Bitcoin, Gold, Silver, Fiat and More, Oh My

Where is my money safe? How can I ensure that European and American central bankers do not steal or deflate away my life savings? Should I invest in Bitcoin, gold, silver, savings accounts, CDs, the stock market, real estate, or what?

This article focuses on Bitcoin as a hedge against banker and government theft.  Consider this a single chapter in a very long book on central banking dynasties and their warmongering.

The below article was originally released at theundergroundinvestor.com on 28 March, 2013 and I borrowed it from ZeroHedge.

A lot of people have asked my opinion about bitcoin and I often have given a generic answer similar to the following: “Bitcoin is better than fiat but worse than physical silver or gold”, an answer that seems to make bitcoin fanatics lose their minds as if I am “hating” on bitcoins. However, this is so far from reality that I decided to write a more detailed explanation about what I like about bitcoin but why I don’t consider bitcoin to be sound money, nearly as solid (no pun intended) as owning 100% physical gold or physical silver, and why precious metals still trump bitcoins on a risk/reward analysis enough that I still favor the accumulation of physical gold and physical silver over the accumulation of BTCs. Furthermore, given the recent bitcoin price explosion and the negative media beating gold and silver have taken recently, I wanted to release this article now rather than as a reaction to problems that I feel BTCs will encounter down the road that would lead to accusations of "Monday morning quarterbacking". I think if you are a bitcoin advocate that you will find my logic in this article to be totally rational. Bitcoin is infinitely better than fiat money because unlike fiat currency, in which only a few families in the entire world maintain the power to create this type of money, with bitcoin, those that own infrastructure with enough of the considerable processing power necessary to run the bitcoin network can create new bitcoins. So while there are computer infrastructure limitations on who can create new bitcoins and not everyone has the money to own the type of infrastructure needed to create bitcoins, this is the only limitation one has on being able to create new bitcoins until the maximum pre-designated limit is reached. However, this barrier to entry is a significant barrier as, according to the World Food Program, nearly 1 in 7 people suffer from malnutrition and go to sleep hungry every single night and it is doubtful that any of these people could ever afford a $2,499 50GH/s bitcoin miner. Furthermore, nearly 2/3rds of the world, according to statistics compiled by Nielson Online, the International Telecommunications Union, et al, are not yet connected to the internet, which makes it problematic to create or purchase bitcoins for a large percentage of the world's population. However, it is a myth propagated by the anti-Precious Metals community that gold and silver are beyond the reach of the world's poor. In India, there are prolific anecdotal stories of the poor converting rupees into gold when it is possible for them to do so to guard against the wealth destruction inflicted upon them by Indian bankers.

Secondly, all fiat currency is created as debt. Every dollar, Euro, Yen and Pound Sterling is created with an interest component that must be paid off, which means that devaluation, or more simply put, “banker theft of your wealth held in fiat currencies”, is an inevitable fact of “modern” fiat currency. Bitcoins are created without this debt component. If government treasuries worldwide directly created money instead of bowing down to the private banking families that own Central Banks and surrendering this power, then fiat currencies could be created without a debt component as well. Thus, this distinction between bitcoins and fiat currency is merely one of power. If government treasury departments worldwide were more powerful than the private banking cartels, or had not already been co-opted by these families a long time ago, they could feasibly seize control over the creation of fiat money, and voila, fiat money would no longer be created with a built-in debt component that enslaves humanity. US President John F. Kennedy tried to remove the power of money creation from these families many decades ago and failed. Bankers were furious of Kennedy’s attempt to free humanity from their immoral control and it has been widely speculated that they played a significant role in his execution. (Google JFK's Executive Order 11110 as well as Lincoln's "greenbacks".)

Thirdly, bitcoins are capped at a supply of 20,999,999.9769 BTC, whereas the private banking families that own a monopoly on fiat money creation can push a button and create as much, unlimited digital Euros, Yen, Pound Sterling, and US dollars as they want. Another resounding checkmark for bitcoins over fiat currency.

According to BitCoin’s FAQ page, BTCs are “based on the cryptography that is an integral part of its structure, and that is readily available for any and all to see. Instead of one entity keeping track of transactions, the entire network does. Though the developers of BitCoin aver that it would be extremely difficult to create BTCs that escape detection due to its security infrastructure, they also admit that this task is not foolproof and “it can be cheated.” Perhaps some brilliant genius will figure out a way to expand the bitcoin supply more than 20,999,999,999.9769 BTCs, but I concede the point that this will be extremely difficult to execute. To the contrary, all private bankers that run the world’s Central Banks are currently actively counterfeiting dollars, yen, pound sterling and Euros right now (just refer to this article). Again, yet another win for BTCs over fiat currency.

So yes, I do agree with all BTC advocates that the above discussion points are very solid points for holding BTCs over fiat. But I disagree strongly with the BTC fanatics that are so blinded by BTCs’ recent run higher on the back of the Cyprus fiasco that they cannot see the dangers that are also associated with BTCs over the long run. So here is why physical gold and silver still trumps BTCs as the best form of sound money, hands down. With all the positives of BTCs I discussed above, why do I still vehemently stand firm to my position that BTCs are infinitely better than fiat currency yet still does not fit the definition of sound money? The answer is actually a quite simple and logical one. The private banking families that have a stranglehold on all monetary creation today in wide distribution view any competitive currency to their counterfeit fiat currency as a currency to be crushed with an iron fist. These private banking cartels that own and run Central Banks will not tolerate any type of serious competition and will seek to either strip all owners of bitcoins of their BTCs or to destroy the BTC network as they definitely view BTCs as a threat to their criminal system even if they haven’t yet expressly voiced this opinion. The theft in Cyprus should illustrate how quickly bankers can turn people’s lives upside down at a moment’s notice. The founder of bitcoin states that the BTC network remains secure “as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than any group of attacking nodes…If a majority of CPU power is controlled by honest nodes, the honest chain will grow the fastest and outpace any competing chains…If a greedy attacker is able to assemble more CPU power than all the honest nodes, he would have to choose between using it to defraud people by stealing back his payments, or using it to generate new coins…We proposed a peer-to-peer network using proof-of-work to record a public history of transactions that quickly becomes computationally impractical for an attacker to change if honest nodes control a majority of CPU power."

