Econ/Invest Archive

Target’s New Offering

– May 22, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Life

So Target is getting into the wedding dress business; I am lefting wondering when Walmart and Dollar General will follow them for a piece of the market share. I wonder if you buy them at Costco you can get them in a multi-pack…

On a serious note, I don’t really have a problem with this at all. If they get nice dresses and save the customers money then everyone wins. There will always be the bridezillas who wouldn’t be caught dead in a “Target” dress but there will be sensible people who will save the money typically wasted on this expensive one-time dress and save it for a rainy day or use it to have more fun on their honeymoon.

Target’s New Affordable Wedding Gowns

By Joanna Douglas, Shine Fashion and Beauty Editor | How To – 2 hours 17 minutes ago

The Tevolio bridal collection from TargetThe average woman spends $1,211 on her wedding dress, according to a survey of 20,000 brides from The Knot. In fact, the average cost of a wedding is the highest it’s been in years at $28,427. With sites like Pinterest providing opulent inspiration and an increased focus on celebrity wedding style, it’s no wonder ladies are spending so much, but sometimes our budgets don’t match our dreams. Thankfully big brands are eager to fulfill our needs and this market void with gorgeous looks for less.
Many mass retailers have jumped on the bridal bandwagon in recent years, from J.Crew to Urban Outfitters to Costco. Vera Wang’s collection for David’s Bridal has also been a big hit. Now Target is the latest big-box store to offer wedding gowns, with dresses ranging from $99.99 to $129.99. So the next time you’re picking up flip-flops, detergent, and cat litter you can also buy your wedding dress! Last-minute brides with shotgun weddings: yes, you can even buy them online. Black Wedding Dresses: Ghoulish or Glamorous?
Target’s four new bridal gowns are by Tevolio, whose name is inspired by the Italian phrase “Ti voglio” and loosely translates to “I love you.” The satin styles come in Porcelain White or Antique Ivory and a wide range of sizes from 2 to 28. A soft cowl-neck option and basic strapless gown sell for $99.99, while a cap-sleep style and ruched gown with a wrap neckline cost $129.99. Also in the Tevolio bridal collection for Target are 10 bridesmaid gowns, which sell for $69.99 and come in a great variety of colors, and two flower girl options starting at $24.99. (We also spotted some precious teeny-tiny tuxes for ring bearers available for $40.) Less formal brides may opt for the more affordable and still lovely bridesmaid gowns in white as they come in both long and short hemlines.
Amazing wedding gowns under $300

These four wedding gowns are now available at Target.

Jennifer Lansing from the product development team at Target explained in a press release why their bridal offerings stand out from the rest. “We make sure that each of our dresses has something special,” said Lansing. For example, some dresses have a removable flower pin. You can wear the dress with or without it. Many of our dresses have pockets-even bridal gowns. We know that most brides don’t exactly carry a handbag during the ceremony. And she needs lipstick!”

Lansing says the convenience of shopping from home has major appeal for busy brides as well. “The Tevolio page on Target.com includes a detailed fabric glossary with all the colors of our dresses, for example. The online experience will also include jewelry, shoes, and foundation garments, so there’s everything a bride needs in one place!”
While it’s hard to imagine not trying on wedding dresses in a store with a mom, sister, or friend in tow, we’re always excited about new affordable options and one-stop shopping. At Target you could set up your registry, buy party supplies, and even thank you cards. For some brides, this may be the way of the future. Click here to check out Target’s bridal offerings.
Those seeking other affordable wedding dress options can turn to J.Crew. Wedding dresses start at $375 while bridesmaid dresses begin at $158, and they’re available online and in select boutiques. BHLDN, the bridal boutique by Urban Outfitters, sells wedding gowns online for as low as $300. And you get can get the designer appeal with a Vera Wang for David’s Bridal gown in-store or online starting around $249. Looking sensational on your wedding day truly doesn’t have to empty your bank account.

Original HERE.

…And The Band Played On (by: J. Quinn)

harry p.

– May 22, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Flakes, Freedom, Life, Political, Zombie Plan

James Quinn with an outstanding article (one of his best). He is at his best when combining economics, 4th Turning theory, Boomer-bashing and his personal accounts all into one amalgamation.

I also recommend visiting The Burning Platform for a great littany of articles and “debate” by all of us STMs (shit throwing monkeys), I haven’t found a forum that is as open and free while at the same time extremely intellectual and thought provoking.

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON

by: James Quinn

Posted on 21st May 2013 in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

A confluence of events last week has me reminiscing about the days gone by and apprehensive about the future. I’ve spent a substantial portion of my adulthood rushing to baseball fields, hockey rinks, gymnasiums, and school auditoriums after a long day at work. I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed every moment. Watching eight year olds trying to throw a strike for two hours can become excruciatingly mind-numbing. But, the years of baseball, hockey, basketball, and band taught my boys life lessons about teamwork, sportsmanship, winning, losing, hard work, and having fun. There were championship teams, awful teams and of course trophies for finishing in 7^th place. As my boys have gotten older and no longer participate in organized sports, the time commitment has dropped considerably. Last week was one of those few occasions where I had to rush home from work, wolf down a slice of pizza and head out to a school function. It was the annual 8^th grade Spring concert.

