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Guest Post: The Road to Madness Is Paved With $100 Bills
Submitted by Graham Summers of Phoenix Capital Research
The Road to Madness is Paved with $100 Bills
…just as I am affected by the maniac, so I am affected by most modern thinkers. That unmistakable mood or note that I hear from Hanwell [an insane asylum], I hear also from half the chairs of science and seats of learning to-day; and most of the mad doctors are mad doctors in more senses than one. They all have exactly that combination we have noted: the combination of an expansive and exhaustive reason with a contracted common sense. They are universal only in the sense that they take one thin explanation and carry it very far. But a pattern can stretch for ever and still be a small pattern. They see a chess-board white on black, and if the universe is paved with it, it is still white on black. Like the lunatic, they cannot alter their standpoint; they cannot make a mental effort and suddenly see it black on white.
~C.K. Chesterton
Ben Bernanke is insane.
I mean neither insane in a flippant sense, nor in the ordinary sense (as in plain nuts), but an even more insidious form of insanity, namely the insanity of one who cannot see the world as a place outside his own thoughts and beliefs.
I am speaking of the insanity of one who believes that all things can be reduced to a simple issue or pattern, the insanity of which Chesterton spoke in his essay The Maniac.
Indeed, all of Bernanke’s monetary policies and actions can be traced to his one core belief: that the US Federal Reserve didn’t do enough to stave off the Great Depression. Never mind that this belief is completely inaccurate (as the data clearly shows), it is the foundation of Bernanke’s entire academic and now monetary career. It is the lone road on his mental map of the world.
It doesn’t matter that the road is leading us all to disaster, for Bernanke there is simply no other course of action to take. In his mind, the Fed failed to act in the ‘30s and so he MUST act regardless of facts, data, or consequence.
Indeed, were any of us to point out to Bernanke that his claims regarding inflation (that it is contained), unemployment (that QE will help it), or economic growth (that we’re in a recovery) are all at complete odds with reality, his answer would be, “well, it would be much worse if I hadn’t acted.”
This is the hallmark of an insane argument. It is logic without common sense, reason taken to the absolute limit, unable to consider anything outside the confines of its own understanding. Bernanke will drive us all to ruin, pushing ever harder on the gas pedal and repeating, “I must act, I must act, I must act” under his breath in order drown out the cries of, “stop, you’ll kill us” from the 308+ million of us sitting in the backseat.
Indeed, the only ones whom Bernanke can hear are the Primary Dealer banks, all of whom slap him on the back and tell him he’s doing a great job. Bernanke is the nerd with a single skill the jocks currently find useful. And he’s mistaken their support for genuine admiration and camaraderie. He feels their hands slapping his back and doesn’t notice the “kick me” sign they’ve installed there.
And herein lies the great irony of Ben Bernanke and his academic theories. The Primary Dealer banks, who pull the real strings at the Fed and who are only interested in making money (not theories), will use him and his misguided beliefs to serve themselves for as long as the benefits of said theories, namely hundreds of billions in free money, outweigh the risks (public outrage), just like all capitalists do when considering an investment.
However, once Bernanke’s policies bring the US public to a true boil, the puppet masters will discard their Chairman and his misguided theories like an old, broken toy. They’ll make a human sacrifice of him, pinning the blame for the collapse of the US Dollar and the US’s descent into 3rd world status on his slouched academic shoulders right next to the “kick me” sign. For when the public wants blood, it will be Bernanke, not the banks or their bonuses, who will be sacrificed.
It’s tragic, especially for the thousands of people who are now literally starving because of Bernanke’s monetary madness, that the nerd who wanted so desperately to fit in with the big shots will find himself and his theories discarded in the dustbin.
At least he got a Time Magazine cover out of it. For the rest of history, his 15 minutes of fame will stare out at us from the archives of other discarded maniacs. Indeed, he’ll find himself in good company, surrounded by others who believed the world fit only into their own manias; men such as Hitler and Stalin.
Good Investing!
Graham Summers
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What? we're all smarter than Ben here? You people are kidding yourselves. If Ben fails, the game is up. It's zippo world and you want to bring it on?
Want? WTF does it matter what we want? Wanting or not wanting will not change the cause/effect relation of what that maniac has done.
For most, 'reading the writing on the wall' = 'wanting it to happen'..
Yes everyone is an anarchist. That is what people who live in reality really want - not fair open markets without government intervention and overleveraging or total dismissal of rule of law and banksters looting the world.
So the Fed and .gov cause a shit storm and the people who want to correct it and stop it from continuing are what people need to be concerned with? That is like blaming the firemen for wanting to put out the fire while the arsonist is driving a gas tanker to the inferno.
Your "comment" is completely absurd.
Whutta dumbass comment. The game is failing either way - but the difference is that Ben's failure will lead to a lot of taxpayers footing the bill for his stupidity.
The Bernank so much as farts one too many times and TPTB get medieval on his family. One can only wonder what the details are of the incentive he's been given to perform.
Here's his CV from 2001. The last entry should elicit some cackles. http://macroeconomicsii.anafernandes.name/bernakecv.pdf
.
"Age of Delusion: How Politicians and Central Bankers Created the Great Depression (book manuscript)"
You can't say they didn't warn us. It has been foretold. They do have a wicked sense of humor.
One of these days I swear I will post an article trying to rationalize all of Ben's strategies just for fun.... But then again I have a life, and he is an evil fuck. I don't think the author should separate Ben and the primary banks - in my mind they are one and the same, and equally culpable for the crimes they have committed internationally to save themselves and their ilk from the unemployment line while lining their pockets with the blood, sweat, and tears of taxpayers.
The new American Dream.
We have a tunnel vision Mad Hatter for Federal Reserve Chairman.
We have a megolomaniacal messianic narcissist for a President.
My world is complete.
