Tracy and family here....

My daughter and her family arrive from Tampa so we have a whole week together. Patti is very happy!

Again it will stop when it stops...

It's all about affordability, jobs, and confidence. As I've posted a year or so ago, when housing bottoms people will buy and the boom is on.

Unfortunately, every boom leads to a bust and each bust will be worse than last because the system is rotten and no one was punished this time. As soon as they can the gang will speculate and lie the economy into bust again.

At least we don't live in Spain. Their housing starts fell 44% last month so the European economy is tanking and money is flowing here. 2012 is going to be a bitch for these guys.

CASE-SHILLER: HOME PRICES FELL 3.4% YEAR OVER YEAR | PRAGMATIC CAPITALISM

“Data through October 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed decreases of 1.1% and 1.2% for the 10- and 20-City Composites in October vs. September. Nineteen of the 20 cities covered by the indices also saw home prices decrease over the month. The 10- and 20-City Composites posted annual returns of -3.0% and -3.4% versus October 2010, respectively. Fourteen of the 20 MSAs and both Composites saw improved annual returns compared to September’s data. Miami saw no change in annual returns in October; while Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis saw their annual rates worsen. At -11.7% Atlanta posted the lowest annual return. Detroit and Washington DC were the only two cities to post positive annual returns of +2.5% and +1.3%, respectively.

…

I posted my opinion a couple of years ago...

We are awash in oil. Trillions of barrels are under the shale rock deposits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and W. Virginia.

We just can't drill for it!

But not to worry, the economy will start booming to save Oba mama and we still wont be able to drill for it unless the Repubs control Congress.

And all the politicians will have to fight  about some thing else because there will be no budget cuts just slower increase in the budget as the economy growing precludes the necessity of "draconian cuts" in hand outs.

Econbrowser: U.S. net exports of petroleum products

U.S. net exports of petroleum products

One big story of 2011 was the United States switched from being a net importer to a net exporter of petroleum products. Here are the details behind that development.

The graph below plots the difference between U.S. exports and imports of petroleum products. On average in 2008, we had been importing about 1.8 million barrels per day more than we exported. So far in the second half of 2011, the difference has swung to an average positive net export balance of 0.4 million barrels per day. The exports are coming in the form of diesel and gasoline that is being sold all over the world, with the top 10 buyers in terms of growth of demand for U.S. products being Mexico, Netherlands, Chile, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Guatemala, Turkey, Argentina, and France.

Now just wait until July and we get a clear night....

I still hate Xmas.....

Xmas day is OK but the rest, You keep it. The store's nuts and we all have just about had it. I more shopping day.

Patti is doing her best to enjoy it as it could be her last that she will be able to participate in as her disease cripples her more and more until she will be helpless.

I did find an excellent explanation of or fiat money system who does a better job explaining it than I usualy do.....

–Why federal debt is not debt, and federal borrowing is not borrowing « #Monetary Sovereignty – Mitchell

magine you are the only person in the world and your bank is the only bank in the world. Your checking account has a balance of $1,000, which represents all the dollars in the world. For whatever reason, you now wish to borrow $2,000 from your bank. Can you do it?

Yes, if your bank has a 20% fractional reserve lending limitation, it can lend up to $5,000, in a series of steps described at Fractional Reserve Banking.

Where will the bank get that $2,000? From nowhere. Money does not exist in any physical form. All your money – all anyone’s money – is just numbers on a bank statement. Changing those numbers changes the amount of money you own. When a bank lends money, it creates those dollars, by marking up checking accounts. Personal borrowing creates dollars.

Then, when you pay down the loan, you destroy the dollars your bank previously created.

Contrast that with the way our federal government “borrows,” i.e. creates “debt.” Federal “debt” is nothing more than the total of all outstanding Treasury securities, among which are T-bills, T-notes and T-bonds.

Anyone can “lend” to the federal government. If you wish to lend $1,000 to the government, you purchase a T-bill. The process is this: First, you deposit $1,000 in your checking account, i.e. your bank marks up the numbers in your checking account by one thousand. Then, the federal government instructs your bank to mark down the numbers in your checking account by one thousand, while simultaneously marking up the numbers in your T-bill account by one thousand (ignoring, for the sake of illustration, interest).

The simultaneous mark down of

Read the whole post.....

Then read my response on the bottom.

The Center of the Universe » Blog Archive » Monetary Theory, Crony Capitalism and the Tea Party

Dec 21 (CNBC) — The past few years have taught us a lot about the effects and operations of monetary policy in the United States.

The Federal government responded to the economic downturn by spending enormous amounts and Federal Reserve responded to the financial crisis with an enormous expansion of its balance sheet — what the proles call “printing money” — and both occurred without any attendant inflation or giant soaring of interest rates.

The so-called “bond vigilantes” turned out to be mythological creatures, at least as far as U.S. federal debt is concerned. Even the crisis over the debt ceiling and the downgrade of the U.S.’s credit rating only lead to lower interest rates.

The left whining about Oba mama....

These people believe that if they would just vote for the right guy then we would enter left-wing Nirvana. Of course, my son on the right believes the same thing about the Republicans.

After a few more decades it will dawn on them that they are full of it!

But the Romans, especially old Cicero, was of the same mind. He was strangled for his credulity.

Any ways, why would any president with 15 security agencies sworn to serve him and 737 military bases in about 120 countries or so have to pay attention to these gnats. He has enough fire power in one, repeat one, aircraft carrier task force (he has 12) to take out any country on the planet.

He can commit a felony in front of us on TV and still keep his job and make millions after he retires with impunity. (right Bill?)

And today he can arrest Americans and put them in prison with a  charge terrorism and lock them away forever without lawyer or trial.

But Empires are always on the world scene and as long as the average guy can eat and pay his bills it will continue because we ain't pissed enough. And that's the bottom line with these guys........ Not to be murdered!

 Because what else does the frustrated among us have against real and imagined tyranny?

And today everybody worries that we won't get to keep our 10$ a week Oba mama tax cut when they gave millions to their cronies on Wall Street.

But not to worry. The left will all turn in lockstep and vote for him again.

YES, THEY WILL!



The Zenith of Civil Libertarian Anger at President Obama - Atlantic Mobile

On the eve of 2012, President Obama is facing a backlash from civil libertarians that is more widespread and intense than anything he's yet seen. He has previously been subject to complaints about his war on whistleblowers, the humanitarian and strategic costs of his drone war, the illegality of the war he waged in Libya, his use of the state secrets privilege, his defense of Bush-era warrantless wiretapping, and his assertion of the power to kill American citizens accused of terrorism. But news that Obama plans to sign rather than veto a bill enshrining indefinite detention into U.S. law and failing to exempt American citizens is provoking unprecedented ire.

The significance of the backlash is perhaps best understood by looking at what people and organizations who supported Obama's 2008 bid for the presidency are saying about his actions now. The head of the ACLU's legislative office insisted that Obama is poised to damage "both his legacy and American's reputation for upholding the rule of law," and noted that "the last time Congress passed indefinite detention legislation was during the McCarthy era."

Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch says that "By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law." Says the New York Times editorial board: "Mr. Obama refused to entertain any investigation of the abuses of power under his predecessor, and he has been far too willing to adopt Mr. Bush's extravagant claims of national secrets to prevent any courthouse accountability for those abuses. This week, he is poised to sign into law terrible new measures that will make indefinite detention and military trials a permanent part of American law. This is a complete political cave-in, one that reinforces the impression of a fumbling presidency."

You wonder what the 23 per cent are smoking?.....

Too much TV, I guess. Or too much modern education. We care more about 16 year old Justin Bieber's life story or the many Kleptomaniacs we are breeding and sending to Hollywood.

Hey Robert, Congress is going to give my wife and 8 bucks a week a piece to spend as they steal my future Social Security check.

Write about something useful, why don't you?

Robert Reich (The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, but Who It's For)

In a recent Pew Foundation poll, 77 percent of respondents said too much power is in the hands of a few rich people and corporations.

