The Wake Up Call

An attempt to interject a measure of reality into the conundrum of why so few people are ever indicted despite the fact that their corporations are sometimes fined billions of dollars. There is a tremendous amount of ignorance surrounding this situation. Prosecutors love to prosecute. It’s what raises their reputations and furthers their careers. Quick market comment. Consumer spending based entirely on real estate and cars. The NSA’s spying on foreign countries, especially emerging countries, has led them to curtail business with the United States, especially tech companies. More details on the ridiculous sub-prime loans being made in the car industry. The futility of trying to arouse the American people as experienced by Karl Denninger. Greenspan’s absurd comments on Bitcoin. Some detailed statistics proving that real estate is in serious trouble

The roots of human activity were originally exclusively centred on survival. More has been invented in the last 100 years than in during the previous 5,000. The average work week in 1850 was 64 hours. In 1900 life expectancy was 42. Your life expectancy grows by six hours a day. Much of this progress is being shattered by injudicious policies of the government. This ongoing tragedy will eventually being America to its knees. A heated discussion between David Stockman and Rick Santelli. Why the Fed must end QE. The horrendous unemployment situation in Spain. More invasive procedures by the TSA involving people who want to travel. Americans will, true to form, roll over for the new intrusions. Where the money came from to make MFGlobal customers whole (not fraud, just stupidity).

The market continues to rise solely on the perception that the Fed’s easy money policy can hold stock prices up indefinitely.  Mind you, this is just a perception, nothing more. This line of thinking will prove to be no more durable than the dot-com bubble that peaked in early 2000 or the housing bubble that topped out in late 2007. Most of the previous major market peaks occurred with the P/E ratio ranging between 18 and 21 times reported cyclically-smoothed GAAP earnings, compared to a norm of 15 times and bear market lows between 7 and 10 times. The current P/E ratio is 20.6 times earnings. Optimism reigns supreme and an overwhelming number of technical indicators are calling for a massive decline here. Investment advisers were more bearish than in 25 years. The madness of the Fed’s $3.2 trillion negative balance sheet. They are truly insane. I mean that. More on last week’s monthly unemployment figures. The current state of the economy in two minutes. The latest ramping-up of consumer credit/debt. Hurricanes and global warming and other nonsense. Chimpanzees filmed exhibiting jealousy! (A lesson for us all)

Japan is ramping up laws to enable it to prosecute journalists that report “too much” or things the government wants to keep secret. This includes levels of radiation at Fukushima. The U.S. has expressed approval and is itself targeting whistleblowers to keep its own hypocrisy secret. Reporters covering the Occupy protests were targeted for arrest. The EPA is closing ranks with the nuclear power industry. And the people are utterly unconcerned… Another look at Europe in full depression with 120 million people at the edge of poverty. Issuing debt does not create wealth. The resultant positive statistics are therefore meaningless. Printing money, likewise, does not create wealth. It just delays the day of reckoning. Steve Cohen is to pay a $1.8 billion for insider trading but he will not be prosecuted. Hmmm… The depression is further evidenced in a new study, the first ever to compare transportation trends for America’s largest cities. It shows fewer cars, fewer miles driven, fewer households with two cars, fewer private vehicle commutes

A new craze: “The Knockout Game”. Stories of gratuitous violence. Brutal and unforgiving attitude of the authorities. Police budgets are being cut everywhere. The American game of “Divide-And-Conquer” is being used to forestall social unrest. What happens when the system collapses entirely? Criminals now going after anyone. Kurt Vonnegut has a word or three for those who believe “paper” is wealth. Stock market comment. The new (renewed) problem of home equity lines-of-credit and the likely new defaults. Nobody is talking about this yet – but they soon will be. Farmland is probably about to turn down into a vicious multi-year bear market soon. A quick profile on Illinois, the third most corrupt state in the nation. Britain’s appalling debt problem. Personal debt is almost at a record high. This is not the sign of any recovery; it is the reflection of deep denial

The history of bitcoins, what they are, how to trade them, who accepts them, safety of ownership, advantages, comparisons with other forms of money. Massive state pension cuts are inevitable with budgets being cut everywhere and wrong projections being made for future investment growth. Comparison of America’s incarceration situation with those of Germany and Holland. Needless to say, America’s stance is, as usual, just plain stupid (and inhumane). David Stockman’s take on the economy and the markets. The absurdity of economists trying to encourage more consumption from those who have no money. Life and work in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Not as hard to acquire as you may think. A personal story. The horror of trying to maintain employment and health insurance under ‘Obamacare’. The plight of millennials continuing to live at home with their parents

This has been going on for 40 years. The government has been useless at stemming the tide. Corruption has soared, denial reigns supreme and the public is treated with barely-concealed contempt. Corporations are now more important than people. An excerpt from John Hussman’s weekly letter dealing with the absurdities of “quantitative easing” (money-printing) and we hear from David Stockman on the same issue, among others. More police brutality and subsequent attempted cover-up. Comparing U.S. multi-nationals with German ones. The effects of stress caused by poverty. Poverty figures appear to have been severely undercounted. By the count of PERI, 34% of Americans can be considered poor. The ultimate consequence of “quantitative easing”

