Physics Defeats PLATITUDES

I stole that title from Doomberg.

There are reasons why we are living in this world:

If you decide that you will, as a governmental policy, do what feels good: "fight Climate Change", instead of what is required to run a first world society, you will get a hard lesson in physics.

In order to charge your iPhone, drive around town, fly to your vacation, or flip a switch and turn on the light - you need energy.  If your choice of energy is 'carbon free', then you need what are being called 'renewable energy': namely wind, solar and battery power.

There are two things we are paying for because we don't understand physics.  In order to be 'carbon free' via batteries and renewables, those materials have to be mined from the earth.  The main ingredients for batteries are:

• Copper
• Nickel
• Cobalt
• Lithium
• Graphite

The second thing we are paying for is a lack of investment in fossil fuels during the recent past.  Energy is measured in BTU's, and without enough 'juice', our modern world can't run.  It feels good to say we need 'green' energy, but it isn't realistic, and physics will trump platitudes every day of the week.

Massif Capital just came out with this dirty little secret in its latest letter (emphasis mine):

"The dirty little secret no one tells you is that the carbon free economy is not free of environmental impact, the impact is just different. Your Tesla requires the mining of 90,000 lbs. of material to extract the necessary ore for 1, one-thousand-pound battery. We are not getting rid of environmental impact; we are changing the impact we are having. An important distinction people fail to recognize.

This is an important under-discussed reality. It is well understood what the possible outcome of raising temperatures caused by GHG emissions are, but no one seems to want to discuss the impact of the widely accepted solution. Another example from our paper Failure to Impact:

Building a single 100-MW wind farm requires 30,000 tons of iron ore, 50,000 tons of concrete, and 900 tons of nonrecyclable plastic.[1] A 100 MW solar development requires cement, steel, aluminum, and glass 150% greater than the wind farm.[2] The 1,000-pound lithium-Ion battery one would find in most electric vehicles requires roughly 25 pounds of lithium, 30 pounds of cobalt, 60 pounds of nickel, 90 pounds of copper, 110 pounds of graphite, and 400 pounds of steel, aluminum, and various plastic components.[3] In total, mining firms will need, on average, to extract about 90,000 pounds of ore to produce that volume of useable material, much of which will be extracted using mining trucks that can haul 400 tons of material in a single load and get a sporty 0.3 miles per gallon of diesel."

What this means for the regular person is that our unserious leaders have no idea about physics, nor do they have any idea where stuff comes from.  Not mentioned above is solar energy.  Where is the polysilicon that makes up solar panels coming from?  There are 3 poly silicon plants left in the USA.  China has a stranglehold on that industry now, as the Globalists have hollowed out the manufacturing base here in the U.S.

The so called 'green' movement is continuing to make everything more expensive for you.  Doomberg will provide you with one more example regarding oil:

That was posted in January 2022.  I work with someone who thinks that her high gas prices at the pump are from "greedy oil companies".

I took a shot at explaining to her that those "greedy oil companies" have been blocked at every turn by screeching environmento-malthusians who have zero concept of what it takes to make things work.

I made no progress.  You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Anyway, as you can see from above, the obstruction of oil and gas continues.  Things will continue to get more expensive, and eventually gas here in the USA will cost $6.95 a gallon.

That's going to hurt.  But, as Doomberg tweets regularly about how long it will take to make things change: "More pain required."

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The NWO Takes the L

The cracks in the Globalist Rules Based Neoliberal Order (or whatever the current nomenclature is) keep widening and increasing.

Here's one of the biggest shifts, courtesy of Irina Slav, a great writer on the energy markets:

The International Energy Agency is one of these globalist outfits, along with the World Economic Forum, Bank of Int'l Settlements, the UN, who are the ones who we are supposed to look toward for the 'right' information, and in the IEA's case, about energy.

The IEA has, every year except 2020, underestimated the demand for hydrocarbons, particularly oil.  They are always telling us that because of the so called 'green' agenda, the need for oil will subside.

It's almost as if they think if they say it enough, it will come true.

Eventually, reality intervenes.  We are seeing that now.

"Then came the COP26 conference where large oil and gas consumers raced to outcommit each other on emission reductions. Biden’s SPR oil releases started and failed to make a lasting difference in petrol prices. Then Russia invaded the Ukraine and the West started pouring sanctions on Moscow. The oil-producing part of the East, meanwhile, kept quiet and distanced itself from outright public condemnations.

And then, after the latest series of calls for more oil, it appeared that OPEC had had enough.

"I think in COP 26 all the producers felt they were uninvited and unwanted but now we are again superheroes, it’s not going to work like that," the UAE’s Al Mazrouei said earlier this week, as quoted by Reuters. He then went on to explain that OPEC+ needed to replace some 5 to 8 million barrels of oil production daily just to keep output at current levels.

Separately, speaking to CNBC, Al Mazrouei said it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain order on the oil market and boost production in line with demand.

