| The term red pill and its opposite, blue pill, are pop culture terms that have become a common symbol for the choice between the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue) and embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red). |
| Take The Journey |
|
|
- Talk of a Greek Exit Gets Louder
- Doug Casey on Taxes and Freedom, Part II
- Is Facebook the Rusty Hinge of the Stock Market?
- Fitch Downgrades Japan
- Doug Casey on Taxes and Freedom
- Greeks Run on Banks as Euro-Confidence Wanes
- To the Class of 2012
- Hedge Funds Bail On Euro Now
- Expatriation in the Wake of the Facebook IPO
Rogers: “Volume Is Not Going To Come Back. We’ve Had A Great 30 Years. That’s Finished!”
Jim Rogers is hedging his gold (and silver) positions reflecting that this is normal, following such a tremendous run, and that this is good for the precious metal in the long-run. In his discussion with Maria Bartiromo this afternoon, he notes India’s anti-gold ‘protectionism’ (and its potential balance of payments issues) that are trying to force the hoarding into risky ‘productive’ assets (as others might say). The immutable commodity maven suggests JPMorgan (and its peers) could be behind the drops in the overall commodity complex as the uncertainty of their positions (and liquidation potential to raise cash as bank examiners begin their forensics) becomes more important. He holds the USD, which he hates; has a number of equity shorts; and is most fearful of banks – specifically admitting he is a serial seller of calls on JPMorgan. His advice, and perhaps Maria should look into it given their ratings recently, is to become a farmer; own farmland; and speculate on agriculture. On the dismal ‘ethical’ state of our leaders and management, the thoughtful Rogers opines, “You can read world history for decades. There are always people doing things wrong. We have not changed our human nature… Continue reading
What is America’s Economic Breaking Point?
If there exists a single factor that can put enough pressure on the whole of the American economy and force it to crumble under its own weight, it’s the price the average American pays for gas. Extreme up-side gas price swings have preceded seven of the last eight American recessions, most recently in the summer of 2008 when drivers were forced to pay an all time high in excess of $4.50 per gallon at the pumps. What followed this spike – caused in part by tightening supplies, rising demand, easy money and a health dose of financial propaganda – was nothing short of the most severe financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Nearly four years on the country finds itself in the midst of difficult times that have taken their toll on millions of Americans through job losses, home foreclosures, un-servicable debt, and ever dwindling retirement savings. By all accounts, Americans are worse off today than they were ten years ago, and the state of our nation, despite what Washington’s media masters report, is fiscally, economically, and socially dire.
Continue reading
The Oil Conundrum Explained
Oil as a commodity has always been a highly valuable early warning indicator of economic instability. Every conceivable element of our financial system depends on the price of energy, from fabrication, to production, to shipping, to the consumer’s very ability to travel and make purchases. High energy prices derail healthy economies and completely decimate systems already on the verge of collapse. Oil affects everything.
This is why oil markets also tend to be the most misrepresented in the mainstream financial media. With so much at stake over the price of petroleum, and the cost steadily climbing over the past year returning to disastrous levels last seen in 2008, the American public will soon be looking for someone to blame, and you can bet the MSM will do its utmost to ensure that blame is focused in the wrong direction. While there are, indeed, multiple reasons for the current high costs of oil, the primary culprits are obscured by considerable disinformation…
The most prominent but false conclusions on the expanding value of oil are centered on assertions that supply is decreasing dramatically, while demand is increasing dramatically. Neither of these claims is true…
The supply side of the oil equation is the absolute last factor that we should be worried about at this point. In fact, global oil use since the credit crisis of 2008 has tumbled dramatically. This decline accelerated at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 all while oil prices rose:
http://www.energyasia.com/public-stories/markets-world-oil-demand-fell-3…
In its February Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast a reduction in the growth of demand into the Spring of 2012, despite reports from the mainstream media that oil prices were spiking due to “recovery” and “high demand”. Simultaneously, the IEA reported that petroleum inventories rose to the highest levels since October, 2008:
http://omrpublic.iea.org/currentissues/full.pdf
The Baltic Dry Index, which measures global shipping rates and the demand for freight in general, has fallen off a cliff in recent months, hovering near historic lows and signaling a sharp decline in world demand for raw materials used in production. A fall in the BDI has on multiple occasions in the past been a predictive indicator of stock market chaos, including that which struck in 2008 and 2009. A sharply lower BDI means low global demand, which should, traditionally, mean decreasing prices:
http://investmenttools.com/futures/bdi_baltic_dry_index.htm
Continue reading
Former Halliburton Exec, Sentenced In Bribery Scheme
A former top Halliburton executive will serve 2 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty in Houston federal court to orchestrating a $180 million bribery scheme to secure $6 billion in natural gas deals in Nigeria, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Albert “Jack” Stanley is the former CEO of KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary at the time of the bribes; he was tapped to run the company in 1998 by future Vice President Dick Cheney, who ran Halliburton between 1996 and 2000. Cheney was not charged in the case.
