the Active Thinkers

Debunking The Government's Scapegoating Of The 'Speculators'

2012-02-28T05:13:00.021-06:00

My prior post, "Oil and Gasoline Actually Cheap Right Now", along with the WSJ piece on Obama's analysis of rising gas prices, should have sufficed to clear up the whole 'gas prices' debate (i.e. the price is rising for the most simple of reasons: inflation). I realize, however, that some of us are more reluctant to embrace views contrary to the Gov't Line, and thus may require a bit more prodding/explanation.

Nancy Pelosi recently released a statement blaming oil speculators for the rising gas prices, and judging from the various comments I've read on related stories, there are many who accept her rhetoric as fact. I'd like to address this bit of misinformation.

Let's begin with this: there are speculators in every market. There were speculators in the oil market when gas prices rose under the Baby Bush, and there were speculators in the oil market when gas prices subsequently fell (difference being, when gas prices rose under The Baby Bush, Pelosi placed the blame squarely on his administration).

Monetary policy in recent years has become sick and twisted. Unprecedented issuance of money and unprecedented artificially low interest rates, i.e. Negative Real Interest Rates, only held in place by issuance of more money. This, of course, makes money worth less and causes things, like gasoline, to be more expensive.

Do you realize that there is no longer such a thing as saving money in this country? It is now literally impossible to save money. You can hold and lose, but you ain't savin' nothin'. Get it? By holding on to money, you are only losing purchasing power due to negative real interest rates. 'Saving' now means 'becoming poorer' (and the PhD's in your government consider this good economic policy!).

So if you're a person with means to invest, where are you going to put your money? Certainly not in the bank. You're going to put it where you'll hopefully break even, or perhaps even, gee golly, earn a return on your investment!

The government's debasement of the currency is what is encouraging any "over"-investment in oil (as well as free money from the Fed).

Government interfered in the market, caused the problem, and now blames the market for the problem. This is what your government does constantly, it is their standard play. They run it every down, and you fall for it every time by demanding MORE GOVERNMENT!

They ran it on 1st down: banking.
They ran it on 2nd down: health care.
They ran it on 3rd down: agriculture.
They ran it on education, housing, and now they're running it on energy.
They now have the ball 1st and goal at the 1.
Better get your goal-line defense in order, asap brotha.

It's unfortunate that in achieving the highest standard of living in the world, the populace came to falsely believe that wealth is the most important thing, not liberty, and seem to have since lost a lot of their strength as well. With the information age upon us, I highly recommend stripping the government of its non-Constitutional power and returning it to the populace, who, with the internet and modern technology, can easily keep themselves properly informed of matters in regards to unscrupulous business practices, thus allowing market competition to do its thing: allow true progress.

"A species comes to be, a type becomes fixed and strong, through the long fight with essentially constant unfavorable conditions. Conversely, we know from the experience of breeders that species accorded superabundant nourishment and quite generally extra protection and care soon tend most strongly toward variations of the type and become rich in marvels and monstrosities (including monstrous vices)."
--Nietzsche

Haha, 'monstrosities' like the transgendered and Maury Povich guests? Like negative real interest rates?

In a government-dominated market, in which no one fails and winners are chosen by authority, I am long monstrosities and short endurance.

Oil And Gasoline Actually Cheap Right Now

2012-02-26T14:51:00.004-06:00

You read that right. Forbes here has an education for you that you won't be getting at your institution of 'higher learning'.

Obama can suck a dick with his bullshit rhetoric. As we reported last year, Obama and his Energy Secretary Steven Wu are both on record expressing a desire for higher gas prices. Further, the prices of oil is actually below its 40 year average in terms of gold (gold being the most reliable measure of wealth for thousands of years). So expect prices to rise more no matter what good policy Mr Obama rambles on about.

"Unfortunately, the talking heads that are trying to explain the reasons for high oil prices are missing one tiny detail. Oil prices aren’t high right now. In fact, they are unusually low. Gasoline prices would have to rise by another $0.65 to $0.75 per gallon from where they are now just to be “normal”. And, because gasoline prices are low right now, it is very likely that they are going to go up more—perhaps a lot more.

