$800 Billion spent and what the hell does "Shovel Ready" mean anyway?

Back at the end of 2008 when we were watching the economy unravel at an an alarming rate, the term "Shovel Ready" was coined, by Democrats in Congress, to indicate a type of job that a "Stimulus" could be applied to right away. Rightfully so, the president was a little skeptical of the long term advantages to "shovel ready" projects, yet he fought hard to make sure that debt-funded money was spent anyway. The 647 page, pork filled, $787 Billion dollar fiasco was passed into law by fear mongering coercion in which people were told "We must pass this spending bill in order to keep unemployment under 8%". In reality, after borrowing and spending all of that money, we still have unemployment numbers that vary between 10.5 and 17.7%.
Today, the president finally admitted "there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects”.
NO SUCH THING AS SHOVEL READY PROJECTS! Are you listening now? What did every conservative and libertarian tell you when this crap started? The president and every Democratic member of Congress has lied to you about where that money was going. It was going to line the pockets of politicians and their friends, and WE are going to have to pay for it.
Throw every incumbent out of DC, no matter which party they belong to. They are all party to what is likely the biggest theft and fraud in history from the American people.

Shane Bruce, Libertarian Candidate For Insurance Commisioner in GA

You know, the Bitter Patriot doesn't ever come right out and Endorse a candidate, often, but if you want a small government, liberty minded fellow handling your insurance needs and options, driven by the Free Market, well then, you can't go wrong voting for the Libertarian Candidate, Shane Bruce.

This is not indicative of a stable currency.

George Clooney meets with Obama on serious foreign policy issues.

In today's embodiment of self government, or should I say "Of The People" of Hollywood "For the People" who don't know as much as those that read lines on camera for a living, it seems fitting that the Foreign Policy Guru , or is it Czar (FPG/C), George Clooney would be chomping at the bit to broker a peace deal on behalf of the people of Sudan.
Don't worry that his FPG/C status is rooted only in his first class travels around the globe on production companies dimes while making films, or dealing with the hassles of owning property on Lake Como in Italia.
I'm sure it will all work out for the best, I mean, after all, Batman is on the case.
Is this what our Foreign Policy has become?

Libertarian Candidate for Labor Commisioner, Will Costa, Receives The Georgia Tea Party's Ronald Reagan Award!

Libertarian Candidate for Labor Commissioner Will Costa Recieves The Georgia Tea Party's Ronald Reagan Award

Hot off the presses over at Bludgeon and Skewer

Costa Wins “Ronald Reagan” Job Creator Award

Suwanee (October 12, 2010) – Georgia Labor Commissioner hopeful Will Costa, L-GA, is honored as a Job Creator by the State of Georgia Tea Party, LLC for his strong stand on reducing rules and regulations on business that kills productivity and profitability. The award is given to members and prospective members of State and Federal office that commit themselves to reducing the overall cost of doing business in the State of Georgia.

“I am very proud to receive this honor from the State of Georgia Tea Party, LLC, because I fully support reduced impediments to profitability and job creation. Profitability is a key ingredient to incentivize entrepreneurs to put at risk valuable investment capital to create jobs. Businesses in Georgia are being strangled by excessive government abuse from the Federal government.” Costa said. “The only way to create jobs is to invest private capital, savings, into productive areas providing goods or services. Rules and regulations erode profitability and any incentive to invest that capital.” Costa said.

Since May 2010, the State of Georgia Tea Party, LLC, a grass roots Tea Party services organization, has worked to give voice to constitutional and fiscal conservatives living with the inspiration of the Founding Fathers. The organization has led a statewide movement to help elect constitutional and fiscally responsible Conservatives. “The Tea Party folks get it, Control must come from the bottom up... not top down! Individuals at the local level are the people who create the jobs, Washington needs to stop micro managing Georgia’s economy. Without the potential for a profit there is no incentive to invest hard earned capital. Without real capital investment of real dollars there is NO job creation.” Costa said.

Costa is committed to trying to reduce and curb rules and regulations that destroy job growth. Costa also understands that lower capital gains and income tax rates also provide incentive for job creation. “For every dollar that leaves Georgia and goes to Washington there is that much less capital that can be used for Job Creation. For every printed dollar that comes to Georgia in the form of a Federal Grant inflation increases and the positive effects of real capital investments are diminished" Costa added.