Thus, a huge assumption is necessary at this point to trust that the BTC network will not, and has not been hacked or infiltrated by agents unfriendly to the interests of BTC holders. That assumption is that bankers have ignored BTC up to this point and have not infiltrated the network as agent provocateurs that are posing as honest people that support the BTC model. If bankers have already infiltrated the BTC network, then BTCs have counterparty risk just like fiat currency because bankers can now defraud people. In addition, if assessing the above statement, “if a greedy attacker is able to assemble more CPU power than all the honest nodes”, who is greedier and has more resources than bankers? No one. Who is best known for pumping commodities sky high very quickly, only to deliberately crash them to make money on both the upside and downside? The bankers. These are all real possibilities BTC owners must consider as BTCs have soared but have not experienced any significant correction as of yet. However, the only way bankers can introduce counterparty risk to physical gold and silver owners is by producing fake tungsten filled bars or impure bars and selling them as four nine fine bars (99.99%). However, sophisticated but simple ultrasound testing can easily spot this banker fraud with gold and silver so the counterparty risk is non-existent as long as all bullion is tested. I think it is naïve to not assume that bankers have had their eye on BTCs since the day they were first introduced several years ago.

Again, many may say it is a stretch to state that bankers have already infiltrated the nodes that control the majority of CPU power, but the reality is that no one can really accurately assess the likelihood of this possibility having already occurred, as if bankers were to have infiltrated the bitcoin network, they would not be as stupid as to reveal their identity. I do believe it is inevitable that bankers will attack the BTC network. It is just a matter of how they will do it. Just research how the private bankers went after Bernard von NotHaus, stole his silver and gold from his warehouse, imprisoned him, and used their control of the legal system to have US Attorney Anne M. Tompkins, in her own words, say that NotHaus’s “attempts to undermine the legitimate currency (USD) of the [United States of America]” were an “act of domestic terrorism.” This ruling alone should serve notice to BTC users that all banker–controlled governments (which is every government in the world) clearly view all BTC holders as terrorists as well and will eventually seek to destroy all BTCs. The only point of contention is whether or not they will have success in their efforts. In fact, two years after his arrest, von NotHaus has still not been sentenced, and just this week he filed for a re-trial or dismissal of his case as the "Justice" department has had great difficulty indicting von NotHaus of clear "intent to counterfeit money." Of course we report this with great irony as Anne Tompkins has taken great care to uphold the illegitimate currency of the Federal Reserve and the US Justice Department could convict the Feds and all commercial banks of clear intent to counterfeit money beyond a shadow of a doubt within five minutes of testimony from any competent person that understands the mechanisms of our modern day banking system.

“@maxkeiser: If everyone in America had sold their guns last year and bought Bitcoins; the avg. American family would be $90,000 richer.”
— NewsBitcoin (@NewsBitcoin) April 9, 2013

That said, I’m not here to debate whether the agents of these bankers could possibly corrupt the BTC system, counterfeit BTCs deliberately, or deliberately cause frequent flash crashes in the BTC valuation that discredits its use as money. I know that BTC's founders state that all of the aforementioned are nearly impossible to accomplish, but I sincerely believe that nothing is ever impossible. Extremely difficult? Yes. Impossible? No. BTC has already suffered a couple of flash crashes due to its digital nature. Yes, I am aware that governments could choose to come after not only BTC owners but all physical gold and silver owners as all pro-BTC, anti-gold people state. However, since probably over 90% of gold and silver owners are also gun owners, I believe it would be more difficult for bankers to send cops, soldiers, etc into people’s homes to steal their physical gold and silver without suffering major casualties versus finding some way to confiscate digital bytes of air. Again, confiscating digital money and physical assets are both possible, but the mechanism for confiscation of something that is digital will always be easier than confiscating something in someone’s physical possession.

So let’s now look at why I believe that gold and silver are superior to BTCs as sound money. It is absolutely a lie propagated by bankers that deflation leads to recession and no economic growth. Bankers hate deflation because people’s wealth grows under deflation and they lose control over the people as the people’s wealth grows. This is the number one reason why we have had continuous inflation in every country after private banking families and cartels established a unified system of control, otherwise known as the Central Banking system. During the 1800s in the US, there was steady consistent economic growth for nearly an entire century in which deflation persisted for most of this time. The only reason the price index was nearly the same in the early 1900s as it was in the early 1800s, despite this prolonged period of consistent deflation and economic growth, was the massive inflation and economic instability that accompanied the abandonment of the gold standard during the Civil War. Though people may love a scenario in which their money’s purchasing power increases sharply over time, continued steep deflation over long periods of time is not a desirable quality for sound money as such a scenario will eventually lead to a period of steep inflation. I believe that sound money should exhibit price stability over time. Price stability over extended periods of time is a necessary quality for money to possess to grant people confidence in being able to assess and plan for the longevity of their savings. For example, because bankers have destroyed the purchasing power of the Euro, the Pound Sterling, the USD in recent decades, 75-year old retirees that thought their savings were adequate to last the rest of their lives are now seeking employment again (Just read this article "The Greatest Retirement Crisis In American History" in which millions of elderly Americans are described as "too frail to work, too poor to retire"). Since one gold coin could buy you about the equivalent amount of goods today as it could several thousand years ago during the Roman empire, we already know that gold exhibits price stability over a huge duration of time.

BTCs' common trait with all fiat currencies ultimately precludes it from ever serving as sound money. BTCs have zero intrinsic worth as it is a 100% digital currency backed by nothing but air. On BTC’s own website, the founders of BTC state the BTCs have value “because they are scarce.”While true, scarcity is only one of many fundamental traits that all sound money must possess, including durability, being easily divisible, consistency, and having intrinsic value. BTCs are easily divisible, even more so than gold, are consistent, but unfortunately lack durability (as they are backed by air) and intrinsic value. In my opinion, the most significant characteristic of all the prerequisites of sound money, and the one most vital to protecting the interests of the people that own this form of money, is the possession of intrinsic value. Though a BTC’s valuation originates primarily from its scarcity, divisibility and growing acceptance, it is still a digital currency backed by the commodity of air, and this presents a huge problem for BTCs serving as a stable store of value over long periods of time. Of course, since BTCs have only been in existence for a little over four years, we do not have a large enough sample at the present time to fully understand how BTCs will serve as a store of value over time. However, bitcoins’ founders admit that BTCs are “vulnerable to price manipulation. It doesn't take significant amounts of money to move the market price up or down and thus bitcoin remains a volatile asset.” Gold and silver owners also realize that gold and silver prices are vulnerable to immense price manipulation as well, as we have seen over the past decade, so vulnerability to price manipulation alone does not exclude a money from qualifying as sound money.

The billion dollar question (inflated from the standard million dollar question, which is now not worth nearly as much today), is the “escapability” factor from price manipulation.

