Lousy

In case you missed this. I think this all went down last week, but it has returned on the heels of the Congressional cheering fest last night.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

U.S. Bank CEO: TARP program is ‘lousy’

The Business Review (Albany) - by Jennifer Niemela For The Business Review

• Top St. Louis financiers
• Triad banks making plans for TARP as lending slows
• Wachovia Securities gets new name in May
• Sunrise Community Banks buying EastBank
• U.S. Bank CEO: TARP program is ‘lousy’

While government leaders were well-intentioned in setting up the Troubled Asset Relief Program, it’s a “lousy program,” You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

">U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis said at a business leaders forum today.

The U.S. Treasury told, not asked, U.S. Bank to participate in the program, which is a Darwinian attempt to “synthesize” weaker banks into stronger banks through consolidation, Davis said at the forum, held in Minneapolis. U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) sold $6.6 billion in preferred stock with warrants to the U.S. Treasury in November through its capital purchase program.

“There’s no A, R or P in TARP,” Davis said, adding that “troubled” is the only word in the phrase that’s accurate. “The ‘asset relief program’ has yet to occur.”

The problems with the You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

">U.S. Treasury Department’s program are that its goals and rules have changed since its inception last fall, it’s poorly defined and it’s caused collateral damage to healthy banks.

A number of banks with a presence in the Albany, N.Y., area are participating in TARP, including: First Niagara, KeyBank, Bank of America and Berkshire Bank.

So, the Federal government, using its brute force again as it did in forcing bad loans, forced U.S. Bancorp to sell it $6.6 Billion in preferred stock with warrants. This part of the plan of not taking over the banks, I suppose.

Anyway, it is hard to lose money when you can force someone to sell you stock with warrants, but while this crypto nationalization is happening, the feds are also preparing for a high rate of inflation so that it can pay down its (our) debts with watered down money.

So, Bancorp says, "OK, sure," knowing, I assume, the stock will be redeemed at a lower price, i.e. cheaper dollars, resulting in a loss that we have to make up.

However, if the takeover plan is serious, there is no buy out provision, in which the government will do great, getting good shares pre-inflation. When the price is up they can redeem the warrants and, presto, have a bank. People will cheer at the great profit the government extracted.

If a private person did this, it would be criminal extortion, but the government and all its employees seem above the law and common sense. You see, its all part of regulation, that apparently we don't have.

If the latter scenario is in play, then the large banks will become small or go out of business, no matter how the federal government tries to keep them afloat, so they can control them. I think this is called killing the goose.

So, if anyone has no life and finds out if there is no buyback provision, let me know. NB - the problem is, according to Davis, the plan has changed since the Bush administration put it in place.

Anyway, none of this matters as things are rosy, except for the depression.

Wall St Journal: confused yet?

Hooray, maybe

MARKETWATCH FIRST TAKE

FOMC's forecast for recovery is very rosy

Commentary: Growth expected, but Bernanke still worried about depression

By MarketWatch

Last update: 10:23 a.m. EST Feb. 24, 2009

Comments: 263

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, seems to be at odds with his colleagues about how strong the economic recovery may be next year.

The official FOMC forecast calls for healthy growth next year and robust growth in 2011, but the chairman of the Federal Reserve has his doubts that a depression can be averted.

In his semiannual testimony on Wednesday to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke stressed the depth of the economic crisis and the fragile nature of consumer and business confidence, despite the desperate measures that the president, the Congress, the Fed and the Treasury have taken. See full story.

After noting incremental progress in credit markets since September's narrowly averted meltdown, Bernanke warned that "significant stresses persist in many markets."

And he repeated what the FOMC said after its last meeting: "Economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for some time." The fed funds target has been set as close to zero as possible.

Bernanke expressed hope the Troubled Asset Relief Program and Troubled Asset-backed Security Lending Facility, and all other programs over time, "should further stabilize our financial institutions and markets, improving confidence and helping to restore the flow of credit needed to promote economic recovery."

If everything goes right, if the government's actions are successful in restoring stability -- "and only if that is the case, in my view" Bernanke said, "there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery."

But the chairman warned that a lot could still go wrong. "The downside risks probably outweigh those on the upside," he said, pointing to the global nature of the downturn and to the possibility of "the destructive power of the so-called adverse feedback loop, in which worsening economic and financial conditions become mutually reinforcing."

There is no official definition of a depression, but that is as close as any: An economy that is not self-healing but is instead self-destructing.

The FOMC may be predicting 2.5% growth in 2010 and up to 5% growth in 2011, but the chairman is still worried about a depression. A recovery may be the most likely outcome, but it is not the only possibility.

-- Rex Nutting, Washington bureau chief
-----

It may not be a good idea to trust the federal government's projections.

The fat lady is singing

Greg called me about an article on the von Mises Institute's site. It is required reading. Seriously, take the time to take this seriously. Acting too late is reacting, which is to say, you lose. Sometimes, paranoids are right.

I think is was Milton who said some books were for tasting others for digesting. This article is for digesting and, then, preparing. Type on the title for the site, if it is not present. (I never know what is going on technically)

A few out takes:

Anyone who does not understand the magnitude of what is taking place is an economic ignoramus...

The conspiracy of well-placed insiders is now tottering. The whole structure of the national American political system has rested on the solvency of the largest American banks. These banks have all been called into question. They are now gutted....

These scholars agree: we are seeing the bankruptcy of every Western government that has made too many big promises to too many voters regarding free healthcare and guaranteed retirement. All of it will collapse. The tatters of the promises will point to the tatters of those who made the promises — politicians — and the tatters of the system that was supposedly going to guarantee delivery of the promises.

The academics still believe in the healing power of the state. The voters still believe this, too. But voters are catching on more rapidly than the academics that the state is running out of wiggle room. Millions of voters have figured out that they are going to get stiffed. They don't know what to do about it, but at least they understand that they really are going to get stiffed...

We will have another round or two of centralized government, and probably more than one or two rounds of increased monetary expansion. But what we will not have is a restoration of anything resembling the financial world that existed prior to September 2008. That world is gone...

$28 $21

"At the very core of the free-market economy, as Mises said in 1912, is the monetary system."

