Weekly Update 20 June 2009

This week is a little less eventful than last. We have no update on the rumored Federal Government Trading account at State Street, but we're keeping an eye on it. The government is saying that the $134 billion in bonds recovered by Italian border police last week were fakes, but they let the two guys go. Nothing about this story makes any sense - nothing. We may never get to the bottom of this, but I will point out that the men carried Japanese passports and that $134B is about 1/4th of Japan's holding of US debt. Draw your own conclusions.

This week's stories focus on the continuing effort by the media and the government to rob from us and enslave us. Enjoy:

Headlines of the Week
ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
What It Is: ABC news is giving the Obama administration an hour of free air time to promote its Health Care plan.
Why It Matters: ABC and the White House are colluding to violate the FCC fairness doctrine, (but don't expect the FCC to do anything about it.)
What It Means To The World: The paper-thin divide between the government and the media is now officially shredded. Regardless of what you believe about nationalized health care, this cooperation between a government-protected and allegedly non-partisan broadcast company and the Executive Branch of government is nothing less than state-sponsored propoganda.
What It Means to You: It means nothing if you don't watch or if you watch and do nothing. But if you write ABC, their owners The Disney Corporation and their advertisers and declare your intent to boycott them all unless they give equal time to opposing viewpoints, it will mean a great deal.

What It Is: NY Times story from 2002 confirms that housing bubble was intentional
Why It Matters: The "Official Story" about the housing bubble and subsequent collapse is that "No one could have predicted it." This is patently false, as many people predicted it, among them Karl Denninger, Mish Shedlock, Nouriel Roubini and Peter Schiff. I'm sure there are others, but those are the four I know about who sounded the warning as early as 2005
What It Means To The World: The people currently in charge of "fixing" the economic mess are the same people who not only created it, but created it intentionally. This is not to say they intended to crash the world economy, only that they intentionally did all the stupid, illegal and immoral things that created the crash. Therefore, it is safe to assume that whatever they do, they will not be able to fix the problem.
What It Means to You: You should stop believing anything said by Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, Timothy Geithner or anyone who is now or ever was employed by Goldman Sachs. These are the criminals who have consistently been wrong about everything, but they get rich anyway. They are proven to be liars of the worse sort and it is foolhardy to believe a liar.

What It Is: Chinese Analysts Pinpoints the Achilles Heel in the Economic Recovery
Why It Matters: He makes several important points:
1. The financial industry is a disproportionate size compared to the rest of the economy.
2. The financial industry salaries are several times higher than comparable positions in other industry
3. The finanical press has no incentive to be truthful in its reporting, and great incentive to always be bullish.
What It Means to the World: The talk of "green shoots" in the economic recovery is mere propaganda. The economy is not improving.
What It Means to You: Two things - first, this should confirm for you that you have other sources of economic news you can trust besides the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and their lapdogs in the financial press. Second, do NOT make financial commitments based on the erroneous belief that the economy is improving. There is a lot more pain to come.

What It Is: Moody's Warns of Multi-Level Downgrade of California Debt, California Aid Request Turned Down by US (two different stories)
Why It Matters: California's economy is the eighth largest in the world. This downgrade means that California will have to pay much higher interest rates to borrow money than it has had to in the past. The Federal government is saying they won't give California money, which means the legislature will have to get serious about making cuts to services. No one seriously believe's California has any chance of repaying its debt, but a downgrade by Moody's makes that opinion official.
What It Means to the World: All this talk of green shoots is baloney. California is essentially bankrupt. The federal government will undoubtedly loan the state more money, but it won't fix the problem anymore than all the other bailout programs have failed to fix the underlying problem.
What It Means to You: Expect interest rates to continue to rise. Make sure you know whether or not you hold any California state government bonds in your portfolio. A downgrade will hurt you.

And finally, in the category of "Interesting and a Little BBit Alarming" is this story about tapping your cellphone.

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