03/5/11

Media Misleading Americans About Inflation

From: National Inflation Association

The National Inflation Association (NIA) believes that every time the mainstream media focuses its attention on the weak Euro, it is trying to trick the world into going long on the U.S. dollar, when the U.S. dollar will win its race with the Euro to zero. Not only were eurozone countries first to implement austerity measures (something the U.S. is still showing no signs of even considering), but it was just announced this week that the European Central Bank (ECB), which just left interest rates unchanged this month at 1%, plans to raise interest rates next month in order to combat food and energy price inflation. NIA has been warning its members for two years that the policies of the Federal Reserve and ECB would lead to massive inflation in the prices of food, energy and clothing, and that is exactly what we are beginning to see right now.

The ECB just dramatically raised its inflation expectations for 2011. The ECB has a sole mandate of price stability, but the Federal Reserve’s mandate is not only price stability, but also maximum employment and moderate long-term interest rates. Printing money does not create jobs, except for temporary government jobs that act as a burden on the rest of the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been obsessing over the fact that the U.S. doesn’t have any wage inflation, as a reason not to raise interest rates. As NIA has long been predicting for years, wages will be last to rise during the current inflationary crisis. If wages in the U.S. were rising at the same rate as energy, food and clothing, price inflation wouldn’t be a problem at all. The fact that wages aren’t keeping up with rising prices should actually be a good reason to raise interest rates immediately.

China is so disturbed by the inflation being created by both the Federal Reserve and ECB, that they are looking to abandon both currencies and position the yuan as the next reserve currency. The biggest news of this past week, which conveniently got swept under the rug by the U.S. mainstream media, was news out of China that they will be allowing trades to settle in yuan instead of the U.S. dollar. China is simply responding to overseas demand from those who don’t wish to hold on to large amounts of U.S. dollar reserves that are rapidly being debased by the Federal Reserve. By the end of 2011, Chinese exporters and importers will be able to settle cross border transactions in their own currency, instead of U.S. dollars. China is working to rapidly grow the yuan’s role in international trade and NIA believes it will soon become the world’s new reserve currency by default.

The fact is, if the Chinese abandoned the U.S. dollar, China would immediately have the world’s largest economy as a result of the yuan strengthening in value. Over 70% of U.S. GDP is consumer spending and when Americans can no longer import cheap goods from China using money we borrow from them, consumer spending will fall off a cliff. Canada and other resource rich nations have nothing to worry about. Just as one small example, the U.S. for many years has been the largest importer of lumber from Canada. Shockingly, the U.S. share of lumber imports from Canada has fallen just about in half percentage wise in recent years from 70% to 36%. Now, it is expected that China will displace the U.S. as the largest importer of lumber from Canada by 2012.

Besides Canada, NIA has long said that one of our favorite places to emigrate to is Australia, because Australia’s central bank was the first to raise interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia has interest rates at 4.75% compared to Australia’s inflation rate of 2.7%. The Reserve Bank of Australia is the only major central bank with interest rates that are positive in real terms. Despite having the highest interest rate out of all major developed countries, Australia’s GDP is still growing 2.7% on an annual basis.

The U.S. GDP is only growing due to artificially low interest rates of 0%-0.25%, where the Federal Reserve has held them for over two years. Artificially low interest rates of 0%-0.25% basically means that the U.S. economy is on life support. Any kind of economic growth during this period is phony and only due to inflation. Australia has a truly healthy economy, being that it is growing with modest interest rates. If the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to a modest level of 4.75% like Australia, there would immediately be a massive wave of debt defaults that sends the U.S. economy into a tailspin. We would experience a crash much worse than the Great Depression, which will likely be so bad that the median priced U.S. home will fall in half from $158,800 down to only $79,400.

Silver just reached a new 31-year high on Friday of $35.32 per ounce up 103% since NIA declared silver the best investment for the next decade on December 11th, 2009, at $17.40 per ounce. The short squeeze in silver that NIA first predicted on April 3rd, 2010, in its article entitled “Silver Short Squeeze Could Be Imminent,” is now taking place as we speak. NIA was one of the first to connect the dots and expose to the world why the Federal Reserve was so eager to orchestrate a bailout of Bear Stearns, but didn’t mind allowing Lehman Brothers to fail. Bear Stearns was the holder of a massive naked silver short position in silver that was being used to artificially hold silver prices down. As part of JP Morgan’s takeover of Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve guaranteed to cover certain losses that would arise from the Bear Stearns portfolio, and this most likely included the silver short position.