This is why it is important for you to preserve your assets by not believing the official assurances. Put your money where the experts tell you that you should not put your money. You should take your money out of those segments of the economy into which the experts say you should put your money, claiming it will soon boom. They have ignored the fact that the stock market has been a losing case since March 2000.

Peanut butter and guns are a good way to deal with hyper inflation. I suppose taking out a loan may work, if you don't need one, then watch as the dollars you use to repay the loan shrink.

For God's sake, only a flat mortgage.

Always something

As you know, I was hoping to work on a wind generation project. Unfortunately, the lenders vanished. The Bank of Ireland is now Ireland.

To be honest, although I like the notion of wind turbine energy, there are reality problems and other concerns. Our project had met the financial obstacles, so I thought maybe the zealots would provide a source of investment. Still might.

On the other hand, from Irene, the German experience with playing with turbines and credits:

CLIMATE CHANGE PARADOX

Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals

By Anselm Waldermann

Despite Europe's boom in solar and wind energy, CO2 emissions haven't been reduced by even a single gram. Now, even the Green Party is taking a new look at the issue -- as shown in e-mails obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Germany's renewable energy companies are a tremendous success story. Roughly 15 percent of the country's electricity comes from solar, wind or biomass facilities, almost 250,000 jobs have been created and the net worth of the business is €35 billion per year.

But there's a catch: The climate hasn't in fact profited from these developments. As astonishing as it may sound, the new wind turbines and solar cells haven't prohibited the emission of even a single gram of CO2.

REUTERS

Under current EU law, German wind turbines aren't helping to reduce CO2 emissions. They simply allow Eastern European countries to pollute more.

Even more surprising, the European Union's own climate change policies, touted as the most progressive in the world, are to blame. The EU-wide emissions trading system determines the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted by power companies and industries. And this amount doesn't change -- no matter how many wind turbines are erected.

Experts have known about this situation for some time, but it still isn't widely known to the public. Even Germany's government officials mention it only under their breath. No one wants to discuss the political ramifications.

It's a sensitive subject: Germany is recognized worldwide as a leader in all things related to renewable energy. The environmental energy sector doesn't want this image to be tarnished. Under no circumstances does Berlin want the Renewable Energy Law (EEG) -- which mandates the prices at which energy companies have to buy green power -- to fall into disrepute....

Something completely the same

A note from Irene led me to an article at the American Thinker.

For those of us familiar with Western NY, you may be surprised to learn things are worse than you thought. Read through this sad tale; it is a harbinger. Where does one go?

If you are a Marxist, you can skip the first bit which expresses frustration over what is happening, you won't understand it,  just move down to read about the actual mess in Buffalo and Rochester. When I was younger, Rochester was rated in an analysis of best places to live as No. 1. That was why I thought the ferry idea made sense, the scheme that failed twice. People in Toronto are not interested in going to Rochester. 

I just heard on the radio that in NYC 1% of the people there pay 50% of its revenue. That is 40,000 people. Since these people have been retargeted, you know they will begin to move elsewhere as did Lennon, Harrison and a bunch of others. Then what? My suggestion is we all start planing an exit strategy or a way to vanish before the cross hairs find you. Trust me, the definition of the rich will change rapidly and repeatedly. 

I guess it is a good time for the glacial period to start and put an end to all this misery.

February 18, 2009
The Stimulus will lead America in the direction of Western New York
By Michael Filozof

If you want to know what President Obama's new style of government-led, Democratic Party economic and political policies will bring to the country, you need look no further than Western New York -- and what you'll see isn't pretty. Nearly every item in the Obama economic and political agenda -- from health care to taxes to unions to gun control to government schemes to spend money to "stimulate" the economy -- has already been tried here, but the region remains stagnant and moribund.

The economy of Western New York and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester are, for practical purposes, socialist. The private sector is nearly dead, government is the largest employer, and taxes and union membership are the highest in the nation. As a result, economic growth is nil, and the population continues to migrate to the Sun Belt at an alarming rate.

It would be an understatement to say that the region is a Democratic Party stronghold; "uni-party rule" is a more accurate description. Buffalo has not elected a Republican mayor since 1962. Party registration in Buffalo's Erie County favors the Democrats 150,000. Republicans have been reduced to a permanent minority here, and it's not unheard of for lifelong Democrats - former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra, for example - to switch party labels to Republican only after they could not obtain the Democratic nomination. The Democratic Party also controls the Governor's office and both houses of the State Legislature, along with 26 of the state's 29 House seats and both Senate seats.

Mere possession of a handgun, even in one's home, requires a government permit, which can take up to a year to obtain in some counties. The federal "assault weapons ban" which expired nationwide in 2004 -- but which President Obama promised to reinstate on a permanent basis -- has been codified into state law and remains in effect here.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York State has the highest rate of union membership in the country. Nearly 25% of the workforce here is unionized. Virtually all public sector employees here are unionized, and richly compensated as a result. In 2008, a Buffalo cop caused a stir by milking the overtime and seniority rules to earn nearly $200,000 in his last years on the job, enabling him to retire with a pension of $100,000 per year. Unionized city school district janitors can earn between $70,000 and $100,000 per year. In the private sector, bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi, a major employer in Lockport, is staggering under the weight of its union contracts, and American Axle recently closed a unionized facility in Buffalo.

The public sector dominates here. Data from the Census Bureau in 2004 indicated that there were 95,300 public sector employees in the Buffalo-Niagara Metropolitan Statistical Area out of a total labor force of 547,000; by comparison, only 66,400 were employed in manufacturing and 20,300 in "construction and mining." Only the category of "trade, transportation, and utilities" produced more private-sector jobs - 102,000 - than government.

In 2008, the three largest employers in Buffalo were all in the public sector. The State of New York employed 16,500, the Federal government 10,000, and the City of Buffalo 8,200. Of the top three private sector employers, two -- Kalieda Health with 10,000 employees Catholic Health Systems with 4,900 -- were hospitals, heavily reliant on state and federal aid. HSBC Bank, with 5,800 employees, rounded out the top three.

