Guest Post: Mass Delusion - American Style

Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform

Mass Delusion - American Style

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that
they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and
one by one.” – Charles Mackay - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

 

The American public thinks they are rugged individualists, who come
to conclusions based upon sound reason and a rational thought process.
The truth is that the vast majority of Americans act like a herd of
cattle or a horde of lemmings. Throughout history there have been many
instances of mass delusion. They include the South Sea Company bubble,
Mississippi Company bubble, Dutch Tulip bubble, and Salem witch trials.
It appears that mass delusion has replaced baseball as the
national past-time in America. In the space of the last 15 years the
American public have fallen for the three whopper delusions:

1. Buy stocks for the long run
2. Homes are always a great investment
3. Globalization will benefit all Americans

Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva ponder why people have always acted in a herd like manner in their outstanding book Mobs, Messiahs and Markets:

“Of course, we doubt if many public
prescriptions are really intended to solve problems. People certainly
believe they are when they propose them. But, like so much of what goes
on in a public spectacle, its favorite slogans, too, are delusional –
more in the nature of placebos than propositions. People repeat them
like Hail Marys because it makes them feel better. Most of our beliefs
about the economy – and everything else – are of this nature. They are
forms of self medication, superstitious lip service we pay to the powers
of the dark, like touching wood….or throwing salt over your shoulder.
“Stocks for the long run,” “Globalization is good.” We repeat slogans to
ourselves, because everyone else does. It is not so much bad luck we
want to avoid as being on our own. Why it is that losing your life
savings should be less painful if you have lost it in the company of one
million other losers, we don’t know. But mankind is first of all a herd
animal and fears nothing more than not being part of the herd.”

Stocks for the Long Run

The book Stocks for the Long Run was
written by Jeremy Siegel in the mid-1990′s. The premise is that if you
just buy and hold stocks over a 20 to 30 year period, you will always
make money. This was exactly what the Wall Street witch doctors ordered.
They pounded this message into the brains of every American incessantly
in their advertising campaigns, literature and propaganda. It became an
unquestioned truth. Just one problem. It isn’t the truth. Valuations
matter. The Dow Jones was at the same level in 1982 as it was in 1966.
On an inflation adjusted basis, the Dow did not get back to the 1966
level until 1990. That is 24 years of no return in the stock market. The
American public ignored the true facts and piled into equities during
the late 1990s. The result was one of the greatest examples of mass
delusion in history. The internet bubble drove the NASDAQ market to a
peak of 5,048 in March 2000. Today it sits at 2,180. Ten years after the
bubble burst, the NASDAQ is still down 57% from its peak.

Delusional Americans all over the country believed in the new
internet paradigm. Fools thought “bricks and mortar” retailers were
dead. Morons quit their jobs so they could get rich day trading. Wall
Street hucksters took advantage of this hysteria by attaching .COM to
every ridiculous IPO they shilled to the American public. Wall Street
knew these companies were pieces of crap, but they churned out the IPOs
as quickly as possible while the getting was good. The Wall Street
oligarchs made billions and the delusional American public got screwed.
You would think that average Americans would have learned their lesson
after this experience. They did not. They continued to buy into the Wall
Street lies about stocks being a sure path to riches. The fact is that
the S&P 500 is currently at the same level it was in March 1998. On
an inflation adjusted basis, it is 25% below the level of 1998. You
don’t hear this information on CNBC because the oligarchs that control
the media need the delusion to continue in order to harvest more riches
from the ignorant masses.

Home Sweet Home

“The continuing shortages of housing inventory are driving the price gains. There is no evidence of bubbles popping.” – David Lereah – Chief Economist for National Association of Realtors – 2005

“We’ve never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis.
So, what I think what is more likely is that house prices will slow,
maybe stabilize, might slow consumption spending a bit. I don’t think
it’s gonna drive the economy too far from its full employment path,
though.” – Ben Bernanke – 2005

“House prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two
years. Although speculative activity has increased in some areas, at a
national level these price increases largely reflect strong economic
fundamentals.” - Ben Bernanke – 2005

Why was it that two supposedly brilliant, highly trained economists,
with countless degrees and high paying positions could be so very wrong?
Were they just mistaken or were they purposefully encouraging a
national delusion? With the bursting of the internet bubble in 2000 –
2002, Americans immediately proceeded to the next bubble. Alan Greenspan
was an almost God like figure in the early 2000s. He had “saved” the
economy countless times during his 15 year reign of terror at
the Federal Reserve. When he spoke, the American people listened. After
the internet bubble and 9/11, he proceeded to reduce interest rates to
1% for an extended period of time. He then gave the all clear sign to
Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages. Lastly, Mr. Free
Markets decided that banks and mortgage brokers could police themselves.
The result was the greatest housing bubble in US history and a near
collapse of the worldwide financial system.

Sane economists like Robert Shiller saw it for what it was. He calmly
pointed out that home prices had pretty much tracked inflation for over
100 years. A 100% increase in home prices over the course of 3 years
was irrationally exuberant. He was scorned and ridiculed by the delusion
propagators at the NAR, the cheerleaders on CNBC, the Wall Street money
changers, the Federal Reserve stuffed suits, and the corrupt
politicians in Washington DC. The usual drivel about positive
demographics, low interest rates, strong income growth, and limited land
to develop were spewed out by the corporate media complex. The
beneficiaries of this mass delusion were the Wall Street banks that
created mortgage products and derivatives faster than Obama spreads our
wealth around.

Mass delusion is always encouraged by those who benefit most from the
mass delusion. David Lereah has admitted that he lied about the housing
bubble because he was employed by realtors. Realtors made millions in
commissions. Appraisers made millions in fees by inflating appraisals.
Mortgage brokers made millions by encouraging people to lie on mortgage
applications. Wall Street whores made billions by creating toxic
packages of mortgages and selling them to Irish nuns, old ladies
and clueless municipal administrators. The ratings agencies made
hundreds of millions in fees for slapping  AAA ratings on toxic
derivatives. Politicians got rich from political “contributions”
from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Wall Street, and the NAR. Any reasonable
human being could look at the chart above and see that this would end
badly, but Americans wanted to be deluded. They choose to believe. The
housing market has now been falling for five years, with another five
years to go. Ben Bernanke has reduced interest rates to zero. I wonder
how that will work out.    

Who Benefited from Globalization?

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain

From the time that Bill Clinton signed the NAFTA agreement in 1994,
globalization has been touted by those in power as beneficial to all
Americans. How could free markets and free trade be a bad thing?
Corporate America, Wall Street, and the mainstream corporate media have
blared the propaganda of globalization benefits from their loudspeakers.
In theory, globalization appears to be a positive concept. It describes
a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have
become integrated through a global network of communication,
transportation, and trade. The truth is that globalization is not
inherently good or inherently bad. The idea is that each country has its
own strengths and weaknesses. Each country will take advantage of their
strengths and rely on other countries to help mitigate their
weaknesses. This will result in increased trade, a larger world market,
and economic progress for all. One small problem. Trade is not really
free. Every country on earth protects various industries. Every country
on earth manipulates their currency in order to get an edge. Every
country on earth invokes tariffs to protect their national interests.

Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva address the difficulties of globalization and “free trade” in Mobs, Messiahs and Markets:

“Unfair trade is yet another of the
dodgy slogans festooning the spectacle of globalization like tinsel
slithering around a pole dancer. How can different regulations and
practices in different countries constitute unfairness? Isn’t the
essence of trade that different countries have different things to offer
– whether cheap labor, or better technology, or more bountiful natural
resources, or more welcoming business environments? If all countries had
exactly the same things to offer each other, there would be no reason
to trade at all. But what “fair” trade advocates are really advocating,
of course, is unfair trade! They want to make sure their foreign
competitors divest themselves of the very advantages that they bring to
trading.”

“We notice, for instance, that when
Americans in Detroit lose jobs to other Americans in California, they
might grumble a bit. But, by and large, they accept it as part of the
nature of things. They move, or retrain, or change jobs. But when they
lose their jobs to Japanese in Osaka or Indians in Bangalore, then a cry
goes up. Unfair trade, howl the trade unions; race to the bottom, scold
the social activists; yellow – or brown – peril, shriek the xenophobes
and racists.”

It seems the American middle class was sold a false bill of goods.
They bought the Big Lie that globalization would benefit them. They
bought into the delusion that even though their high paying
manufacturing jobs sailed away to China and India, they could maintain
their lifestyle through brain work, easy credit, cheap goods made in
China by the people who took their jobs, and the ever increasing value
of their homes. Noam Chomsky notes the fallacy of this delusion:

“The dominant propaganda systems have
appropriated the term “globalization” to refer to the specific version
of international economic integration that they favor, which privileges
the rights of investors and lenders, those of people being incidental.”

Again, one must seek out who benefits from the delusion of
globalization. The crony capitalists, Wall Street oligarchs, and
corporate fascists who control the puppet strings in this country have
benefited greatly from the Big Lie. Over 5 million manufacturing jobs
have been off-shored since 2000. These good paying jobs are never coming
back. Millions of service sector jobs continue to be shipped overseas.
The global conglomerates like GE, HP, Oracle, IBM, and Boeing continue
to rake in billions of profits, distributing millions to its high paid
executives, while gutting middle class America. The ruling oligarchs
convinced Americans to take advantage of cheap goods and easy credit, to
buy electronics, cars, appliances, new kitchens, and take the vacations
of their dreams. This Big Lie has left the American consumer with $2.5
trillion of non-mortgage debt and the lowest level of home equity in
history. Retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, and Best
Buy reaped billions in profits as Americans whipped out one of their 10
credit cards to buy HDTV’s, economy bags of tube socks, iPads, iPods,
stainless steel refrigerators, and Dell computers. Small town America’s
mom and pop economy was gutted by Big Box retailers selling the
globalization delusion. The biggest beneficiaries of the globalization
delusion were the Wall Street banks. They control 80% of credit card
market and have reaped billions in interest at rates exceeding 20%,
while sucking $20 billion per year in late fees from the clueless
public. Wall Street bankers have rewarded themselves for their
brilliance in destroying the middle class by reaping multi-million
dollar bonus packages.

Vincible Ignorance

“Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don’t know because we don’t want to know.” - Aldous Huxley

Based on all available evidence, it seems the American public wants
to be misled. They have chosen ignorance over knowledge and
understanding. They want to believe their corrupt leaders. They want to
believe that things always work out in the long run. They want to
believe that the economy is about to get better. They don’t want to
think about unsustainable debt, unfunded liabilities, saving for
retirement, or Simon Cowell leaving American Idol. Americans desperately
want to be deluded into another bubble, but there are no evident
bubbles left to blow. The existing American delusion is that the
current fiscal path will not lead to the utter destruction of our once
great Republic.

  

America resembles a 40 year old aging baseball icon with two bad
knees, a pot belly, receding hairline and delusions that he is still the
ball player he was at 24. He doesn’t realize that his skills are shot,
as he flails at curveballs in the dirt thrown by 21 year old kids. The
rest of the league knows he is washed up, but he refuses to accept
reality. America isn’t even running on fumes at this point. It is
running on delusions. Politicians think they have saved the country from
a Depression by adding $3 trillion to the National Debt and allowing 
Wall Street banks to pretend they are solvent. Americans have been
deluded by the ruling oligarchs that a $700 billion bank bailout, an
$800 billion pork filled stimulus plan, the Federal Reserve buying $1.2
trillion of toxic mortgages, and the Treasury forcing taxpayers to pick
up a $400 billion tab for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s bad loans has
actually solved a problem created by too much debt.

The American herd has gone mad. A few people have regained their
senses, but the vast majority still exhibits the behavior of sheep being
led to slaughter. The ruling oligarchs have utter contempt for the
average American, but they fear the masses. In order to retain their
power and wealth, they gladly hand out two years of unemployment
payments, food stamps, and welfare payments to keep the masses sedated.
The working middle class foots the bill. Corruption abounds and is
sustained by the passage of more laws and regulations. The sociopathic
powers that control the levers of power in this country need to be
brought to justice if this country has any chance at survival. The den
of vipers and thieves have trampled on the Constitution, speculated with
the country’s funds, risked blowing up the financial system, committed
fraud on a massive scale, and continue to rape and pillage the American
citizens. Vincible ignorance by the American people is no longer
a legitimate excuse. The criminals on Wall Street and Washington DC must
be routed out and Americans must awaken from their delusional state
before it is too late. I weep for the liberty of my country.

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

                                          Pink Floyd – Time

Comments

[breezer1]

harvey has an interesting read...

http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/

[ChopChop]

My opinion is the same as Tyler, more specifically, I'm a big fan of the KA-POOM theory:

http://www.itulip.com/kapoomtheory.htm

Ka is the deplation and POOM is when everything explode. It was proven historically right. Can't predict the future but the shit we are right now is bigger than anything seen before. It just needs time to unfold completely. Don't be so impatient, everything will come in time.

Also I think that the more the Fed try to manipulate the short term, the worse the situation will become.

[ChopChop]

Oh, just found they updated their theory here:

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php/16419-Six-years-ago-today-Robert-E.-Rubin-Allen-Sinai-and-Peter-R.-Orszag-embraced-Ka-Poom-Theory.-Then-what-happened?p=169764#post169764

Their conclusion:

Now it appears that the housing bubble didn't invalidate Ka-Poom but instead phase-shifted the event out by eight or nine years, from 2006/2007 to 2014/2015. But because these types of events usually occur immediately before or after national elections, 2012/2013 is a more likely target date for our trade.

[ATG]

When predicting, give a date or an event, but not both, preferably far in the future and so vague as not to be verifiable...

[New_Meat]

predict early and often. 

