China

The dip in Hickory's fortunes since the beginning of the millennium relates to the de-industrialization of our local economy which coincides with the rise of the Dragon - China. The industrialization of the Chinese economic system is hard to compete with under the current United States/North Carolina/Catawba County/Unifour/Hickory model. The Eagle will continue its descent until we take real action to address what led us here. Action does not come from cooking books to pull wool over the public's eyes. The Atlanta Federal Reserve has lowered its forecast for GDP in the first quarter of 2015 to 0%. We have been in a recession since late 2007. We have never come out of it, even if the government says we have. They have constantly underestimated inflation to make it look like we have had growth. If real inflation is accounted for, we have had negative real growth in the GDP for nearly every quarter since late 2007.

The following is an interview that I listened to on Youtube from the Coast to Coast AM program hosted by George Noory on April 3, 2015. The interviewee on the subject is Dan Collins, the founder of Tiger Hill Capital, a Hong Kong based asset management company. He has lived in China for 15 years. He addresses how China's unprecedented industrial revolution has created massive wealth. Since the reform in the 1970s, in which citizens began to be allowed to reap rewards from their own businesses, China's economy has catapulted ahead to become the world's largest. In the economic sense, it's actually more capitalistic than the United States, but politically it's absolutely communist, with tight controls, and little or no voting, he pointed out. "On the economic side, it's totally the Wild West-- no property taxes, no environmental regulations," and it's very easy to open a new business, he remarked, adding that there are an estimated 60 billionaires in the Chinese Politburo.

By not being a democracy, China was able to make quick economic strides such as putting in a high-speed rail system in a short number of years. They are currently building 50,000 skyscrapers (the equivalent of 10 New York City's), and they've constructed 70 international airports in the last 10 years, he cited, adding that there are one million Chinese citizens now living in Africa, pursuing business opportunities, and tapping into the bounty of natural resources there. China has been increasing military spending by over 10% a year for decades, but Collins doesn't foresee them attacking America-- they are much more interested in areas closer to home such as Taiwan, and countries near their borders, he said. For the US to beat or more readily compete with China, he believes it needs to overhaul its tax system, and move to a consumption tax that is more friendly to business and manufacturing.

Here is the direct link that takes you to where his interview starts.

The 100th Anniversary of the beginning of World War I - July 28, 1914

Hound Notes: With all the tumult going on in the world today, we should take time to recognize what happened 1 century ago today. On July 28, 1914, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire declared war on and attacked Serbia. It was thought to be retribution for the Assassination of a monarch Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne. It led to the demise of four empires, four long years of meaningless slaughter in Europe, consequences that led to another World War 20 years later, and results that we are still dealing with today.

(Wikipedia World War I) By the end of the war, four major imperial powers—the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires—ceased to exist.



July 28, 1914: Austria-Hungary's last hurrah - Rappler - July 28, 2014 - Instead of a short war – and one confined to the Balkans as Vienna thought – this was the start of World War I, 4 years of conflict drawing in all the great powers of the time and killing 9 million soldiers.                         News-hungry, patriotic crowds had been massing for hours outside newspaper offices in Vienna when emperor Franz Joseph's "To My Peoples!" proclamation of war against Serbia finally came on the evening of July 28, 1914.                           A month after a Bosnian Serb revolutionary assassinated Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, the uppity Serbs were going to get a long-deserved bloody nose.                            Special editions were ripped out of newspaper sellers' hands, and in Vienna at least, nationalistic songs were sung late into the summer night, triumphant speeches were made and thousands thronged the streets.                      "Maybe people didn't think it would be over by Christmas, but the feeling was that it would be done by mid-1915," historian and Austrian Military Museum (HGM) director Christian Ortner told Agence France-Presse.                    "But Vienna was playing a game of very high risks."                       Instead of a short war – and one confined to the Balkans as Vienna thought – this was the start of World War I, four years of conflict drawing in all the great powers of the time and killing nine million soldiers.                              
A day after Austria-Hungary's declaration, Serbia's ally Russia began mobilizing. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia and two days later on France. On August 4, with Germany invading Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.

The People vs The Too Big to Fails

The City of Oakland vs Goldman Sachs - Oakland City Council votes to terminate swap agreement with Goldman Sachs - San Francisco Chronicle - July 11, 2012

The City of Oakland is currently debating the possibility of terminating a contract it has with the investment bank Goldman Sachs. The deal in question is called an interest-rate swap, and is a particular type of arrangement that was supposed to save the city money, but instead has resulted in Oakland taxpayers making annual payments of around $4 million to the banking giant. Last week city officials, SEIU members, and Oakland taxpayers rallied together at Oakland City Hall to stand up to Wall Street's stranglehold on their community. They marched to Citibank to deliver a letter, telling the bank to stop bilking their city through shady deals like interest rate swaps




Matt Taibbi : The Libor Scandal.The Biggest Financial Scam In World History - CNN - Viewpoint - Eliot Spitzer - The banking system is in the spotlight again amid rising political and public anger over the Libor scandal. Matt Taibbi talks about The Libor Scandal saying that it is The Biggest Financial Scam In World History . Some of you by now have probably heard that the former CEO of Britain's Barclay's Bank resigned over the LIBOR scandal, and has accused the bank -along with others -- of "fixing" interest rates. LIBOR is simply an acronym for London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, the rate at which banks extend credit to each other, similar in effect to the Federal Reserve's rate. This is the Biggest Financial Scam In World History , the largest banking corruption scandal in history.Yet nobody is freaking about LIBOR in America, while JP Morgan caught doing an Enron on US energy markets and GlaxoSmithKline pays 10% of their ill-gotten gains for bribing doctors and scientists across America These large banks have stolen money from every single human on the planet. Not one person was left out. Not even YOU! Now that it is exposed there is no going back. We will ALL support the "NO MORE BAILOUT" mantra... This one will not go away. It was not planned to go away like other "banking scandals". This one will build and build and build until it is known by every man, woman and child on the planet. This is the exposure that will END the bad guys reign.





Barclays Scandal : Bob Diamond Resigns in anger - BBC - Barclays bank CEO Bob Diamond resigns . The chief executive of Barclays, one of the world's largest banks, resigned Tuesday in the wake of a scandal, the bank announced. Bob Diamond's resignation is effective immediately, the bank said. Diamond has long been a controversial figure, and has been a vocal backer of huge bonuses for bankers.Barclay's reputation has been hammered by a scandal involving the rates at which banks lend each other money, known as Libor. Libor rate is the rate banks charge to lend to each other , which is then passed to the customer .In a statement, Diamond, who faced mounting calls to step down, said he made the decision as the external pressure on the bank has reached a level that risks "damaging the franchise". I just can't believe that Bob Diamond of Barlcays Bank had no idea the traders were fixing the libor rate. The sheer gaul of the Barclay's Bank chief executive officer to say he was saddened and angry at the perpetrators and that he was proud of instigating a £100m investigation. The Barclay's Bank CEO also "told tales" on other banks for similar activities "unaware" of it happening at his institution - if you believe that you'll believe anything!!




Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Banking Scandal? - Rolling Stone - matt Taibbi - July 3, 2012 - ...The furor is over revelations that Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and other banks were monkeying with at least $10 trillion in loans (The Wall Street Journal is calculating that that LIBOR affects $800 trillion worth of contracts).

The banks gamed LIBOR for two semi-overlapping reasons. As noted here last week, there were instances of Barclays traders badgering the LIBOR submitters to "push down" rates in order to fatten their immediate bottom lines, depending on what they were trading or holding that day. They also apparently rigged LIBOR downward in order to produce a general appearance of better health, essentially tweaking their credit scores a few ticks upward.

Most intriguingly, or perhaps disturbingly, there were revelations last week that Bank of England deputy Governor Paul Tucker had a conversation with Diamond at the peak of the crisis in 2008. The conversation reportedly left Diamond, and subsequently his traders, with the impression that the bank had carte blanche to rig LIBOR downward in order to help allay spiraling public fears about the banks’ poor financial health.

British officials, and Tucker individually, deny that Tucker gave Diamond permission to rig rates. But a report by British regulators did conclude that the two were talking about Barclays LIBOR submissions on October 29, 2008, and that as a result of that conversation, Diamond came away with a “misunderstanding.”

