Monday, September 21, 2009
DAN NORCINI COMMENTS ON GOLD'S CURRENT SITUATION
Trader Dan Comments On The Condition Of The Gold And US Dollar Markets
Posted: Sep 20 2009
Dear Friends,
Please review the following two charts to give a brief technical look at both gold and the US Dollar.
(GT sez: Go to JSMINESET.COM to see this post and the charts)
Speculative long positions continue to grow as they look to drive gold higher in the face of concerted opposition by the bullion banks with swap dealers also favoring the short side. The latter category can be difficult to decipher since they can be representing both speculators as well as hedging long side exposure due to over the counter positions that they have taken on with other clients. I happen to believe that when it comes to gold, that these swap dealers include both Goldman and Morgan.
Some of you might be wondering what in the world we are now talking about “swap dealers” when it comes to analyzing the Commitment of Traders report. In a nutshell, the CFTC is responding to requests from the industry to provide more transparency into the nature of those constituting the “commercial” side of the reports. Formerly, these reports were used by traders to see what the firms who buy and sell the actual physical product behind the futures markets were doing in an attempt to glean the view of that particular market being taken by those whose business dealings include buying and selling of the actual commodity on a daily basis. The idea has been that when that group was leaning heavily to one side or the other, that the market was ripe for a reversal. What has happened however is that the CFTC gave commercial hedging status to swap dealers not all that long ago and as their activity began to grow off the exchanges, they began to seek out the regulated exchanges in order to offload risk from their transactions with their clients, who were looking for exposure to the commodity markets, but wished to trade off the exchange for various reasons. In the case of some, it was the inability to buy or sell contracts that were perfectly suited to their business needs. For others it is the desirability of remaining a bit more anonymous. Either way, these swap dealers provide products meeting the needs of these firms or funds and in the process of so doing, take on financial risk which comes with being effectively long or short a particular commodity market. They began to migrate to the regulated futures exchanges in an attempt to hedge that risk. The CFTC then gave them hedger status which is of great benefit because it allows them basically unlimited position size as well as lower margin requirements. All of this is currently under review but for now, the CFTC has issued a newer, more transparent report of the COT which details the positions of these swap dealers.
When it comes to gold, not a lot has really actually changed for us when it comes to analyzing these reports. We can look at the old familiar report with the simple breakdown between commercials and large reportables (mainly the funds) and see the same exact setup that we see under the newer COT reports. In the case of the newer reports, these swap dealers are heavily short alongside of what the CFTC considers to be the actual “Producer/Merchant/Processor/User” category. In effect, the PMPU category is a large net short and the Swap Dealers are also large net shorts. The Managed Money side of the equation are hugely and lopsidedly net longs with the other reportables (large specs) strongly net long as well. Basically we still have the same setup when it comes to gold – the specs are long and the commercials are still short, only with this distinction – that the swap dealers are on the same side of the market as the commercials.
There is nothing to say that these swap dealers are any better judge of market fundamentals than any other well studied and informed speculative interest. What I might add however is that the managed money of today is no longer managed in the same sense that it once was where managers were experts on the supply/demand factors behind the various markets that they chose to invest in for their clients. Today’s managed money funds are algorithm driven and momentum chasers which is why anytime we see a build of large size on one side of a market that we need to be alert for any signs that momentum might be changing, either up or down. In the case of gold we are talking about upward momentum of course.
As I mentioned in a previous post, just because the speculative community is pushing a market higher and has built a large position of size, does not imply that a reversal is ripe for happening. IT takes speculative power to drive markets higher and as long as the specs have an appetite for a market, that is healthy for a bull market. They can keep pushing and pushing and pushing for far longer than many shorts can sustain their trading accounts. What is important however is that when the specs have amassed a large position on one side of the market, a trigger event or a slowdown in upward momentum (more so in these days of momentum driven market madness), can send this crowd packing in a real hurry so a wise trader will take notice and be careful to observe any warning signs.
My analysis of the current report shows these commercials with the largest outright short position that they have ever held with the specs holding the largest outright long position that is on record. What this means is that the bullion banks will be looking to scare the longs out in order to induce further liquidation and cause a setback in price. However, what they have working against them right now is that the Dollar is not cooperating and has not yet reached into oversold levels on the longer term charts. Additionally, China’s recent announcement related to gold and silver means that there will be buyers beneath the market who will strongly welcome any setbacks in price.
The key in furthering gold’s advance is completely in the hands of the managed money or momentum funds who must not succumb to their usual habit of snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory . Keep an eye on the Dollar because that market is simply too large for the same players who infest the Comex to dominate it. The Forex markets are gargantuan in comparison to the tiny Comex market. The Dollar’s fundamentals are simply horrific and too many governments are looking for ways to cut their exposure to the US due to its profligate ways for any bull market in the Dollar to commence. All rallies in the Dollar are merely bear market blips that will not be sustained as willing sellers will most assuredly use rallies to unload or diversify. That is the dilemma faced by the price riggers at the Comex.
For now, I would want to see gold find support above $1,000 on any price setbacks to avoid any deeper retracement in price. More specifically, any retreat down to that area, needs to find buyers to push it back up and away prior to the close of the pit session, since that is the mark that the technical analysis programs and algorithms still tend to key in on.
Seasonally gold’s strongest period is ahead of it so that is working in its favor right now as opposed to the usual summer doldrums.
Trader Dan
Sunday, September 20, 2009
What If Everyone in the World Wanted a 1-ounce Gold Coin?
What If Everyone in the World Wanted a 1-ounce Gold Coin?
By Jeff Clark, Senior Editor, Casey’s Gold & Resource Report
If we’re right about where the price of gold is headed, the general public will someday clamor to buy all things gold. While gold stocks will be where the real leverage is, the rush will start with gold itself. As a gold editor, I have a very natural question: is there enough to go around?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 6.783 billion earthlings. Meanwhile, CPM Group, a highly respected industry organization, estimates there are 4.8 billion ounces of above-ground gold in the world. And this includes jewelry, electronics, and dental. So, even if everyone around the world volunteered to have their chain, cross, or tooth melted into a coin, we’re already short. Those towards the end of the line are out of luck.
However, it’s worse than that. Of all the physical metal ever mined...
2.1 billion ounces, or 43%, is found in jewelry, decorative, and religious items.
Private stock – gold already held by various private parties – accounts for 1.1 billion ounces.
Official reserves (central banks, IMF, etc.) stand at 1 billion ounces.
Industrial use accounts for 530 million ounces.
Very little of this is likely to come available for purchase in coin form. After all, you’re not selling any of your gold, and neither are many banks or institutions. Most everyone is buying.
So for those who don’t yet have a gold coin (or you greedy investors who want more than one), this pretty much leaves us with mine production and scrap sources.
CPM forecasts that total new supply in 2009 will be around 122 million ounces. Only a small percentage of this is made into gold coins and bars, but if all of it were, it would amount to less than two one-hundredths of an ounce, or about half a gram, for every man, woman, and child on earth this year. A product of this dimension is about half the size of that small button on your shirt collar.
Since this supply is only available annually, it means 0.018% of the global population – one in every 55 people – could buy a one-ounce gold coin this year. Or, said differently, it would take 55 years before everybody had one, assuming the population never increased (it is) and supply never decreased (it is).
But it’s worse than that. Actual 2009 coin production will be around 5 million ounces (excluding medallions or “rounds”), leaving two one-hundredths of a gram of gold (or 0.3 of a grain) available this year for each of the planet’s inhabitants. This is about half the size of the sesame seed that fell off your hamburger bun at dinner last night. It means that only 0.0007% of earth’s citizens – or one in 1,356 – can buy a one-ounce gold coin this year, and it would take 1,356 years for everyone to get one.
How’s that for a supply squeeze?
But it’s worse than that. Demand continues rising. Gold is more frequently in the news, attracting more customers every day. Hedge funds, which never before considered gold, are now buying physical metal (Greenlight Capital actually sold $500 million of GLD and bought physical gold). Central banks are net buyers of gold for the first time in 22 years. China is running TV ads encouraging its citizens to buy gold and silver. Last month Russia bought more gold than they actually produced. In a recent survey, 20 out of 22 fund managers bought physical gold for their personal investments. In other words, some investors are already scrambling to get it… and in big quantities.
But it’s worse than that. Most of the ramifications of the money printing and dollar debasement haven’t even surfaced yet. How will the general public react when the dollar is crashing and standards of living are threatened? What will they do when milk and gas prices surge to twice what they are now? How will the greater collective respond when they lose faith in government interventions? Where will they invest when they see gold and silver prices screaming upward and don’t want to be left behind?
The panic into gold by the general public hasn’t begun yet. Available supply is scarce and will get smaller. There won’t be enough.
Better get your speck while you can.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
TO HAVE GUV'MINT, OR NOT HAVE GUV'MINT...THAT IS THE QUESTION
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Epoch Battle of Our Time
by Jacob G. Hornberger
It seems as though every statist has his favorite health-care reform and, more important, is convinced that his particular reform is the one that is finally going to make socialism and interventionism succeed.
I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but it just ain’t gonna happen. Socialism and interventionism are inherently defective. They cannot be made to succeed. Even if the most brilliant set of minds comes up with the most brilliant health-care reform, the system will remain in chaos and crisis and, before long, people will once again be calling for reform and coming up with their favorite reform plans that they’re convinced will finally make the system work.
