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Charlie Echo

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  1. When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics. Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions. "Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union. Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive. In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it. The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies. Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere. And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated. But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men." If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion-- or $50 billion or $100 billion-- then so be it. But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law." Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference. With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution. If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in Constitutional government. And, without Constitutional government, freedom cannot endure. There will always be a "crisis"-- which, as the president's chief of staff has said, cannot be allowed to "go to waste" as an opportunity to expand the government's power. That power will of course not be confined to BP or to the particular period of crisis that gave rise to the use of that power, much less to the particular issues. When Franklin D. Roosevelt arbitrarily took the United States off the gold standard, he cited a law passed during the First World War to prevent trading with the country's wartime enemies. But there was no war when FDR ended the gold standard's restrictions on the printing of money. At about the same time, during the worldwide Great Depression, the German Reichstag passed a law "for the relief of the German people." That law gave Hitler dictatorial powers that were used for things going far beyond the relief of the German people-- indeed, powers that ultimately brought a rain of destruction down on the German people and on others. If the agreement with BP was an isolated event, perhaps we might hope that it would not be a precedent. But there is nothing isolated about it. The man appointed by President Obama to dispense BP's money as the administration sees fit, to whomever it sees fit, is only the latest in a long line of presidentially appointed "czars" controlling different parts of the economy, without even having to be confirmed by the Senate, as Cabinet members are. Those who cannot see beyond the immediate events to the issues of arbitrary power-- versus the rule of law and the preservation of freedom-- are the "useful idiots" of our time. But useful to whom? By Thomas Sowell
  2. Charity Breeds Poverty L: Doug, our readers are hoping to live well for the rest of their lives. If they are successful, they’ll have some money left over at the end. Some have wondered, given your low opinion of trying to use the state to improve the human condition, if there’s a private charity you think might be a good place to direct funds they no longer need. Doug: No. L: That’s it? No? Doug: Most charities aren’t worth the cost of the gunpowder it would take to blow them to hell. L: And the permitting for the demolition — fuhgeddaboudit. But can you explain why? Doug: Sure. Charities are largely counterproductive. Their main beneficiaries are not the intended recipients, but the givers. They get some tax benefits, but mainly they get the holy high of do-goodism. Frankly, the idea of charity itself is corrupting to both parties in the transaction. For instance, take Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Both are geniuses at their businesses. But they’re the type of geniuses I consider to be idiot savants. If they really wanted to improve the state of the world, they should continue doing what they do best, which is accumulating wealth. Or, actually, creating it — as opposed to dissipating it by giving it away. Giving money away breaks up a capital pool that could have been used productively by those who build it for making new wealth (which increases the amount of wealth that exists in the world). Worse, giving money away usually delivers it into the hands of people who don’t deserve it. That sends the wrong moral message. People should have, or get, things because they deserve them. And you deserve things because you earn them. In other words, wealth should be a consequence of doing things that improve the state of the world. Endowing groups, or individuals, because they happen to have had some bad luck, or are perpetual losers, is actually immoral. When money is given away, it’s almost as bad as government welfare. It makes it unnecessary for the recipient to produce, and that tends to cement him to his current station in life. The very act of making an urgent situation non-urgent takes away the incentive, the urgency, to improve. Morally speaking, charity is not a virtue, it’s a vice. L: The giver gets to feel good at the expense of the people whose independent drive they undermine. But what about the programs that are specifically designed to teach an individual to fish, rather than to just hand out fish — those that teach job skills, for example — do you see them the same way? Doug: I’m not saying that programs like that can have no positive effect. There are people who genuinely want to improve themselves, but, for whatever reason, just can’t manage it on their own. But charity is not the best way to approach the issue. Look, the basic point I’m making is that the best way to reduce the amount of poverty in the world is to create more wealth — as much as possible, as quickly as possible. The essence of a charity transaction is to transfer wealth from those who have shown they can create it to those who have not shown they can. I mean, if a man doesn’t know how to “fish,” which isn’t exactly rocket science, after all, you have to wonder why. Money is best left in the hands of the most competent and productive people, and the best way to tell who’s the most competent and productive is generally to look at who’s created the most wealth. L: And the more wealth there is in the world, the better off everyone is — even those who end up working for the creators. Doug: Right. And those employees are creating and earning on their own wealth as well. It sure has a lot more dignity than being a welfare bum. Besides, if they are competent and creative, there’s no reason for them not to rise to the top. L: And as we’ve discussed before, you need large pools of capital to develop new technologies, and new technologies tend, on average, to improve the lot of the little guy proportionally more than the guy at the top of the social pyramid. Doug: Yes. Charity exists, mostly, to make the donor feel good. It assuages guilt people accrue over a lifetime, for real or imaginary reasons. L: I remember that interview John Stossel did with Donald Trump, in which he asked him to explain why he gave a billion dollars to the UN. Trump looked poleaxed for a minute, then got up and walked out of the interview. Doug: [Laughs] That’s a polar extreme opposite to charity. That was giving money to an organization that is itself destructive. Counterproductive in the extreme. The UN, which is just a corrupt club for governments, should be abolished, not subsidized. And here’s this fool actually feeding the beast. It’s a perfect example of what most so-called charitable giving is about. It’s an excuse for people to display their fine philanthropist plumage. It’s a never-ending contest of one-upmanship, to see who can be the king of the hill of fools for a day, by giving the most. In most cases, it’s not about what the money is going to, it’s about being a big shot among peers and getting invited to all the most fashionable parties. They get to socialize with celebrities and others who, in our corrupt society, buy fame by giving away money — which in many cases was either easily earned or unearned. In most cases, philanthropy doesn’t arise from a love for one’s fellow man, but from a need to assuage guilt, a need to show off, and a lack of imagination. L: So, your basic argument is like the old saying about it being common sense that it’s better (and cheaper) to put a fence at the top of a cliff, rather than to put an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. That is, rather than putting band-aids on the poverty-stricken, it’s better not to have any poverty-stricken. Therefore, it’s better to allow wealth to continue accumulating and creating more wealth. And that means that any effort to take wealth away from the wealthy — the productive — and give it to the non-productive, is... counterproductive. Doug: That’s basically the argument. Yes. And it’s true for both practical and ethical reasons. L: Okay. So, what happens when you run into literally starving orphan babies in Haiti, the way you did? Even if you allow wealth to accumulate, and society becomes 50 or 100 times wealthier, and that decreases poverty by 50 or 100 times — or maybe 1,000 times. There will still be some cases of people who, through genuinely no fault of their own, truly need a helping hand — and the consequences would be dire if they don’t get it. What would you advocate in those situations? Doug: Well, in the first place, though I’m not a Christian, let me quote Jesus of Nazareth. He said, “The poor, you will always have with you.” He had a different context in mind, but he was quite correct. That’s because in most cases, poverty is not a function of bad luck. It can be, sometimes, of course. Perhaps if you’re born in a country with a brutal and repressive regime, or if you’re born with mental handicaps — there are all kinds of things that can happen. But generally, with a few