End of Civil Society: 3/21/10

Saturday, March 27, 2010

depressing

I always get depressed this time of year...tax time...

I hate taxes, I hate filing with a passion. I think its immoral unethical, criminal fraud.

Is there anything I can do about it, no.

Contributions to CPP (SS) perpetuate ponzi...."lockbox SS" what a fraud with bank inflation.

It is, quite literally, too overwhelming to comprehend.

What is the solution? There isn't one. Start over. This is a corrupt intransigent mess. There is no solution.

Look out for yourself and get as much as you can. I wish I had realized what was going on two years ago. I have lost a lot the last couple of years. Over a million at least. Do I care, yes. What am I going to do to about it? I don't know,.

The whole system is a fraud,. fraudulent ponzi and I hate it. Paying taxes to corrupt governments is immoral. Any government that allocates $375 to persons with disabilities for living allowance is corrupt.

No foreign bank accounts? What in the world is going on?

Friday, March 26, 2010

Health Care Bill in US

Very disturbing article by Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake.com whom I respect and speaks her mind forcefully and truthfully.

Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill

Also this vid from Stefan about health care is equally disturbing

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

deleveraging etc

SocGen: There Is No Way Out Of This Mess But Continued Massive Deleveraging
New Consumer Data Suggests a Double Dip is On the Way
THE UNSTOPPABLE MARKET
New Invention Using Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods Could Unlock U.S. Oil Reserves Three Times Larger Than Saudi Arabia's
Cramer’s 5 Obama-Proof Dividend Plays

Florida Set To Change The Rules Of Its Retirement System As Prelude To Eventual Social Security Endgame

U.S. states may be the next dominoes to topple

The Elusive Canadian Housing Bubble

Scotiabank Forum Discusses the Year Ahead for the Canadian Real Estate Market
"It is time for Canadians to reset their housing market expectations. We expect 2010 will mark a transition year as the boom of the 'aughts' gives way to a sustained period of more subdued housing activity over the coming decade"
Full Report

It's time to pay our debt, not go further into it.
...although we've enjoyed a pretty good run in the housing market over the past 30 years or so, there's no guarantee home-ownership will pay off as handsomely for the next generation entering the market today. Recent experience in the U.S. and Europe, especially Ireland, tells us the forces of gravity are as potent in the residential real-estate market as they are in the physical world: House prices do go down...In these uncertain times, leverage is out and deleveraging is in.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

wow

GREECE is cracking down on major cash transactions
A new draft bill to be tabled in parliament...outlaws all business transactions of more than 1500 euros ($2220) conducted in cash

IRS to Track Online Sellers' Payment Transactions Beginning Next Year

Post-Apocalyptic zombie finance
...the most aggressive buyers of US government debt during the past several months have been global banks domiciled in London and the Cayman Islands. They borrow at 20 basis points (a fifth of a percentage point) and buy Treasury securities paying 1% to 3%, depending on maturity. This is the famous "carry trade", by which banks or hedge funds borrow short-term at a very low rate and lend medium- or long-term at a higher rate. This works as long as short-tem rates remain extremely low. The moment that borrowing costs begin to rise, the trillion-dollar carry trade in US government securities will collapse...Where are the banks getting the money to lend to the US government? From the US government itself...The monetary base is growing at a 40% annual rate. Under normal circumstances, this would lead to double-digit inflation. As long as banks reduce lending to the private sector, and buy government securities that replace lost tax revenues, the result is a so-called liquidity trap...This sort of zombie equilibrium persisted for two decades in Japan's moribund economy; in theory, the US Treasury and the financial system could keep it going indefinitely.

Nathan and Karl

Nathan Martin has posted an article well worth reading and Karl Denninger has followed up on it as has Business Insider.

In the article titled "THE Most Important Chart of the CENTURY" Nathan has this chart:

And here is what it looked like in 2008

I wasn't sure how he produced this chart and only seeing it from one source was skeptical. However Karl Denninger has put up a post today with the same chart so it must be accurate.

We still have time to choose between bad and horrifically awful. We can choose between recognizing the Depression we are already in (private GDP has contracted by more than 10% from the peak, which is the definition of economic Depression) or we can risk Zombieland or Mad Max becoming reality. - KD