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"There Is No Other End Than A Bad One... It's A Mathematical Certainty"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Thad Beversdorf via FirstRebuttal.com,

I recently watched a video clip of Bernie Sanders laying the boots to Alan Greenspan back in 2003, for Greenspan’s seemingly out of touch perspective of the average American.  Now while we do have a repentant banker in Greenspan, a rare phenomenon for sure, I found the scolding interesting in that essentially every accusation Sanders lays on Greenspan could be repeated today to our subsequent central banking gods.  During the video notice that all the figures Sanders explicates not only remain true today but have gotten far worse.  Particularly note the national debt figure which has now increased by more than 400% since then!!!  The clip is well worth the 5 minutes...

 But so let’s dig in a little to what Bernie is really saying to Greenspan.  The overall theme of the trouncing is that the Federal Reserve, the keeper of American monetary policy, had implemented policies that clearly had done significant damage to the vast majority of Americans.  Specifically Sanders is suggesting that the policies were a cancer to the economic prosperity of Americans and all the while creating extreme wealth for a select few.  And while that is bad in and of itself, what Sanders finds despicable is that the Fed seems to not only deny the harm they were responsible for but Greenspan seemed to be alleging success by focusing solely on the massive wealth it had provided to the very few on top.

Now in a recent whitepaper by Stephen Williams, VP of the St. Loius Fed, a case is made that the Fed’s ‘recovery’ policies have not helped to boost the economy.  And while I agree with that conclusion, I feel the paper is a fraud.  Not only on the surface of that argument does it create a false dichotomy of either helped or not helped (dismissing the idea that the policies may have actually been harmful) but Williams explicitly suggests the policies were not harmful to the economy.  And that was the real intended message.  Remember nobody publicly denounces their employer without being fired.  And so if Williams keeps his job we know that this message was a coordinated message.  Further, by the structure of his argument the objective is clear.  The Fed is already setting up the argument that while they were not entirely effective in a recovery they are not to blame for the inevitable second coming of the credit crisis (a definite dead canary).

You see the problem comes down to the moral hazard created by fiat currency.  Specifically, I mean that when you have essentially infinite resources you become very careless about each unit of resource.  Subsequent to ending Bretton/Woods in 1971 the US has succumb to such a moral hazard.  This is clear when looking at the collapse of fiscal discipline immediately following the end of Bretton/Woods, which was a quasi gold standard that necessitated fiscal discipline.

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 6.40.52 AM

And so that chart tells us the moral hazard absolutely exists but it doesn’t explain why that is bad.  To do that we need to look at a visual representation of this moral hazard and its respective destructive characteristics over time.  But before we do let’s remember, as I recently laid out in some detail in The Fed’s Fatal Flaw, the central banking system is designed to require perpetually increasing money stock.  The reason is simple.  The Central Banking Act of 1913 was designed by three banking families (refer to Jekyll Island) whose profits expanded along with money supply.  And so a system that necessarily required the expansion of money supply was to create immense wealth for banking families that drafted the Bill.  While that is certainly unethical, it is the destructiveness of such a system that is the real evil.  The system is such that profits for the very few come directly at the expense of the masses.  Let’s look deeper into this matter.

What must be understood but seems to be lost on most PhD economists today is that money in our system can either be a fuel or a drag, but it cannot be neither.  Remember that our system attaches a unit of debt to each unit of currency.  That means that each unit of currency must return an amount greater than itself.  If it does, it is fuel.  If it doesn’t it is a drag.

The problem then with the system is the destructive force inherent of the moral hazard (having the ability to create infinite currency) as depicted in the next chart.   That is, currency created and used for consumption rather than investment becomes a drag rather than a fuel and the economy becomes less efficient.  This increasing inefficiency has been occurring since the end of Bretton/Woods or since the beginning of the moral hazard.  That said, you will never hear very intelligent but also very disingenuous guys like Alan Goolsbee discuss the secular economic deterioration as it doesn’t suit their role of policy champions.

The following chart depicts corporate domestic investment as a percentage of M2 money stock (blue line) and real GDP (red line).

Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 9.32.00 AM

What becomes immediately apparent is the correlation between the percentage of money stock being used for corporate investment and real economic growth and the significantly negative slope of both.

One might wonder then what are corporations doing with their money if not reinvesting it?

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 7.42.56 AM

Well the answer is clear.  While for decades domestic investment (i.e. fixed capital reinvestment) as a percent of money stock averaged around 8% today it has declined to about 5%, a 40% decline. On the other hand corporate dividend payments (green line) have increased to a 15 year average of about 7% from 4% of money stock, a 75% increase.  So each year, 3% of money stock is being reallocated from private domestic investment to corporate dividend payments.  And make no mistake, dividend payments do not fuel the economy as some +90% are reinvested into the secondary market.  An investment which provides almost no economic benefit (with the exception of very few secondary offerings that add cash to corporate balance sheets) as opposed to domestic fixed reinvestment which is pure economic fuel.

But let’s take a closer look at the moral hazard and its direct implication on the economy.

Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 9.29.08 AM

What we see by adding trendlines to both parametres is that very shortly after the US went to a pure fiat currency in 1971, domestic investment as a percentage of money stock began to drop, resulting in the secular deterioration in real GDP that continues today.  I say resulting rather than mere correlation and let me explain.

Again the reality is that excess money stock is a drag on the economy because each unit of money stock necessarily has a unit of debt attached to it.  Logically then, as the percentage of money stock allocated to investment (meaning potential positive net returns) declines the percentage of unpayable debt (attached to the uninvested money stock) requires the perpetual rolling over of ever more debt.

This results in massive drag on the economy because remember that mathematically debt used for consumption rather than investment is a net negative on medium and long term output.  The implication is that while all debt gets included into current GDP (through its expenditure today), all consumed debt plus interest is removed (paid back) from output later on.  This effect is not easily seen because the reduced medium and long term output is being continuously offset by even more consumer debt.

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 7.22.24 AM

So what we’ve ended up with is a death spiral of economic prosperity dressed in sheep’s clothing.  The above chart depicts that every worker in America today has increased their consumer debt levels by about 40% since the ‘end’ of the credit crisis.  Think about that for a moment.  Perhaps the most destructive economic collapse in history that was triggered by excessive credit has led American workers to take on 40% more consumer debt.

Allow me to digress for a moment about the concept of consumer debt and why if it is such a destructive thing policymakers would allow it to continue its record expansion.  Think of it like this; where a purchase made with earned money is a two party transaction a purchase made on debt is a three party transaction.  Essentially banks become a party to every consumer transaction that is done on debt.  And so banks essentially are feeding off of every transaction between a consumer and a proprietor.  In the natural world we call that a parasite.  For the corporations the parasite is helpful because it magically turns the consumer’s debt into profit and so they don’t mind.  However, for consumers, the transaction doesn’t end after they eat the candy bar.  The debt not only remains, it builds, and so the parasite slowly deteriorates the consumer’s ability to prosper.  But because the parasite controls the economic policies of the nation the policies actually drive the indebtedness that we see in the above chart which benefit both the banks’ and the corporations’ profits but to the detriment of the working class (discussion as to the borrowers’ responsibility in the matter won’t take place here but I will note the data today suggests more than ever consumer debt is being used on inflating staples – healthcare, food and rent – rather than discretionary purchases).

And yet we are told by the very elite PhD economists that the credit crisis ended back in 2009.  And worse we are told that the expansion of excess credit will end differently this time around. And still worse, any Americans who actually have savings have been forced into bloating equity valuations (along with corporations for the same reason but from the other side of the coin) because interest rate securities have been set to return effectively nothing.

Screen Shot 2015-08-19 at 7.31.21 AM

The above chart depicts income from private savings (using the 2 yr rate as a proxy, which is likely being generous today) has declined from about 2.0% of GDP in the early 1980’s to 0.6% in 2000 to around 0.2% today.  And so while consumer borrowers have been forced into a state of perpetual borrowing, savers has been forced to lend money into secondary markets which will once again be transferred to the very few upon the inevitable next market crash.  A crash that is already being signaled around the world.

So when we watch guys like Bernie Sanders get visibly angry at guys like Alan Greenspan it behooves all of us to go beyond the entertainment of it or some prima facie agreement and to truly understand why the anger is justified.  When we do we will be asking why in the hell is no one yelling at Janet Yellen??

Economics has become hostage to academia where PhD’s want to ring fence the subject with statistics and calculus to ensure only those who have done the very narrow and otherwise irrelevant studies can play.  But economics has very little to do with stats and calculus.  Economics is a subject of interrelatedness based on logic with a little basic math thrown in.

If we were to all take the responsibility to understand the lifeblood of our American existence i.e. the economy, we will most certainly be moved to remove not only the policymakers but the system that together serve only those at the top of the economic food chain and at a cost to the rest of us.  At the end of the day the system is a zero sum game in a monetary system that is based on trading a unit of currency for a unit of debt.  There is no other end than a bad one and I’m sorry my friends but that is a (simple) mathematical certainty.

 

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Wed, 08/19/2015 - 18:59 | 6445377 Dead Canary
Dead Canary's picture

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary's email firm was run from a loft apartment with its servers in the BATHROOM, raising new questions over security of sensitive messages she held.

In a bathroom closet? Really? It couldn't be a hall closet or a bedroom closet. No. All our precious national secrets are just a whiff away from her smelly dumps! Geeze!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:07 | 6445395 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

Smell-A-Email...Really? Disgusting.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:15 | 6445410 Santini Air
Santini Air's picture

Mathematical certainty... we will have a currency collapse/EMP strike/gray abduction episode/rapture/Shemitah/delayed Mayan calendar all at once any day now.....

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:36 | 6445472 realmoney2015
realmoney2015's picture

Stock up on the metals. Silver and gold, brass and lead!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:04 | 6445548 bid the soldier...
bid the soldiers shoot's picture

hollow points, too

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:07 | 6445701 Supernova Born
Supernova Born's picture

"Heh-heh", snigger the Central Banksters, "We never even used math..."

