What If Bernanke Had It Dead Wrong?

Or perhaps even worse, it's all been a lie from the very start.

Dr. Bernanke to the ER! Stat!

After the Friday-Monday meltdown in the metals complex, I've been watching and seeing other cracks develop in commodities. They are all turning down. Some traders are saying, "sell them all." http://www.barchart.com/headlines/story/9616443/sell-everything-including-precious-metals

We live in an isolationist world. We think that somehow, Americans are special and immune from the problems in other parts of the world. Americans in their own arrogant way, dismiss the problems of places like Greece and Cyprus. That couldn't happen here, they think. Yet worldwide financial systems have never been more joined at the hip. We might never have known that piece of information if the Federal Reserve hadn't been forced to divulge who they had made loans to in 2008. The international banking community was almost completely bailed out by the United States Federal Reserve. Here's a piece on the SIXTEEN TRILLION DOLLAR international bail out. http://www.forbes.com/sites/traceygreenstein/2011/09/20/the-feds-16-trillion-bailouts-under-reported/

The point being, it is a global financial system. Pure and simple. Now you might be wondering why in the hell the US Federal Reserve Bank is bailing out international banks. I would remind you, that despite the name which was concocted to intentionally deceive you, the US FED is a privately owned international bank. You don't elect it's leadership nor do you nominate it's chairman. That is all done internally. Just like any other business. Pretty much all you'll ever need to know about the FED can be found here in a simple 42 minute video. http://youtu.be/Dba9OY0QatU

You might say that in 1913- our leaders outsourced the job of printing money without even obtaining competing bids. Signing the bill that created the FED, Woodrow Wilson said years later that it was the biggest mistake he ever made as President.

That is the system that spewed forth Ben Bernanke. Bernanke is a genius by all standard measures. He is a Harvard grad (he is a close personal friend of Lloyd Blankfeins', CEO of Goldman Sachs, they met at Harvard) and received his doctorate at MIT. Bernanke allegedly had perfect SAT scores.

I need to add one additional item. Bernanke said he studied the Great Depression at length. Thus he believed that the reason that period was so prolonged- was due to deflation. He is an expert. From wiki: Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan on February 1, 2006. In 2002, when the word "deflation" began appearing in the business news, Bernanke gave a speech about deflation entitled "Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here."^[1] In that speech, he assessed the causes and effects of deflation in the modern economy. Bernanke states:

"The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand – a drop in spending so severe that producers must cut prices on an ongoing basis in order to find buyers. Likewise, the economic effects of a deflationary episode, for the most part, are similar to those of any other sharp decline in aggregate spending—namely, recession, rising unemployment, and financial stress."

So Bernanke has been printing money hand over fist- convinced that his efforts will stave off or return America to some economic normalcy after the greatest credit expansion of all time. My question is, "What if he is wrong?"

Edison was a genius too. Unfortunately, Edison was forced to try a thousand different methods of inventing the light bulb before he found one that worked.

One of the greatest problems this nation has- is that it attaches far too much credibility on flimsy credentials and attaches it to one man.  The second problem I have with Bernanke's great thesis is a demographic issue. In the 1930's  we had the capacity to recover. We were in the midst of a great technological advance and an industrial revolution. We had a domestic workforce. American business invested in American workers.

And then they got greedy. Millions upon millions of jobs were exported. Things in 1934 looked a helluva lot differently demographically than they did in 2008.

It is almost as though Bernanke didn't figure in those lost 50 million jobs and to be sure- his thesis was finished long before we lost those jobs. So after years of QE this and QE that, Zero Interest Rate Policies, Operation Twist and this latest QEternity- we are still without a recovery.

Why? Because nobody can figure out a way to bring back all those tax paying, buy everything on credit, jobs. We can't even tax or repatriate the trillions that have been made off shore.

WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PLAN IN PLACE TO FIX ANY OF THIS. NONE. OUR LEADERS CONTINUE TO FAIL.

Which brings me back to the gold melt down triggered on Friday. What if we suddenly have the great deflationary meltdown that Bernanke has worked so fervently hard to avoid? What if all those trillions of dollars in debt were added in a desperate attempt to escape the inevitable grasp of deflation and yet- deflation comes anyway?

