Month: February 2015
SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF A MELTDOWN
RECOVERY SELFIE
“We are now in the sixth year of The Recovery™.
There really is no recovery for most people, with over half of all public school students in the US now living at the poverty level. One of the great obstacles to the recovery is that the financial elite in the US has absolutely no rational idea of the depths of the problems and issues with which they are dealing. And at the end of the day, they do not care.
They are taking selfies in the mouth of the abyss.”
WAL-MART FREAKS OF THE WEEK
Excuse me sir? Miss? Creature from the Black Lagoon? Whatever you are and whatever you’re doing, can you please stop before us townspeople have to grab our pitchforks?
Dude looks like the lower half of Richard Simmonds in the late 80s.
It appears somebody is still in the sexy Valentine’s mood….gross.
What Uber Could Teach the American Economy
Outside the Box: What Uber Could Teach the American Economy
By John Mauldin
When I travel around the country, one of the questions that comes up often in conversation is, where will the jobs of the future come from? I have a stock answer that I glibly offer:
In 1980, the Japanese were beating our brains out. Inflation was well into the double digits, as was unemployment. Finding a job was hard (I know), as one industry after another was being reconfigured and jobs seemed to be disappearing left and right. The answer to the question “Where will the jobs come from?” back then was “I don’t know, but they will.”
And they did. Whole new industries were built around personal computer hardware and software; new service categories appeared; and eventually the Internet emerged. Some 25% of the job categories in the government statistics did not exist in 1970 (if I remember correctly – it’s somewhere in that neighborhood). If you go back to the late 1800s, farmers were still more than 40% of the labor force. Fast-forward 100 years and that figure was less than 3%, but the remaining farmers were producing vastly more, feeding not only the US but much of the rest of the world. Meanwhile, most of the people displaced from farms had to find jobs that had not been invented in 1900.
The twentieth century was a good time for middle America. A lot of the new manufacturing jobs paid reasonable middle-class wages. Like me, many of you grew up in those middle-class homes (though mine was decidedly on the lower end of the scale). It was a good life and a great time to grow up.
I had lunch yesterday with Travis Briggs, one of the partners in Robostox, an index and ETF firm that specializes in an index that tracks stocks in the robotics and automation space. As you might imagine, it is been a good space to be in over the last 15 years. (Full disclosure: I am a low-single-digit, very minority owner of the index firm.)
Continue reading “What Uber Could Teach the American Economy”
The Morris Massey Market
The 10th Man: The Morris Massey Market
By Jared Dillian
I first started working in the financial markets—as a clerk on an options exchange—in November of 1999.
Four months before the top.
So over the first three formative years of my career, stocks only went down, not up. Not only did they go down, but they went down relentlessly. Demoralizing everyone. Extinguishing all hope.
So, for pretty much my entire career, I have had a bearish bias.
Some folks in the financial media will really beat up on the bears. Don’t beat up on me! It’s not my fault. I was born this way.
If you had started trading from 2000-2003, you would probably be like this, too.
Shaped by Your Experiences
When I was eleven or twelve years old, I once rummaged through my mom’s VHS tapes and found something called What You Are Is Where You Were When. Sounded like a mouthful. So I sat in the basement of our tiny house and watched it.
The video was by a guy named Morris Massey, a business consultant/sociologist who made a living doing seminars and selling tapes about his particular brand of social psychology. His view was that you were pretty much a fully formed person by age 21, and you weren’t changing much after that. But who you were at age 21 was a product of your experiences in early childhood, middle childhood, and your teenage years.
It was based on events that happened to you, but also what was going on in culture and politics and sports and current events. For example, World War II had an indelible impact on “The Greatest Generation,” or for a more contemporary example, take the relationship between Millennials and technology.
Judging from the videos, Morris Massey was a pretty compelling guy. He’d get really animated and even angry in some parts as he told stories about what he called “significant emotional events,” things that have such a profound effect on you that they will literally change the course of your life.
I thought this was pretty fascinating stuff. Even at a young age, I was interested in social psychology. I ended up incorporating a large part of Dr. Massey’s message into my own worldview, especially as it pertained to markets.
QUOTES OF THE DAY
“Considering mankind’s indifference to freedom, their easy gullibility and their facile response to conditioning, one might very plausibly argue that collectivism is the political mode best suited to their disposition and their capacities. Under its regime the citizen, like the soldier, is relieved of the burden of initiative and is divested of all responsibility, save for doing as he is told.”
Albert J. Nock
“It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own.”
Albert J. Nock
“Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class.”
Albert J. Nock
“Man tends always to satisfy his needs and desires with the least possible exertion.”
Albert J. Nock
“It would seem that in Paine’s view the code of government should be that of the legendary king Pausole, who prescribed but two laws for his subjects, the first being, Hurt no man, and the second, Then do as you please; and that the whole business of government should be the purely negative one of seeing that this code is carried out.”
