Money Stuff

CNBC - NY probing banks for possible forex manipulation. I am waiting to find out what markets are not fixed.

Wall Street Journal - Shift Social Security’s start-up costs. More lies to see if they can steel your retirement funds.

Wall Street Journal - Shift retirement plans away from employers. There was a time when people went to work for companies because they offered a retirement plan. Wall Street has concluded that the only way to avoid that is to destroy all pensions.

Honolulu Civil Beat - Hawaii Lawmakers Agree to Pension Reform for New Hires. I love it, the word reform used to mean that you were going to improve a situation, now it is used to explain why you are taking things away. George Orwell would be thrilled.

Mail Online - Get ready for the real-life RoboCops: NYPD tests Google Glass to help foot patrol officers fight crime
. The article quotes some people who are trying to convince you that it will not be used for facial recognition. It is a lie, it will be used for it.

Yahoo - Business Insider - All American Credit Cards Will Disappear In 2015 And Be Replaced With This New Tech. So, very soon all of your credit and debit cards will carry a microchip, why is this not surprising, I have only been writing about this for 6 years.

Yahoo - AP - What's for dinner? The farm bill has a big impact. Now the fact that we are reducing food stamp benefits while increasing how much we give to agribusiness is annoying enough; but, watching "reporters" spin the story is sickening. The clown that wrote this article claims that by giving money to multi-billion dollar agribusiness will somehow cause food prices to go down. It won't and hasn't yet. The only price savings that will be seen will be on exports to other countries. This article is some of the most disgusting kiss up to the industry that I have seen.

The Motley Fool - Stock Market Warning Signs: Record $444.9 Billion of Debt Is Now Invested in the Market. This is scary, a half a trillion dollars in stock investments is borrowed money. The great depression was partly caused by people borrowing money that they couldn't pay back to bet on the market. If the market burps then those debts go unpaid and everything crumbles.

The problems of this world are not there because people are imperfect, they are there because we have a corrupt system. The system is one that benefits those in charge and penalizes those who are not. A system that promotes corruption and insider trading is the death toll for a society.

Just Some More Lies From the Media

My9NJ.com - Vein Scan Payment System Launched. So some young people created an app that lets you verify your identity using a vein scan of your palm. Now, New Jersey is looking to expand it's use. The best part of the video is where the person claims that you don't have to use the technology if you don't want to. They completely ignore the fact that you will have to use it in the future.

Huffington Post - JPMorgan Exec Blythe Masters To Advise Wall Street Regulator. This shows just how corrupt our government is. The head of commodities for J.P. Morgan is going to advise government regulators on overseeing the commodities market. This is at the same time that J.P. Morgan is getting out of the commodities market as I had previously written about. She was in charge of the group at J.P. Morgan that was manipulating the commodities market.

YouTube - The Young Turks - A Great Way To Save USPS, But Will It Happen?. I know I just wrote about USPS wanting to become a bank for people that don't have bank accounts; but, I liked this video presentation.

YouTube - The Young Turks - John Elway, Don't Give Me Your BS On Social Safety Nets. It really irks me how some people are so selfish and self-centered. Social Security is not a gift, we pay into it. Unemployment Insurance is just that, insurance and we pay into it in case we someday need it, it is not a gift. The hypocrisy goes deep, we have just reduced food stamps; but, will not support raising the minimum wage. I personally have not made the minimum wage in 30 years, in fact, I make way above it and even with alimony and fees and blah, blah, blah, I still take home enough to have food and a roof over my head (although I no longer own the roof and rent). Lets look at this in easy to understand terms. Would you rather live in Canada which has nationalized healthcare and takes care of it's poor or in Mexico? What do we wish to become?

YouTube - The Young Turks - The Daily Show Exposes 'Retarded' CEO Comments. I have grown increasingly disappointed in Mr. Schiff, his fiscal beliefs are simply stupid. He believes that we should eliminate the minimum wage and a reporter asked him if he would be good with people making $2 an hour, she could have said $2 a day and his answer would have been the same. He said he was good with that. She asked who he thought might only deserve $2 an hour and he said the mentally retarded.

