And this...

For those reasons, it will be up to future historians to interpret why the American people of the current generation just sat on their asses quietly, passively, while their world caved-in all around them.

/snip/

America, the strong "superpower" is fast becoming a pauper state which cannot be saved by any conceivable military action, no matter what the brainwashed "warrior culture" believes to the contrary.  Americans will remain on their asses, while the TV tells them that some "surge," escalation, or other military ejaculation issues forth to cover the crime scenes with their superior warrior seed, thus miraculously saving the town and the blushing leading lady, and the "hero" rules the day.  The armchair patriots will wipe a tear from their eyes, knowing that all is swell here in "Pleasantville," and the bankers will really haved saved our Nation from the greed that enslaves us all, until their TVs are taken or have no power, and their busted armchairs sit propped-up on bricks in the alley or behind the local mall.
Sit on your asses and mock those stupid Europeans, as they pour into the streets and demand that government save their "Socialist" health care system.  Suppress your instinct to react to my words by smacking me in the face for a few moments, while your minds have time to reflect on what I have said, and your wiser internal voice will tell you that I am right.]
http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/europeans-march-to-survive-americans-play-army-and-pray-for-unemployment-extensions/

Bunker mentality in the European Union

"...if you rob people of their identity, if you rob them of their democracy, then all they are left with is nationalism and violence. I can only hope and pray that the euro project is destroyed by the markets before that really happens."

'nuff said

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/11/congress-median-household-net-worth-one.html

Quantitative Easing For Dummies Like US

Obama Ain't Got No Seoul

Obama and his posse rolled into Seoul looking to regulate on some currency moves. To create a consensus of nations to push back on China for their currency manipulation and to push back on Germany and others for running trade surpluses. By their own doing, Obama, Geithner and Bernanke have failed. The US has been weakened and credibility, authority have been lost. Obama transformed the G-20 meeting into the G-19 vs. 1 meeting.

Bernanke is a Wolf Woman in Drag

Wolf Woman defined = A woman that you, in a drunken state, pick up in a bar, go back to her place and foolishly don't leave after the deed is done. When you awaken the next morning in a sober state and see how unattractive your bed mate is, you want to distance yourself from her so bad, you make the decision to gnaw off the arm she is sleeping on instead of moving your arm due to the fear you'll awaken her.

"With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless. What the U.S. accuses China of doing, the U.S.A. is doing by different means,” the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble said of the Fed’s decision.

"The German export success is not due to any currency tricks but rather due to the improved competitiveness of German companies," Schaeuble said. "The American growth model is stuck in a deep crisis."The United States has lived beyond its means for too long, its financial sector is disproportionally inflated and its industrial core neglected. There are many reasons for America's problems ... the German export surplus is not one of them."

"The Federal Reserve's proposed policy of quantitative easing is a dangerous gamble with only a small potential upside benefit and substantial risks of creating asset bubbles that could destabilize the global economy," Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A50VN20101106?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101105/bs_nm/us_global_economy

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/11/05/feds-hoenig-on-qe2-low-rates-and-future-instability/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Feconomics%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Real+Time+Economics+Blog%29

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/11/123_75828.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A00U420101105

http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-fleckenstein-barton-biggs-qe2-2010-11

Ben Dandy to the rescue! Ben Dandy to the rescue!

Go, Ben Dandy! Go, Ben Dandy!

'Twas the Night Before QE 2

Twas the night before QE2, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Wall St banker louse

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that Ben Shalom soon would be there

Blankfein and Dimon were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of free money danced in their heads

The Fish...it rots from its head...

I am not naive. I understand that corruption in governments, financial markets are as old as governments and financial markets themselves. But I get a growing sense of awareness that it is different this time. It could very well just be me but, I doubt it. Too many people I've spoken with, polls I've read show me there is an utter disdain with Wall St., bankers, the bailed out TBTF's, both political parties and the government itself.

