Stomach Flu and Economic News

The Pimpernel and friends have all had the stomach flu for the past week. For my part I made sure that I drank lots of water and we all slept more than usual. It also made me feel more hungry than usual which I find odd. I was sort of dopey because of it all for the past couple of days. As a consequence I have not paid attention to the news as much as I usually do; but, I do have some interesting articles that I came across.

Yahoo - A Remote Control For The Body. I don't know about you; but, I don't like the idea of having somebody remote controlling my body. I was in the hospital once and they wanted to check my heart by giving me what is called a stress test; but, they didn't want me to stress myself by walking on a treadmill so they chemically induced by heart to speed up and slow down. It was strange knowing that the nurse had control over my body. A very strange experience.

Mail Online - Buying pizza? Expect a healthy reminder from Tesco: Supermarket giant will use loyalty card data to see who is eating what
. It should be so obvious where this is going to my long time readers. I have written about this a few times. Lets say you want to save money on healthcare and food subsidies for the poor. You simply track what they buy and make healthy and cost saving suggestions. This will come to America very soon.

CNBC - Texas Counties Set Example for Retirement
. Now here is another repeating of the big lie. The article states that cities and counties did not meet their obligations to put more money into public pensions; but, the fail to mention that the cities and counties couldn't because during the boom, the pensions were overfunded and they were not allowed to be. The response in many municipalities was to stop making their contributions and increase retirement benefits. There was no need to increase benefits.

CNBC - Reuters - Congress returns to U.S. public pension battle with new bill. At the bottom of the article it mentions a group called the "Governmental Accounting Standards Board" or GASB. GASB makes recommendations for how state and local governments do accounting. A few years back they changed the way pensions are reported and that change makes the pensions appear to be in trouble when in fact they are not. The trick is simple. How much money do I need to make a year to buy a house? Lets say if I make $50,000 a year I can buy a $100,000 home. My debt is $100,000; but, the total amount I will pay in mortgage payments is $300,000 because of interest and amortization. I don't show that I owe $300,000 when I go to buy a car; but, that is how they show it when discussing pensions.

Now lets ask a question. If there is no problem then why the story and spin. Look, San Bernadino declared bankruptcy and said they couldn't pay their pension obligations; but, when Calpers investigated it turned out that they could pay the costs and were hiding the money. They don't want to tell the truth, the truth is that people on average are living longer and we need people to therefore work longer.

ABC - Last Living Man Born in 19th Century Likely Has Genes to Thank. I post this story because of something that happened to me long ago. I was in college and lived in a raggedy studio across from the school. I actually slept on a cot and when I turned on the oven would watch all the cockroaches leave it. Anyways, I was sitting there one night and across the way could see the college library where there was one person reading a book in the window. It made me wonder what if you were the oldest person in the world, the last person from a long gone generation. You would have outlived all of the people on the earth that lived here when you were born. Everyone on earth changed around you and you remained relatively the same.

Detroit News - U.S. urges states not to allow general use of self-driving cars. The question is what will the regulations be. One is that you have to be behind the wheel, will biometrically identify yourself be next?

The Telegraph - No saviour in sight as world credit cycle rolls over. Here is the short on the article; but, I recommend you read it anyways. The short is that if you have high yield and high risk investments, you are going to lose big time. The economies of the west are unsustainable.

NBC - Reuters - Wealthy benefit the most from top tax breaks, government study shows. It is not about tax rates, it is about deductions.

Fox News - Could bitcoin go legit?. The blueprint for future government backed electronic currencies is being written and as you read the article notice how it says that you have to prove who you are to use the trusted bitcoins.

Mail Online - After death of cheques now CASH is in the firing line as figures show Britons did 10% less shopping with coins and notes in 2012. I never read an article which talks about why we should keep physical money. We will end up with an all electronic currency, you will not have a choice.

Now enjoy some fun stuff. Firstly, a young lady that knows how to play the guitar.

YouTube - Tina S - Van Halen cover- Eruption.

YouTube - JACK CARROLL - BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT 2013 SEMI FINAL PERFORMANCE. I just love this kid, he is hilarious.

YouTube - Owen Campbell - Angry Busker - Australia's Got Talent 2012 audition 3 [FULL].

YouTube - Anna Graceman, 11 ~ America's Got Talent 2011, Atlanta Auditions. She reminded me of someone else, she reminded me of a young girl a very long time ago who sat on my stage and sang the saddest song, she moved the whole audience and I was fortunate enough to light her. This is the song she sang. YouTube - Carly Simon - That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be - 1971
. I saw a 13 year old girl sing that song and you could feel her pain. She sang it the same everytime, every show and every rehearsal. I didn't know her well, just another performer on my stage; but, I knew she knew the pain she sang about. She found the perfect way to express it and use it.

Now some old school fun. YouTube - The Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen ( HQ 1080p HD Upscale ).

How surprising, confusion on the stock market.

Last Friday there was a lot of chatter about the Federal Reserve buying less bonds and easing on the quantitative easing. That caused the Japanese stock exchange to lose 10 percent and then came the three day weekend. You might have expected the Dow to drop; but, it rose supposedly because Bernake said they would keep one buying bonds. He did not say how many. Today it lost as much as it gained on Tuesday.

This is from the Financial Times - Larry Summers has an edge in the race to head the Federal Reserve. Here is my take on it, Bernake has not had the job that long and is leaving just prior or while something big goes on. He is leaving soon. There is an old joke. A guy takes over a big company and his predecessor leaves him three envelopes. The envelopes are in order and tell him to open them as he faces any crisis.

He messes up and the company loses money. He opens the first envelope and it says, "Blame the last guy that had your job". A few months later he messes up again and he opens the second envelope, it says, "Blame your employees". He makes a mistake and loses money a few months later and opens the third envelope. It says, "Prepare three envelopes". Mr. Bernake is leaving because he has run out of things to blame. His replacement will follow the exact same policies.

Yahoo - The Daily Ticker - Sallie Krawcheck: Big Banks Still Don’t Have Enough Capital. Expect volatility and when the game is over expect it to be hard to get credit. If banks have to hold more in deposits then they have less to lend, it is that simple.

Yahoo - On the Road to a Japanese Debt Crisis. This is all a joke, the point of everything in the media is to make you unsure. I will tell you how it ends and have. Don't freak out when the markets get volatile (jump and wildly up and downs). Make good long term bets and stick with them.

CNBC - Market May Be Near Top: Technician. They are telling you that the market will get volatile. They are flat out saying that the market has reached the top and will dip.

CNBC - Is the Dollar Dying? Why US Currency Is in Danger. Again, mainstream media telling you what I have been saying. The dollar is dying.

Real Currencies - The Dying Dollar and the Rise of a New Currency Order. Wake up, it is not just me that sees what is coming.

Don't buy stakes in banks, it is a trick and I don't care what they say. Here is the tricky news. Market Watch - Bank stocks lead on stronger economic data. There are people who believe that if they are going to declare bankruptcy, they might as well run up their debt just prior to. They even pay their attorney's with their credit cards. Even though the ex left me with lots of credit debt, I payed it all off. I didn't pay my attorney with other people's moneys (credit cards) and I did not declare bankruptcy (though I could have), I paid my debts. If the IMF, FDIC and Bank of England are correct about what is coming then we are eeing the rats jump the ship and taking as much as they can before they go.

Yahoo - Reuters - Nasdaq to pay $10 million to settle SEC charges from Facebook snafu. Read the article, it says that NASDAQ cost Facebook $500,000,000 in losses by a "snafu". LOL. They got fined $10 million dollars. What happened to the other $490,000,000? Oh well, people make mistakes.The system is corrupt and people who do make it on their own, like Zuckerman, get taken advantage of. Still, he made so much, he didn't care because money is not what he is about even if I disagree with him on many things.

Watch for volatility, swings in the markets, all markets. Have a great week. I have had the stomach flu the last two days. Hope it is over by tomorrow.

6 Years

I cannot believe that I began this blog six years ago. Wow. I went to look at the stats and am amazed. One little voice heard tens of thousands of times. What started as a prank, if you will, has more readers now than ever and I write less. There may only be 15 followers; but, I get over 1,500 hits a month. If I got paid a dollar for every hit each month, I still would not monetize this site, not gonna happen.

