In one of my brokerage accounts, I put a few bucks into ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 (SDS).
Luckily most of that account is in silver and gold interests, since the S&P has done nothing but go up since then.
My reasoning for going short? The S&P is forming a rising wedge, which is usually a bearish indicator. Also, I have been waiting with bated breath for the next market downturn. When is this thing going to break? I’m not ready to give up yet. If readers have sound reasons for doing so, I’d like to hear them.
Would Brian Johnson of thestockmentor.com care to weigh in? I could use some expert advice.
See you next time! (When is it going to get hot this summer? Sometime before the next blizzard?)
Quote of the Week:
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”
I nominate myself for the buried news of the week. (”How conveeeenient.”)
After watching the O’Reilly factor for two nights in a row, 09-08-09 and 09-09-09, and listening to what I thought was spin, I decided I had to finally write the guy. Readers, please feel free to copy my idea and try to get this on the air during the e-mails portion of his show (oreilly@foxnews.com).
Here it is:
Dear Mr. O’Reilly,
If Charlie Sheen is a “pinhead” regarding his 9-11 theories and you believe that questioning the U.S. government’s version of 9-11 is enough to disqualify a person from public office, then could you please provide some guidance in crafting O’Reilly approved petitions which seek a redress of grievances?
In the August 24 & 31, 2009 issue of Newsweek, Sharon Begley claims that there are many “lies” flying around about the Obama health care plan, partially because people are scared right now. She quotes a psychiatrist, Louann Brizendrine on the subject: “The brain is signaling ‘danger’ right now. Whenever that happens, the brain typically loses its logical reasoning power.”
Presumably then with her reasoning and logic unclouded by emotion, Ms. Begley exposes several “lies” about the health care bill in her article entitled, “Attack! The truth about Obamacare.”
Well then, I’m going to get illogical and dispute her expose on a couple of points.
Begley writes, “Opponents say bureaucrats will decide if it is worth treating you by somehow calculating the value of your life.
It’s not in any of the bills, but the rationing lie sticks because people who should know better keep repeating it” (end quote).
Irrational and emotional point number one: Just because rationing is not in any of the bills, does that eliminate the danger of rationing once government takes over health care?
Is it conceivable that the government could run into fiscal problems at some point in the future and start making cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and any government run health care program? Is it emotional and irrational to ask the question? (Maybe it’s even considered hateful.)
For a graphic illustration of how critical entitlements are to the national debt, please go to the bottom of this Webpage and notice the numbers under “US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES.” Compare the “LIABILITY PER CITIZEN” number with the number at the top center of the page, “DEBT PER CITIZEN.” As you can see by comparing these two numbers, our national debt is going to balloon exponentially and dangerously, unless drastic cuts are made to government entitlement programs.
Even the most liberal economists agree that there is a limit to how high the debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio can go before countries run into catastrophic problems. We are on that road. (Please see my last blog where this issue is discussed by Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman and I give my analysis.)
Another “lie” Ms. Begley mentions is that the Obama health care plan “will cover illegal aliens.” She counters with, “(No illegals will be covered. But don’t worry: under today’s system, some of your insurance premiums do pay for their medical treatment, to the tune of $1 billion a year, because illegals are guaranteed emergency care in every state.)”
Irrational and emotional point number two: If, under our current health care system, illegal aliens are receiving health care paid for by part of our insurance premiums, how will that change when the government takes over? Does Obama plan on throwing illegal aliens out of emergency rooms on their ears? I doubt it.
Maybe she’s saying that the government will eat the extra cost of the illegals and not pass it on to health care consumers. If that’s the case, I’d like to know where she gets her confidence.
I don’t consider myself an ideologue against government managed health care. But I would like to see our government operating in a fiscally responsible way before even considering socializing our health care system. In addition, I strongly believe our elected officials should read the health care bill before voting on it. Is there such a hurry to pass this thing that we can’t read it? If Begley sees these views as fearful, illogical and emotional, then I find that opinion very interesting.
From Michigan, here’s one congressman’s opinion on reading the health care bill.
Website Recommendation!
My friend Brian Johnson runs a great Website. This guy knows what he’s doing and I wouldn’t include his link if I thought otherwise. If you want to get some excellent free training in the art and science of technical stock trading, check it out!
In Brian’s words: “My site is www.thestockmentor.comand it’s geared towards people who are interested in trading or learning how to better manage their own retirement accounts through stock charting. I have a lot of free online videos that explain the basics of trading and each day I do a daily video on the markets and where I see them going next. I also highlight some individual stock picks I’m watching during the course of that week as well.”
Quote of the Week:
“When you’re 50 you start thinking about things you haven’t thought about before. I used to think getting old was about vanity, but actually it’s about losing the people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial.”
