New Plan or Permanent Ruin

The WSJ reported job losses for Depression 2.0 since 2007. Manufacturing and construction jobs took the brunt of losses but everything except healthcare, education and government suffered net job losses. Economists say that most of these 7.6 million lost jobs are permanent and will never come back.

This chart suggests some major changes in american society in the future. I'll cover a few.

Most of the lost manufacturing and construction jobs lost paid a living wage to men that allowed them to start and support families. The permanent loss of those jobs mean that many men will never earn enough income to ever start and support families. They'll still spread their seed but someone else will have to pick up the bill. These otherwise gainfully employed young men will work minimum wage service jobs, create no wealth and live like gypsy studs with welfare moms raising children from various fathers.
Effectively these young men will create a drag on the economy by fathering children that they can't possible provide for. Those who have jobs that pay a living wage will have to provide for these children through higher taxes or fees.

A wife and family has always been a civilizing force for young men. The wife reinforces the responsibilities and obligations of being a husband and father on young men, reducing chaos, intoxication and violence in society at large. A working young man is a busy man who doesn't have the time nor money for jackassery, even more so for a working young man with a family to provide for.
A society that has a large percentage of it's young men unemployed, underemployed and without a family is a society with real problems. When young men have no hope of ever having meaningful work, wages or ever having a woman and family it is a disaster for a society. This toxic situation is alive now in the US.

The past two years the government has been pushing the unemployed to get an education for "jobs of the future". Healthcare and education are fields are both cited as careers of the future. Both have created jobs in the past two years. But is this growth in these fields sustainable?

Millions of baby boomers will need medical care as they age over the next 15 years. Theoretically demand for services will increase. But who will pay for this care in a ever-shrinking economy? If manufacturing and construction jobs are permanently lost then those living wages that provided tax receipts are permanently lost as well. As more health care workers become available and the wealth that pays for health care decreases it will drive health care wages down. Health care doesn't increase national wealth it consumes it. So the system spirals ever downward until all wealth is consumed.

Education is important to a nation's economy but it doesn't directly create wealth, rather it also consumes wealth. As wealth and tax receipts decline in america who will pay for educational costs? Schools are already furloughing teachers to balance budgets. As deflation reduces property values and wage income declines, schools can't find more revenue. Again, the system spirals ever downward until all wealth is consumed.

Government is incapable of creating wealth. It can only consume and redistribute wealth. Adding government jobs is a drag on any economy and taken to extremes will kill the host. The present administration has embraced bigger government that will permanently kill the US.

American leadership has made some awful decisions the past couple of decades that have come to the fore now. They are still making awful decisions when not paralyzed by fear of offending some aggreived party or goring their own self-interest. We need a new national plan from a new national leadership before we fall into permanent ruin.

Nemesis Is Upon Us

The ADP June jobs data was pretty sad, with just at 13,000 jobs created for the month. June unemployment data will be released on July 2, but the data is becoming more meaningless every month as it doesn't count those whose benefits have expired. Some estimate unemployment at 9.8% but does anybody really know?  I still believe that the unemployed and under-employed stand at 20% of the US workforce based upon what I see around me. The number of cars heading down the highway from Bruigville to the city in the morning hasn't increased in the year that I've been commuting.

Stocks suffered their worst quarter since 2008 and the DOW is back to it's October 2009 low. It sure looks like the recovery is over despite the soothing comments of Obama and his gang. With the national debt to reach post-WW2 proportions by year's end, interest rates near zero and chronic unemployment there aren't any tools left in policymakers kit. Nemesis is upon us.

Symptom of Something Bigger

I suppose it's just human nature to look at change and trouble then say "it's just a fluke, things will get back to normal soon". Americans, along with much of the world, are just in denial of the profound and lasting changes that came with the economic crash of 2007-08. Many want to believe that the crash was due to some specific, single event like the housing bubble. But I believe that the housing bubble was a symptom of something bigger and more systematic going on.

