Group,

The DOW is about to do something it hasn't done in 15 years ... trade in the 6900 range.

I just had some thoughts before I begin my day handing 55% of what I earn today to the state and federal government (add up state income tax + federal income tax + tax on vehicle + tax on utilities + tax on gasoline + tax on property + tax on internet usage + tax on cell phone + tax on water + tax on cable + tax on shipping + tax on ...

Well you get the picture ... I HOPE!


We are in a DEPRESSION, NOT A RECESSION! If anyone tells you we are in a recession they are either LYING through their teeth or they don't understand economics and they have forgotten their history. We are in a world wide depression made even worse by the actions of your federal government.

Now I was just thinking about history, and not whether Paris Hilton is panty-less today. I know the people who run E! Channel and TMZ would rather have me concerning myself over Paris's public displaying, but ya know, I am a little, and a stress a little bit smarter than the average TV viewer. I digress...

Back in 1929, America was hit hard as it is now, but the thing that saved our bacon was that we were an Industrial nation. With World War II, we could mobilize and get people to work. There were jobs above and beyond flipping burgers and delivering UPS packages.

After WWII there were massive layoffs, but those people went to college on the GI Bill, home making, public/private sector jobs. The Monroe Doctrine and our presence in Europe also gave America advantages to grow our economy.

Now roll the clock forward 60 some years:

America ISN'T an industrial nation. We ship raw materials to China, where they are made into goods, and then we buy them back from the Chinese.

The next World War ( WWIII) will kill billions and probably make vast waste-lands where our cities once stood; so that isn't an option.

The group of Americans most hit by this depression and the LEAST likely to recover from it are the BABY BOOMERS (people over the age of 60). Ever wonder why Jim Kramer of Mad Money is so positive about stocks? Its because for him (Jim is 62/63) the stock market MUST come back within the next 5 years if he is to have a secure standard of living into and throughout his retirement! This is why most people 50+ years and older voted for Obama: this age bracket is DESPERATE!

I have spoke to many over 55 people who have LOST 40, 45, 55, 60% of their 401Ks and other retirement packages. Guess what, the markets will not recover fast enough for many of these folks who were ready for retirement in the next 5 - 15 years. They will have to work into their 70s and 80s and most likely a large percentage of them will outright DIE before they can ever see the DOW back at 14,000.

Well the Market is open and is at 6,920. I think it will go even lower. Billionaire, Warren Buffet is now stating the the U.S. Economy is in "shambles" : here is a link as I know some of you will completely dismiss what I have say, even though its logical and doesn't involve Paris Hilton


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...7XOY&refer=home


So I say to this group: When does it end? When do we stand up as a people as a citizenship and take back our nation? Do we just sink with the Titanic? Are we so careless and stupid that we drink the 'Cool-aide' of nightly news and TMZ thereby poison our minds and along with it our futures?

I personally have had enough and I want REAL change. Real Change based on ACTION and not polls. Real Change based on constitutional law and not martial law. Real Change based upon taking power away from Washington and opposed to giving it along with our souls to Washington D.C. .

How much worse does it have to get until you, the guy who doesn't matter, takes the initiative TO matter?

Or should we just all turn on TMZ and E! to revel in the 'social train wreck' of our society?

Thanks for reading,

Bob

Well, a couple thoughts...

First of all, the Monroe Doctrine stated basically that everything 'on this side of the puddle' (the Western Hemisphere) is OURS, (to do with and influence as we desire) and to tell Europe HANDS OFF. Think "Manifest Destiny" and all that... that it is the United States RIGHT and DUTY to control the 'Western Hemisphere' including North, Central, and South America. Now that dinosaurian thinking is only about 50 years out of date, at least. Considering our 'popularity' south of the border, I'd say that idea is well and truly dead. Due to the indiscriminate economic and social rape of Central and South America by US multinational corporations who would slit their own mothers' throats to make an extra buck (to say nothing of slitting other people's mothers throats which is far easier) we have not only seen US power and influence slipping in South America, but active opposition growing by leaps and bounds, as is quite visibly demonstrated by the rush to leadership that will stand up to the US, like Chavez, De Silva, and Daniel Ortega... 50 years ago we had to contend with one 'pariah' state, Cuba, which overthrew their US puppet Batista and his US masters who owned all the sugar plantations (and virtually everything else) and 'allowed the Cubans the privilege' of working their own county's land and resources for a pittance for the benefit of forien masters to the north. Now we have Hugo Chavez turning Venezuela 180 degrees away from the US, and other countries falling in line behind.

We didn't LOSE our ability to manufacture, we GAVE IT UP. The big multinational corporations wanted higher profits, less regulation, and cheaper labor, and outsourced virtually our entire manufacturing base. Our politicians decided that free trade was going to be the best thing ever, because it was good for the multinationals wanting to outsource and import basically forien goods duty free, and besides, it kept their reelection war chests full, so it HAS to be a good thing, right?? Free trade will 'bring the world together' and 'make it too expensive to fight wars' because of the spectre of lost trade and lost money, won't it?? (I wouldn't bet on it in the end).