The State of Georgia Tea Party, LLC is proud to award Will Costa our Ronald Reagan Job Creation Award on behalf of the citizens of the great State of Georgia.

China Stakes Claim To S. Texas Oil and Gas

China stakes claim to S. Texas oil, gas

This is what happens when you owe trillions to foreign countries. The article says it is a multibillion dollar deal to lay claim to about 600,000 acres of South Texas oil and gas. I believe what is more likely is multibillion dollars worth of debt forgiveness to China's government. They will own all of the United States' resources before it's over. You cannot borrow beyon your means forever. Sooner or later you have to pay the money back, one way or another.

12 Ominous Signs For World Financial Markets

Can anyone explain the very strange behavior that we are seeing in world financial markets right now? Corporate insiders are bailing out of the U.S. stock market at a very alarming rate. Investors are moving mountains of money into gold and other commodities. In fact, there is such a rush towards gold that shortages are starting to be reported in some areas. Meanwhile, some very, very unusual option activity has started to show up. In particular, someone is making some incredibly large bets that the S&P 500 is going to absolutely tank during the month of October. Central banks around the world have caught a case of "loose money fever" and are apparently hoping that a new flood of paper money will shock the global economy back to life. Meanwhile, the furor over the foreclosure procedure abuses of the major U.S mortgage companies threatens to bring even more turmoil to the U.S. housing industry.

There are some very ominous signs that something is just not right in world financial markets right now. Some of the signs listed below may be related. Others may not be. That is for you to decide.

Often, just before something really bad happens, you can actually see the rats leaving a sinking ship if you know where to look. The truth is that if things are going to go south it is the insiders who know before anyone else.

So are some of the signs below actually clues for what we should expect in the months ahead?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

You make your own call.

But it is becoming hard to deny that there are some serious danger signs out there at this point....

#1 Corporate insiders are getting out of the U.S. stock market at an absolutely blinding pace. It is being reported that the ratio of corporate insider selling to corporate insider buying last week was 1,411 to 1, and this week the ratio has soared even higher and is at 2,341 to 1.

#2 Many of the world's wealthiest people are buying absolutely massive quantities of gold right now.

#3 It is being reported that J.P. Morgan is gobbling up the rights to as much physical gold as it possibly can.

#4 The United States Mint has announced that it has run out of 1-ounce, 24-karat American Buffalo gold bullion coins and that it will not be selling any more of them in 2010.

#5 It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the unusually high option volume that we are witnessing right now.

#6 Some very large investors are making massive bets that the S&P 500 is going to take a serious tumble during the month of October.

#7 On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan shocked world financial markets by cutting interest rates even closer to zero and by setting up a 5 trillion yen quantitative easing fund.

#8 The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago are both publicly urging the Fed to do much more to stimulate the U.S. economy, including beginning a new round of quantitative easing, even if it means a significant rise in the U.S. inflation rate.

#9 Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz told reporters on Tuesday that the loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are throwing the world into "chaos".

#10 At the end of September, federal regulators announced a $30 billion bailout of the U.S. wholesale credit union system.

#11 Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage have all suspended foreclosures in many U.S. states due to serious concerns about foreclosure procedures. Now, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is actually demanding that all mortgage servicing companies in the state of Texas immediately suspend all foreclosures, the selling of foreclosed properties and the eviction of people living in foreclosed properties until they have completed a review of their foreclosure procedures.

#12 Not only that, but Nancy Pelosi and 30 other members of Congress are requesting a federal investigation of the foreclosure practices of U.S. mortgage lenders. Needless to say, this controversy has the potential to turn the entire U.S. mortgage industry into an absolute quagmire.

So are dark days ahead for world financial markets?

Well, yeah, but it is incredibly hard to predict exactly when things are going to fall apart.

The truth is that there are going to be a whole lot more "crashes" and "collapses" in the years ahead.

The important thing, as discussed yesterday, is to keep your eye on the long-term trends.

The U.S. economy is undeniably in decline. The only thing keeping the economy going at this point is a rapidly growing sea of red ink. Debt is literally everywhere. It is what our entire financial system is based on in 2010.

In the months and years to come, the major players are going to try very hard to keep all the balls in the air and to continue the massive shell game that is going on, but in the end the whole thing is going to collapse like a house of cards.