And this is where intrinsic value comes into play. Currently, millions upon millions of paper ounces of gold and silver backed by nothing but air are sold into the market by large players like HSBC, JP Morgan, Scottia Mocatta, et al for the sole purpose of suppressing the price and introducing volatility into the price. People that don’t understand this banker manipulation will be shocked in the future when gold moves higher by several hundred dollars an ounce and silver by five dollars an ounce in a single day. These immoral bankers have wreaked havoc on the price stability of gold and silver as bankers have committed reverse alchemy and have turned hard assets into air through their invention of paper derivative products that have fooled the masses into believing they are as good as physical when clearly they are not. However, as REAL PHYSICAL demand for gold and silver keeps increasing and REAL PHYSICAL supplies of gold and silver simultaneously keeps dwindling, the reality of the physical markets will eventually trump the banker shenanigans in the paper markets and eventually lead to the collapse of gold and silver futures contracts in New York and London. The fact that people can opt out of these “fake” gold and silver markets by purchasing the hard assets of physical gold and silver will eventually trump all the scams bankers have executed to manipulate gold and silver prices.

However, with BTCs, demand and supply for air/digital bytes provide no manipulation “escapability” for BTCs. In the event that BTCs are not manipulated but banker-controlled governments resort to shutting down BTCs or threatening jail time for anyone caught making transactions with BTCs, then one can escape to another country and use BTCs. Bankers can of course, resort to the same threats with those holding gold and silver. However, nearly every informed gold and silver owner also holds physical gold/silver outside of their country of residence. Since physical gold and silver are universally accepted as money in all 193 countries in this world, gold and silver not only provide better “escapability” from manipulation but also from banker confiscation. 

I have mentioned that price stability is necessary for a commodity to be determined to be sound money. However, once the physical gold and silver markets escape the bankers’ manipulation throes, we are likely to not see very much stability but huge volatile swings in price with the direction of these swings, both up and down, eventually bringing forth much higher prices. However, this temporary instability will only exist because there has never been a free market price for gold and silver since any of us have been alive. Once gold and silver prices are no longer suppressed by bankers and allowed to settle into a free-market price, then mild, instead of massive, volatility would become the norm and perhaps like the bulk of the period between 1800 and 1900 we would experience a steady slow period of mild deflation and relative price stability.

A medium of money that has intrinsic value is ALWAYS better than money that lacks intrinsic value because it allows the owner of that money to punish the creators of that money should they ever commit fraud.

If those in control of the gold standard commit fraud by creating more money without buying the gold to back the creation of additional money, this fraud will always be evident through inflation of the currency, and the loss of purchasing power. When people note this, under a gold standard, people bring their devalued notes to bankers and convert them into gold at a higher rate than the true valuation of the notes. Consequently, bankers are forced to return an asset of intrinsic value, gold, to the people, while they receive devalued and counterfeited notes in return. Yes, money with intrinsic value allows the people to have power over the bankers and call their bluff. History has proven this point. People called the bankers’ bluff and demanded gold for their devalued notes with the gold-backed Pound Sterling after WWI and again, with the gold-backed USD in the early 1970s, even though neither system used an ideal 100% fully gold-backed currency. So even a pseudo-gold standard allows people to call a banker’s bluff.

The problem with all fiat currency in widespread use today all over the world is that all fiat currencies have zero intrinsic valuation. Thus under this current fraudulent fiat monetary system, one cannot call the bluff of the bankers when they commit the fraud. Since all fiat money has an intrinsic value of zero, all one can do is trade one currency backed by air for another currency backed by air. This is a huge inherent problem with BTCs as well, as the founders of BTCs state that they have “no inherent value.” In conclusion, BTCs are great as a medium of exchange in the short-term, and still far better than fiat money for purchasing power. Thus they should be used as such but viewed with skepticism in being able to provide a stable store of value over extended periods of time due to the limitations I have discussed in this article. If you want to buy money to pass on to your children, you should definitely be buying physical gold and physical silver and not BTCs. BTCs are great for use as money in every positive capacity that I outlined in this article, but they undeniably have flaws that preclude their use as sound money that gold and silver do not have. Am I saying BTCs don't have any utility? Of course not. Just re-read the beginning of this article again where I discussed why BTCs are much better than all fiat currencies. But please understand what BTCs are, and what they are not. In the end, I support the continued existence of BTCs as a competitive form of currency, even if the world eventually defeats our current immoral fractional reserve banking system and returns to sound money 100% backed by gold. In the end, whatever form of money proves to contribute to price stability and serves as a store of value over time the best will be the one that comes out on top. For this very reason, competition, even when it applies to money, is beneficial to the people. Bitcoins versus gold (and silver) is much like the parable of the tortoise versus the hare. Gold has proven itself to be a steady reliable tortoise over thousands of years. Thus far BTCs have proven themselves to be the hare up to this point. In the end, if we let the people decide what is the best form of money in a competitive monetary environment, I am quite sure that gold and silver would come out of the battle as the victors. Stay tuned next week for Part II.

About the author: JS Kim is the Founder & Managing Director of SmartKnowledgeU, a fiercely independent research & consulting firm with a mission of helping Main Street avoid the deceit and chicanery of Wall Street and of triggering a wave of global economic freedom only possible through one pathway - the end of all global fiat currency and a return to sound money.

Twisted Times #DailyDose0365

Trans Pacific Partnership is a Globalist Expansion of the American Empire

Anonymous warned us of this last year and now that it has passed, we will begin to see the scary results.  The US has managed to create a NAFTA-like plan for Asia combined with a NATO-like military expansion in order to contain China and bring about a New World Order the likes of what the world saw around the time of World War I & II with the expansion of the I.G. Farben and Nazi empire, known as the Third Reich.

This is a continuation of the Fourth Reich as described in detail by historian and investigative journalist, Jim Marrs.

“The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War fundamentally altered the global security environment…but regional, local and internal conflicts have been on the rise. In recent years, the rise of failed and failing states and the growing presence of increasingly capable non-state actors has presented the US and its coalition partners with new military challenges. Concurrently, US forces face an increasing number of access challenges, including geography, potential adversaries’ capabilities, and host country concerns which prohibit access to their ports, airfields, and territory in the pursuit of action, and finally: domestic US and coalition political sentiment against large troop presence in ‘non-permissive operating environments’. The closing of US bases around the world, and austere port and infrastructure; international and domestic sentiments against a large troop presence in a foreign country, or even outright denial of US military presence have all limited the number of troops placed ashore.”

It has been highly protested by Japanese and others informed citizens, afraid of the destruction brought on their markets by the economic rape, pillage, and plunder.

