Buying gold to protect your wealth? Watch out for bubble burst II !

 

When Nouriel Roubini talks, the world listens. Roubini is, of course, the once-obscure New York University economist whose dire warnings about a financial crisis proved depressingly prophetic. Last week, Roubini was shouting. Writing in the Financial Times, he warned that the Federal Reserve and other government central banks are fueling a massive new asset "bubble" that -- while not in imminent danger of bursting -- will someday do so with calamitous consequences.

 

Here is Roubini's argument: The Fed is holding short-term interest rates near zero. Investors and speculators borrow dollars cheaply and use them to buy various assets -- stocks, bonds, gold, oil, minerals, foreign currencies. Prices rise. Huge profits can be made.

But this can't last, Roubini warns. The Fed will eventually raise interest rates. Or outside events (a confrontation with Iran, fear of a double-dip recession) will change market psychology. Then investors will rush to lock in profits, and the sell-off will trigger a crash. Stock, bond and commodity prices will plunge. Losses will mount, confidence will fall and the real economy will suffer.

...

Roubini's new bubble remains unproved. But this doesn't invalidate his warning. We've learned that there's a thin line between promoting economic expansion and fostering bubbles. With hindsight, lax Fed policies contributed to both the "tech" bubble of the late 1990s and the recent housing bubble, though how much is debated.

The most worrying signs of speculative excesses, says Tran, involve some Asian and Latin American developing countries. They've received sizable capital inflows (money from abroad). These have boosted local stock markets and reflect disaffection with the dollar. Their central banks -- imitating the Fed -- have also kept local interest rates low, fueling rapid credit growth. Some of their stock markets have exceeded previous highs. These countries face a dilemma. Raising rates may attract more "hot" foreign capital; keeping them low may encourage speculative borrowing in local currency.

But the dilemma arises from the Fed's low interest rates and the weak dollar. The conclusion: how deftly the Fed navigates from its present policy matters for the world as well as the United States. If it's too fast, it may kill the economic recovery; if it's too slow, it may spawn bubbles -- and kill the recovery.

WaPo via Fark

 

The end is nigh!!! I am waiting for the moon to bleed and the plague of locusts to start.

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I don't get the same message

Here's a very sad story about a man who died far too young and the wife and children he left behind.  It's supposed to make you believe that we need national health care, but that's not what it pushes me too.

It pushes me the other way.

She believes, as does the writer apparently, that if only we had nationalized health care, records would easily follow patients, and diagnoses would be quick, and paperwork would be readily available, and nurses would feed patients even before they were formally admitted.

I see things the other way around:  it's very easy, under a heavily bureaucratic system, to kick the can uphill.  "Sorry, I can't do that because it's against regulations" is the easiest excuse in the book, and it's the one you'll get from 99% of all government workers.

Think of going to the DMV for your medical records.

It seems clear that there was poor handling of her husband.  But she believes that more government will make it better?

I don't believe it.  Not in a million jillion years.

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New "Contract with America"

Republican chairman Michael Steele today unrolled the GP's effort to recapture the House and Senate in the 2010 mid-terms by revealing his "Contract with America", a revival of the 1994 document that Newt Gingrich used to wrestle Congress away from the Democrats.

"We are promising a new dawning of politics in this country, and this is the manifesto that's going to show Americans what conservatism is all about!" Steele said during an appearance on MSNBC.

"We want to reassure women that they are important to the Republican party," Steele said.  "That's why we advocate changing the gender pronoun from Women, which currently makes them seem subservient by the repitition of the male gender pronoun, to Breeding Systems, which more accurately represents how we view them."

He went on to say that "the new contract also addresses health care for our most at-risk citizens.  Specifically, it says that we want the working poor, children, and the elderly exposed to harmful diseases as much as possible to thin their ranks.

"We want to acknowledge the changing beliefs of this country by modifying the pledge of allegiance to be 'one nation under a white God.'  We want to tackle the issue of immigration by forcing them to live in ghettos and making it legal for vigilante groups to hunt illegals on the borders like wild animals."