As this is written, West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) is trading at $105.88/bbl. All this means is that the market value of a barrel of WTI is 105.88 times the market value of “the dollar”. It is also true that WTI is trading at €79.95/bbl, ¥8,439.69/barrel, and £67.13/bbl. In all of these cases, the market value of WTI is the same. What is different in each case is the value of the monetary unit (euros, yen, and British pounds, respectively) being used to calculate the ratio that expresses the price.

In terms of judging whether the price of WTI is high or low, here is the price that truly matters: 0.0602 ounces of gold per barrel (which can be written as Au0.0602/bbl). What this number means is that, right now, a barrel of WTI has the same market value as 0.0602 ounces of gold.

During the 493 months since January 1, 1971, the price of WTI has averaged Au0.0732/bbl. It has been higher than that during 225 of those months and lower than that during 268 of those months. Plotted as a graph, the line representing the price of a barrel of oil in terms of gold has crossed the horizontal line representing the long-term average price (Au0.0732/bbl) 29 times.

At Au0.0602/bbl, today’s WTI price is only 82% of its average over the past 41+ years. Assuming that gold prices remained at today’s $1,759.30/oz, WTI prices would have to rise by about 22%, to $128.86/bbl, in order to reach their long-term average in terms of gold. As mentioned earlier, such an increase would drive up retail gasoline prices by somewhere between $0.65 and $0.75 per gallon."

Blame Iran, or this, that, or the other thing all you want. Fucking fact is that your dollar is being destroyed by your government. Give it up, sluts! Fact is we can't afford to police the world nor to take care of everyone from cradle to grave, and your prices will continue to rise and your standard of living will continue to fall until we stop doing both.

Obama Launches 'African Americans For Obama' Campaign

2012-02-26T14:34:00.002-06:00

You can check the site if you have the stomach.

I trust my 'Caucasians for Peter Schiff' campaign won't receive any vilification either??

Just shut the fuck up about your race. No one fucking cares about that shit, except maybe, like, goofy lil college girls. No one else is interested, because IT DOESN'T MATTER.

Carolla on California

2012-02-24T18:00:00.003-06:00

Hilarious. Adam Carolla rants on California, the Left, the progressive tax structure, and Good Hollywood Neo-liberals fleeing the state to shoot elsewhere just to save some jing.

"'Why aren't you paying your fair share?'

I did, bitch! I paid $500,000 to your $5,000. That doesn't sound like more? That sounds like the same?"

"You want to talk about balls? That's fucking balls, right there. You're going to talk about paying MY fair share? I just paid in $500,000 last year. You want to talk about 'fair share', dill-weed? That's fucking balls. People got a lot of balls on them."

LOL!

He brings up a good point: the poor benefit immensely from capitalism. The American poor have air conditioning, automobiles, cell phones, computers, and the extraordinary living space they do because of capitalism. The rich always have luxuries, the process of capitalism allows the poor to enjoy more luxuries. There is indeed a 'trickle-down' effect going on (although the term has been corrupted and bad policies associated with it).

Another African-American Makes The News With Racist Comment

2012-02-24T14:37:00.003-06:00

Jeremy Lin, you are making these brothaz seriously NERVOUS, dude! You seem to be taking the brunt of their inner macho insecurity.

Some douchebag recruited to Maryland football let out this twat:

"Everybody need to get off Jeremy Lin egg roll and dumplings he's good though"

Athletes, collegiate and professional, sure do act SPOILED AS HELL a lot of the time. I'm amazed that the general population has the stomach to give them so much of their free time.

WSJ: 'Obama's Forrest Gump Analysis Of Rising Gas Prices'

2012-02-24T10:04:00.003-06:00

From WSJ:

"'The American people aren't stupid," thundered President Obama yesterday in Miami, ridiculing Republicans who are blaming him for rising gasoline prices. Let's hope he's right, because not even Forrest Gump could believe the logic of what Mr. Obama is trying to sell.

