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Open Thread
Since posting on Zero Hedge over the next 24 hours will be more sporadic than usual, please use this space for any news, discussions and general observations about life, the universe and everything.
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I already walked in to the local office and sat down and had an impromto meeting (with the staffer that runs the local office of my congressman Greg Walden, from his website:
Greg is chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The telecommunications industry supports about 50,000 jobs in Oregon, including nearly 10,000 in Oregon's Second District.
Greg has served as chairman of the House Republican Leadership since February 2010 and is a deputy whip.)
about silver gold manipulation detailing it all icluding the PDF of Judge George Painter (admin judge at CFTC) retirement/whistlblowing, which can be found here:
http://www.bullfax.com/?q=node-judge-cftc-corrupt-wendy-gramm-criminal
Judge: CFTC Corrupt, Wendy Gramm CriminalJust when you think you have reached the bottom — your ability to get any more disgusted or outraged is finally at the point where it is unimaginable to think worse of Wall Street and its institutions — along comes a story that outrages you even more.
Futures magazine had an article last week about the retirement letter that Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Administrative Law Judge George Painter sent announcing his retirement.
In the letter, he announces that his fellow admin judge has never awarded a case to a plaintiff in 20 years, and that he did so at the urging of former CFTC Chair Wendy Gramm.
“In a notice sent to complainants and their attorneys, Judge Painter claims that Levine told him that he had promised former CFTC Chair Wendy Gramm “that he would never rule in a complainants favor”. Painter’s notice goes on to say, “A review of his rulings will confirm that he has fulfilled his vow.”
In the notice Painter recommends the CFTC request the services of an administrative law judge to be detailed to the Commission from another regulatory agency to handle the remain cases on his docket. Painter writes, “If I simply announced my intention to retire, the seven reparation cases on my docket would be reassigned to the only other administrative law judge at the Commission, Judge Levine. This I could not do in good conscience.”
Now, if that isn’t weird enough, the WSJ has an a article in today’s paper that can only be described as a hit piece. The accusations of mental unfitness and heavy drinking come from the Judge’s wife in the middle of divorce proceedings.
I wrote to Sarah Lynch, asking how the Journal could do a story on this retiring judge — accusing him of being a drunk and mentally unfit — but omit his most explosive charges against his fellow judge and the CFTC chair Wendy Gramm. “In the Sept. 17 document, Judge Painter said he plans to step down in January and asked the agency to transfer his pending cases to an outside judge instead of Judge Levine.” That hardly does justice to the Judge’s retirement note, and completely omits his charge against former CFTC chair.
Lynch wrote back to note she did a story on the judge last Friday, but it ran on newswires but was not picked up by WSJ. (Reporters have no control over those editorial decision). The current article is a follow up to that prior piece.
I did a WSJ search for “CFTC Judge” seeing when in the past they had covered obscure administrative judges in the past, and other than today’s article, nothing came else was found (Journal search apparently only goes back 2 years).
The whole thing is very curious.
But what makes the WSJ piece truly weird is it ignores an article Judge Painter used to show Judge Levine was biased — from the WSJ itself! The December 2000 article about Judge Levine was titled: “If you got a beef with a futures broker, This Judge Isn’t for You—In Eight Years at the CFTC, Levine Has Never Ruled In Favor of an Investor (PDF)”
And as the Columbia Journalism Review noted:
Dow Jones-owned database Factiva and can’t find it. But it exists. Here’s a link from the Investigative Reporters and Editors website and a Factiva print from the judge that looks like a Wall Street Journal story to me.That piece reported that Judge Levine “In Eight Years at the CFTC, Levine Has Never Ruled In Favor of an Investor.”
So this is going to be a mess to untangle, but it’ll be quite the story if you can. Despite Judge Painter’s apparent infirmities, he’s not completely out to lunch on Judge Levine’s record. What’s Levine done since that 2000 WSJ story? What’s been going on at the CFTC?
Something is not right with this story. A retiring judgeaccuses a former CFTC chair of criminal conduct. The response — he is accused in the WSJ of being mentally unfit and a drunk, pulled from his wife’s accusation in a divorce action — is quite unseemly.
There is much more to this story, and the chief administrative law judge and/or the US Attorney should investigate these charges.
