http://www.rickackerman.com/2012/11/the-looters-are-in-control/
The Looters Are in Control
[And now it’s time for Mr. Obama to start paying for all those votes by reaching deep into our pockets. If you intend to avoid paying your “fair share,” however, please take note: There will be few places to hide. For a gimlet-eyed view of what may lie in store for taxpayers and citizens of all political persuasions during the next four years, ponder the guest commentary below, fromWayne Siggard, a regular in the Rick’s Picks forum. RA]
The election was all about new math: 47 = 51. The foresight and genius of the Founders knew no bounds. Ben Franklin said, “Once the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” The trumpets have sounded. The heralds have announced the awakening of the masses to that reality. The greatest and most free nation the world has ever known has just sold its birthright for a mess of pottage; or, at least, the promise of an Obama phone. The takers have voted to take control over the producers.
Everyone will now get a fair shot — except that those who work in government and those who take government welfare will get a fairer shot. Obama knows that you didn’t build that company. You didn’t live frugally and save more money than your neighbor while they spent theirs on drugs or riotous living. He knows this because he didn’t get anything without government assistance — affirmative action put him ahead of more qualified people who earned a spot that he took, just like Elizabeth Warren. You couldn’t possibly have gotten anything on your own merit or hard work.
A claim for material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers. –Friedrich von Hayek
Von Mises said that full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties. Have you ever tried to drill an oil or gas well? Have you ever tried to build a house or commercial building? Have you ever tried to manufacture and sell a product? The International Building Code (IBC) increases in size, restrictions and requirements every year. Why? Because a bureaucracy needs to expand to justify its existence.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. – Lord Acton
Have you ever experienced the disdain and contempt of a bureaucrat whose permission you sought? It used to be that their power to grant a license or permit was retribution for their pay being less than that of the private sector. Now, you get to pay them 50% more than you would get for the same job, and the disdain has not decreased. Firemen, police officers, and military personnel can retire as young as 38, many making over $100,000 per year if they work until 50, and many can take another job and collect another pension on top of the first. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, the average middle class family’s income has decreased $4,019 during the Obama years, to $50,964. More than half of the lifeguards in Newport Beach, CA, make over $150,000 per year and can collect more than $100,000 in pension benefits starting under 50 years of age.
So, What’s Coming?
That paradigm of preternatural prestidigitation, the Federal Reserve Bank, will continue its policy of zero percent interest. The big banks will mask their insolvency with free money from the Feds. Greedy speculators and fools who overspent on housing will have their mistakes paid for by those taxpayers who had the foresight to save and invest wisely. Obama bundlers and other insiders will continue to get billion dollar investments from the government, sucking valuable capital from the private sector. The official inflation rates will miraculously stay low while you are paying 100% more for gasoline and food.
History is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments. – Friedrich von Hayek
Foreign nations are no longer purchasing U.S. government bonds. The largest purchaser is the Federal Reserve Bank. In other words, the government is printing money from thin air. In 1970, you could go to Las Vegas and buy a silver dollar for one paper dollar. It now costs around $35. A mansion behind the Beverly Hills Hotel sold for $200,000. It resold in 2004 for $16 million. A house in Flintridge, CA, sold for $115,000. Its current value is $4.5 million. The base price for a Corvette was $5192. It is now $49,600, a comparative bargain. What you could buy for $1 million in 1970 now takes $36 million. Senator Everett Dirksen in the 1960s is reputed to have remarked,” a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money.” You can now add three zeros. The bottom line is that if you are collecting 0.15% interest on your CD, you are losing real purchasing value of at least 10%, and that rate will be accelerating in the next four years. Carlo Ponzi was a hopeless naïf compared to our elected officials.
Harry Reid Has a Plan
Harry Reid already has a bill on his desk which requires that all pension plans (except for the unions, of course), 401Ks, and IRAs be converted to annuities from the government. This pile of cash represents the largest pile of readily available cash in the world right now. The money will be gone as soon as it hits the government’s account, and you will be left with empty promises. There is no money, only a printing press.
