Requiem for the Dollar

(The gallows is a proper place for the bankster criminals!)

By James Grant - the Wall Street Journal

Ben S. Bernanke doesn't know how lucky he is. Tongue-lashings from Bernie Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont, are one thing. The hangman's noose is another. Section 19 of this country's founding monetary legislation, the Coinage Act of 1792, prescribed the death penalty for any official who fraudulently debased the people's money. Was the massive printing of dollar bills to lift Wall Street (and the rest of us, too) off the rocks last year a kind of fraud? If the U.S. Senate so determines, it may send Mr. Bernanke back home to Princeton. But not even Ron Paul, the Texas Republican sponsor of a bill to subject the Fed to periodic congressional audits, is calling for the Federal Reserve chairman's head.

I wonder, though, just how far we have really come in the past 200-odd years. To give modernity its due, the dollar has cut a swath in the world. There's no greater success story in the long history of money than the common greenback. Of no intrinsic value, collateralized by nothing, it passes from hand to trusting hand the world over. More than half of the $923 billion's worth of currency in circulation is in the possession of foreigners.

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Sustainability: An Assault on Economics

Mises Daily: Friday, December 04, 2009 by Tyler A. Watts
Ah, the greens. They're not just treehuggers anymore. They've been browbeating us to recycle, eat soy, save energy, drive less, ride the bus, and a thousand other ways to "act local" for many years now. Now they've even got a hip new huckster on the big screen: No Impact Man your conductor on a first-class guilt trip to ecoland. Despite the massive popularity of their cause, I don't think they're satisfied. They want to control us. If we don't watch out, these people hell-bent on saving the planet are going to end up micromanaging our daily lives.

The idea of sustainability itself sounds pretty benign — it merely implies that people ought to be forward thinking, prudent, and thrifty in their use of economic resources. And I'm OK with this basic idea — on the surface, it sounds like simple wisdom, in league with similarly bland and benevolent values like responsibility and generosity.

But deep down, there's something unsettling about the basic premise of sustainability. Sustainability advocates — let's call them "sustainists" — are damning in their fervor, poise, and rhetoric. Their ideology is pregnant with an accusation that the way things currently are is somehow unsustainable. There's an alarmism here which essentially claims, "there's a crisis, it's your fault for being ignorant, irrational, and greedy. You must do as we say to fix it, or we'll all die."

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At Midnight on December 1st, the UK ceased to be a Sovereign State

By Daniel Hannan MEP
Telegrah.co.uk - December 1st

We woke up in a different country today. Alright, it doesn’t look very different. The trees still seem black against the winter sun; the motorways continue to jam inexplicably; commuters carry on avoiding eye contact. But Britain is no longer a sovereign nation. At midnight last night, we ceased to be an independent state, bound by international treaties to other independent states, and became instead a subordinate unit within a European state.

Yes, a European state. Take a quick dekko at the definition set out in Article One of the1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”

Until yesterday, the EU qualified on grounds (a), (b) and (c). Now it has ticked the final box. Under the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force today, it acquires “legal personality”, which gives it the right to sign accords and treat with other states. Nor is this right simply theoretical: the EU now has a foreign minister, a diplomatic corps (the European External Action Service) and 160 overseas embassies.

Until yesterday, the EU could not annex additional policy areas without a new treaty, which needed to be ratified by all its constituent nations. Now, it has the so-called “passerelle” clause, or self-amending mechanism. Parliament, in other words, no longer has the final say on extensions of EU jurisdiction. The EU derives its authority, not from its 27 members, but from its own foundational texts.

Until yesterday, Britain could simply walk out of the EU by abrogating the Treaty of Rome and repealing the 1972 European Communities Act. Henceforth, it will have to go through the secession procedure laid down in Lisbon. In other words – in the minds of Euro-lawyers, at any rate, if not of British constitutionalists – the EU gets to settle the terms on which its members are allowed to leave. Formal sovereignty has been shifted from the national capitals to Brussels.
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This is what our Dear Leader O’Bomb’ a is traveling to Copenhagen to accomplish. He intends to give the USSA sovereignty (what is left anyway) to the United Nations new global governance.

Why The Housing Market Is In Trouble

Why The Housing Market Is In Trouble

Take the time to read this Artcile by Jeff Harding - Once you stop listening to the goverment talking heads - it is really not too complex to understand what needs to happen to get us back on a solid path towards a sound economy.

Economic Confidence Plunges; Low Expectations for the Holidays

From Discover

Economic confidence among America's small business owners plummeted in November, as more owners cited serious concerns about cash flow and saw economic conditions for their own businesses getting worse. The Discover Small Business Watch index fell 12 points in November to 76.5 from 88.5 in October.

November Highlights:

• The mood of small business owners generally has soured in November for three straight years, as economic confidence dropped from October to November in 2007 and 2008. The November 2008 index of 67.5 is the low point for the Watch since it started in August 2006.

• 52 percent of owners say they have experienced cash flow issues in the past 90 days, up from 44 percent in October. Forty-one percent of owners say they have not experienced cash flow issues, which is the lowest response in this category since the Watch began. The remaining 6 percent said they weren't sure.

• 53 percent of small business owners see conditions getting worse in the next six months, up from 43 percent in October; while 19 percent report that conditions are improving, a sharp decline from 29 percent in October; 23 percent see conditions as the same, and 5 percent weren't sure.

• 62 percent of small business owners rate the economy as poor, an increase from 55 percent in October; 30 percent rate it as fair, and 8 percent say it is good or excellent.