‘Space Available’ looks like a brand-new chain of retail outlets. It is, of course, becoming the most common sign to be seen in abandoned store fronts in malls across the country. Except for banks which continue to open unneeded branches on street corners nationwide. One third of all bank branches do not make a profit. Mass closings will be your sign that this ridiculous money-game is over. It will not be long in coming. Listen to Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament and colleague of Nigel Farage, lambast his fellow parliamentarians. Housing has probably topped and re-entered its long-term bear market. More evidence that QE does not work. Yet the Fed continues with the same stupid medicine. Obama’s empty promises re healthcare. Greenspan still writing articles exonerating himself from all blame when, in fact, he was the chief culprit behind the bubbles and housing debacle. Harvard has a higher acceptance rate that that of a new Wal-Mart in Washington D.C. for ‘associates’

An alternative explanation of this wretched treaty, endorsed by the Administration and the mainstream media (of course) and hated by almost everyone else. A whistleblower has just leaked an entire chapter from this “secret” deal which even Congress is not allowed to view. The first order of business for us is preventing its passage through the “Fast Track” path which they use for bills they know Congress won’t like (Patriot Act, anyone?). Listen to an interview. A final look at Bernanke before he leaves office, this poor loser whose cockamamie economics did nothing for the economy. We hear from a whistleblower at the Fed who disagrees with QE and has some interesting comments to make about the Fed. A quick word on the stock market. A final word from Chris Martenson who puts the financial and economic nightmare into perspective

A study of who is indebted to who, where the money comes from, when this nightmare started, how and why. The situation before debt was issued via credit cards and the situation today and how it is perverting the country and killing the middle class. Mindless, idiotic, desperate loans still being made via the subprime route. The day or reckoning lies ahead. Don’t even ask. Confessions of a Fed whistleblower, maybe the first. Very instructive and not-to-be-missed. Pure evidence that Bernanke is a villain working in secret for the moneyed interests. Does the man even have a conscience? Comparing the U.S. to the U.K. Where’s the growth? Retailers now opening on Thanksgiving Day in the morning. Another sign of the desperation among businesses everywhere and in all sectors of the economy

An extended talk about the stock market with particular reference to the ridiculous Twitter IPO that came out last Thursday. The investing public is yet again, for the third time in thirteen years, becoming trapped at the top of a bubble. The current bubble is in many ways worse than that of the later 90s with the same absurd overvaluations and surreal arguments for growth among companies that have never showed a profit. A comment by David Stockman. An update on the economy. Noam Chomsky’s comments on foreign appreciation of American antics abroad. A short interview with him follows. An account of the Gunpowder Treason plot in London during the 17thcentury. Eerie similarities surrounding those events exist today. More on car sales and why they are so strong (hint: subprime auto lending). More evidence the economy is turning down. The pathetic business model of Twitter as compared with the great inventions of the 20thcentury

The Bernanke replacement: Another money-drug pusher. Studied under James Tobin, an apologist for central economic planning which is behind the economic catastrophe we endure today. The only hope we have is that other members of the Board will come to their senses and force her hand. This could happen more quickly than you think. Yellen has been with the Fed almost all her professional life. And, for the record, her forecasting abilities have been the dismal equal of Bernanke’s (and Greenspan’s). U.S. Treasury busy pontificating on other countries’ ‘shortcomings’ forgetting to take the moat out of its own eye… Anecdotal horror stories of life in the U.S. (a family who had money confiscated with no crime having been committed and no evidence of any crime; a New Mexico man undergoing deeply invasive cavity searches, again, with no crime or evidence of a crime having been committed. MFGlobal customers will soon be completely made whole. Government lying (again) about GDP statistics. Karl Denninger finally throwing in the towel. The present and future critical shortage of doctors in the United States. Yet more TSA agents are to be armed. Edward Snowden asked NSA fellow workers to ‘give’ him key logins and passwords, so… they did! Quick stock market comment

Full account of the problems surrounding the worst launch of a website in history. A media-inspired cover-up. Massive premium increases. Doctors abandoning patients from the ACA in droves. Comparisons with other countries. The financial minefield being prepared by a Congress of millionaires. The deficit isnotgoing down. Learn about ‘the trick’. A couple of quick comments on the stock market. More grim economic statistics. Ramifications of the recent, alarming fall in consumer confidence. Comment from whistleblower, William Binney, about the current spying program at the NSA

The property market in the main has been institutional-based since bottoming. The newly-purchased properties are having trouble finding renters. Fund managers won’t tolerate this situation for long. No prizes for guessing what happens next. Unemployment in Europe. Nigel Farage’s take on the future of Europe. Several organizations are complaining to Congress about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Bill Black claims that JPMorgan’s $13billion should have been 22 times bigger. More people are receiving handouts from the government than working full-time. Poverty is soaring nationwide. The odious Greenspan is out hawking a new book blaming everyone but himself for the meltdown. Texas woman strip-searched and jailed for an overdue traffic ticket. Quick comment on the stock market. Mustn’t call the outrageously fat ‘obese’ in Britain where weekly wages have slumped to their lowest level on record. A roundup of America’s bankrupt cities

It is truly extraordinary: despite the trillions of dollars thrown at the economy there is no inflation. Money is not the answer. Money leads to debt and debt leas to ruin. The government has learned nothing over the last thirty years. The supreme arrogance of Bernanke, who decided he in his infinite wisdom “understood” the great depression, is bringing the country to its knees. Fraud, stupidity, malinvestment, overindebtedness, all have conspired to lay waste the economy for generations to come.A quick comment on the stock market. Overvalued, overbought and maximum bullish – a poor mix for continued gains. IPOs galore. Stock buybacks aplenty. Gurus uniformly bullish and coming on TV, talking up the market. And the economy continues to contract. The top cannot be far off. Voters very negative on the economy. More on police brutality. Banks hiding their losses, courtesy of the government green light. Almost half of all corporate bonds rated by S&P are “speculative” (a polite word for junk)