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:07 | 6445732 Bokkenrijder
Bokkenrijder's picture

This guy is brilliant and 1000's times better than hairpiece Trump and his corrupt buddies.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:35 | 6445788 fwaynemartin
fwaynemartin's picture

Yeah he's a real gem isn't he?

http://www.cpusa.org/bernie-sanders-political-revolution/

 

Bernie Sanders; because a Communist vote is a terrible thing to waste.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:36 | 6445932 Bokkenrijder
Bokkenrijder's picture

So Republican or Democratic style fascism, brought to you like a washing powder commercial with a 'fresh' new face every 4 years, is better?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:54 | 6446076 trulz4lulz
trulz4lulz's picture

It's a real shit show, that's for certain. What's also certain is the the rest of the civilised world is tired of dealing with our gubmint in any capacity whatsoever.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:32 | 6445782 fwaynemartin
fwaynemartin's picture

Gold bullets...never thought of that. The it's going, gold will be about the same price as brass and lead.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:06 | 6446007 Dragon HAwk
Dragon HAwk's picture

Lead and Brass... are easy to find.. real men Stockpile Powder and Primers

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 01:21 | 6446209 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

Stockpile Nitric Acid, Sulfuric Acid and paper. Smokeless powder is rather easy to make.

 

Besides the Nitric Acid and Sulfuric Acid can also be used to manufacture High Explosives.

 

Tri Nitro Toulene

 

Nitroglycerin

 

Polyethanol glycol dinitrate

 

Mercury Fulminate.

 

Real men can make and use explosives for brute force persuasion.

 

The Military Industrial Complex should have taught you that...by now.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 00:07 | 6446101 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

And candles.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:49 | 6445671 The Old Man
The Old Man's picture

Awwwww.... Bullshit!.... Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit! So ZH is the new MSM????

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:09 | 6445398 knuppel
knuppel's picture

if it wasn't in active use as a bathroom it's not a bad location for a small serverroom

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:36 | 6445414 Squid Viscous
Squid Viscous's picture

her ass got too big, had to build an oversized shitter...and it didn't fit in the old bathroom?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:39 | 6445479 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

i'd be more worried about levels of humidity, rather than smelly dumps.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 08:03 | 6446523 detached.amusement
detached.amusement's picture

what they didnt mention was that it must necessarily have had AC pumped in to that closet, lest the server get too hot and malfunction.  see that's not just  sticking a server in a closet, that requires planning, fraud in the first degree.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:01 | 6445712 Ham-bone
Thu, 08/20/2015 - 02:11 | 6446264 PlayMoney
PlayMoney's picture

how do you think the convertion went to decide where to put it....until they decided to put it in the shitter? How do you get there? It was Colorado so i imagine weed was involved.

 

But the good news is none of the people in the company running it had a security clearance.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 18:59 | 6445379 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

We don't need no steenking policies.  That's the only problem in all of this.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:28 | 6445382 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Doesn't only apply to 'merca

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:19 | 6445390 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Bernie is saying to Greenspan anything he thinks will get a vote.

He's a politician FFS.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:26 | 6445434 chunga
chunga's picture

He'll wind up getting some votes too, because the theory of "trickle-down" turned out to be an economically transmitted disease.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:20 | 6445526 nmewn
nmewn's picture

For reeelz, seriously, Bernie?...lol.

The only difference between Greenscum & Bernie is Bernie would print the exact same amount (possibly even moar!) and give it to his constituents* instead of the MIC or corporate whores.

The end result is the same, the national Treasury is bankrupt and the workers are on the dole.

*Fucking socialists.

"I proposed to raise the tax rate on any individual earning $500,000 a year or more or any family earning $1 million a year or more by 10 percent. That increase in the tax rate, from 35 percent to 45 percent, would raise more than $300 billion in the next five years, (Edit:...lol, because nobody takes measures to lessen taxable income in Bernie's statist world.) almost half the cost of the bailout. If what all the supporters of this legislation say is correct, that the government will get back some of its money when the market calms down and the government sells some of the assets it has purchased, (Edit, with what did they purchase it Bernie, its broke?) then $300 billion should be sufficient to make sure that 99.7 percent of taxpayers do not have to pay one nickel for this bailout." - Bernie Sanders, October 1 2008.

///////

Ahhh, some socialists still trolling ZH, kewl ;-)

///////

Would any of you socialist statist fucksticks like to debate the finer points of Bernies shotgun blast at any citizen who made money having to pay for the bailout of Wall Street whether they were associated with Wall Street or not?

Yeah, I thought so.

//////

For instance, you mindless turds, the guy who makes 500k selling Gaaarrreeen! solar panels & components or Granny who just sold her house and is about to retire?

Dumbasses.

/////

Not such a bunch of "brave socialist red banner carriers" now eh?

Why...I hadn't even gotten to the unlucky in life welfare Mom raising seven cheeeldrun on her own from five different men who finally hit the Pick Six for 600k and can now afford to send them all off to college for Faaarrreee! and buy herself a nice home for Christmas for entertaining!

But wait, now she can't, now she has to choose ;-)

//////

Ya'll do realize the fact that I do luuuv that you hate me, right?