Unfortunately, the average American family still has the bulk of their savings invested in Real Estate, when it should be invested in silver. In NIA’s first ever documentary ‘Hyperinflation Nation,’ in which we urged viewers to get out of Real Estate and invest into silver, the median U.S. home to silver ratio was 14,700. In NIA’s second major documentary ‘The Dollar Bubble,’ we once again discussed the median U.S. home to silver ratio, which was now down to 9,900, and predicted a further major decline. The median U.S. home to silver ratio is now down to 4,500. This means U.S. Real Estate has lost 69% of its value priced in silver in just the past 21 months alone. NIA is 100% sure that this ratio will decline to below 1,000 this decade and probably bottom around 500. Therefore, even if the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero, we are still looking at another 78%-89% decline in the price of Real Estate in terms of silver.

NIA has been warning the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates almost since the time they lowered them down to near zero. The longer they keep interest rates where they are now, the higher interest rates will need to rise later this decade to counteract the damage being done today. It is shocking to us how the financial mainstream media still uses the bond market to determine inflation expectations. Comparing U.S. treasury yields to Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) yields does not accurately determine inflation expectations. TIPS are a scam, because they are based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which the government does everything in its power to manipulate as low as possible in order to keep payment increases to Social Security recipients as low as possible. The bond bubble is the largest bubble in world history and during bubbles in the financial markets, assets always get mispriced.

NIA doesn’t understand how the mainstream media allows Bernanke to get away with testifying in front of Congress this week, “the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to, at most, a temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation” and that rising gas prices “do not yet pose a significant risk either to the recovery or to the maintenance of overall stable inflation.” NIA is one of the few organizations out there challenging Bernanke’s belief that we have “overall stable inflation.” We know this to be the exact opposite of the truth.

The new Apple iPad 2 being released this month is going to be 33% thinner than the original iPad, but it will be sold at the same price as the first version. NIA forecasts that the BLS will use hedonics to say that the iPad 2 is now 33% better than the first iPad, being that it is thinner. With the price being the same as the old thicker version, the BLS will consider the new version to be 33% cheaper once quality adjustments are factored in. This type of deception will help cancel out food and energy price inflation when the BLS reports the CPI in the upcoming months.

We are sure that the millions of sheep in America who will wait for ten hours across a dozen city blocks to be the first to purchase the new iPad 2 will agree with Bernanke that inflation in the U.S. is overall very stable. However, for the overwhelming majority of Americans who see food and gas prices spiraling out of control, they have nobody to thank more than Bernanke. NIA will not rest until we educate as much of the world as possible to the fact that inflation is the root of all evil.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us.

03/5/11

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

By: T F Stern
T F Stern’s Rantings

The Obama administration has been following an agenda, one which many American citizens refuse to accept as even possible, the destruction of our economy and way of life. It hardly seems possible one of our own, much less our president, would actively seek to ruin the most powerful industrial nation ever; but evidence is mounting. At first this article was to be named, Wrecking the Economy One Oil Rig at a Time; but for some reason, Follow the Yellow Brick Road won out.

Not too long ago, Obama put a drilling moratorium in place based on fraud and deceit; there would be no (American Based Oil Companies) drilling in the Gulf of Mexico until angels from on-high proclaimed it perfectly safe. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t worded exactly like that. The important part was drilling in the Gulf was halted.

Judge Martin Feldman overturned the moratorium and some folks thought things might return to normal; not so. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has made it nearly impossible for oil companies to get past the bureaucratic nightmare put in place; dare I say, … to prevent anyone from drilling?

“The Obama administration has appealed a judge’s order requiring regulators to act on seven drilling permit applications.”

{…}

“The documents say the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement may not have enough time to help operators meet regulatory requirements to have the permits approved by the deadline.”

