Sidewinders View

Physics shocker! Neutrinos clocked faster than light | Deep Tech - CNET News

2011-09-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

Physicists at CERN have clocked neutrinos at speeds faster than the speed of light. So, What does this mean in regards to Einsteinian theory? Some things have always been taken as fixed but as we can see even gravity may need re-examination. Click the link to read the article.
Physics shocker! Neutrinos clocked faster than light | Deep Tech - CNET News:

'via Blog this'

Is Tort Reform Overdue?

2011-09-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

1974 Letter from a Season Ticket holder to the Cleveland Brown's Management

Click on letter to enlarge

Reply from Brown's legal Council

Click to enlarge

2011-09-19T09:44:00.001-07:00

Peter Schiff's testimony Before Congress the other day.

How Michele Bachmann Bought the Ames Straw Poll | Unelected.org

2011-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul Actually Soundly Defeated Bachmann and the Rest.

With the Iowa straw poll over we get the results highly hyped by the media as a victory for Michele Bachmann. Bachmann won by 152 votes. But consider this.

Bachmann outspent Ron Paul by a factor of about 10. Spending 10 times as much included about $180,000 for providing free tickets to a Randy Travis concert with one catch. The recipient of the free ticket must vote in the Straw Poll first to obtain the ticket. She gave out something over 6,000 tickets so a victory over Paul of 152 votes seems meaningless in actual terms of how the people really feel.

Sort of reminds me of the political rally in the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” complete with a midget in a cowboy outfit.

It is my understanding the Bachmann spent around $1 Million dollars on this media circus. This process is reminding me more and more of Rome near the end of its run. See the link below.

How Michele Bachmann Bought the Ames Straw Poll | Unelected.org

Dylan Ratigan For President

2011-08-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Dylan is know for his rants but this latest one is a Jewel.

2011-08-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Thoughts

"There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." -John Maynard Keynes – (The Lavender Bolshevik ) speaking of monetary inflation

“It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.” - Warren Buffet- On gold

A man whom I much admire spent a lifetime and was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in economics. In order to understand economics one must also be a philosopher. In order to succeed in this endeavor one must practice a moral self-discipline based on logic and reasoning. Milton did this until he drew his last breath. He was always the champion of self determination and always the first to defend liberty. Too many fail to understand the inseparable relationship between man’s economic life and his liberty and freedom. Milton did his best to spread the word in a manner even the common man could understand through a series of made for TV documentaries in 1980. I doubt that many paid attention simply because of the condition in which we find ourselves over 30 years later. Below I include Dr. Freidman’s words as best as I could transcribe for your consideration. His words in quotations, mine in italics.

“The great depression was NOT a failure of private business but was produced by a failure government monetary policy. A Failure of the Federal Reserve System to act in accordance with the intentions of those who established it. It was a failure of the Federal Reserve, that despite the knowledge of many people in the system of the right course of action.

Why is the myth that private business caused the depression so prevalent? The answer is simple; private enterprise has no press agent. The Government has a great many press agents. The Federal Reserve has a great many press agents. Naturally, neither would ever

admit nor claim that they had produced the great depression."

The free market has no press agent. The Federal propaganda machine has been running full tilt ever since this latest economic upheaval began. Our world and their concerns thrive on perception rather than reason or fact. Notice the trend to publish and tout favorable economic numbers then ‘revise’ them down at some future date. That’s intended to make the public feel good for now but with the understanding they will not pay attention to the revised pitiful numbers later. Again today, it’s about perception, not economic reality. Yet, it must work as the rank and file seem to simply accept and continue with the same behavior.

“If you read the annual reports of the Federal Reserve for the last 80 years you will notice (providing someone has called it to your attention) that in the years where things are good and the economy is booming you will read that the Federal Reserve though its wise policy and its wonderful management of money has produced this wonderful situation. However, when things are bad the tone of the reports changes to despite the best efforts of the Federal Reserve, outside forces have combined to produce difficulties.

In the depth of the depression in 1933, the Federal Reserve System, which had been established in order to prevent bank panics and keep banks from closing, closed its own doors and declared a banking holiday for 7 days. When over the previous 3 years 1/3 of the banks of this country closed their doors and went broke because of the poor policy followed by the Federal Reserve. Even in 1933, if you read the report you will discover how much

worse things would have been if the Federal Reserve hadn’t behaved so well.

But fact is that from 1929 to 1933 the total quantity in the United States, the amount of currency and the amount of bank deposits, referred to as M2, declined by one third, the total number of banks went down by one third. The Federal Reserve failed to prevent the decline when at all times during this period; they had the power to prevent the decline. If it had prevented the decline in the quantity of money, there might have been a recession, but it would have been a normal garden variety recession and likely been over by 1930.