The hatred is mutual.

//////

Anyone notice a cold draft in here? ;-)

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:35 | 6445783 ISEEIT
ISEEIT's picture

That's just mean spirited!!!

Maybe give them a break? Some of these "folk's", probably every single one of them, is either just waking up (and so of course still a bit delusional) or is simply incapable (unwilling in 99% percent of cases) to accept this well established fact that being fucked...as a human being, is par for the course as so long as the EMPIRE continues to enforce an ever more increasingly hostile tsunami of rules, regulations, bureaucratic fiefdom building, increasingly deranged (indisputable on even a moderately long timeline) and incoherent 'policies' are daily introduced...The 'State' is not inseparable from this calamitous situation facing humanity, the 'State' is in FACT key to it all.

That is how IT IS essentially 'legal'.

Capisce?

The political left is absolutely hellbent on seizing control of what little now remains, apparently (based on volumes of social 'science') radical over centralization of power has never before failed?

These same "folk's" want humanity to OBEY them over the 'science of global warming/climate change/climate disruption..' and yet silence in matters of far more immediate and non-fabricated, potentially existential consequences to present human behavior?

I'm familiar enough with the sort....They tend to be fairly good, though weak individuals. I think that they're just terrified of themselves perhaps having to endure any particular hardship, but they definitely support imposing hardship onto anyone else, just as so long as it isn't them personally.

 

What is going to actually happen now of course is that the entire mess is going to blow to shit.

 

It is our fault...We let it happen.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:50 | 6445968 Uchtdorf
Uchtdorf's picture

nmewn, it is astounding that anyone would trust/support Sanders, an avowed Socialist. Let's just consider a couple precious freedoms in the Bill of Rights. When Socialists have total control in a country, when have they allowed freedom of speech, of assembly, of owning weapons to peons like me?

That's right, never. I'll pass on Sanders and his faux attacks on all the crony capitalists. Hitler was real chummy with the industrialists who supported his frightful dream. Wouldn't expect Sanders to be any different.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:55 | 6445820 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Pretty damn funny nmewn. But to be honest, I kinda like Sanders because he is open about the socialism dripping out his pores. The scary part is how they flock to him as a Savior. This is most telling. That SOB will drain the last drop of blood left in the middle class. And for what? The debt is odious and I refuse to pay that what I did not authorize to be spent.

Stick a fork in it, this country is just about done I'm afraid if the likes of Sanders and Cackling Cankles come to power.

Miffed;-)

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 06:26 | 6446408 nmewn
nmewn's picture

"But to be honest, I kinda like Sanders because he is open about the socialism dripping out his pores."

He is open about it, I'll give him that...lol.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:15 | 6445873 chunga
chunga's picture

Naw, maybe the junks are coming from people that hate what gReenspin did and don't like that you are shoe-horning them into the label of socialist. I admit not knowing much about this sAnders except he labels himself a socialist and perhaps he is just demagoguing (is that a word?)

Words and labels don't always work these days. For example I personally consider NOT voting a "civic duty".

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 06:24 | 6446403 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Well, if they can't speak up for themselves, for what they themselves personally believe in and mindlessly support an avowed socialist who's visceral reaction to EVERYTHING is to have the government step in and confiscate what does not belong to it in order TO BAIL OUT WALL STREET, I will continue to call them fucking socialists.

At the end of the day he was not advocating for anyone to be thrown in jail or guillotined in the public square for the open THEFT of tax dollars...oh no no no, he was advocating for even more THEFT.

For him to advocate for either of my two choices of punishment would mean everything he supports and believes in is jacked up, from the Community Reinvestment Act which caused the meltdown in the first place to subsidizing fucking solar panels.

People like me said let it crash, it will find it's own natural bottom and while its crashing grab the assholes in government and Wall Street who colluded amongst themselves to form this event and put them against the wall and shoot them.

Bernie never said that, I did.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:11 | 6445405 DontFollowMyAdv...
DontFollowMyAdviceImaDummy's picture

why do i keep having that scene from Animal House going through my dome when thinking about the Policy of giving the Fed to print money out of nothing...

"You fucked up, YOU TRUSTED US!"

 

long nail guns.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:11 | 6445566 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Yes. That is how I believe we should see the Tools and Costs of TARP, ZIRP/LIRP, QE... and US Congress Refusal to stand up for the Middle Class, Middle Class Wealth, and Middle Class Consumption.

I can see TBTF Laughing.

"You didn't say anything! It was just a joke! We figured Banking Rules would tighten up and we would have to lower earnings expectation for 3-4 years after 2008."

"But you never said anything!"

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:43 | 6445657 The Old Man
The Old Man's picture

Fuck me but your are right! Being in the pocket of a friend sure has it's take, oops, advantages! Me. Stupid public.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:17 | 6445412 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Why do Greenspan and Soros never die? They both look like Gollum and seem to have his lifespan. Must be daily fresh unicorn blood transfusions.

Miffed

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:27 | 6445439 logicalman
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:40 | 6445482 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Ok, now I am a little bit disturbed. I shall no longer laugh at the disembodied heads in domes on Futurama as impossible. At least then, the maid may accidentally knock them off the table.

