Ron Paul To Hold Hearing On CPI Lies And Fed Inflation Creation; Jim Grant To Tesify

This will be fun:

Congressman
Ron Paul, Chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
subcommittee, announced that the subcommittee will hold a hearing to
examine the relationship between monetary policy and rising prices (with
a particular focus on food and energy prices).

 The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, March 17^th at 10:00 AM, in room 2128 of the Rayburn House office building.

“It is
unconscionable that published government statistics mislead Americans
regarding the true rate of price inflation, which is much higher than
commonly-reported CPI numbers,” Paul stated. “It is also unconscionable
that Federal Reserve Bank officials continue to deny the effects of
their monetary expansion on consumer prices.  Inflation, properly understood, is a monetary phenomenon.  The
price inflation Americans suffer today is largely the direct result of
relentless monetary expansion by the Federal Reserve over the past
decade.  Our witnesses will explore how current
monetary policy, including QE2, directly impacts the standard of living
of Americans in ways that are not reflected in official government
data.”

Congressman
Walter Jones, vice chairman of the subcommittee, stated, “The Fed has
attempted to convince the public that its money printing campaign is
necessary to stimulate America’s economic recovery.  Instead
of recovery, the real effect of the Fed’s money printing has been
monetization of America’s exploding fiscal deficits, devaluation of the
dollar, and creation of inflation in asset prices across the board.  As
a result, working people in places like Eastern North Carolina are
being squeezed at the gas pump and the grocery store as they struggle to
make ends meet in a world in which their salaries have no chance of
keeping up with Mr. Bernanke’s printing presses.”

Scheduled to testify are:

Prof. Joseph Salerno, Chair of the Economics Graduate Program at Pace University

James Grant, Noted commentator and publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer

Lewis Lehrman, Author, investment banker a

Comments

[samsara]

 but he needs to address what happens if he gets his way.  I'm not convinced he has thought it through, or cares.

When the Phuc did Benny or Turbo or Bush II Think it thru or care?

How's that "Mission Accomplished"  thingy working out?

'One of my many problems with ______ is the lack of concern over consequences'

Fill in the blank with what ever name you want.  How about Hank Paulson? 

[6 String]

Actually, the problem is the bull shit. Telling lies has gotten us where?

Right.

The people are learning the truth all on their own. It will end badly if they try to keep the central illusion all is fine.

It will end badly no matter waht--but less so for more citzens--when they are told the truth and can prepare accordinly.

[gabeh73]

The other problem is that if they stop QEn then the markets collapse, TPTB will shut everything down and blame it on the "nutty tight money austrians"....all our silver and gold investments will be looking pretty bad.

At this point we just need people to keep buying physical. Good to spread info, but you can't convert a bunch of people that don't want to learn.

[Cachao]

I am convinced that he has thought it through, and he most certainly cares - it's why he got into politics in the first place and has taken unpopular, Constitutional stands on the issues for 30 years. Seriously, would anyone have taken the long and frustrating uphill journey if he didn't care? I mean, seriously, he took so much crap in the 2008 campaign ("as to the question of electability... do you have any, sir?" for example).

I see part of your point, though.  I've seen interviews of his where he was confronted on his ideas of getting rid of entire departments and he readily admits it's not something that would happen overnight and that it is a complicated knot to unwind. He has stated that he has no intention of leaving current beneficiaries in the streets, but that we need to move in a different direction.  He only seems to proffer these ideas when asked about them, though, and that might be a mistake.  I don't know what his communication strategy is, but I think that part of the initial shock to his ideas that people have is that they can't imagine the freedom that his ideas would give us because they can't imagine what the path looks like to get there.

I think that if he could articulate this vision and the path a bit more clearly, he would not get such a visceral reaction from the sheeple.  That he cares, though, is indisputable.

[RockyRacoon]

Few comments demonstrate your objectivity.   There are those who bash Dr. Paul without really hearing what he has to say.  That "electability" thing will follow him wherever he goes.   Dr. Paul was the only candidate I donated to, and voted for.   Pure, open honesty is so seldom seen on The Hill so he comes off as weird.   We could use a few more weirdos!

[Dr. Porkchop]

The future is going to have a lot of economic losers and, among those losers there will be a generational divide. The generations coming after the boomers are not going to be too keen on continuing to pay for programs that will benefit the boomers, and probably not them.