YouTube - The Young Turks - Income Inequality ROCKS, says 'Shark Tank' Host Kevin O'Leary. 85 people in the whole world own as much as the bottom half of the population or roughly 3.5 BILLION people. By the way, many of those 85 people inherited their wealth and did nothing to create it.

If I were young, I would be screaming and yelling about the raw deal you are being given. The media tries to say it was the baby boomers or the illegal aliens or the Chines or whoever. Nope, it is the 85 people that have everything. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates actually made their money, not inherited wealth, personal brilliance and hard work and risk. I don't begrudge them what they have earned and admire them; but, I do begrudge people who have lied and cheated and stolen like J.P. Morgan.

There is a statistic being thrown around by a number of neo-conservatives that around 45% of the people don't pay income tax. It is the dumbest statistic that one could use. How many two year old's pay taxes? How many homeless pay income tax when they don't have an income other than what they can beg or recycle cans for? Anyone with a working class or middle class job knows that they are paying taxes and should know that they pay a higher percentage in taxes than the wealthy.

Personally, I am for a flat income tax. It could be 10% or 15% or whatever. If you make a $100,000, you pay $10,000. If you make $1,000,000 then you pay $100,000. Simple and requires no accountants. You pay as you benefit from society. Oddly enough I believe many on the far right would agree with me, though many would prefer to end income tax. Our taxes have given literally trillions in dollars to banks and other companies and they often pay $0 in taxes. Personally, I would rather feed the homeless than see my tax dollars go to bankers who ruined this economy and then used our taxes to pay themselves multi-million dollar bonuses. Does that make me a Communist, a liberal or a left winger? When did rationality and concern for the country as a whole stop being patriotic? Do you know what you call it when one person or a small family owns everything, you call it a monarchy.

UPDATE: You know what? Mr. Schiff could not have angered me more. What an idiot. To say that mentally retarded people are only worth $2.00 an hour really irks me. Actually, the mentally retarded do excellent at a number of jobs, especially jobs that require repetitious activity. When I was young and needed a job, I went to work in a cabinet making factory. Two employees, me and the owner. At the end of the first day, I got a 20% raise. I quit the job at the end of a week or two even though I was offered another raise. You will love the reason I quit. I spoke to the owner and said that we could hire people with mental deficiencies, get a tax break and that they made great employees. I thought they could do the simple things in assembly. As a craftsman I was assembling things that anyone could have. My value was in the use of the tools and my precision which saved on waste product. He told me he didn't want to be around retards and I quit. I didn't want to be around people like him who didn't care about others.

I believe we should match people to their abilities and wants. I met a young man once with a unique situation, he cannot see how the pieces fit together to achieve a goal. At least that is how it was explained to me and you know what, he is an amazing young man, very talented, very polite and very intentionally amusing. I have been thinking about what job would he best suited to for years. I thought about it and thought about it and concluded that he would be perfect for someone who was creating assembly lines and wanted to know what the smallest part of the job was that anyone could do. People pay a lot of money to create assembly lines and I have met some of them. What would having someone like him be worth when it could save you millions in design costs and redesign costs? I bet he would deserve more than $2 an hour; but, they would still only want to pay him that. They are not concerned about the value we contribute, they are concerned about how little they can give in return.

I think we need to create a situation where people can succeed, where the average person can get a fair return on their work investment. I have worked for over 40 years and gave up my health to do so. I did it because I thought it was best for my family. Economics is about supply and demand and there is no longer a demand for humans because of robotics and technology. They no longer need people like me and you, or so they think.

Unemployment the numbers

Well "they" have just published the fact that 331,000 people lost their jobs last month. Read the older blogs and ask yourself why anyone should be surprised that people got laid off after the holidays. It happens every year. "They" say the good news is that they thought 340,000 would lose their jobs. Don't you understand how little Wall Street cares about you? They are worried about bonuses and not about jobs; but, they have missed the real game. Unemployment just dipped and is probably under 6.5% which means no more free money and no more taper. ROFL.

Finance, Pensions and the Post Office

I have been having some medical issues for the past couple of months and my doctor recently changed my medications and has assured me I will be better within a few days. As I am feeling better, I will write more.

Let's start with Katrina and what happened in New Orleans. In New Orleans people starved and were not helped, a lot different from what happened when New York and New Jersey had their equally difficult hurricane. On Long Island people complained they didn't have electricity and their food was going bad, in New Orleans they went without water and food. There is a big difference. Why were the two situations treated so differently?