Take a look at DOW performance for the period 1969-2010 and you will see the problem. The DOW was roughly 1000 from 1969-1984 then jumped to 2000 in 1985. The DOW then rose to 4000 in 1995, 6000 in 1996, 8000 in 1997, 10,000 in 1999 where it mostly leveled off until the post-911 dive to 8000. In 2006 the DOW skyrocketed again climbing to 12000 and finally 14000 in 2007 before tumbling to 6626 in 2009.

Where did all of this sudden wealth come from? Is the wealth real?

Governments, companies and individuals looked at the DOW and said to themselves, "I'm rich. Let the good times roll". When you're making 14 times what you were 22 years ago, you can justify a lot of lifestyle behavior. If it is real. But is it real?

Median US new house prices were about $20,000 in the 60s and early 70s. By 1985 the median price was $87,000 and by 2006 was $244,000. US income grew from $16909 to $20712 from 1968 to 2008 for the bottom quartile and $66735 to $100,240 for the upper quartile in the same period. So as new house prices grew 10 times, wages grew only 33%  for the top 25% of the population. Where is all this supposed wealth?

Governments looked at the numbers and determined that they could grow in relation to this 1400 percent increase in wealth. Federal, state and local government decide they had arrived armed with endless resources. They hired, provided new services and expanded into everything. The train could go on forever with the fuel of wealth that seemed to be growing exponentially.

Those responsible for overseeing pensions and benefits sighed in relief as they saw that growth would solve all their problems. In fact, they decided we could add new benefits, even for people who couldn't or wouldn't work. No problem, the gravy train has arrived. Who knows where it came from. Just get aboard.

Now we're here in post-growth america of 2010 with 20% unemployment and abandoned properties scattered across the landscape. Wealth is deflating and we don't need or can't afford much of what exists. What now? Take back the promises? Fire all those added government employees? Reset our lifestyles to reflect reality?

46 state governments are broke and have total deficits totaling $112B this year. Projections for next year are $180B and another $120B in 2012. And the deficits get much worse if you factor in promised pensions and benefits. New Jersey alone has an $180B unfunded state worker pension liability. The wealth was never real, is "lost" as Biden tells it and will never exist. Where will the money come from to pay for the promises made?

I believe that all of the DOW growth since 1995 is make believe. The value of DOW equity is about $70T and falling. All of the DOW growth since 1995 is imaginary derivatives totaling $700T! It represents nothing real, just wild speculation. No one but me wants to tell you that simple fact. We've been sold a bill of goods that don't exist!

My state is building a bypass around bruigville. To mitigate the effect on the environment they are going to do three good deeds for the environment costing several million dollars. One good deed is to dig 20 feet of peat from a several acre bog, transport the peat 7 miles to another location and build a wetland. Nice stuff if you have the money. But we don't. However that won't stop our state leaders from borrowing and spending that money. After all, it will pay a good wage to a few heavy equipment operators and the firm that does the work.

We have to keep up the appearances that all is normal, all is well and it can go on and on forever. But it can't. Every lie comes into the light eventually. The bigger the lie, the harder the fall. The coming fall will leave a mark on humanity for 1000 years.

Tuesday Tab Dump...and More

Maybe I'm guilty of reading reptile-alien invasion websites. I dunno. I don't trust the MSM anymore, nor the government. BP is under legal assault so they couldn't tell the truth if they wanted to. So I look and try to find something that makes sense.

I stumbled on the real danger to humans of the Macondo prospect well today and it makes sense. Oil is chock full of volatile organics like benzene. These VOCs are distilled from oil and gas then packaged for human use. Some of these VOCs are very dangerous to humans, such as benzene. These VOCs evaporate and collect in clouds only to be rained down in rivers and on land where they are taken up in the food chain, eventually ending up in human food. Then in humans where some are known to cause cancer.

So we go out with a whimper perhaps. I dunno.

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A New Orleans federal judge ruled that Obama and gang misled the public and oversteped it's power with the moratorium on offshore drilling. I wish the judge would have ordered Obama and his thugs be arrested and tried for treason.
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Meanwhile one writer suggests that if BP is forced into bankruptcy, the global economy gets another Lehman Brothers type beating. BP is an important player in the global oil carry trade. If BP goes down so does everyone in it's chain.

