Crybaby Obama Throws Bombs Left And Right

By Joseph A. Klein  Wednesday, December 8, 2010

President Obama flailed about during his press conference yesterday, lashing out at Republicans as “hostage takers” and at his rebellious Leftist base as “sanctimonious purists”.  While throwing around enough rhetorical bombs to blow up Washington metaphorically speaking for his own failings, this crybaby narcissist did not even take a minute to remember those who perished at the hands of the Japanese bombers on Pearl Harbor Day.

Obama must miss the old days when the left-wing media was so in love with him that he could do no wrong. They are now turning on him with a vengeance.

In fact, it was just a couple of months ago when White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton spoke to a group of reporters on Air Force One and praised MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow as “invaluable.”

And if you’re on the left, if you’re somebody like Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or one of the folks who helps to keep our government honest and pushes and prods to make sure that folks are true to progressive values, then he [Obama] thinks that those folks provide an invaluable service.

This came after Obama’s interview with Rolling Stone magazine, where he called FOX News “ultimately destructive.”

What are the “invaluable” Olbermann and Maddow saying about Obama now?

First, the always temperate Mr. Olbermann:

We have enabled this President, and his compromises-spinning-within-compromises. And now there are, finally, those within his own party who have said “enough.” In the Senate, the Independent, Mr. Sanders has threatened to filibuster this deal. He deserves the support of every American in doing so, as does Mr. Conyers and Mr. McDermott and the others in the house. It is not disloyalty to the Democratic party to tell a Democratic president he is wrong; it is not disloyalty to tell him he is goddamned wrong.It is not disloyalty for the 99ers and the 99ers-to-be to rally in the streets of Washington. It is not disloyalty to remind the President that he was elected by people to whom he had given a clear outline of what he would do for them, and if he does not steer out of the skid of what he is doing to them, he will not only not be re-elected, he may not even be re-nominated.

It is not disloyalty to remind him that we are not bound to an individual. We are bound to principles. If the individual changes, or fails often and needlessly, then we get a new man. Or woman. None of that is disloyalty. It is self-defense. It is the acknowledgment that, as my hero Thurber wrote, you might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backwards.

That is what the base is saying to this President, about his Presidency.

Ouch!

Maddow also went after Obama in mocking terms:

What is happening now is that this presidency is at risk of becoming a punch line. It’s not that he has lost a fight or two or three or four. It’s that the very idea that he knows how to win or even wants to win has become a joke. . . . When this president starts to be ignored, when what he wants, his political vision becomes irrelevant. . . . If the president cannot win when his party is the majority in Congress, if no one can even conceive of the president winning fights when his party is in the majority, let alone the minority in Washington, then the presidency itself starts to atrophy. It starts to disappear.

Maddow is actually on to something here, in spite of herself. For more than a year, Obama had a filibuster-proof Senate to work with, as well as a large majority in the House of Representatives. He could have gotten his so-called middle-class tax cut extension passed without any worries about those evil Republican “hostage-takers.’ Instead, Obama chose to use his political capital and wind down the clock fighting for his precious Obamacare.

Obama has nobody to blame but himself for the hand he is now forced to play because of the changing political landscape. His use of the hostage-taking metaphor, which seems to be the progressive Democratic talking point de jour, is an obscene self-serving lie.

Where Maddow, Olbermann,  and the rest of the disillusioned Left go wrong is their obsession with class warfare

Where Maddow, Olbermann,  and the rest of the disillusioned Left go wrong is their obsession with class warfare. They constantly harp on the misleading statistic that the 1 or 2 percent of the richest Americans are getting the lion’s share of the tax cut extension. What they always fail to mention is that it is the top 1 or 2 percent (which, because of mobility, is not always made up of the same individuals) who pay the lion’s share of income taxes in the first place.

Even with the Bush tax cuts, the top 1 percent of taxpayers have paid approximately 40 percent of total federal income taxes, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. Indeed, the richest 1 percent have paid more in federal income taxes than the bottom 95 percent. This is the result of our progressive income tax scale. But why should the taxpayers who already contribute 40 percent of the total federal income taxes be penalized yet again for their success? Why shouldn’t they be permited to continue to enjoy an extension of the same tax cuts enjoyed by the many who contribute barely nothing to the running of our bloated government bureaucracy?