Unfortunately, we have been destroying the U.S. economy for decades and there is simply not going to be a happy ending to this story.

Reprinted with permission from the Economic Collapse Blog. Copyright © 2010 Economic Collapse Blog

A Note on the Recent Increases in the Spot Price of Gold

Saying that high prices constitute inflation is like calling downed trees a hurricane. Hurricanes *cause* downed trees, but in and of themselves, downed trees do not constitute a weather event.

...Same with rising prices. There is a cause for rising prices, and it is called inflation. Inflation, as the name suggests, involves an increase — in this case, in the number of currency units in circulation.

Here's a personal and timely example: when I moved to my current residence some five years ago, I was delighted to find a Wendy's a mile or so away. For me, that was a near annual "treat" (more accurately, a not entirely unpleasant convenience), and the possibility of making it bi-annual was seen as a reasonable alternative for those evenings involving the odious prospect of cooking a meal after 9p. At that time, a half-pounder with cheese was a little over $4.50 including fries and a medium beverage. The other day it was almost $7.80 for the same item. Same burger. Same cheese. Same bun. Same fries. Same cup. Same diet soda.

What changed?

There is an enormous amount of additional dollars now in circulation that were issued in 2007, 2008 and 2009 that are finally reaching the consumer marketplace. Initially intended to bail out (i.e., indemnify) the bad loans and faulty reasoning of politically-connected bankers, this money is now swirling around like leaves in a windstorm.

Our central bank, the Federal Reserve, controls the amount of units in circulation at any given time; its decision-making process is quintessentially political. So to provide the "illusion of affluence," greater money in circulation enables people to experience a false sense of security and a false sense of wealth, because they measure wealth by counting single units. (I will not get into the reality that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation functioning as a government-backed industry cartel for now.)

Friedrich von Hayek won the 1974 Nobel Prize in Economics for demonstrating the political foundations of the business cycle in central banking practices.

If you want to see what happens when this situation picks up pace, when the political pressures to make "payments" is seen as a "solution" to a political problem, you can read about what transpired in 1922-1923 during the Weimar Republic (as well as in the new Austrian Republic during the same years)...


OR you can sit down and open up your Monopoly game.

Instead of issuing everyone the amount of money stipulated by the rules, divide up the ENTIRE bank, and then start playing.

What happens is the almost immediate appearance of a feeding frenzy — players feel rich and ready to assume risk. The prices on the board were established to work with a fixed amount of money. Once players realize that they have to buy everything they land on, if only for defensive purposes, you begin to see how things devolve. This is a rough approximation of the current reigning mentality among flush investment pros, hedge fund managers, and bankers.

As the game unfolds, luck determines who lands on premium properties and when they can accumulate houses and hotels. It also determines who falls through the cracks. Pretty soon, all it takes is one or two "visits" to a property with a hotel, and one player is wiped out. The inevitable end is a WEALTH TRANSFER. And it is a wealth transfer that punishes thrift, industry, and all the virtues that make a close-knit, loving family hard to keep together.

Right now, our bipartisan ruling class is effectively running a wealth transfer game, and political clout up for sale to the highest bidder: you can rig your own market by writing the "regulation" and pretending it is for "socially responsible" causes (such as race, health care, gender, environment, whatever...).

There is no "luck" to this game. It is rigged by the exchange of favors, and cheap money for power. And as we have seen, year after year, generation after generation, politicians are had for pennies on the dollar. They can be had super-cheap! And the great thing is, they "sell" the rigging as a "liberal" benefit! That is, it is all done in the name of "the people."
The cynicism is so awful that it sours my stomach just to listen to the neo-Dickensian idiots complaining about "the rich." It is not a class warfare that is going on — it is a political élite that has written the rules to suit it's own agenda. While extolling the needs for a generous and prosperous middle class, our statist élites are systematically demolishing the working classes of this country through the strangulation of regulatory legislation.

To return to the main point of this exercise, the primary reason why gold and silver are rising in price is that it has become painfully evident to those same élites that there is a precipitous rupture in the purchasing power of each unit of money, and that gold — precisely because it can NOT be inflated (there is an objective, geological as opposed to political reality that obtains with precious metals) — can allow them to hold on to what they own and not let the wind blow away their leaves. Gold has returned to its 6,000 year role as a stable fixture on the shifting landscape of exchange — a repository of value.

THAT is what money IS.


