Ron Paul on C-SPAN's 'Newsmakers'

David Stockman on MSNBC

Here is a great David Stockman interview on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan, explaining the seriousness of our fed-controlled descent into serfdom. A well articulated summation from a man who knows all too well of the Federal Reserve's propaganda/ market manipulations, monetary bubbles, and sociopathic economic policies. It is always fascinating when the MSM actually puts an informed economic individual on air - American consciousness is shifting...

Here are a couple of quotes: "We have had a Fed engineered serial bubble, that has created the appearance of wealth, that has caused people to consume beyond their means through borrowing, and that has flushed the income and wealth of our society up to the top, as a result of the Fed turning the financial markets into a casino. These are pure casinos, they are not capital markets, they are not adding to the productive capacity of our economy, they simply are a bunch of robots trading with each other by the millisecond as a result of the Fed giving them zero cost overnight money, and giving them all kinds of hand signals on what to front-run." and later.."The Fed is destroying prosperity by funding demand that we can't support with earnings and productions, causing massive current accounts deficits and the flow of funds overseas and the build up in China, OPEC and Korea of massive dollar reserves which is a totally unsustainable, unsupportable system, and we are coming near the edge of where that can continue to remain stable."

Full Clip:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Charles Hughes Smith - Inflation Is Rampant in Tuition, Healthcare and Property Taxes

The following is an excellent article from Of Two Minds

Inflation Is Rampant in Tuition, Healthcare and Property Taxes
  (December 1, 2010)

A number of big-ticket household expenses are skyrocketing: tuition, property
taxes and healthcare.

Here is my simple definition of rampant inflation: you're paying a lot more money for the
same item/service but the quality/quantity is the same or lower--and your income
is stagnant/declining. We are constantly told that inflation is near-zero, but
the basket of goods selected for measurement seems not to include healthcare/ health
insurance, college tuition or property taxes.

These costs are skyrocketing, and they are non-trivial expenses, running into
the tens of thousands of dollars per year.
I have addressed the difference in scale of expenses for the wealthy and the
"middle class" before. For instance, $10,000 per year for healthcare insurance
is a massive percentage of the after-tax income of a household earning $60,000
a year, while it is a modest percentage roughly equivalent to the sums spent eating out
and traveling for a household earning $160,000 a year.

The same scale differences are present in all measures of inflation. Onions
might well have declined over the past year, which means that the $30 I spent annually
on onions declined to $29--a grand savings of $1.

Even a 10% decline in natural gas costs would only yield a modest $50 reduction in
costs for my household. Let's say another household consumes a lot more natural gas,
and their savings would total $200 a year.

Compare these modest reductions due to deflation with the thousands of dollars
in increases in big-ticket items like tuition, property taxes and healthcare.

Take property taxes. Nationally, according to the Census Bureau report on state and local tax revenues, total
property taxes in the U.S. rose from $225 billion in 1998 to $476 billion in 2009--
an increase of 111% over a time period that
saw costs rise 32% (i.e. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated
inflation from 1998 to 2009 at 32%).

So nationally, property taxes rose at a rate that was triple that of inflation.

My own property taxes rose 25% from 2004 to 2010, while inflation in that period
was officially 16%. So my property taxes rose at a rate that was 50% ahead of
inflation. This is for property in California, supposedly protected from increases
above 1% per annum by Proposition 13. (Local voters can approve additional
parcel taxes, and they regularly do when presented with "save our schools, libraries,
etc." tax increases.)

These increases amount to several thousand dollars a year. Medical insurance (stripped-down
basic coverage from Kaiser) and our property taxes take a huge
percentage of our after-income tax income. Whatever items now cost less than a
few years ago are essentially trivial in cost over a decade
(how many TVs am I going to buy every decade?), while the increases in healthcare
and property taxes amount to several thousand dollars a year. Together, those
increases above the "official" low rate of inflation add up to $50,000 over a decade.

