Business / Economic / Financial
[ This link to a somewhat more cumulative blog posts page will precede current days news since most all topics remain current in terms of impact and longer-term effect and can be searched by topical index term more easily. The same is provided since the blog site http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com has just been censored as to size by google which is typical for google as nsa / cia / gov’t shill as more are becoming aware of. The same is true for microsoft, another co. that’s seen their best days and relies on the government to maintain their monopoly. Up to now the better page http://www.scribd.com/alpeia is provided for ease of formatting and clarity thereby while the Washington Post page is the real deal but without formatting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/mypost/index.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaComments&plckUserId=alpeia&newspaperUserId=alpeia ]
Bill Fleckenstein Has Some Thoughts On QE2: “These Idiots Think We Can Print Our Way To Prosperity” [ I disagree! I believe they are well aware of the folly of their fraudulent and ultimately disastrous approach but are, as in the last debacle, creating a fraudulent bubble for the wall street frauds and insiders to sell into, which they are indeed doing as we speak. (INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS) (Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail. ) ] Fed to pump $600B into the economy (Washington Post) [ Listen to this total, absolute b*** s*** … from no-recession-helicopter ben shalom or b.s. for short, bernanke, with green shoots wilting on the vine … to his recent ‘better to try and fail than to do nothing at all’ … Balderdash! … I hearken back to a distinction made by the brilliant Peter Drucker who in emphasizing the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness states that being effective means doing the right things, clearly not the case here … other than frothing that fraudulent wall street market with high-frequency programmed trades and debased dollars he can’t seem to print enough of, and for all but wall frauds churn and earn profits as they retain their fraudulent gains from the last debacle and this one, his policies are nothing short of disaster for this nation and the world. That money going into wall street pockets has to come from somewhere … guess. Remember, america’s defacto bankrupt and the consequences for those continuing frauds on wall street don’t justify the irretrievable costs! ] In addition to a question for Bloomberg TV anchor Betty Lui, who asked Bill to “admit” that “the markets were in a better mood yesterday after QE2,” which is simply this: “Betty? Betty? Betty? How about in summer 2008, 2007, were the markets in a good mood? Were the markets in a good mood then?” [ Quite right! The same pattern that preceded the last crash. Falling dollar, high volume programmed high frequency trades to the upside creating an even larger, gravity-defying bubble for the wall street frauds and insiders to sell into. They’re not too big or important to fail and jail! Prospective economic health depends on that reality! ]
Caught In A Lie: Bernanke Promised Congress The Federal Reserve Would Not Monetize The Debt But Now That Is Exactly What Is Happening On June 3rd, 2009 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised the U.S. Congress that the Federal Reserve would not monetize the debt of the U.S. government.
Three Issues That Derail the Rally Wyatt ‘…But let’s also not forget that the news flow will turn at some point. Right now, it may be all good. But that won’t last.
- Oil prices have the potential to raise a warning flag for spending, as household budgets are pressured by prices at the pump.
- And of course, a surprise pickup in inflation as measured by the PPI or CPI is another potential catalyst.
- We also should pay attention to states’ budgets. Meredith Whitney made some minor headlines with her report about insolvency at certain states. This story is likely still percolating in the background.
Why You Shouldn't Invest in American Stocks
Stocks Muddle Through, Uninspired by Jobs Report About the author: Midnight Trader 4:08 PM, Nov 5, 2010 --
- DJIA up 9.24 (+0.08%) to 11,444.08
- S&P 500 up 4.79 (+0.39%) to 1,225.85
- Nasdaq up 1.64 (+0.06%) to 2,578.98
- Hang Seng up 1.39%
- Nikkei up 2.86%
- FTSE up 0.21%
(+) JAZZ continues evening jump that followed convincing earnings, guidance beat.
(+) SBUX continues firmer trading after earnings beat, guidance that straddles Street view.
(+) LVS gets favorable analyst coverage.
(+) BEBE upgraded.
(+) STT upgraded.
(+) BZH swings to loss.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) RRGB continues evening decline seen after earnings miss, pulled guidance.
(-) CROX turns lower after initial evening gain followed earnings beat.
(-) AMKR continues evening slide that followed disappointing results, guidance.
(-) YRCW reports wider-than-expected loss.
(-) LLNW down despite earnings beat.
MARKET DIRECTION
The major U.S. indices meandered close to the flatline for much of Friday's trade, ending little changed as traders were muted in their reaction to a strong jobs report. The averages paused after a big advance earlier this week on the heels of the Fed's $600 billion bond buying program. The U.S. Labor Department today reported that employers added 151,000 jobs in October, the first gain in nearly half a year and more than double what Wall Street was expecting. Tempering the data was an unemployment rate that remains at 9.6%, a troublesome figure that indicates the U.S. economy remains weak. The unemployment rate has stayed above 9% since May of 2009--just before the recession officially ended, according to MarketWatch. Past-months' readings were also revised up. The payrolls count in August and September was revised higher by a cumulative 110,000. Payrolls fell a revised 1,000 in August, instead of a 57,000 drop, and by 41,000 in September, instead of a 95,000 decline. Average hourly earnings increased 5 cents, or 0.2% to $22.73. Profit-taking also contributed to the decline in the major indexes a day after the DJIA ended at its highest point since just before Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, widely seen as the pivotal event of the financial sector collapse. Next week, earnings season trims down a bit, but there are a few big names that should influence market direction. On Monday, Priceline.com (PCLN) and LDK Solar (LDK) post financials, followed by Vodafone (VOD) on Tuesday. On Wednesday, traders will see results from Macy's (M) and Cisco (CSCO), with Kohl's (KSS) and Walt Disney (DIS) reporting numbers on Thursday. Agilent (A) and J.C. Penney (JCP) are set to report on Friday. On the economic front, wholesale inventories are due Tuesday, followed by trade balance data; import/export prices; crude inventories; and the Treasury budget on Wednesday. On Thursday, initial claims are due, with Michigan sentiment closing out the week on Friday. Earlier today American International Group (AIG) said it expects to finish the sale of its Taiwan life-insurance unit within a year as the company is divesting assets to pay back the U.S. bailout of the firm. AIG had earlier said it would look at scaling back the company's operations after a deal to divest it fell apart in September, but the company said in a statement today that it believes a sale will be completed in six months, the report said. BP plc (BP) ended U.S. trading lower after gaining in Europe on talk that Exxon Mobil (XOM) was considering a bid for the oil company, Reuters reported. BP declined to comment on the rumor. A spokesman for Exxon said it is "not our practice to comment on market speculation, rumors or media reports," the report said. Coca-Cola Co. (KO) shares were just higher following Thursday news the soft drink maker hit the market with its largest debt offering ever of $4.5 billion, including a three-year tranche at one of the lowest interest rate in high-grade corporate bonds, Reuters reported. The company is looking to shorten the average length of time to maturity its debt holds, the report said. In the latest earnings news:
--Washington Post (WPO) shares were higher after the company said it earned $9.12 per share from continuing operations in Q3, above the Thomson Reuters mean for $4.44. Sales were $1.1897 billion, versus estimates for $1.26317 billion. The results came from gains at its higher-education unit, which is receiving government scrutiny. The company also saw a pickup in advertising revenues at its newspaper business.