Remember that these are not new tax cuts. They are simply a temporary extension of tax levels that have been in place for nearly a decade.

Though Obama would have been misguided if he had tried to change the rates for the top brackets shortly after he took office, he could have easily done so with the commanding majorities he had in both houses of Congress. Now he is a hostage of his own failures. It is time for him to man up and stop acting like a crybaby.

Power Corrupts: Never Mind Democracy

December 6, 2010 by Bob Livingston

There are those attracted to less government and there are those attracted to big government. Fortunately, the fathers of the United States Constitution believed in limited government and maximum individual liberty.

The people who want big government are always ready to seize power. And they have been solidly in power in the U.S. since the establishment of the Federal Reserve monetary system in 1913.

Plainly stated, an elite group rules, no matter which political party appears to be in power. The elite always have a monetary system of debasing the currency. They do this to transfer wealth from the workers and producers to themselves.

Everything is gradual at first. Toward the end, the rot sets in and cultural collapse becomes obvious.

The men in political power, under any party name, keep themselves and their buddies in power to keep mass corruption covered up. The same bureaucrats are always in charge so as to keep a tight lid on in order to prevent exposure.

To power seekers, the most attractive government is some form of collectivism. It can be any name, but it must be collectivism. Collectivism is ideal for government expansion at the expense of the people. Collectivism attracts hard-wired psychopaths who use the system for cronyism and their aggrandizement. They care not one whit about constitutional government and the rule of law. They only care about a political facade to hide their chicanery.

America is in the final stages of a very complete meltdown. The U.S. has 12 times the number of people in prison as the rest of the world combined. We are in the midst of moral collapse. It is every man for himself. The political system is bribery, corruption and lies.

William K. Black, author of the book, The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One, exposed the Ponzi mentality that has developed in the U.S. financial industry.

Black has exposed big banker crime that caused the 2008 real estate crash. He stated that as early as 1994, the FBI said that fraud in mortgage banking would cause a collapse. So the conclusion is that the unbelievable huge bonuses paid out by the private banks were derived from fraud and financial crime that crashed the U.S. economy.

Another blatant crime against the American people is the Obama healthcare bill — or Obamacare — that is simply for the purpose of transferring wealth to the pharmaceuticals and the insurance companies. This is going on in the midst of a collapsed economy and an economic depression.

People wonder why our Congressmen and Senators would do this to us. The answer is quite simple. Has it ever occurred to Americans that the people whom they think are their elected representatives are actually, in fact, government employees? They owe everything to the government and they sell their souls to government. They thumbed their noses at the American people by passing the so-called healthcare bill. Hypocrisy has never had an equal.

The so-called healthcare bill will provide seniors far less care, and the healthcare and Social Security that they do receive will be “means tested.” That is to say that benefits to the “wealthy” (and they determine who is wealthy) will be taxed.

Put Your Trust in Governments!
A lot of people live by Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds as “full faith” instruments. They are called government debt.

You know that the word “debt” implies payment. Come now, can there be a real debt issued in fiat money with “interest” also in fiat? This is Ponzi promoted as debt. All so-called sovereign debt of all countries is nothing more than created fiat or printing press money.

Even though governments print their own money, they still default. The question is, do governments ever intend to pay? The answer is No!

Here is a list of so-called sovereign defaults from 1981 to 2003. These are only the acknowledged defaults researched by Eduardo Borens and Ugo Panizza: Zambia, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Panama, Niger, Mozambique, Morocco, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Turkey, Togo, Nigeria, Mexico, Haiti, Guyana, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Argentina, Malawi, Senegal, Romania, Poland, Jamaica, Honduras, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Jamaica, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guinea, Gambia, Gabon, Yemen, Vietnam, South Africa, Cameroon, Angola, Tanzania, Peru, Sao Tome & Principe, Iraq, Ghana, Liberia, Russia/USSR, Albania, Ethiopia, Algeria, Bulgaria, Jordan, Guatemala, Kenya, Slovenia, Serbia & Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Antigua & Barbados, Myanmar, Indonesia, Moldova, Pakistan, Ukraine, Dominica, Zimbabwe and Seycheles.