I realize that Thomas and Matthews aren’t talking about our current economic crisis in this MSNBC clip.
But maybe my fears of runaway inflation due to the overspending of the Bush-Obama years are unfounded.
After all, if Obama can deliver “…the world, once again, from evil” (Chris Matthews of MSNBC) and “he’s sort of God” (Evan Thomas of Newsweek), then perhaps I’m over-reacting.
“If increased government spending with borrowed or newly created money is a ’stimulus,’ then the Weimar Republic should have been stimulated to unprecedented prosperity, instead of runaway inflation and widespread economic desperation that ultimately brought Adolf Hitler to power.”
~Thomas Sowell (as quoted in the May 27, 2009 issue of the Rapid City Journal, and available online here).
In several prior blogs, I’ve noted the alarming executive orders and policy changes that seem to suggest that the U.S. may be moving from an open society to a closed one-from a constitutional republic to some form of tyranny.
I’m now suggesting that these moves may be leading up to the implementation of a North American Union tying Canada, the U.S. and Mexico together with open borders and one currency. I wonder if the next step could be global governance and if our current economic crisis may be used somehow as a catalyst-a pretext-to eventually bring all of this about.
The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch ran an article on Tuesday, Jan. 28 2009 stating that Uniting U.S., Canada, Mexico money could result from crisis. The article also said that, The New World Order is upon us, full of hope, promise and a fair amount of fear.
As previously posted, the respected Financial Times of London also ran a recent commentary considering the increased likelihood of world government due to the financial crisis and other factors.
The above articles are well-done, but failed to cover the news items below, which lend credence to the idea that we could be headed for historic and unconstitutional changes in how our government functions.
Unfortunately, most Americans are still unaware that 4,700 troops were deployed stateside on Oct. 1, 2008; that Congress was threatened a few days later with martial law if the No Banker Left Behind Bail-out wasn’t passed; that the Pentagon has admitted that 20 thousand more troops are on the way for deployment stateside-duties to include civil unrest and crowd control; that Congress-even members of the Homeland Security Committee-have been denied access to executive branch continuity of government plans (PDD 51) (aka, NSPD 51) which authorize martial law; that American citizens can be declared enemy combatants and lose their constitutional rights-even if they’ve never left our country (Military Commissions Act of 2006); that evidence of detention camps being constructed or refurbished-potentially to confine American citizens-goes back to 1999, before the attacks of 9/11; that HR 45 calls for gun licensing and registration; that if/when reintroduced and passed, HR 1022 would allow Attorney General Eric Holder-who is an anti-second amendment activist-to confiscate virtually any firearm he chooses from the American people. The list goes on and on.
Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard about all this. If you want to hold your breath waiting to see the mainstream media put all these puzzle pieces together for you, you’re going to turn blue and keel over.
The agenda setting mainstream media is complicit in keeping the American people from seeing the big picture. (Note for those who haven’t read Chomsky: The Rapid City Journal isn’t part of the agenda setting mainstream media. If they were, this blog probably would’ve been shut down by now, or more likely, never offered in the first place.)
Based on the comments I’ve received, a minority of my readers still think the prospect of global governance is something to laugh about and ridicule. Even if these people are paid posters, hopefully this blog will help quell the laughter and bring about what we need instead: motivation to hold our leaders accountable, especially in regard to respecting our Constitution.
Now onto my headline: Legislation has been introduced in the form of House Resolution 645 that lends credence to the story about detention camps for American citizens, as discussed in this San Francisco Chronicle article and other publications.
As noted by infowars.com, the National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645 mandates the establishment of national emergency centers to be located on military installations for the purpose of providing temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster, according to the bill.
The legislation also states that the camps will be used to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations.
Ominously, the bill also states that the camps can be used to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security, an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse.
Will the camps be used to detain American citizens who are declared enemy combatants and stripped of their constitutional rights?
Since the Army Times originally reported that the battle-hardened troops to be deployed stateside would be responsible for civil unrest and crowd control, this also raises the suspicions of many people regarding the use of these camps.
If troops were deployed stateside on Oct. 1 because of terrorism fears, why weren’t they sent until over seven years after the 911 attacks?
Is it possible that late last year, certain elements within our government knew more about what was coming than they told us?
Now, I’m sure there are explanations for all of this, but would they be true If the Constitution was still in place to protect Habeus Corpus from arbitrary revocation by the executive branch (Military Commissions Act of 2006), and Congress was allowed access to all of PDD 51, and if the Posse Comitatus statutes hadn’t been subverted, etc., etc., etc., I would feel much more comfortable.
As things stand, I wonder if certain elements of our government are gaslighting us and then providing us with the solutions they want to ease the anxiety they created. Could this be a deliberate strategy to implement policies and consolidate power in a way that Americans wouldn’t otherwise accept?!
