Middle Class Dismissed

Bank of Japan governor nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas

"The Japan government's nominee to be the next central bank governor outlined more forceful policy prescriptions on Monday to finally defeat deflation, saying he would not set any limits on the amount of cash the Bank of Japan pumps into the economy. Haruhiko Kuroda told lawmakers the BOJ's current policies were not powerful enough to boost inflation to 2 percent, a target he said the central bank should strive to achieve in two years. Kuroda suggested the most natural central bank stimulus for the economy would be through huge purchases of longer-dated government bonds. The BOJ should also consider kicking off its open-ended asset purchases early." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBank of Japan governor nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas

Riot Alert: Look Out Argentina, South Africa, Turkey and India

"If history teaches us anything, it is that inflation usually ends in violence. The Johannesburg-based economic research house ETM Analytics (www.etmstrategy.com), which has a strong Austrian bias, puts out a monthly 'riot alert' based on the speed with which countries are debasing their currencies. It has been scarily accurate in predicting where trouble is most likely to erupt. For all the press acreage given to the political causes of violence in countries like Syria and Egypt, it is difficult to side-step the obvious common denominator: inflation. A 10% rise in food prices can transform a hungry man into an angry man." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRiot Alert: Look Out Argentina, South Africa, Turkey and India

Paul Craig Roberts: The Missing Recovery

"The recovery exists only in the official measure of real GDP, which is deflated by an understated measure of inflation, and in the U.3 measure of the unemployment rate, which is declining because it does not count discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for a job. No other data series indicates an economic recovery. Neither real retail sales nor housing starts, consumer confidence, payroll employment, or average weekly earnings indicate economic recovery. Neither does the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. The Fed’s expansive monetary policy of bond purchases to maintain negative real interest rates continues 3.5 years into the recovery." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: The Missing Recovery

The Feds Promote Hunger and Poverty in America but the Kids Are Alright

"The tasty little lunch pictured above conforms to newly proposed federal regulations aimed at foods and drinks served in the nation’s public schools. Among other mandates, these regulations would cap serving sizes and calorie counts. Ironically, these proposals are part of the second round of regulations deriving from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a laughable bureaucratic misnomer if ever there were one. The proposed regulations will also place a hefty fiscal burden on school districts and their long-suffering taxpayers. It is estimated that they will cost $127 million and require 926 thousand hours of paperwork to comply with." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Feds Promote Hunger and Poverty in America but the Kids Are Alright

China “fully prepared” for currency war: central banker

"Yi Gang, deputy governor of China’s central bank, issued the call after G20 finance ministers last month moved to calm fears of a looming war on the currency markets at a meeting in Moscow. Those fears have largely been fuelled by the recent steep decline in the Japanese yen, which critics have accused Tokyo of manipulating to give its manufacturers a competitive edge in key export markets over Asian rivals. South Korea’s incoming president Park Geun-Hye has also signalled her willingness to step in to stabilise the won and protect exporters battling a stronger Korean currency and a weaker yen." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina “fully prepared” for currency war: central banker

China’s Property Bubble – Why Is ’60 Minutes’ Telling the Tale?

"Western Money Power doesn't have the same control in China. China has a Western system but ultimately the ChiComs are the ones that run it. And maybe they have run it into the ground. Either it was planned or it was not. Or a combination of both. But we wrote that when the property bubble burst, if it did burst (as all bubbles must) then the Chinese Communist Party itself would be in trouble. So listen to this video snippet, excerpted above: the part where one of the largest builders of homes in China (and thus the world) is interviewed. He seems paralyzed by fear, and says a housing bust would be a disaster. He even predicts regime change." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina’s Property Bubble – Why Is ’60 Minutes’ Telling the Tale?

“The TSA Blues”

"It seems Eric Clapton is as disgusted with the sexual assault and irradiation at the airports as the rest of us. He announced plans to boycott aviation in an interview with Rolling Stone and specifically blamed the TSA's 'security' sham: '...for me, the struggle is the travel. And the only way you can beat that is by throwing so much money at it that you make a loss. So ... [w]hen I'm 70, I'll stop. I won't stop playing or doing one-offs, but I'll stop touring, I think. ... And security. I never get it right. I forget to take off my belt, or I have change in my pocket. Next thing I know, 'Can you come over here please?' I just don't want to do that anymore.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading“The TSA Blues”

Homelanders propose more tax hikes on U.S. Persons abroad

"February saw a massive number of legislative attacks on American emigrants and their children by ignorant or malign (un)Representatives which are only now coming to light as the Government Printing Office finishes typesetting and publishing the hundreds of pages of proposed laws. We’ve already discussed the various recent bipartisan attempts to repeal the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, but another frequent theme is increasing the tax and compliance burdens on so-called 'Controlled Foreign Corporation owners' and 'outsourcers', including people who have lived outside the U.S. all their lives but got the inherited genetic disease of U.S. citizenship from their parents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHomelanders propose more tax hikes on U.S. Persons abroad

The Early Stages of ObamaCare

"Here is a great talk given at The 21 Convention in 2012, by Doug McGuff, MD, a prominent member of the ancestral health (paleo-primal) community: 'Fitness, Health, and Liberty.' This is an important presentation because Doug presents the historical picture on how the physician-patient relationship went from a fiduciary relationship between provider and consumer to a 3rd party morass of collectivized medicine that sacrificed individual services to the needs of the masses in general in order to conform to the rules outlined by the medical establishment-insurance industry alliance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Early Stages of ObamaCare

The Developing Student Loan Crisis

"Government continues to support the growth of student loans, which is a method by which government influences education. At the same time, the debt borrowed is turning students into mini-eurozone type debtors. Many have no chance of paying back what they owe. Donghoon Lee, an economist at the New York Federal Reserve, has put together the horrifying data." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Developing Student Loan Crisis