But Obama and his Marxist pals don't care about carcinogens, failed economies, unemployed workers or any of that nonsense. They just want to control the cash flow...and you. Obama is going to push cap and trade. The masses can ride their bicycles to their jobs pick up their unemployment and welfare checks.

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John Voight wrote a damning letter to Obama today. If the magical negro could be shamed it would be a knife in his black heart. But Obama has thrown the Jews under the bus and needs Mestizo slaves to keep the economy from collapsing under his feet.

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My favorite story today was the report that General McChrystal dissed the president who wants to kick his ass. Perhaps McChrystal will resign. Maybe Obama will go gangsta on McChrystal and cap him wid a Nine. Ya just don't know what a crazy nigga from da hood Columbia might do.

Sorry. That's was Spike Lee's dream. Obama is a half-breed white/Kenyan muslim raised in Indonesia, politically indoctrinated in The People's Republic of Hawaii by Marxist/white slaver/pedophile  Frank Marshall Davis. Not being a trained actor Obama can't do gangsta. But he can do metrosexual. Ask Larry Sinclair about the Oboner.
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Oh yeah, almost forgot. There won't be a federal budget this year. Nope. Fuck dat. The demomarxistcrats just gonna tax and spend as they go. No accountability, no Constitution, no citizens. Just a Politiboro.

And.

Permanent middle class tax cuts are history. The Politiburo needs money so middle class taxe increases are coming in 2011. Forget Obama campaign promises. Ya'll have to pay so unionized party members and fat, lazy welfare sluts can smoke crack and fuck all day on your redistributed earnings.
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Last week's sucker rally at the Dow is over. The computers are fleecing the investors who bought into the market again. Home sales crashed in May is the latest excuse.
Today Geithner told Congress "... the US economy was "still going through an incredibly difficult period," as he warned the impact of the crisis would be "lasting." "Millions of Americans are still looking for work and are suffering from the damage of a deep recession. The impact of this crisis will be lasting". Courtesy Brietbart.

Kiss my ass Tim.
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Finally,
Obama and Mexico have filed lawsuits against Arizona's immigration law. Meanwhile Mexican drug cartels have setup lookout posts on US soil and threatened Arizona police. We are under invasion and Obama is siding with the enemy. Treason? You betcha. Impeach the motherfucker, invade Mexico, take their women and burn their property.

If Mexico wants to protect their "citizen's rights" they can keep the bastards on their side of the border. They have no right to be here. Enforce the law you fucking moron president.

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Please God, make someone order me to muster out to restore my country.

Insanity or the Hidden Agenda

Interesting comments over at Belmont Club this evening, especially 124. It sure makes you wonder if conspiracy theorists aren't onto something.

Take the run up of oil prices in 2007-2008 for example. With the economy going into recession, how can gasoline prices oscillate between $2.25 and $3.00 then peg at $4.00 per gallon right before the election? How can the US economy, already in recession, just collapse in October 2008, right before the election?

Or, how can very knowledgable market analysts ignore Enron, Lehman and other companies as they steal investor's money in plain sight? How can Freddie and Fannie and other banks make bad loans, bundle these bad loans as derivative tranches then sell these things as legitimate investments to professional investors? How come nobody except a couple of fall guys get indicted or go to prison?

How can the oil giant BP help write the global warming scam carbon cap and trade legislation, drill a deep water ocean while ignoring basic procedures, pollute an entire coastline then end up meeting with the president represented by Jamie Gorelick, who seems to be involved with seemingly failed missions that seem to end in disasters for america wherever she goes? Is this all just happenstance? Makes you wonder.

Sometimes I wonder if all the news isn't just a distraction to cover the real workings of this world. What if terrorism, democrats and republicans, communists and capitalists, racism and every other emotional issue isn't just a cover for a pack of evil bastards that are playing a power game while using us as sheep to fleece. Do insane events just happen out of the blue? Or is there rational, hidden agendas being run in the background being covered by insane news stories to distract us?