such exceptions, poverty is simply a sign of bad habits. In a relatively free country, it’s a sign of an inability or unwillingness to save, which is to say, to produce more than you consume. It’s a sign of a lack of self-discipline. Sloth that afflicts those not willing to learn skills they can sell to other people. It can be a sign of having no self-respect, as among those who spend all their money on drugs and alcohol, which are debilitating, rather than strengthening. In the vast majority of cases, those who suffer from poverty are not victims of anything other than their own bad habits. L: Wow. Tough words. Doug: It’s even worse than that. Think about it. Let’s say we’re looking at some place where there’s been a drought, or some other serious natural disaster, and then organizations like the UN ship in thousands of tons of food. What happens when that food hits the local market? L: Does it even get there? Doesn’t the local dictator usually take it and sell it in some other country where people can pay for it, and then stash the cash in a Swiss bank account? Doug: Well, that’s the first thing that happens, of course. But even when it gets through to them, such aid rarely helps the people it’s supposed to help. In fact, it usually hurts them, because, as I was saying, when all that free food hits the local market, it drives the price of food down so low, the local farmers can’t produce profitably. What happens when you drive the local farmers out of business? They stop planting, there’s no crop the next year, and the shortage of food becomes even worse. The very acts of these charities trying to help people in famine-stricken areas prolong the famines. Now, I’m not saying that if you know someone who needs a helping hand, and you feel good about helping — which is different from feeling guilty about not helping - that you shouldn’t do it. It can be a good-karma thing to do - and I do believe in karma, incidentally. But when these things are institutionalized, they create distortions in the marketplace. L: People may think it strange to hear you talking about markets in famine-stricken places or regions devastated by earthquakes, etc. But markets are everywhere. They are not physical places in New York and London, but are aspects of human psychology. They are patterns of human behavior created by people when they enter into voluntary transactions — as distinct from government action, which is always based on coercion. In today’s world, famine can still be caused by storms, drought, and other natural events. But it’s more often caused, and always aggravated, by distortions in the market: taxes, wars, idiotic regulation, runaway inflation, and the like. Doug: And when a big charity intrudes on one of these weakened, distorted markets, it usually adds even more distortions, prolonging the problem. Consider these charitable organizations going around the world treating diseases. The reason these countries have these terrible diseases that kill so many people is because they are economically undeveloped. Keeping people alive via extraordinary measures in such a place only results in more people competing for the same scarce resources. The answer to the problem is not to send in teams of doctors, so that you’ll have even more destitute people producing no wealth, but to free the local market so the people can become wealthy. The disease will go away as a consequence — this is the only permanent cure. What they are doing is the exact opposite of what they should be doing; they are making things worse. L: Sounds pretty cold, Doug, to say, “Don’t send doctors-” Doug: Well, don’t forget that a lot of people have supported the likes of Mugabe and deserve the economic ruin they are getting — and the diseases that are going to follow. Send doctors in if it makes you feel good, but it’s putting band-aids on smallpox. Don’t imagine that you’re actually helping solve the problem. People who do this kind of thing, I believe, do it because of feelings of guilt and shame they carry around inside. I understand them, but I don’t agree with them. It does sound cold-blooded, and I’m sorry. I like kids and dogs and the same things most people like. But I’m not talking about whatever I or others might imagine is nice. I’m talking about the only real way to solve such a problem. It’s disgusting to see the hot-shot yuppies self-righteously driving around the African bush in their new Land Rovers, pretending they’re eliminating poverty. That’s where most of the money goes, in fact. High living and “administration.” L: You didn’t let me finish. I was saying that it sounds cold-blooded, but who’s really more cold-blooded: the one who knowingly spends precious resources on measures, knowing they won’t be effective and will lead to greater sorrow, or the one who has the courage to make the hard decision and reach for the real, long-term solution? Doug: Yes. That’s the way I see it. L: It occurs to me, reacting to the distinction you made earlier between individual charity and institutional charity, that perhaps it’s like religion. Whether we agree with their beliefs or not, it’s clear that many people derive value from those beliefs. But when religions become organizations and dogma sets in, they can get really destructive. Doug: Well, as an individual, if I come across a person who I have reason to believe is worthy of my charity, and my trust, I might act individually. But yes, when things get organized, they get bureaucratized. It’s just the natural course of things; it seems almost universal that as organizations get older and more structured, they become counterproductive to their intended purposes. Charity is especially prone to this problem because of the phony ethical notions that now seem to pervade Western society. It’s gotten worse over the last 100 years. People have come to believe that an instrument of coercion, the state, has to take care of them. Perversely, when the state engages in charity - which isn’t charity, because tax-supported giving is not voluntary — it discourages true charity. People who have money taken from them by the taxman have less of it to give to those they might know who genuinely need help. L: The Tragedy of American Compassion. Marvin Olasky. Doug: Great book. I think the Chinese are much more intelligent than Westerners in this regard. The only charity you find in most oriental societies is organized by beneficial societies that seem less pervious to squandering. Peer pressure and moral approbation keep them in line, unlike governments, which exist primarily to serve themselves. And taxes tend to be a lot lower in the Orient, so people have more money to give, if that’s their inclination. In fact, one of the horrible aspects of this issue, in the United States, is that large amounts of money are stolen from estates in the form of death taxes. The idea seems to be that the government will deploy wealth more wisely than the children of its creators. But this is ridiculous. It’s part of the whole ethical morass that charity and taxation are tied up in, in the U.S. Suppose you have a Chinese and an American, of equal intelligence, work ethic, education, skills, etc. — and an equal amount of starting capital. The American who starts with a dollar might end up with a million. But the Chinese guy in the same circumstances will end up with 50 million. All because of the difference in taxes and regulations. But it’s worse than that, because whatever amount of money the American is going to leave to his kids, half of it is going to disappear down the tax rat hole, while 100% of the money the Oriental guy leaves will go exactly where he wants it to go. That has major implications for wealth accumulation of the sort that we help people achieve. It’s another reason for the diversification of political risk we keep reminding people is so important. But sadly, even if an American ends up with $100 million, odds are he won’t leave the bulk of it intact as an effective capital pool, to be expanded upon by his chosen heir. He’ll give it to some charity that will be run for the benefit of its board of directors. They get to be big shots with other people’s money — corrupting both themselves and the intended recipients. L: So, the bottom line is that if you had a magic wand and could abolish all charitable institutions with a wave of it, you’d do it. And you would not replace them with anything. You’d use the wand to reduce taxes and regulations everywhere, to allow for more wealth creation. And for those few desperate cases clinging to the bottom rungs of the social ladder, you think individual conscience would suffice. Doug: Exactly. To me, charity should be strictly an individual, one-to-one thing. That’s the only way you can know that it can really help, and even then it doesn’t always work. Once you have to hire somebody to run a charitable organization and have secretaries and assistant vice-presidents in charge of light-bulb changing, it’s just another bureaucracy headed for disaster, dissipating wealth as it goes, and doing more harm than good even among the intended recipients of the charity. L: I don’t see a lot of immediate investment implications here, but there’s certainly a lot of food for thought for those intent on wealth accumulation. Doug: Let’s just say that your moral obligation to the rest of humanity - insofar as you have such an obligation — is to keep your capital intact. First, that means to deny it to the state, which will very likely use it in a destructive way. Second, direct it to those who will use it to produce more — not to unproductive consumers. Third, take some personal responsibility, and do it yourself — don’t devolve it upon some unknown board of worthies who will have their own ideas about what to do with your money.