The Bear

Recovery, Recession or Depression?

The following is a questionnaire relating to our present economic circumstances as published through Bob Chapman's International Forecaster by Wendy of Discount Gold & Silver Trading Co. I won't tell you what to think. Just read the information and see what you think.

The New York Times reports ("President Officers Theme of Nation Seeing Comeback") that,   "President Obama has a new message: America has gotten its groove back. Mr. Obama has seized on a narrative of national optimism in recent weeks, offering a portrait of a country that, guided by him  and powered by the American worker, is making a comeback.

"In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama declared, ‘‘anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn't know what they're talking about. America is back.'"

Obama's optimism is encouraging, but is it based on truth? Is America really “back"?

Is the American economy in a state of: 1) recovery (as Obama claims); 2) continuing recession; or 3) an economic depression?

You decide:
Last month, the AP reported, "Gasoline prices are highest ever for this time of year. At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April. Reuters reported that, "Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state's lifeblood, oil." The EU must now seek another source for the 700,000 barrels a day it's previously bought from Iran. The result should be an increase in the price of crude oil and gasoline. If Iran degenerates into a shooting war, the price of gasoline should go even higher. A recent headline from CNBC warned, "Get Ready for $5 Gas This Year: Ex-Shell CEO." Subsequent reports have predicted $6 gas as possible. It's generally agreed that gasoline prices above $4/gallon will precipitate serious public reactions. People will cut driving to a minimum. The less people drive, the less they’ll buy. As they drive less and buy less, total demand for goods and services tends to fall.

Is rising energy costs evidence (please check one) of:

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

We already see reductions in commercial driving. The Ceridian Fuel Index tracks the consumption of diesel fuel by US truckers and is believed to be a leading indicator for the economy. When that Index rises, the economy typically heats up. When the Index falls, the economy declines. According to the Ceridian Fuel Index, truckers are using 2.2% less fuel than they did one year ago. Most of that fall (1.7%) has occurred since last December. This suggests that US economic decline has recently accelerated.

Is the fall in the Ceridian Fuel Index evidence (please check one) of:

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

The Baltic Dry Index is a shipping and trade index created by the London-based “Baltic Exchange”. This index measures changes in the cost to transport raw materials such as metals, grains and fossil fuels by sea. When the global economy is booming, the demand and cost for shipping increase. When the global economy is slowing, the demand and cost for shipping decline.

The Baltic Dry Index currently indicates that global shipping is slowing dramatically—much as it did in A.D. 2008 before that year's economic "crash". On February 3rd, the Baltic Dry Index fell to its lowest point in 25 years.

Some economists excuse this decline by claiming there are too many ships and competition is so fierce that shipping costs are being cut. But, in conjunction with other indications that the EU's GDP is declining, it appears that we may be witnessing a "double dip" in the global recession, and perhaps even the onset of a global depression.

According to the UK Telegraph, Asian shipping is also down: "Shanghai shipping volumes contracted sharply in January as Europe's debt crisis curbed demand for Asian goods, stoking fresh doubts about the strength of the Chinese economy. . . . Container traffic through the Port of Shanghai in January fell by more than a million tons from a year earlier."

Are the current declines in the Baltic Dry Index and also in Asian shipping evidence that the global economy is in a state of (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

Wherever you look, global economic activity appears to be slowing. The UK and German economies both shrank in the last quarter of 2011. CBS News reports that German industrial production fell 2.9% in December from the month before. Whether this sudden decline is merely an aberration or evidence of things to come remains to be seen. But, given that Germany is the principle industrial force in the Europe, this decline suggests that Europe is heading into a recession.

Bloomberg reports that "Irish home loans in arrears for more than 90 days rose to 9.2 percent at the end of last year from 8.1 percent at the end of the third quarter. A total of 107,708 home mortgages, or 14 percent of the total, were either 90 days in arrears or had been restructured." We can anticipate falling Irish home prices, more Irish foreclosures, loss of capital and less money available as credit for Irish consumers and businesses. Less available credit implies further economic decline.

For Spain, Bloomberg reports, "Lending fell by 3.3 percent in December from a year before, the biggest drop since Bank of Spain records started half a century ago. Bad loans as a proportion of total loans rose to 7.61 percent from 7.52 percent in November as borrowing considered "doubtful" jumped from about 11 billion Euros five years ago, before Spain's property crash, to 136 billion Euros today. . . . The prospect of a protracted recession in Spain is curbing the appetite for loans and making banks more cautious about lending. The economy may shrink 1.5 percent this year while unemployment stands at 23 percent. Exane BNP Paribas predicts an economic contraction could stretch through 2013."

Recent European car sales have generally fallen—in some countries, dramatically: Portugal, down 47%; France, down 21%; Italy down 17%; Belgium, down 16%; Cyprus, down 17%, Greece, down 13%; even Germany, down 0.4%.

Are current declines in European economic activity evidence that the global economy is in a state of (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

If European and/or global economic activity are in a state of decline, is that decline likely to affect the US economy? If so, are declines in European or global economic output more likely to cause the US economy to go into a state of (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

The U.S. has the world’s highest percentage of women taking antidepressants. American kids are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants than European children. Millions of young Americans can’t find jobs once they finish school. More than 30% of those between ages 18 and 34 continue to live at home and remain financially dependent on their parents. As financial dependents, these youths can’t buy new cars or new homes, and the economy tends to slow.

The weight of economic stress is changing the American people’s demeanor. As economic pressures build, desperate people increasingly resort to violence to survive. Violent crime in Washington D.C. is up 40%. Last year In Detroit, justifiable homicide rose by 79% and self defense killings are now 2200% above the national average. Nationally, gang membership has risen by 40% since A.D. 2009.

Does this evidence of growing psychological stress indicate that the US is in (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

Today, about 300 American municipalities are in default on their debt. As a result, municipal government employment and services (including police and fire departments) have often been reduced. In extreme cases, some municipalities have nearly broken down.

For example, Alabama’s Jefferson County (pop. 658,000)—which includes the city of  Birmingham—went bankrupt last fall. The county is drowning under $4 billion in debt, the legacy of a big sewer project and corrupt financial dealings that sent 17 people to prison. The County’s lawyers are negotiating with roughly 4,000 creditors from suppliers to hedge funds. After New York City ran  into financial trouble in the ’70s, and Cleveland fell into a hole in the ’80s, the federal bankruptcy code was changed to ensure that certain types of muni-bonds would keep paying interest and principal even if the issuing government authority sought bankruptcy.

OK—we have laws that require municipalities like Jefferson County to make good on at least some kinds of municipal bonds—even if they’ve filed for bankruptcy. But you can’t squeeze blood out of a stone. How will those laws be enforced if the County is truly broke? Can Alabama or the feds raise taxes on a county that’s bankrupt and arguably already in a state of economic depression, and still expect to see increased funding for existing debt? Isn’t it generally true that, no matter what the bankruptcy laws say, the municipal bonds issued by Jefferson County and other bankrupt municipalities will at least lose some value as those insolvent municipalities struggle to survive? As the municipal bonds of insolvent communities lose value, creditors will lose assets needed to make credit available to the public and businesses.

 Is the loss of value of at least some municipal bonds evidence that the US is in a state of (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

According to Bloomberg, December home prices in 20 U.S. cities declined another 4% to the lowest level since the housing crisis began in mid-2006. Foreclosed properties returning to the market mean prices will stay depressed, prompting buyers to wait for cheaper bargains. While people wait to buy, the demand for new homes falls. Falling demand tends to push home prices even lower. Lower prices tend to make people wait even longer . . . .

A graph on page 102 of the White House’s recent Economic Report of the President indicates that during the Great Depression, housing prices across the nation fell an average of 10%. During the A.D. 1990 California housing crash, California prices fell an average of 25%. During the Boston housing crash in A.D. 1989, Boston home prices fell an average of 33%. And in our current “Great Recession,” housing prices on a national level have (so far) fallen by 40%—roughly four times the price decline of the Great Depression.

