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Egon von Greyerz: "A Hyperinflationary Deluge Is Imminent", And Why, Therefore, Bernanke's Motto Is "Après Nous Le Déluge"
From Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management
Apres Nous, Le Deluge
Happy days are here again! Stock markets
are strong, company profits are up, bankers are making record profits
and bonuses, unemployment is declining, and inflation is non-existent.
Obama and Bernanke are the dream team making the US into the Superpower
it once was.
Yes, it is amazing
the castles in the air that can be built with paper money and deceitful
manipulation of all economic data. And Madame Bernanke de Pompadour
will do anything to keep King Louis XV Obama happy, including flooding
markets with unlimited amounts of printed money. They both know that, in
their holy alliance, they are committing a cardinal sin. But clinging
to power is more important than the good of the country. An economic
and social disaster is imminent for the US and a major part of the world
and Bernanke de Pompadour and Louis XV Obama are praying that it won’t
happen during their reign: “Après nous le déluge”. (Warm thanks to my
good friend the artist Leo Lein).
Moral and financial decadence
A deluge of an unprecedented magnitude
is both inevitable and imminent. The consequences of the economic and
political mismanagement will have a devastating impact on the world for a
very long time. And the consequences will touch most corners of the
world in so many different areas; economic, financial, social, political
and geopolitical. The adjustment that the world will undergo in the
next decade or longer, will be of such colossal magnitude that life will
be very different for coming generations compared to the current
social, financial and moral decadence. But history always gives us
lessons and the one that is coming will be necessary and eventually good
for the world. But the transition and adjustment will be extremely
traumatic for most of us.
We have reached a degree of decadence
that in many aspects equals what happened in the Roman Empire before its
fall. The family is no longer the kernel of society. More than 50% of
children in the Western world grow up in a one parent home, either being
born by a single mother or with divorced parents. Children are neither
taught ethical or moral values nor discipline. Many children consider
attending school as optional and education standards are declining
precipitously. Most families do not have a meal around the dinner table
even once a week. Sex and violence are common place on television and
in real life. Both press and television create totally false values and
ideals. Everyone must be young and beautiful often enhanced by surgical
or digital means. Old people have little value and their wisdom is not
benefitting the younger generations.
The Golden Calf or materialism is the
ultimate value that is worshipped and no means are eschewed to attain
material goals. Since most of the prosperity that has been achieved in
the last 40 years is based on printed money and debt, it is totally
false and unsustainable. A major part of the Western world has improved
their living standard, by exchanging services and swapping houses at
ever rising prices financed by printed paper and credit. The perceived
wealth that is created out of this is illusory and ephemeral. We have created a world economy which is based on debt and thin air.
The Gini coefficient of income and wealth
is now reaching extremes in many countries. This measures th
e
inequality between the rich and the poor. In the US the Gini coefficient
is now at the same level as in the 1920s before the depression. In
countries like the US, the rich are getting richer whilst 45 million
people live below the poverty line, 43 million receive food stamps and
over 700,000 are homeless. With a real unemployment rate of 22% and
urban youth unemployment much higher, the US will soon experience social
unrest.
But it is not only the US that will
experience financial misery, famine and social unrest. This will also
hit most European countries and in particular the UK, southern Europe,
Eastern Europe and the Baltic States as well as African countries, the
Middle East, Asia, yes in fact the whole world.
Are boom and busts inevitable?
Well if you listened to the former
British Labour Prime Minster Gordon Brown, he proudly declared that he
had abolished booms and busts and thus economic cycles. But he was
expeditiously thrown out at the next bust which of course had nothing to
do with him since he blamed the US sub-prime market for his ill-fated
destiny.
Cycles or ebbs and flows are a natural
part of both economic life and nature. And right at the point when
something could be done to limit the damage, most nations seem to have
the uncanny knack of selecting the political individuals who will put
fuel on the fire and make the situation catastrophically worse.
Greenspan was one such individual.
During his 19 years as Chairman of the Fed, he could have limited the
economic and social damage that the US would suffer. Instead he took
every single measure possible to ensure that there would be a
catastrophe with uncontrollable consequences. But we shouldn’t just
blame the incompetence of Greenspan. It was sickening to watch every
sycophantic congressman and senator licking Greenspan’s boots and
praising his wisdom. Because Greenspan’s money printing and incompetent
interest rate management created one of the biggest financial bubbles in
world economic history. But the politicians loved this. It made the
stock market boom, and house prices surge. Thus the politicians were all
loved by their voters who did not understand the dire consequences that
were looming. And Bernanke de Pompadour is continuing the same
disastrous policies of creating money out of thin air. When will they
ever learn that creating money out of thin air and running astronomical
deficits that never will be repaid with normal money leads to the road
of total ruin? When will they ever learn? The very sad
answer is that they won’t and therefore they are leading the world into a
hyperinflationary depression that will have uncontrollable and
cataclysmic consequences for current and future generations.
Empty stomachs are rioting
We have for years warned about
hyperinflation leading to famine, misery and social unrest. Well, this
is exactly what is happening in many parts of the world. The protests
and overthrowing of regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are primarily
due to a major part of the peoples of these nations having no job, no
money and little food. It is their empty stomachs that are rioting. In
addition they are protesting against the leaders of these countries
stealing from the people.
It is virtually certain that these riots
will spread to many countries in the Middle East, Africa and the
developing world. This will lead to new regimes and new political orders
that could either be far left or far right politically or religious
extremists. But the new regimes will not be in a position to change the
root of the problem which is famine and poverty. In Egypt for example
there has been a quiet military coup. It is unlikely that a democratic
regime will take over from the military. So the people will protest
again and again. And this will be the same in most countries. Eventually
the people will take the law into their own hands since no regime will
be able to give them the food that they need.
The hyperinflationary deluge is imminent
Although food and fuel inflation is
rampant worldwide already, we are only seeing the very beginning.
Massive oil price rises are likely to continue as a result of the
geopolitical situation as well as peak-oil. The Middle East is a time
bomb waiting to go off. Israel is in an extremely precarious position
and the involvement or non-involvement of the US in this conflict would
both have dire consequences for Israel and peace in the world. Food
prices will continue to rise dramatically. Major parts of the world are
living below the poverty line today and this will increase
exponentially.
