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Goblin Emeritus Says America's Spending Days Are Over
If there is one person in this world who has less credibility than the Goblin in chief, Ben Bernanke, it has got to be the Goblin emeritus, or the man who spawned the monetary policy that will eventually destroy the world. Which is why when we read Alan Greenspan's Op-ed in the WSJ, we cringed, as we actually agree with pretty much most of what he is saying. It may be time to reevaluate our stance on the world: is Goldman just a bunch of really nice guys? Are HFTs just altruistic liquidity providers? Is prop trading not just legalized frontrunning at a massive scale? Will the US hit one quadrillion in debt with 0.01% on the 30 Year? Will Dennis Kneale refute the theory of relativity? The doubt has now set in... But seriously, who but Krugman (and 99% of tenured economists) could read the following and disagree: "The United States, and most of the rest of the developed world, is in need of a tectonic shift in fiscal policy...With huge deficits currently having no evident effect on either
inflation or long-term interest rates, the budget constraints of the
past are missing. It is little comfort that the dollar is still the
least worst of the major fiat currencies. But the inexorable rise in
the price of gold indicates a large number of investors are seeking a
safe haven beyond fiat currencies." and this "Perceptions of a large U.S. borrowing capacity are misleading."
Seriously, first Cramer, now Greenspan? What next: Bernanke will hand over all the files that two courts already found him to be legally obligated to disclose as per the Pittman lawsuit? Blankfein will retire and give 90% of his holdings to charity? S&P will downgrade the US to its fair rating of CCC? CNBC will tell the truth?
From the WSJ:
U.S. Debt and the Greece Analogy
Don't be fooled by today's low interest rates. The government could very quickly discover the limits of its borrowing capacity.
By Alan Greenspan
An urgency to rein in budget deficits seems to be gaining some traction among American lawmakers. If so, it is none too soon. Perceptions of a large U.S. borrowing capacity are misleading.
Despite the surge in federal debt to the public during the past 18 months—to $8.6 trillion from $5.5 trillion—inflation and long-term interest rates, the typical symptoms of fiscal excess, have remained remarkably subdued. This is regrettable, because it is fostering a sense of complacency that can have dire consequences.
The roots of the apparent debt market calm are clear enough. The financial crisis, triggered by the unexpected default of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, created a collapse in global demand that engendered a high degree of deflationary slack in our economy. The very large contraction of private financing demand freed private saving to finance the explosion of federal debt. Although our financial institutions have recovered perceptibly and returned to a degree of solvency, banks, pending a significant increase in capital, remain reluctant to lend.
Beneath the calm, there are market signals that do not bode well for the future. For generations there had been a large buffer between the borrowing capacity of the U.S. government and the level of its debt to the public. But in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, that gap began to narrow rapidly. Federal debt to the public rose to 59% of GDP by mid-June 2010 from 38% in September 2008. How much borrowing leeway at current interest rates remains for U.S. Treasury financing is highly uncertain.
Full Op-ed (in which Greenspan also tries to explain what swap spread inversion is) here.
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DOGS OF WALL STREET-MAESTRO:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/06/dogs-of-wall-street-maestro.html
GOLDMAN-NICE DOGS:
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It all reminds me of the fall of the Sovjet Union.
You put on the TV
And TATA! The End of the Sovjets!
Even there own government noticed it only hours later that it was over.
We just need our own berlin wall event to crack.
And it just shows how fast it can all go down and as we are now at flashpoint
Our Berlin wall is the border with Mexico and the cluster fuck that is to come with all the outrage around the country. The National Socialist(Oh the irony) Movement is taking matters on their own and ready to launch a war with the Mexican drug cartels.
hack,
Where do you get that idea?.
With over a 1000 new gangs(Drug Cartels) in American cities,because the Gv't has turned a blind eye, and with Phoenix AZ, the #2 rated kidnapping city in the World, 2nd only to Mexico City.