Washington Post - Puerto Rico bonds downgraded to junk levels. Standard and Poors (one of the big four rating agencies) has downgraded Puerto Rico's bonds to junk level, this is one of the same companies who rated sub-prime mortgage derivatives to AAA, who cares what they say, they are liars. Ignore the rating and ask yourself who is going to make money from downgrading Puerto Rico's bonds. The effect of the rating will be to force Puerto Rico to pay more in interest on it's bonds.

Fox News - AP - Missouri attorney general challenges California egg law. Basically, California passed a law that said you could not sell eggs in the state unless the chickens had a certain size cage to live in. Now, I am no animal rights activist and enjoyed some chicken just tonight. I am more than happy to eat chicken and always want the best price I can get. Oddly enough, I also prefer to buy cage free chicken and am willing to pay more for it. Same for the eggs I buy. I love animals and own my dog; but, I don't like to see birds in cages. I think the ability to fly should not be stopped. I might eat a dove if it was all I had; but, I wouldn't cage it just to look at it. My opinion.

The real question regarding this law is whether or not one state can impose it's laws on another. That is the real issue, not the question of how animals are treated. The Constitution said that one state could not restrict interstate commerce against another. The original purpose of this was to prevent states from taxing goods from other states more than they taxed their own goods. Should California, which has the strongest rules regarding pollution in the nation, be allowed to say that you cannot sell products here unless the other state's factories have met the same standards even though their state does require them to?

A different result might be available if California required all egg producers and chicken producers to say on their packaging that they tortured animals to bring the food to them. That would not violate the interstate commerce laws. California is a state and not a nation.

Yahoo - New York Times - Welcome Relief for Homeowners, Then the Tax Bill. If you had your home foreclosed upon then you should read this. I lost my home years ago so it does not effect me for many reasons.

Yahoo - Reuters - U.S. service sector growth, hiring improves in January. This article claims that there has been more hiring. One reason why employment statistics are garbage is very simple. If I am fired, go on unemployment and then get a job the following month. How many people switch jobs each year? Think about it when you consider these numbers. Does it really mean that a new job was created?

Huffington Post - Post Office Banking Could Be the Start of Something Big. Keep an eye on this story. Firstly, I admire the post office and all it has done. It was created by Benjamin Franklin and changed the world and certainly contributed to America becoming what it was. They have not given up on finding ways to keep going and I tip my hat to them. Now, as for their becoming a bank, that is very interesting. They wish to provide banking services to those who don't currently have them. This, while not mentioned, is necessary if we are going to go to an all electronic currency. There has to be a way for the homeless and illegal aliens to have access to currency. Keep an eye on how this plays out.

Ourfuture.org - The Plot Against Our Pensions. If you have a pension or hope to get social security, read the article and understand what is going on.

Finally, Don Rickles is possibly the greatest stand up comic of all times. I have never laughed as hard as I did once when he was doing improvisation. YouTube - David Letterman June 18, 2013 Don Rickles, full interview. One of my favorite comedians is Rodney Dangerfield, always amusing and always scripted. YouTube - Rodney Dangerfield - The Tonight Show.

Best Conversation on Pension Lies

There is the guy named Matt Taibbi who writes for Rolling Stone Magazine and he is fantastic. If you really want to understand what is going on with the financial markets and how they are stealing from public pension funds.

YouTube - Majority Report 9/30/13 - Matt Taibbi: Looting the Pension Funds.

Ponzi Economics and the Coming Crash

Yahoo - Reuters - Treasury's Lew warns that U.S. default could happen quickly.

YouTube - Reuters - Keiser Report: Round Tripping Financial Crisis (E557). A really good video talking about how countries are lying about their GDP. If you go halfway into the video an author is discussing how China and others are manipulating their GDP numbers. The GDP is basically how much a country is making in any given year. The question is why would a country intentionally inflate those numbers, it doesn't really add to a countries wealth. There is only one good reason and that is because when we create new currencies, they will be based on a nations GDP, or at least that is the stated plan of the IMF.

