Thursday, December 04, 2008

Arnie.....Socialism doesn't work....

Houses don't come cheap. Subsidizing  the broke dicks to buy them doesn't work. Rewarding moochers doesn't work either. California is the epitome of what does not work.  The whole political class does not work. Keep subsidizing what doesn't work is a recipe for disaster.

You want to improve the economy .....make everybody work. Make something to sell. Quit giving all of our jobs to foreigners. We are going to have to nationalize the illegals and find them work to pay my social security check. Where are all those jobs coming from? The auto companies?

We have to get it through our thick heads that just financing future Medicare recipients will destroy the planet. We vote. Avoid scaring us old geezers. Most of us have lost our retirement income in stocks and home equity. Is your house gaining in value? What if you only have a few years left before you get thrown out on your ass from Walmart or McDonalds.

As radical as it sounds, we have  guns. We have 200 million of them.Taking over small oil countries is not a serious obstacle. How long did it take us  to take over the world's third largest oil reserves in Iraq. 6 weeks.

Think Iran sleeps comfortably . They could be toast. Any one remember what we did to the Native Americans. How about Waco? Or even Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Think riots. Blacks and Latinos are finally tasting success. Can we slam the door in their face. Think they'll jump in and finance my hideaway in Sarasota? Which illegal is going to buy me out in redneck heaven Idaho so I can go fishing with my brother in Tampa? Funny now?

This will sound extreme under "normal" circumstances but the Germans of my grandfather's generation stopped laughing as their government took over Czechoslovakia. Then invading Poland destroyed their world.

 As for us today, Saddam and his kids are worm food. When crunch time hits no one is safe. We burned millions of people to death in our past. Whether it makes us queasy or not we have a world wide reputation of getting what we want. But maybe this is just an exercise in fear mongering. Then again, maybe the world has to worry.

Unless......

Lord Obama will rescue them. Even the "Terminator".
California Housing Fiscal Emergency Part Deux: California Housing and Economic Dynamics in Massive Recession. » Dr. Housing Bubble Blog

The Governator announced to the newly minted politicians on Monday that California is now officially in a fiscal emergency. He had called for a special session trying to resolve the issue but lame duck politicians were on “fact finding” junkets or simply playing hide the salami while Rome burned. These are the people leading our state which is the most powerful economic engine in the 50 states of the union. What an absolute disgrace. These people are getting 6-figure salaries and the only job they have is to represent the populace and they can’t seem to even get that right. Our deficit is ballooning each and every day and budget analysts are saying that we may be broke by February. I’d argue that we are already broke but to many debt is the same as wealth. Today, a group of Governors including Arnold are meeting with President-elect Obama for what I would imagine should be a fascinating spectacle of who can hold out the largest tin-can.

The state budget deficit is gigantic. To first understand this mess, you have to follow the money:

California revenues

Keep in mind these are estimates. A state as large as California with expenses over $100 billion is no small thing. But anyone can quickly look at the above pie chart and understand we are in serious trouble. The two biggest sources of revenue for the state are personal income tax and sales tax. These 2 areas make up 71% of all revenue sources. Well, you can already see the problem arising here. First, as much as people want to believe that Black Friday was somehow going to resurrect the economy one day does not make a trend. People are not spending as much and subsequently sales tax revenues are going to shock us on the downside. In terms of the personal income tax, well you can pretty much kiss a large portion of that goodbye. High paying bubble jobs like real estate agents, mortgage brokers, financial analysts, construction workers, car salesmen, and others in the FIRE economy are no longer going to be paying Uncle Arnold their chunk of gravy train day salary. The personal income tax damage will be obvious come Q1 and Q2 of 2009.

In addition, those that have no job are literally paying zero into this pot and we are having more and more fall into this category especially here in California that now has the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the nation:

California unemployment rate


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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Imagine trying do this for a living.....

I sold real estate during the early 90's. It was tough enough. Imagine when no one can qualify for a loan. This is along post but should be read to get an idea of the extent of the problem.

The California economy is the third largest in the world and depends mostly on the housing industry.

Which has disappeared.

What really hurts is that the worst hits in 2009. I got out just in time. Unemployment in Riverside is now close to 10% and climbing. My niece  lost her house a couple of months ago after taking in her mother who had ended up homeless.

My daughter's husband is a union carpenter working commercial real estate projects still under contract. These contracts will probably disappear as who will need new office space. Maybe government as they will be the only ones hiring.

Laborers are now dime a dozen with plenty of Mexicans still to be nationalized by Ob's new administration putting even greater pressure on what few jobs there are. So much for the coming minimum wage hikes, right?

Xmas sales will be over in a week or so and who needs clerks in empty stores. Business has to empty their warehouses because excess inventory costs money and is taxed. Sales taxes will collapse putting even greater strain on local authorities to cope.

Firemen have to be paid or we completely wipe out whats left of the insurance companies . Literally thousands more will then become homeless. Democrats then lose their cushy jobs.

You get the idea.

Expect to see the new government under OB to hire everybody to build bridges and highways but this takes time. Be probably 6 months or so. Count on a big stimulus checks and big tax credits first.