In looking at the stats I was shocked that I have been doing this for six years and people still care. Recently, one of my readers and I were talking on the phone and he told me how much he enjoyed reading my stuff. That makes me feel fantastic. I am amazed that even though I don't focus on any one issue and even though I don't have lots of pictures (I am not good at uploading or downloading them) and even though I don't even bother editing my stuff, that people still want to see what I will talk about next. I talk about what I see.

Someone recently asked me what I like the most in my life and I told them, I like writing this blog. I don't know why I am still alive, the stupid doctors have promised me many times that I should be dead and haven't gotten it right yet. Thank you to everyone who has ever read my silly little words. I look at this blog like the man looks at the woman in this video. Lets see what is behind the curtain.

YouTube - Joe Cocker - You Can Leave Your Hat On.

"You give me reason to live". Thanks.

I miss you dearest Robbie

Dearest Robbie,

I do hope you understand that most people that read my blog have no idea who you are or why I love you so. You were so supportive of me at a time when I needed some reassurance. I miss you. I am glad that you still read and enjoy my musical selections. If you are ever going to Vegas, we still have to get together so I can show you the town. Some more music for you. You may recall that I wanted to send a letter to a lady and did not. She has since passed away from some disease, this is the music that all makes me think of her. I don't even know why; but, I hope you enjoy it.

YouTube - Steely Dan - Aja (1977) Full Album

Keep watching the markets, look for confusion.

I don't know exactly it will all begin. It is not as obvious as the housing bubble or the stock crash before. There are too many balls in the air at once. What we are seeing in the media is either "everything is okay" or "the crash is coming". I don't think it is that concrete. I believe we are going to implode; but, I don't think it is all at once. It could be; but, that is not how it usually works. It crashes by industry, one goes and then another goes and then another goes. The housing bubble burst months before the stock crashed.

Here are somethings that people are saying.

Silver Doctors - Jim Sinclair: Entire US Banking System Missed a Bail-in Collapse by a Hair Tuesday!. I don't agree with everything he says and I don't believe in buying precious metals nor do I nor will I ever sell anything on the blog. I think a "bail-in" is coming because the IMF, FDIC and Bank of England have all said so; but, as I said previously, I expect a lot of volatility in the markets first.

InvestmentWatch - 100% Chance Of Stock Market Crash Coming Near Future. Listen to what the guy says all the way through. Again, I don't agree with everything he is saying; but, he states a lot of things that are underlying facts and gives the references.

InvestmentWatch - CNBC - The Venerable Jack Bogle Has Warned Us A 25-50% Downward Move Is Almost Certain. This is a mainstream media show with a respected individual saying the same thing. He says it may come in three waves. I don't know how many waves; but, it is coming.

InvestmentWatch - Basel III: How The Bank For International Settlements Is Going To Help Bring Down The Global Economy. The article has good links and I apologize for not having really talked about Basel before. He gives a decent summary of what it is, you can also go to Wikipedia. Bottom line, an international organization that has a lot more control over your sovereignty than you knew.

Huffington Post - Beware Capitalist Tools. I happen to like real capitalism so I disagree with his title. What he points out is how much the financial reporters owe to the financial industry and why they do what they are told.

FoxNews - Eye spy: Facial recognition software is coming to Google Glass
. I said Google glasses would have biometric identification, Google said it wouldn't and gosh darn, turns out that there is an app for that, how surprising. What google really meant was that the app would not be made by them and built into the system, you have to buy it from a third party. I wonder if the security setting for the glasses allows you to have it scan your iris so that nobody else can use them?

The way we are led by the nose is pretty simple. The majority that you hear all sing the same song. Everything is bad or getting better or getting worse of whatever. A few disagree and are shut down and ridiculed. Just about all have a stake in the game. The trick is to get you to stop listening to the ones that are right because money is made off of your being wrong. The stock market will come down; but, I still say if you have stock keep it and wait it out. That is also what Jack Bogle said. I gave the exact same advice as Mr. Bogle before him. Now, go look up who he is. Wikipedia - John C. Bogle. This is like an Index Fund Warren Buffet.

I cannot tell you which asset class will collapse first, it could be any of them. It doesn't really matter which comes first, they all effect one another. I cannot say with any certainty when the first will go. I happen to watch for triple witching hours on Wall Street; but, there are other key dates when long term bets need to be made. Heck, the collapses could begin in the currency trading markets if nobody wants our dollars, it could happen in the energy markets first. Lots of options.

You know what, I know what to look for possibly. If we think of the Cyprus situation, it rattled all of the European Union and is only a very small percentage of it's population and GDP. They also were described as bad people because they were laundering money for rich Russians. I think it will be the banks, they haven't changed their ways, cheated the rules on the Mortgage relief they were supposed to provide. I think it will be the banks more than the stock market that begins the ball rolling. Who would put up with another trillion dollar bail out of banks? I don't think people would, they will prefer the bail in.

The logic will please everyone. If I deposited in a bank and the bank failed, I would want to be paid before the stock holders because what they lost was not their money; but, my money. Yet, they kept the stock and gave themselves bonuses. We need a good fall guy even though all the industries are guilty. I think it will be the bankers. Heck, you have to hate them enough to become stockholders in them after breaking them up into a million pieces. Yeah, that would be the ones.

No matter how it turns out, it turns out the same. The IMF did not spend years coming up with a plan if they didn't know a problem was coming. If the banks start to fail, keep your money in the bank. If the stock market goes down, keep your money in the stock market. When whatever fails, fails, keep your money in it and wait it out. All indexes come back. Once you sell, you are stuck and they know that. Warren Buffet did not sell off during the market crash, he waited and bought.

Mr. Buffet said very rude once. He was on 20/20 I believe and he walked past a picture of lots of people in a crowd and said that he "Protected the asses of the masses" and he meant it. In my opinion, Mr. Buffet and Mr. Gates are two people who believe in individual achievement. They are two very smart people who just don't know God; but, believe in truth and freedom and prosperity for others. Neither is a selfish individual and both have pledged their fortunes to others to help them as they believe people should be helped. My deepest regret is that I believe these two men misunderstood what they were up against. What I don't think they really understand is that this game was taken out of their hands and even the hands of those who they are protecting us from long, long ago.

There is a movie coming out that I am going to see. From Yahoo, it is called, "Now You See Me". There is also a show coming out that I want to see, it is on NBC and is called, "The Blacklist".

Possible False Start to Systematic Failure in the Economy

As my readers know, the Pimpernel tries to keep up with things in the economy. Last week there were some odd things in the markets, Japan's stocks losing 10% being a big one. All weekend I have been reading stories on what is going on and the trend seems to be that even the mainstream media is reporting that this week may be important and that markets may see major corrections (losses). Here is the thing, if the stock market dropped 10%, it is still only the beginning of the real corrections. When banks fail, people should put their money in non-bank stocks. Let me repeat something I have said before, stock market volatility is to get the average person out of the market and it is a time when the average person should do the opposite and get into the market. We should be long term investors and not day traders.

Here are just a couple of warnings from over the weekend.

NBC News - Week ahead: Watching for signs of a too-strong economy

The Motley Fool - Is the Stock Market Overdue for a Big Plunge?

There have been plenty of articles warning that this week could be very volatile; but, it has also been stated that this is the week when the big players take their vacations. Whatever happens this week, if anything happens, is just the beginning of what is coming. The financial system needs to be restructured and the plan that is in congress will not do it properly. The "Derivatives" market cannot be allowed to operate without controls and the people that run the market are the same ones that just wrote the new regulations that are being voted on and they exempted themselves from regulation.

I shall tell a true story, something I actually experienced. When the housing bubble was in full swing, I was asked to meet with some mortgage brokers. I told them that the housing market was going to crash. I told them all of the indicators that are traditionally watched in the real estate market, I told them how we were going to see a severe recession. This meeting happened about a year and a half or so before the housing bubble crashed. They looked me dead in the eye, said my analysis was well thought out and then they told me that I had to be wrong because things were going so well in the economy and this was how they made all their money.

Money is a drug and those who have the most are the least likely to believe the gravy train will ever end. Our markets are run by money junkies and they will do anything to get their next fix; but, it always ends badly. Quite awhile ago I wrote about how the movie "The Hangover" was the perfect analogy for our over-indulgence since 2002. Did you really need televisions in the backseat, did you really need spinner wheels or that Lincoln Navigator? People went crazy spending money that they had not earned and that went away as fast as it came. Now is the time to check out of the room, leave the maid a nice tip and start over.