The core reason why America’s health care is in such a mess is owing to socialism and interventionism. That’s what these people keep missing, and the reason they keep missing it is because they simply do not want to let go of their socialism and interventionism. They’re too committed to the idea that government should be involved in health care and, for that matter, most everything else.
Thus, all their reform plans presume that socialism and interventionism are a given. No one is supposed to question the role of government in health care. Instead, everyone is supposed to just assume that socialism and interventionism are now a permanent feature in American life and come up with some silver-bullet reform that will finally make them work.
Suppose a group of people start beating their heads against a wall, all day long, day in and day out. After a while, they begin suffering headaches.
So, everyone decides to come up with reforms to cure the headaches. One reformer advises the group to pad the wall. Another reformer suggests taking pain relievers. Another recommends changing the position of the head. Everyone is convinced that his particular reform is ingenious and will succeed in stopping the headaches.
Then, along comes a libertarian and says, “Actually, none of these reforms is going to work because they don’t get to the root of the problem.” His suggestion: “Stop beating your heads against the wall!”
Immediately, the libertarian is hit with all sorts of vile and vituperative reactions: “You’re an extremist! You’re a radical! You’re whacky! We need reform, not eradication. Be practical. Join the mainstream and help us come up with the right reform to cure the headaches.”
In one sense, social problems are much like medical problems. If the doctor gets the diagnosis wrong, he’s likely to get the prescription wrong. The same holds true for political and economic ailments that afflict the body politic.
The health-care crisis is rooted in Medicare and Medicaid, government regulation of the health-care and insurance industries, tax-code incentives for employer-provided medical insurance, and medical licensure.
Thus, there is but one solution to this mess: repeal all of those things. Don’t reform them. Don’t fix them. Just repeal them. Get government entirely out of the health-care business. Separate health care and state as fully and completely as our ancestors separated church and state.
The health-care debate reflects the battle of our age — the battle between those of us who are fighting to restore economic liberty and free markets to our land and those who are battling to extend statism. As Ludwig von Mises stated, “No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.”
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
ECONOMIC STIMULUS 101
CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR THE ARTICLE
Subject: Economic Stimulus 101
> > Sometime this year, we taxpayers may again receive an Economic
> > Stimulus payment. This is a very exciting new program.
> >
> > I will explain it using the Q and A format:
> >
> > Q. What is an Economic Stimulus payment?
> >
> > A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
> >
> > Q. Where will the government get this money?
> >
> > A. From taxpayers.
> >
> > Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
> >
> > A. Only a smidgen.
> >
> > Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
> >
> > A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition
TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
> >
> > Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
> >
> > A. Shut up.
> >
> > Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US
> > economy by spending your stimulus check
> > wisely:
> >
> >
> > If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will
> > go to China .
> >
> > If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
> >
> > If you purchase a computer, it will go to India .
> >
> > If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico ,Honduras and
> > Guatemala ..
> >
> > If you buy a car, it will go to Japan .
> >
> > If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .
> >
> > If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go
> > to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.
> >
> > Instead, keep the money in America by:
> >
> > 1 spending it at yard sales
> >
> > 2 going to ball games
> >
> > 3 spending it on prostitutes
> >
> > 4 beer
> >
> > 5 tattoos.
> > (These are the only American businesses still operating in the US .)
> >
> > I'm going to go to a ball game with a tattooed
> > prostitute that I met at a yard sale and we're going to
> > drink beer all day!
> >
> > FUN TIMES!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE
FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE
CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR THE ARTICLE
1. "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
~Thomas Jefferson
2. Those who trade liberty for security have neither. ~John Adams
3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
4. An armed man is a citizen.
An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
6. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
8. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
11. 64,999,987 legal firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
14. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?
15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
16. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
17. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
IF YOU AGREE, PASS THIS 'REFRESHER' ON TO OTHER FREE CITIZENS.
The Destruction of the US Empire
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-destruction-of-the-us-empire/
BY BILL BONNER OF THEDAILYRECKONING.COM
One of the best, and most humorous, of all financial writers.
Read EVERYTHING that Bill Bonner writes and you will become
well-versed, historically competent, and confident that you
understand how we got to where we are, and a good insight into
where we are going...financially...and culturally.
Gold and Freedom
Gold and Freedom, Part 2
by Jacob G. Hornberger, Posted September 11, 2009
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905a.asp
THE REAL ISSUE IS FREEDOM FROM GUV'MINT
Friday, September 11, 2009
Faith in Freedom
by Jacob G. Hornberger
Whenever libertarians suggest that America’s socialist programs should be immediately repealed, rather than reformed or gradually reduced, statists inevitably react with shock and horror. The statists feel that Americans could never survive if their welfare-state dole was suddenly ended.
What would happen if public schooling, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies, education grants, income taxation, and all other welfare-state programs were suddenly eliminated today? According to the statists, thousands of people would be dying of starvation and illness in the streets and the nation would quickly fill up with dumb, uneducated people.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, it would be the exact opposite. There would immediately be a tremendous outburst of creative energy, enterprise, prosperity, and charity throughout American society.
Consider 19th-century American slaves who picked cotton on some Southern plantation. In a sense, they lived under a welfare program. While they were required to work hard, they had free housing, food, clothing, retirement, and health care provided to them by their employer.
Their job skills were limited to picking cotton. Since work was mandated, they had not developed a work ethic that required them to voluntarily be at work on time. Moreover, they certainly had not acquired any skills in running their own businesses. They had lived like this for generations.
Undoubtedly, some people in the 1800s argued that it would be cruel and brutal to free the slaves all at once. How would they survive, especially after several generations of life on the dole, with no real job skills, work ethic, and business experience? If the slaves were freed all at once and, therefore, no longer guaranteed the basic essentials of life, thousands of them would surely starve to death. They wouldn’t even have a few cents in savings to get them through a couple of weeks.
Yet, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, that’s precisely what happened. Slaves were freed all at once. No gradualism. No weaning. They were suddenly deprived of their guaranteed housing, clothing, food, health care, and job. They were suddenly on their own.
While life was difficult for them, just as it was difficult for lots of people after the war, there were no mass deaths from starvation or from being deprived of health care or other essentials. The freeing of the slaves showed the remarkable resiliency of human beings. Some of them opened businesses, others went to work for businesses. Over time, some of the former slaves even began outcompeting whites, which was why whites began enacting Jim Crow laws.
Another example was Franklin Roosevelt’s fascist National Industrial Recovery Act, which converted American industries into cartels that had the power to set their own prices. More and more people began realizing what a horrible disaster this program was for America, but the argument was that the NIRA had become too entrenched in the American economy to suddenly end it. Millions of Americans, both producers and consumers had become dependent on the NIRA and, therefore, people felt that if it were to be ended, it should be done gradually.
One day, the Supreme Court declared the NIRA unconstitutional. On that day, the program suddenly ended. It’s as if the Court had pushed a magic button that immediately eradicated the law. The result? An outburst of creative energy and prosperity from having this fascist burden suddenly lifted off the American economy.
The third example involves the extensive wage-and-price controls that the Allied Powers levied on Germany after World War II. Germans wanted them lifted but the Allies said that since people had become so dependent on them, there would be chaos if they were suddenly lifted. One day, and much to the chagrin of the Allied leaders, the German leader Ludwig Ehard suddenly announced that the controls were lifted. That was the start of the post-war German “economic miracle.”
The best thing that could ever happen to the American people is to have all welfare-state programs repealed, immediately. Given the resiliency of human beings, there is no doubt that there would be a tremendous outburst of creative energy, prosperity, and charity.
The problem we face is that all too many Americans just don’t believe it. Given the decades of dependency on the welfare state, Americans have lost their sense of self-reliance and self-esteem.
Thus, the problem we face in our day is not only economic and political in nature but also psychological in nature. To get our nation back on the right track, we libertarians have the task of not only showing people that economic liberty and free markets are moral and that they work, we must also inspire people to restore their faith in themselves, in others, in freedom, in free markets, and in God.
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
ON THE HEALTHCARE REFORM DEBATE FROM RON PAUL'S CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY
September 10, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Last night, President Obama made it clear he intends to push hard for a government-run Health Control system. His plans, if enacted, will result over time in either a complete government takeover of Health Care, or the total destruction of any meaningful private system.
Now is the time for us to raise our voices and insist Congress vote "NO" to this government power grab.
Make no mistake, the Obama plan will cause the price of insurance to skyrocket even further by increasing payouts and other costs of doing business, putting many more Americans in the position of having to drop their coverage.
One plan currently being considered in the Senate would impose a $3,800 fine on families who refuse to get health insurance. Health insurance will no longer be a free choice in our country. President Obama has long advocated a universal, single-payer system, and that is the ultimate goal of enacting this so-called "reform" package.
In regards to his deficit-neutral promise, the Congressional Budget Office has already stated (GO HERE: http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=332) that HR 3200 will add over $200 billion to the deficit over the next ten years, and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are already trillions of dollars in the red.
Are we really expected to believe that yet another government program on top of all these will save money?
And, hidden throughout the over 1000 pages that make up this bill are even more "goodies" for the allies of Big Government, such as a massive payoff to Big Labor, who will reap millions of new forced union dues and wield unprecedented power over government and "private" health care as reported
(GO HERE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574400571702189240.html) in The Wall Street Journal.
President Obama has repeatedly stated that we cannot deal with the rising cost of health care by maintaining the status quo. I wholeheartedly agree.
We must acknowledge that the root cause of the health care crisis in this country is government interference (GO HERE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=24061). Of course, many in the insurance industry have taken full advantage of their lobbying power and monopolies, but they have been able to do this because of the government.
