If anyone wants a preview over what is coming to a street corner near you, look no further to the chaos across the globe as the rich attempt to wring every last bit of money from those that can barely afford it. Greece is locked into a damned if they do, damned if they don't moment that is going to send shock waves across the planet.
Over the next few days, the Greek Parliament will vote on a new set of austerity packages meant to reign in the amount of money they are losing every day. Two groups, unions and the rich (ain't that always the way), got sweetheart deals like retirement at 55 and massive tax breaks for the rich that eventually bankrupted the country. Regular readers of this column know I support union within reason, but as with many public workers here, the deals they got were simply out of whack with what was affordable. No as a result, EVERYONE is made to suffer, especially on those that cannot afford it. Putting a ten percent income tax on people making as little as 12,000 dollars a year is a sure fire way to kill an economy.
This is not the first time austerity packages have been rammed down the average Greek's throat. Remember last year when they said they had their ducks in a row if only they got a little help from the EU? But, much as our policy on fiscal responsibility is looking, it relied too heavily on new taxes aimed at those that can't afford it and not enough on the people that caused it in the first place. As a result, the unemployment rate has doubled, collectible taxes have dropped dramatically, and people are pissed.
Today, rioting is taking place across the country as a nationwide strike has crippled it. Worse, the army has said they will not support any new austerity measures which they say, and rightfully so, that the new policy unfairly affects the poor.
If they pass the new measure, it's civil war. If they don't, they're the equivalent of Lehman Brother. Either way, the country is toast by trying to live too high on the hog and expecting someone else to pick up the check. But the bill is now due and everyone has headed to the bathroom.
This is exactly the scenario soon to play out here as the Republicans seem determined to saddle their debt on the poor by eliminating all services that benefit them and lowering taxes on the rich. The only question is, will our military support us or the elite? Those I've talked to in current military service say they will in no way fight against their own people. Plus, as they might not be getting paid after August 2nd, how many there will be left to fight is a whole other manner. Supposedly, they have to show up regardless, but I have a feeling that might not go over so well with soldiers with families who may be thrust into the streets.
The Greek situation is headed toward our shores and soon. Are you ready for it?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Michelle Bachmann Announces Bid For President. Seriously?
As of Monday, June 27th, Michelle Bachmann has announced her intention to run for President of the United States. Even more alarming is the fact that she is only one point behind "Perfect Hair" Romney in Iowa. Unfortunately for her, she is only the latest flavor of the month in an increasingly unwinnable republican race.
True, that the most ardent of republicans are grinning ear to ear over the possibility that they may actually get rid of the Kenyan, Marxist, Socialist, Nazi Obama, regardless of the fact that none of the previous ideologies are in any way compatible. The minute anyone espouses the idea that someone can be all three at once shows a glaring lack of understanding about political factions and the sure thing that they watch Glenn Beck religiously.
The GOP has been in a fit lately over the sheer lack of good candidates. Rick Santorum and John Huntsman are all but forgotten which is bad for Huntsman as he just entered the race last week to a thundering yawn. Barely ahead of them are Tim Pawlenty who seems constantly unable to say the right thing about anyone or anything. His own party has disavowed his economic plan after it was revealed by anyone who looked at it that it was completely unworkable and would actually increase the deficit. Has he changed his tactics? No, he has instead crowed that every economist in earth is wrong and only he has the right way out. The right way out for him is straight out the door as his numbers are plummeting faster than an elephant pushed off a skyscraper.
Other stalwarts include Herman Cain whose numbers seems stuck at ten percent as his vision of America is based on how to run a pizza company and Newt Gingrich who seems to find one insurmountable obstacle after another as his team has quit, he's millions in debt, he has two lines of million dollar credit with Tiffany's, and the US public liken him to cancer on a list of things they despise.
Ron Paul is likewise stuck at ten percent as the main stream media continues to downplay his chances of success. Recent television polls have him dead last which is odd because Internet polls have vastly different numbers giving him an overwhelming majority of GOP votes. These numbers could have significance in age differences or technology (phone versus computer), but the fact remains that Paul is a contender.
All that leaves is Bachmann and Romney. Romney may be a little too Mormon for the Christian right which has taken over the GOP along with the Tea Party. It should come as no surprise that Michelle Bachmann may be the one they actually pick as their Presidential candidate. She's a Christian AND a Tea Bagger. Joy.
There's only one problem with this logic: She can't win a national election versus a dead cow let alone Obama. Why you ask? Because she's crackpot insane. There are years of her saying dumb things on camera, all of which will be there for the world to see once we get deluged in political ads. And thanks to the Supreme Court rulings that now allow unlimited money for political ads and unlimited money to candidates themselves, it's going to be 24/7 of attack ads. I can hardly wait (insert sarcasm here).
Worst of all, she's a raging hypocrite and possibly even a pathological liar with all the crap that spews from her pie hole. Here's this holier than thou persona that is demanding entitlements be cut, calling people "freeloaders," when she herself has benefited from such programs. This "fiscal conservative," ran a counseling clinic that received nearly $30,000 from the state of Minnesota over the last five years, with some of the money coming from the federal government. And a family farm she is a partner with in Wisconsin received some $260,000 in federal subsidies. She has said that she has never received one dime from the government and has never taken any money from the farm. However, in financial disclosure forms, Bachmann reported receiving between $32,503 and $105,000 in income from the farm between 2006 and 2009. So she is right in the fact that not one dime was collected but instead somewhere between 32,000 and 105,000 dollars. Unbelievable.
This couples with the fact that she has said such outrageous things as "I truly believe Obama has unamerican beliefs," "If we took away the minimum wage, we could potentially wipe out unemployment because we would be able to offer jobs at any level," and "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists out there, many with Nobel prizes, that believe in intelligent design." Not one of those above statements is true, and that's just a sampling.
When the mass public sees what a nutjob she is, there is no way she gets to the Presidency. The nomination on the other hand is not out of the question, seeing the sad state of the other competitors. The real test will be how she does outside of her home state of Iowa, where she was born and raised. As of June 27th, she was near the bottom in a New Hampshire straw poll where Romney was thirty points ahead of Bachmann, who was at 5%. Romney is still the guy to beat, regardless of what Iowa says. As they tend toward Christians above all us, the fact that Romney is ahead in Iowa is really saying something. Most likely Bachmann will flame out soon, but it should be a fun parade of misstatement, half truths and outright lies. Just like most politicians today.
True, that the most ardent of republicans are grinning ear to ear over the possibility that they may actually get rid of the Kenyan, Marxist, Socialist, Nazi Obama, regardless of the fact that none of the previous ideologies are in any way compatible. The minute anyone espouses the idea that someone can be all three at once shows a glaring lack of understanding about political factions and the sure thing that they watch Glenn Beck religiously.
The GOP has been in a fit lately over the sheer lack of good candidates. Rick Santorum and John Huntsman are all but forgotten which is bad for Huntsman as he just entered the race last week to a thundering yawn. Barely ahead of them are Tim Pawlenty who seems constantly unable to say the right thing about anyone or anything. His own party has disavowed his economic plan after it was revealed by anyone who looked at it that it was completely unworkable and would actually increase the deficit. Has he changed his tactics? No, he has instead crowed that every economist in earth is wrong and only he has the right way out. The right way out for him is straight out the door as his numbers are plummeting faster than an elephant pushed off a skyscraper.
Other stalwarts include Herman Cain whose numbers seems stuck at ten percent as his vision of America is based on how to run a pizza company and Newt Gingrich who seems to find one insurmountable obstacle after another as his team has quit, he's millions in debt, he has two lines of million dollar credit with Tiffany's, and the US public liken him to cancer on a list of things they despise.
Ron Paul is likewise stuck at ten percent as the main stream media continues to downplay his chances of success. Recent television polls have him dead last which is odd because Internet polls have vastly different numbers giving him an overwhelming majority of GOP votes. These numbers could have significance in age differences or technology (phone versus computer), but the fact remains that Paul is a contender.
All that leaves is Bachmann and Romney. Romney may be a little too Mormon for the Christian right which has taken over the GOP along with the Tea Party. It should come as no surprise that Michelle Bachmann may be the one they actually pick as their Presidential candidate. She's a Christian AND a Tea Bagger. Joy.
There's only one problem with this logic: She can't win a national election versus a dead cow let alone Obama. Why you ask? Because she's crackpot insane. There are years of her saying dumb things on camera, all of which will be there for the world to see once we get deluged in political ads. And thanks to the Supreme Court rulings that now allow unlimited money for political ads and unlimited money to candidates themselves, it's going to be 24/7 of attack ads. I can hardly wait (insert sarcasm here).
Worst of all, she's a raging hypocrite and possibly even a pathological liar with all the crap that spews from her pie hole. Here's this holier than thou persona that is demanding entitlements be cut, calling people "freeloaders," when she herself has benefited from such programs. This "fiscal conservative," ran a counseling clinic that received nearly $30,000 from the state of Minnesota over the last five years, with some of the money coming from the federal government. And a family farm she is a partner with in Wisconsin received some $260,000 in federal subsidies. She has said that she has never received one dime from the government and has never taken any money from the farm. However, in financial disclosure forms, Bachmann reported receiving between $32,503 and $105,000 in income from the farm between 2006 and 2009. So she is right in the fact that not one dime was collected but instead somewhere between 32,000 and 105,000 dollars. Unbelievable.
This couples with the fact that she has said such outrageous things as "I truly believe Obama has unamerican beliefs," "If we took away the minimum wage, we could potentially wipe out unemployment because we would be able to offer jobs at any level," and "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists out there, many with Nobel prizes, that believe in intelligent design." Not one of those above statements is true, and that's just a sampling.
When the mass public sees what a nutjob she is, there is no way she gets to the Presidency. The nomination on the other hand is not out of the question, seeing the sad state of the other competitors. The real test will be how she does outside of her home state of Iowa, where she was born and raised. As of June 27th, she was near the bottom in a New Hampshire straw poll where Romney was thirty points ahead of Bachmann, who was at 5%. Romney is still the guy to beat, regardless of what Iowa says. As they tend toward Christians above all us, the fact that Romney is ahead in Iowa is really saying something. Most likely Bachmann will flame out soon, but it should be a fun parade of misstatement, half truths and outright lies. Just like most politicians today.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: THE WORLD ELITE
When you see what these douchebags extraordinaire are doing across the globe you'll grind your teeth in frustration at the level of crap they've been feeding us. And as it's unfolding, people have reached their breaking point. Let's see who else made the list.
1)Syria- Whole heartedly trying to start WW3, current President Bashar Assad has turned Turkey away from any alliance withe Syria and Iran and right back into NATO and Israeli hands. Our relationship with Turkey has not been the best and the one between Turkey and Israel has been verging on dead and gone. But with Syria on it's border and the potential of millions of refuges flooding across the border, tensions are high. They are providing tent camps for the refugees while at the same time, Syria is massing troops and tanks not far away.
As tensions continue to escalate, Turkey saw the necessity of coordinating its military operations with the United States and Israel in case Assad responded to a border flare-up by launching surface missiles against Turkish military targets and US bases in Turkey. Calling off Turkey's critical participation in the next big flotilla scheduled for this month to breaking Israel's Gaza blockade indicated the ice was melting. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented for the first time on a possible Turkish-Syrian military clash: "…we're going to see an escalation of conflict in the area," she said.
With word that Iran may already have enough processed materials for several nuclear bombs and that the Bildrerberg group gave the okay to retaliate against these rogue states, war may be inevitable, one that may kill billions.
2)Republicans- These idiots have walked from the debt ceiling talks because Obama wants to raise taxes on the rich. Boo hoo. These big babies are going to sink this country and are brainwashing people onto thinking that not raising the debt ceiling is a good idea. It isn't. For any idiot too stupid to read, which appears to be mostly Republicans at this point, turn off Fox news and look around. China and Russia are selling off Treasuries as they fear our economy is about to tank, every economist worth his wait says it will be a disaster, markets are being rocked world wide by both this and the Greek debt crisis, and Finch's, Moody's and Standard and Poor all say this will lower out triple AAA rating, which will lead to higher interest rates, inflation and, if we actually do default, no one in government or on Social Security is going to get paid. Yeah, let's not raise the debt ceiling. Jim Demint, a true Tea Party idiot, has dared conservatives to raise the debt ceiling saying it would the death of the GOP. Instead he wants the death of all of us. Moron.
3)Cops and the TSA- These assh$%oles are out of control. I read daily reports of cop wrong doing including the arrest of a woman in New York for filming cops from her front yard, even though what she was doing is perfectly legal in her state. The TSA was caught racially profiling again in Newark. What's wrong with profiling Muslims at airports, something I have advocated for years? Because they were going after Mexicans and Dominicans. Unbelievable. Why? This is the same as the Houston airport being investigated for the same thing. I don't get it. The TSA got grilled this week by Congress over their groping policy. They have promised to reduce the number of children they molest which is kind if like saying, "I'll restrict my child rape to just a few a day." Awful.
4)Haynes Management- While they technically haven't done anything else wrong other than fire a guy taking care of his very sick wife, this sad excuse for a company needs to go under. Do no business with this company for any reason. If you do, we'll know.
5)The World Elite- It is now readily apparent, that these douchebags have finally overreached to such a point that people world wide are noticing. Their solution for the Greek crisis went over great in the halls of the powerful. In the streets however, people were PISSED that they were going to get raped AGAIN to pay for the greed of the bankers and the elite. The stock markets globally had about a half a day of joy before they realized that the plan had no plan of passing as the Greeks rioted in the street. Spain, Portugal and Ireland might be soon following. The measure has until mid July to pass, which it is highly unlikely, and is the exact same discussion as we are having here and our debt ceiling. The rich want to punish the poor and give back nothing while the poor are over taxed and are ready to strike back. Revolution looms. U2 was caught in the crosshairs when an activist group interrupted their concert in Glastonbury, UK by holding up huge signs demanding to know why they had evaded taxes in the struggling Ireland debt crisis. Guy Fawkes masks are appearing everywhere, fulfilling my prediction that V for Vendetta was one of the most subversive movies ever made and that it's message would resonate for years. Watch any protest and see how many masks are out there. Yet the Elite still want control here and abroad. The only hope they have is to distract the masses with a massive war. Beware that WW3 is coming as it is the only move they have left to save the economy and their riches. So congratulation Elite you are indeed douchebag of the week.
1)Syria- Whole heartedly trying to start WW3, current President Bashar Assad has turned Turkey away from any alliance withe Syria and Iran and right back into NATO and Israeli hands. Our relationship with Turkey has not been the best and the one between Turkey and Israel has been verging on dead and gone. But with Syria on it's border and the potential of millions of refuges flooding across the border, tensions are high. They are providing tent camps for the refugees while at the same time, Syria is massing troops and tanks not far away.
