Sun, Nov 30 2008
KEEPING THEIR EYE ON THE HOLY BALLS
Way to go, padre. With Modesto leading the country in foreclosures and families living in poverty, good reminding everyone that the real issue is that every sperm is sacred:
Another Catholic pastor labels voting for Obama a sin
Modesto, CA, Modesto Bee - Parishioners of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto have been told they should consider going to confession if they voted for Barack Obama, because of the president-elect's position condoning abortion.
"If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don't risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously," the Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph's, wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21.
The letter was sent to more than 15,000 members of the St. Joseph's parish. It is one of 34 parishes in the Stockton Diocese, which has more than 200,000 members in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and four other counties.
Illo also delivered this message in a homily.
More yaddah...Fri, Nov 28 2008
OLD CONSUMER HABITS DIE HARD
People have no money. But for the chance to scoop up a big-assed high-def plasma TV for $800, they will gladly break down the doors and stampede in with a mob cry of "CHARGE it!"...
Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down
NEW YORK, Associated Press – A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.
At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. ... I literally had to fight people off my back."
Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The man's name was not released and the cause of death was not immediately known.
A police statement said shortly after the store's 5 a.m. opening time, shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking (the worker) to the ground."
A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion.
More yaddah...Thu, Nov 27 2008
GIVING THANKS
Tue, Nov 25 2008
WON'T MAKE A LICK OF DIFFERENCE
Obama is calling for some obscenely high "stimulus plan" dollar figure, saying flat-out that deficits will have to wait, and backpedalling from his promise to tax the rich. In other words, it's all business as usual, and the MoneyBoyz got their fella in the White House regardless of who you voted for.
Sun, Nov 23 2008
THE IMPORTANT STUFF
Thu, Nov 20 2008
KILL THE RICH AND EAT 'EM
Thu, Nov 20 2008
WE ARE SO ROYALLY FUCKED
...because the FatCatz are not going to do a fucking thing to fix any of this, and everything to line their pockets and parachute themselves to safety on the taxpayer's backs.
This country is so FUCKED.
30 reasons for Great Depression 2 by 2011 - New-New Deal, bailouts, trillions in debt, antitax mindset spell disaster
[This is part of a much larger article by Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch]
30 'leading edge' indicators of the coming Great Depression 2
Every day there is more breaking news, proof Wall Street's greed is already back to "business as usual" and in denial, grabbing more and more from the new "Bailouts-R-Us" bonanza of free taxpayer cash and credits, like two-year-olds in a toy store at Christmas -- anything to boost earnings, profits and stock prices, and keep those bonuses and salaries flowing, anything to blow a new bubble.
Scan these 30 "leading indicators." Each problem has one or more possible solutions, but lacks unified political support. Time's running out. We're already at the edge. Add up the trillions in debt: Any collective solution will only compound our problems, because the cumulative debt will overwhelm us, make matters worse:
1. America's credit rating may soon be downgraded below AAA
2. Fed refusal to disclose $2 trillion loans, now the new "shadow banking system"
3. Congress has no oversight of $700 billion, and Paulson's Wall Street Trojan Horse
4. King Henry Paulson flip-flops on plan to buy toxic bank assets, confusing markets
5. Goldman, Morgan lost tens of billions, but planning over $13 billion in bonuses this year
6. AIG bails big banks out of $150 billion in credit swaps, protects shareholders before taxpayers
7. American Express joins Goldman, Morgan as bank holding firms, looking for Fed money
8. Treasury sneaks corporate tax credits into bailout giveaway, shifts costs to states
9. State revenues down, taxes and debt up; hiring, spending, borrowing add even more debt
10. State, municipal, corporate pensions lost hundreds of billions on derivative swaps
11. Hedge funds: 610 in 1990, almost 10,000 now. Returns down 15%, liquidations up
12. Consumer debt way up, now at $2.5 trillion; next area for credit meltdowns
13. Fed also plans to provide billions to $3.6 trillion money-market fund industry
14. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are bleeding cash, want to tap taxpayer dollars
15. Washington manipulating data: War not $600 billion but estimates actually $3 trillion
16. Hidden costs of $700 billion bailout are likely $5 trillion; plus $1 trillion Street write-offs
17. Commodities down, resource exporters and currencies dropping, triggering a global meltdown
18. Big three automakers near bankruptcy; unions, workers, retirees will suffer
19. Corporate bond market, both junk and top-rated, slumps more than 25%
20. Retailers bankrupt: Circuit City, Sharper Image, Mervyns; mall sales in free fall
21. Unemployment heading toward 8% plus; more 1930's photos of soup lines
22. Government policy is dictated by 42,000 myopic, highly paid, greedy lobbyists
23. China's sees GDP growth drop, crates $586 billion stimulus; deflation is now global, hitting even Dubai
24. Despite global recession, U.S. trade deficit continues, now at $650 billion
25. The 800-pound gorillas: Social Security, Medicare with $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities
26. Now 46 million uninsured as medical, drug costs explode
27. New-New Deal: U.S. planning billions for infrastructure, adding to unsustainable debt
28. Outgoing leaders handicapping new administration with huge liabilities
29. The "antitaxes" message is a new bubble, a new version of the American dream offering a free lunch, no sacrifices, exposing us to more false promises
Will the next meltdown, the third of the 21st Century, trigger a second Great Depression? Or will the 2007-08 crisis simply morph into a painful extension of today's mess to 2011 and beyond, with no new bull market, no economic recovery as our new president hopes?
