AUDIT BILL GETS APPROVAL!!!

Hope springs eternal. Huge news day.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29734.html

The Federal Reserve, a PRIVATE bank, is adamantly opposing this bill. Claiming that it will hinder it's independence and trying to scare us with inflation worries. The fact that we can't audit the Fed, which prints our money, is prima facia evidence that the bank is private.

There will be inflation irrespective of the audit measure.

In the Senate, flaming liberal Barney Frank will try to undo this bill. CNBC reporting that previous Fed Chairs Volcker and Greenspan have signed a letter opposing the audit bill.

Two crooked bankers and one crooked, pot smoking Senator in opposition? What better reason do you need to support this bill??

Lou Dobbs for El Presidente

This just in.

Lou Dobbs not ruling out run for Senate or White House. Can it get any better than that??? Doubtful.

http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN1917286020091119

Dobbs lives in Rupert, Idaho. Sarah Palin is from Idaho. Can you imagine the "GEM" ticket? Oh yeah baby, Famous Potatoes!!

Dobbs can prove he was born in Texas and he has a Harvard degree just like Obama's. It gets better. Dobbs briefly went to law school before regaining his senses and he actually has a work history!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Dobbs

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

I think people are finally starting to figure out that lawmakers have dug a hole that is going to be very hard to climb out of.

Quite simply, we are going to pay 4.8 trillion over the next 10 years in interest debt alone. That's at current interest rates. Very rosy. The problem with that rosy picture, is that interest rates are at rock bottom and the cost of that debt must inevitably rise. The U.S. treasury must continually refinance it's debt. In fact, next year alone we will have to refinance 40% of our national debt as debt securities mature and we must pay bondholders. Let's pray we get current rates.

In a nationwide poll, this was the question that was asked asked. I giggled at the results. And at the question itself.

1. How much would you contribute to pay down the nation's debt?

Less than $100	8%
More than $100	12%
My estate, when I die	1%
You've got to be kidding	79%

Total responses to this question: 69261

The part I giggled about-is the ineptness and apparent lack of math skills inherent in the question.

And I am a math idiot.

Quite simply, if we have 150 million wage earners in the U.S., and each one of them gave 100 bucks, it would only amount to 15 billion or about 3.0% of just ONE YEARS interest. In fact to pay the interest on this debt each year will require an additional 3500 dollars per taxpayer. We still have to pay taxes for current expenditures like SS, Obamacare, Cap and Trade, and a few more wars. Or a little extra to actually pay down the principal. Now you begin to see how bad it really is. At existing rates.

Here's a quick fact check for you. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

And oh by the way, contributions will not be voluntary.

Often Wrong but Never in Doubt, a Political Mantra

I tried to embed an MSNBC clip which didn't work out. That and I don't really care for those Scotttrade ads.

So I am going to throw in this link;

http://www.onenewsnow.com/AP/Search/Business/Default.aspx?id=771798

Home foreclosure and delinquency rates set a new record. In fact, 14.5% of all home loans are now delinquent by at least 30 days or in foreclosure. That is huge. Not to mention the rise in conforming, those non adjustable and fixed loans, as even the best loans are sinking because of massive unemployment.

Credit card defaults are also at an all time high. The jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 7 were 505,000. Which by any accounting method still sucks.

All of this wretched excess has to get wrenched out of the system. It is the pain we must feel, the medicine we must take, to get over our consuming disease. I'm ok with that and of course it had to happen. And it will continue to happen.

What frosts my ass is that politicians with "re-elect me" agendas like to proclaim through various means (thus minimizing and deflecting the damage) that their actions and policies have been effective. They want to take credit for a recovery that simply doesn't exist. It is a lie. By itself that is bad enough. Unfortunately, these spineless ninnies refuse to take any corrective action to undo the damage they have caused. This includes re-instituting Glass-Steagall and a number of other safeguards and policies that banks and financial institutions had Congress undo.

Politicians refuse to engage in campaign reform. Check out Senate banking chair, Chris Dodd's contributors (or any other politicians) here- http://www.opensecrets.org/. Politicians refuse to audit the Federal Reserve (although some are trying) or eliminate the Fed entirely because that takes moral courage which apparently -in Washington- is in very short supply.