To wit, that a) gasoline prices are beyond his control, but b) to the extent oil and gas production is rising in America, his energy policies deserve all the credit, and c) higher prices are one more reason to raise taxes on oil and gas drillers while handing even more subsidies to his friends in green energy. Where to begin?

The oil price surge has several likely sources. One is the turmoil in the Middle East, especially new fears of a supply shock from a conflict with Iran. But it's worth recalling that Mr. Obama also blamed the last oil-price surge, in spring 2011, on the Libyan uprising. Moammar Gadhafi is now gone and Libyan oil production is coming back on stream, yet oil prices dipped only briefly below $90 a barrel and have been rising since October. Something else must be going on.

Mr. Obama yesterday blamed rising demand from the likes of Brazil and China, and there is something to that as well. But this energy demand is also not new, and if anything Chinese and Brazilian economic growth has been slowing in recent months.

Another suspect—one Mr. Obama doesn't like to mention—is U.S. monetary policy. Oil is traded in dollars, and its price therefore rises when the value of the dollar falls, all else being equal. The Federal Reserve throughout Mr. Obama's term has pursued the easiest monetary policy in modern times, expressly to revive the housing market. It has done so with the private support and urging of the White House and through Mr. Obama's appointees who are now a majority on the Fed's Board of Governors.

Oil staged its last price surge along with other commodity prices when the Fed revved up its second burst of "quantitative easing" in 2010-2011. Prices stabilized when QE2 ended. But in recent months the Fed has again signaled its commitment to near-zero interest rates first through 2013, and recently through 2014. Commodity prices, including oil, have since begun another surge, and hedge funds have begun to bet on commodity plays again. John Paulson says he's betting on gold, the ultimate hedge against a falling dollar.

Fed officials and Mr. Obama want to take credit for easy money if stock-market and housing prices rise, but then deny any responsibility if commodity prices rise too, causing food and energy prices to soar for consumers. They can't have it both ways, as not-so-stupid Americans intuitively understand when they buy groceries or gas. This is the double-edged sword of an economic recovery "built to last" on easy money rather than on sound fiscal and regulatory policies...

... The President has deliberately sought to raise the price of energy throughout the economy via his cap-and-trade agenda. He is now getting his wish, albeit a little too overtly for political comfort..."

and you can take the link to continue reading about Obama's weak domestic energy policies, despite any rhetoric of his to the contrary.

ZIRP4EVA! There is no inflation! Haha- debt isn't a problem, bitchezz!

Sweet Mother! Sinead O'Conner Wants To Pose For Playboy

2012-02-23T14:04:00.005-06:00

Mother of God.

"There's so much I wouldn't [have] liked to do when I was younger and I was too miserable and Irish."

A Playboy shoot is on my bucket list. And I like the idea of doing some interview in weird sex gear, talking about something really serious. The economy! You can talk about serious issues while you're b------ naked, on all fours, in your dog collar!"

You didn't pose cuz you was 'too miserable and Irish'?? No no no, you didn't pose nude on accounta dudes like chicks with long hair. No hair is for men. You can shave your goddamn head if thats what you want to do, but that doesn't mean you'll be attractive in doing so.

What the fuck is with feminists? How are we to take seriously someone who enjoys being in a dog collar? Talking ECONOMICS? Oh, please, Sinead, enlighten us to the inherent evil of the capitalist system, hun. You want to fight the traditional 'oppressive' role of women and improve your lot by wearing a dog collar? Gotcha. Nothing commands respect quite like being strung up on a dog collar. Never trust a masochist.

By the way, 'Nothing Compares 2 U' was a freakin' cover song.

Brock: 'The Pitchforks Will Come Out If DC Doesn't Change'

2012-02-23T13:05:00.003-06:00

From Yahoo! Finance:

Woody Brock is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.

Brock, founder of Strategic Economic Decisions and author of American Gridlock: Why the Left and Right Are Both Wrong, hardly seems the Howard Beale type. He's an Ivy League-educated policy wonk with five degrees, including a Ph.D. from Princeton in mathematical economics and political philosophy. Yet he's pissed off just the same.

