For those who still can’t comprehend the meaning of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT (let alone $4 TRILLION in a single year), this excellent video by Tony Robbins may help simplify it for you. And moving onto politics, the following article sums up my thoughts quite eloquently…

(NYPost) “It’s good that so many Americans (and possibly non-Americans) donate money to the worthy cause of informing us how bad politicians are. .. Still, I fear all these negative ads will not be enough to counter the extremely destructive and diabolical (though luckily rare) positive ads.”

“The mere thought of one of these positive political ads chills my soul. Either there is a voiceover as the politician meets with hard-working Americans, or the politician looks directly at the camera with his soulless eyes and tells us that we can trust him to fix our problems and strengthen our nation.”

“Look at our bloated government, our countless regulations, and our military engaged in constant conflicts overseas — did we get all this because we listened to the negative ads about our politicians, or because we somehow got it in our heads that we could trust them? After every election, the negative ads stop, and we start to get that fool notion that we can rely on these people.”

“Do we need exorbitant amounts of money from unknown sources to tell us not to hug angry badgers? No, we’ve learned that by word of mouth from our friends, families and neighbors. This is how we should know not to trust politicians. .. If a politician asks for your money, don’t give it to him. And if he tries to trick you and instead asks for other people’s money so he can buy you presents, just get away from him as fast as you can. Catch a ride in a stranger’s van if you have to..”

“We also need volunteers to continue informing people how bad politicians are, even in non-election years; too many folks now have the ridiculous idea that they can trust the people running the government.”

“Many folks don’t trust politicians from one side of the aisle. It’s like they know not to trust a crack addict to watch their kids, yet don’t see anything wrong about dropping the kids off at the meth addict’s house.”

“And once we convince everyone that all politicians are bad, some will ask, ‘Then whom do I vote for?’ Smack them, because they still don’t get it. You don’t vote for any of them. It’s like having a choice of what kind of cancer to get: You’d just pick whichever one you think you’re most likely to survive.”

“Just remember that, after that new politician takes office and says, ‘Now I’m going to work hard on our nation’s problems and get our economy and job growth going again!’ you respond: ‘Just keep your hands where I can see them, and don’t make any sudden movements or spending decisions.’ ”

Full Story: It’s the positive ads we should worry about (NYPost)

America didn’t become great because of the government or its politicians.

America became great IN SPITE of them.

Wow, fellow Americans, maybe WE really did build THAT!

Dr. Michael Burry saw the mortgage crisis coming from miles away. He was featured in Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short”, along with others who also saw the debacle coming. This year, Dr. Burry was keynote speaker at the 2012 UCLA Dept of Economics Commencement. It’s a speech well worth listening to. Dr. Burry is quite pessimistic about the future of U.S. as the debt-to-GDP ratio rises to levels higher than that of Greece. And the problems are no longer in the future, he says, but they have already begun to manifest themselves throughout society.

Perhaps most shocking to some (unless you’ve already gotten used to the TSA groping children)… he describes what happened to him after he wrote a New York Times op-ed criticizing the actions of the government and the Federal Reserve ( I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn’t the Fed? – NY Times ). Within weeks all 6 of his funds were audited, he was compelled to provide Congress with every email he wrote since 2003, and the FBI showed up at his door. He wasted thousands of hours and over $1 million in legal/audit fees defending himself against a frivolous witch hunt against someone with clout who dared stand up and say “I saw it, why didn’t you?”

While not one bankster has ended up in jail, banks have collectively been given $$ TRILLIONS more of our money. And instead of consulting with truly smart and insightful people like Burry (instead of the crooked bankers themselves) as to how such events can be avoided in the future, our government offensively attacks those who predicted the crisis well in advance.  Instead of seeing people like Burry as able to offer true wisdom and insight, they treat him as if he had somehow played a part in masterminding all the pervasive and massively over-leveraged mortgage fraud that went on.

Another great quote from his speech: “As it turns out, information is not perfect, volatility does not define risk, markets are not efficient, the individual is adaptable.”

