I've spent a great deal of this afternoon reading about the possibilities for Monday. Here then is the Frankenstein Government consensus.
The dollar is going to make new lows. U.S. treasuries are going to start tanking and interest rates will rise. Other rating agencies are going to have to start downgrading U.S. debt. All public and private dollar denominated debt is going to get downgraded because they are all based on our inflated currency.
Thankfully, I think we can now haz our economic collapse. This will absolutely force politicians back to the table. I am calling it 50-50. That budget/debt ceiling compromise they struck is a joke and S&P is telling them so. You can bet your ass the administration is doing everything it can over the weekend to prepare for Monday. They deserve this ass kicking. Fucking crooks and liars.
I trust Peter Schiff to tell the truth. Here is 13 minutes of truth. Buy gold and silver. http://www.europac.net/media/video_blog
Saturday, August 6, 2011
What Is It About Obama That Brings Out Such Contempt in Me?
I would have liked JFK. I was only two at the time destiny found Kennedy winding his way through Dealey Plaza.
I couldn't stand Nixon. He should have been prosecuted. Of course, he was not and that incident along with the earlier Chappaquiddick incident ushered in the era of our two tiered criminal justice system. The ruling class plays by one set of rules which they can change as they need to. All others can eat cake. I was intimately aware of this in Moonbat Valley. The rich bought their way out of trouble.
Jimmy Carter was just a nice guy. Too nice to be President. Reagan was the best President of my conscious lifetime. And of all the things I liked about Reagan- it was he that saw the breakdown and moral decay of America. He knew it was family based. He predicted it would get worse and it has. The Bushes and Clinton- just politics as usual. Ruling class pricks. Bill Clinton was a cocaine addict. Not that anyone bothered to investigate. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155472/posts
Up until 2007, I was a classic independent. I learned to hate both parties- all they represent to me is the ruling class. You wanna know why I think Reagan was such a good guy? Because he had already acquired all the wealth and fame that anyone could want. He did not covet or crave anymore. With his needs for power and wealth already satiated via his prior life experience, Reagan could become President without those distractions. It's hard to bribe someone in the usual way when the target already enjoys all the fame and fortune he could ever want. Which brings me to President Obama.
All of the Presidents of my lifetime came to the Presidency with legitimate resumes'. Mostly governors. All of them have been reasonably wealthy upon arrival. And all of them had histories which were fairly transparent. Obama came with none of those things. He is still in the process of satiating those needs. With Obama, those needs are still primary and clearly he places those needs ahead of all else. He hasn't learned what Reagan already knew.
I have a rule of thumb for judging people that has been highly accurate over the years. It is simply an insight and as you read this- ask yourself if this is true in your experience. Anytime I listen to someone who speaks indirectly, or in circles, or in vague generalities, or circumlocously, I am looking at someone who has poor leadership qualities and is indecisive. Very often these people who ramble on and on- are intelligent and book savvy. They are generally considered "nice" people. Think Alan Greenspan. But they are terrible leaders and deep down they know it. They are trying to become something they aren't. I think that's what irritates the hell out of me. Obama has no idea what kind of a man he wants to be yet and he's like a windsock- susceptible to whatever way the wind is blowing.
Obama still craves power and wealth. His history is virtually opaque except for that fiction that either William Ayers' wrote or Obama wrote. I think Obama was bought and paid for by the ruling class, read desperate bankers on the verge of prosecution here, and he was susceptible to that carrot of power and wealth that the ruling class dangled in front of him. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was an excellent orator and black. The problem with Obama is that he cannot decide who he is. Or who he wants to be. And that indecisiveness has left this country in the lurch. Frozen in the headlights.
A rich black kid or a poor black kid? A live on the razor's edge son of an alcoholic or a respectable family man? Pro business or socialist? A Muslim or a Christian? An Indonesian or an American? He can't figure it out, nor can we. Obama compounds problems by ignoring larger ones. Obamacare could not have come at a worse time. Ever. Obama is inherently dishonest as well. His list of broken campaign vows makes me ill. The one that directly applied to me was Obama's insistence that people could cash in their 401ks and that the government would not penalize us. Remember that pre- Presidency bullshit? I do. I am still pissed about it. That was inherently dishonest.