--Starbucks (SBUX) was higher after reporting fourth quarter earnings of 37 cents per share, better than the 32-cent expectation. Same-store sales for the quarter rose an impressive 8%. The company also raised its guidance for 2011 profit to $1.41 to $1.47 per share versus the current $1.43 consensus.
--Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI) lost early day gains despite the video game maker's better-than-expected third quarter results. The company also raised its full-year outlook as sales for titles such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft II surged.
Commodities surged as crude finished above $86 a barrel while gold futures hit a record high, closing near $1,400 an ounce. Crude oil for December delivery closed up 0.34% to settle at $86.85 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil was up 0.29% to $2.38 a gallon while natural gas rose 1.89%, to $3.92 per million British thermal units. Meanwhile, gold futures finished at a new record high. Gold for December delivery finished up 1% to $1,397.70 an ounce. In other metal futures, silver rose 2.25% to $26.63 a troy ounce while copper rose 0.89% to $3.94 a pound.
Daily Short-Term, High-Probability Mean Reversion Indicator: ETFs in Extreme Overbought State
Stocks Rise To End This Ridiculously Exhausting Week: Here's What You Need To Know , On Friday November 5, 2010, We don't blame you if you left your desk at 8:31 today, the minute after the jobs report came out [ Ridiculous is the word. Is anyone foolish enough to believe anything the u.s. labor department has to say? After all, these are desperate criminals; that corrupt government / fraudulent wall street axis. Totally preposterous! Then of course on top of what is described infra as ‘yesterday was the most terrifying bull rally ever, as every last thing that wasn't the dollar went berserk. It felt like a mini-Zimbabwe day’. Zimbabweans are pikers compared to defacto bankrupt america’s current third-world scam / fraud! ] It was a ridiculously busy week, what with the election and FOMC and jobs report.
But first, the scoreboardDow: +10NASDAQ: -0.05
S&P 500: +4.8And now, the top stories:
- Remember, yesterday was the most terrifying bull rally ever, as every last thing that wasn't the dollar went berserk. It felt like a mini-Zimbabwe day.
- That mega-rally continued in Japan where stocks went nuts on the BoJ's plan to intervene more in the market.
- The scene was basically the same in Europe. Notably, yields are surging across the PIIGS once again.
- Of course, the big anticipated news of the day was the jobs report at 8:30, which came in way ahead of expectations. Notably, the public sector jobs bleeding has stopped. Everyone figured there'd be about 100K+ net new jobs created in the private sector, but in past months, the public sector has killed the headline number. Also good news was the fact that August and September jobs were revised higher.
- As for markets... they didn't do a whole lot. You can't blame them for being tired.
Banks in Md, Calif shuttered; 141 failures in '10 - AP
George Soros on Market Bubbles Jack Sparrow [ Captain Jack again points to the all too familiar pirated plunder on fraudulent wall street. ] Things are getting nutty right now… and tempers are starting to fray.On one side of the coin, you have long-only types trumpeting thinly veiled versions of “I told you so” and “You were dumb not to be long this whole time.”On the other side of the coin, you have macro-oriented observers tearing their hair out over the blatantly manipulative falsehoods underpinning this move. Legendary value investor Seth Klarman pegged it best as “the Hostess Twinkie Market:”Hostess Twinkies make childhood happier with totally artificial ingredients. The market has been made happier by government manipulation.Not to get all judgmental, but both sides (to the degree they have become highly emotional) need to take a chill pill.Longs crowing over their favorite stocks should be more humble in respect to acknowledging the true drivers of this market, which have piss-all to do with fundamentals and are quite precarious.Angry bears, meanwhile, should get their zen on and recognize that false trends are still trends, and fighting the big wave has been a losing proposition since time immemorial.In other words, you don’t have to be theoretically correct in your reasoning. You just need to have the right positions on at the right time. If you are in this game to win, then it is not about being right, but making money. Yet at the same time, as a general rule you want to be theoretically sound if at all possible… because if your portfolio is anchored to a foundation of false beliefs, or not anchored to anything at all, that increases the likelihood of getting your head handed to you.And thus, for traders especially, the ideal is to have the best of both worlds:The ability to maintain general theoretical correctness, i.e. the chops to recognize a false trend for what it is, coupled with the flexibility and the means to profitably exploit false trends regardless, while keeping risk under control.There are at least three levels to the game:
- That which is real
- That which is believed
- The market’s reaction to both
First, financial markets, far from accurately reflecting all the available knowledge, always provide a distorted view of reality. This is the principle of fallibility. The degree of distortion may vary from time to time. Sometimes it’s quite insignificant, at other times it is quite pronounced. When there is a significant divergence between market prices and the underlying reality I speak of far from equilibrium conditions. That is where we are now.
Second, financial markets do not play a purely passive role; they can also affect the so-called fundamentals they are supposed to reflect. These two functions that financial markets perform work in opposite directions. In the passive or cognitive function, the fundamentals are supposed to determine market prices. In the active or manipulative function market, prices find ways of influencing the fundamentals. When both functions operate at the same time, they interfere with each other. The supposedly independent variable of one function is the dependent variable of the other, so that neither function has a truly independent variable. As a result, neither market prices nor the underlying reality is fully determined. Both suffer from an element of uncertainty that cannot be quantified. I call the interaction between the two functions reflexivity. Frank Knight recognized and explicated this element of unquantifiable uncertainty in a book published in 1921, but the Efficient Market Hypothesis and Rational Expectation Theory have deliberately ignored it. That is what made them so misleading.Reflexivity sets up a feedback loop between market valuations and the so-called fundamentals which are being valued. The feedback can be either positive or negative. Negative feedback brings market prices and the underlying reality closer together. In other words, negative feedback is self-correcting. It can go on forever, and if the underlying reality remains unchanged, it may eventually lead to an equilibrium in which market prices accurately reflect the fundamentals. By contrast, a positive feedback is self-reinforcing. It cannot go on forever because eventually, market prices would become so far removed from reality that market participants would have to recognize them as unrealistic. When that tipping point is reached, the process becomes self-reinforcing in the opposite direction. That is how financial markets produce boom-bust phenomena or bubbles. Bubbles are not the only manifestations of reflexivity, but they are the most spectacular. In my interpretation equilibrium, which is the central case in economic theory, turns out to be a limiting case where negative feedback is carried to its ultimate limit. Positive feedback has been largely assumed away by the prevailing dogma, and it deserves a lot more attention. I have developed a rudimentary theory of bubbles along these lines. Every bubble has two components: an underlying trend that prevails in reality and a misconception relating to that trend. When a positive feedback develops between the trend and the misconception, a boom-bust process is set in motion. The process is liable to be tested by negative feedback along the way, and if it is strong enough to survive these tests, both the trend and the misconception will be reinforced. Eventually, market expectations become so far removed from reality that people are forced to recognize that a misconception is involved. A twilight period ensues during which doubts grow and more and more people lose faith, but the prevailing trend is sustained by inertia. As Chuck Prince, former head of Citigroup, said, “As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We are still dancing.” Eventually a tipping point is reached when the trend is reversed; it then becomes self-reinforcing in the opposite direction. Typically bubbles have an asymmetric shape. The boom is long and slow to start. It accelerates gradually until it flattens out again during the twilight period. The bust is short and steep because it involves the forced liquidation of unsound positions.