Here is a typical example of how property taxes have doubled
in the San Francisco Bay Area (this is not our house, but one picked from zillow.com):

A modest house valued at $270,000 in 2004 paid $5,090 in property taxes.
(Please note California is a "low tax state," according to those anxious to
raise all state taxes.)

The house was sold in July 2005 for $725,000 (near the top of the bubble)
and property taxes promptly jumped to $10,977. By 2010, taxes had climbed to
$12,193: a grand a month.

The utility value of the house remained unchanged. There was still the
same number of rooms and square footage. The owners received no "hedonic"
improvements; they're just paying $12,000 annually in property taxes instead of $5,000.

Tuition to the public universities and colleges in California has skyrocketed.
Tuition to attend the University of California system was $1,820 annually in the
1990-91 school year; the tuition for the 2011-12 academic year is $12,151.

According to the BLS inflation calculator, $1 in 1990 equals $1.67 in 2010.
If UC tuition had matched inflation, then tuition should now be about $3,040
a year, not $12,000. Tuition has quadrupled, even when adjusted for inflation.

The State University system has also seen tuition jump:

So while clothing and electronics may have declined by a few hundred dollars
a year per household, tuition for a four-year university now costs
$40,000 more--and that's not counting student fee increases. So while a laptop
might be a few hundred bucks less, and clothing might be a little less, it costs
$50,000 more to send your child to a state university. That is not "low inflation."

As for healthcare--if you buy your own healthcare insurance as a business
owner or self-employed worker, then you know
the drill--huge annual increases, year after year, recession or not.
Our household medical insurance costs have doubled in a few years, and that's for
stripped-down coverage (no dental, eyewear, drug coverage, etc.) and higher deductibles
on every category.

Add the thousands of dollars more per year for property taxes and health
insurance, and you are talking sums of money which are orders of magnitude
greater than the modest reductions in expenses for other items as measured
by the Central State. Most households are reaping extremely modest savings
on clothing, electronics, and the other items which are a bit cheaper, while
the increases in healthcare, property taxes and education are running in the
thousands of dollars annually.

I may have saved a few dollars on onions and shirts, but we are paying $5,000
more per year for property taxes and healthcare insurance. If these costs
were increasing at the official low rate of inflation (1.1% per annum), then
they would be registering increases of a few hundred dollars every decade,
not thousands of dollars more every few years.

"Low inflation" doesn't add up when you consider the tens of thousands of
dollars in increases stacking up in tuition, taxes and healthcare. I have
addressed some of these issues before:

Does Healthcare Reform Address Rising Inequality?
(September 17, 2010)

Wall Street's "Recovery" Leaves Main Street Mugged in the Gutter
(November 17, 2010)

Davos Sherman Okst -Fact, Fiction, And Finally The Fix

The fed's most high mutant banker-in-chief Bernake has some delightful propaganda to spew to the masses. Go back to sleep world economy, it is morning in America.

written by: Davos Sherman Okst

Fact, Fiction And Finally The Fix

Fiction: In this 60 Minutes clip Bernanke tells Scott Pelley, “The other concern I should mention is that inflation is very, very low…”

Fact: There is massive inflation!

 

Fiction: ‘Unemployment is 9.8%, if we didn’t take these drastic measures it would be 25% like it was during the Great Depression.’

Fact: Unemployment is, once again at “depressionary” levels - pushing 25%.

 

Fiction: In this video
Bernanke says about the biggest bubble in the world (the housing
bubble) which he never saw and still denies: “I guess I don’t buy your
premise it’s a pretty unlikely possibility we’ve never had a decline in
house prices on a nationwide basis.”

“…never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis.”

Fact: Housing prices have declined on a nationwide basis.

Hearing
The Bernanke fiction that he is 100 percent certain he can stop
hyperinflation was as reassuring as hearing his continued commitment to
continue Quantitative Easing.

I know hyperinflation is ugly. I
know stopping this train wreck years ago would have been the correct
thing to do. The fact is – we are beyond any fix. Things like cutting
government spending will only increase unemployment. We are bankrupt
when: What we take in with taxes doesn’t pay the bills. When we borrow
and that and the taxes still don’t pay the bills. Now we counterfeit so
we don’t default.

