90 Million In Dead Weight

From Zero Hedge:

Things just keep getting worse for the American worker, and by implication US economy, where as we have shown many times before, it pays just as well to sit back and collect disability and various welfare and entitlement checks, than to work .The best manifestation of this: the number of people not in the labor force which in March soared by a massive 663,000 to a record 90 million Americans who are no longer even looking for work. This was the biggest monthly increase in people dropping out of the labor force since January 2012, when the BLS did its census recast of the labor numbers. And even worse, the labor force participation rate plunged from an already abysmal 63.5% to 63.3% - the lowest since 1979! But at least it helped with the now painfully grotesque propaganda that the US unemployment rate is "improving."

The Powder Keg Is Building

From Zero Hedge:

it is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to
88,419,000.  This is the highest on record. The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%.

Almost 46% of working age adults are not employed,this is not good.In fact it would have been better if unemployment went up,rather than the labor force to shrink.This is a powder keg waiting to explode!

Those 'Not In The Labor Force' At Record Highs

From Zero Hedge:

The unemployment rate drops to 8.2% for one simple reason: the number of people not in the labor force is back to all time highs: 87,897,000.

This is actually worse news than if the unemployment numbers went up.Remember what our mama's said about idle hands,'they are the devil's playground.'If people are not up and going to work,what are they doing?

'Obama's Crazy Union Math'

Why isn't Bill Whittle invited to be a pundit on any of the network news shows?I find his insights to be far superior than most of the so called conservative pundits on FOX,CNN,or any where else for that matter.Maybe a write in campaign is in order?

Bernanke Warns Congress That The Nation Is Headed For A 'Massive Fiscal Cliff'

Ben Bernanke stated the obvious but still doesn't have a clue:

Congress risks taking the economy over a “massive fiscal cliff,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers on Wednesday.
In remarks that hit Wall Street stock prices, the central bank boss suggested the economy could hit a serious roadblock if Congress allows the Bush tax rates and a payroll tax cut to expire and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to be implemented simultaneously in January.

“Under current law, on Jan. 1, 2013, there’s going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases,” Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee. “I hope that Congress will look at that and figure out ways to achieve the same long-run fiscal improvement without having it all happen at one date.

Here is the problem,Big Ben,we are headed towards a cliff,but spending cuts IS NOT driving us over that cliff.Its SPENDING that's sending us to doomsday.We have a government that not only we,the United States can't afford,but the whole world together can't afford us either.We literally owe more money than their is in the whole wide world.

What Bernanke knows is,that our economy has been made dependent on the Federal government by the Keynesian's and the progressives,and when we cut the budget -and we will either by choice or force- it is going to hurt our economy.So many,from the poorest to the richest receive subsidies from the government in some form,that to eliminate just a small portion of those subsidies would have some adverse effect on our economy.But for us to get fiscally healthy that is a pain we must endure.

On another note,Ben Bernanke also asked Congress to vote on a Constitutional amendment that would make rocks and sticks legal U.S. currency,since Quanative Easing has made our money worth as much.

'Gallup Poll Suggest Spike In Unemployment For February'

From Hot Air:

Something appears to be happening in the last few weeks to push employment back down in Gallup’s survey, usually a good if not exact indicator of official trends from the BLS.  It’s unclear what that might be, although it probably relates to current and anticipated demand.  The advance GDP report for 2011Q4 was a decent 2.8%, but the real final sales number was under 1%, which indicates inventory inflation and signals lower output in succeeding quarters, and also indicates flagging demand.
The other possibility is the anticipated rise in energy prices, especially in gasoline.  That will have a corrosive effect on disposable income in two directions — directly at the pump, where it will cost more for consumers to come to market, and on the prices of goods at the market when they arrive.  That will lower demand even further, as seen in the rapid rise of gas prices at this time last year.  Businesses might be bracing for this by postponing replacement hiring or trimming staff, especially with CBO outlooks for growth this year and next being 2.0% and 1.1%, respectively.
We’re two weeks away from the February employment report, but this precursor from Gallup isn’t good news at all.  We’ll see if it’s an outlier this month, or a warning.

It will be interesting to see if Obama's unemployment numbers match Gallup's?