Isn't there an aggregate loss of demand for goods and services when you have no new jobs, deteriorating wages, and new taxes everywhere? Isn't your demand going to go down, Dr. Bernanke? Isn't that your definition of deflation?

There are signs of deflation everywhere. Commodites are all going down. Taxes are going down. Consumer sentiment and purchasing is going down, even the last great investment of the 21st century is starting to tank. Equities, despite all of that QE, are beginning to behave like someone is paying attention to fundamentals. Like bad earnings may actually have a say in the outcome of equites. Even China is starting to drag. People are rushing back into bonds. The 10 year yield is a whopping 1.7%.

Check this out. Here's the FED saying inflation is too low. Can you say deflation? http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/04/17/the-feds-bullard-thinks-inflation-is-dangerously-low/?iid=H_E_News

You gotta love Bullard's response. Well hell, QE hasn't worked for five years, so let's try some more QE! That's real genius.

The FED just can't admit one simple truth. They were always wrong. It was always a giant con to try and restore insolvent international balance sheets. They screwed the pooch and the only solution is for the whole system to deflate, wring out, and re- inflate with some sort of plan in place which they still don't have.

What happens if we have the great deflation now that we have trillions of additional debt? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure I'd waste the time and ask the great credentialed one. At this point, Ben Bernanke sure isn't looking like the great genius he is purported to be. The patient is starting to look rather lifeless, doctor.

The Greatest Invention of the Last 52 Years

A few days ago, I was watching some late night talk show host who was engaged in an interview with a very sharp, 105 year old woman. All I remember was that she was from Santa Barbara.

At any rate, the talk show host asked her what the greatest invention of her life time was and then suggested... "the airplane?" Of course she agreed with that. I did the math in my head. She was born in 1908 which meant she came about 5 years later than the first powered flight. ( I had the original date wrong)

As I listened, I thought...what was the greatest invention in my 52 years? Computers, cellphones, channel changers, garage door openers....the Garden Weasel or the Sham Wow?

The truth was and is, I simply couldn't answer that question until late last night when suddenly I remembered what invention I prize above all other innovations in my brief lifetime. 

You see yesterday, I had to do something I dread with every breath I take. Work. I had a break in my four inch sewer pipe which caused sewage to back up into the downstairs laundry room. Nothing pisses me off more than sewage in my house. So after sending a camera down the pipe, we located the break and then set about the task of digging up 6 feet worth of broken sewer pipe and replacing it. This required hand digging a grave sized hole to a depth of three feet and doing it in very tight quarters next to the house. It is back breaking work, stooped over a hole on your knees, digging a giant sized hole.

After a few hours, I was covered in dirt and sewage because in my mind I still think that I am 21... and somehow my mind plays tricks on me. I forget how painfully slow my recovery is. I can no longer tell the true from the false.

At about 9:30 last night, I gazed into my medicine cabinet. There it was. The greatest invention of my life, something I take virtually every other day, something that has allowed me to stay active for as long as I have.

Ibuprofen. Not far behind and most certainly in 2nd place, Omeprazole, the great stomach acid stopper.

I managed to string together a fairly healthy 7 or 8 years together at the beginning of my life. At some point, right about the time I jumped out of a tree house and onto a board with a nail sticking out of it that went completely through my foot, I was doing ok. Since then, strained knee ligaments and sports related injuries, a destroyed left rotator cuff, broken arms and ribs from various motorcycle accidents, blood clots, swollen legs and veinous insufficiency and the world's flattest feet- have conspired to give me some of the finest top to bottom nagging pain. I am not even counting my teeth which are giving me fits- the last one broke lengthwise about a week ago and I pulled the loose half out with a pair of needlenose pliers. It had already seen a root canal so yanking it out wasn't too bad.

Growing old is not for pussies. And whining about this shit- well it makes you look like an even bigger pussy. So don't do it. I can do it here because a lot of you don't really know who I am- and the ones that do- are worse off than me anyway. Like Troy and Ronnie. 

I can't even imagine how much fun all of this will be by 62. Maybe it will get better.

So last night I popped three of those bad boys and I gazed longingly at my Vicodin which is my emergency back up plan when the ibuprofen fails. They have this kick ass ibuprofen in Canada but you have to smuggle it back in like some sort of nefarious criminal. It has caffeine and codeine in it and it is fantastic but I am out. So I settled for the weaker American version of ibuprofen which worked- it works very well for me. Today, I have been staring at that giant dirt pile. Shit. I just can't bring myself to go fill in that hole- at least not yet. Maybe it will just go away on it's own. 