“For that to happen, we need resources – financial resources – we need to invest and we need to decouple politics from energy availability and energy affordability,” he said."

Here's what happened.  For years, you had everyone demonizing oil and gas.  The Corporate Press, Social Media, and the NPC's (see previous post), were howling about 'clean energy', the 'green' agenda, 'zero emissions', and 'divestment' in the energy sector.  The NY State Teacher's Retirement System made a big show of divesting from oil and gas companies.

Fast forward to today.  Demand for energy is raging.  The COP26 rhetoric is meaningless and forgotten. The EU needs energy - badly.  As demand rises, supply has been curtailed because of the lack of investment.  In other words, the energy sector has been starved of capital, unable to explore or drill, and been told that its product is obsolete.

I'll let you in on a little secret. You will be using oil for the rest of your life.  So will your children. 

Now that prices are skyrocketing, the same people who demonized hydrocarbons have shown up, angry that the supply is low, and prices are high.

OPEC + has simply said we're not taking it anymore.  They started this week by jettisoning the IEA as a source of anything.  They don't even want it to count barrels, or project demand.

Neither China, India, Iran or Russia are on board with the Laptop Class' obsession with renewables.  They are all building more capacity for Oil, Gas, and Nuclear.  They don't care what the weirdos on Twitter have to say.  The irony is that Twitter won't work without electricity.

The battery powered cars, and green energy clownishness not only won't work, it can't work.  Renewables don't produce enough power, and never can.

Every time you think batteries and a 'green' world, think of this image:

The NWO keeps taking losses.  This is a great thing.

UPDATE:

Bison Interests just recorded a webinar on The State of the Oil Market.  Put it under the heading of "Reality Therapy".

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I also sell custom made mugs. I'll do personalized orders as well. They are all made in the United States - in Pennsylvania.

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Investing and Thinking about the FUTURE

I told some friends at work that I have done well recently with my investing strategy.  I will put down what I told them right here:

"Commodities stocks: Oil, Natural Gas, Uranium, Coal, Copper, Lithium.

None of these things has been invested in or developed at a normal rate over the past few years. There will be a price squeeze. You see it already with the oil / gas price.

Oil:

• Baytex Energy 
• Athabasca Oil 
• Journey Energy 
• Tamarack Valley Energy 

Uranium:

• Sprott Physical Uranium Trust 
• NexGen Energy 
• Paladin Energy 

Natural Gas:

• Tellurian 

Coal:

• Corsa Coal Co. 
• Thungela Coal 

Rare Earth Elements / Metals:

• Greenland Resources 
• VALE Copper & Mining 
• Millennial Precious Metals 

I own most of these companies. Many of them are in Canada, so you’ll see them on the American exchanges with an “F” at the end on the ‘Over the Counter’ (OTC) markets. It is very early in the commodity cycle, so this is a good time to get in. I’m not a financial professional, and this is not financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. I am a broken down English teacher who is getting between 70% and 500% return in the last year on some of these names. This is a combination of retirement planning and future real estate purchases. I read a lot, listen to many podcasts and YouTube videos, and read countless reports from sources I trust.

I use Interactive Brokers for most of my trading, because you can trade internationally. I also have a TD Ameritrade account, as you can see it below. I began buying on Feb 1st, 2021:

I got into those names (except TNGRF) in the first  quarter of 2021, and that is their performance so far.

With the current Russia / Ukraine conflict going on, the commodities world seems to be one where there will be scarcity and pretty serious rising prices.

Unlike many of your friends, I did not become an expert on Eastern European border relationships over the past 72 hours.  What I see from my reasonably informed vantage point is Russia, China, India, and Iran going their own way, breaking away from the NATO World Order.  Naturally the NWO is thrashing about and screaming about it.  You can see this through their mouthpieces in the Corporate Press.

Information and analysis is key. One axiom / philosophy I've used with success over the past 15 years is that the Corporate Press is always lying.  In fact, the opposite of what they say is probably closer to the truth.

"They have weapons of Mass Destruction" and "Housing prices will always go up" are two of the statements that began my Red Pilling process.

Instead of relying on regular voices regarding investing, I began to look at those who are not 'standard', who are not only willing to go against the grain, but also have had measurable success.

Here are some of the outlets I follow regularly who have helped my bottom line. The below list is somewhat a chronological list of the path I went down to where I am now.  

The following all have a mix of: podcasts, interviews, quarterly letters, twitter feeds, subscription services, Substacks and YouTube channels:

• Tom Woods: libertarianism and Austrian Economics.
• Zerohedge.com news.
• RealVision Subscription.
• Harris Kupperman's Adventures in Capitalism.
• John Polomny (YouTube channel)
• Trader Ferg.
• Goehring and Rozencwajg.
• Justin Huhn at Uranium Insider.
• The Manhattan Contrarian
• Capitalist Exploits.
• Quoth the Raven.
• Eric Nuttall.
• Josh Young at Bison Interests.
• Tony Greer (RealVision and Twitter).
• Kevin Bambrough's Twitter acct.

