If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Dollar Bubble

The Dollar Bubble starring Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, Marc Faber, Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers, and others. Prepare now for the U.S. dollar collapse.

The Dollar Bubble

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

End The Fed Rallies, 22-11-2009

'End the Fed' rally: Where did our money go?


NYC Media March & End The Fed


NYC End The Fed Rally 11.22.09 (Pt. 2)


End The FED March in New York City


End The FED Arrives at the NY Supreme Court


END THE FED with Ron Paul and Liberty Fighters!

Ron Paul at End The Fed Houston 11-22-09 Part 1 of 3


Ron Paul at End The Fed Houston 11-22-09 Part 2 of 3


Ron Paul at End The Fed Houston 11-22-09 Part 3 of 3


Adam Kokesh at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009 - Part 1


Adam Kokesh at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009 - Part 2


Jonathan Kocurek at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009


Paula Stang at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009


Steven Susman at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009


Jeff Daiell at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009


Tim Brown at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009


Erik Prejean at the Houston End The Fed Rally, November 22, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Audit the Fed in the News

House Panel Approves Broad Auditing of Federal Reserve Wall Street Journal

A key House panel on Thursday approved an amendment offered by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) to give federal watchdogs massive new authority to audit the Federal Reserve.

House panel approves Ron Paul’s proposal to audit the Federal Reserve Politico

The measure, based on a Paul proposal that has attracted more than 300 co-sponsors, passed, 43-26, as an amendment to a financial reform bill. Florida Democrat and fellow Fed critic Alan Grayson co-sponsored the amendment with Paul and played a leading role drumming up support for it among committee members. The adoption of this amendment is an extraordinary victory for Paul, whose libertarian, anti-Fed leanings have often been dismissed by the political establishment.

Panel votes to audit the Fed; cap its spending at $4 trillion MarketWatch

“If you care about transparency of the Fed, you would allow a look at monetary policy,” Paul said. “We’re dealing with trillions of dollars that doesn’t get audited. There is no reason why the world can’t know, eventually, what the Fed is doing.”

Ron Paul wins a key battle in war to open Fed’s books Los Angeles Times

“If we get the audit and get the books open, make them answer the questions, I am convinced that the American people will be so outraged that then we will have reform of the monetary system,” Paul has said.

Panel Votes to Broaden Oversight of the Fed New York Times

Mr. Paul’s bill would abolish a longstanding exemption that shielded the Fed from Congressional audits of its monetary policy. Supporters of the Fed’s independence have argued the shield provided crucial insulation from political pressure, which would make it much harder for Fed officials to take unpopular action aimed at heading off inflation.

Greenspan, Volcker Opposed Ron Paul Audit Provision Wall Street Journal

Greenspan and Volcker, in a letter sent to the committee’s chairman and ranking Republicans, warned that the provision threatened the ability of the Fed to foster price stability independent of political interference.

Threatening the Fed’s independence Washington Post

Alan S. Blinder is a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

There are a few more hits on this story all over today, these are just a few. Great work so far everyone, but the fight isn’t over. We are still pushing for an up or down vote on Audit the Fed on the House and Senate floors.

Friday, November 20, 2009

World economy setting itself up for a bigger bust, says Marc Faber

SINGAPORE: Marc Faber - the man commonly referred to as Dr Doom by the investment community – said that the real financial crisis has yet to come for the global economy.

Speaking at a conference in Singapore on Wednesday, he said there will be another big bust stemming from credit expansion.

Mr Faber said: "The crisis has not solved anything. On the contrary there is less transparency today than there was before. The government's balance sheet is expanding, and the abuses that have led to the one cause of the crisis have continued.

"I think eventually there will be a big bust and then the whole credit expansion will come to an end. But before that happens, they will print money, and they will grow into very high inflation rate, and the economy will not respond.

"The average family will be hurt by that, and then in order to distract the attention of the people, the governments will go to war. People ask me against whom? Well, they will invent an enemy."

