Bureau of Labor Statistics Releases Latest Fib, Facebook Insiders and Fat Cats Getting Fatter

Wow. The parade of lies continues. I am in awe. So the question becomes...will people believe headlines like this: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/unemployment-rate-hits-8-3-133203262.html

This morning the BLS reported it's gerrymandered numbers but failed to mention that a WHOPPING 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force. An all time high for ONE month.

Ignoring the 5 million people who have quit looking for jobs allows the BLS to state that the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.3%. Gold in a big sell off because happy days are here! Simply stated, if you have run out of unemployment benefits, or never qualified for them to begin with, you are simply not counted. Therefore, the higher the number of uncounted people is- the lower the drop in unemployment.

Or will people believe this? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/implied-unemployment-rate-rises-115-spread-propaganda-number-surges-30-year-high

Perception shapes opinion and reality. It doesn't have to be true- it just has to appear that way. That's how the propaganda war is won.

Facebook. About a year ago, I lost my mind and finally posted a profile on Facebook. I have mixed emotions. It's kind of interesting to see old friends on there. I use it to search for people who are in the news. Really. Very often, they restrict their information to the extent that you cannot even contact them. So what's the point?

Well as it turns out, with a completely chicken shit and paranoid population, I find Facebook to be of minimal networking value.

To sum up my Facebook experience? A constant stream of superficial fluff probably not worthy of my time to begin with. I can truly say that FB has not enhanced my life one bit. I could have lived just fine without it. However, it appears that my participation in FB is about to enhance Mark Zuckerberg's wealth. Facebook is about to be taken public in what is most likely the biggest initial public stock offering of all time. The shares will be offered to the wealthy and elite via their brokers- who will then flip them for a nice profit. By the time the hoi polloi (those people that are actually on FB) get access to shares in the open market- they will be so overpriced that they will offer little or no value at all. Fully priced and distributed to suckers weak hands.

How do I feel about Zuckerberg selling my profile to advertisers? Look, everything I've read about that kid puts him in the sociopath capitalist class. Including the movie. I should have known better.

They Can't Give Away 3% Mortgages, Wait For 2% Before You Pull The Trigger

I am not kidding. This economy is completely dead. There are no jobs. Artificially over-priced houses aren't selling because people can't qualify with their new reduced wages. Not to mention credit reports that are shot.

Not in my life did I ever think we'd see 3% mortgages. I'm waiting for 2% and I am not kidding. Japan, here we come. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rate-30-mortgage-falls-record-3-87-pct-150348197.html

Why Negative Interest Rates Will Send The Precious Metals Complex Straight Up

There has been a tug of war since 2008.

The bankers and the government have done everything universally possible to create the illusion of a banking world that is solvent. They have also rescued the stock market- truly making it the investment of last resort.

If the stock market fails- America fails. I am not kidding, it is that serious. If the banking world gets exposed then all bets are off.

Often, I will read the anti-gold class state something like gold "does not pay a dividend." The implication is that the stock market and the bond market offer better returns. Is this true?

The answer is no given a negative interest rate environment like the one we have now. A negative interest rate environment occurs when inflation is outstripping yield or dividend returns. It works like this. Suppose you can make 3% yield on treasuries or a 4% dividend in equities. That rate of return looks ok when it is stacked up against a 1% inflation rate. You are still getting "plus money." However, if the real inflation rate is closer to 11% rather than the government rigged numbers supplied by the BLS each month, you are now receiving a negative return of -7 or -8%. The following chart is courtesy of shadowstats- something you can trust because the government does not generate it. Note the huge divergence between their numbers and the BLS numbers.




Therefore- you are guaranteed a loss not to mention that your capital is at risk of loss, default, or conversion. Only a math challenged sucker would invest there. Let the buyer beware. Remember MF Global.

