Of course they are. The whole system is rotten to the core. Fortunately, the government is sponsoring a nice golf vacation for President Screw Off and his family. President Screw Off now blaming Congress for his woes.  At least Moody's hasn't downgraded our junk treasuries yet. If they did that, like Standard and Poor's did, the government would launch a retaliatory probe into their ratings- pre crash era. This country is so corrupt that it is hard to envision the person who can un-corrupt it and install some sense of a rule of law again. What a monumental task that would be. The Moody's story: http://www.businessinsider.com/moodys-analyst-conflicts-corruption-and-greed-2011-8?op=1#ixzz1VV8RAr3C *Those chicken shits at Moody's saw fit to downgrade Japanese debt on Monday. How courageous. Of course Moody's still has USA debt rated "AAA" lest Obama's minions launch some counter attack and probe into the rating system Moody's was employing

It's called the Congressman. It doesn't work and you can't fire it.

I never thought I'd see gold put in a move that would have it double in one year. We may see it this year. It traded just beneath 1900 last night in the access markets. http://www.allamericanindex.com/commodityfutures/Metals At two grand an oz. you may want to start thinking about selling your teeth. Get porcelain crowns instead or just continue to wait. I have great news. Gold will not stop it's meteoric rise until the world figures out a solution other than to print worthless paper and call it money. If they can't rein in the fiat bubble, there won't be any popping the gold "bubble."

In small towns, the cops know who the players are. It's not like the big city- we know how to find you and fast. Many years ago, we had what had been- a very responsible social and civic leader completely leave the rails. He may have always been an alcoholic but when he found cocaine- he found addiction. He began stealing money, significant amounts, anywhere he could get it. Mostly from friends and family. A few of them reported the lies and swindles he concocted but virtually all of them did not want to prosecute him- or testify against him. That's how it is in a small town. It is intimate. So all of the victims in this case just wanted us- the police- to find enough evidence on our own and lock him up without getting them involved. I understood that. They called it, "doing our job." It took a week or two before he forged one of those VISA checks that credit card companies used to send to prospective new credit card accounts. Remember those? He had found one in t

Matt Taibbi thinks so. William K. Black thinks so. So does every American with half a brain. I truly believe that our criminal justice system is so compromised and broken, that economically we are circling the drain. Taibbi's piece: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817?link=mostpopular3 A good piece (abstract/summary) from Black: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1590447 The head of all law enforcement at the Federal level is the executive branch. The duty to enforce the law falls on the President. The Commander in Chief. What happens when he is clearly in bed with the criminals? You tell me. It's all a little unprecedented at this point.

Bankers are truly parasites. Gold now at 1821.0... Yesterday that not-so crazy-all-of-the-time Hugo Chavez and Venezuela said they were "nationalizing" their gold industry. This is code for we want our gold back, chop chop. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=133721&sn=Detail&pid=102055 Many people don't understand that gold bankers leverage gold much like they leverage dollars. However, gold- unlike dollars- can't be counterfeited. There is no FED bailout plan for banks that are extremely over leveraged and can't deliver the physical goods. Therefore, when the true owner of 99 tons of gold wants physical delivery...it's deliver or default. The loss of the underlying commodity causes liquidity to dry up and all of those paper claims get settled in paper...or not at all. Now if just a few more big holders of gold demand their goods back...there is a saying for this... Venezuela has about 300 tons on deposit around the world.

Geezus. You just can't make this stuff up. Obama isn't just ineffective, he is contemptible.  http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/18/news/economy/inflation_cpi/index.htm?iid=H_BN_News

Remember this? I have one word for Obama. Adios.

> President Barack Obama was in the Oval Office when his telephone rang.   > "Hello, President Obama," a heavily accented Norwegian voice said. "'Dis here  is Sven, over here in Dulut, Minnesota .   >   > Ve don't like some a yer policies so I am callin' to tell ya that we are   > officially declaring war on ya!"   >   > "Well, Sven," Barack replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your   > army?"   > "Right now," said Sven, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, my   > cousin Knute, my next-door-neighbor Ole, and the whole pool team from the   > Rod."   > Barack paused, "I must tell you, Sven, that I have one million men in my army   > waiting to move on my command."   > "Wow," said Sven, "I'll haf ta call ya back!"   > Sure enough, the next day, Sven called again. "Mr. Obama, da war is still o

