I accompanied Martha to Jiffy Lube. She was in need of an oil change. Not her car but Martha herself. Speaking to the attendant, I pointed out to him that Martha was out there in line behind the Subaru.
"See her?" I asked. "She's the one with the flat tires. She needs a lot of work. Besides her tires requiring hyperinflation, Martha also needs to be jump started. Just put the pincers to her. That should do the trick. And don't forget to check all of her fluids. She dried up years ago."
"But we don't work on people, only cars."
"Think of Martha as a truck. You work on trucks, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then Martha should present no problems for you. But I must warn you that she needs lots of work. Not just your routine oil change. Besides her tires, fluids and dead battery, Martha needs a front end realignment. She's been out of kilter for years. Then there's her horn which you can clearly hear is stuck in the "on" position. It's from talking on the phone around the clock. I'll slip you a $10 bill if you permanently cut the horn's chord. It would be a merciful gesture to render Martha silent."
"But that would be irreversible surgery, sir. We couldn't take on that responsibility."
"OK $20, then. Is it a deal?"
"All right, for $20 we'll render Martha's horn useless. What else do you have in mind? And be quick about it. As you can see, she is now next in line."
"Well, I hate to ask you this request. But could you look under the hood?"
"Martha's hood?"
"Yes, of course, Martha's hood. For one thing, her pistons and valves have come to a complete halt. Not to speak of her various belts which have obviously become too tight."
"That's a lot of work for a routine oil change."
"But I'm not through. Martha certainly requires a complete tune up. She's been singing off key as of late."
"That won't be necessary, sir, since by cutting the chord, Martha's singing career will become instantly moot."
"I disagree. A tune up will allow her to better compete with her female companions when she hits Bloomingdales and Lord & Taylor."
"OK, but that's it. That is all we can do. Look at this line that has taken shape behind Martha. All of those innocent cars think that the two-legged auto in front of them is here for a routine oil change.
"All right, I'll compromise. If you agree to check out Martha's muffler with special attention given to her tailpipe, we'll call it a day."
"OK. But that's the final item on the list. It's as far as we can go. But you better lie down when the bill comes. It's likely to melt your plastic.
"But there's Martha's chassis. Her trunk has been frozen shut for a decade. Surely an oil change includes a complete grease job. Why 'lube' is part of your company's very name."
"Now you've gone too far, sir. My suggestion is for you to let us just sell Martha for you in her "as is" condition. We'll put her in the showroom right away. Or you could trade her in for another model."
"The tall young blonde behind the desk over there?"
"That could possibly be arranged, though you would owe us $68,500."
"No, that's too much. I'll stick with the new and improved Martha. Once you've done the work on her that we agreed to, she'll be as good as new, except quieter."
"OK, sir. Just sit over there and get ready for the bill. I suggest you suck some oxygen over at our oxygen bar in order to strengthen your immune system so that it, too, is prepared for the shock.
"Speaking of shock, do you think you could check Martha's shock absorbers while you're at it? She hits the ground pretty hard these days.
July 4, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
THE FEDERAL RESERVE: PICK YOUR POISON
For the Federal Reserve that well known substance is about to hit the fan. If they make good on their promise to end QE2 on June 30th, then stock and bond markets may implode, leading us into an out-and-out depression. Should they surreptitiously continue to buy the country's debt (they won't admit doing it in order to retain some vestige of credibility), then the bailouts to bankers and countries will continue. "Extend and pretend" will last a while longer until it no longer works.
We are past the point of no return. The Federal Reserve can only pick its poison: destroy the stock and bond markets or annihilate the U.S. dollar. If they temporarily choose the former for reasons stated above, then they will quickly panic and change course 180 degrees, returning to what they do best: print paper dollars.
But monetary stimulus is like a drug. Each time the addict requires a larger and larger dose in order to achieve the same result. It will be more difficult to "kick the can down the road." Lying to the American people will become less effective. When the public finally understands that they've been "had," the Fed will lose control. Enriching the bankers while taxing the middle class with stagnant wages and high inflation will be their undoing. You can fool most of the people most of the time, but eventually they catch on.