As tensions continue to escalate, Turkey saw the necessity of coordinating its military operations with the United States and Israel in case Assad responded to a border flare-up by launching surface missiles against Turkish military targets and US bases in Turkey. Calling off Turkey's critical participation in the next big flotilla scheduled for this month to breaking Israel's Gaza blockade indicated the ice was melting. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented for the first time on a possible Turkish-Syrian military clash: "…we're going to see an escalation of conflict in the area," she said.
With word that Iran may already have enough processed materials for several nuclear bombs and that the Bildrerberg group gave the okay to retaliate against these rogue states, war may be inevitable, one that may kill billions.
2)Republicans- These idiots have walked from the debt ceiling talks because Obama wants to raise taxes on the rich. Boo hoo. These big babies are going to sink this country and are brainwashing people onto thinking that not raising the debt ceiling is a good idea. It isn't. For any idiot too stupid to read, which appears to be mostly Republicans at this point, turn off Fox news and look around. China and Russia are selling off Treasuries as they fear our economy is about to tank, every economist worth his wait says it will be a disaster, markets are being rocked world wide by both this and the Greek debt crisis, and Finch's, Moody's and Standard and Poor all say this will lower out triple AAA rating, which will lead to higher interest rates, inflation and, if we actually do default, no one in government or on Social Security is going to get paid. Yeah, let's not raise the debt ceiling. Jim Demint, a true Tea Party idiot, has dared conservatives to raise the debt ceiling saying it would the death of the GOP. Instead he wants the death of all of us. Moron.
3)Cops and the TSA- These assh$%oles are out of control. I read daily reports of cop wrong doing including the arrest of a woman in New York for filming cops from her front yard, even though what she was doing is perfectly legal in her state. The TSA was caught racially profiling again in Newark. What's wrong with profiling Muslims at airports, something I have advocated for years? Because they were going after Mexicans and Dominicans. Unbelievable. Why? This is the same as the Houston airport being investigated for the same thing. I don't get it. The TSA got grilled this week by Congress over their groping policy. They have promised to reduce the number of children they molest which is kind if like saying, "I'll restrict my child rape to just a few a day." Awful.
4)Haynes Management- While they technically haven't done anything else wrong other than fire a guy taking care of his very sick wife, this sad excuse for a company needs to go under. Do no business with this company for any reason. If you do, we'll know.
5)The World Elite- It is now readily apparent, that these douchebags have finally overreached to such a point that people world wide are noticing. Their solution for the Greek crisis went over great in the halls of the powerful. In the streets however, people were PISSED that they were going to get raped AGAIN to pay for the greed of the bankers and the elite. The stock markets globally had about a half a day of joy before they realized that the plan had no plan of passing as the Greeks rioted in the street. Spain, Portugal and Ireland might be soon following. The measure has until mid July to pass, which it is highly unlikely, and is the exact same discussion as we are having here and our debt ceiling. The rich want to punish the poor and give back nothing while the poor are over taxed and are ready to strike back. Revolution looms. U2 was caught in the crosshairs when an activist group interrupted their concert in Glastonbury, UK by holding up huge signs demanding to know why they had evaded taxes in the struggling Ireland debt crisis. Guy Fawkes masks are appearing everywhere, fulfilling my prediction that V for Vendetta was one of the most subversive movies ever made and that it's message would resonate for years. Watch any protest and see how many masks are out there. Yet the Elite still want control here and abroad. The only hope they have is to distract the masses with a massive war. Beware that WW3 is coming as it is the only move they have left to save the economy and their riches. So congratulation Elite you are indeed douchebag of the week.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Nation Deficits Threaten World Economy. Should We Worry?
Geena Davis had a great quote in the movie, "The Fly," which was "Be afraid, Be very afraid." That statement sums it up pretty good right about now. Either rampant imcompetnce or pure evil is driving us to an inevitable end, but the end is coming and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it at this point.
First off, Greece is going to default on the debt. Their plans to fix things by taxing the crap out of the middle class and poor people is stunning in it's idiocy. The average salary in Greece is 20,000 Euros or about 28,000 dollars. They plan to take away an additional 800 euros a month or about 1200 dollars. That's a lot of money to sacrifice when you're already just getting by. The measure has little chance of passage as what they should have done was crack down on the banks and lenders that caused the problem in the first place. Instead they went after the "little people," who rioted in the street. What will happen when they default, which almost everyone agrees is going to occur? Most of the news will be bad.
The stock market sunk today, here and abroad, on the realization that default on Greece debt is inevitable. Here are a few of the things that are likely to occur, some good, some bad.
1. Your safest investments could be at risk
Even "plain-vanilla investment accounts in the U.S. could be challenged if Greece defaults on its sovereign debt," says John Carney at The Christian Science Monitor. That's because U.S. money market funds have lent $360 billion to European banks that have, in turn, made massive loans to Greece. About 12 percent of the money in those U.S. funds is tied up in loans to the French banks — Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale — who are Greece's main lenders.
2. Mortgage rates could sink
Investors nervous about putting their money into European banks are looking for safe places to put their funds, and one of the safest is U.S. Treasury bonds," says Liz Freeman at ShopRate. As demand rises, the government can get people to snap up the bonds at lower and lower interest rates, and that "should help drive down the rates on mortgages" in the U.S.
3. More Americans may lose jobs
If Greece can't pass the austerity measures, which slash government jobs and benefits, it won't get more foreign aid, and it will default on its $165 billion debt this summer. That would scare investors from buying government bonds from other European countries, sparking crises in other debt-laden countries, such as Ireland and Portugal, and then even pushing bigger economies, such as Spain and Italy, to the brink.
If part three comes to pass, the world economy goes bust and it'll be 2008 redux, only this time I expect much much worse. Why? Because our economy is about to go bust like Greece. If that happens, expect major problems on a Biblical scale.
Today, Eric Cantor walked out of talks about raising the debt ceiling as the democrats wisely said unless the tax cuts for rich people expire, there will be no deal. Republicans have said they will never agree to tax hikes, this the impasse. If Greece defaults, were rocked. If WE default, we're F#$CKED!!!! The clock is ticking and see my previous post on what will happen if don't raise the debt ceiling. It will make your hair stand straight up and probably fall out. The Republicans are playing chicken to protect rich people and corporations. Their ideas are very similar to the most unpopular parts of the Greece austerity plan. Why aren't more people pissed about that?
It may not matter one way or another as everything right now points to Armageddon in one way or another. Don't believe me. There is so much weird stuff going on right now, I hardly have time to write about it. Upcoming articles I hope to focus on are the UN's Agenda 21 which may or may not be a plan to depopulate the earth, the sun spot activity going up or down depending on who you read, the sea levels rising/falling, and more. Everything has two sides lately, even when they don't. Some people are spreading a lot of misinformation. The purpose of this site is to get to the truth. Either way, be prepared by mid-July to start seeing a massive stock sell off again. If you listened to me during the last crisis, you would have sold high and bought low, doubling your money. Opportunity will come again and soon. Why not make some money before it doesn't matter anymore?
First off, Greece is going to default on the debt. Their plans to fix things by taxing the crap out of the middle class and poor people is stunning in it's idiocy. The average salary in Greece is 20,000 Euros or about 28,000 dollars. They plan to take away an additional 800 euros a month or about 1200 dollars. That's a lot of money to sacrifice when you're already just getting by. The measure has little chance of passage as what they should have done was crack down on the banks and lenders that caused the problem in the first place. Instead they went after the "little people," who rioted in the street. What will happen when they default, which almost everyone agrees is going to occur? Most of the news will be bad.
The stock market sunk today, here and abroad, on the realization that default on Greece debt is inevitable. Here are a few of the things that are likely to occur, some good, some bad.
1. Your safest investments could be at risk
Even "plain-vanilla investment accounts in the U.S. could be challenged if Greece defaults on its sovereign debt," says John Carney at The Christian Science Monitor. That's because U.S. money market funds have lent $360 billion to European banks that have, in turn, made massive loans to Greece. About 12 percent of the money in those U.S. funds is tied up in loans to the French banks — Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale — who are Greece's main lenders.
2. Mortgage rates could sink
Investors nervous about putting their money into European banks are looking for safe places to put their funds, and one of the safest is U.S. Treasury bonds," says Liz Freeman at ShopRate. As demand rises, the government can get people to snap up the bonds at lower and lower interest rates, and that "should help drive down the rates on mortgages" in the U.S.
3. More Americans may lose jobs
If Greece can't pass the austerity measures, which slash government jobs and benefits, it won't get more foreign aid, and it will default on its $165 billion debt this summer. That would scare investors from buying government bonds from other European countries, sparking crises in other debt-laden countries, such as Ireland and Portugal, and then even pushing bigger economies, such as Spain and Italy, to the brink.
If part three comes to pass, the world economy goes bust and it'll be 2008 redux, only this time I expect much much worse. Why? Because our economy is about to go bust like Greece. If that happens, expect major problems on a Biblical scale.
Today, Eric Cantor walked out of talks about raising the debt ceiling as the democrats wisely said unless the tax cuts for rich people expire, there will be no deal. Republicans have said they will never agree to tax hikes, this the impasse. If Greece defaults, were rocked. If WE default, we're F#$CKED!!!! The clock is ticking and see my previous post on what will happen if don't raise the debt ceiling. It will make your hair stand straight up and probably fall out. The Republicans are playing chicken to protect rich people and corporations. Their ideas are very similar to the most unpopular parts of the Greece austerity plan. Why aren't more people pissed about that?
It may not matter one way or another as everything right now points to Armageddon in one way or another. Don't believe me. There is so much weird stuff going on right now, I hardly have time to write about it. Upcoming articles I hope to focus on are the UN's Agenda 21 which may or may not be a plan to depopulate the earth, the sun spot activity going up or down depending on who you read, the sea levels rising/falling, and more. Everything has two sides lately, even when they don't. Some people are spreading a lot of misinformation. The purpose of this site is to get to the truth. Either way, be prepared by mid-July to start seeing a massive stock sell off again. If you listened to me during the last crisis, you would have sold high and bought low, doubling your money. Opportunity will come again and soon. Why not make some money before it doesn't matter anymore?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Syria Cracks Down on Protestors As Assad Struggles For Control
News reports are saying that Syrian security forces shot dead seven people during anti-government protests Tuesday in three cities. The violence followed rallies organized by authorities in support of President Bashar al Assad. Protesters said reforms he pledged during his speech Monday were inadequate. In response, he ordered a new general amnesty. Mind you the amnesty Assad pledges is to not execute any who surrender, instead offering lesser sentences of twenty to life. It seems unlikely any will take him up on his “generous” offer.
Al Jazeera also reported seven dead and ten wounded. One of the dead was a 13-year-old boy who was killed when security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in a main square in Hama, according to an activist network. Syria has barred most international journalists, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and officials, although the brute force being used by Assad against his own people is not in question.
During Assad’s speech this past week, he accused a “small” number of "terrorists" backed by "conspirators at home and abroad" of exploiting legitimate demands for reform. While hinting at possible reforms, Assad insisted that this depended on overcoming these obstacles which could take some time. In other words, Assad said, “I want to help but these dang conspirators are tying my hands. If only there weren’t these rioters running rampant, I could fix all that ails you, dear Syrians.” Only those that stand to gain anything in Syria are buying this bull and that seems to be a very small number.
Unfortunately, the army is still firmly behind Assad and until they change sides, the battles will be woefully one sided. Both the UN and the EU are considering more sanctions against Syria and Iran. How this will affect Assad will have to be seen.
The crackdowns Assad has conducted is not winning him any friends in much of the Muslim world with string condemnations from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan has moved forces, military equipment and vehicles, including attack helicopters and tanks to the Syrian border. He has threatened to invade to stop the flow of refugees from moving into Turkey. Even though relations between Turkey and the US have been frosty at best lately, Washington is coordinating its military movements with Ankara and Erdogan has quietly agreed to place Turkish bases at US disposal for an operation in Syria, should it come to that.
The war bells are sounding on Syria. Does Assad hear them or assume the US is too involved elsewhere to intervene? Let’s hope he’s not so arrogant to find out.
Al Jazeera also reported seven dead and ten wounded. One of the dead was a 13-year-old boy who was killed when security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in a main square in Hama, according to an activist network. Syria has barred most international journalists, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and officials, although the brute force being used by Assad against his own people is not in question.
During Assad’s speech this past week, he accused a “small” number of "terrorists" backed by "conspirators at home and abroad" of exploiting legitimate demands for reform. While hinting at possible reforms, Assad insisted that this depended on overcoming these obstacles which could take some time. In other words, Assad said, “I want to help but these dang conspirators are tying my hands. If only there weren’t these rioters running rampant, I could fix all that ails you, dear Syrians.” Only those that stand to gain anything in Syria are buying this bull and that seems to be a very small number.
Unfortunately, the army is still firmly behind Assad and until they change sides, the battles will be woefully one sided. Both the UN and the EU are considering more sanctions against Syria and Iran. How this will affect Assad will have to be seen.
The crackdowns Assad has conducted is not winning him any friends in much of the Muslim world with string condemnations from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan has moved forces, military equipment and vehicles, including attack helicopters and tanks to the Syrian border. He has threatened to invade to stop the flow of refugees from moving into Turkey. Even though relations between Turkey and the US have been frosty at best lately, Washington is coordinating its military movements with Ankara and Erdogan has quietly agreed to place Turkish bases at US disposal for an operation in Syria, should it come to that.
The war bells are sounding on Syria. Does Assad hear them or assume the US is too involved elsewhere to intervene? Let’s hope he’s not so arrogant to find out.
Monday, June 20, 2011
New Things To Worry About
If you've been watching the news for the past few weeks, it's been non stop Weinerrama, Casey Anthony disturbing trial (even I understand the appeal of that story), who's entering the Presidential race in the "Holy Crap I just Lost Big To Obama" Republican of the day, and a random selection of pointless, trivial media items that no one really cares about. There's so much happening right now and no one seems to be writing about it or putting it on the TV. Here just a few of the things over the past few weeks that have received little to no attention.
#1 The crisis at the Fort Calhoun nuclear facility in Nebraska. Back on June 7th, there was a fire at Fort Calhoun. The official story is that the fire was in an electrical switchgear room at the plant. The facility lost power to a pump that cools the spent fuel pool for approximately 90 minutes. According to the Omaha Public Power District, the fire was quickly extinguished and no radioactive material was released.
But the crisis at Fort Calhoun is not over. Right now, the nuclear facility at Fort Calhoun is essentially an island. It is surrounded by rising flood waters from the Missouri River.
Officials claim that there is no danger and that they are prepared for the river to rise another ten feet.
The Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska is also being threatened by rising flood waters. A “Notification of Unusual Event” was declared at Cooper Nuclear Station this morning at 4:02. This notification was issued because the Missouri River’s water level reached 42.5 feet.
Could this be another Fukishima?
#2 According to sources at Infowars.com, they have received alarming reports from within the ranks of military stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas confirming plans to initiate a full-scale U.S.-led ground invasion in Libya and deploy troops by October.