One interesting idea I've come up with is for the banks give everyone a a new credit card wiping out much of the old balances. All that bank stimulus money has to end up in our hands as debt in order to crank up the consumers. Therefor, other forms of the essential credit moratorium will be instituted as  this will become necessary to save the system.

Count on measures to do so.

The stock market will rise if not boom here as Europe and Asia ships their money to our stock market looking for safety. Still have to get global shipping moving to save China's economy from collapsing. China needs to sell us everything we need and continue to buy our national debt. They also need the worlds commodities. We have become so intertwined on a global scale that all bailouts are universal now.

Read the above carefully. That's right. Broke dicks can't buy squat. We is broke.

Good luck, President OB.

I would expect a huge increase in crime. Up here in "Redneck Heaven" Idaho we just hunker down. Stock up on canned food and polish our hunting rifles. Have more deer and fish than dollars. I expect the job market to disappear for awhile. I'm warning my friends to hang on at Wally World  because things could get nasty. The local jobs, saw mills and such no longer exist. Empty stores don't need clerks. People with out money aren't  buying gas. Etc etc.

I guess we just wait for the new Messiah, OB to save us.


California Housing Fiscal Emergency Part Deux: California Housing and Economic Dynamics in Massive Recession. » Dr. Housing Bubble Blog

The L.A. median home price topped out at $550,000 in August of 2007. I know that it seems like a lot longer ago but only a year ago, were we sitting at the mountaintop. Now, the median home price for the county is $355,000. A drop of nearly $200,000 in one year. How would you feel if you bought at that $550,000 peak and now knew your home was only able to fetch $355,000 (if that) on the open market? I can tell you how many are feeling. Many are simply walking away from their homes. When I say walking away I don’t mean that they leave on their first miss payment. In fact, idiotic legislation like SB 1137 simply kicks the shiny empty Coke can down the road a few more months and allows many people to stay rent free in a home they clearly cannot afford. They will walk in droves next year. I’ve talked with a few contacts in the industry and they are telling me that if you have a 720 credit score and 25% down you can get a loan at 5.25% up to $725,000. Yet the traffic is not there. Why? Because how many people today have $181,000 sitting around for a down payment on a home? Also, you have to have debt-to-income ratios that keep you under 37% so let us take that $725,000 home and run the numbers:

Down payment: $181,000

Mortgage 30-year fixed (5.25%): $3,003 (Principal and Interest)

Taxes and Insurance: $755

Total monthly payment (PITI): $3,758

Needed net monthly income: $10,156

You will need a monthly net income of $10,156 to afford this home even after putting $181,000 down if we want to keep the 37% DTI ratio with net income. Yes, you’ll have tax deductions but keep in mind that monthly nut of $3,758 comes out of your monthly cash flow stream. You reap the rewards when you do your taxes. But let us not get caught up in missing the bigger picture. There is such a tiny amount of people in California that fall within this range that it is comical. That is why sales have fallen. People are missing the point. It is all about income and jobs. It always was about this. If the median U.S. income was $100,000 I assure you we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But the fact of the matter is the median income is only $46,000.

Many are now losing even that median income job. That’ll depress wages and home prices further. And California had this incestuous relationship with housing. That is, many of the high paying jobs simply existed as a leech to the bubble. Now that the host is gone the vector can no longer survive in the current ecological system. That is simply a fact.

Even with all these foreclosure moratoriums and hackneyed responses to the bubble, the foreclosure rate is still through the roof:

Nationwide foreclosures



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Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Give me that old time religion......

 

It's possible the Greens will win. We all end our sorry lives eating dirt, living in a mud hut and slaughtering each other with stone tipped spears.

I prefer the Empire. Every left wing nut's nightmare. Taking over small oil producing countries and civilizing  them. (though I prefer non-violent means)

I  and millions like minded people  will work, save, and support the only system that has brought wealth of immense proportion to the "common man". That's how we vote.

Whether the savages like it or not.

Our ancestors lived in perfect misery until conquered by technologically advanced civilizations and taught to read, clothe, feed and protect themselves. Through the centuries we have modified this system to generate a better life for all. this has been the natural order of things. That's what  people always strive for.... leaving the world a  better place for their children.

 In the process, a great Empire has been created. Today we call it Capitalism. Most of the world has been brought in, some kicking and screaming, to a life of full bellys, warm houses and clean sexual partners. Where their children dream of gifts and have playtime. Where we live side by side with people we don't even like. Without fear.

Nothing has done more for the majority of mankind to serve our collective needs. No political or competing economic system ever invented can long survive resisting it. 

Capitalism "teaches a man to fish, feeding him for ever". Those people who embrace the Empire,  eat, live under a solid roof, have productive things to do and have the free time to invent religions and political theories to argue over. Those who don't, die miserable lives. (Africa, anyone?)

The Empire rolls over Nazis, Commies, Religious nut jobs, and just plain old fashion Fascist. Yes, just  as the Commies found out, the  Mullahs are screwed. Keep bringing their elite's children to our schools and they will belong to us. Give them "baywatch" reruns. Teach their women to "just say no". We win.

That's why they hate us.

Resistance is futile.