Is the current decline in American home prices evidence that the US is in a state of (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

The holdings of US T-Bonds by Russia and China are falling. Russia has dumped US Treasuries for 14 consecutive months from $176 billion in October, A.D. 2010 to $88 billion today. China has slashed its holdings since last summer. In December alone, China dumped $32 billion in US T-bonds. The volume of this dumping process is unprecedented.

Bilateral trade agreements between Iran and India, China and Japan are being consummated in terms of each treaty-members’ own currencies or even gold—but without the intervention of US dollars.

As nations become less willing to purchase US Bonds, and begin to transact commerce without the intervention of US dollars, the dollar’s status as “world reserve currency” is diminished and increasingly tenuous.

Is the diminishing status of the US dollar as “world reserve currency” evidence that the US is in (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

The Federal Reserve is increasingly isolated as the primary purchaser of US bonds. Suppose I was the only one who would cash my own checks. What would that tell you about my solvency and value of my checks?

The US/Federal Reserve is not yet the only entity that will figuratively cash "US checks" (actually, buy US bonds)—but the trend is pointing in that direction. What does that imply about the US's solvency and value of its bonds? Insofar as the US government relies on loans from foreign creditors to enable at least some deficit spending, and insofar as the world is increasingly reluctant to buy US bonds, is that evidence that the US is in (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

The New York Post reports in “Credit Card Debt Nears Toxic Levels” that, “More American households are falling back into the debt hole, this time without the safety net of home values to help bail them out. Last year, total US consumer debt reached its highest point in a decade . . . . In December 2011, the total consumer debt rose by some 9.3 percent to $2.498 trillion . . . . The trend—month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year—is rising steeply. “These numbers . . . mean that many middle-class Americans are taking big risks. In a weak economy with high unemployment, many people with big card balances become vulnerable to financial catastrophe.”

Is an increase in credit card debt evidence that the US is in (please check one):

___ Recovery ___ Recession ___ Depression?

So, add them up. How many times did you check off “Recovery”? How many times, “Recession”? How many times did you dare check off the D-word (“Depression”)? Where do you think the US economy is? Where do you think it’s heading? Do you agree with President Obama’s merry optimism that “America is back” and we’re in a state of Recovery? Or, do you believe we are still in Recession or perhaps even in Depression?

And for extra credit,” here’s one last question: Come November, will President Obama be (please check one):

___ Reelected ___ Voted Out ___ Impeached?

The Hounds notes from the Regional Entrepreneur Summit (Part 2) - January 11. 2012

The following is Part 2 of a summary of the information provided at the conference on Building Entrepreneurial Communities held this morning Wednesday, January 11, 2012 sponsored by the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Partners in Innovation (NCPI). The conference was held at the Crowne Plaza in Hickory and featured speaker Ted Abernathy who is the Executive Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board who believes that "Complex problems need collaborative solutions. Collaboration is not natural, but by following some basic rules communities can use collaboration to create a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial businesses and collaboration are both a natural fit and a marriage of necessity."

In Part 1 of the presentation you will see local leaders provide ideas, information, and initiatives that can help to turn the Economic plight of our community around. Especially interesting was the information provided by Bill Parrish who is the Director of The Small Business and Technology Development Center and a fellow participant in the Future Economy Council. Much of the information provided within this presentation is relevant to the discussions that have been presented on the Hound.

Here in Part 2, I will write about the Presentation of Ted Abernathy, who in the past was the Director of the Research Triangle Park and wants to work in collaboration to help turn Hickory around. He worked in the past with Bill Parrish of the SBTDC. What you will see is that it isn't us against the World. There are many interested parties in this State that want to see this region turn it around and are willing to help us do just that.

Ted Abernathy - Entrepreneurial Development is Collaboration - Mr. Abernathy first began his presentation by exhibiting percentage of venture capital in the United States. He stated that we aren't going to solve (our problems) by thinking the way everyone else thinks. He added that he was brought in to speak about collaborative models and how we get people to work together to achieve something together. Economic Development has gone from being a game of checkers to becoming three dimensional chess. You have to anticipate and prepare.

 Photos copyright: ©2012 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Used By Permission

John F. Kennedy - "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."


Collaboration is the act of working with one or more people to do something that you can't do yourself.
Collaboration = Value - People collaborate when it is in their interest to do so.
Depends on where you sit - The successful process designs itself so that everyone sees the value in the back end
Crisis & Complacency - Motivation comes when Crisis exceeds Complacency
Context matters - Like a Habitat for Humanity House. Agree to the goal and roles of participants.

5 things that make collaboration hard
1) What is the new normal? There has never been a normal. We have to create the future. If we do not create the future, it will be created for us by external forces. The Churn - there are always jobs being increased and lost in communities. Alvin Toffler - Future Shock - The pace of change is so fast it is making us ill (this was 40 years ago). We want and need to know about where we are headed in the future. Philip Tetlock - You can't know enough to predict.
2)Complexity Conundrum - Changing Trends. The complexity of the world causes most people to tune out. Global interdependence shows that the world is interconnected. Top percent GDP Growers in 2012 - They aren't all where you would think they would be. We are in a Matrix Paradox.
3) Cultural Fragmentation - News/Books/Music/Movies/Information. Lack of Familiarity. Today we get information from many more sources, so we aren't as familiar with where others are coming from.
4) We are in a bad mood - Lack of satisfaction in jobs. Most people say things are worse. 100 years ago the life expectancy was 47 years old.
5)The American Dream Crisis - Vision of America. Opportunity for all. It isn't how you were born; It is what you do with your talents. Mr. Abernathy asked what we thought America would be like in 2050. It is hard to be positive about the future when the media is so negative. Building competitive regional clusters is about enabling entrepreneurship through infrastructure, R&D, and training citizens. Global manufacturing - Top 10 drivers in competitiveness. America has to have a strong manufacturing base.


5 things that make for successful collaborations
1) Understanding motivations - "Their best interests." Regions are in this together. Motivations - The Sawyer effect - Create a message that resonates. Co-opts are created to help shops in an area, because vacancies drag down other businesses in an area. Likewise, regions are in this together. When motivating people to help you, you need to figure out how to motivate people to help you through what they want. All communities are competing for economic success. There will be winners and losers in this process. Specific language matters - Franks Luntz.
2)Build a team. Engage every partner. - Business Advantage Center. Evolution of Groups - they get familiar with each other, then build a common language based upon what they want to do, they create shared visions, then work together and eventually learn to trust one another. This builds Social Capital - or Hardwiring a Community. He addressed the people of Leadership Catawba and told them that if they weren't willing to lead, then they should quit the class. The experience is about networking and building trust.
3) Leadership is crucial and models are changing - Hierarchical or Grass Roots. Leadership is changing - Trust/Public/Private/Non-Profit. "Twilight of the Elite." Effective Regional Leadership. Martin Dempsey Quote. What do we want from leadership? Trust and Action. We want to believe that leaders have our interests at heart. There is a need for a catalyst. We get caught up on the fact we think that this is supposed to be hierarchy. Leadership depends on consensus. We need a shared regional narrative. How do we describe our area and talk about it. "A leader is a dealer in hope" - Napolean Bonaparte. “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” - Greek Proverb. General Martin Dempsey recently said, "In the past, "we would have said we want men who are physically fit, educated, and disciplined. Now, what we way is that we want someone who wants to belong to a values-based group, who can communicate, who is inquisitive, and who has an instinct to collaborate."
4)Narrow whatever it is you are dealing with. The New Economy - how to prepare people and places to succeed in the New Economy. Define the geography. Let the function create the form. Collaborative Capacity -- if there is not a group to keep everything organized, then it will not work. If people don't think the objectives can succeed, then they will fail. You need to set realistic objectives. Collective Success depends on common agendas, shared measurements, mutually reinforcing activities, and support structures.
5) It takes capacity to hold groups together - How do you move people? Social influence - peer pressure. You model the behavior you expect. People get information in different ways, but they expect information. Collective Impact - Success is important.

People receive information in different ways. People are sure that society can't get along, but this isn't anything new. We knew this in the founding of the nation. James Madison - "The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society." Friction - checks and balances. Jacksonianism - Tea Party and other things have happened before and they reset America. Community Resilience was born out of Hurricane Katrina. How do you prepare people before critical times happen? Prepare today for negative events that may happen tomorrow. Communities have to be intentional in what they do in order to be successful. The more social capital, the better.