Interesting Jim Rickards interview today, KWN, January, 31:
From Davos, a likely possibility is a scenario of multiple reserve currencies. Other, far less popular possibilities still on the table are: gold standard, IMF SDRs/bancor, and more USD chaos.
Multiple WRC seems like a real possibility because it is a better sell. TPTB know an SDR smacks of New World Order and won't go over with the masses. Gold standard is hated by all PTB. Chaos is unfolding and they don't like it either.
Jim Rickards
Key is that they're still all likely run as FIATs. But who holds the most gold reserves still wields the most power so China and Russia still must buy.
As it so happens, I listened to that King World News interview today.
By the way --- if you'll aren't familiar with Jim Rickards then do yourself a favor and learn about him. I can't think of a better person to support in a position of power & influence that him.
But getting to his remarks and comments about the topic of talk at Davos.
It was kind of distressing to hear the way some movers & shakers just dismiss Gold out of hand.
Fiat is sooo dangerous to the common man. Politicians should never be let anywhere near Fiat.... it's that absolute power corrupts absolutely thing.
Here is the Jim Rickards talk to a group of military brass and journalists that all ZHers should hear...
"Rethinking the Future International Security Environment"
Rickards plainly spells out the roll of PMs in the second half of this talk. Currencies/currency will be backed by 40% PMs.
Really there is nothing unusual about this. After the fall of fiats the people will not accept a new fiat if it is unbacked by some solid asset. Then the game resets after a few generations have passed and the collective memory of the past collapse/catastrophy are remembered only dimly...Voila, a new incarnation of the Fed and slowly the masses are weaned off of asset backed currency to paper garbage currency.
http://outerdnn.outer.jhuapl.edu/rethinking/VideoArchives/MrJamesGRickardsPresentationVideo.aspx
"Bernanke will drive us all to ruin, pushing ever harder on the gas pedal and repeating, “I must act, I must act, I must act” under his breath in order drown out the cries of, “stop, you’ll kill us” from the 308+ million of us sitting in the backseat."
"Jus' followin' the tracks."
"I must act to hide this, I must act to buy more time, I must act to keep people blinded"
OT: just saw the bears again in a new Geico commercial.
Don't you wish some entity would collectively sponsor one of the Xtranormal bear discussions about The Bernanke and Tim Jeethner as a Super Bowl ad? All you need is 2 minutes and 2 seconds... and a boatload of money.
Media moguls would not allow such a commercial to air...no matter how much money was offered.
To accept such a commercial and air it would be self immolation.
Ah hell, Snidley, if you offered Rupert Murdoch enough money he would dance naked on a coffee table... and allow it to be aired on live during the Super Bowl.
Haven't you ever seen the Hugh Jidette commercial spots?
Thanks Mr. Summers for articulating my own inchoate objections to this man. I too, have thought I'm trapped in the backseat with a madman at the wheel.
Pretty sure the rich are getting richer... so in the end they will pin a medal on him and say it would have been worst if he did not print
Be prepared for "We had to do it and it was in your own best interest even if it didn't work out".
Well, on the bright side, we will either get another National Holiday if his methods succeed, or a new idiom for an exceedingly unsuccessful insane act -- pulling a Bernanke.
shtadlan reb. shalom bernookystein is not insane. he simply follows orders issued by his hofjuden masters. Shalom Bernookystein is an obedient, spineless puppet. Why is it so difficult to comprehend? That's what I want to know.
He makes General Jack Ripper look well balanced!
Don't worry, the new Congress led by Ron Paul will stop the madness. (insert maniacal laughter)
/s
The rich corporations and the too big to fail bunch of banksters can get away with murder, fraud, coercian, harrassement of the general public and any other illegal activity under the sun because they have a lot of influence on the political class, the rule makers and the rule enforcers due to their enormous purchasing power. So irrespective of the position in the government, everyone works for their benefit.
The politicians around the world are nothing more than auction items which can be sold to the highest bidder. They will do whatever they can for the lobbyist paying them the maximum amount of money or votes, be it the unions, the banksters, the richest corporations or individuals. They are in the power seat to extract maximum advantage for themselves in the small time frame they occupy the seat of power.
The rest of the population is least of their concerns. The only activity they do is pacify the majority of the population using false statistics and promises of a better future so that they do not lynch them and their masters while they are robbing the taxpayers.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24581.html
Instead of bashing The Bernank for the zillionith time, isn't it worth considering another contributing factor to rising prices for food? There are 7 billion people on the planet and big swaths of the crops of Russia, Australia, and South America were wiped out in the past 6 months due to bad weather. Jimmy Rogers was talking about this 15 years ago. Supply and demand.
Yea, it's just a coincidence that it coincides directly with the monetization of trillions of dollars.
Ironic that some of the paper that Ben is printing is on the worlds finest cotton...grown in Egypt.
it's both.
and with no food, people won't put up with the paradigm anymore.
You mean those poor bastards aren't just going to starve to death? Damn, that's selfish of them.
I've been saying for years that we just need 4.5 billion people to go live somewhere else and everything would be just fine
(supposedly the carrying capacity of our planet is around 2.5 billion and we are pushing 7.3 billion)
I used to believe that too.
The myth of overpopulation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZVOU5bfHrM
Nice Article! "Better to have ruled in hell than served in Heaven" is the tat on Ben's back.
As a part of the fattest city in the fattest nation it's hard for me to empathize with your statement though I have seen the amount of food a single human needs (1,200 calories) needs and though it may never be equally distributed we have a long way to go before the world starves in the sense you describe. Till then, I hope the 6 all-you-can-eat buffets for "about $10" within a mile radius of my house continue to thrive due to my gluttony. Peace out love is living on the Westside. Holla
There was a section of an article posted on ZH that mentioned a SE Asian country (think it was Burma or Laos?) that is basically considered the Saudi Arabia of agriculture in the region. Which is to say they are 100% self sufficient as far as their food concerns go and they are experiencing the same food inflation as everyone else. So i don't think it's a supply dilemma.