Capital export controls will be enacted. You will not be able to get your money out of the country. Already you can no longer open a bank account in Switzerland unless you have over $30 million because the reporting requirements are too onerous for a smaller account. All requests to Switzerland for visas from Americans will be suspended. History will be repeated (shocking, I know), and all gold in private hands will be confiscated. The Republicans will cave, the tax rates will rise, and anyone making more than the insider politicians and government employees will encounter ever-increasing marginal tax rates.
Payoffs for votes will be made. Affirmative action requirements will be increased in every field of endeavor. Women’s abortions and contraceptives will be free. Regulations will stop the advent of fracking and the boom in oil and natural gas will come to an abrupt halt. Payments to environmental groups for lawyer’s fees will expand exponentially. Government-controlled lands with oil and gas potential will be declared wilderness or national monuments, just like Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. I could go on for another ten pages, but , in a nutshell, the message from Mr. Obama is, “You lost.”
And finally, Israel has recognized that Mr. Obama will offer no succor. Before the end of January, they will raid Iran. Gasoline will reach $7 per gallon, and voila, solar and wind energy will be competitive. No matter that your thermostat is set at 40 degrees, if you can get fuel or power.
The looters are in control. Set your alarms.
and....
http://www.infowars.com/shadow-banking-system-larger-than-at-the-start-of-the-financial-crisis/
Shadow Banking System Larger than at the Start of the Financial Crisis
One of the Main Indicators of Financial Danger Has Increased
Washington’s Blog
November 19, 2012
The failure to regulate the shadow banking system was one of the causes of the financial crisis.
As we noted in 2009, the Bank for International Settlements – often described as a central bank for central banks (BIS) – slammed the Federal Reserve for failing to rein in the shadow banking system:
How could such a huge shadow banking system emerge without provoking clear statements of official concern?
Years later, the Fed and other regulators have allowed the shadow banking system to grow even bigger.
As Reuters notes today:
The system of so-called “shadow banking,” blamed by some for aggravating the global financial crisis, grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector.
A report by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on Sunday appeared to confirm fears among policymakers that shadow banking is set to thrive, beyond the reach of a regulatory net tightening around traditional banks and banking activities.
***
The study by the FSB said shadow banking around the world more than doubled to $62 trillion in the five years to 2007 before the crisis struck.
But the size of the total system had grown to $67 trillion in 2011 — more than the total economic output of all the countries in the study.
***
The United States had the largest shadow banking system, said the FSB, with assets of $23 trillion in 2011, followed by the euro area — with $22 trillion — and the United Kingdom — at $9 trillion.
The U.S. share of the global shadow banking system has declined in recent years, the FSB said, while the shares of the United Kingdom and the euro area have increased.
At the same time, authorities have relaxed rules against fraud, excessive leverage and moral hazard … three of the other main causes of the financial crisis.
and.....
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/11/gold-daily-and-silver-weekly-charts-cup_19.html
History is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments. – Friedrich von Hayek
And finally, Israel has recognized that Mr. Obama will offer no succor. Before the end of January, they will raid Iran. Gasoline will reach $7 per gallon, and voila, solar and wind energy will be competitive. No matter that your thermostat is set at 40 degrees, if you can get fuel or power.
The looters are in control. Set your alarms.
and....
http://www.infowars.com/shadow-banking-system-larger-than-at-the-start-of-the-financial-crisis/
Shadow Banking System Larger than at the Start of the Financial Crisis
One of the Main Indicators of Financial Danger Has Increased
Washington’s Blog
November 19, 2012
November 19, 2012
The failure to regulate the shadow banking system was one of the causes of the financial crisis.