Perhaps some of the first 29 problems may be solved separately, but collectively, after building on a failed ideology, they spell disaster. So listen closely to "leading indicator" No. 30:
At a recent Reuters Global Finance Summit former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead was interviewed. He was also Ronald Reagan's Deputy Secretary of State and a former chairman of the N.Y. Fed. He says America's problems will take years and will burn trillions.
He sees "nothing but large increases in the deficit ... I think it would be worse than the depression. ... Before I go to sleep at night, I wonder if tomorrow is the day Moody's and S&P will announce a downgrade of U.S. government bonds." It'll get worse because "the public is not prepared to increase taxes. Both parties were for reducing taxes, reducing income to government, and both parties favored a number of new programs, all very costly and all done by the government."
Reuters concludes: "Whitehead said he is speaking out on this topic because he is concerned no lawmakers are against these new spending programs and none will stand up and call for higher taxes. 'I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster,' said Whitehead. 'I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here.'"
We see the Great Depression 2. Why? Wall Street's self-interested greed. They are their own worst enemy ... and America's too.Thu, Nov 20 2008
NOT COUNTING ALL THE UNEMPLOYED FOLKS THEY DON'T COUNT
It's gonna get a lot, lot worse. My business is in the toilet, I'm looking for a job right now myself. Of course, I don't count as jobless, because being self-employed I can't file for unemployment...
Wed, Nov 19 2008
FED FUNNIES
Mon, Nov 17 2008
STOCKMARKET FOLLIES
Mon, Nov 17 2008
OFFICIAL NUMBERS TIMES FOUR
Whatever the goobermint numbers are, quadruple them for a more realistic view:
Forecasters: U.S. in 14 month recession
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy fell into recession last spring and will contract sharply this quarter as more than 200,000 workers per month are added to the rolls of the unemployed, a survey said on Monday.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Professional Forecasters removed some of the glow from an earlier report showing industrial output rebounded in October after hurricane disruptions produced a stunning fall in September.
Early data from the factory sector also supported the grim view of the forecasters, showing manufacturing in New York state tumbled in November to yet another record low.
Japan on Monday joined the euro zone in recession. Although the U.S. economy contracted in third quarter, that followed two consecutive quarters of growth, albeit helped by government stimulus payments. The arbiter of U.S. business cycles has not yet declared the economy in recession, generally defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
The latest data and surveys provided new evidence that turmoil in credit markets was tightening its grip over the economy, which is unlikely to seen any relief soon from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
More yaddah...Thu, Nov 13 2008
YODA JANSZEN AND THE KA-POOM THEORY
Eric Janszen is a brilliant thinker, able to present complex theorem in laymans terms. I've been following his stuff over at iTulip for a long time and recommend him highly. Here's his outside-the-box prognostication, that leaves the warring inflationista/deflationistas eating his dust...:
Ka-Poom Theory deflation - inflation two step: Too complex for deflationsts to grasp?
The deflation-inflation two-step: Too complex for deflationsts to grasp?
