Corporate Cheerleaders, The New Age Media

When I was a little kid, my father was a news anchor on the local television station. I would watch and laugh at him. I knew a lot about the Vietnam war for a little kid.

My family also subscribed to the local newspaper and we read that daily. This week, I have been reading through the archived accounts of history in Butte. I do that knowing that virtually every paper in Montana was at one time owned by the evil empire- the Anaconda Copper Company.

But they stayed somewhat objective. They just didn't print mine fatalities. There were thousands. We knew that. It's hard to hide all of those dead bodies and grieving families. I learned something as a child.

Trust what you see. Not so much what you hear.

It's no secret that media is often only as good as those that own the printing press. For years, small town papers have been notorious for editorializing and editing content as one might expect with owners who want to advance agendas and pet projects. That has always been true. Some of them are gawd awful- like the Moonbat Mountain Express- where anything liberal was spun and advanced.

But for most, reporting news accurately and objectively seemed to be the goal and that was the media of my youth. I'm not sure when that all of that changed but I can tell you this- I refuse to watch or at least listen to most media outlets. They don't tell the whole story any more. They omit the warts.

They quit reporting the news in some objective fashion- long ago. Corporate America seized all of the large news outlets and in their never ending zeal to make money- subjected news to censure, liberal spin and propaganda, and anything else that would increase ratings and readership without pissing off those who pay for the advertising and their owners. They are obedient workers in a new age of obedience to their corporate masters. Make money.

That's all they care about and they blow smoke up our asses because they can. If plastering some  bimbo in a bikini will make you hit their website- why wouldn't they do that? If you tune in to listen to the Comcast and GE owned CNBC tell you how great our economy is why not further the corporate agenda? Why not praise Obama and your corporate masters? Why not attack and ridicule anyone that attempts to tell the truth or doesn't carry the corporate, buy stocks theme?

The media doesn't report news objectively anymore. They spin it the way they want it to go or if they can't- they just won't report it. It's no secret that our universities have indoctrinated the liberal arts students with nothing but non stop liberal agendas. So that's the water those students carry, some of them are so brainwashed that they carry the load their entire lives.

That why the Gunwalker scandal and Benghazi just dry up and go away. Nobody has a vested interest in those things. Those stories will not make anyone money and they hurt the liberal agenda. The age of investigative reporting is gone.

When was the last time you heard anyone on CNBC talk about GE offshoring every job that they can and keeping billions of dollars tax free off shore? Or about Apple paying Chinese Foxconn workers a dollar an hour and selling laptop computers for 1800.00 dollars in America?

Or about president Obama spending most of his early childhood in Indonesia? Think a kid that missed American history and civics as it happened might be missing a few things? I do.

In the end, it's the same as it ever was. Just a little worse because now because you can't trust anything that is reported. The market is up on a day when unemployment claims shot through the roof. Why?

The truth is- is that 85 billion dollars in FED injections occur over the course of a month and about 5 billion daily. Member banks get that money. If they want any kind of return they must buy the only investment where they can get a reasonable return with low risk. The only game in town is American equities- and that's where the money flows until the spigot gets turned off.

It is that simple.

Or you can turn on which ever media channel that you listen to- and listen to their bullshit about how Japan is embarking on a new QE program- a story that is somehow wonderful news for American equities on a day when unemployment claims rose to almost 400,000.

Being objective is no longer the goal. All we have left is corporate cheerleaders. That's our new age media- feeding you a constant diet of happy news, bikini clad bimbos, and liberal propaganda about how great our economy is and what a wonderful job Obama is doing.

All you have to do is close your lying eyes and believe it.

 

The Blow Off Top Is Finally Here

For years, I have predicted the end of equities and a stock market collapse. I have been wrong. I have been wrong because of a number of things- but that's all about to change. Briefly...

Nothing has changed since 2008 in terms of regulating banks, regulating the FED, or even changing the laws regarding how banks are allowed to "over value" assets. The FED has added trillions of dollars of liquidity to our economy which in turn has allowed financial institutions to literally run the price of the market into the heavens. Zero Interest Rate Policy or ZIRP continues unabated while the ministers of propaganda tell us inflation is essentially non existent- which anyone buying a 10 dollar can of coffee that is missing 17 ounces of contents of the lesser expensive "Supremo" bean- will tell you is bullshit.

Job numbers are getting better only because employers are job splitting. They are taking full time jobs and chopping them in half so that they won't have to pay for Obamacare. This creates the illusion of improving jobs numbers. The ministers of propaganda are massaging home numbers too.

The metals markets are getting crushed and forced down by the bankers. This keeps inflation at bay and it also dissuades anyone from investing in something other than the stock market.

Is this a conspiracy? Of course it is. Everyone wants to run the market higher. Obama does, Bernanke does, bankers do, hedge funds do, Americans do. Everyone wants the grand illusion of wealth to continue. And it will- unabated and unstoppable-up until such point that Bernanke turns off QE. Which begs the question.

If this inflation free, job creating and house selling economy is so KICK ASS- why don't they stop QE? Why don't they stop buying 85 billion dollars worth of treasuries and home loans each month and just let this market behave independently and on it's own?

Answer. They can't. The market will collapse. They have created a monster.