Is it possible that BP intentionally pumped well fomation mud from the top of the wellbore directly bypassing instrumentation to cause an enviromental disaster on Earth Day to enable the president and congress to pass cap and trade legislation? Impossible? Monsterous? I'd like to believe that no human could commit such heinous acts and to even think such thoughts would be insane.

Killing The Goose

The US economy is on the path to cannibalizing itself. Wealth is being siphoned off to be consumed by unproductive elements of society at an alarming rate. Meanwhile the half of american society that actually create wealth are facing stagnant or falling wages. The government is proposing to take an ever-increasing percentage of income to redistribute to those who can't pay their way.

The BP spill is a perfect example; their stock value has dived as their costs and liabilities has risen. The government snarls and threatens on the sidelines, the public boycotts BP and the stock value dives lower until BP approaches collapse. Then who will pay for the cleanup? You guessed it, the taxpayer.

It makes little sense to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, whether it be BP or the private sector worker. The US is killing both remorselessly.

Art Laffer is Not Optimistic...Neither is the DOW or Me

Economist Art Laffer thinks that tax increases coming in 2011 are going to cause a more severe double-dip recession. That's if you believe that we're in a recovery now. I don't.

Laffer says that the top federal tax rate, dividend taxes and capital gains taxes will all increase significantly. And if you want to leave an inheritance to your heirs, die in 2010 or the US government will take up to 55% of your estate.

Laffer believes that people and businesses are already adopting practices to get their money before the US treasury gets their grubby little paws on it. Sounds right to me. I'd rather lose money than let the democrats marxists redistribute it. Business will just grind to a halt and "the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe 'double dip' recession". 

The DOW dropped below the flash-crash low of May 6 to 9816, demonstrating that investors aren't buying politician's stories. Thanks to Obumba and his marxist' cronies criminal assault on america, thugs are making their move. The market senses great peril and liquidity has vanished. DOW 7000?

A world of hurt is coming to americans, economic and maybe even geo-political. Iran is hell bent to start WW3. Even though Obumba will remain neutral, the US will be devastated if the oil stops flowing through the Straits of Hormuz.

We be fecked!

Who Needs Oil in a Recession?

The US economy is sliding back into recession and with US debt at 90% of GDP the government doesn't have the juice to produce another stimulus. Spain's credit rating was downgraded today and the Dow responded by diving at the close for the worst May performance since 1940. Obumba and the democrat congress are still hell-bent to turn america into Marxist Spain despite the fact that the Iberian experiment is an utter failure. Who could argue that the president and congress aren't actively destroying america?

The magic negro has set his sights on destroying the oil exploration industry by suspending off-shore oil exploration operations indefinitely. All of those soon to be laid off oil workers will certainly help an economy slipping back into recession. But lawyers will make fortunes suing BP and Transocean, so Obumba and the congress won't care. Obumba gets two wins out of the oil spill, the gulf population becomes wards of the welfare state and the US will be dependent on foreign oil forever.

The president won't be honoring fallen American heroes this weekend but instead will be celebrating the coming death of america on another vacation.

Odds and Ends

The alleged recovery from the Great Recession is failing. The stock market is falling, states are deeply in debt while tax receipts continue to decline, the federal government is trying to keep the recovery going by printing and borrowing money and unemployment is increasing. The global economy is drifting towards deflation, depression and, ultimately, collapse.
Governments are desperately moving imaginary money around trying to keep the Ponzi scheme from collapsing but the game can't continue. No one believes a word falling from a bureaucrats quivering lips. The jig is up and everyone knows it.
What can anyone do about it? Nothing at this point. It has gone too far for too long.

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The United States of America became a failed state last week when the federal government announced that they wouldn't take custody of illegal aliens handed over to ICE for deportation. Any nation that fails to enforce it's own border and laws is no longer a functioning nation. The bickering by states reveals that we anything but united.
The federal government has sided with Mexico and against Arizona with regard to illegal immigration. Several Mexifornian cities are basically in a state of civil war with Arizona, engaging in economic warfare with an american state.
Tis interesting to me that more folks don't clearly see that the democrat controlled federal government and many urban areas have abandoned the Constitution and law to join some UN inspired, socialist one world entity that makes up rules as it goes. And this entity encourages slavery, as that is what illegal immigrants and beneficiaries of the welfare state become.
The United States of America is gone and can only be restored by a civil war. And That won't happen.