Miffed;-)

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:54 | 6445516 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Gotta wonder just how deep the harvesting baby's organs decadence goes.  Would not be surprised if those bastards were juicing freshly-harvested livers.

The future is here.  And it ain't pretty.

An exceptional people, we are.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:20 | 6445559 mygameon
mygameon's picture

Miffed, binged watched Futurama with my 16 year daughter. Some witty stuff. Really liked it. Thanks for the reference.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:32 | 6445623 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

When my girls were teenagers we'd all watch South Park after dinner. All of us laughed ourselves silly. Silly gooses could not keep their mouths shut and I got a nasty gram from the Lutheran school principal. " Mom, do you think Matt Stone and Trey Parker really are going to hell?" " Nah, I bet God is laughing at them too. I think they may pull off a pardon."

Miffed;-)

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:51 | 6445680 Bay Area Guy
Bay Area Guy's picture

LOL.  I think God has a great sense of humor.

In terms of satire, South Park and Futurama rank right up there with Rocky and Bullwinkle and my personal favorite, even now, Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang.  Fantastic satire that works on so many levels.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:42 | 6445802 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

We did the Simpsons when they were little because you can appreciated it on all levels. Such as when Bart stopped the zombies with " Trojans , Ramses and Sheik". Our kids laughing like hyenas and we just smiled at each other.

We had Twilight Zone Night, Carol Burnett Night and Alfred Hitchcock movie night. MST3k. My youngest had Marilyn Monroe movie posters on her wall when her peers had Brittany Spears.

We tried our best to give them the childhood we had. Now everything is so sick and suggestive I wouldn't allow a kid to watch Sesame Street.

Miffed

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:06 | 6445725 Chaos_Theory
Chaos_Theory's picture

Most of my life philisophy is from South Park.  They nailed our elections with Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich as our choices. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:27 | 6445902 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

God is not laughing; look what is happening.  The future of your girls will wholly depend on Him. "Trust and obey, for there is NO other way as the hymn writer rightly stated.  We are past the point of no return as God has abandoned this nation and as it is written in Romans 1:18-32. the last "God gave them over to a debased mind", which means less than useless.  he is allowing us to go our own way and with man it is always down the moral sewer...now lets have a laugh.  Better get serious for yourself and your children, for God is to be taken very seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSq7mABZGE  (6min)

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:40 | 6446056 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Oh please just stop. Why do you live your life in such fear and judgement? Joy is the infallible evidence of the presence of God and you seem to be a joyless automaton clinging to a book. God is Love. He has bless me with many challenges and many miracles of which I am eternally grateful. I have no fear of him or Death or whatever await me after this life. If it is to be a hellfire damnation? So be it. He made me and can dispense with me as he shall see fit and into his hands I shall commend my spirit willingly.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Miffed

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:39 | 6445647 The Old Man
The Old Man's picture

Holy crap! I watch Futurama too! Small world. Piss my pants funny!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:37 | 6445475 localspaced
localspaced's picture

Central planning...it just works. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:46 | 6445668 logicalman
logicalman's picture

....for those doing the planning.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:52 | 6445508 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

Maybe ol' Vlad the Impaler and Madame Bathory were on to something after all.

Or like the old hymn says...."There's power in the blood, power in the blood."

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:00 | 6445534 bid the soldier...
bid the soldiers shoot's picture

Dybbuks, the both of them.  Taken by the Evil One.

 

 

(spits on the flloor 3 times)

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 01:09 | 6446193 bid the soldier...
bid the soldiers shoot's picture

Anyone interested in dybbukology should watch the following 7 minutes on Vimeo.

It's the opening scene from the Coen Bros film 'A Serious Man'. A brief but accurate explanation of what a dybbuk is and why Greenspan and Soros laugh in the face of commenters like Dutchboy 2015.

It's in Yiddish with English subtitles so turn up your hearing aid or put on your reading glasses.

https://vimeo.com/62620013 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:01 | 6445539 Rubicon727
Rubicon727's picture

THIS article is the most convincing evidence I've read - to date.We face a horrible dilemma that is destroying us, our children and grandchildren. Yet, the American people won't even listen to all that was shared here.And the article does NOT even take into account Global Warming. Add both life-threatening issues together and you have a genuine Doomsday Event.

I despair of this nation.

 

PS: you're right - why are some of the greatest evil-doers that have caused untold millions of lives continue to live a harmonious, valued lifestyle?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:40 | 6445794 bid the soldier...
bid the soldiers shoot's picture

It was so wrtten in the Olde Testament millenia ago.  In the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is scorned by most Christians.  There is too much wisdom in it.

It can be dated from the reign of Solomon and here is the part you'll want read:

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity

 

Eccles 8:14

Ecclesiastes is where you'll find the expression :There is nothing new under the sun."  "The sun also rises."  And where the Byrds got  "To Everything There Is a Season".  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvf20Y6eoM

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:21 | 6445415 Wary Hanger
Wary Hanger's picture

It's a 'MATHEMATICAL CERTAINTY' that when TSHTF, jews (like Sanders), will turn against jews (like Greenspan). Then, jew lawyers will profit from both sides, & jew re-insurance companies will pay out & hand the bill, via the jew lobby, to the American taxpayer. It's a small club & you ain't in it unless your name is kito.