As a final note, here’s another great bit of Burry’s insights I’ve kept on hand since reading “The Big Short“:

‘ In Dr. Mike Burry’s first year in business, he grappled briefly with the social dimension of running money. “Generally you don’t raise any money unless you have a good meeting with people,” he said, “and generally I don’t want to be around people. And people who are with me generally figure that out.” He went to a conference thrown by Bank of America to introduce new fund managers to wealthy investors, and those who attended figured that out. He gave a talk in which he argued that the way they measured risk was completely idiotic. They measured risk by volatility: how much a stock or bond happened to have jumped around in the past few years. Real risk was not volatility; real risk was stupid investment decisions. “By and large,” he later put it, “the wealthiest of the wealthy and their representatives have accepted that most managers are average, and the better ones are able to achieve average returns while exhibiting below-average volatility. By this logic a dollar selling for fifty cents one day, sixty cents the next day, and forty cents the next somehow becomes worth less than a dollar selling for fifty cents all three days. I would argue that the ability to buy at forty cents presents opportunity, not risk, and that the dollar is still worth a dollar.” He was greeted by silence and ate lunch alone. He sat at one of the big round tables just watching the people at the other tables happily jabber away. ‘

Apparently, this is a scam that’s been going around for a couple of years now, and can be especially dangerous for unsuspecting, less computer-savvy target victims. While many of the scam reports I’ve come across seem to have targeted England and Australia, it would appear that the scammers are now targeting more Americans as well. Today, we received one such call. The scam goes as follows:

You get a call from some Indian guy with a generic name such as “Adam Smith” who explains to you in horribly broken English that he’s a registered Microsoft technician and has received a call alerting him that your IP address is the source for serious attacks on their servers due to multiple computer virus infections on your end. If you ask for any information on the source or target IP addresses involved, the person will attempt to deflect the question, and inform you that he/she is unauthorized to provide you that information!

They will proceed to try convincing you that your computer is full of viruses (based on some standard status and error messages automatically generated by your computer), and they try to get you to grant them complete access to your entire computer (passwords, credit cards, everything) via the free “Ammyy Admin” remote desktop control software. If you don’t agree to buy their crappy, useless, and thieving “support services”, they’ll use the computer access you openly granted them to screw up your computer and randomly delete stuff (watch them erasing things off the desktop in this video).

‘Nuff said… BE WARNED, ALWAYS BE WARY, and never fall for some schmuck on the phone trying to con information out of you, or get you to run any type of software on your PC.

Watch the video to see exactly how this scam plays out.

Perhaps the most frightening part of this 2006 video is that not one of these police officers objected to shooting rubber bullets at an unarmed woman’s head and laughing about it. Or if any of them did, they certainly did not feel comfortable enough to go against the majority of their fellow officers and make a point of it… And, just like my recent 2011 pre-Thanksgiving Day parade incident, I’m experiencing, hearing, and seeing more stories than ever of such treatment that don’t even involve protests or rallies (and that doesn’t even consider all the frightening TSA-abuse stories – against children no less!). It’s more about control and demoralizing compliance.

When an army goes to war, the command generally always comes up with some derogatory term to address the enemy, as it’s much easier to rape, demean, and/or kill people when you’re referring to them as “Gooks” or “Cockroaches”.

“In Rwanda they referred to Tutsis as cockroaches,” explains Omaar. “They were not human beings. This is very important to understand, very close parallels to what happened in Hitler’s Germany. ‘Don’t worry, you’re not killing humans like you. You are killing some vermin that belongs under your shoe. You’re killing cockroaches.‘ – The Few Who Stayed – Defying Genocide in Rwanda (AmericanRadioWorks)

(NYTimes) “They called people ‘animals’ and ‘savages.’ One comment said, ‘Drop a bomb and wipe them all out.‘ .. Hearing New York police officers speak publicly but candidly about one another and the people they police is rare indeed, especially with their names attached. But for a few days in September, a raw and rude conversation among officers was on Facebook for the world to see — until it vanished for unknown reasons.” – N.Y.C. Police Maligned Paradegoers on Facebook (NYTimes)

(WashingtonsBlog) “Journalists from across the spectrum have documented the militarization of police forces in the United States, including, CNN, Huffington Post, the Cato Institute, Forbes, the New York Times, Daily Kos, Esquire, The Atlantic, Salon and many others. Many police departments laugh at and harass Americans who exercise their right to free speech. Indeed – especially since police brutality against protesters has been so blatant in recent months, while no top bank executives have been prosecuted – many Americans believe that the police are protecting the bankers whose fraud brought down the economy instead of the American people.”

“Most assume that the militarization of police started after 9/11. Certainly, Dick Cheney initiated Continuity of Government Plans on September 11th that ended America’s constitutional form of government (at least for some undetermined period of time.) On that same day, a national state of emergency was declared … and that state of emergency has continuously been in effect up to today. But the militarization of police actually started long before 9/11… in the 1980s.”

