Bubbling Blowing

"Based on all available evidence, it seems the American public wants to be misled. They have chosen ignorance over knowledge and understanding. They want to believe their corrupt leaders. They want to believe that things always work out in the long run. They want to believe that the economy is about to get better. They don’t want to think about unsustainable debt, unfunded liabilities, saving for retirement, or Simon Cowell leaving American Idol. Americans desperately want to be deluded into another bubble, but there are no evident bubbles left to blow. The existing American delusion is that the current fiscal path will not lead to the utter destruction of our once great Republic."
James Quinn, TheBurningPlatform.com

I Was Born In A Small Town

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Best F#@king News Team Ever - Small Town Values
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

"Small Town", John Mellencamp
Well I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Prob'ly die in a small town
Oh, those small communities

All my friends are so small town
My parents live in the same small town
My job is so small town
Provides little opportunity

Educated in a small town
Taught to fear Jesus in a small town
Used to daydream in that small town
Another born romantic that's me

But I've seen it all in a small town
Had myself a ball in a small town
Married an L.A. doll and brought her to this small town
Now she's small town just like me

No I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
And people let me be just what I want to be

Got nothing against a big town
Still hayseed enough to say
Look who's in the big town
But my bed is in a small town
Oh, and that's good enough for me

Well I was born in a small town
And I can breathe in a small town
Gonna die in this small town
And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me

The Four Headed Debt Monster

I often get asked the question "why are you so pessimistic on the stock market?".  The graph below sums it up very well.  It's the across the board debt.  Debt at all levels.  It will take time to cleanse the system.  Time on the scale of 10-15 years.

Predictions & The Future

“Predictions Are Difficult…Especially When They Are About The Future”
Niels Bohr

Tectonic Monetary Shift

"The most pressing macro-observation I’d like to make – an observation that’s critical for investors to understand (though most don’t or won’t) – is that the tectonic monetary shift now underway is truly global in nature. And it’s not going to be over until a new and markedly different monetary regime has been implemented."
Casey Research

The Return Of The Crusades

"Like the prophets of old, Terry Jones has a message -- and it's fiery. The controversial Florida preacher, who first lit a spark on Facebook when he called for people around the world to set fire to copies of the Koran, is now at the center of an international conflagration."
Source: ABC News

"The mob will get even more angry. Beware of the angry white American man carrying the Bible."
Random Roving, "Happy New Year! 2010 Is Here", January 1, 2010

The Top Five

It's always interesting to see what "strikes a chord" with others.  As of today, one of my posts in 2009 stands out way ahead of the pack with 831 page views.  It already has 31 today, so something appears to strike a chord with that one.  Maybe another look at "The Onion Peels In Argentina" is warranted. The web stats reveal that the viewers are U.S. based so the topic of interest probably wasn't Argentina, but the reminder of chaos in our country's past.

Casey's Case For A Gold Run - Part II

"That’s because when people lose faith in a currency, as they will before this crisis is over, they unfailingly rush to exchange the unbacked paper money for something more tangible. While pretty much anything with an intrinsic value will do – real estate, antique cars, old masters – for all the reasons that Aristotle enunciated, gold is viewed in a class of its own, and so has an unblemished history as a universally accepted store of value.* And, thanks to its portability, divisibility, durability, and consistency, it has also always been looked upon as a convenient form of money."
Casey Research

First Edinburgh, Now Nigeria

In my October, 2009 post, "Witches In Edinburgh", I made the point that "witch hunts" occur much more often during the downward spiral in mass social mood. Currently we're hunting Muslims, Mexicans, politicians, hedge fund managers, and witches in Nigeria!

 Children abused, killed as witches in Nigeria
By Christian Purefoy, CNN
"Sam runs Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network, or CRARN -- an orphanage that supports nearly 200 children. All of them were accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often after being tortured. The orphanage provides security, healthcare, nutrition and counseling.  'A child witch is said to be a witch when that child possessed with certain spiritual spells capable of making that child transform into cat, snake, vipers, insects, any other animal and that child is capable of wreaking havoc like killing of people, bringing diseases, misfortune into the family,' Sam said.  When a child is accused of being a witch -- that child is hated absolutely by everybody surrounding him so such children are sent out of the home... But unfortunately such children do not always live long. A lot of them, they're either killed, abandoned by the parents, tortured in the church or trafficked out of the city."

Fortunately for our energetic little boys, we only give them Ritalin!

"Most Americans are Christian, and most don't have much direct exposure to Muslims. A quarter of Americans say they know 'nothing at all' about Islam, the Pew Research Center found earlier this month, and of non-Muslims polled, 58 percent said they don't know any Muslims.  It's natural for people who don't know Muslims to draw strong stereotypes from Sept. 11 and feel them reinforced by recent scares such as the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings and the Times Square bomb plot, said Leonie Huddy, the president of the International Society for Political Psychology and a political scientist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  'One of the things we know about cross-relationships of any kind is they become more positive as people have more personal contact with each other,' Huddy said.  A Gallup survey last year found that Americans who don't personally know any Muslims were twice as likely to acknowledge "a great deal" of anti-Muslim prejudice. Republicans and those without college educations tend to be less favorable toward Islam."

 "Xenophobia continues to rise at an alarming rate. I would hope that someone would do the research to show that out of the past 20 similar events, none of the gunslingers were Muslims. We might be shocked to find out that many of these murderers claimed Jesus Christ as their Savior."
Random Roving, "The Man Under The Hood", November 6, 2009

Bond Rush

"Based on my experience as a co-founder of a mutual fund group, I can tell you that if there is one sure thing in this world, it’s that when investors rush en masse into an investment category, it is invariably at almost exactly the wrong time to do so. Is that the case with today’s rush into bonds?"
Source: Casey Research

Of vs On

"Move most of your money to safe, short-term cash parking places. Yes, I know — the yields stink. But in a sinking economy, the return OF your money is far more important than the return ON your money."
Martin Weiss, Weiss Research Inc.

The Golden Cup And Handle Update

Eight weeks ago I made a post regarding the "cup and handle" pattern forming in the Gold ETF (GLD).
Here's an updated chart which presents a textbook example of the pattern.  A nice run should be in the making.

Gold ETF (GLD) - Last 12 Months Price

The Delusional Benefactors

"Mass delusion is always encouraged by those who benefit most from the mass delusion. David Lereah has admitted that he lied about the housing bubble because he was employed by realtors. Realtors made millions in commissions. Appraisers made millions in fees by inflating appraisals. Mortgage brokers made millions by encouraging people to lie on mortgage applications. Wall Street whores made billions by creating toxic packages of mortgages and selling them to Irish nuns, old ladies and clueless municipal administrators. The ratings agencies made hundreds of millions in fees for slapping AAA ratings on toxic derivatives. Politicians got rich from political “contributions” from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Wall Street, and the NAR. Any reasonable human being could look at the chart above and see that this would end badly, but Americans wanted to be deluded. They choose to believe. The housing market has now been falling for five years, with another five years to go. Ben Bernanke has reduced interest rates to zero. I wonder how that will work out."
James Quinn, TheBurningPlatform.com

Wake Me Up When September Ends

September is here.  Buckle your seatbelts.  Wake me up when September ends.  I'll be a year older and hopefully a little wiser!

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
like my father's come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends
summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends
here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
Green Day, "Wake Me Up When September Ends"