No we will call this a Depression....

Short lived until the boomers retire over the next 10 years and cash out their stocks. Currently it's the law. By the age of 70 401 k's have to be liquidated. Doesn't matter if they change the law, we are broke and don't have enough new taxpayers. So, we need to import Mexicans to pay for our Social Security. Better bone up on your Spanish, amigo.

Up here in Idaho we have guns to eat with. What have you got. Obanomics?

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer spending tumbled in September and a purchasing managers' survey showed the biggest deterioration since 1968, foreshadowing a deepening economic slump.

``Consumers have thrown in the towel,'' said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, who correctly forecast the drop in purchases. ``They have no choice but to cut back on spending in a very big way. This is going to be a fairly deep, long recession.''

The 0.3 percent drop in purchases matched the biggest slide in four years and followed no change in August and July, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said its business index fell to 37.8 this month, below all 58 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Job losses, increases in food and fuel costs and falling property values brought an end to the longest expansion in spending on record and made the economy the most important issue in next week's presidential election. The collapse in lending and sentiment this month indicate Americans will keep retrenching.

Today's Commerce Department report also showed that the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation cooled last month. Receding price pressures mean the Fed has ``more room to maneuver'' with interest rates, Behravesh said. San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen said yesterday policy makers may cut the key rate close to zero percent should the economy remain weak.

Employment Costs

Labor Department figures showed separately that employment costs rose 0.7 percent in July to September, the same pace as the previous two quarters. That's a sign that rising unemployment is stifling gains in wages and benefits.

bloomberg, guns, broke

I want one......

Click on it for the picture.

Alaskan Clydesdale

Alaskan Clydesdale

Only in Alaska ....... This guy raised an abandoned moose calf with his horses, and believe it or not, he has trained it for lumber removal and other hauling tasks. Given the 2,000 pounds of robust muscle, and the splayed, grippy hooves, he claims it is the best work animal he has. He says the secret to keeping the moose around is a sweet salt lick,although during the rut he disappears for a couple of weeks, but always comes home.... impressive!

Where is Obie going to get the money for for his daydreams.......

We are broke. Can't get moola from broke people. Our savings have disappeared in a spasm of greed and fear on the great gambling hall called the stock market. All we will be able to do is sell off what's left to the highest bidder. Obie has to win to save the clowns that got us in to this mess. He'll have to dismantle our military. No where else is any money left. Everything else is untouchable i.e. Social Security, Medicaid, Welfare for his voters, pork for dem's in Congress, etc.

Mac faces the same problems except his constituents are the military. Congress will belong to the socialists so he get's nothing done except inflate the currency as a compromise or watch millions lose everything they have in the coming Depression and face a third party revolution.

Expect war in the streets as Obie's supporters smell the election was stolen from their Lord. I 'll stay up here in Walmart Heaven idaho.

Speaking of Pat Buchanon yesterday....

::: Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

PJB: Comrade Obama?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

If Barack Obama is not a socialist, he does the best imitation of one I’ve ever seen.

Under his tax plan, the top 5 percent of wage-earners have their income tax rates raised from 35 percent to 40 percent, while the bottom 40 percent of all wage-earners, who pay no income tax, are sent federal checks.

If this is not the socialist redistribution of wealth, what is it?

A steeply graduated income tax has always been the preferred weapon of the left for bringing about socialist equality. Indeed, in the “Communist Manifesto” of 1848, Karl Marx was himself among the first to call for “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax.”

pat buchanan, walmart, socialist

The Empire is not American.....

The Empire is capitalism. Enforced by the American military and financed originally by the American, and now the world's, consumer. The ruling elites who control the political process could care less their or your nationality. As long as world trade is unimpeded you and I can do pretty much believe what we want. But just try to vote for a Ross Perot or Pat Buchanan and see how far you get standing in their way.

Personally, I believe someone has to control it. Imagine a world with out peaceful trade and you get the 1930's all over again. Conflicts between trading parties have to be settled at the upper levels because we all have nukes. Unfortunately, xenophobia keeps rearing it's head and threatening the status quot.

Archdruidreport

1. The End of American Empire

Right now America is as addicted to empire as any inner-city crackhead to cocaine. We support the world’s most bloated military, with troops and bases in more than a hundred countries, in order to enforce a global economic order that allows the 5% of the world’s people who live in the United States to use roughly a third of the world’s resources. At the same time, empires are costly pets, and ours – like every other empire in history – is becoming an economic burden our nation can no longer support; at the same time, the drastic decrease in US living standards that would follow the end of American empire is a political time bomb nobody wants to touch. Caught in that dilemma, the United States seems determined to follow the usual course of past empires, allowing its imperial commitments to drag it down.