No protections on ANY Borders (on purpose,since before my birth), AZ getting sued by the Feds(over a law that is less strict than their own,figure that one out).........the wars will be in Houston, San Antonio,Dallas,NYC, San Fran,etc..........
Not in Mexico...........
The gangs are a symptom of the system and thinking that a wall can stop them is absurd imo. I also don't think that a bunch of Neo-Nazis shooting at will can help AZs stance on illegal immigration. It all goes back to War on Drugs>NAFTA>USD...you get the point...
Really, you're going to break out the Nazi (National Socialist Workers' Party) argument?
MJ cultivation has moved north into the states and Canada BIG TIME. The gangs want in on it because it was formerly "their turf, maricon". Well over 50% of the cartel's business was MJ. Coke being the glamour drug because of its street value.
So the violence moves northward.
War on drugs is a joke ( a well paid one) NAFTA is FAIL.
Bill Hicks got it right, when he observed that if we are losing the war on drugs ... then the people on drugs are winning
Where the fuck do you get your insane neo-nazi argument? Do you live in AZ? I do and I can tell you that 99% of the people who support the immigration law here are not nazis. Its called the rule of law dick, without it, there is no country.
Do you have buses that run from the border to your schools? Is the waiting room at the hospital jammed with illegals that get treatment before people with insurance? My wife had to get her appendix out last year and an overnight stay cost 32,000 bucks. How much is the same surgery farther away from the border? Half as much.
Arizonans as a whole are typically pretty libertarian.(demo changing as more Californians corrupt the place) We are pretty much the opposite of Nazis. You are invited to come down to my house (20 miles from said border) and I will give you an education about living on the border. Then, when you get to know a Border Patrol agent or two, see how much drugs are caught coming across my relativly secure part of the border, and have to deal with all of the crime associated with the illegals, you can judge who the Nazis are for yourself you fucking doouche bag.
Nazi's...unbelievable!
"Californians corrupt the place"
... unbelievable!
Individual liberties are disappearing. You used to be able to ride your quad or side by side to the store, on the roads, now its illegal. They came and bought four houses at a time in Phoenix driving the housing market through the roof with no corresponding increase in real wages, only to default on most of the properties, thanks for that one!
Edit: I didn't junk you, nor would I
...and you blame Californians for that? .... try the other coast...like NYC
From my experience, it was mostly people from Southern CA. Sure some people from back east come out here, but I still can't get a decent cheese steak or piece of pizza, but there are plenty of fish tacos.
While it was happening, in was just a microcosm of America as a whole. People from CA could scoop up houses at 100 grand, flip them before they were built and make 80 thousand, then the person who bought it could flip it again for 50 grand more. Phoenix grew faster than its population. Even where I live, houses were going up by the thousands, and I am not near Phoenix or Tuscon.
I was in the Marines during all this and there were privates and corporals making 12 grand a year flipping houses for four years salary, so it wasn't all Californians, but the ones who stayed tried to nanny the people who lived here for years. Unfortunately, Napolitano was more than happy to enact the agenda.
I like visiting CA, lived there for a couple years, and moved back to AZ to have a bit more freedom.
Yes.
They sold their homes and bought up Arizona, Nevada... it's no coincidence
the states surrounding California are in a shit ton of trouble also.
And he's right about the laws.. we used to go to the sand drags in the river bottom..
We can't even drive a quad in the shittiest parts of the desert now.
Want to see a state wrecked by Californian influence.
Oregon. Used to be nice...until it became the summer home.
There's a very simple solution for these issues: end the "war on some drugs".
+1000
It's always open warfare on the WASP. The Nazi bit is just code for "I hate white people".
It's not just "white people"--the control freaks have expanded their enemy list to include brown people who want to be left alone to earn a living instead of blindly voting for the dependency-pushing race baiter who promises to steal them more "free" stuff.
It's a disgrace that our own country gets pissed when citizens are only doing what is right, protecting their own neighbourhoods and that includes the borders to Mexico.
Fuck the globalists and multi national corporatists who have established themselves above the rule of law.
There is going to be a revolt.
Quoted for truth. Thank you for bringing some common sense into the argument.