One small sample of my thinking of late:  While everyone is screaming about ESG Mandates, Global Warming, Climate Change, Greta, and the melting of the ice caps, take a look at what Ferg tweeted out and included in his weekly newsletter:

Got that?  Rather than use NatGas, which is 50% cleaner than Coal, because Russia! has done something the NWO doesn't like, they'll pollute their own skies with smoke via coal plants.  Not only that, just recently Germany decided to shut down more nuclear reactors.  Nuclear power creates no CO2. It is the 'greenest' energy imaginable, and it isn't even close.

Finland gets almost all of its fossil fuel energy from Russia.  

Think about those things, and what will happen to prices and values. Avoid the unthinking Herd.

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Here's how you can help me out during The Collapse:


You can send me Bitcoin Cash (BCH) here:


My Udemy classes are here - extremely low price and you have them forever.

I also sell custom made mugs. I'll do personalized orders as well. They are all made in the United States - in Pennsylvania.

All of the mugs are here on Gearbubble. These are made in the USA, and if you don't want to contribute to Amazon's record profits during this time of CV19, the Gearbubble link is the one to use. Thank you!

Doomberg Goes NUCLEAR

Doomberg is one of the Substack sites I read and have subscribed.  Substack authors are populating my favorites list at a rapid rate.

The Woke SJW's hate Substack.  Even more reason to subscribe.

Doomberg's last two posts have been on the Energy crisis that has been caused by the SJW / Greens.  His latest post goes after Greenpeace.  He's a little late to the party, but we can't all be on time.  

Look at how stupid the Greenpeace tweet is.  If people starve, so what.  As long as they can virtue signal and keep screaming "renewables!!" everything will be fine.  So what that they live comfortable lives in the west, while the developing world starves for food and energy?  Let them eat the bone structure of the Ibex.

Doomberg's rhetorical question:

"I guess Greenpeace China isn’t a thing? Does Greenpeace speak truth to Xi’s power, or are their dangerous platitudes reserved us gullible know-nothings in the West?"

It's a good question.  Here was my answer:

"I guess Greenpeace China isn’t a thing? Does Greenpeace speak truth to Xi’s power, or are their dangerous platitudes reserved us gullible know-nothings in the West?"

Yes, that's exactly right.

Greenpeace was SJW converged decades ago. It's why Patrick Moore left the organization he co-founded. It was infected with the leftist mindset, which is stupid, arrogant, venal, power hungry, and obstinate. They know what's best for YOU and if it kills a few useless eaters, well, that's the cost of bringing a socialist utopia to the earth (with them at the top of the pyramid of course).

I'm old enough to remember 3 Mile Island. The propaganda worked on me. Then, a few years ago, I read that no one died, no one seriously affected, and there were rumblings that things were somehow allowed to get out of control.

0 deaths.

So, yes. Greenpeace and their ilk want you and your family to suffer, perhaps dead, and they think it's funny. They ignore China for one simple reason. China doesn't care what they think. They say 'no', or are silent to the forces that have dismantled these once proud United States. It's that simple. Someday, people here will do the same thing. The only question is how much damage will the Prog / SJW / Woke mob do before strong men stand up. and tell the blue-haired barrel shaped anti nuclear Greenpeace "protestor" to STFU.

Nuclear is getting put forward by the Rulers as "Green", because when the lights go out, or the oven won't turn on, or the heat won't work, they know that the ensuing riots / elections / protests will be too difficult to control.  Greenpeace is behind the curve.  It will be fun to watch the Woke slobs at Greenpeace be forced to accept Nuclear by forces stronger and with more influence than they have.

They have to avoid that.  God forbid if the rabble learn the power of leverage.  After 50 years of saying otherwise, they've already decided to put Nuclear energy as 'clean' and 'carbon free' - which it is.

You're watching the Narrative change in real time.  Invest wisely my friends.

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Here's how you can help me out during The Collapse:


You can send me Bitcoin Cash (BCH) here:


My Udemy classes are here - extremely low price and you have them forever.

I also sell custom made mugs. I'll do personalized orders as well. They are all made in the United States - in Pennsylvania.

All of the mugs are here on Gearbubble. These are made in the USA, and if you don't want to contribute to Amazon's record profits during this time of CV19, the Gearbubble link is the one to use. Thank you!

Charles Payne Goes OFF on National TV While Paper Silver and Real Silver DISCONNECT

Cavuto had 2 establishment guys on his show on Friday the 29th of January.

Charles Payne, at around 5 minutes in, goes OFF on Gasparino's total inability to unshackle himself from his Establishment Elite position.

Payne goes crazy, and he's justified.  This idea that the retail investors are stupid and need to be corralled in to a small, safe pen, while the Hedge funds go about rigging the market and enriching themselves at everyone's expense is insulting and absurd.  Gasparino doesn't seem to mind the leverage of the Hedge funds, but is somehow offended when the regular people do something that causes hedge fund pain.  