The noose is tightening around Bernanke's neck. When push comes to shove, all he can do is print. It is his only tool. With it he will vaporize what's left of the savings of the middle class. There is no recovery, and over-the-counter derivatives are greater than ever and waiting only for a trigger. Protect yourselves while you still can.
June 11, 2011
We are past the point of no return. The Federal Reserve can only pick its poison: destroy the stock and bond markets or annihilate the U.S. dollar. If they temporarily choose the former for reasons stated above, then they will quickly panic and change course 180 degrees, returning to what they do best: print paper dollars.
But monetary stimulus is like a drug. Each time the addict requires a larger and larger dose in order to achieve the same result. It will be more difficult to "kick the can down the road." Lying to the American people will become less effective. When the public finally understands that they've been "had," the Fed will lose control. Enriching the bankers while taxing the middle class with stagnant wages and high inflation will be their undoing. You can fool most of the people most of the time, but eventually they catch on.
The noose is tightening around Bernanke's neck. When push comes to shove, all he can do is print. It is his only tool. With it he will vaporize what's left of the savings of the middle class. There is no recovery, and over-the-counter derivatives are greater than ever and waiting only for a trigger. Protect yourselves while you still can.
June 11, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
THE NEW PANDEMIC
There is an epidemic loose in the land. I write to warn you of this plague for which there is no vaccine or cure known to modern society. I refer not to the dreaded Bird flu or Swine flu. This alert is for a malady far more insidious and apparently more contagious than any strain of influenza. In fact, it seems that most everyone has already caught this alarming affliction without even knowing it.
I refer, of course, to the deadly maladjustment where people living in the year 2011 appear able to talk only about themselves. It used to be when you met someone at a party or in any social or business environment, something took place that was called conversation: a give and take between two human beings. But this new virus or mutation has rendered conversation moot. Today, people broadcast solely about themselves, a disorder that can go on well into the night.
After being on the receiving end of this center-of-the-universe monologue as the clock approaches 3 A.M., I ask, in a weakened condition: But what about me? Don't you want to know anything about me?
Apparently not, as my pathetic question bounces off the person caught up in self expression, who proceeds to go on with his or her life's story unimpeded by the presence of another human creature.
So I ask......is there anyone out there who still remembers the fine art of the "give and take?"
April 24, 20011
I refer, of course, to the deadly maladjustment where people living in the year 2011 appear able to talk only about themselves. It used to be when you met someone at a party or in any social or business environment, something took place that was called conversation: a give and take between two human beings. But this new virus or mutation has rendered conversation moot. Today, people broadcast solely about themselves, a disorder that can go on well into the night.
After being on the receiving end of this center-of-the-universe monologue as the clock approaches 3 A.M., I ask, in a weakened condition: But what about me? Don't you want to know anything about me?
Apparently not, as my pathetic question bounces off the person caught up in self expression, who proceeds to go on with his or her life's story unimpeded by the presence of another human creature.
So I ask......is there anyone out there who still remembers the fine art of the "give and take?"
April 24, 20011
Monday, March 28, 2011
D DAY FOR THE FEDERAL RESERVE
By engaging in quantitative easing (the printing of money) on a scale never before witnessed or imagined by the inhabitants of Planet Earth, the Federal Reserve is fast approaching the tipping point.
With QE2, the buying of U.S. Treasury bonds from the Treasury Department (a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions) scheduled to end by June 30th, what is the Federal Reserve going to do?
The move up in stocks, bonds and commodities is almost entirely due to the counterfeiting of the Fed. All that confetti (paper currency) has to go somewhere. But since the "recovery" is not real, should Big Ben (Bernanke) decide to pull the plug on QE2, it will be time to put on your helmets and crawl into your bunkers. Stocks and bonds will plunge along with what's left of the economy.
If, on the other hand, should the Federal Reserve cave and give us QE3, 4, 5, 6 etc., then the Cartel will have lost all credibility when it comes to fulfilling its mandate: price stability and full employment. Inflation will get far more virulent than it already is. Our purchasing power will all but disappear.
My guess is that they will SAY that the end of QE2 is upon us while continuing to print monopoly money at a rate greater than the speed of light. They have no choice, really. With the debt closing in on its own tipping point, it's inflate or die for the Fed.
