Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Just For Fun

                                        
It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.  - Mark Twain 

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.  - Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's right hand man.



James Kunstler always writes informative and though-provoking commentary filled with insight and unvarnished truth.  His latest column is a must-read:
 If you care about poll numbers, they tell a simple story of contempt for the current crop of US political leaders. Congress rates a 12 percent approval rating and President Obama, at 35 percent, scores lower than Richard Nixon did in the midst of the Watergate fiasco. I’m surprised that Obama’s numbers aren’t lower (and I voted for him, twice). After all, few American lives were actually touched by the lies and shenanigans that spun off of Watergate, and money was an inconsequential part of it. But a whole lot of people were affected by Obama’s dissimulations around the Affordable Care Act, while his tragic failure to reestablish the rule of law in banking from the get-go in 2009 probably amounts to impeachable malfeasance. Add to this the NSA domestic spying operations revealed by Edward Snowden plus the troops indefinitely garrisoned in Asian countries and you have a portrait of a creeping Orwellian contagion.  (LINK)
Here's a few more charts to go along with that caption above:


(Real Median Household Income - BEFORE The Cost of Obamacare) 


(Tax Dollars and Borrowed Money Spent On The Food Stamp Program)
 

This last one should blow everyone's mind.  It shows the Labor Force Participation Rate going back to 1948 and since Obama took office.  The LFRPR is the number of peope working + looking for work divided by the total population.  As you can see, the LFRPR is back to the level where it was in 1978.  Remember, going all the way back to 1948, the demographics of our country were basically "Leave It To Beaver" - a one-worker/one-income family.  This transitioned into a 2-income household during the late 1970's, so we would expect to see the LFRPR rise.

(% of country working going back to 1948)

>(and since Obama took office)

What these charts tell us that the employment report released every month that keeps almost the entire financial world on edge of its seats on the day it is released is a complete fraud.  It also tells us that Obama, and the promises he made to reform and change the country, is a complete fraud.  I'm not blaming our country's demise on him specifically.  But there sure seem to be a lot people in this country who have let themselves be fooled.

13 comments:

  1. One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. (Carl Sagan)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen to that!
      Just look at the financial know it alls who fell for the housing bubble, the dot com con, the 'IPO is like printing money' chorus and the junk bond buyers, tools and fools one and all.

      Delete
  2. Well at least someone has been reading your blog....


    Zhang Bingnan: Gold Safeguarding National Economy

    In 2008, people might still be in the craze of seeing the stock market rising from 6,000 points to 10,000 points, people might still indulge in buying a house and see its value double in a few years.
    During that time, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae stocks were still at more than 160 US dollars per share.
    Nobody had a clear view as what we have today regarding asset protection and scientific configuration of their portfolio. It is this round of global financial crisis that has made us increasingly recognizing the irreplaceable importance of gold in safeguarding national economic security, and safeguarding ordinary people’s assets.



    Why did the governments around world have changed their policies, after 20 consecutive years of net selling of gold, to net buying since 2010? Last year the governments around the world had net purchases of 534 tons of gold, accounting for 18.8% of total gold production worldwide that year. Why are governments around the world in recent years started to buy gold in different options? Why after this fluctuation of the gold price, people around the world are buying gold in different options? Compare to 2008, I think we have a clearer understanding of the global gold rush. The reason behind all this is that gold has become increasingly important and popular after this round of financial crisis. This reason has little direct correlation with short-term price fluctuations.
    Through this round of global financial crisis, we are increasingly aware of the importance of gold. It may be more and more important to include gold into the top-tier design, including top-tier design of the national financial security, and also ordinary citizens’ asset protection. From this perspective, we still have a long way to go.

    http://www.ingoldwetrust.ch/zhang-bingnan-gold-safeguarding-national-economy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good stuff for someone that was dumb enough to vote for obummer twice

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think that Goebbels is more accurately characterized as Minister of Propaganda. Respectfully disagree about Kuntsler who is your typical shit/liberal come late to the party. He pontificates from his hobby farm in upstate NY, hawks his insipid paintings on the internet and like weather vane turns aimlessly in the wind following whichever way the wind blows. Despite his obvious intellectual gifts, only a moron would vote for this obvious psychopath twice! He isn't alone. Unfortunately this country is chock a block full of such intellectual morons who have the depth of conviction of amoebas. On the other hand, the charts don't lie and speak volumes about the deplorable state of our nation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just noticed that Robert Fitzwilson of the Portola Group had an interview on King World News that echoed or copied your article on the possible acquisition of Osisko mining without mention of Goldcorp. He came to an almost word for word conclusion that reflected your own scoop on this important development. Usually far ahead of the curve the timely insights on TIG is only one of the many reasons to read here. Kudos.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As predicted by us both..... Patriots at Denver in AFC title game! Good luck, you got a hell of a team this year. In market thoughts most everything tech and robotics etc is by it's nature deflationary. Our Fed seems to think just setting interest rates or giving guarantees can change that. What no one wants to come to grips with is that if the economy can sustain 1X it has seen too many years running at 2-3X. It creates distortions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ya J, but I know your true love is the Saints! lol

      I'm on record now with a Denver by at least 10 prediction. I think Denver will expose NE's defense, which has been as decimated by injuries as has Denver's. Of course, turnovers and dropped passes could change that, but hopefully Denver got those out of its system last week (2 ints and 7 dropped balls + a fumbled onside kick).

      I think the Fed has interest rates low to juice housing and stocks - it is printing to keep the banks from collapsing.

      Delete
    2. @ Dave. I agree, but the Fed can only do so much on its own to repair the damage. They can keep the banks and markets afloat (for now), Wall St is saved but Main St. is hurting badly. This solo act will not save the day, the longer the Executive and Legislative branches take to get their s**t together the worse it gets. Go Broncos! (former Highlands Ranch resident).

      Delete
  7. What can you truly expect from the President, or the government as a whole, when there is not only no coordinated plans for passing economic stimulus programs but a political body of lawmakers that takes every opportunity to sabotage any attempt at passing these type programs. Republicans can argue that we spend too much money and these programs need to be funded by cutting other programs, but the worst time for fiscal austerity is in the middle of the worst recession in 60 years. Wait till we have 5% growth and increasing tax revenue. What current government policy guarantees now is to extend the recession another 1-2 years if not longer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the 60's, a dollar of federal debt bought more than a dollar of GDP. From that point it has bought steadily less, to where now it buys about 8 cents. So for GDP to grow at 5%, do the math on how much more spending and borrowing (every dollar of increase in spending is borrowed money) it would take a what, $10 trillion stimulus package financed with more debt? Think of what that would do to confidence in the dollar and inflation. Our national xebt would rise to over $27 trillion for that ONE YEAR OF GDP growth.

      Delete
  8. US retailer JC Penney said it plans to cut 2,000 jobs and close 33 stores as part of a cost-cutting exercise aimed at restoring profitability.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25754785

    ReplyDelete