This was a failure of government and a failure in an area in which responsibility had been assigned to government since the founding of this country. The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to coin money and set the value thereof; And it was in the management of this fundamental function of government that government failed and produced the great depression. We have learned from that failure, the Federal Reserve will not fail in this way again. This time it will fail in a different way. The Fed fails now not by producing a great depression but by producing inflation. Because just as, you will hear that it was business that produced the great depression you will hear today that it was labor and management that are responsible for inflation. It is the same kind of a myth.

Inflation is made in one place and one place only, Washington D. C. And in Washington the chief source of inflation is a Greek Temple on Constitution Ave. which houses the Federal Reserve board. A major accomplice is the halls of Congress. They are a major accomplice because we tell them to be. The American people have been telling Congress for years; “spend more money on us” but don’t raise our taxes; and Congress has been listening. It’s been spending more money but, on the other hand it’s been unwilling to raise taxes. As a result it has imposed inflation as a tax. That’s one tax you don’t have to vote for but you have to pay.”

These tie into the Keynes quote at the beginning of this article. “Not one man in a million is able to diagnose.” Our currency is a commodity and like any other commodity the more abundant the less valuable. Most people will complain about the cost of goods going up but it is the value of the dollar which goes down that’s the real problem. The opposite of inflation is deflation and that’s where the pain is.

“A myth is like an air mattress. There’s nothing in it, but It’s comfortable; and deflation causes

an uncomfortable jolt.”

A life living in a sea of economic turmoil cannot long remain free. To become encumbered because of irresponsible spending of funds obtained with debt by another person; to give to a third party is nothing more that economic slavery. Furthermore, on the scale to which this has occurred in the U.S. might well be the plunder to which Bastiat referred.

“Those of us who have been so fortunate to have been born in a free society, tend to take freedom for granted, to regard it as the natural state of mankind. It is not. It is a rare and precious thing. Most people throughout history, most people today, have lived in conditions of tyranny and misery not of freedom and prosperity. The clearest demonstration of how much people value their freedom is the way they vote with their feet when they have no other way to vote.”

There is no nirvana

The most precious asset we possess is freedom. The easiest way to lose one’s freedom is to go into receivership and I mean economic receivership, because a receiver is a dictator. And, to the degree that which we bear the cost and burdens of government that lead us in the direction of further debt, ultimate receivership, and then the political consequence of the imposition of the political dictator over the economic, job and living rights of the individual.

Any law which attempts to impose equality is likely to eventually fail.

The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition to improve his own lot and make a better world for his children and his children’s children. When the law interferes with that pursuit everyone will try to find a way around, He will try to evade the law, break the law or he will immigrate from the country. Only fear of punishment not a sense of justice will cause them to obey the law. And when people start breaking one set of laws there’s a strong tendency for the lack of respect of the law to extend to all, even to those which everyone regards as moral and proper; Laws against violence, theft and vandalism. As hard as it is to believe the growth to crude criminality owes much to the drive for equality.”

A good example is the phenomena rapidly sweeping through the nation now; The Flash Mob. Flash Mob’s are organized through various social media mostly by juveniles. Some include numbers in the 10’s and 20’s and some of the mob are even larger. They target a certain location, a store or other retail business and the mob enters on cue and simply takes anything they want. Recently, in Philadelphia and also in Chicago the mob turned violent and since all the these mobs I have seen were composed mostly of young blacks, I feel certain that the object of violence will eventually be of a racial nature.

“During the 19^th century and especially after the civil war the idea of equality began to have a definite and more specific meaning than the abstract concept of equality before God. It came more and more to mean that everyone should have the same opportunity to make what he could of his capacities; that all careers should be open to people on the basis of their talents independently of the race, religion or belief or social class that characterized them. This concept of equality, of opportunity, offers no conflict at all with the concept of freedom. On the contrary, they reinforce one another, the concept widely held today. But in the 20^th century, beginning especially abroad, and at a later date in this country, a very different concept, a very different idea has begun to emerge. That is, the idea that everyone should be equal in income, in level of living and what he has. The idea that the economic race should be so arraigned that everybody ends at the finish line at the same time, rather than everyone starts at the beginning line at the same time. This concept raises a very serious problem for freedom it is clearly in conflict with it since it requires that the freedom of some be restricted in order to provide greater benefits to others.

The society that puts equality before freedom will end up neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.”

It is this type of equality sought by the socialist and promised by Marxist that will eventually turn everyone into slaves of the State. A State that will be Centrally planned an run by who? Why, the Marxist themselves of course. They have believed for years that the common man knows not what’s best for him but rather must be put in his proper place for the good of all. FROM each according to his ability TO each according to his need is the sales pitch.

It is not the people who are stirring; it is a handful of intellectuals.

No truer words were spoken. Since the influx importation through immigration of some brilliant Academic’s infatuated with Fabian socialism near the turn of the century our Institutes of higher learning have been selling the bunk to our young impressionable student population. A person between 18 and 23 years of age has barely had time to discover his aptitude for self determination and is still highly impressionable, especially when it is is presented to them in such a manner to make them seem compassionate to the opposite sex. These socialist are nothing more that opportunist who plunge a knife into the very soul of our National Culture.