  3. Two Reasons to Buy China-Based Stocks Right Now How do you make a 100% gain in a foreign stock even if the price of the shares go nowhere in their home market? It’s all in the currencies. To have any chance of doing that, you have to start with a cheap currency. For U.S.-based investors, one of the cheapest currencies may be China’s yuan (or renminbi). Of course, China fixes the value of the yuan against the dollar at the moment. This is a big bone of contention between American and Chinese officialdom. The charge is that China is holding the value of its currency down to make its exports cheaper. Whatever the outcome of that spat, it seems as if some currency appreciation is inevitable over time. The market anticipates a 3% increase this year. And in the past, China has let its currency appreciate gradually. For example, the value of the yuan rose 21% from July 2005 to 2008, before China stopped it. (What happened to commodities during this stretch is also worth knowing, and we’ll get to that below, too…) So how cheap is China’s currency now? It is hard to say. Murray Stahl, the savvy investor who runs Horizon Asset Management, thinks it might be as much as 50% undervalued. China’s renminbi is 49% undervalued versus the dollar. I don’t know if the yuan is that cheap, but it seems it is cheap to some meaningful degree. If it is that cheap, then U.S. dollar-based investors stand to make a huge windfall. As Stahl writes, “If [the renminbi] were allowed to float, one might expect returns of up to 100% from the currency exposure alone. For a U.S. investor holding Chinese securities, a rise in the value of the renminbi would provide positive returns, even if the local share price were to remain unchanged.” That’s how you make 100% without the shares going anywhere. Regardless of what the exact percentages wind up being, playing for a rise in the yuan seems the way to bet. The dollar has lost ground against a bunch of other Asian currencies already this year. It lost nearly 7% again the Malaysian ringgit, for instance. Singapore, which also pegs its currency to the dollar, recently said it would allow gradual appreciation. China, I think, will be no different. For this reason, getting a yuan revenue stream is a good idea if you are U.S. dollar-based investor. One way to do that is to buy shares in a Chinese company that does business mostly in China and hence makes sales in yuan. (You don’t want an exporter.) My sense of it is that the Chinese will allow a gradual appreciation of their currency, perhaps 4–5% a year. For investors in China, this is a meaningful tail wind. I don’t think it will have much of an effect on Chinese exports. China’s advantages are deeper than that. In 2005–08, when China’s yuan rose 21%, its trade surplus actually tripled. A stronger yuan will also make the oil and iron ore and other commodities China needs cheaper for Chinese buyers. This brings us round to the question of what else might happen if the yuan gets stronger. In 2005, when China allowed its currency to appreciate, oil jumped 15% the month after the news. Commodities in general rose. As The Wall Street Journal explains, “With a stronger yuan, imported raw materials already in high demand in China — such as crude oil and copper — would become cheaper there.” Hence, demand rises! In particular, those commodities of which China is short — oil, potash, soybeans, iron ore — could all receive a jolt if the yuan gets stronger against the dollar. There is another reason to own Chinese shares beyond just the currency. China is underrepresented in the world’s stock indexes. This is important because it helps give you some sense of where the big money — the institutional money — will flow in the future. As Stahl points out, the Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE Index is the most widely used global benchmark for investment managers. (EAFE stands for Europe, Australasia and the Far East.) That means the global index funds, ETFs and other funds all look to ape this index or beat it. Think of it as the global S&P 500. Well, this index has zero allocation to China. Zero. China is the world’s second largest economy, and it has no weighting in this popular index. “In principle, this is rather unusual,” Stahl writes, “since the object of the index is to replicate world financial performance outside of the U.S. It is difficult to imagine how this is to be accomplished if China, given the size of its economy, is excluded.” Where it is included, it is often a ridiculously small portion of the index. State Street Global Advisors has the MSCI All Country World Index. China is 3.3% of this index, the ninth largest weighting. Japan, by contrast, has a 15.5% weighting. Investors thinking they are getting something representative of the world in the World Index are quite clearly getting a skewed view of that world. If China got its proper weight, it would be 17% of the index. The reason for the neglect is because there are not enough China securities to fill out these indexes yet. The tradable volume of China’s market is still small relative to the size of China’s economy. As the market grows over time and as more securities come to the market, this issue will likely solve itself. This, though, is your opportunity as a smaller investor. You can buy now before the buffaloes come thundering in. As Stahl puts it, “We believe it is only a matter of time [before] China will ultimately be included in indexes at the appropriate weights. If this were to occur, one could imagine the impact on the Chinese securities prices, irrespective of the underlying economic backdrop.” The impact would be large and to the upside. The key is you want to be invested in these companies before that happens. The market, like Mother Nature, seldom hands out freebies, however. Investing in China is likely to test the linings of your stomach, if history is any guide. Over the past 30 years, the Hang Seng Index — a benchmark of China securities — has fallen by an average of 56% in six episodes lasting anywhere from two months to three years. Yet to the strongest stomach go the greatest rewards. The annualized rate of return on the Hang Seng Index was 11.5% in the 30 years ending December 2009, compared with the S&P 500’s return of 8.1%.” Today, Chinese stocks have a couple of tail winds that will keep that streak alive, as I’ve discussed above. Besides, many of the U.S.-listed Chinese stocks seem cheap on the face of it, with single-digit price-earnings ratios, good balance sheets and 20%-plus growth rates — such as one of the stocks in the ************** portfolio. Those low price-to-earnings ratios could stay low and investors would still earn 20%-plus a year just from earnings growth. If the market should up the multiple, you’d do even better. Add in potential currency effects and you could do better still. Regards, C Mayer (Copy from Newsletter) Hope this is a positive for RV ...
