(Robert Sinn) “When the economic data and financial markets soften the Fed strikes a more dovish tone, and as we saw yesterday when things improve the Fed Chairman does not mention the idea of additional stimulus and acknowledges the potential for a short term spike in inflation due to higher gasoline prices.”

Bernanke says, “Since these projections were made, gasoline prices have moved up, primarily reflecting higher global oil prices – a development that is likely to push up inflation temporarily while reducing consumers’ purchasing power.” And despite the fact that Bernanke didn’t mention “quantitative” once — here or anywhere else in his testimony — the media was quick to hype the Fed’s mere acknowledgement of “potential inflation” as a change in stance.

Full Story: Bernanke’s Poker Game (RobertSinn)

However, the majority of the mass media conveniently overlooked the real story of the day…

(WSJ) “The European Central Bank handed out €529.5 billion ($712.81 billion) in cheap, three-year loans to 800 lenders, the central bank’s latest effort to arrest a financial crisis now entering its third year.

Wednesday’s loans were on top of the €489.2 billion of similar loans the ECB dispensed to 523 banks in late December. The ECB’s goal is to help struggling banks pay off maturing debts and to coax them to lend to strained governments and customers. The takeup of this week’s loans was roughly consistent with what bankers, investors and analysts had expected.”

Full Story: ECB Gives Banks Big Dollop of Cash (WSJ)

WOW! So the same day Bernanke is noticing some possible inflation, most news sources completely overlooked one of the greatest liquidity injections ever on the very same day… And in hyping up the wrong story to “help” cover it all up, the media also gave these same banks the opportunity to park their free cash right back into the stock markets at a short-lived “NO QE3″ discount.

(Jim Sinclair) “Because of the volatility you experienced in gold today, and the absolute fact that it was an MSM cover operation of today’s covert operation, which was one of the largest injections of QE liquidity into the Euro banking system ever, you must know the facts.”

“If, in fact, what Bernanke attempted to tell the investment world today, that QE may not be necessary because of a modest improvement in the statistics of unemployment, if that was truly to be believed, then the stock market should have been off 800 points while gold was gold was down $100.  Because the same thing moving the stock market is what’s moving the metals and that is pure liquidity.”

Full Story: Today was a Cover-Up By the Fed & Mainstream Media (JimSinclair)

So for those of you worried about an end to quantitative easing, alleviate your fears. QE and cheap easy money for the well-connected kleptocrats is alive and well and not likely to end all that soon…

(Mish) “We will not get to see the precise wording of Prime Minister George Papandreou’s referendum because enough cowards in the Greek parliament in conjunction with blackmail by Merkel and Sarkozy have put an end to Papandreou’s regime. Thus, the on-off on-off Greek referendum is once again set to ‘off’ this time permanently.”

(NYTimes) “Europe’s leaders should have paid more attention to the distress of ordinary Greeks and less to the distress of well-heeled European bankers. Rather than trying to punish the ‘profligate,’ they should have thought about the consequences of condemning Greece to years of negative growth, soaring unemployment and rising taxes with nothing promised in return except that maybe, a decade from now, its ratio of debt to gross domestic product might get back down to the problematic levels of 2008-9.

Greece needs to make serious, painful reforms, including doing away with antiquated labor rules, streamlining a bloated public sector and selling off poorly managed state assets. Mr. Papandreou was already making real progress. But it was becoming impossible to keep laying off thousands of state workers while austerity choked off any realistic possibility of their finding private sector jobs or to keep slashing social benefits and services while the numbers of poor and unemployed surged.

It is late but, we hope, not too late to avert a full meltdown. Europe’s leaders need to renegotiate the pending Greek bailout deal to emphasize reform and growth over unremitting austerity and offer other bailout applicants the same approach. If they want any of the money lent to Greece paid back, Athens needs room to grow and earn.” — Greece on the Brink (NYTimes)

(Mish) “Democracy Dies to Protect Banks – Indeed, resolution of this mess has been 100% about how to bail out banks at taxpayer expense even though banks brought this mess onto themselves by treating sovereign debt as if it had zero risk. Worse yet, banks plowed into sovereign debt trades with massive leverage.”

Notice the tight convergence of all Eurozone country sovereign debt interest rates before 2009. European banks and other investors placed foolish bets anticipating little or no additional risk. They priced in virtually no risk premium holding Greek bonds over German bonds.