I was thinking about Cramer today, he had a "SELL EVERYTHING, GET OUT OF THIS" call just before the '08 crash.  But his S/N ratio of 10E-39 killed a real good idea.

- Ned

[Eternal Student]

I wrote off iTulip a little over a year ago when they came out with the silliest article on why the Deflationists were wrong, and that inflation was just around the corner.

The article was a lot of drivel, with a paragraph at the end which blew all of their excessive verbiage away. One has to wonder why they even bothered. But they are clearly not the sharpest knife in the drawer. That should be a wake up call. The other big clue is giving their "theory" the silliest name around.

It's hard to take these guys seriously; and they certainly aren't worth the time, IMO.

[Number 156]

Yeah. I Agree that the Fed will push for the staus quo to the end.

As for now, we are now experiencing the imbalance caused by the goverment ignoring simple mathematical and moral principles. The banks and firms that participated in the ponzi finance schemes have been rewarded for their malfeasance. The failure of the regulatory system to perform its proper function will now only have one irreversible outcome; Failure.

Watch where the the TBTF firms position themselves because insiders will know ahead of time what the Fed will do or anticipate. Why else would the SEC be exemted from the FOI act?

[ATG]

Bingo, perhaps sooner rather than later...

[boooyaaaah]

Your position on gold -- inflation

and deflation has changed dramatically

You should strive to be truthful --- not correct

That way you will be different --- no spin

[Kayman]

Tyler might well be an American, but I doubt he is an "Ameican"

[Troy Ounce]

Don't forget: "We will always respect your culture"

[Clancy]

Except not really.

[New_Meat]

especially next morning

[Oh regional Indian]

Now that, is irony. Struck me like a hammer!

Maybe more so as I see the exact opposite happening around me, here in India, recently made naked, shameless, loud and consumptive.

ORI

http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com

[Rusty Shorts]

Good Bye America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPbIls0iOnI&p=16D3E46BB3E07BCA&playnext=1&index=22

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

I appreciate that old time, homey sentiment. And I must say that I mourn the fact that it can be accurately called old timey. I think the regular folks out there in middle America have been put down and laughed at for too long.

That being said, I believe in the most basic American virtue of Liberty. I will not stand and in unision with all others pledge my support for an out-of-control government which consistently attacks and devalues the things I hold most dear.

I support your right to pledge and pray as you see fit and I will not laugh at you but I hope that you are generous enough to grant me the right to see by my own lights and live by my own moral code.

I hope that on such a basis we can be friends.

[Rusty Shorts]

"I will not stand and in unision with all others pledge my support for an out-of-control government which consistently attacks and devalues the things I hold most dear."

 - niether will I, dear friend.

[G-R-U-N-T]

and neither will I...

[SwapThis]

Never thought I would stand proudly with Rusty Shorts but here I am saluting... +1000

[ATG]

Thanks.

RS one of the great Americans.

Used to enjoy his clown art at the Hyatt Maui Gallery, now going for $50,000 and up since he passed.

http://www.farsinet.com/red_skelton/

Will keep his pledge in mind the next time I have to deal with Agencies, Bureaucracies and Courts that seem to have forgotten it...

[Turd Ferguson]

This is very good stuff. Well written and 100% spot on.

The end of The Great Keynesian Experiment is upon us.

Prepare accordingly.

[Internet Tough Guy]

For greed all nature is too little. - Seneca

[masterinchancery]

Yes, Great post, very well written. America is structurally crippled by a host of vicious parasites; if the host doesn't wake up and return to the healthy institutions of say 1910, we are looking at a long fall.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

I recall a bromide making the rounds about thirty five years ago that went: "Paradise is 1910 taxes, 1930s prices and 1970s wages."

[Thucydides]

Tyler you have sure stirred up the hornets nest!  Two mentions on CNBS both on air and in the internet CNBS mouthpiece for the establishment's response on your "Hindenburg Omen" piece.  Keep up the good work.  All who have come to their senses know this will not end until "blood runs in the streets" and I am afraid that this time it is literally.  The illness that is making the US sick and the rest of world will have to be vomited out.  There may have been another way back yonder in time but not any more.

[Clancy]

Does Somalia know you borrowed their flag?

[AssFire]

Flag of the Somali pirates uhh, I mean.."economically challenged sea captains"?

[Thucydides]

Where are y'all from?  Somalian flag?  A white star on a field of blue.....Hint:  remember the 2nd War of Independence? 

[Optimusprime]

"Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag

that bears a single star"!

[cossack55]

Yes, the one opposed to Northern Treachery (read, DC).

[New_Meat]

Took me a long time even to understand the term "War of Northern Agression." - Ned

[Rebel]

Some of us got it.

[ZackAttack]

Also, quite amazing that long-term treasuries, which can be purchased and held with no Wall Street involvment at all, have outperformed equities in nearly every timeframe over the last 30 years.  

[Belrev]

Hey, zionist control of masse media and propaganda is doing a fabulous job. In fact, over the last century the jews have been quite successful in subverting every rugged culture there is. What can we say if even in the well rugged Australia they succeded in passing gun ownership ban. Americans have not heard any other news over the last 100 years but what the jew controlled media presents them. The white christian idiots went overseas twice to fight their own kind while they never thought of who is behind these wars. And now again they enlist to "fight for freedom over there" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans will learn soon enough the jewish betrayal. But as before it will be to late.

[stev3e]

+100

[Perseus son of Zeus]

Flag as Insightful(25)

[Shylockracy]

+1914 +1941 +2002 +2003

[Frank Owen]

Belrev: Been looking through some of Noam Chomsky's recent writings this afternoon. He's Jewish, but is against what is going on in Israel. Here's a paragraph of his for you from April 22, this year:

“It is very similar to late Weimar Germany,” Chomsky told me when I called him at his office in Cambridge, Mass. “The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum which the Nazis very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over.”

http://orwellsdreams.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/noam-chomsky-has-‘never-...

[merehuman]

facts are what they are.

Bernanke, geithner, summers,gensler etc. i haventh got all day and its a long list. Average white guy like me has zero representation .

Years ago i bragged on the sharp, cool israelis and was proud of their decisiveness and willingness to stand against the muslim menace next door.

Since 911 i have joined many americans in discovering our history and the REAL facts. Once i found out about USS Liberty, having been a US soldier i cannot help but have a heartfelt animosity toward the Israelis. I also understand why in history it is found many countries at one time or another  kicked the jews out because of the same financial crap they do now. Nobody likes to be raped  financially or otherwise.

Ordinary jews who had no part in this will suffer also along with us. In fact most jews are victimized doubly. My mother was marched many miles and likely raped, certainly starved. She was 18 then and the soldiers took what they wanted.Politics didnt matter so much as power. Those with the guns had it. My mother was not jewish, that didnt matter. Power took what power wanted.

I am so sorry, and my heart goes out to all of you. Damn. I sit here in tears as i type, a grown man/soul seeing ahead in time the consequences going forward.