That’s understandable. To take a few examples:

— Wall Street got bailed out but homeowners caught in the fierce downdraft caused by the Street’s excesses have got almost nothing.

— Big agribusiness continues to rake in hundreds of billions in price supports and ethanol subsidies. Big pharma gets extended patent protection that drives up everyone’s drug prices. Big oil gets its own federal subsidy. But small businesses on the Main Streets of America are barely making it.

— American Airlines uses bankruptcy to ward off debtors and renegotiate labor contracts. Donald Trump’s businesses go bankrupt without impinging on Trump’s own personal fortune. But the law won’t allow you to use personal bankruptcy to renegotiate your home mortgage.

— If you run a giant bank that defrauds millions of small investors of their life savings, the bank might pay a small fine but you won’t go to prison. Not a single top Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for Wall Street’s mega-fraud. But if you sell an ounce of marijuana you could be put away for a long time.

Not a day goes by without Republicans decrying the budget deficit. But the biggest single reason for the yawning deficit is big money’s corruption of Washington. And it’s not just corporate welfare.

One of the deficit’s biggest drivers — Medicare – would be lower if Medicare could use its bargaining leverage to get drug companies to reduce their prices. Why hasn’t it happened? Big Pharma won’t allow it.

Happy birthday, baby....

The 41st birthday we have celebrated together.

The Fed was suppose to bankrupt the economy, remember?

Every thing you have been told about our budget is a lie. The gang who runs our world wants our SS and VA money to gamble with on Wall Street and they will tell you anything to get it!

To scare the fuck out of us and get more money into their Ponzi schemes on Wall Street they invent nonsense about budget deficits and we have to be nice to rich people or they will take their money and hide it somewhere and all our children and grandchildren will have to sell pencils on the street and eat dirt.

No really, you just have to listen to these nut jobs!

Did they tell you we run deficits and the people end up employed and if we cut deficits we lose our jobs? Just where do they think these deficits go? It's paid by the government to all of us. We spend the money and the government taxes it back.

Deficits exploded because the Republicans cut taxes on the rich and the Democrats kept spending. Meaning that we ended up with too much cash floating around the world and driving up the prices of houses, oil, gold. etc. then the shit hit the fan and we lost our jobs, houses, credit, small businesses, etc. resulting in  millions receiving  unemployment, food stamps, heat and housing subsidies, temporary government jobs etc. etc. But the money is in our bank accounts, mattresses, IRA accounts on Wall Street, and consumer goods.

Too complicated?

Must be because a lot of people are voting for more as the world falls into depression and soon they will be murdering each other for "stealing their children's future" or something. Just ask my dad's generation of what the world went through the last time this happened.

And as I have been saying the money is coming back here as Europe dissolves in bankruptcy and the big money boys are looking for safety.

Called U.S. bonds this money is financing the next boom and leading to the next bust.

Anyone think this has never happened before?

Get your head out of your ass because under our fiat money system the rich guys who buy our politicians are going to crank up the printing presses to save their asses. And their flunkies in Washington are desperate to destroy Social Security and Medicare because big business wants a piece of this money and we are screwed!

And voting either party is pointless. They all agree we must pay for this.

And we will!


Mike Norman Economics: Fed "prints" $29 trillion. Dollar goes up!!

Fed "prints" $29 trillion. Dollar goes up!!


Peter Schiff, where are you?

Jimmy Rogers, are you awake?

Marc Faber, hello??

Laurence Kotlikoff, Ken Rogoff, Standard & Poor's, where have you all gone???

Ron Paul????

Rick Santelli?????

So we now find out, thanks to researchers at the UMKC, that the Fed "printed" over $29 trillion in the past three years (see prior post) and the dollar went...up???

Don't believe me? Have a look see:




















So where have all these dollar bears gone? Why isn't anybody calling them out??

Their bogus dogma about "money printing" and "currency debasement" is about as flat as all the flat world theorist claims 500 years ago.

Time to wake up and relegate these clowns to the dustbin of failed economic theories. Time for everyone to get on board with MMT.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention...Treasuries surged over that course of time!

Should we tell ol' Krugman?....

Money, Paul. Lot's of (campaign) bribe money, duh!!!

Ron Wyden, Useful Idiot - NYTimes.com

Oh, and if someone starts talking about how the Affordable Care Act relies on private insurers, give me a break; the reason the ACA works the way it does is the raw power of the insurance industry, which forced advocates of universal coverage to settle for an inferior system. I still think that deal was worth doing, but there’s no reason to take Medicare, which does it right — or at least closer to right — and degrade it into a worse system.

So why would anyone who isn’t a right-wing ideologue propose that kind of degradation? Inquiring minds want to know.

Should we tell him?....

It's too late Bernie. Might as well get the money while it's there because the republic is dead when the big money boys can buy any legislation they want.

Watch Oba mama fold on this pipeline. Yes he will!

And your SS check is on the table!! They want your money to gamble with on Wall Street. They'll get it, of course.

Bill Boyarsky: Bernie Sanders Explains Why Congress Fears Citizens United - Bill Boyarsky's Columns - Truthdig

As the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog The Center for Responsive Politics said of Citizens United, it “has profoundly affected the nation’s political landscape” and resulted in “unprecedented political spending. Secret donors. New ways for unions and corporations to spend money on politics.”

With Barack Obama and the Republican presidential candidates collecting huge amounts of money and attention, Sanders focused instead on the Senate and the House, a real public service.

Noting that the six largest banks on Wall Street have assets equal to 65 percent of the national gross domestic product, he asked what happens in Congress “when an issue comes up and impacts Wall Street … to break up these huge banks and members walk up to the desk and have to decide [whether] to vote against it with full knowledge that if they vote against the interest of Wall Street that two weeks later there may be ads coming down into their state attacking them. Every member of the Senate, every member of the House, in the back of their minds, will be thinking … ‘If I cast a vote this way, if I take on the big money interest, am I going to be punished … will a huge amount of money be unleashed in my state?’ Every member knows this is true. It is not just taking on Wall Street, maybe it’s taking on the drug companies, maybe it’s taking on the private insurance companies, maybe it’s taking on the military-industrial complex. … You’re going to think twice about how you cast that vote.”

Christopher Hitchens, my favorite atheist, RIP...

Outspoken and outrageous: Christopher Hitchens - CBS News

(speaking of religion)

"It is the wish to be a slave. It is the desire that there be an unalterable, unchallengeable, tyrannical authority, who can convict you of thought-crime while you are asleep. A celestial North Korea," Hitchens said.

And Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, is a longtime Hitchens employer, having assigned him to write about everything from what it's like to get a complete spa makeover to what it's like to be kidnapped and water-boarded.

(On water boarding)

Hitchens quickly concluded that the latter was definitely torture, although the bikini wax was more painful.

(Princess Diana)

"Well, there's a horrible joke about a landmine, yes," Hitchens acknowledged. "She was in Angola on her landmine campaign, and there was a hushed, reverent BBC commentator. And he said, 'The thing about mine fields is that they're very easy to lay, but they're very difficult and dangerous, and even expensive to get rid of' - the perfect description of Prince Charles's first wife."

(ET contact)

"My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can't prove it, but you can't disprove it either." - God Is Not Great

(And Let's not forget Mother Teresa the "fanatical  dwarf")

"[Mother Teresa]  was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?"

If there is a Heaven I hope he's laughing his drunken ass off?

Technorati Tags: Cristopher Hitchens. atheist, Mother Teresa

Divergence?....

Looks like I am right. Money is starting to pour in from Europe. If it continues we will boom then bust big time as nothing has changed since the last bust.

I've stock piled food just in case even though I'm not a "prepper"
you just never know!

In the mean time, this election is getting bizarre. Is this the best we can do?

VIX & EURO SWAP SPREADS – TWO DIVERGING RISK INDICATORS | PRAGMATIC CAPITALISM

This divergence is puzzling. Fundamentally it expresses a “decoupling” between risks in the US equity markets and risks in the EUR interbank funding markets. That decoupling is difficult to imagine because should there be a funding problem among European banks, it will definitely translate into risks in the equity markets.