You see, that's why I think Obama raises such contempt in me. At the end of the day, Obama simply can't decide who he is. Superficially, he is a decent looking guy and and an excellent orator. That was enough to get him elected but it certainly isn't enough to make him effective. Obama talks a good game but he can't deliver. He is untruthful and evasive. He is self absorbed. Still worried about his own fame and fortune. A wanna be member of the ruling class when in fact he is simply just an abandoned kid that has been bounced between two worlds. A searcher. In every sense of the word. And my country- the one that I served long before I ever heard the name Obama- can't wait any longer. Four more years of this guy and my country will fully implode.
Ok. There. I feel better now.
I couldn't stand Nixon. He should have been prosecuted. Of course, he was not and that incident along with the earlier Chappaquiddick incident ushered in the era of our two tiered criminal justice system. The ruling class plays by one set of rules which they can change as they need to. All others can eat cake. I was intimately aware of this in Moonbat Valley. The rich bought their way out of trouble.
Jimmy Carter was just a nice guy. Too nice to be President. Reagan was the best President of my conscious lifetime. And of all the things I liked about Reagan- it was he that saw the breakdown and moral decay of America. He knew it was family based. He predicted it would get worse and it has. The Bushes and Clinton- just politics as usual. Ruling class pricks. Bill Clinton was a cocaine addict. Not that anyone bothered to investigate. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155472/posts
Up until 2007, I was a classic independent. I learned to hate both parties- all they represent to me is the ruling class. You wanna know why I think Reagan was such a good guy? Because he had already acquired all the wealth and fame that anyone could want. He did not covet or crave anymore. With his needs for power and wealth already satiated via his prior life experience, Reagan could become President without those distractions. It's hard to bribe someone in the usual way when the target already enjoys all the fame and fortune he could ever want. Which brings me to President Obama.
All of the Presidents of my lifetime came to the Presidency with legitimate resumes'. Mostly governors. All of them have been reasonably wealthy upon arrival. And all of them had histories which were fairly transparent. Obama came with none of those things. He is still in the process of satiating those needs. With Obama, those needs are still primary and clearly he places those needs ahead of all else. He hasn't learned what Reagan already knew.
I have a rule of thumb for judging people that has been highly accurate over the years. It is simply an insight and as you read this- ask yourself if this is true in your experience. Anytime I listen to someone who speaks indirectly, or in circles, or in vague generalities, or circumlocously, I am looking at someone who has poor leadership qualities and is indecisive. Very often these people who ramble on and on- are intelligent and book savvy. They are generally considered "nice" people. Think Alan Greenspan. But they are terrible leaders and deep down they know it. They are trying to become something they aren't. I think that's what irritates the hell out of me. Obama has no idea what kind of a man he wants to be yet and he's like a windsock- susceptible to whatever way the wind is blowing.
Obama still craves power and wealth. His history is virtually opaque except for that fiction that either William Ayers' wrote or Obama wrote. I think Obama was bought and paid for by the ruling class, read desperate bankers on the verge of prosecution here, and he was susceptible to that carrot of power and wealth that the ruling class dangled in front of him. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was an excellent orator and black. The problem with Obama is that he cannot decide who he is. Or who he wants to be. And that indecisiveness has left this country in the lurch. Frozen in the headlights.
A rich black kid or a poor black kid? A live on the razor's edge son of an alcoholic or a respectable family man? Pro business or socialist? A Muslim or a Christian? An Indonesian or an American? He can't figure it out, nor can we. Obama compounds problems by ignoring larger ones. Obamacare could not have come at a worse time. Ever. Obama is inherently dishonest as well. His list of broken campaign vows makes me ill. The one that directly applied to me was Obama's insistence that people could cash in their 401ks and that the government would not penalize us. Remember that pre- Presidency bullshit? I do. I am still pissed about it. That was inherently dishonest.
You see, that's why I think Obama raises such contempt in me. At the end of the day, Obama simply can't decide who he is. Superficially, he is a decent looking guy and and an excellent orator. That was enough to get him elected but it certainly isn't enough to make him effective. Obama talks a good game but he can't deliver. He is untruthful and evasive. He is self absorbed. Still worried about his own fame and fortune. A wanna be member of the ruling class when in fact he is simply just an abandoned kid that has been bounced between two worlds. A searcher. In every sense of the word. And my country- the one that I served long before I ever heard the name Obama- can't wait any longer. Four more years of this guy and my country will fully implode.