The lethal concoction of rising food and
fuel prices is already affecting the Western world. The Continuous
Commodity Index – CCI, (60% food, 17% energy and 23% metals) has almost
doubled since the low in early 2009 and has gone up 42% in the last 12
months. The almost vertical rise of the CCI is one of the best
indicators of hyperinflation being imminent. A catastrophe of
astronomical proportions is looming. This will hit the world at a time
when there is no capacity whatsoever to take any real measures that
could alleviate the problems.
(Click image to enlarge)
Most
countries are already running major deficits which will increase
dramatically in the next few years. The banking system is bankrupt and
is only holding together due to false valuations of toxic debt and
derivatives. This is done with the blessing of governments since
virtually no major bank could face an honest valuation of its assets.
Unemployment and especially youth unemployment is currently a problem
worldwide and it will get much worse. In 2010, the US government spent
60% more than its revenues. In order to balance the budget individual
and corporate income taxes would have to double.
Never before in history has the world run out of real money as well as (affordable) food and fuel simultaneously. But his is exactly what is happening now and it will get substantially worse in the next few months and years.
Financial misery, famine and high
unemployment combined with governments that will not be in a position to
give real help are a recipe for disaster that will lead to social
unrest and revolutions not only in developing countries but also in the
West. Hungry people are desperate people and desperate people do
desperate deeds. We could see already in 2011 food shortages, and riots
both in Europe and in the US.
Hyperinflation Watch
The following are INDISPUTALBLE FACTS:
- The US dollar is down 82% against gold since 1999
- The US dollar is down 49% against the Swiss Francs since 2001
- The Dow Jones is down 81% against gold since 1999
- The Continuous Commodity Index is up 100% since 2009
The above facts are clear evidence of an
economy that has been totally mismanaged. But more importantly most of
these trends are now starting to accelerate – a clear sign that
hyperinflation is just around the corner.
With
years of negative net worth and negative cash flow, the US is bankrupt
today. The Federal deficit is forecast to increase by at least another $
5 trillion in the next 5-7 years. Add to this the State deficits, the
Municipal and City deficits that are rising at a galloping rate and we
have a country that is going to haemorrhage to death in the next few
years. One wonders when the totally ineffective and clueless rating
agencies are going to fathom this. Not that it will matter if they once
do. One also wonders what Mme Bernanke de Pompadour and his court are
thinking. “She” and her courtiers should have above average intelligence
and could not possibly avoid seeing the facts that we all see today (of
course, some of us have seen it coming for over a decade). But “she”
has to please her master King Louis XV Obama and her devotion to the
king goes above all reasonable common sense, or rationale. So the two of
them will continue to crank up the printing press and drown their
people and the world in worthless paper.
Stock Market
To believe that the current money
printing liquidity boom is real and sustainable would be a very serious
and expensive mistake. The temporary and illusionary pickup that we are
now seeing in the economy and stock market is the normal initial phase
of a hyperinflationary economy. It must not be mistaken for a real
improvement in the economy.
The normal pattern at the beginning of a
hyperinflationary period is that stock markets surge. This is the
result of the increased liquidity and a flight to more inflation proof
assets. This was the case in for example the Weimar Republic and
Zimbabwe. Just look at the chart below of the Zimbabwe stock exchange
that went from 1,420 in January 2005 to 5.4 trillion in June 2008, a 3
billion per cent increase. That was of course in Zimbabwe dollars. In
US dollars the stock exchange went sideways with major volatility. So
in hyperinflationary terms stock markets could continue to rise
initially thus making them a better investment than cash. However,
measured against real money, the Dow has gone down 82% against gold
since 1999 and 86% against silver since 2001 (see chart above). We are
currently seeing a dead cat bounce but we expect the Dow to decline a
further 90%, at least, against gold in the next few years. So even if
stock market investments will initially give the illusion of protecting
investors, it will be a very poor hedge against the ravages of
hyperinflation in real terms.
ZIMBABWE STOCK INDEX 2007-2008
Bond market
In January 2009, we warned investors
that long term interest rates were bottoming. Since then the 30 year
bond yield is up from 2.6% to 4.6% an 80% rise. But more importantly the
30 year is currently in the process of breaking a 17 year downtrend
line which dates back to 1994. This confirms that rates will now start a
major and rapid rise which is likely to reach the mid-teens or higher.
Governments will attempt to keep short rates low due to weak economies
but eventually the rising long rates will put strong upward pressure on
the short rates. So the flight to government bonds that we have seen in
the last few years will soon reverse into a massive rush for the exit.
This will coincide with rapidly increasing financing requirements by the
US, UK, EU and many other governments. The poisonous concoction of
rising rates and rising financing needs will create a vicious circle of
collapsing bond markets and unsustainably high financing cost. This will
continue to drive interest rates even higher which will further
increase deficits and necessitate even faster running printing presses.
Add to that a collapsing currency and the hyperinflationary picture is
complete. It is our very strong view that investors should exit bond
markets entirely if they want to avoid a total destruction of their
assets.
Currency Market
As we have explained for many years, hyperinflation is created by the
government destroying the currency as a result of money printing to
finance deficits. This leads to the cost push inflation that we are now
experiencing. Add to that, shortages in commodities worldwide, thus
creating the perfect hyperinflationary scenario. The Dollar, the Pound,
the Euro and many other currencies will continue to decline. They can’t
all decline against each other at the same time so the market will take
turns in attacking one currency at a time. But all currencies will
continue to decline against gold. We believe that the dollar will soon
start a very rapid fall against gold and against many currencies.
Investors should exit the Dollar and also the Pound and the Euro. There
is no currency better than gold or silver but for any small amounts of
cash we prefer the Swiss Franc, the Norwegian Krone, the Singapore
dollar and the Canadian dollar.
