, about 7% were closed at break even and the remaining 1 to 2% were losers.
I traded like that for a long time. Usually averaging maybe 30 to 40 trades a day. One day I made 99 trades just for fun, mostly LU. It used to pop up and down a penny many many times in the course of a single minute.. And my broker would let me just sit on the phone buying and selling, buying and selling.
I guess I have seen it called flipping pennies or something and treated with downright disdain at times as if it should be beneath a "real" trader to resort to such tactics.. Whatever..
So.. who knows.. Maybe your broker is f'ing stupid too..
I urge you to try to find out! LMAO
Greg
Now.. if only I can find a way to do this effectively in the forex market..
Here are some of the symbols I used to trade.. Many of them are gone now but a few are still around..
Gone: AAC,QEE, HEC, CNXT, AVNX
still around: PPHM, XSNX, NVAX, GNBT
Meet my Niece #manipulative #lies
---
My niece worked for a big corporation.. I won't say who it was but it includes the letters F, e, d and Ex
Her job required that she travel, a lot. But she was well compensated for that duty.
She was paid very well. She got nice bonus' often. She received frequent flier miles for her own personal use.
She and her husband used the bonus money & frequent flier miles to take a nice vacation to Italy not too long ago.. The cost of the whole trip was covered by bonus money and frequent flier miles.
That trip was a few years back.. a little before the great recession.
During the great recession it became very important for major corporations to keep their profits up so as not to be punished in the stock market..
That's when this particular corporation settled on some "effective cost cutting" strategies..
The bonus' were canceled.. The frequent flier miles were canceled.. And, as icing on the cake, my niece's wages were cut by 25%
That was in 2009..
She recently told, this particular corporation, to take her job and shove it up their.. well you know..
She took an administrative job with a non-profit for 1/3 the pay.
And she's HAPPY!
This is what corporate America has become.. It has been this way for awhile.. I got sick and tired of it myself in 2004..
F*ck Sarbanes-Oxley
As long as the ONLY thing that matters to Washington, to government, to the Federal Reserve Bank and major corporations is the manipulation of economic data in an effort to extend the lie that is our debt based ponzi scheme economy it is the people of this country who will pay.
At least until they refuse to pay any longer..
Check this Zerohedge post for information on the manipulative lies we are all being subjected to on a regular basis..
Guest Post: Memo To Bernanke: It's Called Blowback, Baby
Greg
My niece worked for a big corporation.. I won't say who it was but it includes the letters F, e, d and Ex
Her job required that she travel, a lot. But she was well compensated for that duty.
She was paid very well. She got nice bonus' often. She received frequent flier miles for her own personal use.
She and her husband used the bonus money & frequent flier miles to take a nice vacation to Italy not too long ago.. The cost of the whole trip was covered by bonus money and frequent flier miles.
That trip was a few years back.. a little before the great recession.
During the great recession it became very important for major corporations to keep their profits up so as not to be punished in the stock market..
That's when this particular corporation settled on some "effective cost cutting" strategies..
The bonus' were canceled.. The frequent flier miles were canceled.. And, as icing on the cake, my niece's wages were cut by 25%
That was in 2009..
She recently told, this particular corporation, to take her job and shove it up their.. well you know..
She took an administrative job with a non-profit for 1/3 the pay.
And she's HAPPY!
This is what corporate America has become.. It has been this way for awhile.. I got sick and tired of it myself in 2004..
F*ck Sarbanes-Oxley
As long as the ONLY thing that matters to Washington, to government, to the Federal Reserve Bank and major corporations is the manipulation of economic data in an effort to extend the lie that is our debt based ponzi scheme economy it is the people of this country who will pay.
At least until they refuse to pay any longer..
Check this Zerohedge post for information on the manipulative lies we are all being subjected to on a regular basis..
Guest Post: Memo To Bernanke: It's Called Blowback, Baby
Greg
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Talking about trading 13 EMAs on daily $AUDJPY here
---
And there were more like this on the dailies..
---
And there were more like this on the dailies..
---
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thomas Sowell: Fed Up with the Fed?
---
You may click here for the post source if you prefer
---
When people in Washington start creating fancy new phrases, instead of using plain English, you know they are doing something they don't want us to understand.
It was an act of war when we started bombing Libya. But the administration chose to call it "kinetic military action." When the Federal Reserve System started creating hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, they called it "quantitative easing" of the money supply.
When that didn't work, they created more money and called it "quantitative easing 2" or "QE2," instead of saying: "We are going to print more dollars-- and hope it works this time." But there is already plenty of money sitting around idle in banks and businesses.