"We are mortgaging our children's future and I'm mad about it," he says. "I believe when this country takes lightly the concept of equality of opportunity, we're in real trouble. This is a country where anyone who works hard can own that Rolls Royce down the street, or at least has a shot at it."

By focusing attention on income inequality, Brock believes the Occupy Wall Street movement and its global progeny are on the right track, even if they're somewhat disorganized. "These guys are right," he says, referring to the Occupy crowd as idiot savants, French for "wise idiots."

Unless Washington D.C. gets its act together, stops the partisan bickering and reforms the K-Street system, Brock believes "the pitchforks will come out" by the 2016 elections.

Invisible Hand vs. Visible Fist

While the bulk of the book is about what he calls "commonsense solutions" (See: "Deficits Are Wonderful": Woody Brock Explains His $10 Trillion 'Domestic Marshall Plan') part of Brock's book is dedicated to the occupiers and his effort to tell them "how they are right."

Step one, he says, is reminding the protesters — and the rest of us — the beauty of real capitalism, which Brock says has helped improved living standards 30-fold since the 1700s vs. merely doubling in the 1000 years prior to Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.

"People ought to know — real capitalism, with fair play [and] no rigged game is wonderful," Brock says. "You'd better worship true capitalism."

The problem, and why he's so mad (along with many others) is a fear our society is rapidly approaching crony capitalism.

"When the special interest groups, not the invisible hand but the visible fist on K-street, take over and you end up in a world with so many special interest groups so deeply embedded that no one gets anything done [and] no one represents 'we the people' at all," Brock declares. "In true capitalism...Goldman Sachs (GS) couldn't exist; no firm with the power to go to Washington and rig the game can exist."

The good — or at least hopeful - news is Brock doesn't believe U.S. society is past the point of salvation, comparing America to an onion that is brown and scabby on the outside but "inside is a moist, sweet thing."

And to the Occupy crowd, Brock has a message: Don't throw the free market baby out with the crony capitalism bathwater.

Well, god bless this guy (oh wait, fuck, he's an 'old white man'- nevermind guys, everything he said should be dismissed and ostracized cuz he couldnt possibly know anything lets go watch basketball). I don't pay much attention to Obama, but I recently heard him in a speech literally saying that capitalism doesn't work. The President of the United Fucking States of America is literally saying that Freedom is not any good for us and does not work, and that we need him to save us. Speaks to just how fucked this country really is.

Watch less tv, listen to more Peter Schiff, man the fuck up and quit asking government to do your dirty work.

Troops March On Fucking White House For Ron Paul

2012-02-22T13:20:00.002-06:00

So, if you need to know about our troops and veterans marching on the freakin' White House for the cause of peace, you can look to Russia Today because your good 'American' news source doesn't play that shit. Linsanity make better headline.

'Old, White Voters Picking GOP Nominee'

2012-02-21T15:03:00.002-06:00

Surpise! Neo-liberals are mainly obsessed with race. I believe this is a direct result of how dull and boring their intellects are.

Well now I'm really pissed. The Week really wants you to know that old, white Christians vote in the GOP primary. Cuz that fucking matters to you neo-libs, cuz you're as prejudiced as you are shallow.

Less than two-thirds of Americans are white. But in Iowa and South Carolina's crucial GOP presidential contests, nearly every voter was white
The United States has roughly quadrupled in size since 1900, when the population was just 76 million. Today, our nation is comprised of roughly 312 million people in a lively melting pot of races, religions, and opinions. But "you would not know any of this looking at who is voting in one of the strangest presidential primary campaigns in history," says Timothy Egan in The New York Times. In a very competitive race to pick a Republican nominee who will face a vulnerable Democratic incumbent, only a small fraction of "old, white, uniformly Christian" Americans are showing up to vote, and they look "much closer to the population of 1890 than of 2012

And they go on to recite some "facts" that are, at best, irrelvant. If Latinos care to have more voice in the primaries, they ought try showing up to fucking vote (unless they're not citizens, in that case they have no vote). You blame old, white Christians for fucking showing the fuck up to vote?! What the fuck is the point of this article other than we should consider the GOP primary less valid, per the voting demographic?!

