I think it's time Obama brushed up on a few history lessons. He can start with Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. When Obama's not funneling billions to his banker buddies on Wall Street, or forcing barley employed and unemployed taxpayers to pick up the tab for his weekly billion dollar programs, he's enjoying $24,000 dinners, staying in luxury $13,000/night suites, or sending out over-paid gofers to take $328,000 photo-ops of his new house.
On Obama's upcoming meeting in Russia July 6-8, Obama is expected to stay at the Ritz-Carlton in the presidential suite at 430,000 rubles a night ($13,870). The cheapest suite at the hotel costs 35,000 rubles a night ($1,129). According to Pravda, the Ritz-Carlton has closed bookings for July 5-8. The presidential suite is a five-room Kremlin view luxury suite with huge panoramic windows. The bathroom in the suit is tiled with marble, an employee of the hotel said. There is a special room in the bathroom, where Obama will be able to enjoy a tropic shower.
Back in March officials shut down half of New York City so Obama and his wife could sip martinis, dine in a swank restaurant, and see a Broadway show. According to the New York Post, Obama and the First Lady took two helicopters and a small Air Force jet to get to Manhattan where they dined at Blue Hill in Greenwich Village. Transportation for The First Couple’s night out totaled at least $24,000 writes the Post, for the three aircraft used to ferry the Obamas, aides and reporters to New York and back. That's $24,000 funded by the taxpayer. Then there's the private White House parties where Obama and friends are entertained by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Sweet Honey in the Rock. Oh, and let's not forget that Team Obama is making 15% more than what George W. Bush’s crew made in 2008.
While Obama and his crew live it up at the White House, the rest of us are living in a full-blown depression. The real unemployment rate is over 20 percent, and at least one in ten Americans are on food stamps nationwide -- in some states two in ten Americans are on food stamps. Then there's congessional livestyles with all the Dodd type perks and favors you can dream of.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Someone Got To Roubini
I stopped paying attention to Roubini sometime back in the latter part of 2008 when he began advocating massive government intervention. As Twist at Housing Doom pointed out late last year, Roubini was asked the following question in a Bloomberg interview sometime back in November, 2008: If President-elect Barack Obama was to call you today and say, ‘Nouriel, how are we going to get ourselves out of this mess,’ what would you tell him? Among other things Roubini suggested a $700B stimulus package and recapitalization of banks.
Indeed, according to U.S. News and World Report, when Roubini testified at a congressional hearing in late October 2008, here’s part of what he told lawmakers in his written testimony:
It wasn’t until after listening to Peter Schiff’s June 24, 2009, radio broadcast that I realized someone on the Obama team must have "made him an offer he can't refuse"; someone must have told Roubini to do a "Kudlow"-- to promote blithe optimism and government bailouts. On Schiff’s broadcast he began by explaining how Roubini had stolen his “Dr. Doom” title, then Schiff mentioned he’d actually met Nouriel Roubini at a dinner. Schiff expressed admiration for Roubini and commented that he felt Roubini was more well-known in the main stream media circles because he had "professor" credentials, but also because Roubini supported the stimulus packages and bailouts. But “Privately,” said Schiff, “[Roubini] doesn’t support them nearly as much as he supports them in public." Schiff had expected to argue with Roubini about the bailouts and stimulus packages but Roubini agreed with all of Schiff’s criticisms.
Indeed, according to U.S. News and World Report, when Roubini testified at a congressional hearing in late October 2008, here’s part of what he told lawmakers in his written testimony:
Given the size of the expected contraction in private aggregate demand (likely to be about $450 billion in 2009 relative to 2008) a fiscal stimulus of the order of $300 billion minimum (and possibly as large as $400 billion) will be necessary to partially compensate for the sharp fall in private aggregate demand.
This fiscal stimulus should be voted on and spent as soon as possible as delay will make the economic contraction even more severe. A stimulus package legislated only February or March of next year when the new Congress comes back will be too late as the contraction of private aggregate demand will be extremely sharp in the next few months. Such policy action should be legislated right away—in a "lame duck" session right after the election—to ensure that the actual spending is undertaken rapidly in the next few months.
It wasn’t until after listening to Peter Schiff’s June 24, 2009, radio broadcast that I realized someone on the Obama team must have "made him an offer he can't refuse"; someone must have told Roubini to do a "Kudlow"-- to promote blithe optimism and government bailouts. On Schiff’s broadcast he began by explaining how Roubini had stolen his “Dr. Doom” title, then Schiff mentioned he’d actually met Nouriel Roubini at a dinner. Schiff expressed admiration for Roubini and commented that he felt Roubini was more well-known in the main stream media circles because he had "professor" credentials, but also because Roubini supported the stimulus packages and bailouts. But “Privately,” said Schiff, “[Roubini] doesn’t support them nearly as much as he supports them in public." Schiff had expected to argue with Roubini about the bailouts and stimulus packages but Roubini agreed with all of Schiff’s criticisms.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Rev. Manning "Whites Are Gonna Riot"
Rev. James David Manning, pastor at the ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York City, believes the NRA is going to march into black neighborhoods across the country like storm troopers and take out black people in revenge for Obama being president. Both Manning's dilaogue and delivery are comedy at its best.
