vlogolution network » credit crisis

“Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:25:22 +0000

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!

Letter from Grandpa to Liberal Granddaughter – ask Obama to Spread the Wealth

Alexander P Morris — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:58:15 +0000

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.”

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Martin Armstrong on Market Predictions and Objective vs Subjective Analysis

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:01:52 +0000

Martin Armstrong is the author of the Economic Confidence Model based on an 8.6 year business cycle theory inspired by the work of Nikolai Kondratieff. Two years ago, the cycle once again accurately predicted the peak of the last economic cycle years in advance. February 26, 2007 yielded some of the tightest credit spreads ever (easy access to credit), and the housing market had already begun its sharp decline.

He is currently in prison, indicted in 1999 on charges of defrauding Japanese investors. His trial would have made more sense had it taken place in “Alice in Wonderland”. Without getting into all the details here, just the fact that he was in jail for seven years for contempt of court should be enough to make any American cringe and wonder how that’s possible in the great ‘ole USA. He finally caved in and plead guilty in 2007 to the fraud charge. In return, he was given an additional five year prison term in addition to the seven he had already served! Now, if this were any ordinary American schmo, perhaps he could be written off for one reason or another as just another guy with a crazy “they’re out to get me” sob story. However, when you look deeper into the facts, and then consider that Mr. Armstrong was also one of the most respected financial research advisers to scores of powerful figures from central bank executives to heads of multinational corporations to heads of state, it really makes you wonder what’s going on with the “Rule of Law” — the real glue that holds our country together. Armstrong even authored the most insightful and thorough analysis of the 1929 crash ever assembled on behalf of the Reagan administration in the ’80s.

From his jail cell, Martin Armstrong continues to write some of the most insightful and interesting essays I’ve come across on a variety of topics from market cycles, to rule of law, to the history and cycles of politics and war. Since he has access to little more than an old typewriter (and no whiteout), you must understandably have a bit of patience with his “what I’m thinking about now” writing style. Would I be showing my age if I can still recall the nightmare of using a typewriter for school papers? It’s horrible.

Regardless, I’ve learned more useful knowledge about world history (and our own history) from Armstrong’s essays than I ever learned in school. And it’s more fascinating than you can even imagine. Everything’s been done and tried before. And here’s some food for thought… in the six thousand or so years of civilized history, can anyone find one example where socialism actually succeeded with a happy ending? But I guess that’s why most politicians don’t bother to learn any of history’s lessons. It would just interfere with their agendas and other questionable motives.

The following text is an excerpt from Martin Armstrong’s latest essay entitled “Objective vs Subjective Analysis” (pages 10-12). I’ve also taken the liberty of making some small corrections here and there to make the text more readable while still hopefully maintaining Mr. Armstrong’s full meaning and intent.

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DEBT REVOLT BEGINS NOW!

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:54:14 +0000

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 ~~slaves~~workers 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

Alexander P Morris — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:23:13 +0000

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…

Has Anyone Bothered to Read the Healthcare Bill?!

Alexander P Morris — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:58:47 +0000

It’s always fascinating how many people will waste hours upon hours arguing for something such as the national healthcare plan without having bothered to spend 5 minutes reading even one page of the actual bill. Of course, when people don’t even care when their own politicians admit that it’s too much trouble to actually take the time to try and understand it, perhaps people deserve what’s coming to them. According to democrat John Conyers of Michigan, “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” This guy is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

And have you ever noticed that those who endorse higher taxes never seem to be the ones who bother to actually pay them? Consider the odd case of democrat Charlie Rangel, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He’s leading the charge for a new 5.4% income tax surcharge and recently called it “the moral thing to do.” Ironically, this comes from a politician who has more blatant outstanding tax evasion issues — 6 investigations so far and counting! — than our Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner himself. From violating rent-control rules to hiding rental income to tax evasion, one wonders how Rangel has any time to do perform his duties of serving the people… Serving them with more crappy bills and exorbitant taxes that is.

So, for anyone set on the terrific merits of the ObamaCare healthcare bill, let me help you out with some specific points and details directly from the bill, page numbers included. Mind you, these are just a few of my favorite points from the bill (as compiled by Peter Fleckenstein):

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Bailouts, Lifelines, and Bank Rescues will cost $23 Trillion!

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:32:01 +0000

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…

ANY PORK IN THIS STOCK MARKET FOR ME?

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:53:54 +0000

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??!”

OBAMA WINS 2008 ELECTION AND DOES HOT PIZZA!!!

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Barack Obama does hot pizza, and we say keep the change!

AIG BUTTERFLIES COMMERCIAL PARODY – HOPE TO STILL BE HERE

Alexander P Morris — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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

Wall Street’s BAD ASS: Timothy Sykes moMONEY Interview – Craziest Interview EVER!

Alexander P Morris — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:00:07 +0000

SHARE/SUBSCRIBE/RATE/COMMENT/FAVE IT! Timothy Sykes: “Wall Street Warrior” or Wall Street’s Bad Ass? Tim Sykes, author of “An American Hedge Fund”, took 12 grand and turned it into $2 million by age 22 and then lost $700,000 in his hedge fund. Ouch! Despite the fall from grace Tim acts like he’s on top of the world in what just may be the nuttiest Wall Street interview you’ve ever watched!

Timothy Sykes and Alexander Paul Morris, Music: “KYA” by Paulus

The Culprit Behind the Housing Bubble – abridged version

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

“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.” You’ll be shocked to learn that it was actually Alan Greenspan who authored these words, before he became Chairman of the private Federal Reserve Bank. What are the implications of his actions, contrary to his initial beliefs, into the future? We are only beginning to find out…

This abridged version contains only my synopsis, and does not include Alan Greenspan’s article on “Gold and Economic Freedom”. It does, however add an extra bit about 2007′s top performing Stock Market in Zimbabwe! It’s up over 12,000% in 12 months! Of course, the country’s consumer price index was rising (i.e., the purchasing power of currency declining), was also rising at a rate of 1,729% a year. So how much are all those Zimbabwees worth anyway, even in dollars?

The Real Culprit Behind the Housing Bubble – The Truth about Gold and Economic Freedom

Alexander P Morris — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

“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.” You’ll be shocked to learn that it was actually Alan Greenspan who authored these words, before he became Chairman of the private Federal Reserve Bank. What are the implications of his many actions, contrary to his initial beliefs, into the future? We are only beginning to find out…

M3 money supply figures are back, well, unofficially – and the fed credit cycle

Alexander P Morris — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 22:00:00 +0000

Apparently it’s possible to extrapolate the current rate of the M3 money supply figures pretty accurately after all, even after the Fed decided to “de-emphasize” its role. Let’s see what the current rates would have been expected to be, and what they suggest for the economy and the stock market… I also discuss the credit cycle and the effects of easy credit and leverage on the transfer of wealth.