Wealth Protection
A hyperinflationary depression will
destroy the value of money as well as most assets that were financed by
the credit bubble (property, stock market). Wealth protection is now
critical and urgent. We see no better way of protecting assets against
total destruction than physical gold and silver stored outside the
banking system. Thereafter, precious metals, energy and food stocks are
our preference. But it must be remembered that any asset including
stocks that is held through a bank is dependent on a sound and surviving
banking system.
The real move in precious metals is
still to come as we have outlined in many articles. Less than 1% of
investors own gold. Before this economic cycle is over we are likely to
see a mania in physical precious metals that will drive prices
exponentially higher. And luckily for investors, this is a mania which
is unlikely to end in a collapse since gold most probably will be part
of a future reserve currency.
Finally we are again quoting von Mises who clearly understood that “le déluge” is inevitable:
“There is no means of avoiding a
final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The
alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of
a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final
and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises
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Shoot, shovel, shut up will go exponential, going long on lime..
didn't during GD I. Got focused in the "beer halls" during Weimar. Who knows in the Zimb. - Ned
Your right it did not and a moments reflections will make clear this will be nothing like GD1. Culturally, economically, energy consumption as well as agricultural patterns will all change; more like RESET 1.
It will go parabellum.
+9x19
We got ourselves a WINNING here.
You did not mention guns.
Precisely motherfucker, houses (and those other items) are actually deflation, not an inflation hedges, because they are primarily financed with debt.
Bottom of the housing market will be when all the debt is removed from it and the fucking douchebags who bought more than one house, on the theory that such houses will undergo capital appreciation, are wiped out.
Some assets might fall relevant to something else but eventually all goes up.
Not might, they will fall.
You might be able to trade your car for a house if somebody is trying to get out of town and move in with some other family members that live far away.
you mean value im talking about price.
No
I mean value. In the middle of a hyperiflation, before a new currency is adopted in the area, before people actually figure out what is happening, house prices will fall hard.
The house to gas price ratio will not stay the same like you are asserting. If it did, then you would be able to sell your house and buy years worth of gas. Thats not how it plays out.
probably the one who junked me doesn't realise the difference between value ant price.
Most of us understand you perfectly. The man with surplus tractors, diesel fuel, welded plate wood stoves and other hard, tough to replace assets will be king.. Those of you that think modest gold holdings alone will get you through the first brutal months of the reset may wish to rethink the gold cost of a wood stove the first December.. I am sure few here are this foolish.
If that December is one of those brutal months, then you may want to think twice before using a wood stove. Desperate people will probably do desperate things to get warm and fed. Why attract their attention?
A more prudent course might be to get ALMOST as cold and thin as everyone else. Warm blankets instead of a stove; 1,200 calories a day instead of 2,400; etc.
Your right of course kerosun heaters, blackout curtains, roadblocks, barbwire and other toys are your real friends the first winter.
While you don't even know the difference between exponential graphs and parabolic graphs.
Unless it is consumed, stolen, lost, burned to the ground, made obsolete or a central bank loses it's ability to create inflation. But don't worry - I'm sure it's going up!
exactly. "what's the price of something that no longer exists." let alone the "price" of something that doesn't exist in the first place but may? this is "the penalty box" for the lunacy at not only the Fed but the entire Federal Government. Talk about a "foreclosure crisis." Only this time "it is the future that is being foreclosed on." And who believes in tomorrow anymore? So "90's" i guess. Anywho...this article should be summed up in a single sentence: "this is the plan." banality of evil...move along.
Yes sir...And thus the stories of past hyper inflated economies such as the man that bought the Hotel with 1 gold coin etc.etc.etc...
Can you elaborate or give more information? This I gotta hear!
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_00/morgan120800.html seems to be gold-bug land <not that there's anything wrong with that ;-) >
Thank you much!
Had a co-worker tell me he bought his house in Yugoslavia then a few years later after inflation hit (now Croatia) he decided to to skip lunch one day so he could pay off his mortgage. Once stayed with a friend, recently retired from being head of the biology department at the Central University, in his nice middle-class house in Quito, Ecuador. He told me his mortgage payment was 500 sucres/mo, about the cost of a burger. Down side was his retirement pay was 1500 sucres/mo. Inflation does crazy things.
At least you'll be able to pay off your old mortgage with a postage stamp.
Not with an income of $0. But I'll gladly jam a silver eagle down their throat and grab the keys.
How much for a jet ski? I always wanted one of those.
For me it's a jetpack.
Oh, wait. We don't have those yet. (The kind that don't blow-up.)
...they promised there'd be jetpacts...
http://vimeo.com/troyhartman/jetpackskiing
What would happen if you threw these on with some water skiis?
I assume you're talking real (not nominal) prices, then. If you believe the hyperinflation thesis, then the thing to do is load up on debt, purchasing assets that will retain their real value in a crash (gold? silver? vacant farmland? small working farms? modest, single-family rental homes? small-businesses providing necessary products/services?) and then wait for the debt to be inflated away. Essentially, borrow money at negative real interest rates and purchase things now that are likely to still have value when we cross over to the Other Side.
The thesis has merit; but careful investigation reveals that the only thing you should buy with your borrowed funds is Silver Bullion. For many reasons. In that case, the concept is very good. It will be easy to pay off the loan, and you can retain real value; ie. "excess" silver.
No Im talking about nominal house prices falling. They will fall to a marketable level. Think about it, there is a huge glut of houses on the market, more then people need.
The whole dynamic of the market changes.
How does the nominal price of anything fall in a hyperinflationary environment? Do you know what hyperinflation is? It's not a just a whole bunch o' inflation; it's a loss of faith in the currency which brings about a total collapse in its value (purchasing power). I am not saying this is or is not going to occur in America; but I believe I do understand its implications.
Some common sense and basic math does not support your assertion that nominal prices of real estate will fall in a hyperinflation. Right now I own a small 3BR rental home in Oregon which is supposedly worth around $220K [Zillow]. Let's call it 150 ounces of gold. The market price of that home has been drifting slowly down for several years, as it loses value in both nominal and real terms. At some point the future (according to the thesis) we will have hyperinflation. At various points along the hyperinflationary curve, the dollar will have lost 90%, 95%, 99%, 99.9% of its value. Even if my house loses 50% of its real value, its nominal price will still be far above what it is now. At an 80% real loss and 99% currency depreciation, my house is nominally priced at $4.4M. Gold in this environment presumably would be around $150K/ounce and my house would be worth 31 ounces, reflecting its loss of real value.