There is all the difference in the world between a social or governmental system in which 90% of the people tax themselves to help the 10% who are in distress and a system in which 80% of the people in the middle try to tax the 10% at the top to help the 10% at the bottom. You end up with A and B imposing taxes on C to help D and some of it in the process ends up in the hands of A and B.

Anyone who has been semi-conscious during the last 50 years can clearly see that we have ended up as the last sentence of the above paragraph indicates.

In order to understand how we fix all of these issues one must first understand how ALL of this came about and how it works in our society and economic lives. The philosophy of economics is a very dry subject which the majority has no time for. But it is this very subject that drives the entire global system and we have embraced a system that tries to please everyone and satisfies no one (except maybe politicians and investment bankers).

I know most who read this understands these issues but sometimes it’s good to get the memory jogged and maybe point out a few things the some may not have considered. Once the mind and the head is cleared a bit maybe a few people will take a more active role in getting this mess fixed for future generations because we are in a pickle now.

Herd's and the dangers of Following the Herd

2011-08-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

With the volatility increasing in the market I think it approiate to remind everyone what panic and following the herd can lead to. This picture is worth a thousand words. Enjoy ..and .. THINK.

Technical Aspects of Market Failure

2011-08-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is my analysis of what's happened so far in the current market decline. The key was breaking the Neckline of this head and shoulder pattern at around 1260 on the S&P futures chart depicted here. Classical failure of a neckline in these circumstances is for the decline to equal the distance from the Head to the Neckline. That is about 125 points so one can subtract that from the point which the price broke the neckline for some idea of where a bottom my form. That is around 1125 for the Mini futures. Many times this marks the end of a trend. We have been in an up trend since early 2009 and had a similar market hiccup almost exactly 1 year ago. The only difference technically is this one formed a clear H&S pattern. Could this be the beginning of a trend change? Very possibly this is the case. Only time will tell, However should this market manage to go up and penetrate that extended neckline now residing around 1265 it will have over come the failure and likely go on to make new highs. Watching support, new resistance, volume and money flow will provide indications going forward. Should be a very interesting Fall.

Click on chart to enlarge

AA+ Rating Not Low Enough

2011-08-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Peter Schiff says the U. S. debt is NOT risk free. If that's the case then no State can be in any better shape nor can any Municipality.

Market Gap

2011-08-08T02:48:00.000-07:00

Another test this time using YouTube.
It seems that uploading to YouTube first is the best way to publish a video here as the blur seems to be gone.
Any comments from the peanut gallery will be appreciated. If this proves worth while I may do more screen captures maybe including some TA instruction type video.

This is all new to me so understand that 1. I have no clue what I'm doing and 2. it's free.
At the bottom right of the video are four/4 arrows, if you click on that it will go to full screen and you can see the video much better.

Market Technical View

2011-08-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Let’s get this out of the way; I do not give investment advice nor do I claim to be any sort of investment advisor, what you do with your money is your business and your responsibility.

So, with that here’s a look at the ES or S&P E-mini futures taken Thursday August 4^th at 4:12 EST. It is a daily chart and I have scribbled a few things for your enjoyment.

The solid red line running at an incline is simply a mean regression line of average price from March ’09 until today. The thick black line below that is a trend line drawn from the low through the July and August lows in ’10. This established a bottom for me to watch for serious failure or any oversold market conditions. Notice that we have broken that trend for the first time in over two years. May not be a big deal depending on your time frame but it is a big deal because something significant will certainly come out of this.

In trading futures I look at everything as an opportunity because I could cares less which way I trade. Short is just as profitable as long and frankly the money is made quicker in short positions because failures are usually sudden and pronounced in an up trending market as is the case here.

Click to Enlarge

Although we have broken this trend line it does not necessarily mean this market will collapse. It very well could be that we get a nice correction and establish a new trend line or channel. The next few days and couple of weeks will show us if that is to be the case.

You will also notice another black line running across the top of the price and that is another trend line for the downside. Together the two black lines form a wedge. I like wedges because it is always fun to determine which way the break outs will occur. Sometimes you get a ‘head fake’ in that the market takes a sudden move in one direction lasting but briefly then turns and with vengeance goes the other direction. This has the effect of shaking out the weaker hands. Stops a taken out, volume supporting the move declines and you’re off to the races without all the baggage of the weaker positions. In futures it’s a zero sum game so once the losers are kicked out more potential losers climb onboard. BUT, they won’t until the price action convinces them they are about to miss the boat. By then it’s usually too late to realize any real profit unless they recognize what’s happening and stay the course.

