Speculators Like This Government

Speculators like this Congress and administration. Unlike big media portrayal, successful speculators are not anything like wild gamblers. Instead, they watch for the signs that indicate which way a market is likely to trend and wait for confirmation of that trend. Major speculators like George Soros take relatively small positions ahead of the confirmation for a couple of reasons: (1) with the amount of money they trade, they cannot wait until the last minute to make their big moves and (2) they try to capture even larger profits. But they are not fools; they work hard to limit their risk.

So why do speculators like this government? Because this government is making it easy for them to reasonably predict the outcomes. History repeatedly reveals that a lot of national debt, increasingly large deficit spending, and an increasing money supply lead to higher taxes, a shrinking economy, and more inflation. Only politicians seem to believe that they can achieve different results by making the same poor decisions. Knowing this, speculators are already positioning themselves to take advantage of the results of today’s ill-advised federal economic policies. They will not cause these economic catastrophes, even though they will be blamed for them. They will merely take advantage of the setup given them.

So what about normal folks like you and me? Well, unless we take advantage of the same economic information and simple tools that are available to enable us to ride the coattails of the bigger guys, we’re going to see our hard fought gains evaporate yet again. If you work with a financial planner, I suggest that you meet with him/her to discuss action to take in the event of another major market downturn. If you do not work with a financial planner, or want to do a little personal research, I recommend taking a look at the resources provided by Martin Weiss and the Weiss Research Team. The basic information resources are provided at no charge. Read some of them, draw your own conclusions, and make your own decisions.

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/

Main Street Economy

Weiss Research team member Mike Larson offers more great insights about the disconnect between government and main street economics. Washington has shot their load and emptied their barrels, and main street is left with an anemic recovery teetering on the brink of another downturn and continuing unemployment. Meanwhile, the Fed ponders its next move. Mike asks, "Who cares?" ("Pushing on a String... Again")

The truth is that the policies of both current and past administrations and Congresses have pushed us toward the brink of inevitable financial disaster. The willing complicity of many citizens to ignore Biblical principles for living have resulted in overindulgence, overspending, and over extension. These missteps will have to be brought back into line before things return to normal. We will have those in political power who try to grab even more power, but nothing will be fixed until Americans once again say, "Enough!"

During a recent trip, I saw a billboard sponsored by a local TEA Party chapter. It read, simply and profoundly, "America... Bless God." A good summation, indeed.

Immigration Hypocrisy

Here's the article...

"Cuban migrant found in styrofoam boat still with Coast Guard"

OK, here's the deal. Every day we have hundreds of folks spilling across the America-Mexico border. This administration is so ticked off about stopping this nonsense that they have the urge to sue Arizona for trying to protect their citizens from dangerous ILLEGAL immigrants.

But here is an immigrant (they call Cuban escapees "migrants" I guess) trying to get out of a truly oppressive regime, and the official American policy is to send him back.

Where's the Obama administration on this one? Where's the polished speech for immigration reform? We ought to get this poor guy to American shores and give him some of the best we can offer. Surely he deserves at least as much as the felons, drug lords, and armed "re-conquistadors" coming across our southern borders!

So if we don't send Cuban refugees back, Castro is going to be ticked at America? Oh, the horror of it all.

This country - no, let me correct that right now. Political leadership in this nation gets more screwed up with each passing day. I think that somewhere along the way, America has gone through the looking glass, 'cause everything's getting backwards.

(Photo: This is the boat he rode in on)

Rate the President

If you want, follow the link below to the CBS poll to "rate" the President. CBS emphasizes that this is not one of their "scientific" polls [yawn]. Nevertheless, the results are encouraging for those who would rather live in AMERICA instead of a twisted liberal version addicted to big government.

******
Subject: CBS is letting you Rate the President

This is an older poll. But it's good to get opinions out there. Click the link and answer the questions!

CBS is letting you Rate the President

Here is your chance. Everyone should get a shot at this. Takes all of fifteen seconds and that is if you take a look at the results. First, I can't believe CBS is actually doing this.Second, that they're brave and honest enough to actually show the ongoing polling results.Take the poll yourself and when you submit your grading of how he is handling the top issues, a second page will come up showing you the current results of how America is voting. Remember, this ain't Fox doing this. This is mostly people who watch CBS. DO THIS! and pass it on.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/19/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6116297.shtml?tag=

******

Will This Ever Stop?

I'll get right to it...

******
"No one will know until this is actually in place how it works." Senate banking committee chair Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., on the financial regulatory bill he helped craft. He added, "This is about as important as it gets, because it deals with every aspect of our lives." (cited in World, 7/17/2010, p. 16)
******

Maybe someone else can provide some commentary, because I am speechless at such obvious empty-headedness.