My youngest son was one of a hundred kids in the 8^th grade choir. I think it was mandatory, since none of my kids like to sing. As my wife and I found a seat in the back of the auditorium where we could make a quick escape at the conclusion of the show, neither of us were enthused with the prospect of spending the next ninety minutes listening to off-key music and lame songs. I’ve been jaded by sitting through these ordeals since pre-school. But a funny thing happened during my 30^th band concert. I began to feel sentimental about the past and sorrowful about the future for these Millennials.

The Millennial generation was born between 1982 and 2004. Therefore, they range in age from 9 years old to 31 years old. There are approximately 87 million of them, or 27.5% of the U.S. population. In comparison, the much ballyhooed Boomer generation only has 65 million cohorts remaining on this earth. The Millennials will have a much greater influence on the direction of this country over the next fifteen years than the currently in control Boomers. There has been abundant scorn heaped upon this young generation by their elders. In a fit of irrationality befit the arrogant, hubristic, delusional elder generations, they somehow blame a cohort in which 54 million of them are still younger than 21 years old for many of the ills afflicting our society. This disgusting display of hubris is par for the course among these delusional elders.

Are Millennials addicted to their iGadgets, cell phones and Facebook pages? Probably. Do they spend too much time on the internet and playing PS3 & Xbox? Certainly. Have they been indoctrinated in social engineering gibberish like diversity and planet worship by government run public school bureaucrats? Absolutely. Are they young, foolish, immature, irrational and not respectful towards their elders? You betcha. Teenagers have acted like this forever. You acted like that. The ongoing crisis in this country and our unsustainable economic system are in no way the result of anything perpetrated by the Millennial generation.

Can the Millennial generation be blamed for the $17 trillion national debt, $222 trillion of unfunded un-payable social obligations promised by corrupt politicians, $1 trillion of annual deficits, undeclared wars being waged across the globe on behalf of the military industrial complex arms dealer mega-corporations, economic policies that have resulted in 48 million people dependent on food stamps, tax policies that enrich those who write the code, trade policies that benefit corporations who gutted the industrial base and shipped jobs overseas to slave labor factories, or monetary policies that have destroyed 96% of the dollar’s purchasing power? They had no say in the creation of our untenable welfare/warfare state.

There are no Millennials among the 535 corrupt bought off politicians slithering down the halls of Congress. There are no Millennials running the Too Big To Control Wall Street banks. There are no Millennials in charge of the mega-corporations that buy and sell our politicians. There are no Millennials at the upper echelon of the Military Industrial Complex or in the upper ranks of the U.S. Military. But, and this is a big but, they have done most of the dying in the Middle East over the last ten years in our multiple undeclared preemptive wars of aggression. They have died under the false pretenses of a War on Terror, when they are truly dying on behalf of the crony capitalists who profit from never ending war. They have been fighting and dying to protect “our oil” that happens to be under “their sand”. If the energy independence storyline was true, why is our military perpetually at war in the Middle East?

The Millennials will also be required to do the heavy lifting over the next fifteen years of this Fourth Turning Crisis. The Silent Generation is dying off rapidly. The Boomer generation has done some hard living and some hefty eating and with the oldest of their cohort hitting 70 years old, their supremacy will begin to diminish over the coming fifteen years. At 87 million strong, and millions yet to reach voting age, the Millennials will become more influential by the day regarding the future course of this nation. The question is what will be left of this country by the time they assume control. They are saddled with $1 trillion of student loan debt, peddled to them by the government and Wall Street with the false promise of good paying jobs and the opportunity for a better life than their parents lived. They have obediently followed the path laid out by their elders, but they have been badly misled. This American dream has been shattered upon an iceberg of debt, delusion, deception and denial. The unsinkable American empire’s hubris and arrogance are leading to its demise. The Millennials are coming of age during a Crisis that will reach momentous magnitudes over the next fifteen years, and they had nothing to do with creating the circumstances which will propel the chaos and anarchy that ensues. But, they will bear the brunt of the dreadful consequences.

Generational Bridge

“The Boomers’ old age will loom, exposing the thinness in private savings and the unsustainability of public promises. The 13ers will reach their make or break peak earning years, realizing at last that they can’t all be lucky exceptions to their stagnating average income. Millennials will come of age facing debts, tax burdens, and two tier wage structures that older generations will now declare intolerable.” – Strauss & Howe - The Fourth Turning

The kids on the stage at the 8^th grade Spring concert were all around 14 years old. They are unaware they are in the midst of a twenty year period of Crisis. The boys are at that gawky looking stage with pimply faces and gawky limbs. The girls mature quicker than the boys at that age. These youngsters have barely begun their lives. I was amazed at their proficiency with a wide variety of musical instruments. They displayed poise and talent. The soloists exhibited composure well beyond their years. The performers were all musically endowed and proved that hard work and practice pays off. They were clearly enjoying themselves. They were all dressed in their Sunday best. I found myself enjoying the show despite my jaded attitude upon entering the auditorium. Even my son, wearing one of my ties, actually appeared to be singing during the choir performance. What I saw were hundreds of bright eyed Millennials with their hopes and dreams for a bright future intact. They have no idea what trials and tribulations await them.

I reached a milestone on the age chart last week that had me ruminating about yesteryear and contemplating the future. I reached the half century mark. Birthdays generally do not faze me, but the intersection of the 8^th grade concert and my landmark birthday had me pondering my purpose for inhabiting this world. I’ve likely realized two-thirds of my life. The final third of my life will be spent trying to maneuver through the minefields of this Fourth Turning. I’m a father to three Millennial boys. I consider it my duty to defend and support them during this Crisis. Strauss & Howe wrote their book in 1997 and predicted a Great Devaluation in the financial markets around the time Millennials were entering their twenties. This Crisis began in September 2008 with the worldwide financial collapse created by Wall Street “Greed is Good” Boomers, as the oldest Millennials entered their twenties. It continues to worsen as more Millennials approach their twenties. We’ve reached a point in history when the elder generations need to sacrifice in order to insure younger generations have a chance at some form of the American dream.

