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The World Is In Trouble
Via Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box,
The United States is in Trouble
We make more than we’ve ever made, we owe more than we’ve ever owed, and we have less than we've had in decades which is distributed to those that did not earn the money. This is a working definition of Trouble. The stock market is at an all-time high while the financial condition of the country has seriously deteriorated. We are printing $90 billion a month of little green pieces of paper while the Democrats yell at the Republicans to up the debt ceiling as they want to spend even more money to promote social welfare programs. We cannot afford the bills that we have now and we are being asked to add more to them. This is a recipe for disaster and I am reminded of those months right before the financial crisis of 2008/2009 where no documentation loans for Real Estate flourished and easy money was the normal course of things.
Perhaps the landscape has shifted from “money for nothing” for property to “money for nothing” for our national debt. Fiscal responsibility has evaporated in a grand scheme to get voters and Obama has put the Chavez Plan in place which appeals to the poorest of citizens, hands them money and expects their support at the polls. Hard work and earning a living are the ethics of past generations that are slowly being ground to dust in the flurry to socialize America and re-distribute wealth and having succeeded and having money is now thought of as a crime not far behind rape and arson. The White Knight is walking backwards and the Red Queen has lost her head and the Mad Hatter is in charge of the tea party.
“The trouble with practical jokes is that they very often get elected.”
-Will Rogers
Europe is in Trouble
The sovereign debt accounting is a fraud. Liabilities are not counted, contingent liabilities are not recognized and the balance sheet of the ECB is worse than America’s. Collateral considerations are a joke and loans are disguised, hidden and placed in various locked drawers and central bank vaults. The economies of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland continue to deteriorate as their sovereign yields fall due to the Draghi put and the creation of their little pieces of blue paper which must be used somewhere for something. There is, once again, easy money in the United States but easier money in Europe and so the game continues as anyone with any common sense begins to wonder how it all will blow up and when. Is it to be Inflation or Valuation and will Gold be the next currency or are there going to be other answers.
Asia is in Trouble
Japan, once thought to be an ascending power, has drifted into a nightmare of insolvency and no growth where Deflation rules and the debts of the country now exceed the ability of their citizens and institutions to own them. The push is on for Inflation as the only way out as they argue with China over some islands that might have some oil reserves. In China growth is slowing, their one party system will not allow outside investment past a certain point, their banks are a shadow of the demands of the country and in disarray as political/economic scapegoats and the numbers that China provides for growth make no sense and so are discounted as maybe-maybe statistics. The central banks of both nations follow the tendrils of the American and European ones and the entire globe is encased in a soap bubble of our own making as some may see the fire but no one knows how to get safely out of the theatre.
Find two elephants, two zebras and two giraffes and start building the boat.
The World is in Trouble
The scheme has worked because there is no place to go, no place to run; no place to hide. The collusion is past anything we have ever seen in history. The central banks of the world are supporting intervention and massive protection of the State and we are witnessing the results while all of the newly created paper must be put somewhere and so bonds rise in price, absolute yields on sovereign debt will fall more, compression will continue and the equity markets will rise. All of this is not the result of fundamentals or of economics but solely the result of little pieces of paper being printed, distributed and having to find a home.
“God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time. And there's no such thing as Dr. Seuss or Disneyland and Mother Goose, no nursery rhymes.”
-Roger Williams, Little Green Apples
Pricked
The world is in a gigantic bubble and it is going to get pricked. Now it takes certain magical incantations and special spells to determine all of this but we learned a few things from our last go round so the crystal ball is less cloudy and my wand is at hand. Our last fiasco whacked the banks on the backside as the valuation of their holdings, most noticeably their ownership of subprime mortgages and of mortgage securitizations raised the specter of default and of systemic carnage. This time it will be certain sovereign nations that will be the catalyst. It may be the mundane running out of cash that will cause the torrent to flow as Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Ireland or Portugal that lines up for more money and is refused by various governments on the Continent. It may be a refusal by a sovereign nation to accede to the demands of the IMF/EU/ECB for funding or it may be social unrest in the spring that unseats some government as nationalism overcomes the grand European experiment. The giant central bank slosh of money has lowered yields but it has not improved the financial condition of any nation on the Continent and so push will come to shove once again. It may be that Germany refuses to waste anymore of their citizen’s money or that Britain will have had enough of being run out of Berlin or it could even be a refusal to fund America’s debt which comes from China and other Asian countries as our creditworthiness deteriorates. There are many pressure points pressing against the Bubble and one of them will give just as the subprime mess was where the prick took place last time. It was all the cause of “money for nothing and chicks for free” and while I am unsure about the chicks I am quite sure that the incredible amount of easy money will take its toll once again. Money, you know, ceases to be money when all that anyone sees is paper and not the guarantee that is imprinted on it. It could be Inflation on a grand scale or worse, Valuation that determines the charade and calls it for what it is and neither result will be pleasant.
You cannot keep printing money without consequences and when absolute and intrinsic valuations replace relative valuations then the game is afoot. Lower and lower yields also eventually have a serious impact on the people of a nation, pension funds, insurance companies and backlashes are certainly possible as the lives of people and institutions are put at financial risk. When the survival of the State puts its people in dire straits then, eventually, the citizens will rebel as the nation has forgotten just who composes its constituents. The people and institutions that have the capital will only go along quietly for so long when nations try to take what they have earned and dispossess it for others. The rich will become poorer and the poor will become poorer and when those with the capital have been deprived of it so that everyone is worse off then the Lords of Chaos will be in control once again. Look for securities that float, States that have no debt in Municipals, the few countries in the world that are still fiscally responsible and get ready to hold on to your hat. The charade goes on a little longer but it will not go on indefinitely and the time for preparation is now. When one plus one no longer equals two then something will give. Make sure you are not the one crying “Uncle.”
