Author: Administrator
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“While Elizabeth Warren attempted to deliver her keynote speech at the Democratic Convention in July, which included an unabashed endorsement of Hillary Clinton after Warren had failed to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders during the critical primary campaign, chants of ‘we trusted you’ could be heard reverberating through the cavernous hall in Philadelphia…
It’s long past the time for the U.S. Senate to stop conducting isolated, piecemeal investigations and undertake the type of in-depth hearings that the Senate held from 1929 to 1932 that led to the public’s understanding of the serial criminal activities on Wall Street that had produced the Great Depression and which led to the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act — legislation which protected this nation for 66 years until its repeal in 1999 during the Bill Clinton administration.”
Pam and Russ Martens, Elizabeth Warren Opens Up Pandora’s Box
Harvard Crushes The “Obama Recovery” Farce With 9 Simple Charts
A couple of months back we posted 9 charts that, at least in our minds, debunked the myth of the “Obama Recovery” despite suggestions from the administration that any such efforts were just a futile attempt at “peddling fiction” (our original post: “These Are The 9 Zero Hedge Charts Showing “Obama’s Recovery” That Angered The Washington Post“).
Turns out that Harvard likes to dabble in “fiction peddling” as well:
In a recent study entitled “Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided” (study can be viewed in its entirety at the end of this post), Harvard University points out that, despite claims of an “Obama Recovery,” in fact, the U.S. economy has continued to deteriorate in the aftermath of the “great recession.” Among other things, Harvard attributes the economic deterioration to a “lack of economic strategy, especially at the federal level” and a “political system was once the envy of many nations” but has now “become our greatest liability.” Below are a couple of the key conclusions:
The US War On Terror Has Cost $5 Trillion And Increased Terrorism By 6,500%
Submitted by Darius Shahtahmasebi via TheAntiMedia.org,
On September 11, 2001, one of the most tragic events in recent American history took place. Close to 3,000 civilians lost their lives in horrific terror attacks that took place on American soil. Fifteen years later, it is time to ask the question: have our counterterror efforts helped to reduce the amount of terrorism in the world? Or at the very least, have they tried to make the world safer?
According to a report released by Dr. Neta Crawford, professor of political science at Brown University, spending by the United States Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and Veteran Affairs since 9/11 is now close to $5 trillion USD. Before we have the chance to ask how a country that has racked up over $19.3 trillion USD in debt can spend $5 trillion USD on war, the focus of this article is to ask: What has all of this spending achieved?
Continue reading “The US War On Terror Has Cost $5 Trillion And Increased Terrorism By 6,500%”
Legion of the Tinfoil Hat: Fred Reveals His Martian Loyalties
Conspiracy theories hold charm for such as I, who regard them as we might a species of rare insectivorous marsupials who glow in the dark, and for the conspiracy theorists themselves, who seem to derive from their conditions a satisfying sense of esoteric penetration. Yet they become wearisome by constant repetition. Some have. In particular, Nine/Eleven. In the following wew will ignore the more abundantly silly theories, such as that there were no Jews in the Towers on the day of the attacks. Some thoughts::
The Pentagon
At the time of Nine/Eleven, I was living in Colonial Village in Virginia, a few hundred yards from the Virginia terminus of Key Bridge. The bike path ran from there parallel to the Potomac past the Pentagon and National Airport to the Washington Sailing Marina. On the wooden deck overlooking the water a concession sold snacks and Budweiser. A mixed group of oddballs foregathered daily to socialize.
One was Dave Winslow, whom we called Broadcast Dave to distinguish him from a couple of other Daves, Winslow having been involved in radio broadcasting in an earlier life. We often swapped journalism stories. His apartment was nearby. The day after the Pentagon blew up, he recounted being at home, hearing a plane coming in unusually low, looking out the window, and seeing the tail flash by, boom.
Continue reading “Legion of the Tinfoil Hat: Fred Reveals His Martian Loyalties”
RESEGREGATION
Guest Post by Ol’ Remus
Zack Linly said, in an article at the Washington Post entitled “It’s Time to Stop Talking About Racism With White People”,
Black people, it is long past time for us to start practicing self-care. And if that means completely disengaging with white America altogether, then so be it.
Would that it were so. Now that we’ve tested the alternative, a general reset seems an attractive option. Resegregation is becoming a “thing” among blacks lately, all very high-minded of course, except the part about how it would be financed. Zack Linly describes himself as “a poet, performer, freelance writer, community organizer and activist living in Atlanta”. There’s your answer.
Somehow I don’t believe his prospective recruits will contribute much more than running their mouths either, but notice Black Lives Matter now has a budget of $133 million, none of it from bake sales. Mr. Linly’s notion of complete disengagement may be good for much more. It’s a brilliant business model, wide appeal on all sides, relatively untilled ground, high “wow” factor.
Visualizing the Size of the U.S. National Debt
BRAVERY
Hat tip Kokoda
STORY NUMBER ONE
Many Years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed “Easy Eddie.” He was Capone’s lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well.. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.
Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
The Dominant Forces In The U.S. Gun Market
You will find more statistics at Statista
According to the Pew Research Center, America is awash with guns. There are an estimated 270 to 310 million of them, one for nearly every person in the country. Given that huge amount, it comes as no surprise that the gun market is worth an estimated $15 billion. The companies in the infographic below account for two thirds of the total market, manufacturing 8 million firearms each year, acccording to an investigation by Mother Jones.
Ruger manufactures the highest number of guns for the U.S.market each year, 1.64 million. Remington Outdoor and Smith & Wesson come second and third with 1.47 and 1.31 million respectively. Even though calls for tighter gun control have been growing ever louder amid a plethora of mass shootings, guns are more popular than ever. Smith & Wesson recently posted a 49 percent jump in profit for the three months ending 31 July. Their quarterly profits soared to $87.9 million, up on $58.9 million during the same period last year.
2015 Average Wages Up 1.9%; Median Household Income Up 5.2%! Yeah, That’s The Ticket
New York Times- Binyaming Applebomb- Household incomes for American families rose strongly in 2015, breaking a yearslong pattern of income stagnation. The median household’s income in 2015 was $56,516, an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year — the largest one-year rise since at least 1967, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.
Wowza! We’re on our way now!
The income gains represent an important turning point in the recovery from the 2008 recession, showing that recent economic gains are being distributed more broadly.
“It has been a long slog from the depths of the Great Recession, but things are finally starting to improve for many American households,” said Chris G. Christopher Jr., director of consumer economics at IHS Global Insight.
The economic recovery, however, remains incomplete. The median is still 1.6 percent lower than in 2007, before the recession. It also remains 2.4 percent lower than the peak reached during the boom of the late 1990s…
Still, most economists saw the report as remarkably positive. In an exuberant tweet, Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, called it “unambiguously the best” such census data “ever.” Household incomes in 2015 were higher than when President Obama entered office, and it is likely that the gains are continuing during his final year in office.
Binny usually covers the Fed, and usually gets said coverage wrong, but this piece probably wins the Pull-it-sir for breathlessness.
The Fury of the Central Planners
Guest Post by The Zman
When I was out in the provinces last month, I watched a bit of the BBC and SkyNews. One of the things I found humorous about the news coverage was the hyperventilating about Brexit. Every story had a Brexit angle, even the local interest stuff. The general impression I got from the news presenters was that they were having a tough time keeping it together. At any moment they could break down into sobbing over the horrors of Brexit. If you did not know better, you would think Brexit was code for re-opening Auschwitz.
All the prophesies about the disasters that would befall the world, if the snaggletoothed yokels voted to leave Europe, have not come to pass. In fact, the early returns suggest it has been a net positive for the Brits. Time will tell how it all unfolds as there is a lot that has yet to happen. Even so, the results thus far are making the Remain side look rather foolish. Instead of accepting this reality, the true believers are carrying on like Godzilla is about to cross the Channel and attack London, because of Brexit.
VACATION IN PARIS
BASKET OF DEPLORABLES
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Several economists I know seem to have assimilated a norm that the post-real macroeconomists actively promote – that it is an extremely serious violation of some honor code for anyone to criticize openly a revered authority figure – and that neither facts that are false, nor predictions that are wrong, nor models that make no sense matter enough to worry about.”
Paul Romer, The Trouble With Macroeconomics
Days Before 9/11 DHS Sec. Tells Radical Muslim Group Islam is Religion of Peace, ISIS Isn’t Islamic
Hat tip Chris
Days before the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history Obama’s Homeland Security secretary became the highest ranking government official—and first sitting cabinet member—to highlight a convention held annually by a radical Muslim group with extremist origins. The Indiana-based nonprofit is called Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and it was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent organization of Hamas and Al Qaeda. ISNA was a co-conspirator in a huge case involving an Islamic charity (Holy Land Foundation) that provided support to a foreign terrorist organization, mainly Hamas.
WILL SEARS SURVIVE UNTIL CHRISTMAS?
Who could have predicted this tragic course of events? Oh yeah. Me.
When the credit ratings agencies say your toast, you’re toast. If they can’t finance their inventory purchases for the Christmas holidays, they’re finished. Even if they survive through the holidays, the bankruptcy liquidation announcement will be no later than February. Good riddance. Sears/Kmart has been the worst run retailer in America for two decades.
That’s gonna be a lot of vacant anchor positions in ghost malls across America. How long can the real estate developers extend and pretend with the help of the Fed and the Wall Street banks? The loan losses are going to be epic. I’m just gonna get me some popcorn and watch the show.
Moody’s: Sears’ and Kmart’s shutdown is imminent
Moody’s analysts say Sears and Kmart don’t have enough money — or access to money — to stay in business.
In a note published Wednesday, the analysts downgraded Sears’ liquidity rating, saying the company is bleeding cash and will have to continue to rely on outside funding or the sale of assets, such as real estate, to sustain operations.
“We recognize the risks associated with relying on these sources and continued shareholder support to finance its negative operating cash flow which is estimated by Moody’s to be approximately $1.5 billion this year,” the analysts wrote.
Kmart in particular is at risk of shutting down, according to Moody’s.