March 28, 2011
With QE2, the buying of U.S. Treasury bonds from the Treasury Department (a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions) scheduled to end by June 30th, what is the Federal Reserve going to do?
The move up in stocks, bonds and commodities is almost entirely due to the counterfeiting of the Fed. All that confetti (paper currency) has to go somewhere. But since the "recovery" is not real, should Big Ben (Bernanke) decide to pull the plug on QE2, it will be time to put on your helmets and crawl into your bunkers. Stocks and bonds will plunge along with what's left of the economy.
If, on the other hand, should the Federal Reserve cave and give us QE3, 4, 5, 6 etc., then the Cartel will have lost all credibility when it comes to fulfilling its mandate: price stability and full employment. Inflation will get far more virulent than it already is. Our purchasing power will all but disappear.
My guess is that they will SAY that the end of QE2 is upon us while continuing to print monopoly money at a rate greater than the speed of light. They have no choice, really. With the debt closing in on its own tipping point, it's inflate or die for the Fed.
March 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
WE ONCE HAD A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
Does anyone besides me see the connection between what's gong on in Northern Africa and the Middle East to what's firmly in place here in the good old USA? Over there people are awakening to the long-term abuse they have suffered under dictators and their armies. The result is called "revolution," a term long ago associated with the founding of our own country.
Today, we in America live under a similar equation where a small cartel of corporate and governmental elites are seamlessly mutating free enterprise into a brand of capitalism that borders on fascism.
There used to be a level playing field. On one side of the gridiron was management and their representatives, the Republican party. On the other side was Labor and the Democratic party. They engaged in an antiquity called collective bargaining. And since neither side was happy with the outcome of their arbitration, what they came up with was probably a pretty fair deal. That was when free enterprise existed and flourished.
Contrast that with today where a war is being waged against collective bargaining and the Middle Class. The right-wing rulers of America, the corporations, the big banks and their paid-for politicos, want it their way 100 per cent. No more push back. Their ruthless goal is a perfect game: no runs, no hits, no errors.
In a country where people actually still believe what the government tells them and do as they are told, thank God for Madison, Wisconsin, that last bastion of Liberalism, where, like their brethren in the desert, they are willing to put it on the line for what they believe lest it be taken from them forever.
Question: where is Obama on this crucial issue? As a candidate he said repeatedly, " I promise to be walking the picket lines as President of the United States any time the workers' rights to organize are threatened." Not only hasn't he been sighted in the Badger State, but he has not even uttered a verbal sound on the subject.
Unlike the brave people in the Middle East and in Madison, Wisconsin, centrists stand for nothing. Instead, they stay right down the middle in preparation for November, 2012. Pragmatic presidents rarely show the leadership for which they were elected.
February 26, 2011
Today, we in America live under a similar equation where a small cartel of corporate and governmental elites are seamlessly mutating free enterprise into a brand of capitalism that borders on fascism.
There used to be a level playing field. On one side of the gridiron was management and their representatives, the Republican party. On the other side was Labor and the Democratic party. They engaged in an antiquity called collective bargaining. And since neither side was happy with the outcome of their arbitration, what they came up with was probably a pretty fair deal. That was when free enterprise existed and flourished.
Contrast that with today where a war is being waged against collective bargaining and the Middle Class. The right-wing rulers of America, the corporations, the big banks and their paid-for politicos, want it their way 100 per cent. No more push back. Their ruthless goal is a perfect game: no runs, no hits, no errors.
In a country where people actually still believe what the government tells them and do as they are told, thank God for Madison, Wisconsin, that last bastion of Liberalism, where, like their brethren in the desert, they are willing to put it on the line for what they believe lest it be taken from them forever.
Question: where is Obama on this crucial issue? As a candidate he said repeatedly, " I promise to be walking the picket lines as President of the United States any time the workers' rights to organize are threatened." Not only hasn't he been sighted in the Badger State, but he has not even uttered a verbal sound on the subject.
Unlike the brave people in the Middle East and in Madison, Wisconsin, centrists stand for nothing. Instead, they stay right down the middle in preparation for November, 2012. Pragmatic presidents rarely show the leadership for which they were elected.