By mistaking short term for the long term, they are missing the trade of the century
by Eric Janszen
Over 100 books, papers, and original analysis went into developing and refining Ka-Poom Theory over the years, and model that explains how, following the collapse of the credit bubble, the US economy will experience a short (six month to one year) period of deflation that we call disinflation, such as we are experiencing today, followed by a major inflation induced by monetary and fiscal policy and the actions of US trade partners in response to that inflation.
It appears that the deflationista camp is incapable of comprehending a model, and the events that it forecasts, that lays out a two step process. For some reason they cannot grasp the fact governments will respond to disinflation with inflation, that the impact of those interventions is not instantaneous, and that markets historically are not very good at foreseeing the change in inflationary conditions in either direction.
Ka-Poom Theory in 1999, the original disinflation/reflation theory developed nearly ten years ago, does not merely forecast a period of deflation or disinflation that is inevitable after the massive credit bubble popped. A child could do that. We call it "Ka" as the first step in the two step process outlined by Ka-Poom Theory. The difficult part is forecasting what comes after the disinflation phase. Does the Fed sit back and do nothing while the debt deflation runs out of cotnrol? Does the Fed have a choice, or does it become impotent, overwhelmed by the rate of debt defaults and money destruction?
The deflationistas apparently think what comes after post-bubble deflation is more deflation, as occurred in the early 1930s in the US but nowhere else ever since. It has not occurred to the deflationists why no similar period of deflation has ever occurred since the 1930s, or when they do confront the question they explain that the debt is really, really, really big debt this time, bigger than the Fed. Or that differences between the kind of money that the Fed prints versus the kind of money that the endogenous credit markets create when money is loaned into being by businesses and consumers means the Fed cannot impact the latter.
As we explain that in The truth about deflation, the reason no deflation spiral has occurred in any nation since the one instance in the US in the 1930s is because since then no nation has chosen to remain on the gold standard through a debt deflation,. Needless to say, the US is not on a gold standard today.
What governments do when confronted with a deflation spiral is take measures to increase the money supply to induce inflation. If they succeed and money aggregates are increased, over time inflation will follow.
[Read the full essay, well worth it! -->] More yaddah...Thu, Nov 13 2008
RECONQUISTA
"The notion of Indigenous liberation has become popularized by the Mexica Movement, a group based in Los Angeles. Whereas previous groups have advanced the notion of reclaiming only the U.S. Southwest, the Mexica Movement goes further by demanding that the entire North American continent be reclaimed by Mexicans, Central Americans, Native Americans, and Canadian First Nations. Once the continent is reclaimed, the Mexica Movement calls for all peoples of European ancestry to return to Europe, stating on its website that "We are only asking unwelcomed guests to leave our home. These racist Europeans have a home to go to." - Wikipedia
If we keep going down the tubes like we are, pretty soon the "reconquistadores" will all get more than they wish for (the re-patriazation of territories lost in the Spanish-American War), we'll all be One Big Happy Family (OBHF) in the North American Union (La Union de Norte America).
Wed, Nov 12 2008
PAULSON BACKSTABS HIS NOT-BFF'S
Now that everyone is lining up at the trough looking for a hit of that sweet sweet stolen-from-taxpayers bailout blow, and now that his very near and dear banker BFFs have been given a big ol' snortful, Hanky Panky is yanking the rug out from the banker not-BFFs so he can give a big hit of stolen-from-taxpayers smack to his non-banking BFFs, like the criminal assclowns at GM, GMAC, Visa, Mastercard, etcetera....
"Easier to ask for forgiveness that to ask for permission". He knows that one well, doesn't he? Ironic that in screwing the bozos not members of his fraternity, he's actually doing something right by not buying their garbage toxic OTC structures... To bad he's still spending $250 billion for his buddies' toxic waste...
Paulson says troubled assets will not be purchased
WASHINGTON, Associated Press – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday the $700 billion government rescue program will not be used to purchase troubled assets as originally planned.
Paulson said the administration will continue to use $250 billion of the program to purchase stock in banks as a way to bolster their balance sheets and encourage them to resume more normal lending.
He announced a new goal for the program to support financial markets, which supply consumer credit in such areas as credit card debt, auto loans and student loans.
Paulson said that 40 percent of U.S. consumer credit is provided through selling securities that are backed by pools of auto loans and other such debt. He said these markets need support.
"This market, which is vital for lending and growth, has for all practical purposes ground to a halt," Paulson said.
The administration decided that using billions of dollars to buy troubled assets of financial institutions at the current time was "not the most effective way" to use the $700 billion bailout package, he said.
The announcement marked a major shift for the administration which had talked only about purchasing troubled assets as it lobbied Congress to pass the massive bailout bill.
Paulson said the administration is exploring other options, including injecting more capital into banks on a matching basis, in which government funds would be supplied to banks that were able to raise capital on their own.Wed, Nov 12 2008
PAULSON ILLEGALLY REWRITES TAXCODE TO GIVE HIS BUDDIES $140 BILLION IN FREE MONEY
"More than a dozen tax lawyers interviewed for this story -- including several representing banks that stand to reap billions from the change -- said the Treasury had no authority to issue the notice."
...and the Boyz continue to rape America...
A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks
With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy
Washington Post - The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.
But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.
The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin.
"Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a backdoor way of providing aid to banks."
The story of the obscure provision underscores what critics in Congress, academia and the legal profession warn are the dangers of the broad authority being exercised by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in addressing the financial crisis. Lawmakers are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers.
More yaddah...Mon, Nov 10 2008
GOSH, DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING
Surprise, surprise, surprise...
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
``The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem,'' said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. ``In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very thin.''
Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure.
The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
``It's your money; it's not the Fed's money,'' said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. ``Of course there should be transparency.''
More yaddah...Sun, Nov 09 2008
"HOLY" WARS
"Well ,whenever I see some deeply religious people who really think they can reach the god ,the almighty ,It always appears to be that the thing that the god wants them to do always coincides with their own pleasures. Why is there such hatred in the world ,if there is a god, why doesn’t he do anything. Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to… If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked… If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?… If he is unable to do either, then why call him ‘God’?"
Monks brawl at Christian holy site in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, Associated Press – Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity's holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus' tomb.
The clash between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks broke out in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
The brawling began during a procession of Armenian clergymen commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.
The Greeks objected to the march without one of their monks present, fearing that otherwise, the procession would subvert their own claim to the Edicule — the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus — and give the Armenians a claim to the site.
The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way, sparking the brawl.
More yaddah...Sat, Nov 08 2008
THE WHOLE WORLD IS BUSHED
Fri, Nov 07 2008
TOP 10 SIGNS YOU MIGHT BE A RELIGIOUS MORON
Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian
10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!
6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.
5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.
4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."
3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.
2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.
1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
Fri, Nov 07 2008
MORE OVERCOOKED UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES
Everyone is freaking out because the 'offcial' unemployment figures are at 6.5%. Yes, that's bad. But look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics chart which breaks down that number.
Please notice the absolute total bullshit "Birth/Death Model" adjusted figures. Please notice the completely out of this galaxy figures for job creation in construction and financials. Do a little mental readjustment to reflect the reality around you and you will see that the non-massaged number is probably much closer to 15%.
There will be hell next Jan-Feb when the adjusted figures come out, quietly reflecting something closer to reality than this hallucinogenic fairytale.
Fri, Nov 07 2008
ANY KID IN ANY SCHOOLYARD COULD HAVE TOLD YOU THIS
File this whole study under "no shit, sherlock - how many taxpayer millions did you waste?":
Bullies may get kick out of seeing others in pain
[When youths with aggressive conduct disorder watch an individual intentionally hurting another (like closing a piano lead), regions of the brain that process painful information are activated, as well as the amygdala and ventral striatum (part of the neural circuit involved in reward processing.
(Jean Decety, University of Chicago/Handout/Reuters)]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of seeing someone else in pain, U.S. researchers said on Friday.
While this may come as little surprise to those who have been victimized by bullies, it is not what the researchers expected, Benjamin Lahey of the University of Chicago, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
"The reason we were surprised is the prevailing view is these kids are cold and unemotional in their aggression," said Lahey, whose study appears in the journal Biological Psychology.
"This is looking like maybe they care very much," said Lahey, who worked on the study with Jean Decety, also of the University of Chicago.
More yaddah...Thu, Nov 06 2008
THOUGHTS ON PEAK CREDIT AND SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH
"It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder" - Frederic Bastiat, 1850
-
"Redistribution is never an issue when the money is flowing upwards. It's only when working people are poised to get a few scraps that all hell breaks loose.