Good point. And, indeed, you are correct to a good extent.
I do find it interesting, however, is that Genocide Ben keeps on voluntarily exporting inflation through ultra-loose credit-- no matter what the consequences. It makes one wonder whether the food influenced riots in Tunesia and Egypt weren't intended consequences after all.
I think Ben is indeed the a very willing cog (at least intellectually) in a diabolical plan to concentrate global wealth to a number of very select players (Obama was chosen as well). And it's working. What might kill them is time-- the longer this plays out, the more the average Joe on the street is figuring this out.
And it may be acceptable to spark revolt in isolated areas of the middle east- or even France for that matter- but they risk a lot if things get out of hand in China and/or the U.S. Things getting out of hand in the U.S. would be very messy, indeed.
I personally feel that those pulling the strings could have played it better (or at last longer) by staging unannounced inflation/deflation cycles-- but that really hasn't been Genocide Ben's calling card. Now that the cracks in global inflation are starting to widen, I wonder if Ben keeps just keeps on driving that boat at full speed...
"What might kill them is time-- the longer this plays out, the more the average Joe on the street is figuring this out."
The average Joe isn't going to do a damn thing but talk. You think that the average German didn't understand that Germany could not win a war against Russia, Britain and its colonys, and the US? What did 'average Joe German' do about it? If they said anything negative about the Nazis they were promptly incarcerated and damn few lived through that experience.
Human nature is the same throughout cultures. The instinct to survive is present everywhere. Most of the US is now recieving some form of gov help or their business is dependent on those that do.
The 'average Joe' is not going to pull the plug in the life boat he is asea in.
Perhaps. But once the average Joe figures out the math and realize the boat is going to sink anyway, he will either learn to swim... or die trying.
Put in another way, there comes a breaking point where the decline in the cost of living becomes so pervasive that people are willing to take the risk and act aggressively against their own government-- becuase the government simply cannot provide enough to satisfy the masses. We saw that en mass in the late 1960's here in the U.S., though we've admittedly become a lot more complacent since that time.
For the Germany that you mention, they reached the same point with the Weimar Republic. Unfortunately, many saw Hitler as a savior... and he provided the illusion of a stronger Germany long enough to install a very ruthless police state. Those fokkers (the SS) simply weren't afraid to shoot on their own population, and even people in the conventional military fully recognized it.
But for every Germany, or wayward African nation with a genocidal regime, there are plenty of other examples where people get fed up and rise to the occasion to overthrow their corrupt overlords. Just go through the decade of the 1990's and draw a line east of West Germany... you'll find plently of them. Oh, and Pinochet says 'hi'.
Our own leaders wouldn't be pulling the hopey/changey stuff and filling the people with all these illusions of recovery and complacency-- if they didn't fear the natives getting restless. Our leaders absolutely love a complacent Joe Sixpack, because they absolutely fear one that's fully armed and has nothing to lose. We have a hard enough time controlling gangs in a peaceful state, let alone an unstable one.
Futures are UP MUTHA FUKAS!!!!
Already at 30 and climbin' like a SUM BITCH!
Fuck yeah! Ain't party like fraud party 'cause fraud party don't stop!
What do all three figures have in common?
They are all agents of chaos for the same globalist bankster aristocracy. There is a method to their mania. The Bernanke is just the last unipolar patsy around which pre-meditated financial arson will forge a one world currency to further planetary collectivism for a feudal scientific elite.
Nothing will ever stop this generational advance until the culpable puppet masters are brought to account before a court of justice.
The work of the Nuremberg Trials is still incomplete.
Why can't we impose a tax on the marginal net worth they acquire while serving in congress. Say a 99% tax, you know, to help reduce the debt and for all the children...whatever.
Wait just a minute here. You talkin bout dis guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmtU2T8ICjA&feature=related
He said he ain't printin. Besides he's got it and it ain't your money:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srx1cWLGzEI&feature=related
This man gets re-upped by the congress, walks the street and is held in high reguard, yet this man is the crazy one?
This man is on national tv, talkin to a program that used to actually expose things, toss him softballs and reach around dismount, but still he is the crazy one. Crazy like a fox, you know right after these things he can't believe we bought that chit. Everything after tarp has been more than greenscum ever mastubated to. Oh yes you know that dirty old man got woodies just makin chit up.
Sir look around, you are knee deep in insanity so please pass the dip.
Fuck man, 10 more points on the DOW futures in a minute. This mutha fuka is going to the moon baby!
The roof, the roof, the roof is on FIRE. We don't need no water; let the mutha fuka burn. Burn mutha fuka, BURN!
I'm curious as to what you think the reason is that most of the developed countries came out of the great depression in about 18 months or so, but we had a double dip and continued depression. The conventional wisdom is because we raised interest rates too soon and engaged in tight monetary policy at an inappropriate time, as opposed to the monetary policies of most of the other developed countries who continued to let their currencies devalue. If you disagree with this then I would like to see your evidence and reasoning for the different outcomes of various countries during the great depression, and your reason for that next leg down in 1938 I believe it was.
I read a lot of what the fed writes. Prices and wages are terribly sticky downwards. Adjustments and disequilibriums tend to last longer and are more painful in a system without a flexible currency because our aversion to losses is greater than our aversion to missing a potential gain.
People adjust faster and a new equilibrium is reached a lot sooner when they aren't facing a ten percent wage cut over five years, but are facing an inflation adjusted wage decrease over the same time period, with nominal wages rising, staying stagnant, or at least falling a lot more slowly than they would in an adjustment in a deflationary tight money environment. We can argue about the fairness of how the pie is distributed and we can point out that some people suffer more in a period where the economy has to adjust to new realities. I tend to agree with everyone on zero hedge on that point, but Ben is not insane, diabolical maybe, cynical maybe, willing to make a tough call between two bad choices maybe, but that is a bit of hyperbole.