The Millennial Generation will be the most Entrepreneurial generation that we have ever had. They were born, technological, global, and expecting change to happen. They want to work for themselves.

Southern Growth Policies Board - Southern.org

The Hounds notes from the Regional Entrepreneur Summit (Part 1) - January 11. 2012

The following is Part 1 of a summary of the information provided at the conference on Building Entrepreneurial Communities held this morning Wednesday, January 11, 2012 sponsored by the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Partners in Innovation (NCPI). The conference was held at the Crowne Plaza in Hickory and featured speaker Ted Abernathy who is the Executive Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board who believes that "Complex problems need collaborative solutions. Collaboration is not natural, but by following some basic rules communities can use collaboration to create a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial businesses and collaboration are both a natural fit and a marriage of necessity."

In Part 1 of the presentation you will see local leaders provide ideas, information, and initiatives that can help to turn the Economic plight of our community around. Especially interesting was the information provided by Bill Parrish who is the Director of The Small Business and Technology Development Center and a fellow participant in the Future Economy Council. Much of the information provided within this presentation is relevant to the discussions that have been presented on the Hound. In Part 2, I will write about the Presentation of Ted Abernathy, who in the past was the Director of the Research Triangle Park and wants to work in collaboration to help turn Hickory around. What you will see is that it isn't us against the World. There are many interested parties in this State that want to see this region turn it around and are willing to help us do just that.

Michael Blackburn, CEO of Frye Regional Medical Center and the current chairman of the board of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce mad introductions for each speaker at the event.

Dr. Jane Everson the Chair of the NCPI explained the purpose of the NCPI and how it consists of the UNC system and the region's Community Colleges along with the four county Chamber of Commerce's. She introduced the top three finalist winners of the Edison project and spoke about entrepreneurial initiatives in the area. Dr. Everson is the outgoing Director of the Appalachian State University - Hickory Partnership and the outgoing chair of the NCPI. It will be hard to fill her shoes in these positions, because she has worked hard getting these initiatives off the ground.

Dr Garrett Hinshaw, President of Catawba Valley Community College was the next speaker. He talked about how hard it was to define entrepreneurship and compared the economy of the 1990s to now. What has happened? The challenge comes in the uncertainty of the future. He spoke about Frye Regional Medical Center and a patient with a fibrillating heart. You have to do something. The community is going to have to provide the shock and create the vision and it includes a role to play for every person in the community. He challenged the people at the conference to help determine what the shock will be. We have to determine that action. The answer has to be created. He introduced Bill Parrish.

Bill Parrish is the Director of the The Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC). He paid complements to the work of Dr.s Hinshaw and Everson. He talked about last years event - (Innovation 2010 - Andrew Hargadon - Creating a Network of Innovation). He gave credit to Dr. Jim Zuiches and Dr. Tom White of NC State University, stating this event couldn't have taken place without their help. Bill spoke of the Catawba County Chamber's role in this event and wanted to emphasize Catawba County Chamber President Danny Hearn's point that this is a regional event. He pointed to the organizations that have supported this event.

Bill talked about a study done by a group called Collaborative Economics. Entrepreneurship and small business plays a key role in economic development and is the single business driver of economic well being, technological innovation, and wealth creation. Entrepreneurs are innovators, connectors, and collaborators raising money from people they don't even know. Entrepreneur - a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk, but their are more definition than can be counted.

Execution - the act of putting ones ideas into action... putting it into a business entity that is sustainable.
He pointed to the movie "The Sound of Music" and how Julie Andrews character got things done in spite of children that didn't like her and an overbearing father. Execution separate the dreamer with an idea from the business visionary who takes it forward and creates jobs. He pointed next to Steve Jobs, the president of Apple.

So what? Who Cares? What me worry? Carrying on with business as usual won't get us where we need to go. Manufacturing in the United States was 20% in 1990 and has fallen to below 12%. Manufacturing in the Catawba County was over 50% in 1990 and has fallen to 27%. Technology Explains Drop in Manufacturing Jobs.


U.S. Manufacturing Productivity and Output.

We have lost 35% of our jobs in the 1987-2010 time period shown in the graph above. 49% of rural folks who become unemployed find work in one year. That means that 51% didn't. 30% of these people made less than half of what they made in their previous job. North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center

Dashboard Indicators- Most Communities are not Entrepreneurial
Change in Output - Local Equivalent of the National Gross Domestic Product
Employment Growth
Productivity
Per Capita Income Growth - Jobs is one thing, but to sustain and grow, you need income growth.

Keys to Regional Growth
Skilled Workforce - We are dead last in educational attainment. Local initiatives have created programs to address this. It will take time to turn around.
Business Dynamics - Churning - Entrepreneurial turmoil where businesses are created and destroyed.
Legacy of Place - The cost of outdated facilities and the effects of a shrinking tax base.
Location Amenities - Quality of Life. Will people want to move here?

Environmental Ecosystem
Assets - Education Infrastructure, Financial Institutions, Broadband
Connections - Networking, Partnerships, Collaboration
Culture - The mindset and attitude of the community towards entrepreneurs of different lifestyles.
Quality of Life - The Environment and pools of talent in a community
Combination - Recipe of Ingredients. The community has to put the ingredients together and make them work.

National Trends 2011
Focus on Region - Action and tangible outcomes of regionalism
Reorganizing Economic Development
Access to Capital - As hard to come by as ever
Tax Incentives - NC has a number of them
New Commitments to Technology Based Economic Development (TBED) - More money being spent on targeted research.
Research Investment
Higher Education & Stem Incentives - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

Fortune 500 Replacement
Replacement of 1/3 of companies in 1960 took 20 years, in 1983 it took 11 years, in 1999 it was down to 4 years. Those are the big businesses where things turn slower. Think of the smaller businesses and this churn rate. The entrepreneurs are having to outrun the big guys.

Bill next talked about Facebook
130 - Average # of friends of users of Facebook
50% growth of users in 2011
800 million users worldwide
$70 Billion minimum market cap estimate for when the company goes public


Bill wants us to watch a story that will be broadcast on NBC on January 16, 2012 at 10pm that will discuss the restart of Cochran Furniture. The company is being reborn as Lincolnton Furniture. The company CEO is Bruce Cochran and he was interviewed by Carolina Business Review (starts at the 11:00 mark in the video below).


CBR 2115 - Bruce Cochrane, President & CEO, Lincolnton Furniture Company from WTVI Charlotte on Vimeo.

The Dominoes are falling all around us -- MF Global is the Canary in the Coal Mine

Mathematical impossibilities and the current mega-leveraged markets. Get out of paper. The criminals who are running the economic markets look at us as rabble who are ripe for harvest. They are going to economically rape us. This interview between Warren Pollock and Independent Investment Banker Ann Barnhardt whose primary investments were in livestock and grain. She says it is a no-brainer to get out of the market, because there is no integrity in the market. You cannot react to these markets, because the market (CME) is not fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility.


‘Going Galt’: Hedge Broker Shuts Down Firm With Chilling Letter About the Market - The Blaze - Jonathon M. Seidl - November 18, 2011 - Ann Barnhardt describes herself as a an “an old-school commercial hedge broker specializing in CATTLE and GRAIN.” And she just shut down her business by delivering a passionate and chilling open letter posted on her website. “I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not,” she writes. And then she unloads:


"The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse" - Presenting The First MF Global Casualty - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - November 17, 2011

Presented without comment, merely to confirm that the market as we know it, no longer exists.
BCM Has Ceased Operations (source)
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - November 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST

Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,

It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.

The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.

I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.

Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds. As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility.

And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.

Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.

Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.

To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers. Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law.

As for me, I can only echo the words of David:

“This is the Lord’s doing; and it is wonderful in our eyes.”

With Best Regards-
Ann Barnhardt

The 800 lb. Gorilla - Increasing Jobs = Leveling the Global Playing Field

We can push all of the notions in the world about a service oriented creative economy, but if we don't get consumers back, then we won't grow the economy again. What does it take to grow consumption? People have to have money. How do people get money? As the EF Hutton commercial used to state, "They EEAARRNN IT!!!"