The source stated that additional Special Forces are headed to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
The source stated that additional Special Forces are headed to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
Add to this troop movements, NATO, Turkey, US, Syrian and Hezbollah forces, in and around Syria. US has moved in destroyer groups, Turkey has moved helicopters and ground forces to Syrian border and word that Hezbollah has moved all missile stockpiles to the center of the country. Sources also say that the Bilderberg group gave the okay for a new massive war, most likely as a desperate bid to save our failing economic system.
3 The crisis at Fukushima continues to get worse. Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, recently made the following statement about the Fukushima disaster….
“Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind”
TEPCO has finally admitted that this disaster has released more radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl did. That makes Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster of all time, and it is far from over.
Massive amounts of water is being poured into the spent fuel pools in order to keep them cool. This is creating “hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water” that has got to go somewhere. Inevitably much of it will get into the ground and into the sea.
Arnold Gundersen says that the scope of this problem is almost unimaginable….
“TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water.”
The mainstream media is not paying as much attention to Fukushima these days, but that doesn’t mean that it is not a major league nightmare.
Elevated levels of radiation are being reported by Japanese bloggers all over eastern Japan. There are reports of sick children all over the region. One adviser to the government of Japan says that an area approximately 17 times the size of Manhattan is probably going to be uninhabitable.
Of course the mainstream media has been telling us all along that Fukushima is nothing to be too concerned about and that authorities in Japan have everything under control.
If the mainstream media is not going to tell us the truth, how are they going to continue to have credibility?
#4 Members of Congress continue to mention Christians as a threat to national security. For example, during a recent Congressional hearing U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee warned that “Christian militants” might try to “bring down the country” and that such groups need to be investigated.
#5 China’s eastern province of Zhejiang has experienced that worst flooding that it has seen in 55 years. 2 million people have already been forced to leave their homes. China has already been having huge problems with their crops over the past few years and this is only going to make things worse.
#6 Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, over the counter trading of gold and silver is going to be illegal starting on July 15th. Or at least that is what some companies apparently now believe. The following is an excerpt from an email that Forex.com recently sent out to their customers….
Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading
We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.
In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET.
We encourage you to wind down your trading activity in these products over the next month in anticipation of the new rule, as any open XAU or XAG positions that remain open prior to July 15, 2011 at approximately 5:00 pm ET will be automatically liquidated.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience complying with the new U.S. regulation may cause you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our customer service team.
Sincerely,
The Team at FOREX.com
Apparently, Section 742(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act prohibits anyone “from entering into, or offering to enter into, a transaction in any commodity with a person that is not an eligible contract participant or an eligible commercial entity, on a leveraged or margined basis.”
So what impact is this going to have on the gold and silver markets?
Nobody is quite sure yet.
#7 All over the world, huge cracks are appearing for no discernible reason. For example, a massive crack that is approximately 3 kilometers long recent appeared in southern Peru. Also, a 500 foot long crack suddenly appeared recently in the state of Michigan. When you also throw in all of the gigantic sinkholes that have been opening all over the world, it is easy to conclude that the planet is becoming very unstable.
#8 According to U.S. Forest Service officials, the largest wildfire in Arizona state history has now covered more than 500,000 acres. But based on the coverage it is being given by the mainstream media you would think that it is a non-event.
#9 There are reports that North Korea has tested a “super EMP weapon” which would be capable of taking out most of the U.S. power grid in a single shot. The North Koreans are apparently about to conduct another nuclear test and that has some Obama administration officials very concerned.
#10 All over the United States, “active shooter drills” are being conducted in our public schools. Often, most of the students are not told that these drills are fake. Instead, students often go through hours of terror as they think a hostage situation or a shooting spree is really taking place.
#11 NASA has just launched a “major” preparedness initiative for all NASA personnel. The following is an excerpt about this plan from NASA’s own website….
A major initiative has been placed on Family/Personal Preparedness for all NASA personnel. The NASA Family/Personal Preparedness Program is designed to provide awareness, resources, and tools to the NASA Family (civil servants and contractors) to prepare for an emergency situation. The most important assets in the successful completion of NASA’s mission are our employees’ and their families. We are taking the steps to prepare our workforce, but it is your personal obligation to prepare yourself and your families for emergencies.
#12 Over the past week over 40 temporary “no fly zones” have been declared by the FAA. This is very highly unusual. Nobody seems to know exactly why this is happening.
So what do all of these things mean?
It would be nice if the mainstream media would examine some of these important issues more closely and do some honest reporting on them.
#1 The crisis at the Fort Calhoun nuclear facility in Nebraska. Back on June 7th, there was a fire at Fort Calhoun. The official story is that the fire was in an electrical switchgear room at the plant. The facility lost power to a pump that cools the spent fuel pool for approximately 90 minutes. According to the Omaha Public Power District, the fire was quickly extinguished and no radioactive material was released.
But the crisis at Fort Calhoun is not over. Right now, the nuclear facility at Fort Calhoun is essentially an island. It is surrounded by rising flood waters from the Missouri River.
Officials claim that there is no danger and that they are prepared for the river to rise another ten feet.
The Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska is also being threatened by rising flood waters. A “Notification of Unusual Event” was declared at Cooper Nuclear Station this morning at 4:02. This notification was issued because the Missouri River’s water level reached 42.5 feet.
Could this be another Fukishima?
#2 According to sources at Infowars.com, they have received alarming reports from within the ranks of military stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas confirming plans to initiate a full-scale U.S.-led ground invasion in Libya and deploy troops by October.
The source stated that additional Special Forces are headed to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
The source stated that additional Special Forces are headed to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
Add to this troop movements, NATO, Turkey, US, Syrian and Hezbollah forces, in and around Syria. US has moved in destroyer groups, Turkey has moved helicopters and ground forces to Syrian border and word that Hezbollah has moved all missile stockpiles to the center of the country. Sources also say that the Bilderberg group gave the okay for a new massive war, most likely as a desperate bid to save our failing economic system.
3 The crisis at Fukushima continues to get worse. Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, recently made the following statement about the Fukushima disaster….
“Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind”
TEPCO has finally admitted that this disaster has released more radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl did. That makes Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster of all time, and it is far from over.
Massive amounts of water is being poured into the spent fuel pools in order to keep them cool. This is creating “hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water” that has got to go somewhere. Inevitably much of it will get into the ground and into the sea.
Arnold Gundersen says that the scope of this problem is almost unimaginable….
“TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water.”
The mainstream media is not paying as much attention to Fukushima these days, but that doesn’t mean that it is not a major league nightmare.
Elevated levels of radiation are being reported by Japanese bloggers all over eastern Japan. There are reports of sick children all over the region. One adviser to the government of Japan says that an area approximately 17 times the size of Manhattan is probably going to be uninhabitable.
Of course the mainstream media has been telling us all along that Fukushima is nothing to be too concerned about and that authorities in Japan have everything under control.
If the mainstream media is not going to tell us the truth, how are they going to continue to have credibility?
#4 Members of Congress continue to mention Christians as a threat to national security. For example, during a recent Congressional hearing U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee warned that “Christian militants” might try to “bring down the country” and that such groups need to be investigated.
#5 China’s eastern province of Zhejiang has experienced that worst flooding that it has seen in 55 years. 2 million people have already been forced to leave their homes. China has already been having huge problems with their crops over the past few years and this is only going to make things worse.
#6 Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, over the counter trading of gold and silver is going to be illegal starting on July 15th. Or at least that is what some companies apparently now believe. The following is an excerpt from an email that Forex.com recently sent out to their customers….
Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading
We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.
In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET.
We encourage you to wind down your trading activity in these products over the next month in anticipation of the new rule, as any open XAU or XAG positions that remain open prior to July 15, 2011 at approximately 5:00 pm ET will be automatically liquidated.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience complying with the new U.S. regulation may cause you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our customer service team.
Sincerely,
The Team at FOREX.com
Apparently, Section 742(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act prohibits anyone “from entering into, or offering to enter into, a transaction in any commodity with a person that is not an eligible contract participant or an eligible commercial entity, on a leveraged or margined basis.”
So what impact is this going to have on the gold and silver markets?
Nobody is quite sure yet.
#7 All over the world, huge cracks are appearing for no discernible reason. For example, a massive crack that is approximately 3 kilometers long recent appeared in southern Peru. Also, a 500 foot long crack suddenly appeared recently in the state of Michigan. When you also throw in all of the gigantic sinkholes that have been opening all over the world, it is easy to conclude that the planet is becoming very unstable.
#8 According to U.S. Forest Service officials, the largest wildfire in Arizona state history has now covered more than 500,000 acres. But based on the coverage it is being given by the mainstream media you would think that it is a non-event.
#9 There are reports that North Korea has tested a “super EMP weapon” which would be capable of taking out most of the U.S. power grid in a single shot. The North Koreans are apparently about to conduct another nuclear test and that has some Obama administration officials very concerned.
#10 All over the United States, “active shooter drills” are being conducted in our public schools. Often, most of the students are not told that these drills are fake. Instead, students often go through hours of terror as they think a hostage situation or a shooting spree is really taking place.
#11 NASA has just launched a “major” preparedness initiative for all NASA personnel. The following is an excerpt about this plan from NASA’s own website….
A major initiative has been placed on Family/Personal Preparedness for all NASA personnel. The NASA Family/Personal Preparedness Program is designed to provide awareness, resources, and tools to the NASA Family (civil servants and contractors) to prepare for an emergency situation. The most important assets in the successful completion of NASA’s mission are our employees’ and their families. We are taking the steps to prepare our workforce, but it is your personal obligation to prepare yourself and your families for emergencies.
#12 Over the past week over 40 temporary “no fly zones” have been declared by the FAA. This is very highly unusual. Nobody seems to know exactly why this is happening.
So what do all of these things mean?
It would be nice if the mainstream media would examine some of these important issues more closely and do some honest reporting on them.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK:HAYNES MANAGMENT
Everytime I hear one of these douchebag companies do something evil, they are going to get reamed here and deservedly so. Let's see those runner ups.
1)Obama- To quote Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek on the parody of Celebrity Jeopardy to a bumbling Tom Hanks, "I had such high hopes for you." But instead you turned out to be the corporate stooge we all thought you'd be but hoped otherwise. Incapable of telling the truth, even his liberal supporters are starting to fight back. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer was heckled and booed Friday at the annual Netroots Nation conference in Minnesota, a gathering of liberal activists from the online political community. When Mr. Pfeiffer reminded the audience that the president championed an equal-pay law, the moderator replied, “Frankly we’re a little sick of hearing about that one.” Add to that that under Obama, no knock searches have gone up, as has drug arrests, no new jobs are being created and the economy seems to be in tail spin headed for a big crash. While he doesn't get all the blame, his idiotic negotiating method has nullified almost everything he has accomplished and his laid back style isn't translating well to people who are losing everything.
2)Republicans-Obama can't be that worries all the same after this week's yawn inducing debate where no new ideas where furnished just business as usual. Nevermind the fact that what you guys have done in the past is exactly why we are in the pickle we're in and the fact that the economy is nosediving specifically because you a-holes refuse to raise the debt ceiling causing all the problems you assured us wouldn't happen. And now that they are indeed happening, you pretend like everything's fine. It isn't. Get your head out of your ass and look around schmucks. So we have pretty boy Romney as a front runner who won't crow about his greatest achievement of Romneycare, a rousing success, thus guaranteeing him an Al Gore like fate. Michelle Bachmann is well, crazy as is Rick Santorum. Newt's own people left him high and dry. Cain in certifiable and has no experience. Pawlenty suffers from Joe Biden disease. This leaves only Ron Paul as the best candidate. He'll win when pigs fly as he might actually fix things, something big business doesn't want. Idiots.
3)TSA- This week they got caught racially profiling people in Houston. If it was young Muslim men I wouldn't have had a problem but they were going after Hispanics. In Texas. Homeland Security got pissed because what they didn't need right now is more bad PR. I still pray every week that Napolitano gets a serious form of cancer. I can dream.
4)Haynes Management- These douchebags fired Carl Sorabello, a good employee for fourteen years, after he shockingly asked for a more flexible schedule after his wife came down with stage four cancer. No compassion, no mercy, just a pink slip. That has got to be the coldest thing I have ever seen. As an investigative journalist I tracked down said people and here they are with email, address and phone number.
MARY R. BUTLER, the Vice President and Treasurer, who fired Carl Sorabella after he wanted some time off to be with his wife and would work nights and weekends to make sure his work would be done, is an A**HOLE. I hope she becomes seriously ill and sees what it's like.
E-mail them and tell them what you think, or better yet, call them up and give them a piece of your mind. E-mail is mbutler@haynesmanageme...
Good luck to Mr. Carl Soabella and his wife. Godspeed!
P.S. They pulled their website (i.e. We're all working together to shame this company!), but here is their contact information, adrdess and phone number:
34 Washington Ave
Ste DEC 7
Wellesley Hills, MA 02481
G. Arnold Hayes - President: gahaynes@haynesmanagem...
Mary R. Butler - Vice President: mbutler@haynesmanageme...
Vida Doyle - Leasing: vida@haynesmanagement.com
Dianne Dallmeyer - Leasing: ddallmeyer@haynesmanag...
Chad Bradley - Leasing: cbradley@haynesmanagem...
Telephone Number: 781.235.4300
Fax Number: 781.279.1408
If any company is found to be doing business with these losers, boycott them too. I'll be keeping track of these idiots and please by all means, email or call them above and tell them how you really feel. I'd like to see them out of business by the end of the year. So congratulations, you are indeed douchebag of the week.
1)Obama- To quote Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek on the parody of Celebrity Jeopardy to a bumbling Tom Hanks, "I had such high hopes for you." But instead you turned out to be the corporate stooge we all thought you'd be but hoped otherwise. Incapable of telling the truth, even his liberal supporters are starting to fight back. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer was heckled and booed Friday at the annual Netroots Nation conference in Minnesota, a gathering of liberal activists from the online political community. When Mr. Pfeiffer reminded the audience that the president championed an equal-pay law, the moderator replied, “Frankly we’re a little sick of hearing about that one.” Add to that that under Obama, no knock searches have gone up, as has drug arrests, no new jobs are being created and the economy seems to be in tail spin headed for a big crash. While he doesn't get all the blame, his idiotic negotiating method has nullified almost everything he has accomplished and his laid back style isn't translating well to people who are losing everything.
2)Republicans-Obama can't be that worries all the same after this week's yawn inducing debate where no new ideas where furnished just business as usual. Nevermind the fact that what you guys have done in the past is exactly why we are in the pickle we're in and the fact that the economy is nosediving specifically because you a-holes refuse to raise the debt ceiling causing all the problems you assured us wouldn't happen. And now that they are indeed happening, you pretend like everything's fine. It isn't. Get your head out of your ass and look around schmucks. So we have pretty boy Romney as a front runner who won't crow about his greatest achievement of Romneycare, a rousing success, thus guaranteeing him an Al Gore like fate. Michelle Bachmann is well, crazy as is Rick Santorum. Newt's own people left him high and dry. Cain in certifiable and has no experience. Pawlenty suffers from Joe Biden disease. This leaves only Ron Paul as the best candidate. He'll win when pigs fly as he might actually fix things, something big business doesn't want. Idiots.
