It would help if the Tea Party folks got their act together and were actually informed about the issues they mean to protest. Regrettably, sampling their members reveals the old saying to be true: “People believe most fervently that which they understand the least.”

Well that’s a start. I don’t know if you have checked into the connections between Wall Street and Washington (not just regarding MMGW, but on many other very serious issues), but in my opinion the system has been totally corrupted. I’ve been saying for year that the SEC is worthless. They have enabled crime syndicates to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people. Naked short selling is at epidemic proportions and much of this is taking place in off shore accounts. The perpetrators do not even have to pay taxes on their ill gotten gains even as they destroy companies, kill budding industries thus preventing potential job growth!!

What Markopolos states in his book is absolutely correct. The criminal have taken over Wall Street and Wall Street has taken over Washington. This is not a time for encouraging bigger government; it is time to clean up the mess we have allowed to spread throughout the land.

Believe me, MMGW will not be solved by the heartless individuals we call politicians and corporations no matter how “green” they are. The Banksters will guarantee themselves enormous profits trading carbon credits and using government funding to bank roll projects that may accomplish nothing. The system is that corrupt. I’ve said this 1000 times, Bernie Madoff is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

This is what the American people are rebelling against. This is what the Tea Party movement is all about. This is why true Americans must no longer consider themselves Democrats or Republicans first. We are all on this ship and it is sinking. The two political parties we depend on to do our bidding are sinking it. It is time to take the power away from them and that begins with reigning in the Fed. Let’s start with H.R. 1207, the bill to FULLY audit the Fed.

I don’t recall ever denying that. Humanity being what it is, regardless of what we’re considering, I’d be surprised if there weren’t people trying to leverage it to their own advantage at the expense of other people.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2010/3/2_Harry_M._Markopolos.html

“The government aids and abets incompetence at the highest level.” Worse yet, they are in collusion with criminal elements that are destroying the fabric of this nation.

Open your eyes people, your future and the future of your children and grandchildren are at stake.

1. Wall Street owns Washington and derivatives are their main source of income. That makes it doubtful that meaningful changes will occur.

2. The argument will be that they did not play the euro short via CDS pressure on debt. They are correct. They played the debt itself short. (A side note: Brooksley Born tried to shed light on the “Black box of OTC derivatives during the Clinton years and all it got her was termination as CFTC Chair.)

CFTC Chairman Gensler urges end to derivatives secrecy
By Aline van Duyn
Financial Times, London
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A leading US financial regulator on Tuesday called for the prices of derivatives trades to be disclosed in the same way as stock prices, saying only large Wall Street banks benefited from the current lack of transparency.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said standard credit default swaps and other privately traded over-the-counter derivatives needed drastic reform, reflecting their role in the financial crisis.

His call came as European leaders including Angela Merkel, German chancellor, called for a clampdown on speculative trading in sovereign credit default swaps, which offer investors protection against a government default.

“The only parties that benefit from a lack of transparency are Wall Street dealers,” Mr Gensler told a New York derivatives conference. “Right now we have a dealer-dominated world, and that nearly drove us off a cliff.”

Mr Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive, said: “To promote public transparency, standard over-the-counter derivatives should be traded on exchanges or other trading platforms.” He also called for explicit regulation of derivatives dealers and the use of clearing for standard OTC derivatives.

http://www.gata.org/node/8415

Is there anyone on this website that still thinks government is looking out for the people? Is there anyone that still believes bigger government will solve any of our problems…(including MMGW, rising healthcare costs, or relieving poverty)?

Unlocking the Jobs Dilemma
John Browne
Posted Mar 10, 2010

Productive, private-sector jobs – the lifeblood of a sound economy – are under assault by politicians in the United States and Western Europe, who have unwittingly taken a number of steps that make future job losses a foregone conclusion.

In the 1980s, as a Member of the UK Parliament and elected Chairman of the Conservative Small Business Committee, I led discussions on the issue of job creation. At that point, the British labor market was dealing with technological advances that threatened traditional industries and an influx of highly competitive Eastern European workers who drifted westward in the waning days of the Cold War.