(Mish) “Merkozy and the EMU ought to be spending time on developing a full blown Euro exit strategy for nations because there has never been a currency union in history that has survived without a fiscal union in place at the same time.”

Full Story: Eurozone’s Waterloo; Papandreou Forced to Cancel Referendum; Democracy Dies to Protect Banks; Germany’s Dilemma: The Eurocratic Nanny Zone Vote (Mish)

(MartinArmstrong) “The most important aspect is the economy. Screw that up and you get war, depression, and starvation. We then elect a whole bunch of people to posts and automatically assume these people have the (1) real intelligence ABOVE average to comprehend such complex subjects, and (2) they understand the right thing to do. Where did we ever get these ideas? Most of the staff members employed by politicians are smarter than the people they work for. But unless they believe an economic crisis is possible, they will not even look at the issue.” — Martin Armstrong, Happy Days Are Here Again

(TheMarketTicker) Great article by Karl Denninger sums up our greatest financial problem perfectly… “ is the process by which something very ordinary (say, a TV set) becomes financed. In doing so there is inherently created the use (and usually the abuse) of leverage. .. Leverage is simply the ability to act as though you have much more of something than you really do. ”

“See, in economics there is this thing called ‘supply and demand’. The more demand there is for something with a given supply, the higher the price tends to be. In ordinary times a gallon jug of drinking water in a store is a dollar, and from the tap it costs so little we don’t ordinarily put a price on it. Yet if there was just a hurricane, and there is no fresh water available, what would the price of that same gallon be? Ah, now we have much demand and very short supply, and as such the price will be quite dear. Perhaps the price of that water might be several gallons of gasoline (for the seller’s generator, of course.) So what has happened to our economy over the last three decades? In short, things that never should have been became financialized. And as the goods and services became financialized, demand was shifted upward – people were made “able” to allegedly “buy” things they could not otherwise afford. The expected response in the marketplace to such a thing, predicted by basic economics, was that prices would rise.”

“If you’re wondering why you can’t afford to pay for college by flipping burgers or pizzas in your off hours, this is the reason.  It was precisely the distortion of the government making student loan debt non-dischargeable, which made it available to almost everyone at a “low interest rate”, that drove up the price of college educations to the moon.  And to the moon they went – up 450% since the 1980s, more than five times as much as average salaries increased.

How about houses?  A middle-class house in 1960 sold for $12,000. .. That wasn’t so hard to do when you could buy a house at twice the average income.

What happened when we financialized houses?  Prices went up.  A lot.  They went up much faster than did incomes.  First to 3x incomes, and in some parts of the nation in the 2000s they went to utterly ridiculous multiples, like 5, 6 even 10x.  How?  Nobody ever really actually owned the damn house; the bank owned it and you were turned into a financial slave!“

“How about medical care?  In the 1960s your parents wrote a check to the doctor.  If it was really serious they probably had insurance; they got billed and then filed a claim.  Bankruptcy due to medical costs was extremely rare, and you could almost always afford whatever you needed medical attention for by paying with the money in your wallet.“

“Where do you think that money went? Why, right in the pockets of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, Bank of America and yes, the bank on the corner.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that bank buildings tend to be quite nice.  Grand exteriors, high-rise buildings in the middle of cities (very, very expensive real estate), fabulous lobbies with marble floors and other similar visible elements of opulence.  Where do you think all the money came from to buy that stuff?  Why, from you – the rube standing there in the lobby!  Never mind the bankster’s bonuses!”

“Was this all the “free market” at work?  Absolutely not! Student loan debt was given “special status” and cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac massively distorted the housing market.  Medical insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws, and drug makers were given the ability to legally prohibit you from doing what you’d like with what you own (specifically, reselling things you purchased and paid for.)

All of this distortion in the market occurred due to the direct acts of government acting at the behest of fat cat banksters and industry insiders, using the threat of force to strip your wealth.

Every morning in the financial media we hear about how horrible it will be if we put a stop to this financial rape and the financial system’s size and influence shrink dramatically!“

THE SOLUTION

“But what happens if tomorrow all the ‘free money’ loans stop?  Now the college has empty classrooms because nobody comes any more.  Students can’t afford to attend, so they don’t.  What happens the next morning at that college?  Oh that’s simple: See, it doesn’t cost much to provide a few desks, chairs, and a roof over head along with a calculus book, does it?  Nor does an instructor cost that much when spread across a student body.  Let’s see how cheaply a college can educate you, if they’re unable to extract from you promises from the future and must instead talk you into providing them with economic surplus from your current efforts.”