Which brings us to today's topic.

I like nothing more than experts who agree with me.

Fortunately this crap is off the table for now. All we need is to waste more resources on a problem we can do nothing about even if it was real. You would have to shut down the world economy and start over. Not going to happen. Take a nuclear war to do so. However, watching today's present crisis unfold may get us thinking the system  may have  become unrepairable. Not a chance. Temporary glitch. We'll figure it out. We always do.

Meanwhile, history teaches us that Capitalism embraces all new religions and swallows them. Environmentalism will soon be a complete subset of the pantheon we have created under freedom of religion. Which is:

You can believe any damn fool thing you want as long as we can monetize it.

Gore and the Global Warming Fraud Exposed : EarthFrisk Blog

The Founder of the Weather Channel

Eminent Meteorologist John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel says:

There is no significant man made global warming. There has not been any in the past, there is none now and there is no reason to fear any in the future. The climate of Earth is changing. It has always changed. But mankind’s activities have not overwhelmed or significantly modified the natural forces.

Through all history, Earth has shifted between two basic climate regimes: ice ages and what paleoclimatologists call “Interglacial periods”. For the past 10 thousand years the Earth has been in an interglacial period…. [where] the Earth warms up, the glaciers melt and life flourishes. Clearly from our point of view, an interglacial period is greatly preferred to the deadly rigors of an ice age. Mr. Gore and his crowd would have us believe that the activities of man have overwhelmed nature during this interglacial period and are producing an unprecedented, out of control warming.
Well, it is simply not happening. Worldwide there was a significant natural warming trend in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a Solar cycle peaked with lots of sunspots and solar flares. That ended in 1998 and now the Sun has gone quiet with fewer and fewer Sun spots, and the global temperatures have gone into decline. Earth has cooled for almost ten straight years. So, I ask Al Gore, where’s the global warming?

Obama Administration Will Tackle Climate Change

Yea right.


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Monday, December 01, 2008

Merril Lynch economist are now to be trusted....We are dead , dude....

 Thought that my job at Wallie world was safe. But with these guys saying China will recover next year makes me scared shit less. Just who is China going to ship their stuff to? Broke dicks in Florida? How about all those peons in California? Where is all the trade credit coming from? I think my future bonuses are toast until we get over the next few years of national bankruptcy.

We have been "officially " in recession for 12 mos. We are just feeling the effects  right now. Are you feeling upbeat? Want to buy a house for twice what you can finance it for? How about a car you can't afford to repair. Let alone insure. How about that great shopping? This year will be better than expected because the stores are practically giving stuff away to empty stuffed warehouses that cost so much to keep open. Need to generate the income to pay those inventory loans you know.

China needs to stay strong so they can buy more of our bail out induced treasury debt. For themselves they need to create another 100 million jobs or so to stave off overthrow. Imagine that coming at you. These people are hungry and are moving into the cities to cause all kinds of unrest. Ain't enough cops on the planet to hold off this golden horde.
China's currency falls by record against U.S. dollar - MarketWatch

Analysts said the current downturn in China's manufacturing sector is likely to deepen, triggering more cuts in production and employment.
"We expect the Chinese economy to slow further for another several months before a rebound in mid 2009," wrote Merrill Lynch economists headed by Ting Lu in a note Monday. "It's our view that China's massive fiscal stimulus plan will help buffer the slowdown."
Morgan Stanley's Wang said he expects the weakening of the Chinese currency against the dollar to be temporary. A longer-term devaluation would run the risk of sparking capital outflows, copy-cat devaluations of regional currencies and renewed trade tensions with the European Union, the U.S. and other big trading partners.
He added fundamentals don't support a major softening of the yuan against the greenback, given China's large trade surplus.
"I don't think there is a foundation for the [yuan] to depreciate on a sustained basis," Wang said.
Analysts said the declines in the yuan were likely driven in part by state intervention and traders anticipating a weaker outlook for the manufacturing-dependant Chinese economy. End of Story
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
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Comments: 79

Welcome to the world of competitive devaluations, a race to the bottom where everybody's a loser. As the Yuan is already undervalued against the dollar, massively so, this simply tells us the state of desperation in the CCP. They know that there will...

- capncaveman
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Drystacked 2 hours ago

Even (3 Up / 3 Dn)



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The Chinese are smart and very sneaky. They've been eating our lunch for quite awhile. While we're fighting about our differences and individuality, they're unified and kicking our butt.

Whether that will continue or not will be determined by our future decisions. Hopefully we can get our government to serve the people's needs instead of corporate America.

EDIT: Thumbs down huh? Wow, apparently 1 person has their head in the sand!

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EconomicWars 2 hours ago




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Well I just have to say that I think the author is wrong. I think that from now on Chine’s currency is going to start going down against the dollar and this trend may continue for a few years to come. What I see happing with Chine’s currency is that in the mid 2009 chine currency prices are not going to start rebounding just because the world economy is going to start recovering. I do not see that happening; in my opinion this is not going to happen because chine is just starting to go through it version of mortgage crisis, plus a lot of factories are only now starting closed in chine etc…... So even as prices of things and demand starts picking up again in mid 2009 I do not see the chine’s government been able to pick up its currency even if they wanted to by that time, its economics fundamental may not let them. What I see happing then is a rebound in inflation, prices of manufacture things are going to start going up in chine. This time around the inflation in the manufacturing part of Chine’s economy maby be stronger than the inflation in the food part of Chine’s economy.