Bernanke is a coward thief in the night that equates his role as the chief global currency manipulator as to playing with his own putter

Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, (talk about biting the hand that feeds you), refers to Bernanke as a coward thief due to his stealing from the US middle class, savers and retirees via his money printing, ZIRP, etc. The coward part comes from the denial from the Fed that they are manipulating the currency, devaluing the US dollar as other nations taking part in the same currency manipulation as Bernanke, do it openly. Mr. Buiter also states unequivocally that "savage austerity" is in the US's future:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/willem-buiter-us-must-prepare-savage-austerity

Speaking to QE2, the amount there of, Bernanke muses:  "Mr. Bernanke uses the analogy of a golfer with a new putter: Unsure how it will work, he finds best strategy is to tap lightly at first and keep tapping until the golfer figures out how best to use the putter."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303891804575576533845166848.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

What do Greece, Hungary, Italy, Niger and the US have in common?

All are included in nations where perceptions of corruption had deteriorated the most. The US fell from 19 to a tie for 22nd on the list, their worst ranking in the 15 year history of the study. The US barely edged out Uruguay for 22nd on the list. Iraq and Afghanistan ranked 175 and 176 respectively out of 178 nations.
http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

I think if this ranking of US corruption was done by US citizens, the US would of fared much worse. For example:

Beggar thy Neighbor or good fences make good neighbors. Fatboy reports, you decide.

"The Dollar is our Currency, but Your Problem"
US Treasury secretary John Connally to a delegation of European finance ministers in 1971

"I got some ideas on Mr. Connally. He ain't never done nothin' but get shot in Dallas."
Bob Bulloch Texas Secretary of State 1972

"Now, in my State of the Union address I set a goal of doubling America’s exports over the next five years."
Barack Obama March 11, 2010

Beggar-thy-neighbor:
A devaluation that is designed to cheapen a nation's currency and thereby increase its exports at other countries' expense and reduce imports. Such devaluations often lead to trade wars.

Breaking! Canada vows to be relentless in pressuring China to revalue the yuan

Breaking news! Canada, the great white north has vowed to be relentless in keeping pressure on China. The great white north, speaks "Canadian policy makers said they will be “relentless” in keeping pressure on China and other economies with fixed exchange rates to allow their currencies to appreciate". Here's video of the Canadian PM and Central banker making their forceful comments regarding China: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ZvAVcBIrQ

Krugman continues to make no sense

"But the truth is that if the economic situation were better — if unemployment had fallen substantially over the past year — we wouldn’t be having this discussion. We would, instead, be talking about modest Democratic losses, no more than is usual in midterm elections."

The truth is they're not. What's up with the what ifs?

"The real story of this election, then, is that of an economic policy that failed to deliver. Why? Because it was greatly inadequate to the task."

Krugman continues to argue for mo' money though the bailed out US banks are stuffed to their gills with cash. Demand is needed, not more cash on bank's balance sheets. And as Obama said "there is no such thing as shovel ready projects." So I don't see where Krugman is going with this.

Top 74 US wage earners earned as much as the bottom 19 million workers

Great to be in a recovery. Especially if you're one of the top 74 wage earners. Less wage earners in the US now then in 2005 with a decline in wages. "The number of Americans making $50 million or more, the top income category in the data, fell from 131 in 2008 to 74 last year." Good news right? The pain of the recession was spread evenly. Wrong. "The average wage in this top category increased from $91.2 million in 2008 to an astonishing $518.8 million in 2009. That’s nearly $10 million in weekly pay!" So the US went from 131 people making $50 million or more in 2008 to 74 in 2009 but those 74 saw their wages increase from $91.2 million to $518 million or ten million dollars a week!