Thing is, remember when the last Depression happened, it was 1929... about half the country's population were still in small towns and farms. Horses and wagons were still the primary means of locomotion outside of the cities, and especially on farms. This was LONG before the Green Revolution and the advent of modern diesel-powered, electrified, petrochemical driven agriculture made it possible for 1 guy to feed 400 people for a year. Back then it was more like one guy feeds 14 people for a year. Most folks got their food from local folks selling eggs and butter, raised their own vegetables in their own gardens, and got their meat from a local butcher who bought livestock locally. Now our food is at the end of a VERY long and VERY precarious supply chain that consumes 8 calories in petrochemical energy to grow, harvest, process, and transport to end users all the food we eat, for every 1 calorie of food energy in it. NOT sustainable, and when the system collapses, folks in the US are going to discover what going hungry is.

In the last Depression, folks (I'm speaking of the majority of society) were a lot closer to God; they were more spiritual, more virtuous, believed in right and wrong, and knew the value of a hard day's work and fair play. They understood that if they wanted to eat they'd have to work, and that nobody was going to give them a handout. People had pride and a sense of self worth, and would travel from place to place trying to find work in exchange for a meal and a bed for the night. In this Depression, we have a whole society of "it's all about ME" types, with and 'entitlement mentality' that has been fostered and inflamed by those seeking power and prestige by fomenting race wars and class warfare instead of promoting true social justice and equality of OPPORTUNITY. We have a society that sees just as much right to what you have as you do, perhaps more. We have a society that looks to government to provide all it's wants, all it's needs, all it's desires, and to do so lavishly and without fail. And we have a society where EVERYTHING is so interwoven and so interdependent that when the collapse ultimately comes, like dominoes in a chain they will ALL fall eventually. As a wise man once said, "We have the best government MONEY CAN BUY." Jefferson wrote, "democracies only last until the people discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public coffers; then they MUST fail." THAT is what we're getting close to.

So what happens when the government CAN'T deliver?? CHAOS.... utter chaos.

We're not there yet. Not by a longshot. We're not even close to the door yet...but we are standing at the curb and starting up the walk to the front door.

So, what can we do?? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's preordained. We're the author of our own demise. It's coming. Maybe not in 6 weeks, or 6 months, maybe not even in 6 years, but soon enough. I've long said, "history doesn't abide fools". I've studied history pretty much the last 20 years since I graduated, and I'm constantly AMAZED at how many mistakes from the past we make. Why do I say we can do nothing?? Because, in a larger sense, we're just cells-- constituent parts of the organism, but small parts; we can do nothing on our own. Our government, our society, is a superorganism, and a single cell can do nothing on it's own. "Get motivated, get active, take the country back-- WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN" is the rallying cry I often hear... Give me a break... You have to change the institutions. To change the institutions, you have to change the society. To change the society, you have to change the culture. To change the culture, you have to change the mindset. To change the mindset, you have to change the HEART. Not gonna happen. Folks are too wrapped in ME, in MTV, and in Paris Hilton's underpants or lack thereof. Most people don't have a clue what's going on, AND THEY DON'T CARE! Just like New Orleans when authorities and forecasters were saying, "there's a storm coming, prepare, evacuate, GET OUT" a lot of folks just didn't care. "The government will take care of me, they always have" and besides, I've got to see ET and find out if Paris wore underpants today... Then when they have to hack a hole in their roof or drown, it's "why didn't the government save me??" How do you change that mindset?? Especially with folks that won't listen because they want to play X-box, get a new bigscreen with their stimulus money (or their hurricane relief fund $2500 gift card GIVEN to them for free by FEMA so they could buy new work clothes and go for job interviews (my wife was a retail manager at the time-- people were coming in to buy Gucci purses and big screen TV's with the money while still wearing jeans and flip-flops and griping that they couldn't find work and didn't have clothes) How do you change THAT??

We're overdue for a reality check.... I know that much for sure. The government has decided to print it's way out of this mess... print, borrow, whatever, it's all the same. We're the world's largest debtor nation. I read a book 15 years ago or so that said THEN, that the forien debt owed by the US government was equal to the total value of EVERY LAST SINGLE OBJECT OF VALUE WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Now that was HOW MANY TRILLIONS ago?? Printing money won't help... Germany tried before Hitler came to power.... a billion deutchesmarkes would buy you a loaf of bread... IF YOU HURRIED... collect your pay packet at 9 am, slip off from work and run to the bakery, because you're money would be worthless by the time you're shift ended if you didn't. Billion Deutchesmarke notes weren't enough... finally the hyperinflation was SO bad the money was worthless before the ink was dry on the bills, so the gov't started issuing 'multiplier stamps' to adjust the currency to the inflation rate... your billion deutschemarke note would have a ten, then a hundred, then a thousand, then a ten-thousand multiplier stamp on it... So it will go with the dollar in the end.

