Tag: Depression

MONEY: Time to get “small”

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http://www.newsweek.com/id/228428/output/print

Survivalism Lite
They call themselves ‘preppers.’ They are regular people with homes and families. But like the survivalists that came before them, they’re preparing for the worst.
By Jessica Bennett | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Dec 28, 2009

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In the end, what it all boils down to, at least for the preppers, is self-reliance—a concept as old as the human race itself. As survival blogger Joe Solomon pointed out in a recent column, during the Victory Gardens of WWII, Americans managed to grow 40 percent of all the vegetables they needed to survive. “My mother’s parents had a 10-acre garden, and my grandfather worked at the dairy farm next door,” says Hill, the former jet mechanic. “They worked by raising their own food, they had their own chickens, they canned vegetables, and my grandfather fed a family of 12 like that.” But in the modern world, he says, many of those skills are easily forgotten. Today, our food comes from dozens of different sources. Most of us aren’t quite sure how electricity gets from the wires to our stoves. We use debit cards to buy a can of tuna and we wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to filter contaminated water. We are residents of the new millennium; we simply haven’t needed to prepare.

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Hard times are coming. While it may not be TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It), there’s no doubt that it will represent a lesser standard of living for everyone.

Get “prepared”!

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RANT: Pelosi seeks to divert attention!

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aE68O.jaWO4E&refer=home

Pelosi Wall Street Probe Follows Pecora After Crash (Update1)
By Mark Pittman and Laura Litvan

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April 21 (Bloomberg) — Wall Street may be heading for the deepest investigation of its practices since a congressional panel’s probe of abuses following the 1929 stock market crash.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to push for a comprehensive inquiry, saying that three-quarters of Americans want to know what led to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. She favors one patterned after Senate Banking Committee hearings led by Ferdinand Pecora starting in 1933, according to her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami.

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And who investigates Congress?

Because, imho, “their fingerprints” are all over this mess — Dodd, Franks, Pelosi, and Reid!

Bush doesn’t escape clean, but they did block him.

The SEC, FTC, FDIC, and the Justice Department could have “blown the whistle”.

There’s enough blame to go around, but Pelosi is seeking to once again divert attention from her own troubles and that of her fellow congress critters.

Throw them all out!

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MONEY: Shills hide that some government debt is unsellable

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/
ambroseevans_pritchard/5220118/
The-capital-well-is-running-dry-and-some-economies-will-wither.html

The capital well is running dry and some economies will wither

The world is running out of capital. We cannot take it for granted that the global bond markets will prove deep enough to fund the $6 trillion or so needed for the Obama fiscal package, US-European bank bail-outs, and ballooning deficits almost everywhere.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 8:49AM BST 26 Apr 2009

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Unless this capital is forthcoming, a clutch of countries will prove unable to roll over their debts at a bearable cost. Those that cannot print money to tide them through, either because they no longer have a national currency (Ireland, Club Med), or because they borrowed abroad (East Europe), run the biggest risk of default.

Traders already whisper that some governments are buying their own debt through proxies at bond auctions to keep up illusions – not to be confused with transparent buying by central banks under quantitative easing. This cannot continue for long.

Commerzbank said every European bond auction is turning into an “event risk”. Britain too finds itself some way down the AAA pecking order as it tries to sell £220bn of Gilts this year to irascible investors, astonished by 5pc deficits into the middle of the next decade.

{Extraneous Deleted}

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In this long article, the author asserts that not all is good in the “Emerald City”. No need to look behind the curtain.

The FED is buying Treasury debt.

Who is going to finance the American deficits?

And, at what interest rate?

How can shills buying the unsellable help the gangs finance their wasteful ways?

When does this one very big and ugly chicken come home to roost?

Argh!

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RANT: Obama’s False Choice; put us all on a plantation or a death camp!

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http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjBlNjQyNzYzNzk2YjBhNjg4NDM2Y2I5MjJkMDYzNjQ=&w=MQ==

Obama’s False Choice
By Mark Steyn

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His plan to reduce tax deductions for charitable giving, for example, is not intended primarily to raise revenue, but to advance government as the distributor of largesse and diminish alternative sources of societal organization, such as civic groups. Likewise, his big plans for socialized health care, a green economy, universal college education: They’re about extending the reach of the state.

