But he DOES NOT print money....
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-december-7-2010/the-big-bank-theory
I laugh every time I watch that vid.
NINE INCH NAILS LYRICS
Happiness In Slavery
slave screams he thinks he knows what he wants
slave screams thinks he has something to say
slave screams he hears but doesn't want to listen
slave screams he's being beat into submission
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the devils of truth steal the souls of the free
don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slavery
slave screams he spends his life learning conformity
slave screams he claims he has his own identity
slave screams he's going to cause the system to fall
slave screams but he's glad to be chained to that wall
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the blind have been blessed with security
don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slavery
I don't know what I am I don't know where I've been
human junk just words and so much skin
stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
just some flesh caught in this big broken machine
Happiness In Slavery
slave screams he thinks he knows what he wants
slave screams thinks he has something to say
slave screams he hears but doesn't want to listen
slave screams he's being beat into submission
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the devils of truth steal the souls of the free
don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slavery
slave screams he spends his life learning conformity
slave screams he claims he has his own identity
slave screams he's going to cause the system to fall
slave screams but he's glad to be chained to that wall
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the blind have been blessed with security
don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
you can find
happiness in slavery
I don't know what I am I don't know where I've been
human junk just words and so much skin
stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
just some flesh caught in this big broken machine
One of many more watch the world blow up events to come
Print!!!!!! It will solve all out problems!!! Dow at 13k plus woo hoo!!!!
----------
Anti-Japan protests in China spread to more cities
More than 1,000 Chinese march in Beijing to protest Japan's plan to buy the disputed Diaoyu islands. Japanese businesses are attacked in several cities.
Comments
11
Email
Share
Anti-Japan protesters surround paramilitary policemen outside local Communist Party headquarters in Shenzhen, China. (Associated Press / September 17, 2012)
Related photos »
Photos:*Anti-Japan protests spread in China
China-U.S. power play at core of East Asian island disputes
China wary of U.S. military moves in Asia-Pacific
China, Japan activists hold protests over disputed islands
China says 'no' to another massive stimulus plan
Ads by Google
What is Scientology?
A New Kind of Religion. Not Just Questions, But Answers.
Scientology.org/What_Is_Scientology
By Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times
September 16, 2012, 4:44 p.m.
BEIJING — Anti-Japan rallies spread to dozens more Chinese cities Sunday, as thousands of people demonstrated against the Japanese government's plan to buy several uninhabited islands near Taiwan that China also claims. Protesters marched in front of diplomatic compounds, attacked Japanese businesses and burned Japanese flags.
In the southern city of Guangzhou, demonstrators stormed into the first two floors of a complex that houses the Japanese Consulate, breaking windows in a hotel and smashing a vehicle. In nearby Shenzhen, police fired tear gas and used a water cannon to disperse marchers. Japanese factories, grocery shops, restaurants and car dealerships were reported damaged in a number of cities, including Qingdao.
In Beijing, more than 1,000 marchers waving flags and carrying banners gathered for a second straight day in front of the Japanese Embassy, hurling water bottles at the building and chanting slogans such as "Knock down the little Japanese," "Long live the People's Republic of China" and "China will prevail."
Hundreds of police and security officers, some holding riot shields, lined the protest route. But generally they appeared relaxed, calmly guiding the marchers back and forth past the embassy as a helicopter buzzed overhead. Scores of neighborhood watch volunteers, many of them senior citizens with red armbands, also patrolled the area.
On a nearby commercial street, Japanese restaurants were shuttered, with some hiding their signs behind tarps. Others hung Chinese flags and banners in front of their stores.
"The Diaoyu islands themselves are not so important, but I do think Japan is trying to bully China," said an 18-year-old university student surnamed Wen who came to watch the protest but not participate. "Still, I feel bad about these restaurants because it is Chinese people who work in them."
Tensions have been rising since Japan's government announced a plan last week to purchase three of what it calls the Senkaku islands from the Japanese family that has controlled them for decades. China has protested the move at the United Nations and sent vessels to the area in an expression of force. Taiwan, which also claims the island chain, has also sent ships to nearby waters.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking Sunday on a talk show on national broadcaster NHK, called on China to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and businesses in the country. The Japanese Consulate in Shanghai has reported that a number of Japanese have been harassed in recent days, including one who had a bowl of hot noodles thrown at him and another who was kicked on the street. The consulate urged citizens to not take taxis alone or speak loudly in Japanese while in public.
The protests are expected to continue at least through Tuesday, when China will mark the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that began Japan's 14-year occupation of portions of the mainland.
The dispute brought a warning from U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta that it could lead to a regional conflict. "I am concerned that these countries engage in provocations of one kind or another over these various islands that it raises the possibility that a misjudgment on one side or the other could result in violence," Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Asia aboard an Air Force jet.
Panetta arrived in Tokyo on Sunday at the start of a weeklong trip to Asia that will also take him to China and New Zealand.
Large-scale protests of any kind are rare in China, though the government has allowed and even encouraged anti-Japan and anti-U.S. demonstrations in the past, particularly when such gatherings could help bolster its political or foreign policy objectives. Still, there is always the risk that such rallies could morph into outpourings of discontent with Chinese authorities themselves.
In a sign that the protests may be pushing officials toward the edge of their comfort zone, an opinion piece carried by the state-run New China News Agency on Sunday counseled that "wisdom is needed in the expression of patriotism" and that "Chinese people should be rational and obey the law when expressing patriotic feelings, and they should abstain from 'smashing and looting.'"
A number of protesters in Shenzhen and Guangzhou had issues beyond the disputed islands, such as corruption and high housing prices, on their minds. One photo circulated on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service, showed a man at a demonstration wearing a shirt reading, "I'm willing to feed the corrupted officials and become a housing slave, but I will never give up on the Diaoyu islands."
Jessica Chen Weiss, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University who is writing a book on Chinese foreign policy and nationalist protests, said that although the government has taken pains to emphasize the island dispute, it would be a mistake to regard the protests as completely manufactured.
Weiss said the spread of Weibo and other technology has added more unpredictability into such situations for China's government and for outside observers trying to discern Beijing's political objectives as it manages the gatherings.