“The important point here is that if we cut off the financialization of college you will still get an education.  The schools will scream and many will go bankrupt, but soon on the same ground where there was a bankrupt college there will be a new one, and this one will charge $2,000 a semester to attend instead of $10,000 or $20,000.  The difference?  You’ll have to pay cash, but you’ll be able to work a part-time job for the two grand and thus you’ll have no debt!”

“Houses are no different and neither is medical care.  The screaming about how “nobody will be able to go to the doctor” or “nobody will be able to buy a house” is a lie.  The doctor can set his fee at $100,000 for his services if he wants but if nobody can or will pay him $100,000 then he sells no service.  That doctor goes bankrupt immediately, soon there will be a different doctor (or maybe the same one after he goes through bankruptcy) and suddenly medical care will be much-more reasonably priced! After all, if nobody can buy then the seller can’t make a living either, can he?  Prices will be forced down to what the ordinary person can afford to pay.”

“There is no way that such a price disparity would hold for more than 10 minutes were these laws to be dropped.  You get screwed on your prescriptions and devices you buy intentionally by our government through their protection of these industries.  You get financially raped so that everyone in the world can enjoy our medical technology at the mere reproduction cost and the banksters and drug companies can get rich.  It’s an outrage and again, it happens due to financialization of the medical industry and the force of government coercion, NOT the free market.”

“You can bet the banksters, universities, medical societies and housing industry insiders know this, and they’re scared. They know that if you figure it out their income is cut in half or more.  They are returned to middle-class working people rather than the fat cat status they enjoy today.  Doctors, college professors, home builders, bankers and Realtors used to be middle-class citizens, not gold-clad elites driving around in Lamborghinis and living in mansions!

What’s worse (to them) is that if you succeed in breaking the back of financialization these people will lose the ability to enslave you.  You will have returned to yourself the power to choose when you work, how hard you work, and what you do with your own economic surplus, instead of having pledged it to the bank to buy the car, the bank to buy the house, and the insurance company in the event you get sick.”

“We did not find ourselves here because of the “free market.”  We are here because the rich and powerful demanded special protections from government that allowed them to enslave you, they enticed you into taking that first hit off the crack pipe of cheap money, and then once you were hooked good they used the jackboot of the government to screw you through changes in the law and special protections for themselves so that you could not easily escape. The solution is not to demand “free stuff” or “fairness.”  The only solution is to remove the excess leverage from the economy – to get rid of the debt that has been accumulated and force recognition of the fact that not only are many people bankrupt but the financial institutions are as well.  Only when the balance sheets on both sides are cleared can the economy.”

Full Story: OWS: Want To Turn The Tide? (TheMarketTicker)

If the “bad rich” always find manage to find ways to control and manipulate the government, why do so many want to empower them further with addition tax revenue, regulatory power, and more spending, … For all the calls to “more heavily tax the rich”, let’s finally go after the real controlling, manipulative, and politically-connected “rich” people / politicians / banksters / special interest groups, and stop empowering those who are the greatest benefactors of people’s rage and “wealth redistribution” agenda. Let’s also call for a return to a fair and balanced “Rule of Law“.

And for the record, I don’t consider myself a Republican, a Democrat, or a Libertarian, so much as a “Classical Liberal“.

(ZeroHedge) ” ‘The most common mistake people make when buying property in Cyprus is to use a lawyer who has been introduced or recommended to them by a property developer,’ says Nigel Howarth who has helped foreign property buyers in Cyprus for more than 10 years. Foreign buyers are sitting ducks. They’re unaware of the local business culture and don’t suspect that their lawyers are in cahoots with developers–aided and abetted by the banks.”

“The country acceded to the Eurozone in 2008, but it’s already in a heap of trouble. A recent loan agreement with Russia of €2.5 billion will keep it afloat for a few months into 2012. Then it’s bailout and haircut time. On October 27, Standard & Poor’s cut Cyprus to BBB. The big problem: exposure of its banks to Greek sovereign, corporate, and bank debt. But not a word about the title-deed scandal and the billions that evaporated with it.”