So very many in harms way with nary a clue, fed on hopium and lies.

[Hunch Trader]

+flag as historically correct (88) 

[overmedicatedun...]

..the above is what most here on ZH understand..perhaps more of us will understand as more come to ZH to get a glimmer of reality..(tip of the hat to TD and co) 

the next question is the big one..

what will we do about it ??..

on that I am sadly silent. as in No Fing clue.

[ToNYC]

You can certainly reflect the truth you need to believe.

[DoChenRollingBearing]

over, here are some ideas:

1)  Buy gold, silver, guns & ammo for yourself and you family's protection.

2)  Pull a LOT of money out of the bank, perhaps we can try a repeat of the Thursday August 12 action (in which many of us just said NO by pulling out $500 from the ATMs).

3)  Maybe the biggest group which maybe has a clue would be the Tea Party-ers.  Look into it.

4)  Get out of debt if you can.

5)  Spend less money, remember that each dollar not spent is equivalent to UNTAXED income.

[rapunzel]

SOL if your single, female and old. this doomsday scenario jst sucks for people like me, just sayin, i need a caddy.

[merehuman]

hey Rapunzel, i am what you are looking for. But i already have a gal. She will be 90 in april. 30 years my senior. In 11 years trying to make up for 60 years of macho treatment. She had no money, i did. But she is forthright and honest as well as a loving soul close to her true self. Few are. She has been my work of love for these many years, i have brought joy and fun to her life and she holds her head up now, even talks back and challenges me, finally. When she was very sick i urged her to take control and  mentally repeat this sentence " I am whole, healthy , strong and powerful loving harmonius and happy"   Each time she got to the word "powerful" she failed to use it or replaced it. She could not see herself as powerful as she had been beaten into submission repeatedly over the years.

Point is we are conditioned and need to help ourselves . And worse we often do not see our on conditioning. I did not for a long time.

[DoChenRollingBearing]

How fitting that you two, rapunzel and merehuman, would be writing with a pair of bearings surrounding.  Like the front axle of a car, bearings on each end.

Both of you are among my favorite contributors here at ZH.

The Bearing serves its role, once again, to keep things rolling.

(Please feel free to excuse, or not, the slew of bad puns and metaphors above in this reply)

[merehuman]

Who is the driver? I used to think it was all of us. I hope it can be that way again. Damn good to see some of the old hands here. Missing a few posters arent we. I am chumba, ms creant and more. I miss them

[Rebel]

I think Rapunzel=Velobabe-avatar. Did not look old in that picture, I tell you.

[Rebel]

Chickens, Dochen, don't forget the chickens. Bugs go in one end, eggs come out the other. I would put #1 on the list. 10 chickens and you are well on your way to feeding your family.

[hedgeless_horseman]

50 per person, per year, is a good metric.

Damn chicken hawks.

[Rebel]

Evening  hedgless,

You must like eggs better than I do . . . family of 4= 200 chickens, at .8 eggs per day per chicken, we are talking 160 eggs a day. Right now with 10 chickens, I am having trouble giving all the eggs away.

[Hulk]

Evening Rebel,

Me thinks HH doesn't name his chickens and eats more than their eggs! Forest fed hogs are working out well here although mama had 13 and rolled over 4. 9 left and the hens are full!

[Rebel]

Got it . . . he is eating them, not just the eggs. As long as things keep humming along, I just buy my meat. Don't have the heart to eat the chickens, and don't want to fool with goats. If/when things get bad, I have a place set up for goats and dorper sheep. I work with a lady who has a lot, and she has agreed to stock my place, should the need arise (in the mean time, I keep her in eggs). 

[Hulk]

Ah yes, if I could only quantify the amount of good will that free eggs have brought!

[DoChenRollingBearing]

Rebel, no, alas, no.  As a condo dweller (with two Associations) I doubt that my neighbors would sympathetic to having chickens running around on my balcony...  Nor would they like to be woken up every night at random intervals after 3:00 AM...

[Hulk]

Go get yourself a few acres and a couple dozen plymouth barred rocks DoChenRB. Beautiful birds

[Rebel]

Dochen,

The Llano is calling you, my son, the Llano is calling. 

[DoChenRollingBearing]

Rebel!  Hulk!

Yeah I hear Llano County, Texas calling my name.

But my wife does not.  She's a city girl, likes opera a lot, and does not like the disorderliness of Nature.  And I did get bit, once, by a Black Widow spider (Goliad County). So my dreams will just have to be rememberances (word?) of when I passed through several times, perhaps the prettiest place in Texas...

For me Texas is the past...  And I'm happy enough where I am at.  We have a grown kid who is working!  So, if TSHTF, maybe I'll just send my gold & guns to her (upon proper marriage of course), as SHE would be the only one in our family who could go on and have a kid or kids.

Thanks guys for brightening my evening!

[Rebel]

DoChen,

Its the Llano River you hear calling. Take the Mrs. on a lazy inner tube float down the Llano. She will never be the same.

I do hear you about the Mrs. I will never forget the day I told the Mrs. we were selling everything, leaving a lucrative job, and moving to Texas. Looked at me like I had gone crazy(er?). Anyway, with a little adjusting she is now happy. In fact, I think she would even admit, happier than she has ever been.

[VWbug]

what will we do about it ??..

you will get a lot of advice on buying guns, ammo, canned food, putting bars on your windows, barbed wire fences to protect your garden etc.

Basically it boils down to build yourself a prison cell and hunker down and wait 'til your neighbours attack you and then you get to shoot them.

[NoVolumeMeltup]

4. Oprah and Dr. Phil are veritable bastions of practical wisdom. God, we're idiots.

[Problem Is]

Op-whor-a says give the idiots more shopping...

Dr-NOT Phil says give the idiots more Prozac...

Propaganda and cult of personality gives you these moronic cultural icons...

[Perseus son of Zeus]

Dr. Philistine says: "Free chemical castration for all my male guests". "I can get you help, if you want me to".

http://www.livevideo.com/video/73B5C008EFD040CD90DF00AFB602C8CB/dr-phil-...

Check out his guests hair-do about 2/3 of the way through.

[rapunzel]

MY son, why is it so difficult for some, to watch humans engage in violence?

[Kayman]

Gawd, don't tell my wife that !  Now why don't you just "git real".

[Oswald Spengler]

In God We Trust?

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Gott mit Uns.

[Zero Debt]

famous last words

[Frank Owen]

yeah, but your hands stay warm while you die. edit: sorry that was a reply to "Gott mit Uns."

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

In the words of Tommy Smothers, "OK, that's enough!"

[Rainman]

Quinn's wrong about one thing. Not all bubbles are gone. The Bullshit Bubble remains and is the only one waiting to burst.

[Maude]

The Bullshit Bubble will always inflate. Everyone knows when you burst that bubble you just end up with shit all over you.

[williambanzai7]

HANDBOOK OF ECONOMIC DECEPTION

http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/08/macro-economic-deception-for-...