 

What a fucking paper kabuki theatre.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:34 | 6445467 localspaced
localspaced's picture

Me I'm waiting for the redneck-on-redneck action to start. Moar guns = better television. Get cracking crackers.

I'm sure you'll win through pure mathematics.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:25 | 6445421 Iank35
Iank35's picture

When you look at how the banking system was set up by the elites for the benefit of the elites one has to wonder why people waste their time producing graph after graph adding all the reasons why things are going to end sooo badly. 

This has obviously been the plan since day one, allow the serfs to create all the wealth and technology by allowing them to think they are free then take the wealth by stealth using a central bank and use the technology to control the masses when you can't sqeeze any more out of them.

It is an amazing plan thats worked out wonerfully well. The last part is for the elites, who have never had such vast wealth and power before in histrory, is to buy up all those super cheap commodiites then pull the plug. 

We'll all be fighting them there immigrants for the scraps, because they caused it after all. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:51 | 6445681 logicalman
logicalman's picture

There wouldn't be immigrants if countries (Bullshit constructs, in reality) opereated within their own (fake lines) borders.

When one country impoverishes another it's hardly surprising that the impoverished want to move to where their wealth ended up.

The true battle that must be fought is between the banksters and the rest of humanity.

Hope it's soon, I've had enough of this shit.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:26 | 6445436 Bluntly Put
Bluntly Put's picture

Think of it like this; where a purchase made with earned money is a two party transaction a purchase made on debt is a three party transaction.  Essentially banks become a party to every consumer transaction that is done on debt.  And so banks essentially are feeding off of every transaction between a consumer and a proprietor.

I agree with statement, and to make matters worse once banks eliminate cash there will be no alternative for purchases made outside their control. At that point they will levy fees or essentially taxes on each transaction, perhaps as much as we now pay with federal income taxes within 10 years.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:35 | 6445629 The Old Man
The Old Man's picture

Like this. +100!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:09 | 6445855 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Very Important Point.

And well Put.

Can't vote since Italics.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 01:45 | 6446237 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

Can't vote since Italics.

Not true. You cannot easily vote by clickng on an arrow because he used a BLOCKQUOTE. Just FYI. Look at this post. Italics are used.  I will downarrow myself. (You can too if you'd like. Votes are meaningless. You know that.) But he is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT that the plan is for the Central Bankers to make the skim off of every transaction...WHICH IS THE POINT. Do not care too much about votes.
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:27 | 6445441 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

I was thinking about this today. I have a small pension due from a long time ago employer. I received notice that the fund is insolvent and may be turned over to PGBC and probably will be mostly wiped out. Oh well, I have fairly substantial savings of approx $800K and at 5% interest I could get $40K yr income from that except there is no 5% interest, it's fucking 0%. Oh well, there's also SS which I have paid in for 40 yrs. Of course it's insolvent too and I probably will get a worthless check starting next yr as they try and inflate away the debt. So only left to do is eat the seed corn and draw down savings or buy stawks and we all know how that will go. We are fucked seven ways from sunday and the only dream I have left is to see Bernanke hang.

 

Fuck you Ben

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:02 | 6445543 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Thanks for well made points.

Fuck U Greenspam, Fuck U Berbanky, Pull your head out Janet.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:16 | 6445581 mygameon
mygameon's picture

You and I know your seed corn will be worth more than your cash. Your knowledge and recognition that one is being fucked and will need to be prepared is priceless.

Well said on all points. I am in a similar situation. Taking my cash and building a self sufficient community around me. Millennials included. Fuck the rest of all of the other shit. I am done thinking about what was taken from me and what is owed. I will extract my pound a flesh from those who fucked this up.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:00 | 6445710 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Similar here, in terms of pensions.

The ex got nearly everything.

My approach is to live minimally and have useful skills.

Eat well and get enough sleep. Oh, yes, and excercise.

Enjoy today - you may not see tomorrow.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:18 | 6445881 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

One Caveat similar to the conundrum faced by early US Colonist:

Could be some of the Puppet Masters live in Europe.

Raises possible need to Network with people in Europe and consider language translation skills.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:29 | 6445913 logicalman
logicalman's picture

The puppet masters don't give a fuck about countries - they live where they want to.

Countries are for controlling the herds

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:54 | 6445692 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

You have $800k in savings ... start stacking motherfucker.  You'll be able to buy popcorn and watch the spectacle of the SHTF in comfort.  But yes I agree about Bernanke and the whole lot of them ... too bad the military works for them rather than the people.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:44 | 6445490 slightlyskeptical
slightlyskeptical's picture

The solution does not exist in the current system. There are plenty of solutions outside the current system.

 

i am talking pure fiat with no debt attachment.