“The scheme works this way: A developer takes out a mortgage on the land but hides it from foreign buyers. The bank retains the title deed as collateral. When the developer sells the property, the buyers’ lawyer, who is in cahoots with the developer, doesn’t perform a title search and doesn’t ‘discover’ the original mortgage. Buyers, assuming that their part of the property is free and clear, either pay cash or take out a mortgage. The developer pockets the money instead of paying off the original mortgage. The bank goes along because it can collect interest on one or two mortgages. But it retains the title deed as collateral for the original mortgage, and the buyer never sees it.”

“Throughout, buyers are told by everyone, including the government, that a buyer of immovable property is absolutely protected once the sales contract is lodged with the Cyprus Land Registry, and that they don’t need the title deed.”

“Proving fraud in court seems to be impossible. In a recent double-selling case, the judge ruled against the plaintiff: lodging of a sales contract at the Land Registry does not mean that buyers ‘automatically and in perpetuity have become the ‘owners’ (as they mean it) of the residence,’ she wrote. Hence, only possession of a title deed confers protection against double selling.”

“But the bank still holds the title deed as collateral for the original developer mortgage, and it has the right to foreclose on the property. Under normal circumstances, it takes a bank between 9 to 12 years to obtain control over the property. So banks extend and pretend until the developer goes broke. Then they move to recuperate a property that one or two other “owners” have paid for…. A nightmare. And no legal resolutions are in sight.”

“The numbers are stunning. In this tiny speck of a country with 803,000 people, about 130,000 properties are still awaiting their title deeds. If the average value of these homes is €150,000, then nearly €20 billion worth of properties might be in dispute, many of them with more than one mortgage and more than one owner.”

“The banks aren’t talking. And they aren’t writing down their assets to reflect the layers of mortgages that are worthless. Developers are going bust. The money they pocketed has disappeared. Expat homeowners who don’t hold title deeds are terrified of losing their homes, even if they paid cash. There are no legal processes in place to resolve this. Estimates of the missing money range from €3 to €6 billion—enough to take down all Cypriot banks. By comparison, the banks’ exposure to Greek sovereign debt is estimated to be €4.2 billion, of which only half will have to be written off.”

Full Story: Another Eurozone Country Bites the Dust (ZeroHedge)

One Big Lesson for Real-Estate Buyers: ALWAYS HAVE DEED IN HAND AND PROOF THAT IT’S REAL UPON CLOSING.  If someone or some entity tries to convince you it’s unnecessary, run for the exit and expect the coming debacle…

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)

Best summed up by this comment by black swan on the BusinessInsider post:

“@Tom Hunter: ‘indicating that they will use additional asset purchases to help bring actual nominal GDP back to trend over time’

translation: this ship is sinking and we want to stick the taxpayers with trillions of dollars more of our impaired financial sewage, like we did with QE1, AIG and the GSEs, before we get stuck with it and go down with the ship. Allow us to sail away in our own ship, loaded down with looted treasure and flying the Jolly Roger, to the land of offshore accounts.”

In his latest US Economics Analyst note, Goldman’s Jan Hatzius offers up his suggestion for the next phase of Fed policy:

“With short-term interest rates near zero and the economy still weak, we believe that the best way for Fed officials to ease policy significantly further would be to target a nominal GDP path such as the one shown in the chart on the right, indicating that they will use additional asset purchases to help bring actual nominal GDP back to trend over time. The case would strengthen further if deflation risks reappeared clearly on the radar screen.”

Full Story: Goldman Advises The Fed To Go Nuclear, And Set A Target For Nominal GDP (BusinessInsider)

Why people don’t buy gold, and why it would have been smart to buy a house at the top of the market, so long as everyone else was doing it, and famous well-known economists like Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and others said real-estate would never go down.   Learn why it’s stupid to think for yourself.  Very funny video, and with our current state of affairs, sadly quite true…

On the other hand, it also helps explain why there is so much opportunity in the markets, as people make the same mistakes over and over again, as they try to avoid “feeling stupid”, or being called “strange and weird”.