Of course, if this were to occur, and I had had the foresight to borrow heavily and purchase gold prior to the hyperinflation, I would then be able to pay off the debts rather easily in debased dollars. This was really the point I was orginally making: if you really believe that hyperinflation is imminent, the rational thing to do is borrow as much as you possibly can in fixed-interest debt and purchase assets which will hold their value through the event, and let depreciation effectively cancel out the debt. It's essentially an opportunity to purchase at near-infinite leverage.
First of all, your idea about borrowing heavy and buying gold is allot easier said then done. If the Comex price of gold crashes, your bank could margin call on you even if the dark pool price is much higher.
Your house will not have a listed nominal price in the middle of a hyperinflation. Bartering against your house will discover the nominal price. The things your house has a market against will determine the nominal value of your house. It is not simply a calculation that you could make. Nobody really knows.
If my house "will not have a listed nominal price in the middle of a hyperinflation" then how can you claim that nominal prices of real-estate are going to fall? It's got to be one or the other. Which is it?
Second, borrowing cash to buy gold is as easy as taking out a HELOC or other secured loan. Even I, with my modest assets, could do that. And I wasn't speaking about gold exclusively. I mentioned other possibilities such as purchasing real-estate on leverage.
You're silly. I've had enough of this discussion.
No you're wrong. The value of those things wont change. The value of our currency will fall vs. those things.
Commodities will rise faster in % terms then that of say, a house.
The value of my home will be the same in 10 years as the intrinisic value of my home is the shelter it provides to my family and I. The intrinsic value of the dollars in my pocket are worth about how much fire I can produce with them, they are just perceived valuable and operate as a medium of exchange.
No
The intrinsic value of your house will fall very much compared to essentials.
So you are saying that the diffrence in real values of gas and food compared to houses and cars will stay the same ? So, no matter what, you will be able to sell your house and buy years and years worth of gas and food ?
Thats bullshit.
I didn't say anything about real value.
There are differences between real value, nominal value, and intrinsic value.
Yes and what I am saying is that your house will buy allot less gas and food during a hyperinflation, so even the nominal price will go down.
A $500,000 house will fall nominally to $50,000 while gas only went up half as much as your house went down.
You don't need to OWN a house to live. Do you need to EAT to live?
Edit: You don't even need to RENT a house to live; can always move back to your parents' basement.
Edit: There's no such thing as intrinsic value, you foolish child. The value of a thing only depends on how much other people want it.
I tend to consider clothes to be 'essential'. But then, I live in Alaska.
"One thing that allot of inflationists even get wrong is that SOME ASSET PRICES FALL DURING HYPERIFLATION"
Absolutely! Survival stories from Argentina only proved your point.
When SHTF, people will discover what the value of a thing really means. For all those who bought only gold to prepare for hyperinflation, you're fools. Owning gold is preparing for the after. You must be ready for the actual hyperinflation phase first, or you will very soon part with your precious metal only to get the "common" essentials.
While it's fun to talk about hyperinflation, I don't think it'll come any time soon, simply because "people" are still full of hope that the US will do the right thing eventually.
corporates operate out of tax havens for 50% of their revenues. Not the individuals. Period. No self respecting major corporate pays more than 10-15% "optimised" corporate tax rate.
Earths Limits..........why growth wont return. we are doomed.
http://nakedempire.wordpress.com/
I like you and I like your blog.
Isn't sad that we have to grow or we self-destruct?
I think it's a definitely a product of our monetary paradigm that the economy must grow or else it collapses (i.e. it's the bank balance sheet that must either boom or bust and that contributes boom-and-bust in business).
I fear that Man himself is characteristically suicidal and will either evolve or devolve but not stay as he is. But that's just a "fear" in that I'm not positive of it; it merely seems to be that way to me.
Open letter to Americans:
Stop swallowing the television (smartphone) culture Kool Aid and think about real life, right now, before you die.
Its a factor of a biological species out of balance with its environment. Most populations are held in check by constraints on population known as 'density dependent factors of population'. They are brutal population controls, but what happens to control human population. Disease, famine, wars over scarce resources. Clever humans have been able, with massive inputs of energy (oil) and debts, finance, etc, to forestall the Four Horsemen. But they are still waiting behind their seals.
If these markets do not behave properly, then it's total command economy, bitches.
Have you hugged your Commissar today?
zimbabwe is rich
Before I hear that hyperinflation is not possible as the $ being produced are nothing more than computerized entries, remember loss of faith precedes printing. Printing is the "solution", it is the "cure" for loss of faith not the other way around.. Feeling lucky about your dollars, punk?
Anyone promoting this meme is either an idiot or testing to see if other people are idiots...
"But clinging to power is more important than the good of the country."
Amen, this says it all. What else is there to say?
IMHO, the good of the country is more dependant on guillotines.
Somebody is going to have to pay..
I'll bring the rope. There's streetlamps in every town.
"But clinging to power is more important than the good of the country."
Amen, this says it all. What else is there to say?
There is no such thing as "the good of the country." We are 300 million individuals each with his own desires, needs, talents and interests. What would be best for the vast majority of people would be to stop thinking in terms of "what's good for the country" and to start getting busy doing the things that are best for themselves, their family and friends while displaying the courtesy to allow others to do the same without interference.
"and to start getting busy doing the things that are best for themselves, their family and friends while displaying the courtesy to allow others to do the same without interference."
Sounds like what the CEO's of the TBTF banks are doing.
Do you really believe that the TBTF banks are not interfering with your life? Seems to me that the TBTF banks are using government to make me, the taxpayer, cover their losses. That sounds like interference to me.
But if you believe that the TBTF banks are not interfering with you I suppose you have nothing to complain about.
"using government to make me, the taxpayer, cover their losses. That sounds like interference to me."
The CEO's are just contributing to the campaigns of their "friends", the delusional assholes running the government. They didn't pick them.