"At some stage, somewhere in future, we will have a war - that you have to be prepared for. And during war times, commodities go up strongly," said Mr Faber.

"If you want to hedge against war, you don't want to own derivatives in UBS and AIG, but you have to own them physically, like farmland and agricultural commodities. That is something to consider for you as a personal safety and hedge. You have to own some commodities," he added.

Analysts generally agreed that gold is an attractive asset class for investments.

Daryl Guppy, CEO, Guppytraders.com said: "The strength of gold is in direct relation to weakness in US dollar. The weakness in US dollar is likely to continue. You see the dollar index heading down towards to 71 US cents is not a support level. It could in fact fall lower than that.

"So there is a probability of a sustained rallied increase in the price of gold - long-term uptrend. Gold is not driven by fundamental factors, not driven by demand; it is driven by our perceptions of US dollar and currency changes.

Continue reading: World economy setting itself up for a bigger bust, says Marc Faber

Interest on U.S. debt - $4,800,000,000,000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Here's a new way to think about the U.S. government's epic borrowing: More than half of the $9 trillion in debt that Uncle Sam is expected to build up over the next decade will be interest.

More than half. In fact, $4.8 trillion.

If that's hard to grasp, here's another way to look at why that's a problem.

The country depends heavily on borrowing to fund what it wants to do. But the more debt it racks up, the more likely it becomes that creditors could demand a higher interest rate for making new loans to the government.

Higher rates in turn make it harder to pay off the underlying debt because more and more money is going to pay off interest - money, by the way, which is also borrowed.

And as more money goes to interest, creditors may become concerned that the country can't pay down its principal and lawmakers will have less to fund all the things government is supposed to do.

CNN Money - $4.8 trillion - Interest on U.S. debt

Rep. Peter DeFazio levels Goldman Sachs, Summers, and Treasury Sec Tim Geithner

Rep. Peter DeFazio levels Goldman Sachs, Summers, and Treasury Sec Tim Geithner

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

It will be launched next month in open source so everyone can modify their own sixth sense device! I think there will be an explosion in the usage of the sixth sense technology in the years to come. Hooooray!

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Société Générale: Prepare for potential 'global economic collapse'

Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.

In a report entitled "Worst-case debt scenario", the bank's asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems.

Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), whether public or private. It must be reduced by the hard slog of "deleveraging", for years.

Governments have already shot their fiscal bolts. Even without fresh spending, public debt would explode within two years to 105pc of GDP in the UK, 125pc in the US and the eurozone, and 270pc in Japan. Worldwide state debt would reach $45 trillion, up two-and-a-half times in a decade.

The underlying debt burden is greater than it was after the Second World War, when nominal levels looked similar. Ageing populations will make it harder to erode debt through growth. "High public debt looks entirely unsustainable in the long run. We have almost reached a point of no return for government debt," it said.

Inflating debt away might be seen by some governments as a lesser of evils.

Source: Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for potential 'global collapse'

Japan is in big trouble

Japan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world's second-largest economy has been able to borrow cheaply from a captive bond market, feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return.

The rocketing cost of insuring against the bankruptcy of the Japanese state is telling us that the model has smashed into the buffers. Credit default swaps (CDS) on five-year Japanese debt have risen from 35 to 63 basis points since early September. Japan has suddenly decoupled from Germany (21), France (22), the US (22), and even Britain (47).

Regime-change in Tokyo and the arrival of Yukio Hatoyama's neophyte Democrats – raising $550bn (£333bn) to help fund their blitz on welfare and the "new social policy" – have concentrated the minds of investors at long last. "Markets are worried that Japan is going to hit a brick wall: the sums are gargantuan," said Albert Edwards, a Japan-veteran at Société Générale

"The debt situation is irrecoverable," said Carl Weinberg from High Frequency Economics. "I don't see any orderly way out of this. They will not be able to fund their deficit. There will be a fiscal shutdown, a pension haircut, and bank failures that will rock the world. It is criminally negligent that rating agencies are not blowing the whistle on this."