No worries, the GOP may represent only the old, white, Christian evil rich, but Obama loves you superficial, callous retards. Obama loves you.

"The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind." -Thomas Jefferson

So, while I have many complaints with the modern incarnation of the GOP, Democrats are inherently just plain wrong, bitchezzz! You don't have the right to vote away someone else's property, bitchezzz! You fucking cunts. Seriously, just fuck you. Go waste more of your time worrying about someone's race... or age... or possible Christian heritage. Scumbags.

'Suprise! Oscar Voters Are Mainly Old White Guys'

2012-02-21T08:44:00.005-06:00

Surprise! Neo-liberals are mainly racist as shit.

During Sunday night's Oscar broadcast, the words "I'd like to thank the Academy" will be uttered more times than anything other than "Shouldn't this be over by now?" But who are the people whose votes fill those wax-sealed envelopes? SPOILER ALERT: If you're an old white guy, you may already be a member.

According to exhaustive research by the Los Angeles Times, the 5,765 Academy voters are "markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public." Nearly 94% of them are Caucasian, 77% are male and only 14% are younger than 50. That might explain why "Mars Needs Moms" didn't get the Oscar nod it so obviously deserved.

Presented with little comment, other than to say we at ActiveThinkers are curious as to what one's age, race or gender has to do with the price of eye-catching yellow Everlast hand wraps, and to ask that you briefly visualise the reaction if one was to imply a negative connotation in discussing the fact that professional athletes are disporportionally young, 'african-american' males (except no one would ever do that, because it's fucking irrelevant and stupid).

If you give a fuck about the Oscars, you're fucking pathetic anyway; perhaps even more pathetic than people outside of New Orleans who give a fucking shit that it's Fat Tuesday. Fucking dorks.

You Can Buy Birth Control Plenty Cheap Now

2012-02-20T07:28:00.003-06:00

Well, now that Dr Paul has caused (admittedly brief) discussion on matters of true importance, such as inflation, monetary policy, foriegn policy, tyranny, the war on drugs, etc, it is time for the Establishment to distract you with nonsense again.

Enter Obama's mandate that health insurer's must provide women with birth control. Idiocy, I know: 'tis merely an absurd attempt to secure the votes of women who can't see more than 2feet in front of their faces. And here we go with the GOP agitation: lo! we've never had such a mandate before! 1st Amendment! The outrage!

Amidst the nonsense rhetoric, allow us to present Mr Peter Schiff's discussion of how the birth control mandate will make birth control more expensive, health insurance more expensive, while causing companies to higher fewer women, or at least pay them less, etc.

What Debt Ceiling?

2012-02-17T04:31:00.004-06:00

Bears be shamed. Clearly, the economy is on the mend. So far in fiscal year 2012 the US has collected $677.6 billion in tax revenue, while only issuing $601 billion in new debt. Taxes collected are a good 12% higher than debt created! Obama and Bernanke are improving the economy! What, are you some kind of tin-foil hat-wearing nut-job?

'We are going places only to return to never quite enough'

Disquieting Realization Of The Day

2012-02-16T17:07:00.002-06:00

"The official unemployment rate was 10% in October 2009, when about 140 million people were found to have some sort of job, and now that the same number of people have been found to have some sort of job (140 million), the unemployment rate is now only 8.3%, even though the nation has added roughly 6 million residents to the workforce."
-Charles Hugh Smith

'The Land Of The Free'

2012-02-14T14:46:00.002-06:00

US Prison Population Dwarfs That Of Other Nations.

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.

The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London.....

The land of the free?
Whoever told you that is your enemy.

Pep Talk

2012-02-14T05:07:00.001-06:00

More Black Celebrities Running Their Fucking Mouths About Race

2012-02-14T04:13:00.004-06:00

Guess this cat is some new NBA phenom. The fact that he's Asian seems to be really pissing off the black community.