Game over!

I know re-valuing the dollar
would have been faster and less painful. But the facts are that we have a
professor who studied the Great Depression and if he doesn’t know that
housing prices declined, or that there is massive inflation now, or that
unemployment is at “depressionary” levels - then we have to realize
that correcting what he messed up isn’t going to happen.

The guy is either working for an elite few – or, more likely – he’s an economic imbecile.

Whatever
the case is – I’m happy. The only way the economy is going to get fixed
is if consumers (who make up 67% of GDP) consume. Right
now consumers are either maxed out, working part time hours in their
full time positions, or they are unemployed. Consumers have shed 600
billion in debt, 20 billion was of that was willingly. On a governmental
level: Our debt – on and off balance sheet will choke the life out of
any prosperity.

The clock MUST be reset. That is the ONLY fix.

The Bernanke just pulled the reset lever.

Gold and silver are still affordable. If you missed my read “Nobel Award in Darwin Economics” this chart should explain a lot.

 

If
you think there will be deflation I’d encourage you to look at money as
seashells and look at The Bernanke as the gold miners on pages 96 &
97 of “Mean Markets and Lizard Brains” book. Basically it explains that
the habitants of the highlands of Papa New Guinea used seashells as a currency.
Gold miners from Australia wanted to hire them to mine gold, the
highlanders didn’t want paper money - they wanted shells. Plane loads of
shells were flown in. Supply increased, their purchasing power
crumbled, they experienced hyperinflation.

Our dollar will be
re-valued vis-à-vis unstoppable hyperinflation. Old debt will be washed
away. Consumers will once again be able to consume.

In Summary: My faith in the 5Gs: (G*(religious edit)d, Gold, Guns, Grub & The Government Will Continue to Screw It Up) remains strong.

US banality 2k10: hopeless, disenfranchised, selfish

This time of the year-- although ripe with joyous family gatherings, (GMO) face-stuffing-fests, and generally 'good cheer'-- has a predicatably overfamiliar trait which has come to represent the downfall of our Western civilization. I am referring to the mindless consumerist attitude, mediating on all things mammon. The propaganda spews from all official sources that it is our "duty" as good citizens to fulfill the every want and desire of ourselves and our 'loved ones.' You may say to yourself..."no shit teej-- people self-soothe" -or- "for those first 15 minutes of playing with my new TOYS (after trampling over meemaw to get DEALZ) worry about our hellacious world was gone!" -or- "well it helps the economy if i buy buy buy!!" .... with that said, i must admit say that I do not disagree that we are lulling away in the land of the consumers, and our economic, ideological and political culture revolves around our social 'obligation' to "stimulate our economy." I also admit that the euphoria from purchasing the newest nifty gadget is definitely pleasurable on a subconscious level. These facts should not obfuscate the complex truth of the matter--just because we are collectively told by "experts" that it is our obligation to consume doesn't mean it is actually 1)beneficial to our economy 2) how all individuals and collectives function 3) and an undeniable truth because "officials" tell us so.

The Spending Culture permeates in both our personal and collective existence, and not only this, but it emphatically disseminated that If we do not have the past savings or current income to spend, than WE MUST use any and all financial tools available (29.99% APR anyone?) to acquire what we WANT. If various segments of our economy are not pleasing to our "representatives" in the government or the federal reserve then they will use their fiat super-powers to get what they WANT whether the collateral is there or not.

The biggest fraud of human history is the public regimentation of an elitist establishment agenda, which through introspective and objective coercion on both individual and collective arenas, calibrate mankind in the utilization of interest payments on exponential spending habits with a linear ability to produce debt repayment resources.
"hidden in plain sight"

Thinking of our collective propensity to spend from the context of our personal spending habits is very insiteful. Global-governance has a virtually unlimited line of credit (assuming financial-oligarchical-contractual terms are obeyed), often spending in excess exponentially above what has been provided for collateral (unless you consider social security our offering as chattel). Expenses information is disseminated in totally opaque ways with virtually no accountability (billions of undisclosed spending), all while paying bare minimum "monthly payments" to our overlord federal reserve creditors plus interest.