Note: Posting this video wasn’t meant to suggest that NOW is the best time to buy gold (alas, it is already up over 6 fold over 10 years), and in fact in the past I’ve suggested that silver would likely be an even better investment longer term (as does seem to be the case so far). However, perhaps for the real point… don’t be one of the lemmings running out to buy it when everyone’s finally talking about what a great investment it is and how it too can’t ever go down. There is a time and cycle for everything. In the meantime, study, research, make up your own mind, and possibly consider picking some up when it’s unfavorable or unfashionable to do so. (You can also check out some of the related links I posted below).

As Benjamin Graham once said, “You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right.”
]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-03-26-why-people-dont-buy-gold-and-why-its-stupid-to-think-for-yourself/feed/ 1 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-03-19-great-historical-overview-of-currency-failures-and-hyperinflation/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2011-03-19-great-historical-overview-of-currency-failures-and-hyperinflation/#comments Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:00:51 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=978

Great video presented by Timothy Terrell at the Mises Circle at Furman University: “The Coming Currency Crisis and the Downfall of the Dollar”.  For those who are interested in better understanding fiat currencies and reckless inflation from a history perspective, this video provides a terrific overview.

You’ll also gain a better understanding of  the magnitude of damage and theft inflation perpetrates against a country’s people (and especially against its middle and lower classes who least understand its disruptive effects).

Everyone’s thrilled when Apple’s iPad2 provides a greater bang for the buck for less money than the original.  So why do governments and central banks try and convince people that higher prices are good for everything else?

Back in February 2009, with the markets plunging relentlessly day after day, after day…  I still recall how many traders were waiting in anticipation for some sort of crazy, panicky, high volume day to mark a capitulation bottom.  This latest market downswing took the DOW down nearly 30% in just over two months from 9,088 to a low of 6,470 on March 6^th, 2009.

Many traders whose market analysis and insights I respect seemed to be waiting for some massive “fireworks”-type event that would all but shout “THE LOW IS HERE”;   a sign that all the weak hands have most likely thrown in the towel, and that it was now time to BUY BUY BUY hand over fist.

Of course, Mr. Market will never make it quite that easy, even for its smartest participants to figure out what its current “jig” will be.  The DOW closed below 6,700 for several days before breaking out higher and closing above 6,900 on March 10^th, 2009 on a bit higher average volume.  It also marked the first day since this leg of selling began in early February that the DOW was able to close above its downward-sloping trend-line.  However, that super-charged high volume capitulation day we were all looking for and expecting to occur never materialized.  While in September and October 2008 the VIX volatility index hit highs just over 80, in February and March 2009 the VIX topped out in the low 50’s.  This peak was 35% lower than its earlier spikes, even though the market was now trading at lower price levels.

(read more...)]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2010-12-15-insights-to-identifying-potentially-lasting-market-bottoms/feed/ 0 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2010-11-22-chinese-professor-video-the-deficit-trials-who-will-you-be-working-for-in-2030/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2010-11-22-chinese-professor-video-the-deficit-trials-who-will-you-be-working-for-in-2030/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:36:38 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=841

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) recently unveiled a national ad addressing our country’s spending addiction, the dangers of relentless deficits, and the corrosive nature of our national debt.

This new ad, which features a chilling look at one potential future scenario if America continues on its current destructive fiscal trajectory, is a 2010 homage to “The Deficit Trials,” a 1986 ad that was produced by W.R. Grace & Co.  For those who were able to view it, the ad caused a sensation; it was considered so controversial at the time that the networks refused to run it.

J. Peter Grace, CAGW’s co-founder and the chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (the Grace Commission), was alarmed about what the debt would do to future generations.  The national debt was $2 trillion in 1986, when “The Deficit Trials” ad was denied broadcast time; today the debt stands at $13.7 trillion and is projected to reach 140 percent of GDP in two decades, the time in which the new CAGW ad is set.

The new ad is part of an ongoing communications program in CAGW’s decades-long fight against wasteful government spending, increased taxes, out-of-control deficit spending, and a crippling national debt that threatens the future and survival of our country.   CAGW plans to run the ad on major cable networks throughout the rest of 2010 and into 2011.

“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell

I had posted this awesome rap video on my facebook page earlier this year, but never got around to making a blog post about it.  Another great video that lays out the craziness of the “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies.  What’s more crazy is that the twisted version of Keynesian economics pursued by governments today would have Keynes himself rolling in his grave in disgust.  Somehow politicians conveniently forgot that key little detail that governments are supposed to SAVE when times are good.  Instead, politicians spend like nuts in good times, and SPEND LIKE MANIACS when times are bad.  Why let such key details interfere with the opportunity for politicians to promote their own agendas…  Enjoy the show!

ps. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out the links below for the sequel!