4000+ Japanese farmers and fishers hit the streets of Tokyo on March 13 demanding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe keep his promises to boycott the talks despite pressure from the US.  Sound familiar?  Obama's fast-tracking this deal brings new meaning to his campaign promise to ‘renegotiate NAFTA’.

There’s been recent news that over 400 civil society organizations representing more than 15 million Americans have written to Congress urging that Fast Track be replaced by a more democratic trade negotiating and approval process’.

Electronic Frontier Foundation lists the dangers from draconian copyright and intellectual property rules, online free speech and privacy, fair use exceptions, and much  more.  The leaked draft 2011 text is here(pdf).

Sandra Fulton of the ACLU called the TPP ‘the biggest threat to free speech and intellectual property that you’ve never heard of’ in this interview with EFF in September of 2012.

The leaked provisions caused Lori Wallach of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch to react with incredulity and barely suppressed rage:

“The rollback of the modest Bush-era reforms is shocking, but what is truly stunning is the new proposal to empower pharmaceutical firms to attack the medicine formulary systems that New Zealand, Australia and other developed countries have used so successfully to achieve what is ostensibly an Obama administration goal of reducing sky-high drug prices.”

Lori Wallach is interviewed in the next two videos; this one with Amy and Juan covers many of the most hideous features of the deal as leaked so far, although as I remember it they don’t cover the super-muscular power Monsanto and other GMO multinationals will have, and the powerlessness of citizens in signatory nations to fight back.  There are also provisions for financial deregulation and decreased capital control, Investor State arbitration (iirc; I’ve read and watched a lot today) and a US military presence to help keep citizens pacified.

If anyone can still believe that this President gives a fuck about you, or the 40% of the citizens of the world this will negatively impact forever…I’d like you to make your case.  As far as I’m concerned, it‘s treasonous.  

Ron Paul on The Global Central Bank Fraud and Cyprus

Ron Paul: "The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery"

Submitted by Tyler Durden to ZeroHedge on 04/02/2013

Bank Run European Central Bank European Union Federal Reserve Fractional Reserve Banking Gross Domestic Product International Monetary Fund Ron Paul Sovereign Debt

By Ron Paul

The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery

The dramatic recent events in Cyprus have highlighted the fundamental weakness in the European banking system and the extreme fragility of fractional reserve banking. Cypriot banks invested heavily in Greek sovereign debt, and last summer's Greek debt restructuring resulted in losses equivalent to more than 25 percent of Cyprus' GDP. These banks then took their bad investments to the government, demanding a bailout from an already beleaguered Cypriot treasury. The government of Cyprus then turned to the European Union (EU) for a bailout.

The terms insisted upon by the troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) before funding the bailout were nothing short of highway robbery. While bank depositors have traditionally been protected in the event of bankruptcy or liquidation, the troika insisted that all bank depositors pay a tax of between 6.75 and 10 percent of their total deposits to help fund the bailout.

While one can sympathize with EU taxpayers not wanting to fund yet another bailout of a poorly-managed banking system, forcing the Cypriot people to pay for the foolish risks taken by their government and bankers is also criminal. In their desire to punish a “tax haven” catering supposedly to Russian oligarchs, the EU elites ensured that ordinary citizens would suffer just as much as foreign depositors. Imagine the reaction if in September 2008, the US government had financed its $700 billion bank bailout by directly looting American taxpayers' bank accounts!

While the Cypriot parliament rejected that first proposal, they will have no say in the final proposal delivered by the EU and IMF: deposits over 100,000 euros are likely to see losses of at least 40 percent and possibly as much as 80 percent. “Temporary” capital controls that were supposed to last for days will now last at least a month and might remain in effect for years.

Especially affected have been the elderly, who were unable to use ATMs or to transfer money electronically. Despite the fact that ATMs severely limited the size of withdrawals during the two week-long bank closure, reports indicated that account holders who had access to Cypriot bank branches in London and Athens were able to withdraw most of their funds, leading to speculation that there would be no money available when banks finally opened up again. In other words, the supposed Russian oligarch money may well be already gone.

Remember that under a fractional reserve banking system only a small percentage of deposits is kept on hand for dispersal to depositors. The rest of the money is loaned out. Not only are many of the loans made by these banks going bad, but the reserve requirement in Euro-system countries is only one percent! If just one euro out of every hundred is withdrawn from banks, the bank reserves would be completely exhausted and the whole system would collapse. Is it any wonder, then, that the EU fears a major bank run and has shipped billions of euros to Cyprus?

The elites in the EU and IMF failed to learn their lesson from the popular backlash to these tax proposals, and have openly talked about using Cyprus as a template for future bank bailouts. This raises the prospect of raids on bank accounts, pension funds, and any investments the government can get its hands on. In other words, no one's money is safe in any financial institution in Europe. Bank runs are now a certainty in future crises, as the people realize that they do not really own the money in their accounts. How long before bureaucrat and banker try that here?

Unfortunately, all of this is the predictable result of a fiat paper money system combined with fractional reserve banking. When governments and banks collude to monopolize the monetary system so that they can create money out of thin air, the result is a business cycle that wreaks havoc on the economy. Pyramiding more and more loans on top of a tiny base of money will create an economic house of cards just waiting to collapse. The situation in Cyprus should be both a lesson and a warning to the United States. We need to end the Federal Reserve, stay away from propping up the euro, and return to a sound monetary system.

CNBC, Banker, and Analyst Nonsense

Look at this article from CNBC, a popular mass media tool for luring individual savers and investors into the shark infested stock market.

Apparently strong 1st quarter earnings supported a rally, but expected slower earnings in 2nd quarter will result in a 5-10% drop in the market. 

A 10-20% drop in the market is typical in Q2 based on the last 3 yrs as a reference? The last 3 year's we have seen the central bankers pump trillions into the markets in the UK, Japan, EU, and US.

Don't worry. You should buy stock on those dips.

Besides, who needs strong corporate earnings when we've got the Federal Reserve pumping trillions into banks, who aren't lending that out quite yet. Maybe they are saving for the upcoming dips too! I mean if you could socialize losses with bailouts and privatize the gains with super cheap Fed money, wouldn't you?

At what point will people wake up to the scientifically engineered economic boom bust cycles and SCREAM, RIOT, at least ACT!

After April Showers, Market Could Spring Higher CNBC.com | March 28, 2013 | 10:13 AM EDT

The stock market is likely to see its typical, seasonal pullback in the second quarter after the first quarter's sharp gains, but unlike previous years, more bullish Wall Street strategists expect a significantly higher end-of-year finale...

