Land Of The Flea

Detroit Stopped Issuing Death Certificates After It Ran Out Of Paper

"The city of Detroit was temporarily unable to issue death certificates in July because it had run out of the special embossed paper on which the certificates are printed -- and it didn't have any money left to buy more. After the city declared bankruptcy on July 18, its vendor for embossed death certificate paper demanded to be paid in cash, not credit. The city's funeral directors received this text message from Michigan Select Funeral Directors Association president Wallace Williams in late July, according to the Detroit News: 'FYI, city of Detroit can’t process death certificates because they have no paper and don’t have money to buy any.'" Continue reading →

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The FEDsters Are Multimillionaires

"The senior officers of the Board of Governors are rich. So are some of the regional FED bank presidents. One of them is worth $50 million. Another owns 7,000 acres of land. He even owns gold. The FED is politically untouchable. Congress will not let the Government Accountability Office audit it. We hear of the need for more equality. The FED could use some. We hear of the need for transparency. Why doesn’t this include an audit? All the chatter inside the Washington Beltway about the role of democracy is great stuff for pulling the wool over the eyes of the voters. The cartel known as the state-licensed banking system has an enforcer. The FED is the enforcer." Continue reading →

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Bloody Scenes from the Next Episode of Economic Crisis

"Stand by for round two of the global economic crisis, coming soon to a screen near you. It’s going to be as bloody and chaotic as the scenes on your TV from Cairo and Damascus. Yet, as ever, the chorus on Wall Street manages to keep a straight face and sing the same tune while robbing investors blind. Just listen to them on Bloomberg or CNBC and you would think the Fed has this all under control and the U.S. economy is recovering. Now, admittedly, economists are all facing the wrong way too. There is hardly a man or woman willing to stick their neck out and say the inflation-distorted figures that purport to show a recovery are turning in the opposite direction." Continue reading →

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If You Want To Know Why Things Are Falling Apart, Look at Total Debt

"It's easy to confuse trends and cycles. The Keynesian Cargo Cultists believe that we're in a cyclical downturn that can be 'cured' with more debt-based spending, i.e. worshiping their false god of aggregate demand. They cannot comprehend that we're not in a business-cycle recession, we are in a long-term trend where additional debt undermines the system as the positive returns on that debt turn negative." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIf You Want To Know Why Things Are Falling Apart, Look at Total Debt

Investors (Suckers) Say They Have Things Under Control

"Today, 56% say they are confident about the future. This means that 44% aren’t confident. Today, 42% say they have increased their tax-deferred retirement savings. This means that 58% haven’t. Today, 55% say they are better prepared for retirement than in 2007. This means that 45% don’t think they are. Today, 42% have increased the size of their emergency fund. This means that 58% haven’t. We are asked to believe that people’s personal savings rate is up since November 2007, the month before the recession is said to have begun. Yes, it is — by a percentage so tiny that it is barely visible." Continue reading →

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Election won’t prevent pension crash

"The tax gap isn't the deepest divide in America. The deepest gap is the pension divide, between those few who have a guaranteed cushion in the form of defined-benefit pensions, which promise a fixed annuity at retirement, and those who don't. How the candidates address this divide, cultural as well as political, is crucial, far beyond November. To understand the current mindset, it helps to consider the pension culture of the past. In the early 1980s, many companies, as well as governments, offered employees a defined-pension benefit when they retired. Thirty years ago, about 62 percent of American workers were covered by some kind of plan like this." Continue reading →

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Retire at 65. Become a Ward of the State.

"PBS had a recent article about retirees who stay in the work force beyond age 65. It interviewed economists. What it did not do was provide statistics on how many Americans work until age 75. The answer is: hardly any. Most Americans do not have enough savings. They retire anyway. Most Americans believe in the tooth fairy: the federal government. They think the checks will keep coming. They will not budget. They will spend their $120,000 long before they die. Then what?" Continue reading →

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Student Loan Consequences: Real, Costly, and Personal

"Under the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) signed into law as part of ObamaCare in March of 2010, students may borrow money directly from the federal government regardless of their credit score or any other financial 'issues' they may be facing. They are not priced according to any 'individualized measure of risk' nor are there loan limits. They are instead politically determined by Congress with undergraduates receiving lower interest rates than graduate students, but graduate students allowed to borrow more than undergrads. This forced entry by the government into what was once a private market transaction has numerous consequences." Continue reading →

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Government Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

"New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan (R-59th District) New York State Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-140th District) are sponsoring a bill that would cover bowling shoes. The bill in the assembly is co-sponsored by Assembly members Brian Kolb, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Jane Corwin. It would require alley owners to post signs, warning keglers not to wear bowling shoes outside, lest they become wet and increase the likelihood that a bowler could slip and fall when they come inside. I think we have pretty much everything covered. Can we now disband all state and federal law making bodies?" Continue reading →

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