Charles Payne sees it immediately and calls him out on it - loudly. (around 5:00).

Ironically, Gasparino's defense of short sellers at the beginning of this video is correct.  He's 100% right.  Marc Cohodes, David Einhorn, and Jim Chanos have been doing legitimate short selling for years.  They attack fraud and protect investors from danger and predators in the stock market.  Cohodes upset the apple cart so badly that he got a personal visit and threats from the FBI.  He went after top of the pyramid connected fraud and took serious heat.  We want short sellers like Cohodes out there.

This is the best podcast you'll ever hear on the topic.  It tells you the difference between real short sellers, the ones Gasparino talks about at the beginning, and the 'smash and grab' guys getting their asses handed to them courtesy of r/wallstreetbets:

Here's Payne bringing the pain (sorry, I lack discipline):

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Meanwhile the silver market is in flux.  Paper silver products are disconnecting from the price of physical silver.

Just to check for myself, I went to APMEX to buy some silver.  Here's the screenshot:

I went to buy, and the price is over $42.00, and the silver will be shipped to me around Mid February, in 2 weeks. 

The proles are restless, and they're not all stupid. Payne is right.  There is clearly a class warfare aspect to this, and it will echo for years to come.

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My Udemy classes are here - extremely low price and you have them forever.

I also sell custom made mugs like this one here on Amazon. I'll do personalized orders as well. They are all made in the United States - in Pennsylvania.

All of the mugs are here on Gearbubble. These are made in the USA, and if you don't want to contribute to Amazon's record profits during this time of CV19, the Gearbubble link is the one to use. Thank you!

Is SILVER Next? wallstreetbets Takes Aim at Silver Stonk! Gonna Be LITT!

 Is this real?  Elements of it are.

Silver has been a manipulated market for decades.  I wrote about it during my hard-core libertarian phase way back when.  Hell, the second post on this blog in November 2010 was about QE, and we watched  Silver Bears discussing The Bernank and his FED shenanigans.

JP Morgan has paid multiple fines to the CFTC for getting caught manipulating the silver market.  That link gets you only to the latest one.

This has made it a target.

It looks like the austists have taken aim at one of the most manipulated markets in recent history.  The silver and gold markets are always hammered down my the Big Shots.  Gold and Silver represent 6,000 years of market testing by people asking: 'what is money?' and 'how can I store my wealth?'

The Power Elite want you to never store your wealth.  They do it, but you shouldn't.  You should use your political money, fiat, to waltz into a rigged game.  Buy bonds.  Buy annuities. Buy stonks.  Get your face ripped off at times ... win some, lose some.  The key to all of this is that you use the money that is backed my nothing.  If you win - great.  If they win, even greater.  If you lose - too bad chump.  If they lose - time for a bailout and and a bonus. 

(Ask yourself this: If precious metals aren't money, and aren't worth much ... why do central banks hold it? Why do the wealthy own it?)

Here is The Godfather of Gold verbally disemboweling The Godfather of Helicopter Fiat:

It is this ethos that is driving much of the r/wallstreetbets engine.  If the next target is paper silver, look out - this could make GME look tame:

One of the redditors is nice enough to give a bit of a disclaimer:

"Join me brothers. Lets take silver to the moon and take on the biggest and baddest manipulators in the world.

Please post rocket emojis in the comments as desired.

Disclaimer: do your own research, make your own decisions, everything here is a guess and hypothetical and nothing is guaranteed, not a financial advisor, I have ADHD and maybe other things too."

When people are doing it for the lulz, it's like fighting a hydra; cut off one serpent head and 2 take its place.

Silver was already in demand. Odd how the price has hovered around $23 - $29 for the last 6 months, even with demand through the roof.  Shouldn't the price go up?  

r/wallstreetbets may have already started the project.  I went to one of the biggest exchanges to look into buying silver coins:

"currently out of stock" (do they mean stonk?)

It would be exciting, to say the least, if the reddit crowd does this.  The reaction of the Financial Elite will be incredible.  Whenever the Human Ballast work together, they go crazy.  Remember, in Orwell's 1984, the Proles were the last and only hope.  It's why I cheer for the Proles - flaws and all.

This might make the GME Gamestonk GameStop even look tame.  Multiply this by 100:

Keep your eyes open people - if they go for this it's gonna be LITT!

------------------------------------------------------
My Udemy classes are here - extremely low price and you have them forever.

I also sell custom made mugs like this one here on Amazon. I'll do personalized orders as well. They are all made in the United States - in Pennsylvania.

All of the mugs are here on Gearbubble. These are made in the USA, and if you don't want to contribute to Amazon's record profits during this time of CV19, the Gearbubble link is the one to use. Thank you!