3)TSA- This week they got caught racially profiling people in Houston. If it was young Muslim men I wouldn't have had a problem but they were going after Hispanics. In Texas. Homeland Security got pissed because what they didn't need right now is more bad PR. I still pray every week that Napolitano gets a serious form of cancer. I can dream.
4)Haynes Management- These douchebags fired Carl Sorabello, a good employee for fourteen years, after he shockingly asked for a more flexible schedule after his wife came down with stage four cancer. No compassion, no mercy, just a pink slip. That has got to be the coldest thing I have ever seen. As an investigative journalist I tracked down said people and here they are with email, address and phone number.
MARY R. BUTLER, the Vice President and Treasurer, who fired Carl Sorabella after he wanted some time off to be with his wife and would work nights and weekends to make sure his work would be done, is an A**HOLE. I hope she becomes seriously ill and sees what it's like.
E-mail them and tell them what you think, or better yet, call them up and give them a piece of your mind. E-mail is mbutler@haynesmanageme...
Good luck to Mr. Carl Soabella and his wife. Godspeed!
P.S. They pulled their website (i.e. We're all working together to shame this company!), but here is their contact information, adrdess and phone number:
34 Washington Ave
Ste DEC 7
Wellesley Hills, MA 02481
G. Arnold Hayes - President: gahaynes@haynesmanagem...
Mary R. Butler - Vice President: mbutler@haynesmanageme...
Vida Doyle - Leasing: vida@haynesmanagement.com
Dianne Dallmeyer - Leasing: ddallmeyer@haynesmanag...
Chad Bradley - Leasing: cbradley@haynesmanagem...
Telephone Number: 781.235.4300
Fax Number: 781.279.1408
If any company is found to be doing business with these losers, boycott them too. I'll be keeping track of these idiots and please by all means, email or call them above and tell them how you really feel. I'd like to see them out of business by the end of the year. So congratulations, you are indeed douchebag of the week.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
New Signs of A Coming Apocalypse
To say this has been a bad week would be an understatement. Rumors of wars, despicable behavior by corporations and economic woes dominate the news. Oh wait a minute, we're still hearing about Weinergate, Casey Anthony and retro trips to Vietnam that took up almost nine minutes on NBC news the other day. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
With more and more economists predicting an economic blowout soon, we should be prepared for anything at this point. All the same signs that happened before the 08 crash have surfaced and our idiot politicians keep pretending like nothing is happening. The worst of the bunch are the stick their heads in the sand and sing loudly GOP who still haven't noticed that by not raising the debt ceiling bad things are happening. Not later but now. Anyone who thinks that this is good idea is blind, stupid or both. The GOP is leading us to ruin and no one seems to care.
Not that our President is doing much better. He has lied to us on almost everything. Saying one thing to the public but behind closed doors doing the exact opposite like the War on drugs that every single sane person has called a failure but yet still continues. Worse, Obama has stepped up his drug war rather than stopping it like he promised, actually doing things worse than Bush. If we end the drug war, we will stop more problems than we create and save money in the process. But no, much like Russia and Holland, we continue this failed policy because of how much money it makes the US and who it employs.
The war drums are sounding louder as we move more ships off the Syrian coast and informants within the Army say they are prepping for a massive land invasion before October. I believe an attack, either real or false flag, will happen in September of this year. The Bilderberg group has been rumored that they want a World War to save the failing economies of the world which are now in near free fall. Rioting in Greece has hit epidemic proportions and similar outbreaks are expected in Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Many an economist say the only out of this mess is a big war, one that this time will be fought here. And Muslims can expect to be the new Jews should this occur. A lot of innocent people are going to die and people like myself may disappear one day to some black prison.
The worst of the bunch was a company called Haynes Management based here in MA. A worker there asked for a different schedule because his wife has terminal cancer. So what do they do? They fired his ass. This kind of crap cannot stand. If you are doing business with this company, don't. They must be made an example of. I'm hoping some nearby residents start picketing outside their business and the houses of the CEO and the bitch that fired him. I hope they all get cancer as well. Idiots.
With more and more economists predicting an economic blowout soon, we should be prepared for anything at this point. All the same signs that happened before the 08 crash have surfaced and our idiot politicians keep pretending like nothing is happening. The worst of the bunch are the stick their heads in the sand and sing loudly GOP who still haven't noticed that by not raising the debt ceiling bad things are happening. Not later but now. Anyone who thinks that this is good idea is blind, stupid or both. The GOP is leading us to ruin and no one seems to care.
Not that our President is doing much better. He has lied to us on almost everything. Saying one thing to the public but behind closed doors doing the exact opposite like the War on drugs that every single sane person has called a failure but yet still continues. Worse, Obama has stepped up his drug war rather than stopping it like he promised, actually doing things worse than Bush. If we end the drug war, we will stop more problems than we create and save money in the process. But no, much like Russia and Holland, we continue this failed policy because of how much money it makes the US and who it employs.
The war drums are sounding louder as we move more ships off the Syrian coast and informants within the Army say they are prepping for a massive land invasion before October. I believe an attack, either real or false flag, will happen in September of this year. The Bilderberg group has been rumored that they want a World War to save the failing economies of the world which are now in near free fall. Rioting in Greece has hit epidemic proportions and similar outbreaks are expected in Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Many an economist say the only out of this mess is a big war, one that this time will be fought here. And Muslims can expect to be the new Jews should this occur. A lot of innocent people are going to die and people like myself may disappear one day to some black prison.
The worst of the bunch was a company called Haynes Management based here in MA. A worker there asked for a different schedule because his wife has terminal cancer. So what do they do? They fired his ass. This kind of crap cannot stand. If you are doing business with this company, don't. They must be made an example of. I'm hoping some nearby residents start picketing outside their business and the houses of the CEO and the bitch that fired him. I hope they all get cancer as well. Idiots.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The TSA is coming. The TSA is coming
As reprinted from Infowars
If you’re still living under the delusion that the TSA is just restricted to airports then think again. A joint VIPR “security exercise” involving military personnel has Transportation Security Administration workers covering 5,000 miles and three states, illustrating once again how the TSA is turning into a literal occupying army for domestic repression in America.
The TSA, in alliance with a whole host of federal, state, local agencies as well as military personnel, is currently conducting a massive “security exercise” throughout Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
“The participating teams are composed of a variety of TSA assets including federal air marshals, canine teams, inspectors and bomb appraisal officers. They will be joined by state and local law enforcement officials to supplement existing resources, provide detection and response capabilities. The exercise will utilize multiple airborne assets, including Blackhawk helicopters and fixed wing aircraft as well as waterborne and surface teams,” reports the Marietta Times.
Although the exercise is couched in serious rhetoric about preparedness, it relates to “no specific threat” and the details are nebulous to say the least and seems to revolve around little else than testing out high-tech surveillance equipment and reminding Americans who their bosses are.
“In addition to using three helicopters for aerial inspection, the exercise made use of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s camera-equipped Cessna Caravan, which is capable of transmitting close-up, detailed real-time images of objects on the ground taken from more than five miles away,” reports the Charleston Gazette.
The exercise seems to be about little more than a show of force by the TSA in light of a massive resistance against their agenda, particularly in Texas where a recent bill that would have banned invasive TSA grope downs almost passed and is set to be up for debate again.
Michael Cleveland, federal security director for TSA operations in West Virginia admitted as much when he said the event was about letting, “people know we’re out here.”
As we have documented, TSA grope downs and body scans are now being rolled out on highways, street corners, train stations, bus depots, public buildings, at sports events, and even at local prom nights as part of the VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) takeover of the country.
The TSA has also announced its intention to expand the VIPR program to include roadside inspections of commercial vehicles, setting up a network of internal checkpoints and rolling out security procedures already active in airports, bus terminals and subway stations to roads and highways across the United States.
These internal checkpoints, run by Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, and the TSA, involve trucks being scanned with backscatter x-ray devices in the name of “safety” and “counter terrorism”.
Since the launch of the Department of Homeland Security’s “See Something, Say Something” program, the DHS has also released promotional material which depicts would-be TSA agents conducting searches at public events, including a Buccaneers football game.
Homeland Security is also developing technology to be used at “security events” which purports to monitor “malintent” on behalf of an individual who passes through a checkpoint.
Forget the airports, the TSA has already spread its tentacles to invade almost every public facet of American society.
President Obama’s election campaign promise to create a domestic “security force,” that is “just as powerful, just as strong” as the US military is now coming to fruition as the TSA expands to turn American into a checkpoint-festooned hellhole where constant fearmongering about terror threats is the justification for the construction of a Sovietized police state.
If you’re still living under the delusion that the TSA is just restricted to airports then think again. A joint VIPR “security exercise” involving military personnel has Transportation Security Administration workers covering 5,000 miles and three states, illustrating once again how the TSA is turning into a literal occupying army for domestic repression in America.
The TSA, in alliance with a whole host of federal, state, local agencies as well as military personnel, is currently conducting a massive “security exercise” throughout Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
“The participating teams are composed of a variety of TSA assets including federal air marshals, canine teams, inspectors and bomb appraisal officers. They will be joined by state and local law enforcement officials to supplement existing resources, provide detection and response capabilities. The exercise will utilize multiple airborne assets, including Blackhawk helicopters and fixed wing aircraft as well as waterborne and surface teams,” reports the Marietta Times.
Although the exercise is couched in serious rhetoric about preparedness, it relates to “no specific threat” and the details are nebulous to say the least and seems to revolve around little else than testing out high-tech surveillance equipment and reminding Americans who their bosses are.
“In addition to using three helicopters for aerial inspection, the exercise made use of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s camera-equipped Cessna Caravan, which is capable of transmitting close-up, detailed real-time images of objects on the ground taken from more than five miles away,” reports the Charleston Gazette.
The exercise seems to be about little more than a show of force by the TSA in light of a massive resistance against their agenda, particularly in Texas where a recent bill that would have banned invasive TSA grope downs almost passed and is set to be up for debate again.
Michael Cleveland, federal security director for TSA operations in West Virginia admitted as much when he said the event was about letting, “people know we’re out here.”
As we have documented, TSA grope downs and body scans are now being rolled out on highways, street corners, train stations, bus depots, public buildings, at sports events, and even at local prom nights as part of the VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) takeover of the country.
The TSA has also announced its intention to expand the VIPR program to include roadside inspections of commercial vehicles, setting up a network of internal checkpoints and rolling out security procedures already active in airports, bus terminals and subway stations to roads and highways across the United States.
These internal checkpoints, run by Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, and the TSA, involve trucks being scanned with backscatter x-ray devices in the name of “safety” and “counter terrorism”.
Since the launch of the Department of Homeland Security’s “See Something, Say Something” program, the DHS has also released promotional material which depicts would-be TSA agents conducting searches at public events, including a Buccaneers football game.
Homeland Security is also developing technology to be used at “security events” which purports to monitor “malintent” on behalf of an individual who passes through a checkpoint.
Forget the airports, the TSA has already spread its tentacles to invade almost every public facet of American society.
President Obama’s election campaign promise to create a domestic “security force,” that is “just as powerful, just as strong” as the US military is now coming to fruition as the TSA expands to turn American into a checkpoint-festooned hellhole where constant fearmongering about terror threats is the justification for the construction of a Sovietized police state.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The GOP Debate: John King and The Seven Dwarves
Welcome ladies and gentleman to the upteenth debate between a bunch of conservative candidates who have no hope of winning. It's a beautiful day here in New Hampshire, perfect weather for a pointless exchange of ideas that will have no bearing on anyone or anything. They're in the gate and they're off. Pawlenty and Santorum stumble badly out of the gate, as Pawlenty trips over his own words and Santorum seems lost and confused as to where he is exactly. Cain is the lead with Newt, Bachmann, Romney and Paul close behind. Wait a minute, Cain is showing some trouble as the Tea Party finds out that Cain is both black and a CEO. Newt closes in on the rail, oh bad luck, he has somehow lost his saddle, reins, stirrups, clothes, rider and horse. Paul, Bachmann and Romney are neck and neck, but Paul is falling behind as he tries to repeal NAFTA. Romney pulls away from Bachmann, who must have taken all her lithium to remain this competitive. And the winner is...... Romney by three lengths. The real winners were anyone not watching this dribble.
Three people came out of this with some kind of dignity and the host, John King, was definitely not one of them. Asking the most inane questions I have ever heard, the GOP hopefuls were peppered with such hard pointers as "Leno or Conan," "Spicy or Mild," and, my favorite, "Blackberry or Iphone." This kind of nonsense was causing me to ask myself "barf bag or toilet." Really, was there nothing else you could have asked? I didn't realize all the world's problems have been solved and we can waste our time with such trivial matters. Oh wait a minute. It hasn't. There are real problems out there that most of us want to hear what these potential world leaders are going to do to solve them and you actually waste time asking what type of wing sauce they liked. You suck John King. Go back to sports or infomercials or whatever rock you climbed out from under. Is there really no one in news who knows how to do a debate anymore?
Romney was the clear winner in this debate as the others all paid some sort of weird worship his way by failing to criticize him in any meaningful stance. Pawlenty shrank behind Romney, refusing to even address his "Obmneycare" remark that he talked up and down the Sunday news shows. When the subject was brought up, Pawlenty had that deer in headlight look her gets whenever he's asked a question he doesn't like, and danced around it with the grace of Kate Gosselin. Stammering and avoiding questions are sure way to wind up like Gingrich, whose entire team quit this week in the face of certain defeat. Oddly, Gingrich is reading the electorate better than his competitors and would be doing better poll wise if he wasn't such a blowhard. He is the only person speaking out against the Ryan plan, albeit in more muted tones than earlier.
He has taken fire from conservatives for his statement that the Ryan plan amounted to "right-wing social engineering." This incredibly unpopular bill is still being touted as the new thing from the GOP and it's going down as well as New Coke did back in the eighties.
"If you're dealing with something as big as Medicare," Gingrich said, "and you can't have a conversation with the country where the country thinks what you're doing is the right thing, you better slow down."
"Remember, we all got mad at Obama, because he ran over us when we said don't do it," he continued. "Well, the Republicans ought to follow the same ground rule."
Santorum, whose name sounds like a place he should be committed too, went right for the crazy by appealing to the Tea Party, shut-ins and the mentally insane with his special brand of nonsense. In his brave new world, abortion would be illegal, gays would be hunted for sport and Christianity would be the all encompassing religion for us all. Good luck with that platform.
Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather Pizza and who has never been elected to anything in his life, has spent the last few weeks talking about the dumbest of things. He has called liberals the dumbest of the dumb, said Obama was born in Kenya and the piece de triumph at the debate, supports both the Ryan plan and the privatization of Social Security. Run on those ideas and watch the number fades into the sunset.