The Bank of Japan seems oddly insouciant. It will end its (feeble) quantitative easing in December by suspending purchases of corporate debt, much to the fury of the Finance Ministry.

"This is incredibly dangerous," said Russell Jones from the RBC Capital Markets. "The rate of deflation is shocking. The debt dynamics are horrible and there is the risk of a downward spiral."

Source: It is Japan we should be worrying about, not America

HR1207 - Paul/Grayson's Amendment vs Watt's Amendment

Ron Paul introduces HR.1207 as a substitute amendment for Mel Watt's amendment. Watt's amendment would gut the intent of the audit of the Federal Reserve. In the end Paul's substitute passed by committee vote.

Ron Paul introduces HR1207 as a substitute to the Watt amendment during debate 11/19/2009


Ron Paul HR1207 Committee Debate on Watt Amendment: Alan Grayson 11/19/2009


Ron Paul rebuts criticisms of Federal Reserve audit during markup hearing 11/19/2009


VOTING TIME!

Ron Paul HR1207 substitute amendment ROLL CALL vote 11/19/2009


Mel Watt's amendment was defeated and Paul/Grayson's amendment was passed with 43 Aye(Yes)-26 Nay(No) votes and adopted. Hooray, partial victory on the gutted Watt's Amendment to HR1207.

The Paul/Grayson amendment:

* Removes the blanket restrictions on GAO audits of the Fed
* Allows audit of every item on the Fed’s balance sheet, all credit facilities, all securities purchase programs, etc.
* Retains limited audit exemption on unreleased transcripts and minutes
* Sets 180-day time lag before details of Fed’s market actions may be released
* States that nothing in the amendment shall be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress or the GAO


Reuters - House panel OKs plan to open Fed policy to audits
Bloomberg - House Panel Votes to Advance Paul Plan on Fed Audits

Do Something!

A tribute to a man and a call to action to liberty lovers around the world.

Do Something!

Calls for Geithner Resignation!

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as part of a grilling on Capitol Hill yesterday, was asked by a Republican lawmaker to resign. It is a call he is likely to hear again and again as next year’s election campaign heats up.

Earlier in the week, a Republican challenger for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut had demanded Geithner quit, lambasting him for being “cozy” with banks bailed out by the federal government. Two other Republicans have requested hearings into Geithner’s handling of the bailout of insurer American International Group Inc.

“For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?” asked Brady, who first won his seat in 1996. “The public has lost all confidence in your ability to the do the job, and it is reflecting on your president.”

“I don’t think you should be fired,” Burgess told him. “I thought you should have never been hired.”

Continue reading: Bloomberg - Geithner Resignation Calls May Increase as 2010 Election Nears

Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.

Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw nerves of lawmakers flooded with stories of unemployment and economic hardship back home. They also underscored the stiff headwinds that the administration faces as it pushes to enact sweeping changes to the financial regulatory system while also trying to create jobs for ordinary Americans.

Two buildings away, at a session of the Joint Economic Committee, Republicans escalated their attacks on Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, including a call for his resignation.

Source: ECONOMIC WOES TAKING A TOLL - House Republicans call on Geithner to resign

Congressman Tells the Senate Tim Geithner Must be Removed!

32% Inflation in UCLA Tuition Causes Near Riots

It's very sad to see one of the top university in the world can't handle its operational costs. GG California.

32% Inflation in UCLA Tuition Causes Near Riots


Source: California Deficit Hits $21 Billion

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

BrainPort Vision

For those who are blind, the non-surgical BrainPort vision device is an investigational assistive device for orientation, mobility, object identification and spot reading. It enables perception of visual information using the tongue and camera system as a paired substitute for the eye. Visual information is collected from a video camera and translated into gentle electrical stimulation patterns on the surface of the tongue. Users describe it as pictures drawn on their tongue with champagne bubbles. With training users may perceive shape, size, location and motion of objects in their environment. The BrainPort vision device is intended to augment rather than replace other assistive technology such as the white cane or guide dog.