Do As I Say No Matter What I Do ‘…Stocks are a more difficult conundrum. If the Fed wants ‘em higher, then they may well be able to push them higher for a while until they crack and collapse. But the time to crack and collapse is inherently unstable (for two excellent explorations of this phenomenon, see Why Stock Markets Crash: Critical Events in Complex Financial Systems
and the more-accessible Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen). I am naturally risk-averse, although even investors with a greater risk tolerance should also respond to uncertainty by decreasing bet size (see my discussion of the Kelly Criterion here) …’
Trading Has Become Exuberant Pierce
“if folks really understood what was going on they would be pissed. but most are happy to spot breakouts.” @marketmonk
“Anyone else feel like we are on a freight train headed for a cliff? Oh look the transports are up.” @docjck
Yesterday was an amazingly fantastic day if you’re long. Frustrating day if you were in cash. Disastrous day if you were short. What can anybody say about yesterday’s reaction to the Fed news except that it appears we’re headed towards a severe inflationary environment that could be our own demise. I believe those 2 tweets above really capture the essence of where we stand after a $600 billion band aid. I’d be curious what the interest ends up being after it’s paid back. Does anybody ever think of that? Commodities are speaking…can you hear them? My watchlist exploded yesterday with the amount of stocks I’m adding to it. You can see the ones that made the cut here. Normally it’s a great thing to add stocks that I’m interested in buying, but there comes a point where too many is a sign that something bad is about to happen. It reminds me of this story from a biology class in College. My professor had a jar where he placed some sort of micro-organism that reproduced and they doubled their amount everyday. After 21 days there was such a high number inside this jar, that there wasn’t enough space to live. The 22nd day they all died because when they doubled again there just wasn’t enough space to accommodate them all. For some reason it feels like we’re on that path with money creation, inflation…even our own population growth if you want to parallel the two stories…’
Dollar Begins Crash in Response to QE2 as Gold Scores New High Kurt Nimmo | The sickly U.S. dollar is now at risk of crashing and consumers will soon be hammered with higher prices.
Bank Holiday Rumors Swirl Amidst Currency Crisis Paul Joseph Watson | Fed’s “mad experiment” in dollar debasement stokes fresh jitters.
Bankruptcy of U.S. is ‘Mathematical Certainty,’ Says Former CEO of Nation’s 10th Largest Bank CNSNews.com | Allison likened what he sees as the predictable future bankruptcy of the United States to the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [ US to spend 500 million dollars on embassy in Afghanistan AFP | The United States is bolstering its presence in Afghanistan with a 500 million dollar expansion of its Kabul embassy and the construction of two consulates. (Yeah … defacto bankrupt america can afford it! Riiiiight! ]
Ireland is running out of time Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | The bond crisis is snowballing out of control before the country has had enough time to let its medical, pharma, IT, and financial services industries.
Sen. Gregg: Federal, State Governments Facing Grecian Tragedy in a Few Years Newsmax.com | The federal government and state governments are facing massive debts moving forward.
NIA Warns Of Food Crisis, “Societal Collapse” In Response To Fed Money Printing The National Inflation Association is warning of a food crisis in America as soon as next year and possible “societal collapse” as a result of the Federal Reserve’s new quantitative easing program that threatens to eviscerate the buying power of the greenback.
Bank Holiday Rumors Swirl Amidst Currency Crisis With the world on the verge of a currency war as the Federal Reserve follows through on its dollar-killing quantitative easing program, rumors are once again swirling of a “bank holiday,” during which US citizens will be prevented from withdrawing money or at least limited in the amount of the withdrawal they can make.
People Who “Want A Job Now” Jumps To Second Highest Ever As Persons Not In Labor Force Reaches Record Some more facts emerging from a look at two more sub-headline indicators: the persons not in the labor force, which we noted in the prior post, is now at the highest ever, at 84,626K, an increase of 462K from September.
Dollar Begins Crash in Response to QE2 as Gold Scores New High Earlier this year, Lindsey Williams told Alex Jones the globalists would devalue the dollar and jack up the price of oil. Both are now happening.
Must Watch: David Stockman Says The Fed Is Injecting High Grade Monetary Heroin Into The Financial System Today’s absolutely must watch clip comes from David Stockman, director of the OMB under Ronald Reagan. “An independent Fed is what we had when I was in the government.
Asian Nations Are Already Teaming Up To Protect Themselves From The “Bernanke Super-Put” “Bernanke super-put” is the excellent phrase Ambrose Evans-Pritchard uses to describe the latest round of QE.
Come On! Insiders selling (into the bubble as preceded last crash), this is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits! Suckers’ rally to keep suckers suckered (easy for the wall street frauds to do with just a mouse click / push of the button – and, they know all those technical trade lines that are easy to program in this current phase of the scam / fraud with the debased dollar). Keep in mind, the totally mindless blather from the ‘cottage industries’ of and fraudulent wall street itself in talking up lower P/E multiples when the same is a direct result of the debasement of the dollar and the consequent manipulation / translation (not real, see Davis, infra) which preceded the financial crisis / last crash. Unemployment, trade, deficit, etc., numbers continue decidedly worse than expected along with other negative data (and in the ‘wrong direction’, that spin accorded ‘down but not as bad as before’ b*** s*** ) yet the market has rallied like no tomorrow with used home foreclosure / distressed sales, though abated owing to ‘foreclosuregate’, the other ‘heralded’ good news. Moreover, the dumbo lemmings of Europe have jumped on the fraudulent defacto bankrupt american crazy train propelled to the precipice also as if no tomorrow. This is about keeping the suckers sucked in with the help of a market-frothing pre-election debased dollar for favorable currency translation and paper (but not real when measured in, ie., gold, etc.) profits which preceded the last crisis, inflating a bubble as in the last crisis to facilitate the churn-and-earn, particularly with computerized (and high frequency) trades and which commissions they’ll get again on the way down. There is nothing to support these overbought stock prices, fundamentally or otherwise. These are desperate criminals ‘at work’. Even wall street shill, the senile Buffett is saying we’re still in a recession (depression) [ Davis: ‘… all profits are inflated by 10% (from falling, debased dollar) and that 10% is the E that gets divided from the P and gives us a much better price/multiple to hang our hats on and that gets investors to BUYBUYBUY …’ The bull market that never was / were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold ] This is a great opportunity to sell / take profits (these lower dollar, hyperinflationary currency manipulations / translations to froth paper stocks will end quite badly as in last crash)! This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up moves were manipulated bull (s***) cycles (at best) in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street ‘programmed computerized high-frequency churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes ( widely reported, high-frequency trading routinely accounts for more than 50% of daily U.S. equity trading volume and regularly approaches 70%. )’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.The Stock Market's Long Decline Has Begun Smith ]
(11-5-10) Dow 11,444 +9 Nasdaq 2,579 +1 S&P 500 1,225 +4 [CLOSE- OIL $86.85 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.00 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.15 REG./ $3.29 MID-GRADE/ $3.39 PREM./ $3.79 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,398 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $26.65 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,768 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .71 EURO, 81 YEN, .61 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.53% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 6 Theories On Why the Stock Market Has Rallied 3-9-10 [archived website file] Risks Lurk for ETF Investors The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 The Week Ahead: Risk Is Off the Cliff; Unwind Has Begun Jan 31, 2010 01-13-10 Forecast for 2010 from Seeking Alpha Contributor THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover Current Economic / Fiscal Charts Trendsresearch.com forecast for 2009 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net MUST READ: JEREMY GRANTHAM’S QUARTERLY UPDATE 25 January 2010 (850 on the S&P) by TPC The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!