...Americans are scared and for good reason. Government policy is being concocted by a Mafia of right wing corporatists, Wall Street tycoons, and strident Chicago-school class warriors. Their interests are different then the people they are supposed to serve. Financial-industry rep Henry Paulson has devoted all his time to saving his banker buddies while maxed-out workers slip further into debt and destitution. Of the more than $1 trillion the Fed has spent to prop up the financial system, not one dime has gone to anyone who wasn't a banker. It's all gone to Paulson's friends. Meanwhile, the economy is sliding into the most severe recession in the last 80 years and there's no help in sight for homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages or about to lose their jobs." - Mike Whitney
-
"Millions live paycheck to paycheck, depending on credit cards to fill in the gaps. When unemployment rises above 10%…maybe above 15%…they will howl so loud the government will be forced to take desperate measures, which could send the deficit to $2 trillion. Then, crushed under the weight of so much debt, it won't be long before the feds realize that we don't "owe it to ourselves." Instead, we owe trillions to foreigners. Foreign central banks alone hold about $2.4 trillion worth of U.S. government debt. About $10 trillion is said to be the total of all US-based securities in foreign hands. That is a burden that could be easily lightened…if, for example, the dollar weren't worth quite so much…' - Bill Bonner
-
"The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans held more than half the nation's direct holdings of publicly traded stocks in 2004 according to the Federal Reserve". (Wall Street Journal) Those figures have ballooned since 2004 and created the same kind of economic polarization that exists in third world countries. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that "The United States has the highest inequality and poverty rates in the 30-country organization after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000...In the United States, the richest 10 percent earn an average of $93,000, the highest level in the group. The poorest 10 percent earn an average of $5,800 - about 20 percent lower than the OECD average."
-
"Marriner Eccles, who served as FDR's chairman of the Federal Reserve summed it up like this:
"As mass production has to be accompanied by mass consumption. Mass consumption, in turn, implies a distribution of wealth -- not of existing wealth, but of wealth as it is currently produced -- to provide men with buying power equal to the amount of goods and services offered by the nation's economic machinery."
Eccles was an astute economist who understood the negative effects of overcapacity and demand destruction. When wages fail to keep pace with production, the system becomes unstable and crisis-prone. Credit expansion only adds to the problem making the ultimate meltdown even worse. When peak credit is reached, borrowers can no longer make the interest payments on their loans and the bubble begins to unwind. That's the situation we're in right now." - Mike WhitneyThu, Nov 06 2008
REPUBLICRAT AGENDA
Interesting take, scary if it's even close to the truth. This fella really has a bug up his ass about Zbiggie:
Part1:
Part2:
Wed, Nov 05 2008
MAINSTREAM MEDIA CATCHING UP
Finally. What the fuck have I been saying for the last year? This is what I've been saying:
"Governments are not really trying to save the system anymore," said Satyajit Das, a banking expert in Sydney, Australia. "They now realize that's impossible. They are just trying to manage the decline."
From a prominent article on MSN, who'da thunk it.Wed, Nov 05 2008
YODA SCHIFF WEIGHS IN ON AN OBAMA ECONOMY
The desire for a return to normalcy is a powerful human drive.
Peter Schiff explains why managing the avalanche and trying madly to reflate the bubble is worse than letting things collapse. The two talking heads running the interview are complete morons. Peter is right, we are totally screwed unless we make the right choices as a nation, which we won't because it is unpleasant and not politically expedient.
Did I mention the sockpuppets interviewing him don't have two functioning braincells between them? Come a year or two down the road, people will be referencing this clip as prescient:
Wed, Nov 05 2008
OBAMA'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
One of his best. Stark contrast to W's bullshit "I'm the prez, I'm gonna kick ass hehehehe" tone. In all seriousness, I hope he does some good for America.
Tue, Nov 04 2008
THE BIG 'O'
Wow. This was not a 'win', it was an asskicking:
Tue, Nov 04 2008
THANKS A BUNCH, RICH SELF-ABSORBED HIPPIE PARENTS
"The Baby Boom Generation will never be mistaken for the Greatest Generation that survived the Great Depression and defeated evil in a World War that killed 72 million people. I hate to tell you Boomers, but putting a yellow ribbon on the back of your $50,000 SUV is not sacrifice. Our claim to fame is living way beyond our means for the last three decades, to the point where we have virtually bankrupted our capitalist system. Baby Boomers have been occupying the White House for the last sixteen years. The majority of Congress is Baby Boomers. The CEOs and top executives of Wall Street firms are Baby Boomers. The media is dominated by Baby Boom executives and on-air stars. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the current predicament. Blaming Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson for our dire situation is a cop out. Baby Boomers had the time, power, and ability to change our course. We have chosen to leave the heavy lifting to future generations in order to live the good life today.