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sobeachbiz 2 hours ago

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Sorry Guys, I read these posts full of bravado and I have to laugh.
Have any of you been to China? I was there on business and I can tell you there is no way the chinese economy is "Going Down". The fact is that as usual the chinese Govt is tilting the table unfairly in their direction again. This is why China, not the US, owns 1.5 Trillion of our debt.
This is why they are a net exporter not importer like the US. This is why they can have a $585 Billion dollar stimulus package and not borrow it on the backs of their children like we do and have been doing for some time.
Don't fool yourself into thinking the chinese story is done, it has just begun, and unless we start demanding fair trade and currency, then one day we will be resigned to making firecrackers and other cheap throw away junk.
EM 1 hour ago

Even (1 Up / 1 Dn)



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No, the reason China is running a surplus is because of excessive consumption in the United States first and second, because US companies export back here instead of producing the goods locally.
Joe_Bourbon 32 minutes ago




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The reason there is excessive consumption is that there has been excessive credit available to consumers. Do NOT blame the US consumer, any population faced with decade after decade of easy credit (that $1.5 trillion financed by the Chinese) and artificially low pegged imports (again from China) is going to have a percentage of people that will just buy and buy until there is no more credit.

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poweroutoftheblueski 1 hour ago

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Thumbs up Sobeach: if only you turn down the fear part, I think you are tight on the mark.

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crashhamster 2 hours ago

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"We expect the Chinese economy to slow further for another several months before a rebound in mid 2009," wrote Merrill Lynch economists

Where do these "economists" get these ideas - there is no way that anything is going to rebound in 6 months. Even basic economic theory tells us that economic cycles last a lot longer than 6 months to a year - no wonder things are such a mess with goons like this spouting trash like this. It also goes along with the UK govt which is thinking along the same sorry lines - they are going to be in lots of trouble as their forecast is also looking for a rebound in the 2nd half 09' - the poor misguided people.

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jonesreport.com 2 hours ago




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Barroso says crisis has brought Britain closer to euro
AFP
Monday, Dec 01, 2008
The international financial crisis has set off a radical change in thinking in Britain about the euro, EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Sunday.
While acknowledging the majority opposition in Britain to embracing the euro, Barroso told French radio: "We are now closer than ever before."
He added: "I'm not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me: 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'."
Sterling has suffered major falls in the credit crunch which has seen Britain, like other governments, spend massively in recent months to support the banking system.
"The British have an enormous quality, one of many, that is they are pragmatic," Barroso said on an RTL radio/LCI television broadcast. "This crisis has emphasised the importance of the euro, in Britain as well."
Full article here
http://www.infowars.net/articles/december2008/011208Barroso.htm

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beeswax 1 hour ago

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China needs this devaluation. It would be devastating if the Renmimbi traded much higher. This is an export economy that gains when the dollar is higher. But the social pressures of a deflating currency at home is something the central bankers will be watching as they try to ramp up their own consumer economy.

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dow1 1 hour ago




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Wether WE like it or not "WE ARE HOOK on CHINESE CHEAP GOODS be it WALLYWORLD, TV, NOTEBOOK, NIKE's, CLOTHES, CELLPHONES, SHOES, and VICTORIA'S WOMEN I'll SAY, IT "PANTIES"." CHINA knows it that WE ARE like DRUG(CONSUMER) ADDICTS....

Okey here is the BIG PICTURE, CHINA already had $$630 Billion Econ Stimulus for CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURES, CUT in INTEREST RATES, then there is the QUESTION what more can CHINESE POLICY Makers do to maintain 9%%% or HIGHER GDP Growth with out incurring DEFICITS on the CHINESE TREASURIES. We'll GUESS it, "DEVALUATION of the YUAN" through manipulation at it's open and rawest form. This move make CHINA appears as an advocate for a strong US$$.
Solely for the purpose of continued DEPENDENCY on CHINA's EXPORT ECONOMY, and maintaining 9%% GDP. Thus, continued CHEAP CHINESE Labor employment at
EXPORT ORRIENTED ECONOMIC SECTOR to avoid SOCIAL UNREST. On the other hand, YUAN DEVALUATION is the least path of resistance that will give their $$ the BIGGEST BANG for the BUCK... MANIPULATION of the YUAN vs the US$$ is one move that COST practically nothing. Except deep concern, dissapointments, continued addition to US Job losses, bbiittcch'n, & frustrations on the soon Obama Admin...

Good or Bad I guess it depends. The CHINESE BAIT(Expect Further Drop on Prices of Goods) is ON specially the big screen LCD's TV that is going to fall like a rock bottom prices in order to lure "US ALL" in to a BUYING FRENZIES.... Big Picture, drop in Raw Materials Globally + Devalued Yuan(Means Cheaper Chinese Labor) = MORE CHEAPER CHINESE GOODS(Watch out for the coming CHEAP Chinese Cars)...All pointing to a renewed/reborn/revival US Consumer(ADDICTION) Dependent Economy...
poweroutoftheblueski 58 minutes ago

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I didn't read you comment Dow1. When I see caps so generously supplied, the logic in thinking is usualy lacking. Could you tell us if you have thought about these feeling much?