I believe each generation has an obligation to future generations. We are bridge between preceding generations and future generations. We have a civic obligation to manage the resources of the country in a prudent manner. It’s our duty to leave the country in a financially viable condition so younger generations have an opportunity to live a better life than their parents. Every generation that preceded the Millennials has achieved the goal of having a better standard of living than their parents. I don’t believe my boys will enjoy a better life than I’ve lived. We’ve lived well beyond our means for decades. Government, Wall Street banks, corporations and individuals have run up a $56 trillion tab and are sticking the Millennials with the bill.

The $17 trillion national debt accumulated by elder generations to benefit themselves and $222 trillion of unfunded entitlements promised to themselves is nothing but generational theft. It’s immoral and possibly the most selfish act in human history. I’m ashamed that my generation and older generations have committed this criminal act of theft. Deficit spending today with no intention of repaying that debt is a tax on future generations. This egotistical abuse of power by the current and past regimes must be reversed voluntarily or it will be done by force. I’m 50 years old and will dedicating my remaining time on this earth fighting to create a sustainable future for my kids and their kids. The lucky among us get eighty years on this planet to make a difference. When did the definition of success become dying with the most toys and spending your life screwing your fellow man by accumulating obscene levels of wealth at their expense? If Boomers and Generation X have any sense of guilt about what they have done, they would be willingly offering to sacrifice their ill-gotten entitlements.

Not only are those currently in power not proposing to scale back their spending, debt accumulation, or entitlement transfers, but they have accelerated the pace of each in the last five years. An already unsustainable corrupted economic structure is being driven towards collapse by psychopathic central bankers and cowardly captured politicians. These are acts of treason against the youth of this country and larceny on a grand scale. It will lead to generational warfare and these crooks will pay for their transgressions. Strauss & Howe suspected in 1997 the elders might cling to their illicit profits acquired at the expense of the Millennials:

“When young adults encounter leaders who cling to the old regime (and who keep propping up senior benefit programs that will by then be busting the budget), they will not tune out, 13er – style. Instead, they will get busy working to defeat or overcome their adversaries. Their success will lead some older critics to perceive real danger in a rising generation perceived as capable but naïve.” – Strauss & Howe - The Fourth Turning

The elders who represent the status quo do perceive real danger in the rising Millennial generation. The initial skirmishes occurred in the midst of the Occupy protests. The young protestors initially focused on the true culprits in the crashing of the financial system and vaporizing of the net worth of millions – Wall Street bankers and their sugar daddy at the Federal Reserve. In a display of status quo bipartisanship you had liberal Democrat mayors in cities across the country call out their armed thugs to beat the millennial protestors into submission while being cheered on by Fox News and the neo-cons.

The existing status quo regime provides the illusion of choice, but both political parties are interchangeable in their desire to control our lives, flex our military might around the globe, indebt future generations and write laws to favor their corporate and banking masters. The establishment is showing contempt for the futures of our youth. Their solutions to the criminally created financial crisis have been to reward reckless debtors and bankers at the expense of future generations. Their doling out of hundreds of billions in student loan debt and artificial propping up of home prices has effectively made it impossible for millions of young people to get their lives started. Boomers have done such a poor job saving for their retirements they are unable to leave the workforce. Since January 2009, despite adding $400 billion of student loan debt, Millennials have a net loss in jobs, while the Boomers have taken 4 million jobs.

Strauss & Howe anticipated that older people would be anguished to see good kids suffer for the mistakes they had made. They thought the elders couldn’t possibly be shallow enough, selfish enough, or immoral enough to deny the Millennial generation a chance at the American Dream. They were wrong. The old regime has no plans to step aside or sacrifice on behalf of younger generations. The implications of this resistance will be dire.

“The youthful hunger for social discipline and centralized authority could lead Millennial youth brigades to lend mass to dangerous demagogues. The risk of class warfare will be especially grave if the 20% of Millennials who were poor as children (50% in inner cities) come of age seeing their peer-bonded paths to generational progress blocked by elder inertia.” – Strauss & Howe - The Fourth Turning

The social mood in this country continues to deteriorate as the sociopathic financial elite accelerate their pillaging of the working middle class, steal money from senior citizens through zero interest rate inflationary policies, and enslave our youth in the chains of crushing debt and promise of dead end jobs. When the next leg down in this ongoing depression strikes like an F5 tornado, the simmering anger in this country will explode in a chaotic frenzy of violence and retribution. The chances of class and generational warfare have increased exponentially due to the actions of the elderly regime over the last five years.

Generational Sacrifice

“You got your whole life ahead of you, but for me, I finish things.” – Walt Kowalski – Gran Torino

A couple days after the Spring concert I was flipping through the 650 channels on my TV with nothing worth watching when I stumbled across the 2008 Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino. This was the third episode within the week that had me thinking about the future of my kids. It was his highest grossing film in history. Eastwood played a bigoted tough guy Korean War veteran whose Detroit suburban neighborhood had deteriorated into a dangerous gang infested Asian war zone. The movie did not follow the standard Eastwood plot where he kills dozens of bad guys. He grudgingly befriends two young Millennial teenage Laos refugees who live next door. He had lost his wife of 50 years. He was in his 70s and dying from some undiagnosed illness. I viewed the movie as an allegory for the generational sacrifice that should be taking place now.

Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowlaski, decided to finish things his way. He realized the two Millennials would never find peace or have a chance at a better life until the criminal gang running the show in the neighborhood were confronted and defeated. He knew he was too old to kill six gang members singlehandedly, so he made a choice to sacrifice himself and be gunned down in cold blood in front of multiple witnesses so the perpetrators would go to jail and allow his Millennial companions to have a chance at a better life. He sacrificed his life for the good of young people who weren’t even related to him. This message has not connected with the elder generations who control the purse strings and political system in this country. The media propaganda machine supporting the existing regime continues to peddle a storyline that debt doesn’t matter, consumption is good, saving is for suckers, and passing the bill for unfunded entitlements to future generations is not immoral and cowardly. Walt Kowalski displayed courage, bravery, and valor that is sorely lacking in the elderly generations today.

At the age of 50 I have a choice with my remaining 20 or 30 years. I can choose to keep accumulating material goods with debt, voting for politicians who promise never to cut my entitlements, believing deficits growing to infinity are beneficial to the economic health of the nation, supporting the military industrial complex as they wage undeclared wars across the world, applauding the Orwellian fascist surveillance measures instituted to give the illusion of safety while sacrificing freedoms and liberties and selfishly looking out for my best interests. Or I can stand up to the corporate fascist old boy regime and lure them into a violent response that will ultimately lead to their downfall. I’m willing to sacrifice what is supposedly “owed” to me on behalf of my kids and all Millennials. They don’t deserve to start life in a $200 trillion hole created by their parents and grandparents. It is disconcerting to me that more Boomer and Generation X parents are unprepared, unwilling or too willfully ignorant to forfeit entitlements awarded them under false pretenses in order to preserve a decent standard of living for their children and grandchildren. The Bernaysian propaganda programmed into their brains over decades by the sociopathic central planning status quo has created this inertia.

The inertia will be replaced by frenzied activity when this unsustainable system ultimately fails. Time seems to be standing still. People have been lulled into a false sense of security even though history is about to fling us into a chaotic transformational period in history. How do I know this is going to happen? Because it happens every eighty years like clockwork. The best laid plans of the men running the show will be swept away in a whirl of pandemonium, violence, war and reckoning for sins committed against humanity. There will be no escape.

“Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning the way you might today distance yourself from news, national politics, or even taxes you don’t feel like paying. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted. The Fourth Turning necessitates the death and rebirth of the social order. It is the ultimate rite of passage for an entire people, requiring a luminal state of sheer chaos whose nature and duration no one can predict in advance. The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” – Strauss & Howe - The Fourth Turning

Our country has entered a period of Crisis. We may or may not successfully navigate our way through the visible icebergs and more dangerous icebergs just below the surface. The similarities between the course of our country and the maiden voyage of the Titanic are eerily allegorical.

The owners of the ship (Wall Street, Washington politicians, crony capitalists) are arrogant and reckless. They declare the ship unsinkable, while only providing half the lifeboats needed to save all the passengers in case of disaster in order to maximize their profits. The captain (Ben Bernanke) has been tendered the greatest cruise liner (United States) in history. The initial voyage across the Atlantic Ocean has drawn the financial elite ruling class (financers & bankers) onboard, occupying the luxurious state rooms on the upper decks. But, the lower decks are filled with young poor peasants (Millennials) who are sneered at and ridiculed by those in the upper decks. A maiden voyage should always be approached cautiously. A prudent captain would not take undue risks.

Our captain (Ben Bernanke) wants to make his mark on history. He considers himself an expert in navigating dangerous waters (Great Depression) because he studied dangerous waters at his Ivy League school. It doesn’t matter that he never actually captained a ship in the real world. He declares full steam ahead (reducing interest rates to 0% and throwing vast amounts of fiat currency into the engine room boilers). Midway through the voyage, the captain is handed a telegram warning of icebergs (potential financial catastrophe) ahead. If he slows down the vessel, he will not set the speed record and receive the accolades of an adoring public. He ignores the warning and steams on to his rendezvous (eternal disgrace) with destiny.

In the middle of the night, the lookouts (Ron Paul, John Hussman, Zero Hedge) cry iceberg!! But, it is too late. The great ship (United States) has struck an enormous iceberg (debt & currency crisis). At first, it seems like everything will be OK. The captain and crew assure the passengers that everything is under control and their evasive action has saved the ship. But below the waterline, the great ship (United States) is taking on water (toxic levels of debt, un-payable entitlement promises, trillion dollar deficits, political & financial corruption). The engine room (Federal Reserve) works frantically to alleviate the damage (QE to infinity). The captain is sure the compartmentalization of the ship will save it. One of the designers of the ship (David Stockman) sadly declares that the ship will surely sink. The captain orders the band (CNBC, Fox, MSNBC, CNN) on deck to distract the passengers from their impending fate with soothing music. The owners of the ship (Wall Street, Washington politicians, crony capitalists) aren’t worried. They collected their fees upfront and over-insured the vessel. They anticipate a windfall when the ship sinks. It worked last time.