Of course, not all Baby Boomers are shallow, greedy, and corrupt. Mostly Boomers with power and wealth fall into this category. There were 76 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1963. They now make up 28% of the U.S. population. Their impact on America is undeniable. The defining events of their generation have been the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, Kent State, Woodstock, the 1st man on the moon, and now the collapse of our Ponzi scheme financial system. They rebelled against their parents, protested the Vietnam War, and settled down in 2,300 square foot cookie cutter McMansions with perfectly manicured lawns, in mall infested suburbia. They have raised overscheduled spoiled children, moved up the corporate ladder by pushing paper rather than making things, lived above their means in order to keep up with their neighbors, bought whatever they wanted using debt, and never worried about the future. Over optimism, unrealistic assumptions, selfishness and conspicuous consumption have been their defining characteristics."
Mon, Nov 03 2008
VOTE
Looks like Obama is gonna take it, but you never know, what with the shifty no-paper-trail Diebold machines that a teenager with a laptop can hack into and reprogram, and the morons in places like Florida with their hanging chads. Please, sweet Jeebus, let's get this shit over with already, so we can all go about the end of the world as we know it peaceably...
Mon, Nov 03 2008
OLIGARCHS KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO US
The rotten sonsabitches in charge are raping the economy and looting the wealth of the United States of America. They know exactly what they are doing. They don't give a fuck about us on any level other than as a resource to be exploited. We need to wake up to this fact as a nation, and take our country, our resources, our SELVES back from the serfdom imposed on us.
"Under a gold standard, the amount of credit that an economy can support is determined by the economy's tangible assets, since every credit instrument is ultimately a claim on some tangible asset. But government bonds are not backed by tangible wealth, only by the government's promise to pay out of future tax revenues, and cannot easily be absorbed by the financial markets. A large volume of new government bonds can be sold to the public only at progressively higher interest rates. Thus, government deficit spending under a gold standard is severely limited. The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. They have created paper reserves in the form of government bonds which-through a complex series of steps-the banks accept in place of tangible assets and treat as if they were an actual deposit, i.e., as the equivalent of what was formerly a deposit of gold. The holder of a government bond or of a bank deposit created by paper reserves believes that he has a valid claim on a real asset. But the fact is that there are now more claims outstanding than real assets. The law of supply and demand is not to be conned. As the supply of money (of claims) increases relative to the supply of tangible assets in the economy, prices must eventually rise. Thus the earnings saved by the productive members of the society lose value in terms of goods. When the economy's books are finally balanced, one finds that this loss in value represents the goods purchased by the government for welfare or other purposes with the money proceeds of the government bonds financed by bank credit expansion.
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.
This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."
- Alan Greenspan, 1966, The Objectivist
Mon, Nov 03 2008
CONTROLLING NATIONS
"You mean to tell me that the success of the economic program and my re-election hinges on the Federal Reserve and a bunch of fucking bond traders?"
- William J. Clinton, President of the United StatesMon, Nov 03 2008
GOODNIGHT YMA
Yma Sumac, amazing Peruvian songstress from the 50's, passed away. This girl had a for-real 5-octave range, check her vocal pyrotechnics:
Mon, Nov 03 2008
MORE LAST-MINUTE BUTTFUCKING FROM BUSHCO
Bush team rushes environment policy changes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the U.S. presidential candidates sprint toward the finish line, the Bush administration is also sprinting to enact environmental policy changes before leaving power.
Whether it's getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.
The one change most environmentalists want, a mandatory program to cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, is not among these so-called "midnight regulations."
Bureaucratic calendars make it virtually impossible that any U.S. across-the-board action will be taken to curb global warming in this administration, though both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have promised to address it if they win Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
Even some free-market organizations have joined conservation groups to urge a moratorium on last-minute rules proposed by the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
More yaddah...Mon, Nov 03 2008
KIDS INFLUENCED BY SEX AND VIOLENCE IN MEDIA. DUH.