  4. Two Consequences of the Stimulus Programs Washington Wants You to Ignore! by Claus Vogt Over the past two years, we've seen the largest stimulus policies the world has ever produced. As a result, sovereign debt and central banks' balance sheet holdings have gone through the roof! When a government and its central bank throw hundreds of billions in taxpayers' dollars at the financial markets and the economy you'll definitely see ... Desired and Undesired Consequences ... The official desired short-term consequences include the huge stock market rally off the March 2009 lows and the economic rebound since mid-2009. On the other hand, the undesired, longer-term consequences will often be swept under the rug by short-sighted politicians and central banks. So today I want to focus on two of those undesired consequences, ones Washington wants you to ignore: Undesired Consequence #1— The Unstable Economy The stock market rally since March 2009 has indeed been impressive. But according to many measures the economic rebound has been extremely weak ... The easiest way to understand how weak this recovery has been is to look at the work of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Founded in 1920, the NBER is the nation's leading nonprofit, economic research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. And it is the official arbiter of recessions in the U.S. — giving notice when their researchers determine a recession has begun and when it has finally ended. And as recently as yesterday, the NBER has NOT declared an end to the recession that started in December 2007. Especially troubling is the labor market ... According to the Federal Reserve, the number of working Americans isn't any higher today than it was 10 years ago! Since Census figures show the U.S. population is growing by 2 to 3 million every year, this stagnation in job growth is a giant roadblock for an economy struggling to dig out of a recession. Undesired Consequence #2— Weakening Financial Indicators At the same time some important leading economic indicators have begun to roll over again. The most obvious is the stock market, which has declined more than what is considered a normal 10 percent correction since its April high. This has to be rated as an ominous sign. Then the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) started to turn down in April. The year-over-year percentage change declined to 10.2 percent from 11.5 percent. As the Stimulus Fades the Economy Loses Steam I've just given you some of the early, but usually reliable, signs of a deteriorating economy. But you shouldn't be surprised about this sad development. The fact is, no matter how much money is thrown at the problem, the economy isn't getting any traction. Nor has it entered a self-sustaining recovery. The economic rebound we've seen in the past months is just the short-term reaction to the unprecedented stimulus programs. And as the stimulus money fades away, so does the economic recovery — and so does the stock market rally. This reading is still far from a recession warning. But it may very well be the turning point for this cycle. And history shows the LEI can decline very quickly after the turnaround is in. Finally, there is the Economic Cycle Research Institute's (ECRI) Weekly Leading Index, another major leading indicator. It has just fallen to minus 3.5 percent — the lowest level in the last 10 months. I've marked this level with a red horizontal line in the following chart. If it keeps falling, even by a little bit in the coming weeks, its message will be loud and clear: Double dip recession ahead!
  5. There is more to the Iraqi Dinar than Iraq, China. As GG said, why would Europe and the US let China own 76% of Iraq.... Answer: They may not be able to stop them and the following is a reason why. Too much Sovereign debt. by Mike Larson European Commission saw the light of day recently, thanks to some reporting from Bloomberg. It highlights an incredibly dangerous Catch-22 facing many sovereign nations — the "Snowball Scenario. "Suppose country A's economy goes into the tank. The government responds by borrowing boatloads of money and spending like mad on stimulus packages. The markets allow it to go on for a while. But then investors start to get antsy about all the debt being added to the government's balance sheet. So they start dumping its bonds, driving prices lower and rates higher. That, in turn, forces the country to implement austerity measures to get its debt and deficit under control. The problem? Those moves send the economy BACK into the crapper! Government spending has to rise yet again to pay for things like unemployment insurance, new stimulus packages, and so on ... at the same time tax revenues fall. That drives debts and deficits even higher. The end game in this snowball scenario? A sovereign default! And that's not just a theory. In fact ... Snowballs Are Already Rolling Downhill in Spain, Greece, and Portugal Spain is trying to slash its budget deficit from 11.2 percent to 9.3 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011. Portugal wants to cut its deficit from 9.4 percent to 7.3 percent this year and 4.6 percent next year. They plan to do so by some combination of pension freezes, wage cuts, new taxes, and other measures. But the European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, says that probably won't be enough. Its conclusion? "While the newly announced measures are significant and the targets imply impressive budgetary consolidation, more measures are needed to meet those targets." In plain English, the message is "Get even tougher! Crack down more! Slash spending! Raise taxes!" But as the Commission admits, the governments it is counseling face "low GDP growth, poor competitiveness, stable or declining prices and wages and high real interest rates." So it's virtually impossible to avoid a "snowball effect on the government debt." Bond traders aren't dumb. They can see this coming from a mile away. Yields on Spanish 2-year notes shot up recently, then eased a bit. But now they're rallying yet again — hitting a new cycle high just this week. Spanish borrowing costs have skyrocketed from 1.51 percent in March to 3.29 percent, the highest in 17 months! It now costs more on a relative basis for Spain to borrow than it does the euro-area's main economy, Germany. And it's the highest that the 10-year Spanish/German yield spread has been since 1999 — when the euro currency debuted. Portugal is seeing costs rise, too. It's paying 5.58 percent to borrow money for 10 years, up from 4.15 percent back in April. Reports are surfacing that Spain may need a 250 billion euro ($307 billion) credit line from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and possibly the U.S. Treasury. Naturally, policymakers are denying that anything is in the works. But what do you expect them to do? These guys said the same thing about Greece, claiming it wasn't at risk of defaulting. Then they pushed through a $135 billion bailout! In short, this sovereign debt crisis is playing out just like the private credit market crisis did before. It comes in waves — with periodic sharp drops triggered by some event, then some kind of bailout that makes everybody breathe a temporary sigh of relief, and finally yet another plunge as another hole appears in the dike. Don't get suckered in by the short-term rallies. This sovereign debt crisis is nowhere near over, and that means you have to stay cautious and safe in your investments. There must be deals being made all over the world..... soon I hope.
  6. Nothing like a few good watermellons floating around....
  7. Don't forget Aug, Sept, Oct. Nov and Dec.... or maybe the first of 2011..... ha!!!!..... Sorry, I could help myself...