'U. S. Dollar Is Now Worth 3.8 Cents'

Via Free North Carolina:

A Government Induced Coma

From The Market Ticker:

What Mr. Schwab is missing here is that The Fed is hardly an "independent" central bank.  It is in fact beholden to Congress, which has pumped up $5 trillion in debt over the last three years.  That debt has a servicing cost, and it is the "ultra low" interest rates that make this temporarily affordable. 
How is Congress going to service this debt when the rate of interest rises?  More to the point, where are the adults in the room in Washington DC?  We've had this on both sides of the aisle -- "we must stimulate the economy!" -- with borrowed money.
Outright bribery of the electorate both hasn't and can't work to lead to a durable recovery.  Instead, it has backed Bernanke and Congress into a corner.  When rates rise to just a blended 4% Congress will be facing a $600 billion annual interest bill.  From where will the money come?
This is the trap into which Japan fell and what we are facing today.  It is an extraordinarily destructive cycle that is very, very difficult to break, because it requires pulling the liquidity support at the same time Congress dramatically raises taxes, cuts spending (real cuts, not the imaginary cuts from "baseline" budgeting) or both.  In short it requires admitting that we took fiscal heroin to avoid pain and accepting the accumulated damage for a period of time, accepting the "deferred depression" that we all tried to hide.

Our economy is in a government induced coma.If the economy was to take off and grow,it would cause a rise in interest rates that would make our national debt unserviceable.So our 'masters' in Washington -who sold us down the river to China- must keep a lid on our economy,lest we risk economic collapse because we can't pay the interest to our debt.

This is why Obama wants to raise taxes on richest 1%,just to pay the interest to the national debt.That's why also,he is leaving Iraq and Afghanistan,to reduce costs just to pay the interest to the national debt.

If we don't balance our budget now and get a handle on our national debt,it will swallow us whole.

Just Can't See The Big Picture

U.S. Presses South Korea To Reduce Oil Imports From Iran:

Washington is trying to curtail Iran’s oil exports, its main revenue source, and isolate the central bank. Delegations from the State, Energy and Treasury Departments are fanning out to Iran’s major customers, as well as to rival oil producers, to enlist their help in stifling Iran’s oil exports while making up any gap in supplies.
South Korea, a crucial American ally, voiced support for Washington’s efforts to check Iran’s nuclear program. Seoul depends on the United States for its defense against North Korea and works together with Washington to curb the North’s nuclear weapons program. American officials believe that a successful crackdown on Iran’s nuclear program could help curb North Korea’s.
But leaders of South Korea, which depends on imported oil, fear a sudden reduction in purchases from Iran might disrupt South Korea’s energy security and raise oil prices. Fighting inflation is President Lee Myung-bak’s key policy promise for 2012.
Seoul has yet to announce whether and by how much it might reduce its oil imports from Iran.

Our leadership in Washington is blind.They cannot see the big picture.As we seek to "curtail Iran's oil exports,"we should be increasing our own oil production and exports to supplant theirs and over take it.It would not only put a crimp in Iran's own source of revenue,but would give a much needed boost to our own economy.But,alas we can't see the forest for the carriboo.

Ann Barnhardt Is Calling It Quits

Ann Barnhardt:

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.

'Crisis Of Decadence'

Mark Steyn:

As America sinks into a multi-trillion-dollar debt pit, it is fascinating to listen to so many of my friends on the right fret about potential cuts to the Pentagon budget. The problem in Iraq and Afghanistan is not that we are spending insufficient money, but that so much of that money has been utterly wasted. Dominant powers often wind up with thankless tasks, but the trick is to keep it within budget: London administered the vast sprawling fractious tribal dump of Sudan with about 200 British civil servants for what, with hindsight, was the least worst two-thirds of a century in that country’s existence. These days I doubt 200 civil servants would be enough for the average branch office of the Federal Department of Community Organizer Grant Applications. Abroad as at home, the United States urgently needs to start learning how to do more with less.

As I said, these are more or less conventional symptoms of geopolitical decline: Great powers still go through the motions but increasingly ineffectually. But what the Council on Foreign Relations types often miss is that, for the man in the street, decline can be very pleasant. In Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, the average citizen lives better than he ever did at the height of Empire. Today’s Europeans enjoy more comfortable lives, have better health, and take more vacations than their grandparents did. The state went into decline, but its subjects enjoyed immense upward mobility. Americans could be forgiven for concluding that, if this is “decline,” bring it on.
But it’s not going to be like that for the United States: Unlike Europe, geopolitical decline and mass downward mobility will go hand in hand. Indeed, they’re already underway. Whenever the economy goes south, experts talk of the housing “bubble,” the tech “bubble,” the credit “bubble.” But the real bubble is the 1950 “American moment,” and our failure to understand that moments are not permanent. The United States emerged from the Second World War as the only industrial power with its factories intact and its cities not reduced to rubble, and assumed that that unprecedented preeminence would last forever: We would always be so far ahead and so flush with cash that we could do anything and spend anything and we would still be Number One. That was the thinking of Detroit’s automakers when they figured they could afford to buy off the unions. The industrial powerhouse of 1950 is now a crime-ridden wasteland with a functioning literacy rate equivalent to West African basket-cases. And yes, Detroit is an outlier, but look at the assumptions its rulers made, and then wonder whether it will seem quite such an outlier in the future.

