Intolerant Zen: The Art of Accepting Nothing

So how long will it take for the Austin IRS building to collapse? It was hit by an airplane after all.

I haven't posted in awhile but this needs to be seen. I am not sure what Mr. Stack was trying to say or what his real position was, Communist?, Tea Partier (don't think so) pissed off neo-con? or just a nutter... anyway you look at this it is going to get alot of attention from the MSM and we will need to protect our liberties and freedoms... the NWO is having a hard time lately and they need an event, here it is.

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If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL – Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. – This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. – The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

* “another person” is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
* “taxpayer” is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
* “individual”, “employee”, or “worker” is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

Pull your hat down low friends, I have know idea what the response to this is going to be, but it ain't gonna be good.

Yours in Liberty

From Washington's Blog and I couldn't agree more. Times are indeed becoming dire and I can honestly say that I am getting scared.

Children and Siblings of Soldiers and Police Officers: Its Up To YOU


Alex Jones recently shared two important stories about police officers who are taking their duty to uphold the Constitution seriously.

One of the officers said that his brother had sent him videos and information about the threats to the Constitution and the need for law enforcement to protect the American people against those who would take away our liberty.

Because family members usually have more access than outsiders to members of their family, it is up to the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and grandparents of everyone related to law enforcement or military service to remind them that they serve the American people and the Constitution, and not a particular political party or politician.

Of course, people in the same sports league, congregation, or other frequent social gathering place must also remind their "team mate" about their primary duty to protect the people, and not the powers-that-be.

And this from Bob Chapman at the International Forecaster

Anger against bonus packages paid out by rescued banks coming from the American public, bear market rally continues, unemployment already at shocking levels, massive leveraging by banks - 50 times assets deliberately allowed by central banks, pressure from all over to make change happen in the banking system,Bernanke can explain where 2 trillion went, no more currency swaps for the Fed,

Bowing to populist anger, the House voted Friday to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take risks so big they could bring down the entire economy.

Passage of the bill on a 237-185 vote followed the disclosure a day earlier that nine of the nation's biggest banks, which are receiving billions of dollars in federal bailout aid, paid individual bonuses of $1 million or more to nearly 5,000 employees.

This is not the government taking over the corporate sector," Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C, said of the House action. "It is a statement by the American people that it is time for us to straighten up the ship."

Employment compensation for U.S. workers has grown over the past 12 months by the lowest amount on record, reflecting the severe recession that has gripped the country.

The Labor Department said Friday that employment costs rose by 1.8 percent for the 12 months ending in June, the smallest annual gain on records that go back to 1982.

The department said that for the April-June quarter, its Employment Cost Index rose by just 0.4 percent, just slightly above the 0.3 percent rise in the first quarter, which had been the smallest quarterly gain on record.

Companies, struggling to cope during the current hard times, have been laying off workers, trimming wage gains and holding down overtime to save costs.

The 1.8 percent increase in overall compensation for the past 12 months included a record low 1.8 percent rise in wages and salaries, which account for 70 percent of compensation costs.

Benefits, which include such things as health insurance and contributions to pension plans, also rose by 1.8 percent during the past year, the lowest annual gain in this category since a similar increase during the 12 months ending in September 1997.

This past week the market rose slightly. The Dow rose 0.9%, S&P rose 0.8%, the Russell 2000 rose 1.5% and the Nasdaq rose 0.3%. Cyclicals rose 5.5% as utilities fell 2.4%. Banks rose 8.4%; broker/dealers 3.7%; semis increased 0.3% and biotechs 0.7% as high tech fell 0.2% and Internets fell 1.3%. Gold bullion gained $2.10 as the HUI fell 0.2%.

Two year T-bills rose 5 bps to 1.01%, the 10-year notes fell 18 bps to 3.48% and the 10-year German bunds fell 18 bps to 3.305.

Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed mortgage rates rose 5 bps to 5.25%, the 15’s added 1 bps to 4.69% and one-year ARMs rose 3 bps to 4.80%. The jumbo 30-year fixed rates fell 2 bps to 6.36%.

Fed credit fell $0.06 billion, up 125% yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasuries, Agency debt jumped $6.2 billion to a record $2.793 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central banks have expanded 19.1% ytd and 18% yoy.

M2 narrow money supply rose $8.9 billion, or 8.2% yoy.

Total money market fund assets fell $22 billion to $2.634 trillion. Year-to-date they have fallen 8.9% annualized.

This past week the dollar index, USDX, declined 0.6% to a 2009 low of 78.31.