Only Paul and, most surprisingly, Michelle Bachmann came out mostly unscathed. The only two in the debate that currently serve in government, they both came across better than you would expect. Bachmann in particular spoke in complete sentences, didn't avoid questions, looked into the right camera for once, and didn't come across as crazy. Rick Santorum did that all on his own.
Romney emerged the clear winner though as his perfect hair and smile stole the show from the forgettable others. A Boston Globe poll put him up over 30 points from his closest competitor in New Hampshire for the primaries. Even in Iowa, where he has no plans to compete, recent polls put him the lead for the caucuses as well. For the moment Romney is the one to beat. Let's just hope John King is nowhere around to question him.
Three people came out of this with some kind of dignity and the host, John King, was definitely not one of them. Asking the most inane questions I have ever heard, the GOP hopefuls were peppered with such hard pointers as "Leno or Conan," "Spicy or Mild," and, my favorite, "Blackberry or Iphone." This kind of nonsense was causing me to ask myself "barf bag or toilet." Really, was there nothing else you could have asked? I didn't realize all the world's problems have been solved and we can waste our time with such trivial matters. Oh wait a minute. It hasn't. There are real problems out there that most of us want to hear what these potential world leaders are going to do to solve them and you actually waste time asking what type of wing sauce they liked. You suck John King. Go back to sports or infomercials or whatever rock you climbed out from under. Is there really no one in news who knows how to do a debate anymore?
Romney was the clear winner in this debate as the others all paid some sort of weird worship his way by failing to criticize him in any meaningful stance. Pawlenty shrank behind Romney, refusing to even address his "Obmneycare" remark that he talked up and down the Sunday news shows. When the subject was brought up, Pawlenty had that deer in headlight look her gets whenever he's asked a question he doesn't like, and danced around it with the grace of Kate Gosselin. Stammering and avoiding questions are sure way to wind up like Gingrich, whose entire team quit this week in the face of certain defeat. Oddly, Gingrich is reading the electorate better than his competitors and would be doing better poll wise if he wasn't such a blowhard. He is the only person speaking out against the Ryan plan, albeit in more muted tones than earlier.
He has taken fire from conservatives for his statement that the Ryan plan amounted to "right-wing social engineering." This incredibly unpopular bill is still being touted as the new thing from the GOP and it's going down as well as New Coke did back in the eighties.
"If you're dealing with something as big as Medicare," Gingrich said, "and you can't have a conversation with the country where the country thinks what you're doing is the right thing, you better slow down."
"Remember, we all got mad at Obama, because he ran over us when we said don't do it," he continued. "Well, the Republicans ought to follow the same ground rule."
Santorum, whose name sounds like a place he should be committed too, went right for the crazy by appealing to the Tea Party, shut-ins and the mentally insane with his special brand of nonsense. In his brave new world, abortion would be illegal, gays would be hunted for sport and Christianity would be the all encompassing religion for us all. Good luck with that platform.
Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather Pizza and who has never been elected to anything in his life, has spent the last few weeks talking about the dumbest of things. He has called liberals the dumbest of the dumb, said Obama was born in Kenya and the piece de triumph at the debate, supports both the Ryan plan and the privatization of Social Security. Run on those ideas and watch the number fades into the sunset.
Only Paul and, most surprisingly, Michelle Bachmann came out mostly unscathed. The only two in the debate that currently serve in government, they both came across better than you would expect. Bachmann in particular spoke in complete sentences, didn't avoid questions, looked into the right camera for once, and didn't come across as crazy. Rick Santorum did that all on his own.
Romney emerged the clear winner though as his perfect hair and smile stole the show from the forgettable others. A Boston Globe poll put him up over 30 points from his closest competitor in New Hampshire for the primaries. Even in Iowa, where he has no plans to compete, recent polls put him the lead for the caucuses as well. For the moment Romney is the one to beat. Let's just hope John King is nowhere around to question him.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Republicans 2012: Race to the Bottom
After a hesitant start from the GOP, many a candidate is coming out of the woodwork to throw their hat into the ring of public approval. The populace has heard what they have to say, have examined their credentials to be someone that could beat their hated foe in Obama, to lead them out of the doldrums of the current quicksand of Washington and have exclaimed in one loud voice a central consensus: These candidates suck.
A recent CNN poll asked the general populace of Republicans only who their favorite choice of candidate was. 46% said No One. The next closest was Sarah Palin at 16% and Rudy Giuliani at 15% and neither of them has actually declared their presidential aspirations yet. Romney was the highest of people actually running at whopping 13%. At the bottom of the pile are sure goners Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorium and John Huntsman; the reason being is Pawlenty suffers from Joe Biden (otherwise known as foot in mouth) Disease, Santorium’s name sounds way to close to a place he should be committed to and no one knows who the hell John Hunstman actually is. So how have the better known names fared this week? Poor would be a step up.
Newt Gingrich suffered the kind of Titanic-like disaster that Roland Emmerich should be making a movie about it. After deciding to interrupt his sputtering campaign by taking a long vacation cruise with his wife to the Greek Isles, he arrived home to find his entire campaign team had decided that they needed a long vacation as well. Twenty four aides, or basically his entire campaign team, quit. As his poll numbers have dropped like a stone, in no part due to the fact that even Republicans don’t even like the guy, his team dropped him too. Expect him to quit any day now.
As Sarah Palin’s View America and Butcher American History Tour comes to a merciful end, comes news that puts her at the top of the heap of Presidential candidates. If nothing else that HAS to scare even the most moderately intelligent person. Imagine what life will be like should this bird brained moron actually get into office. I can see it now: National Snowmobile Championships, Moose Hunting for Charity and the total collapse of world economics. Sweet.
Romney tops the charts of most polls with some even having him beating Obama in a general election. I think it’s a little premature to suggest that a Mormon in the Deep South is going to poll too well come election time or that his conflicting position on Obamacare (as his Romneycare in Massachusetts is very similar) is going to win over the anti-health care nuts. Never mind the fact that Romneycare works very well and all the people that hate it don’t actually live in the state. I still don’t understand why people are fighting to lose everything they have if they get sick. Incredible.
The one person who might actually be able to gain a foothold is Rudy Giuliani whose poll number suggest a run might not be a certain death knell like others. As Republicans have been saying they are increasingly looking for a good candidate that might not necessarily hold all of the same positions, a Giuliani campaign run on issues other than abortion and homophobia might actually have the best chance against what may be a weak democratic candidate. Then again, maybe all they’ll remember is him in a dress.
Two lesser known candidates Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too High Party and Jonathon Sharkey who was both a Republican candidate and, I kid you not, the Vampires, Witches, and Pagans Party, are both running. McMillian looks like he lost a bet with a barber and Sharkey is a dead ringer for porn star Ron Jeremy dressed as a musketeer. I would pay good money to see a debate with these guys and the other Republicans in the field. Questions like “Mr. Sharkey, what kind of blood do you drink and does Dick Cheney ever join in?” would be classic.
But all this is still conjecture as we have no idea what direction the country might go in over the next year. Obama could still be hero or villain. The question is will the GOP be able to capitalize on it if he does indeed start to sink?
A recent CNN poll asked the general populace of Republicans only who their favorite choice of candidate was. 46% said No One. The next closest was Sarah Palin at 16% and Rudy Giuliani at 15% and neither of them has actually declared their presidential aspirations yet. Romney was the highest of people actually running at whopping 13%. At the bottom of the pile are sure goners Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorium and John Huntsman; the reason being is Pawlenty suffers from Joe Biden (otherwise known as foot in mouth) Disease, Santorium’s name sounds way to close to a place he should be committed to and no one knows who the hell John Hunstman actually is. So how have the better known names fared this week? Poor would be a step up.
Newt Gingrich suffered the kind of Titanic-like disaster that Roland Emmerich should be making a movie about it. After deciding to interrupt his sputtering campaign by taking a long vacation cruise with his wife to the Greek Isles, he arrived home to find his entire campaign team had decided that they needed a long vacation as well. Twenty four aides, or basically his entire campaign team, quit. As his poll numbers have dropped like a stone, in no part due to the fact that even Republicans don’t even like the guy, his team dropped him too. Expect him to quit any day now.
As Sarah Palin’s View America and Butcher American History Tour comes to a merciful end, comes news that puts her at the top of the heap of Presidential candidates. If nothing else that HAS to scare even the most moderately intelligent person. Imagine what life will be like should this bird brained moron actually get into office. I can see it now: National Snowmobile Championships, Moose Hunting for Charity and the total collapse of world economics. Sweet.
Romney tops the charts of most polls with some even having him beating Obama in a general election. I think it’s a little premature to suggest that a Mormon in the Deep South is going to poll too well come election time or that his conflicting position on Obamacare (as his Romneycare in Massachusetts is very similar) is going to win over the anti-health care nuts. Never mind the fact that Romneycare works very well and all the people that hate it don’t actually live in the state. I still don’t understand why people are fighting to lose everything they have if they get sick. Incredible.
The one person who might actually be able to gain a foothold is Rudy Giuliani whose poll number suggest a run might not be a certain death knell like others. As Republicans have been saying they are increasingly looking for a good candidate that might not necessarily hold all of the same positions, a Giuliani campaign run on issues other than abortion and homophobia might actually have the best chance against what may be a weak democratic candidate. Then again, maybe all they’ll remember is him in a dress.
Two lesser known candidates Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too High Party and Jonathon Sharkey who was both a Republican candidate and, I kid you not, the Vampires, Witches, and Pagans Party, are both running. McMillian looks like he lost a bet with a barber and Sharkey is a dead ringer for porn star Ron Jeremy dressed as a musketeer. I would pay good money to see a debate with these guys and the other Republicans in the field. Questions like “Mr. Sharkey, what kind of blood do you drink and does Dick Cheney ever join in?” would be classic.
But all this is still conjecture as we have no idea what direction the country might go in over the next year. Obama could still be hero or villain. The question is will the GOP be able to capitalize on it if he does indeed start to sink?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Radiation from Fukishima Killing Babies
U.S. babies are dying at an increased rate. While the United States spends billions on medical care, as of 2006, the US ranked 28th in the world in infant mortality, more than twice that of the lowest ranked countries. (DHHS, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. Health United States 2010, Table 20, p. 131, February 2011.)
The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that eight cities in the northwest U.S. (Boise ID, Seattle WA, Portland OR, plus the northern California cities of Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley) reported the following data on deaths among those younger than one year of age:
4 weeks ending March 19, 2011 - 37 deaths (avg. 9.25 per week)
10 weeks ending May 28, 2011 - 125 deaths (avg.12.50 per week)
This amounts to an increase of 35% (the total for the entire U.S. rose about 2.3%), and is statistically significant. Of further significance is that those dates include the four weeks before and the ten weeks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. In 2001 the infant mortality was 6.834 per 1000 live births, increasing to 6.845 in 2007. All years from 2002 to 2007 were higher than the 2001 rate.
Spewing from the Fukushima reactor are radioactive isotopes including those of iodine (I-131), strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) all of which are taken up in food and water. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, Sr-90 in bones and teeth and Cs-134 and Cs-137 in soft tissues, including the heart. The unborn and babies are more vulnerable because the cells are rapidly dividing and the delivered dose is proportionally larger than that delivered to an adult.
Data from Chernobyl, which exploded 25 years ago, clearly shows increased numbers of sick and weak newborns and increased numbers of deaths in the unborn and newborns, especially soon after the meltdown. These occurred in Europe as well as the former Soviet Union. Similar findings are also seen in wildlife living in areas with increased radioactive fallout levels.
The Dept of Nuclear Energy have released their data for food and topsoil for the Northern California Coast and the results are not encouraging. So far, they have measured grass, wild mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, cilantro, kale, and arugula. Of these, strawberries and topsoil are still showing high levels of CS-134 and 137 and all of the above at some point have also registered above safe limits.
If these stats are true and I have no reason to doubt their validity, then my previous warning holds true and all pregnant mothers in these regions should leave immediately. Your baby's life is at risk.
The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that eight cities in the northwest U.S. (Boise ID, Seattle WA, Portland OR, plus the northern California cities of Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley) reported the following data on deaths among those younger than one year of age:
4 weeks ending March 19, 2011 - 37 deaths (avg. 9.25 per week)
10 weeks ending May 28, 2011 - 125 deaths (avg.12.50 per week)
This amounts to an increase of 35% (the total for the entire U.S. rose about 2.3%), and is statistically significant. Of further significance is that those dates include the four weeks before and the ten weeks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. In 2001 the infant mortality was 6.834 per 1000 live births, increasing to 6.845 in 2007. All years from 2002 to 2007 were higher than the 2001 rate.
Spewing from the Fukushima reactor are radioactive isotopes including those of iodine (I-131), strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) all of which are taken up in food and water. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, Sr-90 in bones and teeth and Cs-134 and Cs-137 in soft tissues, including the heart. The unborn and babies are more vulnerable because the cells are rapidly dividing and the delivered dose is proportionally larger than that delivered to an adult.
Data from Chernobyl, which exploded 25 years ago, clearly shows increased numbers of sick and weak newborns and increased numbers of deaths in the unborn and newborns, especially soon after the meltdown. These occurred in Europe as well as the former Soviet Union. Similar findings are also seen in wildlife living in areas with increased radioactive fallout levels.
The Dept of Nuclear Energy have released their data for food and topsoil for the Northern California Coast and the results are not encouraging. So far, they have measured grass, wild mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, cilantro, kale, and arugula. Of these, strawberries and topsoil are still showing high levels of CS-134 and 137 and all of the above at some point have also registered above safe limits.
If these stats are true and I have no reason to doubt their validity, then my previous warning holds true and all pregnant mothers in these regions should leave immediately. Your baby's life is at risk.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: JANET NAPOLITANO AND THE TSA
Having gone through my own near arrest at the hands of the TSA, Janet Napolitano continues to be one the worst people at her job that I have ever seen. George Bush after a lobotomy and ingesting a ton of lithium would be better than this cow. Let's see those runner ups.
1)The Main Stream Media (MSM)- This week all that happened world wide was Weinergate, Sarah Palin on her vacation/I wanna be President maybe tour, Casey Anthony's trial, and the whole sale destruction of Arizona by wildfires. That's about it. They seem to have forgotten key stories like Venezuela severing all ties with the US which may or not be true. It has only appeared on Iranian media so it's veracity is most likely doubtful. I've read their news. It's North Korean lite. But, it would be nice if the MSM at least addressed this issue, making Iran look more foolish if it is indeed false, and an easy win for our side. How about stories about how police are becoming more and more out of control? Or the flipside where gang violence is increasing as the youth of this country finds lesser and lesser chances for achievement? The media is Corporate owned and have their own agenda. That's why I'm hoping that you readers out there spread the word about this site. I deal in facts, not half truths and I'm happy to debate anybody about what I write here. Truth may be on my side but I'm not so arrogant to not admit when I am wrong which does happen on occasion. No one is right every time. Not even me. Rats.