The trouble with going with the flow is that you might be the one that is sucked down the drain!
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I have only been a member for 2 weeks. First time I checked the comment section.
I tought this was a libertarian/ Austrian economics type of forum.
Either you have a razor sharp wit or are asleep at the wheel.
so, did you read the "forum" prior to enlisting?
and did you ask for any definitions for your concepts?
So-called 'Austrian Economics' is Andrew Mellon's liquidationism in short pants w/ a lolly pop.
Mellon actually did run a country into the ground for the benefit of his friends, he didn't just rhapsodize about it. He also had a nice art collection ... a saving grace.
What did von Mises have ... besides acne, body odor, brown stains on the seats of his pants, a beer gut and a bad case of 'bores everyone'?
???
i guess you meant "capitalism *would*"...
Not socialism. Cartel style corruption. I know you want soooo badly to flog that fucking post-WWII indoctrination... but we aint fighting socialism-- not when all o f main street's wealth is funnelled to Wall Street. Thats not SOcialism. That is late capitalism. That is cartel style corruption. The federal reserve? Not a marxist central bank-- it has shareholders. This is a banking cartel we're dealing with... not socialism.
I like the cut of your jib, sailor or so the saying goes...
History rhymes. This is beginning to sound more like Ferdinand Marcos.
The fed is monetizing government debt. If the fed was really independent and refused to monetize like they are supposed to be , we wouldnt be in this mess.
The fed is not independent, thats the problem. They do whatever the government tell them to do unlike what you marxists believe
No, the government and the banking cartel and the fed ALL require the USD to remain a value-holding currency. If the fed does not monetize the government debt, the banking system would collapse, and the derivatives bubble would burst, killing the USD and likely all fiat currencies as well. Just because the FED monetized US debt doesnt mean they are a government entity. They are more like a contract job.
You got it backwards.
If the FED stopped monetazing the government would be forced to CUT SPENDING.
The dollar will collapse because the FED will keep monetazing
again you are an idiot. The Fed doesn't give a shit about the dollar. Especially when it owns all the underlying assets you dumb fuck. They dopn't care what happens to the fiat, they want control of all the assets!!!
The FED prints dollars. If the dollar collapses and doesnt want to use them anymore the FED loses its purpose.
The FED doesnt have any vauable assets you moron. All they have are worthless government bonds
Again, History proves you ignorant and wrong. How many different "dollar" currencies has the Fed printed? They have printed several. When the dollar dies, they will come up with another fiat. The shareholders at the Fed have been exchanging paper (bonds, fiat, whatever) for real assets everywhere. Moreover, those bonds fund real fucking armies. Please, wake the fuck up.
The Fed has only been in existence since 1918 and im pretty sure the only currency they have printed is the Dollar.
1913. not 1918. Shill. You've only been here 2 weeks.
My bad.
They only print/create Federal Reserve Notes. Dollars were backed by gold or silver, they like to call FFRN dollars because it implies they are as good as metal backed dollars were.
Read up on JKF and silver certificates and see if you can figure out who put the bullet in his brain.
The Federal Reserve is a bank not Santa Claus. It doesn't print money (or stamps, either). If it was printing money, people would have money. Instead everyone is broke, ipso-facto there is a shortage of money not an excess.
The Fed makes loans, because it is a reserve bank it a) has no capital structure, b) is collateral constrained, that is it cannot make unsecured loans/lend in excess of face price of collateral.
When the central bank makes unsecured loans it is instantly insolvent. There is no effective lender of last resort. It cannot guarantee deposits ... even when it becomes insolvent by attempting to guarantee deposits!
Bernanke's $85 billion monthly asset purchase is an open ended guarantee of bank liabilities (deposits). The policy is incoherent b/c Bernanke at the same time is hoping depositors will cycle out of banks and into risk assets!
What is the ongoing 'real estate recovery'? Answer: it's a run out of deposit accounts into cash real estate, the market perceives the Fed is making unsecured loans and therefore cannot guarantee deposits (even as it attempts to guarantee deposits. No you cannot make this shit up.)
There are fundamental diffs between depository banking and reserve banking. The Fed is like a pawn shop ... it can lend you $500 but you have to turn over the Rolex watch. No watch, no loan ... It won't lend $50 million for the watch, either.
The US government will eventually default on its debt so you dont have to worry about anyone becoming a slave of the Fed lol.
What you need to be worried about is your job, your pension and your savings. Because if the government keeps borrrowing and spending like this the whole US economy will implode.
if you're arranging the US "reality" hierarchically, where would you place the Fed in relation to the concept of the "united states"? or the "US government"?
which one do you think will eat the other?
Almost everyone evolved to believe in government.
People did not evolve to believe in the FED.
Government chewed up and spit out religion. The Fed would suffer the same fate.
Government, like its predecessor, the tribe, is a survival adaptation.
Currently, the FED is a ponzi feedback system.
law
what makes you think the armies will comply with the very fed that fucked them with the debt?
what about 6.999 billion plebaros?
but, if it don't go as you sugest we could be in an even worse scenario-think rawanda
long machetees
Straight ahead! The dollar is nothing but the yoke of oppression, a tool of convenience, one to be dispensed with once its usefulness is over. The owners of the Fed will never allow the US Treasury to print debt-free money, not even a trilion dollar coin. The debtor is the servant of the lender. When a bank issues "capital" out of thin air, and then uses that illusion to enslave and oppress the world by the imposition of usury on that illusion,it is beyond the physical. It is black magic. It is morally wrong to demand usury on real capital, the loan of real, physical wealth. To demand usury on the illusion of capital is so much worse, so much a deeper, darker evil, that it is beyond the capacity of the human mind to comprehend it.