Ok. There. I feel better now.
Standard and Poor's Claims Last Remaining Smidgen of Integrity, Finally Downgrades the United States Ponzi Scheme
Finally someone has the balls to tell the truth...the Emperor is naked. Our debt has finally been downgraded by a domestic credit rating agency other than China's Dagong. http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2011-08-05-s-and-p-downgrades-credit_n.htm I cannot think of a more appropriate metaphor than the original Anderson plot in the "Emperor's New Clothes." A quick refresher:
I think the story of the Emperor's Clothes perfectly illustrates the reluctance that Americans have when asked to accept the obvious. We are a bankrupt, debtor nation. We are a nation in decline. Our leaders simply cannot accept their responsibility in this situation. When that truth is widely accepted rather than denied- then and only then can we start to turn this mess around. We are in so much trouble on so many levels- that quite honestly I am not sure we can recover. I am getting a strong sense that there are many people like myself who are no longer in denial and realize just how desperate the situation is. They are searching for a rallying point. Let's hope one emerges and soon...
An Emperor who cares for nothing but his appearance and attire hires two tailors who promise him the finest suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "just hopelessly stupid". The Emperor cannot see the cloth himself, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position; his ministers do the same. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor then marches in procession before his subjects, who play along with the pretense. Suddenly, a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but holds himself up proudly and continues the procession.
I think the story of the Emperor's Clothes perfectly illustrates the reluctance that Americans have when asked to accept the obvious. We are a bankrupt, debtor nation. We are a nation in decline. Our leaders simply cannot accept their responsibility in this situation. When that truth is widely accepted rather than denied- then and only then can we start to turn this mess around. We are in so much trouble on so many levels- that quite honestly I am not sure we can recover. I am getting a strong sense that there are many people like myself who are no longer in denial and realize just how desperate the situation is. They are searching for a rallying point. Let's hope one emerges and soon...
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Drug Company, Dendreon, Takes Human Greed To New and Unexplored Levels
Initially, I think I moved from outrage to just kind of sick to my stomach as I stumbled onto the story that I'm about to convey to you. It is about a drug company. This company apparently thinks nothing of exploiting desperate cancer victims and their families.
A couple of years ago I stumbled across a drug company called Dendreon. Dendreon first popped up on my radar screen when the stock had gone from something like 4 dollars to 40 dollars in the space of 24 hours. Wild gyrations. Stocks that trigger wild gains like that tend to grab my attention. Dendreon it seems, had invented a drug for the treatment of prostate cancer which was highly effective. Ultimately, I never bought Dendreon stock and after just a few days of watching it, I simply forgot about it. Today while making my rounds, I came across this comment on "naked capitalism" (the commenter mis-spells the company name):
Buried under the news about retail investors in the Dow getting whacked over the head with margin calls from their broker was this little factoid. The biggest single loser was a company called Dendron @ -65%. They produce a drug that is highly successful in combating prostate cancer. Since it is so effective they concluded that they could extort $95,000 for two treatments from men with potentially terminal cancer. Problem is, doctors won’t proscribe it because they don’t believe the pee party gubmint will honor their invoices and they will be stuck trying to extract the cost from the estates of the men who died anyway of heart attacks and old age. Once word got out that they couldn’t sell Provenge for a kings ransom, “investors” ran away leaving the company to drop dead on the bloody floor of the Nasdaq.
Wonderful health care system we have. Is it any wonder that we rank #37 in the world, immediately below that well known Narco-state, Columbia?
After I read this comment, I verified that it was essentially true. Here is one of the stories I came across. From Barrons: http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2011/08/04/high-flying-dendreon-plummets-more-than-60-on-weak-provenge-sales/?mod=google_news_blog
I believe in free market capitalism. I define that as free markets with an absolute minimum of government intrusion. Drug companies lobbied government long ago, creating and enacting laws so that new drugs could be "patent protected" for what is currently twenty years. This has encouraged and enabled drug companies to bring new drugs to market- free from the fear that their compounds could be duplicated and sold at lower costs. Patent protection encourages drug companies to research and develop new drugs with the assurance that they can recover costs and make a healthy profit before their patent expires. Mostly, this is a good thing I think. A snip:
TRIPS agreement (applies to drugs after 1989) gives 20 year protection. Prior to that it was 16 years.