Tone it down internet though guy...
I got the "neo-nazi" arguments from here:http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_central_southern_az/florence/citize...'s-group-taking-border-battle-into-own-hands
I've never lived in AZ but I did live in socialist CA so I understand your frustration. I also lived in Colombia where the "war on drugs" got started and let me assure you that the only to stop the drugs smuggling is by legalizing it. I apologize if I offended you as I did not mean to offend you or anyone from anywhere.
Don't apologize hack! In this stupid, ass-backwards country we go after the druglords who bring in the harmless drug (pot), and pay handsomely the Dr. (Druglord) who prescribes the real killers......oxy-cotin.
I know quite a few people that have died from oxy-cotin. In my youth, I tried to OD on weed....it can't be done! Lack of common sense in our judicial system is the true demise of this nation.
I think the bigger issue is The FED trying to the Arizona what to do. I think Arizona should tell the Fed to fuck off.
They should suceed, as a few other states are doing. It's their problem and they should be able to handle it as they see fit.
The MNC's could care less about your borders or your rights.
Lived in AZ for over 30 years (no longer, however) and this isn't the first time the fruit and nuts have rolled in from the west and screwed up the real estate market and jacked up the level of denial.
It is also not uncommon for non-residents to froth at the mouth over the desire by AZ to actually try to uphold immigration laws. Made a trip back to Phx. in March - it is an even worse charlie foxtrot that the one that convinced me to move almost a decade ago - unsustainable.
I have family there still and I have to tell you, I am concerned for their safety.
You mentioned Nazis. Under internet law, you lose.
+1000 internets
AZ's stance on illegal immigration is that it's illegal. Pretty simple.
...well well well ... what a perfect set-up? You think that was some accident, idiot?
My my...so many NAFTA/War on Drugs "experts" around here...
You are clearly "an expert"
G'vt turning a blind eye? State and local government too! You mean to tell me that blind eye isn't paid to be blind?
Kudos to hack3434 for providing some much needed comic relief
Will Dennis Kneale refute the theory of relativity?
Dennis Kneale is 2nd only to Liesman as the biggest douchebag on F-TV.
I think they are partners in the three legged sack race of financal media coverage.
Where is my crossbow?!?
None too soon? Try way too late.
Deficit reduction requires austerity and/or GDP growth, which requires production, jobs, and measuring GDP correctly to begin with. As long as the lie continues, the fix isn't "in".
Even if the fix were in, it's too late. All other things being equal, SS and Medicare alone have already bankrupted the US. They just think that by not adding those liabilities to the ledger they can pretend them away.
Wow. Who knew?
Before Greenspan was appointed to the Fed he wrote a number of excellent papers on the dangers of fiat currency and the importance of a currency based on precious metals. Upon his appointment he bowed down to his masters in the investment banking sector. Now that he's done serving their wishes, he can go back to common sense economics.
What the f**k!! First Jim Cramer and now Alan Greenspan? What is going on? When did I shift to an alternate reality. Thank God for Paul Krugman and his keynesian follies.
Weather vanes" when the going gets tough, the sycophants ru nthe other way.
Can some please post some Book of Revelations, it just seems to go so well with this type of news, like pairing a fine wine with a dish to enhance the experience.
How many more days before 2012 you say?
LOL.
"The Mayan calander ends in december 2012". Maybe the guy carving the thing got tired and decieded that was a good place to stop.
The Forest Gump of the Mayas who just stopped running in the middle of nowhere and said that he is going home?
Perhaps credit siezed and the Mayan gov couldnt pay the calander makers any more. They went home.
I mean calander making could have been the ditch digging of the Mayan Kenysians. Pay guys to make calanders, doesnt matter it it 2000 years in the future just to give them a job!
I just want to see the terms Goblin in chief and Goblin emeritus make it into the mainstream - brilliant ;)
911 days as of the 23rd...lol
Here's one of my personal favorites:
I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. (Rev 19:17-18)
Or, how about this:
"The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died." Revelation 16:3
Saint/All,
Thank you.
