History Repeating

Ignorance is Strength: Kim Jong Un Edition

"For one state to respond to another state’s military aggression by killing, or threatening to kill, its civilian population is monstrous. And if it’s monstrous, it’s monstrous when anyone does it. It would also be monstrous if some purely hypothetical country, the only country in the world with atomic weapons, used them to kill several hundred thousand civilians in two Japanese cities. It would be monstrous if some purely hypothetical country with hundreds of long-range bombers had had, as its official military policy, making first use of nuclear weapons and hitting every major population center in the USSR in retaliation for a conventional incursion into Western Europe." Continue reading →

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CNN previews how war with North Korea would play out

"CNN brought retired General James Marks into their studio on Wednesday afternoon to explain the military strategies North Korea and the United States would likely employ in a conflict. The country would begin firing artillery into South Korea while deploying special operation forces along the coast of the peninsula. Marks also warned North Korea had sleeper agents in South Korea who would spot targets. The United States would respond by destroying North Korea’s artillery with its overwhelming naval and aerial power. The U.S. military would then destroy North Korea’s aerial defenses, communication lines, and transportation routes, paralyzing the North within days." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCNN previews how war with North Korea would play out

Rep. Peter King: US could make preemptive strike on North Korea

"Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that the U.S. had the right to take preemptive military action against North Korea if there was 'solid evidence' that Kim Jon Un planned to attack the U.S. or South Korea. 'I don't think we have to wait until Americans are killed or wounded or injured in any way,' he continued. 'I'm not saying we should be rushing into war, don't get me wrong, but if we have solid evidence that North Korea's going to take action, then I think we have a moral obligation and an absolute right to defend ourselves.' North Korea's actions are thought to be driven by additional United Nations sanctions that resulted from its recent nuclear test." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRep. Peter King: US could make preemptive strike on North Korea

The Story of Kidnapped Costa Rican Internees in One of America’s World War II Concentration Camps

"We last year attended a reunion of the camp members at the facility here in Texas, and I was amazed to hear stories of some whose families had been US citizens for their entire lives, yet were swept up in the hysteria, stripped of their US assets and put into the camp. Most I spoke to were, like my wife, US citizens, most born to their now-American parents, but thrown into the camp regardless. One interesting fact to me was that in order to deport all of the folks they did following the War, they officially charged all of the detainees, people who had been kidnapped at the point of a gun, with 'unlawfully entering' the nation they were kidnapped TO against their wishes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Story of Kidnapped Costa Rican Internees in One of America’s World War II Concentration Camps

Bill Bonner: Is It Time To Sell Your Gold?

"There is no reason to think that the basic relationship between the Dow stocks and gold has been altered in any fundamental or everlasting way. For practically the entire 19th century... many years of the 20th century... and as recently as the 1980s, the ratio of the Dow to gold was 1 to 5 or less. Investors paid 5 ounces of gold to buy the Dow and its earnings. Will the Dow once again trade for 5 ounces of gold or less? Almost certainly. And it will probably happen before this historic drop in the Dow/gold ratio has reached its final bottom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Is It Time To Sell Your Gold?

Fannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?

"The firm, along with a sibling corporation named Freddie Mac, is at the heart of a US mortgage market that imploded during the financial crisis. The two firms received some of the biggest taxpayer bailouts in 2008. But now, as housing markets are recovering, so are their fortunes. Fannie Mae has drawn some $116 billion in financial support from the US Treasury since the firm was taken over in a federal conservatorship in 2008. Some $35.6 billion of that has, in effect, been paid back through dividend payments to the Treasury since 2009. Executives at Fannie and Freddie are touting the role they’ve played in buoying the housing market since the recession ended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?

Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

"The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit. Even though we’re still dealing with the economic and fiscal damage caused by the last episode of government housing subsidies! Brings to mind the famous saying from George Santayana that, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' But what’s especially amazing – and distressing – about this latest scheme is that 'the past' was only a couple of years ago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

QE 3 Moves to Japan

"The Bank of Japan has announced a quantitative easing (mass inflation) QE program that matches Bernanke’s: $75 billion a month in purchases of Japanese government bonds. This is just under $1 trillion a year. But Japan’s GDP is only $6 trillion — 40% the United States’ GDP. This is way beyond Bernanke. For the Bank of Japan, this is QE1. But it is QE3 in the United States. It’s the same policy. The government of Japan has always been Keynesian. Now it has adopted desperation Keynesianism: just like the United States and the eurozone." Continue reading →

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Isaac Newton’s Nightmare — Charted By Marc Faber

"The parabolic move in Bitcoin prices has us thinking about some of the most notorious asset bubbles in history. We were thumbing through some of Jeremy Grantham's old research and saw this great chart from Marc Faber. 'I can calculate the movement of stars, but not the madness of men,' Newton apparently said after he lost his fortune." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsaac Newton’s Nightmare — Charted By Marc Faber

David Stockman: There are Bubbles All Over, Hide in Cash

"Stocks seem like a pretty good place to be? 'That’s what they told me in late 2007 and early 2008,' Stockman says in response. 'About seven months later people had lost 45% to 70% of their net worth. If you were in the Russell 2000, which is where Bernanke wants you, you were crushed – it dropped by 60% within 15 trading days.' As for his advice to hide in cash he says, 'I would rather have capital preservation, be safe. I don’t think another two, four, 10 percent is worth losing 50, 60, 70 percent when the crash comes.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Stockman: There are Bubbles All Over, Hide in Cash