Nevertheless the market is telling us that participants are pricing these two risks differently with continuing credit tightness in Europe not necessarily translating into a significant slowdown in the US corporate sector. For those who feel the fundamentals don’t justify such divergence, there is a trade in there somewhere.

What should Congress do about the payroll tax...

Give it all back to us and let us spend it. We need the money in our hot little hands to restart the economy. That's what "lack of demand" means.

the public is broke and cutting their income is stupid.

By the way, Congress just approved $518 for Defense so the only cuts planned are my Social Security and my wifes Medicare. Oh yes, they might as well grab some of the VA money to because the clowns in Washington wouldn't want our Vets to think they are special.

Did you hear they want to cut the salaries in the Congress? Didn't think so. How about chauffeurs are they going to be cut? Anyone going to give up their bribe money?

And what do the pygmies running for president say they're going to cut?

Not to worry I'm betting on the black guy who doesn't have a bunch of ex wives waiting to be interviewed!!!

The left asked for it...

You want regulation you got regulations. Soon only the big boys can stay in business. They in turn buy the politicians to keep it that way. You t6hink they are going to hire Americans? As for new company formation.....

New guys drop dead!

Dear Left: Corporatism Is Your Fault | Bleeding Heart Libertarians

Dear Left: Corporatism Is Your Fault
By Jason Brennan On November 29, 2011

I’m not usually one for polemics. But sometimes polemics is called for. Here goes.

Dear members of the moderate left,

America is suffering from rampant, run-away corporatism and crony capitalism. We are increasingly a plutocracy in which government serves the interests of elite financiers and CEOs at the expense of everyone else.

You know this and you complain loudly about it. But the problem is your fault. You caused this state of affairs. Stop it.

Unlike we libertarianish people, you people actually hold and have been holding significant political power in the US over the past 50 years. What have you done with this power? You’ve greased the corporatist machine every chance you’ve gotten. You’ve made things worse, not better. Our current problems are your fault. You need to stop.

We told you this would happen, but you wouldn’t listen. You complain, rightly, that regulatory agencies are controlled by the very corporations they are supposed to constrain. Well, yeah, we told you that would happen. When you create power—and you people love to create power—the unscrupulous seek to capture that power for their personal benefit. Time and time again, they succeed. We told you that would happen, and we gave you an accurate account of how it would happen.

Uh....Duh!!!!............

Can't prosecute the guys who bought Oba mama can we? Where's the justice in that?

Mike Norman Economics: Wall Street off the hook on criminal charges?

Wall Street off the hook on criminal charges?


Though often blamed with making the calls that led the country to the brink of collapse, financial executives likely won't face criminal charges for their practices during the financial crisis, according to a former top U.S. investigator.

The Justice Department has decided that prosecution of financial executives is "better left to regulators" to take civil-enforcement actions, David Cardona, who was a deputy assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation until last month, told the Wall Street Journal.

Told you so......

All that money sloshing around the globe will  be pouring in as the nut jobs in Europe destroy their economy with "austerity" the code word for fucking over the middle class to keep the rich on top!

American Economy Rebounding as Investor Favorite in Global Poll - Businessweek

More than two in five of those surveyed -- 41 percent -- identify the U.S. as among the markets that will perform best over the next year. That’s up from less than one in three who felt that way in September and is the biggest percentage for the U.S. since the survey began in October 2009. It’s also almost double that of the next two top-rated markets, Brazil and China, according to the quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll conducted Dec. 5-6 of 1,097 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers.

The U.S. “may not be in the best shape ever, but compared to others it should outperform,” Alexis Laming, a poll respondent and associate director for Arab Bank (Switzerland) Ltd. in Geneva, says in an e-mail. It has “good growth potential for next year.”

Less than a quarter of investors say they expect the U.S. to relapse into recession within the next year, according to the poll. In September, half those surveyed forecast a U.S. economic contraction within that time frame.

U.S. respondents are more optimistic about the American market than their counterparts overseas: More than half pick it as a best-performing market for 2012 compared with a third of non-U.S. investors who do the same.

Treasuries Safest

Investors also give a vote of confidenc

You have to understand how our system works.....

Then none of the gang can steal your future. The scam is to get your Social Security money into Wall Street. More bullshit is repeated then the deficit is coming to steal your kids future and we all most become paupers to prevent it.

Notice that all the "cuts" come out of our asses but the big shots get to keep all of their money. And their kids get into the best schools and never have to worry about getting a job. Just ask Chelsy Clinton how a kid fresh out of school can land a 6 figure job with NBC.

Oh yea, did you see how they got rid of Cain, the only one who could beat Oba mama? He wasn't part of the gang so he's toast.

You don't suppose the fix is in do you?

#Monetary Sovereignty – Mitchell

The future is mortgaged, the nation’s youth sold out.

Another lie, #5, by implication. Our Monetarily Sovereign government has no difficulty servicing its debt, taxes do not pay for the debt, and the nation’s youth do not owe the federal debt. So, what does “the future is mortgaged” mean? No one knows. Just lying scare words.

But I’ll tell you what does sell out our the nations youth: Reductions in Social Security and Medicare – reductions the 1% wish to foist on the population. That’s money our children and grandchildren never will see, because the wealthiest don’t want you to have the power money brings.

Take away tax deductions for mortgage interest. Jack up the retirement age for Social Security.

These are just a few of the efforts the Tribune supports. Notice, there is no effort to take away the tax deductions for corporate interest. Oh, no. That would affect the 1%. But eliminating the mortgage interest deduction, and reducing Social Security, both depended upon by the middle class, that’s “big” and “bold” in Tribune-speak.

After months of talks, the bipartisan team of lawmakers failed to reach a deficit reduction agreement with the modest goal of cutting only $1.2 trillion over 10 years – a minor fraction of the expected deficits . . . Put this nation back on track. Think big.

When the Tribune says, “Think big,” it actually means to cut the money supply, not by $1.2 trillion but by $4 trillion, most of that coming from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, lifelines for the 99%. That $4 trillion is not a “minor fraction” of anything. It’s dollars coming right out of your pocket.

If the idea is to wait until the 2012 election before acting, we’re appalled. Every wasted minute puts Americans and their government deeper in the hole. The same hole in which several vastly overspent, overborrowed people and governments of Europe already wallow.

This is the whopper of whoppers. Lie #6: Americans are “in the hole” specifically because their government is not enough “in the hole.” Remember this equation:

Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings.

It says, very simply, that increasing Federal Deficits increases Net Private Savings. This is not theory or even hypothesis. It is a basic accounting fact of federal financing. So if you want your savings reduced, as the Tribune does, then reducing federal deficits is the path.

Crooked is as crooked does...

What counts as "inside information"?

Nothing like lying to start the day....

European nations are not sovereign in their own currency. Therefor,  they are screwed. And just  like in 1945, we'll have to bail them out because our ruling elites are up to their necks with the rest of the criminals ruling our world.

–Two headlines revealing the pro-rich, anti-middle, anti-poor austerity efforts of the media « #Monetary Sovereignty – Mitchell

“Europe wept, still cut the debt”

The editorial goes on to say:

. . . Europe is starting to show the U.S. how to put an overspent, overborrowed economy back on track.

The key is establishing a credible plan to get out of debt . . . Announcing necessary cuts to an unaffordable pension system on Sunday, (Italian Welfare Minister Elsa) Fornero got choked up. She started to explain at a press conference, that Italy’s government had no choice but to require shared sacrifice.
[...]
What we wouldn’t give to see the cast of characters running Washington and Springfield take ownership of the financial mess they’ve put us in, and take action to get us out before we’re in as dire straits as Italy.

Some of you already may have puked at the implied and actual disinformation in this editorial. For the rest of you, let me explain.