>
Sources:
“If you got a beef with a futures broker, This Judge Isn’t for You—In Eight Years at the CFTC, Levine Has Never Ruled In Favor of an Investor”
Michael Schroeder
Wall Street Journal December 5 2000
URL Unknown; PDF here
CFTC judge claims colleague issued biased rulings
DANIEL P. COLLINS
Futures Mag 10/14/2010 http://www.futuresmag.com/News/2010/10/Pages/CFTC-judge-claims-colleague...
The Plot Thickens at the CFTC
A judge accuses another judge of improprieties. But there’s more to the story.
Ryan Chittum
CJR, October 20, 2010 http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/plot_thickens_cftc_judge.php
Case Sheds Light on Judge
SARAH N. LYNCH
WSJ, OCTOBER 21, 2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230401160457556461064666383...
The staffer was interested and wanted all the info and said he would pass it along to the committie that could look into it to see if there were any hearings scheduled...I have had a few follow ups from him with questions as well...
I have also called into radio shows about the Primary Dealer take % of bonds flipping them back...PM price manipulation lawsuit consolidation in NY of JP Morgan and HSBC whistleblower Andrew Mguire named as a whitness, and the fact the JP finances food stamps program... and even called into Cspan during a vote to extend the patriot act (it actually did not get the majority the first time) scolding anyone who voted for it, especially the tea party folks after claiming to be constitionalists.
I think to bottle all this knowledge up is too depressing...share it...be peaceful...knowledge is power...and the truth is stanger than fiction...
In the imortal words of Kramer (Seinfeld not CNBC idiot) "I'm out there Jerry and I'm loving every minute of it!"
Bonus points for who can anme what Kramer is talking about...
i agree. you may help many plumb the depths of their disgust and outrage.
trade fiat FRNs for silver & gold coins. turn off the TV. yer bottle is full; thank you for pouring it out, here. keep enjoying yourself and stay healthy and peaceful. i'll pass on the anime (?) for the bonus points, k?
oopsies that was supposed to be "name"...Kramer was talking about going commando...free balling it for the lay person.
oopsies my ass! how many bonus points do you freaking get, here?
Take back your Freedom and Liberties! Join and Support the Silver Liberation Army Movement today!
http://silverliberationarmy.blogspot.com/
quick tip for your blog... make it easier to comment...have an annoymous option
Tried picking up some silver on eBay. Nothing going for less than spot. Used to be able to get some deals from people dumping junk they don't know anything about.
:-(
ATLAS SHRUGGED the movie opened last week to great reviews from viewers and, expectedly, poor reviews from critics. Most of you may know that Ayn Rand was a Capitalism and gold money advocate. The movie shows what damage government can do to those who most benefit society. See the movie, read the book, or both. Written over 50 years ago she anticipated the mess we're in now.
--
that one put a smile on my face.
What, you got junked?
Everyone and everything can be riduculed here except Ms. Rand.
-
I've said it before, Rand is mental masturbation for latent homosexuals who are intellectually challenged (of all ages) and female undergraduates.
-
"I'll take masturbation and female undergraduates for $500."
The question is, "What are things that you do in College that you continue to think about until death, Alex?"
+100.
best post of the day...
Haha, I kinda saw that coming. The other part of me was ready to junk you if you trashed Lord of the Rings.
Even though I liked 'Atlas Shrugged' that was one great line.
She also collected Social Security and accepted Medicare benefits... She never paid a nickel into them either.
Just another leech.
agreed
and for those acolytes of the Russian Mad Hatter who disagreed, here's a hint why you did so:
http://www.lpsg.org/
Since 1999 the Large Penis Support Group has fostered discussions of penis size, sex with a large penis...
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never heard of it, and you follow this bag of bones, didn't think so.
My Wife left me so she could have anal sex with men with thinner, shorter penises.
This tragedy is real.
Women constantly eyeing "the zone".
Married men suddenly coming on to you.
An unspoken tragedy I tell you...
it's been a while since our last minkowski moment, eb, but the same thing happened to me!
i hope my ex is as happy with you as your wife is with me, bro!
Hey slewie,
Likewise.
She says she misses your cooking, but is enjoying telling me all the lies she already told you.
and finally....
Lest you forget Allen Greenspan was an Ayn Rand acolyte, devoting part of his youth to serving the old typewriter.
And, Kudlow adores her (as he should as it gives free license to Corporations)
(nough said)
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There you idiot scumbags.
MIT IS ABOUT TO MAKE A FORTUNE WITH ITS BILLION PRICE INDIVATOR!
their explanation for taking it offline doesnt make sense.