The current economic system has been unwinding for a bit, no one event does it all. The Bank of England and FDIC said they are looking at "systematic" failures. This not about a bank failing, no matter how big. It is not about stock markets crashing. It is about all of the system failing because it is all rigged.

Lets say that this week is really bad on Wall Street, it doesn't matter. The purpose of all the turmoil is to bring in a new economic and financial control system that is international in nature. That is the end game.

When "it" comes, the new economy folllows

You may think that what is happening in the worlds economies may all work out; but, it will not. The world is going to set up new rules for financial transactions and the west will be less wealthy. Warren Buffet saw this coming for over 20 years. I am going to talk about what the United States looks like after the world goes off the dollar and how we have been preparing for it.

Here is a fairly good take on what is going on by someone that I just read. Godlike Productions - The Grand Finale: Here Is What Is About To Happen To You...An Economic Love Story, or Fifty Shades of Green? While I may not agree with everything the author said, it is a pretty good summary of things.

It is very possible that we will see some big shakeups on Wall Street this week, if you have stock do not sell, hold onto it and wait out the ride. The stocks to stay out of are financial companies and banks. The FDIC and Bank of England's plans to conduct "bail ins" in the future for banks that fail means that if you have stock in those companies, you lose it. The stock will be turned over to the depositors.

We can see the warning signs. Yahoo - Reuters - Wall Street sags, but ends off session lows; HP hits 52-week high.

They are warning us all the time. The Federal Reserve - Ending "Too Big to Fail". Banks as you know them will no longer be needed in the same way and they are going to be broken up into neighborhood piggy banks.

For the past couple of years they have been printing new $100 bills and they are about to release them. NewMoney.gov - Federal Reserve Announces Day of Issue of Redesigned $100 Note. They begin circulating on October.

After the coming economic tsunami, things will be different. For people in the United States expect the following things to be the new normal.

1. Fewer and fewer people will go to true universities.
2. Fewer and fewer people will own personal cars.
3. You will live in smaller spaces or share a home.
4. The suburbs will become the new ghettos.
5. You will have to work longer.
6. You will have healthcare; but, will be penalized for personal choices like smoking, drinking and what you eat.
7. You will not get tax benefits for being married, having children or buying a house.
8, There will cease to be any anonymity on the internet.
9. You will have to report your health to your doctor or get no insurance. Mail Online - The real-life tricorder: The gadget that can measure all of your vital signs in just TEN seconds
10. It is not going to get better.

Sorry, but that is the truth. The fall has been delayed so that we can get accustomed to doing with less. Just assume that I might be right about what is coming. There is nothing you can do to avoid it. The thing to remember is that the United States has some of the best contingency planners ever. We plan for everything, all possibilities, well, most. A plan was put in place years ago, just in case our currencies ever collapsed. A plan was put in place in case the world went off the dollar standard. I assure you plans for responding already existed. Don't panic when things get weird. Don't worry that the world will end, don't worry that we will live with less.

Mail Online - Global markets plummet after US Fed threatens to cut emergency cash support to economy


Market Watch - Bernanke out by August, QE ends, rates up: Crash

Yahoo - Reuters - How the Fed could ruin your summer holiday

Wall Street Journal - New Zealand, China in Talks on Convertibility of Currencies

Sorry if this wasn't uplifting and cheerful, it is what it is. Peqce.

Goodbye Mr. Shaughnessy

My father played the drums, I never heard him; but, I know he did. If I were to play any instrument, it would be the drums. I woke up early today, 3:30 is early to me. When I awoke, I decided to check the new (first thought for a blogger). The news said that Ed Shaughnessey died. You probably don't know his name. He was a drummer, one of the best ever. He played for the Johnny Carson orchestra, he was a jazz drummer.

One of the best compliments I have ever had in my life was from a black jazz player. He told me that I reminded him of the old time jazz guys. He told me I had attitude that reminded him of Louis Armstrong. Jazz people are the most stuck up people in the world, we are arrogant and self assured, we are at peace with ourselves. I really appreciated the compliment. I knew exactly what he meant.

The greatest jazz drummer of all time is generally considered to be Buddy Rich. The man was amazing. At a time when blacks and whites didn't even eat in the same restaurants, he played as the only white guy in a black band. This guy was so about music. Mr. Rich was so respected that other drummers had nothing to say to him, he was "Tiger Woods" good, he was that much better than the others. He had a heart attack and a broken arm and played, old school, no stopping him. Yet, he loved the music so much that he promoted others, people like Sinatra.

Mr. Rich played with Mr Shaughnessy, he respected this drummer, he respected this man. Mr. Shaughnessy earned the respect. He was a great jazz drummer and earned 30 years on the Johnny Carson show as their drummer. Mr. Rich asked if Mr. Shaughnessey and he could play together and they did, imagine Babe Ruth or Tiger Woods saying that they wanted to play with you, that is how good Mr. Shaughnessy was and he just died. I want you to hear him.

Buddy Rich and Ed Shaughnessy Play Drums

Something Pimpernel This Way Comes

It is Friday night and Saturday morning. I am listening to music and thinking. I will post tomorrow, it is my day off and there is much to discuss. It is too late for me to write much tonight. I have two prior posts that I did not post and may or may not include in Saturdays posts. I also have to start a new series on a separate blog, spiritual posts. I shall be translated and am expected to give at least one a month. Sounds like work to me; but, I am up for it.

My dear readers of "The truth is inside you", they will get one day a month and you get what I have the rest of the time. They will get well thought out posts and you get the nonsense that I think of on any given day. For tonight you shall get music. Enjoy. I hope you like this one Robbie, I bought the album as soon as it came out and still have it.

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Love too good.

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Count on Me

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Take Your Time


YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Crazy Feelin

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Skateboard

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Fire

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Show Yourself


YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Runaway

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - All Night Long

An extra, a hope and a wish for all of us.

YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Miracles

The album that I linked to is called Earth by Jefferson Starship. It came out around the same time as Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album and the Eagles' Hotel California.

Because somone asked me

I was talking to someone today about things in the news and they were irritated by "climate deniers". Now here is the funny thing, the person knows that 90% of the mainstream media is owned by about six companies and readily admit this. I told him that I did not believe we were experiencing global warming and climate change is not the consequence of industrial activities. The volcano Krakatoa put up enough in the air by itself to change the planets weather and that was more than all of the industrial age has put in the air, we are not just that powerful. I am against polluting; but, I don't need a feel to make up stories.

He didn't want to believe that "scientists" could lie to such a degree as he believes that most scientists believe in climate change. Well, climates do change and have since the beginning of the earth and we have only been industrial for the last couple hundred years. The fact that the planets all warmed and cooled at the same time is not evidence that building cars effects the climate. We are regularly fed lies by mainstream science. These is the same group of people who promoted racially based science. Investigate the science of eugenics and social Darwinism. Did you know that much of the "science" on second hand smoke was based upon studies of babies whose mothers smoked while pregnant? Yet how many "scientists" will bring that up? Do it and see what happens to your career. The science may have value; but, the spin is for a social and political reason. Scientists are just people and respond to the same pressures and pleasures, they follow the money too.

Now why did I post this. I won't remember it and he asked me to write down my response, which I have.

Mostly about money; but, biometrics and tech too

First up a story from the Salt Lake Tribune. Hatch wants immigrant fingerprints taken at airports. The article talks about the upcoming immigration bill. It says that they are going to require the biometrics of all foreigners when they enter and leave the country. How will other countries respond, perhaps in the same way. No international travel if we don't have your biometrics? In the future you will not be allowed to travel if we cannot keep tabs on you.

The Street - Jim Cramer - Cramer: Running Head-On Into 1929. I don't actually care for Cramer, I think he is a shill; but, sometimes he gets things right. He points out a trend that we have just broken and that the last time it was done was just before the stock market crash of 1929.

The Mail Online - The Footsie's had a stellar year, but will the great share boom turn to bust? Simply put, the English equivalent to the Dow Jones is doing really well, just like the Dow Jones is doing; but, there is nothing to back it up.