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WatchnFedInDisbelief 1 hour ago

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If the Chinese currency keeps dropping, you can kiss the last remnant of the U.S. mfg. base goodbye. What the Chinese need to think about though is "If none of us has jobs, how will we buy their stuff?"
dow1 1 hour ago




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I totally agree with you WFD.....Yes US Manuf is doomed I guess. News is Chinese Car Companies are only making $$120 PROFIT per CAR. Then there is a THREAT to BOEING Co. of the coming CHINESE MADE JUMBO Commercial JET Production in 5 years.

It's All PAINFULL MEDICINAL REMEDIES for the USA. US can go the way of PROTECTIONISM & ISOLATIONISM(CUT/BAN IMPORTS or Higher Tarriffs on IMPORTS)... Cut WAGES in order to COMPETE in terms of LABOR COST in ALL US Manufacturing(CARS, BOIENG, TECHS, etc...) to $12 to $18 per hour STANDARD REGARDLESS .... DEFAULT on US IOU's or SEEK DEBTH FORGIVENESS.... BALANCE USA FISCAL BUDGET at ALL COST....DEVALUE US$$ to DISCOURAGE IMPORTS...The list goes on,...

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omnisight 1 hour ago

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I agree with WatchnFedInDisbelief. The Chinese think they can improve export revenue. Haven't they spare a thought about the terrible jobless rate? Very selfish.

Guess what.. most stocks and commodities already plunge; Gold worst hit -5.4% in the past 17hours.

If China continues to devalue Yuan in 2009, say goodbye to stocks and commodities. World's in total mess.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

Read the last paragraph carefully....

Just where are we going to increase industrial production? China? We gave our industry away, remember? Heh heh

Of course we can always take over a small oil producing country. I'm ready.
A Depression Coming? Not Likely - Kiplinger.com

America's national output plunged for four straight years, 1930-1933, with a total drop in dollar value of some 50%, because of a combination of lower volume and falling prices (deflation).

The massive federal spending of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal caused the gross domestic product (GDP) to rise from 1934 through 1937. Then the nation was shocked by a severe relapse (the "Roosevelt Recession") that saw national production fall in 1938. The Great Depression was finally ended not by the New Deal, but by rising U.S. industrial output in 1940-1941 to aid our allies in Europe, under assault by Adolf Hitler.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Why all the financial crisis going on?.....

Oil exploded in price in the 70's under Carter. Destroying the economy and his presidency. He hired Paul Volker(yes that him in the news on Ob's team) who raised interest rates to 16 % or so and cleaned out the bankrupt assets from the American economic system. Giving us the "great orator" Reagan presidency with it.

Oil exploded in price this year and is taking the economy with it. Same medicine will be necessary to save our sorry asses. Now or later. The damage has to be limited. No one can duck the consequences of unsupported credit expansion. Eventually you run out of suckers to buy your debt.

Guess what Obama has to do?

As Ive  been saying for years  we need to take over a small oil producing country to stave off the Depression. Not much else a broken poorly run  empire can do. This was planned years ago and executed in Iraq. Probably time to do it again after OB plays Jimmy Carter and inspires everybody with his soaring rhetoric. And hires the Clinton gang to institute "change."

By the way, all you have to do is pay attention to what the elite are telling each other. Not that anyone pays attention to these people talking to each other. Only their speeches for the masses are covered by the Corporate media.

 Anyways Cheney ran Haliburton the oil service company. Read what he was saying right after gaining office as VP:
Peak Oil: Life After the Oil Crash

A report commissioned by Cheney and released in April 2001 was no less disturbing:
The most significant difference between now and a decade ago is the extraordinarily rapid erosion of spare capacities at critical segments of energy chains. Today, shortfalls appear to be endemic. Among the most extraordinary of these losses of spare capacity is in the oil arena. Source
In light of this information, Cheney knew the only way for Western oil majors to stay oil majors was to use force to grab what's left in the Middle East and then give the contracts to pump that oil to the oil majors. Four years after the invasion of Iraq, this is exactly what is happening. U.K. Independent journalist Geoffrey Lean explains:
"So where is this oil going to come from?" Cheney asked His answer: the Middle East was "where the prize ultimately lies".



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Friday, November 28, 2008

We need combat pay.....

Just wait until the food runs out.
Wal-Mart clerk dies as crowd rushes in - Life- msnbc.com

Wal-Mart worker dies after crowd rushes store
Shoppers knocked him over, 'physically broke down doors,' police say

Video
Wal-Mart employee dies
Nov. 28: A worker at a Wal-Mart on Long Island died after being trampled by a crowd. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer reports.

MSNBC

Video: Life

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msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 1 hour, 10 minutes ago

NEW YORK - A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.

Nassau County police said the 34-year-old man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. ET, an hour after the store in Valley Stream on Long Island opened.