"The increasingly viral methods of organizing protests means the government's task [in controlling the demonstrations] is harder" once they start, she said. "And it's harder to interpret Beijing's intentions."
julie.makinen@latimes.com
Times staff writer David S. Cloud in Tokyo and Tommy Yang in The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.
Print!!!!!! It will solve all out problems!!! Dow at 13k plus woo hoo!!!!
----------
Anti-Japan protests in China spread to more cities
More than 1,000 Chinese march in Beijing to protest Japan's plan to buy the disputed Diaoyu islands. Japanese businesses are attacked in several cities.
Comments
11
Share
Anti-Japan protesters surround paramilitary policemen outside local Communist Party headquarters in Shenzhen, China. (Associated Press / September 17, 2012)
Related photos »
Photos:*Anti-Japan protests spread in China
China-U.S. power play at core of East Asian island disputes
China wary of U.S. military moves in Asia-Pacific
China, Japan activists hold protests over disputed islands
China says 'no' to another massive stimulus plan
Ads by Google
What is Scientology?
A New Kind of Religion. Not Just Questions, But Answers.
Scientology.org/What_Is_Scientology
By Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times
September 16, 2012, 4:44 p.m.
BEIJING — Anti-Japan rallies spread to dozens more Chinese cities Sunday, as thousands of people demonstrated against the Japanese government's plan to buy several uninhabited islands near Taiwan that China also claims. Protesters marched in front of diplomatic compounds, attacked Japanese businesses and burned Japanese flags.
In the southern city of Guangzhou, demonstrators stormed into the first two floors of a complex that houses the Japanese Consulate, breaking windows in a hotel and smashing a vehicle. In nearby Shenzhen, police fired tear gas and used a water cannon to disperse marchers. Japanese factories, grocery shops, restaurants and car dealerships were reported damaged in a number of cities, including Qingdao.
In Beijing, more than 1,000 marchers waving flags and carrying banners gathered for a second straight day in front of the Japanese Embassy, hurling water bottles at the building and chanting slogans such as "Knock down the little Japanese," "Long live the People's Republic of China" and "China will prevail."
Hundreds of police and security officers, some holding riot shields, lined the protest route. But generally they appeared relaxed, calmly guiding the marchers back and forth past the embassy as a helicopter buzzed overhead. Scores of neighborhood watch volunteers, many of them senior citizens with red armbands, also patrolled the area.
On a nearby commercial street, Japanese restaurants were shuttered, with some hiding their signs behind tarps. Others hung Chinese flags and banners in front of their stores.
"The Diaoyu islands themselves are not so important, but I do think Japan is trying to bully China," said an 18-year-old university student surnamed Wen who came to watch the protest but not participate. "Still, I feel bad about these restaurants because it is Chinese people who work in them."
Tensions have been rising since Japan's government announced a plan last week to purchase three of what it calls the Senkaku islands from the Japanese family that has controlled them for decades. China has protested the move at the United Nations and sent vessels to the area in an expression of force. Taiwan, which also claims the island chain, has also sent ships to nearby waters.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking Sunday on a talk show on national broadcaster NHK, called on China to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and businesses in the country. The Japanese Consulate in Shanghai has reported that a number of Japanese have been harassed in recent days, including one who had a bowl of hot noodles thrown at him and another who was kicked on the street. The consulate urged citizens to not take taxis alone or speak loudly in Japanese while in public.
The protests are expected to continue at least through Tuesday, when China will mark the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that began Japan's 14-year occupation of portions of the mainland.
The dispute brought a warning from U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta that it could lead to a regional conflict. "I am concerned that these countries engage in provocations of one kind or another over these various islands that it raises the possibility that a misjudgment on one side or the other could result in violence," Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Asia aboard an Air Force jet.
Panetta arrived in Tokyo on Sunday at the start of a weeklong trip to Asia that will also take him to China and New Zealand.
Large-scale protests of any kind are rare in China, though the government has allowed and even encouraged anti-Japan and anti-U.S. demonstrations in the past, particularly when such gatherings could help bolster its political or foreign policy objectives. Still, there is always the risk that such rallies could morph into outpourings of discontent with Chinese authorities themselves.
In a sign that the protests may be pushing officials toward the edge of their comfort zone, an opinion piece carried by the state-run New China News Agency on Sunday counseled that "wisdom is needed in the expression of patriotism" and that "Chinese people should be rational and obey the law when expressing patriotic feelings, and they should abstain from 'smashing and looting.'"
A number of protesters in Shenzhen and Guangzhou had issues beyond the disputed islands, such as corruption and high housing prices, on their minds. One photo circulated on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service, showed a man at a demonstration wearing a shirt reading, "I'm willing to feed the corrupted officials and become a housing slave, but I will never give up on the Diaoyu islands."
Jessica Chen Weiss, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University who is writing a book on Chinese foreign policy and nationalist protests, said that although the government has taken pains to emphasize the island dispute, it would be a mistake to regard the protests as completely manufactured.
Weiss said the spread of Weibo and other technology has added more unpredictability into such situations for China's government and for outside observers trying to discern Beijing's political objectives as it manages the gatherings.
"The increasingly viral methods of organizing protests means the government's task [in controlling the demonstrations] is harder" once they start, she said. "And it's harder to interpret Beijing's intentions."
julie.makinen@latimes.com
Times staff writer David S. Cloud in Tokyo and Tommy Yang in The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.
Reason likely won't win out as the elites gear up for WW3 to churn some poor through the meat grinder to kick start the global economy again as printing sure as shir ain't gonna do it ....
---------
15
My Take: It’s time for Islamophobic evangelicals to choose
Posted at 10:00 pm
Categories: Christianity, Islam, My Take, Opinion
↓ Skip to comments
Editor’s Note: Brian D. McLaren* is author of “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World” (Jericho Books/Hachette Book Group).*
By Brian McLaren, Special to CNN
I was raised as an evangelical Christian in America, and any discussion of Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations around the world must include the phenomenon of American Islamophobia, for which large sectors of evangelical Christianity in America serve as a greenhouse.
At a time when U.S. embassies are being attacked and when people are getting killed over an offensive, adolescent and puerile film targeting Islam — beyond pathetic in its tawdriness – we must begin to own up to the reality of evangelical Islamaphobia.
Many of my own relatives receive and forward pious-sounding and alarm-bell-ringing e-mails that trumpet (IN LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS!) the evils of Islam, that call their fellow evangelicals and charismatics to prayer and “spiritual warfare” against those alleged evils, and that often — truth be told — contain lots of downright lies.