Yahoo - The Exchange - How Baby Boomers Take Jobs From Younger Workers. So which is it, are people supposed to work longer or retire sooner. They seem to be saying that if you can retire then you should so that there are jobs for younger people; but, if you are younger you should expect to work longer. What about people like me, I am not 55; but, I could retire in a couple of years. Am I supposed to retire or work longer?

CBS New York - A Mileage Tax Monitored By Big Brother For All N.J. Drivers? It Could Happen. I have written about this for the past few years, it is coming. Why does the Federal government claim that all local roads are part of the Highway system? Why does the Federal government through the FCC claim they have the right to control local right of ways? There is another article coming up and I will put some of this together for my dear readers, at least the ones who haven't fallen asleep.

Yahoo - Breakout - Gold ETFs Are Liquidating By the Ton. People are selling off gold. That will not be the end of the story, when the markets crash, gold will escalate and then it will take a really big drop when it is not what future currencies are based on. Volatility is how you steal other peoples money.

Yahoo - Reuters - The Irish loophole behind Apple's low tax bill. I need to say something here. I am very careful, as a rule, with the sources that I quote. I prefer to link to someone's own website when I say what they are doing; but, I will link to reputable and established news sources often. On occasion, I will link to alternative news sources; but, either they provide a link to their source material or I have independently provided a link to the source material. My readers may have noticed that I provide the name of any sources that I link to in my blog, that is to not infringe on anyone's copyright. There are some alternative sources that I read that may cause me to investigate and I will then link to the original document rather than the referring source. Having said all that, here is my thinking. The Mainstream Media manipulates the news and spins stories; but, they can back up their stories with some evidence. I am more concerned with their evidence than their spin. The Mainstream Media also takes responsibility for what they publish. I am a commentator, not a news reporter. I want to point to a source that takes responsibility for what they print.

Now to the article. Pretty simple, the reason we need to have international control over tax collection. Apple is just an example to get you riled up to accept it.

Banoosh - You Won’t Need a Driver’s License by 2040. The article talks about how self driving cars will free you from having to drive or get speeding tickets and how that will mean that we will not need traffic signs or traffic lights. When we have a world of self driving cars, the infrastructure does not need to be there for humans to drive. Now go back to the other articles about personal travel, driving and you might begin to see a pattern. You will pay more, the more you drive and your car will drive for you. Hmmm, what is that other part. Oh, yeah and the federal government is taking over control of all the major streets. Maybe that will allow them to require you to have a self driving car to be on the national highway system.

Let me ask you a question. When the cars can all be self driving, why paint traffic lines? Why even paint crosswalks when the cars can already see you? A lot of money is spent nationwide painting streets. The article states that wouldn't need street lights, that saves a lot of money and electricity. Solar energy does not work well at night and reducing demand in a world of green energy has value. Maybe if you have a dumb car you will only be allowed to drive during the day.

The greatest freedom we have is the ability to move freely about. When your ability to move about is limited, you are in a prison. It means that you can no longer vote with your feet. I want you to honestly ask yourself a question. How would China use these technologies, do you think they would use them to limit where people go to acceptable places to see acceptable people? The FCC controls the airwaves and what can be broadcast on them, soon they will what can be broadcast over the streets, that is why they took control over local right of ways as I have written about prior and you can read for yourself by searching for the Texas Municipal League and the FCC. I just don't feel like looking for the link again.

News articles; but, quietly

I have not played any music today, I have not watched any television, I have kept the amount of noise to a minimum around me. I felt I needed a little quiet time to think. I love the city; but, I have spent years living in the desert and living in the woods prior to that. When I used to go backpacking, it was great. There is something about the peacefulness and quiet that goes along with it.

It is amazing how much we are bombarded by information. Our senses are constantly being overloaded with noise, light, motion. I personally cannot stand to be in a dance club. I fear for the kids of today, this place is beginning to look more and more like Tokyo. Their lives are wrapped in social networking to the point where everything is public. I saw an article today that said that 94% of Brit's would give up sex rather than their cell phone. Mail Online - 94% of UK adults would rather live without sex than their mobile phone. Now to the news.

Yahoo News - AP - US Treasury takes step to avoid hitting debt limit
US Treasury to halt sales of securities to state, local gov'ts to avoid breaching debt limit. I am not quite sure what this one means; but, it is worth watching to see the effect it has on state and local governments. It may mean that they have to keep the money in the banks. If those banks were to fail and a "bail in" occurred, would they be the largest stock owners of their local banks?

Inforwars - What Are These Weird Street Signs Being Installed in Las Vegas? I don't generally link to Infowars and believe they have a very strong tendency to look for the boogeyman under every bed. My opinion. This particular story is interesting for other reasons. One commenter stated that the signs looked like highway signs for redirecting traffic on streets if the highway were down. As I pointed out previously, the new federal funding legislation for municipal roads claims that all major (arterial) roads are now part of the National Highway System. Perhaps this is a "sign" of things to come as the fed takes over local right of ways.

Wired - New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More. An article showing the cash register of the future; but, it doesn't take cash from what I can see. It only takes electronic purchases. Still, it is pretty.

Mail Online - New spectre of cloned babies: Scientists create embryos in lab that 'could grow to full term'.

Yahoo News - AP - Nasdaq stocks posting largest volume decreases. If people are not trading, something is coming.

LifeNews.com - Unethical Scientists are Making Human-Animal Hybrids, Again
. The problem is that science teaches that people are not unique and not special, we are flukes of the universe and we believe we can do a better job than nature or God. This will not go well.

Mail Online - Google unveils superfast quantum computer that could cure diseases, stop global warming and even learn to drive a car
.

The Guardian - Fury at corporate tax avoidance leads to call for a global response. Get ready for it, global tax regulation by an international body. First they will come for the big companies that are truly avoiding taxes and then, then they will come for every transaction made on the internet and maybe that is not a bad thing. My issue is not with internationally regulated currencies or internationally enforced taxes. If we sell in another country, we need to abide by their rules and vice versa. My bigger concern is the globalization of what is and is not acceptable because we don't get to vote on those things.

Huffington Post - Kirsten Gillibrand Aims To Jumpstart Student Loan Refinancings With New Bill. Nothing is free in this world and there will be a price to pay. It may not be apparent yet; but, it will show itself later. The same thing holds true for people who bought risky loans, refinanced and think they have outsmarted the system. Nope, you didn't, you did exactly what they wanted you to do.

Wired - Welcome to the Programmable World
. A decent article about how everything is going to be connected to the internet. The term they use is "the internet of things". I recommend you read the whole article and ask yourself what will not be known about you in the future.

Yahoo - CNBC - New Bill to Colleges: Prove Your Worth
. Colleges are going to be asked to prove to students that they will be able to get good paying jobs. What would you do if you could only get into a college that you believed graduation from meant you would get a good job; but, you were not admitted to the ones that had a higher return? What is the real driving force behind all of these attacks on the value of a college education? They are telling the poor and middle class that if you cannot afford to go to the best colleges, you shouldn't bother going at all. They are lowering expectations because there is less for Americans to expect in the future. Don't expect to own a home, don't expect to go to college, don't expect to live alone and don't expect to have much private space (270 square feet is enough). They are telling us something really simple, EXPECT LESS.

INRIX. They watch you move, they watch you travel, they monitor transportation for your benefit. How do they get all that information if not from the cities, states and fed?

Huffington Post - Transforming Capitalism Won't Happen Without Leadership. We do not live in a capitalistic society and maybe never have. Certainly, with all the misdeeds of the banks and insurance companies and industries and the regulators, the system is rigged and far from honest. The system will change because it will fail even more. The question is what will replace it.

Huffington Post - Launching the Internet of Everything One Startup at a Time. Again we see the internet of everything, it is time when everything is connected and monitored and analyzed. The movie the Matrix was interesting, it envisioned a future where we lived in virtual realities and that is the world we are building.

A Farewell and a song. Washington Post - AP - Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, dies at 74 from cancer. Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist for The Doors. A friend of mine's father played on one of their albums. Mr. Manzarek was as important to that band as the others. He started the band with Morrison and it had a very distinctive sound. It will be the first music I listen to today. My favorite song by The Doors - YouTube - L.A. Woman. Thanks for the music and goodbye Mr. Manzarek.

how do you find truth inside

I regularly check the stats on this blog, everytime I post, I check the stats. I don't fixate on it, I just look to see what people are searching and which posts are being read. I am always fascinated to find that people from other countries read it, it amazes me that Russians are the second most common group. Often I check to see which searches led people to my site. Today, I found the following search "how do you find truth inside" and it stopped me.