Our country seems to be establishing the framework for socialism and tyranny!
Is the banker bailout a fraud that was never intended to help?!
If this is true, then I believe we will see more bail-outs approved even when we have proof that they don’t work.
For an eye-opening and fascinating lecture, please scroll down and listen to New York Times best-selling author Naomi Wolf discuss the 10 signs that an open society is transforming into a closed one. Wolf has studied history and sees all ten signs occurring today in the United States. I tend to agree with her.
Hearing a politically liberal person passionately defend the 2nd Amendment at 23:06 is worth the price of admission alone! Which would be, let’s see, ZERO! What a bargain!
Please keep in mind that when Wolf made this defense of the 2nd Amendment she was worried primarily about Blackwater Security.
Now there are 4,700 Army troops stationed stateside with another 20,000 admitted to be on the way, as I wrote earlier. I predict that we’ll see more than another 20,000 and sooner than 2011.
Wolf also gave this lecture before the banker bail-outs were even dreamed about. I think these facts make her presentation even more prescient.
Please check it out!
CALL TO ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Representative (Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin for South Dakota) and politely ask him/her how the abuse of these new governmental powers is going to be limited.
I recommend that PDD 51 (aka, NSPD 51) would be a good starting point. As I wrote earlier, this is the directive that includes executive branch continuity of government plans authorizing physical martial law in America, in the event of a catastrophic emergency.
The Homeland Security Committee and the entire Congress have been denied access to the classified portions of this document! THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN WAY! Here’s a link to the clip I referred to earlier regarding PDD 51. Please ask Rep. Herseth Sandlin if congressional hearings on this power grab are forthcoming. WE NEED SOME ACCOUNTABILITY!
Contact Information:
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, 331 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, Ph: 202-225-2801.
In Rapid City, 343 Quincy St., Suite 102, Rapid City, SD 57701, Ph: 605-394-5280
Contact Kim and Don with VOH at : kim_don2001@yahoo.com
Put in the subject line, “Film Suggestion,” and ask them if they would please consider The End of America, and if you’d like, please add why you think this film is important for VOH to show to the Rapid City community.
Thanks to everyone who writes!
Please check out the Youtube video below featuring the trailer for Naomi Wolf’s new documentary film.
We can get the film below shown at the Elks Theatre in Rapid City! Please contact Kim and Don and encourage VOH to show it! The agenda-setting mainstream media in the U.S. is not doing their job, so I believe we MUST step up to the plate to get the word out!
Quote of the Week: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”
~Edward R. Murrow
Does anyone else see the irony of a (Naomi) “Wolf” warning us about the “wolves” in the government? Is this the Universe’s/God’s sense of humor? Anyway…
PS: Check out this music video featuring A Perfect Circle at 2:13 for the sequence with the hooded sheep running around scaring the other sheep. (Be forewarned, it is graphic.) I see this as a metaphor for the reaction to the sort of warnings I talk about in this blog. Like the sheep that run away from the black ones, a certain percentage of the population will run away from what people like me say but won’t bother to check the facts and seriously consider them because of fear and/or denial. That, I believe, is the true source of the laughter in some cases.
If you’d like to hear ideas similar to what Naomi Wolf has to say but would rather hear it from a more politically conservative source, I recommend the following documentary from Alex Jones, which is available for free viewing on Google video. Please keep in mind that I don’t agree with everything Jones says and he’s not known for subtlety! However, he is good at citing sources for many of the allegations he makes and he’s obviously very intelligent and articulate, similar to Wolf-just with a different flavor.
If you like Police State 3: Total Enslavement, you can find more videos at Google video and Youtube, or you can go to his Websites to find more information at www.infowars.com or www.prisonplanet.com
Another good conservative voice is former Presidential candidate Ron Paul.
The Sunday, Feb. 23, 1997 issue of the Washington Post is generally credited with bringing talk of the President’s Working Group on the Markets-also known as the Plunge Protection Team-out in the open. The article was titled simply, Plunge Protection Team.
However, Executive Order 12631–Working Group on Financial Markets, is part of the public record and can be found at the National Archives. This executive order established the Plunge Protection Team as well as procedures for its operation and funding.
Please watch the CNBC clip below. Incredibly, even though the existence of the PPT is documented in the public record, the CNBC talking heads try to make the existence of the PPT a “conspiracy theory.” This attitude of crushing anyone who thinks logically outside the box of accepted mainstream media reality is very disturbing to me. (Listen closely for the disingenuous cackling in the background, meant to ridicule and discredit their very astute guest Scott Nations, President of Fortress Trading in Chicago .)
To his credit, the host Joe Kernan does a pretty good job of standing up to his co-workers. (I wouldn’t be surprised if his on-air editor, Charlie Gasparino, had a word with him later.)