(I know that the poster photo is not Sen. Dodd, but we keep getting closer to tyranny with idiotic legislation like this.)

Glorious Fourth

"Men must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet." -- Robert C. Winthrop (1809-1894), speaekr of the thirtieth Congress, addressing the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Bible Society, May 28, 1849.

Have a Glorious Fourth!

Why America Wins

Leaving the political insanity behind for a moment to return to American exceptionalism and the reason why America wins...

******
"The only difference is if a dog bites my ankle, it ain't going to hurt me." -- Army Sgt. Patrick Marziale, who lost a leg during service in Iraq, on how his life will be different with a prosthetic limb. (World, May 2009, p. 19)
******

This is why America always wins: militarily, economically, and compassionately.

Now if we can only clear some moronic thinking out of the federal government and a few state governments, Americans can get back to work making this Great Nation, and subsequently the world, greater.

Have a Glorious Fourth!

Why We are in BIG Trouble

So another article about ludicrous politicians hits my desk today. They just never stop coming these days. Here she is, the House queen bee...

******
Unemployment benefits are creating jobs faster than practically any other program, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. Talking to reporters, the House speaker was defending a jobless benefits extension against those who say it gives recipients little incentive to work. By her reasoning, those checks are helping give somebody a job. "It injects demand into the economy," Pelosi said, arguing that when families have money to spend it keeps the economy churning. "It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name." ("Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Fastest Way to Create Jobs," FOXNews, 7/1/2010)
******

Yep, we create jobs by snagging money from those who have jobs to pay for those who do not have jobs. There's a real big job-creator - ya betcha.

But Speaker Pelosi's absence of logical reasoning is not why this nation is in BIG economic trouble... or just BIG trouble. Speaker Pelosi has demonstrated over and over that she, like our president, has no clue about the reality of economics and the deleterious impact their pet liberal agendas have on the real American economy.

We are in BIG trouble because other Americans have voted her into office and retain her there. This means that many other Americans are as clueless about the workings of a real, live economy as she is, and they have bought into this insanity. We are in BIG trouble because many of our neighbors are actually voting for big government centralized economic policies. We are in BIG trouble because Americans are freely voting their way toward totalitarianism.

Troubling, isn't it?

Taxpayers Forced to Buy Junk

I just received and read this article and want to make many more citizens aware of it. I am angered beyond description. Amazingly, this points to an issue over which Democrats and Republicans are siding together in their concern and criticism.

******
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then-New York Fed President Timothy Geithner told senators on April 3, 2008, that the tens of billions of dollars in “assets” the government agreed to purchase in the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. were “investment-grade.” They didn’t share everything the Fed knew about the money... “Either the Fed did not understand the distressed state of some of the assets that it was purchasing from banks and is only now discovering their true value, or it understood that it was buying weak assets and attempted to obscure that fact,” Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in an e-mail when informed about the credit quality of holdings in the Maiden Lane LLC portfolio. The committee held the April 3 hearing.... Billions of dollars in Fed loans -- some possibly involving subsidies for the biggest banks and corporations -- remain secret, and Congress is demanding more accountability from the Fed than at any time in its history. ("Fed Made Taxpayers Unwitting Junk-Bond Buyers," Bloomberg, 7/1/2010)

******

I know that it's not easy reading through even these simple descriptions of the financial products involved (mortgages, derivatives, etc.). I get confused myself trying to follow it all. But the bottom line here is that even though Bernanke, Geithner, and others testified that the Fed was acquiring investment-grade debt during this bailout period, they failed to include details that the Fed, and consequently American taxpayers, is exposing itself to billions of dollars in below-investment-grade assets (ie, "junk").

The American people need to know this! Since I doubt that this is going to show up on the front page of the NY Times anytime soon, it is up to everyday folks like you and me to get this word out. So please pass this along (or at least the link to the article) to others on your lists.

Additionally, it would be beneficial to contact your Senators and Representative with information about this article and request that they demand an accounting of the Fed's actions.

While there can never be certainty about predicting the future, I think this contributes significantly to the reasons why America will not get through this economic storm unscathed, why we are headed into a "double dip" recession or worse, and why honest, hard-working, thrifty Americans are going to be severely punished for doing the right things all these years. I detest sounding so negative, but the odds keep stacking up in favor of some kind of catastrophic event. I'm not pretending to to know the magnitude, but it does not look as if it will be "business as normal" in America for awhile as long as these types of deceptions are going on.