Because the U.S. federal government is Monetarily Sovereign in the dollar, it can fund any amount of spending in its sovereign currency, without taxes or borrowing, limited only by inflation. Italy is monetarily non-sovereign. It uses the euro, over which it has no control. Two, diametrically opposite situations, requiring opposite action.

Like Italy, the U.S. states, counties and cities are monetarily non-sovereign, which is why they can have the difficulty paying their bills — a difficulty the federal government never has.

In short, any comparisons between the U.S. financial position and Italy’s are false — outright lies intended to deceive you in the 99%.

And as for “shared sacrifice,” what

Exactly my point....

Both parties are corrupt and criminal.

 Read the whole piece....

Davos World Economic Forum – For Bloggers | Focusing on how psychopaths & 'semiopaths' hijacked economics & our economy.

Both parties have been captured. Blaming each other’s party or swapping parties isn’t a solution because there is only one party and that is the ultra elite party. If you can’t rob clients of 3 billion dollars or steal 10 trillion dollars (and counting) from taxpayers you aren’t in the party – you are instead their food.

“Give me control over a nation’s currency and I don’t care who makes the laws”~Mayer Amschel Rothschild.

This didn’t happen yesterday. Watching this video you can see the former Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch telling President Reagan to “Speed it up, and Ronnie responds, “Oh, okay.”

How's reform working out for you?.....

Oops! my bad There hasn't and won't be any reform and the next crash will be worse than the last.

6 Shocking Revelations About Wall Street's "Secret Government" | Economy | AlterNet

We now have concrete evidence that Wall Street and Washington are running a secret government far removed from the democratic process. Through a freedom of information request by Bloomberg News, the public now has access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were deliberately hidden, and for good reason. (See here and here.)

These documents show how top government officials willfully concealed from Congress and the public the true extent of the 2008-'09 bailouts that enriched the few and enhanced the interests of giant Wall Streets firms. Here’s what we now know:

The secret Wall Street bailouts totaled $7.77 trillion, 10 times more than the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) passed by Congress in 2008.

Knowledge of the secret bailout funds was not shared with Congress even while it was drafting and debating legislation to break up the big banks.

The secret funding, provided at below-market rates, gave Wall Street banks an additional $13 billion in profits. (That’s enough money to hire more than 325,000 entry level teachers.)

The secret loans financed bank mergers so that the largest banks could grow even larger. The money also allowed banks to step up their lobbying efforts.

Maybe the Jews ain't going back to the ovens....

News from the Edge | Has a New War Started? | unknowncountry

Secret attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities may be under way by Israel. Israeli officials said in a recent report that a "mysterious explosion" two days ago at an Iranian nuclear facility was "no accident." Satellite images show smoke coming from an Iranian uranium enrichment facility.
In the November 30th edition of the New York Daily News, Corky Siemaszko quotes retired Israeli Major-General Giora Eiland as saying, "There aren't many coincidences. When there are so many events, there is probably some sort of guiding hand, though perhaps it’s the hand of God "

This is the second attack on an Iranian nuclear site in a month. Two weeks ago, there was another suspicious blast on a military base near Tehran, which killed General Hassan Moghaddam, the head of Iran’s missile defense program, and 30 members of the Revolutionary Guard.

Siemaszko quotes Israeli intelligence officer Dan Meridor as saying, "There are countries who impose economic sanctions and there are countries who act in other ways in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat."

The Iranians clearly don't want to admit that their security could be breached in this way. The attack took place in a facility in the Iranian town of to Isfahan, and Siemaszko quotes the city's governor, Mohammad-Mehdi Ismaeli, as saying, "Maybe somebody's water heater exploded."

Oh goody....unemployment stats are lies......

 Not much change so far. Too many people are not being counted so Oba mama looking better. We are in a depression. A series of boom and bust is continuing as all the speculation in the European economy will come home.

But it will improve enough saving Oba mama's second term. That's the way to bet because the Republicans are being blamed for getting  us into this mess and the same gang bought by the criminal element in Washington is still in charge.

As soon as the Europeans elect new governments this "boom" is over. Give it a few more years of grinding poverty and the destruction of the middle class who always pay the bills in any society.

Too many people can't get it through their heads that borrowing money eventually has to be paid back and it always cost more than you borrow. Eventually costing enough to bankrupt everyone and then they have to start over again, broke and without assets.

In history this is called a dark age.

Broke dicks revolt and murder the bankers and the tyrants that own them and eventually  strong men (kings) who control a gang of thugs come on to the scene to police them because law and order disappears.

But, no one believes it can happen "here" just ask the Romans, ancient Greeks, Byzantines, Egyptians, Napoleon French , and countless other know it alls.

Meh. And I Say That With Feeling - NYTimes.com

December 2, 2011, 8:21 pm
Meh. And I Say That With Feeling

A belated reaction to today’s employment report (I’ve been closeted in a room with a bunch of men in suits, myself included, talking about the depressed and depressing world.) In a word: meh.

It could have been worse, but the basic story remains the same as it has been for 2 1/2 years: an economy that’s growing, but not enough to feel anything like a real recovery. The measured unemployment rate has trended down for a while, but it’s all basically reduced numbers of people actively searching. My favorite measure these days is the employment-population ratio for prime-age workers, which isn’t affected by changing demography. Here it is for the past decade; see the trend since the recession officially ended? Neither do I.

Of course, my meh corresponds to enormous and continuing waste, vast hardship, and millions of ruined lives. Maybe someone should do something.

Who knew?....no wonder we have so many problems.....

If Saudi Women Drive | FrumForum

The social consequences will be horrendous, warn Saudi Arabia’s clerics:

As part of his careful reform process, King Abdullah has allowed suggestions to surface that the ban might be reviewed.

This has angered the conservative religious elite – a key power base for any Saudi ruler.

Now, one of their number – well-known academic Kamal Subhi – has presented a new report to the country’s legislative assembly, the Shura.

The aim was to get it to drop plans to reconsider the ban.

The report contains graphic warnings that letting women drive would increase prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce.

So?......

If we look at China as a huge corporation that owns everything we see that everything is private as long as the government says so.

Chinese vice premier praises private sector - 24-Hour Business News - The Buffalo News

BEIJING (AP) - A top Chinese economics official pledged strong government support Sunday for the country's private businesses, in remarks likely to hearten a sector beleaguered by a credit crunch and downturn in exports.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang said private industry is a force for social stability and an important part of China's hybrid "socialist market economy." Private businesses are major job creators and play a key role in establishing a comprehensive social security web, Zhang said in a speech to businesspeople in Beijing.

"The development of the private sector deserves our unswerving encouragement, support, and guidance," Zhang said.

Zhang's remarks will be welcomed by the private business community, which has suffered from a hollowing of demand in crucial export markets in Europe and a weakening real estate industry. Unable to obtain loans from state-run banks, thousands of small businesses have been forced to borrow privately at exorbitant rates and many are now failing or on the verge of bankruptcy.

Such woes have been compounded by Beijing's redoubled support for state industries following the global economic slowdown, including generous tax breaks and preferred access to land and state bank loans.

The boom is on....

All this money sloshing around over seas (trillions and trillions) as I predicted is now coming home as Europe melts down. But as soon as the voters over there fire the nuts who are cutting the budgets putting people in the poor house are gone they will pick up too.

Just read below, as the Fed pumps up the European banks so they can invest here to save their sorry asses because their politicians are nuts.

The rich take care of their own!

Housing still sucks but a year or two with a new Congress who can ignore, but pay lip service to, budget cutting will make a big difference. These bad loans, as I've been bitching about, have to be removed from the books. Default, payoff, or forgiven and 2+ million new families a year will be back in the market.

We are floating in oil and gold but there is no place for the speculators and pension funds to go for big enough returns to keep their investors happy. Expect gas prices to remain aver 3$ a gallon until the auto industries world wide replace the current inventory with 40- 50 and higher fuel misers.

But, nothing has really changed, and the boom and bust cycle will continue.

Mike Norman Economics: The whole world is short dollars!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The whole world is short dollars!