2)The Economy- If plummeting down a steep cliff is fun keep watching the Dow as politics, world wide issues and China all accidentally conspire to run our economy off the rails. We have done nothing to fix the problem over these past three years (way to go Obama and our worthless Congress and Supreme Court). As a result, as seen in previous posts, we are headed for a ditch the size of the Grand Canyon. Fear is spreading. TV ads are being pre sold in a rate unseen in the media as many executives feel the economy is headed south and they won't get the same rates a few months from now. Economists are becoming increasingly nervous about treasury bonds, gas prices and a creeping inflation that is wiping many people out. Add the fact that no good jobs are being created all lead to one earth shattering kaboom. The cherry on top is the fact that housing prices are going to slide more than at any point during the Great Depression to 37%, way above the 30% high in the 1930's. So what's the main cause for all this doom and gloom. See below and tell me you're surprised.
3)Republicans- This playing chicken with the debt ceiling is already causing the exact havoc that they all said would NEVER happen. Maybe you assh#$es should stop figuring out new ways to humiliate the President and look and around and see F%^KING ROME IS BURNING. The Chinese are selling off our treasuries like they came from Fukishima. Here's a quote:
In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.
Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said
The US government will run out of room to spend more on August 2 unless Congress bumps up the borrowing limit beyond $14.29 trillion -- but Republicans are refusing to support such a move until a deficit cutting deal is reached.
Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday joined Moody's and Standard & Poor's to warn the United States could lose its first-class credit rating if it fails to raise its debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on loans.
A downgrade could sharply raise US borrowing costs, worsening the country's already dire fiscal position, and send shock waves through the financial world, which has long considered US debt a benchmark among safe-haven investments.
Beijing cut its holdings of US Treasury securities for the fifth month in a row to $1.145 trillion in March, down $9.2 billion from February and 2.6 percent less than October's peak of $1.175 trillion, US data showed last month.
Does any of that sound like good news? Oddly it is also what every good economist said would happen if we default on the debt ceiling and it's happening right now not in some imaginary future Republicans live in where no one is poor, free markets work perfectly and the 1950's never ended. Too bad that's not what is occurring. And here's the funny part. There is a huge number of people who think that they ARE the answer. Idiots. Vote for a majority of Republicans and watch your standard of living end.
4)The Police- There are so many stories of police brutality this week I can't even begin to list them here. Google it and see how many hits you get. Frightening.
5)TSA and Napolitano- I was nearly arrested last week after my girlfriend was pulled aside by the Philadelphia TSA for what I thought was going to be a good ole fashioned groping. She has issues with that, and who wouldn't, and she started having a fit after being pulled aside to stand in a small roped off enclosure. They wisely just checked her hands for explosives and let her go but, for a few minutes, I thought for sure they were going to touch her head to toe, something she would never have allowed. I was about to get my camera to film the whole thing when they let her go and we left to catch out flight. I'll never get her on a plane again until they fix this. Had this escalated, I have no idea what would have happened but I'm fairly certain my arrest would have been imminent because I wouldn't have stopped filming until they tased me. And I have quite the temper if you make me angry. Plus ten years of martial arts expertise. Trust me, this could have gotten really ugly.
As if my personal experience wasn't enough, this week the TSA manhandled a mentally challenged 29 year old and confiscated his toy hammer that he had since he was nine. They later said they went too far. Shocker. They also want to prevent ALL filming at check points. So in other words, they want to rape you and not provide any evidence of said crime. Nazi Germany here we come. And speaking of Nazis, let see what our douchebag of the week had to say. Trust me it's a doozy. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the comic genuis of Janet Napolitano:
"You’re not using good logic there. You’ve got to use actual intelligence that you received. And, so, you might — all you’ve given me is a kind of status. You have not given me a technique for tactic or behavior. Something that would suggest somebody is not Muslim, but Islamic, that has actually moved into the category of violent extremists,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a forum on U.S. security and preventing terrorist attacks.
“We have ways to make some of those cuts. And they involve the intel that comes in, the analysis that goes on. For example, we often times, for travelers entering the United States, we won’t not do what is called a secondary inspection just because they are a 35-year- old male who appears to be Muslim, whatever that means. But we know from intelligence that if they have a certain travel pattern over a certain period of time, that should cause us to ask some more significant questions than if we don’t.”
In other words, my quiet, tiny Japanese girlfriend poses a threat but Akmed Mohammed from the Sudan should just pass right through because we don't want to hurt his feelings? ARE YOU HIGH? As for those travel patterns you speak so highly about Janet, that would have stopped the underwear bomber, which it didn't. Or the Times Square bomber from getting on the plane and almost escaping. Your system sucks. Your own security force gets weapons through nine times out of ten. Not only is the TSA breaking the law, humiliating passengers and causing the tourism rate to plummet, but they are inept as well. I rarely say this and mean it, but I hope you get cancer and die a painful death. I loathe your existence and you could quite possibly be one of the worst public officials of all time. Your idiocy is staggering. I am STUNNED every time you say anything. You are indeed Douchebag of the Century. Congratulation on your new exalted title bitch.
1)The Main Stream Media (MSM)- This week all that happened world wide was Weinergate, Sarah Palin on her vacation/I wanna be President maybe tour, Casey Anthony's trial, and the whole sale destruction of Arizona by wildfires. That's about it. They seem to have forgotten key stories like Venezuela severing all ties with the US which may or not be true. It has only appeared on Iranian media so it's veracity is most likely doubtful. I've read their news. It's North Korean lite. But, it would be nice if the MSM at least addressed this issue, making Iran look more foolish if it is indeed false, and an easy win for our side. How about stories about how police are becoming more and more out of control? Or the flipside where gang violence is increasing as the youth of this country finds lesser and lesser chances for achievement? The media is Corporate owned and have their own agenda. That's why I'm hoping that you readers out there spread the word about this site. I deal in facts, not half truths and I'm happy to debate anybody about what I write here. Truth may be on my side but I'm not so arrogant to not admit when I am wrong which does happen on occasion. No one is right every time. Not even me. Rats.
2)The Economy- If plummeting down a steep cliff is fun keep watching the Dow as politics, world wide issues and China all accidentally conspire to run our economy off the rails. We have done nothing to fix the problem over these past three years (way to go Obama and our worthless Congress and Supreme Court). As a result, as seen in previous posts, we are headed for a ditch the size of the Grand Canyon. Fear is spreading. TV ads are being pre sold in a rate unseen in the media as many executives feel the economy is headed south and they won't get the same rates a few months from now. Economists are becoming increasingly nervous about treasury bonds, gas prices and a creeping inflation that is wiping many people out. Add the fact that no good jobs are being created all lead to one earth shattering kaboom. The cherry on top is the fact that housing prices are going to slide more than at any point during the Great Depression to 37%, way above the 30% high in the 1930's. So what's the main cause for all this doom and gloom. See below and tell me you're surprised.
3)Republicans- This playing chicken with the debt ceiling is already causing the exact havoc that they all said would NEVER happen. Maybe you assh#$es should stop figuring out new ways to humiliate the President and look and around and see F%^KING ROME IS BURNING. The Chinese are selling off our treasuries like they came from Fukishima. Here's a quote:
In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.
Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said
The US government will run out of room to spend more on August 2 unless Congress bumps up the borrowing limit beyond $14.29 trillion -- but Republicans are refusing to support such a move until a deficit cutting deal is reached.
Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday joined Moody's and Standard & Poor's to warn the United States could lose its first-class credit rating if it fails to raise its debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on loans.
A downgrade could sharply raise US borrowing costs, worsening the country's already dire fiscal position, and send shock waves through the financial world, which has long considered US debt a benchmark among safe-haven investments.
Beijing cut its holdings of US Treasury securities for the fifth month in a row to $1.145 trillion in March, down $9.2 billion from February and 2.6 percent less than October's peak of $1.175 trillion, US data showed last month.
Does any of that sound like good news? Oddly it is also what every good economist said would happen if we default on the debt ceiling and it's happening right now not in some imaginary future Republicans live in where no one is poor, free markets work perfectly and the 1950's never ended. Too bad that's not what is occurring. And here's the funny part. There is a huge number of people who think that they ARE the answer. Idiots. Vote for a majority of Republicans and watch your standard of living end.
4)The Police- There are so many stories of police brutality this week I can't even begin to list them here. Google it and see how many hits you get. Frightening.
5)TSA and Napolitano- I was nearly arrested last week after my girlfriend was pulled aside by the Philadelphia TSA for what I thought was going to be a good ole fashioned groping. She has issues with that, and who wouldn't, and she started having a fit after being pulled aside to stand in a small roped off enclosure. They wisely just checked her hands for explosives and let her go but, for a few minutes, I thought for sure they were going to touch her head to toe, something she would never have allowed. I was about to get my camera to film the whole thing when they let her go and we left to catch out flight. I'll never get her on a plane again until they fix this. Had this escalated, I have no idea what would have happened but I'm fairly certain my arrest would have been imminent because I wouldn't have stopped filming until they tased me. And I have quite the temper if you make me angry. Plus ten years of martial arts expertise. Trust me, this could have gotten really ugly.
As if my personal experience wasn't enough, this week the TSA manhandled a mentally challenged 29 year old and confiscated his toy hammer that he had since he was nine. They later said they went too far. Shocker. They also want to prevent ALL filming at check points. So in other words, they want to rape you and not provide any evidence of said crime. Nazi Germany here we come. And speaking of Nazis, let see what our douchebag of the week had to say. Trust me it's a doozy. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the comic genuis of Janet Napolitano:
"You’re not using good logic there. You’ve got to use actual intelligence that you received. And, so, you might — all you’ve given me is a kind of status. You have not given me a technique for tactic or behavior. Something that would suggest somebody is not Muslim, but Islamic, that has actually moved into the category of violent extremists,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a forum on U.S. security and preventing terrorist attacks.
“We have ways to make some of those cuts. And they involve the intel that comes in, the analysis that goes on. For example, we often times, for travelers entering the United States, we won’t not do what is called a secondary inspection just because they are a 35-year- old male who appears to be Muslim, whatever that means. But we know from intelligence that if they have a certain travel pattern over a certain period of time, that should cause us to ask some more significant questions than if we don’t.”
In other words, my quiet, tiny Japanese girlfriend poses a threat but Akmed Mohammed from the Sudan should just pass right through because we don't want to hurt his feelings? ARE YOU HIGH? As for those travel patterns you speak so highly about Janet, that would have stopped the underwear bomber, which it didn't. Or the Times Square bomber from getting on the plane and almost escaping. Your system sucks. Your own security force gets weapons through nine times out of ten. Not only is the TSA breaking the law, humiliating passengers and causing the tourism rate to plummet, but they are inept as well. I rarely say this and mean it, but I hope you get cancer and die a painful death. I loathe your existence and you could quite possibly be one of the worst public officials of all time. Your idiocy is staggering. I am STUNNED every time you say anything. You are indeed Douchebag of the Century. Congratulation on your new exalted title bitch.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Next Great Depression is Here
I wish I had better news for which I have none. As a matter of fact I can't remember the last time I have seen things this bad. The only good news I have seen is that finally, a large number of Americans are seeing it too. A recent poll by CNN said forty eight percent of Americans think we'll be in another Great Depression in the next twelve months. The bad news is that we are already there.
Our jobs numbers, when done without the Hollywood math that Washington uses, are at similar points when compared with Depression era figures. After looking at all the figures, which include many individuals not counted in the federal stat, show the actual unemployment rate somewhere between 19-25%. This rate has remained, more or less unchanged, for years. This means it has also lasted longer than at any point during the Depression who after three years of these numbers finally saw some change. We so far have seen worse numbers, not better, and the future looks equally bleak
The housing market has all but crashed again with prices falling to pre-2002 levels. The slide by the housing market is already worse than at any point during the Depression, a fact no one disputes, not even the government or media. With the foreclosure market in total chaos, these numbers are not likely to rebound any time soon.
So what about the governments insistence that we have had several straight quarters of growth? Lies. True, the economic definition of a Depression is four straight quarters of negative growth, along with high unemployment and mounting housing losses. Well check on the last two. Let's look at the first shall we.
Using GDP as a measure for economic recovery is a statisticians greatest lie. The GDP is being manipulated up by deficit spending. Over the last 2.5 years, the US Federal government has spent over $3 Trillion (and another 9 billion in credit which we won't even count in these figures) in deficit spending. That artificially drives up GDP. If we are at a 1.8% GDP growth model, what happens if you remove that deficit spending? And what effect does quantitative easing (aka money printing)have on the GDP?
In 2010 we had a $14.7 Trillion GDP. What was the deficit spending by the US Federal government? $1.42 Trillion. In other words, the deficit spending is 9.6% of the GDP. And what was the stated GDP growth for 2010? 2.6%
So if the federal government did not deficit spend in 2010, what would have been the true GDP growth? Negative 7%.
Welcome to your New Depression. Enjoy. Think things are as bad as they going to get?Read below for more spectacular news.
The following are 10 signs that Wall Street is about to go into panic mode….
#1 According to The New York Post, nearly all of the major Wall Street banks are planning huge layoffs….
“Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley currently are among those financial institutions either weighing staff cuts or actually paring payroll”
#2 A new CNBC article claims that a “negative feedback loop” has “taken control” on Wall Street. Essentially what is happening is that bad economic news is creating an “environment of pessimism” which creates even more bad economic news, etc. etc.
#3 OPEC has announced that oil production levels will not be raised. This is likely to spook the financial markets and cause the price of oil to go up even higher in the coming weeks. The last time U.S. energy expenditures were over 9 percent of GDP was back in 2008 and at that point the economy rapidly plunged into a very deep recession. For the first time since 2008 we have reached the 9 percent figure again, and many on Wall Street fear that this could lead to bad things.
#4 QE2 will be wrapping up at the end of June, and many on Wall Street had been counting on yet another round of quantitative easing. Over the past couple of days, however, it has started to become clear that is just not going to happen – at least for now. In fact, Pimco’s co-chief investment officer, Bill Gross, is telling investors that for the Fed it will “be difficult to initiate a QE3“. But without artificial stimulation the U.S. economy may start really struggling again, and Wall Street knows this.
#5 Moody’s recently warned that it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Bank stocks were on the cutting edge of the financial collapse of 2008, and it looks like that may happen again this time.
#6 Faith in the U.S. dollar continues to decline. Back on April 18th, Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on U.S. government debt from “stable” to “negative” and warned that the U.S. could soon lose its AAA rating. China has been very busy dumping short-term U.S. government debt and there does not seem to be a lot of people (other than the Federal Reserve) that are eager to buy U.S. Treasuries right now.
#7 U.S. consumer confidence is already lower than it was back in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Consumer spending makes up approximately 70 percent of the U.S. economy and Wall Street is watching this number closely.
#8 A whole slew of bad economic news has been pouring in lately. Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London, recently pointed out to CNBC some of the data points that have been particularly alarming….
“US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing.”
#9 A whole lot of folks in the financial industry have been warning about the next financial collapse lately. For example, economist Nouriel Roubini recently made the following statement….