Albert J. Nock
“… the State has ever shown any disposition to suppress crime, but only to safeguard its own monopoly of crime.”
Albert J. Nock
“Lincoln’s phrase, “of the people, by the people, for the people” was probably the most effective single stroke of propaganda ever made in behalf of republican State prestige.”
Albert J. Nock
A NATION OF TRUCK DRIVERS
Oh how the country has changed in the last 36 years. We were a nation of farmers, secretaries, and machine operators in 1978. The family farmer was still the backbone in the Northern Plains and Midwest. The internet didn’t exist, so letters needed to be typed, copies made, mail distributed, dictation taken, and coffee brewed. So every business was loaded with secretaries. The country still manufactured goods here in 1978. We sold them domestically and internationally. Globalization and NAFTA hadn’t become the buzz words of Ivy League educated MBA’s yet.
A look at the most common jobs today reveals how the country has changed.
The “War on Terror” Turns Inward – DHS Report Warns of Right Wing Terror Threat
What you are about to read from CNN is just the very beginning of the intentional demonization of a growing segment of the U.S. population that rightly believes the government is run by a collective of thieving, corrupt, immoral sociopaths. This isn’t speculation either, years of content on this site serves as definitive proof that this is true. Commingling dissent, violence and “right wing” ideology will be key in the ultimate division of government critics in these United States, and a successful attempt to scare people away from questioning a clearly degraded and parasitic status quo.
The writing has been on the wall for many years, and I’ve warned about this development on many occasions (links at the end). If Martin Armstrong’s model is correct, and the U.S. economy starts to move downward in fall 2015, dissent will spread across the land like brushfire and the status quo will call dissenters terrorists (they already did this during Occupy Wall Street). My advice to everyone listening is don’t fall for it, and instead unite together in order to achieve a peaceful societal and economic paradigm shift.
Sure, there will always be Neo Nazis and genuine racist crazies out there who hate the government merely because they are small-minded and filled with hate, but they are a small number compared to those who have genuine grievances against the system which are not being redressed. Stories like the following are pure government propaganda and are guaranteed to increase exponentially in the years ahead.
From CNN:
Washington (CNN) They’re carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police, have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority.
Notice how CNN commingles violence with “rejecting government authority.” This is intentional, and meant to subliminally link the two ideas in the minds of the feeble minded who still get their news from CNN. In reality, there is no such connection. Conversely, this country was founded on the idea that a people should only submit to government when it working in their best interests. The first paragraph of the American Declaration of Independence is explicit:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Incredibly, this sentiment is now being associated with terrorism. Back to CNN.
Continue reading “The “War on Terror” Turns Inward – DHS Report Warns of Right Wing Terror Threat”
FRIDAY FAIL
A staff member at Horry Georgetown Technical College in South Carolina decided to promote her medical technology program by giving young kids fake drugs, and parents are not happy.
At a family event over the weekend, she handed out pill bottles full of M&Ms, labeled “Happy Pills,” with directions that read: “Take 1 M&M every 2 to 4 hours. May refill 5 times by 2/13/2016.”
Talk about a sugar high…
A friend of one of the parents posted the above image to Facebook, asking if other’s thought this was ok.
“I know for a fact if I was at that event I would have made my opinion very clear to anyone within earshot!” Karen Goad Williams wrote.
The school apologized Monday on Facebook.
“While we know this professor meant the candy to serve as a treat, the method of distribution may have confused pre-school children whose parents have taught them not to take pills from pharmaceutical bottles,” they wrote. “We regret further that professors and administrators are human and, although eager to share information about growing careers, sometimes make mistakes.”
The school also emphasized that it has a series of lectures about drug and alcohol dependency, with Meredith Baxter from “Family Ties” scheduled speaking at the school on February 26.
Commenters on the post don’t seem to think that’s enough.
“This is appalling, and as a parent of three children I consider this teacher’s behavior negligent,” writes one commenter on Facebook. “She teaches a class having to do with medication, then she should be educated enough not to hand out medication bottle with candy in it.”
THE SSS PIZZA
Come February 23, Little Caesars Pizza is single-handedly going to give everyone in America a heart attack.
The company announced Wednesday that it will begin selling a new deep dish pizza with a crust that is wrapped in 3.5 feet of bacon.
It will contain two different types of bacon and will also be covered in pepperoni, because you need to eat more meat.
“It’s unabashedly delicious,” said Little Caesars spokesman Edward Gleich. “That’s why we like to say, ‘In Bacon We Crust!'”
This is just the latest in a long line of fast food monstrosities which get a lot of a attention online for their freakish nature and often unhealthy ingredients.
Recently KFC in the Philippines introduced us to a new iteration of its “Double Down sandwich, the “Double Down Dog,” which consists of a hot dog covered in melted cheese with a piece of fried chicken as the bun.