National / World
Latest Al Qaeda Boogie Man Was “Killed” 11 Months Ago Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al-Qaeda leader who supposedly masterminded last month’s plane bomb plot is the latest terrorist boogie man to have risen from the grave to exact his revenge.
‘Socialist’ MSNBC Pundit: Ban All Guns In America In the midst of an argument with Glen Greenwald, MSNBC pundit Lawrence O’Donnell admits that he is a socialist who wants to “ban all guns in America” while forcing Obamacare on everyone.
TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners While her experience is frightening enough to warrant serious concern among citizens, Alex himself has witnessed this happen to men, women, and children on multiple occasions. Michelle will be joining Alex on the show again today to continue the discussion.
UN, Soros Push Global Tax To Fight Man-Made Climate Change A top UN panel on Friday called for increased taxes on carbon emissions and air and sea transport to raise 100 billion dollars a year to combat climate change.
Dollar Begins Crash in Response to QE2 as Gold Scores New High Kurt Nimmo | The sickly U.S. dollar is now at risk of crashing and consumers will soon be hammered with higher prices.
Bank Holiday Rumors Swirl Amidst Currency Crisis Paul Joseph Watson | Fed’s “mad experiment” in dollar debasement stokes fresh jitters.
TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners Infowars.com | Alex talks with Michelle, a long-time Infowars.com employee about her experience at the hands of the TSA.
YouTube Finally Removes Terror Impresario’s Videos Kurt Nimmo | Ron Paul, Alex Jones, 9/11 truth videos removed in hours, not weeks.
Drudgereport: OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINS AT 9.6%... ADDED 151,000 JOBS
Labor Force Participation Rate Drops To 25 Year Low, At 64.5%...
Oil above $87...
Boehner: First cut should be lawmakers' salaries...
House GOP Promises Democrats Chance to Offer Spending Amendments...
BACKLASH BUILDS AGAINST FED PUMPING...
'Dollar at Risk of Crashing, Triggering Inflation'...
Brazil ready to retaliate for US move in 'currency war'...
CHINA WARNS FED MOVE 'HUGE RISK'...
Germany Concerned...
Bush breaks silence, writes next chapter (Washington Post) [ As a failed president and war criminal himself, moron dumbya bush is among the few in the world that makes failed president wobama look plausibly good in comparison … wobama merely continued the failed policies of dumbya (perpetual war, no pros the frauds on wallstreet, etc.) that got pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america to this point of decline and failure. ] Anne E. Kornblut Your take: His most memorable moment? [ Like regrets in that old song (his way) he’s had a few – http://albertpeia.com/evilonthetarmac.htm here’s a few: bushisms from bush the brain-damaged moron http://albertpeia.com/bushisms.htm :
"After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week—we will have an all-volunteer army. Let me restate that."—Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 16, 2004
"The CIA laid out several scenarios and said life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better, and they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like."—New York, Sept. 21, 2004
"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2004 (Thanks to David Stanford.)
"That's why I went to the Congress last September and proposed fundamental—supplemental funding, which is money for armor and body parts and ammunition and fuel."—Erie, Pa., Sept. 4, 2004
"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."—Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.
"They've seen me make decisions, they've seen me under trying times, they've seen me weep, they've seen me laugh, they've seen me hug. And they know who I am, and I believe they're comfortable with the fact that they know I'm not going to shift principles or shift positions based upon polls and focus groups." —Interview with USA Today, Aug. 27, 2004
"I didn't join the International Criminal Court because I don't want to put our troops in the hands of prosecutors from other nations. Look, if somebody has done some wrong in our military, we'll take care of it. We got plenty of capability of dealing with justice."—Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004
"So community colleges are accessible, they're available, they're affordable, and their curriculums don't get stuck. In other words, if there's a need for a certain kind of worker, I presume your curriculums evolved over time."—Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004
"Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a—you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004
"Secondly, the tactics of our—as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's—ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions—you can't—we're out of sanctions."—Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004
"I mean, if you've ever been a governor of a state, you understand the vast potential of broadband technology, you understand how hard it is to make sure that physics, for example, is taught in every classroom in the state. It's difficult to do. It's, like, cost-prohibitive."—Washington, D.C., June 24, 2004 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Thanks to Alicia Butler.)
"And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know?"—Washington, D.C., June 15, 2004 (Thanks to Robert Irwin.)
"[A] free Iraq is essential to our respective securities."—Washington, D.C., June 1, 2004
"I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."—Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."—Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004
"This has been tough weeks in that country."—Washington, D.C., April 13, 2004 (Thanks to David Huddleston.)
"[B]y the way, we rank 10th amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That's not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low as far as I'm concerned."—Minneapolis, Minn., April 26, 2004
"My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate."—Washington, D.C., April 21, 2004
"This is historic times."—New York, N.Y., April 20, 2004
"Obviously, I pray every day there's less casualty."—Fort Hood, Texas, April 11, 2004 (Thanks to Pat Gallagher.)
"Recession means that people's incomes, at the employer level, are going down, basically, relative to costs, people are getting laid off."—Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, 2004 (Thanks to Garry Trudeau.)
"God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear."—Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2004 (Thanks to Tanny Bear.)
"The march to war affected the people's confidence. It's hard to make investment. See, if you're a small business owner or a large business owner and you're thinking about investing, you've got to be optimistic when you invest. Except when you're marching to war, it's not a very optimistic thought, is it? In other words, it's the opposite of optimistic when you're thinking you're going to war." —Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 2004 (Thanks to Garry Trudeau.)
"See, one of the interesting things in the Oval Office—I love to bring people into the Oval Office—right around the corner from here—and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than—I say more Muslims—a lot of Muslims have died—I don't know the exact count—at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"In an economic recession, I'd rather that in order to get out of this recession, that the people be spending their money, not the government trying to figure out how to spend the people's money."—Tampa, Fla., Feb. 16, 2004
"King Abdullah of Jordan, the King of Morocco, I mean, there's a series of places—Qatar, Oman—I mean, places that are developing—Bahrain—they're all developing the habits of free societies."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004
"But the true strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of people like Travis, people who are willing to love their neighbor, just like they would like to love themselves."—Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 2004 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"My views are one that speaks to freedom."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004
"In my judgment, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences."
"There is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of iron-clad absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon."
"The recession started upon my arrival. t could have been—some say February, some say March, some speculate maybe earlier it started—but nevertheless, it happened as we showed up here. The attacks on our country affected our economy. Corporate scandals affected the confidence of people and therefore affected the economy. My decision on Iraq, this kind of march to war, affected the economy."—Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004
"I was a prisoner too, but for bad reasons."—To Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, on being told that all but one of the Argentine delegates to a summit meeting were imprisoned during the military dictatorship, Monterrey, Mexico, Jan. 13, 2004
"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004 (Thanks to Lewell Gunter.)