This is beyond "capitalism". This is the manifestation of an evil that is metaphysical in its nature.
So you think all the world problems would go away if the US government could print its own money.
If they could creat debt free money?????
I think there are hazards to printing debt free money. Those hazards are greed and fear and the lust for power, which are the problems plaguing every economic system. On the continuum, is greenbacking even slightly less evil than reserve banking usury? Eventually, someone will find a way to corrupt it and use it as a tool of oppression and slavery.
I'm not a greenbacker, if that's what you're getting at. If we had an unlimited source of free energy available to everyone that could not be monopolized by anyone, that might make all the world's problems go away. Also, I think a magical unicorn that shits skittles would make a positive contribution to world happiness. I am all for these developments.
"Eventually, someaone will find a way to corrupt it and use it as a tool of oppression and slavery" ??
That someone is already here. Its the government. They created this mess
I tought people here at zerohedge were more intelligent than the sheeps you see on the average internet forums
Some here have more blind spots than others, but overall, the quality is pretty good.
American Fiat is backed by Uranium and Plutonium and maybe a smidge of Tritium.
You can't spell America without CIA.
How can you be a shareholder in a corporation when the courts have ruled "corporations are persons" yet the 13th amendment phrobhits owning a a person. That is called slavery and what the 13 th halted. Kind of a contridiction. Milestones
And there was me thinking it was Neo-Con market liberalism that led us down this cul-de-sac. Silly me.
When I say socialism im not talking about Obama. Im talking about every president the United States had starting with Rooseveld.
And no this problem is not complicated. If it wasnt for all the socialist spending, taxing, regulation, ... we wouldnt be in this mess.
People who say this crisis is complicated dont understand it
Take me down slow an' easy
Make me default so easy
Cuz I know hard luck and trouble is coming my way...
The Second American Revolution, unfolding now in a neighborhood near you.
The Second American Revolution, unfolding now in a neighborhood near you.
Yep, they have stepped in a fire ant mound this time.(maybe he wants it, I do not think he will like the results.)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/14273-states-aim-to-nullify-obama-gun-control
Consent withdrawn.
Swords also........
Same here nmewn . I didn't sign the social contract the last time around...and probably won't sign it again for some time.
Neither did I and won't.
I can't be my brothers keeper when my brother keeps asking his best friend to stick a gun in my face and go through my pockets.
wuss :>)
lol...they both have me at a disadvantage.
For now ;-)
Soon the Fed will accept Liar Loans and junk bonds on it's balance sheet.
Call it the biflationary brand of hyperinflation
Debauching the value of money at its core: as an implicit promise to pay something of value in the future
The Fed is the bad bank. It is a private bank. Once it goes under, they will make a new bank and issue new dollars.
Banks go bankrupt, but the owners remain rich and start new banks.
soon? they already do..1.6 trillion of Treasuries!
Just print more collateral.
buying ink with ink.
for 1+1
loop
It only works until you run out of resources.
You know the old ZH default position: "gold bitchez!"
1st rule of fight club.
Kinda OT... The Chinese are copycatting the Mexicans...opening " anchor baby " hotels in CA for pregnant Chinese tourists. Just the tip of a very large iceberg as US immigration laws continue to be a joke.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/02/chinese-maternity-hotel-sparks-outrage-in-california-suburb
For people to obey a law, it doesn't have to be just or fair, it need only make sense. Can someone please explain to me the sense in having a law whereby a child born in the US, whose parents are foreign nationals, would receive automatic citizenship?
I need more information in order to answer your question. First, is said child going to be able to work for low wages? Second, remember, there is no such thing as a U.S. citizen. Your social security card is issued by the U.N. if you are born in the U.S. and you are a tenant of the corporation of the United States.
Right again. "We the people" doesn't mean you and me. It means the incorporators of the Corporation of the United States. I think that's the british royal family and the rothchilds. We have no rights. We are chattel, not "persons", but animals, owned wholly, and that ownership can be sold or transferred at will to others by contractual arrangement.
Fairly certain The rationale at the time was to give slaves citizenship. Then they just kept it on the books i guess. Not gonna even get into this one, something to do with fragmenting the citizenry.
There just may be all KINDS of things in the Constitution that don't make any sense. Maybe you ought to petition for an amendment?
my bet is because they were born there :>)
There was never any Congressional action to create the Anchor Baby reality.
The federal judiciary enacted this particulalr "law", as so many others.
The Constitution is the document that describes what makes a person a citizen of the USA.
A little late to the party,like Simon @ sovereign man,
My familys been doing that since the early 1800's.Always duals, sometimes
tri-nationals.
The wealth is going to the rule makers. That's what rules are for.
Isn't fascinating that the hippies of the 60's & 70's drugged themselves into an artificial utopia using drugs and now when they have economic and political power they are drugging others with another artificial utopia using debt.
if you weren't there you don't know, all you have are the recollections of the media. History rarely matches reality.
to try to paint today's dilemmas on the backs of an entire generation, when most were simply trying to live within a framework of rules they were taught, were just and fair is a most dubious reasoning.
The rules are always bent by those who make the rules. The crushing problems of today were created by the oligarchy and their minions, not the behaviors of the majority which were told to obey and acquiesce.
the hippies were a rebellion against the status quo, the staus quo won, but they had all the guns and money. the oligarchy redecorated to make it look like they got it and were changing meanwhile they co-opted and destroyed all opposition.