For example, one recent e-mail claimed “Egyptian Christians in Grave Danger as Muslim Brotherhood Crucifies Opponents.”* Of course, that claim has been thoroughly debunked, but the sender’s website still (as of Friday) claims that the Muslim Brotherhood has “crucified those opposing” Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy “naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others.”
CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories
Many sincere and good-hearted evangelicals have never yet had a real Muslim friend, and now they probably never will because their minds have been so prejudiced by Islamophobic broadcasts on so-called Christian television and radio.
Janet Parshall, for example, a popular talk show host on the Moody Radio Network, frequently hosts Walid Shoebat, a Muslim-evangelical convert whose anti-Muslim claims, along with claims about his own biography, are frequently questioned.* John Hagee, a popular televangelist, also hosts Shoebat as an expert on Islam, as does the 700 Club.
Many Christian bookstores that (used to) sell my books, still sell books such as Paul Sperry’s “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington” (Thomas Nelson, 2008). In so doing, they fuel conspiracy theories such as the ones U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, promoted earlier this year.
In recent days, we’ve seen how irresponsible Muslim media outlets used the tawdry 13-minute video created by a tiny handful of fringe Christian extremists to create a disgusting caricature of all Christians — and all Americans — in Muslim minds. But too few Americans realize how frequently American Christian media personalities in the U.S. similarly prejudice their hearers’ minds with mirror-image stereotypes of Muslims.
Ambassador’s killing shines light on Muslim sensitivities around Prophet Mohammed
Meanwhile, many who are pastors and leaders in evangelicalism hide their heads in the current issue of Christianity Today or World Magazine, acting as if the kinds of people who host Islamophobic sentiments swim in a tiny sidestream, not in the mainstream, of our common heritage. I wish that were true.
The events of this past week, if we let them, could mark a turning point — a hitting bottom, if you will — in the complicity of evangelicalism in Islamophobia. If enough evangelicals watch or try to watch the film trailer that has sparked such outrage in the Middle East, they may move beyond the tipping point.
I tried to watch it, but I couldn’t make it halfway to the 13-minute mark. Everything about it was tawdry, pathetic, even pornographic. All but the most fundamentalist believers from my evangelical Christian tribe who watch that video will be appalled and ashamed to be associated with it.
It is hate speech. It is no different from the anti-Semitic garbage that has been all too common in Western Christian history. It is sub-Christian — beneath the dignity of anyone with a functioning moral compass.
Islamophobic evangelical Christians — and the neo-conservative Catholics and even some Jewish folks who are their unlikely political bedfellows of late — must choose.
Will they press on in their current path, letting Islamophobia spread even further amongst them? Or will they stop, rethink and seek to a more charitable approach to our Muslim neighbors? Will they realize that evangelical religious identity is under assault, not by Shariah law, not by the liberal media, not by secular humanism from the outside, but by forces within the evangelical community that infect that religious identity with hostility?
If I could get one message through to my evangelical friends, it would be this: The greatest threat to evangelicalism is evangelicals who tolerate hate and who promote hate camouflaged as piety.
No one can serve two masters. You can’t serve God and greed, nor can you serve God and fear, nor God and hate.
The broad highway of us-them thinking and the offense-outrage-revenge reaction cycle leads to self-destruction. There is a better way, the way of Christ who, when reviled, did not revile in return, who when insulted, did not insult in return, and who taught his followers to love even those who define themselves as enemies.
Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter
Yes, “they” – the tiny minority of Muslims who turn piety into violence – have big problems of their own. But the way of Christ requires all who claim to be Christians to examine our own eyes for planks before trying to perform first aid on the eyes of others. We must admit that we have our own tiny minority whose message and methods we have not firmly, unitedly and publicly repudiated and rejected.
To choose the way of Christ is not appeasement. It is not being a “sympathizer.”
The way of Christ is a gentle strength that transcends the vicious cycles of offense-outrage-revenge.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Brian D. McLaren.
---------
15
My Take: It’s time for Islamophobic evangelicals to choose
Posted at 10:00 pm
Categories: Christianity, Islam, My Take, Opinion
↓ Skip to comments
Editor’s Note: Brian D. McLaren* is author of “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World” (Jericho Books/Hachette Book Group).*
By Brian McLaren, Special to CNN
I was raised as an evangelical Christian in America, and any discussion of Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations around the world must include the phenomenon of American Islamophobia, for which large sectors of evangelical Christianity in America serve as a greenhouse.
At a time when U.S. embassies are being attacked and when people are getting killed over an offensive, adolescent and puerile film targeting Islam — beyond pathetic in its tawdriness – we must begin to own up to the reality of evangelical Islamaphobia.
Many of my own relatives receive and forward pious-sounding and alarm-bell-ringing e-mails that trumpet (IN LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS!) the evils of Islam, that call their fellow evangelicals and charismatics to prayer and “spiritual warfare” against those alleged evils, and that often — truth be told — contain lots of downright lies.
For example, one recent e-mail claimed “Egyptian Christians in Grave Danger as Muslim Brotherhood Crucifies Opponents.”* Of course, that claim has been thoroughly debunked, but the sender’s website still (as of Friday) claims that the Muslim Brotherhood has “crucified those opposing” Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy “naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others.”
CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories
Many sincere and good-hearted evangelicals have never yet had a real Muslim friend, and now they probably never will because their minds have been so prejudiced by Islamophobic broadcasts on so-called Christian television and radio.
Janet Parshall, for example, a popular talk show host on the Moody Radio Network, frequently hosts Walid Shoebat, a Muslim-evangelical convert whose anti-Muslim claims, along with claims about his own biography, are frequently questioned.* John Hagee, a popular televangelist, also hosts Shoebat as an expert on Islam, as does the 700 Club.
Many Christian bookstores that (used to) sell my books, still sell books such as Paul Sperry’s “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington” (Thomas Nelson, 2008). In so doing, they fuel conspiracy theories such as the ones U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, promoted earlier this year.
In recent days, we’ve seen how irresponsible Muslim media outlets used the tawdry 13-minute video created by a tiny handful of fringe Christian extremists to create a disgusting caricature of all Christians — and all Americans — in Muslim minds. But too few Americans realize how frequently American Christian media personalities in the U.S. similarly prejudice their hearers’ minds with mirror-image stereotypes of Muslims.