Study links teen pregnancy to sexy TV shows
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Exposure to some forms of entertainment is a corrupting influence on children, leading teens who watch sexy programs into early pregnancies and children who play violent video games to adopt aggressive behavior, researchers said on Monday.
Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programing with risky sexual behavior by teens.
"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist who led the research at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
More yaddah...Sun, Nov 02 2008
YODA ROUBINI'S CURRENT GLOBAL OUTLOOK
"Here are the main elements of Nouriel’s outlook: Tsunami of corporate defaults; 2-year U-shaped U.S. recession that threatens to turn into an L-shaped one if policymakers do not regain control of the financial system; global re-coupling to the U.S. will advance from non-U.S. markets to non-U.S. real economies – not even the strongest emerging markets such as Brazil and China will escape global re-coupling; vicious cycle of deflation in goods markets, labor markets, commodity markets, financial markets, corporate and household earnings, and aggregate demand; de-leveraging to reduce excess debt in municipalities, households and some firms; U.S. stock markets declining another 20-30%, bottoming fall 2009 at the earliest, then moving sideways for years post-recession if growth remains anemic as it did in Japan after its 1990s real estate and equities bust; U.S. unemployment rise to reach 8-9%; the demise of the shadow banking system.
According to Nouriel, USD assets, commodities, U.S. and international equities, housing, and the USD are quite risky right now. Seek safety in cash or cash-like instruments such as T-bills and bonds of safe, large governments. Though he believes the U.S. dollar will retain its reserve currency status for decades, its status will gradually erode."
Of course, all of this depends very heavily on what the foxes do in the henhouse. So far, they are plucking every chicken they can get their paws on...
Sat, Nov 01 2008
CHINA'S PLAN TO SETTLE "THE AMERICAN ISSUE"
These ruthless ratfucks plan on cutting bioweapons loose on us while we are weak, then 'colonizing' what is 'rightfully' theirs by virtue of their 'national superiority'...
This transcript of a speech by one of their heardliners a couple of years ago just chilled the fuck right out of me, it's so scary. Jesus, those crazy commie fuckers in the ruling party really do aim to take over everything everywhere:
"solving the “issue of America” is the key to solving all other issues."
"Only by using special means to “clean up” America will we be able to lead the Chinese people there. This is the only choice left for us. This is not a matter of whether we are willing to do it or not. What kind of special means is there available for us to “clean up” America? Conventional weapons such as fighters, canons, missiles and battleships won’t do; neither will highly destructive weapons such as nuclear weapons. We are not as foolish as to want to perish together with America by using nuclear weapons, despite the fact that we have been exclaiming that we will have the Taiwan issue resolved at whatever cost. Only by using non-destructive weapons that can kill many people will we be able to reserve America for ourselves. There has been rapid development of modern biological technology, and new bio weapons have been invented one after another. Of course we have not been idle; in the past years we have seized the opportunity to master weapons of this kind. We are capable of achieving our purpose of “cleaning up” America all of a sudden. When Comrade Xiaoping was still with us, the Party Central Committee had the perspicacity to make the right decision not to develop aircraft carrier groups and focus instead on developing lethal weapons that can eliminate mass populations of the enemy country."
"“The relationship between China and United States is one of a life-and-death struggle.” Of course, right now it is not the time to openly break up with them yet. Our reform and opening to the outside world still rely on their capital and technology, we still need America. Therefore, we must do everything we can to promote our relationship with America, learn from America in all aspects and use America as an example to reconstruct our country."
Holy shit. As soon as they dump the dollar, they're gonna kick our asses.
War Is Not Far from Us and Is the Midwife of the Chinese Century
Leading CCP official argues for exterminating U.S. population
The following is a transcript of a speech believed to have been given by Mr. Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. Independently verifying the authorship of the speech is not possible. It is worth reading because it is believed to set out the CCP’s strategy for the development of China. The speech argues for the necessity of China using biological warfare to depopulate the United States and prepare it for a future massive Chinese colonization. “The War Is Not Far from Us and Is the Midwife of the Chinese Century” was published on February 15, 2005 on www.peacehall.com and was published on www.boxun.com on April 23, 2005. This speech and a related speech, “The War Is Approaching Us” are analyzed in The Epoch Times original article “The CCP’s Last-ditch Gamble: Biological and Nuclear War.”