Thus we sit in a society that has no options, no plan b. Nowhere to hide, no new ideas. Basically decaying, rotting from both ends and until the middle becomes gangrene and smells of death no one will notice because the money wallpapers over the untidy and unspeakable.
you give the hippies and boomers too much power. power always lies in the hands of the few, not the many. Power implies the ability to control the many.
it's hella cool to hate yer parents.
when you're a teenager.
maturity should include perspective, hopefully a wide-angle lens view. . .
"Look for securities that float, States that have no debt in Municipals, the few countries in the world that are still fiscally responsible and get ready to hold on to your hat."
And those would be precisely? Do such even exist? Is there any actionable information here? I didn't think so. Just more preaching to the already converted. Thank you Rev. Grant for the rousing sermon.
If he's referring to countries such as Switzerland or Singapore, he's a douche. The individual States matter less and less because of the massive expansion in federalism.
The only thing that will hold value, is not in a bubble and cannot be replicated ad infinitum is gold. End of story.
Add Norway to that list.
When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself.
Does it ever seem odd to ZH readers that the primary advertising on ZH is from the Statist Left? Al Franken today. Obama throughout Sept, Oct, and Nov. All sorts of this evil prevalent on ZH. Always looking for people to sign a petition or give money. Why are they advertising here, and why is ZH taking their ads?
The ads are based on the sites you visit. Taylored to your interest such as to seperate you from your wallet. All I see are silver and gold retailers.
Because there is money in it and ZH has to pay the bills. If the advertisers in question are dumb enough to pay to advertise here, then what of it? A sucker and their money are soon parted.
It's pay per click; so slam away ;)
DuckDuck Go, Ghostery, DoNotTrackMe Abine,
Fuck, even my service provider doesnt know I'm still "surfing".
Havent paid the bill for three months and still posting here?? Could be a one off, I'll pay the bill if they switch me off, but here I still am??
You have my endorsement. I see zero ads here at ZH. Saints be praised!
It's all about your browser cookies... most probably see penis enlargement advertising.
What are these "ads" people are always bitching about?
there ya go...you get what you surf for in these ads...now amanda is just 4 miles away..be right back
a lot of wankers out themselves in these threads. . .
And then there is: (hattip to Darwinian over at TOD)
Russia’s oil production up by over one percent in 2012
Got that, Russian oil production was up by 1.3 percent but Russian oil exports were down by 1 percent. That is ELM in action.
The Elm tree is like the Lemon tree...
It helps change attitudes to citrus tastes; those who found them pungent now find them refreshing.
This econnomy is for baby boomers' assets, they are playing golf and have never heard of zerohedge...Those who are playing golf and don't care about the economy have an influence, ZHr's practically don't exist.
but that asset meltdown does. Bigtime. So watch out BBs all.
ZH is only interesting in that it put its finger on where the capitalist system had hit the Saint Andreas fault...
Now that requires a hat tip even on the golf course!
No mention of trillion $ military spending, or any connection to the prison- pharma- gAg-industrial complex. Typical for Mark Grant.
Ahhhh hogwash...just sell/short the U.S. currency with reckless abandon by buying hard, tangible assets like gold, silver, farmland AND common shares of non-financials. Think Zimbabwe and you will all survive. Think Atlas Shrugged and you will all prosper. Think "Market Crash" and you will have your rectum served up with some fava beans and a fine Chianti.
NASDAQ100 weekly has nicely diverged....
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/nasdaq100-weekly-falls-5-points/
From the SP500 weekly.
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/sp500-weekly-running-channel-resistance/
Divergence at major tops. Look out below.
Bill O'Reilly: Warning To Americans....America Projected To COLLAPSE!
http://investmentwatchblog.com/bill-oreilly-warning-to-americans-america-projected-to-collapse/
"most americans are not even smart enough to even care"
Replace "americans" by "people of the world". If only the states would collapse, the true human law and behaviour would select the smartests to survive !
B.O'reilly freaking, oh my. I really liked this Segment from SGT:
The Frightening Truth About Germany’s PHYSICAL Gold Move Pours Out on CNBC
How many times can these idiots say gold isn't backed by anything and still be on TV?
Shit. If O'Reilly is warning of impending collapse, then perhaps things may actually be getting better. This is a strange omen indeed?
WTF - have you been asleep for the last 3 years?
the very fact there is NO PLACE TO HIDE makes the collapse impossible :-) since assets can't move anywere safer !
speacking locally if you had to choose something to barter what would be better than gold? something you could store and transport easily and would have value to most prospective trading partners?
diesel fuel
Bic lighters
rabbits
angorra guinea pigs..or whatever the hairy rodents are called
gutter cleaning...especially round those new jersey houses
recycling CRT pc's to something useful (kiddies space helmets or cheap winter heaters)
a breeding pair of these, plus a drop spindle.
milk, cheese, fibers. . .
and..with a little lipstick..and a small ladder.....well..if you like the serah palin look anyway
but...but... you can't drink diesel fuel
I think the rich will do OK. I think that's part of the plan.
Call me wacky.
That seems to be the way it always works out--surprised more people haven't noticed.
========
Mark J. Grant, the author of the above article, wrote:
Uhm, not exactly. The rich are definitely getting richer. The disparity between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest has never been greater, and the distribution of wealth has never been less optimal. And that is by design, too.