My Site: The Freelance Teacher

My students have been asking where I’ve been all these months. The answer is my new site: thefreelanceteacher.com

Do you want to be able to write clearly, with words that get attention and make others think? Don’t you want your college essay to register with the adminssions department at your desired school? Do you want to get your SAT or ACT scores higher, and learn a few things that you never get in school? You have come to the right site.

Here is what members get:


College Essay / Supplemental / and General Essay Writing Help
I will go through your college application writing materials and proofread and improve them. How badly do you want to get into the school of your choice? The college essay can be intimidating. I will see to it that your THREE (Your main essay and 2 supplementals) essays have a good tone, contain well-written English and show off your writing skills. I’ve proofread hundreds of these things and am well aware of what the universities are looking for. The supplemental compositions are shorter, more vague pieces of writing, and I can work you through those as well. I can also help you get started, with large amounts of help on the first paragraph. The universities look for indivuality and leadership qualities. I will go through your list of attributes and build a template for you to use – much of your introductory paragraph. Again, how badly do you want to get into the college of your choice?

Exam Prep
$140 a year for exam prep on the English sections of the examsis a steal. The verbal sections of the two exams (SAT and ACT) should be unintimidating and familiar to you after you’ve studied the screencasts, tutorials and connected with me for online individualized help. There are sound files available where I explain the exam basics and give you the layout of the test. All that stuff in the beginning of the prep book — I’ve read it and will explain it to you in an easily understood manner so you don’t have to. You also get access to me via the Internet and I can work with you on questions or points you may not understand well.

Daily Entries

Every day I write something — a tip, an insight, a fact — something that you could use for school in order to get better grades. This site represents my view of the public school system: hostile. School and schoolteachers rarely get it right, and the institution wasn’t created to make you smarter. My mission is to fill in the large blanks in your education, get your grades up and get you out. My 18 years in the system have allowed me to give you the tools needed to do well and graduate. You have a teacher with nearly two decades of experience at your disposal.

Forums

The hidden value is the information sharing in the forums. Students all over the world have knowledge, that when we share it, it becomes part of your knowledge arsenal. Asking questions gets you not just me, but the crowd looking at your need and fulfilling it. Here we work together. The free sites are useless in this regard. The membership cost keeps out the trolls. You get questions answered. This site is for shedding light on things, not trolling and creating an online food fight.

Go to www.thefreelanceteacher.com and subscribe today!

The Origins of the FED - How it Controls Money and People

The Federal Reserve is the topic you're not supposed to talk about.  The FED, the central bank of the United States, took over the country in 1913.  Does that sound like hyperbole?  Only if you are uninformed and believing only the Organs of the Establishment that promote the myth that the FED is there for the public good.

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” – FDR letter to Colonel Edward House, Nov. 21 1933

Was FDR a 'conspiracy theorist'?  Why did he say that?  James Corbett, of the stellar independent news site corbettreport.com explains in this thorough documentary.

From Corbett's site: All our lives we’ve been told that economics is boring. It’s dull. It’s not worth the time it takes to understand it. And all our lives, we’ve been lied to.

War. Poverty. Revolution. They all hinge on economics. And economics all rests on one key concept: money. Money. It is the economic water in which we live our lives. We even call it ‘currency’; it flows around us, carries us in its wake. Drowns those who are not careful. We use it every day in nearly every transaction we conduct. We spend our lives working for it, worrying about it, saving it, spending it, pinching it. It defines our social status. It compromises our morals. People are willing to fight, die and kill for it.

But what is it? Where does it come from? How is it created? Who controls it? It is a remarkable fact that, given its central importance in our lives, not one person in a hundred could answer such basic questions about money as these.

Matt Taibbi Gets Social Security Wrong - Very Wrong

Matt Taibbi writes for Rolling Stone.  He is a card carrying Leftist, but I read his stuff anyway.  He is in the top five on the ZPP (Zingers Per Page) hall of fame.  I wouldn't want to be the target of his wrath, he has a way with words that keeps me coming back for more.  Few can verbally disembowel in the way that Taibbi can.  For the last few years he's been targeting the Unholy Wall Street / Government Alliance, so he's had a lot of practice and material on which to practice his craft.

This is why I was so surprised to see him completely wrong in his latest column about the Government Ponzi Scheme known as Social Security: "After spending much of the past decade borrowing from, among other places, the Social Security trust fund to pay for massive tax cuts and bank bailouts, America's wealthy are now turning around and demanding both $5.7 trillion in new tax breaks and significant cuts to things like Social Security, which incidentally is self-funding and running a huge surplus."

A "huge surplus"?  I understand it's politically correct to defend, at all costs, the Sacred Cow that is Social Security, but the program was doomed from the start.  The people who stated as such, John T. Flynn, Garet Garrett, Albert J. Nock et al. have been wiped from the history books, erased in a sense, from the record.  Even a free spirit and fearless and independent minded person like Taibbi is either not allowed, or not able to deviate from the establishment path.  The Bewildered Herd as well, has been conditioned to, in lockstep, repeat the mantra that 'social security is running a surplus'.  They do this because they have been told to do so by the Establishment Media and Politicians.