How do they earn it. The average person earns money through labor (a job), We have so debased our real job market, that it is no longer functioning properly. The National average real wage (Based on the Consumer Price Index) has not risen in almost two generations and I will bet you that it has actually fallen "substantially" in our area over that same time.

Below is an excellent article that I have read today that shows ten signs that we are in a free fall and I mean free fall in our economy.

10 Worrying Signs Obviously Missed During Tuesday's Market Rally - http://seekingalpha.com/article/272761-10-worrying-signs-obviously-missed-during-tuesday-s-market-rally?source=email_macro_view

Yes, call me an alarmist. Somebody has to be. But look at the real news. Turn off the TV and get on your computer and use the search engine. It will give you a completely different perspective than the pablum.

...According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller price index the National Index fell 4.2% over the first quarter alone, and is down 5.1% compared to its year-ago level. This means housing prices have now fallen by more than they did during the Great Depression. It also means the housing market is not recovering anytime soon and declines seem to be accelerating.

...Tax revenues were 14.9 percent of G.D.P. in both 2009, and 2010. This is substantially less than the 18.5% postwar average. This means the economy is still struggling and one of key ways to slow the deficit is sorely lagging.

...The Financial Times bureau chief, Jamil Anderlini, came out with a piece showing how the growth in the Chinese property market is not sustainable. Given that some estimates show China now consumes up to 50 percent of key global commodities and materials such as cement, iron ore, steel and coal and Chinese real estate is the main driver of that demand; the bursting of this bubble or even a significant slowdown will have worldwide ramifications.

... May Consumer Confidence fell to 60.8. Estimates were for a reading of 66.3. Chicago PMI (The National outlook for Purchasing Manager's Index) was released and showed a reading of 56.3. This was much lower than the expected projection of 63. The previous reading was 67.3. This seems to show a decelerating rate of economic growth, confirming 2nd QTR GDP estimates probably need to come down further.

On the China Outlook -- Three worrying signs from China. Massive drought has caused food prices to rise a reported 20% this month in Shanghai. Chinese authorities also allowed energy producers to bump prices in some regions as the country is facing the worst energy shortages in a decade. Finally, land prices, which are already down 20% for the year, could fall further as Chinese developers may be forced to write down assets.

All of these people that want to tout the Global Economy, as in expansion helping the United States, better take some smelling salts and realize that if we don't take care of our our own sovereign interests, then we are going to be in a world of hurt. This is the time to place tariffs on labor to protect our labor base and this is the time to start prospecting for natural resources on our continent to protect our national interests. We are so vulnerable right now it is unbelievable.

What do you think China consuming up to 50 percent of key global commodities and materials such as cement, iron ore, steel and coal means? If you carry that out what will it mean for us? Competition for Global Natural Resources is going to cause the prices of commodities to sky rocket. And the Fed printing all of this money is only going to exacerbate that!!!

At a time when we need to be searching for stability, our national leaders are creating instability! We need to demand that they seek stability!

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 10, 2011

The following is a link to high resolution photos of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant taken by an aerial drone on March 20, 2011 - http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-npp/daiichi-photos.htm - You can even download a zip file that will allow you to enlarge the pictures in much greater detail.


Ron Paul to probe US Mint Coin shortage - Kitco - By Daniela Cambone - April 2, 2011 - Paul wants competition in currencies, and to do so, he said the tax on coins needs to be done away with. “Money shouldn’t be taxed with sales taxes or capital gains taxes, that would be my goal,” he said.... In March, Paul introduced H.R. 1098, the Free Competition in Currency Act of 2011, which would repeal legal tender laws in order to prohibit taxation on gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium bullion. The bill has been referred to the House Committees on Financial Services, Ways and Means, and Judiciary.... A staunch critic of the Federal Reserve, Paul said that instead of arguing his case for the Fed to close down tomorrow, he’s arguing the fact it should not hold a monopoly. “They have a monopoly on a type of money that isn’t even constitutional,” he said.... “We would use no force, nobody has to use gold and silver coins,” said Paul. Rather, he said the Fed does use force. “They are a cartel and they make us use Federal Reserve notes,” he said.


Foreclosure crisis: Fed-up judges crack down on disorder in the courts - Palm Beach Post - By Christine Stapleton and Kimberly Miller - April 4, 2011 - Angry and exasperated by faulty foreclosure documents, judges throughout Florida are hitting back by increasingly dismissing cases and boldly accusing lawyers of "fraud upon the court."... "This case should have never been filed," said Lando, who referred to the firm's work on the case as "shoddy" and "grossly incompetent." She called Ben-Ezra a "robot" who filed whatever the banks sent him, and held him in contempt of court. She then gave the homeowner the home - free and clear - and barred the lender from refiling the foreclosure.... Ongoing scrutiny by the FBI, the Florida attorney general, the Florida Bar, the media and defense attorneys has uncovered countless examples of forged signatures, post-dated documents, robo-signing and lost paperwork.... The combined impact will clearly be to change practices and to reduce the amount of corner-cutting the banks and their lawyers are engaged in," White said. "It could mean foreclosures get slower. It could also encourage banks to pursue alternatives to foreclosure."


March Madness: U.S. Gov't Spent More Than Eight Times Its Monthly Revenue - CNSnews.com - By Terence P. Jeffrey - April 4, 2011 - During the month, according to the Treasury, the federal government grossed $194 billion in tax revenue and paid out $65.898 billion in tax refunds (including $62.011 to individuals and $3.887 to businesses) thus netting $128.179 billion in tax revenue for March. At the same time, the Treasury paid out a total of $1.1187 trillion. When the $65.898 billion in tax refunds is deducted from that, the Treasury paid a net of $1.0528 trillion in federal expenses for March. That $1.0528 trillion in spending for March equaled 8.2 times the $128.179 in net federal tax revenue for the month.

The federal government’s cash-flow situation was summed up pungently in Senate Budget Committee testimony by Erskine Bowles, who served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and is now the co-chair of President Barack Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility... “I'm really concerned,” Bowles told the committee last month. “I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. A lot of us sitting in this room didn't see this last crisis as it came upon us. But this one is really easy to see. The fiscal path we are on today is simply not sustainable.


U.S. Corn Supply Shrinking as Meat, Ethanol Demand Send Crop Price Higher - Whitney McFerron and Jeff Wilson - Apr 7, 2011 - Corn stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s largest grower, are plunging to a 15-year low and may be smaller than the government forecast last month as rising demand from makers of feed and ethanol drive prices higher... About 40 percent of the crop is used to make ethanol as the government subsidizes the fuel additive and retail gasoline nears $4 a gallon. Corn futures have more than doubled in the past year to the highest since July 2008, as rising pork and beef prices encouraged demand from livestock producers and as U.S. export-sales expanded at the fastest pace in three years.


Is America Becoming The Land Of The Part-Time Job?: Most Of The Jobs That Are Being Created Are Part-Time Jobs And Some Companies Are Going To A “Part-Time Only Policy” - Before It's News - Thursday, April 07, 2011 - But isn't the employment situation supposed to be getting better? No, it really is not. Yes, the U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in March. However, the truth is that approximately 290,000 part-time jobs were created and about 80,000 full-time jobs were actually lost. This is all part of a long-term trend in America. Good jobs are rapidly disappearing and they are being replaced by low paying service jobs that do not pay a living wage. In many American households today, both parents have multiple jobs. Yet a large percentage of those same households can't even pay the mortgage and are drowning in debt.


Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution - Market Watch - Paul B. Farrell - March 29, 2011 - Here’s how one savvy insider who knows described this Super-Rich Delusion: “The top 1% live privileged lives, aren’t worried about much. Families vacation at the best resorts. Their big concerns are finding the best Pilates teacher, best masseuse, best surgeons, best private schools. They aren’t concerned with the underlying deterioration of America or the world, except in the abstract, because they aren’t directly affected by it. That’s not to say they aren’t sympathetic, aware, or don’t talk about the issues you bring up. They are largely concerned with protecting and enhancing their socio-economic positions, ensuring their families live well. And nothing you write about will change things.”... Warning, in 2011 that attitude is delusional, deadly, yet pervasive in America... They believe they’ll continue living just fine in a depression. But you won’t. Nor will your retirement. Neither will the rest of America. And still the Super Rich don’t care, “except in the abstract, because they aren’t directly affected.”