This blog is called "The Truth is Inside You" and someone wanted to know how to find the truth inside themselves and were led here. I think I want to answer their question, at least to the best of my ability. Who knows, maybe someone else will come here with the same question someday.

I called this blog, "The Truth is Inside You" because I believe it. The one thing that we can know is that we are, that we exist. It is an absolute truth and the only one that can be known absolutely. The nature of our existence is open to discussion, the fact of our existence is not. I began this blog (first iteration, since destroyed) by talking about the philosophical meaning of existence. Yes, the first iteration of this blog was very deep into philosophy and God. The second iteration was more about how the world system works. I destroyed that one too. Yet, for all this time the issue was about the truths that we can know and can assume and the deceit regarding what is true.

So, to the question. How do you find truth inside you? How does one find oneself? Whoever you are is your truth, not who I think you are and whoever you are is as important as any other person because we all have to live our own lives. We seek pleasure because this physical world is tough and has lots of unpleasurable things in it. Who we are is the collection of choices we make. The ones where we are selfless define us, the ones where we are selfish also define us and once we pass on, we are whoever we chose to be in making our choices.

To find the truth inside, you merely have to admit who you are. The challenge of life is to choose who you want to be and it doesn't have to be the same as who you are today. Babies are born completely selfish; but, they learn. The Peter Pan syndrome is all about not wanting to grow up, it is about wanting to remain forever selfish, a child.

The truth is not the mistakes you made (though it is part of it), the truth is not who want to be (though that is also part of it), the truth is who you choose to be and which battles you choose to fight and why. I've been called a lot of things in my life and many of them were and are true; but, it is only part of the story. I am everything I have thought, everything I have done and everything I have chose not to do.

I went to the store today, there was someone collecting money for the homeless shelter. I didn't know what was in my wallet, I thought I had a 5. Turned out I had two ones and an 20. I wanted to give five; but, had to make a choice. Should I give the two ones or the 20. I gave the 20, I made a choice and also decided to make sure I had 10s and 5s on me in the future. I give money to charity every day, just about literally everyday.

I had a friend, I loved him very much. He was one of the most sincere, dedicated and loving people I have ever known. I still miss him, he was older and passed away. The Pimpernel has been and is blessed with some of the best friends a man could ever wish for. I used to tell my friend that I was always where I was supposed to be when I supposed to be there. He understood it about me, he liked that about me. He was also a spiritual person. He understood what I meant. I don't choose who I am around very much, I let them choose me or not. I do not wish to fake who I am and don't want others to fake who they are. I don't want to control who others are; but, I don't want to be too long around people that are only negative. That is who I am partly, who knows who I will become; but, the choices I make will define who I am more than they could possibly define who others are. I cannot define others for themselves, I cannot define their choices or their reasons, they do that.

You don't find the truth inside you, you admit it. You are you and you make choices based on what you have faith in. Belief is a non-sense word, it just really is used to mean something you want to think is true. Faith means that you act on your belief. If you have faith that the moon is made of gold then you will spend all the money you can to go there and mine gold. If your beliefs do not effect your actions then you are lying to yourself about what you really believe.

We want to believe that we are good people. Most people lie to themselves about who they are. They tell themselves that they think others are just as important as they are and then vote to end food stamps or whatever might help someone else in need because it will hurt their pocketbook and someone else should be helping. At some point in time, who should help becomes irrelevant and who does help is all that the person in need knows.

How do you find the truth inside you, it is simple, stop lying to yourself about who you are and focus on who you want to be rather than focusing on who you want others to be. Create the you that you want to be and know that you will be imperfect, I haven't met a perfect person yet. I read that there is none good but God. The rest of us are all works in progress at least we hope we progress.

A Response to an anonymous comment regarding currencies.

Dear Anonymous,

What great questions. I will attempt to answer while giving additional detail and background for those who may not be following these issues.

Fiat Currencies - Physical cash is of course merely paper in today's society. At best it is metal coins; but, who likes to carry around coins anymore. We created paper currency because it is easier than carrying around $100 in pennies or carrying around physical items to barter. Could you imagine bartering cows for a car or a house? The currencies merely represent a promise to redeem with labor and goods. So far, so good. Unfortunately, governments and banks determined that they could charge interest and game the system. Financial people discovered that they could make a profit by manipulating the value of the currencies without actually contributing labor or materials to anything of value.

The creation of physical paper currencies without them being pegged to anything meant that governments and banks could just print more money. The best example of this was probably Germany's hyperinflation prior to the Nazi's coming to power. Stories were told of people bringing wheel barrels of cash into stores just to buy a loaf of bread. The hyperinflation was done in order to pay off foreign debts cheaply. Today we call these things currency wars. The effect within a country of inflation is that it works as a form of taxation, reducing the value of what you have saved and increasing the cash a country can spend.

Prior to there being lots of international trade, it was not as important. With the rise in globalism, currency manipulation becomes more of a problem. For a while there were seven "hard currencies", these were currencies that were accepted worldwide because of faith in their underlying stability and because the countries with the hard currencies were selling products that others wanted. The English pound was backed by sterling silver and the American dollar was backed by gold and silver for a time.

Gold and silver were in limited supply and it was difficult to match the amount of gold to the true value of currencies which is in the underlying promise of labor and materials. A good example is food. The United States was able to produce lots of food and the food was exported; but, a currency backed by gold could not match the amount of food that was being produced. I recently watched a video where it was claimed that to produce a bushel of wheat requires a gallon of oil (transportation of the food required the use of the oil). There is however no direct connection between gold reserves and how much food can be produced. Since the 1900s, the real value of money became based on oil and oil was and is still traded in dollars; but, that is coming to an end.

Now here is the question I was asked. "The BRICS are looking to exit the USD as a reserve currency, how do you think it will play out with regard to the fed/imf/ecb etcdebt backed paper VS BRICS asset backed alternative reserve currency?" I don't see the BRICs as having an asset backed currency. The IMF and the BRICs have moved towards using "Special Drawing Rights", which is nothing more than a collection of currencies used as a reserve.

There are others who have accurately predicted our current situation; however, most of them are selling gold or silver. They call for a return to gold backed currencies; but, the BRICs real value is in their cheap labor and abundant minerals and goods for sale. Brazil does not need a gold backed currency and neither does Russia or India or even China. We want their products, not their gold.

By inflating their currency, Japan is making it's products more expensive to foreign nations except to nations which purchase using the dollar. Japan needs foreign oil. It has been claimed that the reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because we had restricted it's ability to buy oil prior to World War II in response to their military actions in Asia. People will go to war over real assets, things that they need to survive such as food, water, oil and now technology. There is much evidence and it had been predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse because of their inability to keep up with the wests technology. The USSR had a closed society and was unwilling to share information within it's own borders. This made taking advantage of computers and high tech difficult for them. Nobody goes to war over gold because you can live quite well without it.

The current value of gold did not go up because it is harder to find, it is actually being mined more now then two decades ago. As the value of gold went up, it made sense to mine it in areas where it was more costly. The true underlying value of gold has nothing to do with it's trading value. It does not cost $1,800 to mine one ounce of gold and the trading value of gold rises and drops totally unrelated to the cost to produce, refine and transport it. People have sold themselves into slavery in the past; but, not for gold. They sold themselves into slavery for food and shelter.

Lets say that America sold all of it's gold to China and paid off all our foreign debt, would it matter? The dollar is not backed by gold now and hasn't been for a long time. Yet, the dollar was the most important currency in the world and has truly been the only world currency in the history of the world. The dollar's real value has been that it was backed up by oil. That is why other countries saw the dollar itself as a commodity.

I promise I will answer the question. In a world of global trading, the total value of a nations assets is what should and will back up the underlying currencies. The IMF has called for all currencies to be pegged to the nations GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced by a country in a single year. Now, it is true that the G20 and others have called for a single world currency; but, the value of it would still be the worlds GDP. It does not matter what the coin looks like, the question is what is it's trading value based on.