-- Paul D. Bain
PaulBain@PObox.com
========
The rich will become poorer in paper terms, because derivatives are evaporating ... in terms like acreage they will only get wealthier and their standard of living will not change one iota, because that only takes a small fraction of the rentseeking income as long as the economic collapse stops short of anarchist collapse or socialist revolution.
Where were you 20-years ago? To solve the world's financial problem, one must give up all the hoarded financial gains! Are you willing to do this, or are you just going to continue to piss in the wind.
Fair play to the author,
Yes the world is in trouble, and yes we face something that on the face of it the world has never seen the likes of before, but ask yourself a question, a really easy one. Which one of us is directly responsible for the situation we now face. Is it 25 year old kids who have to much student debt? Not in my eyes it isnt. Is it mid to late 30s who over leveraged to keep the home over their heads? Not in my eyes it isnt. Is it 40-50 years old folk paying, and helping their kids get a leg up, at the same time trying as they may to keep their jig going on? Not in my eyes it isnt. And is it those who are 50+ who have done what they can for the groups below and have paid on average more than anyone else? Not in my eyes again.
And then today I switch on the web, come over to ZH and find out the low IQ cunt geithner told the head honchos about revising the base rate for which we all depend on, and then tell the investigators you wouldnt understand that. Now fair play again, that might be a very simple way of putting what that cunt did into words, but this is what these fuckers do. The world is in trouble? It most certainly is, but I would, and I will wager there is not one single person I know in my private and profesional life have fuck all to do with the shit we now face.
We have been "Had", all of us, we have been played like a two bit whore. The problem in my eyes (sighs), comes from the fact that no matter how bad the behaviour of the clever class of fucking criminals that rip us blind day in, day out, no matter how bad they behave, or what they do there fellow man, they are never punished for it. There is no consiquence for their despicable behaviour, none at all. What do you lot expect? If you can get away with rigging the LiBor rate, falsifying mortgage documents, bailing each other out at the expense of the public, paying outrageous bonuses for doing nothing other than legal robbing, why wouldnt you?
There is no reason not to when you own the government who should by rights jail you for nefarious practices. And now they want your guns folks. They know, that you know, that they will, and indeed must be held responsible for what they have done. They just dont want, or expect you to do it. This class of person, and I care not who it is, deserves to be wiped out. They have no alliegence to anything other than "green", and they will do whatever it takes to get it. Do not give up your guns my American friends. Because soon enough, the fuckers that deserve them, will get whats in them.
Rant off
From another persective, who's worse, the bank robber who comes through the front door gun in hand and says "stick 'em up", or the bankster that steals from the vault and makes his escape out the back door. The front door guy almost always gets run down and put on trial. The back door guy, the bigger the heist, hardly ever gets chased and rarely tried. If people don't see the fix is in they aren't looking, or they're in on the back door heist.
This charade is ending as we speak. The first world is self imploding, as is well explained in this article, while the new players, especially the BRICS, are well on their way to establishing structures that will enable them to replace the USD as the world reserve currency. No, none of their currencies are strong enough on their own, but should they decide one day to peg their respective exchange rates, they will have, literally overnight, created an ethereal effective currency that has the capacity to very quickly start the return flow of dollars to the Homeland, and the resulting inflation will slam us. Even if the BRICS financial structures do not last longer than 5 years, it would not matter to us because the US would be cooked long before then.
And if you think that these countries would not do this, that they do not aspire to global greatness, and that this is a malaise that only afflicts America the Great and Europe the Old, then I can suggest several relevant books on human psychology for you to peruse.
Fasten your seatbelts and tighten your sphincters - the ride is about to begin.
No worries...just keep buying the dips.
Sure we've had less for decades, growth (GDP/total credit market debt) peaked around 1970, through Republican and Democratic administrations.
Move along, nothing to see here. Just the same old BS about how we are are all doomed if the rich bastards have to pay 50 cents in taxes. The only thing that is more humorous than the jerks who write this slop is the morons who buy into it.
I am in trouble!
I apparently need this thing called "money" in order to have a tiny plot of this planet to build a shelter on, (a shelter that has to be built to a specification and with materials and in a style to suit other peoples requirements) and I haev none.
I am told that one earns this money, thorough doing work for other people, yet even if put myself about a bit, no-one seems to want me to "work" for them for anything like the sum of money that I need in order to feed clothe and house myself.
Of course, there are several (not easy, but doable) obvious ways of ammassing sufficient "money" but they all seem to require that someone else has to "lose" in order for me to "win", and I don't want to go that route, I'd rather directly exchange my time and skill in a transaction where my effort not only benefits me by providing the "money" that I need, but also benefits my employer in helping him to achive HIS objectives.
Whilst I don't quite understand WHY exactly I have to PAY money simply to have a place on the planet, and whenever I ask people say "the world doesn't owe you a living" which of course violates the other things that some people in fancy dress have said all though my youth (We don't have so much of that any more, for some reason) about the world and all it's riches having been created exactly FOR THE PURPOSE of providing me and my progeny a living, it seems to me that the great majority of you can support support such a system with all of your passion and energy, and so I conclude that must be mistaken in some way, and must find this much needed "money".
Anyone who knows of an honest, quick, and doable method of starting with nothing and gaining enough money to buy a bit of land to settle on, here in the UK, please feel free to submit your suggestions, provding it isn't "get a job, you bum".
Because the way things are now, my old age options look like, (in no particualr order) Crime, (either a successfull big heist to buy my stake, or a big enough crime so that when I am captured I get JAIL, where there is no payment required for your space), Suicide, Inventing "Antigravity", (so that I can move my shipping container based house easily when someone with money says; "get orf moi laaand") Lottery Win, (I sometimes get someone else to pay for my ticket), or my progeny truning out to have far more attraction to "money" than I ever had.