The Gold Enigma*Updated

First off, I am glad that gold and silver are taking a cliff dive. It has been absolutely breathtaking and it's going to take a lot more than two days worth of diving to shake my resolve. This should have happened long ago. This may be the beginning of deflation. It is the natural by-product of loose credit.

In 2002, Ben Bernanke announced in a speech that he believed deflation was the single greatest problem facing the United States after 1929. It was deflation that Bernanke vilified as the culprit that extended the Great Depression- nowhere did he mention that it was the ridiculous amount of credit being extended by banks. Credit in terms of real money- real money that had never existed to begin with.

By 1933, the government seized American gold so that they could revalue gold higher and issue additional and now unbacked worthless fiat currency. It was one of the greatest thefts in American history accomplished apparently without thought to the fourth amendment which was designed to protect Americans from illegal searches and most importantly- illegal seizures. Depriving a citizen of his privacy and the use of his property used to command the utmost attention- but by 1933 and the usual sales pitch- it meant nothing.

The same thing would re-occur within a few short years when the American government decided to deprive Japanese Americans of their civil rights and property.

It amazes me that our government can simply ignore the law of the land whenever it so chooses. They always have a decent excuse and they will always have a cadre of statist cheerleaders cheering them on. Convince one person beyond a draw and you get a mob rule democracy.

Which brings me to the present day.

With the re-occurrence of the same loose credit conditions that caused the Great Depression- the Federal Reserve has been bailing water on the good ship US Titanic since 2007. By manufacturing money and sticking it in member banks' pockets- the Fed has caused the greatest equity bubble of all time.

Thus the enigma of our time, due to the unprecedented printing of 7 trillion in stimulus, has been trying to figure out how all of this plays out and ends. Having read gobs of economic theory, economists from every school, and watching this drama unfold- has left me with one inescapable conclusion. I am convinced...

That absolutely nobody knows how the hell this is going to turn out. All we do is guess. That's why they call it an enigma. Hell we don't even know when QE will end.

There is only one thing that I have been fairly confident about. Something that has occurred at the end of every credit expansion when the bubble pops. Deflation.

Deflation never had a chance to square it's account. Sure, there was some deflation occurring in late 2008 and that fact is borne out in the BLS stats for that period. Before deflation could take hold and punish the people who deserved punishing- the borrowers- Ben Bernanke swooped in and began the greatest money printing campaign of all time. He created stagflation (with plenty of inflation) to avoid deflation and managed to screw every saver in this country.

Which brings me to the present day. Why am I happy that gold and silver are taking a nosedive?

Quite simply, this may be the start of the deflation that should have occurred in 2008. In fact, there are deflationary signs everywhere. They were simply delayed. I have always believed that a serious round of deflation followed by Fed induced inflation was the only way this fiasco would resolve itself. Think about Japan. They have never accepted their medicine. The best way to describe this is by metaphor.

You can keep a brain dead patient alive indefinitely until such point that the people with standing eventually realize that the life is over. That their loved one is not coming back. This comatose economy is a perfect example of that.

What is skewing our ability to accept that which we have been evading for 5 years- is that we have bought into this idea that this time it is different. The only thing that has been different  this time is the willingness of the FED to QE everything and a government more than happy to help sell the lie by manipulating markets and statistics.

Maybe, this will all unravel soon. The metals, as well as other commodities, are due for a bout of deflation. So are economies and currencies. I'm not sure just how much longer the Fed can keep the patient on life support but then again- that is the great enigma.

None of us are sure anymore.

So you can read all of the gold analysis you want, lord knows I do that everyday. If you are anything like me- it will simply re-enforce your belief that nobody knows what's going to happen and when. The only thing that I know for sure is that I would rather own gold and silver than nothing at all.

*UPDATE

*Dave in Denver reported in his comments today that Andrew Maguire's version of what happened seemed the most plausible. I snipped this piece from the KingWorldNews site. The London Bullion Market...