There are two scenarios where the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China)might create an asset backed currency; but, neither is necessarily good for them. Lets say the BRICs backed their currency with gold. There is not enough gold in the world to back their currencies. A gram of gold would be equivalent to a years wages for some people in China. Now if the trading value of gold dropped to $30 it might work; but, then why back your currency by gold in the first place.

Germany is asking for roughly 500 tons of their gold to be put back in their nation (Germany like many other countries keeps much of it's gold in the United States of England, this was done in case the Soviet Union invaded them and for ease in international trade transactions). It is estimated that it will take 7 years to physically return the gold to Germany. The cost and hassle of nations trading in gold is unrealistic and not very effective in a world where international trade is done in seconds.

In my opinion, a gold backed currency makes no sense in the world anymore. Gold deposits can be part of what a nations currency is pegged to; but, there is really little need or any direct connection between gold and the value of what a nation produces. Trading gold therefore is just a much a fiat currency as is paper currencies. My biggest problem with gold is that it doesn't make sense on an individual level. During the depression gold could and was confiscated in the United States by the government and it still retains the right to do it again. All transactions over $500 to purchase gold must be reported to the government; but, the people selling gold don't really explain this. To get around this people began trading in gold options, stock in gold without the actual physical gold. That is a totally fiat currency.

Lets say that gold went to $100,000 an ounce, so what. It just means that the currency is valueless. What do you do after you sell the gold because you cannot trade in it directly. You cannot buy a new car with a chunk of gold. Gold dust will not pay rent or buy food or anything else. The current bubble in gold will burst; but, if it just keeps going up, it makes it less and less likely that it could be used in a barter system.

Here is what I think is behind all of this. Putin would not have promoted a single world currency if he thought that the BRICs were going to have their own asset backed currency and become the reserve currency of the world. The threat of a BRIC currency replacing the dollar is merely an attempt to convince the rest of the world to accept a single world currency and that is what the IMF is promoting.

We sold a lot of our debt to China, if the dollar is to completely collapse they get little in return. By pegging all currencies to a nations GDP, the Chinese are guaranteed to get real assets from us. It would prevent us from hyper-inflating our currency which is what Japan and the United States are doing in different ways.

While Wall Street is the leading place for stock transactions, the City of London is the financial capital for currency and debt valuations. That is why the LIBOR scandal is so important. LIBOR is a rate set by London banks for overnight trades, it is an interest rate. Turns out the system was rigged because it was not based on anything tangible, it was set by the banks themselves. Since then it has been hypothesized that most of the markets have rigged the setting of rates and this includes the rates for gold. The most successful investor in history is Warren Buffet and he has never been a big proponent of gold.

So, there is my long winded answer. I don't see the BRICs going to a true asset backed currency and if they did, it would quickly prove unsuccessful. One last thing, England sold off quite a lot of their gold not long ago and did so fairly cheaply. We have to wonder why. The City of London is the financial capital, they set many of the rates; but, the English got out of the gold standard.

In the end there is no single commodity that directly has it's value associated to a nations value. Why not back our currencies with diamonds? It makes just as much sense. What if we backed up our currency with the amount of food we produced and exported, that would make more sense. I trade food to Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil, that is a truly asset backed currency.

I want to thank the commenter for their question. I hope I provided enough background so all of the readers could understand my answer.

UPDATE: The following article is about why the EURO is going to be destroyed. The Atlantic - The Euro Is Still Doomed, in 2 Charts. What it says that is very interesting is that the EURO is fixed in value regardless of the country using it. If one country starts producing less it does not bring down the value of the underlying currency. This is why Germany had to bail out Greece, to protect it's Euro. It is a short article; but, a good one and I think it adds to the conversation.

Stephen Hawking is Still a Douche, the People Have Spoken

Even though this blog is primarily about current events, tech in the news, corruption and currency manipulation, the most popular posts are "Pastor Carol Daniels" and "Stephen Hawking is a Douche". Not a lot in common between the two and not much more to add in later posts by me. While I do try and see if there are updates on Pastor Daniels, I believe people who came here for that post did so because there was little information on the web. I don't believe my post was brilliant or that I necessarily added anything to the conversation; however, I did very much appreciate the kind words of her relatives and I did not destroy this version of my blog because I wanted the information to stay out there until and if her killer(s) are ever caught. My prayers and thoughts are forever with the Daniels family.

As for Stephen Hawking, it cracks me up that so many people have searched his name and douche. LOL. I searched the terms using Yahoo and came up number one. ROFL. Unlike Pastor Daniels, I never try and see if Mr. Hawking has any new articles about him, I really don't care for him and don't care about him much. For the last month there has been a spike in searches regarding Mr. Hawking and his being a douche.

I have just seen the connection. Pastor Daniels was a loving pastor who sought to help others because of her love for God and others; whereas, Mr. Hawking is a conceited, nasty man who wants us all to know that there is no God because he doesn't believe in him. About 1/30th of all my hits were because of my original post on Pastor Daniels. Mr. Hawking is responsible for about 1/60th of all my hits. I doubt very much that anyone who came here from either of those posts stuck around to read my other things. It doesn't really matter; but, I do find it interesting.

I get to watch when traffic to the site goes up or down and what people are looking at. When the post on Pastor Daniels goes up, I check to see if there is any news on the case. That is how I found out that the Oklahoma police had renewed the reward for evidence leading to the arrest of the guilty party. When the post on Mr. Hawking goes up, it is usually because he has said some new Anti-God comment. What does this prove to me? It proves that there are people who still care about Pastor Daniels and that there are people who still believe that Mr. Hawking is a douche.

Health Insurance, Biometrics and Cash

If someone asked me, I would probably say that I believe we should have healthcare for all Americans. I do not hate the "Obamacare" law as a whole. I would like to see some changes; but, the basic idea of making sure everyone has healthcare is a good thing. I mention this because I am going to link to a site that appears much more conservative than my views. I am not promoting the site nor condemning it, I only cared about this one article.

Americans For Tax Reform - Obamacare: Taxpayers Must Report Personal Health ID Info to IRS.

The article points out that as of next year, all tax filers will also need to provide identifying health information to prove that they have health insurance as required by law or pay a fee. It does beg the question who will choose to pay a fee so that they don't have to get health insurance. If you are rich, you can just pay the fee and hire doctors as you need them. You might also remember that all of your health records must be stored electronically.

Yahoo - Lose weight with new FitBit Flex
. I know I have written about this before; but, I want to follow a line of reasoning. While I agree with universal healthcare, the manner in which it is being implemented is too totalitarian for my liking. Your lifestyle will be recorded and reported and if you are doing things that mamma don't like, momma will charge you more and believe me, if you are employed by a company they are going to require you to take care of yourself or you will be fired for costing too much in "avoidable" risks.

Here is a question, if I have a family healthcare plan and my kid is fat, will I have to pay more? Maybe I will save money if I get my kid to begin a weight loss plan and I will want to know that he is following it to save money so I might have him wear a FitBit Flex and have it report to me if he is not eating right or exercising. I would certainly want it to tell me if he was drinking or smoking, wouldn't you? We have all heard about childhood diabetes and weight being on the rise, we have to save the children, THE CHILDREN. Watch, it is coming and if you don't take care of your child's weight and health then you might just find yourself charged with child abuse.

Now, I am going to talk about money. First article is from Wired - Why $45M in Stolen Cash Still Won’t Get Rid of Hackable ATM Cards. Here is how this went down. A few scammers in multiple nations managed to steal $45 million by faking Debit cards. The article is all over the news about how these guys stole the money. The article talks about how there are safer cards with little chips in them; but, that Americans have not rushed to implement them.

Finally, Wired - Canada Will Beat U.S. to Cashless Economy
. I love the spin in the article, the question is not whether or not we are going to be cashless, the question is if the Canadians will get there first. LOL. Apparently, we are racing the Canadians to see who goes cashless first, I don't know about you but I am not trying to go cashless.

We need to ask ourselves some questions. Once we go cashless all transactions can be tracked. Can you just imagine how much that will tell others about you? I shop at Vons, they regularly have charitable contributions for a month straight (Breast Cancer, Muscular Dystrophy...). When they do these I contribute the same amount everytime I go to the store (which is pretty much daily). If I went into the store and didn't contribute, the checker would probably ask me if I was short on cash. If someone used my Vons card and didn't contribute, the system would see an anomaly. Computers can be programmed to see the same thing and your Debit and Credit cards are tracked in just that manner.