Pushing back against those who wanted to preserve an untenable status quo, the Conservatives recognized that defensive measures like excessive regulation, high taxes, and favored bidding for government contracts were antithetical to business growth. Fortunately, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. Her understanding of economics, combined with her ability to communicate and lead, resulted in the adoption of pro-business polices. The British economy soon flourished, creating many profitable new jobs.

Despite his rhetoric to the contrary, the Obama Administration is actually leading the US in the opposite direction. By raising taxes on business owners, monopolizing credit, and increasing business regulations at a frightening pace, current policy is turning the employment landscape into a rather sterile promontory.

Meanwhile, the media has selectively focused on the recently passed jobs bill, which includes meager tax-credits for new job hires. If this bill has any effect, it will be to encourage cash-strapped entrepreneurs to make hiring decisions that are unjustified by current business activity.

In reality, employment’s future is being decided in the credit markets. Here, the Fed’s zero interest rate policy is redirecting investment capital towards government. When banks can borrow from the Fed at zero percent and buy long-dated U.S. Treasuries yielding 3 to 4 percent, there is little incentive to take the risks inherent in business lending. Business credit is, therefore, tighter than even a severe recession would ordinarily dictate. This lack of credit is starving the private sectors’ ability to create jobs.

Furthermore, the current ‘progressive’ activism on display in Washington is breeding great uncertainty in the board room, making businesses even more cautious in an exceptionally difficult planning environment.

In fairness, the seeds of job destruction in America were sown years before Obama rose to power. In recent decades, in response to intense lobbying by big banks and corporations, some key changes were made that reduced market flexibility. These included abolition of the Glass Steagall Act and the weakening of anti-trust laws, without concurrent efforts to remove preferential treatment for those companies deemed “too big to fail.” These moves appeared to extend the free market, but in reality they allowed big banks and corporations, like Citigroup, AIG, and GM, to squeeze out smaller competitors in good times and fall back on government support in bad times.

The increased powers of the crony capitalists were used to drive down the prices of suppliers, many of whom were small businesses or farmers. At the same time, financial profiteering created ownership wealth on an unprecedented scale, greatly increasing the wage gap between owners and workers.

Finally, the creation of the largest speculative asset boom in history by former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan led inevitably to a massive bust, causing economic hardship and dislocation for millions. If the likely double dip recession occurs, even more jobs will vanish.

Most American job losses in recent decades were due to outsourcing to more competitive economies, because of the harmful effects of our domestic government policies. Big spending by government now is unlikely to cure this deleterious situation. The only realistic solution is to shrink government and remove subsidies and guarantees to big business. The United States must become fundamentally competitive once again by unleashing the power of the entrepreneurial spirit. Otherwise, the “giant sucking sound” of good jobs heading overseas, as Ross Perot famously described it, will only grow louder.

Nothing has been done to fix the major problem, which is OTC derivatives. In fact they have grown in size if you understand the computer cartoon called value to maturity which assumes everything will mature.)

The Swaps That Swallowed Your Town
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: March 5, 2010

(Excerpt from article)

AS more details surface about how derivatives helped Greece and perhaps other countries mask their debt loads, let’s not forget that the wonders of these complex products aren’t on display only overseas. Across our very own country, municipalities, school districts, sewer systems and other tax-exempt debt issuers are ensnared in the derivatives mess.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/business/07gret.html?ref=business

This is the mess created by all previous administrations and the banksters secure in the knowledge that they would get bailed out if they failed. This is what Brooksley Born tried to stop during the Clinton Administration as these “black boxes” grew to gargantuan proportions in the hundreds and trillions of dollars setting the stage for a global collapse. It was collusion between Wall Street and Washington (both political parties involved) that has so devasted Main Street.