No shit. Crooks and idiots at the link. http://www.ktvu.com/news/28876800/detail.html

Th latest government insanity. Now intervening in the chicken market- buying 40 million dollars worth of excess chicken to support prices. Free markets? In Russia maybe. Definitely not here. http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/16/news/economy/chicken_prices/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

Go figure. The rest of us give him 39% and that's being generous. http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2011/08/obamas-approval-with-americans-down-to.html

Warren Buffet out this morning saying that the rich don't pay enough in taxes. Obama says, "See, I told you I was right." The only people that count in Obama's world are the people that agree with him. The rest of you dunderheads are well...dunderheads. http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-warren-buffett-taxes-203903366.html Obama's Agriculture Secretary saying that food stamps create jobs. You cannot make this shit up. They are that stupid.  http://hotair.com/archives/2011/08/16/video-obama-ag-secretary-says-rise-in-food-stamps-is-putting-people-to-work/

I ain't got enough of it. Eight measly ounces. Gonna be thankful here for what I have and try to remember that 99% of the planet have nada. Cracking 1800 this week? Bank on it. Pun intended. http://www.allamericanindex.com/commodityfutures/Metals

Today there was an excellent piece on ZH about Ron Paul. The video is even better. About the media and how they completely ignore and marginalize Ron Paul. It will make you laugh a little. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/jon-stewart-ron-paul-media-blackout What I would like to do here- is offer my own theory on why this is. First and foremost our country is full of idiots. We have forgotten that people of substance are not here to entertain us. That intelligent people are not the ones who whisper in our ears what we want to hear- intelligent people tell us what we need to hear. And what we need to hear is the truth. It is time for the truth. Intelligent people are not always glamorous or good looking. Look at Bachmann and Palin. It's like a fucking beauty contest. Look at the male contestants. Same thing. Look at Ron Paul. He's not going to win any beauty contests but I'll be damned if this country- which is chocked full of morons- doesn't toss substance for beauty

I'm down in Santa Barbara this week helping a young man find a place to live. I love Santa Barbara except for the fact that it is mired in California. I love the weather, the beach, the hills surrounding the town. I also love the whack jobs that inhabit Santa Barbara and wander from the beach up State St. Some of the looniest bastards on the planet. I have seen an albino antelope. I have seen a dwarf playing a tuba. I thought I had seen everything until this. I spotted the last conservative in California. He was driving a pickup truck. This is what his bumper sticker said. "A taxpayer voting for Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." Before I could catch a glimpse of him- he was gone. Like the yeti. Now, I've lived in a few places that I was intent on vacating. Sometimes that meant the place was going to be shown before my departure. Generally, I try to clean up the place, maybe patch the holes in the wall with some toothpaste. Give proper notice in

Now that the FED's member banks can now own and trade equities thanks to the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act in 1999- the stock market is now behaving just as irrationally as everything else. Today I tried to find the Empire State Manufacturing Index on CNN Money. They didn't even have a headline on it. Why? Well because it was a huge miss at -7.72. And the market is up 150 points. No other news. Other than retirement funds, captured 401ks (thanks to the 30% IRS penalty), and banks- who would buy American equities? Answer- nobody. Well unless of course, you think those 30 million jobs are coming back or that the U.S. is on the verge of another industrial boom...and that somehow that 15 trillion debt we owe is going to get paid off with someone else's money. In the 35 years I have followed and studied markets- I have never seen anything like this. We have a Frankenstein Government that has given birth to a Frankenstein Stock Market. I feel like I am living in some a

I don't normally go to see movies like "The Help." If I am forced to go, I generally see movies like this at the behest of a female and so it was, I found myself watching this movie. Watching the Iowa Straw Poll this weekend was hardly riveting. Forgive my deviation here... The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi. I have been to Jackson, Ms. and I do not remember it being as lovely as this movie portrays it. In fact, I thought Jackson was downright nasty when I was there in 2005. At any rate, this is a movie about black maids, or "The Help", and the white families that they worked for. It is set in the 50's and 60's. Perhaps Jackson was prettier then. The movie and characters are well developed. There is some drama, racism, history, and humor. This movie is excellent. Anytime the people in the theater start clapping at the end of a movie- that is a pretty good indication that they liked the movie. The best part about this film was the courage it