Major averages have been on a tear in the first quarter, thanks largely to better-than-expected earnings, further evidence of a healing economy, and ongoing support from the Federal Reserve...

Analysts have jumped aboard the bullish momentum.  Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and S&P Capital IQ boosted their targets significantly, citing the improving U.S. economic growth and liquidity from the Federal Reserve.

In the last three years, strong market run-ups in the first quarter have led to pullbacks of between 10 to 20 percent during the first few weeks of the second quarter.

"It looks like the rally's gotten tired and we're due for a pullback for stocks. And while we may not see the huge pullback like in the past years, a smaller decline of about 5 to 10 percent is what we're expecting," said Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist for LPL Financial. "But we'll see a bounce after that, so individual investors can use this market to their advantage and look to buy on the dips."

Some analysts point to slow earnings growth as a possible catalyst for the pullback.

Earnings growth expectations for the first quarter are at a modest 1.5 percent, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.

So far, a little over 100 companies on the S&P 500 have provided negative earnings guidance compared to 23 positive pre-announcements for the first-quarter. Still, earnings growth is forecast at 9.2 percent for the year.

"Earnings expectations have not risen as much as in prior years, which may limit the disappointment," wrote Kleintop. "It is too early to say whether [the earnings revision] indicator is flashing a warning sign."

" if investors are going to be nervous, Europe's going to be an excuse," said Thomas Lee, chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan. "But at the end of the day, I don't think this is a big enough threat to say the bull market's over and global recession's starting because there's another financial crisis."

—By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com

Obama is a Moderate Democrat, Right of Center, Far From Rand Paul

Great quote from an excellent researcher and author Dean Henderson in his recent article on Rand Paul and the filibuster.

"To call President Obama a liberal is a stretch. To call him a Communist is absurd. He is a moderate Democrat. In this country that means right of center. If you don’t believe me, ask the widow of Hugo Chavez."

Read on...

Lies, Damn Lies, and Media Statistics

This article just about sums up what I was thinking.

Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog to Zerohedge[46],

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – Aldous Huxley [47]

 [48]  [49]

 [50]  [51]

Six months ago I wrote an article called Are You Seeing What I’m Seeing? [52], describing my observations while traveling along Ridge Pike in Montgomery County, PA and motoring to my local Lowes store on a Saturday. My observations were in conflict with the storyline portrayed by the mainstream media pundits, Ivy League PhD economists, Washington politicians, and Wall Street shills. It is clear now that I must have been wrong. No more proof is needed than the fact the Dow has gone up 1,500 points, or 11%, since I wrote the article. Everyone knows the stock market reflects the true health of the nation – multi-millionaire Jim Cramer and his millionaire CNBC talking head cohorts tell me so. Ignore the fact that the bottom 80% only own 5% of the financial assets in this country and are not benefitted by the stock market in any way.

 [53]

The mainstream corporate media that is dominated by six mega-corporations (Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Comcast, Viacom, and Bertelsmann), has one purpose as described by the master of propaganda – Edward Bernays [54]:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

These media corporations’ task is to use propaganda and misinformation to protect the interests of the status quo. The ruling class has the power to manipulate public opinion, obscure the truth, alter government data, and outright lie, but they can’t control the facts and reality smacking the average person in the face every day. Based on the performance of the stock market and the storyline of economic recovery being peddled by the corporate media, the facts must surely support their contention. Here are a few facts about what has really happened in the last six months since I wrote my article:

• The working age population has grown by 1.1 million, the number of employed Americans is up 500k, while the number of people who have left the labor force has gone up by 600k. The BLS reports the unemployment rate has fallen without blinking an eye or turning red with embarrassment.
• The number of Americans entering the Food Stamp Program in the last six months totaled 1 million, bringing the total to 47.8 million, or 20% of all households (up 15 million since the Obama economic recovery began in December 2009).
• Existing home sales have increased by a scintillating 2.9% on a seasonally adjusted annual basis and average prices have fallen by 6% in the last six months. It is surely a great sign that 32% of all home sales are to Wall Street investors and 25% are either foreclosure sales or short sales. A large percentage of the remaining sales are funded by 3% down FHA government backed loans.
• There were 31,000 new homes sales in January versus 34,000 new home sales six months prior. Through the magic of seasonal adjustment, this translates into a 15% increase.
• Single family housing starts were 41,600 in February versus 51,400 six months prior. Even using seasonal adjustments, the government drones can only report a pathetic 4.7% annualized increase and flat starts over the last three months, with mortgage rates at all-time lows.
• The National Debt has gone up by $750 billion in the last six months, while Real GDP has gone up by less than $150 billion.
• Real hourly earnings have not increased in the last six months.
• Consumer debt has risen by $65 billion as the Federal Government has doled out student loans like candy and auto loans (through the 80% government owned Ally Financial – aka GMAC, aka Ditech, aka ResCap) like crack dealer in West Philly.
• The Federal Reserve has increased their balance sheet by $385 billion in the last six months by buying toxic mortgages from Wall Street banks and the majority of Treasuries issued by the government to fund the $1 trillion annual deficits being produced by the Obama administration. It now totals $3.2 trillion, up from $900 billion in September 2008, and headed to $4 trillion before this year is out.
• Retail sales have increased by less than 2% over the last six months and are barely 1% above last February. On an inflation adjusted basis, retail sales are falling. Other than internet sales and government financed auto sales, every other retail category is negative year over year. This is reflected in the poor sales and earnings reports from JC Penney, Sears, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes, Kohl’s, Darden, McDonalds, and Yum Brands. I’m sure next quarter will be gangbusters, with the Obama payroll tax increase, Obamacare premium increases, 15% surge in gasoline prices, and continued inflation in food and energy.

Considering that 71% of GDP is dependent upon consumer spending (versus 62% in 1979 before the financialization of America), the dreadful results of retailers and restaurants even before the Obama tax increases confirms the country has been in recession since the second half of 2012. In 1979 the economy was still driven by domestic investment that accounted for 19% of GDP. Today, it wallows at all-time lows of 13%. In addition, our trade deficits, driven by debt fueled consumption, subtract 3.5% from GDP. These facts are reflected in the depressed outlook of small business owners who are the backbone of growth, hiring and entrepreneurship in this country. Small businesses of 500 employees or less employ half of all the private industry workers in the country and account for 65% of all new jobs created. There are approximately 27 million small businesses versus 18,000 large businesses. The chart below does not paint an improving picture. The small business optimism has dropped from an already low 92.8 in September 2012 to 90.8 in March 2013.