To avoid mass panic, the crew (government apparatchiks) has locked the youthful poor peasants (Millennials) below deck. The captain and his crew are content to let them go down with the ship. They’ve decided the women, children, and senior citizens (Middle Class) can also be sacrificed. The financial elite ruling class (financers and bankers) are piling into the boats with the ship’s jewels, escaping the fate of the peasants. The captain (Ben Bernanke) has no intention of going down with the ship. In a cowardly act, he leaps onto the 1st lifeboat to be launched. We are on a voyage of the damned. The great cruise liner (United States) has a fatal wound and is headed for a watery grave. Are we going to let the owners, captain and crew dictate who will be saved in the few lifeboats or will we rise up and throw these guilty parties overboard?

It comes down to the abuse of power by a few evil men and their henchmen as they have centralized their control over our financial, political, economic and social institutions. The existing social order is an ancient, rotting, fetid swamp of parasites that will be drained during this Fourth Turning. The Millennials are rising and will be the spearhead of the coming revolution. As each day passes they will become a more powerful force and the power of the existing regime will wane. Meanwhile, the band will play on as the ship of state descends into the abyss.

Original HERE.

Abolish It And Replace It With Nothing

harry p.

– May 20, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Freedom, Life, Political

Ron Paul says what needs to be said, get rid of it once and for all.

All those that are for “reforming” or “tweaking” the IRS only want to use it to crush their enemies; they are anti-freedom and should be labeled as sociopathic tyrants.

Any person who doesn’t realize the best thing for this country is to abolish this tryannical and evil arm of the government is D-U-M dumb or benefits heavily from the system in place.

That being said, knowing that the only true moral “play” here is to abolish this atrocity, we can all rest assured that that is the only option completely off the table.

The IRS is a powerful hammer, and government will never give up its power willingly.

The IRS’s Job Is To Violate Our Liberties

“What do you expect when you target the President?” This is what an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent allegedly said to the head of a conservative organization that was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Clinton. Recent revelations that IRS agents gave “special scrutiny” to organizations opposed to the current administration’s policies suggest that many in the IRS still believe harassing the President’s opponents is part of their job.

As troubling as these recent reports are, it would be a grave mistake to think that IRS harassment of opponents of the incumbent President is a modern, or a partisan, phenomenon. As scholar Burton Folsom pointed out in his book New Deal or Raw Deal, IRS agents in the 1930s where essentially “hit squads” against opponents of the New Deal. It is well-known that the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson used the IRS to silence their critics. One of the articles of impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon dealt with his use of the IRS to harass his political enemies. Allegations of IRS abuses were common during the Clinton administration, and just this week some of the current administration’s defenders recalled that antiwar and progressive groups alleged harassment by the IRS during the Bush presidency.

The bipartisan tradition of using the IRS as a tool to harass political opponents suggests that the problem is deeper than just a few “rogue” IRS agents—or even corruption within one, two, three or many administrations. Instead, the problem lays in the extraordinary power the tax system grants the IRS.

The IRS routinely obtains information about how we earn a living, what investments we make, what we spend on ourselves and our families, and even what charitable and religious organizations we support. Starting next year, the IRS will be collecting personally identifiable health insurance information in order to ensure we are complying with Obamacare’s mandates.

The current tax laws even give the IRS power to marginalize any educational, political, or even religious organizations whose goals, beliefs, and values are not favored by the current regime by denying those organizations “tax-free” status. This is the root of the latest scandal involving the IRS.

Considering the type of power the IRS excises over the American people, and the propensity of those who hold power to violate liberty, it is surprising we do not hear about more cases of politically-motivated IRS harassment. As the first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall said, “The power to tax is the power to destroy” — and who better to destroy than one’s political enemies?

The US flourished for over 120 years without an income tax, and our liberty and prosperity will only benefit from getting rid of the current tax system. The federal government will get along just fine without its immoral claim on the fruits of our labor, particularly if the elimination of federal income taxes are accompanied by serious reduction in all areas of spending, starting with the military spending beloved by so many who claim to be opponents of high taxes and big government.

While it is important for Congress to investigate the most recent scandal and ensure all involved are held accountable, we cannot pretend that the problem is a few bad actors. The very purpose of the IRS is to transfer wealth from one group to another while violating our liberties in the process, thus the only way Congress can protect our freedoms is to repeal the income tax and shutter the doors of the IRS once and for all.

Original HERE.

DOW 16,000

harry p.

– April 26, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Flakes, Political

I tend to agree with Bill Bonner’s take on all this.

Hello Irrational Exuberance, after the housing bubble I didn’t think we would see you for a little while; welcome back old friend…

Time To Cash in Your Chips?

by Bill Bonner Bill Bonner’s Diary

Recently by Bill Bonner: Why I’m Praying for Government Incompetence

We don’t like the looks of it…

Advisors are too bullish. Investors are too complacent. The financial authorities are too confident.

All up and down Wall Street… in central banks and in Washington… the stuff that goeth before the fall is thick, sticky and stinky.

The economy is recovering, they say. The Fed has the situation in hand, they add. Don’t worry… we know what we’re doing, they assure us.

Barron’s magazine says the Dow is going to 16,000, illustrated with a picture of a bull on a pogo stick.

Prime Minister Abe says he’ll revive the Japanese economy by printing yen to buy Japanese bonds. And speculators take each hint from the Fed as though it were a whisper from God Himself.