The reality is that most of us have to accept less than what we expected. We can get through it a lot easier if people don't have to take real cuts in consumption and income but take an inflation and hedonic adjusted cut with nominal income rising or at least staying the same. It is just the peculiar nature of most people who don't understand behavioral finance.
Your right! Insane is forgivable but diabolical is treason! Let the motherfucker burn!
what if he understand our irrationalities and tendency toward "mental accounting" and he takes us down the path that gets us through the pain the easiest way possible for the majority? I suppose that is devious. Keynes admitted as such at one point with his comment about "not one person in a million could detect it" or something like that.
Still I would like to eventually hear this TD's explanation for the difference in length of time it toot for various countries to come out of the great depression and why we had a second leg down and continued depression a lot longer than other developed countries. To argue for tight money right now is the insane argument.
I thought most of the developed nations got blown to shit between 1938 and 1945!
The best reason I've heard for the 'double dip' in the late '30s was that the government took it's foot off the fiscal accelerator. And for good reason too, Governments can't borrow into infinity! At some point they have to acknowledge the reality of limits.
There's a famous quote from 1939 I believe, FDR's Treasury secretary all during the 30s ADMITTING that all the stimulus hadn't accounted for a hill of beans.
They had just as much unemployment as when the decade started.
And then, FDR got the war he had schemed to get the US into, Americans were forced to save for 4 years and actually rationed. Come 1945 there was all this pent up demand, accumulated savings and the world (except for America) blown to smithereens. Great setting for an America bull market.
Good point. We don't want to give him an easy legal defense.
Of course the cut to consumption and income is still there, but we don't notice it as much because we are very sensitive to real immediate losses, but are less sensitive to loss of a potential gain (there has got to be a better way to say that.)
Bernanks back ground and great depression studies are total BS for the masses. It about control, consolidation. The inflation is exported in a dollar based fiat world. It shows up in china and forces them to raise rates. They stress it out, shake it out, and rinse and repeat.
They aren't stupid, they are not crazy, they are cold and they are calculating. They can twist it and sell it to you like a big cheese burger with fries, they are playing a game of bluff and your too stupid to see it. We don't need them, they need us. We are the pigs on the pig farm talking about the farmer. The only reason he lets you get fat is cut the bacon off your ass. That ain't your bacon, that belong to the farmer.
So before you go talkin economics of slop on the farm, you need to step back and see the farm, see the barn and don't over look the slaughter house out back.
Can't we get over past presidents and currency made of ZINK?
Interesting Jim Rickards interview today, KWN, January, 31: Jim Rickards
New twist from Davos: Multiple WRC seems like a real possibility because it is a better sell. They hate gold standard, USD chaos is not working, and they know IMF SDRs will piss everybody off and "go Cairo" on them.
Key is that multiple WRC are FIATs, and China gets to play the game.
Who has the most gold reserves still wields the most power. China and Russia must still buy PMs.
why would SDR's piss everyone off? Besides the fact that the USA is implicitly backing it if it is inevitable that we come off the dollar standard? We can always include more currencies in it.
SDRs are just another worthless fiat currency but the recent talk has been for the IMF to issue them
the concern is that an IMF-issued fiat currency would be a global currency which takes us that much closer to one-world-govt
the truth IMO is that once confidence in fiat currencies is lost, it won't be restored with another fiat currency regardless of who issues it
to restore confidence the banksters will have to take a different fallback position - they will probably opt for some basket of tangible goods as backing for a new fiat currency but the new currency won't be convertible to the basket of goods - ie, the new currency will still be worthless fiat but many uninformed people will be appeased because they will think that backing a worthless fiat currency with tangible goods takes care of the problem
look no further than the Euro for an example of a worthless fiat currency that is backed by tangible goods - at its inception the Euro was backed by 15% gold - since nobody can convert their Euros to the gold supposedly backing the currency, the gold backing was just a marketing ploy to help people accept a new worthless fiat currency
aah... Keyne's Bancor. That's just an SDR with some commodities including precious metals thrown in. If push comes to shove I am sure the United States will be willing to compromise a bit and include both commodities and fiat, to have a semi hard currency, or a semi soft currency, a real hermaphrodite. As long as the dollar is fifty percent of the new currency we will still be ok.
I'm not sure he is insane - but he most certainly is an idiot - and a very useful one to those who are responsible for him being (& remaining) in his current position. They are the same ones who will prosper from the destructive forces his policies have inflicted (& continue to inflict) on the financial system & the US economy.
You could put a fence around the place and call it a mental institution and nobody would know the difference...everyone's on meds.
Zinc is too expensive for coinage now, hmmm what's next aluminum? Nope that is slightly higher than zinc, looks like plastic coins are the next option. Monopoly money is finally legit just like I knew it would be someday.
Physical currency is too expensive for where we're headed. It will be more like kids sitting around trading baseball cards for a quadrajazillion dollars.... you just say how much your giving them... it won't matter anyway.
Ohh shoot. Must clarify. zinc. the 24-30tht element on the Atomic Table. Check out potasium and magnesium
Great piece....reminds me of D.H. Lawrence "The Rocking-Horse Winner" in which the boy continuously here's the whisper in the house "There's not enough money".
Potassium is far to reactive, it would literally burn a hole in your pocket.
Plus, it tends to form explosive peroxides when improperly stored.
OTOH, shock-sensitive monie could have multiple possibilities for practical application.
I think this article was a brilliant description of Ben Bernake. a person our society has been producing quite a lot of; educated idiots. When I was in the Navy i saw a lot of academy trained officers like that intelligent, knowledgeable, and total clueless. I really don't think the Ben Bernak is 'evil' per say, but an insulated academic being played by the big boys.
Still i got to wonder, what sort of anti-aniexty meds and sleep aids he must take each daily to live out this crazy fiction.