The only thing keeping us going right now is the fact that Saudi Arabia, China, and Japan have SO much US debt their holding it's in their interests to keep us afloat if they ever hope to be paid back... if they pull the rug out from under us, BANG this country is bankrupt, broke, and gone POOF just like that. SO is the debt they hold, and they know it. Problem is, our gov't is getting WORSE not better, and so is the economy. Sooner or later, one of our forien lenders will figure out that we're gonna default, and they'll get as much out as quickly as they can--like pulling stuff out of a burning house. They'll get as much as they can out before the rest burns-- better to get something than nothing at all... that's human nature. Whoever decides to get out first will save the most. The other lender nations holding our debt will just be screwed. We can monetize it and pay it off with worthless dollars will billion multipliers on them, but if they call in the loans... I'll go you one better... even just the THREAT of cutting off the money will be enough to do us in... China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Europe, somebody holding tons of our bad debt is going to come along and say, "yall can't run your own house, so we'll run it for you, or we're not buying any more US paper (debt)" and we'll have an instant choice that our gov't will make for us-- either complete economic meltdown and runaway hyperinflation, or come hat in hand saying "yessir, anything you say sir!"... Guess which one they'll chose??

The Bible says, "the borrower is slave to the lender". Welcome to the opening act of the Apocalypse... OL JR

__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Well, how could we have avoided giving up our industrial capacity?

People will buy their goods from the least expensive source.

The world is full of cheaper labor.

So manufacturing went to where the cheaper labor is and will stay there until standards of living in those other places have risen close to our level. Or until our standard of living drops to their levels. In the mean time we got to buy a lot of goods at prices we could never have managed with our own labor.

It's an adjustment. It's a painful adjustment. It may be a catastrophic adjustment. But I don't see how it could have been avoided short of slamming all our borders shut, eliminating trade and creating a huge market in illegal smuggling which would make the drug wars look like a child's spat.

And no, American's being willing to work for lower wages would not have solved the problem. It might have delayed it in a few industries, but it can not work. Real estate alone is so expensive in the USA that an American worker could not compete with a Chinese or Indian on wages and earn enough to even have a place to live. Never mind eat, and drink. Hence, in the bigger picture, the collapse of housing prices...

Part of the reason it took so long for this adjustment to start is that there were other obstacles to entry in the countries with low wages, such as sociopathic governments. Notice you still don't see any outsourcing to Africa with their mix of kleptocracy and serial-killer-rule. But a number of countries fixed their infrastructure (enough) lowered barriers (enough) and educated their populations (enough) that the adjustment is happening now.

True the USA could do a few things to make the USA more attractive. I'd like us to end what I have started calling the US Government's War on Industrial Arts. Folks are so hell-bent on making everything safe--safe from accident, safe from terrorists--pick your party, that folks can barely engage in industrial type processes at home any more. The chemicals and other materials are so difficult to find or buy, it creates a barrier to folks learning how to build their own stuff. Fewer folks are going to open factories or start new small industrial businesses if they never engage in these activities as kids.

Also, every new regulatory action (carbon tax??!!??) creates another barrier to entry for anyone wishing to start a new small business--i.e. anyone who doesn't already have enough money to keep a stable of lawyers available.

So there are a few things the USA could do to lessen/slow the impact, but overall, I don't see how this process could have been stopped. I'd love to hear a realistic method that could.

State income tax? What is that?

Well boys, I'm just a crazy Canuck, but I've got a lot of confidence in the good ol' USA. Greatest country on the planet in so many ways..............and that's saying a lot, because this one is pretty darn good too! Sure, there have been some screwups..............major ones lately, but America will come back strong...............always has, always will. Believe in it. It will happen.

Joe

I agree with mojo on this one! DOW set to open in the 6900 range . . . does it matter? . . . . .NO ! BTW, who is Paris Hilton?

Hey....is there a link to PAris Hilton being pantyless?

__________________
Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Aww dude, you digressed!
...and you were doing so well too.

My personal fear is much more sinister. The theory has been for years that if we have free trade people won't want to go to war with the nations they trade with making war a thing of the past.

But what if trade is the new warfare?

What if China has (and continues to do so) bought up our debt, not with the intention of profiting from it (What? A communist seeking profit?) but of using that debt as a weapon against us? What if China's plan has always been to wait until an opportune weak moment and then stab us in the financial district by immediately calling in our debt? Either we couldn't pay and our money would be worthless or we refuse to pay, no one else will loan us the obscene amounts that we've been borrowing and... our money will be worthless.

You might argue that China would never do that because it would be too expensive, but if financial warfare has been their plan all along, writing off all that debt would be FAR cheaper than a military invasion of the USA, accomplishes many of the same goals and costs the Chinese not a single life, leaving their gigantic military free to do as it wishes in Saudi Arabia and wherever else it might wish.

Interesting point Pear... sounds like some of the scenarios from Revelation...

Later! OL JR

__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!