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It is hard to imagine Obama’s vision.

Charity by the government; think the welfare office.

Socialized heath care; think the VA killing vets.

Green economy; massive regulation of every facet of our lives to be “green”.

Universal College education; close the parochial schools and everyone is taught the “religion” of big gooferment.

Sad future!

Hard to see how this is avoided without pain, death, and a revolt!

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INTERESTING: Deficits matter!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhtTfK6Vuz8&feature=player_embedded

Worst Case: The Day The Dollar Falls Part 1/6

A 2005 Dutch film about TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) caused by a financial panic. All caused by big US deficits.

Interesting?

Maybe the fellow just had the year and President wrong.

Now we have Trillion Dollar Deficits for forever.

Scary!

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MONEY: Where are we going to be in 20 years?

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http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5565&Itemid=48

The Money Meltdown: A Conversation with Thomas Woods Jr. by Brian Saint-Paul 3/11/09

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Q: We’ve had bailouts and stimulus packages, and possibly more of both in the near future. If you were to look into a crystal ball, where are we going to be in 20 years? Where is all of this heading? Will we reach a point of total economic collapse? Or will we wind up as the newest Euro-style state?

It seems to me that the best-case scenario is a kind of European third-way stagnation: high unemployment, anemic growth (if any), and a whole bunch of people scratching their heads and wondering why this is happening. That could be our fate.

Of course, it could be worse. It may turn into something like what Japan endured in the 1990s and beyond — though at least Japan had some domestic savings as a cushion. Or there could well be a complete collapse of the system, with the dollar destroyed. This is all conditional, because it depends in large part on what the government does. Its cure is almost sure to be worse than the disease.

I’d love to think that if a collapse came, people would say, “Obviously, intervention doesn’t work, so let’s try what the Austrians have been suggesting.” But I think instead a demagogue would rise up to say — as usual — that the problem is not enough government involvement, and that he’s going to rescue us.

That’s the most likely outcome.

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Thomas E. Woods Jr. is senior fellow in American history at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of nine books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and the just-released Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, as well as the award-winning The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. Visit his new Web site.

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JOBSEARCH: Age Discrimination? No, really!

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http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2009/03/11/age-discrimination-is-the-new-reality-in-job-market-says-guest-expert-dave-opton/comment-page-1/#comment-117011  

Age Discrimination is the New Reality in Job Market Says Guest Expert Dave Opton
Posted in March 11th, 2009
By Dave Opton, CEO and Founder of Execunet, AARP member, exclusive for WWDS.

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If you are anything like me, while you always knew there were laws against age discrimination on an intellectual level, it wasn’t until you got out there in the real world looking to make a change at say 45+ that you came to internalize emotionally age discrimination was more than a phrase you read about from time to time but actually came with raw nerve endings. To understate the case, not a great feeling.

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Unfortunately, you’re right. Exponentially.

From a societal pov, with the market crash killing 401ks and “savings”, as well as the home value crash, “we” as a society have a big problem. “We” are raising the social security retirement age, and more importantly the Medicare age. And, “companies” are shooting anyone under 40 at their first opportunity. How many “consultants” can our economy support?

As you know, I’m advising turkeys that after 50, they will find it IMPOSSIBLE to get another salaried position. (Now that may be a SLIGHT exageration, but NOT MUCH!)

I’ve revised my “emergency fund required” formula. The age component multiplier goes from a one multiplier at ages below forty to a plus one multiplier for every five years of age OVER 40. (That is 40-45 is DOUBLE; 50-55 is quadruple; 60-65 is five times. SHOCKING? You should see the old farts, myself included, who I tell that they will never work again at a salaried job like the old days! Their stunned. Some have high school age or younger kids in second marriages. Are they surpprised!)

This reflects the reality that “jobs” are really hard to come by.

I tell anyone who will listen that: “Success for future generations is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.” Funny how no one believes me?

ERISA changed the corporate behavior of discharging “old” aerospace engineers before their pensions would vest. SO to we will need such a “game changer” to allow us to “bridge” “old age” to retirement.

I suggest that old farts, or those soon to be old farts, like myself, INSIST on an employment contract before they jump to the next opportunity. Can’t get it; be advised! You’ll soon be screwed. We have to change from an “at will” employment culture to something else.

:-(
fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

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