Insane Asylum

Last week saw a full court press in defense of the current money printing exercise. As we have frequently pointed out, modern-day economic policy is evidently in the hands of utter quacks. It matters little to them that their prescriptions have failed time and again for hundreds of years – they do the same thing over and over again, as though they were escapees from an insane asylum.

Rarely if ever do we consider that we presently labor under our own woefully wrong flat world perspectives so deeply engrained within our present day mindset that we are completely and utterly blind to how wrong we might just be.

Governments Indefinitely Detaining Citizens In Psychiatric Wards Without Due Process of Law

What Do Mental Health Professionals Say About Those Who Question 9/11?

Regulators and Politicians Work Hard … to Protect Corporate Wrongdoing and Smear Whistleblowers

When the Powers-That-Be Can Label All Americans Terrorists, They Can Arbitrarily Harass Anyone They Dislike

We have now entered the fifth year of this Fourth Turning Crisis. George Washington and his troops were barely holding on at Valley Forge during the fifth year of the American Revolution Fourth Turning. By year five of the Civil War Fourth Turning 700,000 Americans were dead, the South left in ruins, a President assassinated and a military victory attained that felt like defeat. By the fifth year of the Great Depression/World War II Fourth Turning, FDR’s New Deal was in place and Adolf Hitler had been democratically elected and was formulating big plans for his Third Reich. The insight from prior Fourth Turnings that applies to 2012 is that things will not improve. They call it a Crisis because the risk of calamity is constant. There is zero percent chance that 2012 will result in a recovery and return to normalcy. Not one of the issues that caused our economic collapse has been solved. The “solutions” implemented since 2008 have exacerbated the problems of debt, civic decay and global disorder. The choices we make as a nation in 2012 will determine the future course of this Fourth Turning. If we fail in our duty, this Fourth Turning could go catastrophically wrong. I pray we choose wisely. Have a great 2012.

Alas, this is just what the powers-that-be want. Not zonked out so much that you can’t work, but zonked out just enough that you really don’t (want to) care.

Are the evil space aliens all just members of an even greater majority and thus our collective mental institution is simply planet Earth? If this is the case, then Earth’s so-called leadership are simply Warden’s assigned to keep the inmate population so distracted and disorientated that we never become self aware long enough to organize a resistance and jump the fence.

Fight Club is about personal growth and community, of discovering what we are all made of, of seeking the inner steel and honing it to perfection, then using our newly strengthened muscles to build a tighter more functional community. Fight Club is about creation, not random destruction.

The fog of lies seeping from the corrosive tar pits of Washington D.C. is getting thicker by the day, our social environment has become a vortex of confusing mismatched messages and conflicting data, and getting a straight answer from any mainstream outlet has become a fools errand. For those of us who are awake and aware, it seems as though our senses are under attack every minute of everyday. We are overwhelmed with illusions, delusions, mirages, and unsupported opinions masquerading as cold hard fact. Sometimes, we need media that inspires us and teaches us, rather than attacking us with amoralist rhetoric and rewriting our history in real time. Sometimes, we need to know we are not alone in our daily fight against disinformation. We need to know that there are, and always have been, others out there who see the truths that we see. Sometimes, we just need a break from the propaganda machine. In the hopes of providing for you as many moments of rest as possible, I have listed below some of the films and other media which have, at the very least, messages that support the vestiges of liberty and free thought. Some people may disagree with certain choices, and certainly, not all of the films below are examples of “artistic auteurism”, but at least they don’t spew up the bile of globalism and collectivism all over your living room when you watch them, which is always a nice change of pace. Onward with the show…

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.

It was less than 24 hours ago that we presented the latest 2011 outlook from Deutsche Bank's highly credible Fixed Income group, which had one of the bleakest economic outlooks for 2011, and we quote: "there are so many headwinds to work through, that recovery
is not consistent with premature monetary tightening by either the Fed
or the markets. Fiscal stimulus buys time in 2011 but little else.
Ironically the stronger growth looks, the more likely fiscal tightening
will come into play sooner keeping the recovery on a backfoot. However, in our view, at best this buys some time for recovery. The deficit is huge and meaningful fiscal tightening is not far behind. Even if we dodge the Ricardian bullet of equivalence in 2011, there is at least 1 if not 2 percent of fiscal tightening slated for 2012. If underlying economic  growth remains in the 2-3 percent range, there is a sharp slowing implied for 2012." Yet this very rational view does not prevent that other DBer, Binky Chadha, who completely refuses to even cross check memos from other groups in the firm, and who in making even Joe LaVorgna sound credible, comes out with a report which can only be classified as going uberfull retard: "The strategic and tactical cases for US equities should come together to generate strong market returns in 2011 The S&P 500 YE 2011 target remains unchanged at 1550.We estimate $96 in EPS and a fair value multiple of 16.4x. These may look ambitious, but viewed against a Q4 2010 annualized $91.5 our estimate looks modest; a 16.5 multiple was the average in the 1930s. 25% price appreciation would not be atypical for a post-midterm election year, historically the strongest in the election cycle." All we can say is that when clowns take over the insane asylum, the end result is so much better than a hostile take over by lunatics: at least the consequences are so infinitely funnier. To all who believe that EPS can remain at projected levels once margins collapse across the board courtesy of an explosion in input costs should this prediction be even partially correct, all we can suggest is to buy every Cramer stock recommendation without question.

Visiting the world’s most overpriced asset. The recent action in the markets suggests that the big turn may finally be behind us. Why have bond prices been falling for the past month, despite an assumed promise by the Fed to provide unlimited amounts of liquidity? (TBT).

A big spender with unlimited funds named Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve has upended the short side of the equation for many hedge funds. The amount of money he is willing to inject into the economy is thought to range up to $2 trillion, to be disbursed in convenient, bite sized $500 billion chunks. Rumors swirl daily in the Treasury pits that the money is already hitting the market, emboldening traders to take the ten year to a mind boggling 2.36% yield.