"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"

 -1984

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April 30, 2008 - FOMC reporting days never cease to amaze me. The world watches in anticipation, trembling with bated breath for the release of the latest almighty interest rate cut announcement at 2:15 pm sharp. Bow down to the Great Oz, aka Ben 'O'brien' Bernanke, for he in all his imperial wisdom shall set you free. How have we allowed so much power to be given to this man and his cabal of rich bankers? May I suggest you read this and this. Afterward, you just might want to pop a Delusionol or two. Today's GDP release was interesting. About as interesting as the regular releases of the CPI, PPI and unemployment figures. They are all cooked and useless. If you'd like to estimate 'more accurate' figures you must adjust the official government statistics. Modify as such and you should be fine: True GDP = Government GDP - 3%. True CPI = Government CPI + 7%. True Unemployment = Government Unemployment + 5%. There ya go. A little more realism for you. Don't believe me? Read this article from Harpers Magazine....You know, I still believe somethin's shakin' in the Persian Gulf. Planting the seeds for a fall 'intervention', perhaps?...I did a little more digging around the website I linked to the other day regarding the growth in our Federal Government. Here's a link you may find interesting. 43% of our economy depends on government spending! Think about that for a moment. What will it be in ten years? More than half? Government growth for the sake of government. Ay, caramba. That is one helluva ball and chain.

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April 23, 2008 - Oil is pushing $120 per barrel. Water's getting scarce. No rice in the Philippines. No butter in Japan. Food prices going through the roof. Agriculture stocks (see POT, MON, MOS) flying to the moon. What's going on here? Is this just another bubble? Will we look back in a few years and equate these times to the era of the 70's oil embargo? Or, are we beginning to see the shape of things to come - when the 5.6 billion people who don't call themselves Americans aspire to live like one. I often wonder what the breaking point is for the typical American. $4 gas? $8 gas? $20 gas? I will say right now that for a family of five, the breaking point is pretty darn close. We're eating a lot of spaghetti and pbj's these days. We'd be curtailing even if I was still employed. I'd imagine many other families are thinking along similar lines. I'd imagine we'll begin seeing the economic strains very soon. Restaurant failures. Bags of chips with more air than chips. Carpooling. More layoffs. Miller vs. Mexican. Shrinking Snickers bars. Nationalization of banks and airlines. Oh, the airlines. Just wait until you see the cost of air travel this summer. I could go on, but you probably get the picture. We live in interesting times. Someday, this era in American history will be studied in wonder. I do not believe the banking and credit crisis is over. Obviously, I could be, and hopefully am, very wrong. But, thus far, it all seems too easy. Bear Stearns blows up and that's it? I struggle to believe it but remain open to the possibility.

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April 20, 2008 - As long time readers may know, the home we rent is under foreclosure proceedings. Nothing much has happened since the original Lis Pendens. I'm beginning to wonder how this will all play out. The lender on both the first and second note is Washington Mutual. Wamu, as it's affectionately called, is a company on the ropes. For whatever it's worth, I don't think they'll exist two years from now. So, what happens if they blow up before the foreclosure process is complete? Who will own the note? For that matter, who owns the note now? I'm sure it's been sliced and diced into a hundred different parts and is scattered about the globe. Some poor city manager sap in Norway probably holds a chunk. Interesting times we live in....Yesterday, I discovered more proof that the housing market has not reached bottom. Bottom shall be reached only when the people, in general, view real estate investing with revulsion. Currently, we are not there. Someone placed a sign by the side of the road that said "Mommies Buying Houses." Ok, if mommies are out buying houses now with the intent to flip for a profit, we've still got a long way to go. The mommies still need to get flushed out of the system. Please read this.

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April 19, 2008 - Folks, this can end in only one way - badly. The question is, when? The next time your presidential candidate bargains for your vote with the bone du jour, as they are so painfully transparently programed to do, ask yourself how they intend to pay the tab. I know how. I'll give you a hint. It involves lots of paper and green ink and is known by the enlightened few as taxation without representation.