“SWAT teams were originally designed to be used in violent, emergency situations like hostage takings, acts of terrorism, or bank robberies. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, that’s primarily how they were used, and they performed marvelously. .. But beginning in the early 1980s, they’ve been increasingly used for routine warrant service in drug cases and other nonviolent crimes. And thanks to the Pentagon transfer programs, there are now a lot more of them.”

“After 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act within 20 days and it was passed. The Patriot Act is huge and I remember someone asking a Justice Department official how did they write such a large statute so quickly, and of course the answer was that it has been sitting in the drawers of the Justice Department for the last 20 years waiting for the event where they would pull it out.”

“The militarization of police forces throughout the United States cannot be taken in a vacuum, but is part of the ongoing drift towards a police state. The government has said for years that American citizens on U.S. soil may be targets in the war on terror, and is using anti-terrorism laws to crush dissent.

Indeed, you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. Government agencies such as FEMA are allegedly teaching that the Founding Fathers should be considered terrorists. So perhaps that means that any people who like American values are ‘terrorist sympathizers’. ”

Full Story: The Militarization of American Police – and Shredding of Our Constitutional Rights – Started At Least 30 Years Ago (WashingtonsBlog)

(WashingtonsBlog) “Obama Wants to Veto the Indefinite Detention Bill Because It Would Hold the U.S. to the Geneva Convention” – The Real Reason for Obama’s Threat to Veto the Indefinite Detention Bill (Hint: It’s Not to Protect Liberty)

Interview with Trends Research founder Gerald Celente, who had his own six figure gold investment account completely looted by MF Global‘s chapter 11 trustees, and he is fighting to get it back. Also interesting is how certain higher-profile clients such as the Koch brothers and others clearly must have known of the cratering positions and imminent collapse of MF Global, as $$billions of dollars of accounts were “coincidentally” withdrawn just before the MF “house of cards” collapsed.

I don’t believe that people truly understand the ramifications of what has happened over at MF Global.  People still seem to believe that clients who had money with MF were basically gamblers and “should have known better” by placing their money with “more secure” entities such as Interactive Brokers.  That’s not to say Interactive Brokers is not secure (especially as they “seem” to practice extremely sound risk management). But what happens when one of their banks or counterparties also decides to “waive” their account holders’ rights? And what exactly would have given customers of MF any less reason to believe that MF Global would be any less secure, especially since the Federal Reserve granted them “Primary Dealer” status last year? Regulations are very strict on “segregated funds”.  Those funds “should” actually be “SAFER” than a straight-up bank account (because the funds should generally be locked away at either the CME as margin or sitting in Treasury Bills so the banks can’t even lend that money out in REPO markets).  If an Occupy Wall Street protester stole a sandwich, they’d probably be thrown in jail for 5 years.  Jon Corzine recks New Jersey, and a year later, wrecks MF Global and steals HUNDREDS of MILLIONS from 150,000+ client accounts to cover more reckless gambling debts, and he’ll probably end up being the next secretary of the treasury.  This guy should be hanged and held up to the standards of the Hammurabi Code (If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death). If such a “code” were implemented, I’d bet such horrendous thefts and shenanigans would all but disappear. Instead, we have banks stealing $$BILLIONS from clients through cockamamie schemes, then paying $100 MILLION to the SEC without admitting or denying guilt while they pocket the rest, still leaving the clients/investors out most if not all of their losses. This is likely the tip of the iceberg, as there is no way to know how many other firms may have also made similarly reckless bets with client funds (or are unknowingly directly connected to others that do).

To help clarify what this really means, here is the “Safety of Funds” assertions by two reputable futures clearing firms:

(DormanTrading) “The funds in your account with Dorman are held as “Customer Segregated” funds. Our principal bank is Harris, NA, a subsidiary of BMO Financial Group of Toronto Canada. The segregated funds that Dorman holds at Harris, are primarily invested in US Treasury Bills, with the remainder in cash or deposited with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as margin deposits. The Treasury Bills at Harris are specifically identified to Dorman and on Dorman’s books they are specifically identified to those accounts that have asked us to invest their funds.