Health care remains a major employer in the region because the population is aging. Medicare and Medicaid provide substantial funding to the health-care industry. But Medicaid here is out of control. New York's Medicaid system the costliest in the nation, double that of California's. Medicaid here pays for just about everything. Several years ago a public outcry caused the state's Medicaid system to stop paying for Viagra for convicted sex offenders, but it continues to fund abortions.

Things are not much better in nearby Rochester. For decades Rochester was a company town, home of the once-mighty Eastman Kodak Co. But Kodak has been shedding jobs for three decades, and in 2006 the University of Rochester, a non-profit educational institution, surpassed Kodak as the city's largest employer.

The high rate of public employment requires a substantial tax burden to support it. A 2008 study by the Tax Foundation found that 8 of the top 10 counties in the nation with the highest property-tax burdens were in Western New York. Niagara County was ranked number one, Monroe County number two, and Erie County number seven. But residents here do not merely pay high property taxes; the combined state and county sales tax in Erie County is a staggering 8.75%, and the state levies an income tax that averages 5% as well. The state even demands that residents pay sales taxes on items purchased by mail or on the Internet and shipped into New York from other states. The state recently raised nearly 100 taxes and fees to meet this year's budget; even so, Gov. David Paterson is predicting a $15 billion budget deficit for next year.

The enormous sums of money flowing into government coffers gives politicians the means to dictate the terms on nearly everything. Almost nothing here is decided solely by market forces in the private sector. Political operatives spend public money at the behest of favored interest groups, and consequently nearly every idea for "economic development" involves some harebrained scheme carried out by socialist-type planning that invariably fails. [Anyone want a nanotech center, a high speed rail to NYC, or a subsidized chip factory owned by Arabs?]

In 1978, Buffalo began construction on a light rail/subway system. The first portion of the system -- which eliminated auto traffic on Main Street -- was only 5 miles long and opened in 1984 at a cost of $500 million. The system flopped. Planned extensions of the rail line never materialized, and ridership dropped from 7.1 million on 1996 to 5.6 million in 2006. By 2008, even more public money was committed to re-opening Main Street to traffic.

In 2000, some were optimistic about private sector investment when Adelphia Communications Company announced plans for a $125 million office in downtown Buffalo. But by 2002 Adelphia, $2.3 billion in debt, went bankrupt and its principal owners, John and Timothy Rigas, were sent to prison on fraud charges.

The next plan, announced in 2004, was to commit $66 million in public money to entice hunting and fishing retailer Bass Pro Shops to build a 250,000 square foot outlet in downtown Buffalo. Advocates of the plan claimed that the store would bring 3 to 5 million people per year downtown and anchor an "economic revitalization." Nearly five years later, despite the commitment of tens of millions in taxpayer dollars, Bass Pro has not materialized.

Equally ridiculous schemes have been hatched in Rochester. Several years ago, city leaders somehow became convinced that residents of Toronto, a city of 5 million with major league sports, theater, and world-class restaurants, were just beside themselves with desire to come to Rochester, a city of 219,000 with minor-league sports and way off-Broadway entertainment. They solicited bids for companies to run a ferry operation across Lake Ontario, and guaranteed sums of public money to construct harbor facilities for the project.

The ferry was launched in June 2004 -- and went bankrupt by September. The chagrined leaders of the city then decided to use tax dollars to purchase the ferry at a bankruptcy auction for $32.5 million, and contracted with another company to operate the vessel. The project went belly-up for a second time in 2005, forcing the city to sell the vessel at a loss, and pay millions to fulfill other financial commitments related to the ferry.

More recently, a plan was announced in 2007 to commit $50 million in state funds to demolish existing structures in downtown Rochester, which would enable PAETEC Co., a telecommunications firm, to move its headquarters about 10 miles from suburban Fairport to downtown. But by 2008 PAETEC's stock dropped below $1 per share, and the company announced that it was losing millions and would cut more than 200 jobs, putting its new office building plans on hold.

Even the highly-touted "green energy" is present here: Niagara Falls has produced "green energy" for over 100 years, but it's heyday is long past. Today, hundreds of wind turbines dot the hills of rural Wyoming County, but they are not a significant source of either jobs or industry.

Despite these repeated gimmicks to stimulate economic growth, the private sector here has failed to prosper, taxes remain astronomical, and the public "votes with its feet." In 2008, Forbes magazine listed Buffalo as one of the top 10 "fastest dying cities." The previous year, Harvard economist Edward Glaeser wrote an article entitled "Can Buffalo Ever Come Back?" The subtitle was "Probably Not -- and the Government Should Stop Bribing People to Stay There."

Glaeser argued that decades of public spending -- on office towers, sports arenas, urban renewal, and the light rail system -- failed to halt Buffalo's population decline from a high of 585,000 in 1950 to under 290,000 today. The surrounding area has not fared much better; census data shows that the Buffalo-Niagara Metropolitan Statistical Area lost 51,000 people since 2000. Ditto for Rochester; the city's population fell from 328,000 in 1930 to 219,000 in 2000.

People who leave the area tend to head for the low-tax, pro-growth, right-to-work states of the Sun Belt, especially North Carolina and Florida.

But at least the people have someplace to go. If the Obama "stimulus" program replicates the same kind of heavy-handed political agenda and tax policies found in Western New York on a nationwide basis, where will the people go then?

Zealots hiding in Scientists' clothing

I noticed some hoopla from the La. Coalition for Science.

They were in a tizzy because La. decided to allow 'intelligent design" to be mentioned along with evolution in high school science. Their argument is the state got what it deserves as some society won't hold a meeting in New Orleans out of scientific revenge.

The Coalition was happy to say other decisions not in keeping with theirs have resulted in economic damage to other states and that La. can expect more.

Doesn't this bother anyone? 

First, do as I want in the schools or I will hurt everyone. 

Second, others messed with us and they were injured.

Third, obey or be ostracized.

Doesn't RICO apply to this?

The reaction to Louisiana's move bespeaks of something far greater than a disagreement over what is taught in school. The mini scientists want control. Period. They insist science demands atheism, when you cut out the bull crap. 

No one, no one, and again, no one has proven global warming even exists. I can't say I have even read the working definition, it is some vague religious feeling that shifts to climate change when necessary.