If you were on wall street what would you pay for
hourly updated pricing reports?
By country
Industry
Finished or unfinished commodity product not traded on an exchange.
Specific service
By region
Or even by a specific store or neighborhood.
Many things are not traded on exchanges, hence inefficiently priced. Now the big guys can front run everything or you can gather data on your suppliers or competitors.
Slice and dice anyway you want with value added trend analysis. All prices in real time updated.hourly.
Full subscription one million per year.
A la carte pricing for specific industry or region.
I think i meant indicator, but i am about to wreck my car.
That makes little sense to me. Prices aren't changed all that often. At best it would provide a truer measure of global or at least regional inflation since online retailers are price competing with everyone else in the world less shipping costs.
If I wanted to front run everything, I'd look into forum/chat trend changes on recordedfuture. Costs way less too.
Going down the memory hole is a more likely explanation. of course, the memory hole really doesn't destroy what its fed, it goes to the thought police. So if the banking cartell did force it down the memory hole then they're getting it for free and the little people at the hedge funds are just out of luck.
Just for fun,
What will be the London silver opening price on Tuesday 26th next week? The UK has just entered the 4 day Easter weekend, the US has at least a 3 day weekend (I don't know if you guys get Monday off as well). Meanwhile, Asia keeps on working and trading.
Right now, silver is $47.738. How much will that rise while Blythe is doing the easter egg hunt with her family?
I don't think Blythe celebrates Easter...
Maybe Halloween.
52 skiddoo. Buy heavily.
The big shills of the MSM are working hard to say that big deficits are alright!
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/our-non-exceptional-debt-and-...
Are We Really Drowning In Red Ink? A Closer Look At Our Non-Exceptional Debt And Deficit CrisisBasically saying that it's alright since it happened before in WW2... except back then there wasn't trillions of $ in derivatives, most of the states bankrupt, the US had gold reserves, the US didn't have to pay for medicare, medicaid, social security... not to mention the liabilities of Fannie worth 6-7 trillion $... when the US dollar as reserve currency ends, all those dollars will come back, and it'll be hyperinflation time...
Some interesting thoughts from Nader:
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/2261-Stripmining-America-Unpatr...
Can some1 point me to the facts or links where i can find ....
How many oil contracts we have vs how many barrel's are going to be delivered.
And is there a way to see which hedge funds or investments gangs have an oil position.
I see now the articles on the zerohedge that are defending oil speculators or commodities trading.
But no1 provides any numbers or facts, just general bullshit.
Also while its open tread, may be some1 can explain me better how is the GDP near 2.5 while oil goes up?
As we started Q2 we run up the oil from 70 to almost 115. If i recall correctly here on zerohedge there was some form of statistics about that every 10$ in oil is between 0.5-1 % of GDP. In other words i am confused. If GDP growth is around 2.5 but we losing 2% per oil price, what does it leaves us with...?
Good Friday was an inside job.
Hey, it's better than Not-So-Lucky-Friday, the mine.
Best site for following the unfolding Fukushima clusterf... not reported in MSM:
http://enenews.com/
Why is posting going to be sporadic?! I thought Tyler wasn't allowed to have time off??!!?
I think Tyler got himself a babe and said F u Bitchezzzzzzzzzzzzzz. He is partying with several hoochie mama's. Give him a break, he deserves some hotties.
Meh. I think he's in the basement recounting, um, I mean, fondling his silver. Holidate of sorts it is.
"Oh! Cruel hobbit! It does not care if we be hungry. It does not care if we should die! Not like Master. Master cares. Master knows. Yes, precious..."
;)
Love ya Tyler(s)..
would you send some gold to tyler instead of the paypal? I Like this site. I think I'll stay.
Yes. We post hollywood humor everytime kramer shows up in the ads. It is like a drinking game but better.
He's buying up every box of credit cruch cereal mentioned in the other thread?
I went do 3 grocery stores and one farmers market looking for it and I can't find it anywhere. I want that helicopter damnit!
I am drinking all in the name of Jesus and Obama.
I'm just drinking. (and eyeballing the hydrocodone in the medicine cabinet.)
Leave it there, or flush it.
If your real bored this weekend, here is a YouTube video I did about a real bad stock picker. Original tune have fun. YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDZFrJ1BA_k
Fuck everything.
Thats all I have to say on the matter.