In some ways or situation reminds me of a dysfunctional family with a heroine (fill in the blank with the addiction) addict. The Addict (US government and big banks) just want that next fix, they will say anything to get that fix. The family (MSM and most of the American public) will try to pretend the problem doesn't exist, or one day they will change. They will ignore the signs, rather then face the terrible reality. They keep giving the addict one more chance.The Addict might make some minor changes (Doodoo-Frack bill), promise to swear off the drugs, but inside they are jonesing for that next fix, they'll cheat,lie and maybe even kill for that fix. But unless the addict faces up to their addiction and gets help, they always end up going back to the dealer (the Federal Reserve).
Yep we are addicted, let's just get the fatal OD over with.
Looks like someone missed a payment to the Bernank today.
Normally this would be considered a default even with a "Mulligan month" to pay.
sheesh !
Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:52pm EST
* Ivory Coast supposed to pay $2.3 bln in coupon by Jan 31
* EMTA recommends bond trade without accrued interest
* Recommendation a sign investors didn't receive payment
NEW YORK, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A financial trade group on Monday recommended Ivory Coast's bonds due 2032 XS0496488395=R trade without accrued interest as of Tuesday, in a sign investors had not received the bond's coupon payment by a Jan. 31 deadline.
EMTA, a trade association which tries to set practises for emerging markets, said in a statement its recommendation follows consultations "with major market participants". Ivory Coast, caught in a power struggle after a disputed election, was supposed to pay $2.3 billion in coupon related to the 2032 bond, issued just last year as part of a restructuring of the country's debt default of 2000.
The West African country was initially due to make a $29 million payment on Dec 31, but it benefited from a one-month grace period which extended the deadline to Jan 31. Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara won the Nov. 28 presidential election according to UN-certified results. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo said the vote was rigged and refused to step down.
Gbagbo's camp said it will only make the payment if his government wins international recognition. Ouattara's team said it can only pay the coupon once it has full control of the country's accounts at the West African central bank.The bond has been trading below 40 cents on the dollar in anticipation of a default
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/ivorycoast-bond-emta-idUKN3128420720110131
What amazes me is how a gov't and its people can allow a quasi-private entity being the Federal Reserve to indebt a whole nation to the tune of trillions of dollars without scrutiny or accountability. It operates secretly rigging markets, monetizing selective bailouts, manipulating prices and data and, in doing so, it is accumulating astronomical debt which will in turn need to be repaid ....of course by the US taxpayer.....without him having the slightest say about it.
Funny how the banksters are OK with that !!
If it really were rigging markets versus smoothing or trying to take a countercyclical stance at times to decrease volatility which has a cost beyond the mere cost changes itself then I would agree with you. We could have a central bank that didn't operate in secret and didn't socialize losses. I don't think we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Perhaps you are a fan of Greenbackism or commodity money?
Thats why the US of A will not give up Egypt or the others.
Think of the Fraud, corruption and cronyism that will be exposed - if all of these puppets die without an attempt to save them by their own marionettes, then what ?
cant have that !
Every single person I spoke with on my rounds today had no clue about anything middle east.
"Ignorance is Bliss"
Bernanke's a maniac, maniac on the floor
And he's dancing like he's never danced before
he's a maniac, maniac on the floor
And he's dancing like he's never danced before
Bernanke's a maniac, maniac on the floor
And he's printing like he's never monetized before
he's a maniac, maniac on the floor
And he's printinging like he's never montized before
Tried to spice it up if you don't mind.
Some video spice to erase the visuals of the Bernanke that you inadvertently planted...lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAXX73HEXXs&feature=related
Alfred b. I'm loading up on C. I'm global.
I have serious doubts the American public will ever rise to a "true boil." I'd wager the overwhelming majority of Americans don't even know who Ben Bernanke is.
Isn't that Snooky's new guido?
Yes, he's a juicehead.
I talk to people everyday about their finances, and believe me, there is no outrage. There is only "was the market up or down today?" Either they just don't get it, or they don't care. I don't know what it is that makes this country like this.
Yup they'll all keep on dancin' until the music stops, then and only then will the WTF moment come, sadly too late to prevent the slaughter of the sheeples.
I guess its Darwinism coming home to roost.
Chesterton is one of the citings in McLuhans chapter on Paradox, in From Cliche to Archetype. Short point being his poetry is an example of paradoxical process, which is the same process which allows Bernanke to say, "I could save the economy, if only I could destroy the dollar!" Greenspan used to speak of creative destruction. Paradox allows a person to hold two contradictory ideas in his head at the same time, god is good, god is vengeful. The day is near when such archaic thinking is set aside. Paradox used to be thought of as a rhetorical trick, something to prove the speakers virtuosity, as the difference between being academically objective, and therefore disinterested, which is separated from the person who is passionately committed to either one side of the debate or the other. My own feeling is that paradox is a dishonest form of discourse, but for that there are a lot of PHDs to argue with.
India issues swiss bonds rather than dollar bonds. says a lot about the future?
http://dawnwires.com/investment-news/india-issues-swiss-bonds/
It may actually be a belief that the Indians will get lower interest rates and the potential for currency depreciation of the frank, or just diversification.
Bernanke will never stop..never. His fatal flaw, like some tragic character, is the dogmatic way he sees the economic universe. It's like a bad trader who can never admit he is wrong. He is tied to a certain destiny. Our very own Captain Ahab ready to take us down to the bottom.
PALIN is our only shot. Common sense.
Having a disabled child is a huge emotional and physical drain.
I speak from experience.
I am amazed at her tenacity and courage and wit.
She's got my respect!
Having said that I don't wish the US presidency on her.
Quantum Physics. Soorrryy For the Mis spell.
Actually I think our only shot was R. Paul. Other that that, someone discovers fusion, and fast !!
shot for what?
apparently, accurate understanding of WHY the ponzi decided to inflect escapes nearly everyone around here AND BB.
It ain't as if it hasn't been explained to you. R. Paul would have made no difference
Do I get three guesses?