“I think right now we’re on the tipping point of a market correction. Data from the U.S., from Europe, from Japan, from China are suggesting an economic slowdown.”
#10 According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 48% of Americans believe that it is either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that the United States will experience a “depression” within the next 12 months. Needless to say, Wall Street is highly influenced by the overall mood of the nation.
Once again, let’s hope that financial disaster can be averted for as long as possible. The last thing the United States needs right now is another major crisis.
America has been hit by a whole series of natural disasters in 2011. We have seen unprecedented tornadoes, historic flooding along the Mississippi River and Massachusetts, and horrible wildfires in Texas and in Arizona.
Thousands upon thousands of American families are deeply suffering tonight. Our new Soup Kitchens are the food stamps 43 million Americans rely on and which government seems determined to take back.
The TSA and police nationwide are becoming more and more Storm trooper than protector. Every day a new story pops up like the TSA manhandling a mentally challenged 29 year old who refused to let him take his tow hammer on board a plane. I had my own close call with the TSA this past weekend coming dangerous close to an arrest. I won't fly again.
The police are getting more and power, with Illinois being the worst place in the country to live. It is actually illegal there to tape public officials, cops judges, whatever, without getting arrested. One man faces 75 years for taping police who were HARASSING HIM. Unbelievable.
Venezuela cut all ties to the US today in a row over Iran. And war drums still sound as a vote on Syria this week at the UN, with China and Russia threatening to veto, may actually bring the whole institution down. British PM Cameron has warned that failing to protect Syrian citizens from dangerous despots sets a dangerous precedent and could make the UN at that point moot.
All this as we hear about Casey Anthony and Weiner's Weiner. Start looking at what's important because soon it may all go away and you will all be wondering what happened.
Our jobs numbers, when done without the Hollywood math that Washington uses, are at similar points when compared with Depression era figures. After looking at all the figures, which include many individuals not counted in the federal stat, show the actual unemployment rate somewhere between 19-25%. This rate has remained, more or less unchanged, for years. This means it has also lasted longer than at any point during the Depression who after three years of these numbers finally saw some change. We so far have seen worse numbers, not better, and the future looks equally bleak
The housing market has all but crashed again with prices falling to pre-2002 levels. The slide by the housing market is already worse than at any point during the Depression, a fact no one disputes, not even the government or media. With the foreclosure market in total chaos, these numbers are not likely to rebound any time soon.
So what about the governments insistence that we have had several straight quarters of growth? Lies. True, the economic definition of a Depression is four straight quarters of negative growth, along with high unemployment and mounting housing losses. Well check on the last two. Let's look at the first shall we.
Using GDP as a measure for economic recovery is a statisticians greatest lie. The GDP is being manipulated up by deficit spending. Over the last 2.5 years, the US Federal government has spent over $3 Trillion (and another 9 billion in credit which we won't even count in these figures) in deficit spending. That artificially drives up GDP. If we are at a 1.8% GDP growth model, what happens if you remove that deficit spending? And what effect does quantitative easing (aka money printing)have on the GDP?
In 2010 we had a $14.7 Trillion GDP. What was the deficit spending by the US Federal government? $1.42 Trillion. In other words, the deficit spending is 9.6% of the GDP. And what was the stated GDP growth for 2010? 2.6%
So if the federal government did not deficit spend in 2010, what would have been the true GDP growth? Negative 7%.
Welcome to your New Depression. Enjoy. Think things are as bad as they going to get?Read below for more spectacular news.
The following are 10 signs that Wall Street is about to go into panic mode….
#1 According to The New York Post, nearly all of the major Wall Street banks are planning huge layoffs….
“Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley currently are among those financial institutions either weighing staff cuts or actually paring payroll”
#2 A new CNBC article claims that a “negative feedback loop” has “taken control” on Wall Street. Essentially what is happening is that bad economic news is creating an “environment of pessimism” which creates even more bad economic news, etc. etc.
#3 OPEC has announced that oil production levels will not be raised. This is likely to spook the financial markets and cause the price of oil to go up even higher in the coming weeks. The last time U.S. energy expenditures were over 9 percent of GDP was back in 2008 and at that point the economy rapidly plunged into a very deep recession. For the first time since 2008 we have reached the 9 percent figure again, and many on Wall Street fear that this could lead to bad things.
#4 QE2 will be wrapping up at the end of June, and many on Wall Street had been counting on yet another round of quantitative easing. Over the past couple of days, however, it has started to become clear that is just not going to happen – at least for now. In fact, Pimco’s co-chief investment officer, Bill Gross, is telling investors that for the Fed it will “be difficult to initiate a QE3“. But without artificial stimulation the U.S. economy may start really struggling again, and Wall Street knows this.
#5 Moody’s recently warned that it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Bank stocks were on the cutting edge of the financial collapse of 2008, and it looks like that may happen again this time.
#6 Faith in the U.S. dollar continues to decline. Back on April 18th, Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on U.S. government debt from “stable” to “negative” and warned that the U.S. could soon lose its AAA rating. China has been very busy dumping short-term U.S. government debt and there does not seem to be a lot of people (other than the Federal Reserve) that are eager to buy U.S. Treasuries right now.
#7 U.S. consumer confidence is already lower than it was back in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Consumer spending makes up approximately 70 percent of the U.S. economy and Wall Street is watching this number closely.
#8 A whole slew of bad economic news has been pouring in lately. Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London, recently pointed out to CNBC some of the data points that have been particularly alarming….
“US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing.”
#9 A whole lot of folks in the financial industry have been warning about the next financial collapse lately. For example, economist Nouriel Roubini recently made the following statement….
“I think right now we’re on the tipping point of a market correction. Data from the U.S., from Europe, from Japan, from China are suggesting an economic slowdown.”
#10 According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 48% of Americans believe that it is either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that the United States will experience a “depression” within the next 12 months. Needless to say, Wall Street is highly influenced by the overall mood of the nation.
Once again, let’s hope that financial disaster can be averted for as long as possible. The last thing the United States needs right now is another major crisis.
America has been hit by a whole series of natural disasters in 2011. We have seen unprecedented tornadoes, historic flooding along the Mississippi River and Massachusetts, and horrible wildfires in Texas and in Arizona.
Thousands upon thousands of American families are deeply suffering tonight. Our new Soup Kitchens are the food stamps 43 million Americans rely on and which government seems determined to take back.
The TSA and police nationwide are becoming more and more Storm trooper than protector. Every day a new story pops up like the TSA manhandling a mentally challenged 29 year old who refused to let him take his tow hammer on board a plane. I had my own close call with the TSA this past weekend coming dangerous close to an arrest. I won't fly again.
The police are getting more and power, with Illinois being the worst place in the country to live. It is actually illegal there to tape public officials, cops judges, whatever, without getting arrested. One man faces 75 years for taping police who were HARASSING HIM. Unbelievable.
Venezuela cut all ties to the US today in a row over Iran. And war drums still sound as a vote on Syria this week at the UN, with China and Russia threatening to veto, may actually bring the whole institution down. British PM Cameron has warned that failing to protect Syrian citizens from dangerous despots sets a dangerous precedent and could make the UN at that point moot.
All this as we hear about Casey Anthony and Weiner's Weiner. Start looking at what's important because soon it may all go away and you will all be wondering what happened.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ominous War Drums Sound Again In The Middle East
WTF is wrong with Iran? Every year, they and North Korea play some insane game of Armageddon chicken that's getting increasingly old. Sooner or later, we're not going to be able to swerve in time. Recently, North Korea played a deadly round of this crap that killed dozens of innocent people and nearly led to a new war. Now comes Iran screaming like a child having a tantrum that they want nukes and that's that.
On Tuesday, June 7, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad termed Iran's nuclear program "a train with no brakes or reverse gear" after Tehran announced the deployment of submarines in the Red Sea. Wednesday, Iran's vice president and atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said Iran's 20-percent uranium enrichment work would be transferred from Natanz to Fordo this summer. Enrichment would be tripled, he said, by improved centrifuges.
Let that last paragraph sink in for a minute. Iran just said "We're getting nukes and there's nothing you can do about it Israel. ;-P MMMMMMMLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAA. Oh and by the way everyone, we're sending in our new subs to the Red Sea that we've secretly built and whose specs are largely unknown just to really stick it in."
I'm pretty sure, the Israelis are not going to like that one bit. A nuclear armed Iran would be very, very bad. Their response may happen sooner than later and a pre nuclear strike of Iran is not totally out of the question in this new scenario.
The funny thing about all this is, we've known about this facility being built in Frodo since 2009. Obama and Sarkozy went on television and announced their findings of this new facility in Frodo and demanded access. They were granted immediate access to which three UN teams found no evidence of nuclear facilities. Yet, here we are two years later and we find out from Iran that Frodo is indeed a nuclear facility. How does one get a job in IEAE? A brain does not seem to be one of them and these idiots are as reliable as the Army Corp of Engineers or the FBI in doing anything correct. Check out their success record? They did the same thing in North Korea and Pakistan. They couldn't find a radioactive source if they drank it themselves.
Iran just accused the US and Isreal of provoking war with them which as far as I can tell seems to be from us doing absolutley nothing. It's actually shocking how little we are actually doing. This is a common feint in war where you blame the enemy for aggression, like Hitler and the Japanese in WW2 who both used this trick.
So the war drums beat once again. Like they do every year. Only this time we keep hearing about nukes. And that is new. And frightening.
On Tuesday, June 7, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad termed Iran's nuclear program "a train with no brakes or reverse gear" after Tehran announced the deployment of submarines in the Red Sea. Wednesday, Iran's vice president and atomic chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said Iran's 20-percent uranium enrichment work would be transferred from Natanz to Fordo this summer. Enrichment would be tripled, he said, by improved centrifuges.
Let that last paragraph sink in for a minute. Iran just said "We're getting nukes and there's nothing you can do about it Israel. ;-P MMMMMMMLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAA. Oh and by the way everyone, we're sending in our new subs to the Red Sea that we've secretly built and whose specs are largely unknown just to really stick it in."
I'm pretty sure, the Israelis are not going to like that one bit. A nuclear armed Iran would be very, very bad. Their response may happen sooner than later and a pre nuclear strike of Iran is not totally out of the question in this new scenario.
The funny thing about all this is, we've known about this facility being built in Frodo since 2009. Obama and Sarkozy went on television and announced their findings of this new facility in Frodo and demanded access. They were granted immediate access to which three UN teams found no evidence of nuclear facilities. Yet, here we are two years later and we find out from Iran that Frodo is indeed a nuclear facility. How does one get a job in IEAE? A brain does not seem to be one of them and these idiots are as reliable as the Army Corp of Engineers or the FBI in doing anything correct. Check out their success record? They did the same thing in North Korea and Pakistan. They couldn't find a radioactive source if they drank it themselves.
Iran just accused the US and Isreal of provoking war with them which as far as I can tell seems to be from us doing absolutley nothing. It's actually shocking how little we are actually doing. This is a common feint in war where you blame the enemy for aggression, like Hitler and the Japanese in WW2 who both used this trick.
So the war drums beat once again. Like they do every year. Only this time we keep hearing about nukes. And that is new. And frightening.
More Gestapo Tacitics In Amerika
As reprinted from the Daily Mail
A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans.
A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children.
He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house.
Mr Wright was later told by Stockton police that the order to send in the SWAT team came from The U.S. Department of Education who were looking for his estranged wife to collect defaulted loan payments.
Speaking to ABC News 10, a visibly shaken Mr Wright described what happened when he was woken by a banging on his front door.
He said: 'I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers.
Dressed in his boxer shorts, Mr Wright says he rushed downstairs and was about to open the door when it was kicked open.
An officer then grabbed him by the neck before dragging him out onto the front lawn.
His 3, 7, and 11-year-old children were also removed by officers and put in a waiting police car.
'He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,' Mr Wright said.
'They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatising my kids.'
The Department for Education refused to comment on the incident, saying they would not do so until the case was closed.
They did however confirm that their Office of the Inspector General had issued the search warrant.
The office has its own branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.
Nice to know that we can be incarcerated and possibly killed for owing money to a school. With debtors prisons back (see previous articles on how to lose your home for owing as little as 50$ on a water bill) we need to start standing up for ourselves or else all our freedoms are going to be lost. These shock troop tactics cannot stand. Remember, anybody entering your house without cause is an enemy, cop or not. Shoot first and ask questions later unless you want to wind up in bodybag yourself. Ask the soldier from Arizona what he should have done when cop Nazis stormed his house and filled him full of holes. The Law is no longer here to protect you but to do the bidding of our new overlords. Until we move en masse to Washington and protest on the National Mall we are all in deep trouble. Time is running out for everyone.
A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans.
A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children.
He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house.
Mr Wright was later told by Stockton police that the order to send in the SWAT team came from The U.S. Department of Education who were looking for his estranged wife to collect defaulted loan payments.
Speaking to ABC News 10, a visibly shaken Mr Wright described what happened when he was woken by a banging on his front door.
He said: 'I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers.
Dressed in his boxer shorts, Mr Wright says he rushed downstairs and was about to open the door when it was kicked open.
An officer then grabbed him by the neck before dragging him out onto the front lawn.
His 3, 7, and 11-year-old children were also removed by officers and put in a waiting police car.
'He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,' Mr Wright said.
'They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatising my kids.'
The Department for Education refused to comment on the incident, saying they would not do so until the case was closed.
They did however confirm that their Office of the Inspector General had issued the search warrant.
The office has its own branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.
Nice to know that we can be incarcerated and possibly killed for owing money to a school. With debtors prisons back (see previous articles on how to lose your home for owing as little as 50$ on a water bill) we need to start standing up for ourselves or else all our freedoms are going to be lost. These shock troop tactics cannot stand. Remember, anybody entering your house without cause is an enemy, cop or not. Shoot first and ask questions later unless you want to wind up in bodybag yourself. Ask the soldier from Arizona what he should have done when cop Nazis stormed his house and filled him full of holes. The Law is no longer here to protect you but to do the bidding of our new overlords. Until we move en masse to Washington and protest on the National Mall we are all in deep trouble. Time is running out for everyone.
Monday, June 6, 2011
DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: ANTHONY WEINER
No question about who was the big loser the week. Let's see those runner ups.
1)Sarah Palin- Holy Christ can this woman get any dumber. This week Captain Brainless tried to answer a question about the ride of Paul Revere and got absolutely everything wrong. Revere did not warn the British that they were not going to take away the colonists arms nor did he think of himself as a British subject. In response Palin supporters went on Wikipedia and tried to reverse history which was subsequently fixed as having no basis in fact. Palin said it was another gotcha moment. Right. Any jerk who supports this fool should be made an example of.