In many jurisdictions, pharmaceutical patents are elegible for patent term extension. For example, in USA, a patentee can get an extension of up to 5 years for a specific product o process (not the full scope of a claim) beyond the 20 year term for an FDA approved product. Variations on such extensions exist in many but not all jurisdictions.
I understand the need for patent protection. The problem shifts from recovering research and development costs and a reasonable profit- to absolute price gouging and greed. Government engages in all kinds of crony capitalism but what it doesn't engage in is capping what a drug company can ask or demand for it's product. Dendreon knows this. So what Dendreon did is price it's product so ridiculously high that nobody can afford it. They sought price discovery and realized that 90-100k had been excessive. At the nominal cost of a house here in Boise- doctors won't even prescribe it. This is one of the many reasons that our health care costs are spiraling out of control. We rank 37th in the world in terms of health care and our costs are 200-300%% higher than the next closest country. And if you are one of those health professionals living in the past and thinking that the U.S. is still the king of health care- I will point you to the latest findings of the World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/research/en/
The good news for Dendreon is that they have a gigantic market. All they have to do is re-price this drug within reason rather than bankrupting everyone who needs it. Show a little mercy and decency. Clearly those human qualities have been missing from their business plan. The truly bizarre question in my mind is... how did Dendreon come up with a 93 thousand dollar price tag? I'd like to see the math that justifies that price.
In America we were once taught to to do what was morally and ethically right. In today's world, those standards no longer exist. The only standard that exists now- is whether the act is permissible by law. If it is- then screw dying cancer patients and families. This is our price. One hundred thousand dollars, more or less. If Dendreon is a glimpse of what the future holds- God help us all.
Dendreon is proof positive that given a green light and protection to steal by the U.S. Government- companies can and will. Dendreon- you will not receive my "humanitarian" of the year award. This is not your finest hour. Somewhere, a collective body of people need some human decency. This is Dendreon's home page. They paint themselves humanitarian- as long as you have their admission price. Think about what they charge as you read their hopeful prose. http://www.dendreon.com/
A couple of years ago I stumbled across a drug company called Dendreon. Dendreon first popped up on my radar screen when the stock had gone from something like 4 dollars to 40 dollars in the space of 24 hours. Wild gyrations. Stocks that trigger wild gains like that tend to grab my attention. Dendreon it seems, had invented a drug for the treatment of prostate cancer which was highly effective. Ultimately, I never bought Dendreon stock and after just a few days of watching it, I simply forgot about it. Today while making my rounds, I came across this comment on "naked capitalism" (the commenter mis-spells the company name):
Buried under the news about retail investors in the Dow getting whacked over the head with margin calls from their broker was this little factoid. The biggest single loser was a company called Dendron @ -65%. They produce a drug that is highly successful in combating prostate cancer. Since it is so effective they concluded that they could extort $95,000 for two treatments from men with potentially terminal cancer. Problem is, doctors won’t proscribe it because they don’t believe the pee party gubmint will honor their invoices and they will be stuck trying to extract the cost from the estates of the men who died anyway of heart attacks and old age. Once word got out that they couldn’t sell Provenge for a kings ransom, “investors” ran away leaving the company to drop dead on the bloody floor of the Nasdaq.
Wonderful health care system we have. Is it any wonder that we rank #37 in the world, immediately below that well known Narco-state, Columbia?
After I read this comment, I verified that it was essentially true. Here is one of the stories I came across. From Barrons: http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2011/08/04/high-flying-dendreon-plummets-more-than-60-on-weak-provenge-sales/?mod=google_news_blog
I believe in free market capitalism. I define that as free markets with an absolute minimum of government intrusion. Drug companies lobbied government long ago, creating and enacting laws so that new drugs could be "patent protected" for what is currently twenty years. This has encouraged and enabled drug companies to bring new drugs to market- free from the fear that their compounds could be duplicated and sold at lower costs. Patent protection encourages drug companies to research and develop new drugs with the assurance that they can recover costs and make a healthy profit before their patent expires. Mostly, this is a good thing I think. A snip:
TRIPS agreement (applies to drugs after 1989) gives 20 year protection. Prior to that it was 16 years.