It is government that prohibits individuals from being able to shop across state lines for insurance.
It is government that imposes thousands of mandates on insurance providers.
It is government that created HMOs in the 1970s.
It is government that has skewed
(GO HERE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=23690)
the market to prop up third party payers.
Simply put, the problems with health care in America are TOO MUCH government interference already. The solution is to lessen government control - NOT give them more power!
The Council for Affordable Health Insurance has identified a total of 2,133 mandated benefits and providers currently required by state legislatures, mandates they estimate increase the cost of basic coverage from around 20% to as high as possibly 50%. Read their report here: http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/HealthInsuranceMandates2009.pdf
If the president thinks we can pay for his plan through saving billions of dollars by eliminating waste and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid, then why don't we clean out those systems now and return that money through tax cuts to the American taxpayer, providing them extra funds to buy insurance if they want it?
Both major parties believe the answer to our health care crisis is through government intervention. They only differ in the degree of that intervention.
It's time to choose freedom.
Americans should be free to shop across state lines for health insurance, to easily go outside the country for cheaper medications, and to buy health insurance without being taxed on it.
Congress should give Americans control over their health care by giving them control over their health care dollar via tax credits and deductions similar to those outlined in Congressman Ron Paul's Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act (HR 1495).
And Congress should protect privacy rights by allowing patients and physicians to opt-out of any government-mandated or funded system of electronic health care records, and by repealing the federal law creating an "unique patient identifier" by adopting the policies contained in Congressman Ron Paul's Protect Patients and Physicians Privacy Act (HR 2630).
Tell Congress today that you oppose cementing the status quo of government care. Urge your representative and senators to oppose HR 3200 and all other bills that would take control over your health care out of your hands. Click here to sign our petition: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/obama-healthcare.php?projid=66
President Obama ran on a platform of hope and change, but his policies have proved to be not only more of the same, but a fresh stamp of approval on the ways things have been done for the last thirty years.
Real reform starts with freedom, and real hope for America means upholding its founding principle of self-determination.
In Liberty,
John Tate
President
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Obama Unleashes Feared And Crushing “Tytler Cycle” Upon America
YOU ALL MUST READ THIS ARTICLE AND ALL THE LINKS WITHIN IT.
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1272.htm
THIS ONE TELLS YOU HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE NOW AND WHO DID IT,
AND IS CONTINUING TO DO IT TO US.
ALL YOU CAN DO NOW IS TO FIGHT BACK WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO
POSTPONE YOUR INEVITABLE DEATH AT THEIR HANDS.
THIS IS THE REAL DEAL....
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1272.htm
The Tytler Cycle is a theory of democracies formulated by the Scottish historian Alexander Tytler that states:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”
And at 233-years-old since its declaration of independence from the British Empire, the United States falls perfectly into the Tytler Cycle parameters predicting it being on the very cusp of becoming a dictatorship that will enslave its peoples and force upon them a totalitarian fascist police state modeled on that of the former German Nazi Empire headed by the charismatic speaker, Adolph Hitler.
QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all Republics.
~ Plutarch (circa 45 - 125 A.D.)
Japan Joins Chinese Assault Against West, Vows To “Destroy” America
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1271.htm
You'd best read this one and the links in it
as we are only about two months from total collapse.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
For more hard-pressed Americans, a campsite is home
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/08/31/for-more-hard-pressed-americans-a-campsite-is-home/
Camp grounds and tent cities become permanent addresses.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ August 31, 2009 edition
U.S. Dollar Will Weaken, Currency Crash Possible, Roubini Says
U.S. Dollar Will Weaken, Currency Crash Possible, Roubini Says
By Sonia Sirletti and Jeffrey Donovan
Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar will weaken and the U.S. risks seeing a crash of the currency unless it does more to control the deficit and reduce debt, said New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the financial crisis.
“If markets were to believe, and I’m not saying it’s likely, that inflation is going to be the route that the U.S. is going to take to resolve this problem, then you could have a crash of the value of the dollar,” Roubini said in an interview today in Cernobbio, Italy. “The value of the dollar over time has to fall on a trade-weighted basis, but not necessarily relative to euro and yen.”
Roubini said he didn’t see a risk of a dollar crash in the “‘short term.” The value of the U.S. currency relative to currencies such as the yen or the euro “cannot change too much compared to current levels because if the dollar were to weaken a lot and the euro strengthen a lot, that’s going to warp any chance for the European economy to recover, same argument as to the yen,” he said.
“Most of the adjustment of the dollar in the future has to occur relative to China, relative to emerging Asia and relative to some of the other commodity exporters in the world, whether these are advanced economies or emerging markets,” he said.
Foreign creditors need assurances that the U.S. will address its deficit, Roubini said.
“Unless in the medium term these issues of fiscal sustainability are addressed, and unless we mop up that excess liquidity from the financial system, eventually the financial markets and the foreign creditors of the United States might get more concerned about the sustainability of the U.S. fiscal deficit and about the U.S. being tempted to use the inflation tax as a way of resolving its private and public debt problems,” he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net; Jeffrey Donovan in Rome at jdonovan26@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 4, 2009 09:13 EDT
Friday, September 4, 2009
A Need for Some Soul-Searching by Jacob Hornberger
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
FROM FFF.ORG
A Need for Some Soul-Searching
by Jacob G. Hornberger
Close your eyes, let your mind roam, and imagine the following: You are living in a country where the government has the power to round up whomever it wants, incarcerate them for as long it is wants, deny them due process and a trial, and torture them. The government is attacking and occupying other countries. It is confiscating everyone’s income and wealth and doling it out to others. The government is jailing people on a myriad of economic crimes and tax violations.
Now, open your eyes. Welcome to reality. This is the America in which we now live. It is a country whose government is torturing people with impunity and is even proud of it. It is a government that has the power to actually ignore the Bill of Rights by simply labeling people terrorists. It is a country in which vast numbers of people are living off money that the IRS confiscates from others and fighting vociferously for their right to do so, no matter how much damage they are inflicting on the victims. It is country whose government is occupying two foreign countries and has military bases in more than 100 others. It is a country whose government is punishing people for economic crimes and tax crimes.
What a mess this country is in. On the domestic side, you have the liberals, with their deeply engrained socialist philosophy, whose programs forcibly take money from Peter and give it to Paul, magically converting everyone into caring and compassionate saints. Never mind that they’re bankrupting America with their ever-soaring spending, taxes, and debt.
On the foreign side, you have the conservatives, with their deeply engrained imperialist philosophy, whose programs entail militarism, invasions, occupations, torture, kangaroo tribunals, and destruction of civil liberties. Never mind that they’re too bankrupting America with ever-soaring spending, taxes, and debts.
And then you have those multitudes of liberals and conservatives who favor both socialism and imperialism.
But even those two isms are not the major threat that faces our nation. Instead, the biggest threat comes from within ourselves — the moral degeneracy that all this produces within us, a degeneracy that is reflected by increasing numbers of people who see nothing wrong with torture, political confiscation and redistribution of wealth, wars of aggression and occupations, destruction of civil liberties, and the prosecution and punishment of people committing economic crimes and tax violations.
Clearly America is in desperate need of a reexamination of what this nation has become and how far it has strayed from its founding principles, principles that once made America the marvel of the world. Those principles included no income tax, no Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, bailouts, food stamps, farm subsides, and other welfare, no militarism, no wars of aggression and foreign occupations, no torture, and a deep and abiding respect for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
But what is most needed at this point of our existence is some mighty deep soul-searching.
Is this what we as a people are all about?
Rather than look to themselves and to their Creator to help them get through the difficulties of life, as our American ancestors did, modern-day Americans have chosen to render unto Caesar their lives, fortunes, and well-being, the very things that should be rendered to God. And Americans are now reaping the whirlwind, as reflected by the crises, chaos, and disharmony in our daily lives.
The political and economic solution to America’s woes lies in abandoning socialism and imperialism and restoring a free-market, limited-government republic to our land. More fundamentally, however, the solution involves a restoration within the American people of faith in themselves, in others, in freedom, and in God.
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
SINCLAIR GIVES US HIS 'ANGELS', MAGNET PRICES THAT GOLD WILL BE PULLED TO
Giving you gold price objectives has not proved in the past to be in your best interest as we are read by both sides of the gold market spectrum.
However, one time ONLY, here they are:
- $1000. Three tries and success. This is the third try. - $1024 - $1089 - $1156 - $1225 - $1296 - $1369 - $1444 - $1521 - $1600 - $1681
Then on to Alf’s numbers. (GT sez: These numbers are big: like $3000, $5000, $10,000
for the gold price. But it's impractical to put a time frame on them because by then, then
economy will be in a state of revolution. Those kinds of numbers would represent the almost
total hyper inflationary destruction of paper currency in dollars where you would be
running for your life with gold coins on your person to a safer location where you would be
less likely to be robbed, killed and stripped of the gold in your teeth by ravenous, starving
mobs of the idiots left on earth.)
Notice that Sinclair's numbers increase by approximately $75 dollars each level.
They are very accurate, but not infallible numbers and only guides to where gold
will run to each cycle as it moves higher in the next few months, NOT YEARS as
many would like to think.
TIME HAS RUN OUT FOR THE UNITED STATES CURRENCY AND ITS GOVERNMENT
AND WAY OF LIFE.
We will all soon be the largest group of beggars on the planet.