 

Print the money, pay off the debts and outlaw leverage in all forms to keep it from being inflation. It is the only answer.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:48 | 6445496 Fox-Scully
Fox-Scully's picture

In stead of wiping it, did she try to flush the server?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:51 | 6445505 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

It's a bad day to quit drinking whiskey.

Seriously I need a drink to get plugged in.

Good Article, Good Title, Good Graphs, Negative Trend-line is understood, lots of good points, some new ideas and information for me.

I might have to keep an eye on Thad Beversdorf.

This might be one to forward or share.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:20 | 6446030 bobdog54
bobdog54's picture

Agree, his http://www.firstrebuttal.com blog is worth a few hours of great reading. I have found his work to be well thought out and factual.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:59 | 6445528 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

We could wind up with a global nazi when this collapses.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:55 | 6445699 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

already got it, called the IMF, BIS and World bank

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:32 | 6445618 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

It doesn't take long for the Reich-wing members of ZH to come out and show their true colors (brown and/or black, your choice) whenever an article containing at least one Jewish person presents itself.

Bernie Sanders is the best presidential candidate in my lifetime, and is no friend of Wall Street and the bankster-gangster class.

"In the midst of all of this grotesque inequality in our country sits a handful of financial institutions that are still so large, the failure of any one would cause catastrophic risk to millions of Americans and send the world economy into crisis. Most of the major Wall Street financial institutions that we bailed out because they were "too big to fail" are now bigger than they used to be. The six largest financial institutions now have assets equivalent to nearly 60% of our GDP, issue 35% of the mortgages, and oversee 65% of credit cards. My view: If it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist. That's the bottom line. As president, I will break up the big banks and restore some sanity to our banking system." part of a Bernie Sanders email to supporters

No other candidate - Democrat or Republican - is saying such things. Bernie's never wavered in his steadfast opposition to Wall Street's destruction of the American economy. He's a good man, something I can't say about any of the other candidates, not especially Corporate Shillary.

But, he's Jewish, so there's that, right neo-Nazi Jew-haters?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:33 | 6445922 logicalman
logicalman's picture

He's a politician, so you know he can't be trusted.

I must be an antilyingist.

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 08:29 | 6446588 Chipped ham
Chipped ham's picture

So now we're racist if we don't trust an even bigger government socialist? Just based on your last sentence your writing is to be dismissed.

Hands up, don't shoot!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:46 | 6445669 10mm
10mm's picture

Cock suckered with a big snozze.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:50 | 6445678 Manipuflation
Manipuflation's picture

Here, this is far better than Bernie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:07 | 6445730 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

Great vid, don't know about better but right along the same line.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 20:51 | 6445682 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

Res Res was NOT formed to help the little guy. 

The Satanic Wilsonian Creature from Jeckyl Island is 101 years and its Money Changers in The Temple as Usual.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:19 | 6445756 Bay Area Guy
Bay Area Guy's picture

Of course it's going to end badly.  I'm just not sure if the housing bubble is going to pop first or the DotCom bubble.  I think the housing bubble will pop first because I am hearing more and more commercials about house flipping.  That was a significant sign that the top was in just before the last bubble burst in housing.  When the flippers figure they can make more money selling their schemes to the masses then they can actually flipping houses, they're seeing a definite top.  The other reason I predict the housing bubble will pop first is that we're seeing more and more stupid loans being taken out by people.  I haven't followed all the loans, so I'm not sure if the "30 year negative amortization, 0% introductory rate, variable rate" loan product is back, but it wouldn't surprise me.  I'm hearing ads for low or no down loans again.  In my area, people are, once again, paying ridiculous amounts for a home, then tearing it down and rebuilding.

They've let the boogie man of recession overwhelm them.  No politico wants to be in charge when there's a recession, so they inflate the shit out of every bubble to stave them off.  Well, recessions are a normal part of a healthy economy.  When you artificially try prevent them, you're just looking at a bigger explosion down the road.  We're at that point now.  While I don't think they will raise rates, I think they should not even attempt to control interest rates any longer.  I think they should let the market, such as it is, decide what interest rates should be.  That will, at best, cause a recession and likely a depression, but it will at least give the economy a shot at resetting and getting back into a normal rhythm.

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 05:12 | 6445763 honestann
honestann's picture

Nice rant by Bernie, and some of what he said is correct.  However, many of his ideas and approaches are just as harmful as Alan Greedspasm or any of the other predatory central banksters, and that's says a lot.

Nonetheless, I loved the rant.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:51 | 6445813 DipshitMiddleCl...
DipshitMiddleClassWhiteKid's picture

14/88  !!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:59 | 6445821 general ambivalent
general ambivalent's picture

Stupid website, but hilarious headline:

Kenyan Man Is Prepared to Offer 50 Cows for Malia Obama

http://jezebel.com/kenyan-man-is-prepared-to-offer-50-cows-for-malia-oba...

"Felix Kiprono, a lawyer from Kenya, is in love with Malia Obama. And just in case you think he’s in it for The Wrong Reasons, well, he isn’t: “People might say I am after the family’s money, which is not the case. My love is real,” he told a Nairobi newspaper.