"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter."—Advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004
"One of the most meaningful things that's happened to me since I've been the governor—the president—governor—president. Oops. Ex-governor. I went to Bethesda Naval Hospital to give a fellow a Purple Heart, and at the same moment I watched him—get a Purple Heart for action in Iraq—and at that same—right after I gave him the Purple Heart, he was sworn in as a citizen of the United States—a Mexican citizen, now a United States citizen."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2004
"I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of our country."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2004
"And if you're interested in the quality of education and you're paying attention to what you hear at Laclede, why don't you volunteer? Why don't you mentor a child how to read?"—St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 5, 2004
"So thank you for reminding me about the importance of being a good mom and a great volunteer as well."—St. Louis, Jan. 5, 2004
"I want to remind you all that in order to fight and win the war, it requires an expenditure of money that is commiserate with keeping a promise to our troops to make sure that they're well-paid, well-trained, well-equipped."
"See, without the tax relief package, there would have been a deficit, but there wouldn't have been the commiserate—not 'commiserate'—the kick to our economy that occurred as a result of the tax relief."
"[T]he best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole, is to give clues and data."
"Justice was being delivered to a man who defied that gift from the Almighty to the people of Iraq."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2003
"[A]s you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say."—Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2003
"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the—the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."—Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2003 (Thanks to Robert Hack.)
"[W]hether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be called themselves."—Washington, Oct. 8, 2003 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."—Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003
"[W]e've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them, and I want to know who the leakers are."—Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003
"Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations. You've heard much of the allegations. And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it. And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called anonymous sources, or people outside the information—outside the administration."—Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003 (Thanks to Andy Bowers.)
"[T]hat's just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric."—Crawford, Texas, Aug. 8, 2003 (Thanks to Inigo Thomas.)
"I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003
"I'm so pleased to be able to say hello to Bill Scranton. He's one of the great Pennsylvania political families."—Drexel Hill, Penn., Sept. 15, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"We had a good Cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2003 (Thanks to Tanny Bear.)
"Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace."—Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003
"Our country puts $1 billion a year up to help feed the hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation in the world when it comes to that, and I'm proud to report that. This isn't a contest of who's the most generous. I'm just telling you as an aside. We're generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But we are. We're very generous."—Washington, D.C., July 16, 2003
"It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America."—Dakar, Senegal, July 8, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"My answer is bring them on."—On Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003
"You've also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that's just more—when there's more than talk, there's just actual—a paradigm shift."—Washington, D.C., July 1, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"I urge the leaders in Europe and around the world to take swift, decisive action against terror groups such as Hamas, to cut off their funding, and to support—cut funding and support, as the United States has done."—Washington, D.C., June 25, 2003
"Iran would be dangerous if they have a nuclear weapon."—Washington, D.C., June 18, 2003
"Now, there are some who would like to rewrite history—revisionist historians is what I like to call them."—Elizabeth, N.J., June 16, 2003
"I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace."—Washington, D.C., June 10, 2003 (Thanks to Tanny Bear.)
"The true strength of America happens when a neighbor loves a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved themselves."—Elizabeth, N.J., June 16, 2003
"We are making steadfast progress."—Washington, D.C., June 9, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"I'm the master of low expectations."—Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003
"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things."—Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003
"I recently met with the finance minister of the Palestinian Authority, was very impressed by his grasp of finances."—Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003
"Oftentimes, we live in a processed world—you know, people focus on the process and not results."—Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003
"I've got very good relations with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdallah and the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries."—Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003
"All up and down the different aspects of our society, we had meaningful discussions. Not only in the Cabinet Room, but prior to this and after this day, our secretaries, respective secretaries, will continue to interact to create the conditions necessary for prosperity to reign."—Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003
"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill."—Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003
"We ended the rule of one of history's worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure."—Crawford, Texas, May 3, 2003 (Thanks to Tony Marciniec.)
"We've had a great weekend here in the Land of the Enchanted."—Albuquerque, N.M., May 12, 2003 (New Mexico's state nickname is "Land of Enchantment.")
"We've got hundreds of sites to exploit, looking for the chemical and biological weapons that we know Saddam Hussein had prior to our entrance into Iraq."—Santa Clara, Calif., May 2, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"I think war is a dangerous place."—Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003
"I don't bring God into my life to—to, you know, kind of be a political person."—Interview with Tom Brokaw aboard Air Force One, April 24, 2003
"You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order—order out of chaos. But we will."—Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003
"Perhaps one way will be, if we use military force, in the post-Saddam Iraq the U.N. will definitely need to have a role. And that way it can begin to get its legs, legs of responsibility back."—the Azores, Portugal, March 16, 2003
"I know there's a lot of young ladies who are growing up wondering whether or not they can be champs. And they see the championship teams from USC and University of Portland here, girls who worked hard to get to where they are, and they're wondering about the example they're setting. What is life choices about?"—Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2003
"Now, we talked to Joan Hanover. She and her husband, George, were visiting with us. They are near retirement—retiring—in the process of retiring, meaning they're very smart, active, capable people who are retirement age and are retiring."—Alexandria, Va., Feb. 12, 2003 (Thanks to Dennis Doubleday.)
"Columbia carried in its payroll classroom experiments from some of our students in America."—Bethesda, Md., Feb. 3, 2003
"And, most importantly, Alma Powell, secretary of Colin Powell, is with us."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 2003
"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."—Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003
"When Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried, and persecuted as a war criminal."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2003 (Thanks to Chad Conwell.)
"Many of the punditry—of course, not you (laughter)—but other punditry were quick to say, no one is going to follow the United States of America."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2003
"One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 2003
"I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002
"The goals for this country are peace in the world. And the goals for this country are a compassionate American for every single citizen. That compassion is found in the hearts and souls of the American citizens."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2002 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002
"In other words, I don't think people ought to be compelled to make the decision which they think is best for their family."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002 (Thanks to Stephanie Nichols.)
"Sometimes, Washington is one of these towns where the person—people who think they've got the sharp elbow is the most effective person." —New Orleans, Dec. 3, 2002 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production."—Washington, D.C., Nov. 27, 2002
"These people don't have tanks. They don't have ships. They hide in caves. They send suiciders out."—Speaking about terrorists, Portsmouth, N.H., Nov. 1, 2002
"I know something about being a government. And you've got a good one."—Stumping for Gov. Mike Huckabee, Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 4, 2002
"I need to be able to move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate."—South Bend, Ind., Oct. 31, 2002
"John Thune has got a common-sense vision for good forest policy. I look forward to working with him in the United Nations Senate to preserve these national heritages."
"Any time we've got any kind of inkling that somebody is thinking about doing something to an American and something to our homeland, you've just got to know we're moving on it, to protect the United Nations Constitution, and at the same time, we're protecting you."—Aberdeen, S.D., same day (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"Let me tell you my thoughts about tax relief. When your economy is kind of ooching along, it's important to let people have more of their own money."—Boston, Oct. 4, 2002
"I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement of purpose: you disarm, or we will."—Speaking about Saddam Hussein, Manchester, N.H., Oct. 5, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002
"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."—Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002
"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002
"I'm plowed of the leadership of Chuck Grassley and Greg Ganske and Jim Leach."—Davenport, Iowa, Sept. 16, 2002
"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
"There's no doubt in my mind that we should allow the world worst leaders to hold America hostage, to threaten our peace, to threaten our friends and allies with the world's worst weapons."—South Bend, Ind., Sept. 5, 2002
"If you don't have any ambitions, the minimum-wage job isn't going to get you to where you want to get, for example. In other words, what is your ambitions? And oh, by the way, if that is your ambition, here's what it's going to take to achieve it."—Speech to students in Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 29, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"See, we love—we love freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They hate things; we love things. They act out of hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek justice out of love."—Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002
"There's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough to hide."—Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
"President Musharraf, he's still tight with us on the war against terror, and that's what I appreciate. He's a—he understands that we've got to keep al-Qaida on the run, and that by keeping him on the run, it's more likely we will bring him to justice."—Ruch, Ore., Aug. 22, 2002 (Thanks to Scott Miller.)