PREPARE FOR IT!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
THE FED ON THE DEFENSIVE
Gary North's REALITY CHECK
Gold's price:
http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/300.htm
The Federal debt:
http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/544.htm
To subscribe to this letter:
http://www.snipurl.com/subscribenow
Issue 887 August 28, 2009
THE FED ON THE DEFENSIVE
I do not recall this in my lifetime. A majority in
the House of Representatives has co-signed H.R. 1207, a
bill introduced by Ron Paul to have the Federal Reserve
System audited by an independent government agency, the
Comptroller General's office.
The bill has been bottled up in committee by Barney
Frank, who has insisted that he is doing this in order to
better coordinate consideration of the best way to gain
greater transparency from the Federal Reserve. He has not
said that he favors an independent audit of the FED.
http://tinyurl.com/m2ua83
It would be easy for Congressman Frank to hold
hearings on the bill. This would allow Dr. Paul to bring
in expert witnesses on the FED to make the case for an
independent audit. It would get a lot of YouTube play. It
would be the first time since the replacement of eccentric
Congressman Wright Patman in 1975 as the chairman of the
House Banking Committee that the FED has been exposed to
anything like serious criticism in Congress. (Patman, an
inflationist and a greenbacker, hated the FED. He was
chairman of the House Banking Committee, 1965-75.)
Congressman Frank has yet to announce hearings.
There was a posting on the DailyPaul site that Frank
will hold hearings soon. Someone heard it on the radio. I
will believe it when I see the YouTube videos.
The FED in June hired a public relations expert, Linda
Robinson, to deal with Congress. She was formerly a
lobbyist for Enron. (http://tinyurl.com/mu64d7) I have
little doubt that it was H.R. 1207 that forced the FED into
this move.
Now Ron Paul's book, "End the Fed," is about to be
published. It is expected to become a best-seller. Think
about this. There have been books attacking the Federal
Reserve System for over ninety years, but they have been
written by obscure people who no one in the general public
has heard of. They have not sold well. They have not been
written by someone who persuaded over half of the House of
Representatives to support a bill to audit the FED. They
have not been written by someone who once raised over $30
million in a run for President.
This is unprecedented. For the first time in the
history of the Federal Reserve System, there are literally
millions of people who have heard of the FED and who would
like to see it shut down.
There have been academic and investment critics of
this or that policy of the FED, most notably Milton
Friedman, who criticized the FED for not inflating enough,
1930-33. But there has never been a serious audience ready
to listen to arguments on why a system of 12 private banks
should oversee monetary policy, and why one of them, the
New York Federal Reserve Bank, should execute this policy
without having to answer to anyone.
THE BLOOMBERG LAWSUIT
The Bloomberg news service has sued the Board of
Governors of the FED under the Freedom of Information Act.
The lawsuit says that it is illegal for the Board of
Governors to refuse to release information on which banks
have received financial aid from the FED.
The Board of Governors countered with this argument.
The New York FED is a privately owned entity. It executes
monetary policy. It is not subject to the Freedom of
Information Act. The FED also argued that the banking
system would be threatened by the release of this
information.
This case went to court. The judge ruled on August 24
that the Board of Governors of the FED must make this
information public no later than August 31.
On August 26, the FED asked the judge not to enforce
her ruling. Why not? Because it would be bad for the
banking system. She had heard that argument before.
Well, what else? The Board of Governors' lawyer
insisted that the Board has no knowledge of what the New
York FED -- its legal agent -- really does. The lawyer
said, "We don't control the system of record-keeping in New
York." She insisted that the Board of Governors just
cannot find out what the New York FED did with the money in
time to meet the deadline.
Apparently, the Board of Governors, a government
agency, has taken seriously Jesus' words regarding charity
(alms):
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms
may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly (Matthew
6:3-4).
The two FEDS, the government one and the private one,
were surely involved in the charity business, to the tune
of a trillion dollars or so. This was a system of handouts
on an unprecedented scale.
The Father in Washington has surely rewarded the FED
in the past. The FED expects more of the same in the
future. But now this pesky lawsuit forces an opening of
the books.
Is the lawyer's argument credible? Perhaps the judge
will not regard it as credible. So, the FED had another
argument. The FED wants to her to wait until the case can
be heard on appeal. But there was a hitch. The FED did
not say when it intends to appeal.
http://tinyurl.com/mq5hkh
Here is the FED, with a court ruling against it, and
with the clock ticking, admitting that it has no date set
to file an appeal. Its lawyers apparently had no fall-back
position. Is this credible? Of course not.
Will it work? We shall see. If it does work, and if
H. R. 1207 remains bottled up in committee, the growing
army of people who have finally found out about the FED
will have two more pieces of evidence that the U.S.
government does not run the FED.
If the bill passes the House and the Senate, Obama
will veto it. The FED is not going to be audited by the
government. That is not how the world works. The FED is
only officially under government authority. Except in
wartime, it has never been under government authority. It
was set up to provide the illusion of government control.
That illusion has worked since 1913.
The FED does face a major problem. If it escapes from
both the Congress and the courts, this will sell lots more
copies of "End the Fed." On the other hand, if the court
system finally forces the FED to reveal who got what and on
what terms, then banks in the future will hesitate to go to
the FED, hat in hand, because the public learn who was
begging for a bailout. This is not the sort of information
that big bank bankers want the financial press to discover,
let alone the Internet.
The handouts went to the big banks. Most banks were
ignored. They were allowed to sink or swim. This has
created a problem: bank bankruptcies every weekend for as
far as the eye can see.
416 PROBLEM BANKS
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, flush with
a $30 billion loan from Congress, has announced that its
list of problem banks climbed in one month from 305 to 416.
The list is secret, of course, for the same reason that the
New York FED's list is secret. The FDIC does not want to
cause a run on any of the 416 banks.
A bank run these days takes the form of wire transfers
and checks written to other banks to open an account. The
money supply remains constant. Some banks lose; others
win. The bad banks go bust.
The FDIC then has to buy up all of their bad assets.
Solvent banks then buy the good assets. The big winners
are the solvent banks that buy their rivals' assets at
fire-sale prices. The big losers are taxpayers and
investors who believe that all of the Treasury debt that
Congress must sell to cover its loan to the FDIC will be
repaid in real money some day.
On August 27, the FDIC announced that its member
institutions lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter of
2009. In a press release that was reminiscent of "Spin
City," the head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, announced:
"While challenges remain, evidence is building
that the U.S. economy is starting to grow again,"
said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair. "Banking industry
performance is -- as always -- a lagging
indicator. The banking industry, too, can look
forward to better times ahead. But, for now, the
difficult and necessary process of recognizing
loan losses and cleaning up balance sheets
continues to be reflected in the industry's
bottom line."
Translation: "The economy is better off than the banks
are, and the economy remains in the pits. Why? Because
banks are not lending. Someday, things will turn around
for the banking system as a whole, but don't get your hopes
up. Cleaning up bank balance sheets these days is
comparable to cleaning up the Augean stables, for all you
classics buffs out there."
Chairman Bair went on to say, "The FDIC was
created specifically for times such as these. No
matter how challenging the environment, the FDIC
has ample resources to continue protecting
depositors as we have for the last 75 years. No
insured depositor has ever lost a penny of
insured deposits...and no one ever will."
Translation: "Congress may have to fork over another
couple of hundred bullion -- maybe $500 billion, if Senator
Dodd's bill is signed into law -- but no one will ever lose
a penny in an FDIC-insured bank. But taxpayers will pay a
pretty penny to whoever buys all those T-bills that
Congress will have to issue to keep the FDIC solvent."
The press release reported the following.
1. Total assets of insured institutions
declined by $238 billion.
2. The number of institutions on the FDIC's
"Problem List" rose. At the end of June,
there were 416 insured institutions on the
"Problem List," up from 305 on March 31.
3. Total reserves of the Deposit Insurance Fund
(DIF) stood at $42 billion. [No mention of
the $30 billion loan from Congress to get
reserves back up.]
http://tinyurl.com/l3n8aa
How bad is this number: 416 problem banks? Not as bad
as 1882 problem banks. That is the estimate of
Institutional Risk Analytics, a private research firm. The
organization gave a grade of F to 1882 banks, as of June
30. This figure was up by 16.5% since late March.
What about the number of A-rated banks? The number
was down by 21% since late March.
This list does not include the 19 big banks that went
through the stress tests, which all of them passed. The
stress tests assumed that big banks would have enough
capital to withstand a 9% loss rate over the next two
years. The problem is, according to the company's managing
director, that we are already at 9% loss rates, and we are
not yet at the bottom of the cycle. If the economy does
not recover by the 4th quarter, banking statistics will
head down in 2010. (http://tinyurl.com/nr2z67)
The Federal Reserve System intervened to save the
financial system in 2008. But has the system as a whole
recovered? No. Has unemployment stopped rising? No. Has
the economy recovered? No.
GROWING HOSTILITY TO THE FED
Always in the past, the Federal Reserve has remained
free from serious criticism. The media are obedient lap
dogs. So are the academic economists. The textbooks never
point out that the FED is the enforcing arm of a huge
cartel. The professors refrain from applying to the FED
their analyses in their chapters on cartels.
Today, for the first time, there is a growing audience
of intelligent people who are being exposed to the truth
about the FED. This has taken place outside Establishment
channels, which includes the largest talk radio shows.
The FED has had a 90-year free ride. That ride is
over. The FED will never again get off scott-free. The
Web is sufficient to continue to inform people regarding
the economic disasters that the FED has caused by its anti-
recession, big bank bailout policies.
