Professorlocknload
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” We ourselves don’t grasp the spirit of our time.”
Oh yes we do, some of us, at least. The spirit of the day is driven by fear of what happens without the perceived security of the nanny state. Liberty has been long ago traded for that security. As I observe masses lining up in front of Apple stores today, to gleefully voluntarily purchase the latest Leviathan issued personal tracking device, I realize how effective Bread and Circuses are as an incentive to fall in line behind Pied Pipers.
Even a California secession ballot initiative has been stopped in it’s tracks by state election regulators. “Vote Counters” if you will. But of course, it can’t be allowed to gain enough traction to proceed to the point of needing to adjust the outcome of an election, for seasonal factors, mind you. Or maybe political hedonics?
Again, any government big enough to give you what you want, is big enough to take everything you have,,,including your right to choose. Just as the militarized police believe they have been granted consent to pump 25 rounds into a “suspect”, the very government they work for has now assumed (rightly so?) it has absolute consent of the “governed” to wrest control from them for their own good.
So, continue scampering off to the polls, begging the state to allow you to pull the levers in bought and paid for, predetermined outcome, elections. By doing so, are you not simply reinforcing the consent you have granted your masters to select and screen the limited choices offered you?
Somehow, I don’t think the phrase ” The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” had anything to do with asking permission to register to vote.
Buy, hey, turn in that gun and “we” will grant you safe passage.
Nothing to fret about, it’s too close to call,,,,https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-18/what-happens-when-scottish-voters-give-it-their-110-according-cnn?page=1
MH 17. It’s fate has already been decided. The final marketing package has not been prepared yet. The political engineering associations in the State Department and Capitol Hill are working on it.
8×10 color glossies will be released in a year or so, after most of the remaining conflicting evidence is disposed of, and short memory spans purged.
“Good luck to all.”
Yes. Luck is all we have left to believe in here on planet gulag.
Elections do bring out the believers in Statist fairy tales. As Boris on ZH says, Diebold or die trying.
But, polarization it is, as dualistic thinking folks adopt the talking points of their perceived benefactors.
Of course, after the election is over, and both sides of the voting coin begin to realize they were duped, amazement sets in, as they all declare, “We had such high hopes for this politician or that outcome. How could we have been so betrayed?”
And the State wins!
Why? Because it seems universal, that most all vote for the lesser of two evils,,,admitting they vote for evil.
Critical thinkers are always trumped by mob mentality and electioneering hysteria, because the establishment convinces the populace it’s vote is too valuable a thing to waste on fringe candidates and untried ideas. So, it only provides choices from within it’s realm.
Round and round it goes until another populist arises and smashes it all to bits.
But for sure, zander, though I understand your frustration, I learned a long time ago that no politician has ever had my best interests at heart. That I must break free of the popular delusion that organized government is anything but evil, and that I must rely on myself, to what ever extent possible, in the end, if I value any semblance of peace of mind.
Ps. don’t lurk too long. Debate and resistance to totalitarian elements are all that is between us and assorted mushroom clouds simultaneously fogging up the atmosphere.
Ha! ISIS seeks Lone Wolves as terrorists.
I wonder what the administration had to do to get that one distributed?
Who knows, maybe someday Americans will elect a Nobel Peace Prize winning President, and military interventions and wars will end,,,,oh, wait?
Americans must vote against Bail Outs for Wall Street. Never mind. They happened anyway. Americans must vote to keep the US military out of Syria. Never mind, they were over ruled, and their minds changed by State Department encouraged Mass media presentations of beheadings. Like the 101 youtube vids presented by Kerry, only on steroids.
Scotland May vote however it wants. It makes no difference. The vote will be over ruled by those with a vested interest in doing so.
True, bluebird.
But “all at once” can take decades. Likely at least a couple generations from when participation goes from “voluntary” to mandatory. When you see armed military troops in front of the banks, figure it has only begun.
As I said somewhere else on here, what is and has been taking place since 2008 is Nationalization of the entire US economy. Our rulers have been enamored with the Chinese “Miracle” of “Government Controlled Capitalism” which isn’t Capitalism at all.