We are not meant to spend what capacities we do not have to fulfill our desires. We see nothing wrong with permanently indebting ourselves to seek ill-conceived arrangements from mammon-worshipping con-artists for supposed short-term artificial betterment (externalities ignored, of course). When we make such arrangements to get what we have not yet earned, than this fraud will eventually climax to economic pathological implosion.

On a long enough timeline, reality does simply not compute exponential usage of resources in linearly available production possibilities. If we create money out of nothing, with a misrepresentation of what assets we actually have as collateral, use these fiat resources exponentially faster than what valuable resources (monetary or natural) we can physically produce/extract, all the material products and revenues we gain are based off of a gigantic lie. Mises describes this in terms of malinvestments that will necessarily be liquidated. Denial of this FRAUD is intoxicating to the masses. This would also be a good opportunity to point out that deterrents from the surfacing of the obvious fraud are ingenious, including but not limited to...endless hypnotic propaganda to instill mainstream coercion and self-policing, the use of inflation to hide the economic failure and guide collective monetary decision calibration, and an education system which spawns elitist intellectuals whom (typically) unquestioningly pander to the status-quo in their "expertise"...just to name a few. Rest assured, this being the biggest fraud in human history, it WILL eventually surface to the public's consciousness, and the repercussions will be indeed painful for everyone involved.

Currently, our entire existence hinges on taking the less painful route of consuming what we do not have and forgetting/denying this fraud as opposed to recognizing our future inability to compensate for the current artificiality in collateral. Simply put, consuming and forgetting past inadequacies is much less painful (and euphoric?) than than saving and planning for the future.

A great cultural example of this is how many of us with baby-boomer parents grew up in an environment of constant praise in response to ANY EFFORT. It didn't matter if we were good at all as long as we had discipline to try, with praise equivalent to a masterful performance. There was an obvious 'talent deficit' for most of us, but we never the less NEEDED that IMMEDIATE praise for our efforts instead of facing the mature fact of "hey, i'm not that good and I don't deserve praise." This is a harsh reality to introspectively face, but it is where we are at... We are the bloated, overweight gymnast with the manic parent who gives us the untruthful praise we want instead of the criticism we need. This is absolutely too colorful of an example for the reality about to break, but the erroneous mental representation of our society is equivalent.

Our elite oligarchy have manipulated us to BELIEVE (and coerce others to believe) that it is completely normal (and innovative) for our economy to be based on the unrealistic and unsustainable assumption that we can forever push asside our inability to ever be accountable. We believe that our subconsciouscognitive dissonance-- our deep sense that we are sowing the seeds of our global-societal destruction, and simultaneously worshipping this grand establishment complex which fabricates EVERY facet of our very daily lives-- is nothing more than a feeling...We have self-propagated HOPE that we can kick the can of REMITTANCE down the road-- that our pathological fraud is actually a great historical achievement, and there (will never be) any cleansing required. For the bombshell-- our elite rulers have blinded us for millenia, and manipulated us to incrementally lead ourselves to be slaughtered and feel good about ourselves while we do it.

A great awakening is at hand. When the Great Fraud is exposed, do you want to be asleep?

first blog post...i have actually been wanting to do this for quite a while, but have been 'pinging' my internet from my neighbors and exclusively surfing on an ipod touch circa 2009. Anyway, i'm thrilled to finally have a venue to vent, post interesting material, and hopefully inform. my name is Travis Pate, and my goal is to shine an infinitesimally small light into a cognitive world that is helplessly dark. I hope to be a sound alternative source for media and I will only re-post from the most credible of sources. I personally draw from a great variety of sources and will try to explain contents in easily understandable terms. With that said. I LOVE YOU ALL, and I may post content that it quite distant from the mainstream viewpoint, but a truthful contrarian viewpoint is needed now more than ever in the land where disinformation and propaganda reign.

-Travis.