Bernanke is pursuing the same low-interest rate policy
that Greenspan pursued from mid-2000 to mid-2004. A few
mainstream critics of Greenspan now say that his policy
failed. But they refuse to say that Bernanke's policy is
the same, and that the resulting crises will be worse.
The critics do not see the operations of the FED in
terms of a consistent theory of monetary cause and effect.
They view monetary policy as somehow based on personality
of the Chairman. Before, Greenspan was "the Maestro."
Bernanke is "the Professor." The policies are the same:
pump and dump. The FED pumps up the money supply, and the
Treasury dumps T-bills and T-bonds on the FED.
The FED has promised to unwind its doubled monetary
base (balance sheet) when the economy revives. In recent
months, it has sold off some debt. The monetary base is
down from its peak. The Treasury has been able to sell its
debt to investors who still dear the economy. This cannot
go on for more than a year unless the economy stays in
recession. The size of the deficits will be too great.
The FED really is trapped unless the economy revives,
commercial bank credit to private industry revives, and
price inflation remains low. But a revival of commercial
bank lending will turn the FED's monetary base into
spendable money. The M1 money supply will double. The M1
money multiplier will go positive. At that point, the FED
will have to unwind, meaning sell off assets. To whom? At
what interest rate? It will be in competition with both
the Treasury and Fannie/Freddie.
CONCLUSION
The FED has never had to play defense. It has had a
free ride. The free ride is over.
The general public has still not heard of the FED.
The FED still has the advantage of invisibility. But it is
losing that invisibility. This is not going to change.
The FED is a legitimate target for people who think
the government botches the economy. It is the classic
example of the much-praised government-business alliance.
It is the consummate model of that alliance. When it fails
to achieve its twin official goals of low unemployment and
low price inflation, millions of its economic victims will
figure out who the culprit is.
End the Fed.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Mind blowing speech by Robert Welch in 1958 predicting Insiders plans to destroy America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZU0c8DAIU4
AUDIT THE FED BILL NEEDS TO STAND ALONE..FROM RON PAUL'S CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY
August 31, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Our grassroots Revolution has set its sights on restoring a sound monetary policy to our nation, and every day we are awakening more of our countrymen to the dangers of Federal Reserve secrecy and its stranglehold on our economy.
A year ago, no one in the political establishment would have believed that a bill to thoroughly audit the Fed would have almost two-thirds of the House (including every Republican representative and nearly one hundred Democrats) and a quarter of the Senate on board.
Certainly, no one would have bet that three-fourths of the American people would support such an audit.
As many of you may have heard by now, recent statements from Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have indicated that the House will vote on Audit the Fed in the next few months.
However, rather than voting on HR 1207 as a standalone bill, many in Congress hope to roll it into the comprehensive regulatory reform package recently proposed by the White House.
This reform package grants new, more comprehensive powers to the Fed and strengthens the government's control over our economy. C4L and other friends of liberty stand in opposition to this proposal, as well as any other attempt to convert this historic movement for transparency into yet another rubber-stamping of politics as usual.
It is imperative that Audit the Fed come before the House and Senate on its own merits.
The American people stand behind a thorough audit of the Fed, and we should not be adding additional powers when we don't fully know what is being done with the ones they currently have.
Call Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office today at (202) 225-0100 and urge her to stand with the American people by giving the Audit the Fed bill full debate and a standalone vote on the House floor.
contact your representatives and senators and ask them to get behind Audit the Fed if they have not yet done so. If they have already cosponsored, tell them to push for a roll call vote on HR 1207 and S 604 on the bills' own merits.
MUST READ ARTICLE ON A SECRET NEW GUN BILL THAT COULD TAKE YOUR GUNS AND YOUR FREEDOM
FORWARDED TO ME BY GOLDMELTER
PLEASE EVERYONE , PASS THIS TO EVERYONE---- AND CONTACT YOUR REP/ OR SENATOR...
OBAMA AND HIS PEOPLE DO FEAR AMERICANS.. THATS WHY THEY WANT YOU DISARMED
Please read below and take action with your representatives.
Senate Bill SB-2099 will require us to put on our 2009 1040 federal tax form all guns that you have or own. It may require fingerprints and a tax of $50 per gun.
This bill was introduced on Feb.. 24. This bill will become public knowledge 30 days after it is voted into law. This is an amendment to the Internal Revenue Act of 1986. This means that the Finance Committee can pass this without the Senate voting on it at all.
The full text of the proposed amendment is on the U.S. Senate homepage,http://www.senate.gov/
You can find the bill by doing a search by the bill number, SB-2099.
You know who to call; I strongly suggest you do. Please send a copy of this e-mail to every gun owner you know.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text
Congress is now starting on the firearms confiscation bill.
If it passes, gun owners will become criminals if you don't fully comply.
It has started.
Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House.
This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009.
Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because the government is trying to fly it under the radar.
To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.
Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:
It is registered -You are fingerprinted -You supply a current Driver's License -You supply your Social Security # -You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing -Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25 - Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail. -There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18. -They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison.
If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this. It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along. Any hunters in your family pass this along.
This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it.
This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-45
Please.. copy and send this out to EVERYONE in the USA , whether you support the Right to Bear Arms or are for gun control. We all should have the right to choose.
GOLDMELTER FORWARDS AN EMAIL ON HOW THE OBAMA ADMIN CONTROLS OBAMA VISIT TO MONTANA
This was sent to me by a friend in Bozeman , MT who was there.
Hello All,
By now you have probably heard that President Obama came to Montana last Friday. However, there are many things that the major news has not covered. I feel that since Bill and I live here and we were at the airport on Friday I should share some facts with you. Whatever you decide to do with the information is up to you. If you chose to share this email with others I do ask that you DELETE my email address before you forward this on.
On Wednesday, August 5th it was announced locally that the President would be coming here. There are many groups here that are against his healthcare and huge spending so those groups began talking and deciding on what they were going to do. The White House would not release ANY details other than the date.
On about Tuesday Bill found out that they would be holding the "Town Hall" at the airport. (This is only because Bill knows EVERYONE at the airport) Our airport is actually located outside of Belgrade (tiny town) in a very remote location. Nothing is around there. They chose to use a hangar that is the most remotely located hangar. You could not pick a more remote location, and you can not get to it easily. It is totally secluded from the public.
FYI: We have many areas in Belgrade and Bozeman which could have held a large amount of folks with sufficient parking. (gymnasiums/auditoriums). All of which have chairs and tables, and would not have to be SHIPPED IN!! $$$$$
During the week, cargo by the TONS was being shipped in constantly. Airport employees could not believe how it just kept coming. Though it was our President coming several expressed how excessive it was, especially during a recession. $$$$$
Late Tuesday/early Wednesday the 12th, they said that tickets would be handed out on Thursday 9am at two locations and the president would be arriving around 12:30 Friday.
Thursday morning about 600 tickets were passed out. However, 1500 were printed at a Local printing shop per White=2 0House request. Hmmmm......900 tickets just DISAPPEARED.
This same morning someone called into the radio from the local UPS branch and said that THOUSANDS of Dollars of Lobster were shipped in for Obama. Montana has some of the best beef in the nation!!! And it would have been really wonderful to help out the local economy. Anyone heard of the Recession?? Just think...with all of the traveling the White House is doing. $$$$$ One can only imagine what else we are paying for.
On Friday Bill and I got out to the airport about 10:45am. The groups that wanted to protest Obama's spending and healthcare had gotten a permit to protest and that area was roped off. But that was not to be. A large bus carrying SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members drove up onto the area (illegal)and unloaded right there. It was quite a commotion and there were specifically 2 SEIU men trying to make trouble and start a fight. Police did get involved and arrested the one man but they said they did not have the manpower to remove the SEIU crowd.
The SEIU crowd was very organized and young. About 99% were under the age of 30 and they were not locals! They had bullhorns and PROFESSIONALLY made signs. Some even wore preprinted T-shirts. Oh, and Planned Parenthood folks were with them.....professing abortion rights with their T-shirts and preprinted signs. (BTW, all these folks did have a permit to protest in ANOTHER area)
Those against healthcare/spending moved away from the SEIU crowd to avoid confrontation. They were orderly and respectful. Even though SEIU kept coming over and walking through, continuing to be very intimidating and aggressive at the direction of the one SEIU man.
So we had Montana folks from ALL OVER the state with their homemade signs and their DOGS with homemade signs. We had cowboys, nurses, doctors you name it. There was even a guy from Texas who had been driving through. He found out about the occasion, went to the store, made a sign, and came to protest.
If you are wondering about the press.....Well, all of the major networks were over by that remote hangar I mentioned. They were conveniently parked on the other side of the buildings FAR away. None of these crowds were even visible to them. I have my doubts that they knew anything about the crowds.
We did have some local news media around us from this state and Idaho . Speaking of the local media...they were invited. However, all questions were to be turned into the White House in advance of the event. Wouldn't want anyone to have to think off the top of their head.
It was very obvious that it was meant to be totally controlled by the White House. Everything was orchestrated down to the last detail to make it appear that Montana is just crazy for Obama and government healthcare. Even those people that talked about their insurance woes........the White House called our local HRDC (Human Resource and Development Committee) and asked for names. Then the White House asked those folks to come. Smoke and mirrors...EVERYTHING was staged!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very dismayed about what I learned about our current White House. The amount of control and manipulation was unbelievable. I felt I was not living in the United States of America , more like the USSR !! I was physically nauseous. Bill and I have been around when Presidents or Heads of State visit. It has NEVER been like this. I am truly very frightened for our country. America needs your prayers and your voices. If you care about our country please get involved. Know the issues. And let Congress hear your voices again and again!! If they are willing to put forth so much effort to BULLY a small town one can only imagine what is going on in Washington DC . Scary!!