Generally speaking, the boomer generation, by luck of birth, was probably the most priveleged generation in history, and they've squandered it.

I know someone of that generation is going to rage against me for saying this, and if you are a boomer and have done well for yourself and are prepared for the future, then great, because you're miles ahead of the most of your generation, but I'm just calling it like I see it in general terms. If it offends someone of that cohort, then so be it.

Eventually, the tap will run dry for Grandpa and Grandma, and there will be a lot of misery, a lot of people working until they die and a lot of poverty. It sucks, but it's the facts.

[RockyRacoon]

I am a boomer and have provided for myself by being self-employed all my life.  I have no sympathy with those who have nothing by their own hand. 

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

::chews popcorn::

[Diogenes]

The usual apcray. So called boomers are individuals just like you. They didn't have any more control over government policy than you do. Most of them worked hard for the last 40 years, paid their bills and did what they were told.

Now their usefulness is exhausted and the PTB want to throw them under the bus to save money and you are going right along with the plan.

Let me ask you this. If you help them screw the boomers, what do you think they are going to do to you when your time comes?

[Muir]

No, Dorothy, you can not see the future.

(Or, "It's hard to make predictions-specially about the future.") 

-

It doesn't matter what Ron Paul's intentions are.

It doesn't matter if this is "theater."

-

Unexpected consequences, that's the game.

As a friend many years ago told me, "the Soviets started to believe their propaganda."

-

The game of a "theater" backlash against the FED and a real backlash against unions could actually bring about a very real deflation.

--

[Shell Game]

Lucid comment, mesmerizing avitar..

[Backspin]

There was a comment there?  ...Oh, I see it now, down there just below that avatar. 

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

My friend just twittered me this page here where I'm commenting right now. He said it would have 40x40px pron that will get you off good! I just came. What thread is this?

[bbaez]

ditto

[baby_BLYTHE]

Does this sound like American to you?

The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980's was a great blow to the hopes of revolutionaries. Why did it collapse? The primary causes were political and economic and they were the result of the culture of war.

The immediate cause of the Soviet collapse was economic, as the Soviet Union lost the arms race and international competition with the West. The United States was able to profit from its imperialist exploitation of other countries, while socialism could only lose economically in that competition. By the end, the ruble collapsed as Soviet consumers turned to imports to satisfy their needs. They could not buy a good pair of leather boots or a good television set or a computer made in the Soviet Union, because all the boots and the electronics were swallowed up by military procurement. And, needless to say, there were no quality goods to export in order to balance imports.

Economic factors were linked to political and psychological factors. As the Soviet economist Latsis said at the time, "the gloomy background of the worsening market situation ... has a depressing effect on people." Their gloom deepened as a result of policy failures such as the explosion of the Chernobyl atomic power plant and the war in Afghanistan (see US military analysis of Afghan war).
Another factor was the lack of honest information, the secrecy and propaganda that is central to the culture of war. As contradictions mounted the Soviet people became more and more cynical about the propaganda of government-controlled media. It was common to hear the Russian people say that you could find truth anywhere except in Pravda and the news anywhere except in Izvestia. This was exacerbated by the propaganda warfare carried out by the West in Radio Free Europe and by dissidents in self-published Samizdat.
Secrecy and distortion of information have disastrous economic as well as political effects. As explained in a 1991 article "Secrecy and restricted movement, the hallmarks of militarism and bureaucracy, pervaded Soviet society when I was working there. They hampered the work of the scientific institutes where I was located, even though they were not doing military research. As a result, I found that all levels of the system, from institutes to ministries, were isolated from each other, both by barriers to communication and by an attitude that one should mind one's own business."
The command-administrative model of war-communism hobbled economic development. As the article by Latsis put it, "The glitter of [the war-time economic] miracle blinded us for decades, and the command-administrative methods of the extensively developing economy took firm root in the country."
When, at the end, the Gorbachev administration realized that they would have to convert military industry to civilian production, they could not even get the Defense Ministry to give them an accurate list of defense industries (See Agaev remarks to the United Nations). In other words, the Soviet Union had developed its own military-industrial complex.
Economic indicators were routinely suppressed or falsified to the point that when the final economic collapse was imminent there were no published figures to indicate the points of weakness. For example, as Latsis remarks, the government did not even admit until 1988 that it was running a budget deficit. As a result the government had no way to take remedial action.
All of these factors accumulated on top of a profound alienation of the Soviet people that had grown up over the years as the country remained in the grips of the culture of war. In the Stalin years, not only was the economy devoted to the arms race, but information was controlled in the form of propaganda and dissidents were sent to labor camps. People did not feel free to discuss this, and most people did not participate in governance. Although women were more equal in the work force than in the West, at the top the Communist Party was all men. Photos of the ruling Politburo showed old men covered with war medals like so many old military generals.
Labor camps were largely disbanded by the time of the Brezhnev years, but the alienation remained. And by the time of Gorbachev, it was too late. The economic collapse and the loss of the war in Afghanistan came on top of generations of alienation. Few seemed to care when the government collapsed.
What has been learned? Perhaps the best analysis is that of Joe Slovo, writing from the standpoint of the South African Communist Party which played a leading role in the revolutionary victory over apartheid. In his famous 1989 article, Slovo argues that socialism itself has not failed, but that it must develop a real democracy, including for "all citizens the basic rights and freedoms of organisation, speech, thought, press, movement, residence, conscience and religion; full trade union rights for all workers including the right to strike, and one person one vote in free and democratic elections." To this list one needs to add the free flow of honest information. These are all basic principles of a culture of peace and are incompatible with a culture of war.