Completely rude and uncalled for
If you can't be civil, STFU
...I suspend civility when confronted by religious fundamentalism... whether here or in Iran!
When you do, be sure you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
Believe me - I won't.
When you do, be sure you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
It was a joke buddy, all I wanted to do was compare this "up is down" world to revelations for a Friday afternoon laugh. Atheist tools such as yourself are the fundamentalists.
not atheist at all ... just not ready to quote the bible in a financial forum. If you want to call me a "secular" fundamentalist its not appropriate ... I respect religion ... just not religion that that answers every metaphysical, let alone financial aspect of existence... At the end of it all - I'll show more tolerance to the human race than any denominational religious nut.
If you can't appreciate the fatalism surrounding the collapse of the fiat system and how it has parallels to any religious end of times story, then I guess the humor is lost on you and I will stop feeding the troll.
Tolerance? You just got done unjustly flaming a forum member or two, and you want to claim the high ground on tolerance?
.
I'll show more tolerance to the human race than any denominational religious nut.
Your average denominational nut wouldn't freak the f*** out if someone made a wry reference to Nietzsche in the comments.
Wow, you guys really "wear your hearts on your sleeves" don't you? <snort>
BTW Ragnarok - your:
"Can some please post some Book of Revelations, it just seems to go so well with this type of news, like pairing a fine wine with a dish to enhance the experience."
was not on my screen when I responded ... so context was lost. I see your point now IN context... and agree I over-reacted - -but I withdraw nothing of what I said/wanted to say vis-a-vis the religious nuts ruinging the west the way they ruined Iran... The Republic seperates Church ans State, and I want it to stay that way!. I don't want "God in the White House" a la George Bush
was not on my screen when I responded ... so context was lost. I see your point now IN context... and agree I over-reacted
Fair enough.
You must mean "on an anonymous Iranian blog". I doubt you'd blurt that out if confronted by religious fundamentalism "in Iran".
Unless you're super hardcore and short your own head, that is.
I've had more reasonable theological discussions with Islamic religious nuts than Christians ... just so you know... but that's just my experience...
Radical Mosque=Super Church
Would you care to elaborate on that or are you simply exagerating again...
My, we ARE inquisitive? Which branch do YOU work for....?
I am no fundametalist, but you gotta be kidding if you seriously compare radical Islam with orthodox Christians. Last I checked, the Southern Baptists weren't blowing up the "infidels."
A sense of proportion would be helpful.
You call Rapture people "Orthodox" Christians .... shame on you ... and I AM an Orthodox Christian - Byzantine Rite Catholic!!!
This will step on some toes, but these last two weeks have left me with much less patience than normal:
To be christian by definition is to be Christ like. This is exemplified by his life, in that he glorified the Lord, and delighted in His word. Showing up at church does not make you a christian, nor does tithing, or communion, or any other "accepted" part of religion. You have the choice to glorify the Lord and delight in His word, our you can despise Him.
For my conscience sake, please choose the Lord.
"proportion"??? Are you nuts??? WHo is occupying what countries with a trillion dollar war effort (which is bankrupting this nation I might add) and is responsible for a minimum 500k deaths in Iraq and 150k in Afghanistan... (all because we want them to be "free" right"?) If you want proportion - - at least roll out a body count!
Truth is, the attitude is pitiable.
I despise all religions equally since they all fail. In fact i cant think of a structure thats not failing. Social, political, econmic all fronts are failing.
WTF!! Now the gulf is filling up with oil just in time for the hurricane season to disperse the dispersant that kills most of what it touches.
Only thing keeping me sane is selfknowledge and knowing from EXPERIENCE that i am not a body. Get your own experience, be free of your own mind and the illusionary material crap world.
I am biased toward love , truth and the moment and from here on in we are in so much danger its well past time to see our commonalities rather than our differences. We are squabling with one another over minor issues while the world burns.