KBR, spun off by Halliburton in the wake of the scandal, called the scheme an “unfortunate chapter” in its “rich and storied history” after pleading guilty to corporate criminal charges in 2009.
The investigation of the bribes crossed four continents over 10 years and involved five companies in Europe, the U.S., Japan and Nigeria. Criminal and civil penalties in the case have yielded more than $1.7 billion in fines, forfeitures and other sanctions.
“This case shows the importance the department places on putting an end to foreign bribery,” Mythili Raman, a prosecutor with the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in the Feb. 23 announcement.
Stanley, 69, who also pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud in a separate kickback scheme, agreed to pay $10.8 million in addition to incarceration. He faced a maximum of seven years in prison, but prosecutors said the lighter sentence was merited by his “substantial cooperation” in the investigation. Stanley had pleaded guilty in September 2008, but his sentencing was delayed 16 times, according to Reuters.
Twitches Spread at New York School; Parents Urge More Tests
LE ROY, New York (REUTERS) – State health officials have added three more names to a growing list of students in this working-class town who are experiencing mysterious tics and twitching, while authorities on Saturday sought to assure parents the community’s high school is safe.
Although the symptoms are typically associated with Tourette Syndrome, that has been ruled out in all but one case, causing fear and confusion among many residents of Le Roy, N.Y., about 50 miles east of Buffalo.
“The building is safe for the community,” District Superintendent Kim Cox told several hundred residents gathered in the auditorium of Le Roy Junior-Senior High School on Saturday.
The Le Roy Central School District scrambled to conduct environmental testing for air quality and mold when an initial 12 students developed tics and impulsive verbal outbursts last fall. But state health investigators ruled out environmental factors, latent side-effects from drugs or vaccines like Gardasil, trauma or genetic factors.
Instead, doctors say conversion disorder – once called mass hysteria – is to blame among an expanding list of patients. Three more unconfirmed cases have been added to the original list of students exhibiting the symptoms, and others are being examined.
Air quality and mold surveys at the school have all come back negative, according to district officials and representatives of Leader Professional Services Inc., a company hired to conduct environmental testing at the school after the symptoms first surfaced.
Senior Industrial Hygienist Mary Ellen Holvey on Saturday said air and water tests turned up nothing, and recommended follow-up testing of air inside the school.
She said that would help determine whether a soil review will be conducted – a test demanded by those residents who believe environmental factors are to blame.
One parent, Melissa Cianci, said her daughter no longer wants to attend school in light of the outbreak. She said students should be moved to another location as the investigation continues.
“She doesn’t know if it’s safe,” Cianci said, adding her daughter had perfect attendance prior to the incidents. “I’m done listening to you,” she yelled at the panel before storming out, later criticizing the district for being less than candid early in the investigation and demanding that soil tests be conducted of school grounds.
Though there is no evidence of environmental contamination, for some residents environmental concerns were heightened by the district’s recent disclosure of six natural gas wells on school property, as well as possible contamination from the nearby site of a 1970 train derailment and chemical spill.
Regarding the wells on school land, William Albert, of the district’s law firm Harris Beach, said, “It’s not unusual. We’re out in the country.”
Several representatives of renowned environmentalist Erin Brockovich were barred recently from collecting soil samples near the school by local police.
State health officials note that all of the patients have had significant stress factors, which can worsen the condition. Three of them had pre-existing medical conditions, including one confirmed case of Tourette’s Syndrome. Just one of the patients in male.
Congresswoman Kathy Hochul, who represents the district, sent a letter to the environmental Protection Agency on Monday calling for a review of the Superfund site, which the EPA said is regularly monitored, including testing scheduled later this month.
Continue reading
The Real Economic Picture
If you have any money and you want to understand the lies that “your” government tells you with statistics, subscribe to John Williams shadowstats.com.
John Williams is the best and utterly truthful statistician that we the people have.
The charts below come from John Williams Hyperinflation Report, January 25, 2012. The commentary is supplied by me.
Here is the chart of real average weekly earnings deflated by the US government’s own measure of inflation, which as I pointed out in my recent column, Economics Lesson 1, understates true inflation.