And all around them, the real economy struggles to stay even. Here’s David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff with 12 signs that the economy is weaker than we think:

Household employment (-206,000 in March, the steepest decline in well over a year).
Real retail sales (-0.3% in March, down for the second time in three months).
Manufacturing production (-0.1% and also down in two of the past three months).
Core capex orders (-3.2% in February and, again, down in two of the past three months).
Single-family housing starts (-4.8% in March and negative for two of the past three months, as well).
New home sales (-4.6% in February).
Philly Fed for April down to 1.3 from 2 .
NY Fed Empire manufacturing index down to 3.05 from 9.24.
NAHB Housing Market I ndex down to a six-month low of 42 in April from 44.
Conference Board C onsumer C onfidence I ndex down to 59.7 in March from 68.
University of Michigan consumer sentiment down to 72.3 for April from 78.6, the lowest in over a year.
Conference Board leading indicators down 0.1% in March, first decline in seven months.

Markets Make Opinions

Facts, figures, statistics…

Do you believe them, dear reader? We don’t. We’re just giving the dreamers a little taste of their own medicine.

“Markets make the opinions,” say the old timers. When prices are up, people share the opinion that they are going up. When prices go down, opinions change with falling prices.

And when prices rise, the opinion mongers look for reasons to explain why they have become so bullish. They find indexes, statistics, numbers – all the “facts” confirm their opinion. When prices fall, their opinions grow dark and they need to find new facts that they can use to justify a counter view.

Get a feeling. Form an opinion. Find a fact and pretend that you are a rational, reasonable investor. That’s the name of the game.

But are we any different?

Not at all. We’re just crankier. More cynical. And less impressed by authority in all its forms. Besides, we’ve been living in Argentina.

If a Nobel Prize-winning economist tells us that the economy is improving, what do we really know? We know he can talk!

If the president tells us that he and his friends are making the world a better place, what do we do? We laugh!

If a leading financial magazine tells us that the “Big Money” firmly believes the Dow is headed higher, what do we do?

We seriously consider selling!

From bearish fund manager John Hussman: “Rule o’ Thumb: When the cover of a major financial magazine features a cartoon of a bull leaping through the air on a pogo stick, it’s probably about time to cash in the chips.”

April 26, 2013

Bill Bonner is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of Agora, one of the largest independent financial publishers in the world. If you would like to read more of Bill’s essays, sign-up for his free daily e-letter at Bill Bonner’s Diary of a Rogue Economist

Stock Up On TP…

harry p.

– March 18, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Flakes, Freedom, Life, Political, WPIA

I have to say there is quite a storm brewing. I haven’t posted much lately, mainly because I was in Germany for 2 weeks and had gotten out of the rhythm of posting reguarly. Since back my heart just hasn’t been in it. I don’t know how much longer I will post/keep the site up but posts will definitely be more sporadic. Whether TSB has done any good is debatable, peoples’ minds are not changed through discussion, they are changed through experience. And quite a painful experience is straight ahead. And most people don’t realize what is really happening.

I vividly remember reading the MF(‘er) Global Scandal and unsurprisingly no one was criminally prosecuted, especially Jon Corzine. That was one of the precursors to what happened this past weekend. If you follow the MSM then you might have no idea what I am talking about, but if you follow the alternative media then you likely do. I am talking about The Bank Robbery of Cyprus.

I am looking very closely at my portfolio and unloading things I have been thinking of dumping. That money can then be used to pay down any lingering debts (like my truck loan) and then pull much of it out of the banks. Many will likely think that crazy but look at it like this. Your checking/savings acct is likely earning something like 0.1-0.5% while inflation is in the 5% range (Helicopter Benny is already stealing from you covertly). If the precedent is set that a wealth tax (overt theft) can be levied at any time and you won’t have access to your funds until the tax is levied then your money isn’t safe in a bank. If it isn’t safe then why keep it there? If your money doesn’t earn a return (interest) and it can be confiscated at any time then how is more at risk “under the mattress”? And don’t even bother mentioning the FDIC , because if the powers that be decided to institute a wealth tax it is idiotic to think that FDIC would then compensate or cover your losses. They are all part of the same criminal organization.

Word to the wise, get prepared if you aren’t already. Get atleast some of your money out of the banks and convert it into things that have intrinsic value and anonymity. Think long and hard about what you would do if what is happening in Cyprus happened here in the US. What if all pensions, 401k’s, IRA’s and checking/savings accounts were “taxed” at say 5-10%? How long could you live on what is in your home?

When it is realized by the masses that the rule of law is truly over, the “shit-storm will ensue.” The only things you truly “own” are the things you can physically protect with a weapon. It is very likely that something like this is years away but the cracks are there to those with critical thinking skills. It isn’t a question of whether it is going to happen, but when it will happen. Fortunes and livelihoods can be wiped out trying to pick the timing of something that is inevitable; better to be a year early than a second too late.

Cyprus government raids private checking and savings accounts as citizens panic

Sunday, March 17, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) The day is coming when the U.S. government will claim it “owns” a portion of all our bank accounts, and it will electronically drain our accounts of money in a grand theft scheme designed to pay off the banksters while decimating private savings.
Don’t believe it? That day has already arrived in the European nation of Cyprus, where the government made a secret deal with the IMF to loot private bank accounts of up to 10% of current deposits. Banks went along with the theft, sealing off the funds from account holders. The government now plans to initiate millions of funds transfers as early as Tuesday, draining private accounts of the money the government now claims it owns.
“Restrictions have been imposed to stop people emptying their accounts or moving their money out of the country following the deal with other eurozone finance ministers, under which ordinary citizens’ deposits will be directly raided for the first time,” reports the Daily Mail.
It continues: “But financial experts said the move — designed to stop Cyprus crashing out of the euro, potentially destroying the currency – would send shock waves through the eurozone. If savers in other troubled nations fear their accounts might be next, they could withdraw their money and spark a catastrophic run on the banks.”