The second chart is just a close up view of the same Daily but only running from December of 2010 until present. Here you can clearly see the failure of the trend line. Now I suggest that this trend line serving as a psychological support before this week will now have the same effect as a resistance over the next few days and maybe even weeks. Should the price run up against this overhead barrier there will be a bidding war among traders. Those bears will be selling hell out of it trying to keep price down and the bulls will buy trying to push price up. This should really be fun and exciting except for one thing. There’s a lot of money setting on the side and it is quite possible that the right people may “get the word” and turn on the money faucet to get this market running towards new highs. That red dashed line I have on the close up chart is where I thing the most support will occur should price go that low. It’s based on previous tops and lows plus a very strong price according to my harmonic Fibonacci grid (not shown). That price resides at 1215.05. At this time I see nothing from keeping the S&P futures from at least testing that price. Right now it will struggle to break through 1259 on the up side and should it close above that the next target will be the

Click to Enlarge

vicinity of 1270 on the way to test 1300 again.

Remember, new lows tend to produce further new lows and likewise new highs tend to produce further new highs. Just consider your time frame as these patterns are fractal in nature.

So, those are the scenarios as I see ‘em. Ya puts ya money down and ya takes yer chances.

Let's Tax the Rich!

2011-08-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

OK, Congress has done its share now let's tax the rich. This video explains how it works. For all you socialist out there you might want to get some popcorn it's 6 minutes and 25 seconds of some 'splaining.

Moonshiners and Liberty

2011-08-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a little town in the South during the 50’s and 60’s. This is a period when America went through much change economically, socially and in general. The civil rights movement was in full swing as was the Vietnam War. Through all this as well as the previous 200 years or so, one thing from the past remained pretty much intact as this change took place; Making whiskey.

I’m not advocating making or drinking moonshine whiskey although I admit to taking a taste on occasion. However, I understand the origins, reasons for it and a little of its history here in America. This is but my personal view on it based on the information I have.

People here have always made their own whiskey and other than the obvious reason of “feel good” there really was a practical purpose in making good corn whiskey. Prior to the great depression, we as a nation were about 70% an agrarian society. That is, 70% of us farmed. A good percentage of all the farming was corn. Corn was used for everything from making meal for breads to feed for animals. Corn was a big part of life as it was all over America. Sometimes, growing years were plentiful and other years not so great. As farmers depended on corn for so much, storing it was prudent. As with anything, you can only store perishable items for so long. Some farmers figured out how to store AND increase the value of their corn by adding some water and yeast to it producing the whiskey. It takes about 6 bushels of corn to make one gallon of whiskey so this not only extended the storage life of their corn but also relieved them of the cost of maintaining huge silos. Furthermore, should one be located in an out of the way place such as in the hills and mountains of Virginia transporting a gallon of whiskey across the hills was much easier than toting 6 bushels of corn through the same terrain.

This was all part of the miracle of free market and free enterprise leading to innovation and entrepreneurship, the back bone of this nation in its humble beginnings. The farmer without even knowing he was participating in the economy took something of questionable value (excess corn), added to it through his labor and created an entirely different product (whisky). So instead of watching his abundant corn crop rot in times of excess, as in years of bountiful growth he, through innovation, saved the fruits of his original labor and was able to reap the benefits eliminating waste. Indeed, in many communities the whiskey produced served as money.

Back in the day, they really only did this to protect themselves and not some sinister devil urge to intoxicate their fellow man, leading him to the gates of hell. This was the message promoted by the temperance folks who as many did used religion to promote THEIR idea of how their fellow man should live.

As always with enough time and support any group which is determined to direct the activity of their fellow citizen simply gains control or influences those who make the laws to enact legislation designed to achieve their desired result. They didn’t even need to do that in the beginning, Alexander Hamilton had the brainstorm to tax whiskey in the first place as a way to raise revenue. Hamilton was pro central bank and central government and this very act should have been a wake-up call to early Americans just how intrusive any government can be on the lives of average citizens. Hamilton sounds to me to have shared some of the same ideas of Marx who didn’t show up until a century later, but that’s a different discussion.

So, back to the original Whiskey Rebellion. Determined to enforce the laws and raise the revenue President Washington sent negotiators to the area while raising a militia of nearly 13,000 men to be sent in to quash any rebellion. This in itself proved problematic for the new nation, as not enough volunteered for the duty. So, a draft was implemented, and that caused further disturbance by causing demonstrations and a sort of rebellion of its own. Violence broke out in several places not even associated with the whiskey problem, and several citizens and soldiers were themselves killed trying to raise the militia.

Deep inside every man, is an innate understanding that, to impose on others going about their own business and not bothering others is simply wrong from an individualist view. Many just out of a war for their freedoms denied by the former King, were understandably reluctant to take up arms against their fellow citizens. Additionally, from a perspective of the times it was actually a matter of economic survival to convert the grain into whiskey. Everyone of the time understood this with the exception of apparently Alexander Hamilton, and to some degree George Washington himself who owned a still at Mount Vernon. So this all began and was about revenue, not morals in the least. It was about a new government testing the waters of individual freedoms and their power to extract a tax.