Negative interest rates become the perfect environment for gold or silver to thrive in. You are guaranteed two things. Your investment in gold, silver, or platinum has an inverse relationship to negative returns. You may not get paid dividends but you preserve buying power- you lose nothing. Precious metals match or outstrip inflation. You do not have your capital at risk. There is no way for the government or bankers to counterfeit precious metals or steal them from you as long as you own and POSSESS the physical metal. By possess, I do not mean in a bank where Congress can pass a bill overnight and seize every safe deposit box like they did in 1933. In fact, that seizure violated the Fourth Amendment which has always caused me to scratch my head. (Why didn't the entire world sue the government?) Fiat promoters hate precious metals. Precious metals are a fiat currency put. A short. Plain and simple.

Can the government tax the hell out of gold and silver or confiscate it? Sure. But by that time, anarchy will be here in full force and nobody is gonna want worthless currency. Other than food, ammo, and water- precious meals make the most sense. From now until then. Whenever then is.

There is no Deus Ex Machina ending. There is no miracle cure. All debts are paid. Either by the debtor or by the lender. That includes that 16.4 trillion they just rung up.

If I had to pick a side- and we all do- I land on precious metals. Ultimately, PM's will win the tug of war in a world filled with deceit and fraudulent numbers. At some point, the truth will escape and once that Genie is out of the bottle...I'm not sure sellers of precious metals will even take currency.

Sarcasm, Because It's Still Against the Law To Beat The Shit Out Of People

Yesterday I did a piece on the destruction of the United States debt Titanic. The ship where every tax payer has a seat.

I questioned the numbers presented by a reporter who failed to cite his source. I assumed, most likely, that he acquired his numbers from the Congressional Budget Office. http://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/2012/01/maybe-media-is-just-as-baffled-as-rest.html

In less than 24 hours, Zero Hedge was out with a great story on the missing credibility of the CBO. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cbo-merely-another-manipulated-front-wall-street-dictate-washington-policy

I had to read that story three times. Why? Because it just smacks so true. It makes sense. If you look at the history of the CBO's "optimistic" projections (chart) you'll find a decade of deceit or at the very least, consistently minimized deficits. Is that coincidence?





It's pretty difficult for me to escape the fact that the CBO appears to be nothing more than one more propaganda tool for Wall Street and our paid for politicians. There was a time when I thought that the CBO was an independent agency and tried to put out credible numbers. But like all things government, it appears that any integrity this office once had has now been compromised. Like somehow that is an isolated incident and the Bureau of Labor Statistics is credible.

Conspiracy? Yes of course it's a conspiracy. It's a conspiracy with one common goal shared by  thousands of influential policy makers, politicians, crony capitalists, and government employees. Deceive the American people for as long as humanly possible and receive a continuation of fat paychecks for doing so. What happens when you tell the truth? Well just ask the formerly employed, Ms. Pham, who is now suing the CBO.

Every once in awhile, I receive a great comment like I did in the "Media Baffled" piece. This is an interesting and intelligent comment. Not because it attempts to stroke my ego while claiming vastly superior intellectual high ground; but because it is a passive aggressive statement by a writer who has claimed some virtual lofty perch from which he gazes down at emotional midgets like myself. 

Know this. I get it. The only way our society has a chance of educating ourselves- of communicating vital and truthful information- is by this medium. There is no other means available to us. I accept that there will always be some folks who will state an opinion contrary to that and that's ok. It hasn't slowed me down yet.

Lawrence Summers, Still Unconscious After All O' These Years

This article from HuffPo pretty much sums up the wreckage of Lawrence Summers. Absolutely fascinating, the work of an ego. Here is the ego of a man who simply cannot accept that he and his shitty decisions are a big reason why the world is now getting a free ride on the debt Titanic.

He of course, found a lifeboat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/the-democrats-who-unleash_b_1249110.html

Despite Offering The Worst Odds and Value on the Planet, Powerball Officials Increase the Price of a Lottery Ticket 100%

The stupid tax.

I admit, I have played Powerball but only when the jackpot exceeds 80 million. Somehow that allows my ego and conscience enough dignity to play.