This anonymous “letter” has been circulating around the Internet for the past few months, and it’s turning out to be more or less right on. Granted, Obama supporters will claim that Obama “inherited” many of the problems he faces. But how does that address Obama surrounding himself with many of the same questionable entrenched politicians from past administrations? And palm-greasing bribery lobbying is still alive and well and going on strong in Washington.

Hitler, Chavez, and any other number of die-hard socialists have made the same claim to sweeping hope and “change”. Unfortunately, it never turns out as most people expect, and tends to lead to a massive power-grab instead, under the guise of “helping the people”. When considering a new employee, one will generally look for references, appropriate qualifications, history of competent performance, honest and ethical behavior, and years of experience, to say the least. When hiring a money manager, most of the time they’ll want to see years of track records, references, etc (and still Madoff managed to bilk his clients for billions).

However, in politics we are always told to “give him a chance, and let’s see what he’ll do”. No big deal that these politicians control the incomprehensibly massive purse strings of the nation — TRILLIONS of dollars worth. But, that’s okay. Obama seems like a nice guy. Of course, I doubt he’s ever run anything so much as a lemonade stand. Let’s have some faith (where’d that suddenly come from?!) and let’s see what he’ll do. Given the limited choice of political nominees (which are selected solely by their parties), many people tend to vote for who they believe will be less “bad” for the country. They’re actually surprised if a politician merely tells fewer lies, breaks fewer promises, or causes fewer problems than they expected.

So, while everyone’s so busy bickering republican over democrat, the people have lost site of the fact that at this point, nearly all politicians are guided by one primary motive: their own self-interest. With the exception of a few politicians such as Ron Paul, I’d say we should place just about all of them on their own rocket ship to the moon. It would be interesting to see how they would handle that move. Of course, as Margaret Thatcher once stated, “socialism only works until you run out of other people’s money“, and without generous, naive, and hopeful peasant slaves citizens to bilk, things will fall apart pretty quickly. Especially since many of them would find more ways to evade paying the taxes they themselves imposed on each other (as they already do in Washington, right Mr. Rangel?!).

Unfortunately, corruption, perversions of the “Rule of Law” by the “untouchable” Judiciary branch, and political self-interest will always usurp all best efforts at such Utopian fantasies. And what politician ever considers the ramifications of their policies if their latest “war” once again turns out to be dead wrong? How is that “War on Poverty” going Mr. Johnson? You would think 45 years should be long enough to win any war, at least any war that can actually be won… If socialism and near-complete government control over everything is such a great prospect, there must most certainly be at least ONE, just ONE single example in 6,000+ years of history leading to a happy ending for all those concerned, right? Anyone, anyone, Ashley? Anyone??

Benjamin Franklin once said “Upon the whole I am much disposed to like the World as I find it, and to doubt my own Judgment as to what would mend it. I see so much Wisdom in what I understand of its Creation and Government, that I suspect equal Wisdom may be in what I do not understand.” Or as St. Francis de Sales perhaps best put it, “The path to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

(read more...)]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-11-21-letter-from-grandpa-to-liberal-granddaughter-ask-obama-to-spread-the-wealth/feed/ 4 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-09-11-debt-revolt-begins-now/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-09-11-debt-revolt-begins-now/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:54:14 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=555

This recently posted video to YouTube by Ann a.k.a. Rockerchic4God describes the public credit crisis dilemma so well I had to post it here. She’s furious that Bank of America would jack up her credit card APR to over 30% despite no change in her credit rating, and no misses in payments. While Bank of America (and MANY OTHER BANKS mind you) were more than willing to accept government largess off the backs of hardworking Americans, they’ve turned around and jacked up rates on middle class debtors across the board to try and make up for all their solid risk management principles based on insane levels of leverage.

Her response is that if Bank of America doesn’t revert her credit card back to its previous rate, they’re not getting one more cent out of her. And she recommends that you do the same, especially if you do not own your own home or other major assets.