The stock market continues its bear market rally, which is very similar to the rallies in 1930 and 1932. What we are seeing at this stage of the rally is the shares of smaller companies and companies with low ratings outperforming better issues on low volume. 85% of the market has broken out above its 50-day moving average, but the quality of leadership is very questionable. After 50 years of observing markets we know from experience that these kinds of rallies at this stage end the overall rally. This is a low-quality rally and it is very overbought. That is enunciated by low volume and short covering. The gains at this juncture should be miniscule leaving those who are still long a chance to exit what will end up being a trap. Keep in mind as well that the depression is not ending and unemployment is still climbing. We see no signs of a sustainable recovery. Most of the important earnings reports have been made and absorbed by the market. As long as companies are laying off and cutting back on hours they won’t be increasing inventory, especially with retail sales continuing to slide. There are no signs of a sustainable recovery. Even if inventories are increased it will be a one shot deal. The recovery, if there is to be one, will be production led. How can that happen as layoffs continue and banks continue to cut back on lending? Any recovery is contingent on bank lending. Plus, we are seeing continued deleveraging in all sectors. The credit is not available to support higher production. Capacity utilization is hanging around 85, which means there is already major idle capacity. Consumers are simply not buyers. That happened in the last recession in 2002, but that lack of participation was supplanted by the real estate bubble. We are seeing twice as much asset deflation and triple the job losses of the last slowdown. That means recovery is a long way off. All stimulus packages do is prolong the agony, worsen and distort the systemic problems. Forty percent of total disposable income is coming from government programs, whereas the remainder, wages and salaries from the private economy, are declining at a 3.1% rate. If you add in inflation, which no one seems to talk about anymore, you have at least a 10% annual loss in purchasing power. Even $3 billion in rebates in “cash for clunkers” is not going to have any lasting economic effect. It is just a prolongation of the problem although workers deserve a break, after the Treasury and the Fed commit American taxpayers for $23.7 trillion, most of it going to bail out Wall Street, banks and insurance companies. The administration just threw the workers a $3 billion bone. It should also be noted that what amounts to zero financing has been going on for nine years. The market was saturated and to keep the assembly lines working and workers employed to fend off recession.

Earnings increases came at the cost of major unemployment over the past six months assisted by mark-to-model pricing of assets and other games of 3-card Monte. Be as it may in today’s culture of crime the market has priced in a 40% increase in earnings next year, which is ridiculous. Worse yet, financials have flattened out and they were among the leaders upward and discretionary consumer stocks have taken over the lead. As well stocks profoundly affect by the depression, such as gaming stocks, homebuilders, home furnishings, advertisers, hotels, automakers and retail shares. In two weeks the back to school retail numbers will start coming in and they will not be nice. That should trigger downside in the market. Prices are being cut 30 to 70 percent. How can companies make money that way? All they will do is reduce inventory. Discretionary spending is out. The game has changed. Incidentally, Europe and the UK are experiencing the same thing. As well there is lots of negativity being driven by the swine flu propaganda. A falling dollar and rising gold and silver prices will point out what trouble the US and world economy has gotten itself into.

Boomers, some 80 million strong, accounted for 47% of national spending and now they are saving. They provided 78% of spending growth up until recently. What we find of special interest is that boomers aged 54 to 63, even though told over and over again to prepare for retirement only 31% are prepared. If the Dow falls to 4,000 and house prices fall another 20%, how much smaller will the percentage shrink? The number of plus 55 year olds reentering the workforce to survive, is cutting off jobs for younger members of society. In addition about 50% of corporations are now looking for new college graduates. This is the situation that existed during the late 1940s, 50s and into the 1960s. Those who got jobs were lucky and they kept them. If you can believe it these grads were fortunate to make $400 a month. This is where we are again headed.

A phenomenon we have observed over the past 15 years is professional low-balling of earnings, which allows for corporate earnings to perpetually look good. Even at that only about 60% of corporations beat professional earnings estimates. Revenues have so far fallen 10%, thus earnings objectives have been reached by firing personnel. Incidentally that drop in revenues is ten times worse than in 2003.

Unemployment at 20.5% for U6 will rise to 22% this year and 25% or more next year. Although the rise of the minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour will aid low-income workers, but it will also stop hiring and will lead to more layoffs. It will take two years for unemployment to bottom out after the depression is over and it is nowhere over as yet.

This time around the number of part time jobs has doubled to more than 9 million above the norm. Those hours are at an all-time low of 33 hours as we learned last week. That leaves us short 8 million jobs if you include the 150,000 people entering the workforce monthly. Most of these jobs have been lost permanently due to free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing, unless Congress legislates tariffs on goods and services. More than 7 million jobs have been lost due to globalization over the past ten years. Few of those who have lost jobs have been retained. We need better education, but as long as the federal government dictates how children will be educated we see no recovery. Can you imagine what this will do to productivity? There are no easy solutions. We are still on the same course sculptured for use by the Illuminists and there is no turning back.

Behind all the problems sit the central bankers they have deliberately allowed massive leverage in banking of some 50 times assets, which in turn led to the credit crisis of the past two years. Market forces should determine interest rates and we should return to targeting money and credit once the system has been purged. The control of monetary policy should be in the hands of the treasury, not controlled by the Fed. It has been 30 years since we targeted monetary aggregates and it is about time we returned to that device to reign in the excesses we have witnessed since 1980. Remember, only central banks are capable of creating excessive money and credit, ridiculously low interest rates and inflation.