Said boring black sports commentator Jason Whitlock: "some lucky lady in NYC is going to feel a couple inches of pain tonight."

You're beyond douchebag, Jason. Just shut the fuck up and be a grown fucking man.

Boxer Foyd Mayweather also seems insecure about this dude's asian background:

The outspoken boxer who once told rival Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino, to "make some sushi rolls and cook some rice" has retained the title of heavyweight champion of insensitivity by claiming New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is getting national attention for his race rather than his game.

"Jeremy Lin is a good player," Mayweather tweeted Monday, "but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise."

Black players outscore Kobe Bryant every night? Black players who went undrafted rack up at least 20 points and seven assists in each of their first four career starts? Black players go from D-League DNPs to leading the Knicks to five straight wins?

Like, dude, you cats really need to get past one's ethnicity. Nobody gives a fuck. 'Black culture' is promoted all over the media, you're having your cake and eating it here. Just shut the fuck up.

'Stocks Rise After Greece Approves Austerity Deal'

2012-02-13T09:11:00.005-06:00

Pretty amazing that so many neo-liberals, or those from whatever political persuasion, still insist that debt isn't a problem. Tragicomedy gone wild.

Clint Eastwood Racist

2012-02-13T08:39:00.003-06:00

"...movie actor and director Clint Eastwood appeared on CNBC Friday to discuss another big issue he thinks the country needs to focus on right now: cutting spending.

“The last couple of regimes have been putting us deep in the hole,” Eastwood said.

“It’s such a basic thing,” he continued. “Your parents always tell you … when you don’t have a dollar in your pocket, you don’t spend two dollars. And that’s a basic philosophy of life. People think you can just put if off. If you put it off you just print more money, and the money in your pocket becomes devalued, and it’s not worth as much, and eventually it comes down to zero.”

Eastwood also weighed in on the Simpson-Bowles debate, saying he was “amazed” that President Obama ignored the recommendations of the co-chairs of the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission: former Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming.

“They came back with a recommendation, which was to exactly stop spending, and then everyone said that’s enough from you guys, go home,” Eastwood said. “I thought, that’s a waste of money, a waste of time, a waste of effort from everybody, and not very spirited for the country. I think both those gentlemen are smart and worth listing to, if you’ve gone ahead and assigned them to this project.”

So, not only is he a big racist, he's a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy nutjob as well. Clint, you should be ashamed of yourself for making common sense and possessing a basic understanding of supply and demand.

Samual L Jackson Projects Racist Tendencies On Tea Party

2012-02-13T07:35:00.005-06:00

Samual L Jackson discusses his vote for Obama.

“I voted for Barack because he was black. ’Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them,” Jackson said. "That’s American politics, pure and simple. [Obama’s] message didn’t mean sh-t to me. In the end, he’s a politician. I just hoped he would do some of what he said he was gonna do.

According to the New York Post, the "Pulp Fiction" legend repeatedly dropped the N-word during his cover story interview.

“When it comes down to it, they wouldn’t have elected a [bleep]," Jackson said. "Because, what’s a [bleep]? A [bleep] is scary. Obama ain’t scary at all. [Bleeps] don’t have beers at the White House. [Bleeps] don’t let some white dude, while you in the middle of a speech, call [him] a liar" -- an apparent reference to Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst during Obama's health care address to a joint session of Congress in 2009.

Jackson continued, "A [bleep] would have stopped the meeting right there and said, ‘Who the [bleep] said that?’ I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, ’cuz he ain’t gotta worry about getting re-elected.”

Defending his repeated use of the racial epithet, Jackson said it "became a part of my vocabulary when I was born."

"Because it was used on me in my house, often . . . I know the word [bleep] as an admonishment, an endearment, a criticism and an invective. So I use it; I don’t run from it. I don’t have an issue with it or who says it. I always put it in the context of how it was used on me," he said.

Jackson previously made political headlines in October, when he agreed with fellow actor Morgan Freeman's assessment that the Tea Party was "racist."

“It’s pretty obvious what they are,” Jackson said in an interview with New York Magazine. “The division of the country is not about the government having too much power. I think everything right now is geared toward getting that guy out of office, whatever that means.”