This “just walk away” attitude seems to be gaining traction among middle class slavesworkers who are hardest hit by a slithery cocktail of inflation and usurious interest rates that can be changed after the money has already been borrowed, at the whim of the lender without consequence. This attitude could gain traction as more mortgages continue to reset and employment continues to rise (just because people give up looking for a job doesn’t mean that unemployment drops – well, unless you’re the government looking to rig statistics just a wee bit more). The legal system won’t be able to do anything to stop it if tens of millions of people decide to stop paying their unsecured loans. And that’s the ultimate fear of the elite “powers that be” that they don’t want you to realize. If people band together for a just and fair cause against institutions and government that is corrupt to no end, only then can REAL CHANGE ever happen.

The Obama Deception is a must-see film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.

The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He’s been pushed as a savior in an attempt to con the American people into literally accepting global slavery.

We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order’s plans. It’s not about Left or Right: it’s about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.

Around 44 minutes into the movie: What happened to all the promises of CHANGE by Obama, such as immediately ending the war in Iraq, outlawing secret arrests, ending the Patriot Act, ending government wiretapping, getting out of NAFTA and GATT, improving transparency, removing lobbyist conflicts-of-interest, or bringing all the criminal banksters responsible for the credit crisis to justice, to name just a few… Regarding the war, he’s actually planning to add more troops to Afghanistan! And we won’t even begin discussing the outrageous Health Care bill which amounts to a complete government takeover of just about everything related to health care.

The truth is that Obama is just one more pawn, just like Bush and many presidents before him, in a larger global agenda. Learn the true backgrounds of the many cabinet members he assigned to power – many who were already part of previous democratic and republican presidential administrations. So much for CHANGE…

If you spent a million dollars a day since the birth of Christ, it still wouldn’t even amount to ONE trillion dollars.  However, a series of bailouts, bank rescues and other economic lifelines could end up costing the federal government as much as $23 trillion, the U.S. government’s watchdog over the effort says – a staggering amount that is nearly double the nation’s entire economic output for a year, with our most recent GDP figures coming in just over $14 trillion.

That’s more than the total amount spent by the U.S. on all the wars it has ever spent, even accounting for inflation. By comparison, going to the moon in 1969 cost an estimated $237 billion in current dollars, and the entire Depression-era Roosevelt relief program came in at $500 billion (according to Jim Bianco of Bianco Research).

These figures are considered worst-case scenarios, and that’s where we find the most humorous part of this story. According to Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams, “The $23.7 trillion estimate generally includes programs at the hypothetical maximum size envisioned when they were established.  It was never likely that all these programs would be ‘maxed out’ at the same time.”

That’s interesting… I mean, what are the odds that something like this could ever happen?! Somehow the universe likes to test us on the one in a billion odds that everything will likely happen at the same time, especially where money is concerned. Perhaps that’s because when you combine monetary weapons of mass destruction such as huge leverage, unlimited reckless spending, wild levels of borrowing, and a non-stop printing press, history has proven over and over again that there is always a day of reckoning, usually triggered by a single event that causes all the other dominoes to collapse one after the other in a giant waterfall-type debacle.

But once it’s here, watch for all the news stories blaming speculators, or republicans, or democrats, or the rich, or the Chinese, or whoever else would make a good target for finger-pointing away from those who are always responsible.  The real culprits usually include most politicians (democrats and republicans), along with the secret group of people you’ll never hear about who control them through bribes lobbying, favors, or simply because they are too powerful, wealthy, and politically well-connected to risk alienating.

If the democrats screw things up, the republicans will come in and continue the same ‘ole game.  When they screw up, it goes right back to the same few democrats that are once again presented to the public for “consideration”.  And thus the circle of destruction continues, with no one having any accountability beyond their ability to slip past the next election.

Don’t worry, though, the odds that all their shenanigans backfiring on us all at the same time is virtually nil.  Just like when Ben Bernanke flat out told us that he had no doubt the subprime crisis would be easily contained, with little spillover or no to other areas of the economy.  Uh oh, I suppose “virtual nil” still means there is a chance…

Video interview and update on the current State of the Markets, as well as the overall State of the Economy with Daryl Montgomery of the NY Investing Meetup (interviewed by Alexander Morris of moMoneyTV and PassMeThePork.com).  Watch NOW to learn if there are any opportunities currently offered by the markets.  We have the answers for what’s on everyone’s mind, “Is there any room in the stock market for it to PASS ME THE PORK??!”]]> http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-04-22-any-pork-in-this-stock-market-for-me/feed/ 43 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-04-15-from-tax-day-tea-parties-and-tax-freedom-day-its-time-to-pass-me-the-pork/ http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/2009-04-15-from-tax-day-tea-parties-and-tax-freedom-day-its-time-to-pass-me-the-pork/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:31:34 +0000 http://www.vlogolution.com/hot/?p=391