There is NO proof of any connection between man and heating, if it even exists. Therefore, the theory cannot be tested. To be science, men in white jackets should be able to tell me what the weather will be, not try to explain what they missed when predictions failed.

Hence, it should not be taught in science class.

The society noted a history of law suits about this subject. Why are they going to Court? Why all the hysteria over a science teacher saying, "Many people believe behind life and evolution there is an intelligent design, a first mover some call God."  Wow, that hardly seems even worth thinking about, unless the idea is to ban God. What if it we suspected aliens? Also, is creationism a religion because many religions follow it?

The claim is that Intelligent Design is not science, and, thus must be banned from science class as religion.  To wit, the Wikki (which was hostile):

The consensus in the scientific community is that intelligent design is not science.[13][14][15][16] The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that "creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science."[17] The U.S. National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have termed it pseudoscience.[18] Others in the scientific community have concurred, and some have called it junk science.[19][20]

Curious. I deal with global-warming pseudoscience below.

Science was developed by religious people. Darwin was a devout Christian. Einstein rejected the new physics because God would not play dice - Einstein expected an intelligent design, not chance. The Pope just said, though it is not news, the the Church has no problem with evolution - it is not contradictory. To the vast majority of people, science is a tool to push toward causes, not a religion to supplant all philosophy and religion.  

I am not sure if it is bad science to teach incomplete information, but it is poor education.  The notion that only science is taught in science is absurd. I was taught Marconi invented the radio. Not only was that not science, it was wrong.  I never heard the word "quark" until long after college. Science, please.

Students are told only the incomplete evolution theory is science, leaving the impression that evolution is a fact floating in space without beginning, proof, or inclusion in other theories.  

If you do not teach something to children, they usually do not accept it as part of the knowledge they must have.  The public schools no longer teach morality, so it does not exist. Children of morally sound parents are subjected to distress because of this. Their child rejects what is not taught in school, unless they have a strong extra-school guidance. Personally, I won't teach in public school anymore because of the degeneration of the population and fear of teachers to offer any resistance. 

The Courts have stopped prayers in the schools because some students will be uncomfortable or see something their parents do not want. This is our Constitutional plan. Yet, this is exactly what the intelligent design parents fear. A religion of small-headed science now is taught and any other ideas are ignored or degraded.  A child is unsophisticated and does not understand the academic distinctions, of the notion "theory,"  being thrown at them. 

As an analogy, Democrats are now gearing up their "fairness doctrine" to stop right-wing entertainers from expressing distasteful things like the relevance of the Constitution.  The ostensible claim is these right wing people should be countered by a left wing person. Of course, since the left cannot survive on the radio, a media devoid of emotional images and requiring logic, the end result will be country music, as the station owner can't have three hours of Alec Baldwin.  

The point is, what is the logic for a need for "fairness" in a media entertainment program that does not apply to school?

I would like a scientist to tell me how DNA was started.  If we evolved from something, what? The whole discussion of life is without any provable cause and effect. Science can't make life, so it can't exist, right?  Ban biology? The whole discussion is stupid. The organization of 'scientists"would bar Darwin from talking, if he mentioned God's nature.

No one has been able to prove evolution is true.  It is a good theory and, retrospectively, makes sense. Its a self-fulfilling theory. There are also huge holes in the theory. For example, the time frames for man's appearance and development, as predicted by evolutionary theory.  When is man going to evolve, anyway?

I recall Aristotle and Aquinas discussed first cause, so I guess we should ban their names being mentioned in science class. (Assuming the teachers ever heard of them.)

Anyway, back away from evolution and think about global warming.  Let me rephrase the wikki:

The consensus in the scientific community is that global warming is not science.[13][14][15][16] The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that "claims of intervention in the earth's climate and fluid dynamics are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science."[17] The U.S. National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have termed it pseudoscience.[18] Others in the scientific community have concurred, and some have called it junk science.[19][20]

Seems the same to me.

No one, no one, and again, no one has proven global warming even exists. I can't say I have even read the working definition, it is some vague religious feeling that shifts to climate change when necessary. 

There is NO proof of any connection between man and heating, if it even exists. Therefore, the theory cannot be tested. To be science, men in white jackets should be able to tell me what the weather will be, not try to explain what they missed when predictions failed.

Hence, it should not be taught in science class. 

QED

If you want to use global warming in a statistics or logic class, to explain correlation does not yield causation, that would be perfect.

"Stimulus" update

I was reading multiple stories about how the House and Senate have passed Obama's spending bill (which it isn't, of course) and Congress has cleared the way for a national stimulus. The stories seem to indicate the Congress worked out various items and agreed on plans.
----------

Photo on the left: Tax Cheat-In-Chief has press conference with little motto to remind the stupid people that Big Brother is on top of things, though there is no detail, people are working on it. At least we are done with that US seal: Office of the President Elect. (Who are these people?)

I can't find a news report of one Senator's observations after Geithner's tesimony yesterday, to bring you a quote. I don't even know who it was. He did say, however, that everyone is now dumber after hearing the fantasy testimony. He finished with: "May God have mercy on your soul." I wonder why I can't find that comment. I will look for it.
--------

Just a quick look:

1. In the House: "The 244 to 188 vote was mostly (yeah, mostly) along party lines, with 11 Democrats voting against the package." That is, ALL Republicans and 11 Democrats voted against it.

2. In the Senate, a different bill which is somehow still Obama's, was approved for mingling with the House: 61 to 37. There were 3 Republicans (if you can call Specter a human), and 56 Democrats. Two independents sided with Dems.

Seems like we have an issue for the future. In toto, Congress voted: Yea: 300 Dems and 3 Repubs.

I recall a few years ago all the efforts the Republicans made to bring the Democrats into the discussion, even setting up equal representation in committees. Morons.

Mr. Obama's comment in Florida about all this was: “Doing nothing is not an option. You didn’t send me to Washington to do nothing.”

From Rasmussen today:

Forty-two percent (42%) of the nation’s likely voters now support the president’s plan

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index for Wednesday shows that 42% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.