"I'm a patient man. And when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man."
"Nothing he [Saddam Hussein] has done has convinced me—I'm confident the Secretary of Defense—that he is the kind of fellow that is willing to forgo weapons of mass destruction, is willing to be a peaceful neighbor, that is—will honor the people—the Iraqi people of all stripes, will—values human life. He hasn't convinced me, nor has he convinced my administration."—Crawford, Texas, Aug. 21, 2002
"I'm thrilled to be here in the bread basket of America because it gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here in America—we can feed ourselves."—Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002 (Thanks to Christopher Baird.)
"There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country."
"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind."—Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"I love the idea of a school in which people come to get educated and stay in the state in which they're educated."
"There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again."
"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here."
"I can assure you that, even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars, nor will the vice president, we will look at the summaries."
"Tommy [Thompson, Health and Human Services secretary,] is a good listener, and he's a pretty good actor, too."
"The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. … But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical—medical malpractice.""I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society."
—Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002
"There was no malfeance involved. This was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures. ... There was no malfeance, no attempt to hide anything."—White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002
"I also understand how tender the free enterprise system can be."—White House press conference, Washington, D.C., July 9, 2002
"Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it."—Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002
"Whether you're here by birth, or whether you're in America by choice, you contribute to the vitality of our life. And for that, we are grateful."—Washington, D.C., May 17, 2002
"I'd rather have them sacrificing on behalf of our nation than, you know, endless hours of testimony on congressional hill."—National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland, June 4, 2002
"We're working with Chancellor Schröder on what's called 10-plus-10-over-10: $10 billion from the U.S.,$10 billion from other members of the G7 over a 10-year period, to help Russia securitize the dismantling—the dismantled nuclear warheads."—Berlin, Germany, May 23, 2002
"Do you have blacks, too?"—To Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
"This is a nation that loves our freedom, loves our country."—Washington, D.C, May 17, 2002
"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society."—Santa Clara, Calif., May 1, 2002
"After all, a week ago, there were—Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002 (Thanks to M. Bateman.)
"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."—as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002
"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)
"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours." —Bridgeport, Conn., April 9, 2002 …(there are many more)
]
: Alleged Afghan voting fraud to be investigated (Washington Post) [ Geeh! They’re really taking this americanization of Afghanistan really seriously, corruption in voting among other governmental processes in the corrupt american way not excepted. ]
Neighboring countries ponder a post-occupation Afghanistan (Washington Post) [ Yeah! Riiiiight! Ponder … as in ‘who’s next?’ . What chaos has the cia lined up for who and when? Come on! … Wake up, dummies! ]
Booz Allen Hamilton seeks IPO (Washington Post) [ bush-connected Carlyle, Virginia fed.gov’t mob infested (ie., cia, military, nsa, etc.) based co. cashing in on the current worthless paper fraud / scam with IPO … INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS … Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail… see infra ] McLean consulting firm is seeking an initial public offering that might hand the buyout firm a 241 percent paper profit on its investment.
Stocks jump after Fed's move to jolt economy (Washington Post) [ Dollar Shrinkage: Dave's Daily INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS - ‘I gotta do something different right? It seems every report and blog is writing about what a great day this was for markets. It was except for low volume. Overseas governments don't like the dollar shrinkage one little bit… / Fed to pump $600B into the economy (Washington Post) [ Listen to this total, absolute b*** s*** … from no-recession-helicopter ben shalom or b.s. for short, bernanke, with green shoots wilting on the vine … to his most recent b.s. line, ‘better to try and fail than to do nothing at all’ … Balderdash! … I hearken back to a distinction made by the brilliant Peter Drucker who in emphasizing the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness states that being effective means doing the right things, clearly not the case here … other than frothing that fraudulent wall street market with high-frequency programmed trades and debased dollars he can’t seem to print enough of, and for all but wall frauds churn and earn profits as they retain their fraudulent gains from the last debacle and this one, his policies are nothing short of disaster for this nation and the world. That money going into wall street pockets has to come from somewhere … guess. Remember, america’s defacto bankrupt and the consequences for those continuing frauds on wall street don’t justify the irretrievable costs! ] ] Central bank's aggressive move sends stocks soaring to their highest level in two years as investors express renewed confidence that someone in Washington is finally giving the sluggish recovery a lift.
Bush breaks silence, writes next chapter (Washington Post) [ As a failed president and war criminal himself, moron dumbya bush is among the few in the world that makes failed president wobama look plausibly good in comparison … wobama merely continued the failed policies of dumbya (perpetual war, no pros the frauds on wallstreet, etc.) that got pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america to this point of decline and failure. ] Anne E. Kornblut Your take: His most memorable moment? [ Like regrets in that old song (his way) he’s had a few – http://albertpeia.com/evilonthetarmac.htm here’s a few: bushisms from bush the brain-damaged moron http://albertpeia.com/bushisms.htm :
Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail. ‘Washington’s Blog Nov 4th, 2010 As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail. And Nobel prize winning economist George Akerlof has demonstrated that failure to punish white collar criminals – and instead bailing them out- creates incentives for more economic crimes and further destruction of the economy in the future. See this, this and this. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz just agreed. As Stiglitz told Yahoo’s Daily Finance on October 20th: This is a really important point to understand from the point of view of our society. The legal system is supposed to be the codification of our norms and beliefs, things that we need to make our system work. If the legal system is seen as exploitative, then confidence in our whole system starts eroding. And that’s really the problem that’s going on. *** A lot of the predatory practices in automobile loans are going to be able to be continued. Why is it OK to engage in bad lending in automobiles and not in the mortgage market? Is there any principle? We all know the answer to that. No, there’s no principle. It’s money. It’s campaign contributions, lobbying, revolving door, all of those kinds of things *** The system is designed to actually encourage that kind of thing, even with the fines [referring to former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo, who recently paid tens of millions of dollars in fines, a small fraction of what he actually earned, because he earned hundreds of millions.]. I know so many people who say it’s an outrage that we had more accountability in the ’80’s with the S&L crisis than we are having today. Yeah, we fine them, and what is the big lesson? Behave badly, and the government might take 5% or 10% of what you got in your ill-gotten gains, but you’re still sitting home pretty with your several hundred million dollars that you have left over after paying fines that look very large by ordinary standards but look small compared to the amount that you’ve been able to cash in. *** So the system is set so that even if you’re caught, the penalty is just a small number relative to what you walk home with. The fine is just a cost of doing business. It’s like a parking fine. Sometimes you make a decision to park knowing that you might get a fine because going around the corner to the parking lot takes you too much time. ***I think we ought to go do what we did in the S&L [crisis] and actually put many of these guys in prison. Absolutely. These are not just white-collar crimes or little accidents. There were victims. That’s the point. There were victims all over the world. *** So do we have any confidence that these guys who got us into the mess have really changed their minds? Actually we have pretty [good] confidence that they have not. I’ve seen some speeches where they said, “Nothing was really wrong. We didn’t get things quite right. But our understanding of the issues is pretty sound.” If they think that, then we really are in a sorry mess. *** There are many