It's time for Reality Therapy.  Mr. Taibbi, you're uncharacteristically very wrong.

Social Security is bankrupt.  How do I know this?  The people who run the program - the Trustees, say so.  Here's the link to the 2012 Annual Report: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2012/tr2012.pdf

The trustees of the report tell us it is running a deficit: "In 2011, Social Security's cost continued to exceed both the program's tax income and its non-interest income, a trend that the Trustees project to continue throughout the short-range period and beyond. The 2011 deficit of tax income relative to cost was $148 billion, and the projected 2012 deficit is $165 billion." (Page 2)

Here is the key phraseology from page 10: "Annual OASDI cost exceeded non-interest income in 2010 for the first time since 1983. The Trustees project that cost will continue to exceed non-interest income throughout the 75-year valuation period."

Did you get that? Without interest payments from the government, the trust fund will be in negative cash flow for the next 75 years.  The Trustees say there is no immediate problem for the trust fund, as long as the government keeps paying interest. But there is a problem.  The payments are already coming from the government now.  This is the right hand of the Federal Gov't paying the left hand.  If you ran your business or finances like this you'd be behind bars.  The 'interest' on the non-marketable IOU's are being paid for by government fiat.  With 'fiat' currency as well.  But wait, there's more:

There will eventually be this problem:  "Nevertheless, total trust fund income, including interest income, is more than is necessary to cover costs through 2020, so trust fund assets continue to grow. Beginning in 2021, cost exceeds total income and combined OASI and DI Trust Fund assets diminish until they become exhausted in 2033" (page 10).

Did you get that? Exhausted. That is bureacratese for "bankrupt."

Then what will happen? The Social Security Administration will cut the promised benefits.  "After trust fund exhaustion, continuing income is sufficient to support expenditures at a level of 75 percent of program cost for the rest of 2033, declining to 73 percent for 2086" (pages 10-11).

I am in agreement with Gary North when he states:  "This means that the promises made to those who paid into the system will be defaulted on. The program will be unable to meet its obligations."

I am also in full agreement with Kyle Bass:

"Very few participants are aware of the enormity and severity of the problems the developed world faces. Those that are aware are frantically trying to come up with the next solution to the debt problems. In our opinion (which hasn't changed since 2008), the only long-term solution is to continue to expand program after program until the only path left is a full restructuring (read: default) of most sovereign debts of the developed nations of the world. . . ."

I find it entertaining to see someone like Taibbi get something so catastrophically wrong. Anyone who says that Social Security is solvent is either an economic ignoramus, or drastically ill-informed.  What do they know that the Trustees of the fund itself do not?  Just because someone writes for a major newsmagazine, and has a following and a way with words, does not confer upon that person the authority to state untruths.  Mr. Taibbi should know better.

3rd Quarter Report

We are in strange times.  The state of the schools, current affairs, and the economy are so odd, that they beggar description.

School: As I've probably mentioned in previous posts, this year has been a difficult one.  The intellectual curiosity of this crop of 9th graders is at an all time low.  The strange part is that it hasn't been a gradual decline, this year I have seen a cliff like drop of curiosity and academic performance.  I graded an exam as I would have graded an exam in 1998, and the class average, for both sections, was a 54.  I took into account spelling, grammar, content and appropriate answers.  As I do not give multiple choice exams (they have been proven to be useless, and the Power Elite school abolished them years ago), the writing was not only substandard, it showed a lack of awareness of the story we read and the English language.  There were misspellings of the main characters, obvious facts were incorrect, and the cheaters cheated off of someone who had no idea what happened in the story, so the answers all reflected the same incorrect nonsense.  It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Additionally, and tellingly, one of my top students told me that "I don't want to offend you, but, well, the reason that we didn't do well, is that, like, the times you were reading the story to us, we were talking because, well, I don't mean to offend you, but the story was boring."  This was told to me by one of the top students in my morning class.  The sad part is threefold, the guise of 'caring' about my feelings, the fact that a 'boring' story is license to talk while the teacher is reading the it to the class, and this was from one of the top students in the class - a young woman with a first class mind.

Current Affairs:  The Boston shooting and its aftermath is difficult to watch.  That a tragic event would be used to turn a major U.S. city and its environs into a tyrannical police state is sad.  The Herd cheers their oppressors as the police lockdown the area to catch - a 19 year old.  Only the online libertarian community and a few conspiracy minded people seem to notice what is transpiring.  I guess the words of a gov't official ring true:  "Never let a good crisis go to waste."  The American Herd, ahistorical and lacking a basic understanding of Human Rights or the Bill of Rights, tolerates scenes like this while they cheer the 'police' for keeping them 'safe'.  The works of Benjamin Franklin, a figure dimly familiar with the average American public school student, ring truer than ever:  "Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”

The Economy:  The FED continues its operations of printing money, Congress continues to make rules for the people yet immunize itself from harm.  The gold price is crushed, simply hammered in a way that has not been seen in 30 years, and the depositors of Cyprus, the regular people, have their money simply taken from them as a way to pay back banker and government debts.  All the while, the economy is in the tank and the people, who have been trained in such a manner, beg for their overlords to 'do something!'