Forty Two and dropping, but that won't stop the intelligensia from giving birth to their own albatross. Sure there will be a claim that the plan turned things around, as nature takes it course, but people are not that gullible, though they seem to trust too quickly. On Feb 4, Rasmussen's poll showed 50% of people thought the plan would do more harm than good.

Wonder what that is today?

Let us pray.

What if

What if I am not chronically depressed and things are going to get far worse? I recommend you actually read all this for your families' sake. Indeed, if things really crash and you have prepared, you will profit by the collapse, though that is a hard way to look at things.

I gathered some notions as to how to create a plan, if you are so inclined to panic. What is the point of predicting gloom - just for the hell of it?

It is easy to mull over my grumpy observations as going overboard. Hope so.

What if they are not?

On the right is our money supply. Go here for definitions. However, note the out-of-control M3 that was no longer reported after 2005! I guess we didn't need to know what the banks and brokers were doing. As you suspect, the people who knew what was going on were working hard to hide it in the hope that it would, somehow, go away.

The green part is the real money. That is where we are heading.

First, read over what the Elliot Wave people say.

Excerpted from The Elliott Wave Theorist, January 22, 2009

"As we have long argued, because the current bear market is of one larger degree than that of 1929-1932, the depression it creates will be deeper, which in turn means that the unemployment rate will exceed that of 1933. The peak rate in 1933 was 25 percent. Therefore, unemployment in the U.S. should rise to about 33 percent at the trough of this depression. Fitting this expectation, U.S. job losses in the fourth quarter were greater than at any time since 1945, when World War II ended and defense factories shut down to re-tool. Even after this plunge, however, the 'official' unemployment rate is just 7 percent. But the true unemployment rate, as it would have been measured before the era of government support payments and statistics-fudging such as omitting the number of people who give up looking for work, is currently 17 percent. (This figure is courtesy of John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics at http://www.shadowstats.com.) So we’re halfway there.

"Here is an excerpt from Conquer the Crash [Prechter's New York Times best-selling book]: 'When the bust occurs, governments won’t have the money required to service truly needy people in unfortunate circumstances.' It’s starting to happen: Agencies administering state governments’ 'unemployment benefits' are swamped and running out of money. In a depression, taking funds from healthy companies to pay people out of work is a scheme that cannot endure. Serious suffering will occur when reality strikes and governments are forced to rescind their promises to the unemployed and stop paying them."

Second, Mark S. Watson's blog:

10 Feb

Bullion Sales Hit Record In Rush To Safety - FT
Investors are buying record amounts of gold bars and coins, shunning risky assets for the relative safety of bullion amid renewed fears about the health of the global financial system.(end excerpt)

The key here is that we are not talking about 'paper gold' or ETF's. We are talking about put it in your hand and walk away with it gold. Now I don;t know if you can really get gold at the 'trading price'. I rather doubt it...

Third: From a Watson piece in Freedomwriter blog: The causes of our troubles, putting aside the charts and numbers, are

• Decreasing democratic input into national decision making

• Reduced or non-existent law enforcement on the rich and powerful

• Mental laziness on the part of the general population

• The increasing use of propaganda techniques in national news reporting.

• Plain old graft, theft, fraud and corruption.

These trends are accelerating and the wise should prepare for the coming economic shocks ahead.

Watson is a long-standing voice of warning. I used him because of his prior work.

------------

Things that must be done now for salvation, if worse goes to worst:

1. Delink from the "system." Assume you will have little to no money, soon. Now, you know how to delink because the entire problem is brought on by debt and consumerism. We are servants to mortgages, loans, and taxes; no, not servants - slaves. Time to throw off the chains. Now, as you know, the price of houses do not always go up.

If you can get out of a debt with a small loss, do it. Don't think about waiting because that small loss is like the treasure the bad guy would not release in King Solomon's Mines. It dragged him under. I could go on with detail, but if you just live each day like you will be broke in 6 months, you will get it.

Bank locally. The central banks are the tipping point and will continue to tip. You do not want your credit and debit card to stop being honored, one day.

If you are stuck in a mortgage, better start planing on turning the garage into an apartment. Sorry, but it may come to that.

2. Put away food, water, and items for barter. Recall, money may become irrelevant, as inflation skyrockets and you may lose your income. Seriously, store these items carefully.

Think about reality. What are the real needs, the real luxuries. A chocolate bar could be very valuable if all hell breaks loose, as would rifle ammunition. After food, think heat and power. Think hyper green: insulation, woods stoves, etc. Get that wood, etc. Perhaps, a water filtration system if you do not have your own sources.

3. If you have money, get rid of it. (If you don't - SAVE IT) At least get rid of American money. Buy any silver or gold, if you can find it, but it may be too late. Or, buy Swiss Francs and deposit them, even at 1% you are ahead of the game. Look for silver dollars, etc. I tend to think a nice gold mine stock makes sense. I think one can get Canadian precious metal coins.

You can argue that paying down debts in the future is better because money will be cheaper, that is assuming you have a job to make the payments. Even if this scenario works for you, why keep deteriorating currency? When the government tells you there is a 3% inflation, they tell as though it is the prices that are going up ----- the truth is the money is going down.

4. An interesting item I read all the time is: build your community. Get to know your neighbors as a tight community will hold together. Good time to plan a community cook out. I started watching the TV series Jericho on Joost.com, a sobering look at post-apocalyptic times. Today's Road Warrior.

5. The car is the big matter to deal with today. If there is a big debt, time to sell. If not, it may be time to become a mechanic.

Diesel is a better technology in the Third World. Be aware, if things go south, car insurance will become dear. It is mandated and an easy source of income. So, having extra cars may not be good idea. In all events, don't take out a loan. Buy crap that runs, if you think things are going to be bad. Even if you have cash to buy - wait a little while. Again, only secure a loan if you don't need a job to pay it (probably, the only time a bank will give yo one); then you will be paying down the debt with cheap dollars one hopes is in silver.

6. Change the mindset, the paradigm. It is not easy to be Scrooge McDuck while things seem to be just a little slow, but it may just be time to put off what others think. We do not believe in a collapse. It doesn't compute. Just doesn't happen, which is exactly why it can. The illusion of security and constant growth is secure in our minds and is our enemy. Do what you have to do and do so with a firm purpose.