This is the great conspiracy that we are all a part of whether you want to be or not. We are powerless to stop it. All we can do is watch as the market grinds higher and higher. Good news, bad news, horrible news. There is no other place to make a return on your investment. The bankers have ruined all of them. The market can only go up until it cannot- which incidentally- will make one of the greatest short selling opportunities of the last 1000 years. 

The blow off top is finally here. All bear markets start with a blow off top- a giant rally where every last  man who has a dollar to invest is invested before it all collapses.

In 10 months, Ben Bernanke will literally run for the exits. He has already said he will. His successor is going to be left with a shit pile so enormous it will make the Panama Canal project look like weeding a flower pot.

What will they do for an encore? I've learned a hard lesson on this blog. You can NEVER predict the levels and lengths that these manipulators are willing to go to- to create an illusion of wealth. I can't even imagine what they will try in early 2014 when Ben disappears. I know this.

The market is up over 100% over the last 4 years. This CAN continue until such point that the FED finally believes its own bullshit. When they trick themselves into believing that our economy is good and that it can stand on it's own without intervention, that's when this will get interesting. They might actually try and stop QE. If they ever announce that QE is ending it will be too late for us. They will have already told their friends- the market will be inexplicably sideways or down even while QE continues- because their banker buddies will be quickly and quietly distributing shares to the suckers. By the time the ending of QE is announced- it will be too late for the small fry investors. Forget those FED meeting minutes. Pure theater and bullshit. The FED Governors know everyone in the free world makes investment decisions based on that tripe. What they really think will never be in those minutes.

If we ever want our Republic and free markets back- we must destroy the FED. Permanently. In the meantime- just sit back and watch this insanity.   

The Sons of Farmers- The Easter Collage

Hard. Simple.

In the 60's, on Sundays, my father, mother, and I would climb into our white Plymouth Valiant. We would travel through Sidney, then Fairview, and into North Dakota. Three miles in, we hung a left on a straight country road which was comprised mostly of loose dirt and more recently, red scoria. We'd travel another three miles or so, go up a slight rise and over a ditch, and then the farmhouse would come into view on our right. The big red barn had the word "Pioneer" in giant white letters over the door.

That's where we went every Sunday. To my grandparents farmhouse. My grandfather was a sugar beet farmer. He irrigated with siphon tubes.

I looked forward to Sundays. I could hunt or fish just so long as my Uncle would take me. Maybe shoot my uncle's black nylon, semi-automatic Remington .22. Sometimes I would ride around with my father and grandfather- watching them drink brandy, laugh and tell secrets, as they sized up other farmer's crops and equipment. Back then, drinking and driving wasn't the crime of the century. I don't remember anyone getting drunk and there weren't any car wrecks. Not in my family anyway.

Perhaps dad and grand dad had simply learned how to drive under the influence- in some sort of safe and moderate way. At no time was I ever worried and I certainly didn't feel "endangered." I knew my dad and grandpa had good sense even if the prevailing wisdom of today disagrees.

I liked Sundays. The western show, "Bonanza" always came on at night. I'd watch it and fall asleep. I would sleep in the car on the way home after Bonanza was over. My dad would carry me to bed. I never remembered how I got to bed the following morning.

My mom and dad, the progeny of farmers, certainly did not want to be farmers themselves. Farming is a hard and uncertain life. We left eastern Montana for western Montana and by the time the early 70's rolled around, my grandfather found himself with cancer. I remember that year well. It was terrible. I learned two things about my grand dad. He was tough and he paid his dues. He sold his farm to pay his hospital bill. He kept the mineral rights.

My grandfather didn't seek bankruptcy protection. He did the right thing. My grandfather was an honorable man and when he died- he made arrangements for his wife, my grandma, to live in that farmhouse until she passed away some 18 years later in 1990. Today, the farmhouse still stands. The barn has nearly collapsed. The word "Pioneer" is almost indiscernible, vanishing with the aid of four decades of brutal winters and blistering summers. 

My parents and my parent's parents were hardworking, honest people. Simple. They didn't attend boarding schools, they didn't kiss some elite ass somewhere that greased their careers. They earned every penny they possessed and when people took advantage of them- they didn't whine or complain. They paid their own way and they sure as hell didn't take government handouts. And when war came- they were proud to fight for their country. They signed up.

For years, I carried a private resentment. I resented the fact that I had not been born into some rich or elite family. I didn't go to boarding school. My life wasn't mapped out and paid for- and there sure as hell weren't offers to go to Harvard. There would be no cushy college educations and dream careers. No wealthy benefactors, no trust funds, no connections. I didn't win the birth lottery. All there would be was just me and whatever living I could muster up. I landed on law enforcement. Law enforcement, done right, is a noble service. That is something I refuse to apologize for and I still believe in.

All of that pity and self loathing are gone now. Ridiculous remnants of an ego that thought it was unlucky, or less than- all of those silver spooned kids who I lived with for decades. I used to think those spoiled little rich kids had lives worth coveting. Kids who wake up on third base and think they hit the triple. 

Today, I think maybe I was wrong all of those years. There is nothing wrong with honest, hard work. Work that doesn't require deception, trickery, or a bunch of  ivy league accomplices. Work that lets you sleep at night knowing that nobody got screwed over because of something you did. Farming is hard work. Most people can't do it. My grandparents did and they didn't apologize for it. They didn't need to.

Someday, I hope honesty and hard work make a comeback. Maybe I did hit the birth lottery after all.