Today, like so many times in the past three years, we see the Fed stepping in and providing dollar liquidity to the world's central banks.

How many times do we have to see this?

The whole world is short dollars.

Let's face it...without the Fed’s intervention the dollar would soar to levels that no one would believe. It would restore American purchasing power, lower inflationary pressures, improve our real terms of trade and by so doing, raise our standard of living.

But what does the Fed do instead?

It “sells” the dollar on the cheap, to central banks that have every capability to sell their own currencies to provide dollar funding for their own, domestic needs.

Scandalous!!

Wall Street got their money's worth....

They buy our government and corrupt our electoral process and it's all "legal" because the dictators in black robes say so.

Think any of them are in on the take?

Grayson: Fed played ‘Russian roulette’ with U.S. money | The Raw Story

He added: “The regional banks of the Fed are actually populated and controlled by the local banks. And all of these bailouts were actually administered by the Federal Reserve bank of New York, which has on its board many Wall Street executives. I’m talking about current Wall Street executives. Not the Tim Geithers of the world, the people who used to be or in the future will work for Wall Street, but the current Wall St. executives on the board making decisions on who would get what themselves.”

The Government Accountability Office revealed that the Fed gave out over $16 trillion to U.S. and international financial institutions between 2007 and 2010 without revealing to Congress. Another $10 trillion was given out to foreign institutions in currency swaps.

Romney gets big Wall Street endorsement......

BlackRock, a Wall Street investment firm controlling over 2 trillion in assets, is getting ready for the next 8 years. Wonder what Romney would have to do for this? He is super rich already so it seems they are doing it for themselves and he will get little for it.

Yea, right!

Nothing happens with the big shots without payback. Nothing.

I wish I had written this guy's post....

I've been saying it long enough. But as I told my son most people want "experts" in  charge of their lives.

Like:

bankers who bribe our politicians, presidents who steal elections, assholes in Congress, scientists who know only what they read about in schools, guys at work who know only what TV tells them, priest who hide their pedophilia in church (Don't get me started on these scum) and let's not forget the Hollywood set.

But I really like the quote from MacArthur at the end of this piece.

dreamslaughter: Food For Thought

Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem.
~ Howard Zinn

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear, kept us in a
continuous stampede of patriotic fervor, with the cry of grave national
emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some
monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not
blindly rally behind it.
~ General Douglas MacArthur

If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for them Mexicans.
~ Texas politician, Spanish as a second language

Nothing but the truth....

Gingrich is Clinton's kind of people. And paybacks are a bitch!

Clinton Gives Gingrich the Shiv | FrumForum

“He said, ‘OK, I don’t want to legitimize immigrants who came here undocumented, illegally.’ On the other hand, a lot of those people have been here for years, they worked hard, they paid taxes, they’ve got kids in the schools, they’re not criminals, we’re going to have a hard time sending them all home, there’s millions of them. So, I’d like to have a process where they could be here legally but not have a path to citizenship. That sort of splits the difference between the immigration reforms proposed by President Bush and President Obama, which would give a path to citizenship, and would be a version of what President Reagan did.”

Clinton was impressed that Gingrich devised a “red card” system that would be used to be used to stop normalizing the immigration status of illegals if efforts to control the border proved ineffective.“That was a thoughtful response,” Clinton said.

The former president also credited Gingrich for innovative thinking in his plan to give workers an option to invest their Social Security retirement funds privately. Gingrich said there should be a guarantee, so that, if markets nose-dive, workers would not receive less than they would have received under the old Social Security system.

“See, that’s a new wrinkle on this,” Clinton said, crediting Gingrich for thinking out of the box. “So he’s always . . . I think he’s doing well just because he’s thinking, and people are hungry for ideas that make some sense.”

Immigration amnesty and Social Security privatization! Two ideas that just overwhelmingly appeal to the elderly Newsmax readership!

Black friday has come and gone....

we made a fortune (I'm a stock holder) yesterday. Several thousand people tromped through the store and pissed and moaned every minute.

And no, I didn't get any $2 waffle irons because they only lasted 15 minutes.

Click and watch what happened at the store in Arkansas: Another example that our customers are stupid

David Frum says it like it is....

Few of us old time conservatives are happy with the Republican right. And don't get me started on the pygmies running for the Republican nomination.

And the fools on the left....pathetic.

You really need to read the whole article to understand:

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality?

Some call this the closing of the conservative mind. Alas, the conservative mind has proved itself only too open, these past years, to all manner of intellectual pollen. Call it instead the drying up of conservative creativity. It’s clearly true that the country faces daunting economic troubles. It’s also true that the wrong answers to those problems will push the United States toward a future of too much government, too many taxes, and too much regulation. It’s the job of conservatives in this crisis to show a better way. But it’s one thing to point out (accurately) that President Obama’s stimulus plan was mostly a compilation of antique Democratic wish lists, and quite another to argue that the correct response to the worst collapse since the thirties is to wait for the economy to get better on its own. It’s one thing to worry (wisely) about the long-term trend in government spending, and another to demand big, immediate cuts when 25 million are out of full-time work and the government can borrow for ten years at 2 percent. It’s a duty to scrutinize the actions and decisions of the incumbent administration, but an abuse to use the filibuster as a routine tool of legislation or to prevent dozens of presidential appointments from even coming to a vote. It’s fine to be unconcerned that the rich are getting richer, but blind to deny that ­middle-class wages have stagnated or worse over the past dozen years. In the aftershock of 2008, large numbers of Americans feel exploited and abused. Rather than workable solutions, my party is offering low taxes for the currently rich and high spending for the currently old, to be followed by who-knows-what and who-the-hell-cares. This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.

I refuse to believe that I am the only Republican who feels this way.

Are we enjoying the stock market yo yo?.....

Our Walmart stock has been the same price, after up and down bouncing, for 4 years. good thing we got a 15% discount buying and a 1.4% DIVIDEND which gives me a profit. And thanks to Walmart's 6% match in my 401k I picked up $2500 over the last 12 months. Patti did also. (add 180$ bonus each for Xmas is icing on the cake.)

I wish I could afford to buy more stock as Walmart isn't going anywhere barring Congress destroying the economy with "austerity" (a code word for screwing people out of their government guaranteed checks!) (I wonder if the vets think they are safe.)

By the way, has anyone been listening to the Republican pygmies debating ramping up military spending to keep conquering poverty stricken brown people and gutting the social network saving us from the evils of senior citizens voting for them.

What planet are these guys from? 

Once they seriously, read that again, seriously go after the money to "cut the deficit" where are they going to look? The deficit is in our hands, our bank accounts, paid to us or our overseas creditors. In order to cut it  it's either rob the old, rob the rich, rob the gun owners or rob foreigners.

Which one are you betting on?

Boy, who in their right minds are going to vote for the rich stealing our checks so they can pay back all the bankers and Wall Street scum bags who own our sorry asses!

Time for my stress test...

Another bout of torture so if I don't post in a day or two you'll know why.

Ready or not the governments are falling apart...

Budget talks collapse now what? The stock market thinks it's the end of the world. Looks like they might be right if your depending on Social Security or if you have a military career.

And it ain't  going to be prety for the rest of us either!

LOL..... Poor babies....

If we don't kill the banks and punish the gang controlling them then the "market" will. Of course, you and I will pay for it.

In the meantime, our 10% discount on food begins and with coupon matching we are stocking up. it will help having a $180 bonus each.

Lenders Flee Debt of European Nations and Banks - NYTimes.com

Nervous investors around the globe are accelerating their exit from the debt of European governments and banks, increasing the risk of a credit squeeze that could set off a downward spiral.
Multimedia
Graphic
European Banks Reducing Sovereign Debt
Interactive Feature
Tracking Europe's Debt Crisis
Related

Bank Chief Rejects Calls to Rescue Euro Zone (November 19, 2011)
Monti Wins Broad Support in Parliament (November 19, 2011)
European Rift on Bank’s Role in Debt Relief (November 18, 2011)
Times Topic: European Debt Crisis

Financial institutions are dumping their vast holdings of European government debt and spurning new bond issues by countries like Spain and Italy. And many have decided not to renew short-term loans to European banks, which are needed to finance day-to-day operations.