  8. I hate to bring this up ladies and gentlemen, but unfortunately it is not the President that did this, IT'S THE CONGRESS!!!! THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDES THAT THE CONGRESS MAKES AND PASSES THE LAWS!!!! THE PRESIDENT JUST HAS AN AGENDA ... WHEN BUSH WAS PRESIDENT, THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS was in control... Education is our first priority here... read and then you can make a statement such as "People have forgotten how bad things were when he took office. It won't be fixed over night. It will take time to undue what Howdy Doodey did to the country.
  9. Can you give me the definition of Socialist Government.... Can you tell me who backs the Federal Reserve Bank and all the money they print...... Can you tell me what economic condition happens when you have a currency that is over printed and we have nothing substantial to back it.... Can you tell me what happens when you spend more money than you have.... ( I thought you might know that one ) Can you tell me how much it cost to take care of illegial immigrants cost to house, feed and police. Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907. 'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.' New Immigration Laws: Read all the way to the bottom or you will miss the message... 1. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools. * * * * * * * * 2. All ballots will be in this nation's language.. * * * * * * * * 3.. All government business will be conducted in our language. * * * * * * * * 4. Non-residents will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here. * * * * * * * * 5. Non-citizens will NEVER be able to hold political office * * * * * * * * 6 Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other government assistance programs. Any burden will be deported. * * * * * * * * 7. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount at least equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. * * * * * * * * 8. If foreigners come here and buy land... options will be restricted. Certain parcels including waterfront property are reserved for citizens naturally born into this country. * * * * * * * * 9. Foreigners may have no protests; no demonstrations, no waving of a foreign flag, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies. These will lead to deportation. * * * * * * * * 10. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be actively hunted and when caught, sent to jail until your deportation can be arranged. All assets will be taken from you. * * * * * * * * * Too strict ? The above laws are CURRENT Immigration laws of MEXICO! Theodore Roosevelt 1907
  10. MEMO: US CITIZEN GETTING MEXICAN WORK PERMIT ! Subject: An American working in Mexico... (This puts a different perspective on immigration) LTA From the other side of the fence... Received the following from Tom O'Malley, who was a Director with S.W. BELL in Mexico City: "I spent five years working in Mexico. I worked under a tourist Visa for three months and could legally renew it for three more months. After that you were working illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval. "During that six months our Mexican and U.S. attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a 'FM3'. It was in addition to my U.S. passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was the same, except hers did not permit her to work. "To apply for the FM3, I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies): 1. Birth certificate for Barbara and me. 2. Marriage certificate. 3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation. 4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation. 5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year. 6. A letter from the St. Louis Chief of Police indicating that I had no arrest record in the U.S. and no outstanding warrants and, was "a citizen in good standing". 7. "Finally, I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico. We called it our 'I am the greatest person on Earth' letter. It was fun to write." "All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations, and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side & Spanish on the right." "Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about five hours, accompanied by a Mexican attorney, touring Mexican government office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least three times at each location, and we remember at least four locations where we were instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing, and criminal law and that we were required to obey their laws or face the consequences. We could not protest any of the government's actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid out four thousand dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held by U.S. Customs in Laredo, Texas. This meant we had rented furniture in Mexico while awaiting our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the company paid." "We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law." "We were required to get a Mexican driver's license. This was an amazing process. The company arranged for the licensing agency to come to our headquarters location with their photography and fingerprint equipment and the laminating machine. We showed our U.S. license, were photographed and fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after paying out a six dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and never received instructions on the rules of the road. Our only instruction was to never give a policeman your license if stopped and asked. We were instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp. If he got his hands on it you would have to pay ransom to get it back. " "We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The company's Mexican accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was about twenty legal size pages annually." "The FM3 was good for three years and renewable for two more after paying more fees." "Leaving the country meant turning in the FM3 and certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets or liens) before our household goods were released to customs." "It was a real adventure and if any of our Senators or Congressmen went through it once they would have a different attitude toward Mexico." "The Mexican government uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant. They never protest at their capitol or government offices, but do protest daily in front of the United States Embassy. The U.S. Embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and during most protests the Mexican military surrounds the block with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy. These protests are never shown on U.S. or Mexican TV. There is a large public park across the street where they do their protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as proposed law changes in California or Texas." Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being hard on the illegals. LTA
  11. we are too smart for them(lol) mailman17 says to (22:48:24): YES WE ARE CHLOE….AND I LOVE IT Be careful making statments like that... we have not been too smart in our own country. The thinking process seems to be a little different from ours. We think in logical real time, where they are thinking in a Old Style of processing their thoughts. Not saying they are wrong, just that it's a different approach. Apparently, we are in for more difficult times in the near future. Market manipulation is on the increase by "Black Ops" traders sanctioned by our own Gov't to artifically stimulate the economy. Watch out for the next shoe to drop !!! Can you say hyper-inflation ?!!
  12. U.S. Federal Reserve Agrees to Bail Out Europe WITH YOUR MONEY! NEWS FLASH: Bernanke just agreed to create UNLIMITED numbers of unbacked dollars out of thin air to bail out European debtor nations! IT’S OFFICIAL: Your buying power and financial security are to be SACRIFICED so that European debtor nations can avoid default and continue giving bonuses and luxury pensions to their workers! Yesterday, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve will print UNLIMITED numbers of U.S. dollars and then use them to buy bonds offered by failing European governments. It’s enough to make your blood boil: First, the Fed printed billions to bail out Fannie and Freddie ... billions more to bail out failed bankers ... and billions more to bail out failed automakers ... Now, Bernanke plans to print an UNLIMITED number of dollars to bail out Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain ... the entire European Union! This blank-check scheme, worked out with European leaders yesterday, assures them that the Fed will create dollars out of thin air and then use those greenbacks to buy European bonds — many of them junk bonds. If this isn’t enough to make you fighting mad, consider this: Over the weekend, Bernanke and the Fed ALSO agreed to create unlimited numbers of unbacked dollars to bail out Japan ... plus up to $30 billion to bail out Canada ... plus billions more to bail out the government of Switzerland. There is no other way to say it: The Federal Reserve has just lit the fuse on one of the greatest explosions of paper money in our history ... an explosion in the supply of dollars that can only gut the value of every other dollar in circulation. This is nothing more than highway robbery: It can only deplete the value — the buying power — of every dollar you earn, save, invest and plan to live on in retirement. Meanwhile, European investors are laughing all the way to the bank: The news that WE are picking up the tab for their out-of-control spending has triggered massive stock market gains all across the Continent There’s no other way to say this, ... The value and buying power of your money are being stolen from you. Now, more than ever before, the decisions you make and actions you take will determine how well — or even IF — your family weathers this horrific economic hurricane. Email from Financial Advising Service. Makes you wonder if the RV and this Fed Bailout of Europe are one in the same.... something has got to give.... GL&GB
  13. When we read a post of this type, it is very boring, but if you look at it from a point in time vs. past history, I'm of the opinion that cashing in might not be a bad idea...IF IT WOULD JUST HAPPEN BEFORE THEY START SHOOTING AT EACH OTHER!!!