History shows that the militia was gathered and the rebellion put down without really too much carnage and the nation moved on. But this issue festered on even until this day among the folks living in the hills along the Appalachian Trail and the hollows of the Virginia’s. I doubt that today, that one in a hundred, who are involved in the making of moonshine, understand any of this but rather “word” and values passed down through generations culminating in the attitudes and actions still seen today in many parts of the South. (I’m sure Mr. Lincoln's war contributed later, but for now we are just talking about moonshine).

This tax on whiskey (although greatly ignored) remained with the people until Thomas Jefferson (who was opposed to Hamilton) came into power in 1800 and the whiskey tax was repealed.

It is interesting to note that Jefferson whom I view as a libertarian was the man to do this and defeat Hamilton, a federalist. The Federalist of the time seem to me like the so called “progressives” of today who are actually socialist in nature wanting the central government making decisions for the common man. That is something for another time and discussion.

The whiskey was again, the target of revenue seekers less than fifty years later and together with all sorts of duties, tariffs and imposts imposed on the southern states eventually lead to the succession of some southern states and directly to President Lincoln’s invasion of South Carolina. The rest is History, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This ‘knowledge” of whiskey making was passed down generation to generation and largely because of the tax and government intervention prices were driven up enough that some opportunist, who had little knowledge of how to make quality whiskey began to use sugar rather than the grains and through the years the quality went down and some even in the 20’s and 30’s would use old auto radiators and such other dangerous practices resulting in lead poisoning, death and other problems. This confusion leads to a great degree of bad publicity to actual whiskey makers of the old school the descendants of the Scotch Irish pioneers of the South.

Those, making rot gut out of sugar, and in the business simply for profit would not be in business if it were not for government interfering in a natural process by farmers for years if not centuries. Human nature remains unchanged since man first came down from the trees. For any government, religion or any other “group” to even consider that they can change certain behavior is pure folly and demonstrates how stupid man can really be. That is why prohibition didn’t work and why the criminal element always rises up to profit when government attempts to foolishly alter the human passions. Our jails are FULL of drug violators for exactly the same reasons. That too will eventually be de-criminalized when government bureaucrats find another non-existent enemy to declare war on.

Again, a clean example of why no government has any right to the fruits of any man’s labor. The only exception to that is the justly applied and evenly distributed tax upon citizens (as described in the original Constitution) for the legitimate purposes of government.

We as a nation are finally approaching a crossroads and will have an upcoming opportunity to re-establish the values and culture of the men who built this country and fought for its freedoms. It is not an opportunity to waste.

Immigrates once came to this country to assimilate into the greatest experiment in liberty known to man. We should still welcome those who do with open arms but, only those who truly wish to assimilate INTO our culture not those determined to CHANGE our culture. Too much of that has already occurred.

With so much emphasis now placed on equality, I must repeat something I once heard. “The society that puts equality before freedom will end up neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.” We all first must be free to pursue our individual interest. Our founders spoke of equality meaning the abstract equality before God. Modern times give equality a different meaning to some. Equality, in that all citizens should be equal and have the same opportunity to make of himself what he can with his capabilities is a fine concept. However, the concept that, we should all reach the finish line of life equal is a further threat to liberty. As one great economist put it; “It requires that the freedom of some be restricted in order to provide greater benefits to others.” That simply won’t cut it if we are to survive as a nation.

The Doorbell is Ringing

2011-07-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

Never and I mean NEVER give a monkey a gun

2011-07-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

Understand the Delphi Technique

2011-07-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Beware the Delphi Technique

Political Correctness is Cultural Marxism (Part III) : speech by William Lind « The New Anti-Jacobin

2011-07-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

Certainly something to think about! Most of the current wave of socialism has at it's roots the Frankfurt School and lessons the Marxist learned during WW1.

Political Correctness is Cultural Marxism (Part III) : speech by William Lind « The New Anti-Jacobin

Ron Paul Interview

2011-07-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty inactive lately with the blog thing mainly because not that much has really peaked my interest as congress grinds out the same old crap on the Debt problems.

As far as the market goes it's just up and then up some more as they try to suck more people into the pen for the slaughter eventually but that's another story.

Somehow I got this link to a Ron Paul video which I think is enlightening and informative so I will urge you all to watch it. It's in three segments about 12 minutes each so it does take some time but with elections beginning to get closer I would put a plug in for Dr. Paul. He brings to the table something I cannot say with any confidence the other candidates bring and that is honesty and morality coupled with common sense and an in depth understanding of how an economy works.

Granted if all his policies were to be put in place it would cause some hardship BUT, if we continue down the road we are on, the hardship is coming any way, and kicking the can down the road as has been the case for well over 40 years the hardship will be far greater than we can imagine. There has come a time for us to stop voting for the political "rock stars" and put a patriot at the helm, who believes in the Constitution and means it, rather that the polished professional bureaucratic America seems to fall in love with every election cycle.

In this video he talks a lot about the currency and debt. I know that can be a boring subject but pay special attention about 10 minutes into video one where he talks about simply not paying the debt the US government has to the Federal Reserve. That would free up 1.6 trillion $$ instantly.