Kathy
Bozeman , Montana
Sunday, August 30, 2009
ARMSTRONG ECONOMICS...A MUST READ
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19199220/Will-Gold-Reach-5000-809
WILL GOLD REACH $5000?
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
Thursday, August 27, 2009
HAILE SELASSIE I
"that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; that until there is no longer any first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; that until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race -- until that day, the dreams of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained: Speech by H.I.M. HAILE SELASSIE I - California 28th February 1968
Ludwig von Mises
The main issue in present-day political struggles is whether society should be organized on the basis of private ownership of the means of production (capitalism, the market system) or on the basis of public control of the means of production (socialism, communism, planned economy). Capitalism means free enterprise, sovereignty of the consumers in economic matters, and sovereignty of the voters in political matters. Socialism means full government control of every sphere of the individual's life and the unrestricted supremacy of the government in its capacity as central board of production management. There is no compromise possible between these two systems. Contrary to popular fallacy there is no middle way, no third system possible as a pattern of a permanent social order. The citizens must choose between capitalism and socialism or, as many Americans say, between the American and the Russian way of life.
— Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy [1944]
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Free the Drug Users and Tax Resisters Too
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Free the Drug Users and Tax Resisters Too
by Jacob G. Hornberger
If we’re going to let federal officials who have violated federal criminal statutes against torture off the hook, then why shouldn’t drug users and tax resisters be pardoned at the same time? After all, what the drug users and tax resisters have done pales in comparison to what the torturers have done. If the torturers are permitted to go scot-free, then the drug users and tax resisters deserve to be freed as well.
Let’s compare the respective crimes.
The torturers have initiated force against other people in violation of federal criminal statutes. That force has sometimes caused terrible damage to the victims, including physical injury, psychological disorder, and even death.
There are those who say that since the torture was done to terrorists, the torturers should be let off the hook.
But there are two big problems with that justification.
First, while the people who have been tortured have been accused of terrorism, none of them has ever been convicted of the offense. Even the CIA and the military acknowledge that the suspected terrorists they have labeled as “enemy combatants” in the “war on terrorism” are entitled to a trial to determine whether they are in fact guilty of what they have been accused of. That’s what those kangaroo military tribunals are all about — to create the appearance that a fair trial is being held to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.
Under America’s system of justice, all people accused of a crime are presumed innocent. That presumption continues to operate continuously up to the point that a person is convicted of the crime with which he is charged.
Thus, the torturers have tortured people who have never been convicted of a crime, neither in federal court nor by a kangaroo military tribunal — people whose presumed innocence has never been altered by a criminal conviction.
In fact, many of those people whom the government labeled as “enemy-combatant terrorists” have been released by the government without any trial whatsoever, not even before a kangaroo military tribunal. That constitutes fairly strong circumstantial evidence that they were, in fact, innocent.
So, in violating federal criminal laws against torture, the torturers have severely harmed or killed people who have never been convicted of a crime, people whom the law presumes are innocent of the crime that the CIA or the military accused them of, many of whom were ultimately released without a trial by the authorities.
Second, even if a person is convicted of terrorism, whether in federal court or by a kangaroo military tribunal, where is the morality in torturing him at that point? There isn’t any. That’s in fact why our American ancestors, through the Bill of Rights, expressly prohibited federal officials from inflicting cruel and unusual punishments on people, including people who had been convicted of federal criminal offenses.
Now, compare the federal crimes of drug possession and tax evasion.
Many of the people who have been convicted of violating those federal criminal statutes are sitting in a federal penitentiary, possibly for the next several years or even the rest of their lives. Yet, what force did they initiate against other people? Answer: None. Unlike the torturers, they haven’t employed force that has resulted in physical or mental damage against anyone or caused the death of anyone.
In fact, the only damage that drug users have caused is to themselves and possibly their families. Is that a valid reason for keeping them incarcerated? Why shouldn’t that be their personal business and the business of their families? What business does the state have punishing them for having engaging in purely self-destructive conduct? Do we permit the state to do the same with respect to alcoholics or tobacco users?
In principle, it’s really no different with respect to tax resisters. They too haven’t initiated any force against other people that has resulted in mental or physical pain or death. All they’ve done is evade taxes, a purely peaceful act. Why should they be facing years in jail for that?
While Switzerland treats tax fraud (e.g., false documents) as a crime, it does not treat tax evasion as a criminal offense. When people are caught evading taxes, the Swiss government’s remedy is limited to a civil proceeding in which the government seeks payment of the back taxes plus penalty and interest. Their belief is that tax evasion is not a matter for criminal penalties, only civil ones.
If we’re going to let the torturers off the hook, then isn’t it only fair to let the drug users and tax resisters off the hook too? If the torturers aren’t going be punished for inflicting severe pain or even death in violation of federal criminal statutes, then the drug possessors and tax resisters, who haven’t initiated force against anyone, deserve no less.
FROM RON PAUL'S CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY ON HEALTHCARE
GOOGLE 'CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY' TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS
THE LINKS FROM THIS EMAIL
August 26, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Make no mistake: there's a strong, unrelenting push to destroy what remains of private health care in this country.
And now congressional leaders are attempting to overcome their scheme's plunging approval numbers by manipulating Ted Kennedy's death to create support for a “legacy” health care bill.
Our representatives and senators are eager to get back to Washington and away from the tremendous grassroots opposition to health control.
Which means it's time for us to turn up the heat.
Click here to get contact information to write, call, and fax Congress to express your outrage at their plans to finish taking over what remains of private health care. And be sure to sign our "Stop the Government Health Care Scheme" petition.
Health control propagandists claim that we are defending the status quo of a "failed" private sector by opposing their latest scheme.
However, their bill cements the status quo in health care: continuing (and expanding) government intrusion.
Protectionist regulations have decimated competition in health insurance at the local level, and the vast, complex tax code has subsidized employer-provided high cost health care. The FDA, in the name of consumer protection, has restricted the supply of drugs from home and abroad. And individuals are barred from shopping across state lines for health insurance.
Watch this YouTube video (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=24061) to see a ER physician describe how the government obstructs the supply of health services.
Does any of that really sound like the free market at work to you?
Government-manipulated health care is bankrupting this country. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are drowning in tens of trillions of dollars worth of unfunded liabilities and red ink, yet the response from Congress is to propose more 1,000+ page bills that will move our health care system perilously close to other nations' statist care.
You know as well as I that this unfair plan is doomed to be a fiscal nightmare comparable to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that Congress-created HMOs are notorious for denying care to control spiraling costs.
Our nation has seen enough big government schemes, especially in medicine. President Obama is right about one thing: it's time to take action.
It's time to let the free market work.
COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/hr3200action.php) for contact information for the House and Senate in order to demand real reform. In addition to contacting your representative and senators, be sure to campaign hard for health freedom at your local townhall meeting.
Urge your representative to fight to allow individuals to shop across state lines for insurance, curb the authority of the FDA to prevent Americans from going outside the country for cheaper medications, and enable individuals to purchase their own health insurance without being taxed for doing so.
Tell Congress to give Americans control over their health care by giving them control over their health care dollar via tax credits and deductions similar to those outlined in Congressman Ron Paul's Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act (HR 1495).
Ask your congressman to protect privacy rights by allowing patients and physicians to opt-out of any government-mandated or funded system of electronic health care records, and to repeal the federal law creating an "unique patient identifier" by adopting the policies contained in Congressman Ron Paul's Protect Patients and Physicians Privacy Act (HR 2630).
In the meantime, we can push for reform of our respective state's competition-destroying mandates on private insurers. These simple, common-sense reforms would immediately alleviate the costs of health care without adding to the exploding national debt.
And if you are able, please donate to Campaign for Liberty today so that we can educate Americans on a true free market health care system and defeat this latest health control scheme.
Don't let the proponents of Obamacare sell you on the notion that we need the government to save us from the mess that government made. Click here to demand that Congress support legitimate health care reform!
In Liberty,
John Tate
President
P.S. Campaign for Liberty is committed to fighting this health control scheme and Congress' other attempts to further shred our Constitution, but we can't do it without your continued support. Please contribute to Campaign for Liberty today to ensure we can not only defeat big government's plans for our lives, but also champion the principles of freedom, peace, and prosperity.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Global War and Dying Democracy: The Revolution of the Elites
Five Part series of articles
Go to the list of links for the five articles
to start at the first one
Credit to Goldmelter for the link
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14839
Dismantle Bernanke's 'Happy Conspiracy' ... now!
Dismantle Bernanke's 'Happy Conspiracy' ... now!
6 reasons more power for the Fed will destroy capitalism and democracy
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dismantle-bernankes-happy-conspiracy-now-2009-08-25
Monday, August 24, 2009
Takeover Of All Food Production From Farm To Fork Almost Complete!
http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/articles/10443121107/article
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Six Important Gold Price Indicators
Recommended reading by Jim Sinclair
http://seekingalpha.com/article/157195-six-important-gold-price-indicators
GARY NORTH...WHY WE LET THE STATE TAX US
Gary North's REALITY CHECK
Gold's price:
http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/300.htm
The Federal debt:
http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/544.htm
To subscribe to this letter:
http://www.snipurl.com/subscribenow
Issue 885 August 21, 2009
WHO WILL INHERIT YOUR MONEY WHEN YOU DIE?
