Yearly Archives: 2013

The Goodfellas of Wall Street

"If you think of the economy as this vast thing where success or failure is a matter of serving customers well, then you are deceiving yourself. (I’ve written about this before, about how America’s largest companies are basically products of state privilege.) This perspective is good too because the reality of the thing shatters many illusions. Think Obamacare is a socialist redistribution scheme? Take another look. What it really amounts to is the largest corporate giveaway and pork-filled legislation in the history of the country." Continue reading →

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Note to Fed: Giving the Banks Free Money Won’t Make Us Hire More Workers

"As anyone in the actual position of hiring more staff knows, it is not a lack of cheap credit that makes adding workers unattractive, it is the lack of opportunities to increase profit margins by adding more workers. If the economic boom of the mid-1980s proves anything, it is that the cost of credit can be very high but that in itself does not restrain real growth. What restrains growth is not interest rates, it is opportunities to profitably expand operations. What the Fed cannot dare admit is that in a crony-capitalist, globalized, State/cartel-dominated economy, there are few profitable opportunities, regardless of the cost of credit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNote to Fed: Giving the Banks Free Money Won’t Make Us Hire More Workers

Turning New York City into Detroit?

"Some large cities in California already have declared bankruptcy, for instance, and you can find the same pattern of overcompensated bureaucrats and escaping taxpayers. And the same thing may happen to New York City if the next Mayor is successful in pushing for more class-warfare tax policy. But there’s a big problem with de Blasio’s plan. Rich people are not fatted calves meekly awaiting slaughter. Gelinas warns that the city would have less money if just 20 percent of rich people escaped. She doesn’t think that will happen, but she does explain that rich people can stay but take some simple steps to reduce their taxable income." Continue reading →

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IMF Bureaucrats With Tax-Free Salaries Propose $1.40/Gallon Gas Tax Hike

"For the United States, the IMF estimated that would require a $1.40 levy per gallon of gas and other fees totaling more than $1,400 per person each year — around $500 billion in total. Wow, that’s more than $5,500 for a family of four. Remember that these bureaucrats get extremely generous tax-free salaries, yet they apparently don’t see any hypocrisy in recommending huge tax increases for the peasantry. P.S. You’ll be happy to know that the IMF study deliberately 'did not look at government support for the alternative energy industry.' So Obama’s corrupt 'green energy' programs got a free pass. Gee, how convenient." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIMF Bureaucrats With Tax-Free Salaries Propose $1.40/Gallon Gas Tax Hike

Why a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

"Let’s take the example of a single mom with two kids, 1 and 4. She has a $29,000 a year job, putting the kids in daycare during the day while she works. As the above chart – via Gary Alexander, Pennsylvania’s secretary of Public Welfare — shows, the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income and benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income & benefits of $57,045. It would sure be tempting for that mom to keep the status quo rather than take the new job, even though the new position might lead to further career advancement and a higher standard of living." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

Bill Bonner: Empire of Debt

"Everywhere you look the scene is the same. The insiders are taking more and more wealth from the outsiders. Everyone wants to be an insider. And in a democracy especially, over time, more and more people find ways to game the system and join the insiders. Finally, everyone seems to have an angle. And soon civilization is on the road to decline and ruin. This happens when there are more parasites than producers… and more voters with their hands in the cookie jar than there are people making cookies!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Empire of Debt

Bill Bonner: Empire of Debt

"Everywhere you look the scene is the same. The insiders are taking more and more wealth from the outsiders. Everyone wants to be an insider. And in a democracy especially, over time, more and more people find ways to game the system and join the insiders. Finally, everyone seems to have an angle. And soon civilization is on the road to decline and ruin. This happens when there are more parasites than producers… and more voters with their hands in the cookie jar than there are people making cookies!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Empire of Debt

Is the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

"Three decades is a long time. And for the past three decades, America has known nothing but steadily falling interest rates. Oh, sure, there have been spikes during that time. It hasn’t been a one-way trip. Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycles and the occasional bond market rout have interrupted that process. But, by and large, it’s been a consistent, steady march lower from around 20 percent for short-term rates and 15 percent yields on the 30-year Treasury bond. That decline is now over. Kaput. That’s what I believe. That’s what many experts believe. Heck, that’s what at least one Fed policymaker has gone on record saying he believes. And that’s what the market is telling us day in and day out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

Is the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

"Three decades is a long time. And for the past three decades, America has known nothing but steadily falling interest rates. Oh, sure, there have been spikes during that time. It hasn’t been a one-way trip. Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycles and the occasional bond market rout have interrupted that process. But, by and large, it’s been a consistent, steady march lower from around 20 percent for short-term rates and 15 percent yields on the 30-year Treasury bond. That decline is now over. Kaput. That’s what I believe. That’s what many experts believe. Heck, that’s what at least one Fed policymaker has gone on record saying he believes. And that’s what the market is telling us day in and day out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

Professor Francis Boyle: IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!

"You've seen them all over the country. Overpasses full of signs and people calling for the Impeachment of President Obama. Some have even got arrested for expressing this action against America's Commander-in-Chief. Like presidents before him Obama is facing congress to engage yet another sovereign nation in acts of war. The last time Professor Francis Boyle joined us he had returned from convicting former president Bush of War Crimes at an international tribunal. Now, Professor Boyle is calling for Obama's Impeachment and he is here to talk to us today to provide you with his reasons why. Dr. Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingProfessor Francis Boyle: IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!