A police statement said a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground." The exact cause of death "will be determined by the medical examiner's office," the police stated.

About time....

Now  we can all buy a new house with our unemployment checks.

No wait. That's what these giant new stimulus checks are for.  Good thing we changed Presidents. Wouldn't no what to do with out an experienced hand at the helm. Opps I forgot Mac lost.
Mortgage rates plummet after $800 billion credit infusion - Nov. 26, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mortgage rates fell sharply yesterday after the administration announced that it will pump another $800 billion into credit markets to free up frozen consumer and mortgage lending.

That number dwarfed previous government actions aimed at bolstering the mortgage lending market.

"The feds agreed to spend a half a trillion dollars to buy up mortgage backed securities and another $100 billion to fund lending for Fannie and Freddie; we're not talking chump change anymore," said Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a publisher of mortgage information.

Rates averaged 5.77% for the day on a 30-year, fixed rate loan, down from 6.06% Monday, according to Gumbinger. They fell as far as 0.75 percentage points during the day, according to Orawin Velz, Associate Vice President for Economic Forecasting at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Lord Obama.... Change you can believe in....

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. These lefty voters are stupider than right wing voters. At least we got the Supreme court for the next couple of years. Should be that long to finish off the working stiff. Who needs them when you have Lord Obama's magic wand.
Gates to stay on as Pentagon chief, aides say - International Herald Tribune

WASHINGTON: In a show of bipartisanship and continuity, President-elect Barack Obama has decided to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his post, Democrats close to the transition said, and on Wednesday named Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve under Democratic and Republican presidents, to lead a new White House economic advisory committee.

It will be the first time a Pentagon chief has been carried over from a president of a different party. Obama's advisers were nearing a formal agreement with Gates to stay on for perhaps a year, the Democrats said Tuesday, and they expected to announce the decision as early as next week, along with other choices for the national security team. The two sides have been working out details on how Gates would wield authority in a new administration.

The move will give the new president a defense secretary with support on both sides of the aisle in Congress, as well as experience with foreign leaders around the world and respect among the senior military officer corps. But two years after President George W. Bush picked him to lead the armed forces, Gates will now have to pivot from serving the commander in chief who started the Iraq war to serving one who has promised to end it.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

What's science got to do with it?.......

Jesus walked on water. Al Gore lost the election. Santa Clause is a shopaholic. America can afford to buy all the World's problems. Obama will wave his magic wand and cure socialism's disasters.

And global warming is worth destroying millions of lives because it is the new sacrament of Environmentalism. Nothing will be more important than saving mankind from the evils of Capitalism.  You descent you get punished.

Pass the Holy water.

 
The price of dissent on global warming | The Australian


David Bellamy | November 25, 2008
Article from: The Australian

WHEN I first stuck my head above the parapet to say I didn't believe what we were being told about global warming, I had no idea what the consequences would be. I am a scientist and I have to follow the directions of science, but when I see that the truth is being covered up I have to voice my opinions.

According to official data, in every year since 1998, world temperatures have been getting colder, and in 2002 Arctic ice actually increased. Why, then, do we not hear about that? The sad fact is that since I said I didn't believe human beings caused global warming, I've not been allowed to make a television program.

My absence has been noticed, because wherever I go I meet people who say: "I grew up with you on the television, where are you now?"

It was in 1996 that I criticised wind farms while appearing on children's program Blue Peter, and I also had an article published in which I described global warming as poppycock. The truth is, I didn't think wind farms were an effective means of alternative energy, so I said so. Back then, at the BBC you had to toe the line, and I wasn't doing that.

At that point, I was still making loads of TV programs and I was enjoying it greatly. Then I suddenly found I was sending in ideas for TV shows and they weren't getting taken up. I've asked around about why I've been ignored, but I found that people didn't get back to me. At the beginning of this year there was a BBC show with four experts saying: "This is going to be the end of all the ice in the Arctic," and hypothesising that it was going to be the hottest summer ever. Was it hell! It was very cold and very wet and now we've seen evidence that the glaciers in Alaska have started growing rapidly, and they have not grown for a long time.

I've seen evidence, which I believe, that says there has not been a rise in global temperature since 1998, despite the increase in carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. This makes me think the global warmers are telling lies: CO2 is not the driver. The idiot fringe has accused me of being like a Holocaust denier, which is ludicrous. Climate change is all about cycles. It's a natural thing and has always happened. When the Romans lived in Britain they were growing very good red grapes and making wine on the borders of Scotland. It was evidently a lot warmer Read more here


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Makes sense to me.......

Still believe in global warming? The new religion. let's see what some real scientist have to say. You know the ones who refuse to be bought or cowed by government sponsored thugs.

I find it refreshing that this faith-based "we all gonna die by Monday if we don't give a way the farm to the bureaucrats right now"  off the news radar. Depression talk seems more apropos, I guess. We can't even afford to fart now let alone give these Al Gore nuts more money. but wait. This is the government we are talking about. The best money can buy.
Quote of the Day:

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on... or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain



Global Warming - Doomsday Called Off (2/5)

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Typical in America.....