http://sfr-21.org/collapse.html

[UP4Liberty]

Not only does it "sound" like the USSA - it "looks" like it, too!  Thanks for the info - Great post!

[SilverBaron]

Sounds eerily similar to what the US has become.  I was talking to an old couple from Romania and they said the same thing.  They said they are seeing the same things here that led to what they tried to leave behind.

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

Good post.

I'll raise you one.

This guy has a theory and hundreds of self-published pages of magazine-style content that says: (1) Cold Warriors like GHW Bush used huge private banks, stolen gold, and ultimately a couple hundred billion dollars in 10-Year bonds due just after September 11, 2001 to economically attack the Soviet Union into collapse. (2) They used 9-11 as cover to use the Fed to monetize the counterfeit bonds. (3) They also intentionally and specifically destroyed evidence and investigative offices located in the WTC complex that could prosecute the financial fraud.

http://ampedstatus.org/network/groups/9-11-investigation/forum/topic/evidence-for-re-opening-investigation/#post-99

Does this sound American to you?

[John McCloy]

   The most important question that needs to be asked:

Why are you Mr. Bernanke giving the PD's free premiums for holding bonds for a few weeks instead of direct purchase?

  And would you be willing to disclose how much they have received in uncessary fees so the American public can see exactly why there money is going to the same individuals who have caused this catastrophe?

[EscapeKey]

According to Murray Rothbard, because allowing the FRB to buy straight off the Treasury is "wildly inflationary" (The Mystery of Banking).

[lynnybee]

god bless RON PAUL .    I'm planning my day around this event !    (p.s. ......luv JIM GRANT, too ! )

[6 String]

Well, the tar and feather the Fed is gaining its momentum. But, this is exactly the same reason these scumbags at the Fed will not immediately do a QE III.

They've already lost amost every shred of credibility--they know this, why do you think Chairsatan made an appearance, a shaky one at that, on 60 minutes?

Doing a QE III, one that would appear to beon  their own volition, would be suicidal at this point.

Its all about incentives, right? The incentive will be for the Bernank to try to maintain some semblence, however impossilbe, of credibility. The only way to do this is to have things unravel without QE II so he gets his "i told you so moment" on all the naysayers--yet very right people.

I'm convinced he won't do QE III right away, but that one will surely be forthcoming as U.S. treasury bonds go bidless. Chaos will ensue....giving the jackass one last shot to make "Man of the Year" yet again....

Before the history books are written idiot written all over his face and his Austrian monkey's, who have been wrong--all along, or at least since Greenspan took his fucking oath.

[gmrpeabody]

Correct, and the end of efforts by the likes of Ron Paul after the next crash is rescued by QE3 and QE4. There won't be any need for QE5 or 6 because by then the $ is already toast and the scoundrels will have scurried across the Atlantic to their new posts in Moscow after having shaken the peasants  out of their gold and stocks with the market crashes. Of course, they will be on a very short leash in Russia, but they will be safe from the masses.

[Fred Hayek]

As I think Jim Rickards said at King World News, there doesn't have to be any QE3.  The reason is that Bernanke never said that QE2 would stop at $600 Billion of treasuries.  He merely said that they'd buy that much.