aspects of [deterring people from committing crime]. Economists focus on the whole notion of incentives. People have an incentive sometimes to behave badly, because they can make more money if they can cheat. If our economic system is going to work then we have to make sure that what they gain when they cheat is offset by a system of penalties. And that’s why, for instance, in our antitrust law, we often don’t catch people when they behave badly, but when we do we say there are treble damages. You pay three times the amount of the damage that you do. That’s a strong deterrent. Unfortunately, what we’ve been doing now, and more recently in these financial crimes, is settling for fractions – fractions! – of the direct damage, and even a smaller fraction of the total societal damage. That is to say, the financial sector really brought down the global economy and if you include all of that collateral damage, it’s really already in the trillions of dollars. But there’s a broader sense of collateral damage that I think that has not really been taken on board. And that is confidence in our legal system, in our rule of law, in our system of justice. When you say the Pledge of Allegiance you say, with “justice for all.” People aren’t sure that we have justice for all. Somebody is caught for a minor drug offense, they are sent to prison for a very long time. And yet, these so-called white-collar crimes, which are not victimless, almost none of these guys, almost none of them, go to prison. *** Let me give you another example of where the legal system has gotten very much out of whack, and which contributed to the financial crisis. In 2005, we passed a bankruptcy reform. It was a reform pushed by the banks. It was designed to allow them to make bad loans to people to who didn’t understand what was going on, and then basically choke them. Squeeze them dry. And we should have called it, “the new indentured servitude law.” Because that’s what it did. Let me just tell you how bad it is. I don’t think Americans understand how bad it is. It becomes really very difficult for individuals to discharge their debt. The basic principle in the past in America was people should have the right for a fresh start. People make mistakes. Especially when they’re preyed upon. And so you should be able to start afresh again. Get a clean slate. Pay what you can and start again. Now if you do it over and over again that’s a different thing. But at least when there are these lenders preying on you should be able to get a fresh start. But they [the banks] said, “No, no, you can’t discharge your debt,” or you can’t discharge it very easily. *** This is indentured servitude. And we criticize other countries for having indentured servitude of this kind, bonded labor. But in America we instituted this in 2005 with almost no discussion of the consequences. But what it did was encourage the banks to engage in even worse lending practices. *** The banks want to pretend that they did not make bad loans. They don’t want to come into reality. The fact that they were very instrumental in changing the accounting standards, so that loans that are impaired where people are not paying back what they owe, are treated as if they are just as good as a well-performing mortgage. So the whole strategy of the banks has been to hide the losses, muddle through and get the government to keep interest rates really low. *** The result of this is, as long as we keep up this strategy, it’s going to be a long time before the economy recovers …’
Dollar Shrinkage: Dave's Daily INSIDER SELLING IS AT RECORD HIGHS - ‘I gotta do something different right? It seems every report and blog is writing about what a great day this was for markets. It was except for low volume. Overseas governments don't like the dollar shrinkage one little bit. A currency war is the likely result. Oh, and before we get too optimistic (we're long too you know) its reported insider selling is at record highs--like, what do they know? Meanwhile with the big rally day for stocks and just about everything else priced in dollars. (Even bond prices rose!) It's all about the Fed wanting higher asset prices and that means stocks too. Forget about the PPT. The important thing when it comes to the Fed's monetary policies is for every action there's a reaction. They know that raising stock prices is good for 401Ks. It makes people feel better so they'll shop more and maybe even buy a house. And, forget about employment data since the unemployed have been left out on the ice with a few worthless dollars to buy food. As stated, volume was light for this type of day and reflects the absence of retail investors who continue to withdraw sums from equities. What good is inflation if they're sitting in low-yielding bonds? Breadth was positive naturally but not a 90/10 day.’
Initial Weekly Claims Rise 20,000 NEW YORK (TheStreet) – ‘The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for the first time rose more than expected last week according to a labor department report released early Thursday. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased by 20,000 to 457,000 in the week ended Oct. 30, from the previous week's upwardly revised estimate of 437,000. Analysts were expecting initial claims to rise by 11,000 to 445,000, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com. The number of people filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in lower than expected at 4.34 million for the week ended Oct. 23, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 4.382 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to rise to 4.386 million. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average(DIA) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF(SPY) were rising by 0.8% and 1 % respectively in premarket trading while the PowerShares QQQ(QQQQ) was up 1.2%. The 4-week moving average in initial claims, which smoothes the volatility in week-to-week reports, was 456,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 454,000. The 4-week moving average in continuing claims was 4.410 million, a decrease of 42,750 from the preceding week's average of 4.453 million. This initial weekly claims report comes a day before the Labor Department reports nonfarm payroll numbers for the month of October. The economy is projected to have added 60,000 jobs in October, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com. In September, the economy shed 95,000 jobs, as the state and local government laid off more workers and private sector job growth remained modest…’
Auto Sales are Up, But Who's Really Buying? ‘… Not Buying It … As we search for these vital signs of health, we continue to be sustained by the disconnect between the markets and reality as the dow (DJI: ^DJI), Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC), and S&P (SNP: ^GSPC) grind higher.’
5 Promises That Money Printing Can't Fulfill - Pento ‘It seems the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve is of the belief that diluting the dollar is the cure for everything from a recession to male pattern baldness. And like other snake-oil salesmen before him, Mr. Bernanke is heavy on promises and light on results. Here are five prescriptions that money printing can't fulfill:
- Lower the corporate tax rate. The US corporate tax rate is the second highest in the developed world, after Japan. Lowering this tax would help American businesses compete with foreign corporations and unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of our workforce. In addition, lowering taxes on capital goods purchases and retained earnings would also encourage expansion projects, new hiring, and therefore general business development.
- Reduce crippling regulations. There isn't a much better example of the current environment of excessive red tape than the number of "Czars" running around the White House: 28, at last count. Ronald Reagan had just one. These sub-cabinet level offices simply advise the President on how to further fetter American businesses and launch umpteen "independent probes" every time an issue comes up. But even officials not given the Imperial Russian title are busy making life hell for small- and medium-sized businesses because there is too much power in Washington.
- Learn to compete with foreign workers. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and mandated benefits and regulations add even more to the cost of employment. We need to repeal these laws and allow wages to adjust freely to market conditions. Initially, incomes may drop, but if we also lower taxes while reducing the rate of inflation, workers' real disposable income may actually increase. Meanwhile, as our economy's underlying strength is rebuilt, American workers will finally be able to compete with foreign workers on a level playing field. If we ignore these reforms, high-quality jobs will continue to flow overseas.
- Improve America's educational system. According to a recent report put out by the National Academies of Science and Engineering, the US ranks 21st in science and 25th in math out of 30 industrialized nations. And, according to the World Economic Forum, the United States' K-12 education system now ranks 48th in the world. How can our workers compete in the 21st century without the necessary technological skills to fill highly paid positions? We need to dramatically reform our public educational system by injecting a massive dose of free markets into the mix. Whether this involves charter schools, private schools, vouchers, or a combination, public schools must be forced to compete for students and funding. If consumers were given a true choice by offering tax credits to those parents that opt-out of the public system, it would go a long way towards establishing an environment that purges mediocrity and rewards excellence.