Sounds like a classic case of projection, Mr Jackson. You are such a racist that you project that on to the Tea Party.... cuz no one could possibly be legitimately concerned about the government amassing too much power and too much debt, the racial thing just has be the source of all discontent.

I'm clearly sick of the race card to defend Obama, but just as tired of the labels "nutjob" or "conspiracy theorist" to dismiss questions towards authority.

THIS. COUNTRY. WAS. FOUNDED ON. QUESTIONING. GOVERNMENT. It was not founded on being the government's biggest fan (or littlest bitch). Get real.

The Sniper's Nest At Super Bowl XLVI

2012-02-11T10:14:00.001-06:00

Behold, The Faculty of Reason In Commercialized Femininity #8

2012-02-11T05:13:00.006-06:00

Q: Which is the greatest compliment you could receive?
-That you are beautiful/sexy/hot
-That you are intelligent
-That you are talented
-That you are extremely fun to be with

A: That you are intelligent
Explanation: “Especially if you explain why, and then add in the physically attractive aspect.”

Not a patently absurd answer, but the ubiquitous Having-One's-Cake-And-Eating-It aspect stuck out at me.

Is there a bit of a dilemma among today's woman in towing 'progressive' political leanings while allowing herself to acknowledge the deep, masochistic desire to be bent over a kitchen table and thoroughly ravaged (...in a very equitable manner, of course)?

Stock Market Down 85% Since 2000 In Terms Of Gold

2012-02-09T09:34:00.001-06:00

Default Or Debasement? The Universe Is Just

2012-02-09T07:09:00.011-06:00

Coming for us. I was recently thinking about how Greece should openly default. I thought perhaps we should as well, rather than debase the currency into oblivion by 'kicking the can' as far as possible.

The destruction that comes with artificially low interest rates or too much debt goes largely ignored among Americans. Not many seemed to mind the government's failure to provide a sound currency, which in turn robs from all honest people.

Even more so than the government, the American people have failed in their responsiblities in a 'free society'. They have been quite negligent.

So, who deserves to take the hit? The creditors who lend or the borrowers who spend?

The universe is just and America will continue to get the leadership she deserves.

"The discipline of suffering, of great suffering-- do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?" --Neitzche

Good point there. We see the opposite now: an entire western culture coddled is now a shadow of its former self. Reciprocity, principle, and self-esteem are dying in a state in which government 'solves' all problems.

I personally suffer because of choices I've made and actions I've taken (or more commonly, not taken). This is just. Likewise, as a western culture, we've been living well beyond our means without much of a thought as to how it is made possible. There will be a reversion to the mean, and it will be just. The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes.

Ha, if I can manage to retain this perspective amidst the eventual unwinding of these policies, I will be quite pleased.

Fink: Investors Should Be 100% In Equities

2012-02-08T10:02:00.003-06:00

She looks ready to go all in herself. Best. Headline. Ever.

Investors should have 100 percent of investments in equities because of valuations and higher returns than bonds, said Laurence D. Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world's largest money manager.

Investors who seek the safety of treasury bonds will have minimal returns and will not be able to meet their needs with the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to keep interest rates low, said Fink, who co-founded the New York-based manager with $3.5 trillion of assets in 1988. By contrast, equities are trading at the lowest valuations in 20 or 30 years.

Well, to be fair, I wouldn't buy Treasurys either.

Fink said the Greek debt crisis will be resolved as it's not in anyone's interests to have a blowup now. Greece is trying to win a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) second aid package to prevent the country's collapse, strike a deal with private creditors and remain in the euro area...

Yeah, it's not often in anyone's interest to be totally bankrupt, but....

"I'm very bullish on the market," he said

Religiously so. Like, door-to-door-with-the-handful-of-Watchtowers style.

"The only reason that I would think we would do a quantitative easing three is if the dollar gets too strong," he said

Yeah, that strong, pesky dollar. Wait, I thought Mr Geithner assured us they follow a strong dollar policy...?