2)Weather and climate deniers- This week it was mentioned by an activist that any climate denier should have it tattooed on their forehead like a star of David. I'm beginning to agree with him. I keep hearing how weather is dynamic and changes all the time and rare weather patterns are nothing to worry about. I would agree if the science supported that which it doesn't. Yes, rare weather patterns happen all the time and will continue to happen. Rare weather patterns happening over and over is beyond the realm of statistical probability. This week, in my neck of the woods we had four tornadoes touch down, one not far from where I live. And while tornados are rare and one of the deadliest happened in Worcester in the 1950's, we've never had four touch down at once, have them be all strong F4's and go for miles on end. Add this to records being broke world wide every day and you have the proof that our weather is indeed changing.
3)Republicans- Yes the Republicans have started their race to not win the White House which should have been a cake walk. But low and behold they have all said for the most part they like Paul Ryan's suicidal Medicare plan which is about as popular as a root canal. Plus, in Texas Perry and his Lt. Governor missed a prime opportunity to win favor with the public by siding with the TSA in the killing of the recent anti grope bill. Since it has become uber apparent that the people really wanted the bill and have protested en masse since, they have re-started the plan but may be too little too late. If Perry wanted to run for President they missed a rare opportunity. Right now, none of these idiots can beat a very beatable President.
4)Anthony Weiner- The last name alone make this a funny story as this moron posted a picture of him in his undies and now new pictures have also surfaced, destroying his credibility. He seemed incapable of answering a straight question, got hostile with the press as if this was a non story and now that a new girl has come forward with equally damning pictures, so his career is toast. So congratulations, Weiner you are douchebag of the week.
1)Sarah Palin- Holy Christ can this woman get any dumber. This week Captain Brainless tried to answer a question about the ride of Paul Revere and got absolutely everything wrong. Revere did not warn the British that they were not going to take away the colonists arms nor did he think of himself as a British subject. In response Palin supporters went on Wikipedia and tried to reverse history which was subsequently fixed as having no basis in fact. Palin said it was another gotcha moment. Right. Any jerk who supports this fool should be made an example of.
2)Weather and climate deniers- This week it was mentioned by an activist that any climate denier should have it tattooed on their forehead like a star of David. I'm beginning to agree with him. I keep hearing how weather is dynamic and changes all the time and rare weather patterns are nothing to worry about. I would agree if the science supported that which it doesn't. Yes, rare weather patterns happen all the time and will continue to happen. Rare weather patterns happening over and over is beyond the realm of statistical probability. This week, in my neck of the woods we had four tornadoes touch down, one not far from where I live. And while tornados are rare and one of the deadliest happened in Worcester in the 1950's, we've never had four touch down at once, have them be all strong F4's and go for miles on end. Add this to records being broke world wide every day and you have the proof that our weather is indeed changing.
3)Republicans- Yes the Republicans have started their race to not win the White House which should have been a cake walk. But low and behold they have all said for the most part they like Paul Ryan's suicidal Medicare plan which is about as popular as a root canal. Plus, in Texas Perry and his Lt. Governor missed a prime opportunity to win favor with the public by siding with the TSA in the killing of the recent anti grope bill. Since it has become uber apparent that the people really wanted the bill and have protested en masse since, they have re-started the plan but may be too little too late. If Perry wanted to run for President they missed a rare opportunity. Right now, none of these idiots can beat a very beatable President.
4)Anthony Weiner- The last name alone make this a funny story as this moron posted a picture of him in his undies and now new pictures have also surfaced, destroying his credibility. He seemed incapable of answering a straight question, got hostile with the press as if this was a non story and now that a new girl has come forward with equally damning pictures, so his career is toast. So congratulations, Weiner you are douchebag of the week.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Where The Economy Is Headed: Think South. Deep South.
From CNBC
The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.
"It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.
"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing."
"And that’s just in the last week and a bit," said Riddell.
Pointing to the dramatic turnaround in the Citigroup "Economic Surprise Index" for the United States, Riddell said the tumble in a matter of months to negative from positive is almost as bad as the situation before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.
"What we’ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don’t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy.
"We need to find real yield and real returns on these assets. You see bad data, you see Treasurys rally, you see all bonds and all fixed-income rally and then the people who are betting against the U.S. economy start getting bearish on stocks. That’s a huge mistake."
Stocks extended losses after the manufacturing fell below expectations in May and the private sector added only 38,000 jobs during the month.
"Interest rates are amazingly low and that, thanks to Ben Bernanke, is driving everything," Yastrow said. "We’re on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it.
"We have many, many homeowners that are totally underwater here and cannot get out from under. The technology frontier is limited right now. We definitely have an innovation slowdown and the economy’s gonna suffer."
However, he said he wouldn’t sell stocks.
"Any bears out there better be careful because the dividend yields on these stocks look awesome relative to all the other investment vehicles out there," Yastrow said. "So bears are going to have to find a new way to express their discontent with the U.S. economy."
And here's Robert Reich's take on the whole thing.
The US economy was supposed to be in bloom by late spring, but it is hardly growing at all. Expectations for second-quarter growth are not much better than the measly 1.8 per cent annualised rate of the first quarter. That is not nearly fast enough to reduce America’s ferociously high level of unemployment. The labour department will tell us on Friday whether the jobs situation improved in May, but there has been no sign of a surge in hiring. Nor in wages. Average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory employees – who make up 80 per cent of non-government workers – dropped to $8.76 in April. Adjusted for inflation, that’s lower than they were in the depths of the recession.
Meanwhile, housing prices continue to fall. They are now 33 per cent below their 2006 peak. That is a bigger drop than recorded in the Great Depression. Homes are the largest single asset of the American middle class, so as housing prices drop many Americans feel poorer. All of this is contributing to a general gloominess. Not surprisingly, consumer confidence is also down.
The recovery has stalled. It is unlikely that America will find itself back in recession but the possibility of a double dip cannot be dismissed. The problem is not on the supply side of the ledger. Corporate profits are still healthy. Big companies continue to sit on a cash hoard. Large and middle-sized companies can easily borrow more, at low rates. The problem is on the demand side. American consumers, who constitute 70 per cent of the total economy, cannot and will not buy enough to get it moving. They justifiably worry that they will not be able to pay their bills, or afford to send their children to college, or to retire. Banks, with equal justification, are reluctant to lend to them. But as long as consumers hold back, companies remain reluctant to hire new workers or raise the wages of current ones, feeding the vicious cycle.
The timing is unfortunate. Foreign consumers will not help much even if the dollar continues to slide. Europe’s debt crisis and embrace of austerity, Japan’s tragedy and China’s fiscal tightening have reduced global demand. At the same time, the federal stimulus in the US has almost run its course. The Federal Reserve is about to end its $600bn of purchases of Treasury bills, designed to bring down long-term interest rates and make it easier for homeowners to refinance. Worse yet, state governments – starved for revenue and constitutionally barred from running deficits – continue to cut programmes. Local governments are now in worse shape, laying off platoons of teachers and firefighters.
Under normal circumstances, this would be the time for the federal government to take bold action to ward off a double dip. For example, it could put more cash in peoples’ pockets while giving employers an extra incentive to hire by exempting the first $20,000 of earnings from payroll taxes, for a year or two. It could lend money to state and local governments. It could launch a new Work Projects Administration (modelled after its antecedent during the Great Depression) to put the long-term unemployed to work on public projects. It could amend the bankruptcy law to allow people to include their prime residences in personal bankruptcy, thereby giving homeowners more leverage to get mortgage lenders to mitigate the terms of their loans.
But these are not normal circumstances. America has been through a devastating recession that poked a giant hole in the federal budget. And with a presidential election coming up next year, both parties are already manoeuvring for tactical advantage. Since taking over the House of Representatives in January, Republicans have focused on cutting government spending and paring back regulations. Their colleagues in the Senate, whose leader has proclaimed his major goal to unseat President Barack Obama, are almost as single-minded. Cynics might suspect Republicans of quietly hoping the economy stays rotten up until election day.
Democrats, meanwhile, are behaving as if they are powerless to affect the economy, even though a Democrat occupies the White House and his appointees run the federal government. They would rather not dwell on the slowdown because they do not want to spook the bond market or add to the prevailing gloom (Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated comment about the nation’s “malaise” during the stagflation of the late 1970s has served as a permanent admonition for presidents to stay upbeat). Democrats are staking their electoral hopes on continuing disarray among Republican presidential aspirants, as well as the Republicans’ suicidal plan to turn Medicare, the popular health insurance system for seniors, into vouchers that would funnel money to private, for-profit insurance companies.
The result is as if Washington were on another planet from the rest of the country (many Americans would argue this is hardly a new phenomenon). The noisiest battle in the nation’s capital is over raising the statutory debt limit – a game of chicken in which Republicans are demanding, in return for their votes, caps on future federal spending while Democrats insist on preserving the possibility of tax increases on the wealthy. Countless budget analysts are combing through endless projections of government revenues and expenditures in five or 10 years. Think tanks and blue-ribbon panels are issuing voluminous reports on how to tame the budget deficit in decades to come. The president, meanwhile, is trying to appear as fiscally austere as possible – keeping a lid on non-defence discretionary spending, freezing the wages of civil servants and offering his own deficit-reduction plans.
Washington’s paralysis in the face of a stalled recovery is bad news – not just for average Americans but for the world. Ironically, it also worsens America’s future budget crisis because it postpones the day when the debt begins to shrink as a proportion of GDP. Yet as the 2012 campaign season looms, the prospects for sensible policy seem to decrease by the day.
Feel good about where we are headed now?
The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.
"It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.
"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing."
"And that’s just in the last week and a bit," said Riddell.
Pointing to the dramatic turnaround in the Citigroup "Economic Surprise Index" for the United States, Riddell said the tumble in a matter of months to negative from positive is almost as bad as the situation before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.
"What we’ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don’t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy.
"We need to find real yield and real returns on these assets. You see bad data, you see Treasurys rally, you see all bonds and all fixed-income rally and then the people who are betting against the U.S. economy start getting bearish on stocks. That’s a huge mistake."
Stocks extended losses after the manufacturing fell below expectations in May and the private sector added only 38,000 jobs during the month.
"Interest rates are amazingly low and that, thanks to Ben Bernanke, is driving everything," Yastrow said. "We’re on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it.
"We have many, many homeowners that are totally underwater here and cannot get out from under. The technology frontier is limited right now. We definitely have an innovation slowdown and the economy’s gonna suffer."
However, he said he wouldn’t sell stocks.
"Any bears out there better be careful because the dividend yields on these stocks look awesome relative to all the other investment vehicles out there," Yastrow said. "So bears are going to have to find a new way to express their discontent with the U.S. economy."
And here's Robert Reich's take on the whole thing.
The US economy was supposed to be in bloom by late spring, but it is hardly growing at all. Expectations for second-quarter growth are not much better than the measly 1.8 per cent annualised rate of the first quarter. That is not nearly fast enough to reduce America’s ferociously high level of unemployment. The labour department will tell us on Friday whether the jobs situation improved in May, but there has been no sign of a surge in hiring. Nor in wages. Average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory employees – who make up 80 per cent of non-government workers – dropped to $8.76 in April. Adjusted for inflation, that’s lower than they were in the depths of the recession.
Meanwhile, housing prices continue to fall. They are now 33 per cent below their 2006 peak. That is a bigger drop than recorded in the Great Depression. Homes are the largest single asset of the American middle class, so as housing prices drop many Americans feel poorer. All of this is contributing to a general gloominess. Not surprisingly, consumer confidence is also down.
The recovery has stalled. It is unlikely that America will find itself back in recession but the possibility of a double dip cannot be dismissed. The problem is not on the supply side of the ledger. Corporate profits are still healthy. Big companies continue to sit on a cash hoard. Large and middle-sized companies can easily borrow more, at low rates. The problem is on the demand side. American consumers, who constitute 70 per cent of the total economy, cannot and will not buy enough to get it moving. They justifiably worry that they will not be able to pay their bills, or afford to send their children to college, or to retire. Banks, with equal justification, are reluctant to lend to them. But as long as consumers hold back, companies remain reluctant to hire new workers or raise the wages of current ones, feeding the vicious cycle.
The timing is unfortunate. Foreign consumers will not help much even if the dollar continues to slide. Europe’s debt crisis and embrace of austerity, Japan’s tragedy and China’s fiscal tightening have reduced global demand. At the same time, the federal stimulus in the US has almost run its course. The Federal Reserve is about to end its $600bn of purchases of Treasury bills, designed to bring down long-term interest rates and make it easier for homeowners to refinance. Worse yet, state governments – starved for revenue and constitutionally barred from running deficits – continue to cut programmes. Local governments are now in worse shape, laying off platoons of teachers and firefighters.
Under normal circumstances, this would be the time for the federal government to take bold action to ward off a double dip. For example, it could put more cash in peoples’ pockets while giving employers an extra incentive to hire by exempting the first $20,000 of earnings from payroll taxes, for a year or two. It could lend money to state and local governments. It could launch a new Work Projects Administration (modelled after its antecedent during the Great Depression) to put the long-term unemployed to work on public projects. It could amend the bankruptcy law to allow people to include their prime residences in personal bankruptcy, thereby giving homeowners more leverage to get mortgage lenders to mitigate the terms of their loans.
But these are not normal circumstances. America has been through a devastating recession that poked a giant hole in the federal budget. And with a presidential election coming up next year, both parties are already manoeuvring for tactical advantage. Since taking over the House of Representatives in January, Republicans have focused on cutting government spending and paring back regulations. Their colleagues in the Senate, whose leader has proclaimed his major goal to unseat President Barack Obama, are almost as single-minded. Cynics might suspect Republicans of quietly hoping the economy stays rotten up until election day.
Democrats, meanwhile, are behaving as if they are powerless to affect the economy, even though a Democrat occupies the White House and his appointees run the federal government. They would rather not dwell on the slowdown because they do not want to spook the bond market or add to the prevailing gloom (Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated comment about the nation’s “malaise” during the stagflation of the late 1970s has served as a permanent admonition for presidents to stay upbeat). Democrats are staking their electoral hopes on continuing disarray among Republican presidential aspirants, as well as the Republicans’ suicidal plan to turn Medicare, the popular health insurance system for seniors, into vouchers that would funnel money to private, for-profit insurance companies.
The result is as if Washington were on another planet from the rest of the country (many Americans would argue this is hardly a new phenomenon). The noisiest battle in the nation’s capital is over raising the statutory debt limit – a game of chicken in which Republicans are demanding, in return for their votes, caps on future federal spending while Democrats insist on preserving the possibility of tax increases on the wealthy. Countless budget analysts are combing through endless projections of government revenues and expenditures in five or 10 years. Think tanks and blue-ribbon panels are issuing voluminous reports on how to tame the budget deficit in decades to come. The president, meanwhile, is trying to appear as fiscally austere as possible – keeping a lid on non-defence discretionary spending, freezing the wages of civil servants and offering his own deficit-reduction plans.
Washington’s paralysis in the face of a stalled recovery is bad news – not just for average Americans but for the world. Ironically, it also worsens America’s future budget crisis because it postpones the day when the debt begins to shrink as a proportion of GDP. Yet as the 2012 campaign season looms, the prospects for sensible policy seem to decrease by the day.
Feel good about where we are headed now?
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