In many jurisdictions, pharmaceutical patents are elegible for patent term extension. For example, in USA, a patentee can get an extension of up to 5 years for a specific product o process (not the full scope of a claim) beyond the 20 year term for an FDA approved product. Variations on such extensions exist in many but not all jurisdictions.
I understand the need for patent protection. The problem shifts from recovering research and development costs and a reasonable profit- to absolute price gouging and greed. Government engages in all kinds of crony capitalism but what it doesn't engage in is capping what a drug company can ask or demand for it's product. Dendreon knows this. So what Dendreon did is price it's product so ridiculously high that nobody can afford it. They sought price discovery and realized that 90-100k had been excessive. At the nominal cost of a house here in Boise- doctors won't even prescribe it. This is one of the many reasons that our health care costs are spiraling out of control. We rank 37th in the world in terms of health care and our costs are 200-300%% higher than the next closest country. And if you are one of those health professionals living in the past and thinking that the U.S. is still the king of health care- I will point you to the latest findings of the World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/research/en/
The good news for Dendreon is that they have a gigantic market. All they have to do is re-price this drug within reason rather than bankrupting everyone who needs it. Show a little mercy and decency. Clearly those human qualities have been missing from their business plan. The truly bizarre question in my mind is... how did Dendreon come up with a 93 thousand dollar price tag? I'd like to see the math that justifies that price.
In America we were once taught to to do what was morally and ethically right. In today's world, those standards no longer exist. The only standard that exists now- is whether the act is permissible by law. If it is- then screw dying cancer patients and families. This is our price. One hundred thousand dollars, more or less. If Dendreon is a glimpse of what the future holds- God help us all.
Dendreon is proof positive that given a green light and protection to steal by the U.S. Government- companies can and will. Dendreon- you will not receive my "humanitarian" of the year award. This is not your finest hour. Somewhere, a collective body of people need some human decency. This is Dendreon's home page. They paint themselves humanitarian- as long as you have their admission price. Think about what they charge as you read their hopeful prose. http://www.dendreon.com/
The FED and Member Banks Now Selling Stock Market, Bankers Exploiting Fear To Usher in QE3
Well the banker controlled stock market is plunging. Time to engineer a little fear and usher in the next round of quantitative easing. The DJIA down 350 this a.m. It finished down 512.
Fuck em. Remember what I said. When the market plunges so will commodity prices. At the bottom be ready to buy gold and silver on the cheap. Both metals taking a huge dive today along with the market.
The DOW should be trading at the 6-7000 point range if in fact it was non manipulated and actually reflected what is going on in the world. If it gets anywhere close to reality...
Buy gold and silver. That will most likely be our last chance to buy before precious metals prices go straight up.
Fuck em. Remember what I said. When the market plunges so will commodity prices. At the bottom be ready to buy gold and silver on the cheap. Both metals taking a huge dive today along with the market.
The DOW should be trading at the 6-7000 point range if in fact it was non manipulated and actually reflected what is going on in the world. If it gets anywhere close to reality...
Buy gold and silver. That will most likely be our last chance to buy before precious metals prices go straight up.
Our President, M.I.A., Send This To Your Moonbat Friends
Just as I thought. Obama was the greatest obstructionist in the budget reconciliation room. Captain Transparency. Not. Here's praying that Obama is one and done.
http://www.redstate.com/dan_mclaughlin/2011/08/03/the-case-of-the-missing-president/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.redstate.com/dan_mclaughlin/2011/08/03/the-case-of-the-missing-president/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The Liquidity Trap
This is a historic week for us. Our national debt will now exceed 100% of Gross Domestic Product. Mathematically speaking, we are hosed.
A liquidity trap occurs when a government can no longer stimulate it's economy. And since our government uses Keynesian theory I suppose the Keynesian definition is appropriate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap
Japan's debt has exceeded 100 and 200% of GDP for 21 years. They have one thing going for them that we don't. Their citizens pick up the country's debt tab through individual investment. They get a small interest return. We sell our debt to the world, we also pay them the interest.
A liquidity trap occurs when a government can no longer stimulate it's economy. And since our government uses Keynesian theory I suppose the Keynesian definition is appropriate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap
Japan's debt has exceeded 100 and 200% of GDP for 21 years. They have one thing going for them that we don't. Their citizens pick up the country's debt tab through individual investment. They get a small interest return. We sell our debt to the world, we also pay them the interest.
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