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In Winter it is difficult to determine ruins because the snow obscures the details. But Spring brings growing grass which highlights the abandoned structures. I have never seen so many overgrown lawns on residential and commercial properties in my life. Grass stands over a foot tall on properties throughout the county. In some cases you can find three or four adjacent properties that are clearly abandoned that would have fetched $150,000 just four years ago. Now they are rotting ruins that the banks don't even consider worth saving.

It is as if some great plague swept the land, killing twenty percent of the population and making these homes and businesses unnecessary. Where have the people gone who once worked and lived in these ruins? How does it serve mankind that we allow these buildings that were built at great cost to just rot away until they have to be bulldozed to preserve public safety and health?

I am disappointed and saddened by the systematic collapse of our civilization. We have failed ourselves, our ancestors and our children.

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It now appears that North Korea attacked and sank the South Korean corvette Cheonan. Another victory for ruthless thugs and a defeat for the West. Our tyrant's response shows that he embraces thugs and despises free people everywhere.
Iran will develop and deploy nuclear weapons in the near future with Russian help. The West will do nothing to thwart this program. Iran will become the guarantor of muslims globally insuring the world becomes a more barbaric place.
The US and NATO will withdraw from Afghanistan, leaving the place in the hands of Taliban thugs that will continue to export drugs and terrorism. Bin Laden was correct. The West is weak and will topple.

What horror have they wrought now?

After an incredibly stinky week on Wall Street the Senate probably started a stampede of panic selling with their financial reform bill. Similar legislation by Germany on Wednesday helped trigger a 376 point fall in the Dow today and the market has been losing all week on fears of the future of the Euro. Tomorrow could be a bloodbath.

These two bolsheviks caused part of the Great Recession of 2008. What horror have they wrought now?

Slow Motion Train Wreck

The chart above shows US debt as a percent of US GDP. The IMF believes the US faces a huge budget crunch in the near future. Probably so if we can't grow our way out of it. And how can we grow our way out of debt as we simultaneously face boomer retirement while implementing national health care?

The US carried a high percentage of debt relative to GDP  to rebuild much of the world's economies after WW2. But then the US had the only standing manufacturing base in the world and cheap energy. Now our manufacturing base has been sent overseas and the age of cheap energy is over. Further, the US has no national energy policy to address the coming energy crisis.

The leadership failures of this nation are just shameful. Not one of the problems are being confronted by either party. Academics fail to provide ideas as well while the media provides cover for the dunces that lead us. The population gets fatter and dumber by the minute as they sit around watching idiotic television shows. I feel like I'm watching a slow motion train wreck.

Ban Trade Unions Now

Philadelphia has lots of problems and the most recent problem that is killing the city is it's crushing debt. The mayor wants to increase property taxes by 10% to fund the city's $3.9B budget. But even that might not be enough to cover "unforeseen costs like snow removal and newly negotiated union contracts".

Excuse me mayor. Snow removal might be an "unforeseen cost" but newly negotiated union contracts? C'mon yerhonor. Did you actually "negotiate" a fixed contract or just open the vault for the union to plunder? How could you negotiate a contract and not know how much it will cost?

This is the problem facing america in this age of mafioso unions that use government and corporations to extort money from the common man. The unions don't care if they bankrupt companies, cities, states or the nation. They just want their social justice, which means screwing everybody else.

There was a time when trade unions were necessary entities that raised compensation, provided better working conditions and improved safety for workers. I have been a union member and have been neutral regarding unions for decades. However unions have evolved into mafias that shakedown common people with no regard for the effects of their actions.

In the past decade unions have become bolshevik organizations where the membership believes that they are elites that deserve to be compensated like lawyers and doctors. For example, your local letter carrier makes about $80,000 per year to deliver letters. This is absurd!