The US government has defaulted on it debt at least 5 times in our past so from a historic point of view, all this drama being used by the politicians ensconced in positions of power, is little more that noise from the idiots in Washington. News flash: They don't intend to pay the debt and never have, so let's just clear the air over that issue and put the nation back on the road to viability for the people of this nation and not simply to serve the politico's and their corporate "handlers.

For a little further explanation on what stiffing the FED would mean I include a link (here) to a very good article By Robert Murphy at the Mises Institute.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

Holidays are always fun and enjoyable. Sometimes, we get so involved in the celebration that we forget about the actual reason for celebration. Today I include a copy of the Declaration that set the country in motion and urge everyone to read the entire document. It won't take but a few minutes so go ahead and look it over and reflect what the words say and mean. It is after all the basis of our freedom and independence.

Now more that ever, it is imperative every American have some understanding of the actual role of government. As you read this you can see it was never intended for government to "take care of you" but rather act by consent of the people to protect our basic right as citizens so that we might as individuals act in our own best interest in order to prosper individually thereby thereby creating a good for the whole. The power the government has comes from the consent of the governed. Remember that the next time you vote.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Government demands Keys to your Home

2011-06-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

The citizens of Cedar Falls Iowa made a good argument before their City Council against the City mandating “lock Boxes” containing all entry keys being required outside all commercial property and apartment buildings containing three or more Units. The Council Ignored the concerns both moral and Constitutional and voted Monday night to pass the ordinance. They say it’s necessary for the fire department to have immediate access.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_64b970a2-9624-11e0-93e5-001cc4c002e0.html

This is being done in towns and cities across the nation in the name of safety, but this surely should bring this constitutional issue front and center as more and more rights of the citizen are being eroded before our very eyes

How long will it take to encompass all structures including private residences?

One point I did not hear raised at the meeting was that it only included apartments in buildings with more than two units. It did not include duplex or single family dwellings. If this is intended to protect citizens why differentiate between apartments and single family dwellings? Are the rights of the lower class who cannot afford to own their residence less entitled to protections under the Constitution? Or are the more wealthy property owners of single family or duplex residences less entitled to this level of “protection”

Don’t know about you, but I am already concerned, and seeing things like the blatant violation of Constitutional rights by local officials cause downright fear for my safety.

Are the Markets Reaching a Turning Point?

2011-06-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

Since its been a while from my last posting I thought I would put up a chart or the S&P E-mini and express my thoughts about what’s going on now in the Markets.

  All those horizontal lines in the chart represent Fibonacci points based on the wave one of the S&P emini (ES) in 2002. To complicated to explain here but sometimes I use the S&P Fib based on the wave 1 from the 1929 crash so these factors are basically one fib series extended harmonically to produce support and resistance points into the future based on Fibonacci numbers of major events. so there.

  The big red line is a major support/resistance point. This daily chart shows the ES blowing through this like a knife through butter, upwards at the first of this year then coming back to test that point in March producing a low. Then 3 waves up to make a high, and then the confusion down, sideways and a pretty good collapse. this down move to test the March low of 1241.25 is either completed or is still testing. The price came down to that major support and price got to 1259.50 stopping just short of the Fib line at 1259.43. Missing it by .07 cents and is now bouncing. The ES closed today dead on the 9 SMA (red MA line) so it can be anyones guess as to what it's likely to do over the next few days but if this is to continue downward a solid test of the March low will be necessary.

  Also (not depicted) the bottom of a regression channel from the March of 09 low is around 1244-1250 So in a continued down move that will be a target. Bottom line is we have to break through that fib line at 1259.43 to extend this test of the low. I would be very careful here as this could be the end of the down move for the time being. Any speculation on direction at this point for me is simply a guess with no indication either way. So, I guess it would depend on the news and action in Europe. If money pours into the USD and it keeps going up then the markets will keep moving down otherwise a move to new highs.

  There is one other possibility in the future, and that would re-link the USD to the market and they move in unison but that's for later. For now the inverse relationship in the dollar and the markets simply means the value of the dollar is dropping and the value in the market is actually holding its own but since the price is expressed in dollars it will naturally go higher. The value in the markets may be actually down or even, if expressed in other currencies.

Oh, I forgot to add: The red vertical line running through yesterday's candle is a Fibonacci Time extension taken from October 07 (When this mess really started) to the March 09 low. That line is the 161.8% point which is also a Major Fib point for trend changes. I find it interesting that this point in time coincides with Martin Armstrong's end and beginning of, a new 8.6 year wave on his count.

   Click on chart to enlarge

Mississippi Floods, Economic Damage and Insurance Companies

2011-05-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

With all the levees being opened to relieve the swollen Mississippi River Several thoughts occur to me.

First, the obvious concern and sadness for all the folks who may lose everything. It’s hard to imagine going through such an event.