It is education that solves many of these problems, as the electorate has been schooled to extinction.  The free market, which allows for trial and error, mistakes to be made and then solved, is vilified and laughed at by the Power Brokers.  It's easy for them to maintain a stranglehold on minority wealth and power as they make the rules and regulations, thereby never needing to worry about any pesky little people crawling to the top.  Sometimes, someone breaks through and does this.  It is time to rip the cover off of the Educational Establishment, look at how and what they teach, so we can see how they created this unholy mess we're in now.

This is a good place to start:

Europe's Economy is in Trouble

The Euro, a monetary experiment of long planning, seems to be crumbling.  As we speak, the southern European countries, often referred to as 'PIIGS' (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) are underwater in debt.  The Euro plan, long in the making, may already be at its end.  The carefully laid plans of Jean Monnet and Raymond Fosdick have fallen apart.  The Establishment decreed that the European Union would use a fiat, paper currency called 'The Euro', and this would create a smooth trade process, and it would be economically beneficial.  It has been a disaster.

I remember hearing about the Euro in the late '90's.  All of the rhetoric was how it would make things better for Europe, and how 'efficient' the trading of the Eurozone would be.  The European Central Bank would be in the background, at the levers, centrally controlling things, never allowing things to get too bad or too good.

How did it go horribly wrong?

The southern European countries have tended toward Socialist style economies.  There are stories about exceedingly early retirements, pensions for all, hazard pay for hairdressers - it's a long list.  These ideas are economically unfeasible.  You can't create something from nothing.  The 'money' used to fund these things is created from nothing, and it is borrowed via the floating of bonds.  The northern European countries, even with their tendency toward Big Government, have less poor economies and a different mindset when it comes to work and retirement.  The most noteworthy  of these countries is Germany, which actually manufactures products and provides services.

Germany and the European Central Bank have been continually asked to bail out the southern European countries.  Greece and Spain are so far in debt, basically at a level to be considered hopeless. The elephant in the room is that large banks in Europe have large amounts of exposure to the explosive levels of debt.  These banks have huge amounts of economic and political clout, and they will not go gently into that goodnight.

As usual, note the questions that are not asked.  Why use a fiat currency?  Would a gold backed currency be a better choice?  Why should the economies of Europe be 'linked' in the first place?  There were people who predicted that this economic monstrosity would be a failure.  They were called crackpots then, they're being called crackpots now by The Establishment.  A good sociological experiment might be finding out how seriously wrong The Powers That Be have to be before the people lose faith in the Planners.

Here, Nigel Farage explains the the farcical nature of massive, interlocking indebtedness.  When the EUR implodes, the people laughing in the background will not be 'available for comment'.




Recommended reading: "Fiat Money and Collective Corruption."

Schiff Before Congress

Peter Schiff testified before congress not too long ago.  He had no notes, no teleprompter, and no one there to provide any refutation of his arguments.  Listening to the following 22+ minutes will give you a very good grasp of what bad government does to our economy.  I'll let the video speak for itself.

On a more sinister note, the video was eventually taken down after a week or so.  Mr. Schiff has since re-posted it via his Youtube channel.  Was there a conspiracy?  Probably not, but who knows.  I got this email from Europac (Schiff's company), which I will post in its entirety.  Read and then analyze his testimony for what actually happens in the business world, instead of getting distorted "news" from the paid off quislings of the mainstream media.

Pay particular attention to the last 3.5 minutes.  You'll see how everything you've been taught about the gold standard and income and life in the United States was wrong.

The email was as follows:

Friends,
 Many of you know that last month I was in Washington to testify in front of the House Subcommittee on Government Reform and Stimulus Oversight. I argued that bad monetary and fiscal policies had combined with excessive taxation and regulation to stifle job creation in America. As a result of a Youtube video of the hearings that was in the process of "going viral" many in the media and political establishment began to take notice. In the aftermath of the testimony, I was invited to discuss my testimony with Greta Van Susteren, Mike Huckabee, and many others.
Unfortunately, the "viral" video that news and media sites had linked to most often, and which I had mentioned on my radio show, was inexplicably removed from Youtube by the individual who posted it in the first place. There is no conspiracy here, just an unfortunate string of events that have left many people disappointed that a video that could have reached into the cyber stratosphere, has instead simply disappeared. And while there are dozens of other versions of the testimony online, in today's world there is no substitute to a big view count.