Ron's new job got easier with an example to point toward.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/washington-state-joins-movement-public-...
I couldn't tell if the fusion thing was a joke or not but:
http://www.lenr-canr.org/
http://www.blacklightpower.com/
It's alive!!!!! It's ALIVE!!!!
Watching Bernanke is like watching the reverend jim jones make koolaide before a sunday sermon.
Who can forget Paulson & Bernanke. Remember that fake dumb look he (Ben) cast as he said 5% of GDP (the amount of the tarp) is good for me if its good for Paulson. Talk about not knowing jack squat, that was the visual definition right there. Thanks Ben. Someone should get a clipt and do a portrait for keep sake. That was you personfied indelibly for the icons.
Who can forget Paulson & Bernanke. Remember that fake dumb look he (Ben) cast as he said 5% of GDP (the amount of the tarp) is good for me if its good for Paulson. Talk about not knowing jack squat, that was the visual definition right there. Thanks Ben. Someone should get a clipt and do a portrait for keep sake. That was you personfied indelibly for the icons.
Who can forget Paulson & Bernanke. Remember that fake dumb look he (Ben) cast as he said 5% of GDP (the amount of the tarp) is good for me if its good for Paulson. Talk about not knowing jack squat, that was the visual definition right there. Thanks Ben. Someone should get a clipt and do a portrait for keep sake. That was you personfied indelibly for the icons.
Ben and Barry both are ideologues.
Ben only knows how to print it.
Barry only knows how to spend it.
The biggest tragedy is Ben's ZIRP which allows banks to get away with robbing us of the interest of our savings.
Talk about a negative stimulus.
JFC, this board has become nothing but a sorry menagerie of conspiracy nut moonbats.
Fuckin BB is maniacal and diabolical and all this shit...jfc, people, if the almighty "TPTB" are so effin maniacal why the fuck don't they just fuckin nuke everybody? God damn, this financial collapse "plot" you cretins froth about has more twists and turns than The Big Sleep.
Bottom line: our MAIN source of energy has inflected in supply. It is FOOLISH to think that in the face of this that there would be NO effect! OK? Even if we "figure something out" in a historical minute, that could still be a DECADE or more in real time for us!
Stop expecting the effing change to be some kind of punctuated moment. History is a drawn-out process.
"...that could still be a DECADE or more in real time for us!"
Wow! A true optimist. It's like discovering a species thought to be extinct.
God damn, this financial collapse "plot" you cretins froth about has more twists and turns than The Big Sleep.
I like that. I'd like more.
I just figured it out... moonbats was the key
Trav is none other than J.H. Kunstler :)
Holy crap!
That explains his hatred of democracy...another apparatchik exposed!
Edit: Looks like your ah-hah! shut him up, for the moment...
Real piece of work, this NYC-Centric "intellectual":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Howard_Kunstler
are you effin nuts? I am not jewms cuntsler lol...
I am way younger and better looking than he is at any rate...moonbat is way older than his clusterfuck blog
and your clue was what, the way I diss on jews? The way I called him Jewms Kunstler in a previous thread?
LOL
Not entirely, but close. In small doses it’s pretty entertaining, though; like a carnival freak show.
"Out Of The Past" with Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas had far more twists, turns and lies than "The Big Sleep"...
Just sayin' for the record...
You know what they say... "Its not the fall that kills you...its the hard stop at the bottom"
The Bernack is going to get us all killed.
Maybe we could put the Ben Bernank on a 1m bill! That and an ounce of Gold could buy you a cup of coffee in a couple of years!
Occam's razor - isn't it simpler to hypothesize that the Bernanke knows exactly what he is doing and exactly how badly it will end?
NO.
The simplest explanation is that he does not understand the problem.
In fact, BB is doing what is NECESSARY to prevent the collapse of the money supply of debt!
Credit is NOT growing...this issue has been explained a million times. However, BB CANNOT print value nor can he reverse the future's tendency toward aggregate contraction and the consequent discounting of debt instruments
I don't agree. Any man with a fairly high IQ knows that this will end badly. He knows. Theories that involve intelligent men not understanding basic cause and effect don't impress me.
BB takes his orders from wall street.
All part of the plan that will lead to the next crisis. Violence will come to the states and marshall law will follow. Egypt has shut down the internet and has tanks in the street, the kind of stuff that gives Obama wet dreams.
Top down, bottom up, inside out. The exact formulas Soros used to end the Czech Republic. Do you think he's pouring millions of dollars into the liberal media out of the kindness of his heart?
There IS NO plan! WTF would be this gd plan??? To what, kill everybody? The fuckin oligarchs just weren't HAPPY with fuckin lavish prosperity so they try to foment worldwide revolution?!?! How the fuck is that going to jibe with their cushy globetrotting lifestyles?!
They're so psychopathic in their diabolicality that they just NOW decided aw fuck Lloyd, all this money and bitchez is boring me and shit, let's fuckin go kill everyone...seriously??
Yeah, good idea, let's start revolutions that get us thrown out of office and maybe executed...BRILLIANT
There are several in this admin that feel the earth is over populated. Food makes a nice weapon. Not all the food commodity increases have been due to inflation, much of it caused by droughts or flooding.
YES...so unless we are going to assert that droughts and flooding are man-made acts under the control of the SatanHive, then we have to conclude that there really isn't a human PLAN causing this BS.
Food prices are also driven by energy prices because we are basically EATING OIL with our modern petrochem agriculture. Top that off with our plans to burn food (grown with oil) to replace oil in our cars and you have a double or triple whammy of stupidity.
Our "leadership" are idiots, not geniuses. We have morons like Chavez in charge who think they are powerful enough to really control things. I mean, price caps??? Morons try this crap all the time, yet everyone with a brain knows (empirically no less) that they do not work! The simplest explanation is just pure stupidity and the Downing Effect.
Everyone would be wise to understand the Downing Effect; it explains most everything you see from people "in power."