The segregated account structure of your futures trading account protects you from suffering a loss, should your broker, your clearing firm, Dorman, or Harris file for bankruptcy. This segregated structure means that your funds on deposit are not subject to any offset, indebtedness, obligation, or the liabilities of any entity besides the customers themselves. These regulations are in place so that neither your clearing firm, Dorman, nor their bank Harris can dip into the customer segregated funds to offset losses elsewhere.” – Dorman Trading Safety of Funds

(RCG-Direct) “Pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations, Rosenthal Collins Group LLC (RCG), a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), is required to treat all customers’ money, securities and other property received to margin, guarantee or secure futures or options on futures trades, as customer property. With regard to futures and options on futures accounts, RCG is required to account separately for and segregate customer money, securities and property and not to commingle those assets with RCG’s own operating assets. Customers’ segregated assets cannot be used to margin any other person’s trades. These segregation requirements apply to futures and options trades on exchanges located in the United States.” – Rosenthal Collins Group Customer Protection

Understanding Big Money, Banks, and the REPO Market…

(MartinArmstrong) “When you deal in REAL money, there is a problem. How do you store it? You can’t just put a billion on deposit at a bank. They will sell it every night and don’t have to tell you. If the REPO market blows up and you go to the bank and say I want my billion, they lost it, and so you turn to FDIC to collect your $100,000. Right! The ONLY way to park serious money is in treasuries.” – Will a Downgrade of USA FROM AAA Really Mean Anything? (MartinArmstrong)

(PeterBrandt) “According to the Commodity Exchange Act (the overarching law governing futures trading) customer funds at futures commission merchants ‘shall not be commingled with the funds of such commission merchant or be used to margin or guarantee the trades or contracts…of any customer or person other than the one for whom the same are held.’ CFTC Regulation 1.25 provides that:

‘No futures commission merchant and no clearing organization shall invest customer funds except in obligations of the United States, in general obligations of any State or of any political subdivision thereof, or in obligations fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States. Such investments shall be made through an account or accounts used for the deposit of customer funds and proceeds from any sale of such obligations shall be re-deposited in such account or accounts.’ ” – MF Global: Proof that the U.S. government is not able or willing to protect investors (PeterBrandt)

CBS News’ Steve Kroft reports that members of Congress can legally trade stock based on non-public information from Capitol Hill.  We’ve already discussed this type of corruption in the past, and it’s great to see the issue receive so much more widespread publicity…  You also see by Nancy Pelosi’s attitude how a two-tiered “Rule of Law” is practically considered a “congressional entitlement” at this point.  Hint to OccupyWallStreet protesters, HERE IS YOUR REAL ONE PERCENT!!! (actually, more like the truly thieving and conniving .1% who want you to grant them even more money and power)

(CBS) “The buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to non-public information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense, just ask hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam who recently got 11 years in prison for doing it. But, congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.”

“So in 2004, Baird and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter introduced the STOCK Act  which would make it illegal for members of Congress to trade stocks on non-public information and require them to report their stock trades every 90 days instead of once a year. .. Kroft: How far did you get with this? Baird: We didn’t get anywhere. Just flat died. Went nowhere. Kroft: How many cosponsors did you get? Baird: I think we got six. Kroft: Six doesn’t sound like a very big amount. Baird: It’s not, Steve. You– you could have– ‘National Cherry Pie Week’ and get 100 cosponsors. When Baird finally managed to get a congressional hearing on the STOCK Act, almost no one showed up. It’s reintroduced every session, but is buried so deep in the Capitol we had trouble finding congressmen who had even heard of it.”

“And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs. One of those came in 2008, from Visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies, began making its way through the House. Undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest the Pelosis purchased 5,000 shares of Visa at the initial price of $44 dollars. Two days later it was trading at $64. The credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the House.”

“In the past few years a whole new totally unregulated, $100 million dollar industry has grown up in Washington called political intelligence. It employs former congressmen and former staffers to scour the halls of the Capitol gathering valuable non-public information then selling it to hedge funds and traders on Wall Street who can trade on it.”

]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-15-congressional-insider-trading-scam-our-rule-of-law-doesnt-apply-to-the-1-who-run-the-government-and-the-country/feed/ 0 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-09-jon-stewart-on-jon-corzine-and-mf-global-the-walking-debt/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-11-09-jon-stewart-on-jon-corzine-and-mf-global-the-walking-debt/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:00:42 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=1596

(JonStewart) “Politician Jon Corzine saw Lehman Brothers as a cautionary tale; financial firm honcho Jon Corzine saw it as a dare.”