The Bottomless Pit that is US Unemployment

The US needs to create approx. 150,000 new jobs every month just to keep pace with the new entrants into the labor force. Over eight million jobs have been lost during the recession. To get the levels of unemployment back to pre-recession levels, 300,000 new jobs would have to be created every month for the next forty eight months. Or over 200,000 new jobs created every month for the next 120 months to return to pre-recession levels
more:
"If you add in discouraged workers, the underemployed, and those working part time who would rather be working full time, the true number of unemployed is closer to 30 million, or about one in five working age Americans. Never mind the statistics that the government pumps out monthly are meaningless. They have been for decades.
The real problem is that the economy is obliterating jobs far faster than anyone realizes."
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-nonfarm-payroll-figures-are-meaningless

Over $26 million paid to doctors in California alone by Big Pharma to promote their drugs

In an earlier post, I provided a link to an article by Dr. Carl Elliot titled "How to brand a disease, and sell a cure." ( http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/11/elliott.branding.disease/) Dr. Elliot laid out the tactics used by Big Pharma to create the conditions for their prescription meds to sell themselves. He compared these tactics to those made popular by Edward Bernays and used by Joesph Goebbels.

Today Pro Publica goes deeper into this subject and lists the amount paid by Big Pharma to states and MD's alike. Not only was $26 million to MD's in the state of California but, according to Pro Publica Dr. Firhaad Ismail of Nevada received $303,558.00 from Big Pharma in 2009 and early 2010 barely beating Dr. Stephen H. Landy from Tennessee who received $302,125.00 for the top spot.

Much more information in the article including a tool to enter your doctor's name to find out if he or she received compensation from Big Pharma to promote, sell their meds.

As Bernays said "In almost every aspect of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."

http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/

Treasury Secretary Geithner wins liar of the month. Congrats Timmy!

"Given all the problems with foreclosures, it might seem hard to pick a winner for the lie of the month contest. However, fraud and lies are not the same thing, but even if they were, Geithner is up to the task."


http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/10/lie-of-month-geithner-says-us-will-not.html

Tim Geithner is a liar

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed on Monday that the United States would not devalue the dollar for export advantage

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_dollar_geithner;_ylt=As0Qok3eSsiIQD0d3N7_0Cys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNxcXJwcGJwBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAxMDE5L3VzX3VzYV9kb2xsYXJfZ2VpdGhuZXIEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM3BHBvcwM0BHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDZ2VpdGhuZXJ2b3dz

I'm a Chiquita banana and I've come to say, we stole the land from Guatemala with the help of the CIA

The last post I touched briefly on the CIA/Chiquita banana/Edward Bernays overthrow of the first democratically elected leader of Guatemala, Jacoba Arbenz Guzman who in 1951 was elected with 60% of the votes. Guzman pissed the Chiquita Banana's off with his program of land expropriation of only uncultivated portions of large plantations. Owners of expropriated land were compensated according to the worth of the land claimed in May 1952 tax assessments. Chiquita banana's had claimed on their 1952 tax statements their vast holdings of uncultivated land were worth $3 per acre. Guzman's government was prepared to pay Chiquita the $3 per acre when Chiquita said "wait a minute, that land is actually worth $75 an acre" but refused to explain the precipitous jump in its own determination of the land's value. Eisenhower, fresh off his successful coup/overthrow of Iran's Mossadegh was convinced by Chiquita and Bernays to aid in the overthrow of Guzman.

In 1954, Operation Washtub was launched by the CIA at the behest of the Chiquita banana's and the assistance of Edward Bernays. Operation Washtub was a plan to plant phony Soviet arms in Guatemala, linking the Guzman government to the commies to therefore show an imminent threat to the US southern borders from the Guzman government. But, a shipment from Czechoslovakia with a falsified manifesto containing WW II era, barely functional arms was discovered and Washtub was scrubbed. This was seen as the final proof of Guzman's Soviets contacts and the coup was implemented, Guzman fled and Chiquita Brands International has gone on make a fortune. Never buy Chiquita banana's again.

 

We are human beings, not consumers.