- Balance the federal budgets. Balancing a budget simply means spending only what you take in as revenue. If we were to adopt that simply strategy, it would ensure that: tax rates would never have to rise sharply just to service debt, the Fed would never have to print money to 'monetize' the debt, interest rates would be lower, and spending that benefits one generation would never be paid for by generations to come. A stable currency, low taxes and the ability to pay down debts are necessary ingredients for a growing workforce and a viable middle class.
Unlike the snake oil of printed money, these genuine therapies take time and effort, and sometimes have painful side effects. The quack remedies offered by Dr. Bernanke promise to cure all ills with no effort on the part of the patient. If the measures I propose are established in concert, we would lay the groundwork upon which to rebuild the country's goods-producing sector. If allowed to flourish, manufacturing can create the needed jobs to lower the long-term unemployment rate and restore the county's economic vitality. The Fed's plan, by contrast, has only one predictable consequence: inflation. Indeed, Bernanke has already been remarkably successful in sending asset prices higher. Not only are most commodities soaring in dollar terms, but the broader measures of the money supply have started to surge as well. The compounded annual rates of change in MZM and M2 over the last month are 13.3% and 9.1% respectively. The prices-paid component of the September ISM manufactures survey jumped to 71, and the YoY increase in the PPI is 4%. Sure, we can look to the Dow or the stabilization of home prices and say the Fed's magic is working, but just because the headache has gone away doesn't mean you've cured the stroke. We can look to the inflation indicators to see that the Fed has failed to stop the bleeding.
Remember, the Fed is now printing dollars to purchase the bulk of US Treasuries at auction, in a process called debt monetization. It is that process of the Fed expanding the money supply to subsidize federal debt that is causing domestic prices to surge. It will not be very long before the consumer acutely suffers from this dangerous policy. On this point, history is clear: inflation has caused the destruction of every middle class and every economy that has sought it as a solution. There are no quick fixes to our current economic predicament, but there are fixes. It's up to the American people to decide they've had enough of Ben 'Rasputin' Bernanke and they're ready for some tough medicine. When that happens, I've got some great specialists to recommend.’
Financial Improprieties Abound as Stocks Rally , On Thursday November 4, 2010, 6:53 pm EDT Throughout mankind's history, scales have been a symbol of equality. As much as commoners rely on scales to be treated fairly, 'ueber commoners' try to escape the scales of justice and equality and want to be measured by different and better standards. In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln exhorted his listeners to ensure the survival of a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It seems like survival of the fittest like forces have turned a government of, by and for the people into a government of, for and by special interest groups. No More Robin Hood This week we read that even the Robin Hood of investors, creates his own rules. Warren Buffett - the only candidate to even remotely resemble a Robin Hood of Wall Street - had a friendly exchange with the SEC about the treatment of actual losses.Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway was sitting on $1.86 billion in losses caused by declining Kraft and US Bancorp stock. The losses were more than 12 months old and according to current accounting rules had to be written down.Perhaps Warren had seen how Wall Street is allowed to bend accounting rules to its favor (more about that in a moment) and thought: 'what they can do I can do better.'In short, Berkshire didn't write down the $1.86 billion in losses because ... drum roll ... as Berkshire's Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg's reasoned:'We believe it is reasonably possible that the market prices of Kraft Foods and U.S. Bancorp will recover to our cast within the next one to two years assuming that there are no material adverse events affecting these companies or the industries in which they operate.'In other words, Berkshire didn't want to write down losses, because under the right circumstances there's a fair chance that stock prices will recover.Perfect Conditions - 100% ProfitabilityOf course, under the right conditions any loss could reverse itself. But, because we don't live in a perfect world, we have accounting rules. The final numbers are designed to help investors evaluate a company's current financial health.If the Doctor tells you that you have high cholesterol, do you tell him: 'Don't worry, under the perfect conditions I'll eat only raw vegetables,' when in reality you live on burgers and fries and should be on a double dose of cholesterol meds?Interestingly - and very smartly - Warren Buffett's new knight - Todd Combs - has stolen the headlight and absorbed the attention of what otherwise could turn into a full-fledged accounting scandal.Further ImplicationsCourtesy of the post-2007 credit contraction, Wall Street Banksters, the administration, and reputable companies have become quite adept at the denial and cover up approach.Case in point, Fannie and Freddie. In 2008, management for the ailing housing giant denied financial trouble. On Sunday, September 7, 2008, the government seized control of Fannie and Freddie. Nevertheless, stocks rallied on Monday the morning after.Despite stock's (NYSEArca: VTI - News) party mood, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter considered banks (NYSEArca: KBE - News) and financial institutions (NYSEArca: XLF - News) a 'downward spiral with no stop-loss provision' and predicted Dow (DJI: ^DJI) 7,500 previously in September 2008.As stocks quickly tumbled to Dow 7,500, the government became desperate. Real estate related losses were piling up; investors lost confidence in the financial system and drove Washington Mutual out of business.The problem was too big to fix, so the administration forced the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change rule 157. Obviously, the fix is only topical. If it wasn't, why would Fannie and Freddie need an additional $215 billion in aid?The 'new and improved' rule 157 allowed Banksters to value assets at what they might be worth in the future. If bank A purchased a portfolio of real estate (NYSEArca: IYR - News) for $10 million in 2006 and lost $6 million because the assets turned toxic, bank A is allowed to value the portfolio just below $10 million. The very real loss is not included in the current earnings numbers.Can You Trust EarningsThe real question is whether you can trust reported earnings? If Berkshire, along with most banks and financial conglomerates, has the legal right to fudge their earnings we may rightly wonder who else is employing this convenient accounting trick? Some would call them stupid if they didn't.Ironically, Citigroup's profits exceeded estimates because they reduced bad loan provisions. JPMorgan on the other hand expects mortgage buybacks (related to the foreclosure disaster) to cost lenders $120 billion.To emphasize, Citigroup reducing its bad loan reserves would be like an insurance company reducing its natural disaster fund right before hurricane season.Be that as it may, the S&P (SNP: ^GSPC), Dow Jones (NYSEArca: DIA - News), and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) continue to rally. The Nasdaq 100 (Nasdaq: QQQQ - News) has already shot past its April 2010 recovery high, while the Dow and S&P (NYSEArca: IVV - News) are within striking distance.Expect the Unexpected Following a horrendous August, investors were expecting a terrible September and/or October. The opposite happened.As we approach November, we hear that this month usually kicks off the most profitable time of the year. Fourth quarter institutional cash inflows tend to result in the best consecutive three-month period.As we've discussed here in the past, institutions are not the only ones that provide liquidity right now. The Federal Reserve via its POMO purchases is another one (detailed analysis available in the November issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter). This extra liquidity is not to be underestimated.An Extra Black Swan As we've experienced many times, the market tends to surprise the investing masses - most of which are bullish right now…’
Sen. Gregg: Federal, State Governments Facing Grecian Tragedy in a Few Years Newsmax.com | The federal government and state governments are facing massive debts moving forward.
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