How Obama Got Elected

On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama's limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States. For many of these Americans, the explanation was rather simple... the news media, completely enamored with Obama, simply refused to do their job.

On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen for their apparent intelligence/verbal abilities and willingness to express their opinions to a large audience. The rather shocking video below seeks to provide some insight into which information broke through the news media clutter and which did not.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I guess we'll have to ban water........

No money in it for the lefties. No carbon credit trading. No Gore commercials, I mean documentaries. Damn!
The Warmer, the Merrier by James P. Hogan

Earth warmed a little during the last century as part of the natural climate cycles that have always been happening and always will. The principal agent by far – to the tune of 95% of the total in maintaining an atmosphere that keeps the Earth from freezing at this distance from the Sun – is water vapour, which doesn't even figure in the computer models that the current hysteria is based on, because you can't control it, tax it, or blame it on your favorite villains. At 0.03% of the Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide is a minor player, and the proportion of it due to human activities, minuscule – 2% of the 0.03%, which is six millionths of the 5% warming which was due to CO2 to begin with. Put another way, the human contribution works out at three cents in a hundred thousand dollars.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Geithner for treasury.......

Another Wall Street insider.  Hooray for OBnomics. We're saved. problem solved. Yippee. Snore
Timothy F. Geithner, President of the New York Fed - Organization - About the Fed - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Timothy F. Geithner


Timothy F. GeithnerTimothy F. Geithner became the ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on November 17, 2003. In that capacity, he serves as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the group responsible for formulating the nation's monetary policy.

Mr. Geithner joined the Department of Treasury in 1988 and worked in three administrations for five Secretaries of the Treasury in a variety of positions. He served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1999 to 2001 under Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.

He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 until 2003. Before joining the Treasury, Mr. Geithner worked for Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Mr. Geithner graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in government and Asian studies in 1983 and from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies with a master’s in International Economics and East Asian Studies in 1985. He has studied Japanese and Chinese and has lived in East Africa, India, Thailand, China, and Japan.

Mr. Geithner serves as chairman of the G-10’s Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the Bank for International Settlements. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Group of Thirty.

He and his wife, Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner, have two children.

July 2007

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hillary for Secretary of State?.....

Of course. Keep your friends close...your enemies closer.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I love Xm Radio......

Can't sell cars, can't sell radios. trickle down economics. We ain't seen nothing yet. We need to shake out the incompetents, crooks and nitwits out of the economy before a new cycle can begin. Of course the fed's have to bail out all their screw ups.

By the way, why  do we need bank financing for no money down no down payment 0 interest loans? Am I missing something? Other than a reluctance to assuming risk maybe these dealers will have to be like the used car guys. Sign here and drive it home. Screw up and they hire Jose to steal it back.

I used to buy cars by simply signing my name and leaving the keys to the piece of shit they sold me last time. Of course you could get a new car for 3 or 4 thousand dollars back in those days. However, when my wages couldn't keep up financing became the only way that  this wage slave could drive to work. To pay his debts to put a roof over his head. Pay all those taxes. eat. Hell,come to think about it  now days we can't even afford to die.

We have to go back in time to the "good old days" to understand what happened. The simple fact is that wages haven't kept up with inflation. When I bought and sold Real Estate back in the Stone Age it was always a simple formula we used to qualify prospects. (Today it's formulated as the affordability index.)  20 % down, 25% of monthly gross for the monthly payment and no  outstanding debts payable or in arrears over a year or more. (Buy the car and furniture later.)

This worked for "prudent lenders". It was the the Fed who  financed 95% of the loan amounts for what we call today, "sub prime borrowers".  (About the only qualification was that they had a social security number and could show an income of some kind) In other words "socializing" the risk for political reasons.

Because of the growth in credit caused by the Government lowering the Fed rate everyone and their brother got in to the lending business. Inflation in housing, cars and business financing took off. Since Government guarantees most of these loans we have "socialized" all this risk. As soon as wages fall behind we have people pulling in and not borrowing. Causing a collapse in credit creation. A vicious cycle starts and ends up destroying innocent companies like Sirius XM. This is the fall out from economic boom and bust. Innocents get it in the ass.

Read the whole article and see what these guys did to get smacked around like this  .
Sirius XM at 17 cents - look out below - Nov. 19, 20


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Brother, can you spare a dime?" During the Great Depression, ten cents could buy a little something for those really hard up.

During this financial crisis, ask for two dimes, and you can get a share of Sirius XM. That's right, the stock of the much-ballyhooed satellite-radio merger has plunged more than 90% this year and was trading recently at just 17 cents.

And now, several analysts wonder if Sirius XM (SIRI) will even be able to last for much longer without a major restructuring.


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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What's the big debate about "saving GM?"

Give them the  money and get on with some thing else.
Anyone seriously
believe that the Dems are going to abandon the UAW? With out them and a
few left-wing nut job groups the Dems would disappear from serious
contention against the  the corporate machine controlled by the Repubs.
Democrats Plot Detroit Rescue - WSJ.com

Democratic leaders in Congress said Tuesday they will push legislation next week to use the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund to bail out Detroit auto makers, and President-elect Barack Obama ordered his transition team to look at ways to aid the car industry even before his inauguration.