The gullible voters actually picked the delusional assholes running the government by voting for them. Are the voters not interfering with my happiness? Why don't the voters pick some people who can't be bought off?
Who did you vote for?
The gullible voters actually picked the delusional assholes running the government by voting for them
There are no good choices when a slave is told to choose the overseer he loves the most.
Who did you vote for?
I refuse to sanction the abuse heaped upon me by government by giving my permission with a "vote." For whom did you vote, Slave master A or Slave master B?
"The gullible voters actually picked the delusional assholes running the government by voting for them"
The voting choices were from a pre-approved list of candidates.
No one gets to a ballot without serious connections to TPTB.
The voters may think they are voting a 'choice' but it makes no difference, the
agenda will be served no matter who wins the election.
I refuse to go so far as to give these delusional assholes credit for the intelligence to be a slave master. They're too stupid. They're simply delusional assholes.
IMHO, the good of the individual is more dependant on guillotines.
In philosophy 101, there's no such thing as "the good of the country"; In reality it's very easy to make a list of things which are good for the country, and which benefit the vast majority of the citizens. None of these things are being done, of course.
I'm not interested in having a pile of Lowest Common Denominator shoveled onto my plate. Especially not when I'm being bilked for 50% of my income through one tax or another.
Once TSHTF, that is going to be the prime opportunity to kick out the bankster thin-air fiat (dictated) money goon squad (yes, you, you IMF and BIS clowns). And the lapdog media that covers for them.
Money needs to be backed by something real. Anything else is speculation or fraud. I don't mean it should be backed by armies (that's pure tyranny), I mean it should be backed by something of value to generally everyone.
I told a relative that our money used to be convertible to gold. He said it still is convertible to gold, and then he made a joke about Glenn Beck gold advertisements (this relative is addicted to Obama Kool-Aid; self-disclaimer: I think Glenn Beck is a piece of shit too). It's a vastly different thing to have notes backed by gold versus notes that are merely tendered for it. But hey, </choirpreach>.
Anyway, I linked this once on ZH before, and I'll link it once more, for the last itme. I thought at first that it was crap, but after I got to page 25 I knew it was good (it's a comic book, so relax, all you people who are "too busy to read books"). Share it with the ignorant ones in your lives. Or tell me why this book is crap, I'm always game for challenges.
http://freedom-school.com/money/how-an-economy-grows.pdf
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+an+economy+grows+and+why+it+doesn%27t...
Thanks Guy for the fun comic, I'll pass it on too.
American Fiat is back by depleted uranium, daisy cutters, stealth bombers, white phosphorus..........Very real and ain't no fraud at all, just ask the Iraqis.
Go fuck yourself.
Just try to physically speak Eminem lyrics. It's fun.
The super duper uber wealthy who own 75% of all financial investments have
seen their treasure rise 100 to 200%, the poor and middle class have seen their
gas prices double, their food go up, up and up, and of course, health care, electricity
and insurance rates perpetually get more expensive.
I'd say the Anti-Christ is doing the damage Nostradamus and the book of Revelation
predicted. C'est la vie. All these things must pass. Humans must learn the hard way that on
planet with 8 billion people, you can't let one man own all the fish in the sea.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Ben Bernanke is the evilest man on the planet.
Could be a close race with Mr. G.M.O. Monsanto.
Mammon-santo.
Seen their treasure rise 100-200%? Hardly. The Dow is the same nominal level today that it was over a decade ago. And when priced in real money, ie: gold or silver, or even oil, they've seen an 80%+ loss in the past decade.
Hence, your claims that the rich are just getting richer, at the expense of the bottom of society, are full of shit. Thanks for coming out though, motherfucker.
The poor people I know are having harder times than ever making ends meet.
The rich people I know are enjoying their boost in the 'wealth effect'.
Pitz, for you to claim that the wealthy are not getting wealthier at the expense of
the poor is beyond silly. And, for you to back it up with name calling is goofy.
Y U MAD BRO? Oh. U need to Ethug a little to put your big boy britches on?
I run off of Empirical Data.
The rich are richer, the poor are poorer.
Are you Frank Luntz, Karl Rove or Warren Buffett?
Reincarnation will not be kind to you. Enjoy your spirit, forever kid.
I 've got news for you. Not all the rich are getting richer. Unless they are savvy investors or have an unusually good money manager they are fucked too. The difference will be the poor will be living in cardboard boxes and abandoned buildings while a great deal of the upper middle class and wealthy may still be able to live in one house they will be lucky to be able to turn on the heat in winter.
In the 1960's and 70's you could barely sell an old mansion for much more than a nice house in most of New England. As wealth expanded, more and more of those mansions got bought up and renovated. Some of those properties hitting the market are about the only class of real estate that is still finding buyers. Wait till they turn on the heat next winter if the price of fuel is way up and their portfolios are way down!
Damn good thing I pay attention. I switched over to nat. gas three years ago, keep the thermostat at 60 and fire up the wood stove when it is colder than 30 degrees.
tiny ball pein: I'm thinking u like playin' with "pink elephants" <not that there's anything wrong with that>. Student of Dr. Rhymes-With?
The poor people that you know are on "Auntie Zietunie" EBT Cardz and are leading such a tough life that the First Lady is concerned about their obesity. Why, the current benefits make it equivalent to like $45k/year in pay.
And really, can't u understand that ol' Warren Snowflake is a fave of Our Dear Prez? See e.g.:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=12923140
'cept when he comes out and says that all of the policy prescriptions from the WH are wrong. But, he DOES support O.
- Ned
You throw the term "motherfucker" around a lot huh?
Apparently you don't think the rich are getting wealthier at the expense of the bottom of society.....You've been here awhile, what have you been reading?
Thanks for coming out though.
The share of income and wealth of the top 1% has tripled since Reagan, cocksmoker.
The share of income and wealth held by the top 0.1% has grown even faster, fascist bootlicker.
The share of income and wealth afforded to the bottom 80% has gone down > 20%, monkeyfucker.
Cocksmokers, fascist bootlickers, and monkeyfuckers everywhere are offended. You will be hearing from their attorneys for Libel.