I don’t always agree with Jon Stewart, but he’s pretty much got it right on the money on this one…

(TheMarketTicker) “Let us remember that MF Global was just added to the primary dealer list in 2010! The bankruptcy does raise questions, however, about how the Fed picks the primary dealers — especially since MF Global was one of four firms added to the ranks after new, more stringent requirements were put in effect in 2010.”

Full Story: MF Global – Trillions in Bailouts, Loads of New Regulations, yet nothing has changed (vlogolution)

(PeterBrandt) “The media is missing the real story in the sad saga of MF Global. The story is not the big bet in Europe by MF Global that went south. The story is not the risk-taking ways of Jon Corzine.

The real story is the ineptness of federal regulators (so, what’s new). The real story is that speculators may end up holding an empty bag right under the noses of the U.S. government regulators responsible for their protection. The present administration appears unwilling to step up to the plate. The Obama administration bailed out AIG, Deutsche Bank, Fannie, Freddie and a whole bunch of other crooks along the way. But when it comes to protecting the integrity of futures markets, the powers that be (or should be) are MIA.

If segregated account holders of MF Global are stiffed it will be the end of market integrity as we know it. Free market lovers everywhere, do NOT under-emphasize the importance of this matter. The MF Global situation could be the leak in the dike that will flood the financial system as we know it. If segregated account holders in a federally regulated market are not protected, what is next?”

Full Story: Futures traders: Be concerned, be very concerned (PeterBrandt)

(PeterBrandt) “Futures markets and futures commission merchants (FCMs) are supposed to be highly regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). If MF Global’s seg customers are not fully protected, it would be the equivalent of, let’s say, depositors of Chase bank or customers of Fidelity not being protected.

The failure of MF Global’s segregated account to be made whole would be the biggest financial disaster since 1929 and would spell the end of the futures industry as we know it. Folks in the financial industry should take this matter seriously — very seriously. Do not underestimate the importance of this matter.”

Full Story: MF Global — 2011′s version of 1929 (PeterBrandt)

If this is accurate, it’s pretty frightening stuff, right along the lines of complete “New World Order” totalitarian domination over all of Europe. Open to hearing any thoughts to the contrary…

(abgeordneten) “EU: Treaty of debt (ESM) – stop it now!” Deputies on Check.de – The EU is threatening to transfer a debt-based Union of turning a liability community. In addition, the fiscal and budgetary powers of national parliaments will be given to an EU-Governors. This is based on the only recently become known to the draft treaty called “European Stability Mechanism (ESM)”, decide on the members of the German Bundestag probably after the summer break of 2011. German tax money to answer for the debt policies of other EU countries. We should work to make the banks any losses. The taxpayer is prescribed compulsory solidarity. The banks are on a voluntary basis here. The citizens of this free will not to admit you. We have to pay. The ESM contract can not therefore pass through the German Parliament”

Key Details of ESM Accord

• Article 8 says “Authorized Capital stock 700 billion Euros”
• Article 9 says “ESM members irrevocably and unconditionally undertake to pay capital calls on them within 7 days”
• Article 10 allows the ESM board of governors to “change the authorized capital and amend article 8 accordingly”
• Article 27 says ESM shall enjoy “immunity from every form of judicial process”. Thus the ESM can sue member countries but no one can challenge it. No governments, parliament or any other body or laws apply to the ESM or its organization.
• Article 30 says “Governors, alternate governors, directors, alternate directors, the managing director and staff shall be immune from legal process with respect to acts performed by them (…) and shall enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents”

Site Link: Initiative Stoppt EU-Schuldenunion (ESM-Vertrag)!

(Mish) “There are no independent reviewers and no existing laws apply. Thus Europe’s national budgets will be in the hands of one single, unelected body that is accountable to no one and immune from all legal actions. Is this the future of the EU or will the German supreme court and other governments put an end to it?”

Full Story: Treaty of Debt – An Eye Opening Video on the ESM Bailout Mechanism (Mish)

(Mish) “Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Facility has proposed European Bailout Fund Could ‘One Day’ Issue Bonds in Yuan. Financial Suicide – Issuing bonds in another currency risks financial suicide. Currency movements add to the already massive potential risk of huge fluctuations because of leverage. Argentina blew up when it could no longer hold a peg in US dollars. While not a peg, imagine the losses on long-term bonds on a leveraged fund were the Yuan to rise by 33% vs. the Euro.”