Happy easter or whatever
I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Interesting documentary on Al Jazeera called Americal Radical about Norman Finkelstein. I wouldn't know of him otherwise, so I can't judge it's accuracy, but it certainly captured my interest:
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/2011/04/2011412103819678591.html
when the young men drag him out of his car one day soon , while at a road block and they start to beat him with rifle butts, i will tell them..........stop.........
he paid the price. he refused to bow the knee. he may go in peace.....
Those poor, poor Palestinian rocket launchers (rolls eyes).
Back in December? on the last open thread, I announced I was going to run for Alderman in my community, the ninth largest city in Illinois. I am a 57 year old white male and my ward is 75% hispanic and majority democrat. I ran as a Republican with a simple conservative agenda: personal service to address the ward's problems and being a watchdog over public spending. I won by six votes over my hispanic democrat challenger, who is our current school board president. ClassicalLib17 P.S. Public sector unions will be the death of my city and state, unless we can follow Wisconsin's lead. I am a 34 year member of a private sector trade union.
well done H, words are great but action separates the wheat from the chaff
congrats
++
You done good. Keep it up.
I remember that...well done...but always be aware, the job is self corrupting to most people...stay strong & vigilant.
Thank you for your replies, I was gratified to learn from the hispanics in my ward that open borders and amnesty was not a topic of concern to them. They are beginning to think for themselves and acting in their own self interest. The illegal alien activist groups no longer find much support in our ward. A 75% failure rate in the state high school exam is now the norm, and whole word or whole language reading instruction in our elementary schools is probably a major contributing factor. I was taught the phonics method when I went to school. I can't understand why our elementary schools insist on teaching whole word when it has produced such poor results. Most of our kids are at least two grade levels behind in reading comprehension by the time they enter their high school years. I wish I could fire the administrator of curriculum.
Well, when the current contracts are up for renogotiation, offer them all a two-thirds wage and benefit cut. When they balk, check with your labor lawyer as to when you can post the help wanted ads.
Unions only cause problems when management lacks the courage to hold their wages to FMV.
State and federal law is firmly in support of shitty unions like SEIU and AFSCME. Union leadership would rather see their membership get laid off than allow a vote to pay a greater share towards their benefit packages. Our only option is privatization. I was encouraged to see the success of Sandy Springs, Georgia in dealing with these issues. I read that on Reason Magazine online. I am a subscriber to their monthly publication.
What the hell are you still doing in the den of Satan?
Move south, young man.
I don't think Satan can hold a candle to our democrat and dysfunctional republican political leadership here in Illinois. Do you remember where your current president hails from?
Good on you man, seriously. It's nice to see someone taking action and not pontificating. I wish you the best. If I was in Illinois, I would do my part for you.
super cool website. you know how people bid a lot of money on EBAY to have a lunch with WARREN BUFFETT ? Well, my choice for lunch & a work day shadowing would be TYLER DURDEN.
Which one?
What would be more fun than seeing an over weight, balding 45 yr old living in his mom's basement wearing tighty whiteys and some tall black socks typing on his ipad all day? Well eating lunch with him and his mom of course.hehe :)
No offense to the balding 45 year olds living in their mom's basement who wear tighty whiteys and black tall socks as they type on their ipads while eating lunch with their mom that don't have a real cool financial blog.
he says he works 18 hours a day. how does he keep it up?
I want to bid on a lap dance from a Money Honey on CNBS......errr, never mind.
Agreed.
Or Jesse of "Jesse's Café Américain" by the looks of the food on his blog:
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
Hmmm, here are some topics:
Couldn't resist ;)
Geez, any child knows jelly beans come from the Easter bunny, the hard way.
All the unicorns died, and something had to take over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64
Natash Fatale:
It's all Semantics, al dente.
Self explanitory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_lilPbTpto&feature=related
Allan: That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollock, isn't it?
Museum Girl: Yes, it is.
Allan: What does it say to you?
Museum Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Allan: What are you doing Saturday night?
Museum Girl: Committing suicide.
Allan: What about Friday night?
-
Lol, that was good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KqO64-ipqAM#at=132
mike ruppert says its all over by july. damn....hey look, he even reads from zerohedge too.
prepare accordingly bitchez. gear up, butch up, ruck up and get your asses in line......
Can we have a second open thread now?
This one is full. In under 3 hours. Gonna be a long weekend.
for educational puposes.....
ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL? and Private Prosecution A remedy for District Attorneys Unwarranted Inaction- Yale Law Journal
I pooped. Also, I like big boobies.