And Pizza Hut in Australia announced back in December that it was selling a stuffed crust pizza covered in Doritos.
Little Caesars’ Bacon Wrapped Crust DEEP!DEEP! Dish will cost $12 and be available until April… or when our arteries are sufficiently clogged.
WE COME IN PEACE
LATEST OBAMACARE F#@K UP
Obamacare is the biggest government clusterfuck in history. It is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that anything the government touches or tries to control turns into a big steaming pile of shit that will cost trillions of dollars. Their shit for brains website is still a disaster. Obama changes the law as he goes. Like most of Obama’s initiatives, they are making it up as they go along. This was about as well thought out as Nancy Pelosi’s plastic surgeries.
They announced earlier today that they are extending the sign up period to April 15. Deadlines are meaningless. We are now about to experience the massive losses from the fraud that has occurred in the last year. Billions in subsidies have been paid out in error or due to fraud. How much do you think will be paid back by the Free Shit Army brigades? How long before Obama issues a proclamation telling the IRS to not enforce the penalties or to try and collect the fraudulent subsidies paid out?
And amazingly, most of the ignorant masses think Obamacare is a wonderful new program and is helping millions of poo people. Luckily the iGadget addicted, math challenged masses don’t remember that Obamacare was going to cover the 30 million uninsured Americans, not add one dime to the national debt, and save the average family $2,500 per year in insurance premiums. How are those promises working out?
Wrong tax information sent to 800,000 HealthCare.gov customers
By Robert Schroeder
Published: Feb 20, 2015 12:12 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — About 800,000 HealthCare.gov customers got tax forms from the government with incorrect information, a Treasury Department spokesperson said Friday. The errors were on 1095-A forms that HealthCare.gov sent to consumers who get coverage through the federal insurance marketplace. Treasury said those who have not filed taxes should wait to do so until they have received a corrected form. Treasury said corrected forms will go out in early March.
GREXIT
BOSTON BOB’S WINTER WONDERLAND
Boston Bob sent me these pictures of his house about two weeks ago. I believe he has had at least two more feet of snow since these pictures were taken. Avalon was able to get them into photobucket so I could post them on the site.
It’s funny how on a morning where the temperature is below zero for half the country, the MSM morons at Marketwatch feel the need to post a story quoting “climate experts” saying this has been one of the warmest winters on record. It’s science you know. These “experts” can’t get a forecast right 12 hours in advance, but we’re supposed to believe their bullshit about global warming and impending disaster based upon their computer models. And by the way, please give these academic assholes more Federal grant money (your tax dollars) so they can write papers saying we need more taxes to combat global warming.
Maybe Boston Bob has an opinion about global warming as he straddles his roof trying to clear the ice dams in Negative 16 degree wind chills.
New Jersey man faces up to ten years in prison for owning 300-year-old flintlock pistol
“I hope that draconian laws, leading to a police state, will be dropped.”
MILLVILLE, NJ — A retired schoolteacher is facing felony charges for owning an 18th century relic firearm in the state of New Jersey.
Gordan N. Van Gilder, 72, was pulled over by a Cumberland County Sheriff’s Deputy on November 20, 2014 for a minor traffic violation.
“The deputy, Joshua Sheppard, started screaming at us,” Mr. Van Gilder recalled to NRA News. “He wanted to search the car.”
“You’re going to give us your consent, or do I have to get the dog?” Deputy Sheppard allegedly challenged.
“You don’t have to get any dogs. Help yourself,” Van Gilder recounted saying to the deputy.
When asked, Mr. Van Gilder told the deputy that he had an unloaded, antique pistol wrapped up in a cloth in his glove compartment. The collectible pistol was made in the mid-1700s and would require the manual loading of gunpowder and spherical projectiles in order to actually fire.
His cooperation with the police ended up being his undoing. The Sheriff’s Deputy nailed him with felony charges because of the antique.
NSA CYBER WAR ACCELERATES
Know Your Enemy
Destroying your hard drive is the only way to stop this super-advanced malware
Countries hit the most by Equation include Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China. Targets in those countries included the military, telecommunications, embassies, government, research institutions and Islamic scholars, Kaspersky said.
Infirm firmware
Kaspersky’s most striking finding is Equation’s ability to infect the firmware of a hard drive, or the low-level code that acts as an interface between hardware and software.
The malware reprograms the hard drive’s firmware, creating hidden sectors on the drive that can only be accessed through a secret API (application programming interface). Once installed, the malware is impossible to remove: disk formatting and reinstalling the OS doesn’t affect it, and the hidden storage sector remains.
“Theoretically, we were aware of this possibility, but as far as I know this is the only case ever that we have seen of an attacker having such an incredibly advanced capability,” said Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team, in a phone interview Monday.
Drives made by Seagate Technology, Western Digital Technologies, Hitachi, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba can be modified by two of Equation’s hard disk drive malware platforms, “Equationdrug” and “Grayfish.”