Get fundamental. LISTEN for a lousy 5 minutes really hard to whats in the silence. There is a highpitched sound hidden, always there , but the more we are involved with our person/mind the less we hear it. But if you listen and hear it, you have just raised your conciousness and touched the face of god.
The fear of death is removed entirely because of the personal recognition of your self as the universe due to YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.
Most never take the time to truly listen. They keep living on hope and faith in the unknown that can be known while owning a body form and failing to question.
I am a non religious and have my own view , based on experience and known facts. Thanks for reading my 2 cents.
+1.
Religion, whether radical, fundamental Islam or Christian or anything else for that matter, could be seen as a mental illness.
No one can tell me the acts against the United States in 2001, and the subsequent response by the USA/coalition, was anything less than mental illness, justified as "religion" on a massive scale.
"Death to America"
"Good vs. Evil. They hate us because of our freedom"
Sickness.
your 2 cents are made of gold, MH.
I have read some pretty profound comments on ZH, but this one tops 'em all.
Thanks nuinut. Meant every word.
Brings to mind a bumpersticker that I saw on a car once:
I like your Christ
I do not like your Christians
They are nothing like your Christ
Sadly, for all to many supposed followers of Christ's teachings, it rings true.
IIRC, those are the words of Mohandas Gandhi.
They don't blow up infidels, but they eat an awful lot of collard greens. And watch out for my Methodist cousins in Missouri...annual gun shoots every 4th of July. For all you New Yorkers, guns = Al Qaeda, so I guess that's pretty terrifying.
The southern baptist do not have foreign armies occupying their land. If they did, they're actions would mirror that of fundimental muslims or any other population being preyed upon by foreigners. What a silly comparison.. Childish and knee-jerk. Most people see through such ignorance.
I went to a Christian school. It was not in the south but they aligned themselves with "southern baptists".. I know of what I speak.
They are as fanatical as any Muslim I've ever met.. If not more.
no more than I'd blurt such a thing out at a Rapture meeting...
BumpSkool, locate your meds STAT
Well, I guess BP will do for that "pour your bowl out into the sea" thing. And with that, indeed the fowl have been massing along the coast since it's too dangerous to be in the water.
So does that mean Hopey McChange will face a demise a la Hitchcock's The Birds?
i would like to think some folks have it in them to go out there and chase those birds away somehow before they get oil on them. I am sure its a forlorn hope. As they burn the oil on the sea surface , turtles, still alive are roasted. No way to feel good if one has any empathy. We humans do much harm.
1After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2With a mighty voice he shouted:
"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil[a] spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
3For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
4Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
"Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
7Give her as much torture and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
'I sit as queen; I am not a widow,
and I will never mourn.'
8Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
9"When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!'
11"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
14"They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.' 15The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16and cry out:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
17In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!'
Wow, this country implodes and it causes all the merchants in the world to go broke. Sounds like America to me.
To the folks who get pissed at those posting this kind of stuff:
What does it mean? We have done this more than once, just like depressions, just like many death/rebirth cycles. How else can it be written about so clearly? This is evidence we have been down this road before and that we do not pay heed to history.
The Roman Empire was fantastic...until it wasn't.
Learn from history?
The ones who do never seem to be the ones in charge, do they.
"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent
before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong
...somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I
want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We
have never made good on our promises. ...I say after eight years of this
Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. ...And
an enormous debt to boot."
Henry Morgenthau ( U.S. Secretary of Treasury 1937)
And Further back in time:
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically
acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in
his path and gave him triumphal processions. ... Blame the people who hail
him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which
shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security,
more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.'" -
Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
This one is my personal favorite from Revelations.
Life and Death
are events within the moment
the End and the beginning
of Reality within the Soul
merehuman 73'
"And when he had opened the fourth seal' I heard a voice of the beast say, come and see,
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger , and with..." (USURA ?)
Here you go Ragn:
From Revelation 9:11
They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
A little "dark" wine with that?
And Goblin Emeritus!!! Priceless.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Wuzzat the same Uncle Alan that we all know and love?
Identity theft or a Pauline Moment on the Road to Damascus.....