Imagine the visions of absolute power circulating through the halls of elite political institutions about now.
“If history teaches anything, it is that government cannot be trusted to manage money.”
Credit expansion= Dilution of currency.
Go all in the long bond if you still believe in deflation.
Not me.
“I think what youve misunderstood is that Ilargi is saying the fund rate will rise, not the treasuries.”
True,,,at first. A yield curve inversion would most likely eventually result. The short end of the curve would begin rising until the 2’s rise above the 5’s rise above the 10’s etc.
What I read in the scribbles of BS coming from the planners is, QE isn’t ending by a long shot. It’s just changing it’s spots in a kinder gentler happy face kind of way, and going to be directed at Main Street. All the “living wage” headlines out there indicate this too. Next up, massive strikes and minimum wage hikes.
Book this. The Fed MUST get wages goosed to complete the devaluation cycle. They will, or they will die.
Besides, maybe they see a jump in sales activity in gardening implements, such as pitch forks, in their statistics, and would prefer to temper those numbers, lest they become too big to fail?
Jal,
Yessir. The anointed passing the hat? Ha! Gross has a lengthy tome under Ilargi’s great piece on ZH, that lays out the usual Trickle Down meme of Keynesian nuttery, mainly that stuffing the banking system with free money will somehow fill it up to the point it will begin lending again, firing off Main Street, and all will be well. Well, $4 trillion later and the “Laggard” wages haven’t caught fire yet.
Seems the demographic element entering retirement now, coupled with those “Consumers” who have been living on credit this last half decade, waiting for hope to save em, coupled with those who are still traumatized by the shit storm that hit ’em in the house and stock part of their well being around 08′ are just not lined up to do it all again. Many were burned, most are deeper in debt than before.
Add the assorted implosions in Euro land, the disorder in China, and the sanction lunacy spreading around the planet.
So, the laggard, wages, are down for the count. Trickle down isn’t trickling any longer. Joe 6’er isn’t a team player here. The only way the Fed is going to ignite this thing now is full on, maniacal double throw down direct distribution of free money to downtown heartland America.
This is the short version of why I can’t see rate rises now. Or anytime soon. Call me dense, or what ever else will roll off like water off a ducks back, but the Ten Year looks pretty good, just a little bit longer. Guess I can do a cardboard sign if I’m wrong.
If there is even a remote hint out there in the ” New Plateau” of the Bond Market, of an inversion of the yield curve anytime soon, the ash cloud will make the eruption of Mt. St. Helens look like a backyard BBQ. Stawks may join the soirée, as well.
If Granmma Jan is going to tinker around with the FF Rate, and boost it even 1 basis point here, she better have her apron on, cause there might be cookie dough hangin’ from the rafters.
On the other hand, after she is finished apologizing, and exclaiming she will never again let such thing happen on her watch, until the CPI is well into double digits, what happens to Capital on a 10 year bond when rates go to zero or negative? Yup, it goes up!
So, Gramma Jan? Do you feel lucky?
On the deflation front, how can rates go up when the real return on a security is actually positive at zero or below in a scenario of deflation?
…and because absolute power corrupts, absolutely, it’s corruption brings it’s demise. Because when it is finished eating everything in it’s path, it feeds on itself until it is consumed.
Like an inverted pyramid, central power becomes top heavy, and collapses of it’s own weight. Just a long cycle, nothing more. One can stand ones place at waters edge on the beach at low tide, or step back and stay dry.
https://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=George+Soros
George is rich because he deals in political influence. He buys and sells elections. This one included.
Somewhere in this PR release, there is a personal financial motive for him.
Still, elections don’t matter. Executive privilege will simply over rule unfavorable outcomes,,,the ones that couldn’t be manipulated, that is.
In the end, Scotland isn’t going anywhere, unless it wants to bring the wrath of US made explosive ordinance down on itself. Oh, and a dollop of economic sanctions.
The Pentagon is a British ally, no?
Time wasted, that spent on things than just won’t be allowed to happen. Like oil wealthy Texas seceding from the US MIC, or oil rich Scotland from the English MIC. Makes for nice diversions, though.