The reality is- is that these types of lotteries are absolutely the worst gamble on the planet. It amounts to little more than surrendering your hard earned money. The only sure winner is the states' and the Federal government who without ever so much as purchasing one measly ticket- manage to steal half of every lottery winner's treasure.

Small wonder that gambling and lotteries were illegal up to the point that government saw an opportunity to steal even more money from the citizenry. Suddenly, that horrible vice of gambling became palatable and acceptable to governments everywhere. They love the lottery.

So last Saturday night, with the jackpot cracking 100 million, I bought a five dollar quick pick which in fact became a ten dollar quick pick- the cashier informed me. It seems that the Powerball people, not satisfied with simply stealing everyone's money, decided to double down and steal twice as much.

When you offer such a good deal at odds of 100 million to one- apparently this gives you pricing power and marketability. Fantasy and hope sells. 

I opted out of the cigarette tax last year. This year I am opting out of the stupid tax.

Maybe The Media Is Just As Baffled As The Rest Of Us

It's absolutely fascinating- the quality of crap written by the mainstream media. Sometimes, I honestly don't think corporate writers have a brain in their head. Or at the very least, writers may simply be gullible since they are mostly statists and government worshippers to begin with. Quite often it appears that writers simply do not attempt to fact check anything our government excretes or at the very least- cite which massaging agency is the source of  the numbers they are using. They simply accept some BS number from some undisclosed agency and write a story.

Remember, this is the government which delivers the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports each month. Some of the most superb science fiction since Jules Verne and Kurt Vonnegut first put ink on paper.

This is an ABC news story I stumbled onto. I snipped the following quote directly from the article. "The US Treasury Department is seeking to borrow $444 billion in the current quarter. The latest estimate of borrowing plans for the January-March period would make this quarter the fifth highest for government borrowing. That's because of the very large budget deficit." Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/irs-delays-refunds-morning-business-memo-121816654--abc-news.html

Now here's a first paragraph snippet from Andrew Taylor of the Associated Press in a different story on the very same day. WASHINGTON (AP) — A new budget report released Tuesday predicts the U.S. government will run a $1.1 trillion deficit in the fiscal year that ends in September, a slight dip from last year but still very high by any measure.
Here is the original piece. http://news.yahoo.com/us-budget-deficit-dip-1-1t-152358458.html

So I scratched my head because a 444 billion loan translates into something more like a 1.8 trillion dollar annual deficit if extrapolated out.

Yet here is the AP piece telling us that this year's deficit for 2012 (I am assuming this is a Congressional Budget Office sourced article although most bloggers do a better job of quoting sources than Taylor does) is only going to be 1.1 trillion.

So which story numbers are bullshit? Hey wait! Didn't the government borrow money in the first quarter of the 2012 budget? How much was that? Well I'm glad you asked. From Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/12/federal-deficit-hits-322b-in-first-quarter-fiscal-2012-lower-than-previous-year/

So the gov borrowed 322 billion. Ok, let's see here. A paltry 322 billion + a slightly less paltry 444 billion this quarter equals 766 billion borrowed so far for the 2012 budget year. So the truth lies somewhere in between the extrapolated 1.8 trillion and Taylor's 1.1 trillion but it certainly appears that the deficit cannot be either of those two numbers.

Taylor will be correct if in fact the government- quite suddenly- only borrows 167 billion in each of the two remaining quarters of 2012. Or if bond yields stay low.

The interest on last year's (2011) debt alone was 463 billion. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm

So people are confused by big numbers. They don't stop to think that a trillion is a thousand billion. Most folks probably think that a trillion is about how much Mitt Romney paid for one of his castles and a Range Rover. Or more accurately- they simply don't give a shit. When I see an article claiming that this year's 1.1 trillion dollar deficit is less than last year's- I get miffed. Not only is it presented like it is good news-  it is patent bullshit. You can't even get to the truth because writers don't cite specific sources and gawd knows Washington has about five different agencies spewing propaganda wildly differing numbers and projections. Then you have to try and figure out if borrowing is somehow offset by revenue or whether figures are actual or projected.