Ambassador’s killing shines light on Muslim sensitivities around Prophet Mohammed
Meanwhile, many who are pastors and leaders in evangelicalism hide their heads in the current issue of Christianity Today or World Magazine, acting as if the kinds of people who host Islamophobic sentiments swim in a tiny sidestream, not in the mainstream, of our common heritage. I wish that were true.
The events of this past week, if we let them, could mark a turning point — a hitting bottom, if you will — in the complicity of evangelicalism in Islamophobia. If enough evangelicals watch or try to watch the film trailer that has sparked such outrage in the Middle East, they may move beyond the tipping point.
I tried to watch it, but I couldn’t make it halfway to the 13-minute mark. Everything about it was tawdry, pathetic, even pornographic. All but the most fundamentalist believers from my evangelical Christian tribe who watch that video will be appalled and ashamed to be associated with it.
It is hate speech. It is no different from the anti-Semitic garbage that has been all too common in Western Christian history. It is sub-Christian — beneath the dignity of anyone with a functioning moral compass.
Islamophobic evangelical Christians — and the neo-conservative Catholics and even some Jewish folks who are their unlikely political bedfellows of late — must choose.
Will they press on in their current path, letting Islamophobia spread even further amongst them? Or will they stop, rethink and seek to a more charitable approach to our Muslim neighbors? Will they realize that evangelical religious identity is under assault, not by Shariah law, not by the liberal media, not by secular humanism from the outside, but by forces within the evangelical community that infect that religious identity with hostility?
If I could get one message through to my evangelical friends, it would be this: The greatest threat to evangelicalism is evangelicals who tolerate hate and who promote hate camouflaged as piety.
No one can serve two masters. You can’t serve God and greed, nor can you serve God and fear, nor God and hate.
The broad highway of us-them thinking and the offense-outrage-revenge reaction cycle leads to self-destruction. There is a better way, the way of Christ who, when reviled, did not revile in return, who when insulted, did not insult in return, and who taught his followers to love even those who define themselves as enemies.
Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter
Yes, “they” – the tiny minority of Muslims who turn piety into violence – have big problems of their own. But the way of Christ requires all who claim to be Christians to examine our own eyes for planks before trying to perform first aid on the eyes of others. We must admit that we have our own tiny minority whose message and methods we have not firmly, unitedly and publicly repudiated and rejected.
To choose the way of Christ is not appeasement. It is not being a “sympathizer.”
The way of Christ is a gentle strength that transcends the vicious cycles of offense-outrage-revenge.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Brian D. McLaren.
Yo chop u still around?
Looks like my cards and your braves heading for a 1 game playoff showdown unless
Cards totally throw it away
We escaped LA with a one game lead ... And got hou/cubs/hou/wash (chances are wash wont care by then) to close it out would really have to muck shot up to not hold off the pack with that weak schedule to close it ...
Looks like my cards and your braves heading for a 1 game playoff showdown unless
Cards totally throw it away
We escaped LA with a one game lead ... And got hou/cubs/hou/wash (chances are wash wont care by then) to close it out would really have to muck shot up to not hold off the pack with that weak schedule to close it ...
Last thing the elites and printers need is people doing this nonsense
Buy buy buy go into cheap interest rate debt to keep up with the jones' it's your patriotic duty!!!!!!
-----------------
I Had Too Much Stuff, so I Gave (Almost) All of It Away
By Yahoo! Finance | The Exchange*–*Fri, Sep 14, 2012 7:12 PM EDT
By Jeremy Shapiro
Sometimes what we own ends up owning us, or so the adage goes. Materialism remains an essential trait of capitalism, I think, but in my life now I have traded the clutter of objects for the calm of simplicity and am better off for it.
My path to materialist freedom was the result of a long spiritual and emotional transformation. I was a hermit, barricaded in a home stuffed with a small library's worth of books, thousands of movies, electronic games and multimedia toys, ancient historical artifacts, a closet crammed with clothes and a car that was more of a money pit than reliable transportation.
But all that has changed. As of today, I'm down to about 20 possessions ... total ... and couldn't be happier.
The Camel's Back
Very recently, I took a look at almost everything I owned and decided I didn't want it anymore. I had amassed a treasure trove of material objects at the expense of my personal and professional relationships, and I had insulated myself so much from the world that I spent most of my time in a self-prescribed psychosis that was anything but healthy or real.
I began immediately throwing out or giving away most everything I owned. Scores of books gone in an instant, leaving only a few that were necessary for my studies. Thousands of dollars worth of clothing turned into enough for a week or so. Every movie, video game and electronic device was gone, as was my iPod; I was left with just my computer and a small television.
It didn't happen all at once, but I did give away a large chunk at first. Once I did that, though, I began pretty much subconsciously reassessing my possessions almost daily, giving or throwing away more and more until I was left with next to nothing except for the clothes on my back. I'll admit, it was frightening at first. It seemed like I was going crazy, but once I got started it just felt right.
As of now, this is what I have left in my apartment:
Some changes of clothes, enough for maybe a week before needing to do laundry.
A mountain bike to ride around on, since I no longer have a car.
A small television, so I am not totally disconnected from the world.
My laptop computer.
A bed.
A few cookware items (frying pan, spatula, measuring cups, etc).
A few books, holdovers from a collection that once numbered in the high hundreds if not close to a thousand.
A small couch to sit on and table to eat at.
A coffee table where I work.
The Simple Things
Without an iPod I immerse myself in the sounds of nature. My entertainment comes from public broadcasting, so I don't need a costly cable or satellite package. With what I learn on television, I cook with a few old but worthy kitchen items, baking my own bread and churning homemade sherbet.
I don't have a bank account anymore, and spend my meager but honest cash income on only what's needed. Goodwill is my trusty department store, but only if I truly need something I cannot fundamentally live without. My bills are almost nil, minus student loan debt and a credit card or two I attempt to pay on when I can. All remnants from my old life of material excess are gone.
Today, it's just my studies, my work and my passions. Sink or swim, it's just me. This is my simple life, all right, and I happily wouldn't trade it for any material thing in the whole wide world.
*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.