Ms. : "Cocksmokers," Really? Is that like when the .. er .. 'member' is cut off, and put into ol' Rusty's house (you know, the place where he keeps inviting me-'Hey Meat, c'mon over for a 'smoke') and then smoked? Or, is it like, cut the 'member' off and dry it so it can be lit up and smoked?
Or, are you talking about Rooster, yes, smoking rooster! That's the trick! McBags had something along this line-- http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1269/700004024_7cf7c79b59.jpg and I totally agree. Chicken, the other white meat!
Boots and monkeys, well, I don't have so much experience with them. Nor with Libel, .. er .. is she cute?
;-) - Ned
I do not mean duck under glass. 1:54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rKIDLuJr0A
Okay, but I've got video. Just sayin' ;)
correlation or causality. Learn the difference. It may prevent you from looking like a moron
Causality. It didn't seem to help you any.
Exactly need trickle up economics, the poor need to create the jobs.
In the meantime how about ending three wars:
The war on illiteracy by jumping off the nearest bridge,
the war on drugs since it has cost trillions and there are more addicts than ever,
and the war on poverty because according to you class warrior nitwits it has done nothing but exacerbate the problem-contrary to reality of course any trip to the ghetto now vs 40yrs ago makes it obvious to anyone who isn't agenda ridden how ludicrous the predisposition is that the poor are worse off than ever.
note to delusional moonbat-paying just enough government subsistence to make the choice to work or not tough is what led to generational welfare, somehow Clinton's welfare to work actually worked and it did so by cutting government assistance and making actual work more attractive by comparison.
Aw those poor poor rich people. Bonuses for bankers, Austerity for you motherfucker!
Correct. Of course the wealthy have enough to pay their bills, travel, live in a nice place, etc. Making the treasure rise is very difficult now and it's causing a lot of nail biting and second guessing. More, soon to come.big problem right now trying to figure out how to make the treasure rise; some of the adopted programs are scheduled to fail, also; in my opinion.
pitz, you sound like a putz
That's the stupidest thing I've heard all week. The rich have been getting richer and the poor poorer. And it's got absolutely nothing to do with whether the stock market rises or falls or by how much. The entire system is a casino and they're the house. Dig?
They're business is not investment or trading, it is tax-farming, and we're the cattle.
Why is it that those with the money manage to use responsible family planning, while those in the worst financial shape are the ones who keep the population booming? Shouldn't they be held accountable for giving birth into such deprived (depraved) circumstances? Demographic assault is the peaceful interval to armed conflict.
Depopulation is a word that seems to be in the air these days. Much more palatable than genocide, famine and/or world war. I think survival of the fittest has been suspended for a couple centuries since we last had a spring cleaning of the gene pool.
Well, there was that 1939-1945 thingy. Add a couple of more years in you want to throw in the China event.
In spite of disease, famine,wars and genocide in Africa the population is still growing.
Because fucking is cheaper than cable?
But seriously, it's the influence of idiots like Palin (abstinence-only), the expense of birth control ($30/mo is a good chunk the lower-class income), and most of those 'accidents' happen while Bristols are self-stupifying to avoid thinking about how shitty their lives and potential futures are.
We're taking donations for the NorPlant Crossbow Society, if you're interested.
Huh? Palin? Is she that popular with low-class-breeders? Why didn't you blame George W. too?
If you really believe that tripe you are a lost cause.
Hey now, those are 'Real Americans' you're talking about. And, yes, Dubya, as a "born again" (born stupid twice...what are the chances?), is definitely in the same rowboat.
What's your explanation then, PooperTrooper?
The black undersea type, or GBP/USD (aka) Cable.
Alien snowball throwing man. How about a lack of normal and millenia old repercussions for outside of wedlock intercourse? Riddle me this, why is the incidence of out of wedlock births so small in say Saudi and before you get sand in the mangina, I do not subscribe too or condone their middle age methods. I am merely pointing out that societal pressures circa 1950's America were sufficient in our society to keep it manageable. What the hell do Republican you hate have to do with a primarily lower middle class phenomenon?? Perhaps Johnsons great society had more to do with it than poor little Bristol Palin.. Oooohh, paradigm readjustment..
Societal pressures were sufficient to keep the consequences of out-of-wedlock intercourse hidden - either via adoption or a shotgun wedding and ostensible seven-month pregnancy. They did not eliminate out-of-wedlock intercourse, and teen pregnancy rates in the '50s exceeded those in the '90s. If you advocate a return to the '50s to keep things in check, do you likewise advocate 18 year olds being locked into marriages that likely may preclude significant economic and socially beneficial activity later on? http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/05/1/gr050107.html
While your link is so leftist as to be nothing more than an opologist for such libertine policies as to be excluded from normal conversation i did find a nugget of truth there, thank you.
"The adolescent pregnancy rate in the United States, for example, is nearly twice that in Canada and Great Britain and approximately four times that in France and Sweden"
Apparently we do not have sufficient access to rubbers? /sarc.. Cuz my dad told me he used them in the fifties.. Even a decent sheep intestine was available to all but the most destitute in the late middle ages.. The marriages the 18 year olds find themselves in was not the conversation but thanks for the interesting and mildly relevant non sequitur.
I must have missed it, so please tell me - at what point in your rant did you come up with evidence that the teen pregnancy rate was lower in the fifties than in the nineties, as you originally asserted?
Out of sight, out of mind...a great plan, if what you want is more abuse and abortions.
some vast majority of urban youth are born into single parent households, attend inferior schools and have little to no opportunity from there. .
really think it is working? they should file a class action lawsuit against you people who do nothing but perpetually excuse the underpinnings that have created this problem.
I am total moron and get that gangs exist because of the lack of a nuclear family, so why don't the intellectual wannabees?
Why aren't benes tied to such a thing? Because promoting be anything you want to be takes precedence and anything remotely tied to promoting the nuclear family is viewed as a conservative platitude.
At least we can agree on one thing, want higher crime, higher poverty, lower education, limited opportunity just ck out urban America.