I pooped. Also, I like big boobies.
Easter Bunny likes a stronger or weaker Yuan ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjNVSCs_Lg
777 Days since the S & P low of 666 on 03/06/09.
Numerological NWO Event Day Bitchez!!!
I sure would like to see some charts layed over the annual occurences of Passover for the last 10-20 or 100 years, Passover marks the end/beginning of the new year in Judeaism and some Christian circles. I believe market policies and currency shifts would be apparent.
It would take a smarter geek than me though.
Implying nothing, for entertainment purposes only.
777-666=111
1+1+1=3
7+7+7=21
6+6+6=18
3+21+18=42
Which explains life, the universe and everything.
QED
"Which explains life, the universe and everything"
And Ronnie Lott.
The proof is in the pudding, pudding.
What's happening at McDonalds this beautiful holliday weekend across the globe? Not to ruin your weekend but WTF?
First we have another disturbing shock video of a racist beating in McDonalds yesterday. Either things are unwinding before our eyes as our government loses control or there is a side affect to eating 3800 calorie happy meals with 180 grams of fat... only a grandma tried to stop the whopping while the Mcloooser employees did not even help this poor girl who goes into a seizure after being beat the shit out by several super-sized aggressors. (Well at least they got it on their iphone video).
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ec0_1303444048
Then a dad tries to break up a fight while in line at a London Mcfatass for a hot chocolate and then gets beat the shit out of and shot in the head till he was really really dead.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/04/21/dad-who-split-up-fig...
What will happen when they stop taking the little slices of Bernanks home grown cotton in exchange for a Happy Meal?
Happy Good Friday America!
How could a dude get shot in Brixton...... they have gun control over there, right? Doesn't that stop shootings?
LOL...exactly, now they want Mickey D control...clearly there's not enough control goin on over there.
Plenty of dude's get shot in Brixton and all over the city, gun control doesn't stop shooting but may it means we have less of it??
Makes for a mighty scarcity of guns... like the IRA's
Gun control means you can not shoot back?
You can not put fear in the hearts of those elected to govern, who would govern with greater care if the true concern of their hearts was LEAD in the head instead of Gold in the Bahamas.
Who would run for office under such a regime?
only true and faithfull men and women,citizens commited to the betterment of society and mankinds future,not the Parasite class that we have in several nations, operating by the law of Rule, not the rule of law?
"Who would run for office under such a regime?"
Well, obviously, the person with the most thugs with guns.
Just had to,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiQoq-wqZxg
Clash, guns of Brixton.
there was a five year period of my life where i listened to that song ten times every day. I'm pretty sure it had a long term effect.
QE3 is here!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! There I said it.
If you are interested in how changes in Order Flow affect changes in Price, you can monitor real-time Order Flow Momentum here for the S&P 500, Crude Oil, Dow 30, and the STOXX 50 electronic futures markets.
Algo Futures
Hope that you find this as interesting as I do.
C
I like turtles.
Very tasty, indeed.
Walstreetpro2's take on silver and Obama beating up oil speculators would make my Easter weekend complete.
I wish Tyler Durden and crew a phenom 72 hours of bliss before we get back to hopefully coining it.
I'd like to take this time to find out who is behind Zero Hedge.
Russia Today? Short only hedge fund? Disgruntled ex-wall streeter? Blankenfein's pet project? Machine with no human control?
The Algos, the Algos ! The Horror !
btw recently read parts of Das Kapital and learned that ole Karl planned to write a essay/book about financial bubbles "The Confusion" like that one by Vega...though Friedrich Engels decided to bring the collected fragments together to complete das Kapital.
Having some fun while we wait for COMEX to default and Blythe to burn..
Submit your prediction for silver's close at the end of May, closest prediction will get a silver eagle from SilverDoctors!
http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2011/04/know-where-silvers-headed-pred...
A note of appreciation and thanks for all the work the Tyler(s) put in here. And a silly diversion for the Easter weekend - a continuation of William Banzai7's IN SeaRCH oF a SYMBoL project from late last year:
ZERO EGG HUNT
APMEX arbitrage opportunity. if you know how to arb, get to work this weekend!
...if you're a smart banker type and reading this....i hope this EATS YOU!