You know what? Maybe I'm too hard on writers like Taylor. Maybe he is just as confused as the rest of us. I think the government likes it that way. They'd probably hire Verne or Vonnegut and call them technical writers.

How The Elite Finance The Elite

Ever wonder why Congress and the President never change tax laws designed to enrich the elite at the expense of the middle class?

This is why. If you want Super Pac support you better not screw with them. The millionaires and billionaires behind Obama, Romney, and Gingrich. http://news.yahoo.com/super-pacs-set-disclose-big-donors-tuesday-065005955.html

It's a big club and you ain't in it.

Election Results Leaked...Too Funny Not To Repost

How Does The World Banking Oligarchy Blow Smoke Up Everyones' Ass and Get Away With It?

The answer, circa 1974.

The Secret of Success

I love the Bard of Murdock. A must read for me every day. More funny stuff here: http://www.thebardofmurdock.com/

Stimulating Stocks

Article link: Another Green Energy Stimulus Recipient Hits the Skids

I like investment services

And helping clients find

Investments that will grow their wealth,

And give them peace of mind.

I analyze stock dividends

And annual reports,

To find the perfect companies

To play with longs and shorts.

I then review their P&Ls

And comb their balance sheets,

To find a magic formula

Or pattern that repeats.

I’ve found the perfect indicant

That helps me to finesse

The shares of stock to buy and sell

With startling success.

A wise investor finds returns

By following the trail

Of grants and loans by government:

Those companies will fail.

So leverage every cent at hand

And short their common stock,

For if they’ve taken stimulus

Their failure is a lock.

Would Somebody, Somewhere, Please Write a Deus Ex Machina Ending for the Debt Crisis and Make It Go Away?

Day after day, week after week, month after miserable month...it's the European Debt Crisis. It simply won't go away and the people involved with trying to save the euro simply cannot accept that killing the euro and putting it out of it's misery is the only thing that makes any kind of sense.

Sometimes experiments just don't go well. Thomas Edison knew that. Thomas, like all great inventors, quit trying to force the things that did not work into working. Ultimately he tried new things until he either found something that worked- or he simply accepted that nothing would work. The problem went unsolved.  

The Europeans don't think like that. They keep trying to make something that doesn't work- work. And of course, like some macabre play- it just keeps getting worse and worse. It would be isolated and infinitely more comical if the implications for the U.S. weren't so dire.

People just don't realize it's one giant worldwide central banking scheme- and it's insolvent. Most people that is. There are those of us who do know that the greatest Ponzi scheme ever invented is almost over and we are busy hoarding precious metals and other essentials. Being called kooks.

So here's today's version of yesterday's, yesterweek's, yestermonth's, and yesteryear's news. http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/29/markets/eu_summit/index.htm

Here is my Deus Ex Machina solution for Europe. It goes like this. You are tucking in your child, 20 years from now. He has asked for a bedtime story. You are in a pissy mood so you grab a children's book and read him this.

Once upon a time, there were a bunch of different countries that used a bunch of different currencies. They thought it would be a swell idea to all use the same currency. Unfortunately, all of the countries had different cultures, different values, different governments, different economies, and different politicians. Many of the countries had serious debt concerns that they lied about and then later asked other countries to bail them out or they would be forced to abandon their shared currency. The countries with money starting demanding that the insolvent countries start living differently or they weren't getting any money. The broke countries told the rich countries to go pound sand.

Think about what happens when you loan relatives money and tell them what to do. 

This went on week after week, month after month, and year after year and then one day...the people of each of the bankrupt and insolvent countries found one thousand metric tons of gold on pallets which had been delivered to each of their capitol cities. Attached to the gold was a note from God. It said, "I am tired of you ding a lings trying to save this stupid currency. Every prayer, day after day, week after week, month after month. How much do you expect me to take? So here's some left over gold I had laying around. Please sell it to China and India. Save your stupid currency. I am running out of patience." Your truly, God.

And they all lived happily ever after.