These are your neo liberals all day every day. From top to bottom they have run urban America for the last 50yrs+ yet have the audacity to blame the former governor of Alaska-just cannot make this crap up if one tried
How is wanting people to avoid pregnancy contributing to non-nuclear families in any way?
How is promoting abstinence as birth control and the illusion of the nuclear family (you think these girls have a goal of single motherhood?!) achieving nuclear families? No points for good intentions, if your results lead to the road paved with same.
St. Sarah is merely the most recent representative of christian conservative 'values' lunacy...one of many over the past 50 years with an agenda of higher pregnancy rates followed by complete demonization of mother and child after birth.
The church didn't just appear while the rate of urban single parent households has gone up dramatically.
As if they have fukkall to do with urban social policy anyway.
upto 67% -guess there is no limit? Crime against humanity but keep pretending neo left social policy has nothing to do with anything.
Maybe can 'splain how daughter see's single mother struggling beyond belief and largely getting nowhere but plows down that same dead end path anyway. Not entirely happenstance even though that is a familiar bell to ring.
Answer the questions asked, or no donut.
The stereotypical single-parent family in the inner city is not a consequence of poverty as such, it is a consequence of the welfare state. Middle class people think of welfare as a last resort, and a hand-out. For those trapped by it in generational poverty, it is a business. Having many children is a business. That a young woman chooses to have a child out of wedlock instead of an abortion is a business decision, not a result of ignorance. The poorest do not have any problem supporting their children, as their children are their primary source of income.
Don't assume that the poor are stupid, they are making rational decisions given their options.
Your sick logic might hold water if not for many surveys which demonstrate the lack of knowledge teen mothers possess about services for which they would be eligible.
And you clearly have no clue what kind of delta there is between the cost of raising a child and the benefits provided by welfare.
snowball-"abstinence-only" Worked every time it was tried.
So, should we put the birth-control drugs into the water supply. Sorta' like a Floride+ regime?
We had no sun but temperatures in the 60s here, all kinds of snowballs melting.
Or maybe u not that kinda' "snow"?
- Ned
I prefer to have some discretion over who gets hit with the crossbow to conserve norplant ammo...the water supply thing might dilute it too much and most of the Jersey Shore types only drink water that's been through the Budweiser plant anyway.
I'm sure abstinence is 'tried' all the time...right up until the Rufies kick in anyway.
In your world perhaps.. Try not to let your bilge water spill onto others,.. Perhaps you could write some software to educate the NJ rufie users..
So you want the discretion to choose who gets the norplant dart? Sounds a little Margaret Sanger-ish to me.
Hey, if you'd rather they get abortions, cost you tax dollars, or live in squalor than avoid getting pregnant, so be it.
"Idiocracy" already explained all you need to know re: Breeding.
one of the all-time greats, that one... ha!
The Government will destroy wealth... thusly removing any and all wealthy individuals to stand after the fall, there will be no George Washingtons riding in to save "We the People" from taxation without representation.
The Government had pumped itself and Wall Street / Bankers (Investment Bankers turned into would be Retail Bankers with a 0% FED Window to draw down from) to the high heavens.
Mean while..
The State(s) and Local Governments are falling into a bottomless chasm.. Local Law Enforcement along with others suffering will be happy when the Federal Government offers them a Job later.. It will be about who is first in the Federal Food Stamp / Bread Line.
When the debt crushes what is left of the ruins of our Country, The Federal Government will have removed any and all inner threats from its path. What about those pesky outside threats? Thats how the Federal Government will continue to reign in the broader populace.
It is a shame to see, but do not fret. We all live in interesting times. A food stamp in every pot and high def world strife on our new digital TV's. Thank God the analogue TV's are gone, no more open signal traffic from the highest tower just digital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_television / http://allafrica.com/stories/201101170160.html .
Also, we are staring freegold in the face. The event that this auther is writing about is the transition to freegold.
Even western gold bugs like Peter Schiff and Doug Casey don't fully understand. They are rightfully calling for a reserve currency crisis, yet they forecast that gold will eventually just lead to some bubbly market like Internet stocks in the 90's.
These guys need to get real. I will gladly buy Peter Schiffs gold if it hits $5000 an oz. The problem is, by that point, infinite demand will have hit no supply(reserve currency crisis,like no shit) and the COMEX contract price will crash to $100 an oz and the dark pool price will be anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 an oz. And by that time, maybe Peter will understand freegold.
So motherfucker, what do you think about the current massive spread between the valuations of mining stocks (going nowhere, even though gold price is going up), and the price of gold (going up)? Why such the disconnect? Are people trying to factor in a huge event of gold mine confiscation or something? Or is the market just completely irrational?
oops.
By "mine confiscation" I assume you mean "nationalization"? For the children, of course.
Why is mine confiscation out of the realm of possibility?
What has the government not confiscated? Can you even name an industry?
Interior design, at least since Albert Speer.
They are confiscating it ... right now!! Start at about 3:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrByW1PIqYE
Fascinating. Think-tanks and incrementalism hard at work...
Thanks for the link.
I am Jacks utter lack of surprise.
LOLLLLLLL hilarious!
That Obama is a master with fabrics.
Ben is a master using linen.
Frank is a master with KY.
Ask Allende...oh, that's right, you can't.
Let me explain shit head
First of all, because of all the paper gold floating around, allot of speculators are having fun trading gold in the COMEX casino. Another thing is that it goes to show that the general public is nowhere near this market, and the ones that are, are in paper gold like the GLD.
Smart people in the middle east and Asia don't want to speculate on anything, that is why they buy gold. They buy it for the right reasons. They don't give a fuck what some gold mining company is up to on the Toronto Stock exchange.
U so right, GI.
No.. no.. India (dot on the head not feather in the hair, the ugly ones... yep those) does not buy gold for a store of wealth... they are Gamblers!
In China the same thing, Gamblers!
India and China and even Russia.. All Gamblers!!!
The are betting they can grab Gold (silver) cheap and then they can combine (but as individuals) with semi-hard (or sold as), gold backed currency's..