[tom a taxpayer]

Williambanzai7 - Thanks for the colorful, high-quality satire.

Geithner is listed as the Handbook's author but Turbo Timmy is just the frontman puppet. I believe there are many ghostwriter authors including Hank "the Godfather" Paulson, Lord Lloyd Blankfein, Stephen "no conflict of interest" Friedman, the "doing God's work" missionaries at Goldman Sachs, Chris "I got no special treatment" Dodd, Barney "I did not cause a housing bubble" Frank, Maxine "Franklin Rains is doing an excellent job" Waters, and Ben "the bag man" Bernanke.

[BorisTheBlade]

The American public thinks they are rugged individualists, who come to conclusions based upon sound reason and a rational thought process. The truth is that the vast majority of Americans act like a herd of cattle or a horde of lemmings.

No, the truth is that in the good times people usually of themselves better, when things get worse, all the same things that were considered good, are viewed and pictured bad. So, this view presented (weird enough) could be exactly the reflection of the horde mentality - when you hear repeatedly that everyone around is a bunch of sheeple, the easiest thing to do is to look for confirmation of this (yes, it didn't go mainstream yet, but soon it will). So are the Americans rugged individualists or a horde of lemmings? Probably neither ... probably both, but not in any way unique for that matter.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

We are poor little lambs

Who have lost our way

Baa, baa, baa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga9h8QSAc0s

[Marvin_M]

As usual James Quinn in a no holds barred take-down of the imperialist, fascist oligarchy that calls itself The United States of America.  He is to be commended for his consistency as we have followed his writing for the past few years.  Much of the underlying sentiment of mass delusion and resignation is also reflected in CD's recent series as well.

[Problem Is]

For a Martian... you sure seem to get the human condition... and understand corrupt political structure.

Do you have fractional reserve banksters on Mars?

[AssFire]

The following are 15 key economic statistics that just keep getting worse and which reveal the horrific economic plight in which we now find ourselves.... 

1 - The number of Americans who are receiving food stamps rose to a new all-time record of 40.8 million in May.  The number of Americans receiving food stamps has set a new all-time record for 18 months in a row.  But there is every indication that things are going to get even worse.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that the number of Americans on food stamps will increase to 43 million in 2011. 

2 - The U.S. economy lost 131,000 more jobs during the month of July.  But the truth is that the U.S. economy has been bleeding jobs for a long time.  According to one analysis, the United States has lost 10.5 million jobs since 2007.  Meanwhile, immigrants (both legal and illegal) continue to pour into this nation in unprecedented numbers.

3 - Americans who are out of work are finding it incredibly difficult to get back into the workforce.  In the United States today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to an all-time record of 35.2 weeks.

4 - The U.S. government keeps trying to pump up the economy with debt, and in the process things are getting wildly out of control.  According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.

5 - The interest on all of this debt is becoming increasingly oppressive.  As of July 1st, the U.S. government had spent $355 billion so far in 2010 on interest payments to the holders of the national debt.  The total for 2010 should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 billion.  According to Erskine Bowles, one of the heads of Barack Obama's national debt commission, the U.S. government will be spending $2 trillion just on interest on the national debt by 2020.  Keep in mind that the entire U.S. government budget is less than $4 trillion for the entire year of 2010.

6 - If the U.S. government was forced to use GAAP accounting principles (like all publicly-traded corporations must), the annual U.S. government budget deficit would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 trillion to $5 trillion.

7 - Social Security will pay out more in benefits in 2010 than it receives in payroll taxes.  This was not supposed to happen until at least 2015.  In the years ahead, these new "Social Security deficits" are projected to be absolutely catastrophic. 

8 - There are simply far too many retirees and not nearly enough workers to support them.  Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers.  Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers.  By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.

9 - Wealth continues to become highly concentrated at the top.  Since 1973, the average CEO’s salary has increased from 26 times the median income to over 300 times the median income.

10 - According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck.  That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

11 - The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that more than 10% of all U.S. homeowners with a mortgage had missed at least one mortgage payment during the January to March time period.  That was a new all-time record and represented an increase from 9.1 percent a year ago.

12 - A recent survey of last year's college graduates found that 80 percent moved right back home with their parents after graduation.  That was up substantially from 63 percent in 2006.

13 - During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.

14 - The total number of U.S. bank failures passed the 100 mark in July of this year.  In 2009, the total number of U.S. bank failures did not pass the century barrier until October.

15 - The U.S. dollar continues to rapidly decline in value.  An item that cost $20.00 in 1970 would cost you $112.35 today.  An item that cost $20.00 in 1913 would cost you $440.33 today.

Drastic steps that could save the country (if it wasn't filled effeminate individualism):

1 - Fire 95% of the military= savings $ 750 billion/year

2 - Close 95% of the prisons= savings $ 200 billion/year; keep only the most violent offenders (they were simply slaughtered during the French Revolution); repeat offenders to be used as slave labor to generate revenue for the state

3 - End "war on drugs" = savings $ 150 billion/year

4 - Legalize & tax Marijuana = revenues of $ 100 billion/year

5 - Fire 75% of government employees = savings of $ 500 billion/year; invest only in education and infrastructure

6 - Lower income tax to 18%, (25% above 2 million/yr)

7 - Quadruple investment in education (qualifiers being ability- not race)

8 - Reinstate the modern poll tax- no vote unless you pay taxes. (or at least pass the flat tax- and the tax applies to free benefits from the Gov.)

9 - Sterilize or refuse benefits to welfare recipents if the have already had a child on welfare.

10 - Shut down the mainstream media & shut down the US Congress for five years

The bottomline is there are just too many non-contributors working harder at obtaining benefits and freebies than they ever worked in a job. (Atlanta scene last week pitiful)

Just makes too much fucking sense

[Anarchist]

Nothing you have written will forstall the decline of the Western world. In fact it will hasten it. The developing world has waited over a hundred years for the West to burn itself out. The next 50 years are going to be ugly. 

[AssFire]

I guess the solution is not rewarding hard work and becoming an anarchist? No, this is just to save the economic sitaution.

The only real way to save the ENTIRE world is to eliminate ALL government handouts to individuals, corporations and countries. If you want to drink you got to carry the water.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Huzzah!

[AnAnonymous]

And if you want to exploit the land, you have to work it. Because the land belongs to the guy who exploits it.

Come on, buddy, the US was built on US government handouts to US citizens.

[AssFire]

Entitlement-based ethic is the antithesis to a strong work ethic..

Buddy, You sound entitled...and that is what is wrong with the country. Before 1900 the only entitlement received was a burial and miniscule pension- if you fought for the North.

[Clancy]

Rome, minus all the distant and unproductive provinces = Byzantium. 

Which lasted a thousand more years.

[Optimusprime]

The Byzantines owe some of their longevity to the following seldom-noted features: a sound gold coinage, and restrictions on Jewish influence on politics and education.