Nah, tha old Troll is 84...
Oldtimers dis-ease...
He had a senior movement
"Upon further deliberation, I have decided that my world view was indeed wrong"/ Alan Greenspan and the Multi-dimensional, Multi-generational, Intergalactic, ALL time Greatest: "Oops, my bad, sorry folks" heard round the world... This man needs to go into hiding in a remote monastery and NEVER utter a word again... 'Goblin Emeritus' < THAT'S why I read ZH!
More perplexing reality...Why does Douchinger have as his two top-tier membership levels as Gold & Silver?...Please tell me that this was performed at the subconscious level and at the conscious level he really meant Cash & Fiat levels...
Do people actually pay Douchinger? WTF for?
Capitalism...As a kid did your Kool-Aid stand give free product or did you charge for it?...Douche charges for the Kool-Aid.
I wonder if Il Douche summarily bans all those who decline the Kool-aid and walk on by?
A couple of weeks ago he posted: The Ticker Guy Has Two Beers
Nuff said about whether or not he drinks his own Kool-Aid.
He's got a pretty big audience over there. Many of them are here also. Why get upset over getting banned by Karl? I suspect your voice was lost in the crowd over there anyways. Maybe you weren't making a meaningful contribution over at Market Ticker so Karl figured "what the heck, nothing is ventured so why should anything be gained?"
Karl's not a bad guy, I read him once or twice a week. He has some good things to add and generally does his research.
Does wear his heart on his sleeve though, kind of gives it away. Wouldn't want him playing my hand in a game of poker.
But all in all, Karl's ok.
Other douches get called 'the Messiah', then lock their followers in a compound and set it on fire.
A better channel for anger, perhaps.
That story you just cited has more to it than you know. I used to think they were religious freaks who got what they deserved. I was very wrong and ashamed of how narrow my perspective used to be. Frontline did a special on the story and it turns out the Feds did some really ugly stuff. Prepare to freak, if you can anymore.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/
Know what you mean. I saw the same piece just over a year ago for the first time and I was stunned at how easily my biases were exploited by the msm. I won't be trusting the 'official' version so easily in future.
It really was an eye opener.
Janet Reno!
Enough said. Almost.
Also, very occult. See location.
It was a ritual sacrifice.
Such is how the world turns.
The truth, if you can find in these 2+2=5 days would definitely set you free, hmmm?
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
I know a few locals from law enforcement in the Waco area (I grew up there long ago). To a person, they said the Feds went way beyond their scope to the point of taking actions that were blantantly illegal.
Put it another way, there were a lot of people who were happy when Justice and the ATF left that area. But in another way, were angry that they left without charges being filed against them. The final act never really had to happen, but it did-- with the approval of very senior people in the Administration.
Stuff a sock in it greedscam.
Lot's of "Come to Jesus" meetings, or the Jewish equivalent.
The worst thing you can imagine just happened. Timmy gets expanded powers to oversee the whole mess.
The Fox has been given the keys to all the hen houses. Its like the Devil being put in charge of Heaven.
I am now very afraid insanity is normal and I'm living in a Dante Inferno.
Now that's the spirit!
Foxes don't use keys silly ; )
Article was published right next to a big iPhone 4 ad. Which do you think the average Joe Schmoe is going to click on?
And the markets do not give a spit.
Of course he thinks there should be a "tectonic shift", now that his bankster masters have been replenished, it is time to do in what is left of a civil society. Nothing that comes out of that ugly mug of his should ever be taken at face value.
Greenspan saying US is Greece. as debt load becomes unmanageable. Hints at interest rates on Treasury debt to explode like late 1979 through 1980 hyperinflation increases of more than 4% year. There are those of us here on ZH who see this coming, including myself, and preparing accordingly.
So, in the 1960's Greenspan published several papers that most ZH readers would largely agree with, discussing the evils of inflation and crass Keynesianism. Then he went on to do what the politicians wanted for a couple decades, even though at odds with his writings and good sense.