So while Republicans and Democrats snipe at each other and we argue about government’s role in our lives, the system the nation has depended on for 3 generations is finally crumbling. It is the Fall of the American Empire and if we continue down the same path, it will take generations before any semblance of our former greatness will ever be regained.

Here is what is happening and will continue to happen all across the land:

Counties face more cutting as state income tax payments fall
By Larry Carson
March 9, 2010

The latest state income tax payments to local governments fell $61.8 million year over year, piling new fiscal woes atop budgets already reeling from state cuts, high snow removal costs and earlier revenue declines.

The declines in payments from the state to county governments at the end of February put an added $29.4 million burden on Montgomery County, which was already facing a projected $761.5 million shortfall by June 30, according to the Maryland comptroller’s office.

Prince George’s and Charles counties were alone among Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions to receive more in the fourth quarter of 2009 than in 2008.

Leaders of Anne Arundel and Carroll counties said they were prepared for the bad news and it won’t affect their budgets. Others said the declines will hurt.

“It’s very serious, but there’s been a lot of bad news this year,” said Jennifer Barrett, Montgomery County’s finance director. “It makes the gap worse.”
Baltimore City, facing a projected $120 million shortfall, dropped $4.6 million in income tax revenues, while Baltimore County, facing a projected shortfall of $138 million, got $16.1 million less from income taxes.

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr.’s spokesman, Don Mohler, said county officials had no comment.

Talbot County had the largest percentage drop, at 23.8 percent. Other Baltimore-area counties lost smaller amounts. Anne Arundel declined by $2.5 million; while Howard dropped $2.4 million; Harford, $1.3 million; and Carroll, $1.1 million.

Michael Sanderson, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, called the timing difficult: “We’re in month No. 9 in a fiscal year, so there’s not much that can be cut.”

George Freyman, assistant director of revenue administration in the state comptroller’s office, said the decline reflects the decreased collections and increased refunds produced by the drooping economy. Because the counties based current budgets on more normal years, the changes wrought by 2008′s problems are still showing up, forcing the state to hold back more revenues.

“Tax year 2008 stunk,” Freyman said – and the latest distribution includes money from taxpayers who got extensions and made payments in October.

While total revenue declined 0.9 percent, distributions to local governments dropped 6.2 percent. However, the relatively small net decline represents “the best performance in quarterly receipts since the third quarter of 2008,” and thus may be a sign that the worst of the recession is over, Freyman wrote to local officials in an e-mail.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said his administration expected the decline and is not facing a shortfall because of it.

“Our estimates have been very conservative,” he said.

But Howard County’s projected shortfall – the result of state cuts, snow removal costs that could near $6 million and reduced income tax revenues – has grown to $20 million, budget director Raymond S. Wacks told the County Council on Monday. County Executive Ken Ulman said finishing the year with a balanced budget “is not going to be easy,” but it will be done.

“I certainly understand the state is holding back more for refunds,” he said. “We’ll get through it.” Ulman has not used any of the county’s $48.5 million rainy-day fund.

Ted Zaleski, budget director for Carroll County, said the drop is “not any more of a problem than we expected.” He said the county is on course to finish the year in the black.

So is Talbot County, said County Council Chairman Levin F. “Buddy” Harrison IV. He said the county has spent some of its contingency fund to stay even.”

Does anyone here still believe in the State as the problem solver for “ALL THAT AILS HUMANITY.” MattF, are you willing to accept that MMGW, real or not, is being used as a vehicle to enrich and empower the few at the expense of the many? kash, do you still believe Obama and the Democrats seek real solutions to the problems that face us or are they, just like the Republicans controlled by Wall Street and its interests?

kash, you silence is deafening.

Diverting the blame for “inflation”*
Steve Saville
email: sas888_hk@yahoo.com
Mar 9, 2010

Below is an excerpt from a commentary originally posted at http://www.speculative-investor.com on 7th March, 2010.