S=k. log W
My funds are liquid and I await a correction, oil prices have rocketed, the Middle East is in turmoil, the U.S. economy is slowing, the Eurozone is dodgy, Ireland, Greece and Portugal are bust, everyone is expecting defaults of some sort, ..... I could go on, oh! Japan has a nuclear disaster .... but ....... despite all these 'events' the stock markets of the World continue upwards .......
I tell myself .... maybe I should start to buy, but I cannot convince myself, interest rates are surely next, China has already started upwards ...... and they have civil unrest!! .... so I sit on my hands and I say " this cannot continue, I must be right, but in the back of my mind I have this niggle ..... am I wrong again!!
Yay!
I'll start on site topic.
First thought:: The nature of money.
I've come to the conclusion that the nature of money itself is the cause of many of our problems. By that I don't mean the existence of money. It's a necessity, who wants to barter chickens? No, what I mean are the characteristics that specific types of money have.
Take gold for example. Gold doesn't degrade, you can put it in a box and leave it for decades, it will be just as good when you take it out. That is quite a desirable characteristic. So, when it comes to making use of gold as money there is a power imbalance between buyer and seller. Gold doesn't have to be spent. It's as good tomorrow as today. A loaf of bread on the other hand must be bought today, in fact it must be bought within a few hours, the value of a loaf of bread declines rapidly. The power is with the buyer. It is why we have the phrase the customer is always right. Money (as gold) can always be saved, it doesn't have to be spent, but the seller has costs, and needs money. There is a tendency then to save or hoard gold and cause deflation.
Paper is similar to gold, but obviously the owner of the press can very cheaply make lots more. Which means that as a store of value, paper is a bad choice, particularly when the owner of the press is a politician who likes to make promises other people are going to pay for. The power imbalance between buyer and seller still exists, the inflationary nature ot paper is over years, rather than hours or months.
Credit, now there is something you can inflate quickly. It is easily the scariest form of money, always in flux, always unstable. As fast as you can type. But credit comes with a debt attached. A debt which pays interest and which grows exponentially. You take out a loan, the bank creates 100 dollars of credit for you, and attaches 100 dollars of debt, plus interest. After a year, you owe 105 dollars to the bank. But wait... they only created 100 dollars. Where does the extra five come from? Now, THAT is the 50 trillion dollar question. There are only 3 choices here. You take out a bigger loan and pay the five from that (i.e. growth). The paper money in the economy has to circulate fast enough to pay the interest. Or you default. Oh and when you default... Deflationary? No, Inflationary. The credit has already been spent into the economy and now there is no debt to consume it. It's why the booms start when everything looks worst, with defaults all around.
Money has a dual purpose, or most people think so and I think that is one of the biggest problems with it. We use it as a means of exchange. I want a car, I pay money. I want a banana, I pay money. Means to allow exchange. The second purpose is the store of value, now... The different forms above store value differently. Gold, great store of value, paper or credit, not so great, someone who controls the money can steal the value I have worked so hard for. So here is a question, why not separate the two purposes? Have a means of exchange, one type of money, and a store of value another type.
Silvio Gesell
Now, I think Gesell should be up there with Keynes and Mises. Relatively few have heard of him though, never mind heard of his ideas. He spent quite a while thinking about money and it's nature. He looked at why money behaves the way it does. Not only that, he looked at how money could be engineered for the betterment of mankind. It's characteristics changed to provide positive outcomes. Specifically he proposed that the means of exchange should be explicitly separated from the store of value. He did this through the concept of Freigeld.
Freigeld is a type of money which degrades over time, explicitly, deliberately and at a known rate. It has demurrage applied to it.. It becomes worth less in the same way that an unmaintained house degrades, or a loaf of bread degrades. Because of this it is not a store of value. It doesn't even pretend to be a store of value. Clearly then if you have some money which degrades over time, you will want to get rid of it. Spend it into circulation. And so deflation is reduced or eliminated. The power balance between buyer and seller changes dramatically.
Poverty and the nature of money.
OK, so you have some money. A developer comes to you and asks for a loan to build a house. So, what are you looking for when deciding to loan the money? He tells you that he is going to build the last house. The house which will be for the last homeless person on the planet. The house which will end homelessness because everyone will then have a house.
Do you make the loan? Do you end homelessness?
Are you insane? Of course not. You expect a return on your money. You expect to receive more money back than you gave the developer. The only way the developer can do that, is if he makes a profit... And you cannot make a profit if you satisfy all of the demand which exists. Demand must NEVER be satisfied. That is the dirty open secret of our monetary system and of capitalism. Poverty is required for it to function. There have to be people sleeping on the streets. Without them, the financiers and bankers would be out of a job.