"There's going to be riots in the streets. People are tired of the long-legged mac daddy kicking them in the face--lying to them. Then you got a bunch of suck-ups like MSNBC news. He's getting these white people all riled up. Members of the NRA are coming to black neighborhood."
It's clear he's covetous of Obama's power and position. One can't help but wonder how many may share his political analysis.
Manning has an interesting past. At one time he was a career criminal having spent several years in prison for robbery, burglary and CCW. He reportedly found "Jesus" in prison and latter graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
Canned Food -- Worth its Weight in Gold
Now I’m not what you call a hard core survivalist, but I do believe in being prepared. Because it won’t be long before we experience an event or series of events that may trigger a major disruption in services. The event(s) could be anything from a bank holiday restricting access to cash via a bank or ATM, to a pandemic requiring a temporary quarantine and the implementation of martial law. The disruption may last a few days or weeks, but a disruption is coming and it won‘t be long.
Many survivalists and gloom and doom blogs espouse acquiring an endless supply of guns and ammo, water filtration systems, six months supply of dehydrated or freeze dried food, trip wire alarm systems, and closed circuit cameras. Most Americans don’t have the necessary capital to invest in all this equipment, nor do they have the inclination to alienate themselves from society and prepare for a Mad Max showdown between child visitations and dental visits. Nevertheless, of one thing you can be certain: we are headed on a downhill path to the destruction of empire towards a major cultural upheaval far worse than anything seen during The Great Depression.
The descent into chaos has already begun; the decline has unraveled slowly but is gaining ever more momentum as unemployment benefits are beginning to expire in waves of hundred thousand blocks, casting the jobless -- stripped of unemployment benefits -- into the ranks of the already swelling welfare rolls as state after state begins falling like dominoes into default. Eventually state aid for food and services will be terminated or so drastically restricted few will qualify to receive aid.
Sooner or later the money you have in an IRA or 401K will be worthless, eaten away by hyperinflation -- I don’t care what deflationists preach; the price for everything that matters is going up (gasoline, electricity, heat, food), as wages go down -- or worse confiscated by the federal government. It’s too soon and costly to stockpile gold and silver coins. But there is something you can do with whatever disposable income you may have now; something that’s within the grasp and purchasing power of working Americans; something you can stockpile that’s truly worth its weight in gold -- canned food. Canned food has an indefinite shelf life, and is far less expensive and more convenient to buy than dehydrated or freeze-dried food. You can build supplies of canned food weekly, search websites and store ads, and shop around for special buys at several supermarkets, but begin stockpiling canned food now.
Many survivalists and gloom and doom blogs espouse acquiring an endless supply of guns and ammo, water filtration systems, six months supply of dehydrated or freeze dried food, trip wire alarm systems, and closed circuit cameras. Most Americans don’t have the necessary capital to invest in all this equipment, nor do they have the inclination to alienate themselves from society and prepare for a Mad Max showdown between child visitations and dental visits. Nevertheless, of one thing you can be certain: we are headed on a downhill path to the destruction of empire towards a major cultural upheaval far worse than anything seen during The Great Depression.
The descent into chaos has already begun; the decline has unraveled slowly but is gaining ever more momentum as unemployment benefits are beginning to expire in waves of hundred thousand blocks, casting the jobless -- stripped of unemployment benefits -- into the ranks of the already swelling welfare rolls as state after state begins falling like dominoes into default. Eventually state aid for food and services will be terminated or so drastically restricted few will qualify to receive aid.
Sooner or later the money you have in an IRA or 401K will be worthless, eaten away by hyperinflation -- I don’t care what deflationists preach; the price for everything that matters is going up (gasoline, electricity, heat, food), as wages go down -- or worse confiscated by the federal government. It’s too soon and costly to stockpile gold and silver coins. But there is something you can do with whatever disposable income you may have now; something that’s within the grasp and purchasing power of working Americans; something you can stockpile that’s truly worth its weight in gold -- canned food. Canned food has an indefinite shelf life, and is far less expensive and more convenient to buy than dehydrated or freeze-dried food. You can build supplies of canned food weekly, search websites and store ads, and shop around for special buys at several supermarkets, but begin stockpiling canned food now.
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