[Maniac Researcher]

These points are seldom noted because they aren't nearly as historically significant as being located in geographic bottleneck - that was the key to their prosperity for so long.

..but then again, Nazi assholes aren't really known for their historical prowess.

By the way - your name is fitting of someone ignorant of history - Optimus Prime and the Transformers franchise was trademarked and brought to the US by Hasbro..which was founded by Henry and Helal Hassenfeld - two Jews. Ironic that you are complaining about Jewish influence.

It would be pretty easy to deconstruct the doomers arguements (and their pet Nazi losers) here on the "open the gates stoopid" day, but I won't waste anymore time. Enjoy your transformers.

[Gully Foyle]

Anarchist

It will be no uglier than any other period in History.

[LostWages]

The main problem is we don't have elected ones who will make the hard choices.  If there are any that privately agree some of these measures are needed, in public they would never admit it.  To do so would be political suicide and most politicians put getting re-elected before the needs of the country. 

Term limits anyone?

[Fred Hayek]

Most of this makes sense.

#7 is hopelessly stupid.

Do you have any idea how much higher expenditures on education, adjusted for inflation, are now than 20 years ago or 30 years ago? 

It's not simply a matter of needing to throw money at the problem.  If something is done poorly, doing it expensively as well as poorly is no better and, considering scarcity of resources, likely worse.

Some of the school districts in the U.S. in which the most money is spent are also some of the worst. 

Please put the same sort of thought into this issue as you did into other issues. 

As another way to look at this issue, in Holliston, Massachusetts, in the public school system, parents are given the option of their elementary school age children going to a standard curriculum school, one using a french language immersion system or . . a Montessori school.  This is an amazing option for a public school system and Holliston isn't spending any more per student than the towns around it.

[New_Meat]

Freddie, right on.

I'll go further, when Boston considers cost/student, it does not consider cost per student-day.  With some attendance numbers like 60 to 70%, the numbers are truly astoundingly...er...bad.

Let's see, the NEA has seized their dominance on a trend that has ... inverse?... correlation to performance.  Especially in the inner cities. 

What a shame.

- Ned

[Republi-Ken]

You FORGOT the 2 biggest politics cons of the last 30 years:

1. Supply Side Tax Cuts for the Top 1% Are Good For America 

...and create trickle down economic growth and more jobs.

...and these tax cuts are a free lunch and do not increase national debt.

2. Deregulate the Financial Industry Is Good For America.

[Paladin en passant]

Sorry, but I'd rather be living in today's world, with all its faults, than in 1980. We've always had danger ahead, and always will.

[Gully Foyle]

Paladin en passant

Dude we had Miami Vice. Frank Zappa was still alive.

[Paladin en passant]

Frank will always be alive...at least until weasels rip my flesh and Susy Creamcheese gets a gig at Wal Mart

[Uncle Remus]

I'd like to make her do a nasty on the White House lawn
Gonna smother that girl in chocolate syrup -
And boogie till the cows come home

[DavidPierre]

Jim Quinn crawled out from under his turd pile at www.stinkingheap.com blog and is attempting to answer some basic questions about "Truth and the Amerikan Way".

Skip to the end of this thread for some Sunday night fun and games.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

biggest politics cons...Deregulate the Financial Industry Is Good For America.

If the financial industry had been truly deregulated that would have solved a host of problems.

The regulations which somehow managed to survive "deregulation" have prevented the voluntary circulation of alternate currencies and necessitated the bailouts of the "Too Big To Fail."

See: CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 900, GRAMM-LEACH-BILLEY ACT, HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS, Nov. 8, 1999

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec99/cr110899-glb.htm

[Caviar Emptor]

Hehe. De-regulation was based on the belief in "Market Fundamentalism", ie that the market always rights itself. Like in 2008 after Lehman. When Paulson/Bush refused to bail out Lehman that was an act of market fundamentalist belief. And the world nearly ended. And they backtracked all the way to TARP, an alphabet soup of Fed programs, forced bank mergers, repeal of accounting standards in favor of mark-to-unicorn....Marshall law and curfews woulda been next. There's your Fundamentalism.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Are you saying that Gramm-Leach-Billey re-established the free market in the United States?

[nmewn]

KaBoom ;-)

[Caviar Emptor]

Those were cons indeed. The supply-side tax cuts also contained huge tax INcreases on the middle class: The 1986 Tax Reform Bill made interest on student loans no longer tax dedcutible. Today student loan interest is considered one of the key obstacles to success for young adults. Tax reform made credit card debt no longer deductible. At today's usury rates of 18% that would have been a godsend. Tax reform capped IRA deductions so that people would be encouraged to put their retirement money into 401Ks, where Wall Street wolves could lap it all up as they did. Remember when Bush proposed allowing people to play the market with social security? Wall Street woulda loved that.  

[New_Meat]

Ken, you are limiting yourself, many would recommend you broaden your horizons:

3.  Community Reinvestment Act

4.  Second Coming of Subprime Mortgages (not part of your 2.)

and the beat goes on.

- Ned

[francismarion]

"The criminals on Wall St. and in Washington, D.C. must routed out and Americans must awaken from their delusional state before it is too late."

Then there is hope? It's not all over? Rats! What a way to end a perfectly tasty slice of doomster porn.

Not everyone treats their house like an ATM.  Not eveyone treats stocks like 'money in the bank'. Most American still believe in themselves.

A burnt out ball-player? Another metaphor? The Roman army fought in three lines.  The first was the 'hastati', the unblooded youth who went out and expended their impetuosity, wearied and fell behind the rest. Then the battle devolved to the 'principes', the full-beards, skilled and determined. And when youth and experience both faltered, the third line, the 'veteris' stepped forward. They could be the margin of victory. Surrender wasn't real big in the Roman way of doing things.

Give me the veteran with heart over the doomster-porn boy any day,

I sure am glad it was George Washington at Valley Forge.  If he had believed in the charts and not the inextinguishable spirit of a novum ordo saeclorum we would not have been the Arsenal of Democracy.  We would not be the largest manufacturing economy in the world.  And on and on. Funny how we forget those things sometime.

Doomster porn.  Yummy.

[Anarchist]

The old in the West are the problem not the youth. Wall street and Washington are controlled by a cadre of old men. It is the old who were first in line to cash out the equity iin their houses to fund the retirement or luxury auto they believe they deserved. I hope all of them have to go back eating cat food again.

[Cathartes Aura]

kind of a blanket statement there Anarchist. . . while I agree about your "cadre of old men" they of course breed, and their privileged offspring learn their way of thinking, rinse repeat to infinity. . .

and the "youth" can be lacking in critical thinking skills, too busy "social networking" on purchased devices to even begin to understand just what is happening to their world. . .