The moves come as General Motors Corp. has warned that it could face a debilitating cash shortage by year's end. On Tuesday, GM stock fell an additional 13%. The Bush administration has balked at expanding the bailout to the stricken auto makers, saying it doesn't have specific authority from Congress to do that.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Again.....

No nation ever succeeded by giving it's manufacturing base away and depended on"free trade" partners like China to sell them everything for paper promises and debt obligations. Eventually the creditors have to collect or go out of business themselves.

This form of paternalism has become pervasive in America, that everyone owes us every thing we need because our consumers will buy anything if told to. We've been sold a load of horse shit that the world is full of well intentioned and prosperous trading partners if only we would give them control of a large part of our economy.

This came about I believe, because  the Clinton gang made a deal with the Red's in China for special trade rights for "campaign contributions". They weren't the only ones of course selling us out as it started with the Bush gang the administration before. They just made it "bi-partisan".

However, the current crisis is only the beginning of the bust. Over the next 10 years or so borrowed money from foreigners will be calling the shots. Do what your told or we sell our treasuries and buy gold. You nitwits starve in the dark. And since my generation will be all on government checks the gang in Washington will have little option. We vote. No politician can cut my check directly. You touch my check you have to get a real job. Not much they can do except war on someone.

Fucked rings a bell. Changes in Washington are a coming. And I don't mean OMygodBama  and his Clinton gang retreads  We can only hope for public hangings in our life times. Make great TV.

Read this guy's take and see what you think:
Clusterfucknation

The G-20 leaders in Washington last week made a lot of noise about ramping up domestic spending. In the decades to come, this will not happen without import replacement -- which is just what it sounds like: instead of importing things you need, you make them at home, and people get paid a living wage to do it. Import replacement, by the way, is exactly how the United States rose in the 19th century to become the world's preeminent manufacturing nation. It doesn't foreclose trade with other countries, but it self-evidently changes the terms of that trade, and it would spell the end of the kind of predatory "globalism" that has led to the current state of gross imbalance and reckless destruction.

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Pat Buchanan still spot on after all these years....

You export your manufacturing base and end up dancing to your creditors tune. You have' no leverage or muscle in any negotiations other than praying for "understanding" or begging them not todon't pull the plug on their investments. Never mind that  everyone in America borrowed themselves into the poor house and destroyed much of the underlying assets that foreigners need to rely on to buy our federal debt.

Now that we have slowed, it's China's turn to feel the pinch. They must sell less to us because we are going broke. Their factories are going to close. No income for all that newly created Treasuries that Paulson has drummed up.

China has over 100 million unemployed people as it is. Taking to the streets and smashing things is not unheard of. try doubling that number and get a whiff of the fear from that little number. Think of a pissed off ant hill loosed on the world. 

Oops.
Taki’s Magazine, edited by Taki Theodoracopulos

With her immense trade surpluses, China’s reserves have surged from $200 billion in 2002 to $2 trillion. Awash in dollars, Beijing now waits patiently, writes McMillion, to cherry-pick the crown jewels of America’s industrial empire—“patents, talents, natural resources, brands”—at fire-sale prices in the global crash.

As America plunges into recession and our industry hollows out, while China is still growing at 9 percent, as the 20th century’s greatest creditor nation now borrows from Beijing to pay for booster shots for its sick economy, may we hear once again the Bush-Clinton refrain about how the terrible danger we all face is from “protectionism.”

Sunday, November 16, 2008

been quiet on the war on global warming.....

Very few rational people consider this much more than a scam. Carbon credits anyone? that's what it's all about. Too bad the economy is in the toilet for the foreseeable future or we'd get stuck with this loser.

Very hard to bail out the AUW union by destroying the oil industry. Dem's have to rethink some of their religious beliefs to push this job killer on us. Wait aren't we talking Liberals here. Wonder what the Pope of the environmental movement, Al Gore, has to say now.

Hmm. Kill the unions or piss off Moveon.org.
IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Alarmists Still Heated Even As World Cools

The latest warming trend, which appears to have ended in 1998, is the result of the end of the Little Ice Age, which extended from roughly the 16th century to the 19th. During that period, Muir Glacier in Alaska filled Glacier Bay. In fact, when the first Russian explorers arrived in Alaska in the 1740s, there was no Glacier Bay — just a wall of ice where the entrance would be.

As the Earth warmed, long before SUVs roamed the globe, Alaska's glaciers also warmed and began to recede, starting in the 1800s. All that may be changing. During the winter and summer of 2007-2008, unusually large amounts of winter snow were followed by unusually cold temperatures in June, July and August.

"In June, I was surprised to see snow still at sea level in Prince William Sound," says U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist Bruce Molnia. "On the Juneau Icefield, there was still 20 feet of new snow on the surface of the Taku Glacier in late July."

It was the worst summer he'd seen in two decades.

As the Anchorage Daily News reports, "Never before in the history of a research project dating back to 1946 had the Juneau Icefield witnessed the kind if snow buildup that came this year. It was similar on a lot of other glaciers too."