Very impressive.

"You don't see with your eyes, you see with your brain."

BrainPort Vision Device

Sunday, November 15, 2009

INFLATION - What does it mean to live in a world where your money loses value exponentially?

Most of us think of inflation as rising prices, but that’s not quite right. Inflation is not caused by rising prices. Rising prices are a symptom of inflation. Inflation is caused by the presence of too much money in relation to goods and services. What we experience is things going up in price, but in fact, inflation is really the value of your money going down, simply because there’s too much of it around. Inflation is, everywhere and always, a monetary phenomenon.

"By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method, they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some....The process engages all of the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner that not one man in a million can diagnose." -John Maynard Keynes (Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920)

Crash Course: Chapter 10 - Inflation

Monday, November 9, 2009

Goldman Sachs boss says banks do "God's work"

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has attracted widespread media attention over the size of its staff bonuses, believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work."

LOL! I am completely blown away by this utterly illogical non-sense statement made by Goldman Sachs CEO - "banks serve a social purpose and are doing God's work." The whole economic crisis is literally getting more and more interesting and absurd. Perhaps the current financial crisis was created by God as well to serve the bankers' interests in the confiscation of wealth. God knows.

In an interview with London's Sunday Times newspaper, Lloyd Blankfein also said he believed big profits and bonuses at banks were a sign that the world economy was recovering.

"We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose," he told the paper.

The dominant Wall Street bank posted third-quarter earnings of $3 billion and plans to hand out more than $20 billion in year-end bonuses.

Blankfein told the Sunday Times that the bank's compensation practices correlated with long-term performance.

"Others made no money and still paid large bonuses. Some are not around anymore. I wonder why?"

He added that he understood, however, that people were angry with bankers' actions: "I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer."

Source: Goldman Sachs boss says banks do "God's work"

Friday, November 6, 2009

Hoooray for Jobless Recovery and A New Record Gold Price

The unemployment rate in the US rose to 10.2% in October, which was its highest rate since April 1983, according to figures from the US Labor Department.

It rose from September's figure of 9.8%. The economy lost 190,000 jobs in the month.

The number of unemployed people rose by 558,000 to 15.7 million.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed has risen by 8.2 million, while the jobless rate has risen from 4.9%.

But there was some better news with the revision of September's figure from a loss of 263,000 jobs to a loss of 219,000 jobs.

'Disappointing'

The figures were particularly poor given Thursday's news of a fall in initial weekly jobless claims and the data earlier in the week that showed the US economy had grown by 3.5% between July and September.

"It's pretty disappointing overall," said Richard Franulovich, senior currency strategist at Westpac in New York.

"Job losses are not moderating as quickly as I had hoped despite those earlier indicators on jobs."

The dollar fell against both the euro and the yen following the release of the figures.

Long-term unemployed

The sectors contributing the largest numbers of job losses in October were construction, manufacturing and retail.

It was the 22nd month in a row that the US economy had shed jobs, which is the longest run since records began 70 years ago.

There is concern that rising unemployment could scupper the recovery by restricting consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of the economy.

The number of people who had been out of work for at least six months rose to a record 5.6 million, accounting for 35.6% of the jobless total.

Source: US jobless rate rises to over 10%

What's more?

The gold price is almost hitting $1,100 an ounce! Oh well, say hi to the Mass-inflation.


Ron Paul: We need to audit the Federal Reserve, now more than ever!

Congressman Ron Paul on Morning Meeting w/ Dylan Ratigan

Ron Paul at Financial Services Hearing 11/4/09

Summary: Ron Paul at Financial Services Hearing 11/4/09