Buy buy buy go into cheap interest rate debt to keep up with the jones' it's your patriotic duty!!!!!!
-----------------
I Had Too Much Stuff, so I Gave (Almost) All of It Away
By Yahoo! Finance | The Exchange*–*Fri, Sep 14, 2012 7:12 PM EDT
By Jeremy Shapiro
Sometimes what we own ends up owning us, or so the adage goes. Materialism remains an essential trait of capitalism, I think, but in my life now I have traded the clutter of objects for the calm of simplicity and am better off for it.
My path to materialist freedom was the result of a long spiritual and emotional transformation. I was a hermit, barricaded in a home stuffed with a small library's worth of books, thousands of movies, electronic games and multimedia toys, ancient historical artifacts, a closet crammed with clothes and a car that was more of a money pit than reliable transportation.
But all that has changed. As of today, I'm down to about 20 possessions ... total ... and couldn't be happier.
The Camel's Back
Very recently, I took a look at almost everything I owned and decided I didn't want it anymore. I had amassed a treasure trove of material objects at the expense of my personal and professional relationships, and I had insulated myself so much from the world that I spent most of my time in a self-prescribed psychosis that was anything but healthy or real.
I began immediately throwing out or giving away most everything I owned. Scores of books gone in an instant, leaving only a few that were necessary for my studies. Thousands of dollars worth of clothing turned into enough for a week or so. Every movie, video game and electronic device was gone, as was my iPod; I was left with just my computer and a small television.
It didn't happen all at once, but I did give away a large chunk at first. Once I did that, though, I began pretty much subconsciously reassessing my possessions almost daily, giving or throwing away more and more until I was left with next to nothing except for the clothes on my back. I'll admit, it was frightening at first. It seemed like I was going crazy, but once I got started it just felt right.
As of now, this is what I have left in my apartment:
Some changes of clothes, enough for maybe a week before needing to do laundry.
A mountain bike to ride around on, since I no longer have a car.
A small television, so I am not totally disconnected from the world.
My laptop computer.
A bed.
A few cookware items (frying pan, spatula, measuring cups, etc).
A few books, holdovers from a collection that once numbered in the high hundreds if not close to a thousand.
A small couch to sit on and table to eat at.
A coffee table where I work.
The Simple Things
Without an iPod I immerse myself in the sounds of nature. My entertainment comes from public broadcasting, so I don't need a costly cable or satellite package. With what I learn on television, I cook with a few old but worthy kitchen items, baking my own bread and churning homemade sherbet.
I don't have a bank account anymore, and spend my meager but honest cash income on only what's needed. Goodwill is my trusty department store, but only if I truly need something I cannot fundamentally live without. My bills are almost nil, minus student loan debt and a credit card or two I attempt to pay on when I can. All remnants from my old life of material excess are gone.
Today, it's just my studies, my work and my passions. Sink or swim, it's just me. This is my simple life, all right, and I happily wouldn't trade it for any material thing in the whole wide world.
*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.
What's with all this red stuff on my screen
Crippling the little guy globally with more inflation in necessities ... Printing not leading to real organic growth/job creation .... Ramping up input costs for the corporations shrinking margins that they can't pass on to the consumer be damned!!!!just buy risk to infinity and beyond!!!!!
Crippling the little guy globally with more inflation in necessities ... Printing not leading to real organic growth/job creation .... Ramping up input costs for the corporations shrinking margins that they can't pass on to the consumer be damned!!!!just buy risk to infinity and beyond!!!!!
Don't let it get to ya Tiz
The game has changed so adjust your strategy accordingly
Focus on things that matter and be what you can only ever be in this situation, an observer
If you care too much you'll go nuts, the human race has survived for 10,000 years and will keep on going
The money system has only ever been "fair" for the little guy for short periods of time
The rest of the time he be takin' it up dee ass
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
(the more things change, the more they stay the same)
The game has changed so adjust your strategy accordingly
Focus on things that matter and be what you can only ever be in this situation, an observer
If you care too much you'll go nuts, the human race has survived for 10,000 years and will keep on going
The money system has only ever been "fair" for the little guy for short periods of time
The rest of the time he be takin' it up dee ass
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
(the more things change, the more they stay the same)
Bottom line we finally get to find out once and for all if we turning Japanese
Shocked Ben pulled out his last card of QE till it works so soon
The jawboning QE coming everytime the market dipped seemed to be working well lol
Japan currently on QE 8 or something
That said I don't expect our equity markets to fair as poorly as Japan as our
Multinationals are well embedded into the fabric of the global economy ... But I don't see hyperinflation/huge upside to equity markets either
Probably more of what we saw this week dead market on a road to nowhere
Shocked Ben pulled out his last card of QE till it works so soon
The jawboning QE coming everytime the market dipped seemed to be working well lol
Japan currently on QE 8 or something
That said I don't expect our equity markets to fair as poorly as Japan as our
Multinationals are well embedded into the fabric of the global economy ... But I don't see hyperinflation/huge upside to equity markets either
Probably more of what we saw this week dead market on a road to nowhere
He is trying to re-inflate the housing bubble but banks refuse to get on board this time around. Folks who could refi their home mortgages at a cheaper rate already did so. Those with homes under the water and can't refi are stuck in the mud. Banks are tightening lending standards since the financial crash. New borrowers have to jump through hundred hoops to get the mortgages, and many of them can't. Also, Fannie, Freddie and the Fed already own more than 2/3 of MBS market. I guess he could take over the entire real estate mortgages then nothing is left to buy.
From Keith Dicker of Ice Cap Asset Management
Three Days That Shook The World
The Law Of Diminishing Returns
While there are plenty of complex laws to keep lawyers happily billing forever, there is one law that is very simple and is never mentioned by those responsible for the good health of our global economy - the law of diminishing returns.
This un-billable law becomes a nightmare for anyone trying to produce more of anything. It occurs when despite putting increasingly more effort into an activity, the desired outcome becomes less and less rewarding.
Case in point, one just has to consider America’s growth of borrowed money and the resulting growth in GDP over the last 50 years.
Chart 1 shows that in the 1950s, America had to borrow just $1.36 to grow their economy by 1 extra dollar. That’s not so bad until you consider that over the next 50 years America had to borrow more and more to produce less and less GDP. In fact, during the 2000s America had to borrow $5.76 to grow its economy by an extra buck – that’s progress.
Now, we’re sure that over the years all of this borrowed money was put to great use. After all, the future never comes so why worry about it. Unfortunately, the future is today and the “credit cliff” is quite steep (see chart 2). The debt reaper is knocking on the door and he wants his money back. There’s just one minor problem – no one has the money to repay him.
No problem, the central banks & governments have plenty of money tools available to beat back any financial challenges presented by the debt reaper.
To make you feel more uncomfortable, let’s review the tricks in their money bag:
Money tool # 1 = deficit spending. For years, the G7 countries have believed that spending more than you make, will create jobs and prosperity. To measure the success of this strategy, we invite you to hang out in Spain, Greece or Italy.
Money tool # 2 = cut interest rates to 0%. All the really smart people in the World know that lower interest rates encourage people and companies to borrow more money and spend this money. To measure the success of this strategy, we invite you to hang out at the US Federal Reserve and help them count the $1.5 trillion in excess money held by the big banks.
Money tool # 3 = when all else fails print money. Everyone knows by now the reason the Great Depression was great was because no one had the idea to print money to kick start the economy. To measure the success of this strategy, we definitely do not invite you to visit Japan. The Japanese have been printing money for over 10 years and that hasn’t shaken their economy from its funk one bit.
As we enter the always dangerous months of September and October, central bankers and governments just can’t get their heads around the fact that their cherished money tools are not shaking the World. Never one to quit, someone somewhere muttered “we must do something” – and something they did.
Day 1 – September 6, 2012
Up to this point, the European Central Bank (ECB) has provided over EUR 1 trillion in bailouts to banks and countries with two separate Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) schemes. It was thought that these two initial financial bazookas would be enough to restore confidence, but it wasn’t.
Investors became bored with Greece and its 25th final bailout and now all the attention was turning to Spain. The rapid decline in Spain’s real estate market was causing an even rapider decline in the health of Spanish banks. In fear of losing their life savings, people and companies were yanking billions of deposits out of the country.
This bank run was serious stuff. So serious that investors began refusing to lend not only to the banks but to the Spanish government itself. And if Spain wasn’t bad enough, Italy has the potential to be even worse. Yes, the dreaded contagion had started again and this time the hats had seemingly run out of rabbits.
And then it happened. The ECB announced that they would provide unlimited amounts of Euros to any European country that required a bailout. But – because this is Europe, there was a small catch. Any country who wanted the money had to first formally apply.
While this may sound a lot like “pretty please” it isn’t. Unsurprisingly, Germans are growing tired of using their money to bailout it’s southern European friends. Reluctantly, the Germans agreed to this latest save Europe scheme but only if the bailout contained conditions. Now, you can’t really blame Germany for this requirement. After all, it was only a year earlier when Italy pulled the old switcheroo and reneged on its promise to raise their retirement age after receiving bailout money from Germany. Lesson learned.
On hearing that the ECB would provide unlimited amounts of money over an unspecified time, markets naturally soared on the news. Hey – it’s free money! How could you not like this?
While you would assume this conditionality clause would be deemed fair everywhere else in the World – not so in Europe. Naturally, the Spanish and Italians have a beef – they were under the impression that money is always free, never wrapped tightly with any kind of strings.
Now the World patiently awaits for the Spanish to formally request a bailout, yet the Spanish have an entirely different plan and that plan involves anything to keep Brussels and the IMF away from Madrid.
The Spanish government’s fear (which will soon become reality) is that as soon as these non-Spanish accountants and bureaucrats discover how bad the finances really are, someone might actually lose their job, government car and government expense account.
The irony of course, is that the mere announcement of the ECB’s unlimited money for an unlimited time scheme has had the effect of pushing Spain (and Italy’s) cost of borrowing down. No money or conditions have changed hands, yet markets are reacting as if it already has.
This brings us to a stalemate - as long as Spain’s cost of financing remains low, it will not formally request a bailout. However, we ask you not to fret and frown. As soon as Spanish interest rates shoot up again and thousands of protesters march in Madrid and Barcelona, Mr. Rajoy and his government will be forced to raise the white flag.
What isn’t known just yet, is what happens once the rest of the World discovers how bad Spain’s finances really are. And of course, bailouts aside – none of these money tricks will have any impact on economic growth or job creation.
Nevertheless, everyone in Europe slept well that night – at least for another six days anyway.
Day 2 – September 12, 2012
It was all fine and dandy for the ECB to announce six days earlier that they would provide unlimited money to anyone who formally requests a bailout from Brussels. The ECB however, forgot to mention just one itty bitty tiny detail called Germany.
After three years, the German public have started to become increasingly uncomfortable with giving their money away to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. As one would expect, eventually politicians hear their common man and actually exercise their duty of representation by government.
In effect, the German “no more bailout” snowball has started to roll and its first encounter is the question of whether Germany can legally participate in the European bailout fund – the ESM. While the Law of Diminishing Returns racks up zero billable hours for lawyers, German lawyers had a field day with the legality behind the ESM issue. The decision would be decided by the German high court and a ruling against the legality of the ESM bailout fund would effectively end the whole Euro experiment once and for all.
When the announcement hit the news wires, the result was unsurprisingly “for” the ESM bailout fund (whew!) yet the decision also came with a twist, similar to the twisted twist delivered by the ECB a few days earlier.
While the German high court stated that the ESM was not against the German constitution, it did set a cap on the maximum amount Germany would contribute to the fund – EUR 190 billion.
This cap can be increased, but only if agreed to by a vote in the German parliament. And considering the taste for additional bailouts is not exactly being embraced by the voting population, this is a significant caveat.
The significance behind this “capped” amount cannot be overstated, and it is only a matter of time before the French catch on to the fact that they’ve just been hoodwinked by the Germans.
With Germany now capping their ESM bailout liabilities at EUR 190 billion, the question must now be asked “who picks up the slack?”
Unfortunately for the French, they have no idea what just happened.
While the good bankers in La Défense are cheering the latest run up in stock prices, the rest of the French population are about to be baguetted in the side of the head.
Considering that France just decreased the retirement age, increased minimum wages while slapping a 75% tax on anyone earning greater than EUR 1 million, the likelihood of it eliminating its fiscal deficit and then reducing its debt are slim and none. Yet, with Germany now drawing a line in the bailout sand, France’s commitments have suddenly increased significantly.
The ESM bailout fund is structured so that if a country requests a bailout it no longer has to accept its share of liabilities. Considering this entire charade is being orchestrated to bailout Spain and then Italy – it directly results in France having to pick-up the tab not being absorbed by Germany.
The numbers are staggering to say the least. Frances’s ESM liability increases from EUR 143 billion to EUR 226 billion. From another perspective, France’s ESM commitment will soon equal over 44% of the government’s tax revenues for the year.
While today, everyone in France is talking about Germany we’re quite confident that at some point soon, everyone in France will be talking about France.
Day 3 – September 13, 2012
With the Europeans clearly taking the lead in shaking the World, you knew it was only a matter of time before the Americans would take note. And why not – America continues to have the World’s largest economy, the World’s largest debt burden and the World’s largest money printing machine.
Since telegraphing its newest money printing intentions from Jackson Hole a few weeks earlier, the only surprise available from Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve was how much money they would print. Guesstimates ranged from $250 billion up to $700 billion. No matter what happened, bankers everywhere had Bollinger Champaign sitting on ice.
Never one to disappoint, Mr. Bernanke’s announcement to print $40 billion a month until eternity was too much for even the talking heads to comprehend. America has now committed to printing money forever – or at least until the job market improves.
This new approach by the Federal Reserve is interesting on several levels. First, previous goals of printing money was to bolster the housing market. It was believed that fixing the housing market would boost the economy out of its slump and save the day. Well, today millions of homes remain worth less than their mortgage and millions more sit in the shadows waiting to be sold. The only bolstering that happened was of the big banks’ bank accounts.
But that’s ok. The Federal Reserve had another trick up its sleeve. Instead of targeting the housing market, it would instead target “wealth creation.”
“Wealth creation” is another academic, economic, and prehistoric belief that if everyone was wealthier, they would spend more money. And as we have all been told, spending your money is a guaranteed way to prosper. Unfortunately for the Federal Reserve, the old wealth creation thingy hasn’t quite worked out either.
And with two strikes in the count, there was nothing left for Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve to do except close their eyes and swing for the fences. And swing they did and they will keep on swinging until something, anything, happens.
Well, one thing is for sure – something will happen.
As for what, we have little confidence it will involve a rebound in the economy or a rebound in new jobs – you need “real” not “manufactured” prosperity for this to happen.
What will happen, will be a continued widening in the rift between financial markets and the economy.
There is little doubt this new edition of money printing American style will bolster financial markets, the fact remains that the real economy in the US, Europe and Japan will not begin to recover until the central banks and the governments simply allow bad debt to be written off. At this rate, don’t hold your breath as the bad debt scenario will not be allowed to happen anytime soon.
Three Days That Shook The World
The Law Of Diminishing Returns
While there are plenty of complex laws to keep lawyers happily billing forever, there is one law that is very simple and is never mentioned by those responsible for the good health of our global economy - the law of diminishing returns.
This un-billable law becomes a nightmare for anyone trying to produce more of anything. It occurs when despite putting increasingly more effort into an activity, the desired outcome becomes less and less rewarding.
Case in point, one just has to consider America’s growth of borrowed money and the resulting growth in GDP over the last 50 years.
Chart 1 shows that in the 1950s, America had to borrow just $1.36 to grow their economy by 1 extra dollar. That’s not so bad until you consider that over the next 50 years America had to borrow more and more to produce less and less GDP. In fact, during the 2000s America had to borrow $5.76 to grow its economy by an extra buck – that’s progress.
Now, we’re sure that over the years all of this borrowed money was put to great use. After all, the future never comes so why worry about it. Unfortunately, the future is today and the “credit cliff” is quite steep (see chart 2). The debt reaper is knocking on the door and he wants his money back. There’s just one minor problem – no one has the money to repay him.
No problem, the central banks & governments have plenty of money tools available to beat back any financial challenges presented by the debt reaper.
To make you feel more uncomfortable, let’s review the tricks in their money bag:
Money tool # 1 = deficit spending. For years, the G7 countries have believed that spending more than you make, will create jobs and prosperity. To measure the success of this strategy, we invite you to hang out in Spain, Greece or Italy.
Money tool # 2 = cut interest rates to 0%. All the really smart people in the World know that lower interest rates encourage people and companies to borrow more money and spend this money. To measure the success of this strategy, we invite you to hang out at the US Federal Reserve and help them count the $1.5 trillion in excess money held by the big banks.
Money tool # 3 = when all else fails print money. Everyone knows by now the reason the Great Depression was great was because no one had the idea to print money to kick start the economy. To measure the success of this strategy, we definitely do not invite you to visit Japan. The Japanese have been printing money for over 10 years and that hasn’t shaken their economy from its funk one bit.
As we enter the always dangerous months of September and October, central bankers and governments just can’t get their heads around the fact that their cherished money tools are not shaking the World. Never one to quit, someone somewhere muttered “we must do something” – and something they did.
Day 1 – September 6, 2012
Up to this point, the European Central Bank (ECB) has provided over EUR 1 trillion in bailouts to banks and countries with two separate Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) schemes. It was thought that these two initial financial bazookas would be enough to restore confidence, but it wasn’t.
Investors became bored with Greece and its 25th final bailout and now all the attention was turning to Spain. The rapid decline in Spain’s real estate market was causing an even rapider decline in the health of Spanish banks. In fear of losing their life savings, people and companies were yanking billions of deposits out of the country.
This bank run was serious stuff. So serious that investors began refusing to lend not only to the banks but to the Spanish government itself. And if Spain wasn’t bad enough, Italy has the potential to be even worse. Yes, the dreaded contagion had started again and this time the hats had seemingly run out of rabbits.
And then it happened. The ECB announced that they would provide unlimited amounts of Euros to any European country that required a bailout. But – because this is Europe, there was a small catch. Any country who wanted the money had to first formally apply.
While this may sound a lot like “pretty please” it isn’t. Unsurprisingly, Germans are growing tired of using their money to bailout it’s southern European friends. Reluctantly, the Germans agreed to this latest save Europe scheme but only if the bailout contained conditions. Now, you can’t really blame Germany for this requirement. After all, it was only a year earlier when Italy pulled the old switcheroo and reneged on its promise to raise their retirement age after receiving bailout money from Germany. Lesson learned.
On hearing that the ECB would provide unlimited amounts of money over an unspecified time, markets naturally soared on the news. Hey – it’s free money! How could you not like this?
While you would assume this conditionality clause would be deemed fair everywhere else in the World – not so in Europe. Naturally, the Spanish and Italians have a beef – they were under the impression that money is always free, never wrapped tightly with any kind of strings.
Now the World patiently awaits for the Spanish to formally request a bailout, yet the Spanish have an entirely different plan and that plan involves anything to keep Brussels and the IMF away from Madrid.
The Spanish government’s fear (which will soon become reality) is that as soon as these non-Spanish accountants and bureaucrats discover how bad the finances really are, someone might actually lose their job, government car and government expense account.
The irony of course, is that the mere announcement of the ECB’s unlimited money for an unlimited time scheme has had the effect of pushing Spain (and Italy’s) cost of borrowing down. No money or conditions have changed hands, yet markets are reacting as if it already has.
This brings us to a stalemate - as long as Spain’s cost of financing remains low, it will not formally request a bailout. However, we ask you not to fret and frown. As soon as Spanish interest rates shoot up again and thousands of protesters march in Madrid and Barcelona, Mr. Rajoy and his government will be forced to raise the white flag.
What isn’t known just yet, is what happens once the rest of the World discovers how bad Spain’s finances really are. And of course, bailouts aside – none of these money tricks will have any impact on economic growth or job creation.
Nevertheless, everyone in Europe slept well that night – at least for another six days anyway.
Day 2 – September 12, 2012
It was all fine and dandy for the ECB to announce six days earlier that they would provide unlimited money to anyone who formally requests a bailout from Brussels. The ECB however, forgot to mention just one itty bitty tiny detail called Germany.
After three years, the German public have started to become increasingly uncomfortable with giving their money away to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. As one would expect, eventually politicians hear their common man and actually exercise their duty of representation by government.
In effect, the German “no more bailout” snowball has started to roll and its first encounter is the question of whether Germany can legally participate in the European bailout fund – the ESM. While the Law of Diminishing Returns racks up zero billable hours for lawyers, German lawyers had a field day with the legality behind the ESM issue. The decision would be decided by the German high court and a ruling against the legality of the ESM bailout fund would effectively end the whole Euro experiment once and for all.
When the announcement hit the news wires, the result was unsurprisingly “for” the ESM bailout fund (whew!) yet the decision also came with a twist, similar to the twisted twist delivered by the ECB a few days earlier.
While the German high court stated that the ESM was not against the German constitution, it did set a cap on the maximum amount Germany would contribute to the fund – EUR 190 billion.
This cap can be increased, but only if agreed to by a vote in the German parliament. And considering the taste for additional bailouts is not exactly being embraced by the voting population, this is a significant caveat.
The significance behind this “capped” amount cannot be overstated, and it is only a matter of time before the French catch on to the fact that they’ve just been hoodwinked by the Germans.
With Germany now capping their ESM bailout liabilities at EUR 190 billion, the question must now be asked “who picks up the slack?”
Unfortunately for the French, they have no idea what just happened.
While the good bankers in La Défense are cheering the latest run up in stock prices, the rest of the French population are about to be baguetted in the side of the head.
Considering that France just decreased the retirement age, increased minimum wages while slapping a 75% tax on anyone earning greater than EUR 1 million, the likelihood of it eliminating its fiscal deficit and then reducing its debt are slim and none. Yet, with Germany now drawing a line in the bailout sand, France’s commitments have suddenly increased significantly.
The ESM bailout fund is structured so that if a country requests a bailout it no longer has to accept its share of liabilities. Considering this entire charade is being orchestrated to bailout Spain and then Italy – it directly results in France having to pick-up the tab not being absorbed by Germany.
The numbers are staggering to say the least. Frances’s ESM liability increases from EUR 143 billion to EUR 226 billion. From another perspective, France’s ESM commitment will soon equal over 44% of the government’s tax revenues for the year.
While today, everyone in France is talking about Germany we’re quite confident that at some point soon, everyone in France will be talking about France.
Day 3 – September 13, 2012
With the Europeans clearly taking the lead in shaking the World, you knew it was only a matter of time before the Americans would take note. And why not – America continues to have the World’s largest economy, the World’s largest debt burden and the World’s largest money printing machine.
Since telegraphing its newest money printing intentions from Jackson Hole a few weeks earlier, the only surprise available from Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve was how much money they would print. Guesstimates ranged from $250 billion up to $700 billion. No matter what happened, bankers everywhere had Bollinger Champaign sitting on ice.
Never one to disappoint, Mr. Bernanke’s announcement to print $40 billion a month until eternity was too much for even the talking heads to comprehend. America has now committed to printing money forever – or at least until the job market improves.
This new approach by the Federal Reserve is interesting on several levels. First, previous goals of printing money was to bolster the housing market. It was believed that fixing the housing market would boost the economy out of its slump and save the day. Well, today millions of homes remain worth less than their mortgage and millions more sit in the shadows waiting to be sold. The only bolstering that happened was of the big banks’ bank accounts.
But that’s ok. The Federal Reserve had another trick up its sleeve. Instead of targeting the housing market, it would instead target “wealth creation.”
“Wealth creation” is another academic, economic, and prehistoric belief that if everyone was wealthier, they would spend more money. And as we have all been told, spending your money is a guaranteed way to prosper. Unfortunately for the Federal Reserve, the old wealth creation thingy hasn’t quite worked out either.
And with two strikes in the count, there was nothing left for Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve to do except close their eyes and swing for the fences. And swing they did and they will keep on swinging until something, anything, happens.
Well, one thing is for sure – something will happen.
As for what, we have little confidence it will involve a rebound in the economy or a rebound in new jobs – you need “real” not “manufactured” prosperity for this to happen.
What will happen, will be a continued widening in the rift between financial markets and the economy.
There is little doubt this new edition of money printing American style will bolster financial markets, the fact remains that the real economy in the US, Europe and Japan will not begin to recover until the central banks and the governments simply allow bad debt to be written off. At this rate, don’t hold your breath as the bad debt scenario will not be allowed to happen anytime soon.