Bankers fully understand that unrestrained credit is inherently unstable and that eventually has to bring hyperinflation and eventually deflationary collapse. That is why for centuries gold was used to back currencies. It kept the central bankers honest. This undisciplined display of money and credit expansion by most all central banks has been done deliberately. These people are not dumb; they know exactly what they are doing.

Just to give you an idea how serious the situation is in MBS, mortgage backed securities, issuance has gone wild. In June, MBS, held and guaranteed by Fannie Mae was $3,194 trillion, up $423.9 billion on the month. Freddie’s book grew $12.2 billion. In other words, MBS issuance is almost at levels seen in 2007 and 2008. The media doesn’t carry such information because it is inconvenient for government. Most of these loans are of sub prime and ALT-A character, which guarantees us another crisis a year down the road as homeowners default and two years hence as these loans reset. This will cause more new downward pressure on real estate prices. What abject stupidity, or perhaps there is another agenda and that is to guarantee a total collapse of the economy, during hyperinflation two years from now.

Who, we ask is going to continue to fund $2 trillion in US Treasuries as the amount increases by the minute for years to come? The demands will be exponential. The Fed is already monetizing Treasury paper and the demands to continue to do so in the future will grow louder as time goes on. This is called debasement, and it is the tact the Fed has chosen to follow until the deflationary plug is pulled. The only way to defend your assets and guarantee wealth preservation is to have gold and silver related assets.

In another sign of the times Smith and Hawhen, an upscale garden supply chain is in liquidation. The owner, Scott Miracle Gro, couldn’t find a buyer.

Times are tough for illegal aliens as they begin to have money sent back to the US, so they can exist. Many have not worked for two years and, of course, they are not counted among the unemployed. On the other hand money leaving the US for Mexico has fallen by some 70%. Last year legal and illegal aliens sent $50 billion back to their home countries. Year-on-year the amount of foreign currency on deposit fell 7% in the Dominican Republic, 12% in India and 6% in Mexico. The money coming back to the states won’t last long, because most of the funds were spent on living expenses.

Almost a year ago AIG, American International Group, One the world’s largest insurance company, received $182 billion from taxpayers, in exchange for a 78% stake. Of that money $165 million went for bonuses for its Financial Products Group, which in part caused the firm’s failure. This is the gang that sold credit default swaps. AIG ran naked on these deals. They had no collateral back up for the contracts they had entered into. Out of $105.4 billion that secretly was run through AIG to cover their bad bets to US and foreign bankers, Goldman received $12.8 billion. The reason, after much prodding, Treasury Secretary Paulson wanted to keep the names and where the money had gone secret, was that this was a secret taxpayer bailout of banks worldwide. It was not until Paulson left office that what he had done became public knowledge. In order to avoid detection of what they were up too at AIG they deliberately and frequently assigned the risks assumed to their different North American insurance companies. They created a game of musical chairs to deceive state regulators as well. They had assumed liabilities far beyond their ability to pay on those obligations. There is no question in our mind that former CEO and guiding light at the Council on Foreign Relations, Hank Greenberg, engineered this terrible deception. It so far has cost taxpayers $182 billion. We wonder how much more it will cost us?

You may not know it yet, but we are winning. The Internet, shortwave and Satellite have the elitists on the run. This is even more pronounced today than at the Bilderberger Meeting in Greece in June. Governments and central banks are under severe pressure. Just look at irate constituents at Town Hall meetings and 277 co-sponsors of Ron Paul’s HR 1207, a bill to investigate and audit the Fed. Ex-treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke were just treated to the worst grilling in the history of the House and were called crooks and criminals by Congress people. Bernanke couldn’t explain where $500 billion came from and as well the disappearance of $2 trillion. When these events happened the dollar strengthened, but Bernanke only found this to be a coincidence. Congressman Grayson laughed in Bernanke’s face. We had this tape in the last issue in the US section, and after we ran it, it mysteriously disappeared from C-Span. So much for a free media and open society.

The $500 billion was spread far and wide; actually $531 billion went to central banks worldwide to prop up the dollar. This is what these swaps were all about, as was the attempted gold suppression, which happened simultaneously. That was unsuccessful because Europeans do not want to sell more gold, and that is borne out by the lack of central bank sales this year, besides the US cannot be a seller to suppress prices, because if they have any gold left it is in the form of coin melt. There has been no gold audit since 1955.

This time the Fed does not have currency swaps to defend the dollar and that is why there was no defense of 78 on the USDX this week.

That means the Fed has to quickly create $500 billion more monetized dollars for more currency swaps, so that it can sell more foreign currencies to stem the fall of the dollar. If that does not happen the dollar will keep on plunging. The market action over the next four months should be spectacular.

The ISM report on prices paid increased to 55 from 52. This again shows prices are not retreating – they are rising. This heavily weighs on the dollar, so it is no wonder the dollar continues to sink. We are in a depression in the inflationary stage and as long as money and credit and Fed monetization continues inflation will rise. The Fed is well aware of all this, because they deliberately created this situation.

Once again bean counters ‘fooled’ with inflation to produce higher GDP than warranted.

This is from the blog "of two minds"