Big Lie

Devastating News for ObamaCare Backers

"A new study finds that (as far as physical health is concerned) there is no difference between being in Medicaid and being uninsured. It’s hard to exaggerate what a blow this is to the people who gave us the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Everything about ObamaCare—from the money we are spending to the damage being done to the labor market to the hassles the whole nation is going through—depends on one central idea: that enrolling people in Medicaid will give them access to better health." Continue reading →

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Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed Of Terror Reference; Risk Of Impeachment

"When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack." Continue reading →

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Peter Schiff: Symptoms Don’t Lie

"According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis data, in 2002 Americans spent about 17.8% of income on food and energy. In the first quarter of 2013 the share had risen by a factor of 20% to 21.3% of income. Increased share of spending on necessities like food and energy is consistent with falling living standards. In the poorest countries almost all of income is devoted to such things. If consumer inflation data were reported more accurately, it would be revealed that much of the apparent growth is an illusion. The patient is getting sicker, but the doctors are too distracted to notice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeter Schiff: Symptoms Don’t Lie

Does Innovation Require the Patent Office?

"Most patent holders cling to them as a source of life and defend them against all encroachment. Some businesses build up their war chests with patents as purely defensive measures. The more you own, the more you can intimidate your competitors to stay out of your territory. So how important are patents in generating innovation? The answer is not much, according to four economists from the Technical University of Lisbon. Their findings are remarkable: Nine in 10 of the innovations were never patented. They were just created and marketed, and changed the world." Continue reading →

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Argentina: Dollar price at 10.45 Pesos over two times the ‘official’ price

"The blue dollar jumped past the key psychological barrier of 10 Pesos on Tuesday in thin t rade, reflecting persistent demand for greenbacks amid tough currency controls. Meanwhile, the official rate remained unchanged at exchange offices in Buenos Aires at Pesos 5.16 (buying price) and Pesos 5.22 (selling price), with the gap between the two markets over 100%. In a context of high inflation, negative interest rates or other options to defend the value of the Argentine currency, Argentines are increasingly taking refuge in the US dollar. To this must be added an overall feeling of distrust and uncertainty which can have a greater impact that what stats can present." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArgentina: Dollar price at 10.45 Pesos over two times the ‘official’ price

Chris Martenson: Official Gold Numbers Don’t Add Up

"If a lot of gold has been leased out, someday it will have to be rebought, and difficulties may emerge if the gold cannot be rebought in sufficient quantities without creating mayhem within the financial system by causing a very large hike in the price of gold. The amounts of gold leased by central banks is a very closely guarded secret, and we do not have direct information on them, which means we have to try and back-calculate these amounts by other means. After accounting for all known flows of gold into and out of the US over the past 22 years, the Sprott team arrived at a figure of nearly 4,500 tonnes of gold that cannot be accounted for." Continue reading →

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The Government’s Us? Not Last Time I Checked

"In a speech last month about proposed gun control legislation, President Obama decried opponents’ attempts to encourage 'suspicion about government.' 'The government’s us,' he responded. 'These officials are elected by you. They are constrained as I am constrained, by a system that our founders put in place.' But if government were 'us,' why would we have ever needed a Bill of Rights or defense attorneys? In order for the government to be 'us,' and for its elected officials to be our 'representatives' in any meaningful sense, a number of prerequisites would have to be met." Continue reading →

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Why No Construction Workers Memorial Day?

"A reader tells me that Peace Officers Memorial Day is held annually in the United States on May 15 in honor of federal, state and local officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. Then he wonders why no Construction Workers Memorial Day. He says: 'According to Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), about 140-160 officers are killed in the line of duty each year,' but 'according to stats, each year in the US about 1,100 construction workers die on the job.' Here is an article with figures." Continue reading →

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The New Truth About the Cop Shot in Watertown: Friendly-Fire in a Getaway

"The way the nation met 33-year-old MBTA Transit Police officer Richard Donohue was — like much of the conflicting information from that night of mayhem in Watertown, Massachusetts — violent, fast, and scary: He was exchanging fire with the Tsarnaev brothers, the story went, and he took a gun shot to his right thigh from the Boston bombing suspects — an injury that would see Donohue lose all of his own blood, sever three blood vessels, send him into cardiac arrest, and almost die. Now comes a more complete picture, with more eyewitnesses telling a new story, that Donohue was probably shot by a fellow police officer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe New Truth About the Cop Shot in Watertown: Friendly-Fire in a Getaway

Detlev Schlichter: Is present monetary policy rational?

"Deflation is not such a bad thing if you have to live on your savings or a modest, nominally fixed payment stream. Additionally, reshuffling the economy’s deck of cards could also offer opportunities. Tearing down the old structures and allowing the market to price things honestly again, according to real risks and truly available savings, may at first cause some shock but ultimately bring new possibilities. The present monetary policy is inherently conservative. It bails out those who got it wrong in the recent crisis at the expense of those who didn’t even participate in the last boom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: Is present monetary policy rational?