The head of the NFIB couldn’t make the situation any clearer:

“While the Fortune 500 is enjoying record high earnings, Main Street earnings remain depressed. Far more firms report sales down quarter over quarter than up. Washington is manufacturing one crisis after another—the debt ceiling, the fiscal cliff and the Sequester. Spreading fear and instability are certainly not a strategy to encourage investment and entrepreneurship. Three-quarters of small-business owners think that business conditions will be the same or worse in six months. Until owners’ forecast for the economy improves substantially, there will be little boost to hiring and spending from the small business half of the economy.” – NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg

If consumers, who account for 71% of the economy, aren’t spending, and small business owners, who do 65% of all the hiring in the country, are petrified with insecurity, why is the stock market hitting all-time highs and the corporate media proclaiming happy days are here again? It can be explained by the distribution of wealth and income in this country. Every media pundit, politician, Wall Street shill, Ivy League PhD economist, and corporate titan you see on CNBC, Fox or any corporate media outlet is 1%er or better. The chart below shows the bottom 99% saw their real incomes decline between 2009 and 2011, while the top 1% reaped the stock market gains and corporate bonuses for using “creative” accounting to generate record corporate profits. The trend in 2012 through today has only widened this gap, as real worker wages have continued to decline and the stock market has advanced another 20%.

The feudal financial industry lords are feasting on caviar and champagne in their mountaintop manors while the serfs and peasants scrounge in the gutters for scraps and morsels. This path has been chosen by the king (Obama) and enabled by his court jester (Bernanke). Money printing and inflation are their weapons of choice. We are living in a 21^st Century version of the Dark Ages.

On the Road Again

I’ve been baffled by a visible disconnect between deteriorating data and the storyline being sold to the ignorant masses by the financial elitists that run the show. The websites and truthful analysts that I respect and trust (Zero Hedge [55], Mish [56], Jesse [57], Karl Denninger [58], John Hussman [59], David Stockman [60], Financial Sense [61] and a few others) provide analytical evidence on a daily basis that confirm my view that our economic situation is worsening. We are all looking at the same data, but the pliable faux journalists that toil for their corporate masters spin the data in a manner designed to mislead and manipulate in order to mold public opinion, as Edward Bernays taught the invisible ruling class. As you can see, numbers and statistical data can be spun, adjusted, and manipulated to tell whatever story you want to depict. I prefer to confirm or deny my assessment with my observations out in the real world. I spend 12 hours per week cruising the highways and byways of Montgomery County and Philadelphia as I commute to and from work and shuttle my kids to guitar lessons, friends’ houses, and local malls. I can’t help but have my antenna attuned to what I’m seeing with my own eyes.

As I detailed in my previous article, Montgomery County is relatively affluent area with the dangerous urban enclaves of Norristown and Pottstown as the only blighted low income, high crime areas in the 500 square mile county of 800,000 people. The median household income and median home prices are 50% above the national averages. Major industries include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, insurance and information technology. It is one of only 30 counties in the country with a AAA rating from Standard & Poors (as if that means anything). On paper, my county appears to be thriving and healthy, with white collar professionals living an idyllic suburban existence. One small problem – the visual evidence as you travel along Welsh Road towards Montgomeryville or Germantown Pike towards Plymouth Meeting reveals a decaying infrastructure, dying retail meccas, and miles of empty office complexes.

I don’t think my general observations as I drive around Montgomery County are colored by any predisposition towards negativity. I see a gray winter like pallor has settled upon the land. I see termite pocked wooden fences with broken and missing slats. I see sagging porches. I see leaky roofs with missing tiles. I see vacant dilapidated hovels. I see mold tainted deteriorating siding on occupied houses. I see weed infested overgrown yards. I see collapsing barns and crumbling farm silos. I see houses and office buildings that haven’t been painted in 20 years. I see clock towers in strip malls with the wrong time. I see shuttered gas stations. I see retail stores with lights out in their signs. I see trees which fell during Hurricane Sandy five months ago still sitting in yards untouched. I see potholes not being filled. I see disintegrating highway overpasses and bridges. I constantly see emergency repairs on burst water mains. I see malfunctioning stoplights. I see fading traffic signage. I see regional malls with rust stained walls beneath their massive unlit Macys, JC Penney and Sears logos. I see hundreds of Space Available, For Lease, For Rent, Vacancy, For Sale and Store Closing signs dotting the suburban landscape. These sights are in a relatively affluent suburban county. When I reach West Philly, it looks more like Dresden in 1945.

                      Dresden – 1945                                                     Philadelphia – 2013

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I moved to my community in 1995 when the economy was plodding along at a 2.5% growth rate. The housing market was still depressed from the early 90s recession. The retail strip centers and larger malls in my area were 100% occupied. Office parks were bustling with activity. Office vacancy rates were the lowest in twenty years during the late 1990s. National GDP has grown by 112% (only 50% after adjusting for inflation) since 1995, with personal consumption rising 122%. Domestic investment has only grown by 80%, but imports skyrocketed by 204%. If the economy has more than doubled in the last 18 years, how could retail strip centers in my affluent community have 40% to 70% vacancy rates and office parks sit vacant for years? The answer is that Real GDP has not even advanced by 50%. Using a true rate of inflation, not the bastardized, manipulated, tortured BLS version, shows the country has essentially been in contraction since the year 2000.

The official government sanctioned data does not match what I see on the ground, but the Shadowstats [64] version of the data explains it perfectly.

My observations also don’t match up with the data reported by the likes of Reis, Trepp, Moody’s and the Federal Reserve. Reis reports a national vacancy rate of 17.1% for offices, barely below its peak of 17.6% in late 2010. Vacancy rates are 35% above 2007 levels and more than double the rates in the late 1990s. But what I realized after digging into the methodology of these reported figures is the true rates are significantly higher. First you must understand that Reis and Trepp are real estate companies who are in business to make money from commercial real estate transactions. It is in their self -interest to report data in the most positive manner possible – they’ve learned the lessons of Bernays. These mouthpieces for their industry slice and dice the numbers according to major markets, minor markets, suburban versus major cities, and most importantly they only measure Class A office space.

I didn’t realize the distinctions between classes when it comes to office space. The Building Owners and Managers Association describes the classes:

Class A office buildings have the “most prestigious buildings competing for premier office users with rents above average for the area.” Class A facilities have “high quality standard finishes, state of the art systems, exceptional accessibility and a definite market presence.” Class B office buildings as those that compete “for a wide range of users with rents in the average range for the area.” Class B buildings have “adequate systems” and finishes that “are fair to good for the area,” but that the buildings do not compete with Class A buildings for the same prices. Class C buildings are aimed towards “tenants requiring functional space at rents below the average for the area.”