I see two interpretations:
1) Greenspan is a very weak-willed person, and while he believed some things, he had no spine to stand up to the pols and refuse to do their stupid bidding.
2) Greenspan is a cunning person with a long time horizon. He deliberately accepted the stupid ideas of the pols knowing that it would eventually blow up, as he hopes that the ultimate destruction from those bad ideas will vindicate his views and perhaps lead to more intelligent economic policy in the very long term.
Take your pick. I hope for some better responses than just expletives.
The correct answer is Number One!
Look at his business/economic/financial acumen prior to being selected as Chairman. He had all but destroyed his business and had virtually no clients. He was a total failure, which is probably why he was selected for the position.
A doctor does not kill the patient to make him/her well.
I think Ayn Rand's refusal to sleep with Greedspasm in the 1960s drove him over the edge and into insanity.
"Please Ayn, PLEASE! I'll even take up smoking in bed, and pay you in gold!"
"Only if you put the black hood on and let me spank you with a copy of Atlas Shrugged, you filthy altruistic parasite! Now light my cigarette bitch!"
Sounds like an accurate account.
you got it dude ... Ayn Rand is scientology...no less!
Akak : #15
Thanks for that detailed response Nuinut! Somehow, I had missed seeing it. I will have to read it later, but read it I will.
#2:
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_02/heller052102.html
The sad truth is that he's not a modern day Francisco D'Anconia surreptitiously taking down the corrupt system, he's just a tired old man who has apparently realized that old Keynes had a valid (but shockingly selfish, cynical and short-sighted) observation: In the long run, we are all dead.
AG just wants to serve out his last years in comfort. I bet he's scared right about now. he may want to reach out to Dr. Kevorkian at this rate.
#1.
Door #1. I've read that he was an inveterate bootlicker and stargazer. Door #2 is a pipe dream.
Asshole! Shit-head! Fuck-face! There is no better response to Greenspan than an expletive.
(In case this is unclear, I mean that Greenspan is an asshole, not you, Max or anyone else here. And I think the answer is #1 - he was never more than an obsequeous little sycophant in Ayn Rand's circle).
Doesn't "obsequious little sycophant" describe everyone in the circle?
I completely understnad the ramifications of inflation. But fiat as a whole I am still not able to wrap my head around. I thought one of the reasons that we got rid of asset backed currencies was several fold. The first being that it was cumbersum to tranfer the gold payments to each country. the second being that it limited growth as there may not always be enough money for each transaction that occurs in the economy.
With gold backed currency, if you printed more money it would devalue your existing currency relative the amount of gold you had. The same can be said for printing with fiat but maybe not to such a geat degree as inflation is also a function of the velocity of money. So what is the difference (in all seriousness)?
You can have a gold backed currency that may not meet the demands of growth adn require the pysical transfer of gold or you can have fiat that functions in a similar manner but without the transfer. Am I missing something?
Even strictly having gold as a currency would be exceedingly difficult since there would not be enough to complete the transactions in society nor could the gold be transfered electronically. The second you attempt at an electronic transaction you're basically creating a 21st century bank note.
Some edification would be much appreciatred.
Thank you
I suspect you're trolling, since what you're asking is found in the first 20 pages of anything by Mises or Hayek. But I can't prove it, so not junking you.
Geoff,
I'm not trolling, I just ran into an argument from my Econ professor that didn't quite pass the smell test and I figured I would repeat it here. I haven't read Mises or Hayek (assuming Friedrich August Hayek) but thank you for pointing them out.
If ladies or gentlemen would mind giving a breif overview, that would also be appreciated.
- Not trying to hijack the thread
Thanks
We got rid of gold-backed currency because it hinders the ability of the government to pay for spending via inflation. In other words, gold is a powerful check on the rapacious thirst of the state for the wealth of the citizens.