Politicians simply haven't accepted the fact that they are responsible for this mess and that without serious reform and some political courage, we will achieve nothing. Business as usual. That includes any more idiotic claims from the top down that the "Great Recession" is over or that they have some crystal ball or divine guidance when determining just when that will happen.

Gird Your Loins

Housing starts.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/18/markets/markets_new_york/index.htm

CPI came in a shade worse than expected at .03. Dollar trading at 1.50 to one euro. Gold hitting 1150.00. Oil not budging, hugging 80 bucks a barrel, so no pump relief for us.

Official jobless rate at 10.2. Real unemployment closer to 20%.

We have been sitting in an artificially induced eye of an economic storm. The best news is baked in. When we exit the eye of this financial storm, this is going to get real interesting...say about 2010. I can't wait to see Frankenstein try to put lipstick on this pig in an election year.

Anyway, I don't see this as good or bad. I just see it as it is. Pretty soon, inflation and the Federal Reserve are gonna jack up the interest rate on all that dough we borrowed and as Joe Biden so aptly puts it, it will be time to "gird your loins."

When It's Bad to be Good and Good to be Bad

Huh?

The terms optimism and pessimism are fascinating terms. They are created by a false sense of self. An ego that finds it necessary to label itself and then run around and label others. It is done to discredit others and make itself look perceptive. That is ego. Pure and simple.

Unfortunately, this idea that we must label people and call them names was first learned in the sandbox or playground. It is kind of the adult version of name calling.

Have you ever heard that cliche' about optimism? Of course you have, the one about seeing life as a glass that is half full or half empty? Complete and utter nonsense. I'd like to slap the shit out of the person that first uttered that cliche' and the millions of morons that repeat it.

Years ago, I had a friend who ate right, took care of herself, and believed she would live to a ripe old age. You see, she considered herself an "optimist." Unfortunately, all of that optimism involved not getting seen by a doctor. And as she lay dying at the ripe old age of 42 from cancer, I remembered.

I always enjoy hearing from the silver spoon crowd too. These are the folks who have every advantage. They had the right parenting, access to college usually without working, and a nice network of friends to help them land sweet jobs. Maybe they have so much dough they don't even have to work.

I love it when the rich kids call themselves optimists. No kidding, of course they are. Why wouldn't they be?

Sometimes the optimists acquire self awareness. They become grateful. They begin to realize that their perceptions of optimism and pessimism are born out of the experiences that shape them. Unique realities, opinions about themselves that are always true. When people "get it" is when you see a book such as "The Last Lecture." Grateful people.

In fact, I am going to embed the link for the "Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. It has been viewed over 10 million times. There are a lot worse things you could spend your time on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

So why am I ranting about this whole optimist v. pessimist debate? Because it is utter nonsense.

I created Frankenstein Government to create awareness. A government that loves optimists and nanny followers, call them enablers, who believe that government is good and will save them. Their optimism and trust, thus lack of participation, makes them suckers. Folks like my friend who don't see the doctor.

Pessimists on the other hand, see the prima facia evidence. They try to make people aware, to garner participation often while facing the ridicule of self anointed "optimists." They are not suckers and don't get lured into egoic thinking. They could be called optimists actually.

Here then is prima facia evidence. The government lost 98 billion this year. Since there are only 100 million taxpayers, including myself, they managed to piss away and lose about 980 dollars of the 15,000 dollars they have garnished from me. I suppose the optimist in me would say, "well they managed not to piss away the other 14k." Sweet.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/money/21647334/detail.html

Boise Bum Barometer

They say you can gauge the health and wealth of a nation by how well it cares for its poor. Maybe Ghandi said that- I'll have to look it up later.

I counted nine bums on Boise street corners today. Corners that were previously uninhabited. I had the misfortune to get behind one of those bums straddling an island in a left turn lane. The lead car decided to go for his wallet as the arrow turned green. The bum got some currency for his efforts. We missed the light. I almost felt as though I had contributed.

The bums all carry placards conveying a message. One said "family of five." One said "Army veteran."