Speaking of assorted oil wealth entities, and international Military/Industrial Machinery, where are George’s Investments these days?
chettt,
What can’t be paid back, won’t be.
Next thought is, will the upcoming Civil War in those parts be as bloody as the one in the US, when legitimate secession was squelched by the Yanks?
John Day,
Interesting plot. Plausible, even. Something not only Hollywood might appreciate, but even the State Department could love. Heck, one could even imagine simply buying a cheap R/C airplane at a hobby shop, equipping it with a slowly dripping container of Ebola laced liquid, and flying it over a crowd, like Times Square, or some festivals in various locations.
Terrorism is the most inexpensive warfare on Earth. Expect it to flourish.
Oh, and Joe Biden chasing ISIS to the gates of Hell is for a cause. To convince them to accept more funding. They make a fun enemy for today’s breed of US “Leadership.”
Diogenes,
But just think of the redistribution of wealth made possible with Financialization of the Climate itself! And any results of the “change” brought about by the good work of Wall Street and the Taxing Authorities can’t be seen or measured. We will just have to take their word for it.
Smart move on the part of Authority, though. It’s always easy to rile the gullible and the superstitious into doing their bidding.
PT Barnum lives.
The people who cast the votes can always be trumped by those who count them.
We’ll soon know if Scottish Independence is advantageous, or dis-advantageous to the folks who run the election, by the manipulated outcome.
My guess is the No Votes will “overwhelm.” See, we live in an age of consolidation of State power, not the other way around. And elections are run by the State.
Sorry to clutter up the comment section, but one more thing.
I find myself in agreement with the Fed here, though for ulterior reasons. Why in hell would anyone hoard depreciating fiat Federal Reserve Notes?
Forest Gump had a say’n ’bout that.
Re;
Ken, Raleigh and Arnold,All right on.
What the Fed has done here is Nationalized the entire economic system, without even uttering the word. In routs past, the word was splashed in neon. And the stigma of the mistakes made still stands today.
Folks standing in food lines back in the day were quicker to lash out at the scapegoat, which was markets, and demand their “trusted” government go “git them evil Capitalists.” Where today, with the Internet Reformation, the real culprits, governments and their Central Banks, are readily identifiable. So said culprits must, and have, used stealth as policy.
Really, what was TARP, if not the first moves of a Coup d’état?
Diablo,
An anecdotal example of debt related to oil, in the mini-micro sense.
I bid a job that will require 100 gallons of diesel to complete. My fuel jobber gets anal and wants the money up front. I don’t have the money because I just bought a shopping cart of groceries 😉
So, I borrow $400 bucks to buy the fuel, at interest, to complete the project.
Multiply this by millions of operatives who rely on oil and credit to maintain cash flow.
I think the distinction lies in the difference between good productive credit and bad consumptive credit, maybe?
Like, Joe 6’er takes on $67,000 in debt, to buy a fancy truck with which to tow his jet skis to the lake, using his Visa card to fill all the tanks. Not much return on that. Not that I mind ol’ Joe doing that, just so he doesn’t come to me to pay for it. Because I use resources more frugally, for productive endeavor.
As a matter of business sense, my truck doesn’t go cruising on credit. It goes only on profitable “drives.”
Diablo,
Yes, this Jubilee should have been allowed to cleanse the system in the first place.
But Rule of Law was circumvented in spite of public protest, as a direct violation of Contract Law, if favor of redistribution of all losses directly to the public.
ie; A direct assault on the Constitution, the Law of the Land. Now that that cat is out of the bag, pretty much anything goes, here in the land of the Rule of Man. Or should I rephrase, the Rule of THE Man?
Caviat Emptor.
Bottom line, again. No one is coming to save you. You are on your own. Stop wasting time encouraging the planners with your “votes” and begin looking inward for blames and answers.
The day after every election you are no longer a prospective member of the Red White and Blue Club. (Name the colors of your own mob rule democracy) You are flat out rejected. At that point you will have served your purpose, until called upon again in the next election cycle.
Now, think of all the things you could have been spending all that time and resource on instead?
Or, just wander off in the haze of Hope and accept that even Gulags offer some semblance of security. You don’t need to worry about the Tax Man.
Free markets require Liberty.