So we have landlords self-reporting Class A vacancy rates in big markets to a real estate company that reports them without verification. Is it in a landlord’s best interest to under-report their vacancy rate? You bet it is. If potential tenants knew the true vacancy rates, they would be able to negotiate much lower rents. There is a beautiful Class A 77,000 square foot building near my house that was built in 2004. Nine years later there is still a huge Space Available sign in front of the building and it appears at least 50% vacant.

I pass another Class A property on Welsh Road called the Gwynedd Corporate Center that consists of three 40,000 square foot buildings in a 13 acre office park. It was built in 1998 and is completely dark. The vacancy rate is 100%. As I traveled down Germantown Pike last week I noted dozens of Class A office complexes with Space Available signs in front. I’m absolutely certain that vacancy rates in Class A offices in Montgomery County exceed 25%. When you expand your horizon to Class B and Class C office space, vacancy rates exceed 50%. The only booming business in my suburban paradise is Space Available sign manufacturing. We probably import those from China too. Despite the spin put on the data by the real estate industry, Moody’s reported data supports my estimates:

• The values of suburban offices in non-major markets are 43% below 2007 levels.
• Industrial property values in non-major markets are 28% below 2007 levels.
• Retail property values in non-major markets are 35% below 2007 levels.

The data being reported by Reis regarding vacancies in strip malls and regional malls is also highly questionable, based on my real world observations. The reported vacancy rates of 8.6% for regional malls and 10.7% for strip malls, barely below their 2011 peaks, are laughable. Again, there is no benefit for a landlord to report their true vacancy rate. The truth will depress rents further. This data is gathered by surveying developers and landlords. We all know how reputable and above board real estate professionals are – aka David Lereah, Larry Yun. A large strip mall near my house has a 70% vacancy rate, with another, one mile away, with a 50% vacancy rate. Anyone with two eyes and functioning brain that has visited a mall or driven past a strip mall knows that vacancy rates are at least 15%, the highest in U.S. history. These statistics don’t even capture the small pizza joints, craft shops, antique outlets, candy stores, book stores, gas stations and myriad of other family run small businesses that have been forced to close up shop in the last five years.

The disconnect between reality, the data reported by the mouthpieces of the status quo, and financial markets is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Even the purveyors of false data can’t get their stories straight. Trepp has been reporting steadily declining commercial delinquency rates since July 2012, when they had reached 10.34%, the highest level since the early 1990s. The decline is being driven solely by apartment complexes and hotels. Industrial and retail delinquencies continue to rise and office delinquencies are flat over the last three months. Again, the definition of delinquent is in the eye of the beholder.

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The quarterly delinquency rates on commercial loans reported by the Federal Reserve is less than half the rate being reported by Trepp, at 4.13%. Bennie and his band of Ivy League MBA economists have reported 10 consecutive quarters of declining commercial loan delinquency rates. This is in direct contrast to the data reported by Trepp that showed delinquencies rising during 2012.

	Real estate loans
	All	Booked in domestic    offices
		Residential1 [66]	Commercial2 [67]	Farmland
2012:4	7.57	10.07	4.13	2.67
2011:4	8.48	10.34	6.11	3.26
2010:4	9.12	10.23	7.96	3.59
2009:4	9.59	10.54	8.73	3.42
2008:4	6.04	6.67	5.49	2.28
2007:4	2.91	3.08	2.75	1.51
2006:4	1.70	1.95	1.32	1.41

The data being reported doesn’t pass the smell test. Commercial vacancy rates are at or above the levels seen during the last Wall Street created real estate crisis in the early 1990’s. During 1991/1992 commercial loan delinquency rates ranged between 10% and 12%. Today, with the same or higher levels of vacancy, the Federal Reserve reports 4% delinquency rates. When the latest Wall Street created financial collapse struck in 2008 and commercial property values crashed while vacancy rates soared, there were dire predictions of huge loan losses between 2010 and 2012. Commercial real estate loans generally rollover every 5 to 7 years. The massive issuance of dodgy subprime commercial loans between 2005 and 2007 would come due between 2010 and 2012. But miraculously delinquency rates have supposedly plunged from 8.78% in mid-2010 to 4.13% today. The Federal Reserve decided in 2009 to look the other way when assessing whether a real estate loan would ever be repaid. A loan isn’t considered delinquent if the lender decides it isn’t delinquent. The can’t miss strategy of extend, pretend and pray was implemented across the country as mandated by the Federal Reserve. This pushed out the surge in loan maturities to 2014 – 2016.

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In an economic system that rewarded good choices and punished those who took ridiculous undue risks and lost, real estate developers, mall owners, and office landlords would be going bankrupt in large numbers and loan losses for Wall Street Too Stupid to Succeed banks would be in the billions. Developers took out loans in the mid-2000’s which were due to be refinanced in 2012. The property is worth 35% less and the rental income with a 20% vacancy rate isn’t enough to cover the interest payments on the loan. The borrower would have no option but to come up with 35% more cash and accept a higher interest rate because the risk of default had risen, or default. Instead, the lenders have pretended the value of the property hasn’t declined and they’ve extended the term of the loan at a lower interest rate. This was done on the instructions of the Federal Reserve, their regulator. The plan is dependent on an improvement in the office and retail markets. It seems the best laid plans of corrupt sycophant central bankers are going to fail.

Eyes Wide Open

There are 1,300 regional malls in this country, with most anchored by a JC Penney, Sears, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy. The combination of declining real household income, aging population, lackluster employment growth, rising energy, food and healthcare costs, mounting tax burdens, and escalating on-line purchasing will result in the creation of 200 or more ghost malls over the next five years. The closure of thousands of big box stores is baked in the cake. The American people have run out of money. They have no equity left in their houses to tap. The average worker has only $25,000 of retirement savings and they are taking loans against it to make the mortgage payment and put food on the table. They can’t afford to perform normal maintenance on their property and are one emergency away from bankruptcy. In a true cycle of doom, most of the jobs “created” since 2009 are low skill retail jobs with little or no benefits. As storefronts go dark and more “Available” signs are erected in front of these weed infested eyesores, more Americans will lose their jobs and be unable to do their 71% part in our economic Ponzi scheme.