February 26, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD
The inflation I've warned about and the social unrest that goes with it are here compliments of the Federal Reserve's money printing insanity. Coal and oil are trading at two-year highs. Corn, soybeans, wheat, and sugar are trading at multiyear highs. Cotton has reached 140 year highs. Gold and copper are trading at record highs. Silver is trading at a 30-year high.
When Americans go shopping for food and clothing, their eyes cross in disbelief. What is merely an inconvenience for most of them is a matter of survival for countless millions in the developing world. So, while there is a political component to the protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan etc., the trigger is rocketing food prices.
While the government's infamous Plunge Protection Team buys S&P futures to support the fantasy stock market and the Federal Reserve prints up the money to buy the Treasury's (printed-up) Treasury Bonds in a desperate attempt to prevent the bond market from evaporating, the world's investors are running for their lives away from the U.S. dollar. And with most of our state and local governments broke, the municipal bond market has already crashed. Housing prices continue their decline.
The debt bubble is searching for a pin. The government's only solution is to lie to the American people while "fixing" the unfixable debt by adding more debt. This is called "kicking the can down the road" or "extend and pretend." It's a desperate attempt at buying time. But anyone with a certain body part on top of his or her neck knows that it will not end well. We are closing in on the tipping point. Once again, get ahead of the curve. Protect yourselves.
February 1, 2011
When Americans go shopping for food and clothing, their eyes cross in disbelief. What is merely an inconvenience for most of them is a matter of survival for countless millions in the developing world. So, while there is a political component to the protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan etc., the trigger is rocketing food prices.
While the government's infamous Plunge Protection Team buys S&P futures to support the fantasy stock market and the Federal Reserve prints up the money to buy the Treasury's (printed-up) Treasury Bonds in a desperate attempt to prevent the bond market from evaporating, the world's investors are running for their lives away from the U.S. dollar. And with most of our state and local governments broke, the municipal bond market has already crashed. Housing prices continue their decline.
The debt bubble is searching for a pin. The government's only solution is to lie to the American people while "fixing" the unfixable debt by adding more debt. This is called "kicking the can down the road" or "extend and pretend." It's a desperate attempt at buying time. But anyone with a certain body part on top of his or her neck knows that it will not end well. We are closing in on the tipping point. Once again, get ahead of the curve. Protect yourselves.
February 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
I hate to have to say this during the Christmas season, but the lies are becoming ubiquitous and the complacency is beyond belief. This can only mean that the people actually believe what the government is saying about the economic recovery. THERE IS NO RECOVERY. The global debt bubble is teetering on a cliff with the world's central banks trying desperately to paper over the debts by adding trillions of additional debt on top of the pile. This is done by printing pieces of paper which are nothing more than worthless IOU's.
The Wall Street/Government conspiracy has secretly forced the public to bail out the banksters, and, in the doing, has managed to transfer what was private debt incurred by fraudulent behavior into sovereign debt now on the backs of the people.
With Wall Street now targeting for profit the debt of one European country after another, the main stream cheerleading press is in cahoots by diverting the public's attention from here to there. But the day of reckoning is coming for the USA. With our Federal, state, and local governments either already bankrupt or soon to be, and the so called "dumb money" all in when it comes to the stock and bond markets, it is time to come out of denial and recognize that we are in a monetary crisis that will end badly.
Protect yourselves. We are running out of time. The better things look on the surface, the more explosive they are getting in reality.
December 21, 2010
The Wall Street/Government conspiracy has secretly forced the public to bail out the banksters, and, in the doing, has managed to transfer what was private debt incurred by fraudulent behavior into sovereign debt now on the backs of the people.
With Wall Street now targeting for profit the debt of one European country after another, the main stream cheerleading press is in cahoots by diverting the public's attention from here to there. But the day of reckoning is coming for the USA. With our Federal, state, and local governments either already bankrupt or soon to be, and the so called "dumb money" all in when it comes to the stock and bond markets, it is time to come out of denial and recognize that we are in a monetary crisis that will end badly.
Protect yourselves. We are running out of time. The better things look on the surface, the more explosive they are getting in reality.
December 21, 2010
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