• 53 percent of small business owners think the overall economy is getting worse, up from 44 percent in October but still significantly lower than the 69 percent of owners who felt that way in February 2009, the last time the Watch index was this low. For November; 28 percent say the economy is getting better, down from 35 percent in October; 16 percent see it staying the same, and 3 percent are not sure.

Only 11 percent of Small Businesses Expecting Increased Sales This Year

• Small business owners have a glum outlook on the holiday season: Only 11 percent expect to see more business this year over last, while 46 percent of them are expecting less business than last year, an increase over the 40 percent who said the same in November 2008; 39 percent anticipate 2009 sales will be about the same as last year, and 4 percent weren't sure.

• For many small business owners, the holiday season is not necessarily their busiest time. A majority of owners, 56 percent, say that the holiday season falls somewhere in between being their busiest and the slowest time of year, 29 percent say this is their slowest time, and 13 percent say it is the busiest.
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An Open Letter to America's Christians

By Chuck Baldwin
December 4, 2009

I was led to Christ at the tender age of 5 while sitting on my mother's lap.
I was raised in a devout, churchgoing Christian home. I have been in Gospel ministry all of my adult life (I am 57 years old). I have attended or have degrees and/or diplomas from 4 fundamentalist/evangelical colleges or Bible schools. I have been the Senior Pastor of a local Independent Baptist congregation for 34 years and counting. I have spoken in churches and Christian gatherings all over the country. I say all of that simply to provide my Christian credentials (in much the same way that the Apostle Paul provided his Jewish credentials in Philippians 3:5,6). As such, I believe I know something about the attitudes, conduct, philosophy, mindset, etc., of America's Christians. I am not an outsider; I speak as one within the conservative/fundamentalist Christian camp.

As it relates to the rightful understanding of following Christ's instruction that we are to be "salt" and "light" (and what that means for us Americans), and properly rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's (and knowing the difference), there are basically 2 groups:
those who sincerely want to help America maintain its foundational principles and those who, frankly, are too preoccupied (or cowardly) to give much thought to it one way or another. I would say that the first group is slightly larger than the second group. The problem is, among the first group, there is a vast void of understanding regarding exactly how we are to implement and carry forth the principles of Christian liberty--which are the principles upon which America was built, of course.

As I see it, there are two glaring obstacles that keep today's Christians from being truly effectual and influential in helping to restore America's freedoms and founding principles. And let's be honest enough to admit that, for the most part, today's Christians (including our pastors) are ineffective and irrelevant in providing any meaningful solutions to America's many problems. Sadly, more often than not, we are little more than gullible pawns, which wily and wicked politicians use to advance their own nefarious agendas.

Obstacle Number One: America's current generation of Christians has allowed itself to become pathetically ignorant as to the Biblical, Natural Law principles of liberty and government. And when it comes to America's historical principles of self-government and federalism, the ignorance quotient goes up even further.

It is really sad: we Christians (including our Christian pastors) know virtually nothing of real American history, law, government, etc. For example, I'm not sure that we can begin to remotely understand what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence if we have not read John Locke's Second Treatise of Government. I'm not sure we can begin to comprehend the American philosophy of government if we have not read George Washington's Farewell Address. Without reading The Federalist Papers, one cannot begin to properly appreciate the US Constitution and the principles upon which it was predicated. Without reading Pastor Jonas Clark, one cannot understand what really happened at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge.

Without reading Alexander Stephens' History of the United States, it is doubtful that one can truly understand or appreciate the principles of federalism and State sovereignty. And how many of us have read even one of the above? And this does not even scratch the surface of necessary knowledge.

Let's admit it: today's Christians, for the most part, are operating in a vacuum of truth and understanding. Without a firm grasp of necessary truth, how can we know what to do, who to believe, or how to act?

Accordingly, smooth-talking "conservative" politicians who know how to use religious clichés and terminology to gain our support and votes easily dupe the vast majority of sincere Christians. But it is actually worse than that.

We Christians are, for the most part, unwitting contributors to the demise of freedom and rise of oppression in our land.

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The War on Kids

This is the first trailer for the movie The War on Kids. It examines the real problem with public education. The subject of the movie is the institution itself.

Fool Me Twice by Philip Giraldi -- Antiwar.com

Fool Me Twice by Philip Giraldi
Another great article form AntiWar.com
How many times will the American people get fooled into senseless wars? Invading countries will never make us a safer. You want security? Then we must give up our Empire as there is no security at the top of the world.

Has Anyone Seen Our Economic Recovery?

Here is November data that shows once the government stops its wealth distribution nonsense the economy remains as sick as ever, or more so.

Let’s start with unemployment data…
Initial claims done last week by 5k, from 462k to 457k. And the four week MA is down 14k. the punch line is the fact that the Fed Emergency benefits, which is what people claim when the start money runs out continues to grow.
EUC overall grew by 265k – No Jobs no recovery!



U-6 puts unemployment at least to 17.2% - NO JOBS NO RECOVERY!



Service Sector ISM back into Contraction





Unfortunately, the data speaks for itself.

The good news is the Goldman Sachs will be paying 21 billion on bonuses. Wait, how can they bonus 21 billion to employees while only paying 700 million in dividends to share holders? Things that make you go hhmm.

Here is a great idea!!!

Lets throw some more American blood and treasure into the AF-PAK War!
Yeah, that is it. Didn't WWII end the depression?

Do you support the Bush Doctrine?

This is my President!!