Then, one must wonder at the massive economic loss. Since I am not in the business of gathering such data I will have to wait to get some idea of the exact economic impact to these localities and the nation. I know it will be huge. Now comes several legal and moral questions.

These levees were built over the years to prevent exactly what’s happening now. That is, to protect certain areas from flooding. These decisions were made by the Central Government many years ago and I’m sure that when the decisions were made, the locals actually had very little input on where the levees would be placed, what areas would be protected and what area sacrificed or condemned. In any event, the decisions were made and people planned their lives and where they would live based on the structure decided by government to contain or not contain waters of several rivers and lowlands. That in its self, had huge economic impact on the area at the time decisions were made and going forward as these levees were put into place.

Government studies, Army Corps of Engineers obviously determined areas that were protected and people listened, believed and built lives and livelihoods based on this information. As the communities grew there is no doubt the insurance companies developed actuarial models in order to provide property insurance. Based on these figures, insurance rates are determined.

Now we have a case where government has decided to open the levees and flood some areas to “save” others. This is essentially what it seems to me to have occurred and now I can’t help but wonder who is to absorb the bulk of the economic loss.

In this controlled flooding, (I just love this part as government attempts to control nature just like they attempt to claim to control the economy both best described as a “fool’s errand”) Government has decided who losses and who is saved.

When those chosen to lose everything enter insurance loss claims, why would the insurance companies simply say “look your loss was not a natural act but rather and intentional act by government so the terms of the policy does not entitle you to compensation.”

It is my understanding that the reason for opening the Morganza Spillway is to relieve pressure on levees downstream, protecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. This particular levee was built after the flood of 1927 to prevent a recurrence of such an event. The levees they are attempting to “relieve” from pressure are protecting large population areas downstream. One has to question why were these levees not built or upgraded to, actually do, what the millions upon millions of dollars spent for their construction, was intended to do? This question can only be answered by the Central Planners i.e. government.

Mississippi Flood 1927

It is quite likely that the entire sum of the economic loss to the citizens affected and the country as a whole from this one event may exceed the initial cost for government to “Protect” the citizens of the Delta from nature. It is estimated the damage in the Cario, IL area will exceed $100 million.

To be fair in my concerns about government and the Corps of Engineers, I understand the citizens in these areas about to be flooded are warned in writing, annually by the Corp of the possibility of the Corps of Engineers opening the spillways and flood them out. That’s got to be a hell of a thought to live under. Which begs another question.

If you live in an area that is constantly at risk of the possibility of being flooded, intentionally or otherwise, are you not accepting that risk individually and personally? Should it come to a point that the practically inevitable comes to pass, should the rest of the nation assume the financial burden to make you whole again? These are emotional questions and I conjure up thought similar to that about folks who live in the known usual path of hurricanes and have no insurance against such events.

As I write, huge amounts of aid is being gathered and requested and, as usual there will be the concerts by Star quality entertainers, hundreds of web sites, along with the standard “give to help” pleas from all organizations (non-profit off course, except for the “Administration staff”) So, in addition to the obvious economic cost to the nation there is the amount of resources privately “donated” (tax deductable by the way another loss) that will be expended due to this event.

Now, considering these levees have been in place for nearly 100 years, one must consider how many small losses have been prevented over the years due to the construction. That would be a figure very hard to come up with. Perhaps in total, many times more has been “saved” but it is just as likely that it will all be a wash. (no pun intended).

The point is, damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Nothing in this life is without cost and someone will ALWAYS bear the cost of anything requiring effort. When it comes to government, the PRODUCTIVE Citizen will bear the cost while the non-productive gets a free pass. This is why all socialist societies always fail, always.

Musings On Silver

2011-05-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

In the silver market it is frustrating to get good data for some reason so in order to simplify things I will just use the London fix as a basis. On January 18^th 1980 the close of the London markets logged the highest close on silver at $49.45. Other sources claim prices ranging from $41.50 to 50.50 and that all depends on the source and what you are talking about … intraday, close or other ways to use a spike high on any particular trade. So for the sake of argument I will just stick to the London fix on 1 JAN 1980 of $49.45

Silver hit $48.70 on the PM fix in London 28 Apr which is the highest I can find recently. My research is incomplete as of now but that appears to be correct. So, comparing Apples to Apples (in this case the London PM fix) what we do have is the makings of a double top when compared to 1980. The price did not get to the $49.45 of 1980 so I have to view this for now as a failed new high on the Monthly chart. This double top along with the FNH does not bode well in the interim for silver. This run however does not appear to be finished and in accordance with Armstrong’s cycle model as we complete an 8.6 year cycle June 13.

As usual, nothing short term is in black and white, and this case is no different. One, we could have reached a top which will produce a sharp and profound decline in the metal for the time being and two, it could just be a pause and pull back to shake out weak hands. Taking all the current information I have on the world financial, political and general situation I would have to say that this is the latter. All the speculation about the why’s are again and always simply “noise” which COULD be as much of a plot to produce some direction in price just as well as the GATA and others claim the manipulation by JP morgue and other banks working to suppress price. Somewhere in between lies the truth and again that isn’t even important. What is important is the world’s condition and perception of that condition that will ultimately dictate a top in PM prices.