If this trend continues, it risks creating a vicious cycle of rising borrowing costs, deeper spending cuts and slowing growth, which is hard to get out of, especially as some European banks are having trouble meeting their financing needs.

Might portend a coming boom or?....

Sales up and a pretty nice bonus for Xmas. Been several years but the worm turns.

But I'm sure it won't last after more cuts and tax increases. Oh yeah, Walmart has increased prices on most stuff and is keeping the lid on toy prices.

Going to be interesting next year when Europe tanks because I'm not sure even China will survive.

They know we are dangerous....

As soon as Xmas shopping is done, look out! LOL. We tend to forget that kids are impatient and go off half cocked. But it worked for the inner city blacks who got all kinds of goodies from the Federal Government, so who knows.

But once people get a job, kids, bills, etc. they slowly become Republican voters. No wonder these guys are gearing up. Better stomp them know, LOL.

Mike Norman Economics: Police state part of the military-industrial-governmental complex

Police state part of the military-industrial-governmental complex


"Well, there’s been a longstanding shift in North America and Europe towards paramilitarized policing, using helicopter-style systems, using infrared sensing, using really, really heavy militarized weaponry. That’s been longstanding, fueled by the war on drugs and other sort of explicit campaigns. But more recently, there’s been a big push since the end of the Cold War by the big defense and security and IT companies to sell things like video surveillance systems, things like geographic mapping systems, and even more recently, drone systems, that have been used in the assassination raids in Afghanistan and in Pakistan and elsewhere, as sort of a domestic policing technology. It’s basically a really big, booming market, particularly in a world where surveillance and security is being integrated into buildings, into cities, into transport systems, on the back of the war on terror...." — Stephen Graham, professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University in the U.K and author of "Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism." (emphasis added)


Read the whole interview at AlterNet
Police or Paramilitary Forces? The Militarization of American Law Enforcement
Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh, and Stephen Graham
Edited transcript of Democracy Now!

More evidence that Ike was right in warning against the growing influence of the military-industrial-governmental complex as a threat to democracy.

My "big" flyfishing show.....

Flyfishing with Jake and Peanut

My son, Jeremy, gets upset with me...

I apparently read to many left-wing websites. However, You need to listen to both sides of the arguments put forth by the people who own us. I believe that right-left dichotomy in our politics is simply deprived to let us argue against each other and ignore the criminal scam that controls our world.

Any ways, one wonders just what part of the truth don't we want to hear!

Daily Kos: Over half of all U.S. tax subsidies go to four industries

While the federal corporate tax code ostensibly requires big corporations to pay a 35 percent corporate income tax rate, on average, the 280 corporations in our study paid only about half that amount. And many paid far less, including a number that paid nothing at all. [...]

Many people will be appalled to learn that a quarter of the companies in our study paid effective federal tax rates on their U.S. profits of less than 10 percent. Others may be surprised to learn that an almost equal number of our companies paid close to the full 35 percent official corporate tax rate.

The average effective tax rate for the 280 companies was 18.5 percent, but the range is surprising: 30 companies paid a negative effective tax rate over the three years, while 71 companies paid effective rates of over 70 percent. Note that this isn't because those companies made no money: members of the negative-tax club include General Electric and ... well, and a phalanx of financial, energy and telecommunications companies.

Over the 2008-10 period, our 280 companies earned almost $1.4 trillion in pretax profits in the United States. Had all of those profits been reported to the IRS and taxed at the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate, then the 280 companies would have paid $473billion in income taxes over the three years. But instead, the companies as a group paid only about half that amount. The enormous amount they did not pay was due to the hundreds of billions of dollars in tax subsidies that they enjoyed. [...]

More than half of the total tax- subsidy dollars over the three years — $114.8 billion — went to just 25 companies, each with more than $1.9 billion in tax subsidies.

You wonder who put these men in suits in charge?.....

We have all kinds of experts on T.V. or in the  government tell us what we have to do. Who put these guys in charge of the world? (hint: the people who own us! )

Common sense would tell anyone that the same people who have been fucking up the world for all these years can't ever get it  right by now no matter how many college degrees they show up for and then get hired by people who don't have a clue.

Or, as I contend, they know exactly what they're doing and it ain't to help the working stiff. Even if I'm a little paranoid or am being conspiratorial doesn't mean I'm full of it!

What's really fun is watching the "elections." What a sorry ass collection on both sides of the aisle. Mostly clueless and corrupt they are vying to be the "world leaders of tomorrow". They'll fit right in with the clowns in Europe who insist on stealing from the people who work for a living and pay their pay checks.

But not to worry, the T.V. will keep them quiet.....NOT!

Austerity Then And Now - NYTimes.com

Today, by contrast, austerity is being imposed because men in suits say that it’s necessary to satisfy the invisible gods of the financial market. It’s understandable that the public is beginning to have its doubts, and not just because those invisible gods somehow demand sacrifices only from workers, never from the wealthy. For the fact is that those men in suits have no idea what they’re doing — a fact that was apparent to some of us early on, but it now becoming common knowledge.

And so if you want to contrast the stoicism of the postwar populace with the anger and confusion of today’s voters, don’t blame consumerism; blame our leaders, who have imposed gratuitous, unfair pain on their constituents, who are finally starting to figure it out.

Stil...there will be no cuts...

Any deal is predicated on "cuts" occuring after the next election. We've heard this before. Both parties tell their voters what the voters want to hear and then screw them in the ass.

But of course these sillies deserve it don't they?

Investors' Dread-Letter Day: 11/23 - WSJ.com

Call it Wall Street's other geopolitical driver, one played out not in Athens or Rome, but close to home in Washington.

As stock-market investors fret over sovereign-debt contagion in Europe, a Nov. 23 deadline for the U.S. Congress's so-called budget supercommittee is fast approaching. The committee is assigned to devise at least $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures over 10 years, or else automatic cuts ordained by Washington's summer debt-ceiling agreement are triggered.

Friday's market action gave little hint that investors remain perturbed over Europe's debt situation, much less any happenings in Washington, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by ...

First snow headed this way...

70% chance sounds like a sure thing, LOL. Of course, it will be here all week just to piss me off! But that's what you get living this far north in Idaho.

At least our store sales are o.k. and expect a bonus this Xmas hopefully a couple of hundred wouldn't hurt. Patti got her walker and the company approved her using it so she's not as tired and she can walk much better.

I'm on a saving kick so we can get rid of the rest of our payments and retire early and go back into business while she's healthy enough to travel. Still need to but a newer RV as I sold the 5th wheel because it was a pain in the ass to camp in around here and I don't think using a camp ground makes much sense until after you retire and I want something to use in the meantime. Probably get one of these.

This is the best the Republicans have?.......

Embarrassing. But makes it easier for Oba mama. Once the voters figure out these guys are for taking their government checks and giving the money to their rich buddies it's over.

Only Oba mama can lose the race if he goes along with screwing over Social Security and Medicare. Let alone screwing with VA benefits. Which way do you think I'm betting?

Oh yeah, the thing in Europe. There is an unknown number of  trillions looking for a safe home. Guess which country is considered "safe"? As I predicted, if and when this money comes home our economy will take off and all this budget cutting nonsense will get forgotten.

Of course, team Oba mama will take full credit and he squeaks by which ever nobody the Republicans choose.  (I remember McCain was considered toast this far out in 2007, so don't count anyone out!)

We really are only guessing until about the first week or so of March when voters actually pull some levers and choose in the primaries. I haven't met too many people that are all excited about any body so far, but this will change because many people think they count in this system.

Boy are they confused?

Poll: Cain tops 3-way race with Romney, Gingrich.

.

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Republican presidential candidates former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and businessman Herman Cain pose before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Nov. 9, 2011.