Let me do some categorical readjustment for you: Under the gold standard, think of the gold as real money, and the dollar as nothing more than a bank note. Effectively, the US Treasury was practicing fractional reserve banking, by printing more dollars than they had gold to back it up with. And, just like FRB, they were able to do this because countries redeemed their claims infreqently...until Nixon and Johnson spent a *little* too much money on guns 'n butter. The effect was the same as when a bank issues too many notes--there's a run on the bank, as the reserves can't keep up with the pace of redemption. In the case of the US government, there was too much paper out there, and not enough gold to keep up with the pace of redemption. Whereas a bank goes bankrupt when it can't meet its obligatoin, the US government, having such luxuries as "a massive standing army" and "the ability to rewrite the rules for its own benefit," simply declared it would no longer redeem paper dollars for gold.
And that's how fiat money was born.
THE correct answer is #2 !! Greenspan ensnared the 'spenders' and now 'they' are trapped....Ka- Boom!!
Read this guy.....I think he's on to something. BTW Mr. Mad Max, do you know this guy already? Because, a mon avis, U2 are on to something!
http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/196.cfm
A third option is that he has changed his opinion based on how he views the world. I'm definitely not a Greenspan apologist (far from it) but have to ask everyone how their world views have changed in the past 1, 5, 10 or 20 years?
Even two years ago I would be hesitant about admitting about reading certain economic blogs (libertarians = boogeyman?)
If the world shifts dramatically and your world view shifts to accomadate it - I think not a bad thing? Maybe even smart? Or maybe he is trying to cover his ass but for some reason I don't think so
(3) Greenspan is a social climber who will say and do anything to get in with the right people and further his own career and net worth.
#1 - because in the same article, Greenspan goes on to say "The U.S. government can create dollars at will to meet any obligation, and it will doubtless continue to do so. U.S. Treasurys are thus free of credit risk. But they are not free of interest rate risk. If Treasury net debt issuance were to double overnight, for example, newly issued Treasury securities would continue free of credit risk, but the Treasury would have to pay much higher interest rates to market its newly issued securities. "
I thought that interest rates are a reflection of the perception of credit risk. And in my book, there is the possibility of US credit risk. Parallels with other countries that have defaulted, either directly, or indirectly, on sovereign debt, are to similar to dismiss. For Greenspan to say otherwise tells me he is still very much a captured cog in the machine. Maybe a cognizant cog, but still captured. But I do agree that the lull in risk perception of US debt will be short-lived.
Too little too late, Greenspan.
You were in a position to influence these matters, now you're just waxing about woulda, coulda, shoulda. Has it sunk in yet that you're a failure?
"With all that said, I'm moving with 'W' to Uruguay".
Love and Kisses,
-- Alan
How will Bernanke respond?
Fuh fuh fuh fuh ZIRP!! fuh fuh fuh
I think W and Bush family actually have their retreat in Paraguay, not Uruguay. Paraguay has more of a third world/military dictatorship aura that should suit him well. Uruguay is more commonly described as the Switzerland of South America.
Paraguay = a 2 unit set of Uruguay's.
So I have always wanted to ask you, does your name mean you have a small butt, like instead of an ass, you have an asset?
I ask this only because your cute pun set you up for this kind of victimization. In other words, you brought this on yourself...
Bwhahahahah!
You have officially been terrorized by the Clan McCreant.
Oh, Laddie McCreant! :)
I used to run a blog called "The Asset Allocator" a few years ago. I used the profile "Assetman" as a 'spinoff pun' from an episode of "The Seinfeld Show". The show featured a proctologist that had a personalized license plate called "Assman". I could provide you more detail, but... why?
Anywho... the avatar I found suited my purposes well. Geithner may well seem to be an "Assetman" by job description... but reality has proven him to be something more akin to that special pose.
So there you have it... my whole life is filled with puns, young laddie! :)
Pun ish ment! Turns out the whole ass thing was there but I had not put it together. I see Tim looking over his shoulder because, well, he should...
The Clan McCreant will now cease and desist with the (sort of) sexual har (de har) "assment".
I'm guessing Costa Rica.
Yes, actions speak louder than words. And we all know about Alan's actions, and his now contradictory tone.
Fuck you Alan.