"Tell me what country I will die in. I will
never go there."
Men do not like to think about their inheritance.
That's because of the word "die." This is why they delay
writing a will. A will is like a road map to the border of
the final country. "I will never go there."
But they will, with or without the map. Everyone
knows this, but almost everyone who has not been diagnosed
with a fatal disease assumes that he has at least five more
years to live. For 4.9 years, this assumption is
incorrect.
Some men hire a lawyer to draw up a will for them
(cheap or free). The lawyer names himself as the executor
(retirement income).
Other men hire a lawyer to draw up a living trust or
revocable trust ($2,000 for computerized boilerplate).
One way or another, someone will inherit. The capital
will be used by someone else for his purposes.
Most men think that their children will extend their
posthumous legacy. Why should they believe this? Because
they never ask themselves these questions.
1. Do my children think the way I do?
2. Why should they think the way I do?
3. Do I think the way my father did?
4. Do their spouses think the way I do?
5. What is the evidence that they do?
6. Are my children good with money?
7. What is the evidence that they are?
8. Are their spouses good with money?
9. What is the evidence that they are?
10. Will the money be worth anything?
11. What is the evidence that it will be?
The government understands inheritance far better than
most parents do. The government has determined that it
will impose an inheritance tax.
Rich men hire lawyers to devise ways around the
inheritance tax. Less rich men think they will beat the
inheritance tax altogether. That is for rich men to worry
about, they think. They are wrong. So are the rich men.
THE REAL INHERITANCE TAX
The inheritance tax is to governments what the red
cape is to a matador. It focuses the victim's attention
away from the sword.
The inheritance tax begins to be collected early. It
is collected by a special team of tax collectors. Like all
tax collectors, their salaries are paid for by the
taxpayers.
The government has purchased specially designed tax-
collection vehicles, comparable to Brinks or Loomis armored
cars. We see them on the road nine months a year. They
are painted yellow. When their red lights are flashing,
don't pass them. I have written about them here.
http://lewrockwell.com/north/north278.html
Government officials, unlike parents, understand that
the secret of inheriting enormous wealth is to persuade the
heirs to spend the money your way, not the deceased's way.
The money is merely capital. The crucial factor is the
will.
Human will.
This is why, in every nation, the government requires
attendance at schools. It then taxes people to fund these
schools. The handful of schools that it does not fund it
regulates. The schools that it does not regulate are so
few in number that the government ignores them.
This strategy was spelled out in detail by the scholar
who is sometimes called the father of American central
planning: Lester Frank Ward. His 1883 book, "Dynamic
Sociology," presented the program. First, destroy all
private education. Second, force parents to send their
children to tax-funded schools. Third, filter out all
objectionable ideas in the textbooks and classrooms.
Ward hated inequality. He hated inequality in
intelligence. He wanted to equalize intelligence. He had
a plan to do this.
The system of private education, all things
considered, is not only a very bad one, but,
properly viewed, it is absolutely worse than
none, since it tends to increase inequality in
the existing intelligence, which is a worse evil
than a general state of intelligence would be.
(Vol. 2, p. 588)
Society, through the State and through the public
schools, must place teachers in charge, and these teachers
must be independent of three groups: "parents, guardians,
and pupils." (II, p. 590)
PARENTS SURRENDER CONTROL
At some point, parents surrender control over the
content of their children's education. Some parents hold
out longer than others.
Normally this takes place when the child reaches the
age of six. Compulsory attendance laws take over. The
parent must either send the child to a tax-funded school
that his taxes pay for, or send him to a private school, or
educate the child at home.
The first decision is easy and uncontroversial. The
second is expensive in terms of money. The third is
expensive in terms of the mother's time. If she works
outside the home, she must quit in order to stay home and
teach her children.
The father bows out at this point. He is only rarely
involved in the education of his children. Farmers were
the last to surrender this freedom in the late 19th
century. Only Old Order Amish fathers still teach their
sons today, at least after the sons graduate from the
eighth grade. The states allow them to go home at this
age. It took a Supreme Court case to give the Old Order
Amish this exemption. ("Wisconsin v. Yoder," 1972).
The second decision -- putting the child into a
private school -- is rarely resorted to. The parents
assume that the school system is trustworthy, at the
prevailing price. The parents at this point surrender to
the New York City-based textbook publishing companies.
This is where New York and Washington take control
over the inheritance. The goal is simple: to shape the
agenda of the children. If they can do this, they gain the
inheritance. The money flows down government-approved
channels.
For over a century, they have gained this inheritance.
This is by far the longest-term plan that the New
York/Washington axis has -- the true axis of evil.
In Great Britain, it is one city: London. In France,
it is one: Paris. In Germany, it is one: Berlin, and in
Japan it is one: Tokyo. In Russia, it is one: Moscow.
This system has led to the so-far unbreakable control
over the West by bureaucrats. The heirs cannot think apart
from a series of slogans. These slogans place limits on
the terms of political discourse. These limits channel the
forces of politics down approved paths. The debates take
place within a framework that does not threaten the Powers
That Be. It allows different factions of these powers to
gain temporary control.
Let us consider a few of the more widespread slogans.
These are inculcated in the textbooks, the state-accredited
classrooms, and the media.
1. FDR saved capitalism from itself.
2. It is better to have a little inflation than
a depression.
3. Deficits don't matter.
4. We owe it to ourselves.
5. Society's great complexity requires government
planning.
6. If the government did not take action, poor
people would starve.
7. Society needs a government-supplied safety net.
8. The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say.
9. The solution is more education.
10. Everybody deserves. . . .
11. Everyone should pay his fair share.
12. Criminals should pay their debt to society.
13. There oughta be a law.
Not one of these is true. All are either actively
promoted by the public or at least grudgingly accepted.
The conservatives love this one. "Criminals should
pay their debt to society." This is the first judicial
step toward tyranny. It denies justice to the victim. It
substitutes the State for the victim. The injured party is
not the victim; rather, it is the State. The State
therefore must tax the injured party to incarcerate the
criminal.
Think "disinheritance of the victim."
What did Moses say?
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill
it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an
ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be
found breaking up [in], and be smitten that he
die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the
sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed
for him; for he should make full restitution; if
he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his
theft. If the theft be certainly found in his
hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep;
he shall restore double (Exodus 22:1-4).
This was a system of restitution. The thief owed his
victim. If he could not pay, then he was to be sold into
slavery and the sale price given to the victim.
This is exactly what the U.S. Constitution authorizes.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction (13th Amendment).
Were you taught this in high school? For that matter,
were you taught that the United States are plural
Constitutionally? The text says "any place subject to
their jurisdiction."
Filtered? Yes.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say." True or
false? With respect to "Cases affecting Ambassadors, other
public Ministers and Consuls" -- consuls? -- true.
However, "In all the other Cases before mentioned, the
Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both to
Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such
Regulations as the Congress shall make" (Article III).
Were you taught this in high school? Or was this
information filtered?
These judicial matters are not hidden. They are in
plain sight. The Constitution is short and highly
specific. These matters are right in front of our
collective noses. But our collective noses no longer can
conduct the famous smell test.
When you walk into a stranger's house, you can smell
it. When you walk into your own, you can't.
The bureaucrats have employed a kind of ideological
incense to keep the heirs from smelling confiscation in the
air. Over time, even the parents no longer smell something
fishy.
This is part of the most brilliant inheritance tax
scheme of all time. It is working all over the world.
There is a model for it. We find it in the Bible.
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of
his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the
children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and
of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish,
but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and
cunning in knowledge, and understanding science,
and such as had ability in them to stand in the
king's palace, and whom they might teach the
learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the
king appointed them a daily provision of the
king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so
nourishing them three years, that at the end
thereof they might stand before the king (Daniel
1:3-5).
When was the last time you heard a sermon on this
passage, where the pastor identified the contemporary
Babylonians and the contemporary Hebrews? As I like to
say, "the one will be the first." The larger the
congregation, the less likely the sermon.
The Apostle Paul spoke to the king in whose court he
was accused. "For the king knoweth of these things, before
whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of
these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not
done in a corner" (Acts 26:26).
The State's inheritance program is not openly
revealed, but the institutional foundation of it has not
been hidden in a corner. It is open. The victims defend
it, for if they did not defend it, they would be faced with
the personal cost of escaping from it.
CONCLUSION
R. J. Rushdoony had little patience with conservatives
who complained about high taxes. "They have tithed their
children to the State, and then they complain against how
much the government is costing them." He thought all such
tax protests would come to nothing. Well, not nothing,
exactly. Mass inflation.
We live in a world where the tax collector is a
matador. "Keep your eye on the red cape." Conservatives
think they are making progress when they say, "No, no; keep
your eye on the red ink."
Keep your eye on the yellow buses.
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Saturday, August 22, 2009
The One-Hour Meltdown...credit to FLARPH for the article
The One-Hour Meltdown
Copyright © July 22, 2009
by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
Introduction
The following is just my opinion. It is nothing more than my opinion. I have nothing to substantiate or prove any aspect of my opinion. My opinion is simply the logical conclusion of a law-abiding sixty-year old Christian grandfather who has both an engineering degree and an M.B.A. degree and who has seen both good times and hard times during his life.