  14. And like Hormuz, most oil states on the Red Sea can't get a drop of oil out without shipping it through the Bab-el-Mandeb. Over 3.3 million barrels go through every day. Blocking this chokepoint alone could slap a $30 "political premium" on the price of every barrel of oil... but there's an even bigger threat taking shape. For the last six years, Yemen has fought a vicious and bloody war with Shia rebels. These rebels are poor. There's no way, says a Yemen general, these rebels "could fund and fight this war with pomegranates and grapes... no doubt there is Iranian support." Could it be true? Absolutely. Iran loves to buy loyalty. Take the $1 billion Tehran now "donates" every year to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Or the billions they gave Syria's Shia president to build cement factories, car factories, power plants, and storage silos. In return, Iran gets Hezbollah's Arabic-speaking terrorists to run militant Shia training camps in Iraq. And gets Syria to distribute Iran's money and weapons to others in the Shia network. The secret money Iran sends to Shia rebels in Yemen could soon have a payoff too — by opening up another route for "backdoor" Shia access into Saudi Arabia. Yemen's rebels have already hit towns across the Saudi border. And the Saudis have hit back, losing dozens of troops in the process. We’re just in the first innings of this one. How bad is it? So far, 50 Saudi schools along the border have had to close. Another 240 border towns have already been evacuated. And Saudi jets have already dropped bombs in Yemen. What exactly has the Saudis running scared? Final Oil War Flashpoint #3: Iran's Final Prize — Saudi Oil Don't think for a minute that I think Iran's plot for "secret revenge" could succeed. But the threat alone could be enough to kick oil much higher. And sooner than you might think. For instance... Our CIA, Britain's MI6, and other top spy agencies say Iran could have a working nuclear bomb as soon as April 2011... The Times of London uncovered a confidential document that says Iran already has a "neutron initiator" ready to test. That's the part you need to trigger a warhead. And Der Spiegel, the German magazine, says Iran may even have the tech and material to build a simple nuclear bomb before the end of THIS year. But the Bomb is just a beginning. Even if the go ahead to build a nuke never comes from Iran's top cleric, the more immediate danger is a wildfire of Shia-Sunni unrest... starting in Iran's new hotbeds of Shia support... and spreading across the rest of the Sunni-run oil states... with the richest oil fields in the world's richest oil nation as the final battleground. Iran has a Shia network that reaches from Afghanistan to Lebanon once again... more connections building along the Persian Gulf... Yemeni Shias to the south... and Shia connections along the oil rich Caspian Sea. You could see this spread to the nearly two million Shia that live and work on Saudi Arabia's oil fields very soon. Even though that's exactly what the Saudis — and our own Pentagon — hope will never happen. As you read this, big and small Gulf states are piling up weapons, stocking anti-missile batteries, and sandbagging their oil terminals, ports, and water desalinization plants... Abu Dhabi alone has already bought $17 billion worth of U.S. anti-missile hardware. And the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia just splurged on weapons, to the tune of $25 billion. As you read this, our own F-16 fighter jets, Patriot missile systems, giant cruisers and up to 20,000 more U.S. troops are quietly digging in for an epic fight... that could spread past Iraq and Yemen... and even into Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. All to get ready for what could be the fight of a lifetime... Say Hello to the "Jihad Generation" It's not just our experts saying it. Leaders in all three of America's biggest Middle East allied countries — Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia — claim the epic Sunni-Shia showdown is in the cards. It could start from any one of the flashpoints I just named. But no matter how it starts, Saudi Arabia is where it's most likely to end up. Why? Not only is Saudi Arabia home to Mecca, Islam's holiest place... but it's also home to the corrupt and U.S.-allied Royal House of Saud, considered an insult to all Islam. Think about it. In a country where they'll cut off your hand for stealing and whip you for holding a glass of whiskey... Saudi princes gorge on cocaine and prostitutes, gambling, palaces, and more. All while the vast Saudi underclass starves on just $6,000 per year and 30% unemployment. And as many as two million of that underclass is Shia. With a 1,354-year-old ax to grind and billions of dollars in oil revenues as the prize. It's a near-perfect formula for a FULL-ON war. And the fuse is already lit. Iran is ready to assert its place in the world. Think Japan or Germany in the 1930s. The threat is there, it's large, and it's not going away anytime soon. How the world responds, we can't know. But I can tell you how oil could respond... by exploding to new record highs. Possibly as high as $220 per barrel by spring of the coming year... with gas not topping out until it hits as much as $8per gallon. That's very bad news for millions around the world. Have no illusions — any military response, on any front — could only accelerate the spike in oil prices. So the first thing you're going to want to do is simply get out of the way. Think about it. What critical resource need helped drive Germany into BOTH world wars... drove Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor... and helped fuel the Allies that crushed them? Oil. After the Yom Kippur War... during the Iranian hostage crisis... during countless clashes in Palestine and Israel... during both Gulf Wars... we saw oil prices take off. Couldn't it happen again? Of course it could. Like I said, the rising threat alone... so close to nearly 66% of the world's shrinking oil and gas reserves... could be enough to set this price explosion into motion.