Gerald Celente on the beginning of the First Great War of the 21st Century

April 8, 2011 - Silver breaks through $40 an ounce - Gold $1465

Silver

Gold

This morning in Hong Kong trading Silver has broken through $40/ ounce, Gold has broken through $1465/ounce. The Gold/Silver ratio now sits at 36.53.

Silver is now only 20% below it's all time nominal level set in 1980. As I have stated before, this is not speculation. This is inflation and a flight to quality. The dollar and fiat currencies are not worth investing in. This is not financial advice. This is empirical evidence and observation. Quantitative Easing has been a total bust and has only further increased speculation in commodities and thus driven up inflation. You need to prepare, because we aren't far from the time when the curtain hiding this mess falls revealing all of the machinations and contortions that the economic policy makers have been weaving. They have failed and we are living through the effects of a Ponzi scheme economy.

Commodities will climb further from here. We are to the point where those who hold short positions in precious metals are going to have to start paying the piper. The short squeeze is on. You won't believe where this will go, especially if you haven't been paying attention or you are in denial. If the central banks try to suppress these tangible assets, it will further drive a stake into fiat currencies such as the dollar and momentum will feed off of itself and move towards even higher inflation until it spirals out of control. It is time to demand a stop to these poor economic decisions. It is time that our government take back the reins of the dollar and get control of our money supply (our currency - the Dollar)!!! Where is the accountability?

Peter Schiff: The Fed's Incompetency Must Stop!

Peter Schiff is the CEO of EuroPacific Capital. He unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2009. You can see him often as a guest on Fox News, Fox business network, and CNBC. He currently has his own radio show on the GCN Radio Network. You can also follow his Video Blog on YouTube - The Schiff Report.


Part 1 - Peter Schiff comments on the Federal Reserve and Cronyism associated with the Government. We are repeating mistakes that got us into this position to begin with. To be on the side of the Working Class, you must support a smaller government. Inflation is the most vicious tax of all. The Federal Reserve has been buying 70% of all Treasuries. This monetization of the debt will cause inflation to grow out of control and that will mean that interest rates will have to rise. That means that the Federal Deficit will feed off of itself and grow exponentially.



Part 2 - The government has postponed the problems we face and this postponement is going to make the issues we face much worse. The government doesn't want us to have an escape valve. The government has undermined our monetary system. Owning precious medals is not undermining our system. Precious metals help to hold the intrinsic value of physical assets. The Government and the Fed do not want to compete against Gold and Silver. The government is failing against the laws of Economics. Controlled Economies do not work and will collapse around the government. The government must stop with stimulus. We have to get back to manufacturing. We need the government to shut down. We need real cuts in government spending. We should be fearful of the government not shutting down. We need to raise interest rates and tighten credit.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 3, 2011

2/3rds of US Corporations Pay Zero Federal Taxes: US Uncut Movement Builds to Make Them Pay Up - The Nation - Alison Kilkenny - March 31, 2011 - “I’m tired of people calling for shared sacrifice and it’s all coming from the workers and nothing’s coming from the top,” says protester Dave Sonenberg. “I’m sick of companies like Bank of America not paying their taxes.”....

Real estate crash catches up to cities as property taxes slide - Bloomberg - By William Selway and Henry Goldman - March 29, 2011 - Local officials are now facing the consequences. Property- tax revenue dropped in the last three months of 2010 at the fastest pace since home prices slipped from their peak more than four years ago, the Census Bureau said yesterday. The decline may continue as values fall further, adding strains to cash- strapped localities that already fired workers, halted projects and cut spending because of the recession that began in 2007.

Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak - Bloomberg - April 1, 2011 - “What in the world are we doing thinking we can pass out tens of billions of dollars to banks that are overseas?” said Paul, who has advocated abolishing the Fed. “We have problems here at home with people not being able to pay their mortgages, and they’re losing their homes.” ...

Fed's Rules Let Brokers Turn Junk Into Cash at Height of Financial Crisis - Bloomberg - By Matthew Leising - Mar 31, 2011 - At the height of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve allowed the world’s largest banks to turn more than $118 billion in junk bonds, defaulted debt, securities of unknown ratings and stocks into cash.... Collateral of those asset types made up 72 percent of the total $164.3 billion in market-rate securities pledged to the Fed on Sept. 29, 2008, two weeks after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to documents released yesterday. The collateral backed $155.7 billion in loans on the largest day of borrowing from the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, which was created in March 2008 to provide loans to brokers as Bear Stearns Cos. collapsed....

Gross Echoes Buffett Saying Treasuries Have ‘Little Value’ on Debt, Dollar - Bloomberg - By Wes Goodman - Mar 30, 2011 - By Wes Goodman - Mar 30, 2011 - The U.S. has unrecorded debt of $75 trillion, or close to 500 percent of gross domestic product, counting what it owes on its bonds plus obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Gross wrote in his monthly investment outlook. The U.S. will experience inflation, currency devaluation and low-to- negative interest rates after accounting for consumer-price gains if it doesn’t reform its entitlement programs, he said... Pimco “has been selling Treasuries because they have little value within the context of a $75 trillion total debt burden,” ... President Barack Obama’s government has increased the U.S. publicly traded debt to a record $9.05 trillion, leading Gross to compare the nation to Greece, which had its credit ratings cut two steps by Standard & Poor’s on March 29... “We are out-Greeking the Greeks,” he wrote.

Underemployment Rises to 20.3% in March - Gallup - April 1, 2011 - Jenny Marlar - Despite the Obama administration's March 16 announcement that unemployment would remain high or increase in coming months, the underemployed in March became neither more nor less hopeful about finding work soon. Six in 10 underemployed Americans are not hopeful they will find work or move from part-time to full-time work in the next four weeks. That translates to 12% of the workforce that is both underemployed and not hopeful they will find their desired amount of work. The lack of change suggests that underemployed Americans anticipated long-term difficulties in finding work well before the administration's formal announcement was made...

Keiser Report: Food Stamp Army

EASY MONEY!!! and a World in Chaos

Great Animation explains the Federal Reserve and our current banking mess related to Fiat Currency!


DON'T TRUST THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT THE SITUATION IN JAPAN. THINK!!!

IS THIS INFORMATION ADDING UP? THE NUMBERS OF DEAD. LOGICALLY, YOU KNOW IT HAS TO HAVE BEEN MULTIPLE TENS OF THOUSANDS.

THOSE THREE CONTAINMENT BUILDINGS STANDING 10 STORIES HIGH. THINK HOW LARGE THAT IS. THINK ABOUT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IMPLODING. THESE BUILDINGS WERE BLOWN AWAY IN A MICROSECOND LIKE THEY WERE NOTHING.

THEY ARE SAYING THAT THE CORE REACTOR HAS NOT BEEN BREACHED AND YET THEY ARE SAYING THERE IS RADIOACTIVITY. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

THEY DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO PANIC, BUT WHAT WILL THIS DO TO THE MARKETS. THE WORLD IS IN CHAOS. THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP ANYWHERE. LOOK AT THE PEOPLE ON THE FRONT LINES PUTTING THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE. MANY HAVE DIED ALREADY. DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT?

AND WHAT ARE THE POLITICIANS DOING?

Tokyo Shares End Day Down 11% - Wall Street Journal - March 15, 2011

We are building towards an end game and you need to prepare. I am begging you to prepare, because the bleeding in the Nikkei will have consequences on our own markets. This is not a joke to me. This is not an overreation by the "Lunatic Fringe." We don't need unprepared people turning into an uncontrollable mob. These problems that we see around the world will come to our shores and we need to be ready. The politicians and the media aren't preparing you. This will only be a Doom and Gloom scenario if so many people aren't prepared that they overwhelm a system that is already faltering. Change is a constant on this planet. That is the reality. You must prepare for the evolution of the system to come!

I prepared to send this out late last night and needed some sleep. In the meantime.
Stocks plunge as Japan nuclear crisis worsens - AP News - March 15, 2011

March Rant -- Recognizing the Economic Tsunami we are in

Does anything that is happening in the world today make sense. We are told that everyone needs to go back to school and learn new skills, but what is being done to re-equip America and re-emerge under this new Workforce Paradigm and how many people will such a paradigm support?