If you live frugally, the worst that can happen is you save money for use in the future. Not a bad trade off for security.

I am off for a beer.

Obama welcomes Hamas to the U.S.

Some excerpts from another depressing article.

I recall living in NYC as it turned from the busy work place of boring, hard-working, tie-wearing civilized people of the 1950s movies to people who did not understand one should not spit watermelon seeds while in a subway car.

My fear is that, as with NYC and the South, politicians sold their country's souls to get Democratic voters. They got them, alright. I suppose that is success in their view.

It was a short step to push people from being Democratic, whatever that means, to socialist- just appeal to the basest emotions of the pre-industrialized helots.

Just think about the callousness of luring the poor with streets paved with welfare in order to overwhelm the people who pay the taxes. You can see why my generation just left New York. I don't know anyone there. All gone. The inmates are in charge; another nation passes into history, as the plague did not stop there. I suppose one sees it better, having been a refugee at another time.

Now, Mayor Blumberg makes sure his less desirable citizens are moved to places like Amsterdam and Albany. Ever wonder how poor towns became third-world slums? The logic is it makes NYC look better. I suppose it does add Democratic voters upstate, as well.

Never again, will there be a citizenry hesitant to vote themselves money, nor a politician restrained in any way. Prudence and husbandry are mocked. Good people will turn inward and hoard, if not leave. They know they are the target and will slowly become invisible as the riot turns ugly, as it must.

The big change, today, is that the king makes decrees, not leaving things to Congress and the people.

Dr. Paul L. Williams
Pres. Obama Invites Hamas Terrorists to America
February 7, 2009

Bos Smith and Michael Travis contributed to the writing of this article.

By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in migration assistance to the Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

The "presidential determination" which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.

President Obama's decision, according to the Register, was necessitated by "the urgent refugee and migration needs" of the "victims."

Few on Capitol Hill took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.

The charter for Hamas calls for the replacement of the nation of Israel with a Palestinian Islamic state... The leaders of the movement signed the World Islamic Statement of 1998 – a document, penned by Osama bin Laden, which declared war on America and Israel.

President Obama's executive order is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many with ties to radical Islam, to our shores, furthering a process that was inaugurated in 1995 by Senator Ted Kennedy and the Cedar-Hart bill.

Palestinians have an extremely high birth rate. Europe is being digested by population growth.

The article has a bit of history, click on the title, to show you how we have been lied to:

The Kennedy Promise

But, in 1965, Kennedy and company viewed such legislation as pig-headed and prejudicial...Kennedy, being far from prescient, said: "Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any other country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived nations of Africa and Asia...

Forty years after Senator Kennedy made this pledge, Dean Steven Gillon of the Honors College at Oklahoma University assessed the results of the 1965 Immigration Act by noting:

"The US added at least 40 million immigrants after 1965. Before 1965, 95 percent of the new immigrants had come from Europe. After 1965, 95 percent came from the Third World. The 1965 act has transformed American society and had consequences exactly the opposite of what we were promised."

... Noting this, Pat Buchanan writes:

The 1965 Cedar-Hart bill was the greatest bait-and-switch in history. Americans were promised one result, and got the opposite result that they had been promised would never happen. They were misled. They were deceived. They were swindled... What they got was a Third World invasion that is converting America into another country.

...As the Christian Crusade once went East, now the Islamic Crusade is going West. With the East – Asia – closed to Christianity, with Africa rapidly becoming converted to Islam, with Europe rapidly becoming un-Christian, generally today it is accepted that the 'Christian' civilization of America – which is propping up the white race around the world – is Christianity's remaining strongest bastion...(Malcolm X)

These are hard days. The new dark ages are upon us. You can't stop the flood and, although you feel the dike giving way, it is hard to walk away.

It is, however, becoming less difficult with each passing day. There are precious few innocent bystanders to mourn.

Americans have always been optimistic and patient, waiting for a correction, but optimism, hard-work, and faith in the future certainly seem pointless to anyone who can look down the road a few blocks

There is no correction coming, just inflation, taxes, and watermelon pits. Are we to hope for a revolution, a depression? Maybe, that will wake people up? That is not hope, that is the past coming to claim us. That is the least-common denominator of our lesser angels. For a brief moment, mankind showed promise. I suppose it is time to move on, at least, within our souls.

We had a good run, all in all. We just lost the time and understanding to see what our governments were doing to us. Ultimately, it is our fault this is happening, as it is to be expected that politicians are without decency or honor. They kept their part of the bargain.

We let them subvert the Constitution and our traditions, in order to take our money and rearrange out lives, but we didn't miss the Super Bowl.

Have some bread, I will turn on the circus.

New You Can Believe In

Finally, real news. Come back to see the next segment or Joost will carry to to others.

1. New Crisis: Girl Probably Missing

2. Weather Channel Uncovered - Like I have been saying.

3. Olympic Fever

4. Obama's Progress

5. NASA Programs

6. Pentagon Spokesthing

7. Male Hot Zones

8. New High Schools

Then again

Some Perspective: HERE

Wasn't it Beethoven who wrote "Rage Over a Lost Penny"?

Spending Plan unpopular (Sorry, Stimulus Plan)

Perhaps, not everyone is asleep.

There may be no discussion of changing our form of government and traditions in the left media, but there is about the confused spending spree and popular doubts, especially after it seems Democrats only want others to pay income tax.

Any road bump, now, is very important, if one wants to remain free of the central government. We can only hope people will turn off their TVs and catch on. Perhaps, to avoid this the digital transfer deadline was moved to June.

Oh, Mr. Obama said he didn't realize there was a pile of money for condoms in his plan and had the funding removed. He really should read the Pelosi plan in between interviews, if he is claiming it is his "stimulus" package.

I am beginning to think Mr. Obama doesn't understand he has a real job. There is more to being President than having fancy meals, talking nicely to people who hate us, signing orders to fulfill campaign promises, and smiling for cameras. Admittedly, we are in the first month of the new term, but helz a poppin'.

Mr. Obama is well into being overexposed and even fans are going to hear "Bla, bla, bla" when he gives his canned, finger wagging pronouncements. If he keeps it up, people will notice the Internet ads saying he has a 121 IQ, "What is yours?" (How do they know that, anyway?)