Just imagine how many more countries have defaulted since 2003. America is well on her way.

China Importing U.S. Food Inflation

December 2, 2010

With the mainstream media once again being distracted by the debt crisis in Europe, a much larger crisis has been breaking out in China. China has been hit hard in recent weeks with massive food inflation. Food prices in China have risen by 10% during the past month, including a 20% rise in fruits and vegetables. McDonald’s recently announced that they will be rising prices for products in all of their stores in China, including a $0.15 increase for Chicken McNuggets. Kweichow Moutai Co., China’s largest liquor maker, is expected to raise prices on their products by 24% this month.

In NIA’s top 10 predictions for 2010, NIA predicted there would be major food shortages around the world. The China Banking Regulatory Commission is now admitting that there are severe shortages in China of corn, cotton, sugar, and other crops. China is now selling food from its state reserves in an attempt to keep food inflation under control. The Chinese government now fears that if they don’t do more to combat food inflation, they will soon experience a massive outbreak of civil unrest across the country. In fact, last week a group of high school students in the Guizhou province started a riot in the school cafeteria over a $0.07 increase in the cost of a school meal; they shattered windows and destroyed tables, countertops, and chairs.

A $0.07 increase in school lunch prices might not seem like a lot to Americans, because Americans only spend about 13% of their annual expenditures on food. If a family of four in the U.S. earns less than $28,665 per year, their children get a free school lunch. If more than 50% of the children in a town qualify for free lunches, everybody gets a free lunch. 31 million American children are now receiving free lunches. Chinese children don’t receive any free lunches and most poor families in China spend approximately 50% of their income on food.

So what is China’s solution before food riots break out in every school and McDonald’s nationwide? We are seeing signs that the Chinese government is going to implement price controls. We are hearing reports that in some Chinese cities, price controls have already been imposed on four main vegetables. NIA fears that China will soon impose price controls on dairy products like milk and eggs, as well as on meat, grain, and cooking oil. China might also impose price controls on energy commodities like oil, diesel, natural gas, and coal.

The inflation that Chinese citizens are currently suffering from is inflation that China is needlessly importing from the U.S. The solution to China’s inflationary crisis is simple, they should allow the yuan to appreciate in value. China’s currency is currently artificially low because they are keeping it pegged to the U.S. dollar. As the Federal Reserve prints money, China’s central bank also prints enough money to keep the yuan’s exchange rate with the U.S. dollar stable. This is done entirely to help Chinese export companies, but it is causing Chinese citizens to suffer.

If China allowed the free market to determine the exchange rate of the yuan, not only will their inflation problem be solved, but China will see massive short-term deflation where Chinese citizens see a massive increase in the purchasing power of their currency. When a government implements price controls, it is interfering in the free market and not allowing the free market to function efficiently. Price controls never work because the free market is always stronger than government. Price controls in China will likely lead to empty store shelves and hour long lines at gas stations. Price controls will also likely lead to the creation of a new underground economy in China where Chinese citizens buy and sell food and other goods in the black market, at prices that are determined by the free market.

While NIA has strongly been encouraging Americans to stock up on and store agricultural products, China is making it illegal to hoard food. Garlic prices in China have nearly doubled from one year ago, so China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) decided to fine the Shandong Price Bureau, a local garlic seller, 100,000 yuan or approximately $15,000 for illegally cornering the garlic market to force up the price. The NDRC also fined Jilin Corn Central Wholesale Market Ltd. 1 million yuan or approximately $150,000 for colluding with their competitors to jack up the price of beans.

No individual corporation has the power to drive up agricultural commodity prices substantially on their own. Yet, China’s government is blaming speculators for rising food and energy prices, without realizing it is the Chinese government’s own manipulation of the yuan that is causing massive food price inflation. When Chinese citizens and businesses hoard commodities, they are not doing it to artificially manipulate commodity prices higher, they are doing it to protect themselves from the government’s dangerous and destructive actions.