  15. The Murder That Changed the World ...And Could Soon Rocket Oil Past $220 a Barrel by Byron King Imagine you're at a dinner table. How could you have known the meal on the table was about to change the world? Some say it was goat. Others say it was lamb. Either way, it was poisoned. When the guest of honor took his first bite, nothing would ever be the same again. That guest of honor was Mohammed... warrior, radical, and the founder of Islam. And the fact that he was the one who was about to die changes history. Not just then, but now. In a radical way. And in a way that could soon change everything you think about your own financial security. How so? You see, even though Mohammed immediately tasted the poison that would kill him... and even though he spit it out... he would still die soon after. His movement's followers weren't ready. They fought bitterly over who should take over. So bitterly, it's a deadly divide in Islam that still rages — between the headlines and behind the scenes — today. You barely see much about it in the mainstream media. But that doesn't change the fact that this centuries-old divide looks ready to re-emerge as the powerful new force behind a whole "new" all-out OIL WAR in the Middle East. Possibly very soon. And with a re-energized, nuke-packing Iran at the center of the storm. If I'm right about what I'll reveal, you could soon see as many as eight Islamic nations go turn on each other with rockets and gun muzzles blazing... setting the world's most critical oil-producing area on fire... and sucking our own military deeper into the mess than anyone at the Pentagon or the White House ever imagined. Even if I'm only half-right, you know what that could do to oil. You could soon see oil prices soar as high as $220 a barrel... with gasoline topping out as high as $8 a gallon... sparking a whole new wave of financial upheaval and inflationary threats to the U.S. dollar. How? To understand, you only need to finish our look back into history... How the Next Oil War Began -- Long before $147 oil... long before either Iraq War or the Iranian Revolution of 1979... long before OPEC and the oil embargo or the founding of Israel... These events were set in motion. The memory of that fateful night in the year 629 had barely faded... and the divide over who should take Mohammed's place had evolved into a blood-soaked holy war. On the one side, you've got the Sunni Muslims. The Sunnis run Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and many of the other countries in the Middle East. On the other, you've got the Shia Muslims. It's the Shia that run Iran. Today, they also run Iraq. And have a lock on power in Lebanon and Syria. How bitter is this fight? Think Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland... Serbs vs. Croats in Bosnia... or even the religious Thirty Years War that ripped apart Europe in the 16th century. Only, here's the big difference... This Sunni-Shia split has raged in one way or another for the last 1,354 years. For fourteen centuries, there have been small wars and executions, torture and countless plots... but it's only now this pressure has found ultimate release... In an Iran-driven Shia uprising smack dab in the middle of EXACTLY where you would never want something like this to happen, in the center of the most dangerous place on Earth — the oil-soaked Middle East. With over 66% of the world's key oil reserves fall into the crosshairs, of course this is a crisis everyone will feel around the globe. And of course, this could also slam the dollar. With soaring energy costs, you could also see a crushing new wave of inflation... unmatched by anything we've seen since the last great energy crisis in the 1970s. Nobody knows exactly how many Shia there are right now in the Middle East. That's because in all but four Middle Eastern countries, Sunni leaders don't bother to count. Sunni schools teach that Shiites aren't real Muslims. Shias don't get a seat in government. They can't become judges or even testify in high courts. In Sunni-run Saudi Arabia, Shias and Sunni can't even marry. For centuries, the Shia have been the underclass. But now, for the first time in history, they see this as their chance to turn the tide. And how big a tide is it? Hands down, saber-rattling Iran has the most — 70 million Shia. But then you've got the "liberated" Shia of Iraq — 22 million. Plus as many as 2 million Shia in Iran-backed Lebanon. And up to 4 million Shia in Iran's top ally, Syria. Then you've got another 700,000 Shia in Kuwait... up to 500,000 Shia in Bahrain... up to 400,000 Shia in the United Arab Emirates... 300,000 Shia in Oman... and around 100,000 Shia in Qatar, according to the Pew Research Center in Washington. On top of that, as many as 10 million Shia in Yemen... another 7 million Shia in Azerbaijan... and 11 million Shia in Turkey... not to mention the combined 30 million Shia in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not all Shia want a revolution. But out of between the 147 million to 162 million Shia spread from Pakistan to Lebanon and Azerbaijan to Yemen, enough do that this is the river of "Secret Revenge" and common blood running through the entire Middle East. The Sunnis are worried. Especially in Sunni-run Saudi Arabia. And especially now. Here's why... "New" Oil War Flashpoint #1: The Real Reason Iran Wants the Bomb Don't forget, Iran used to be Persia. At one point Persia was the biggest and most powerful empire in history! Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Egypt — even Israel — the Persians controlled them all. Along with all of Afghanistan and Pakistan and most of the oil-rich coast of the Caspian. For 300 years, Persian armies held off the Roman Empire. Their scholars walked with Aristotle and Plato. And influenced Greek art. It was the Persians who invented chess. And the windmill. Not to mention bricks, algebra, trigonometry, and wine. The bottom line is... no Empire forgets its past glory. The Iranians resent losing theirs. But now they see a chance to get it back. The nuclear bomb? Tehran's crackpot leaders don't just want it to scare Israel. They want it so they can throw a dark shadow over their Sunni Arab neighbors, too! Take a look at this... Iran's First Move... With total control of the Hormuz "oil chokepoint" in the Persian Gulf and new power in "liberated" Iraq, the Iranians have a brand new foothold for kicking off the long-awaited "Shia Revolution." You'll notice two things. First, you'll see how Iran's Shia influence has spilled across the border into southern Iraq. Southern Iraq is where you'll find six of Iraq's eight "Supergiant" oil fields. It's also where you'll find a key border with Shia Islam's mortal enemy — Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is Sunni. For eight years back in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia helped Iraq wage a bloody war against Iran. Along with other Sunni governments, the Saudis even gave Saddam over $47 billion to launch missiles and nerve gas attacks over the Iranian border. Iran hasn't forgotten. Or forgiven. (Imagine if Canada or Mexico had given money to Japan to help them bomb Pearl Harbor. Iran has waited to make the Saudis pay — and now they have their chance.) The second thing you'll see in the map above is that Iran has almost total control over the Strait of Hormuz. Hormuz is the tight waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Over 17 million barrels of oil have to pass through Hormuz every day. That's 40% of all the oil shipped in the world. And 90% of all the daily oil shipments from the entire Middle East. With Hormuz alone, Iran could cripple the world overnight. Today, Iran backs Shia militants in Iraq. They give them money and guns. They've even helped Shia politicians take over the Iraqi government. Why? Because gaining control in Iraq takes the Iranians one step closer in their twisted plot for secret revenge. For another one of those steps, just look further south... to Yemen. "New" Oil War Flashpoint #2: Yemen's Ugly Secret The Pentagon has just tripled its budget on Yemen. Top U.S. General Patraeus just had a not-so-secret meeting with Yemen's president. And our own State Department calls Yemen a “threat... to global stability.” What gives? Even ABC News just called Yemen the next "top target" in the terror war and a "near-perfect haven for terrorists." Obama just sent Yemen our troops, ships, and weapons. Here's what's happening... The Shia Revolution's Next New Front... Yemen's on/off Shia revolution gives and "Gate of Tears" oil chokepoint could soon give Iran a strategic "backdoor" attack point into Saudi Arabia... Yemen might be a failed country... with a collapsing government, a shrinking oil supply, an exploding population and not much of anything else but lawlessness and chaos. But what Yemen does have is position. It sits just on the tip of the Arab peninsula... south of another key Saudi border and on the coast of another key oil strait called Bab-el-Mandeb. That name means the "Gate of Tears."