Maybe it is a stretch to call them idiots; from where I sit maybe they are. But in reality they are just not as smart as they THINK they are and they have a demonstrable inability to understand that. They trust their own judgment far more than is warranted.
It's very easy for people like them to get that way, too...due to the echo chamber and Gresham's Law created by a nonstop procession of sycophants
The bankers have been playing this game for a very long time and there are those who are looking for a world government. To think they would put someone in as important as the head of the Fed who does not follow this agenda would be "insane" just to get back on subject. As I said before, a person like Soros does not INVEST, meaning he is going to receive either power and/or monetary compensation, in liberal media and think tanks out of the kindness of his heart.
Do not cofuse power hungry with stupidity as these people have been stomping all over The Constitution for decades. Maybe they are looking for a smooth transition but that hasn't been their past MO. They have always used wars / civil unrest when initiating power shifts.
I've long been intrigued by the concept of "martial law" and what such a declaration would entail. Logistically, I don't see the necessary supply of troops and materiel which would be absolutely critical to any level of success by the State.
Another big problem for the State is the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which clearly prohibits the use of active duty military forces against private American citizens.
Obviously you missed Hurricane Katrina; it's effect on large swaths of the US Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and the use of the US Army to quell the civil unrest in the above areas.
And I thought it was I who was insane.
Trav, do you think BB knows the inflection, as you call it, is the real elephant in the room? Or is he just foolishly following the Keynesian playbook, hoping against all hope that it will just all go away. In my mind he is clueless, and when he is through there will be nothing left in the way of purchasing power to mitigate it.
He spent a very long time playing with his economic models. So long in fact, he thinks the toys are real.
No; he doesn't know it.
Look; we just came off of a 400 YEAR unabated period of growth. Look at the shit we can do now, just look around you. Look at all the things that oil has permitted us to do. And coal before that.
Oil is no longer growing, so all the things built upon it, our entire society of personal mobility, flight, thermoplastics, the ability to feed this many people, the entire ponzi...it's in danger.
Is it the end of the world? Certainly not. It's the end of what we know, for sure. Up is now down and shit that worked for 400 YEARS no longer works and so everyone is puzzled. Maybe we'll figure something out and come up with a new energy source and we can have another phase transition like coal to oil where we went from steam trains and steam ships to everyone and his mother having a car and the ability to fly around the world. Or like wood to coal where suddenly we had the ability to make freakin MACHINES that could move us around at speeds which 50 years prior were only achievable in freefall from a cliff. Think about the coal age - steel, manufacturing, trains, machines...a huge quantum leap.
But this discovery may take 10, 15, 20 years...300 years from now, when faced with a similar inflection, people may read about us and say look, they made it through that transition in a blip...but that blip may take a substantial portion of our lives whereas it takes only a minute to read about.
History took a LOT longer to happen than it does to review in print. BB is doing what he needs to do to stave off collapse of the credit base. But he can't print oil. He can't fix the real problem of inability to maintain growth.
Black Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km4-eKvv3EM&playnext=1&list=PL30771F7C95547145
I would think that you Trav7777... who rail against blindness to the ramifications of Peak Oil would welcome revamping the monetary system to such that it wasn't dependant on physical growth to survive.
Think what Peak Oil and scare resources mean (absence replacement discoveries in the near term). We're checkmated because growth (which has always been the solution before) won't work now. Yet our monetary/financial/economic system is predicated on growth. That's why the Powers That Be / Banks fight tooth & nail to preserve the status quo. This is what has made them what they are.
Any 'solution' to our problems to them is but the next iteration of the present system.
To me at least, it seems we need to reinvent our systems in a more fundamental way.
Surely a huge, planet wide revolutionary task, made more difficult by having to battle the entrenched interests and the natural reluctance of the population toward any change.
And harder still, pull this off without a massive die off due to infighting & chaos.
I have many times...what, do I have to write my manifesto in every comment?
the monetary system will die on its own as will anything promising more into a future of less. I have repeatedly called for currency based upon real production, i.e., real bills.
Banks should be like utilities, nothing more.
However, this does not make BB an idiot or malevolent.
I posted that several years ago on TF, so perhaps we have something in common?
Since you despise democracy, what form of government do you find ideal?
a lot of people on TF held that opinion which I shared.
Before you know, Douchinger banned everyone. I told that stupid SOB that Ben was gonna print and I got gang tackled by all the acolytes over there. Well, score it trav 1, douche 0
I don't despise democracy; I just don't find ANYthing persuasive in the suggestion that the franchise of it should extend to the incompetent. And by incompetent, I mean in the literal sense of the word, not as a pejorative. Only the highly intelligent should have a say.
Think of a household...who gets say? The parents. Those who have a stake, those on the hook, those with the wisdom and brains. You don't let your 8 year old drive the fuckin car or pick his meals. Why? Because you're an age supremacist oppressive racist bigoted nazi? No, because he ain't goddamned QUALIFIED to make his own decisions. When/if he is, you let him.
Most people lack the prerequisites for self-determination. And by most I mean a clear majority of women, blacks, hispanics, and all of the other favored groups. Women simply need another million years of evolution, making decisions, to overcome the last million where what they thought or wanted was irrelevant. As for the other groups, jeezus, look at the "democracies" where they hail from and tell me they have a freakin clue about who to elect. Look at the voting track records here. This shit may sound offensive to many; so what? A lot of people get pissed off at the truth.
Nope, I agree and have written similar things.
There should be stringent requirements for being part of the electorate, and citizenship should be an honor, never to be taken for granted...
"Only the highly intelligent should have a say."
And who gets to say who has a say?
Who watches the Watchmen?
Woooo. Propagandists still come with this line? ashamed of nothing.
Since women were excluded from the pattern of decision making, does it not mean they did not decide when it came to take the very decisions that has led to the current situation?
Same for the others.
So the solution is to restrict the decision making process to the very same set of population that has taken all the decisions that have led to the current point.