It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This is certainly true when it comes to identifying the causes of large increases in the cost of living. Although it can be logically established that a large and sustained increase in the general price level could not occur in the absence of a large increase in the supply of money, and although the historical record confirms that every great “inflation” was preceded by a large increase in the money supply, leading figures in economics and central banking have consistently come up with explanations for broad-based price rises that have nothing to do with the money supply.

A recent example of citing a non-monetary reason for a large decline in the purchasing power of money was the amusing claim by a senior Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) representative that mining booms cause “inflation”. Australia has experienced rapid “price inflation” over the past several years, so the central bankers of that country naturally perceive the need to come up with reasons for price rises that have nothing to do with their own actions. A convenient explanation is the mining boom, because it can be shown that the large gains made by commodity prices are linked in some way to China’s rapidly-growing demand for commodities. The idea is that if the mining boom CAUSED Australia’s “inflation” problem then the finger of blame for the problem could legitimately be pointed at China!

It was a nice try by the RBA, but the reality is that China’s actions — regardless of what they happen to be — cannot possibly bring about a substantial decline in the purchasing power of the Australian Dollar. Prices within any economy are continually fluctuating and large localised price rises will sometimes occur in response to unanticipated shortages of, or increases in demand for, some goods and services, but in the absence of a higher money supply a price rise in one part of the economy will have to be offset by a price decline elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, the true explanation for Australia’s “inflation” problem can be found in the money supply statistics. During the 9-year period from January-2001 through to January-2010, Australia’s M3 money supply** rose 168%. This equates to a compound annual growth rate of around 11.5% and is the sort of money-supply growth that could bring about a doubling in the cost of living.

The true explanation can always be found in the money supply statistics, yet other factors will invariably be blamed. This was certainly the case with regard to the great “inflation” of the 1970s. According to many pundits, the troublesome broad-based rise in prices of the 1970s was set in motion by a series of supply shocks, the most important being the collapse of the Peruvian anchovy harvest in 1972 (anchovies from Peru were processed into fishmeal, a major source of feed for livestock and poultry throughout the world at that time) and OPEC’s restriction of oil supply in 1973. Other factors to be cited as causes of “inflation” during the 1970s were the increasingly aggressive demands of labour unions and the Iran Hostage Crisis.

There have always been supply shocks and other disruptions, but these supply shocks have only ever been accompanied by large and sustained losses in money purchasing power when there was also a large increase in money supply. In this respect, the 1970s was no different to any other period of high “inflation”. Those who believe in fallacious neo-Keynesian concepts such as “cost-push inflation” and “demand-pull inflation” should explain why the currency never recovers its purchasing power once ‘costs stop pushing’ or ‘demand stops pulling’. Why, for instance, did the US$ fail to recover ANY of the purchasing power it lost during the 1970s after that decade’s commodity shortages went away?

Interestingly, even the most spectacular inflationary episode of the past century was blamed on factors other than money-supply growth. We are referring to the Weimar inflation of the early 1920s, the cause of which was held — by the central bankers at the centre of it — to be a combination of Germany’s war reparations and the activities of foreign speculators. The central bank’s rampant monetisation of government debt was, apparently, not relevant.

In conclusion, it’s a fact of life in a free or semi-free economy that relative prices will be continually adjusting in response to changes in the supply of and the demand for different goods and services. Therefore, when an “inflation” problem occurs it will inevitably be accompanied by non-monetary events that cause prices to rise sharply in some parts of the economy. These localised price rises will, in turn, create an opening for the central bank and/or the government to point the finger of blame at things that are clearly outside the control of the monetary authorities; however, the propaganda can’t work if the populace understands that only an increase in the money supply can bring about a large economy-wide rise in prices.

*When we put quotation marks around inflation it indicates that we are giving the word its popular meaning (a rise in the general price level), as opposed to its correct meaning (a rise in the money supply)

**We don’t have TMS (True Money Supply) data for Australia, so we will have to make do with M3.

Most people that I have talked to that support the welfare system see their support as compassion for the poor. The unintended consequences of “giving people food stamps, housing subsidies, school breakfast / lunch programs (removing the parent from the obligation to provide for the family) or tax money they did not pay” are not a factored into their reasoning. They also fail to see the unBiblical nature of forcing one person to surrender part of the fruits of his labor and giving it to another.