Outright government theft of after-tax money

Just to be clear: even after you earn money by working your job and paying your taxes, any money you have in a bank account can be seized without notice as the government loots private savings to bail out wealthy bankers.
Not surprisingly, bank customers freaked out across Cyprus and began lining up in front of ATMs to withdraw as much cash as possible, causing fears of bank runs.
This seizing of private funds held in bank accounts is being called a “bailout” by eurozone cleptocrats. This is the model of theft that we are going to see replicated all across the EU as the global debt collapse takes hold. When wealthy bankers and investment houses make bad decisions on derivatives debt, they will be “bailed out” by a combination of governments creating fiat currency and / or looting the bank accounts of private citizens.
Now it’s clear why DHS needs 1.6 billion bullets and armored assault vehicles

If you’ve been wondering why DHS thinks it needs 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, 7,000+ full-auto assault rifles, and 2,700+ armored assault vehicles, all for use on the streets of America, the answer is now clear:
The U.S. government is going to loot private bank accounts when the global debt collapse strikes, stealing everybody’s money and setting off nationwide riots that will be held in check using armored assault vehicles and automatic weapons fire.
This is what the government sees coming: A global collapse of the 1+ quadrillion dollars in derivatives debt, causing a runaway cascade of wealth destruction and bank failures. No nation on the planet carries more debt than the U.S. government, making it more vulnerable to a debt collapse than any other nation.
Once a global debt collapse spreads to America, the U.S. government will be unable to sell new debt, meaning it will have no choice but to print currency and start looting private bank accounts just to stay afloat. The value of the currency will be rapidly eroded, causing dollars that people have saved in bank accounts to plummet in value by the day. When the government loots private bank accounts, all hell will break loose in the streets, and a national state of Martial Law will be declared to try to stop the violent riots that will be unleashed in every major city.
The U.S. government, like every other government in the world, is like a cancer tumor in that it would rather kill the host than face death itself. There is no limit to the actions the U.S. government will take in an attempt to keep itself afloat, including confiscating private bank accounts, confiscating gold, demanding all gun owners turn in their guns or be arrested, and even confiscating large sectors of the economy such as the technology sector. Don’t be surprised if the U.S. government seizes Google, for example, and then begins to censor the search results of all websites critical of the government.
All those in society who produce wealth will be told to hand over their wealth to the government. The billions of rounds of ammunition (and armored assault vehicles ordered by DHS) are to be used by the government to make sure the populace complies. Drones will also be used to kill any who resist by firing missiles at their homes or businesses. This is why Obama continues to claim the right to use drone strikes on U.S. soil to target “enemies” of America (meaning enemies of his regime).

How to protect yourself from government theft

As Cyprus clearly demonstrates, we are now entering the era of runaway government theft of private bank accounts. This is a warning sign of deep desperation, and it’s a sign of things to come across the globe. The global debt pyramid is a fictional construct built on a house of cards, and it’s going to come crashing down in a violent, desperate implosion that impacts every nation on the planet.
How can you protect yourself from this theft?

Trade dollars for REAL things now, while you still can.

Here’s my list of real assets that are far more valuable than dollars, Euros or any other currency:
• Farm land with good topsoil and multiple water supplies (more valuable than gold!)

• Heirloom seeds

• Physical gold and silver (not held in a bank, obviously)

• Farm equipment such as tractors and farm implements

• Firearms and ammunition

• Home food production systems (aquaponics)

- see these websites: http://theaquaponicsource.com (has an awesome online course) http://www.backyardaquaponics.com

ORIGINAL HERE.

They Are Becoming Obsolete

harry p.

– February 10, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Freedom, Technology, The Fuzz, Zombie Plan

Youtube has been working to remove this video but it keeps getting uploaded, do your part and copy it, repost it, don’t allow it to disappear. Defense Dist. with the “Cuomo Mag.”

Cody Wilson on AJ’s show, watch it and hopefully you go and “download a mag today.”

He even throws in a little boomer bashin’, I really like this guy.

Schiff and Casey

harry p.

– January 31, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Freedom, Life, Political, Zombie Plan

Great interview of Peter Schiff by Doug Casey. Talk about 2 guys who actually understand how the world works.

The most interesting part is at about the halfway mark where Peter opens up about his dad Irwin Schiff who is what Peter refers to as a “political prisoner.”

Negotiating With “Evil” Is A Fools Errand

harry p.

– January 29, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Freedom, Life, Political, The Fuzz, WPIA

I’ve been a little too busy the last week or so and I find myself just reposting what I read on LRC but the last few days have some really great and/or succinct articles.

This is one such short, to the point rant of 100% truth. There is no reforming or negotiating with evil.

Trying To Reform Government Is Largely a Waste of Time

by Steven Greenhut

Recently by Steven Greenhut: I Put My Life on the Line Writing This Article!

Whenever I speak or write about California’s pension and public debt problems, I always hear from well-intentioned, conservative- and libertarian-minded people who want me to consider their solutions. Most of their ideas – caps on this kind of spending or that, changed pension formulas, public votes, etc. – are sensible enough, but they always miss the main point.