And here's the evil. If homelessness and poverty are ever eliminated... Bankers and financiers will recreate them just so there is a supply/demand differential. To fix this, see Gesell.
Second thought: Leadership
I've observed that leaders are usually self absorbed narcissists who think they know better than every one else. Vanity is the human condition. Millions die for the vanity of the few. We need to tell them they are idiots before that happens.
Third thought: Disillusionment and enlightenment
Many here describe it as falling down the rabbit hole. Or taking the red pill. And so it is. I spent several years entirely disillusioned after I had worked out what really is going on, and why. I think it is more of an awakening though. An enlightenment. It is... absurdly easy to make money once you understand what is happening and how venal and vain our leaders are and just how much has been stolen from you in the past.
What else? Misc ramblings...
Old Pulteney, a lovely whisky. Very drinkable even as a 12 year. Slainte
Karate is bullshit. 99% of the trainers have no clue what they are teaching.
The meaning of life; I know the answer but am not telling.
The most important questions begin with "why", not "where", "what", "how" or even "who". Always ask "Why".
Is a man made 1 carat diamond less desirable than a naturally produced 1 carat diamond of identical CCCC? Why?
Most real life fights happen when people are drunk off their asses. What is the best training for that?
Drinking a lot.
Don't drink.
MMA
This is my calculation, is it correct? Sorry I took accounting in college, but we never dealt in these high numbers. JPM 3.3 billion oz. of silver in short positions outstanding at today's price $46.68 X 300,300,000,000 = $140,054,004,000,000. 140 Quadrillion, 54trillion, 4 million? Nothing in balance sheet. Bernie is going to wear his arm out cranking the press that many times. We might have to use newspaper paper to print it on too.
This week, I received a copy of a letter, dated October 8, sent from the CFTC to a California Congressman, Gary G. Miller. It discussed allegations of a silver market manipulation because of the data in the monthly Bank Participation Report. The data in that report for August showed that one or two U.S. banks held a massive short position in COMEX silver futures of 33,805 contracts, or more than 169 million ounces. This is equal to 25% of annual world mine production, and was up more than five-fold from the prior month’s report. http://www.marketwatch.com/Community/groups/small-silver-investor/topics/jp-morgans-silver-shorts-subtitle
169M oz X $46.68 oz = $7.9Bln
I'm mighty thankful to you "Tyler Durden" for this site. I know you have a donations link here, but for those of us who don't have the means or desire to use electronic "currency" is there a way to send you an ounce of Silver, i.e. some mailing address? I only have gold and silver...that's the truth.
I posted this yesterday on the tail end of a thread that no one else is apparently viewing any more. I just wondered how many of you knew that the BLS has taken over al 50 states unemployment statistics? That the states are forbidden from issuing, or releasing any data using their previous methods.
In the Daily Oklahoman yesterday, " Oklahoma's lowest unemployment number in two years could reflect a turning point in state economic conditions, but also may be a function of a new way of compiling the numbers.
The jobless rate fell to 6.1 percent in March, a 0.4% improvement from February and the lowest rate since March 2009.
The new method, which among other things eliminates the judgement of local analysts, is expected to produce more volatility in the monthly numbers."
Cut to the chase, whats the new way of compiling numbers? The monthly employment report was produced for the first time by the U.S. Bureau pf Labor Statistics, rather than the state Unemployment Commission.
The report estimates Oklahoma added 13,300 jobs in March, including 3,600 Construction jobs.
The last two paragraphs: "The state is contractually prohibited from presenting estimates compiled using the previous methods. The implementation of the new procedures has produced some resistance from several states that wanted to continue issuing their own employment numbers.
The BLS heard that and put it in our contract with them that we're not able to do that."
So now the BLS is doing all 50 states, in addition to the country's numbers, and the states are not allowed to confirm or deny the numbers using methods they previously utilized. And WOW, in just one month Oklahoma added 13,300 jobs!!! 3600 in construction, WOW!!!! I wonder what they are constructing???? I really wonder what they are smoking? I could use some of that! ;=) Have not seen any big projects here in Oklahoma City.
So now the numbers released by all 50 states are going to have THE SPIN put on them as well. YIPPEE, all is well, buy, buy, buy, BTFD.