As we noted in 2009, the Bank for International Settlements – often described as a central bank for central banks (BIS) – slammed the Federal Reserve for failing to rein in the shadow banking system:
How could such a huge shadow banking system emerge without provoking clear statements of official concern?
Years later, the Fed and other regulators have allowed the shadow banking system to grow even bigger.
As Reuters notes today:
The system of so-called “shadow banking,” blamed by some for aggravating the global financial crisis, grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector.A report by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on Sunday appeared to confirm fears among policymakers that shadow banking is set to thrive, beyond the reach of a regulatory net tightening around traditional banks and banking activities.***The study by the FSB said shadow banking around the world more than doubled to $62 trillion in the five years to 2007 before the crisis struck.But the size of the total system had grown to $67 trillion in 2011 — more than the total economic output of all the countries in the study.***The United States had the largest shadow banking system, said the FSB, with assets of $23 trillion in 2011, followed by the euro area — with $22 trillion — and the United Kingdom — at $9 trillion.The U.S. share of the global shadow banking system has declined in recent years, the FSB said, while the shares of the United Kingdom and the euro area have increased.At the same time, authorities have relaxed rules against fraud, excessive leverage and moral hazard … three of the other main causes of the financial crisis.
and.....
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/11/gold-daily-and-silver-weekly-charts-cup_19.html
19 NOVEMBER 2012
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Cup and Handle Develops - SEC Rocked By Sex and Corruption Scandal
"The filing of this lawsuit now by Weber officially begins the raging clusterfuck portion of the story, as he and his lawyers are releasing lurid details not only about Kotz and Maloney, but about a host of other SEC and SEC IG officials.
It's very strong stuff: the only things missing from this lawsuit are tales of SEC officials running white-slavery rings and snorting brown-brown off the corpses of strippers with West African rebels."
Matt Taibbi, SEC Rocked By Sex and Corruption Scandal
Hell hath no fury like a whistleblower fired, ridiculed, and scorned in the national press. As you may recall, earlier this year Mr. Weber was labeled a dangerous crank for allegedly wanting to bring a gun to work. He was subsequently cleared in an investigation but was fired nonetheless.
I do not recall hearing about this unfolding scandal at the SEC on the news. But I tend to get the serious financial news from Rolling Stone magainze and the Comedy Central network these days anyway.
The story about this lawsuit came out quietly last week in the wire services with non-descript headlines like: Ex-SEC Investigator Sues Agency, Seeks Damages of $20 Million. There was a more in-depth story from Thomson Reuters that portrayed Weber's allegations as 'hard to swallow in their entirety' here.The Taibbi piece is an interesting read. If there is a Congressional investigation about this I would imagine that C-Span would receive a significant boost in the number of viewers for some of that live testimony. Americans do not care much about financial corruption, or even gross abuses of justice and individual rights including torture, unless it involves sex.
As you may recall there was a minor scandal a couple of years ago when it was revealed that there was a propensity amongst some at the SEC to spend most of the quiet intervals between trips through the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street by surfing the web with a bias towards porn sites.
Apparently not all regulators were so sedentary in their pursuit of kicks, bangs, and thrills of the belly button and below. You can read the details from Taibbi here.
The continuing development of a potential 'cup and handle formation' was discussed intraday here.
As I pointed out last week, the markets were being taken much too far to the sell side, and it appeared to be tax-selling as the VIX failed to show any real fear that was driving the market. It was more of a financial calculation.
So what next. This is a holiday market in the States, and is going to be thinly traded. There are the 'fiscal cliff' which is artificial, and the continuing conflict in Gaza, which is a destabilizing influence on the region and a human tragedy for all concerned. And thirdly there is the economic instability in Europe and the adoption of the bank bailouts "Japanese model" which is crippling the real economy.
All three of these present a situational risk to markets should they take an unfortunate turn for the worse. There could be an associated divergence between stocks and bullion as they may not present as liquidity events but as a risk trade.
Let's see how the market makes its way into December. Have a pleasant evening.
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