That is, they misunderstand the nature of government. They think that government is an institution that does all these necessary things and can therefore be reformed. But government is a vast force-based enterprise designed to take as much money from the public and give as much of it as possible to the clients of government. It’s a wealth transfer and any genuine services government provides can be done better, cheaper and more humanely in the private sector.

When it comes to pensions, there’s no technical problem. In about three seconds, I can craft a non-radical, extremely modest plan that ends unfunded pension liabilities. Starting tomorrow, public employees no longer receive defined-benefit plans and instead get a 401/k-style plan like typical private-sector serfs. What are they going to do, quit en masse and get private-sector jobs? I hear readers laughing now.

Problem solved. The real problem, though, is not technical, but political. The public-sector unions that run this state, and the Democrats and Republicans who do their bidding, would never allow it. As it is, they fight any tiny reform, even for future workers. So why waste any brain cells thinking about big fixes in a state government where legislators not only resist modest reforms but still hatch schemes to expand benefit levels for the elite class of government employees?

Remember — the main goal of government is to get more for them. California’s Democrats argue publicly that the public pension system is a historic success and that the real problem is the stinginess of the private sector. We have to understand this mindset.

In my experience, the average reform-minded person thinks that legislators and even some government employees will come to support sensible reforms when they realize that we’re only trying to rein in excesses. They think government should operate more like a business.

They think that if we convince enough people about the waste and abuse, they will rally behind our measures and proposals. After all, the current situation is unsustainable and our reforms will save the government from itself. They are as wrong as they are well intentioned.

The truth is government is like rust. It never sleeps. Government grows for its own sake and it has no intention to stay limited. Every bureaucracy, once taken root, will grow as long as someone feeds it.

Whereas private companies celebrate when they spend less to achieve more, government values the opposite things. Have you ever noticed how government always measures its success in terms of how much money it spends? It’s impossible to give government agencies enough money for anything. The more poorly they spend existing money, the better opportunity they have to clamor for more cash: “We never had enough to do the job right in the first place.”

When asked once what he ultimately wanted, a union official replied: “More.” That’s what it’s all about. Unions would rather drive the entire economy over the cliff and bankrupt a city or state than give up anything. Government has no bottom line, no customers and cannot be run like a business. Government operates by force and as a result doesn’t care how unhappy the public is with its services. You don’t like the IRS or local cops, what are you going to do about it? Any business with that attitude would, in the adapted words of Monty Python, be an “ex-business” because no one would go there. Government only has to take your taxes.

Every private-sector job depends on willing buyers and willing sellers. Obviously, people who value free exchange head to the private sector, and the government sector is a magnet for those who operate in an authoritarian kind of world. It’s therefore not surprising when government agencies send out press releases celebrating the huge fines they impose on businesses, as does the California Air Resources Board. It’s understandable why Democratic leaders in Sacramento, for instance, drip with disdain toward the private sector.

One could argue that every dollar given to government would be better put inside an incinerator. Have you ever known an incinerator to abuse someone’s property rights? Do you know any incinerators that get “3 percent at 50″ pensions? Likewise, any effort to reform government is filled with problems. Would you want an IRS that did a better job tracking and monitoring us?

I honestly don’t know what we do about the frightening growth in government power, but I do agree with H.L. Mencken, who wrote: “I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.” Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate the people who want to fix the current system, but they need to remember that government needs to be stifled rather than reformed.

January 29, 2013

Original HERE.

Don’t Worry, Nutter Is On It

harry p.

– January 17, 2013Posted in: Econ/Invest, Flakes, Freedom, Life, Political

Don’t worry everyone, the prestigious Mayor Nutter is on top of things and will solve the gun-violence problem. He knows what he is talking about, Philadelphia is the bastion of safety… just like Chicago.

Nutter Unveils ‘Sandy Hook Principles’ For Investing

POSTED: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 1:36 PM

Mayor Nutter this morning announced something he’s calling the “Sandy Hook Principles” – a list of 20 measures to curb gun violence – that companies making or selling guns and ammunition must support to avoid “economic divestment actions.”

The most likely consequence companies could face would be the withdrawal of any investment from the city pension fund.

The principles, named for the Connecticut elementary school where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults last month, are modeled on a similar approach that placed economic pressure on South African companies during Apartheid.

Nutter also said today that city Solicitor Shelley Smith, who sits on the pension board, would introduce a resolution at a meeting next week for the board to adopt the Sandy Hook Principles.

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel said he would ask all his city’s pension funds to investigate whether they have any holdings in assault weapons makers and sellers, a step toward divesting of those companies.

Funds in several states, including New York and Massachusetts, have begun checking their portfolios for investments in firearm manufacturers as well.

Cerberus Capital Management announced last month that it would sell the Freedom Group – the maker of the Bushmaster rifle used in the Sandy Hook massacre – shortly after hearing concerns from a powerful client, the California teachers’ pension fund.

Nutter’s plan differs because he’s not asking for funds to divest, but to make investments in gun makers and sellers – including retail giant Wal-Mart — contingent upon them actively supporting a list of measures, such as universal background checks on all gun and ammunition sales.

There are 20 principles in all, and most are likely either to be hailed as sensible steps for choking off the secondary black market of illegal guns, or reviled as intolerable attacks on the Second Amendment.

Nutter said he hopes the idea of the principles spreads organically and gets adopted by cities, universities, hedge funds — any organization that holds investments with private corporations.

Original HERE.