 “We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.”
Paul Mazer, a Wall Street banker 1933

"We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace."
Walter Lippman

Most if not all of you have heard of Sigmund Freud. Many of you have heard of his nephew Edward Bernays. In his obituary Edward Bernays was referred to as "the father of public relations". Bernays felt that the public's democratic judgment was "not to be relied upon" and he feared that "they [the American public] could very easily vote for the wrong man or want the wrong thing, so that they had to be guided from above". He felt this manipulation was necessary in society, which he regarded as irrational and dangerous. Sounds like a paranoid control freak to me. An extremely wealthy paranoid, control freak.

One of Bernays' most extreme political propaganda activities were said to be conducted on behalf of the Chiquita Brands International company and the US govt. to facilitate the successful overthrow of the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacob Guzman. Bernays propaganda labelling Guzman as a communist was published in major US media creating public support among US citizens for the overthrow of the democratically elected Guzman. With Guzman out of the picture, this allowed Chiquita Brands to exploit the virtual slave labor in Guatemala in order to produce cheap bananas for the lucrative U.S. market. Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Paul Joesph Goebbels used Bernays' book Crystallizing Public Opinion as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany. In a recent article by Dr. Carl Elliot, Dr. Elliot states that the methods of propaganda used by Bernays and Goebbels are now being used by the pharmaceutical industry in what is known as "disease branding." http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/11/elliott.branding.disease/

Branding bacon and eggs as a "healthy" American breakfast and encouraging women to smoke cigarettes often and openly in public overcoming a then social taboo are more of Bernays' accomplishments. Following are some selected quotes of Bernays' (and you thought it was George Bush who coined the phrase "make the world safe for democracy") and links to the award winning 2002 documentary series "The Century of the Self" by Adam Curtis, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with. If not, please take the time to view this fascinating four part documentary series each running approximately sixty minutes. As you're watching, or if you choose not to watch, remember, we are human beings, not consumers. As always, thanks for reading.


"When I came back to the United States, I decided that if you could use propaganda for war, you could certainly use it for peace. And 'propaganda' got to be a bad word because of the Germans using it, so what I did was to try and find some other words so we found the words 'public relations'."

"I was at the 1926 Paris Peace conference. Make the world safe for democracy was the big slogan"

"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of… In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."
-Edward Bernays-

Part 1 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1122532358497501036#docid=6718420906413643126
Part 2 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-678466363224520614#
Part 3 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4059451562019895635#
Part 4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1122532358497501036#

Bernanke is a liar and a money printer

I first heard the "liar and money printer" from Marc Faber. He wasn't speaking about Bernanke personally, what he said was "all bankers are liars and all central bankers are liars and money printers." After watching, listening to Bernanke these last few years, I have to agree with Faber. Bernanke's speech this morning hints at more money printing. As this is being done, fingers continue to be pointed at China for "currency manipulation." And what is more printing from Bernanke but currency manipulation?

Anna Schwartz: Bernanke is fighting the last war..

Published two years ago in the WSJ. Probaly the best article I've read on this subject.

"This was [his] claim to be worthy of running the Fed," she says. He was "familiar with history. He knew what had been done." But perhaps this is actually Mr. Bernanke's biggest problem. Today's crisis isn't a replay of the problem in the 1930s, but our central bankers have responded by using the tools they should have used then. They are fighting the last war.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122428279231046053.html

Donate $3 and register to win a trip to Vegas to meet the President? Michelle Obama thankful for clean spirits around her?

Please donate $3 or more to be automatically entered to win a trip to Las Vegas to meet me backstage:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Backstage

I hope to see you out there,

President Barack Obama

P.S. -- Making a donation automatically registers you for the sweepstakes. You may also enter the sweepstakes without making a contribution either online or via text message -- click here to enter online or here for instructions on how to enter via text message. No minimum contribution is necessary to be registered.

and: "..people who are keeping the spirits clean around us," First Lady Michelle Obama said

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/13/michelle_obama_it_means_the_world_that_there_are_prayer_circles_out_there.html

also: Obama “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/president-obama-looks-forward-and-back/

finally: Obama’s approval rating fell to a new low of 43 percent since he took office, down from 47 percent last month, according to a Reuters-Ipsos national poll.