That may be a cheap shot. Teddy Roosevelt wrote to his son about what it takes to be a good president. He said it was not intelligence, rather a clear, moral direction and understanding of government. All the rest can be figured out according to a moral standard.

(I can't shake the image of Everyman Homer Simpson trying to listen to something serious and in his head is "bla, bla, bla." I get that way.)

Watch Homer try to vote for Obama: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBaX9GPSaQ

Overexposure is a serious error. He is sticking with what got him elected, but that dog don't something. Also, how do you put the image from Youtube up and keep it active?

The text below is from Rasmussen

-----

Support for Stimulus Package Falls to 37%

Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week. For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure.

Two weeks ago, 45% supported the plan. Last week, 42% supported it.

Opposition has grown from 34% two weeks ago to 39% last week and 43% today.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats still support the plan. That figure is down from 74% a week ago. Just 13% of Republicans and 27% of those not affiliated with either major party agree.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans oppose the plan along with 50% of unaffiliated voters and 16% of Democrats.

Related survey data shows that half the nation’s voters say the plan that finally emerges from Congress may end up doing more harm than good.

The anti package trend is growing rapidly, as the socialist package was not quickly pushed through Congress without anyone paying attention. They tried.

Right now, radio talk shows are howling; generally, print media catches up, after a few weeks. Presently, the talk is about it being ineffective more than a change in the nature of goverment. I really don't think Pelosi cares about effectiveness; that is irrelevant. I also don't think she is a "true believer," as well. Just a hack politician pandering to her curious base. (I would say "deviant," but no one uses the word correctly, anymore.)

A few years back, a nice lady in Wells, Vt was running for the school board, whose job had been gutted by the NY/NJ/MA group who moved to Vermont, like Gov. Dean, seemingly to eliminate local control and shift it to Montpelier. She was running because she once talked to the Superintendent about building plans for the small town and how much money it would cost.

The Super glibly said, "So what, we will just raise taxes." End of discussion.

Now, our 100 year old cabin is assessed at $3,500 a year and we have no police force, no garbage collection, no fire department, no town hall, and a huge school, with a beautiful basketball court, for a few hundred elementary students. When we bought our place, some time ago, of course, the tax was $300 which was higher than most as we have land on a lake, so townies always screw tourists. Now, everyone is being over-taxed.

On the other hand, there is an inferior educational system with poorly paid teachers and older retirees who are getting $15,000. When I was living their, the massive school district, reaches into Rutland, proudly announced someone with a doctorate had been hired - a first.

When I last looked, Vermont had a home-schooling rate of 13% and growing. This was a number of years ago.

Finally, Vermont has one of the highest per capita rates of doctorates and is some 47th in personal income.

Doesn't any get it?

So, if you don't believe me...

Irene sent me a link to Bloomberg.com in response to the last blog. Here are some highlights:


Conclusion: While the U.S. government is resisting nationalizing its biggest banks, Roubini says it will have no choice because they are now “effectively insolvent.” And the outcome may be even worse than even he anticipates if governments fail to take aggressive steps to recapitalize banks and revive their economies, he says: “The risk of a near-depression shouldn’t be underestimated

Roubini Sees Global Gloom After Davos Vindication (Update1)

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By Simon Kennedy

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- At the World Economic Forum two years ago, Nouriel Roubini warned that record profits and bonuses were obscuring a “hard landing” to come. “I really disagree,” countered Jacob Frenkel, the American International Group Inc. vice chairman and former Israeli central banker.

No more. “Roubini was intellectually courageous, and he called the shots correctly,” says Frenkel, whose AIG survives only on the basis of more than $100 billion of government loans. “He gained credibility, and he deserves it.”

This week, New York University’s Roubini returned to the WEF and the Swiss ski resort of Davos as the prophet of the worst economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression - - joining the ranks of previous “Dr. Dooms” who made their names through contrarian calls that proved correct.

Even as he wins plaudits for his prescience, Roubini, 50, says worse lies ahead. Banks face bigger credit losses than they realize, more financial companies will require state takeovers and the world economy will keep shrinking throughout 2009, he says...

‘Catastrophic’

As long ago as February 2007, Roubini was writing on his blog that “the party will soon be over,” and warning of “painful consequences for the U.S. and the global economy.” By last February, his tone had become apocalyptic, raising the specter of a “catastrophic” meltdown that central banks would fail to prevent, triggering the bankruptcy of large banks with mortgage holdings and a “sharp drop” in equities.

The next month, Bear Stearns Cos. failed, to be taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a government-backed deal. Then, in September, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bankrupt, prompting banks to hoard cash and depriving businesses and households of access to capital. The U.S. took over AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index suffered its worst year since 1937...

Roubini was born in Istanbul, the son of an importer- exporter of carpets, and spent his childhood in Israel, Iran and Italy...

International Economics

After a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he earned an economics degree at Milan’s Universita’ L. Bocconi and then his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1988, where he specialized in international economics...

For much of the 1990s, Roubini combined academic research and policy-making by teaching at Yale and then in New York, while also spending time at the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve, World Bank and Bank of Israel.

Roubini returned to the IMF in 2001 as a visiting scholar while it battled a financial meltdown in Argentina. He co-wrote a book on saving bankrupt economies entitled “Bailouts or Bail- ins?” and opened his own global consulting firm, which now employs two dozen economists and publishes a popular Web site and blog.

“Nouriel has a rare combination of economics and the real world, and so has great insight because of that,” says Shiller. “He looks into the details and rolls up his sleeves.”

Roubini says working on emerging-market blowouts in Asia and Latin America allowed him to spot the looming disaster in the U.S. “I’ve been studying emerging markets for 20 years, and saw the same signs in the U.S. that I saw in them, which was that we were in a massive credit bubble,” he says.

Still a Pessimist

With that bubble now popped, Roubini remains more pessimistic than economists elsewhere. The IMF forecasts global growth of 0.5 percent this year and bank losses from toxic U.S.- originated assets of $2.2 trillion. By contrast, Roubini sees the global economy shrinking this year, and banks writing down at least $3.6 trillion -- compared to the $1.1 trillion disclosed so far.