“Entities went to the LBMA and said, ‘We don’t trust anybody anymore.  We want our physical metal.’  They were told they would be cash settled instead by a bullion bank.  The Western governments have been trying to plug holes, and the reason for it has to do with the default that was taking place at the LBMA.

This is why this smash has been orchestrated because of the run that has been taking place on physical metal.  So Western governments had to do this because of an imminent run on the unallocated LBMA system.  The LBMA bullion banks had become so mismatched at one point on their trading positions vs real world demand that they had to orchestrate this smash. 

This orchestrated smash in gold and silver was nothing short of a bailout for the bullion banks.  So there is a run on physical gold that is taking place and the Ponzi scheme the West is running is being threatened because of it.”

Maguire also added: “We are nearing the end of this decline.  Physical demand is already beginning to catch up with leveraged paper.  If gold were to trade into the low $1,300s it would be unsustainable for very long.”

Calling Major Kong- The Sunday Collage

Remarkable in it's simplicity, this was a fantastic week. Virtually every economic indicator was terrible and the market continued to melt up. The only thing that could make this market any better or weirder it seems- would be if that fat little Nork dictator would start launching those nuclear missiles of his. We'd probably have a 3... maybe 400 point rally. I just can't get this picture out of my mind. For some reason, the Major reminds me of my friend Troy in Idaho Falls. You just have to click this. I want to be THAT guy.



Very often, and certainly since the great meltdown of 2008, I am in awe at the lengths government will go to try and hide the fact that we are bankrupt and insolvent. The great cover up seems to be working.

The emperor has some great clothes. Honest.

I had a week filled with gratitude. Gratitude that I still get a retirement check and that I don't have to kiss someone else's ass for 8 hours a day anymore. That is freedom and that is a beautiful thing. All day Friday, I witnessed the greatest single day collapse in the price of gold that I had ever witnessed. Down 85 bucks.

It was as though the world had returned to solvency, all debts were paid, and even Charles Manson had found a job.  All they ever talk about is jobs. They make them up. I do not want a job. Primarily because I hate working and secondarily, I got issues.

I have jobophobia. Everytime I think I want a job, this is what happens to me.

I have to fill out applications because resumes' don't work anymore. I have to jump through a series of online hoops which are usually a vast waste of time. Secretly I want to mark "pacific islander" and then scream if they don't give me an interview. If they do call, we schedule an interview. I have to dress up and then spend 45 minutes convincing someone that I have been yearning for this 10 dollar an hour job for most of my life. I have stopped short of calling the prospective job my "dream job" although that shit still works. It just seems like overkill anymore.

The worst thing that can happen is that every once in awhile, I will actually bullshit someone into offering me a job.

That's when my jobophobia strikes me. I am paralyzed with fear. Not only will they expect me to arrive at some pre determined place at an agreed upon time- but they will actually demand some level of performance and productivity. Coming from the government sector, this is a difficult concept for me to grasp. Not only that- but I will have to answer to some maniac with a brain the size of a walnut. Of course, the new guys always get the shittiest shifts.

Never work for a place that has turnover beyond 50% of the staff per year. I should have asked first.

I lost my last job because one of my co-workers, the guy who was screwing the director, decided to embarrass a client in front of his wife. Unfortunately, I listened to the client's complaint. When I challenged whether or not embarrassing clients in front of their wives and other visitors was entirely necessary- my employment there ended the following day.

If you wanna challenge authority it seems, you should at the very least, be sleeping with it.

Because that's how the real world operates. I hate the real world. It is run by shmucks. Can you imagine this year's graduates out looking for crappy jobs that pay less and less, with no benefits, armed with 100k in student debt, and working for shitheads? Woohoo! Where can I sign up?

You better be some ass kissing professionals that's all I've got to say. Obedient workers.

This is also the year that Obamacare will use as a base salary year for determining how much health care tax you have to pay in 2014. They are actually incentivizing me not to work.

So I think I am going to take that bait. Besides summer is here.

I am going to get up when I want, take a nap when I want, play golf when I want. I am going to spend a little extra time with mom and dad because we all ended up with a little extra time. Maybe I will go prospecting with my uncle, fishing on his jet boat, riding around the Black Hills on the Road King and generally living my life like I want to.

I got a promising future behind me, and I gotta say, I like it that way.

