Sage advice

A reminder from John at Wrisley.com

$14T and Counting

Our National Debt Counter quietly sailed by the $14,000,000,000,000 mark recently. The debt will have to be repaid, either by the borrower or the lender.

Whose Tea Party?

The words of Thoreau keep coming back to me as I watch the fallout, first from the TSA buffooneries, followed by the second feature: the arrest of Julian Assange for having dared to reveal the underbelly of the state’s dark side. Though I am close to illiterate when it comes to computers, even I could see how far out of touch the established order is from grasping what it is up against. Some have suggested that the Assange episode is the opening round in "Cyberwars," an assessment that only touches the surface in trying to understand the continuing metamorphosis. Unlike Thoreau, however, I am unable to engender any sense of pity for the state as it counts its silver spoons and plots to get more of your silver to redistribute to its corporate co-schemers.

Butler Shaffer divulges the reasons for state angst.

Awaiting the Storm

The genius of American politics is to espouse democracy while keeping political power from the people. The trick is to have barely distinguishable candidates for the presidency who carefully avoid mention of substance—the wars, for example, or affirmative action, guns, abortion. These electioins, if so they be, allow people to wave placards, roar invective about throwing the rascals out and returning to traditional American etc. The dust settles and things remain as they were.

Governance does not rest with the people. Today, decree replaces legislation, and must, for our safety. If Homeland Security says you must go through a CAT scan, naked, and singing the Star Spangled Banner, then you have to do it. There is no recourse. You can unelect an elected official, but there is no way to get at a bureaucrat. If you do not submit, you go to jail.

Freedom or security? This is the choice our government offers but it is a false choice. They have already taken our freedom and nothing short of revolution will return it to us. Do you feel secure now?

Truth in Chains: Assange Arrest a Chilling Sign of Power’s “New Realities”

Well, they got him at last. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the target of several of the world’s most powerful governments, turned himself into British authorities today and is now at the mercy of state authorities who have already shown their wolfish – and lawless – desire to destroy him and his organization. 

It has been, by any standard, an extraordinary campaign of vilification and persecution, wholly comparable to the kind of treatment doled out to dissidents in China or Burma. Lest we forget, WikiLeaks is a journalistic outlet – just like The New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, all of whom are even now publishing the very same material – leaked classified documents -- available on WikiLeaks. 

Julian Assange has stirred up the murky waters of international intrigue and exposed the surreptitious maneuverings of the previously clandestine members of the diplomatic machinery. The government presents a paternal face to the public but the dark side is supposed to be hidden from view at all costs.

Mary's Bar

Mary is the proprietor of a bar in Dublin. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Mary's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Mary's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Dublin.

John Wrisley directs us to this short essay. So you don't understand economics. This easy to understand piece can be considered as an Economics for Dummies introduction.

Focus on the policy, not Wikileaks

When presented with embarrassing disclosures about U.S. spying and meddling, the policy that requires so much spying and meddling is not questioned.  Instead, the media focus on how so much sensitive information could have been leaked, or how authorities might prosecute the publishers of such information.


No one questions the status quo or suggests a wholesale rethinking of our foreign policy.  No one suggests that the White House or the State Department should be embarrassed that the U.S. engages in spying and meddling.  The only embarrassment is that it was made public.  This allows ordinary people to actually know and talk about what the government does.  But state secrecy is anathema to a free society.  Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name?

Ron Paul on the outcry over the Wikileaks documents.

Inter-Galactic Bailout – The Fed extends the hand of debt beyond borders

The European situation is more dangerous than most Americans realize.

It could still melt down. US authorities must know this. And they must know too that if Europe melts down, so will the USA.

So, the rumors will probably turn out to be true. The US will back the IMF. The IMF will back Europe. Europe will back Ireland. Ireland will back its banks. And the banks will back their lenders.

Meanwhile, the euro will be backed by the dollar, which will also back the US economy, US banks, the US government, and about half the households in Christendom…not to mention the others!

Who’s got the kind of money you need to do all this backing?

The Fed's strategy of "spreading the wealth" is making us poor says Bill Bonner.

Debt = Money, Money = Debt

Where does money come from?  You would think that question should be so simple that any 10-year-old child could answer it, but that is not the case.  You see, the truth is that the vast majority of American adults cannot even answer that question.  Yet we all use money every day.  Without money our lives would fall apart fairly quickly.  But most of us never stop to think about how it comes into existence.  The truth is that bankers are the source of all money in the United States.  Either the Federal Reserve bankers create it, or individual bankers create it through the mechanism of fractional reserve banking.  In both cases, it is bankers that are creating the money.  In our financial system, the U.S. government cannot print money and no individual citizens are allowed to create money.  Rather, it is the bankers who have a complete and total monopoly on the creation of money in the United States.

Keep this for future reference. You may be asked to explain this over Christmas dinner with the in-laws.