Full Story: Financial Suicide: Head of EFSF says Bailout Fund Could One Day Issue Bonds in Yuan (Mish)

Last week, Reason.tv followed Peter Schiff, prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, around Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park as he attempted to debate the the difference between capitalism and cronyism, and how socialism (and communism) only serve to promote more cronyism.

(Reason.TV) “Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read ‘I Am the 1%, Let’s Talk,’ Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more.  ‘The regulation we want is the market,’ said Schiff. ‘That’s what works.’ Schiff describes himself as ‘sympathetic’ to the plight of the OWS protesters, but thinks their anger is misdirected at legitimate business interests and should be better at the White House, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the crony capitalists they’ve bailed out.”

It’s sad and disheartening to watch people arguing with him, while blind to the fact that he’s on their side and generally agrees with most of their grievances, but not with their solutions.  Granted, there are also many Ron Paul, “Tea Party”, and sound money-types in the crowd as well, who do likely already better understand these points.  As such, these debates can only serve to bring them closer together against the true common enemies of the people.

Schiff debates a few people who correctly make the point that “Wall Street” TBTF (Too Big To Fail) firms must get their hands out of politics, and shouldn’t be allowed to control and manipulate the government. At the same time, they want to raise taxes and give even more money, power, and control to the government. Somehow they simply don’t make the connection that the same manipulative controlling “rich” people they despise most of all are the greatest benefactors of their rage and “wealth redistribution” agenda. These “elites” are laughing all the way back to the bank while directing the bought-and-paid-for police, judges, politicians, and prosecutors to do their bidding.  Who do OWS protesters think controls the policemen firing flash grenades at their heads (who then deny doing it despite the events being captured on video from a dozen different angles)?  And if the Almighty Obama himself couldn’t even bring the “Change” they were looking for, then who got all those $$trillions?  Must be the same people Obama blamed for “blocking progress”…  Maybe had he thrown all the bankers in jail where they belong, they’d have a harder time at it.

Schiff believes that capitalism is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future.  So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters, and to help them better understand these key differences.

“This video is looped and then slowed down and it clearly identifies a police officer tossing the flash-bang directly at the disabled vet on the ground when the protesters attempt to come to his aid. It detonates literally right next to him. None of the protesters are committing any act of violence – they are assisting a man who has just been shot with a rubber round in the head.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS ACT. EACH ACT OF EACH PARTY STANDS ALONE – NO PROTESTER CHARGED THE FENCES OR OTHERWISE ASSAULTED AN OFFICER. THIS WAS A PREMEDITATED ASSAULT BY THE POLICE UPON A PRONE AND INJURED MAN AND THOSE ATTEMPTING TO ASSIST HIM.” – Dateline Oakland: FELONIOUS ASSAULT By Police? (TheMarketTicker)

Perhaps Sergeant Shamar Thomas, a decorated Marine who stood with the “Occupy Wall Street” protest, said it best when he directed the following discourse towards police officers: “It takes a coward to harm an unarmed civilian…This is not a war zone, these are unarmed people. It does not make you tough to hurt these people… If you want to go fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan… Leave these people alone, they are U.S. citizens…Why are you doing this to our people? I’ve been to Iraq 14 months for my people and you come here to hurt them, they don’t have guns… It doesn’t make any sense… How do you sleep at night? There is no honor in this…you’re here to protect them, protect us.You’re all walking around in riot gear like this is a war, these people don’t have guns.” Semper Fi, Sir!

One can only hope there is a special place in hell for police officers, judges, prison guards, and prosecutors who have sworn an oath to protect and serve the people, yet choose to use their “special powers” not only for the simple motive of personal gain, but even worse… to inflict tyranny over those they swore to defend, as if they get thrills from pulling the wings off a helpless fly…

And as Benjamin Franklin has said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Those who wish to trample over another group’s rights and succeed, better know that it’s just a matter of time before they’re next in line…

Historically, all empires eventually fall due to the corruption of the “Rule of Law“. All accumulated wealth can be attributed to the fair and balanced application of the Rule of Law. If people don’t know what to expect because laws are selectively applied or perverted by the government, there will be flight of capital. In America, the judicial branch is considered untouchable even by the senate. Our justices are unelected officials who are held to no standards. They are immune from prosecution, and hold their positions for life.