A depression, however, would force the issue. In the midst of economic collapse, the United States would be no more able to maintain a global military presence than Russia was after its own collapse. The troops would have to come home – not just from Iraq and Afghanistan, but from the whole far-flung web of US military bases – and resources now being drained by the incubus of empire would be available for more constructive tasks, such as preparing for the onset of peak oil.

American Empire, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan

Next comes a debt moratorium.....

You ain't seen nothin yet. My generation will start taking money out of the stock market over the next few years to pay their over priced houses and other bills. The boomers are collectively broke. We have to look at a few facts to get some answers.

First of all it's the affordability index that matters. When I sold and bought real estate in the late 80's-, most people could afford a house around 80000 (payments of 450) on the median income of 24000. When this crisis began to develope in 2005-2006 the avg median household was closer to 44000. (Now you it's gone up to around 52000 .) Who amoung us making this much money  can afford 2100 per mo. for a avg. house in California, Florida, or Arizona? let alone come up with 60000 for a down payment. Now throw in 500 for or more for cars, 250 for credit cards and add nutso gas prices? No one in their right mind would give these people more credit now that their piggy bank of a house they bought is upside down in value!

Let's just say that we ran out of suckers. Proof is in the stock market crash-down 40 % over a years time. The market ran out of buyers when speculation developed in oil futures and currency trading. Where else could all those trillions go when the debt parade hit a ditch. Fortunately we have a chance of benefiting from it. During depressions people who saved and increased their credit limits bought everything for pennies on the dollar. But wait. We are early in the cycle. Read my first paragraph. Until we collectively change our spend and borrowing ways, well......

What happens when interest rates hit zero or negative 1? Every thing booms again. Are you ready? All those trillions of printing press money has to go some where. Last time 2003-2004 it went into real estate and stocks. In Sept. 2001 that down dropped to approximately 8500. It just , after 7 years , hit that mark again this week. Are you getting the idea.

Hey, it's not over until it's over.

Wait until we discuss credit cards. Weee!!!!

Plans swirl about how to save trouble global economy - Oct. 24, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Governments and central banks of the world's leading nations have taken unprecedented coordinated actions in the past month to help out battered financial markets and economies around the globe.

Yet, the global meltdown in stocks continued Friday. And this lack of confidence and sense of panic has left experts wondering what can be done next to assure investors and get banks to operate normally once again.

Obie never met a gun he didn't want to ban......

Don't say you weren't warned.

Gun BaN Obama

Obama Campaign Threatens Legal Action Over NRA Ads
MORE NEWS
9/25/2008 -

Fairfax, VA-Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has sent threatening letters to news agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio to stop airing ads exposing his anti-gun record sponsored by the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF).

The kicker? NRA-PVF's Ohio’s ads have not yet begun running.

“Barack Obama and his campaign are terrified of the truth,” declared Chris W. Cox, Chairman of NRA-PVF. “Sen. Obama's statements and support for restricting access to firearms, raising taxes on guns and ammunition and voting against the use of firearms for self-defense in the home are a matter of public record. NRA-PVF will make sure that everyone knows of Obama's abysmal record on guns and hunting.”

The Obama campaign sent cease and desist letters to news outlets in Pennsylvania and Ohio, denouncing the ads and demanding their removal from the airwaves. All stations where NRA-PVF has purchased or plans to purchase ads have been provided with documented evidence of Sen. Obama's anti-gun record.

Eco-freaks are us.......

A new religion has arrived in the last couple of decades. Starting with Rachel Carson's" "Silent Spring" It's taken on a huge movement even in Psychiatry. But the big news is that it is "Big Business". Nothing like that old religion putting money in your pocket.

www.peakoilblues.com blog

Easiest Way to Green: Buying to Save the Planet
Porter Novelli, then, helps international corporations figure out how to turn consumers’ climate fears into increased corporate profitability through “green” purchases. They do this by defining what is “green,” and how “green” someone is:

To determine this, they asked people whether they thought any of these actions were important to protect the environment and whether participants actually acted on any of these actions: (1) buying energy-efficient appliances, (2) buying environmentally-friendly products, (3) buying products made from recycled paper or plastics, (4) using cloth bags to put what you buy into, or (5) buying products that use less packaging. One choice involves “not buying” as a way of punishing companies with bad environmental records, while another option was “recycling–” what’s already been “bought.” Two other choices include “not buying stuff, or at least buying a lot less” and using “less energy at home.”

big buachel Carsonsiness, green, silent spring, R

dallas and Tampa Bay Suck....

Who's the weakest looking of the two? Damn if I know.