We are told that we are moving towards a Service Economy. What kind of lifestyle will those jobs support. Will these jobs help grow the overall Economy of the United States?

Let's look at support of the Service sector related to the local Retail Economy. I buy very little on the local level. I would like to buy more products from local businesses and I do when I can, but really there isn't much choice on the local retail level.

As far as necessities. I don't buy a whole lot of food, because I eat at least one meal at work, the days that I work. I go out to eat very little, because I have been around restaurants so much that I am disinterested in most of what is offered on the local scene and I can fix more to eat than what is available from these places. Also, I grow my own food as far as vegetables and I only buy meat, cheese, and dairy once a month at Sam's.

As far as discretionary items, I buy most of that stuff off of the internet from online retailers like Amazon.com. Why pay more for it at a local major retailer. It's still going to the same banksters on Wall Street. I'm just cutting out more of the middle men.

I think as we go further down the line that we are going to look to cut out the middle man more and more. The only reason why they were there to start with was because they provided service.

I'll give you an example. My grandparents used to buy their their televisions, electronics, and other household accessories from Caldwell TV. My grandfather had a relationship with them, because he sold them business forms and he became friends with the owner. They would deliver the Console TV, Dishwasher, or whatever and they would install it and make sure that it worked properly. If the TV was broken, then you called up Caldwell and they sent the TV Repairman out to fix it. You built a relationship with the people you bought merchandise from.

Now there is little to no relationship when it comes to any of these purchases and that is what the consumer has come to expect. When you go to a Best Buy or Walmart, you expect that the person who works in the department doesn't know much about what they are selling and you are lucky if they know where the item is located and sometimes you can't even find somebody to help with either or any other issues. If you buy a television or appliance, you process the warranty and if it breaks you get a replacement. If the warranty is out of date, you throw the product away. We have become a disposable society.

I always wonder why at Walmart they have 50 registers and only 5 open. Of course, you can go check yourself out at an automated register.

All of the Nattering Naybobs sit there and tell you that we are becoming a Service Economy. Well, if we are truly becoming a Service economy, then should we not be expecting more service instead of less. Everywhere I go, I'm standing in line or waiting or searching for someone to provide me service. I go to a fastfood restaurant and the tables aren't clean and I have to throw my garbage away and get my own food. How is that a Service Economy. That seems more like a Race to the Bottom / Least Common Denominator Economy.

I don't mean this to be an affront, but it has become very obvious that we have an aging demography in this area. Many days, I walk through work on the way from the kitchen to the bathroom and I look at the dining room and there are very few people who are less than 60 years old out there.

I am a soldier on the front lines of this economy. I feed the people and the people are the marketplace. I know the economy. I witness people ordering split meals, half meals, trying to cut corners on their ordering, and many times not properly tipping the servers who depend on it for their livelihood... And that is a big part of what I have seen related to older citizens that we have in this community's mindset and lifestyle. Austerity is here and you cannot grow an economy through Austerity. Austerity is about survival. Personally, my fingernails are killing me!!!

As I have stated before, we cannot become a service only economy. We must redevelop our Manufacturing Capacity and direct it towards New Technologies related to energy, transportation, and other lifestyle trends.

It is obvious that if we keep heading down this road that we are on, that there won't be much of anything left of our nation. For one, you won't be able to afford anything, because the Corporatocracy is continuing to trim the workforce and its income and individuals are demanding less and less service. That means that people will be lucky to have a job and they are going to be able to afford fewer and fewer retail goods (and services).

I think that if we continue to see the Federal Reserve devalue our currency and the Government help devalue labor by continuing to empower the International Corporatocracy, at the same time the government will be forced to raise taxes on commercial retail activity to service the bloated debt structure, this is creating negative momentum, which is leading to a "Race to the Bottom" scenario, which ultimately leads to nothing.

This imploding economy will force people into a Barter/Trade lifestyle, because you can't trust the currency. First off, you can't trust it because of inflation and second you can't hold onto it, because the government keeps trying to tax it away from you on multiple levels. For sure, the transformational age that we are living in demands that human relations move away from a materialistic and commercial form and towards a truly social, interactive, and functional form if we are to succeed.

People are going to have to interact and help one another out through these difficult times. The most important part of this process is to recognize what is happening and move away from the lies perpetuated by the forces in industry, the media, and government that are attempting to pull the wool over our eyes. In order to succeed against this Economic Tsunami, we must first understand the challenges and then have the courage to face them head on. The sooner we are willing to take action to remedy these consequences; the less the duration of the pain we must endure and the greater our chances of success coming out of this storm that we must admit we are in.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know the choice of the word Tsunami might be considered frivolous, because of what happened in Northern Japan yesterday (3/11/2011), but I do find the word most appropriate for the circumstances that we face. My condolences to the people affected by this natural disaster and all that they have lost and must endure over the coming time period. Japan is in my prayers and it is my hope that we can all come together to help that great nation survive and move forward after such a devastating event. May God bless the people of Japan.

The Federal Reserve's Definition of Normal

(Prologue) The Federal Reserve's Definition of Normal does not include the Middle Class. As a matter of fact, the policies of the Fed are having an effect of destroying the Middle Class by debasing the dollar and rack and ruin for those on fixed incomes. I have links to previous articles below that show that we are in a Hyper-inflationary, Hockey Stick Growth Curve period when it comes to many staple commodities. Only the Presstitutes, as Gerald Celente defines them, in the main stream media are buying and selling the propaganda of The Fed and their cronies in the Federal Government.

A subscriber to the Blog "Seeking Alpha" addresses the issue of Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve's Economic Strategy, which mirrors much of what I have been stressing over the last 2+ years.

...Banana Ben would not want to be recorded in history as the single person most responsible for the demise of the US via currency debasement. History confirms that is one of the surest ways to undermine a country. I therefore concluded (wrongly) that he would not engage in reckless monetization.

We can see how that worked out. So I continued reading trying to find the motivation behind why the Fed does what they do, because it is abundantly clear that what they say has no bearing on reality.

My revised outlook on The Bernank and the Fed in general (excluding Paul Volcker is as follows):
• The Fed works for the international financiers, not the people.
• The Fed will always chose what’s best for the banks over what’s best for the people.
• The financiers maximize debt to maximize profits, be it personal, business or govt.
• The financiers want concentration of power among the megabanks.
• The financiers want control over the political process (They finance elections.)
• The financiers want control over the legislative process. (Done by planted alumni and bought politicians with threat of campaign contributions hanging over them. )
• The financiers control corporations by rewarding short term gain (beat the number = bonuses), but not long term prosperity. Result is outsourcing which weakens the people.
• The financiers pacify the people by “creative financial products” which allow consumers to borrow (enriching the bankers) in order to create the illusion of prosperity.
• The financiers control the population through media propagandists who dumb down the population by deception. Otherwise, it would overthrow the politicians.
• The financiers have no country allegiance. If they destroy the US, they just go somewhere else.
• The Criminal Reserve is just a tool in the hands of international financiers. Currency debasement is their weapon of choice.

The question is, how far will the people let politicians and the media deceive them while the Criminal Reserve destroys the currency? My hope is that something wakes them up before the destruction becomes irreversible.

The only book I have read that provides an explanation of the motivation behind the Criminal Reserve is by G Edward Griffin entitled “The Creature from Jekyll Island”. He maintains the Fed is corrupt by design and the only solution is abolishment.

Links to Hickory Hound Articles that show what is really going on:
The Impending Collapse of JP Morgan
Who's in Charge around here?
An Economy Out of Control
The Food Crisis -- February 19, 2011
Melding the Corporatocracy with a Kleptocracy

Wake Up to two of my favorites - Max Keiser interviews Gerald Celente

(Prologue) - Do you really want to know what is happening with our economy? Here is the interview that pretty much sums it up. These two gentleman along with Bob Chapman and Catherine Austin Fitts are the people that I pay attention to the most when it comes to the current economic realities facing our nation and the rest of the World. Watch this interview. This is the real news. If you don't believe it, then by all means take notes and go check it out. You will see that the Kumbaya garbage we hear on the Boob Tube is just propaganda. Are you making preparations to face the new economic realities? I hope you are.