A river of down and out people who even if they could clean up, it is highly doubtful that they could be competitive at any level in today's rosy job market.

Thankfully, the recession is over.

Here's the worst part. That bum with the Army veteran hat has done more for me than the President. And if I were given a choice of who to hand that paycheck to, well let's just say...I know I would hand it to the most deserving party. And friends. Knowing more are coming.

A glimpse of the future. You'll love this. Frankenstein Government California style. "Hey, we're not just going to steal your money, but there's not a damn thing you can do about it! Now run along losers, go home and watch tv."

I know a lot of folks from California...this might effect their revenue streams just a tad...

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/the_california_t_party_t_is_fo.html

The "Lunatic Fringe"

I am a card carrying member of the lunatic fringe which is to say...

I believe in liberty. Freedom from nanny government control. Nanny government control comes from three accepted sources...Republicans, Democrats, and the independent voters that THINK these two parties are the ONLY solution.

In fact, our two party system is the PROBLEM. Repeating the same behavior over and over again achieves the same time honored and guaranteed results. A democratic nanny government that passes laws and gives your money to those unwilling to work for it, or a republican nanny government that passes laws and gives tax relief and business advantages to the rich and elite.

Make no mistake about it. Either way, you lose-working stiff.

Screw the Bushs' and Obamas' of this world. The Pelosis, Geithners, Franks, Waxmans, Dodds, Paulsons; the business as usual-enrich our personal lives any way that we can Frankenstein government employees. They quit working for us long ago. To support them is to take a seat on the short bus.

Someday, we will understand that those people who comprise government as we know it now and the vast majority of Americans who still believe and support this unmanageable mess...

One day, they will be referred to as the "lunatic fringe."

Don't Drink The Kool Aid

President Obama, Fed Chair Bernanke, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have set up a Kool Aid stand. They want you to buy the Kool Aid and drink some. Millions of Americans have.

Here are the symptoms of someone who has swilled the Kool Aid. They proclaim that the "Great Recession is over." They have bought into the short term or micro view of an artificially stimulated TARP economy. They adamantly counter attack anyone who holds an opinion that you cannot continue to inflate and stimulate an economy, or avoid a collapse, by spending money you don't have. In fact it is going to make the coming depression far worse. What happens when the interest rates rise on all that US debt when we eventually come out of the great recession? Servicing that interest in an inflationary environment will be an incredible drag on our economy. Oil is going to get ugly, fast. We are just getting a short term reprieve.

It is an illusion. What is not an illusion is that gold is hitting all time highs again at 1135.00 an oz.

Another illusion was created when manufactured GDP numbers included a mad dash for free money in "Cash for Clunkers" and the same mad dash for the "free" 8000 dollar tax credit for first home buyers that expired (and was extended!) at the end of the quarter.

Continuing job losses are illusory in that they are woefully understated. Add something nobody is talking about. A humongous labor pool where new job offers come with the lowest salaries I have witnessed in 30 years. Yours truly was offered a job for 8.25 an hour at a non profit. Slim health coverage in 180 days. Managing 20 employees making 7 and change. I turned it down because I can. I made that kind of money 30 years ago.

You cannot dismantle an entire health care industry, without scaring the shit out of employers and corporate taxpayers. They simply cannot or won't add jobs until they see just what kind of ugly tax bill comes due, and just who is going to pay for ObamaCare. It is an employer buffet.

One of the few straight shooters we have left is Peter Schiff. I trust him. He called the banking collapse and he is calling this the way he sees it. He is a libertarian. His views are in the link below. Don't drink the Kool Aid. Schiff hates Kool Aid. Me, too.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=358

I pasted this blurb from Schiff's article which bears repeating. It is this type of illusory massaging of our numbers that is so misleading.

An article in this week's New York Times by veteran writer Louis Uchitelle confirmed a fact that I have been alleging for years. Uchitelle pointed out that foreign outsourcing of component manufacturing has led to consistent overstatement of U.S. GDP and productivity. The connection goes a long way to explain why we keep losing jobs even as GDP is apparently expanding.

Uchitelle's article is excellent. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/economy/09econ.html?_r=1

Amen, Peter.