He this guy question the Messiah, Obama.....ow dar

The media vs. Joe the Plumber - Los Angeles Times


Jonah Goldberg
October 21, 2008


At a John McCain rally in Virginia on Saturday, Tito Munoz had come to face the enemy: the news media, which had declared war on Joe Wurzelbacher.

"Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber?" he yelled at a group of reporters, including my National Review colleague, Byron York. "Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong? Everything is possible in America. I made it. Joe the Plumber could make it even better than me. ... I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the U.S.A."

Who knows what it will do for McCain in the end, but the Joe the Plumber phenomenon is real. At the rally, supporters carried handmade signs reading "Phil the Brick Layer" and banners proclaiming "Rose the Teacher." Wurzelbacher symbolizes an optimistic, individualistic vision of America sorely lacking -- until recently -- in McCain's rhetoric.

joe the plumber, john mccain

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.......

All right bring it back.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Jamaica puzzled by theft of beach

Jamaica puzzled by theft of beach
By Nick Davis
BBC News, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

People on a beach in Jamaica (file)
A good beach is seen as a valuable asset to hotels in Jamaica

Police in Jamaica are investigating the suspected theft of hundreds of tons of sand from a beach on the island's north coast.

It was discovered in July that 500 truck-loads had been removed outside a planned resort at Coral Spring beach.

Detectives say people in the tourism sector could be suspects, because a good beach is seen as a valuable asset to hotels on the Caribbean island.

But a lack of arrests made since July have led to criticism of the police.

MMMM.....lunch time....

PETV

Don't eat anything without a face...

If god didn't want people to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?
Oxnard,CA-July 07,2004-Research scientists at Oxnard UNC Medical Center have proven that plants, including vegetables, feel pain when subjected to trauma such as being yanked out of the ground, peeled, cooked, and eaten. "Veggies and plants initiate a massive hormone and chemical barrage internally when they suffer any kind of injury," says professor Harry Simeon. "This response is akin to the nerve response and endorphin release when an animal is injured. We cannot ignore the similarities." When Baker asked professor Simeon and his research team what they thought this finding might mean, they responded unanimously, "Nobel prize, baby!"

Other agencies and the sum total of the world's hard-core vegetarians (known as vegans) registered formal complaints against the research. Their team of lawyers has already submitted a motion to have the results of the research destroyed or sealed. Others fear the damage has already been done. A spokesman said, "This is bad for us. Most of our members haven't eaten anything since hearing about the results. Our lawyers are looking into suing Mother Earth for false advertising, but concede that the suit will probably be inconclusive. In the meantime we'll be surviving on vitamin supplements and water."

In an ironic related story, a dozen protesters picketing the Hungry Carnivore Steak House in Dallas were allegedly assaulted by three patrons of the restaurant. Eyewitnesses say that the picketers were making their typical nuisance display of scorn and righteous indignation over the willful consumption of "the flesh of murdered animals" outside the Hungry Carnivore when two unidentified men and a woman stepped out of the establishment and sprayed the picketers with several gallons of what appeared to be blood. Victims and bystanders alike were surprised to discover that the liquid was actually V-8 juice. The truly shocking result of the alleged attack was the reaction of the picketers. All of the protesters were wracked with convulsions and suffered hours of dry heaves while many of the bystanders merely laughed. This reaction within vegetarianism's great bastion of faith has many true believers reconsidering their dietary requirements. Others are quietly making funeral arrangements and the Environmental Protection Agency is considering declaring vegans an endangered species.

mobile homes, houses, credit, Florida,

Light at the end of tunnel??......

Lot of houses on the market are being bought back by banks. Big time losses for now. Guy with good credit could get a house for next to nothing next year if or when credit loosens up. However, I'm convinced thousands of people will only be able to afford a used mobile home in the near term. Maybe time to get rich. Borrow from an owner on terms like I did here in Idaho (5000 down-500/mo for 3 years) . It will be years before banks lend on any mobile homes let alone used. Probably able to buy for very little and sell on terms for a nice profit.
     I like this better than selling houses for payments that few will be able to afford. After all everyone has to live somewhere. If banks evicts all these borrowers upside down on their loans, and they will, these people have to have a place to live. Do you see an opportunity in your town?

Tampa’s existing home sales on the rise - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

More homes were sold in the Tampa Bay area in September than the previous September, but median home values continue to fall.

Existing home sales for Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater climbed to 2,174 last month, up 29 percent from September 2008 while Lakeland was up 27 percent to 284 homes sold in September.

Sarasota didn’t have the same success, but its 7 percent drop to 550 units was the most contained drop of any market in the state.