Or what it is supposed to be.

Our currency is no longer money. The dollar is a "money coupon" — you can buy money with our currency, but you can buy less and less as time goes on, and the Fed's dollar Ponzi scheme unwinds.

Wealth WILL be transferred to people who own commodities that either maintain value through sustained demand (oil, wheat) or through limited supply (gold, silver, uranium). You still have a small choice in this matter, believe it or not.

My personal guess is that gold will sling up to its inflation adjusted price of the previous historic price high (ca. 1980), which is around $2,400 in no time at all, perhaps a year or two. Perhaps sooner.

If you want to imagine related future scenarios that make this look mild, Google the ERISA laws and contemplate how a legally mandated Boomer selling frenzy of 401k's starting in 2016 will impact commodity prices.

Here's why I am such an ardent proponent of a gold-backed money supply: only such a system offers us protection from the political manipulation of the symbol of our labors, our time, our sweat, our efforts, our planning, our self-sacrifice, our love for our children, our concern and respect for our parents, and our care for our own physical selves.
Money is a symbol of everything we value in life — and we have outsourced our money since 1913, and lost over 97% of the value of what our ancestors enjoyed.

And why?

Cui bono?

Just some thoughts about our politically-contrived wealth destruction machine in Washington.

Contributed by Iconologist 2010

Monds on the Moon

John Monds is going places, man. Get out and vote Libertarian John Monds for Governor of GA on November 2.

According to ZeroHedge, The US Dollar is Down 12.% Since June

As readers will recall, at the end of July, which was the most recent TIC data update, China owned $847 billion in US Treasury bonds. Since then, the world's reserve currency, which is what said Treasuries are denominated in, has lost 4.7%, or $40 billion in real terms. Yet an even more jarring observation is that from its June highs, the USD has dropped 12.4%. Expressed in real terms from the perspective of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, this means that our biggest creditor has lost over $100 billion when adjusted for the purchasing power loss in the dollar.


But what about the actual absolute price increase in bonds skeptics will say? Well, since the dollar peak, the 10 Year has increased by "only" 5.75%, meaning that the real loss is more than double the capital appreciation (we ignore the fact that Treasury's expressed in gold have lost 5% year to date: that would really piss of Beijing).

If you owe a loan-shark, say, $15 grand -- and come up short one week -- odds are that three thick-set men wearing leather coats will show up in your living room at 3am. And then the best possible outcome is a broken leg. I mean, I'm just guessing here, not that I know first-hand. Seriously. No, I mean it.

So what happens when your economic policies cost your loan-shark $100 billion, President Obama?
Read More Here

Obama's Destruction Of The 4th Amendment

Obama's euthanizing of 4th Amendment

I will keep shouting from the rooftops, but I wonder, where are the outraged Liberals in this? Why do we not hear anything from the ACLU? What about the rage that Liberals had about "warrant less wiretaps" during the Bush administration? Oh, I think I answered my own question. It's OK when it's the government you voted for.
Hypocrisy knows no bounds.

How important is the issue of electronic voting? David Chastain, Libertarian candidate for GA Sec of State has an idea.

So, how important is the issue and potential problem of electronic voting?
In a Washington Post news article today it was reported that hackers had broken into the DC online voting trial. Just one more reason electronic voting in general is suspect.
Unverifiable electronic voting is now only available in 3 states, Georgia being one of them. No paper trail, no written record of your vote.
David Chastain, Libertarian candidate for Secretary of State in Georgia has built his campaign on this issue.
"I am alarmed that almost 1% of electronic ballots cast in Georgia are blank, or undercounted. I am gravely concerned about the electronic voting systems we use in Georgia. When one realizes that we are one of only three states with state-wide unverifiable electronic voting, one must wonder - why?" - says his website. Mr. Chastain went to the archives and searched for 1 issue ballots, simple yes/no votes, in Georgia over the last several years since electronic voting machines have been used and found that in not one, single election did the tally of number of votes cast balance to zero with the number of yes plus number of no votes. His research shows across the board the margin of error to be .8% on average.
How many major elections are won by a margin of .8% or less? How about the 2000 Florida ballot that ultimately decided the presidential election with a total .01% margin?
How about the election of Al Franken to the US Senate which was decided by a margin of .001%
Those elections are deciding policy makers for millions of people. Think it's important now?