Text of the speech:
Comrades,
I’m very excited today, because the large-scale online survey sina.com that was done for us showed that our next generation is quite promising and our Party’s cause will be carried on. In answering the question, “Will you shoot at women, children and prisoners of war,” more than 80 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, exceeding by far our expectations [1].
Today I’d like to focus on why we asked sina.com to conduct this online survey among our people. My speech today is a sequel to my speech last time [2], during which I started with a discussion of the issue of the three islands [3], mentioned that 20 years of the idyllic theme of “peace and development” had come to an end, and concluded that modernization under the saber is the only option for China’s next phase. I also mentioned we have a vital stake overseas. Today, I’ll speak more specifically on these two issues.
The central issue of this survey appears to be whether one should shoot at women, children and prisoners of war, but its real significance goes far beyond that. Ostensibly, our intention is mainly to figure out what the Chinese people’s attitude towards war is: If these future soldiers do not hesitate to kill even non-combatants, they’ll naturally be doubly ready and ruthless in killing combatants. Therefore, the responses to the survey questions may reflect the general attitude people have towards war.
Actually, however, this is not our genuine intention. The purpose of the CCP Central Committee in conducting this survey is to probe people’s minds. We wanted to know: If China’s global development will necessitate massive deaths in enemy countries, will our people endorse that scenario? Will they be for or against it?
As everybody knows, the essence of Comrade Xiaoping’s [4] thinking is “development is the hard truth.” And Comrade Jintao [5] has also pointed out repeatedly and empathetically that “development is our top priority,” which should not be neglected for even a moment. But many comrades tend to understand “development” in its narrow sense, assuming it to be limited to domestic development. The fact is, our “development” refers to the great revitalization of the Chinese nation, which, of course, is not limited to the land we have now but also includes the whole world.
Why do we put it this way?
Both Comrade Liu Huaqing [6], one of the leaders of the old generation in our Party, and Comrade He Xin [7], a young strategist for our Party, have repeatedly stressed the theory regarding the shift of the center of world civilization. Our slogan of “revitalizing China” has this way of thinking as its basis. You may look into the newspapers and magazines published in recent years or go online to do some research to find out who raised the slogan of national revitalization first. It was Comrade He Xin. Do you know who He Xin is? He may look aggressive and despicable when he speaks in public, with his sleeves and pants all rolled up, but his historical vision is a treasure our Party should cherish.
In discussing this issue, let us start from the beginning.
As everybody knows, according to the views propagated by the Western scholars, humanity as a whole originated from one single mother in Africa. Therefore, no race can claim racial superiority. However, according to the research conducted by most Chinese scholars, the Chinese are different from other races on earth. We did not originate in Africa. Instead, we originated independently in the land of China. The Peking Man at Zhoukoudian that we are all familiar with represents a phase of our ancestors’ evolution. “The Project of Searching for the Origins of the Chinese Civilization” currently undertaken in our country is aimed at a more comprehensive and systematic research on the origin, process and development of the ancient Chinese civilization. We used to say, “Chinese civilization has had a history of five thousand years.” But now, many experts engaged in research in varied fields including archeology, ethnic cultures, and regional cultures have reached consensus that the new discoveries such as the Hongshan Culture in the Northeast, the Liangzhu Culture in Zhejiang province, the Jinsha Ruins in Sichuan province, and the Yongzhou Shun Emperor Cultural Site in Human province are all compelling evidence of the existence of China’s early civilizations, and they prove that China’s rice-growing agricultural history alone can be traced back as far as 8,000 to 10,000 years. This refutes the concept of “five thousand years of Chinese civilization.” Therefore, we can assert that we are the product of cultural roots of more than a million years, civilization and progress of more than ten thousand years, an ancient nation of five thousand years, and a single Chinese entity of two thousand years. This is the Chinese nation that calls itself, “descendents of Yan and Huang,” the Chinese nation that we are so proud of. Hitler’s Germany had once bragged that the German race was the most superior race on Earth, but the fact is, our nation is far superior to the Germans.
[This crazy motherfucker goes on, getting scarier and scarier. Mind you, he's one of the clowns who makes things happen in China, meaning he's talking company line! Read the full transcript ->] More yaddah...All news articles and images provided under the Fair Use Notice.