In fact, only five of the 20 markets tracked by the Florida Association of Realtors showed declines with the statewide average up 24 percent over the previous year.

Values haven’t followed, however. The median home price in Tampa dropped 20 percent from $200,700 last year to $160,500 last month. In Lakeland and Winter Haven, the median home price fell 16 percent to $139,500, while in Sarasota-Bradenton, the median price was down 29 percent but remained just above the $200,000 mark.

Statewide, the median price dropped 22 percent year over year from $224,700 to $175,100.

mobile homes, houses, credit, Florida,

China farts........

The economy is gloomy? Wait until it hits 5% or less. Heh heh

China: Where 9% GDP growth is recession - Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

China: Where 9% GDP growth is recession
Posted Oct 20 2008, 06:46 AM by Douglas McIntyre

China's big stock index, the Shanghai Composite, has fallen from a 52-week high of over 6,000 to 1,974. Idiot math would say that is equivalent to the DJIA trading at 4,600. That may be a simpleton's view of the world, but the perspectives of the foolish as not always wrong.

China announced that its GDP grew only 9% in the third quarter. That number was supposed to be closer to 10%.

According to Reuters, "A gloomy outlook lies ahead after the third quarter, and concerns about the slowdown now outweigh concerns about inflation," said Chen Jinren, an analyst at Huatai Securities.

In the U.S. and Europe, a recession is still probably defined at two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage. In a world where 4% growth is burning up the track China's increase of 9% seems unattainable. But, in an economy which relies on rapid growth to build a middle class and huge industrial base, even a modest drop in a torrid quarterly improvement pattern probably spells significant problems.

china, gnp.recession

his chick will make a great sec. of Interior for Obie.....

Switzerland Places Ban on the Humiliation of Plants : Planetsave

Switzerland Places Ban on the Humiliation of Plants
Written by Meg Hamill
Published on October 18th, 2008
49 Comments
Posted in International, Legislation
A new amended law in Switzerland protects the dignity of vegetation.

A law protecting the dignity of plants? Laugh if you will. I’m down on my knees in respect and awe. At last the Western World is realizing the dire importance of taking other species into account.

Recently, the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to determine the meaning of dignity when it pertains to plants.

Lo and Behold, the team published a treatise on “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake.” The treatise established that vegetation has innate value and that it is morally wrong to partake in activities such as the “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason.”

planetsave, "plant dignity"

N.Y. Times to the rescue......

The government got us into this mess by allowing every broke dick in the country to have a house. It's the affordability index, stupid. In Idaho a house sells let's say for 185000. I can afford 135000 on my income. No buy this year. Or next. Until I and millions of average income people can afford it, the economy stays in the tubes.
   In the past few years  I could have bought a home and by now been paying 50% of my income to keep it. Might as well rent a house. Or as I'm doing, buy a mobile home and have it paid for in a couple of years. That's the plan. Why spend my old age slaving for these crooks in the finance industry, hmmm?
    What's your plan to get through the depression? By the way all this printed money, 2 trillion and counting will cause the boom to reignite. The next bust will even be worse. Keep your eye on China. There economy has dropped to 9 % growth. Break even so far. Disaster if it falls below 5%.

May you live in interesting times. Pay off your bills. Keep your lines of credit open and save cash. Then if you want to buy something you'll have your choice. I'm thinking buying older mobile homes in retirement parks, remodeling and flipping them. Being able to finance them is the key. No one will lend money on them and everyone has to have a place to live.

Economic Scene - With Rescue Money Available, Who Wouldn’t Line Up? - NYTimes.com

The idea of helping Main Street has an undeniable appeal. Housing is at the root of the financial crisis, and preventing foreclosures could bring a double-barreled benefit. It would allow families to remain in their homes and could also help keep the housing market from spiraling out of control. The more foreclosed homes that are dumped on the market, the more home prices will fall.

But before any of the various rescue plans reaches the point of inevitability — and these days, ideas can go from unlikely to inevitable in about 48 hours — I think it’s important to stop for a moment and consider how complicated any such plan would be. Every one of them, in fact, faces an inherent conflict: coming up with a large-scale homeowner bailout without also helping millions of people who don’t need help is almost impossible.

China, credit.casheconomic, "mobile homes"

Jesus... all this and no toilet paper

This is so rich. Imagine these sissies in charge. Why do we take these seriously.

Musings on Money, Personal Finance, Frugality, Debt, and Other Matters — Money, Matter, and More Musings

Ike Is Closing In And TV Reporters Are Going Crazy

by golbguru on September 12, 2008

It’s probably just a few more hours before we lose electric power, and have trees flying around. I don’t know long it will be before we have electricity back up, so I just thought of dropping a line here.