I know it's something of a semantic argument.  But Rickards' point is that they don't have to announce anything to just keep doing what they're doing.

[frippy]

Will this be covered by:

a) CNBC

b) RT

c) FoxNews

d) Al-Jazeera

[Cdad]

Speaking of coverage, it was stunning to see just how low the Ministry of Truth [CNBC] went today to end all this mad speculation over unrest in Saudi Arabia.  She ended debate by...wait for it...interviewing a member of the Saudi royal family.  There.  Done. 

If that does not inspire confidence, you know, hearing from the wealthiest man in all the Middle East, the single largest holder of Citi shares, the Prince himself...if that does not clear up the whole uprising rumor....nothing will.

Seriously, someone should see Maria Bartiromo to a doctor to have her blood sugar levels checked.  Either that or she has fallen victim to late onset mental retardation.  Seriously...did she think that one through at all?

[StychoKiller]

No worries!  The Prince will still respect her in the morning, he said he would -- end of discussion! :>D

[Waterfallsparkles]

Ron Paul is correct.  The average American is getting squeezed in every way possible.  Almost seems like the Fed wants all of us to defaut on everything and give it all to the Banks.

Food and Energy should be included in the CPI.  Although, I do agree with a prior poster that this is not done because of cost of living increases for Seniors.  And what about them?  There is no way for Seniors to keep up with Oil and Food prices where they are.

The Average American is trying their best to hold on to their underwater houses and pay their bills.  Yet, with Bernanke's printing their dollar buys less and Food and Energy prices are going up.  Plus, over time income taxes will eventually have to go up to pay for all of this Debt.

So, Americans are getting hit from the Devaluation of the Dollar, higher Oil prices for Heating and Gasoline, higher food prices.  Plus, wages and hours worked are going down.  Truly a travisty for Americans.

[TeamAmerica]

Food and energy ARE included in the CPI.

[Wascally Wabbit]

They're not included in core cpi: 

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/5142008_CPI_Report.asp

[akak]

Not the CPI constantly paraded by the pro-Establishment media organs such as CNBC --- they LOVE to only focus on the "core" rate, as if food and energy are of trivial economic consequence.  But even the rate which does include food and energy is terribly manipulated and skewed to the downside.  In classic Orwellian fashion, if they can't actually fight or deny inflation (which is of their own doing anyway), they just redefine it out of existence.

[Fred Hayek]

Yup.  And the piece de resistance of their scamming has got to be the "hedonics adjustments" on things like clothing.  I mean, if you want to argue that a computer with much better features at the same price actually indicates deflation, well, there's an argument for that.  But how the f*ck do you argue with a straight face that a suit you bought in 2011 is 20% better than a suit you bought in 2010 and therefore, if they're actually the same price, that shows 20% deflation?!

Here's the link to the page at B(L)S for the "hedonics adjustments".

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpihqaitem.htm

[downwiththebanks]

I remember a National Pentagon Radio interview a while back with a CPI "scanner", whose job was to run around from store to store and trace prices off a list.

Obviously the list is manipulated.  And the data used by corporate propagandists, no doubt.

[downwiththebanks]

Ron "John Birch Society" Paul doesn't give a damn about anything other than suckering you into voting for him.

[StychoKiller]

Isn't there some sort of Socialist/Progressive website that's looking for your insights?

[RockyRacoon]

You meant to say that a village somewhere is missing its idiot.

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

I've never associated with any John Birch Society enthusiast past a short conversation. Even though I like them fine in general.

But if I was Ron Paul I'd consider it a sort of compliment to have that for a nickname.

JBS has been calling out the NWO for a long time.

This is not to say I consider all Birchers to be geniuses or saints.

[sundarb]

I fully expect the truth to be buried by the tsunami of lies.

[trgfunds]

RON PAUL and people like him are controlled opposition. Until you people realize this, you are being DUPED again and again and again and agian. This is why we never get anywhere. You don't overtake city hall. You BECOME city hall. BE it, and stop looking up to these fake divide and conquer bastards.

[zaknick]

Wait a minute. Ive seen youtube videos of Dr Paul riscussing C!A drug trafficking from the eighties and last year, at some university i think, he said something like,

"Theres been a C!A coup. They run everything, the pentagon, theyre into all kinds of businesses, drug businesses"

brought the fucking house down

predecessor to C!A: OSS, which stood for oh so social.