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April 14, 2008 - I stepped out this evening to meet up with a friend for a run, and, boy did my leg ache. I made it one block. I am beginning to wonder if it's a stress fracture. I've had two before and this does feel like one. I know Donna will be very bummed when she reads this, but I may have to pull the plug on St. A's as well as the rest of the season. I've been thinking for some time about biting the bullet and getting my right achilles fixed. This would be a pretty good time to get that over with. I now know what not to do as far a rehab goes. So, rather than taking a full year to recover I bet I can be back in the saddle by late winter. Then, I'd be in great shape. Never having to deal with bum achilles tendons again. Yea, I think I'm gonna do it. You know, when this is all said and done, I will be mentally tough as nails.

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April 11, 2008 - Just thinking out loud here. Imagine you are the Republican Party and you really want McCain to win the election. How do you a) divert the people's attention away from the ailing economy and b) cut the heart out of Obama's campaign all in one quick and easy shot? Let's see. Obama believes open dialogue with Iran is an appropriate tact. So, you create a little modern day Gulf of Tonkin incident over in the Persian Gulf, and voila, there you have it.

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April 6, 2008 - My yahoo email account has been dumping good emails into my spam box. If you've emailed me during the past month and I haven't responded odds are your mail was diverted and I never saw it. Hopefully, it is fixed now so please try again.

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April 6, 2008 - Spent the weekend breakin' my backses to do my taxes. That's always fun...Cui bono, Billary? I love the part about Clinton donating millions of dollars of free speeches to charity. Shoot, I donate my speeches freely most every day and to anyone who will listen, too. Ain't no biggie. Oh, the lives of our humble civil servants....Here's a great article that discusses Zero Hour. It was written five years ago. Wish I'd seen it then and followed it's advice....Every now and again I ponder our Popsicle Index and it makes me want to move to that imaginary, peaceful seaside enclave that I often dream of. If only it was real. (Perhaps it was - fifty years ago.)...I read Anthem  the other night and then gave to Nicole for her to read. She may become a budding young Objectivist.

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April 3, 2008 - This is the clearly the most persuasive criticism I've ever read regarding the Fed and why it should be abolished.

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April 2, 2008 -  A couple of days ago I wrote a rather long tirade about the recent goings on within our country. It was full of graphs and charts and links and videos supporting my position. I was rather hot-headed at the time so I decided to shelve it for a few days and then revisit. I figured that after I'd calmed down during this grace period I'd post it if still compelled. Well, I reread it and it still made enough sense to post. However, I decided against it. I'd come to the realization that I've allowed recent events to consume me and it hasn't been a good thing. The nation is insolvent. Our government is incompetent and grossly corrupt. Bankers rule this country and Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave. Nothing will change. My anger serves no useful purpose. It solves nothing. I'm just a little fish in a big pond and have no voice, no power, no control. There's nothing I can do except wiggle and writhe in desperation trying to extract the knife thrust into my back from our government. I'm left with nothing more than an attempt to explain to my wife and kids that I screwed up. For years I told them we need to stay the course. We must be self sufficient and live within our means because it's simply the proper thing to do. Above all, stay out of debt. Boy, was I wrong. I never calculated that this government would do everything possible to bail out incompetent and greedy risk takers by stripping me with tax, debasing my dollar, and penalizing me with negative interest rates on my savings. I didn't have the intellect to see the big picture. To connect the dots. Why, for instance, do you think mortgage interest is tax deductible? Why are there no taxes on gains from the sale of your primary residence? Why are interest rates below the rate of inflation? This is because we are a nation of consumers. Our government is desperate to keep the debt ponzi scheme alive for if it stumbles the cookie crumbles. You are being purposefully herded toward debt for consumption, to buy the biggest house you can, to divert your money away from risk averse investments into excessively risky ventures. The saver is to be crushed while the debtor is to be saved and promoted. So, now I do see the light. Right is wrong and down is up in this country. I need to tell my children that when they grow up they should go to Wall Street, take what they can and stick it to the patsy. You'll get unfathomably rich, suffer no consequence for bad behavior and the tax payer will always bail you out. You cannot lose. For the first time in my life, I am sad to be an American.