(Credit: AP)

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

In the Republican race for the presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich's support continues to slowly grow, and he is now tied with Mitt Romney for second place, while Herman Cain just edges both of them out for the top spot. Both Cain and Romney have lost support since late October.

In a new CBS News Poll, 61 percent of Republican primary voters say the sexual harassment accusations against Cain won't make any difference in their vote, but 30 percent say the charges make them less likely to back him, and that rises to 38 percent among women. Cain has lost support among women since last month - from 28 percent in October to 15 percent now. He has lost ground with conservatives and Tea Party supporters as well.

But the race could still change; seven in 10 Republican primary voters say it is still too early to say for sure which candidate they will support.

The field of Republican candidates now has three candidates within striking distance of each other at the top of the list: with 18 percent, Herman Cain is in the top spot, followed by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich with 15% each. Support for both Cain and Romney has declined since late last month, and Gingrich is the only one of the top three whose support is steadily - if slowly - on the upswing.

Gingrich: White House race is wide open
Complete coverage: Campaign 2012

Cain has lost support among women since late October. Then, he led among women, garnering 28 percent of their support. Now, his support among women is just 15 percent. He has also lost ground with conservatives, from 30 percent to 23 percent now. And there has been some movement among Tea Party supporters as well; their support for Cain has declined from 32 percent to 19 percent. Romney has lost support among men, while Gingrich's support among that group has increased eight points.

Six in 10 Republican primary voters say the charges of sexual harassment against Cain make no difference to their vote. Still, 30 percent say the charges make them less likely to support him.

nce people realise these guys are going after their checks to protect the rich it's over

Poll: Cain tops 3-way race with Romney, Gingrich - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

November 11, 2011 7:02 AM

Poll: Cain tops 3-way race with Romney, Gingrich

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain

Republican presidential candidates former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and businessman Herman Cain pose before a Republican presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., Nov. 9, 2011.
(Credit: AP)

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

In the Republican race for the presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich's support continues to slowly grow, and he is now tied with Mitt Romney for second place, while Herman Cain just edges both of them out for the top spot. Both Cain and Romney have lost support since late October.

In a new CBS News Poll, 61 percent of Republican primary voters say the sexual harassment accusations against Cain won't make any difference in their vote, but 30 percent say the charges make them less likely to back him, and that rises to 38 percent among women. Cain has lost support among women since last month - from 28 percent in October to 15 percent now. He has lost ground with conservatives and Tea Party supporters as well.

But the race could still change; seven in 10 Republican primary voters say it is still too early to say for sure which candidate they will support.

The field of Republican candidates now has three candidates within striking distance of each other at the top of the list: with 18 percent, Herman Cain is in the top spot, followed by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich with 15% each. Support for both Cain and Romney has declined since late last month, and Gingrich is the only one of the top three whose support is steadily - if slowly - on the upswing.

Gingrich: White House race is wide open
Complete coverage: Campaign 2012

Cain has lost support among women since late October. Then, he led among women, garnering 28 percent of their support. Now, his support among women is just 15 percent. He has also lost ground with conservatives, from 30 percent to 23 percent now. And there has been some movement among Tea Party supporters as well; their support for Cain has declined from 32 percent to 19 percent. Romney has lost support among men, while Gingrich's support among that group has increased eight points.

Six in 10 Republican primary voters say the charges of sexual harassment against Cain make no difference to their vote. Still, 30 percent say the charges make them less likely to support him.

Need to clean up the garden.....

A lot of work at the end of the season because Patti insists I help. Of course, the vegetable garden is my idea so I guess I'm screwed. LOL

Had to borrow Patt's computer...

Patti's fault, of course. Hey her puppy chewed my power cord in to so if I can't fix it I'm out a hundred bucks we don't have. Want to buy a puppy? Hundred bucks? No? What do you mean your to young to die? LOL

We are in a Depression...

No breadlines? Government checks and food stamps is why. No one selling pencils?--- unemployment money. all this spending keeps me and Patti employed. So we need more government spending!

How I Learned to Stop Neoclassicizing and Love the Liquidity Trap: Peccavi Nimis et Mea Maxima Culpa Department

Safeguarding Wealth But something else happens on the path to equilibrium. The decline in interest rates and the rise in savings are accompanied by an increased desire among businesses and households to safeguard more of their wealth in cash. As a result, the speed with which cash turns over in the economy, the velocity of money, falls. And as the velocity of money falls, total spending falls, workers are fired, and their savings evaporate with their incomes. Thus the equilibrium turns negative, with high unemployment and low capacity utilization. In responding to a small financial disruption, the Federal Reserve can inject more money into the economy by buying bonds for cash, increasing the amount of cash so that even at the lower velocity of money we retain the same volume of spending. This eases the decline in interest rates, spending, employment and production into a decline in interest rates alone. Little Difference But when rates become so low that there’s little difference between cash and short-term government bonds, open-market operations cease having an effect; they simply swap one zero- yielding government asset for another, with their hunger to hold more safe, liquid assets unsatisfied. This is the liquidity trap. In this situation we need deficit spending. The government spends and borrows, creating more of the safe, cashlike assets that private investors want. As these bonds hit the market, people who otherwise would have socked their money away in cash -- diminishing monetary velocity and slowing spending -- buy bonds instead. A large, timely government deficit thus short- circuits the adjustment mechanism, avoiding the collapse in monetary velocity.

This story brings back a few memories..

Seeing is believing but few want to admit it. Those of us with these experiences don't need convincing but sceptics talk to an invisible man in the sky and laugh at us. Or that a small cache of bones prove that we are here by accident.

 

Witnesses along New York's Route 207 pull over to watch 'hovering egg' UFO - National ufo | Examiner.com

A Rock Tavern, NY, witness along Route 207 reports watching a hovering elongated egg-shaped object with an amber-yellow glow to an outer aura, according to November 3, 2011, testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. The witness had just left a meeting and traveled down Route 207, where two people who had been in the meeting had stopped along the side of the road and were outside observing "the thing in the sky." "We all started yelling at each other over what we're looking at in disbelief," the witness stated. "We were off of Route 207, up the street from Toleman. The object was in the trees hovering and it appeared to be over the MTA refuge area. Stewart Airport gets a lot of aerial traffic, but this thing was just hovering, not on a schedule to get somewhere." The witness described the object. "It was shaped like an elongated egg next to a racquet ball next to an egg <0O0> where the ends slope down to a point with three interior compartments. It had an amber-yellow glow to the outer aura, with a brighter yellow-whitish pulsating inner glow. Each compartment appeared to have a black center to it. Three of us watched this thing for a few minutes as it was above the trees, but from our vantage point it appeared to be in the trees. It was in a north, northwest sky from us at 9:30-ish at night."

Now if he hit upon a guy.....

Might be a story. However, since he's black (both parents) and had to work for a living he must be guilty of something, right?

And to think that reporters get paid for this shit!

Why Our Blacks Are Better Than Their Blacks - HUMAN EVENTS

Ann Coulter
Why Our Blacks Are Better Than Their Blacks
by Ann Coulter
11/02/2011
1336
Comments

By spending the last three decades leveling accusations of "racism" every 10 seconds, liberals have made it virtually impossible for Americans to recognize real racism -- for example, the racism constantly spewed at black conservatives.

In the last year alone, a short list of the things liberals have labeled "racist" include:

-- Being a Republican;

-- Joining the tea party;

-- The word "the" (Donald Trump's statement that he has a "great relationship with the blacks");

-- References to Barack Obama's playing basketball (Trump again);

-- Using Obama's middle name;

-- Scott Brown​'s pickup truck;

-- Opposing Obamacare;

-- Opposing Obama's stimulus bill;

-- Opposing Obama's jobs bill.

The surge in conservative support for Herman Cain​ confuses the Democrats' story line, which is that Republicans hate Obama because he's black.

Cain is twice as black as Obama. (Possible Obama campaign slogan: "Too Black!")