Did you get that? “Help operators meet regulatory requirements.” Yea, we’re from the government and we’re here to help. It’s okay for other countries like Cuba to drill in the Gulf, just not American companies or countries sympathetic to our free market system.

“Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road.”

If you listen to the rhetoric, evil U.S. Oil companies are ruining the Gulf while making a fortune. We are all victims of corporate greed; our hero, Obama, will put them in their place. Is Obama our hero or is he something else?

“While finding oil in commercially viable amounts will be transformative for Cuba in the coming years, the challenges facing the U.S. begin as soon as the first drill bit penetrates the sea bed in the Gulf,” said Sarah Stephens, CDA’s executive director. “After living through the BP spill, we can’t maintain the illusion that the embargo will stop Cuba from drilling and must instead adopt policies that protect U.S. economic, environmental, and foreign policy interests.” (emphasis added)

The Obama embargo is nothing more than an illusion; fooling our “environmental consciousness” into believing accidents will never happen ever again because we have tougher rules and regulations; accidents are no longer possible. Pure rubbish.

Yes, it’s important to protect the environment, but it’s also important to reject the notion others who drill for oil will do so in a manner which meets the already stringent levels adhered to by American-based oil companies. In the larger picture, our nation is being intentionally thwarted from achieving success in the market place. Ultimately the decline will trigger massive demands for change. That “change” will be to socialism and a complete turnover of the oil industry to the federal government.

You remember the sentiments of that idiot; forgive my choice of words, the honorable Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, during the questioning of oil company executives?

“And guess what this liberal would be all about. This liberal will be about socializing … uh, um. … Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies…”

“Follow the yellow brick road…,” or in this case, the “red” brick road, under the flag of socialism. Most of Obama’s close advisers have Marxist leanings. Why would we expect Obama to favor free market capitalism?

It’s not hard to imagine Obama as the Wicked Witch of the East addressing the oil industry as he tries to lay hold of the prize. Remember, as long as freedom is alive, he can’t lay hold of it.

“I can’t attend to you here and now as I’d like, but just try to stay out of my way… I’ll get you, my pretty – and your little dog, too! Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!”

The Wizard of Oz movie makes it easier to contrast good from evil. Beware those who call evil good and good evil; isn’t that the biblical warning? The Munchkins wanted to help Dorothy find the Emerald City (Utopia), that place where everything is perfect.

“Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road.”

We have the Obama administration attempting to dismantle the free market system “brick by brick.” Isn’t that fascinating? The only way to implement total socialism is to do away with our Republican Constitutional form of government. Defying the rule of law backs up the assertion. Obama has no intention of following the rule of law; he’ll have the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement hold up any and all drilling permits until the evil oil companies just up and leave.

Speaking of oil companies “up and leaving”…; there’s a story by Brett Clanton, Noble rig leaves U.S. Gulf for Brazil, which puts another nail in our coffin.

“Noble Corp. in January announced plans to move one of its deep-water drilling rigs out of the Gulf of Mexico amid a spill-related slowdown in activity. This week, the Swiss-based driller made good on its promise.”

“It loaded the Noble Clyde Boudreaux, an ultra-deepwater semisubmersible, on a ship in Pascagoula, Miss., that will carry the rig 5,000 miles to Brazil, where it has a contract with Shell.”

It’s not reasonable to expect oil companies to sit around watching expensive machinery rust; they’re going to go where they can be put it to use. Specialized workers will leave for better waters; talk about outsourcing of jobs. This would kill off our own oil industry.

If you think about it, Obama is making sure other countries cash in on our bad decisions. He promised billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to help Brazil’s oil industry. The problem with oil companies going to Brazil, we can’t buy that oil. It’s all promised to other countries like China, or am I mistaken?

“The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.”

If we can’t see what is going on, we must be “toto-ly” out of our minds. The Yellow Brick Road which leads to the Emerald City, socialism’s Utopia if you will, has to be paid for by sacrificing individual liberties, gifts from our Creator. For America to succeed we need to stick with “ what brung us here.” capitalism and our Republican Constitutional form of government.

This article has been cross-posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government & The American Constitution.”

03/5/11

And how we burned in the camps later…

Hat Tip: Garry Hamilton
From: GoodReadsThe Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn