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Statistics |
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| Total Unique Visitors: 2314 |
| Visitors Out: 4282 |
| Total Visitors Out: 4780 |
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| “Catapulting the Propaganda” |
| 2008-07-18 12:41:38 |
Sometimes I wonder how we got to where we are in terms of insane federal legislation. This video is a good reminder. With the party conventions coming up, here’s a nice reminder of what the focus was in 2004:...
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| Fannie and Freddie: A Look Back |
| 2008-07-17 09:07:35 |
I would just like to point Ponder This… readers back to my August 2005 analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A full three years before their virtual implosions, I was railing on the situation and providing a warning. Please check out page nine of the PDF newsletter issue.
Also, Robert Higgs provides a [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #39: War and Bail Outs |
| 2008-07-14 15:12:37 |
1. Well, last week we posted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were crashing. Over the weekend, (VERY wayward) portions of the U.S. government decided that they were going to work to bail out these massive failing institutions. Jim Rogers, a very famous global investor, is calling the deal an “unmitigated disaster” and [...]...
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| Government Sponsored Entities Crashing |
| 2008-07-10 09:48:56 |
We have written about the market danger posed by government sponsored, yet privately-owned, mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) numerous times in the history of this blog. Here are examples from November 2007, July 2007, and April 2007.
Well, it looks like our continuous calls for a destruction in the viability of [...]...
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| Two Videos: Ron Paul and Jim Rogers |
| 2008-07-10 09:31:45 |
Ron Paul explains some of the foolishness coming out of Congress in relation to Iran:
And, in a related bit of news, financial guru Jim Rogers is saying the US Dollar is dead. With a trillion dollar military empire and endless war and occupation draining our coffers, it is likely true that the Dollar (currently [...]...
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| The U.S. Government is Not Representing The People |
| 2008-07-10 00:23:53 |
With this FISA BS that passed today that is tremendously unpopular, with Congress thinking about legislating a new act of aggressive war against a third foreign nation (with potential nasty consequences), with the U.S. remaining an occupying force in Iraq and Afghanistan against the wishes of the vast majority, with Congress’ latest approval rating at [...]...
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| The Consumer-Led Recession Is Here |
| 2008-07-02 13:30:25 |
At Ponder This… we have been publishing calls for a large economic adjustment in the U.S. and global markets since March of 2005. The operating thesis has been that the debt saturated U.S. economy, operating as the primary global product vacuum, would not be able to remain buoyant once the serial Federal Reserve inspired [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #38 |
| 2008-07-01 13:22:17 |
1. The Federal Government Leviathan “War on Drugs” has been a total failure. By creating an illegal black market for certain substances, and pouring vast military-style resources into trying to end a human vice, our Federal Government has created a bastion for illegal profits for smugglers, gangs, and pushers, has militarized domestic law enforcement [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #37 |
| 2008-06-12 15:47:17 |
1. Well, sadly in a way, Ron Paul officially ended his campaign for presidency of the United States. The real good news, however, is that the Leader for Liberty has created a new organization to combine the vast will-power of the Ron Paul movement freedom-lovers into a united group to pursue limited government and [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #36 |
| 2008-06-09 12:27:30 |
1. The Federal Reserve System is the primary culprit as to what caused the current credit/housing/mortgage bust. The below-market interest rates engineered by Alan Greenspan and continued by Ben Bernanke and Co. created bubbles and malinvestments (think “Negative Amortization Mortgages” for one specific example) that are now coming home to roost laying waste to [...]...
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| Ron Paul Speaks With Iraqi Legislator in Congress Committee Hearings |
| 2008-06-06 09:11:45 |
This is a very interesting and telling question and answer session. The language and communication barrier is large, but it comes out loud and clear that the Iraqi people do not want a massive long-term U.S. military presence and a Vatican-sized U.S. embassy. George W. Bush said we were giving them democracy right? [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #35 (Real Estate) |
| 2008-06-03 11:21:34 |
1. Due to the overwhelming evidence of a long-term bubble in the housing market due to unprecedented lax lending standards, we have called for a significant drop in Estate">real estate prices since the March 2005 introduction of the Ponder This… newsletter. Although housing continued to hold on for about another year, with some markets [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #34 |
| 2008-05-31 17:57:00 |
1. With social mood rolling over back into a more serious bear market environment, it is always interesting to see new social trends begin to grow and take off. This article/video blog highlights a large crowd of hipsters gathered at Union Square in New York City for what looks like a spontaneous “fight club” [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #33 |
| 2008-05-29 23:10:12 |
1. America was created as a land focused on the protection of liberty and limited government. Known as the “land of the free”, the country has been a rare force in the history of the world in terms of creating and maintaining a free society. That being said, with individual freedom being a [...]...
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| Memorial Day |
| 2008-05-26 21:37:47 |
Please join me in a moment of reflection for those who have given their lives in times of war.
On this day of reflection, it becomes even more concrete that war is a bane of human existence. As we continue into the 21st Century, we must remain vigilant in our efforts to bring peaceful solutions [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #30 |
| 2008-05-14 11:30:47 |
1. Bill Kauffman, author of Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Anti-War Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism, which is worth a read in itself, provides a very solid review of Ron Paul’s excellent piece of 21st Century political analysis The Revolution: A Manifesto.
2. In a turn of events that is at the same time [...]...
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| Real Estate/Credit Deflation 16: The Next Dozen Shoes to Drop |
| 2008-05-09 13:58:55 |
“If the shoe fits, it’s too expensive.” ~ Adrienne Gusoff
I was offered a very nice position with Fisher Investments of Woodside, California last year and, although I passed on the opportunity, I truly respect their money management track record. At the same time, I have noticed from their website that they are comparing the [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #29 |
| 2008-05-08 01:32:14 |
1. Mish produces a very nice analysis of government sponsored entity (”GSE”), mortgage backed security packager Fannie Mae and its capital position. Needless to say, given the significant downturn in the housing market, predictable by us, but unpredictable by pie-in-sky financial professionals and government bureaucrats the world over, the mortgage giant is not looking [...]...
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| Ron Paul Receives the Most Military Donations |
| 2008-05-05 00:54:41 |
Many chicken-hawks, war-mongers and those who may potentially profit from endless war and the military-industrial complex (politicians included…) have tried to smear Ron Paul as somehow not supporting the troops because he is not a gung-ho Iraq War supporter. The facts say, however, that Paul’s positions - protect and defend America first, do not [...]...
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| Current Fed Policy - Destined to Fail |
| 2008-04-24 14:47:11 |
Mish presents an extraordinary analysis of Bernanke’s Federal Reserve auction facilities and why they are really just reshuffling the chairs on the deck of the titanic. One of his best points is that the Fed is not “King Midas” - just because it is willing to hold crappy bonds, such as mortgage backed securities, [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #28 |
| 2008-04-22 20:47:41 |
1. Amidst the housing bust portion of the boom-bust cycle, brought on by extremely loose monetary policy engineered by “Easy” Al Greenspan and continued by “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke, underwater home “owners” are now setting fire to their houses (and even cars) to attempt to gain insurance settlements on an impaired asset. This sort of [...]...
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| Economic Analysis - Market Analysis - Mid-April 2008 |
| 2008-04-19 00:58:36 |
The economy is undoubtedly at a critical turning point. Let’s take some time to make a reasonable attempt to understand what has happened and what is happening now, and try, humbly and sincerely, to decipher what is next on tap for the economy and markets.
First, for a little macro background:
1. In 2007, the United [...]...
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| Government Continuity Plan? |
| 2008-04-17 10:21:14 |
There is absolutely no reason why, if our executive branch of government has a government continuity plan for major disasters, that this information should not be shared with the key committees in the House of Representatives. Why would Bush and Co. deny access to such information to our elected representatives? The only answers [...]...
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| Renters Getting HOSED |
| 2008-04-17 00:04:39 |
Check out this site: angryrenter.com.
With prudent renters having realized that housing was in a bubble and avoiding the madness, they are now being double wammied by irresponsible Federal government officials who want to levy taxes to bail out those who got in over their head.
To put it simply: NO ONE DESERVES A TAXPAYER FUNDED BAIL [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #27 |
| 2008-04-15 17:08:45 |
1. The U.S. Federal Government could be in trouble of losing its AAA debt rating status. The article linked cites potential costs associated with bailing out government sponsored mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as broker-dealers such as Bear Stearns. Not mentioned are the rising costs of global military operations [...]...
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| World Riots Over High Food Prices |
| 2008-04-14 20:21:56 |
Yet, fiat currencies are still unbacked by hard assets and our Federal government somehow still has the gall to subsidize corn-based ethanol.
Read a little bit about it here.
Is there any sanity left? Turning corn into fuel for SUVs as global grain and staple food prices skyrocket? U.S. taxpayers subsidizing this lunacy? Who [...]...
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| An Economy Built on Lies |
| 2008-04-12 22:12:06 |
Gary North pens a hard charging piece about the vast web of lies that has enveloped our modern financial, political and economic system. Listen friends, buying the empty rhetoric of lying politicians and the ignorant spouting off of big media personalities WILL NOT HELP YOU when the lies catch up with society.
Please perform your [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #26 |
| 2008-04-11 18:46:15 |
1. With a full blown credit crisis that was caused by too much government intervention into the marketplace (creating a huge social mood bubble via popular belief in the Fed and its abilities to end the business cycle), the majority of “solutions” that have been floated include vastly expanded government intervention into the market.
I will [...]...
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| Must Read Illumination of “Earmarks” by the Honorable Ron Paul |
| 2008-04-11 00:16:05 |
Earmarks are given a bad name through ignorance of their process and power hungry central administrators who want more power over the use of Federal government revenues.
The Constitution says the Congress is in charge of Federal government spending, NOT the executive branch (the administrator of law ONLY).
Please read the article, digest its meaning and spread [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #25 |
| 2008-04-10 00:10:42 |
1. Gary North points out strongly how the Federal Reserve and Federal Government in general have created the current crisis in the economy. There is no doubt in my mind that the Fed has played a tremendous role, essentially the most important in terms of psychology, in brewing the credit bubble that lead to [...]...
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| Tibet Protestors Scale the Golden Gate Bridge - plus more |
| 2008-04-07 17:30:11 |
- The Golden Gate Bridge is a huge structure spanning the entry way into the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose Bay Area. It is a tremendous landmark and a beautiful piece of engineering. Today, protesters climbed the wires and held up two massive banners proclaiming a message of “Free Tibet”. I applaud these individuals’ [...]...
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| The Fed Got Us In This Mess |
| 2008-04-06 02:26:05 |
They should not be granted more authority. The fact that they exist and are believed to make downturns “not likely to happen” leads to an overly optimistic and ignorantly un-diligent general attitude among the people at large. The presence of the Fed causes a false sense of security. The fact of the [...]...
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| Mish Hits One Out of the Park |
| 2008-04-03 16:39:39 |
In his latest commentary, Mike Shedlock chimes in strongly on the Fed, the Bear Stearns bail out, the inefficiency of central bankers trying to set prices (interest rates, time preferences), and how the existence of the Fed itself, creates a feedback loop that makes free market credit an impossibility.
Click here to read Mish’s [...]...
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| Ron Paul’s New Book: The Revolution - A Manifesto |
| 2008-04-03 13:35:30 |
It is an absolute must that anyone who considers him or herself even a nominal lover of America and/or freedom read statesman Ron Paul’s upcoming book: The Revolution: A Manifesto.
The book will be a complete expose of many of the fallacies, foolishness and wrongheadedness of our current American political and policy landscape.
To put it simply, [...]...
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #24 |
| 2008-04-02 11:42:22 |
1. The United States Federal Government “War on Drugs” which has militarized our domestic law enforcement agencies, imprisoned millions of individuals for the faux “crime” of simply hurting themselves, created terror-filled inner city war zones, enriched thugs and brutes both at home and domestically, and helped fund numerous organizations with purely evil intent, is an [...]...
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| Would Bush and Cheney Really Have the Audacity to Attack Iran? |
| 2008-04-01 13:17:24 |
I sure hope not, but heavily decorated American thinker Paul Craig Roberts is speculating tightly to that effect. Folks, if you are not enraged by our government’s continued bald aggression and the damage it is doing to our country, there is something wrong with your head.
Please speak out....
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| Ponder This… Six-Pack #23 |
| 2008-03-31 18:49:38 |
On March 31, 2008, the biggest question facing America is not who will be president, or will Congress actually wake up from its lobbyist-induced slumber, or even who will win the 2008 World Series. Nope, the biggest question is, will the built up imbalances in the macro-economy, structured by years and years of below-market [...]...
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| Expand Federal Reserve Oversight and Control? |
| 2008-03-31 11:15:46 |
Hank Paulson’s wildly moronic plan to deal with the current financial crisis via massively expanded Federal Reserve System (privately owned) oversight of the total financial sphere of the economy smacks 100% of “not-goodness”.
There is something inherently wrong with the following chain of activity:
1. Federal Reserve System helps foment seriously unstable financial circumstances (credit bubble)
2. Federal [...]...
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