If compensation by extortion weren't bad enough, unions use coercion and slush funds to elect representatives to political positions that pay off the unions. Then these bastards loot every dollar in sight. Recently the SEIU has been using violence, just like the mob, to silence opposition.

I am no longer neutral on trade unions. They must be banned if the nation is to prosper again, or maybe just survive.

May 13th Follies

Business executives say US economy sucks too. The Bank of England thinks the US and Greece have a lot in common (even as they miss their own failings). Those of you who thought that sooner or later you might get back to work ought to think again. Nobody is buying the bullshit this administration is selling.

Kagan is a anti-gun dyke. The only gun she wants anyone to have is the one she straps on for her "friends". This regime is an ongoing freak show. Obumba and Caligula are surely soulmates separated by a couple of millenia.

El Presidente of the failed state of Mexico said of Arizona's illegal immigration law "It contains elements that are frankly discriminatory, terribly backward". Calderon plans to protest to Obumba about it. Mexico deports border crossers on it's southern border while drug cartels rape, torture and murder with impunity and this chupacabra talks about backward? Kiss my anglo-celtic ass you burro humping oligarch. Fix your failed state and shut up.

Mad Governing Skilz

Sheesh, I just can't keep up. And more and more, I just don't want to keep up. The DOW closed today just shy of 11000 even with news that the US monthly budget deficit in April was 4x higher than forecast and tax receipts were way down from last year. No wonder considering that 20% of america's workforce is sitting around on the dole.

Oh, and a couple polls suggest that the recovery has stalled since US manufacturing is almost flat and economic activity is flat according to trucking data. Employment can't increase until the economy grows at a 15% rate! In other words, NEVER under this regime.

Then the CBO reported today that Obumbacare would cost more than $1T in the next decade. Since the dictator said he would veto portions of his health care legislation that approached the magical $1T, it looks like this economic vampire will have to veto parts of his own freakin bill. Indiana is discussing dumping Medicaid because of unfunded federally mandated costs that would break the state budget.

And three polls confirm that 2/3 of americans support Arizona's immigration law (which, incidently is US law that isn't enforced at all). But that won't stop the US Senate from introducing their AMNESTY bill. Nope.
This Congress is ignoring american voters and doing as it pleases.

Greek unions plan to strike on May 20 to rescind the EU/IMF rescue plan and restore the worker's paradise in the birthplace of democracy. Like Obumba and the bolsheviks in Congress they know that being broke is no reason to stop spending like crazy.

So I don't understand Wall Street's optimism. I'm not optimistic. Are you?

In Denial

The WSJ gives us a peek inside the stock collapse last Thursday. The hedge fund that Nassim Taleb, of Black Swan fame, advises may have created it's own impossible event that triggered the plunge. Ok. But this kind of volatility is only possible if investors have little trust in the underlying market.

It looks like the markets are likely to lose gains after yesterday's sucker's rally based on the $1T Greek bailout. More and more it strikes me that investors are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The debt problem isn't being addressed and we're just partying until the bitter end. We're all in denial.

No wonder the global economy is a mess

I was pleased to see the rebound in the financial markets today but it is still troubling that no one can explain the sudden decline last week. Risk is the friend of investors but volatility is the enemy. Today's 400 point gain could become tomorrow's 1000 point plunge.

Greece and the EU are not out of the woods and some think the bailout is only a temporary fix. The fix doesn't correct the systematic problems embedded in sovereign debt. Nations, just as people, that spend beyond their means are eventually called to account.

This story is just frightening. Global stock market capital is ~ $70T and the world GDP is ~$61T yet the derivatives market is ~ $700T! WTF?!? How can speculation on $70T worth of equity be worth ten times the value of capital? And derivatives don't represent any productive capacity or capital, just speculation about whether capacity or capital is growing or declining. In other words, gambling on how things might turn out.

No wonder the global economy is a mess.

Obumba Budget Plan Appears to be Insolvency

When 18% of your income goes to interest you might be in real financial trouble. Obumba isn't worried though because he is magical. He will float above it all as rainbows and unicorns shoot out of his tan ass. So, will it all come crashing down sooner or later. In 2018 if we're lucky or maybe 2013 if not. Or maybe Monday.