Sorry, I lost my train of thought; but, I posted what I wanted to get out. Have a great week.

Currency problems could be soon

I was anxious last week and did not know why. Everything was fine; but, something seemed wrong. I hate to do this; but, I had a gut feeling. I prefer analysis to "feelings"; but, sometimes you get them and sometimes you have to follow them. My brain is wired slightly weird and sometimes it picks up on things that I have to work to my conscious side. I think in patterns and when a pattern is broken, I know it. Anyways, I was seeing a pattern, a trend; but, unconsciously.

Anyways, I think I just figured out what it is. I think the currency collapse is going to begin soon. Last week the Japanese yen began to collapse. In and of itself, I do not consider that significant for others countries. Then I read another article about how trillions of dollars from overseas would be returning to the United States, that is a big problem; but, these things did not seal the deal. The deal maker was when Warren Buffet warned about what happens when the Federal Reserve stops their quantitative easing and then some Federal Reserve people talking about doing just that.

The next triple witching hour is not until June and that is when I would usually expect to see a major disruption in the bond market. If this were a financial website advising investors then I would not even make this post because I am not positive; but, I think something major may happen on Wall Street this week. You have to ask why the stock market is going up, this is not a good sign. The market is not going up because our companies are doing better, it is going up in anticipation of our currencies being worth less. It is the rats jumping the ship because they know what is coming and overpaying for real things is better than losing everything for nothing. The smart money is moving into stocks because they represent ownership of assets. The purpose of market volatility is to get dumb money out of the market so that the smart money can buy cheap.

Whether or not it happens this week, when it does happen, just sit back and relax. While we may not all agree with the plan, at least my readers know that the International Monetary Fund, the G20, the FDIC and the Bank of England do all in fact have a plan in place to deal with it. I have posted links to their stuff and you can go back and read what they said. They have a plan. When the markets start moving quickly and in ugly ways, don't worry, there is a plan. It won't seem like there is, the media will say that we were all surprised; but, my readers should not be surprised and those who manage the markets will not be surprised.

Bad Little Biometrics, I hate being right

There were a lot of people on alternative news sites that said that RFID chips had to be put in everyone as part of the health care reform bill (Obamacare); but, it just wasn't true. The bill did call for having a registry of any such devices that were in someone and also said that they might be used in people with Alzheimer's. There is a big difference between everyone and some people for specific reasons. Well, I read something in the alternative news; but, did not believe I was positive the source was accurate. As I went through the news later in the day, I found the same story in a reputable source. I consider WIRED to generally be pretty good on reporting on technology and it is quoted by all the major media sources.

Wired - Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform. The article says:

"David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees with the ACLU’s fears. “The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities,” he said. “It’s like a national ID system without the card.”"

This has been apparent since the government passed the "Real ID" laws a few years back. The Wired article links to the actual bill. You can read the bill yourself. According to the article, your state ID will be sufficient to put you on the Federal database with your biometrics. They have mine, I wrote a post about when I got my new license and how they electronically scanned my thumb. They also took my picture, maybe that is why we don't have any blind cops, they wouldn't know if it was my ID. Okay, that was a bad joke. As Arlo Guthrie explained, justice may be blind and judges may be blind; but, cops are not. If you don't understand that reference, you have to listen to "Alice's Restaurant".

The biometrics will not be enough to achieve what they wish. We can make bio-metrically correct replicas of a face, we can duplicate your iris and we can duplicate your thumb print. Heck, we can duplicate any aspect of your body. We can even transplant faces, hands and eyes. Lets be truthful, we can clone you. There must be a technological solution. What would be acceptable? The law says that it is about identifying, positively people who get jobs, to assure that they are Americans. LOL. This is an Immigration law. In order to get a job, you will have to prove that you are you and that you are an American citizen. Do you not get the joke?

Conservatives are supposedly wanting to keep out Mexicans. Liberals are supposedly wanting to let them be citizens so that we can tax them. Both sides of the staged argument are hiding the real agenda. Why would anyone bother proving they were an illegal alien? Than makes no sense, so, we can only make people prove who they are, give up any sense of privacy of anonymity. Here is a question, if I get a face or hand transplant, would my face match the DNA of the donor or mine? I read an article not long ago, it was about taking a transplant from one person, lets say a heart, removing all the DNA instructions and replacing them with the DNA of the recipient. The reason appeared to be so that the living person could accept the transplant. To the best of my understanding.

Sorry, lost my train of thought; but, I will post the thought I did have.

College Tuition, Health monitors and things in the news

I am going to discuss just a few items today and attempt to go into a little more depth. These articles that I am going to link to have been popping up in slightly different ways across the world media and all with a slightly similar twist. I will discuss the articles, what I have read other places and where I think they are trending.

College and Student Loans. For about the past six months I have been reading about the Student Loan bubble. We are told it is over a trillion dollars in the United States. It recently came to my attention that just about all student loans are government loans anymore. The articles that have come out in the past few months have gone a step further than saying there is a student loan bubble, they are now saying that it may not pay to go to college, that it is actually better to never go to college unless you have lots of money and don't have to take on any debt. I have also read how one politician wants to lower the interest rate paid on student loans to the same as that offered banks by the Federal Reserve (less than 1% a year). Here is the latest take from CNBC - Student Debt a 'Roadblock' for Wider Economy. We can add to this the fact that state owned schools are increasing in accepting students from out of state because they pay more.

Now personally, I have no problem with private universities allowing in foreign students; but, do I really want my state taxes for state schools to subsidize foreign students and have them refuse to let my own kids in? The Daily Beast - Elizabeth Warren Wants the Fed to Get Into the Student Loan Business. The articles that I linked to showed a definitely negative response to the idea of lowering the interest rates on student loans and even the idea of Americans bothering to attend college. So what happens if their advice is followed, fewer Americans in college in the United States, more foreign (Chinese) students and a transfer of our knowledge base to foreign countries.

Why do you think foreign students want to come to America? It is a fair question. They come here because we turn out college graduates that are at the forefront of technology when their own colleges do not. Perhaps they should tell the Chinese students not to apply to UCLA because they won't be able to get jobs here. At the same time all of this is going on, European countries and Australia are in dire need of college educated people. This trend is going to push the American that do get a college degree to look at getting jobs in foreign countries where they will be much better off and that is the intent.

Quite awhile ago I read about how in the future American professionals would be more successful if they worked in different countries. The article said that it would be the only way to get ahead, I think I wrote something about it but am not going back to look for it tonight. Now here is the really interesting thing, American colleges are not denying that Americans won't be able to get jobs and will be stuck with lots of student loans. Why not? Imagine a scenario where you have to buy Chinese goods using the Yuan or an international currency. We don't sell many products to China, maybe we could sell our education system to them for payment in Yuans so that we can buy their goods.

Next issue is wearable health monitors. I have been reading about smart phones, wristbands, invisible tattoos and all sorts of devices that will track and monitor your health. These devices will notify you and anyone else you want of your condition. Yahoo - Wired - Fitbit Flex : Wearable design with an impressive smartphone app. Sounds great; but, once again with technology we have to consider how it will be used. Lets say you had to insure someone's health and you knew they had a pre-existing condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure. You might want them to wear one so that you knew if they were taking their medications properly, you know, for their benefit. Might you consider having them wear one of these bands in order to have a lower rate for the mandatory medical insurance? You probably have a rewards card for your supermarket, did you know that Insurance companies have been buying the information about your purchases, trust me, they will want proof about how healthy you are living.

Forbes - Twitter Commits Social Suicide. Here is the short of the article, Twitter will block certain "tweets" from countries that require them to not post certain things. On the one hand this makes perfect sense because the laws in one country are different than the laws of other countries. We cannot expect all countries to allow what we allow. Still, there was another choice and that was to block the whole country from using the internet or certain sites on the internet.

Lets look at the issue backwards for a second. The United States owns and controls the backbone of the internet; but, what if China owned it? What if China had begun and controlled the internet? What if they decided what we could post on the internet and attempted to have us follow their rules, would you be comfortable with that? There are countries where 12 year olds can get married; but, in the United States it would be considered a crime. Should we block that countries wedding announcements on Twitter?