Ipsos pollsters say it appears that much of that drop comes from Democrats whose approval of Obama fell to 70 percent from 78 percent last month.
http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2010/10/13/reuters-ipsos-poll-obama-approval-drops-to-43-pct-driven-by-democrats/

Fatboy here. That 70% approval among democrats probably has Brand Obama very concerned.

p.s. Fatboy voted for Obama

What does that have to do with the price of anchovies in Peru?

I know there’s the myth of the autonomous Fed… [short laugh] and when you go up for confirmation some Senator may ask you about your friendship with the President. Appearances are going to be important, so you can call Ehrlichman to get messages to me, and he’ll call you.

Richard Nixon to Arthur Burns

Arthur Burns. Born April 27, 1904. Died June 6, 1987. Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978. Nominated to the post of Fed Chairman by a criminal, Dick Nixon. Birds of a feather flock together. After Burns was sworn in, Dick Nixon told the assembled crowd of leering, drooling pigmen "I respect his independence. However, I hope that independently he will conclude that my views are the ones that should be followed." The crowd of pigmen then cheered "You see, Dr. Burns, that is a standing vote for lower interest rates and more money."

Back in the early 1970s, when both energy and food prices were soaring, Burns needed a lower measure of inflation so that he could justify not pushing interest rates as high as they should have been. When oil prices surged in 1973-74,  Burns asked the Fed's economists to strip out energy from the consumer-price index (CPI). to get a “less distorted measure of inflation.” Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop with just oil - food prices were stripped out too,  Burns claimed the disappearance of anchovies off the coast of Peru was the cause of food inflation, and beyond the Fed’s jurisdiction, followed by used cars, children's toys, jewelry, housing and so on, until about half the costs consumers battled in their daily struggle with rising prices.

Subsequent administrations continued to tinker with inflation calculations, in ever more creative ways. In 1983, the BLS decided that “owner equivalent rent” was a better way to measure the housing-cost component of the Consumer Price Index, replacing the actual cost of owning a home with an estimate of what the house might cost to rent. Their justification being: "The owner's equivalent rent index measures the change in the rental income foregone by a household that chooses to occupy a dwelling that it owns. This measure is used because the alternative of measuring acquisition costs of residences is conceptually inappropriate for the CPI. The CPI tracks the change in the cost of living, that is, in the cost of current consumption. Yet investment considerations play a large role in acquisitions of residences. Moreover, unlike money spent on items that do not hold their value, money that is spent to acquire a residence is not "gone" in the sense that it cannot be reclaimed. Money spent on a residence usually can be recovered - often with a profit - by selling".

A full rebuttal can be found at http://caps.fool.com/blogs/the-bea-pretends-stupider-than/35057

Sentence #1. The owner's equivalent rent index measures the change in the rental income foregone by a household that chooses to occupy a dwelling that it owns. This sentence, restated in plain English, takes us to the never-never land of would-be incomes and would-be economic activities - things that a statistician worth his salt should never even consider.   The world of lost opportunities is always endless.

The manipulation of statistics, numbers and data to serve political ends is non-partisan. This is used to enhance GDP and mask inflation among other ends. The masking of inflation is then used not only as Burns did and Bernanke is doing now by keeping rates artificially low, but also for not raising cost of living allowances to retirees and others. For the second year in a row, there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security. So seniors, savers earning 1% on their CD's will now see another year of no COLA. But the banks are healthy borrowing taxpayer money at zero, buying US debt for a few percent more then selling that same debt back to the Federal Reserve for another loan at 0% to buy more US debt. Wash, rinse and repeat. No job growth. No wage growth.

Why do Mexican gangs behead people?