The same food inflation crisis that China is currently experiencing will likely hit the U.S. in early 2011, only much worse. NIA believes it is only a matter of time before Congress places the blame for rapidly rising U.S. food prices on American “speculators” who are buying agricultural commodity ETFs and “hoarders” who have food storage at home. While China can easily solve their food inflation crisis by allowing the yuan to strengthen, the U.S. will have no way of solving its upcoming food inflation crisis. Despite the U.S. being a major producer of agricultural products and being mostly self-sufficient, oil is a very important commodity used in agriculture production and the U.S. needs to import most of its oil. Oil prices hit a new 52-week high last month of about $88 per barrel.

It is also important to realize that agricultural commodities now trade on the international market. Americans are now competing against the rest of the world for the consumption of food. The U.S. just raised its forecast for fiscal year 2011 agricultural commodity exports to $126.5 billion, up $13.5 billion from its last estimate three months ago. They didn’t raise this estimate by 12% because the U.S. is increasing production, they raised it as an admission that high agricultural commodity prices are here to stay.

In recent weeks, the mainstream media in the U.S. has been running nightly reports about large crowds at U.S. shopping malls. The media has been hyping up “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” as signs that the U.S. recession is over and U.S. consumers are once again confident and spending money. The truth is, the only reason shopping malls are full is because U.S. retailers have not been passing on their wholesale price increases to consumers.

NIA has been hearing reports from NIA members who own import/export companies and have direct access to sales sheets that show both the wholesale and retail prices of products at some of our nation’s largest retailers. All indications are that many of the largest U.S. retailers are seeing as much as a 80% decline in their profit margins on some products, compared to one year ago. Shopping malls may be full, but shareholders of retail stocks may be shocked in early 2011 when retailers miss on their bottom line profit forecasts. With the S&P Retail Index hitting a new 52-week high on Wednesday of 501.17, up 31% since the beginning of July, there is a lot of downside risk in retail stocks at the present time. When stock prices of retailers fall, management will be forced to raise prices in U.S. retail stores.

U.S. 10-year bond yields rose by 17 basis points on Wednesday to 2.97%, a new four-month high. The mainstream media is proclaiming that bond yields are rising due to an ADP Employment Services report out on Wednesday that U.S. businesses added 93,000 jobs in November. We consider these ADP numbers to be meaningless. The Conference Board just reported Wednesday that new online help wanted ads by U.S. businesses in November were 2.575 million, down 2.6% from 2.6425 million in October, indicating that U.S. businesses are looking to hire less people. Interest rates are not rising because the U.S. employment situation is getting better, they are rising because the U.S. bond bubble is getting ready to burst due to massive inflation.

When the bond bubble bursts, not only will China stop increasing their U.S. treasury purchases, but they will likely dump the U.S. treasuries they already own. One of the main reasons China has been so reluctant to dump their U.S. treasuries until now is because there are many asset bubbles forming in China that they want to deflate slowly without causing them to collapse. Real Estate in Beijing is now being priced at 27 times the average worker’s income in the city. China has a glut of unused capacity in factories and commercial office buildings. If these factories and office buildings aren’t filled now, when times are good, think about what will happen when the U.S. dollar collapses and China is forced to go through a two or three year readjustment period of finding new buyers for the products they produce.

There are many export companies in China that will likely go bankrupt later this decade when Americans can no longer afford to import their products. To avoid this, China has been encouraged to continue rapidly expanding its foreign exchange reserves, which are mostly held in U.S. dollars. NIA believes that China shouldn’t be concerned about the short-term, but must focus on the long-term growth of the country. Although in the short-term China might do better by keeping the U.S. dollar propped up for a little while longer, over the long-term the Chinese will be much better off when they no longer need to support our phony standard of living. Chinese government officials need to realize that over a dozen of the largest U.S. railroads went bankrupt in the 1930s, but the U.S. still went through its greatest era of prosperity from 1945-1973, which led to the country becoming the world’s superpower.

If China wants to become the world’s new superpower, they need to allow Chinese businesses that export to the U.S. to either go bankrupt or find new buyers of their products. Sure, the stock and bond holders will get wiped out, but the infrastructure will still be there. Those who are invested into gold and silver today will have the resources to buy up cheap Chinese assets out of bankruptcy years down the road. Although the first and second tranche investors in China may lose everything, those who buy up these assets out of bankruptcy will be positioned to prosper during what could be a future 25 year boom period for China when their citizens are no longer forced to prop up the U.S. economy.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free!

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