Yes, I'm in trouble. But I'm not on my own, you're all with me too! :c)
grow cannabis. get off yer duff. bootlegging is a time honored means of acquiring a livlihood and great wealth and should ye fail 3 squares and a cot await yer life of leisure.
Oh yes,
THAT occured to me, but even if I overcome the practical problem of being able to grow more than I and my friends can smoke, (especially after getting the first harvest in, I'd imagine the working day would become substantially less productive)there is another problem.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any way of ensuring that my product would not fall in to the hands of children, (or adults with the mental faculties of children). If only I knew more reasonably sane adult pot-heads...
Maybe later, when they finally decriminalise it, and I can directly and safely access the ethically correct target market. I'd have no compunction about selling it to the over 21's, or even over 18's if society sets the bar that low, straightaway, but as the recent british experiment has shown, legalisation has to be handled right, otherwise there will be chaos.
But you are thinking along the right lines, that is something that definitely would earn enough money to buy my stakehold on the planet and is doable by anyone, ("victimless" too largely), but I'd like a few years of proper evaluation to be done on adults who are no longer criminalised by smoking the stuff, and see what the ACTUAL long term psychological effects are, before we deem it suitable for kids.
But thanks for your time and effort. This is a serious problem I am trying to solve, without having to be "evil". I don't mind a bit of hard work, and can tolerate a fair amount of danger and hazard too, but "non-evil" solutions will be my preference if it turns out that I get a bit of a choice...
I'm going to go and try and find that wide angle view someone else suggested...
Crime. It is a crime to dumpster dive. Most old people have to use one of those fancy grabber thingys on an aluminum handle, because they are too feeble to climb into, and then out of, the dumpster. But those fancy grabber thingys only can be purchased from fancy on-line catalog stores like The Sharper Image. So most enterprising geriatric criminals have to find a suitable piece of lathing and then drive a nail through it in order to snag the dumpster goodies. Sometimes the older criminal will be lucky enough to approach the dumpster at the same time as a younger criminal, who can climb in, get what he or she needs, and then, if they are in a good mood, fetch items out for the older criminal. There are good days and bad days for the criminal class.
Other crimes: Not having a permanent address. Not having proper identification. Not having health insurance, or a health insurance card. Loitering, which is just being still for too long on someone else's property. Dying of exposure without the proper death certificate.
Poverty is a crime.
Expensive to be poor
go to Iron Exchange or IG Index, open an account, sell yen for canadian dollar in the 3 year foward market and spend the steady profits. or..locate huge fields of market gardened fruit and do a spot of fruit and vege rustling and sell the stuff in a "farmers" market or door to door.
You hit the nail on the head. Unless the scenario changes and the world adapts, many won't live to a ripe old age as hunger, pollution, overpopulation and the subsequent consequences such as violence takes lives prematurely.
But then again, wasn't it always like this? I mean life.
other posters above me have given you some suggestions on how to get a bit further within the system.
if indeed you're in the *space* you describe, then you'll be better served changing your viewpoint/beliefs about the way the world offers you "options" - and get more creative. drop your adopted storyline for one that works in your favour, not "theirs" - find others in similar situations, and work together towards being self-sufficient of a system that obviously oppresses.
wide angle lens, view the whole world, not this specific pasture/feedlot.
The problem is not ZH readers. We understand. We get it. Go to a bar on a Friday night and start a conversation with a stranger about the US debt and the ramificiations of increasing our borrowing when we can't afford what we have. It's amazing how ignorant people are. I'm talking some swanky bars that have some yaho pulling down big money with Master Degrees
They called me an "Alarmist." When I asked them to give me a solution to the US debt woes, they couldn't. They don't understand. Typical answer "This is the USA, we'll be fine...."
My point is that we have complacency in America and we can talk about a revolution all we want but who's going to light the fire?
spontaneous combustion arises when the ambient temperature and the decompisition of materials at hand arrive at a curious balance, where they cannot fail but to ignite.
->to the Alarmists ::
Japan is going bust, Europe is composed of Civil Servants and retirees, China is still a communist country, Commodity-Rich Countries (Canada/Australia/Norway/Brazil/Russia) bubble is about to burst, Switzerland is as always overvalued in everything... hummm i think the The United States is the place to be.
Open borders, energy independence, German-style economy = American Renaissance.
pity about the state of the environs tho'
fukushima fallout, SAG, GMO monocrops cross pollinating, frack'd water, just the tip. . .
Energy independence? Oil bubble about to burst?
Care to explain?
At least Chavez has the gold (and the oil) to back his welfare plans with. USSA has an empty Fort Knox. Long VEF, short USD..
This is why the Feinsteins, Bloombergs, Obamas, Bidens and Schumers are preparing to disarm and then kill us. 1,600,000,000 bullets are for us once they have the guns.
Peace on Earth and angels sing. Time for my Sunday sermon. Tomorrow prayer vigile to end banking occupation. Try you luck at vaporizing a bankster.
Please take a moment and listen to "Too much of Nothing" by Peter, Paul and Mary (yes, young fella, they were singers way back when) and see if the song strikes a chord wrt ZIRP.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQckXCVlbY
i prefer this style myself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAWyQXFlcCg
even the italians know in their hearts that the pain they endure is a direct result of apathy amongst themselves and corruption in their political system..
check this out and do some further research..the five star movements says that if you have even been elected previously you can't stand again.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/lifeinitaly/5-stelle
it has these little snippets.