The policies of this administration make it risky to lend money, with Washington politicians coming up with one reason after another why borrowers shouldn't have to pay it back when it is due, or perhaps not pay it all back at all. That's called "loan modification" or various other fancy names for welching on debts. Is it surprising that lenders have become reluctant to lend?
Private businesses have amassed record amounts of cash, which they could use to hire more people-- if this administration were not generating vast amounts of uncertainty about what the costs are going to be for ObamaCare, among other unpredictable employer costs, from a government heedless or hostile toward business.
As a result, it is often cheaper or less risky for employers to work the existing employees overtime, or to hire temporary workers, who are not eligible for employee benefits. But lack of money is not the problem.
Those who are true believers in the old-time Keynesian economic religion will always say that the only reason creating more money hasn't worked is because there has not yet been enough money created. To them, if QE2 hasn't worked, then we need QE3. And if that doesn't work, then we will need QE4, etc.
Like most of the mistakes being made in Washington today, this dogmatic faith in government spending is something that has been tried before-- and failed before.
Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said confidentially to fellow Democrats in 1939: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work."
As for the Federal Reserve today, a headline in the Wall Street Journal of April 25th said, "Fed Searches for Next Step."
That is a big part of the problem. It is not politically possible for either the Federal Reserve or the Obama administration to leave the economy alone and let it recover on its own.
Both are under pressure to "do something." If one thing doesn't work, then they have to try something else. And if that doesn't work, they have to come up with yet another gimmick.
All this constant experimentation by the government makes it more risky for investors to invest or employers to employ, when neither of them knows when the government's rules of the game are going to change again. Whatever the merits or demerits of particular government policies, the uncertainty that such ever- changing policies generate can paralyze an economy today, just as it did back in the days of FDR.
The idea that the federal government has to step in whenever there is a downturn in the economy is an economic dogma that ignores much of the history of the United States.
During the first hundred years of the United States, there was no Federal Reserve. During the first one hundred and fifty years, the federal government did not engage in massive intervention when the economy turned down.
No economic downturn in all those years ever lasted as long as the Great Depression of the 1930s, when both the Federal Reserve and the administrations of Hoover and of FDR intervened.
The myth that has come down to us says that the government had to intervene when there was mass unemployment in the 1930s. But the hard data show that there was no mass unemployment until after the federal government intervened. Yet, once having intervened, it was politically impossible to stop and let the economy recover on its own. That was the fundamental problem then-- and now.
---
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
You may click here for the post source if you prefer
---
When people in Washington start creating fancy new phrases, instead of using plain English, you know they are doing something they don't want us to understand.
It was an act of war when we started bombing Libya. But the administration chose to call it "kinetic military action." When the Federal Reserve System started creating hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, they called it "quantitative easing" of the money supply.
When that didn't work, they created more money and called it "quantitative easing 2" or "QE2," instead of saying: "We are going to print more dollars-- and hope it works this time." But there is already plenty of money sitting around idle in banks and businesses.
The policies of this administration make it risky to lend money, with Washington politicians coming up with one reason after another why borrowers shouldn't have to pay it back when it is due, or perhaps not pay it all back at all. That's called "loan modification" or various other fancy names for welching on debts. Is it surprising that lenders have become reluctant to lend?
Private businesses have amassed record amounts of cash, which they could use to hire more people-- if this administration were not generating vast amounts of uncertainty about what the costs are going to be for ObamaCare, among other unpredictable employer costs, from a government heedless or hostile toward business.
As a result, it is often cheaper or less risky for employers to work the existing employees overtime, or to hire temporary workers, who are not eligible for employee benefits. But lack of money is not the problem.
Those who are true believers in the old-time Keynesian economic religion will always say that the only reason creating more money hasn't worked is because there has not yet been enough money created. To them, if QE2 hasn't worked, then we need QE3. And if that doesn't work, then we will need QE4, etc.
Like most of the mistakes being made in Washington today, this dogmatic faith in government spending is something that has been tried before-- and failed before.
Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said confidentially to fellow Democrats in 1939: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work."
As for the Federal Reserve today, a headline in the Wall Street Journal of April 25th said, "Fed Searches for Next Step."
That is a big part of the problem. It is not politically possible for either the Federal Reserve or the Obama administration to leave the economy alone and let it recover on its own.
Both are under pressure to "do something." If one thing doesn't work, then they have to try something else. And if that doesn't work, they have to come up with yet another gimmick.
All this constant experimentation by the government makes it more risky for investors to invest or employers to employ, when neither of them knows when the government's rules of the game are going to change again. Whatever the merits or demerits of particular government policies, the uncertainty that such ever- changing policies generate can paralyze an economy today, just as it did back in the days of FDR.
The idea that the federal government has to step in whenever there is a downturn in the economy is an economic dogma that ignores much of the history of the United States.
