Meet The New Boss

7 surveillance reforms Obama supported before he became president

"As a senator, Obama wanted 1. to limit bulk records collection; 2. to require government analysts to get court approval before accessing incidentally collected American data. 3. the executive branch to report to Congress how many American communications had been swept up during surveillance; 4. to restrict the use of gag orders related to surveillance court orders; 5. to give the accused a chance to challenge government surveillance; 6. the attorney general to submit a public report giving aggregate data about how many people had been targeted for searches; 7. the government to declassify significant surveillance court opinions." Continue reading →

Continue Reading7 surveillance reforms Obama supported before he became president

Obama’s abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism

"President Obama has been unprecedented in his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute those whose whistleblowing he wants to curtail. The purpose of an Espionage Act prosecution, however, is not to punish a person for spying for the enemy, selling secrets for personal gain, or trying to undermine our way of life. It is to ruin the whistleblower personally, professionally and financially. It is meant to send a message to anybody else considering speaking truth to power: challenge us and we will destroy you. Only ten people in American history have been charged with espionage for leaking classified information, seven of them under Barack Obama." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism

Marc Faber: The Fed Will Increase QE

"Marc Faber was characteristically pessimistic during his interview with Sprott Money late last month. 'I don’t think they will end QE. I rather think they will have to increase it, because as you print money or as you purchase assets, from a central banking point of view, it loses its impact over time. In order to keep the impact going, you have to essentially increase it. I believe that the dovish members of the Fed will print more money. Especially after the resignation of Mr. Bernanke early next year, when he will be replaced, there will be even more dovish members.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber: The Fed Will Increase QE

Bill Bonner: The worst candidate to replace Ben Bernanke

"Ben Bernanke is leaving the Fed at the end of the year. The leading candidates to replace him are all fully committed to continuing his policies, which consist of providing as much credit rope as you need to hang yourself. People come to think what they need to think when they need to think it. When they approach the 'end of their rope' phase of a financial catastrophe they need to believe that they have no choice but to play out a little more line. Doubts give way to desperate faith. Reflection is abandoned for action. All of the announced candidates for Bernanke's job -- Yellen, Summers and Kohn - are believers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: The worst candidate to replace Ben Bernanke

Obama Narrows Field for Fed Chairman to 3

"The proof that none of them deserve the job is that they all want the job. Given that interest rates are climbing, that price inflation is not far behind, that we are likely headed for stagflation and that there is $2 trillion in excess reserves overhanging the economy, you really have to be clueless to want the job. There is no way the next Fed chair is going to look like anything other than a bumbling incompetent. It is dumb to want the position." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Narrows Field for Fed Chairman to 3

Bernanke: A Tenure of Failure

"Can Fed policy get worse under the leadership of either Dr. Yellen or Dr. Summers? Most definitely YES. Unfortunately leadership of the Fed is not the only problem. An institution that relies on good leadership to avoid harm to the economy and the nation is not a good institution. If banks and other financial institutions should not be too big to fail, neither should the Fed. While in the perception of too many, the Fed is both too big and too important to fail, it is an institution that not only could be, but has been, a complete failure." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBernanke: A Tenure of Failure

Bill Bonner: And the Next Fed Chairman Will Be…

"The hour is the time when Ben Bernanke must shuffle off to some post where he will do less damage. The man is the person (man or woman) who will take his place in the padded chair. As to Yellen, Summers and Kohn, we would reject them all. Clearly, none has any idea what is coming his way or he wouldn’t want the job. But this is a minority opinion. So let’s keep an open mind and examine each of these fish separately. Janet Yellen has three things going for her. According to Alan Blinder’s recent piece in The Wall Street Journal, she (1) is a woman, 2) is a good diplomat and (3) has been around the Fed since 1990 and nothing bad has happened." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: And the Next Fed Chairman Will Be…

It is capitalism, not democracy, that the Arab world needs most

"Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist, travelled to Egypt to investigate the causes of the Arab Spring. His team of researchers found that Bouazizi had inspired 60 similar cases of self-immolation, including five in Egypt, almost all of which had been overlooked by the press. The narrative of a 1989-style revolution in hope of regime change seemed so compelling to foreigners that there was little appetite for further explanation. But de Soto’s team tracked down those who survived their suicide attempts, and the bereaved families. Time and again, they found the same story: this was a protest for the basic freedom to own and acquire ras el mel, or capital." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt is capitalism, not democracy, that the Arab world needs most

Guilty of Aiding the American People

"The 'aiding the enemy' accusation presumed that Manning’s distribution of classified material assisted al Qaeda. Actually, the information helps Americans by exposing U.S. war criminality. War criminality ranks among the most important types of government wrongdoing warranting transparency. We cannot debate foreign policy without knowing about its indecencies. What U.S. forces do abroad can endanger Americans at home. Some see the leaks, not the crimes, as the true scandal, but the Muslim and Arab world already know of these atrocities. The American people need to understand what U.S. occupations are like." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuilty of Aiding the American People