V-day, standing for Vaffanculo Day (f..k-you day) as a form of protest and to give birth to some changes in the elections and people to vote.
You can’t just have bankers rich. the economy and the savers convicted and shot, and say that’s the proof that there’s justice, that the system works. It’s not enough.
"Trouble, oh we got trouble... With a capital 'T'...
"Oh, we've got trouble. We're in terrible, terrible trouble."
Grant said it well: "We make more than we’ve ever made, we owe more than we’ve ever owed, and we have less than we've had in decades which is distributed to those that did not earn the money. This is a working definition of Trouble"
Hi all. Being a (somewhat leftist) Quebecer who is (somewhat) addicted to this gloom and doom site, I don't often post. But I have a few silly naive questions:
Just a few thoughts. Interested to see if anyone has comments!
hi pepe le peu, and welcome :>)
1. outsourcing of manufacturing under Clinton to the thrid world (including China) = less taxes, more benefits
2. elective (think "i want to be prettier" surgery, purchase of brands rather than generics and of course ..litigation for fuck ups.
3. quite right..corporates have not only re-sited productive capacity to low tax paying third world countries, they also refuse to repatriate profits at us tax rates, thus hitting the economy witha double whammy. and, yes, lobbyists are the people who pay the politicians for pork barreling policies.
4. no the rich cannot fill the trough full enough for the less rich and the poor to be fed. the problem is lack of employment. the rich who have built their wealth from hard work are not the problem; the rich who profit from gaming a corrupt and stupid US Government, on a global basis, are the problem.
5. banks used to go bust for taking too much risk/making risky decisions. these days, if they fuck up, the government pays for their losses and simply increases its fiscal deficit and gets the fed to exchange the mortgage and treasury debt for currency notes or reserves at the fed. when it was the banks own capital at risk, and banks did banking via personal and corporate lending and were themselves resposnible for mortgage pools, there were fewer losses and more resposible lending.
6. yes it is a bad thing. the developing countries can copy the developed economies ideas wthout following a "beggar the developed world" policy and polluting the planet, so we all warm up globally.
there will be lots of different views on this. the key thing to remember is that all profits these days are not tested in a "real world" and there are lots of krugmanites out there who whill claim that you need not pay taxes, you need only run huge fiscal deficits and print money.
ask yourself this question. what would happen if the fed just cancelled the debt on its balance sheet (monetization of treasury debt engaged in by the fed to the tune of 1.6 trillion so far and growing by 40 billion a month), monetization means the fed has swapped bank notes for coupon bearing debt. along the lines if a tree fell in the woods and nobody heard it..did it actually fall?
Well the value of currency is what we agree it to be (who is the "we"?) So if the Fed monetised (please note the "s") but everyone agreed that a dollar is still a dollar, then so what? (Naive ain't I - not Pepi le pieu but his girlfriend - the cat?). I suppose that being global, those we owed money to would be pissed (and I suppose that includes a lot of retirement funds as well as foreign nations, etc..) so that there would be serious repercussions. But more and more (I think) are waking up to what is going on. I must say I started a new job after being unemployed for 6 months, and just working makes me realise that gloom and doom aside, people are still working, going to restaurants and the end of the world seems just a bit further away!
Thanks for the comments by the way!
most welcome
in the "race to debase" a central bank will be trying to issue that amount of currency that will (all things being equal) net off all other intervention by other central banks. i.e. you monetize (or monetise) 20 trillion when the rate is 1.4 to 1, i will monetize 40 trillion to get the rate to 1.6 to 1.
hence "currency whores" woops.."wars"
In the future, please refer to government "revenues" as taxes.
Thanks.
And here is his key phrase... "We cannot afford the bills that we have now and we are being asked to add more to them.
Much of our budgetary problems trace back to LBJ's Great Bankrupt Society. To wit:
The spin: Clinton produced a surplus. The truth: At the height of the dot.com bubble, frantic M&A, IPO, & stock option activity led to a brief surge in tax rev's which exceeded the rate of spending growth ... if you overlook the fact that unfunded liabilities were rising $4 trillion per year.
Spin: Iraq war added 'trillions' to our deficit. Truth: It cost $750 billion and ended 2 years ago. While it may have been a tragic mistake and a waste of money, it was fairly insignicant amount of money. Meanwhile, unfunded liabilities increased $4.5 trillion per year.
Spin: Obama fixed it by raising taxes on rich ppl by $50 billion per year. Truth: Unfunded liabilities continue to surge and trillion dollar deficits are here to stay (till the collapse).
An unfunded liability is a promise made that doesn't have to be paid till later. These are the promises made to you and granny concerning a check (SS) once you retire and a hip repalcement when you fall and break it.
Good news (/sarc) for the next president. Since the baby boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day (from 2011-2029), growth of these unfunded liabilities will subside, being replaced by actual bills that will need to be paid and funded (or else granny eats cat-food).
The shit, fraud, lies, theft, graft, cronyism, degradation, murder, slander, bureaucracy, unaccountability, redistribution, arming, solicitation, wars, greed, fake money, debt-to-infinity, race to the bottom, third world living, mark to the moon, and Dancing with the Stars, will END, when the sheeple start hurting for food. Then and only then will The Herd move towards a reset.
BIG GOVERNMENT = BIG LIE
I heard that the Chinese use the same word for disaster as they do for opportunity. Some wisdom from a 2000 year old culture.
we certainly do live in interesting times
I wish this had come out in early December. I would have included it with the Christmas cards, in place of the boring family update. Not much bobance and bounce expressed in the article. Definitely a "red pill" author.
okay i get it, if we had no poor it would be all unicorns rainbows and pots of gold.......these fucking articles are sick. BOA paid no fucking tax last year either.