While the U.S. government is resisting nationalizing its biggest banks, Roubini says it will have no choice because they are now “effectively insolvent.” And the outcome may be even worse than even he anticipates if governments fail to take aggressive steps to recapitalize banks and revive their economies, he says: “The risk of a near-depression shouldn’t be underestimated.”Last Updated: January 30, 2009 09:47 EST....

CAVEAT: Caro putridas es!

Translation: BEWARE: You are dead meat!


Some numbers for you consideration. I recommend you carefully consider these real numbers and act accordingly.

No government numbers are consistent, as it is in not in the ruler's interest to properly report all this, per year or currently.
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As you read this, assume the new government will increase spending and tax the "rich" more, as they exempt more and more taxpayers. And, there will be more tax credits and retirements. Thus, what you project from the data given will be much lower than the actual numbers (from a taxpayer's perspective.)
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Item: Some 132 million people filed income tax returns in 2004. (IRS sources)

Of the 42.5 million tax returns (32.4%) that pay no income taxes, 52.9 percent received some form of a refundable credit – either the EITC or the child tax credit. In 2004, Uncle Sam paid out about $33 billion in “refundable” checks to the families and single individuals who qualified for the Earned Income Credit and another $9 billion to families who were eligible for the child credit.

Item: 2007 Federal Employees: 2,730,050 (full time 2,462,127)

This will be raised by 244,000 as part of the Obama plan.

Thus. some 3,000,000 people will be employed by the Federal Government, if not already. Also, there will be a wave or retirements as boomers move along.

Of course, net production to the country: $0 (save the line that they perform services or protect us. They still produce nothing and are not asked to.) They are paid from by those who are taxed.

Item: Number of state and local workers in 2005: 15,788,784

The number of teachers and welfare workers is greater than all others combined.

Item: Number of governmental employees (no production of revenue): today is, approximating and including Obama's numbers, 20,00,000.

It can be argued they pay taxes, but they receive their income from producers. That is, the producing taxpayers also pay their taxes.

Item: public service employees earn far more that private. Union member ship is 32% vs. 7%, and falling, in the private sector. From a Michigan based blog:

"But the fact is, as the Mackinac Center study points out, state government also tends to pay more for the same job than the private sector. The range of the costs for salary and benefits for a receptionist in state government in the Mackinac Center study was $42,200 to $59,700 per year. For the same position, the study said, the Lansing Chamber of Commerce would pay $30,200 to $34,400 in salary and benefits." [and expect real work.]

Item: 135,000,000 taxpayers (est.) - 20,000,000 (government workers) - 45,000,000 (no tax due) = 70 million who carry the tab. One should factor in credits to those who don't pay taxes.

Item: 2007 state income taxes, average, per taxpayer is 6.47% or $2,493.

Item: Real estate prices have dropped 12.6 percent since 2006, there fore the tax rate will be raised by local government to meet this "shortfall" as the mob might think of it. This will result in a further fall in price values. You know the governments will increase spending. When things stabilize, prices will rise and the government WILL NOT lower the rates (never happened, never will), so you can expect your taxes to increase dramatically as value returns. (PS: Syracuse actually increased 2%)

Item: Sales and excise tax collected per person is approximately $1,500.

Item: CIBC (Canada) projects a quick USD deflation, followed by an inflation of more than 4% in order to pay down debts. Thus, your money in the bank will devalue 4% per year (or much more) if you keep it there. Right now, it is losing 3%.

Inflation will be further stoked by growing oil supply crunch

TORONTO, Jan. 23 /CNW/ - CIBC (CM: TSX; NYSE) - To pay for its multi-trillion dollar bailout and stimulus packages, the Obama administration will print money at an unprecedented rate, a course that will drive up inflation and drive down the greenback while shifting a large part of the financial burden onto foreign investors, finds a new report from CIBC World Markets.

The report predicts that like Argentina in the late 1980s and Zimbabwe today, the U.S. government will simply create more money to fund its plans...."Already U.S. money supply is growing at a nearly 20 per cent rate in the last three months and the printing presses are just warming up. And there's no shortage of more troubled assets to monetize along with $1.5 trillion-plus federal deficits to keep money supply growth chugging along in the future....

Item: The IRS is now going after anyone with more than $10,000 in a foreign bank account who does not report it (and pay taxes.)

Before 2004, the maximum fine for civil violations was $100,000, small change for those with millions of dollars or more hidden overseas.

But provisions in the USA Patriot Act aimed at stopping the financing of terrorists raised the maximum civil fine to $100,000 or half of the amount in the account, whichever is greater.

Criminal penalties are as high as $500,000 or half the account balance, and up to 10 years in jail. (International Herald Tribune)

How long before it is illegal? The government will want you to be stuck with your money here, like all other third world countries.

Item: WJS, 1/9/09:

Yesterday, the congressional budget office released its projections for fiscal year 2009, expecting a deficit of $1.2 trillion, or 8.3% of GDP, a postwar record by either measure. However, those numbers don’t include any outlays from the expected stimulus package. The projections also only include provisions under current law, so could be expanded by more spending on Iraq and Afghanistan as well as provisions such as another patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax. Some economists estimate that the actual deficit could approach $2 trillion this year.

Item: 2 trillion dollars spread out over the 70 million who pays taxes is tax burden of $28,571 per taxpayer just for 2009.

You are the target, plain and simple.

Your only remedy is to stop buying and borrowing and put you money into something safe, which is to say not US dollars or the bank. Keep under the radar, as the enemy will be looking for you.

To keep a nice savings account in your bank is, well, foolish. This is why you see "We Buy Gold" commercials all over. If you want to just store your money, do it in a sound country, but do not put more than $10,000 in any one account. (The enemy is looking for you). When comparing interest rates, don't forget the coming inflation will take off, at least, 4%, if you stay here.

If you see a rapid deflation, ACT as though there will be an inflation - buy something with inherent value - fast. Get the bargain. Don't get caught with dollars sitting in the bank.

Recall our founding fathers, if you feel uncomfortable with acting as though you are an investment banker: Taxation without representation is tyranny.

If this does not terrify you, then never mind.