  16. IT'S MILLER TIME!! http://video.foxnews.com/v/4123013/miller-time-324
  17. Not only are they trying to tax us, but they have just put us under a "soft Tyranny" state. Unconstitutional ? Absolutely, I will not be someone that will lay down and take it. I will opose this in a legal, civil (as much as they are) manner. Who will be the new police agency for the enforcement of collecting this...The IRS. Good luck my fellow citizens of this once great Republic that was established for our freedoms of democracy. Here is a quote for everyone to consider.... The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson
  18. Gold did go up 2.20+ Selling of gold caused a down side to the price. www.kitco.com
  19. Gold Price Change due to Weakening of US Dollar +2.20 Gold Price Change due to Predominant Selling -8.40 Gold Price: Total Change-6.20
  20. Individuals and employer group plans that wish to keep their current policy on a grandfathered basis would only be able to do so if the only plan changes made were to add or delete new employees and any new dependents. In addition, an exception is made for employers that have scheduled plan changes as a result of a collective bargaining agreement. Reconciliation Package on Ability to Keep Your Current Coverage The reconciliation package would require plans that were grandfathered under H.R. 3590 to abide by the market reform requirements specified in H.R. 3590 relative to lifetime and annual dollar limits, rescissions, employer plan waiting periods and coverage of dependent children to age 26 within six months of enactment. For grandfathered group health plans, preexisting condition waiting periods are banned beginning with plan years starting in 2014. In addition, for grandfathered group plans until 2014, the coverage to age 26 provisions only apply to those dependents that do not have another source of employer-sponsored health insurance.
  21. Suzy, We are ask to tip at a restaurant @ 15-20% So, yea why not give God 25%... Good point.
  22. Great quote. To bad we don't know who wrote it.... The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
  23. For business counseling on opportunities in Iraq, please e-mail questions to IraqInfo@mail.doc.gov or call (866) 352-IRAQ (4727).
  24. Toward the end of last year, many market followers were speculating on a Fed hike as early as the first half of 2010. Global stock markets had experienced explosive bounces, commodity prices had surged from the crisis lows, and risk spreads and market volatility had all subsided. In short, markets were pricing in a very optimistic outlook for global economic recovery — a return to normalcy. But just two short months into 2010, the exuberance about recovery has deflated. The world is still saddled with problems and vulnerable to lurking threats ... the U.S unemployment is sustaining high levels, the housing market continues to weigh on consumer balance sheets and confidence has again taken a dive. There is more uncertainty, which is likely to impact the prospects for global growth. People are waking up to what's likely a long road to recovery, given the damage from, what Alan Greenspan calls, the worst financial crisis ever. And for now, the global financial markets are taking cues from three key themes ... Sovereign Debt Problems:Fiscal problems in Greece are mushrooming into a global, sovereign debt crisis. Greece's finances have created tremors in the European monetary union. And the speculative pressures on countries surrounding their fiscal challenges will likely find bigger targets in the coming months, namely the UK, Japan and the U.S. China Tightening Credit The bubble alarm for Chinese authorities was the massive surge of new loans in the first half of January. New bank loans last month approached levels of last year, when liquidity pumping was in emergency mode. Now China is tightening up bank reserve ratios and curtailing easy money programs, fearing a bubble burst of its own. Fed's Exit Strategy The Fed's move in the discount rate last week was the first active step it has taken toward reversing its emergency policies. Up to that point, the Fed had only guided (or allowed) the programs in place to either expire or mature — indeed, passive steps. And the timing was a surprise ... The Fed's bumping up the discount rate was a growth positive sign. The move came only eight days after the text of a Bernanke speech that said the discount rate would start moving higher "before long." To act so soon after making that comment will create loads of excitement and speculation whenever the Fed chooses to drop the magic words — "extended period" — from its guidance on keeping the benchmark Fed Funds rate at current levels which has a positive impact on global growth prospects. A Sentiment Shift Has Taken Place. These three themes are keeping the dollar on solid footing and keeping pressure on European currencies and those currencies that are dependent upon sustained growth and demand from China (i.e. the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, Brazilian real). There is clearly a sentiment shift that has taken place when it comes to the recovery prospects for global economies. Now the growing consensus is shifting away from the theories of a V-shaped economic recovery and toward the alternative scenarios ... most visibly, a sovereign debt crisis. But while a sovereign debt crisis is already underway and will likely continue to spread, I don't think it's the biggest threat to the global economy. Rather, the biggest threat will likely come from growing trade tensions between China and the rest of the world. That's because China's Currency Is Enemy #1 to Global Recovery. Over the last 14 years, China's economy has grown a whopping eight-fold, to $4.9 trillion, and has quickly ascended to become the world's third-largest economy. During the same period, the U.S. economy has only doubled in size. As far as currencies are concerned, the dramatic outperformance of the Chinese economy relative to the U.S. economy would normally be reflected in a much stronger Chinese currency. But, of course, China controls the value of its currency. They allowed it to strengthen only 18 percent during those 14 years — a mere drop in the bucket. And that's where tensions are threatening to boil over. It's not just with its key export market, the United States, but equally as tumultuous with its Asian neighbors. Just how out of line is China's currency? The Yuan (China's currency) is 40 percent to 50 percent too cheap relative to the U.S. dollar. Source: IMF China's export-centric neighbors are feeling the pain of China's artificially cheap currency, too. For example, based strictly on currency values, it would cost 37 percent more to import identical goods from South Korea than it would from China. Which is a Threat of Protectionism. Protectionism is an Enemy of Recovery to the global economy. It is widely believed that the world economy cannot find a path of sustainable growth until those key countries with lopsided trade become more balanced. Consequently, the G-20 has made Chinese currency policy its number one agenda, under the code word "rebalancing." China's unwillingness to let the Yuan strengthen could hinder global recovery. As it becomes increasingly evident that China will not play ball on allowing its currency to appreciate to a fair value, expect the geopolitical tensions to rise and expect to see two forms of protectionism follow: Trade tariffs and currency devaluations against major currencies, to which the value of the Yuan is primarily linked. And while a global economic recovery is already beginning to look like a longer road than many have expected, an outbreak of protectionism would likely derail recovery all together. That's why safety and capital preservation will re-emerge as the primary driver of capital flows around the world towards the U.S. dollar. Money and Markets by Bryan Rich
  25. I love it... MONGO!!! Great.... this is getting to be such a rollercoaster...
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