They collect Taxes because it has a way of reducing the effect of Printing Money. It is a way to take Money out of circulation.
The problem for most Americans is that the Dollars that they have are worth less because of the Dollar Printing. Inflation also cuts away at the purchasing power of the Dollar. With inflation your wages go up which puts you into a higher Tax backet so that more of your Income is Taxed at a higher level. This balances out the Printing of Money.
So, the more Money they print the more Money they have to take in Taxes to balance the Money printing. Yet every time you have less and less. Kind of like a circle of Poverty.
You all understand that if the federal government runs a surplus there will be an equal and opposite reaction, right? The private sector must run the deficit. Unless of course, the Earth is flat.
they are independent variables...the private sector can run a surplus after tax and do its own thing...the government can run a surplus (haha) or a deficit doing what it wants...you are confusing balance sheet accounting for a single company with two companies that have some things in common (taxes) but you are the flat earther, since countries can exist with varying levels of government spending to gdp ratios ranging from zero to any number.
are you one of those people who say that because japan has $3 trillion of offshore assets, its current $2 trillion of taxes (33% of gdp and its 2.5 trillion of expenses (40% of gdp) mean that its private sector is getting wealthier by 7% of gdp per annum?
i guess krugman was an accountant!
No, it is an economic impossibility for both the private sector and the federal government to both run surpluses. If you look at our economic history, the private sector ran massive deficits in the years the federal government ran a surplus. Of course, economic contraction was the result. Again, you are making an economically illogical argument. Federal debt is private sector assets.
in the sense that the fed can only issue to the private sector you are right..but the fed's balance sheet is tiny compared to the private sector's balance sheet.
your analogy also holds true that an interest rate causes money supply, so zero interest rates = zero increase in money supply and 15% interest rates casues 15% increase in money supply.
it may award the prize (reserve assets) to the horses running round the track (banks); but the off course betting is much, much larger in relation to the horses and the cup. the system is not limited by the fractional reserve system either. a phenomenal number of transactions don't even involve a bank.
it is your position then, that a government that takes more in taxes than it spends on whatever, must have a private sector that is increasing its debts in order to balance the fiscal surplus?
what happens when a private sector debt is paid off? the government debt is also extinguished?
reminds of this joke about money in circulation (hint, the guys could have done it themselves without the tourist, or the currency if they just talked to each other)
It is August in a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening.
Everyone is heavily in debt.
Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel.
He asks for a room and puts a 100 eruo note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.
The hotel owner takes the banknote in hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes 100 euros.
The butcher takes the money and races to his wholesale supplier to pay his debt.
The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay 100 euros for pigs he purchased some time ago.
The farmer triumphantly gives the 100 euro note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit.
The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she owed the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients, and lays the 100 euros on the counter.
At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his 100 euros back and departs.
There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town people look optimistically towards their future.
In real life, the 100 EUR would be taxed into 20 EUR by the time it got back to the hotel, and central government would have 80 EUR to distribute in social, corporate and military welfare while the private sector remains in debt.
Looks like you need to take Accounting 102.
Our Founding Fathers had a Poll Tax. If you owned Property you could Vote. If you did not own Property you could pay a Poll Tax to Vote. This was established so that People that did not pay Tax could not Vote themselves benefits from those who did pay Tax. Remember we did not have Income Taxes then. Basically just Property Taxes.
When they eliminated the Poll Tax they allowed those who receive benefits and do not Pay Taxes to vote for benefits from those that pay Taxes. Almost like a forced taking of ones income or Property to be given to those who do not have a steak in the outcome.
We would have a totally different Government today if the Poll Tax was still in force.
http://www.supremelaw.org/library/esquires.html
Majority rules. Or it used to. No person who holds a title of nobility (esquire) can hold office in the US.
The U.S. Constitution thus contains a specific prohibition against titles of nobility, and a specific penalty for their use, i.e., the loss of citizenship and disability from holding public office. The loss of citizenship means that a Person who was born or naturalized a Citizen would lose that status and thereby become an "alien" with respect to the United States of America. Since the qualifications for serving in federal elective offices all require citizenship, an "alien" is, by definition, disqualified from eligibility for these offices (President, Senator, and Representative).
In my conversation with the common law judge from California, we next considered if it was possible, under the original 13th Amendment, to restore citizenship by renouncing or rescinding a title of nobility. A close examination of the amendment's language did not reveal any such provision. In matters of statutory construction (determining the real meaning of statutes), there is a principle that the specific mention of one thing is the specific exclusion of all things that are not mentioned. In Latin, expressio unius est exclusio alterius. In other words, what was omitted was intended to be omitted.
The original 13th Amendment does not contain any provisions for restoring citizenship by renouncing or rescinding a title of nobility. Evidently, if the framers of that amendment had wanted citizenship to be restored to those who renounced their titles (e.g. Esquire), then the amendment would have contained language to make that possible. The absence of such language can be used to prove, under the principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, that it is not possible to restore one's citizenship after accepting a title of nobility.
Now, the original 13th Amendment raises some very interesting questions of law, or Law, as the case may be. If a law school graduate should join the Bar in the state of his domicile, he would join the elite company of "Esquires." In the United States of America, this is the title commonly appended after the name of an attorney (see Black's Law Dictionary, fifth edition). If we are correct in our construction of the original 13th Amendment, then it is correct to say that "Once an Esquire, always an Esquire."
Thanks, this is why I love zerohedge, people have something to offer, the world is in trouble...no shit....yet they offer nothing.