Join the JOURNALISM 2.0 alliance!!! - The Old media is Dying - They call them TV programs because they are programming YOU!!!

An Economy Out of Control

(Prologue) - In the previous article related to the Food Crisis, you noticed the Hockey stick style increases that have taken place over the last couple of years. This is caused by speculation related to the flooding of the financial system with Digital Dollars. These dollars are not filtering through the economy. These dollars are being used by the banks to purchase derivative investments, which have a multiplier effect on commodities.

The following article from "The Economic Collapse" Blog shows charts very similar to those Hockey stick exponential increases in Sugar, Wheat, Coffee, Cotton, and Beef. The Federal Reserve Has created this mess because of Ben Bernanke and Wall Street's obsession with deflation. Instead, we are seeing hyperinflation in the commodity markets. This is the result of cheapened money that is becoming worthless.

The following charts show the level of government spending, the National Debt, the increase of Interest owed on that debt, household debt, the aggregate of all debt, Unemployment and the Duration of Unemployment, the increase in the Cost of Living (CPI) since the Federal Reserves inception, the increase in the Money Supply, and the increase in the Cost of Oil.

In my opinion, we aren't going to see a constant increase in prices. What we will see is a bumping against the Price Point-Demand ceiling. An example was when oil hit $147+ per barrel in September 2008. Consumers could not afford to pay for energy at these inflated prices and so they adapted down and changed their habits. This reduced demand and subsequently the investors in the Oil derivative markets rushed to get out of the collapsing market. Oil fell to $40 per barrel as a result, but we have seen a steady march back up to the current levels around $90.

We will continue to see this type of volatility in all essential commodities. The trend will be upward, because most commodities are priced in U.S. Dollars and those Dollars are losing value due to the expansion of the Money Supply. But their will be price breaking points, because most consumers are hurting. The one thing that is for sure is that markets such as these are not sustainable, because trust is being lost in the marketplace. Most people are at a loss for what to do. People are tired of getting ripped off by the banks. It is completely unrealistic and basically criminal that the banks are paying .5% to 2% on savings accounts and Certificates of Deposit, but it is not the time to put money in the stock market with the fraud that rampantly flows involving issues of transparency, ignorance and lack of enforcement of fiduciary responsibilities of market makers, the exorbitant fees that brokerage houses charge, and the volatility associated with not knowing what the government might do next.

Look at this Chart comparing today to the Depression of the 1930s:



What Is Wrong With The U.S. Economy? Here Are 10 Economic Charts That Will Blow Your Mind - The Economic Collapse (Blog)

The 10 economic charts that you are about to see are completely and totally shocking. If you know anyone that still does not believe that the United States is in the midst of a long-term economic decline, just show them these charts. Sometimes you can quote economic statistics to people until you are blue in the face and it won't do any good, but when those same people see charts and pictures suddenly it all sinks in. What is great about charts is that you can very easily demonstrate what has been happening to the economy over an extended period of time. As you examine the economic charts below, pay special attention to what has been happening to the U.S. economy over the last 30 or 40 years. The truth is that what is wrong with the U.S. economy is not a great mystery. All of the economic problems that we are experiencing now have taken decades to develop. Hopefully the charts in this article will help people realize just how nightmarish our economic problems have become, because until people start realizing how incredibly bad things have gotten they will never be willing to accept the dramatic solutions that are necessary to fix our financial system.

The sad fact of the matter is that we have been living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world over the last 40 years. All of this debt has purchased a wonderful standard of living for the vast majority of us, but all of this debt has also destroyed the economic future of our children and our grandchildren. Someday future generations will look back on what we have done in absolute horror.

The 10 economic charts posted below are meant to shock you. Most Americans today need to be shocked before they will be motivated to take action. Please share these charts with as many people as you can. Hopefully we can wake enough people up that something will be done about all of these problems while there is still time.

1 - Government spending is expanding at an exponential rate. As you can see from the chart below, federal spending is almost 18 times higher than it was back in 1970. Now Barack Obama has proposed a budget that would increase U.S. government spending to 5.6 trillion dollars in 2021. Just imagine what the following chart would look like if that happens....

2 - U.S. government debt is absolutely exploding. The U.S. national debt is currently $14,081,561,324,681.83. It is more than 14 times larger than it was back in 1980. Unfortunately, the national debt continues to grow at breathtaking speed. In fact, the Obama administration is projecting that the federal budget deficit for this year will be an all-time record 1.6 trillion dollars. Can we afford to continue to accumulate debt at this rate?....

3 - Unless something changes right now, the outlook for U.S. government finances in future years is downright apocalyptic. The chart posted below is from an official U.S. government report to Congress. As you can see, it is projected that interest on our exploding national debt is absolutely going to spiral out of control if we continue on the path that we are currently on....

4 - Household debt has soared to almost unbelievable levels over the last 30 years. The sad truth is that it is not just the U.S. government that has a massive debt problem. U.S. households have also been accumulating debt at a staggering rate. Total U.S. household debt did not pass the 2 trillion dollar mark until the mid-1980s, but now total U.S. household debt is well over 13 trillion dollars....

5 - The total of all debt (government, business and consumer) in the United States is now well over 50 trillion dollars. For the past couple of years this figure has been hovering around a level that is equivalent to approximately 360 percent of GDP. This is a debt bubble that is absolutely unprecedented in U.S. history....

6 - As tens of thousands of U.S. factories get shut down and as millions of our jobs get shipped overseas, the number of unemployed Americans continues to go up and up and up. As you can see from the chart below, there has been a long-term trend of increasing unemployment in the United States. In fact, there are about 3 and a half times as many unemployed workers in the United States today as there were when 1970 began. These jobs losses are going to continue as long as we allow our corporations to pay slave labor wages to workers on the other side of the globe. All of the major trends in global trade are very bad for the U.S. middle class. For example, the U.S. trade deficit with China for 2010 was 27 times larger than it was back in 1990. How long will our politicians stand by as our nation bleeds jobs?....

7 - The median duration of unemployment in the United States is in unprecedented territory. For most of the post-World War 2 era, when the median duration of unemployment in America reached 10 weeks that was considered a national crisis. Well, today competition for jobs is so intense that the median duration of unemployment is now well over 20 weeks....

8 - Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by over 95 percent. One of the reasons given for the existence of the Federal Reserve is that the Fed helps control inflation. But that is a huge lie. The truth is that the United States never had consistently rampant inflation until the Federal Reserve took control. In particular, once the U.S. totally went off the gold standard in the 1970s inflation really started escalating out of control....

9 - Now the Federal Reserve says that the solution to our current economic problems is to print even more money out of thin air. The games that the Federal Reserve is playing with our money supply are simply inexcusable. Just look at what the Federal Reserve has done to the monetary base since the beginning of the recession....

10 - All of this new money is creating tremendous inflation. In particular, the price of oil is now ridiculously high. A high price for oil is very, very bad for the U.S. economy. Our entire economic system is based on being able to use massive quantities of very cheap oil.

Unfortunately, that paradigm is starting to break down and the consequences will be very bitter. Back in mid-2008, the price of oil hit an all-time record of $147 a barrel and subsequently the world financial system imploded a few months later. Well, the price of oil is on the march again and that is very bad news for the U.S. economy....

Needless to say, if the economic trends documented by the charts above continue the U.S. economy will be totally wiped out. The U.S. economy as it currently exists is unsustainable by definition. It is only a matter of time before we slam into an economic brick wall.

We have developed an economy that cannot function without debt, and at this point it seems like almost everyone is drowning in red ink. The federal government is massively overextended, most of our state and local governments are massively overextended, most of our major corporations are massively overextended and the majority of U.S. consumers are massively overextended.

The only way that the game can continue is for the Federal Reserve to print increasingly larger amounts of paper money out of thin air and for everyone in the economic food chain to go into increasingly larger amounts of debt.

But no debt spiral can go on forever. At some point this entire house of cards is going to collapse.

When that happens, there is going to be economic pain that is greater than anything that this country has ever seen before.

Someday we will all desperately wish that we could go back to the "good times" of 2011. A great economic collapse is coming, and all of us had better get ready.