I hate to say this; but, in certain European countries it is legal to have sex with animals. Should we allow pictures of such things to be posted in a country where it is illegal? Do we have to allow animal porn in the United States just because it is legal in parts of Europe? We need to think long and carefully about imposing our beliefs on others and on determining what should be free access to all. What is political speech and what is personal speech. What is the difference between public comment, such as this blog, and personal communication or e-mails?

Yahoo - Twivo? Tech-Smart Teen Creates Program to Save You From TV Spoilers on Twitter. A teenager has created a program that will block an individual from content that they do not wish to see such as information on a television show that they don't want to know in advance. Hmmmm, perhaps we will be judged in the future by what we do and do not block from our internet. Self monitoring is so much easier to accept than governmental or commercial filtering.

Now for a complete and utter lie, lets read this from the Daily Beast - Our Swiftly Melting Deficit, Or How the U.S. is Killing It. The article claims that we are paying off our deficit and it is utter nonsense. It completely ignores the fact that our treasury bonds are bought by the Federal Reserve and focuses on foreign purchases of treasury debt. LOL. Well of course we are paying our foreign debt, we have to; but, we are also paying it by inflating our currency by purchasing the debt by the Federal Reserve. The Daily Beast has about the worst opinions that I can imagine.

I was at a party once and a young Ukranian girl, probably 25 to 3o, decided she liked me. She was incredibly beautiful and intelligent; but, I prefer women my age. She said something to me as I stood outside having a cigarette, she said that American women when asked about how they were always said that they were great and things were fine. She said things are not always great and everything is not fine. Her attitude seemed to be that life is not always good; but, that we could always seek to improve our situation. A very level headed girl. Everything is not OK with the economy and the media speaks out both sides of their mouth to tell us what they think we need to believe. Don't trust their spin on things.

FoxNews - Pentagon scrubs 3D gun plans from Internet, says designer
. You may have seen, heard or read about 3D printed plastic guns. Well, the one that came out can be made by anyone. Do you want anyone to make them? What if someone posted how to make a 3D atomic bomb and anyone could do it, would you want them to be able to use the internet to do it, to make them? Now I want you to go back to the part I wrote about controlling what countries allow to be posted on the internet. Should the United States be able to block content from terrorists that teach how to make bombs and give directions to where to place them within the United States?

Porn, Next Gen Homes, lies and some scary stuff

So which of them did you come for? The Pimpernel does not post naughty things.

The first article is from the Mail Online - Porn set to be banned from public wi-fi this year to protect children. This is at the same time that certain English public officials are calling for dropping the legal age of consent to 14. This is about establishing the governments right to control what you can and cannot see on the net.

Lennar - NextGen - The Home Within a Home. They are going to build homes for two families. They refer to it as inter-generational; but, we used to call them duplexes. The houses built at the end of the housing bubble were also for more than one family. Communal living.

Wired - Google Is Alive, It Has Eyes, and This Is What It Sees. Just thought you might enjoy seeing what you look like to the computer when seen via Google Glasses.

Yahoo - Associated Press - New efforts to curb cellphone theft
. The upswing is that the government wants to require cell phone companies to track their phones in case they are ever stolen and have a kill switch so that they cannot be used again. All to protect you from getting your phone stolen? They don't do that much for cars.

The Tennessean - FBI investigating Pilot Flying J, company owned by governor's family
. This story is only developing; but, it is going to get interesting. I spoke to a trucker a few days ago about this and it is already effecting the industry.

Yahoo - CNBC - Buffett: 'Shot Heard Around the World' Coming. Here is a paragraph from the article that I found interesting:

"In response to a question on the Federal Reserve's massive quantitative easing program, Buffett said it will be "the shot heard around the world" when the central bank first indicates it will stop buying financial assets or start selling from their now enormous $3.4 trillion balance sheet. "we're in uncharted territory ... that's a lot of securities."

An interesting comment, he goes on to say that it will not be the end of the world. There is not a doubt in Mr. Buffets mind that things are going to change big time and there isn't a doubt in mine either.

Yahoo - Christian Science Monitor - Teenagers, social media, and terrorism: a threat level hard to assess. Basically, kids cannot joke online anymore. These types of arrests and "anti-bullying" campaigns are about restricting the speech of the next generation. They recently expelled a 7 or 8 year old for pointing a pencil at another kid and saying "bang, bang". The two were just playing.

The Telegraph - German euro founder calls for 'catastrophic' currency to be broken up. UKIP also posted major election victories in England recently. What this chatter is about in the European papers, it is about prepping them to accept the new international currency that is coming and was proposed by the International Monetary Fund, without actually telling them that.

This Is Collosal - Stranger Visions: DNA Collected from Found Objects Used to Create 3D Portraits. If this is accurate and the pictures are accurate then they can basically recreate your looks into face masks with just a sample of your DNA that could be found on a cigarette butt. Biometrics alone will not protect your identity, what will you need to prove that your biometric image is really you. Now go back up to the story about how your Google glasses see you. I bet an invisible (to the eye) tattoo that monitored your health would work.

Yahoo - Reuters - Calpers: bankrupt San Bernardino has more cash than first admitted. San Bernardino declared bankruptcy to avoid paying pensions costs and now it turns out that the pension is not in trouble. I have said many times and the Governmental Finance Officers Association agrees, there is no problem with the public pensions system. Politicians are up to something else and it is only to benefit themselves. A quote from the article:

"California's public pension fund said on Tuesday that the bankrupt city of San Bernardino has a lot more cash than it had previously disclosed and more than enough money to pay off its debts to the retirement system."

Why would a city claim they couldn't pay their pensions when they can? Why would they hide their funds from their own citizens and the state? Are they siphoning off money from the pensions to pay for something else or perhaps to someone else. Maybe their investments and their use of "placement agents" needs to be looked at? Personally, I would investigate any write offs from pension investments and then follow the money.

Stansberry's Investment Advisory - Their warning. Personally, I would not buy their stuff of use their advice. I don't sell gold, silver or anything else. I don't promote products and only speak for myself. The video takes some time to watch and I do not agree with everything he says; but, he is one of the few, like me, that accurately predicted when the bubbles would burst. He thinks there are things that you can do to benefit when things go bad and I disagree with him. Doesn't matter what you do. He also says that sales of gold are not reported to the government and that is incorrect.

Yahoo - Reuters - Fed's credibility tested as inflation drifts below target. The article says that inflation is lower than wanted and lower than the Fed predicted; but, it doesn't really matter. In the future there will be practically no inflation because the value of your currency will be set by your nation's Gross Domestic Product.

Yahoo - AP - China's struggling automakers jump on SUV boom. This same company, BYD, has just announced they are moving to Lancaster, California to build electric buses and batteries. Lancaster is a little town in the desert, it is near Edwards Air Force Base and Skunk Works. It is home to many people who work on Top Secret projects, I know, I dated one of them. It would seem like a great place to buy technology cheap from fired or laid off workers.

Yahoo - New York Times - Google Glass Picks Up Early Signal: Keep Out. Google glasses look like what they are; but, the next generation will be contact lenses and regular glasses and you won't even know if someone has them on.

Fox News - The mass exodus of Christians from the Muslim world. Persecution of Christians hasn't even gotten close to reaching it's zenith.

Fast Company - EmotionSense App Measures Smartphone Users' Happiness. Now my smartphone will know how I feel, if I am feeling unhappy and then it will know how to make me happier. Sometimes it is okay to be unhappy and after awhile, you need to get over it, you will know when that time is better than your phone. We need to really consider when we are going to let technology decide what is best for us. I am going to talk about this after posting all the articles.

Mail Online - Probation shake-up, GPS tags and compulsory drug-tests 'will turn the tide of crime' promises Justice Secretary. Okay, in England they want to GPS chip certain convicted criminals. They also want to be able to GPS control where these people can go even after being released from prison. One mistake and they get to track you for the rest of your life.

That is all of the news articles for today. This blog continues to evolve. I used to just post one link and then talk about it at great length, now I post a link and have little to say. That is because the issues have not changed. I don't post the articles of the day, don't care about who slept with who, who is going to jail for a DUI or most of the non-sense that really does not effect our lives. I do post the odd article on Stephen Hawking who somehow manages to remain a douche bag or the sadly missed Pastor Daniels; but, this blog continues to be about things that will impact your life and are not widely circulated. By the way, as I was typing, I was also eating some really good home barbecued teriyaki chicken.