Now, is he circumspect? You betcha; have any idea how many people these drug trafficking, money laundering, genocidal bankster bastards have assassinated? Probably not.

[downwiththebanks]

But he sucks down the alCIAda fairy tale, doesn't he.

[camoes]

Let tem eat iPads, bitchez!

[baby_BLYTHE]

haha.

went to the apple store with my friends the otherday (phone charger broke).

Walk up to an iPAD, punch in zh (obviously), log in... sure enough... NOT POSSIBLE TO COMMENT using an iPAD!

Genious! I love that

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

bb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vpvEDS00o

Drink the Kool Aid on the iPad with your friends.

[vas deferens]

Charlie Sheen silver bug...

see his email

http://ampedstatus.org/network/members/ddegraw/activity/6671

"...Federal Reserve trolls, by head of the trolls Zombie Ben Bernanke, the Bernank..."

I love how he uses "the Bernank" 

stay S.I.L.V.E.R.

go gold bro     

LOL i'm now a Charlie Sheen fan, how can you not be?

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

Charlie Sheen is #winning verus the MSM.

[UP4Liberty]

CPI - Criminal Price Index

[Shell Game]

Americans may be tragically clueless and tranquilized. But, they are very keen as to what's happening at the pump, the grocery store and to their heating bill.  They know inflation is bad.  This gesture of Paul's, though I like it as I like truthfulness, is merely an 'Aha! See? The Fed is not raising rates as you should if inflation is x.x%."  I don't see a big tell as having direct consequence that aren't already playing out.

[Creed]

Ron Paul must really love this country to keep plugging away at this stuff, taking blasphemous heat the whole time.

The man has had 2 careers that would have worn any normal person out.

At his age with his resources I would be sitting on my porch gazing at the mountains in the distance.

[CustomersMan]

       I don't want to get to depressing or gloomy. On the other hand we must be prepared for the consequences of our actions and of natural laws that are at work and that enable life and in this case FOOD.

      Please look this over which I found today:

*************************************

America’s breadbasket aquifer running dry; massive agriculture collapse inevitable

By wmw_admin on March 11, 2011

Mike Adams – Natural News March 10, 2011

It’s the largest underground freshwater supply in the world, stretching from South Dakota all the way to Texas. It’s underneath most of Nebraska’s farmlands, and it provides crucial water resources for farming in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and even New Mexico. It’s called the Ogallala Aquifer, and it is being pumped dry.

See the map of this aquifer here: http://www.naturalnews.com/images/O…

Without the Ogallala Aquifer, America’s heartland food production collapses. No water means no irrigation for the corn, wheat, alfalfa and other crops grown across these states to feed people and animals. And each year, the Ogallala Aquifer drops another few inches as it is literally being sucked dry by the tens of thousands of agricultural wells that tap into it across the heartland of America.

This problem with all this is that the Ogallala Aquifer isn’t being recharged in any significant way from rainfall or rivers. This is so-called “fossil water” because once you use it, it’s gone. And it’s disappearing now faster than ever.

In some regions along the aquifer, the water level has dropped so far that it has effectively disappeared – places like Happy, Texas, where a once-booming agricultural town has collapsed to a population of just 595. All the wells drilled there in the 1950′s tapped into the Ogallala Aquifer and seemed to provide abundant water at the time. But today the wells have all run dry.

Happy, Texas has become a place of despair. Dead cattle. Wilted crops. Once-moist soils turned to dust. And Happy is just the beginning of this story because this same agricultural tragedy will be repeated across Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas and parts of Colorado in the next few decades. That’s a hydrologic fact. Water doesn’t magically reappear in the Ogallala. Once it’s used up, it’s gone.

“There used to be 50,000 head of cattle, now there’s 1,000,” says Kay Horner in a Telegraph report (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/83…). “Grazed them on wheat, but the feed lots took all the water so we can’t grow wheat. Now the feed lots can’t get local steers so they bring in cheap unwanted milking calves from California and turn them into burger if they can’t make them veal. It doesn’t make much sense. We’re heading back to the Dust Bowl.”

The end of cheap food in America?

Continues.........................

[Shell Game]

Just imagine the power Totalitarianism will seek, and be given, in a devastating food shortage..

[zaknick]

This is why they are after south america. The amazon basin is tge largest fresh water reservoir left.