'BET's founder Robert Johnson To Obama:Stop Attacking The Wealthy'

BET founder Robert Johnson:

"I didn't go in to business to create a public policy success for either party, Republican or Democrat. I went in business to create jobs and opportunity, create opportunity, create value for myself and my investors. And that's what the president should be praising, not demagoguing us simply because Warren Buffet says he pays more than his secretary. He should pay the secretary more and she will pay more."

"I'm 76 And Tired" Bill Cosby (Bogus Email)

Bill Cosby didn't say this,but he should have.

Via In the Spotlight:

 ”I’m 76. Except for brief period in the 50′s when I was doing my National Service, I’ve worked hard since I was 17. Except for some serious health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn’t call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I’m tired. Very tired.
“I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it. “I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers”; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an andShari’a law tells them to.
“I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia, New Zealand, UK, America and Canada, while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance.
“I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.
“I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?
“I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. “I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor. “I’m really tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems. “I’m also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and early 20′s bedeck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making themselves un-employable and claiming money from the Government.
“Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 76. Because, mostly, I’m not going to have to see the worldthese people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter and her children.
“Thank God I’m on the way out and not on the way in.”

Get Ready For Higher Energy Costs And Power Shortages

From the Washington Post:

Over the next 18 months, the Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a flurry of new rules to curb pollution from coal-fired power plants. Mercury, smog, ozone, greenhouse gases, water intake, coal ash—it’s all getting regulated. And, not surprisingly, some lawmakers are grumbling.

Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides

45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs.45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs.

This is all being done in support of a myth and a hoax,called global warming,the economy be damned.

This Is Crazy Talk

White House Press Secretary,Jay Carney:

"I understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief to people who need it, but how does that create jobs," Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler asked Jay Carney at Wednesday's WH briefing.

Carney responded: "Oh, uh, it is by, uh, I would expect a reporter from the Wall Street Journal would know this as part of the entrance exam."

"There are few other ways that can directly put money into the economy than applying unemployment insurance," Carney said.

Carney answers the question: "It is one of the most direct ways to infuse money directly into the economy because people who are unemployed and obviously aren't running a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get. They're not going to save it, they're going to spend it. And with unemployment insurance, that way, the money goes directly back into the economy, dollar for dollar virtually."

"Every place that, that money is spent has added business and that creates growth and income for businesses that leads them to decisions about jobs, more hiring. So, there are few other ways that can directly put money into the economy than applying unemployment insurance, Carney said.

This is ridiculous,next Carney-a.k.a. Obama- is going to pee on our leg and tell us its raining,an absolute joke!

Michelle Bachmann:"We Embrace Being Greece"

From a previous post,America,Behold Your Future,I wrote,to qoute myself,in reference to Greece;

This will be us very soon,if we don't get our fiscal house in order,now.

That future is now!

Michelle Bachmann;

If Sarah Palin doesn't jump into the race soon,I may be soon supporting Michelle Bachmann for POTUS.

A Game Of Charades

That's what all this debt ceiling squabble has been,a game of charades.Nobody-Republicans or Democrats- really wants to balance the budget and begin to reduce our debt;through gimmicks they move money here and there,call it a cut all the while they are increasing the budget.If you or I did that we would go to jail for fraud.

Here is what Moody's thinks of all our boondoggles;

The "limited magnitude" of both debt plans put forward by congressional leaders would not put the nation's AAA credit rating back on solid footing, Moody's Investors Service announced Friday.
"Reductions of the magnitude now being proposed, if adopted, would likely lead Moody's to adopt a negative outlook on the AAA rating," the credit rating agency said in a new report. "The chances of a significant improvement in the long-term credit profile of the government coming from deficit reductions of the magnitude proposed in either plan are not high."
It added that "prolonged debt ceiling deliberations" have increased the odds of a downgrade, but that the firm is still confident policymakers will avoid a default.
"It remains our expectation that the government will continue with timely debt service," the firm said.
It also clarified that as far as it is concerned, the nation will only default if it misses an interest or principal payment on U.S. debt, not if it misses payments on other obligations like federal employee salaries or Social Security benefits.