If you’ve ever fought a speeding ticket and you know you were in the right, you’ll know that “Rule of Law” is blatently disregarded. Martin Armstrong’s written about it for years from prison. Good luck figuring out what his crime was – so much for a trial by jury. And just a few years back, could you imagine the outrage and outcry we would have seen over an agent groping children at an airport? Look at the ruckus caused just by Don Imus saying “Nappy-headed Ho” (2007 seems like oh so long ago)… “Lock up those damn pedophiles, and throw away the key” would have been the mantra of the day. Today, it’s “business as usual”…

And now, there have been so many outright disgusting and disgraceful acts of unneccessary violence perpertrated by police during the “Occupy Wall Street” movement it’s mind boggling. I myself have been threatened and harrassed by police for standing in front of my own apartment building in NYC — the night before the Thanksgiving Parade no less. While I may have been left feeling helpless and disheartened, these “minor” incidences don’t hold a candle to the violent video footage captured during peaceful protests. The policemen know they’re being recorded, yet they couldn’t even care less anymore – they know they’ll be “protected”.

Ironically, it may very well be these most blatant injustices that will fuel this rising movement more than any other. People can only be pushed and taken advantage of so far, and those in power know this.* The less people feel they have to lose, the more likely they are to take to the streets. And no where else has it been so blatant that those in control now completely follow their own set of rules.

“I don’t care if you hail from the left or right, or what your particular view of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement is.  The fact of the matter is that we no longer have the foundational principle of this nation underlying our nation: The Rule of Law. ” – Well, We Know Who The Felons Are – They Wear Badges (TheMarketTicker)

“Restore the Rule of Law. We’re a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. In a Democracy the 51% enslaves everyone else. Are you black, hispanic, or some other minority? In a democracy you’re a slave. Recognize this or make a huge mistake supporting any such move. A Constitutional Republic is governed by the Rule of Law, which says that nobody gets to infringe your fundamental liberty interests, no matter who they are: Rich, poor, white, black or Martian. Everyone who breaks the law is punished and for like crime one gets a like sentence. If I rob you of $50,000 whether I do it with a gun or briefcase is immaterial. Whether I take it one penny at a time or all at once is immaterial too. In each case I must go to prison for doing it and what I stole must be returned to the maximum extent possible.” – The Bottom Line On All The Frauds (TheMarketTicker)

* “I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum. He’ll bring them death – and they will love him for it.” – Gracchus (movie Gladiator)

The Richest Man in Babylon is a book by George Samuel Clason which dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. Through their experiences in business and managing household finance, the characters in the parables learn simple lessons in financial wisdom.

The narrative follows two poor workers, Bansir and Kobbi, as they attempt to gain wealth. They ask advice of their friend Arkad, who is the titular “richest man in Babylon”. Arkad proceeds to use a series of parables to illustrate such financial axioms as “Live on less than you earn,” “Seek advice from those who are competent through their own experiences to give it,” and “Make your gold work for you.” Through these parables, Clason dispenses common investment advice on topics such as making a budget, saving, investing, insurance and other financial planning principles.

“Pay yourself first – a part of all you earn is yours to keep.” - Algamish

The 7 Principles of Riches:

“The Richest Man In Babylon” offers 7 principles as told by Arkad, the riches man in Babylon.  When talking about the 7 Principles of Riches, Arkad says “Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple rules of its acquisition.”  The 7 principles of riches are:

1. Start thy purse to fattening
2. Control thy expenditures
3. Make thy gold multiply
4. Guard thy treasures from loss
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment
6. Insure a future income
7. Increase thy ability to earn

Of course these principles are nothing new, but they are considered by many successful people to be the foundation to wealth.  The book lays them out in a way that’s interesting to follow, easy to understand, and really sinks in.

]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-10-21-the-richest-man-in-babylon-pay-yourself-first-a-part-of-all-you-earn-is-yours-to-keep/feed/ 0 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-10-21-ray-dalio-interview-on-charlie-rose/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-10-21-ray-dalio-interview-on-charlie-rose/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:08:20 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=1184

Great interview on Charlie Rose with Ray Dalio, where they discuss his thoughts on government spending, debt / deleveraging, Occupy Wall Street, Greece, along with how people should objectively come to logical conclusions.  It’s more valuable to know what you don’t know, and if we recognize and worry about being wrong, then we can then have a thoughtful dialog and truly learn and grow.  For example, before politicians propose policies that have no foundation in common sense economics, they should first come together and agree as to how the economy actually “works”.  He also believes Europe will likely employ a combination of printing and writing-down to deal with the Greek debt crisis.