[Temporalist]

Jim Rickards - “QE is dead, long live QE!”

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/3/11_Ji...

"The Fed is now like a 400-pound man who can eat 5,000 calories per day without gaining weight because his morbidly obese metabolism requires it to function. The discussion of QE, QE2 and QE3 has become irrelevant. What we have is permanent QE until such time as the Fed decides to tighten financial conditions." - Jim Rickards

[gwar5]

F*ck me! That's hilarious. Leave it to Rickards.

ZH, aka Tyler, has been saying the same thing.

I'm pretty sure Bernanke will now have to follow their advice.

[gwar5]

"They're all crooked as a dog's hind leg!" --- Grandma

[Dr. Porkchop]

This should be roundly ignored by the media.

[LongSoupLine]

Throw that fuctard Bernanke under the bus!!!

[karthikraoa]

nice ... jim grant and lew leherman (who co wrote the case for gold with ron paul)

[karthikraoa]

bernanke is a nut... he is saying that because high gas prices will reduce consumer spending, he is going to print more money to boost consumer spending...

[Dr. Porkchop]

But who's on foyst?

[Cursive]

Saint Paddy's Day, huh? May the luck of the Irish be with Rep. Paul, may the road always rise to meet him and my a stale fart always linger in Benron's face.

[Cursive]

Dup

[MrBoompi]

Just look at the index which is tied to rate increases in Social Security payments. This should tell you what you need to know.

[mynhair]

But NFL talks have ended.  Have you people -gasp- no souls?

[collegepunk]

Ron Paul!

[downwiththebanks]

Hooray for the John Birch Society!

[booboo]

another nothing burger for meatless friday.

I really do like Ron Paul but get him some staffers that are not Birchers, birthers and bitchers. He is as notable as the star quarterback for the Dead Sea Divers, the Fed farts in his general direction.

[Bastiat]

Jim Grant is awesome.  In the late 90s he was writing Grant's Muni Bond Observer and came out consistently and strongly against municipal involvement in derviatives transactions -- mostly rate swaps -- for all the right reasons.  When things got hairy in 2008 and all the idiots up to their necks in this crap were whining:  "Nobody knew!  Who could have known?"  It was nice to be able to say:  Jim Grant.

[tony bonn]

i wish paul would schedule john williams to testify

[gwar5]

Jim Rickards:

"QE has now become a permanent part of the financial landscape of the United States. The reason is that the size of the Fed’s balance sheet is now so vast that the reinvestment of principal payments from the existing assets will be enough to monetize a large portion of the Federal deficit without having to increase the total size of the balance sheet."

Bullish for PMs, bearish USD.

[Diogenes]

What principle payments? They don't have the surplus income to pay the interest or the principle. Don't they have to roll over the principle and interest into new debt? How can they spend the same money (that they don't have) twice?

[HUGE_Gamma]

The Ipad 1 just went down 33%!.. LCD tvs are almost free

[boeing747]

I hope Ron Paul can ask Ben how he got a domain name federalreserve.gov when Ben claimed they are independent from Congress which rep American people. If federal reserve is truly independent, they shall apply for .org or .com domain name. Paul can also ask who gives Ben paycheck every month and Paul can check whether Federal worker salary data has one worker called Ben Bernake.

[j0sh1130]

i hope this is more than theatre.  i hope this gets press and makes people ask wtf is happening.  i am sick of explaining this shit to people that dont comprehend but cant wait for the ipad to be released.  someone has to do something.  i hope this causes a commotion.

[michigan independant]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

Seen a comment on percentages in comments on defence was eating us up. Some of us remember the true reality about a widow of a coal miner with children. The point is the people failed to provide for whatever reason then. It was a failure of family, town, state and the testamony was forwarded to 2 senators and the chicken in every pot message from a fire side chat to the American people later. Please do your own fact finding as you may find truth from the people, by the people, for the people. I hold these truths to be self evident as Americans also do. The truth of events in any age is how we treat the very young and very old. In my Wifes culture the women choose men to lead. I would never let my Family or any Family suffer what we as Americans know and hold true. I have lived in tougher times than these when my class mates were Hungry and School Lunches were life and health. For citizens times are the same and we had children living in Automobiles and we had all denominations solve this evil for the children in our area. The point is fight for the very young and the very old since it is your reasonable service because JFK was right. What you can do and not what it can do is the issue. May your wife find favor in you Men of these States. Also we understand the monetary question of our day. If you feed birds in the same place every day they leave a mess and will perish when times can get very tough. I also read that consumed is over 146 billion in illicit drug consumption. I will step over that man in a gutter to provide for others as a American. I will only offer food off my plate and, search the truth in his eye he holds.

http://cytec.com/careers/taleo.aspx?tl=searchall

"with a particular focus on food and energy prices"

[JR]

John Williams of Shadowstats :

"Markets Are Flying Blind.