See also: http://fatboysez.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-history-of-beheadings-in-mexico.html


When these beheadings first started south of the border, I read that it was linked to Mexicans returning from fighting for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not sure how valid that is but it is a new phenomenon that continues. The latest being the beheading of the Mexican police commander presumed to be investigating the reported pirate attack against David Michael Hartley on Falcon Lake:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7243583.html

and:

Three people found decapitated in Culiacan
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.blogdelnarco.com/&ei=tU5lTML-L8aAlAfT7enWDg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBlog%2Bdel%2BNarco%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu%26rlz%3D1I7TSNA_enUS386US386%26prmd%3Dnl

also:

Tijuana .- Six people were killed in the last few hours in Tijuana and two were beheaded and hung from a bridge, officials said.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2010/10/cuelgan-en-puente-de-tijuana-dos.html&ei=4wq1TM3NBYbGlQedqMnDCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.blogdelnarco.com/2010/10/cuelgan-en-puente-de-tijuana-dos.html%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7TSNA_enUS386US386%26prmd%3Div


All these incidents were reported today. Mexico, no longer the sleepy country south of the border

Why can't we do this in the US?

"Sarko, you're screwed, the young are on the streets,"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8059957/French-strikes-3.5-million-take-to-streets-to-protest-pension-reform.html

Show me the paper

http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/wheresthenote?js=true

Death of Bretton Woods 2?

One hobby of mine is to find, read books and papers on economic or social theory that are five, ten or twenty years old. It gives a good insight to the authors ability to discern the future or future trends and whether or not to read their more current works. Three examples would be:

Unholy Wars written by John K. Cooley published in 1999. Has a picture of Bin Ladin on the front.

The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe. Published in 1997. Chapter ten is prescient.

Last and least, Yen!  Japan's new financial empire and its threat to America!  by Daniel Burstein. Published in 1990. First paragraph of Yen! "November 2004. America, battered by astronomical debts and reeling from prolonged economic decline, is gripped by a new and grave economic crisis. Like all  such events, the causes are multiple and complex. But the president-elect and the voters who chose him by a landslide see only a single cause and a single culprit for America's problems: the Japanese."
 In fairness to Mr. Burstein, he wasn't that far off. Add an election cycle or two, change Japan to China, yen to yuan and poof! He'd be a guru.


Five year old paper from Roubini and Setser. One who I can tolerate, the other I detest. I'm barely into it but I find it interesting so far. Fifty five pages:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Pl4_Me98Lj0J:citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.127.3567%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf+Bretton+Woods+2&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg9cxiSM6fiGCuQQm-tGr6f4xrfRPGBEoRk_yrfN32Y8Fmk4onAC7T-qQmnpuKDSrA4DDVgneKIJgi0-p0a5Mp0GiUXKbbg2RkpVuFOOzhTExttfuHVZ_70w76oyHvthFLNdiz9&sig=AHIEtbSBwWF8BwwM36EHap3zk-cPVZyhaA

How to create an American job

Great article by Andy Grove from last summer. When a billionaire calls for changes that would cost him money, I listen

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-01/how-to-make-an-american-job-before-it-s-too-late-andy-grove.html

Bizzare

Albino body parts are sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in parts of Africa
Thousands of albinos are estimated to live in hiding.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101011/D9IPJ1O80.html

Rampant foreclosure fraud

Best post I've read on this issue.

http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/foreclosure-fraud-for-dummies-1-the-chains-and-the-stakes/

CSPAN video on currency wars

Desmond Lachman of the AEI makes some good points Video approx. 43 minutes

 

more currency wars mumbo jumbo

Consider the enormity of the situation at hand.  The Federal Reserve is poised to crank up the printing press for the sake of satisfying their domestic mandate.  One mechanism, perhaps the only mechanism, by which we can expect meaningful, sustained reversal from the current set of imbalances is via a significant depreciation of the dollar.  The rest of the world appears prepared to fight the Fed because they know no other path

http://economistsview.typepad.com/timduy/

Good morning. Very good article on currency wars.