This is why the liberal website Politico ran with a story on Cain that had everything -- a powerful black man, a Republican presidential candidate, the hint of sexuality -- except facts.

All we learned was: About a decade ago, as many as two anonymous women accused Cain of making unspecified "inappropriate" remarks and one "inappropriate" gesture in the workplace. (We had more than that on John Edwards​' mistress a year into the media's refusal to report that story.)

If the details helped liberals, we'd have the details.

To have been accused of sexual harassment in the 1990s is like having been accused of molesting children at preschools in the 1980s or accused of being a witch in Massachusetts in the 1690s.

In the 1990s, one plaintiff won a $50 million jury verdict against Wal-Mart on the grounds that a "hostile environment" was created by her supervisor's yelling at both male and female employees. In another case, a plaintiff won a $250,000 award for sexual harassment based on her complaint that a male colleague had reached for a pastry saying, "Nothing I like more in the morning than sticky buns," while "wriggl(ing)" his eyebrows.

It got so crazy that a 6-year-old boy was suspended from class for a day for kissing a classmate on the cheek, and a Goya painting had to be removed from a Penn State classroom because a professor complained that it constituted sexual harassment.

With no standard other than the subjective offense taken by the accuser, absolutely anyone could be called a witch, i.e., a sexual harasser. So it's striking that the only two conservative public figures accused of being witches both happened to be conservative blacks: Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain.

Our sales are up.....

We actually had a $12 bonus for last quarter and expect a bigger one this Xmas. Even local real estate is selling  here and there are  jobs to be found in the area.

Internationally, the banks are toast and could screw us over if, as I expect, we see a few countries default and take the banking system down. (I hope you have an account with a local credit union and beat the rush.)

If so, my Social Security check should be large enough to buy a villa in Greece or Italy, LOL.

Speaking of SS, rumor has it that the Dem's are conniving with the Repub's to "save Social Security" by stealing the money from my kids so they can chase goat herders in the Middle East.

If so, we will see a lot of new faces in Congress because Social Security funds are separate from the general funds unless these crooks rob the fund.

And then we need to vote the bastards out!

In the meantime, I'm on a get out of debt move so Patti can  retire early and visit the kids before she becomes to ill to do it. I'll stay at Walmart and find a few investments or start another business.

keep you posted.

 

Keep your eye on the prize....

Many people on Wall Street want our Social Security taxes spent on Wall Street schemes and scams. If they can get it then they will have billions more to play with.

Do we not remember what they did with all that money from 401k's and government housing money?

Well?

They killed the fucking economy!

It's not often I side with the left but taking our money that we pay into the government for 40 years is war. Or do you think they will do better next time and we can trust them.

Social Security Bait And Switch, A Continuing Series - NYTimes.com

I’ve written about this repeatedly in the past, but here it is again: Social Security is a program that is part of the federal budget, but is by law supported by a dedicated source of revenue. This means that there are two ways to look at the program’s finances: in legal terms, or as part of the broader budget picture.

In legal terms, the program is funded not just by today’s payroll taxes, but by accumulated past surpluses — the trust fund. If there’s a year when payroll receipts fall short of benefits, but there are still trillions of dollars in the trust fund, what happens is, precisely, nothing — the program has the funds it needs to operate, without need for any Congressional action.

Alternatively, you can think about Social Security as just part of the federal budget. But in that case, it’s just part of the federal budget; it doesn’t have either surpluses or deficits, no more than the defense budget.

Both views are valid, depending on what questions you’re trying to answer.

What you can’t do is insist that the trust fund is meaningless, because SS is just part of the budget, then claim that some crisis arises when receipts fall short of payments, because SS is a standalone program. Yet that’s exactly what the WaPo claims.

This is what you call negative journalistic value added.

This is a serious scientific article.....

And people wonder why I'm skeptical of Evolutionary Theory. Just read this whole thing and you will see someone trying to make a case for life acquiring characteristics in virtually overnight circumstances and retaining them.

But no proof other than Evolution must have happened so the only evidence considered has to fit into the theory.

Now will someone explain to me why this is any different than Bible thumpers quoting genesis! 

Mountain beavers evolved thicker teeth to eat volcanoes

It all goes back to those teeth. The mountain beavers have hypsodonty, meaning their teeth are high crowned and extend way past the gum line. This, along with the extra thickness of the teeth, provides a lot of room for extra wear and tear. It's a feature that cows and horses have evolved to deal with the relatively gritty, fibrous material - grass, basically - that they usually eat. The problem is that mountain beavers don't eat anything like that.

Now Samantha Hopkins of the University of Oregon has the answer. The mountain beavers don't need those teeth now, but they did about 10 to 15 million years ago, which is when these teeth features first appear in the fossil record. During that span, the volcanoes in the Yellowstone hotspot and Columbia River Basalts had frequent minor eruptions, spewing out huge swathes of volcanic dust that blanketed the mountain beavers' habitat.

This unexpected volcanic seasoning turned a bunch of soft plants into gritty chunks of silicon. The mountain beavers had to basically eat their way out of this volcanic age, and they developed suitably thick teeth to survive. What's particularly remarkable is how isolated this effect was - while the mountain beavers in the northwestern United States and Canada had to develop these hypsodont teeth, their counterparts just a hundred miles away in the Sierra Nevada had no such need. There were still volcanoes down there, but they apparently didn't reach teeth-changing levels of intensity.

As I've posted before....

Send everybody a big check and we will spend or save it and some banks and companies will survive and some wont.

That means campaign bribery wont mean squat so don't hold your breath but that is the cure even if right wingers think it's socialism or something.

P.s Nixon, a conservative, gave us the earned income tax and that's pretty much a big check for being poor and having babies. So, call it an earned income tax for the rest of us.

Click on the jump and read the whole article.

interfluidity » Monetary policy for the 21st century

Here’s my proposal. We should try to arrange things so that the marginal unit of CPI is purchased with “helicopter drop” money. That is, rather than trying to fine-tune wages, asset prices, or credit, central banks should be in the business of fine tuning a rate of transfers from the bank to the public. During depressions and disinflations, the Fed should be depositing funds directly in bank accounts at a fast clip. During booms, the rate of transfers should slow to a trickle. We could reach the “zero bound”, but a different zero bound than today’s zero interest rate bugaboo. At the point at which the Fed is making no transfers yet inflation still threatens, the central bank would have to coordinate with Congress to do “fiscal policy” in the form of negative transfers, a.k.a. taxes. However, this zero bound would be reached quite rarely if we allow transfers to displace credit expansion as the driver of money growth in the economy. In other words, at the same time as we expand the use of “helicopter money” in monetary policy, we should regulate and simplify banks, impose steep capital requirements, and relish complaints that this will “reduce credit availability”. The idea is to replace the macroeconomic role of bank credit with freshly issued cash.

Of course we will still need investors. But all that transfered money will become somebody’s savings, and having reduced the profitability of leveraged financial intermediaries, much of that will find its way to some form of equity investing.

Does it make sense to save money?....

If your interest payment is 1% and inflation plus taxes is 5% why pile up money and lose your principle. In the depression times we are experiencing we might better borrow, right?

So how do we set this up?

How about a free and clear credit card for emergencies and using personal loans for shopping for large purchases?

I'm not neglecting retirement accounts like my 401k which has a match of 6% so if Patti and I put in $5000 a year Walmart puts in a matching $5000. (It's amazing that so few contribute!)

Anyways, my thinking is to continue to pay off my vehicle loans and then use the free and clear vehicles as collateral for 4 percent loans.

Make sense?

Now, I have my old pickup truck free and clear and can also use it as an emergency fund so I can relax as far as that goes. Should be able to get $5000 if I need it so I'm resting easy right now, how about you?

We cleaned up the criminal bankers before....

Bill Black @ #occupywallstreet on Arresting Banksters

Well, this weekend I put the garden to bed....

Below 30 temperatures did a number on it but that's Idaho for you. have a ton of Bell peppers and tomatoes this year and can't wait  til next.

Will post a Youtube vid this week end.