Er! I believe El Presidente said it is 57 states,
new math, bitchez.
Ah, but what country?
As managing perceptions becomes more and more frantic, we get closer to SHTF.
Just bought a couple of tubes of buffalo Ag rounds, still had to pay over $51/oz though :-(
Nothing to see here. Move along sheeple. ;-)
My very liberal friend (I'm libertarian I suppose, big Paul fan) sent me this link and said he watched the whole thing and liked a lot of the ideas he heard...my response was I like all the actions he takes...
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8812792-ron-pauls-full-speech-...
Been going through the boxes of my dead parents. Just found a quarter-sized roll of what appears to be silver rounds, all tarnished and stuff. Oh gee, what do I do?
Effers aren't stamped.
Thievery Corporation. "The Richest Man in Babylon"
There is no guidance in your kingdom
Your wicked walk in Babylon
There is no wisdom to your freedom
The richest man in babylon
Your beggars sleep outside your doorway
Your prophets leave to wander on
You fall asleep at night with worries
The saddest man in Babylon
The wicked stench of exploitation
Hangs in the air and lingers on
Beneath the praise and admiration
The weakest man in Babylon
There is no hope left in your kingdom
Your servants have burned all their songs
Nobody here remembers freedom
The richest man in Babylon
(scat)
babylon no get rich again
but to end up sick again
and you end up weak again
babylon
(scat)
babylon you run
you better know you you better understand
the rancher man you better hear what we say
babylon this is your final day
babylon this is your final call
read the writing that's on the wall
see divided we stand
and together we fall
you never know that
you not gon' catch me in a rat pack
we not gon' fall away from it jah
no way
mso-brain-level, idiot, on-parade
me gone bite your dumb cat.
doesn't really work just as listed lyrics, need the whole package. oddly enough as i have been reading through the comments i've had sounds from the thievery hi-fi playing. these guys do great work.
For any who have not heard them before:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C9678803FF38337F
For all I know, one of you guys first pointed me to Thievery Corp; I definitely first heard of them here.
Babylon is very real moron. But that is what it is all about.
we now have wars going in iraq, afghanistan and libya and not a word is heard on MSM.
Oh but our marines were nice enough to do a circuit party to the new Britney Spears song - in their fatigues in Afghanistan. Now it is all over youtube. Good times.
Oh and fuck you very much.
Question: How come the GAO isn't innundated with calls to stop the unnecessary spending in these times of fiscal wackiness?
Answer:Don't know. Maybe no-one stops to add it up and actually take a stand for mis-allocation in our own back yards.
Case in point. Look at the air forces fireworks/air show. http://www.wpafb.af.mil/tattoo/ . What a great event, but it shouldn't be on the backs of the taxpayer. Let's do the math here on last years event:
3 A-10s, B-52, C-17, F-16, F22, C-5, and numerous heritage a/c...
fuel, crew, logistics, etc.... well into the millions.
WPAFB personnel supporting event =$1.5million in real cost and lost labor
WPAFB personnel dismissed two hours early = $400,000 equiv in lost labor
This is just a scratch at the surface... but we're talking upwards of $4 million gone. Multiply that across the country.
Take action, submit a http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm#federal
What will those without physical do? And who would do them for FRNs?
Inquiring minds, and all.
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Allan: I wonder if she actually had an orgasm in the two years we were married, or did she fake it that night?
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Ran into a guy from abu dabai and asked about gold. He said they just keep buying the physical and shorting the paper.
Man, what a great way to accumulate real money at no cost. As a bonus, it pays off twice when the paper market (aka SLV ETF) blows up and collapses.
This seems like a no-brainer unless this is what everyone is doing.
Indian have been doing it because they know the dollar will not hold. The Indian Govt has been buying Gold for over a year now and now they can win all of the spelling bee in the USA. How in the F can Americans win this shitz anymore? I forgot the Ebonics shitz.
Because Indians can't afford Microsoft Word with spell check.
Because Indian banks/governments are more corrupt than United States.
Because Indians are suckers. American Jew bankers will get their gold back by convincing them to sell Gold and buy American stock.
Happy Earth Day by George Carlin
http://dont-tread-on.me/happy-earth-day-by-george-carlin/
blythe masters VO partie1
Old News?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvdxvrW0y9k
blythe has strange! i looked at the drop-down on this video (123 views) and it said France had the most interest in the video, less in north america.
then this (Paste) This video is most popular with:
Male13-17