I can understand controversial assertions being questioned, especially when there is plausible deniability; but the dismissive attitude that these talking heads take toward the PPT doesn’t even fit with reality. (The CNBC crew doth protest too much, methinks.)
I have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, so the reality I see-along with Executive Order 12631-is that if a person, group or organization has the means, motive and opportunity to commit an act (or crime), they become the prime suspect(s) for such activity. I believe that this is a very reasonable, prudent and pragmatic paradigm that has helped solve crimes for far longer than I’ve been around.
One of the concepts I learned from my studies in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling is that past behavior tends to be the best predictor of future behavior. One talking head in this clip seems to admit to the existence of the PPT in the past (”Well, the Clinton White House” at 2:29) but then nearly everyone scoffs at any possibility that the PPT still exists without citing any evidence of it being discontinued. How does that make sense?
Watch the contempt and ridicule they wield to silence and distance themselves from the “nuts” that utilize what should be considered logical thinking.
Particularly telling is the comment at 5:46 by Art Cashin of UBS Financial Services: “If this was true, don’t you think something might’ve leaked out by now? Uh, you know, this, this is the tooth fairy all over again.”
The “TOOTH FAIRY?!”
Let’s see what former senior adviser to President Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, had to say during the Sept. 17, 2001 broadcast of Good Morning America. Stephanopoulos was discussing different plans on how to support the markets that day. (As you may recall, this was the first day of trading after the Sept. 11 attacks.)
Stephanopoulos stated that “…there will be some trading curbs in effect today. If the market drops by about 1,100 points, they will probably suspend trading for a while. And perhaps most important, there’s been the Fed in 1989 created what is called a plunge protection team, which is the Federal Reserve, big major banks, representatives of the New York Stock Exchange and the other exchanges, and there they have been meeting informally so far, and they have kind of an informal agreement among major banks to come in and start to buy stock if there appears to be a problem.”
Does Mr. Cashin expect us to believe that what Stephanopoulos said doesn’t qualify as something “leaking out?”
Does he expect us to believe that Stephanopoulos is part of the “black helicopter crowd” (at 5:23)?
Has Cashin NEVER heard of Executive Order 12631?
Does he expect us to believe that Stephanopoulos was lying?
No, I believe that what is more likely is a clear-cut case of corporate owned mainstream media and “big money” spouting their propaganda. They KNOW they can count on most of the media and public not bothering to fact-check their BS…and so it will continue.
For more information: If you would like an in-depth study regarding the Plunge Protection Team, please check out this report from Sprott Asset Management.
For me, writing this blog has brought about a great deal of clarity about media bias-or at least the perception of clarity.
So far I’ve noticed that the types of stories that won’t receive much if any media coverage fall into two categories: 1. Government violations of the Constitution 2. Government actions that could be viewed as under-handed, evil and/or conspiratorial…any behavior that’s “over-the-top.”
As I’ve tried to demonstrate, information is suppressed and controlled when the media doesn’t cover certain stories. When someone supplies surprising or even shocking information that doesn’t line up with the official story-even when good sources are cited-a self-reinforcing argument often emerges. Many people think, “Well, that can’t be true.” Why not? “Well, if this was true, the media would cover it!”
Another way information is suppressed and controlled is by using the “conspiracy theory” label. Powerful people use it as a bludgeon to discredit and silence anyone who doesn’t buy the official story, whatever that might be. The public is following their lead and picking up on this method.
People who have power and money want more of it and they want to maintain the system which is providing them with their status (or come up with a new system that is even more advantageous-like the “No Banker Left Behind” bailout). It’s not “conspiracy theory” when there is evidence that people are working to improve their status; it’s how the world works!
One example would be the notion that FDR backed Japan into a corner, knew the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming but deliberately sacrificed 3,000 troops, angering the American people enough to support another European war. (Enough time has gone by that many historians actually consider this idea without laughing.)
Perhaps someday most people will be horrified instead of laughing at the notion that certain elements of our government may have had foreknowledge of the 09-11 attacks but chose to do nothing (or worse), sacrificing 3,000 of our own citizens in order to reach our objectives in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Well, enough of that for now.
I’m thinking about starting a new feature to this blog. I will attempt to come up with at least one under-covered story per blog to highlight. These stories may or may not be directly related to investing, money or financial issues.
Here we go!
Buried News of the Week
1. Did you know Hillary Clinton is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Secretary of State?
Have you heard this story in the mainstream media?
What are the implications of living in an ostensibly free society where important information is actually controlled and suppressed, either voluntarily or under some sort of duress?! (Noam Chomsky has done some work in this area, but I haven’t read anything by him that specifically addresses the mainstream media’s aversion to the U.S. Constitution.)
Readers, please comment, as this concept completely fascinates me and I’d love to get a good dialogue going.