The Current Situation:
At the present time every nation in the entire world is facing serious financial and social stress. If only a few nations were involved then it might be possible to contain the upcoming meltdown to a few specific geographical areas. This has been successfully done in the past. However, since the entire world is currently on the edge of the cliff, when the meltdown begins it will impact almost everyone on the face of the earth.
Unless God chooses to intervene, the meltdown is no longer avoidable. Our governments and our financial institutions are no longer in control. However, to keep the system working just a little longer they must maintain the illusion that they have the system under control. But the system is broken and it can't be fixed.
There are two reasons why the system can't be fixed:
1. It has grown beyond its own capacity to support itself.
2. It has become so complex that no one can do anything significant to fix it because it is hemorrhaging in too many different places.
The average person in every nation on the face of the earth knows the meltdown is coming. The wealthy people know it. The poor people know it. Nobody wants it to happen. But almost everyone is just patiently waiting for it to begin and at the same time hoping that it doesn't begin too soon.
Nobody knows when the meltdown will actually start. It may begin one-month from now. Or a year from now. Or three-years from now.
But almost everyone knows that at some future date the meltdown will occur.
This widespread knowledge of the impending disaster is the reason that when the disaster begins it will quickly and completely spiral out-of-control in one-hour or less. In my opinion, most people do not seriously believe it could happen this quickly. Most people expect a more gradual meltdown. They may be right because nobody can predict the future, and that includes myself.
The One-Hour Meltdown
However, my personal opinion is that once the meltdown begins then in less than one-hour it will quickly escalate far beyond anyone's ability to control or manage it on a worldwide basis. The five basic assumptions that cause me to believe in my "one-hour meltdown theory" are as follows:
1. Banks: The financial institutions around the world cannot withstand a full-scale worldwide bank run. Therefore, they have already made plans to immediately shut down the instant they are told to do so. Within minutes, all across the globe, all the ATM machines will be offline, all credit card and debit card verification transactions will be halted, and all banks will have their vaults locked and their doors locked and their building emptied of all personnel, except perhaps for some special security guards. All high-level bank executives will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations. All telephone call inquiries to any of the financial institutions will be automatically answered by a computer with a pre-recorded message similar to the following: "Our system is currently experiencing an extremely high call volume and therefore we are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try again later when our call volume returns to normal."
2. Governments: The vast majority of our government leaders all over the world are relatively intelligent individuals. They completely understand the ramifications of a "bank holiday" in our computer controlled financial economy. Therefore, all government offices will also be immediately shut down, and they will empty their buildings and lock their doors. Any transaction in progress, including any trials in progress, will be immediately halted and postponed until some future date. All high-level government officials, including all judges and tax officials, will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations.
3. Retail Businesses: Since they will be unable to process even simple transactions, all retail establishments, both large and small, will immediately lock their doors to prevent anyone else from entering. If possible, they will complete any transactions for customers already inside their building if those customers have enough cash to pay for their purchases. Any customers wishing to pay by check or credit card or debit card will be told that the verification system is down and their transaction can't be completed. All customers will then be immediately escorted to the doors and the doors will be briefly opened and then immediately locked after they exit. In addition, in a manner similar to what happened during the World Trade Center meltdown, each store's management may demand that their employees remain at their stations until further notice or they will lose their jobs for leaving without management's permission. But most of the more intelligent employees will leave at the same time as the store's last few remaining customers. The store's special security guards may or may not remain behind in order to protect the store with their lives. Since most of these special security guards are not paid exceptionally well, a large number of them may decide that they should return home and protect their own families instead.
4. Criminals: Anyone and everyone who has any criminal tendencies and who has been patiently waiting for this to happen will immediately see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve their financial situation. More than likely the vast majority of these criminals have already made very detailed plans that includes exactly which businesses they are going to rob first, second, third, and so on. Any business with a reasonable level of cash-on-hand will be very high on every criminal's list. Every jewelry store and pawn shop that has any type of silver or gold jewelry, or precious stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc.), will be very high on everyone's list. The warfare that breaks out at these establishments between competing criminals will not be pleasant.
5. Normal People: Normal average people will begin looting. Grocery stores will be broken into and they will be completely emptied from wall-to-wall, including the rear storage area, in less than one-hour. Stores that have firearms, ammunition, appliances, clothing, shoes, or anything else needed by the average citizen will be emptied in less than one-hour. In skirmishes over the few remaining resources, normal average people will begin killing one another inside the stores, and in the parking lots outside the stores, and on the streets as these fully loaded vehicles try to escape with their loot.
The above events will all happen simultaneously during the first one-hour of the meltdown. After that first hour has passed, things will really begin to get nasty. Everyone will quickly realize there are not are not enough law enforcement personnel to protect everyone and everything. Although the military will probably be ordered to protect specific high priority establishments and resources, there will simply not be enough military personnel to protect individual civilians or businesses.
Events After the One-Hour Meltdown
Almost everyone who has lost their jobs, their vehicles, their homes, and their life savings will now have nothing more to lose by seeking some form of retribution against the society that took everything away from them that they once "partially" owned.
Anyone who has received a minor speeding ticket in the recent past and who honestly could not afford the fine will be in a very unpleasant mood. Everyone who has had their property taxes increased at the same time their income decreased will not be in a good mood. Everyone who has had their credit card interest rate increased at the same time their employer was reducing the number of hours they worked each week will not be in a good mood. Everyone who has been reduced from a two-family income down to a one-family income will not be in a good mood. Everyone who lost their job because their employer went bankrupt will not be in a good mood.
The vast majority of these individuals will have been just barely surviving in a situation where they were living hand-to-mouth on government welfare or the charity of the local community (unemployment checks, welfare checks, food stamps, food pantries, etc.). The instant they realize there will be no more government welfare or charity, then these individuals will have no hope for survival unless they are able to immediately acquire the food and other resources they need before it is all gone. Anyone who tries to stand in their way, or who tries to reason with them, will have a life expectancy of less than three-seconds.
After the stores are all emptied, and there is nothing ...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
CASH FOR CODGERS
Legislators, realizing the success of the President’s "Cash For Clunkers" rebate program, have revamped a major portion of their National Health Care Plan.
President Obama, speaker Pelosi, and Sen. Reed are expected to make this major announcement at a joint news conference later this week. I have obtained an advanced copy of the proposal which is named…
"CASH FOR CODGERS" and it works like this… Couples wishing to access health care funds in order to pay for the delivery of a child will be required to turn in one old person. The amount the government grants them will be fixed according to a sliding scale. Older and more prescription dependent codgers will garner the highest amounts.
Special "Bonuses" will be paid for those submitting codgers in targeted groups, such as smokers, alcohol drinkers, gold bugs, dollar shorts, persons 10 pounds over their government prescribed weight, and any member of the Republican Party.
Smaller bonuses will be given for codgers who consume beef, soda, fried foods, potato chips, lattes, whole milk, dairy products, bacon, Brussel sprouts, or Girl Scout Cookies.
All codgers will be rendered totally useless via toxic injection. This will insure that they are not secretly resold or their body parts harvested to keep other codgers in repair.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
RON PAUL ON HEALTHCARE DEBATE
LewRockwell.com
Healthcare Plan Based on Economic Fantasy
by Ron Paul
As the healthcare debate rages on, there is one reality that even the proponents of this hostile takeover of healthcare by government cannot ignore – and that is money. The government simply does not have the money for a new, expansive, public healthcare plan. The country is in a deep recession that will deepen even further with the coming collapse of the commercial real estate market. The last thing we need is for government to increase and expand taxes to pay for another damaging, wasteful program. Foreigners are becoming less enthusiastic about buying our debt, and creating another open-ended welfare program when we cannot pay for what is already in place, will not help. Champions of socialized medicine want to tax the rich, tax businesses that already cannot afford to provide health plans to employees, and tax people who don’t want to participate in the government’s scheme by buying an approved healthcare plan. Presumably, all these taxes are to induce compliance. This is not freedom, nor will it improve healthcare.
There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy, and in the end, drives prices up.
The non-partisan CBO estimates that the healthcare plan will cost almost a trillion dollars over the next ten years. But government crystal balls always massively underestimate costs. It is not hard to imagine the final cost being two or three times the estimates, even though the estimates are bad enough.
It is still surreal that in a free country we are talking only about HOW government should fix healthcare, rather than WHY government should fix healthcare. This should be between doctors and patients. But this has been the discussion since the 60’s and the inception of Medicare and Medicaid, when government first began intervening to keep costs down and make sure everyone had access. The result of Medicaid/Medicare price controls and regulatory burden has been to drive more doctors out of the system – making it more difficult for the poor and the elderly to receive quality care! Seemingly, there are no failed government programs, only underfunded ones. If we refuse to acknowledge common sense economics, the prescription will always be the same: more government.
Make no mistake, government control and micromanagement of healthcare will hurt, not help healthcare in this country. However, if for a moment, we allowed the assumption that it really would accomplish all they claim, paying for it would still plunge the country into poverty. This solves nothing. The government, like any household struggling with bills to pay, should prioritize its budget. If the administration is serious about supporting healthcare without contributing to our skyrocketing deficits, they should fulfill promises to reduce our overseas commitments and use some of those savings to take care of Americans at home instead of killing foreigners abroad.
The leadership in Washington persists in a fantasy world of unlimited money to spend on unlimited programs and wars to garner unlimited control. But there is a fast-approaching limit to our ability to borrow, steal, and print. Acknowledging this reality is not mean-spirited or cruel. On the contrary, it could be the only thing that saves us from complete and total economic meltdown.
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