Gold, Central Bankers, and Blood In the Streets*Updated

If you trade precious metals, this has been a rough year so far.

Gold is trading down 64 dollars this morning close to the 1498 dollar an ounce level. This is the lowest level for gold in two years. Silver is even worse. Silver is at it's worst levels since late 2010. To put it bluntly- any investment gains you have made in precious metals over the last two years- have been officially wiped out.

So what happened?

Did the world suddenly add one hundred million jobs and get solvent? Have deficits and inflation been completely wiped out? Has the U.S. solved all of it's problems? Have central bankers suddenly and everywhere- quit debasing their currencies as we collectively race to the bottom? No of course not. Is the world economy getting better or worse?

What is going on?

It's actually the convergence of several factors. Some of them are natural supply and demand issues although Cyprus selling a few tons of gold should not be that big of a disruption. The world is beginning to realize that growth and growth prospects worldwide are terrible, and the bankers are still driving prices down in the metals any chance they get. Gold is real money. Bankers know this. They can't create actual gold, so they do the next best thing. They manipulate the price of gold with currency and futures. They have an unlimited supply of both and they use them

There is plenty of evidence that central banks everywhere- are gobbling up actual gold supplies just as quickly as they can.

Mining stocks are down 30% this year as well. The miners have absolutely gotten slaughtered over the past few years even as metals prices soared. It is almost- blood in the streets time. In other words- it's almost time to buy.

One of the greatest gifts that I have ever received in my life is the ability to fundamentally examine something without getting emotionally involved. To invest money with out worry and to actually add to my positions if I have arrived early- or accept a loss when I have simply screwed up.

As I write this, CNBC commentators are declaring the death of the gold market and citing collateral sources. At the same time, they are preaching stocks. This is getting good.

There are two things that I absolutely live and die by. When your barber is telling you to buy stocks- it is time to get out. If the barber is committing his money- then you are certainly near the end of the demand stage of any type of fashionable investment. At that point- demand is drying up because everybody is in. Consequently- anytime somebody is predicting the end or death of a market you are nearing a complete washout. All of the sellers, the weak hands, have sold. That is blood in the streets time.

I think you have to seriously examine your investment strategies here. If you have made 100% in equity markets since the 2009 lows- it's time to ask yourself if you really think there are appreciable gains left in this central bank fueled and controlled market and how long can it last? If you had to rotate out- where would you go?

I know I am preaching to the choir. Like you, I am sick of watching manipulated markets and a world that has gone fundamentally insane. It is exasperating and frustrating. But this is the end game. This is where all of the stops get pulled. World governments and bankers are doing everything within their power, in a somewhat unprecedented and synchronized way, to maintain the illusion of healthy economies and balance sheets. They will try everything within their power to maintain control. They are desperately trying to survive and putting their best face forward. The world is swimming in debt and getting worse. Nothing has fundamentally changed.

I am due for a haircut. I might make an appointment next week and see what Katie, my hairstylist, thinks about markets and gold. Maybe she will say that she hates gold. I'll know what to do then.

*Updated

Dr. Roberts claims here that today's giant losses were planned and orchestrated. http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/4/12_Former_US_Treasury_Official_-_Fed_Orchestrated_Smash_In_Gold.html

 

"It's All About the Children" and Other Liberal Tactics Exposed

Tactics. It's all about tactics.

Many years ago, I became acquainted with our local school district's sneaky agenda and how they accomplish their goals. Anytime they wanted to expand their employee base or spend taxpayer money on worthless security measures- they would use "children" as an excuse. The trump card, the one that is always played by liberals everywhere is, "we are doing this for the safety of our children."

That is a tough line of shit to tackle head on. In fact, it is almost insurmountable. Anytime you oppose measures "designed" to protect our children- you look like some thoughtless, heartless cad. A stupid, child hating monster. That in fact, is precisely where the liberal progressives have us right now. They have secured the high ground.

Advantage them.

That's why your President paraded the families of Sandy Hook victims around this week and gave them rides on Air Force One. http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/08/obama-to-bring-some-sandy-hook-families-on-air-force-one/

They are stage props. Obama is using the victim families to further his agenda. They of course, are either too stupid, complicit liberals, or too scared to tell the President "no." I mean, who would turn down a ride with the President on AF1?