If you don’t have anything better to do, follow the eye of the storm closely and you would be able to zero in on my current geographical location.

Anyways, about TV reporters - man, those guys get so animated (even when other people in background are going about peacefully doing whatever they are doing). Interestingly, this afternoon, one of them even suggested this as a part of “survival tips for hurricane”:

People who use electric toothbrush should buy manual ones, and people who use electric shaving machines should get manual ones …

It's all in your head.....

Seems that psychology is more important than reality. Just look at all the "I can't get it up" pills on the market. Must be a billion guys running around unable to get a hard on. No wonder the divorce rate is so bad. Na, people are just stupid.

14 Wild Ideas

In the 1970s, the RAND Health Insurance Experiment randomly assigned 5000 adults to free or full-price health care over 3-5 years. Free care folks got more eyeglasses and teeth filled, and spent ~30% more, but were otherwise no healthier. This result is consistent with typical time-series and cross-sectional analyses. I'm willing to extrapolate from this 30% change to a 50% cut. More here.)

"health care"

I know how to be frugal....

Patti says I'm tight. Matter of fact I give scrooge a run for his money. After all a year ago we were technically homeless. Got my own place again and will be payment free in a year or so. Beats camping out in my son's backyard. Here's a site where the yuppies can can commiserate because the cost of bri and croisants have gone up.

iwillteachyoutoberich

Americans don’t know how to be frugal — yet
Things will get more expensive. Taxes will eventually go up. They have to. Costs of ordinary goods will go up. They always do. If you’re expecting it to get easier, you’re wrong. The key is to make more money and cut your costs. Sadly, Americans are poorly versed in being frugal. You think it makes sense to buy a new car every few years? You think it’s normal to eat out 5 times per week (lunch and dinner)? You feel good about yourself for ordering water when you go to a restaurant, but you blew $50,000 because you didn’t take the time to understand your mortgage? You’re not frugal. But a few more years of an economy like this and things just might change.

frugal, rich

Best way to save for the common man....

Food. Big expense. Big pain in the ass. Best tip that I can give is to create a menu for every meal. List and then buy only items on that list. Stay out of restaurants. Shop around with ads in hand. Remember Walmart rocks (the Empire made me put that in).

8 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill at SmartMoney.com

The resulting higher costs are swiftly passed down the production food chain to grocery store shelves. "It's like when the price of oil goes up, and you see a difference at the pump in the next day or two," says Al Ferrara, national director for consulting firm BDO Seidman's retail and consumer product division. Constantly produced fresh items like milk (up 10% compared with 2007, according to the USDA), eggs (up 7%) and bread (up 16%) are more apt to reflect changes on a nearly daily basis.

With a little legwork, savvy shoppers can keep their grocery bills at pre-2008 levels — if not lower. Here's how:
Stockpile

Most items are discounted just once during a 10-to-12-week sales cycle, says Teri Gault, founder of shopping site The Grocery Game. Seasonal items (think barbecue sauce in summer, soup in winter) show up every one to two weeks, while highly-competitive categories (cereal, soft drinks) cycle in every three to four. While it's not necessary to buy, say, eight jars of peanut butter, it's better to buy one jar while your favorite brand is on sale now than one at full price after you run out in two weeks.
Explore the store

Saving at the supermarket requires more effort than a quick dash and grab. Some of the best deals aren't obvious unless you take the time to price compare, says Phil Lempert, founder of Supermarket Guru. Cheese, for example, can be purchased from the cheese counter, the deli and the dairy case. "New York cheddar is New York cheddar no matter where you buy it," says Lempert. "But the price may be cheaper in one section than in another."

Keep an eye out, too, for sales. There are twice as many unadvertised sale items in the store as there are in the weekly circular. But be cautious. The longer you spend in stores, the more susceptible you are to sneaky supermarket tricks that entice you to spend more. Make a list, and stick to it.
Try store brands

walmart, money, food, groceries

No conspiracy here.........

Oct 17, 2008 Wall Street Monsters & Meat (You) Jim Willie CB 321gold ...inc ...s

TOP DOWN SOLUTION FAVORS THE ELITE

The top-down approach used to date aids the wealthy bankers, while the homeowners are denied aid. That aid is promised but rarely arrives. The fundamental problem here is that billion$ are devoted to shore up insolvent banks, to redeem their worthless (or nearly worthless) bonds, and to give a giant pass to the executives. Trust has eroded throughout the system. Banks distrust each other's collateral. The result is that eventually the USEconomy will enter not a recession, not a depression, but a DISINTEGRATION PHASE.

"wall street", depression, gold