I guess my point is not to get caught up in media-stereotypes of "generation brands" and labels, but recognise that "sheep" exist in all age groups, as does awareness.

oh, and the "cat food" - it's been in the human "meat" supply for decades now - "mechanically recovered meat" was used for pet food almost exclusively since the 60's - now up to 90% of it is used to bulk up commercial fud meat products. . . nom nom!  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_recovered_meat

[ChevronSky]

+1

I am a meld of sheep and awareness. :>)

[rapunzel]

no fing shit and i unfortunately just saw A L L of them and their dumb ass wifes walkin past the music tent. back patting each other for nothing more than being alive.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Thomas Paine wrote doomster porn and America loved it.

[Gully Foyle]

francismarion

Bet you ain't Black, Native American or a Woman?

[Paladin en passant]

Bet you don't know American history.

Here's a free lesson for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marion

[ebworthen]

I'm glad you still believe.

We'll need people like you working the soup lines and water stations.

[Crisismode]

You are, without a doubt,

one of the most complete idiots to post on ZH

in a long, long time.

.

[AnAnonymous]

Many other armies were organized in that way which by the way reflects the different levels of wealth and by then the quality of gear.

[lynnybee]

I learned my lesson !     Now, I'm trying to teach my children & they will not listen to me.    They are basing their lives on what they knew in the past 20 years (bubble) .    I've told them to prepare for a different life, but, they are not listening to "Mom" ; instead, they are still  taking cruises & purchasing homes on more borrowed money  ~~~ the banks just love to see the cycle perpetuated.     I've learned my lesson ~~ no more nothing / staying as far away from BANKS & STORES & STOCK MARKETS as possible.     Regards to the wonderful people on ZEROHEDGE for opening my eyes !

[Clancy]

Same here.  No more nothing.

Oddly enough I'm a much happier person now, go figure.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Oddly enough I'm a much happier person now, go figure.

The realization that one's future is in one's own hands is indeed liberating. Sure as hell beats waiting for Hope and Change to get its act together.

Tired of of waiting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz64hWng2vM

[Caviar Emptor]

They wanted us to "Shop till you Drop" because it suited them. Well, we dropped.

[rapunzel]

my daughter asked me this morning how i handle this craziness. in your head or your dead.

[Adam Selene]

Many of us now clearly see the precipice, but unfortunately it is in the rearview mirror.

[Optimusprime]

What a great image!  Ben Bernanke as "Toonces, the driving cat!"

[ATG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZObHXWbWlk 7:18

[DoChenRollingBearing]

Adam, that concise comment deserves:

+100

[ATG]

http://tarpley.net/2010/06/23/towards-the-eighteenth-brumaire-of-general...

[Anarchist]

Left unsaid is that the theft of resources and suppression of the developing world is the real engine that propelled the Western world forward. The moronic sheep believe their toil and brainpower is the reason for their success. Hundreds of years of colonialism and slavery don’t exist in their reality.

Unfortunately for the Sheep, Neocons and Straussians, the advent of nuclear weapons is not going to be the guarantor of Western hegemony in the world. In fact nuclear weapons will be the death of Western civilization, as we know it today. The rise of the developing world will not be hindered by the false War on Terror. The standard of living in the west is going down. If you told the average American that they could only continue their present lifestyle by the murder of billions in China, India and Africa, the majority would push the button themselves to launch the missiles. They will not get that chance since the elite know they will lose power in any major nuclear exchange. Instead the elite will get the Sheep to turn on each other. A good culling of the herd will deflect anger from their nefarious goals.

[nmewn]

"Hundreds of years of colonialism and slavery don’t exist in their reality."

Darius or Xerxes?

[AnAnonymous]

Or Hilots?

[ATG]

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/b.p.-clean-up-crews-hard-to-find/913...

[trav7777]

Gawd, not this shit again.

The "developing world" didn't invent useful things.  There was no theft of resources.  There was trade.

The transistor wasn't invented by a mexican, the airpline by a chinaman, and the light bulb by an indian.  The western world created all the things people use and want, the developing world didn't.  IQ and the Wealth of Nations.

[Clancy]

I thought mass delusion was the norm.

[ATG]

Speaking of the norm,

from a Gulf Report by an Award-winning Iraq-embedded journalist:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52471

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/

[InconvenientCou...]

cultural values are rarely changed unilaterally by authoritarians. Authoritarian/paternalistic austerity plans are likely to have the reverse effect. Broken memes need fixing, by (presumably) stronger and more benficial memes.

Most action plans I've read aggressively dehumanize large segments of U.S. citizens. Kill'em, sterilize'em yada yada. Coincidentally, they are usually written by people that imagine they won't be affected.

[cxl9]

But forcing me to work more hours to provide ever-expanding benefits for others (at the expense of my family and myself) is not dehumanizing?

[Gully Foyle]

cxl9

Stop working, take your family in the woods, find a nice cave to live in. There is a guy outside Vegas who did that.

But see if you ever NEED those bennies you are complaining about you will be VERY thankful.

I have yet to see ANY starving or sick person deny themselves food or care because they are ideologically pure.

I'm sorry, some religious nutjobs do allow their kids and themselves to die because God refuses to heal them.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

Be a happy slave or go crawl off and die is not a sentiment which plays well even in this modern America.

[CrockettAlmanac.com]

cultural values are rarely changed unilaterally by authoritarians. Authoritarian/paternalistic austerity plans are likely to have the reverse effect. Broken memes need fixing, by (presumably) stronger and more benficial memes.

Sound like someone harkens to the ringing of The Daily Bell. If you haven't seen it, check it out, you'll love it.

http://www.thedailybell.com/index.asp

[Snake]

+1!

[AnonymousMonetarist]

The splinter of our disconnect. Fade to Back.

Scene 1:

6 year old daughter had been misbehaving during the course of a day. Wife did the old 'wait until your father comes home.' When I arrived home just as the wife was about to regale me with the little one's transgressions, my daughter 'waved her off' and walked towards me with arms extended to support her point; 'Daddy I am still just a little girl, I am going to make mistakes.' 

Scene 2:

Driving home from my wife's parents the other night.
She notices that our son (4yrs) was playing with a toy...

Mom: Is that your toy?

Son: No Mama, Grandpa and Nana said I could have it for a week.

AM: I think he is making that up.

Son : (Pause) I changed my mind.

Son: Its' craziness Mama.

Wife: What's craziness ?

Son: Its' craziness when you take a toy that doesn't belong to you. 

Son : (Pause)

Son : And I'm a crazy man Mama.

Scene 3:

'Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.'
- William Shakespeare (Richard III),

Fade to Back:

'There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth -- not going all the way, and not starting." 
-Buddha

The first two above are from my children but it is a fractal of the Federales for most certainly crazy men do make mistakes.

The crystallizing mistake of our age, the crime of the century writ large, the splinter of our disconnect... is this epigram: failure to liquidate the insolvent banksters, to dip rich folks' bad speculative bets into the acid bath of price discovery, has liquidated a large part of the productive economy. And so the blast beat of the cyclic drum plays on as we fade to back.

The American Empire came to a fork in the road and instead of taking it we morphed it into a can.