The real agenda here, as President Obama stated shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy, is gun control. The means will always justify that end. So what if Obama has to use the families of Sandy Hook in order to further the liberal agenda of gun control? You use whatever available assets you have when you  are seeking victory.

Obama told us who he really was long ago. Please jump in the Delorean with me for a moment.

Five years ago Obama had this to say. I call it foreshadowing. This is a quote from a fundraiser in San Francisco. A place with big money and devoid of "rednecks." In other words, this quote was safe to say there.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

I remember thinking back then that Obama was exposing just a bit of who he really is. That last sentence says it all. Think about the message.

I dislike bitter clingers, religious homophobes, narrow minded immigrant haters and protectionists who are nothing like you generous, open minded, and well educated progressive liberals.

We are in this together. We are a team. It is us against those evil, stupid conservatives. Now sign the checks please.

It is amazing to me that small town politics can present a window into the tactics used on the nation's highest political stage. But the tactics are sound. They work in Moonbat Valley and they work in Washington D.C.

Obama is a master manipulator with a concealed agenda who pretended to be centrist. That's all he is. That's all he's ever been. The problem now of course, is that Obama has divided this country into two hate filled groups of people. Both sides are digging in. I've never seen it this bad.

No wonder Obama gave himself lifetime Secret Service protection in a sneaky little bill that sailed through Congress a month or two ago. He added Bush's name to get it through the House. It doesn't take a crystal ball and a psychic to see the divisiveness and hatred that this guy will cause in the next 4 years.

We have a long way to go.

An Unremarkable Life- The Sunday Collage

Last Tuesday, I did something so stupid that I have been hobbling around and whining all week long.

Tuesday was the day that I traveled to Butte, Mt. by high speed Elantra. I arrived fairly early. So after trying to negotiate a two week stay at the Finlen Hotel with Ebeneezer Scrooge, I found myself with some extra time. It was only about 3 P.M., so I jumped in the Elantra and found the golf course of my youth. The Butte Country Club.

I have a lot of fond memories of that place. It was my first job- cleaning golf clubs, putting them away, and picking up range balls. I was 12 years old. It is also where I met the Kneivel clan. It is where I learned to play golf and gamble. I have always meant to play the course again at varying times in the past 38 years- but alas I have always been too busy.

So Tuesday was the day. I put on my new golf shoes. I talked to the assistant pro. He told me to go ahead and play for free- because they were still playing on temporary greens. I haven't played on temporary greens for 40 years. For those of you who don't know- a temporary green is a piece of  fairway that the greenskeepers shave down to nubs, stick a cup and a flag in the middle somewhere, and leave it that way during the winter months. They do this to prevent damage to the regular greens. They also do this even though nobody ever plays amidst the sub zero, arctic, Butte winters because inevitably if they did not- some member with clout would whine and criticize the employees. Usually some whiny ass liberal. I understand all of that.

The pro said I would have to walk, the course was wet from the snow melt. No big deal I thought. Off I went. A chance to revisit my youth which was long overdue and I was pretty excited about it. I wondered if I would remember it accurately.

The golf course was in horrible shape. It was covered with leaves and goose shit, but mostly goose shit. It was soggy. They had cut the temp greens far short of the regular greens and they were simply unplayable. The goose shit was everywhere.

By the fourth hole, I began to feel that my new shoes were wearing blisters in both of my heels. Like an idiot, I soldiered on thinking the pain would go away. It got worse. By the 7th hole, I was a hurting unit. It was time to make a decision. This golf course is configured in such a way that the 8th hole is the absolute maximum length away from the pro shop and parking lot. Playing the 8th meant an additional 400 yards, each way, worth of blister damage.

So I said fuck it. I would just have to revisit my youth some other time. First, I had to take off the shoes.    I then had to walk the 14 miles back to the clubhouse through soggy grass, knee high goose shit, and some of the most jagged asphalt anyone ever called a cart path.

Of course I saw someone playing in a golf cart. The privileged elite are everywhere. Rules never apply to them.

When I arrived back at the clubhouse, I looked at my soggy, goose shit covered socks and threw them away. It occurred to me that goose shit might not be good for one's bloodstream- that bacteria potentially entering my body through newly formed access holes in my epidermis. I went to the pharmacy for some of that "New Skin" which I have used in the past to disinfect wounds and to dress areas of my body where bandaging doesn't work.