Currency – The Weapon of Choice in Trade Wars in a World of Lower Demand
http://www.eurointelligence.com/index.php?id=581&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2918&tx_ttnews[backPid]=901&cHash=8989e62bf2

and this:


The atomic bomb, of course, is quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. America has in effect issued an ultimatum to China and G20: either you stop this predatory behaviour and agree to some formula for global rebalancing, or we will deploy QE2 `a l’outrance’ to flood your economies with excess liquidity. We will cause you to overheat and drive up your wage costs. We will impose a de facto currency revaluation by more brutal and disruptive means, and there is little you can do to stop it. Pick your poison.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8054066/Currency-wars-are-necessary-if-all-else-fails.html


 and something on China's options regarding their holdings of US debt

http://www.brookings.edu/testimony/2010/0225_us_china_debt_prasad.aspx

China or the US are currency manipulators?

Many politicians are pointing fingers at China accusing them of keeping their currency under valued and therefore making their exports artificially cheap. Obama and Little Timmy Geithner have also made these claims. But are they true?

In a way, yes they are true. China doesn't allow their currency to float vs. other currencies and allow the free markets (which aren't free or markets) to set an exchange rate. Why doesn't China allow this? If China did allow their currency to float, the Federal Reserve and the US treasury would purchase massive amounts of the Chinese yuan and loan massive amounts of taxpayer dollars or printed US dollars to Wall St. IB's to buy more yuan. This would cause the value of the yuan to skyrocket. Thus increasing the costs of Chinese exports to US consumers. Many state this will create jobs in the US. It would create a few jobs but not many at all. US manufacturing has been hollowed out these last forty years. From textiles to electronics to automobiles. If the yuan would float, appreciate vs. the dollar, sock factories, T-shirt shops and other low value manufacturers would not sprout up in the US. Cambodia, Bangladesh and Vietnam would see jobs increase, not the US.

US taxpayers owe China over $1 trillion in treasury, bond and dollar holdings. By increasing the value of the yuan, US debt is decreased by that same amount. Good idea you say? Maybe, maybe not. What if China says enough of this and sells their US debt holdings causing interest rates to ramp up? If that would occur it would be an ominous sign due to the fact the US has such massive amounts of debt that any significant run up in interest rates would be devastating to the US. The money needed to service the debt would cause tax increases and cuts to all expenses even military.

The US has the privilege of possessing the world's sole reserve currency. This has been in place for over sixty years. This affords the US a constant, built in market for their debt. Dollars are always in demand. A nation buys oil from OPEC it pays in US dollars. Majority of finance trade deals are settled in US dollars. This privilege earns the US approx. $5-800 billion per year depending on how you look at it. Basically paying for the entire defense budget minus Iraq/Afghanistan wars. When, not if the US loses this privilege the US taxpayers will pay.

Quantitative or credit easing, QE 1 and soon to be QE 2 is nothing more than currency manipulation. The same thing the US accuses China of doing, it does in spades. As does Japan without  a global uproar. It is money printing in the electronic age. Instead of physically printing the money, entries are made in a computer and Poof! mo money, mo money, mo money! The US money supply is increased, doubled or even tripled from a few years ago. Who gets this money? I assure you it's not me or you, it's Wall St, the IB's and the Primary dealers of US debt. The Treasury issues, sells debt to the markets. The Fed then comes behind these "auctions" and buys this debt back with freshly electronically printed greenbacks. This is done by the Fed to create jobs. I'm serious, that's what they claim. But we all know this isn't happening. This free money is being used to increase stock prices, commodity prices, asset prices as a whole. Been grocery shopping lately? Thank Ben Bernanke for increase in prices.

I'm just a layman with a layman's understanding of very complex issues. But, I also am an information junkie that has spent hundred's, thousand's of hours reading, researching these complex issues. My aim is to attempt to explain these issues in straight forward and simple terms. I very much encourage you, my reader to follow through with your own research. Click on the provided links for much more information. Google is your friend. TPTB, the elites, and the establishment democrat and republican parties are not your friend.

I'm going to go get something to eat. I'm hungry. Thank you loyal readers.

Fatboy