The reason office buildings across the land sit vacant, with mold and mildew silently working its magic behind the walls and under the carpets, is because small businesses are closing up shop and only a crazy person would attempt to start a new business in this warped economic environment of debt dependent diminishing returns. The 27 million small businesses in the country are fighting a losing battle against overbearing government regulations, increasingly heavy tax burdens, operating cost inflation, Obamacare mandates, a low skill poorly educated workforce, and customers with diminishing resources and declining disposable income. Small business owners are not optimistic about the future because they don’t have a sugar daddy like Bernanke to provide them with free money and a promise to bail them out if their high risk investments go bad. With small businesses accounting for 65% of all new hiring in this country and looming healthcare taxes, mandates, regulations and penalties approaching like a freight train, there is absolutely zero probability that office buildings will be filling up with new employees in the next few years. With hundreds of billions in commercial real estate loans coming due over the next three years, over 60% of the loans in the office and retail category, vacancy rates at record levels, and property values still 30% to 40% below the original loan values, a rendezvous with reality awaits. How long can bankers pretend to be paid on loans by developers who pretend they are collecting rent from non-existent tenants who are selling goods to non-existent customers? The implosion in the commercial real estate market will also blow a gaping hole in the Federal Reserve balance sheet, which is leveraged 55 to 1.

 [69]

I regularly drive along Schoolhouse Road in Souderton. It is a winding country road with dozens of small manufacturing, warehousing, IT, aerospace, auto repair, bus transportation, retail and landscaping businesses operating and trying to scratch out a small profit. Most of these businesses have been operating for decades. I would estimate that most have annual revenue of less than $2 million and less than 100 employees. It is visibly evident they have not been thriving, as their facilities are looking increasingly worn down and in disrepair. Their access to credit has been reduced since the 2008 crisis, as only the Wall Street banks and mega-corporations with Washington lobbyists received Bennie Bucks and Obama stimulus pork. These small businesses have been operating on razor thin margins and unable to invest in their existing facilities or expand their businesses. The tax increases just foisted upon small business owners and their employees, along with Obamacare mandates which will drive healthcare costs dramatically higher, and waning demand due to lack of income, will surely push some of these businesses over the edge. There will be some harsh lessons learned on Schoolhouse Road over the next few years. I expect to see more of these signs along Schoolhouse Road and thousands of other roads in the next few years.

 [70]

The mainstream media pawns, posing as journalists, have not only gotten the facts wrong regarding the current situation, but their myopia extends into the near future. The perpetual optimists that always see a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow are either willfully ignorant or a product of our government run public education system and can’t perform basic mathematical computations. As pointed out previously, consumer spending drives 71% of our economy. As would be expected, the highest level of annual spending occurs between the ages of 35 to 54 years old when people are in their peak earnings years. Young people are already burdened with $1 trillion of government peddled student loan debt and are defaulting at a 20% rate because there are no decent jobs available. Millions of Boomers are saddled with underwater mortgages, prodigious levels of credit card and auto loan debt, with retirement savings of $25,000 or less. Anyone expecting the young or old to ramp up spending over the next decade must be a CNBC pundit, University of Phoenix MBA graduate or Ivy League trained economist.

There will be 10,000 Boomers per day turning 65 years old for the next 18 years. Consumers in the 65-74 age segment spend 28% less on average than during their peak years. It is estimated that between 2010 and 2020 there will be approximately 14.5 million more consumers aged 65 or older. The number of Americans in their peak spending years will crash over the next decade. This surely bodes well for our suburban sprawl, mall based, cheap energy dependent, debt fueled society. Do you think this will lead to a revival in retail and office commercial real estate?

We’ve got $1 trillion annual deficits locked in for the next decade. We’ve got total credit market debt at 350% of GDP. We’ve got true unemployment exceeding 20%. We’ve had declining real wages for thirty years and no change in that trend. We’ve got an aging, savings poor, debt rich, obese, materialistic, iGadget distracted, proudly ignorant, delusional populace that prefer lies to truth and fantasy to reality. We’ve got 20% of households on food stamps. We’ve got food pantries, thrift stores and payday loan companies doing a booming business. We’ve got millions of people occupying underwater McMansions in picturesque suburban paradises that can’t make their mortgage payments or pay their utility bills, awaiting their imminent eviction notice from one of the Wall Street banks that created this societal catastrophe.

We’ve got a government further enslaving the middle class in student loan debt with the false hope of new jobs that aren’t being created. We’ve got a shadowy unaccountable organization, owned and controlled by the biggest banks in the world, that has run a Ponzi scheme called a fractional reserve lending system for 100 years, and inflated away 96% of the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. We’ve got a self-proclaimed Ivy League academic expert on the Great Depression (created by the Federal Reserve) who has tripled the Federal Reserve balance sheet on his way to quadrupling it by year end, who has promised QE to eternity with the sole purpose of enriching his benefactors while impoverishing senior citizens and the middle class. He will ultimately be credited in history books as the creator of the Greater Depression that destroyed the worldwide financial system and resulted in death, destruction, chaos, starvation, mayhem and ultimately war on a grand scale. But in the meantime, he serves the purposes of the financial ruling class as a useful idiot and will continue to spew gibberish and propaganda to obscure their true agenda.

It is time to open your eyes and arise from your stupor. Observe what is happening around you. Look closely. Does the storyline match what you see in your ever day reality? It is them versus us. Whether you call them the invisible government, ruling class, financial overlords, oligarchs, the powers that be, ruling elite, or owners; there are powerful wealthy men who call the shots in this global criminal enterprise. Their names are Dimon, Corzine, Blankfein, Murdoch, Buffett, Soros, Bernanke, Obama, Romney, Bloomberg, Fink, among others. They are using every means at their disposal to retain their control and power over the worldwide economic system and gorge themselves like hyenas upon the carcasses of a crippled and dying middle class. They have nothing but contempt and scorn for the peasants. They’re your owners and consider you as their slaves. They don’t care about you. They think the commoners are unworthy to be in their presence. Time is growing short for these psychopathic criminals. No amount of propaganda can cover up the physical, economic, social, and psychological descent afflicting our world. There’s a bad moon rising and trouble is on the way. The time for hard choices is coming. The words of Edward Bernays represent the view of the ruling class, while the words of George Carlin represent the view of the working class.

“There’s a reason that education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the big, wealthy, business interests that control all things and make the big decisions. Forget the politicians, they’re irrelevant.

Politicians are put there to give you that idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. They’ve got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want—they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interest. You know something, they don’t want people that are smart enough to sit around their kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.” – George Carlin [71]

When Central Banks Rule the World (That's NOW!)

Watch this video and see if you can comprehend what she is saying.  Bankers caused World War I, World War II, and many more since then.  They are responsible for the assassinations of Lincoln and JFK.  But you can go back to your mortgage, credit card payments, car loans, student loans, and think about the $16 trillion national debt and how that might get paid back...