Liberty requires sacrifice. Those ignorant of that, the vast majority, are not willing to understand it.
They will therefor trade Liberty for whatever their Statist captors offer them. Of course, the largess being transferred to them is their own, just redistributed from ” others” at first, then later taken from all, in an attempt to sustain the power structure.
As they storm the polls, granting consent to their very oppressors in every election, in exchange for bribes.
And when the game is up, after the currency is destroyed, the inevitable reset is War. The only form of redistribution that is “Patriotically Correct.”
Back when money was real, debt was denominated in reality. It had value, and a price. Today, with losses socialized, debts value is moot. It is denominated in bullshit. Therefor, it is of no value. There is no price to pay for profligacy. No sacrifice, as it were, for mis-allocation of resources.
But, most will continue to demand that their governments do something.
And they will get exactly what they deserve.
Blaming debt is blaming the symptom. The real trouble began when the ownership of, and value determining functions of, money, was transferred from the people to the State.
Humm? Could that be called Collectivism? The “collective” handing over it’s very livelihood to central planners?
A wall? What politically connected US Corporate entity will get the contract on that?
Will it be high enough to prevent aircraft passing over it? Or deep enough to stop gophers digging under it? Or thick enough to resist being breached by a 500 lb bomb, in a split second?
And will anyone who wants to defect in either direction be able to simply buy a day visa at the gate, like on our southern border?
Ha! I can hear Vlad now, “Mr. Obomber,,,tear down that wall.”
There ya go, Stiglitz. Capitalism (Economic Freedom) needs more government and corporate meddling to destroy it’s efficiencies.
If millions of market participants were free to choose, they wouldn’t need you around now, would they?
“Monsanto will end up killing off some of the most fertile soil on the planet.”
C’mon, Ilargi,
Monsanto and Corporate Cohorts have spent big money arranging that breakdown in civility, so they may slip their brand names into the region.
Here is the key. Really.
https://www.acting-man.com/?p=32640
We have now been warned by these strategically placed news bits from Wolf and the CFR. These releases are intended to get the better placed out of harms way, as well as “talking” up the idea to gauge initial reaction.
QE ends, direct cash infusion begins.
We don’t yet know in what form, but it’s coming.
Looks as though the Fed understands the consumers tendency toward saving after all. Demand side is the new tact. Those who place bets early will be rewarded. The old cliche “You snooze you lose” will be making a come back now.
Oh, there will be “Growth” again. BIG growth. The likes of which will astound. That’s why they call these things Crackup ‘Booms.’ Anyone here had a look at that ISM print?
Time for me to get out of cash and into anything real. And no, it’s not different this time. It’s all just on a grander scale. Deeper dips, higher peaks. We have at minimum, one more cycle to go, before the Buck and it’s owners self destruct.
I do believe the train is pulling out of the station, finally. Unless, of course, one wants to fight the Fed, and actually believes they will allow deflationary default to occur. Not my cup of tea, but go for it, if it makes you feel good.
Could the title of the above article be a contrarian indicator? In a convoluted sort of way? Like a bottom call extraordinaire?
Janet might try a “Firing for Effect” move in the FF Rate, (what her jawboning has been about) just to see if it stirs the “Quick, borrow and buy before it gets away forever” crowd.
But I’m not sure she understands, that in addition to insane levels of debt, we are in a different demographic aging stage than we have been during past reset operations. That, and robotics and other technology are in the process of displacing human labor.
Another thing different about “this time” is, a .25 increase in the FF rate is a doubling. The Fed has most likely found another way to pump trillions of newly created currency into the system, to even suggest such thing. If not, they might be surprised.
The Fed isn’t going to give up and stop pushing on the string. In fact, in my view, the Fed has cornered itself politically, and will do as incumbent pols direct,,,or, it will be disposed of.
On being asked about TPTB strategy, some time ago, I think it was Kyle Bass who answered “They are going to kill the dollar.” ‘Cause, see, that’s what all the debt is denominated in, so it must be the problem.
Be looking for the New-New Deal, by Executive Order and popular demand, both barrels, and all that it entails.
Book it.