During the first hundred years of the United States, there was no Federal Reserve. During the first one hundred and fifty years, the federal government did not engage in massive intervention when the economy turned down.
No economic downturn in all those years ever lasted as long as the Great Depression of the 1930s, when both the Federal Reserve and the administrations of Hoover and of FDR intervened.
The myth that has come down to us says that the government had to intervene when there was mass unemployment in the 1930s. But the hard data show that there was no mass unemployment until after the federal government intervened. Yet, once having intervened, it was politically impossible to stop and let the economy recover on its own. That was the fundamental problem then-- and now.
---
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Revelation 6:12-17
---
6:12 - I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 6:13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 6:14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
6:15 - Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 6:16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 6:17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Cool huh?
LMAO
Greg
6:12 - I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 6:13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 6:14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
6:15 - Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 6:16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 6:17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Cool huh?
LMAO
Greg
Still watching this $AUDUSD m15 tunnel support
---
Will it ever break?
(Tunnel constructed of 144 & 169 EMAs)
---
Will it ever break?
(Tunnel constructed of 144 & 169 EMAs)
---
Some thoughts on spreads and brokers FX forex trading
---
Missed my AUDUSD short entry at 1.1013.. I show the high, on FXCM, as 1.10122..
Big deal.. it happens to all of us.. I'm told.. Get over it..
And yeah.. it does happen to all of us.. It happens to me over and over.. It's like the slippage I used to experience on FXCM.. It always went in only ONE direction.. against me.
Every time I used to hit a stop loss I would lose anywhere from .01 to 1 pip to slippage. However when/if I hit a limit order to take profit I NEVER experienced slippage in my favor. I used to talk about this and how it seemed obvious that the deck was stacked against you.
We were "told", by brokers, on the one hand that market volatility/conditions made slippage unavoidable and I experienced slippage, as I said, virtually 100% of the time.
But only in ONE direction, against me. "Market volatility/conditions", it seemed NEVER caused slippage in my favor.. I always thought that to be very odd..
FXCM "fixed" that.. where now slippage goes in your favor as well as against you..
Now I have a new pet peeve..
And it STILL concerns limit entry / exit orders..
And like the previous "issue" with slippage it seems to work against me the vast majority of the time. So much so that it seems a mathematical anomaly to me..
I scale into positions sometimes and so many times I seem to miss my last add before a turn by the width of the spread.. And, on the other end, so many times I miss hitting a profit target by the thinnest of margins, 2, 3 or 4 pips.
If it happened in BOTH directions it wouldn't bother me.. If I, roughly, 50% of the time got in or out on my limit order and 50% of the time I missed it would make sense..
However when/if we consider that our broker, whoever that might be, controls the spread and we realize that we miss that important entry or that important exit much more often than not it's makes a guy think..
It makes a guy wonder..
Greg
This post is not only about FXCM, though they are mentioned within it. We all experience the same issues with a large variety of broker/dealers.
Missed my AUDUSD short entry at 1.1013.. I show the high, on FXCM, as 1.10122..
Big deal.. it happens to all of us.. I'm told.. Get over it..
And yeah.. it does happen to all of us.. It happens to me over and over.. It's like the slippage I used to experience on FXCM.. It always went in only ONE direction.. against me.
Every time I used to hit a stop loss I would lose anywhere from .01 to 1 pip to slippage. However when/if I hit a limit order to take profit I NEVER experienced slippage in my favor. I used to talk about this and how it seemed obvious that the deck was stacked against you.
We were "told", by brokers, on the one hand that market volatility/conditions made slippage unavoidable and I experienced slippage, as I said, virtually 100% of the time.
But only in ONE direction, against me. "Market volatility/conditions", it seemed NEVER caused slippage in my favor.. I always thought that to be very odd..
FXCM "fixed" that.. where now slippage goes in your favor as well as against you..
Now I have a new pet peeve..
And it STILL concerns limit entry / exit orders..
And like the previous "issue" with slippage it seems to work against me the vast majority of the time. So much so that it seems a mathematical anomaly to me..
I scale into positions sometimes and so many times I seem to miss my last add before a turn by the width of the spread.. And, on the other end, so many times I miss hitting a profit target by the thinnest of margins, 2, 3 or 4 pips.
If it happened in BOTH directions it wouldn't bother me.. If I, roughly, 50% of the time got in or out on my limit order and 50% of the time I missed it would make sense..
However when/if we consider that our broker, whoever that might be, controls the spread and we realize that we miss that important entry or that important exit much more often than not it's makes a guy think..
It makes a guy wonder..
Greg
This post is not only about FXCM, though they are mentioned within it. We all experience the same issues with a large variety of broker/dealers.
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