Nothing different from Bernanke and co.
It is pretty clear that people dont disagree with elite's decisions. They only wish they were the elites who take them.
At this point, they should understand that for them, it is game over. The elite roots are deep by now, stronger than ever and they keep being what they are: elites.
Too late...
Excellent observations. Unfortunately few can conceive of what life without cheap fossil fuels will be like.
Imagine an automobile climbing a road up a 1 mile high mountain. The auto will consume about a cup full of gasoline during this climb.
Imagine alternative means of getting that same auto up the same road on the same mountain. How many horses pulling would it take? How many men/women pushing would it take?
People seldom realize what they have until it's gone.
Hey guys, STFU.
You're supposed to wait for trav777 to show up and order off the menu for you, before eating.
Whether oil or epistemology, he has all the answers.
So don't think of even attempting independent thought or analysis. He'll give you the answers, as he knows all.
He's the smartest guy in any virtual room.
trav, have you thought of taking a position in the Obama Administration, The Federal Reserve, NASA or The Trilateral Commission?
As a matter of fact, that would be a very goddamned good idea before idiots like you run off and start thinking that you should do something.
The moonbat shit going on here about Satan and fuckin hive minds and all this kookball stuff doesn't qualify as either thought or analysis- it is pure craziness.
What is happening is actually VERY simple; so simple it's an ELEMENTARY growth problem. Unfortunately, Bartlett was right; I simply MARVEL on a daily basis though how few can get it. We are facing a fairly trivial issue of a growth ceiling bestowed upon us by our mundanely finite REAL world
How do you have the patience and virtue to put up with the likes of all of us?
You should be a billionaire by now given your extensive, technical knowledge of 'peak oil,' among other controversial issues.
If I were you, I'd leverage your incredible knowledge into running money for the far less intelligent and less informed, on a 2%/20% basis, in an oil-focused fund; unlimited upside, and no downside.
Yet, you take time to educate all of us. You are noble and self-actualized, trav. You're a fucking saint, you are...
what the hell part of the way I talk to people like you gave you any notion that I have any patience for you?
Why would an oil focused fund have unlimited upside? You are making conclusions which are fallacious and unwarranted. That's my politespeak for saying you are an idiot.
I forget, are you one of those peak deniers again? One of those whose belief system leads them to inadvertently assert that production will grow to infinity?
I know, man, it really sucks for someone as arrogant as you to run into someone who can really lay the bitchslap on you, but buck up and learn to cope, sheeit
Te difference between you and I is that you're dogmatic, and I'm not.
You've managed to distill all information regarding the amount of oil left in and on the earth, and come to certainty in conclusions.
You are smarter and more verse than Christoph Ruhl, and many others like him, who disagree with you.
Do you ever even acknowledge that you're an advocate, albeit a very dogmatic one, for something that was termed a 'theory' even by its inventor?
Funny how people love those "End of the World" stories to the point they turn them into religions...
Peak oil =\= end of the world.
Also, do you really believe that anything is infinite?
Seriously, how the fuck does this website attract so many dimwits?
I think Mr. Market might get a handle on the whole peak oil thingy, which will in turn wake-up Mr. Discovery.
IMO -0- hour has a LOT more to do with destruction of 1st World countries due to wage arbitrage corrections underway, and the former future 1st World's ability to continue the con and raise credit...
Gonna be a whole lot of pissed-off sheeple if they don't their new iPOS.
ROTFL. Just like Mr. Market got his hands around peak in 54/65 oil producing nations, including the US and USSR, right?
Mr. Market jumped up and took control over that pesky physical reality. LOL.
This is going to sound apocryphal but the whims of MAN do NOT dictate reality.
There are TWO and ONLY two choices: either oil production will grow forever or else it will eventually peak. Which option do you believe?
I believe that oil is an earthborne semi-renewable resource that we've been consuming at MUCH higher rates than it replenished.
I also believe when push comes to shove, we'll find alternatives out of necessity, but it won't happen without pain nor immense effort...
what we are experiencing NOW is the onset of that pain. It may last a long time.
what the fuck does the AMOUNT of oil in the freakin earth have to do with the PRODUCTION RATE of said oil?
GFD, man, how many times do we have to go over this shit? Seriously?
Peak is a theory? News flash, genius: it HAPPENED. The US Peaked in 1970. And all the dumbass cornucopians who claimed technology would arrest it...where are we now, man? Down 40, 50% from peak? After 40 years of throwing whatever we have at it.
Relativity is called a THEORY as well...u gonna shit on that now too?
The Law of Peak Oil
Yeah, it has a nice ring to it. Hubbert would be proud.
Trav' you're a smart guy. I don't want to pick a fight with anyone but What gives?
Hubbard was long gone before Shale Fracking which = easy Three Forks and Bakken.
The Alaska pipe is a trickle compared to capacity or supply. The Macondo is the biggest oil supply ever found. BP already has the greenlight to try again. The US just cut down the time it takes to erect a well by 2/3rds. I hate oil as much or more than the bulk of the world's population but we don't owe loyalty to ideas however long we've had them. Our loyalty is to the truth. It's just data if yours is better than mine it just is - so what? It just means we have - for the time being a better picture of what we THINK is going on.
Free your mind and your ass will follow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqmEibSY0I
Look man you shot your credibility all to shit at "Macondo."
It's not the biggest supply ever found, not even remotely CLOSE to such. Such a statement is ridiculous.
My mind don't need "freed," homeslice, it done been free for some time now when I made peace with the fact that RESOURCES HAVE CONSTRAINTS.
As for 3 forks and Bakken...man, don't give me this pissant few 100 kbpd shit and act like it changes a damned thing. Shale frac is primarily a NG development tool anyhow.
You simply have got to get to grips with the fact that ANYONE claiming peak oil does not exist is claiming, ergo, that oil production can grow to infinity, forever, ad perpetuum