It’s all in the Yard Gnomes speech on who owns a printing press, and who isn’t afraid to use it.
Here’s a plausible outcome, given the present political environment.
Imagine three or four big assed Military Industrial Complexes competing with each other to see who becomes Dr. Strangelove.
Can’t have Free Market Capitalism without Capital. Real Capital, not government issued IOU’s posing as money. Or even government intervention in the economy of any sort, outside of judicial enforcement of contracts.
Continuing along the present course is like suggesting Liberty exists best in captivity.
Bad money has driven out good. Case closed.
Rulers, having chosen devaluation, default by stealth, over logical repudiation-of-the-debt default, we wait for the inevitable destruction of the currency. Who knows what then,,,but I’m sure the CFR and their Pentagon will have some fine suggestions.
What we really have is a government induced purge of the Middle Classes. The bottom third live for free while the top third do to. It’s the middle third, the producers, who question it all, that present a threat to the establishment.
Upon finally being discovered, the rulers now only have one choice. The last piece of the puzzle is rapidly rising nominal personal income. That, or out come the guillotines.
If 50% are on the dole, give ’em all a 50% raise. It’s only free money, what harm could come of it? And it will all end up back at the top anyway.
This is really quite possibly how they think. Besides, when the consequences hit the streets, they know they can just step aside, or join the neo-Third Reich that rises from the ashes
If the Treasury/Fed, and they really are one in the same, must cut a check for $50,000 for each American resident, they will do so. Whatever it takes.
Literally! Whatever!
Anyone out there still believe deflation is even remotely possible?
So, but of course, the problem is in measurement. Maybe the Fed should go on the metric system so it can sell us liters for the same price as gallons?
Of hobbits and garden gnomes,,,I’ll never look at yard slob art the same!
Who is to be the pink flamingo?
Ha! Garden gnomes, indeed! Love it!
Falling costs in batteries, solar cells, oil? Why that’s deflationary. Quick, let’s get some price support legislation passed, along with higher taxes on energy, so the wars can continue to be financed.
If, in fact, oil goes to $150 from here, it will likely be due to a 50% devaluation in the buck. Devaluation which has already taken place, just that it hasn’t trickled all the way down to the pump yet.
Of course, bouts of social engineering for votes and profit might tweak the flow a bit, but in the end, the debt gets devalued.
On fuel economy standards, hell, put ’em all on scooters, and impose gas tax increases, to be allocated to Obamacare, to offset the additional costs incurred by those less balanced falling off of them. But, naturally, .gov will keep the suburbans. Essential personnel, mind you?
Absurdity rules the day when authority displaces market forces in determining outcomes. If leviathan stepped back, and energy was again allocated to it’s most productive uses, with no subsidies or protections, all would reach equilibrium again.
But, no-oooo-o,,, we need the same government that made this mess to “do more.”
It will.
Yeah, sure, MIC and Wall St have pumped big bucks into political influence,,,but ya gotta give some credit for the mess we’re in to those who’s best interest lies in voting themselves largesse from the public till, as well.
Liberty requires sacrifice. As all powerful central government has replaced personal responsibility, sacrifice has become a fools game.
And also, for sure, Jal, “Terrorism” on the part of special interests, governments and underdogs will certainly continue, and accelerate, as the most economical means of furthering agendas, as all parties abandon the sacrifices and ethics necessary for respect of “The Rule of Law” and proceed into the abyss of mob rule.
Thanks, Ilargi, for guiding TAE a tad more toward the reality of what is, from the earlier meme of what we would like it to be. It’s always best to know thine enemy, in order to don the gaiters and prepare the snake bite kit, than to believe the snake won’t bite if we can just show it logic and reason.
Rising rates and home prices? I can remember many periods when rates were from high single digits to 14+%. And home prices rose.
In periods of severe currency devaluation, real estate takes on hedge characteristics. “Location, location, location” turns to “leverage, leverage, leverage.”
By the time “snooze you lose” becomes cocktail party talk again, it’s game on for interest rate rises and RE price rises, in tandem.
I believe we have one more final boom left in this thing. Only a matter of time.
The Fed hasn’t begun to really dig into it’s bag of tricks yet.