One of the things that make you go huh is Eric Sprott selling large portion of shares in PSLV that his funds owns. I can only say that many of us have seen this correction coming and Sprott is no newby in the PM's. PSLV is selling at a premium to the NAV of the fund and most anyone would be raking off a little profit on an almost no brainer pull back and buy it back later and lower for another go at it. Could be that he is buying physical but who knows? Nonetheless I will be keeping an eye on this one as it has peaked my interest from the beginning.

So, to keep this as simple as possible, I can see not a single problem with anyone placing 10-20% of investment assets into physical gold and silver. This is not by design to get rich quick but simply to have something on hand that represents a thing of historic and real value that will not disappear as an asset with 0 value. Can you lose from this point? Well, that depends on how long you live.

Everything is a risk and buying anything at or near all time highs is certainly in the category of RISK. But given the world situation there is the real chance that we are nowhere near the all time highs in metals. Then you look at today’s price adjusted for inflation and compare it to the previous high and anyone would have to say we are nowhere near the top in today’s dollars. Should the dollar continue to decline, then the answer is fairly obvious as to buying gold and silver.

Soon most people will figure this out and the price today, plus where I think it will go in the next month or six weeks, the PM's may seem like the bargain of a lifetime. Should June 13-15 produce a low in these metals, I intend to stick more that a toe into the water. In fact, it is likely I will be up to my neck in the stuff. But then again, I have a little more tolerance for risk than average and far less time left above ground that most.

In any event, just some thought on the PM subject to pass along and as always, due diligence on your part is the foundation of your own investment decisions, for which I am not responsible.

Click on chart to enlarge

Silver Weekly 5-6-11

Quick look at Gold

2011-05-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

Martin Armstrong's 8.6 year wave reaches a transition point on June 13th. The ideal position for Gold IMO is to bottom between then and the 15th. This would, according to Marty set the stage for much higher highs.

In order for gold to do this it will take a pretty steep angle on the weekly chart to get back to the regression line I'm using. This regression line is from the low of 641 through this week. The line represents simply a mean to golds progress and might just be a target for a low. Of course blowing through the line and getting a bounce off the 5 SMA (blue line) would be clearly understandable.

The angle for the decent is about 62 degrees not unheard of but steep nonetheless. The last time gold had a decent that rapidly on the weekly chart was in 2007, since then most of the pullbacks on gold have been in the vicinity of 51-53 degrees.

In the chart below, I have put a scenario for gold should this play out in this fashion. Gold as you can see, had a fairly long sideways channel of about 3 months duration before this last breakout and now appears to be correcting. This would be in timing with a run at a low mid-June. Of course this is all speculation but interesting to observe in the meanwhile. As usual, click on the chart to enlarge.

Senate Official Complaining about Code Word "Geronimo"

2011-05-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not about to rehash the “Indian” thing or even the “native American” thing, that’s been done Ad nauseam.

The news today is, some director for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is objecting to the military using “Geronimo” as a code name for Bin Laden.

I suggest that Loretta Tuell, the director I mentioned just go find something useful to do for crying out loud. Besides she is a member of the Nez Perce tribe and not an Apache as was Geronimo. It is well known and well documented that the Apache were a war like group and the word in the Zuni language means “enemy”.

I don’t know I didn’t live back then but I will give odds that the Apache would make no bones about killing, raiding, or otherwise marauding other tribes of “Native Americans” They may have gotten their ass kicked by the U.S. Army in the 1800’s but with cultures coming together and progressing it would have happened to them sooner or later and if it had been the French, Germans, Italians or Mexicans that eventually settled in those areas of the North America the results may have been more devastating. So, Ms. Tuell’s objecting to a simple code word is nothing more than trying to capitalize on the Bin laden event. And, should be embarrassing to Indians that she pulled this crap.

She talks about poor Indians, well there’s poor whites and poor blacks also. Some tribes are rolling in Casino Money and enjoy other tax benefits. Why don’t the share some of the Oil money with the unfortunate brothers. Some of the worse legal squabbles have been over one group kicking the other out of the tribe over money.

If somebody has a bitch about this at least let’s hear it from a Chiricahua, Mescalero or a Pinal Coyotero; not some political hack using her heritage for publicity.

Look, I know some tribes are hurting and got royally screwed. But, that’s what governments do. They (today’s tribes) have no franchise on misery nor poverty. Anyone is free to leave the reservation today and better themselves it’s just a matter of determination on the part of the individual.

This whole “complaint” may just backfire on Ms. Tuell. She is some “director” which implies she is either “hired” or “appointed”. Her boss needs to sit down with her and “splain” common sense to the woman.

Disclaimer: I’m 1/8 Chickasaw “known” as a civilized tribe which does not include Geronimo who in his time just may have been a “terrorist”.