And so, in an attempt to roll another snowball down the same hill, I have posted a new version of the video on my Youtube Channel. In order to comply with securities regulations I elected to delete a very small portion of my testimony, but plenty of other versions are available online that have all my remarks. But in order to make up the lost view counts I urge you to click on this link and send it to as many people you know who may appreciate my message to Congress.

If enough people watch, the video will go to the top of the charts and more people, many of whom may still be completely unfamiliar with the benefits of capitalism, will be exposed to our ideas. If you want to move the needle and impact the debate, here is a way to do it. All you need to do is click.

Sincerely, Peter Schiff CEO and Chief Global Strategist Euro Pacific Capital

Ron Paul to Congress: If Debt Is the Problem, Why Do You Want More of It?

You may have been hearing a lot about the "debt ceiling" and the issues surrounding it. It is pure theater. Washington DC is so far gone you should watch it with the same mindset you'd watch 'Glee'. National politics has become something of a soap opera. Hopefully you'll realize a few things:
1 - The Republican v. Democrat battle is pure nonsense.
2 - The Establishment believes that you have the intelligence of a deformed cockroach.
3 - 97% of congress doesn't "care" about you or any of your opinions.
4 - Congress is run by the big banks.
5 - Campaign contributions would be called bribes if we were honest about it.
6 - The biggest campaign donors get what they want from Congress (see #4).

There are a few exceptions to these points. Justin Amash, Rand Paul, Ron Paul and Mike Lee are the only names I can come up with without looking at the list, but there aren't too many other congressmembers based in reality.

The National Debt is a whopping 14.3 trillion dollars. The US Gov't has put a 'cap' on the amount it spends, this is the 'debt ceiling'. Because the federal gov't wants more warfare, more welfare, and more wasted money, they need to 'raise the ceiling'. This would be like you having 14 thousand dollars in Visa debt, and using your MasterCard to pay it off. The worst part of all of this is that there are people correctly saying that debt is a problem, but we should raise the ceiling. What?

Rep. Ron Paul correctly calls them out on this joke of a position. I can think of the moment in 'A Few Good Men' when Lt. Caffey asks "if Santiago wasn't in any danger - why did he have to be moved off the base?" I guess we've reached the "Pfc. Santiago" moment in the debate. Naturally only Ron Paul has what it takes to call our Federal Gov't out for the worldwide joke that it has become.

Druckenmiller Calls Out The Treasury Ponzi Scheme

Fiat currencies have a 100% record of failure.  Money backed by nothing WILL fail.  Always.  The longest run was in China centuries ago, it lasted around 90 yrs.  Email DH for the details, I'm sure he has them.  
 
Our money and economic system is going down.  Every gov't move since the founding of the FED (with a few exceptions in the 1920's) has moved us toward the disintegration of the greatest experiment in libertarian freedom known to human history.  Trying not to sound tinfoil hattish, the attempt at world gov't needed the US to have a fiat currency to cause the economic catastrophe we are staring at now.  With a gold backed dollar you can't have the endless wars and welfare / social programs. Since the founding of the FED the dollar has lost 94% of its value.  There has been no move to stop this.  Buy precious metals, farmland, whatever you can that has intrinsic value, and have a network of like minded resourceful people near you.  


"Mr. Druckenmiller had already recognized that the government had embarked on a long-term march to financial ruin. So he publicly opposed the hysterical warnings from financial eminences, similar to those we hear today. He recalls that then-Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin warned that if the political stand-off forced the government to delay a debt payment, the Treasury bond market would be impaired for 20 years. "Excuse me? Russia had a realdefault and two or three years later they had all-time low interest rates," says Mr. Druckenmiller. In the future, he says, "People aren't going to wonder whether 20 years ago we delayed an interest payment for six days. They're going to wonder whether we got our house in order." Which begs the question: if interest rates are so low today, is the market not appreciating the current path of "financial ruin"? And here is where Druckenmiller joins the Grosses and the Granthams of the world. Asked if the future is not so bad judging by today's low bond rates he says, "Complete nonsense. It's not a free market. It's not a clean market." The Federal Reserve is doing much of the buying of Treasury bonds lately through its "quantitative easing" (QE) program, he points out. "The market isn't saying anything about the future. It's saying there's a phony buyer of $19 billion of Treasurys a week." 


Here's the article from ZeroHedge:


http://www.zerohedge.com/article/druckenmiller-calls-out-treasury-ponzi-scheme-its-not-free-market-its-not-clean-market-ident

Inflation Explained

Ok, it's a cartoon, but it gets the job done.  Yet another thank you goes out to www.zerohedge.com

Inflation is the reason why prices go up.  Who gets hurt?  The poor and middle class, especially the poor.  The next time you hear a politician or an economist talking about 'helping the poor', ask them what they've done to END THE FED, the institution that creates inflation.

Heading at ZH - "Inflation explained. So easy that no Ivy League Ph.D. is guaranteed to understand it."


Recommended reading: How and Economy Grows and Why it Crashes - Peter Schiff