His love is so real, in fact, that he would like to offer the Obama family fifty cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats for 16-year-old Malia’s hand in marriage—according to CNN, a package worth up to $90,000. What a handsome bride price! “I got interested in her in 2008,” he said, according to CNN. “As a matter of fact, I haven’t dated anyone since and promise to be faithful to her.”"

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:01 | 6445833 SamEyeAm
SamEyeAm's picture

You wanna see a flawed ideology, see Bernie Sanders utopia - Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and all the former Iron Curtain countries. Hey, EVERYONE in North Korea has state provided hellcare and edumacation. How is that working out, Bernie.

Everything Washington DC's masterminds touch turns to crap. Fook Bernie in the eyeball.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:06 | 6445844 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

So your solution is to keep the status quo. Or go even further right than we have over the past 35 years.

Sure. That'll work.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:08 | 6446008 SamEyeAm
SamEyeAm's picture

We haven't gone further to the right. We've gone full bore to the left.

Stop smoking nutmeg. You've been warned.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 03:18 | 6446318 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

retard

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 08:22 | 6446563 Chipped ham
Chipped ham's picture

Right? Left? Whatever.

Free markets and sound money returning will cause the economy to crash. But then it will stabilize at its level and growth will occur only when sound investment is made. That is, when a unit of debt has a positive ROI, growth occurs. Organically.

The article's point is clear. Your reasoning is not.

Wed, 09/02/2015 - 22:11 | 6502736 Jackagain
Jackagain's picture

What area of Pittsburgh are you from?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 22:12 | 6445867 Mini-Me
Mini-Me's picture

The first chart continues the lie that we had a surplus in the late 90s.  The simple fact is that the national debt went up every year.  How can you have a surplus if the debt increases during those years?

Also conveniently forgotten is the pilfering of the laughably named "Trust Fund" to finance Uncle Sam's trillion dollar vote-buying programs.  Borrowing from Social Security and counting it as revenue is accounting gimmickry.  It's also fraudulent, blatantly dishonest and immoral.

Of course, if they wanted a true picture of the country's financial condition, they would use GAAP in the calculations.  All the off-the-books expenses would then be counted.  The true debt is an order of magnitude greater than they're reporting.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:02 | 6445997 IT Guy
IT Guy's picture

As we say in NZ Bernie is one of the good barstards

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 00:21 | 6446114 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

Bernie Sanders is all that remains of "America". There is no question that America was the greatest nation, in every way, on Earth, for many decades. But she has fallen; lost her way. Bernie is old, but he speaks from experience, and more importantly, from the heart. The establishment will be cruel to him, ridicule him; but he, and Ron Paul will be remembered for their tireless dedication to our return to prosperity through unquestionable decency and goodwill.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 01:18 | 6446204 Mini-Me
Mini-Me's picture

The difference being that Sanders is a statist that thinks he can micromanage 320 million people.  Ron Paul had the sense to admit the folly of central planning.  The former believes in equality of outcomes; the latter believes in liberty.  Big difference.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 00:25 | 6446120 EndOfDayExit
EndOfDayExit's picture

IMHO, the logic in this article is backwards. They claim that abandoning gold standard leads to moral hazard leads to money printing leads to slower growth. The sad reality is that a slower growth demands abandoning gold standard and requires money printing to keep people employed or at least well fed. Otherwise society disintegrates. With money printing the society still disintegrates but at least it does it a lot slower. Abandoning the gold standard in 1971 was not a whim.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 03:01 | 6446302 Batman11
Batman11's picture

The profit motive in action:

If I manufacture my product in China I can gain a competitive advantage.

I am losing profits as that firm manufacturing stuff in China is under-cutting our prices.

I must move my manufacturing to China.

Sometime later.

Everyone is manufacturing stuff in China and there is no competitive advantage.

China has become a new super-power.

There are no decent jobs left in the US, UK or Western Europe.

Domestic consumption and GDP fall.

The balance of power shifts from West to East through one businessman's short term increase in profit.

Not to mention decades of product development and manufacturing expertise handed to China on a plate.

The businessmen never did take into account China's lax attitude to intellectual property rights.

The newly impoverished Western consumer can now no longer afford China's products.

The Chinese consumer is already poorly paid but must save continuously due to the lack of a state safety net.

Global demand goes down the pan.

Who was that businessman who first moved production to China?

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 03:04 | 6446305 Batman11
Batman11's picture

There is now a statue of Milton Freidman in Tiananmen Square.

One of the founding fathers of this new super-power.

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 08:29 | 6446590 Semi-employed W...
Semi-employed White Guy's picture

Your tale is correct but missing the fact that the businessman sold his business along the way and retired to Florida where he enjoys lavish dinners and may occasionally tip 10% to the servants that wait on him if they are sufficiently servile.

Wed, 09/02/2015 - 22:08 | 6502719 Jackagain
Jackagain's picture

Not to mention chemical plant explosions...

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 08:26 | 6446579 Ceomegaglobalcorp
Ceomegaglobalcorp's picture

I have a dream, that someday a bleeding, weeping, urine-soaked Fed chairman is forced to read this aloud on television at gunpoint.

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