The report also gives credence to a claim popular among Republicans: that the government has enough cash to avoid a default even past the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department.

"If the debt limit is not raised before August 2, we believe that the Treasury would give priority to debt service payments and could thus postpone a potential debt default for a number of days," it said. "Revenues would be more than adequate for some period of time to meet those payments, although other outlays would be severely reduced as a result."
Moody's previously put the nation's top credit rating on watch for a downgrade on July 13, as lawmakers continue to fight over a deal to raise the debt limit.
While Moody's is confident it will not have to downgrade the nation's rating because of a default, it maintained that long-term debt and deficit problems will continue to weigh on the AAA mark.

If the GOP had any guts-outside of 22 in the House they don't-they would tell Harry Reid where to stick it and do nothing,laying it right in Obama's lap telling him,"its your turn now big boy,prioritize the budget and cut it."That would never happen though,Obama would play hard ball and those delicate daisy's in the GOP would wilt in the sun and cave.We can all dream though,can't we.

One last thing,RUN,SARAH,RUN!

Uh-Oh

From Yahoo;

Bad news, stock-market bulls: Corporate insiders are selling their companies' shares at an abnormally fast pace.
In fact, one measure of that selling activity shows insiders of NYSE- and AMEX-listed companies recently were selling at the fastest rate since data began being collected in the early 1970s, four decades ago.
On the theory that insiders know more about their companies' prospects than do the rest of us, this is an ominous sign

Is their any good news out there?

Hat tip to III Percent Patriots.

We Know What To Do,We Just Lack The Will To Do What Is Right!

From Punditt & Pundette;

Call me cynical but I don't think it matters much either way. Trying to stanch a hemorrhage with a pinky-sized bandaid won't prevent the inevitable bleed-out. Most Americans are either oblivious to the fiscal mess we're in or panicked by Obama and the liberal media into the view that their intransigent representatives need to hurry up and "fix" this with more borrowing. What's clear is that we -- Congress and most Americans -- lack the will to deal with it in any significant way.

We can blame Obama,John Boehner,or any other politician all we want to,but at the end of the day this whole mess-this massive hole of debt we are in- is all our fault-We The People's fault.The American people always get what we want and the truth be told we want big government no matter how bad its crushing our economy.We may rail against it,but when it comes time to do something about it,we hem and haw and do very little to reduce the size of government,because we embrace security over liberty.

That's where the real debate is isn't it,between liberty and security.Would you rather be free,governing yourself,answering only to God and your family,or would you rather feel safe and secure,letting a government handle all the unpleasant things in life,making all those difficult decisions for you?We have chosen security,but security comes with a price,your liberty.

The Boat Is Sinking...............

The boat is sinking.We have and are taking on too much debt.We should be bailing water-cutting the budget- but are leaders in Washington are debating on how much to enlarge the hole in the bottom of the boat to take on more debt,because only in Washington Bizzarro World is the solution for existing debt is to add on more debt on top of that debt.

From The Market Ticker;

 

S&P says it must be FOUR TRILLION.  Four is greater than two - by 100%.

Therefore, no matter what sort of crap the Democrats spew, until and unless they put a credible plan on the table that achieves four trillion in actual deficit reduction neither party is serious.
No, this is not a pass for the Republicans.  They haven't put forward a credible plan either.
The fact of the matter is that both parties are well-aware that addressing the problem will cause an immediate contraction in GDP.  If you get rid of deficit spending it's an immediate 12%+ hit.  If you cut in half it's 6%. 
Pick one - there's no resolution that actually fixes the problem and avoids this.
Either come up with a $4+ trillion plan which is still going to produce a monstrous amount of damage and will only extend the time before we blow up - not fix it - or shut up and go home.
The markets are done with the bullcrap - they know the Democrats and Republicans are lying and they're not going to believe either of you any more.  Either cut it out Reid - and Boehner - or watch the markets crash and, once the downgrades come, you will risk getting too close to the critical point in the gravity well at which point disaster is inevitable.  

Buy Gold! Pretty soon our money wont be fit to wipe our own @$$ with.