The three maybe be able to give the ole' SDR a run for its Life as a would be Gold backed trifecta.. the problem I see (notice they have droped out of the public conversations) is Russia.. mostly becuase in Russia the Treasury Gold Rusts.. and no one trusts China / India with regard to .999% pure..
So they are betting and in the least growing the organic levels held... as a piggy bank they can break later thru confiscation.. The U.S. Confiscates, well then you know the other 3 would.
It is all a big boring game of who is smarter.. and oil will bring them all down during this bullshit gaming portion of the great fall. More Greed, Lord Knows we can never have enough of that.. given it is Pinko Commie's and Ghandi being greedy makes it just that much more funny.. there are no real divides between men other than those imagined.
Ya know why Indian girls have that dot on the head?? When you marry them you get to rub it off on your wedding night and see if you won a liquor store, motel 6 or 7-eleven..
ORI, no offense frankly cultural idiosyncrasies can be funny but not serious..
The ugly ones? How do you come up with that?
The India ref's are for ORI who I have tried to pick a fight with going back quite a while.. he is busy smoking da buddha thusly will not engage.. hense, I am forever baiting him. albeit in mostly weak ways.
+1
The vast majority of Americans have forgotten that gold is money.
The vast majority of Americans have never experienced a fiat collapse.
America is a young country with a short history.
The Asians and Mid Easterners have never forgotten that gold is money and they live in parts of the world that have seen many collapses of paper currencies. So they treat any paper as exactly what it is... a device to transact with... Not a store of wealth. Anyone that believes that any piece of paper is a store of wealth is only fooling themselves.
A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top. Want to buy some paper promises based on that?
Pitz... Do you have any idea how many 'backers' of 'can't miss gold mines' have been fleeced?
Unless you are an insider and have a vast knowledge of mining, extraction costs, labor costs, laws of foreign countries that govern mining, and lots of other knowledge and experience regarding mining, then the best thing to do is stay out of the mining sector.
There is nothing irrational about people staying away from a market notorious for fleecing investors.
If you want to take a flyer on a small start up gold mine have at it. Attempting to pursuade others to do the same borders on offering investment advice. You don't want to go there unless you are licensed and disclose your positions.
Well, according to the numbers quoted in your post, apparently no one will ever "understand" free gold. I'm fairly sure I never will. Any thesis that requires Mr. Schiff to sell gold at $5,000 while Comex contracts trade at $100, should be abandoned immediately.
Is that your ultimate retort to freegold ? Give me some answers, we don't have a whole lot of time. Do you believe that the SDR (an offshoot of Bretton woods) will reign after the dollar collapses(or loses reserve currency status) ? A gold backed Yuan will be thrown together in 6 months ?
Whats your retort ?
Do you fully understand the current debt based free floating fiat system ? Probably not. Not even Warren Buffet or David Tepper understand the current system.
New item in your series of interest:
SDR Valuation as of Mar 04, 2011 Disclaimer: The International Monetary Fund makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding these tables or the performance of this site. The Fund shall not be liable for any losses or damages incurred in connection with this site.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/rms_sdrv.aspx?Month=03&Day=04&Year=2011&submit=Submit
***************************************************************
Join the discussion at the IMF's new policy Blog on the global economy: http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/
Check out our new Publication the Fiscal Monitor at: http://www.imf.org/external/ns/cs.aspx?id=262
TAKE A LOOK: For tracking globalization and its impact on individual economies, please see the new IMF Survey magazine online at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/home.aspx News, views, and analysis from the IMF.
Modify your subscription at: https://www.imf.org/external/cntpst/signinmodify.aspx
*******************************************************************************************************************************
Calculation of Currency Amountsin the New SDR Basket
(as of December 30, 2010)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Currency
Initial new weight (share)
Illustrative currency amount1
Exchange Rate on 2 12/30/10
U.S. dollar equivalent
Euro
37.4
0.4230
1.32500
0.560475
Japanese yen
9.4
12.1000
81.63000
0.148230
Pound sterling
11.3
0.1110
1.54350
0.171329
U.S. dollar
41.9
0.6600
1.00000
0.660000
SDR1 = US$ 3
1.54003
1 Currency amounts are based on average exchange rates for a period from October 1 to December 30, 2010.
2The exchange rate for the Japanese yen is expressed in terms of currency units per U.S. dollar; other rates are expressed as U.S. dollars per currency unit.
3 The value in U.S. dollars of one SDR, rounded to six significant digits.
Yes, I am aware of that piece.
Do you understand it ?
Can you explain it to me in a few paragraphs ?
Probably not but I didn't expect you to. That is why it is dificult to understand and explain freegold.
I will explain it to you in one word.. "Settlement" with regard to the SDR.
As for Free Gold? I have not a clue but I am willing to listen... and for the record I as adding to your comment about the SDR for a reference point for any and all that may have been curious, plainly more for them that for all knowing you of course.
nice try, sounds like you are more confused about sdrs then freegold
well explain both to dumb ole' me then?
Don't ignore this Ego Von Geyser dude - the deluge is nigh. Everybody in the Deflationists lounge is in a real funk.
Nice article by Swiss gold peddlers, a division of the largest Swiss asset managers-- that's where the stolen global loot ends up.
Quiet you! Next you'll be suggesting that ZeroHedge itself is shilling for precious metal peddlers.
We prefer the theory where we are a front for the CIA, PIMCO, the NAACP, Soros, and/or Koch, in any given order.
According to many, they are all just carbon leveraged derivatives of the Rothschild family.
or Goldman...
...or Jared Leto, Luciferian idol (this movie is rated Tin Foil–17.)
-------
open offer to all of ZH : Flag me as junk if me if you think I'm cool.
Tin Foil-17 ? oh, I see, you mean it has a similar veracity to "inconvenient truths".
It just means you shouldn't watch it without your tinfoil hat. The unprotected mind is vulnerable to injury without it.
As far as its veracity... I think it provides veritable support to this statement:
"There are some people in the entertainment industry who are Luciferian and NWO conspirators."
It's hard to find humor in all of this end of the world stuff but I haven't stopped laughing since the asymptotic parabola dispute. I stepped on one when I was a kid - they really sting.