I have always imagined that the pain of giving birth might be intense. My mother, or the woman who claims to be my mother because I don't remember the event exactly, has always claimed that I have some low pain thresh hold which of course,  I have always vigorously contested. However, as I painted the "New Skin" on over those quarter sized holes on both of my heels- the pain was intense. I pictured my mother in the hotel room with me, nodding her head and saying, "I told you so."

So I have been hobbling around all week like a cripple. Each day, my shoes wear new holes through the original blisters. So I have been using the "New Skin" regularly because I am an idiot and I am also starting to enjoy the pain a little. Shifting gears here ever so gently to the actual subject of today's blog...

On the way home from Montana yesterday- I was listening to a story about a college bound teenager, Suzy Lee Weiss, who had been denied admission to several Ivy League Universities. The writers and broadcasters said that she had SAT scores in the stratosphere, a 4.5 GPA (how the hell do you get that?) and that she did a whole host of other things which normally would guarantee someone like her- a trip to a prestigious university. After being turned down by several of these schools, poor Ms. Weiss wrote an op ed piece with plenty of smart assery in it and offered it up to the New York Times. She calls it "sat... TIRE." Being the whiny ass liberals that they are- the Times published the piece and now Ms. Weiss is a celebrity. She was even on the Today Show.

Talk about throwing a pity party.

Most people caught on to the part where Ms. Weiss thinks she is entitled. They can also see the "spoiled tantrum" part. I see all that. I can even say on behalf of Ms. Weiss- that maybe she has a point.

It is her complete and utter unconsciousness that absolutely blows me away. That level of self absorption is world class.

Less than 1/10th of one percent of all Americans can graduate high school with the appropriate prerequisite credentials and have the means- which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars and elite connections- to attend an Ivy League school.

For millions of us- attending an Ivy League school was impossible. I am the son of a farmer turned many other things. I am so stupid that I thought high school was a waste of time. I went to state college because that was all I could afford and they had to accept me.

I am incredibly grateful for all of that now. I know plenty of people who didn't get that far.

Ms. Weiss is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with this country. Of course she has a sense of entitlement. But so do millions like her. Of course she is spoiled. But the part that absolutely fascinates me- is the self absorbed part. It's all about her. The world revolves around Ms. Weiss. She has to get into an Ivy League school- don't you see- because she is better than most. Can you imagine the absolute horror she must now endure in some state college? She will be relegated to some inferior life, forced to toil in some investment bank at a mid level position, denied the opportunity to rule the banking world. Gone are her dreams of that house in the Hamptons. The private jet. The good life. Gone, gone, gone.

Worse yet, she might even be sentenced to an unremarkable life. A life of petty happiness, surrounded by family and friends, where nobody asks you what school you attended. Perhaps she will even drive an American built van with child seats. Can you imagine the indignity of that?

Yes, all of that would suck something terrible. Ms Weiss might even have one of those lives where the planet forgets who you are. Or...maybe you become one of the...

Millions of ill people, dying people, impoverished people. Imagine being sentenced to one of those lives, Ms. Weiss.

No indeed honey, life ain't fair at all.

That level of unconsciousness and ego is sadly, not uncommon anymore. Ms. Weiss, like so many others, won the birth lottery and she is too fucking stupid to know it. She wants what she wants when she wants it. I know the type well. I repaired myself. Unfortunately, it took me 46 years. I do not have a 4.5 brain.

You are right Ms. Weiss, life isn't fair. If it were, maybe you would have been born somewhere else. Maybe to a single mother shooting dope in the projects. Or to a family in a labor camp. Instead you had the bad luck of being born to parents that know the advantages of a quality education and the means to make it happen. You were born with an intelligent mind. You have an "E" coupon for the day Ms. Weiss- and you waste it whilst whining.

So far I see nothing remarkable here. Another spoiled kid who woke up on home plate and thinks she hit the home run. Let's hope Ms Weiss acquires some sense of clarity and with any luck, some humility and gratitude. Often, life delivers what we need the most. Let's hope that 4.5 brain is working when the message arrives. Here is the story on Huffington Post. Have your Kleenex handy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/suzy-lee-weiss-high-schoo_n_3022159.html