Collapse Is Inevitable Now

The plunge in US equities remains a mystery according to FT. Now THAT inspires confidence. The same geniuses that crashed the US economy in 2008 don't have one damn idea why the market plunged 1100 points yesterday, devouring a trillion dollars in equity. And they wonder why the mob wants to restrain their behavior.

In response to the chaos, the EU is going to have a meeting. That's reassuring. Meetings always give everyone a chance to share their feelings while appearing to do something about a problem while kicking the problem down the road. It was announced today that the EU and IMF will provide Greece with140 billion imaginary dollars and Greece will pretend to cut spending. The crisis will be delayed until it comes back later.

Back in america, the regime reported that April unemployment was 9.9% even as 290,000 imaginary jobs were added. We are supposed to believe that suddenly the persistently unemployed have suddenly decided to go look for work even though the regime has consistently denied that the true unemployment rate was near 20%. Nor is there any mention that most of these new jobs are low pay, no benefit contract jobs that cannot support a family.

Stocks lost 7% of their value this week as the Dow fell from 11,100 to 10,400. The market has lost all of it's gains for the year demonstrating a clear lack of confidence in the government and financial sector. The speed of the plunge Thursday shows that no one has any confidence in the system. There is no trust whatsoever. It appears that this time, the Plunge Protection Team (PPT) of the NY Fed, JP Morgan and friends stepped in to stop the crash before the stop loss system kicked in. Eventually the system will fail and the entire house of cards will collapse.
This fraud that calls itself the global economy cannot go on without any trust or faith in the system. The EU and the UK are failed states and the US is a failing state. Increasingly these governments are considered illegitimate because of their inability to rule which will eventually result in the people just turning their back and walking away. I already did.

Whether the problem is greed or incompetence, we are witnessing the collapse of Western civilization and there are no sane voices or leadership prepared to step into the gap and stop it. The US regime can't stop lying now or it will collapse sooner rather than later. But collapse is inevitable now.

Do you feel the earth moving?

What a terrifying ride that Wall Street took us on this afternoon. I came out of the final estate planning meeting with our barrister to hear that the Dow was collapsing. This was not the news that I wanted to hear as we planned to split the estate stock account and liquidate some shares.
News organizations proposed several models for the loss from a fat fingered keyboard to fear of the Greek default to high frequency computer trading. I haven't a clue. The only lessons that I've gleaned from all of the economic madness the past few years is that there is very little confidence in the system and that the markets are betting against solutions.
Gold price jumped to a near record while oil prices declined, the dollar is up relative to the Euro even as retail sales in the US stumbled and employment edged up even as productivity drooped. If these gyrations were experienced in a structure, one would conclude that it was about to come crashing down. Watching the meltdown today, I expected to hear someone yell in the background "run for your life".

Meanwhile in random news:

Students in California sent home from school on Cinco de Maya for wearing US flag colored apparel. Apparently it might offend latinos on their holiday. Ummm...kiss my brown spot juan.

Black students in Michigan got to go on a blacks only field trip this week in a clearly racist, segregated stunt by a black principal. Imagine if a white principal planned a whites only function. How would that play?

Be careful about commenting on the size of a fellow worker's equipment. Otherwise he might beat you with another tool of the trade. Dems fightin words hombre!

Events continue to show the collapse of post-modern america. There is no tomorrow, no right, no wrong and absolutely no trust. Today at my work we had a two hour meeting to discuss boring minutiae while failing to discuss the 800 pound gorillas that were kicking the company's ass. There was strutting, preening and posturing but no gorillas were mentioned.

Do you feel the earth moving?

Michigan is Sad

I travelled on business to the People's Republic of Michigan this week and visited Government Motors. The landscape was beautiful as usual. So much thinly populated open space in between the cities ghettos. The vast empty parking lots and buildings are visual testimony of how far GM has fallen.

Michigan's highways are literally falling apart and the road noise was deafening. Empty commerercial property was abundant. Michigan is almost bankrupt and it shows. It was sad to see a great manufacturing state in it's death throes.