RT - Financial world shaken by 4 bankers' apparent suicides in a week. Four bankers all decided to kill themselves at roughly the same time. In addition their is a financial reporter who was investigating illegal banking activities that has gone missing. What I found particularly interesting was the following line from the article, "His most-cited paper was “Strengthening the case for the yield curve as a predictor of U.S. recessions,” published in 1997 while he was a researcher at the Federal Reserve." This is interesting because an inverse yield curve occurred just before our economy tanked and when Greenspan was asked about it, he said it wasn't a problem. I have often written that not only was it a problem; but, it was intentional and we were lied to about it.

The next financial crash is going to be worse than the previous one and there are people who know it is coming and plan on making lots of money off it and when it happens they are going to say how it couldn't be predicted and most people will buy that lie. Our economy is a fraud, the banks manipulate the markets and get raises. The game is rigged.

I know a lot of my readers probably ignore the financial posts; but, they are probably the most useful. On another note, Europe is planning to install a kill switch in all cars that would allow the police to just shut your car off. We are told this is to stop high speed chases. Of course here in America we are requiring all cars to have black boxes which already allow the manufacturer to shut off your car if you don't pay your bill.

Three Dead Bankers and More News

The Chief Economist for Russell Investments apparently killed himself by jumping off a bridge. A couple of days ago a Mr. Gabriel Magee, a senior analyst with JP Morgan apparently jumped to his death from their building in London. He was an expert in software that predicts market trends. A former Deutsche Bank executive hung himself recently too. His specialty was risks and securities. There were no reported witnesses to any of these deaths. All three appear to have been highly respected and liked. There are some people who are saying that the three deaths are related, I don't know that. It is however a strange coincidence.

Yahoo - MarketWatch - Owe the IRS money? Good news
. So, it has just come out that many people will not be taxed because of a failure to obtain healthcare insurance. Why did it take so long for this to come out? It is a good article for you to read if you don't have healthcare insurance.

Washington State Goverment - WASHINGTON STATE ROAD USAGE CHARGE FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT. I have in fact written how this was coming for years, this should not surprise any of my regular readers. Instead of paying a gas tax to maintain the roads, you will pay based on the number of miles you travel a year. That is actually fairer than our current system as electric vehicles and natural gas vehicles damage roads the same as any other vehicle. We need to look beyond the obvious and consider how this will work.

Part of the plan calls for having black boxes in all cars, I have written about that more than once too. Not only will they know how many miles you drove, they will know where you drove those miles which will allow local governments (states, counties, cities) to levy a tax for the miles you drove in their localities.

Here is something to consider, the wealthiest areas do not like having sidewalks. They don't want people walking through them. They used to; but, back in the day the maid didn't drive a car, she took a bus. I can imagine a place like Beverly Hills charging a higher tax for driving through it's residential areas than through it shopping areas. Imagine how your driving habits might change if it cost you more to drive through local streets than over highways. Lets dig a little deeper, what if your job required you to drive to residential areas; but, the travel tax was deductible as a business expense. You have to look beyond the immediate and look at how these things can be used to influence your day to day decisions. A brilliant man once told me that you have to know whose map you are on. The amazingly brilliant man actually knew my name and an obscure paper I had written regarding and aspect of transportation. He was a speaker at a national conference I attended and one of the few really oddly brilliant people I have met in my life.

The man had given a speech on how maps are used to divide and treat us differently. He was so right and that was such an deep comment. Resources and benefits are given by area. They are given based on maps. The amount of funds given by the federal government are all based on maps. Funny how their newest funding scheme is called MAP-21.

Huffington Post - Live Science - Universe Is Made Of Math, Cosmologist Says. I want to say a little something completely off topic. I post my links to sources and identify the sources, the publishers and sites, I do not however post the authors name and often the author's name is not on the source document. I don't post the names because the publisher has decided whether or not to post the names and if you follow the links, you can quickly discover if they publisher bothered posting the author's name. If any of my readers choose to link to a post or this site, you don't have my name as I have not published it. Publish the blog address and leave it at that.

Huffington Post - Live Science - Universe Is Made Of Math, Cosmologist Says. You need to read this and consider what the person is really saying. He thinks the universe is just numbers, he cannot accept that sentience, consciousness, awareness, is what creates and allows the universe to exist. For there to be math, there must be at least a one and he ignores that.