For some incomprehensible reason, these people and many are Christians, believe that somehow those that run government and are government appointees are “better angels” than those involved in Free Market Capitalism. They equate government to being a benefactor, while the greedy capitalist is only interested in gain. Even in the days of the Robber Barons, more people moved up and out of poverty faster than at any time in human history. And by the way these Robber Barons also set up foundations that have done much to help the lower classes willing to strive for a better life. Our whole free public library system was the result of a Robber Baron.

No corporation can take me in my prime of life and send me off to war. No corporation can seize my assets against my will and give them to some else. No corporation can haul me off to prison and charge me with a crime. Yet somehow we think those that wield such power, government, are the better angels.

All governments, even the most corrupt and henious, have constitutions that are so sweet sounding. Their politicians speak constantly of the utopia they strive for even as their people are living in their man made hell.

What makes Americans believe that just because this is the US we do not have politicians with same ambitions as those of dictatorial regimes? What makes us think that if we just elect Republican or a Democrat all will be well?

God had us figured out long before he made us. He gave us free will and all the faults that go with it; “lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.” He gave us a choice, obey Him and live well, follow our own desires and suffer. Mankind chose the latter.

Paul, I am at a loss as to why so many Christians put their faith in government and when government blows it as it usually does, they then turn and say, “It’s all in God’s hands,” almost like blaming God. Either that or they say, “I put my faith in God.” Yeh, great idea once government has not fulfilled its promises.

The best government has to offer is:
1. protection of the state from foreign enemies.
2. A system to capture and punish evil doers.
3. fair laws that level the playing field for everyone (maintaining an orderly / safe society). Taxes are needed to support the institutions that impliment the discharge of these duties.

Whatever government has done outside this realm it has royally messed up. Social Security is busted as is Medicare. The Welfare state was meant to end proverty, it didn’t even make a dent and in many respects did more harm than good. The US engagement in the affairs of foreign nations has made us a stench in their nostrils. Our money has gone to support oppressive / dictatorial regimes and the people of those nations do not appreciate it….the dictators love it. Nation building should be left up to the people of that nation. We have no business telling them how they should be governed. We should let them know that if they attack us the response will be swift and sure.

All great empires fall when their reach exceeds their grasp and we have certainly overreached in numerous areas. Why people, especially Christians, cannot see this astounds me. Have you noticed that while China may have some internal troubles no one is flying planes into their buildings? You can bet however, that if China follows the same path in foreign affairs that the US has followed, even with the best intentions, they too will eventually come under attack.

Am I suggestig that the attacks of 9-11 were justified? NO, not at all. I am saying that we have sowed some very bitter seed because we allowed our government to do things it had no business doing. Police officers know that the riskiest call they can get is a domestic violence situation. Why do we think we will be greeted with open arms when we stick our noses in other nations’ business.

Our founding fathers warned us of the many pitfalls that we needed to avoid. Fiat money being one of them, foreign entanglements being another. Like a disobedient child we decided we knew better and now find ourselves in a mess. It is how we decide to clean up the mess that is most important. We are at a critical stage in our nation’s history. The path we take will make all the difference in the world. But I am hopeful, we’ve been at critical stages before and came through them whole. Unfortunately, we paid a very dear price for getting into the mess in the first place. The solution lies in first learning how we got into trouble (how we got off on the wrong path) then changing the game plan to get us back on track. The 21st Century will, like all other centuries, be turning points in history. There is no denying that the sun is rising in the East and in many of the underdeveloped countries and right now it is setting in the West. But there is no reason for this sun to set in one place and rise somewhere else. Free Market capitalism raises all that embrace it. The sun can rise everywhere and this could be a better planet. Perfection will only be achieved at the Second Coming.