A quarter century of being prophets of our fate, of the Great Moderation, scratch that the Great Modification, of deficits not mattering, of models over history, is serving up the middle class as a burnt offering and may result in our not being masters of our intermediate future as we black diamond towards the denouement of the trusted.

Just got back from a Colorado Springs conference and had the 'same conversation' once again this time with the cab driver. A decade out from California, the fella was a luxury real estate developer, and he shared two stories which characterizes our zeitgeist.

The first is that of a former client who has a 25 million dollar home (well that was what they paid for it) with several million in equity. They would like to refinance with the bank but they can't because the bank has absolutely no idea how to value it, couldn't even give 'em a number or a range.

The second is that this cabdriving victim of the misallocation of productive capital plans to stock up on guns and ammo and, offering the caveat of 'don't laugh with what I'm going to tell you Mr. Stranger in the back seat', has plans to go to Alaska with a portable home (I forget the indigenous term) to live of the land.

Being a contrarian, I suggested to him that his conversation was one that had been oft-repeated as of late (he agreed his associates were all chortling the same) and suggested that if we do get shaked and baked either through gravity dislocations (astro stuff), history relocations (war following financial crisis), or popular sniping (the manufacture of contempt for it is only a Great Depression if they say it is) the big cities will probably be the safest place to be...

After all, if the s$&% comes down do you really want to be out in the hinterlands with every other fella loaded to bare? Sounds like Mad Max to me.

If I knew the way would most probably share it, but he who has a crystal ball most certainly ends up with a mouthful of broken glass.

This I feel to be true... it is a Great Depression but with different characteristics than our First. You can read the intro to this blog as well as the inception date, your humble blogger dropped the tagline of the Great Depression of 2007 prior to the Noblesse Oblige even calling the recession.

In GD1 what was a fella to do? Collect cigarette butts on the street, sit on the porch, listen to the radio, or mayhaps go down to the Bowery and get in trouble?

Now the choices are a cornucopia of low-cost to no-cost diversion. Juvenal would be proud. Watch a movie , read a book, read a paper, or listen to music all for free via the intertubes and collect the government check. All until that zombie movie comes to your local cineplex entitled 99 Weeks Later. 

Among the empirical evidence of our current dilemma are current unemployment levels being empirically worse than the worse levels of the Great Depression Volume 1 - if we apply the same measurement metric. Seriously, you can look it up!

Another nugget is the comparable extremes met in the separation of wealth in 1928 and 2007, which has actually upticked through 2010. B.S. Bernanke certainly did learn the 'lessons' of GD1, did he not?

My trading sensei berated me a few days ago in my commenting that this is GD2, with the bromide 'look at all the affluence around us!' My reply was have you ever read newspapers from 1930 and 1931? - Internally I verbalized Hemingway's chestnut...'{there are two ways a man goes broke}, slowly,and then all at once.' Once upon a rhyme is a'comin.

Here in Cook County homes over $500,000 are not to be foreclosed on, the banks don't want to take the hit, the overextended upper middle class with horsehair splintering probably choosing to go to Disneyland (or Nordstrom's?) as they squat in their hut and dream of... I don't know... joining the cab driver in Alaska?

With the upper echelons of America contributing a disproportionate share of consumer spending, and their primary asset frozen in the ember of a 13-16 year downtrend where the buyers are lower and the sellers are higher (most probably chemically since the securitization market for jumbo has gone dumbo) the cyclic clock is ticking, the alarm anticipated, that will start wholesale regurgitation to flippers who will counterintuititively drag the 'cancer clearing' out as the fast money waits for the the Groundhog Day bounce back of the ever-imminent recovery right around the corner of a round room.

A generational circle smirk as it were.

And with trillions of meatballs thrown at the problem, the reserves at the Fed being nothing more than a dip financing for a generational workout, private demand is down ticking for the first time since 1928? Viva la V-shaped scratch that seeds abounding scratch that nascent scratch that unusually uncertain recovery!

If the inflection point between inflation and deflation is believing in wizards or believing your lying eyes the Oracle at Eccles better fire up the jets prior to meeting with the Jackholios cause people are squinting at the eye chart and rubbing sus ojos.

Now is the splinter of our disconnect
Made glorious summer by this sun of Ben;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of our equity buried.

Fade to Back.

[Rusty Shorts]

 - wow

[Thomas]

AnonymousMonetarist: That was really interesting prose. I would love to know who you are?

[e-mail]

[Gully Foyle]

AnonymousMonetarist

Johnny Mnemonic: What the fuck is going on? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? You know, all my life, I've been careful to stay in my own corner. Looking out for Number One... no complications. Now, suddenly, I'm responsible for the *entire fucking world*, and everybody and his mother is trying to kill me, IF... IF... my head doesn't blow up first.
Jane: Maybe it's not just about you any more.
Johnny Mnemonic: Listen. You listen to me. You see that city over there? THAT'S where I'm supposed to be. Not down here with the dogs, and the garbage, and the fucking last month's newspapers blowing *back* and *forth*. I've had it with them, I've had it with you, I've had it with ALL THIS - *I want ROOM SERVICE*! I want the club sandwich, I want the cold Mexican beer, I want a $10,000-a-night hooker! I want my shirts laundered... like they do... at the Imperial Hotel... in Tokyo.

[Crisismode]

80 Gigabytes of memory?!?!?

Only?

Really???

Well, maybe by 1995 standards. But hardly by 2021 standards.

Can you spell D  A  T  E  D??

;

[Dapper Dan]

I never believed you were dead Mr William Buckley Jr.

A generational circle smirk.. indeed!

[Cheyenne]

Thoughtful piece, AnonM, thanks.

Especially agree that not acid-dipping Wall Street in price discovery in Fall '08 was a HUGE (and infuriating) mistake. But, as the NY Times recently (~7/12) pointed out, incumbents who voted for the bailout are looking to fare poorly in November. Hell, the primaries have retired a few already. We'll see.

Question: What's your source for Cook County homes > $500K not being forelcosed on? A friend with a house in Old Town got the boot this year. But he had taken MEW's to the hilt, so it may well be that the primary lender (Chi. Comm.) simply got out while the house was still worth more than the note. At any rate, just wondering where you got that info.

[MurderNeverWasLove]

"I'm a crazy man, Mama."

". . .generational circle smirk."

". . .black diamond towards the denoument . . ."

"Seriously, you can look it up!"

etc.

Thank you very much.

[Optimusprime]

Lovely.  One small quibble:  "frozen in amber" is what I think you meant.

[OldSouth]

Amazing. Absolutely brilliant on all levels.

[rapunzel]

AM, long time no see, bro. thought maybe you seriously training for the honolulu marathon or something. that one seems appropriate, and all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Lono

figured you were in on the plot of that great book by our good doctor. damn coincidence. maybe last winter of cabin fever for the Vbabe. L O T S  of time on her hands learning about  posting on blogs, oh my†

[ATG]

Yurt

[rapunzel]

teepee for NA homeland security.