In terms of meaningful economic reporting, the financial markets continue to be flying blind, at the moment. Economic data of questionable significance continue to flow from the government’s statistical bureaus, including this morning’s (March 11th) report of February retail sales. There will be a full review of the economic outlook in the Hyperinflation update, and the constant-dollar February retail sales will be assessed in the March 17th Commentary, following the CPI release.

On its surface, the February retail sales report was positive on a nominal (not-adjusted for inflation) basis, as well as likely in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. The reporting-quality problems remain in unstable monthly seasonal-factor adjustments. Seasonal patterns have been warped by the depth and duration of an economic downturn that is unprecedented in the post-World War II era of modern economic reporting. The retail data will be revised in a pending annual benchmark revision, scheduled for April 29th.

At that time, retail sales levels and growth of at least the last year should be subject to major downside revisions, showing a weaker economy than has been recognized previously. As with the recent, major downside revisions to payroll employment, and the pending downside revisions to industrial production later in March, the retail sales downgrade will be a precursor to major downside revisions in GDP history of the last several years, which are due for release in late July.

While there also are seasonal-adjustment issues with the trade data, the reported January 2011 deficit has set up a potential dampening of growth to be reported in first-quarter 2011 GDP, at the end of April."

[eaglefalcon]

Hi, I have a question about FED monetary policy and inflation, can anybody be kind enough to provide an explanation?  (Besides the microeconomics 101 class I took in college, I have very little knowledge or education in economics)

We know that the Federal Reserve claims to operate on two mandates, maximum employment and price stability.  I used to believe that "price stability" means keeping price constant but I was wrong.  As far as the FED is concerned, "price stability" means keeping inflation around 2%.  Therefore inflation is not an emergency tool the FED uses to battle recession, instead, inflation is a long-term policy of the FED.  According to the FED, even in an ideal, healthy and booming economy, prices are supposed to rise 2%, and the dollar is supposed to devalue 2% each year.

My question is, why do they have to let the money supply expand faster than the economy?  Why can't they just print roughly the same amount of new money as the increase in goods and services?

[Guy Fawkes Mulder]

First off, ask yourself how we measure "the economy".

What does it mean for the economy to "expand"? How do we measure economic growth? GDP is measured in dollars... so in the words of The Great Bernank: "I'm afraid I don't agree with the premise of your question."

But I'll still try to help you start to answer your own question.

Economics is about trying to get the things you want, given that you can never have all your desires fulfilled. Economic growth is a population of humans getting more of what they want for less effort, less cost, or at greater convenience. GDP, per capita wealth, productivity... these are metrics we have used to approximate measurements of economic growth, but they are not nearly all-encompassing measurements of economic growth. In fact, I would argue that they put blinders on our eyes that keep us from seeing our potential growth. There is more to be said of economic growth in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the minds of modern economists.

Furthermore, the supply of money, where it comes from, and even what it is are probably subjects in which you will have to do hours of research. I say this because just as the concept of what economic growth is is perverted by conventional wisdom, so too is the concept of money.

I recommend starting here, with Paul Grignon's "Money as Debt", and letting this 45-minute movie serve as the springboard for your further research into money and money supply:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5vC_8azMFk

[michigan independant]

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse/chapter-1-three-beliefs

Primer also here from Chris.

[Diogenes]

"My question is, why do they have to let the money supply expand faster than the economy?  Why can't they just print roughly the same amount of new money as the increase in goods and services?"

They believe a shot of inflation stimulates the economy. This is true, in the same way a shot of drugs stimulates a person. The end result is the same. Pretty soon you need drugs just to function. Then you need more and more just to stay level never mind getting high. Eventually the drugs eat up your life if you don't quit them you die.

The economy is on the inflation drug. The people in charge keep saying the drugs don't hurt, it's going without them that hurts. The economy is a junky in denial. Everyone who refuses to face the facts, will go down with him.