What better way to introduce vlogolution’s new PassMeThePork channel than on TAX DAY!  It’s that fun-filled day of the year when Americans aren’t sure if they want to celebrate completing their 25 hour+ annual final exam-like tax forms, or cry and whine over how much of their hard-earned money was just raped from them.

To add insult to injury, isn’t it great to know you’ll be helping pay off just a bit of the huge PORK spending and bailouts of our friendly government and the royal fat-cat elite that control them?!  I guess paying taxes on earnings isn’t so bad if it’s all because of a taxpayer bailout anyway.  Oh wait, how many of these guys haven’t even bother to pay their full taxes anyway!  Eh hem, Mr. Geithner (Treasury Secretary and Head of the IRS).

So maybe by now you’re thinking… with so many crooks, so many schemes, so much sheistery, isn’t it time they Pass Me The Pork, #$%&$! With our brand new channel, along with a completely revamped website, we can now easily blog, create videos, and create a friendly community of Porkypines to “pop the pork”!  By following closely, we’ll find the pork, debunk the pork, slice the pork, and find astute tricks on how best to grab a piece of the pork for ourselves.  So PORK YOU, Hank Paulson, Vikram Pandit – Citigroup, Martin Sullivan – AIG, Franklin Raines – Fannie Mae, Rahm Emanuel – Freddie Mac, Bernie Madoff, Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, oh how we could go on, …

We’re also in the midst of Tax Freedom Day, which is the number of days of the year that an average American works to pay off their “government obligations” as good little lemmings do.  For those in the higher tax brackets, would you believe they work well into June before making a few bucks for themselves?!  Maybe more Americans would wake up if they didn’t get paid at all until Tax Freedom Day.  Those living in Connecticut (120 days), New Jersey (119 days), New York (115 days), and California (110 days) will be proud to know that they are the TOP average tax payers out of all fifty states (congrats to Connecticut for being in first place as the most expensive of all – perhaps all those hedge fund salaries tipped the scale a bit).  On average, this year taxes will amount to 28.2% of our income, or 103 days of work per person.

If this upsets you enough to stretch out of your easy chair, you may want to participate in one of the many Tax Day Tea Parties occurring today.  In New York City, there will be one at City Hall from 7pm to 9pm.  These rallies have been organized in cities and towns across the nation, and it’s amazing how they’ve received almost no press coverage whatsoever!  Gives you a clue to who owns and controls the media…

So far the pundits have still been talking down the stock market.  This has helped many stocks do nothing but continue moving higher while the average investor is frozen like a deer in the headlights.  Just watch out when the pundits start talking again how stocks are the place to be.  Don’t think another test of the lows is out of the question…  Given the market’s current price action, it’s just very unlikely to happen for at least the next few months.  Banks still have yet to pony up true values on many of their holdings, and it’s still amazing how easily the media accepts “brighter outlooks” from the same people who were completely clueless, wrong, and/or outright lied throughout the entire meltdown.

On a final note, talk about how complacent we’ve all become, in 1773 the tea tax that was protested at the Boston Tea Party was approximately 3%.  Today, the average American pays as much as 70% of their total income in taxes (income, sales, gas, utility, etc)!  So, hmmm, beer and TV, or… take a stand…  Well, I dunno, I guess I’ll just have to think about it over a nice cold beer…

“I’M OUT OF TOILET PAPER!!!” just reached 10 million views on YouTube – thanks everyone for all your comments and support, we couldn’t have reached anywhere near that level without you!

With the constant stream of unprecedented Federal bailouts of “AAA-rated” Wall Street companies, this parody of a recent AIG commercial featuring worry-free butterfly watching seems most fitting given the collapsing house-of-cards of one “rock-solid” institution after another… Watch at your own risk, or more prescient, risk your money in these institutional Behemoths at your own peril… When all’s said and done, who’ll be left to bail out the United States of America and its people? Who’s for REAL CHANGE?

Music: “Twinkle” by VannWestfold
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