Steele also said that "We want to ease regulations on big businesses to allow them to pollute directly into aquifers and virgin forests, and we want to raze orphanages to make way for high-rises and luxury condos.

"And we promise to start three new wars every year until the world is subjugated at our feet.  This is the new Republican party!  Can I get a fist bump over here?"

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Aw, seems Ricky Hollywood doesn't like slander and libel now

Levi Johnston's lawyer sent a legal notice to Twitter demanding they pull an account that was pretending to be his worthless self.

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Code Pink Now Branches Out To Intimidate And Harass Children

{UPDATE! It appears that the Moron in Chief hs this story up as well.-ed }I would ask them if they had any shame, but I think we all know the answer to that query, especially after shit like this.

“While the Obamas host a Halloween Party outside the White House for military families, peace activists will also don costumes and call on Obama to oppose the surge in Afghanistan and end the wars… The activists will be dressed as zombie soldiers, ghosts of war victims, a monstrous Obama’s Afghanistein and more.”

Here is a video of the deal:

I have a double barrel response to Code Pink below the fold.

more...

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Why, yes, apologizing for landing on the moon IS next

Moonbattery, indeed.

When a NASA spacecraft rammed into the moon in October, it tossed up a hard-to-see plume of lunar material.

But the event also stirred an observable cloud of public anxiety and protests in some quarters about "bombing" the moon, a backlash that may hint at a rising "Friends of the Moon" movement.
...
In the Huffington Post, screenwriter Amy Ephron called it "NASA's own version of shock and awe" and put in motion a "Help Save the Moon" Twitter Page in the hope that readers "can convince NASA not to try any further experiments of this kind," she wrote.
...
The Chicago Surrealist Movement put its muscle behind a "Stop NASA From Bombing the Moon" campaign...In this case, the moon petition tagged the NASA experiment as "a hostile act of aggression and a violent intrusion upon our closest and dearest celestial neighbor."

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What's Next? Apologizing To The Moon For Us Landing On It?

Why do I have a feeling this will just end up as another Apology Tour Stop?

Look, I do not want to see any US President go over to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, piss on the memorials there, and otherwise mock the Japanese for what happened. But I sure as hell cannot tolerate apologizing to Japan for doing whatever we needed to stop the war. Besides, Japan has not exactly been willing to apologize to her neighbors for shit like the Comfort Women, the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and so on, so why the fuck should we apologize for winning and stopping the slaughter? Yeah, the A-Bombs and the destruction the produced were horrible, but so fucking what? Harry Truman felt compelled to do what he needed to do, and he fucking did it. And the worst war the world had ever seen came to an end because of it.

Jeebus Titty Fucking My Friend's Stepmom In The Hayloft Christ, what the fuck is wrong with the leftist mindset that they feel compelled to apologize for every fucking thing out there, except insulting domestic political opponents?  What the fuck is wrong with American Exceptionalism, American Freedom, and the triumph of those ideals that they must apologize for it, do whatever they can to rein it in, or try to avoid mentioning it in anything but the vaguest of terms? And what the fuck is wrong with the leftist mindset that they would rather see us lowered to the level of the rest of the world than see the rest of the world elevated to our standards? I mean, if you think Cuba or Europe are such fucking awesome places to emulate, then fucking live there. You won't see us shooting at you if you try to leave.

Gah! This pile of horseshit is so aggravating, where will it stop? Where else, for what, and to whom will Obama apologize next? Your guess is as good as mine.

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My weekend

At the risk of wearing out my welcome, I'm gonig to whore out my own blog here.  But I defend it with the following arguments:  I posted something earlier exclusively here, and I would post this here but they're super-duper long and it's always been my custom to keep my personal stuff over on my own blog.

Now that the excuse-a-tizing is out of the way, here's how my first weekend alone with the darlings went:

Saturday morning I found out all about the house at night.

Saturday evening we went to a party.

Sunday was not without its charm, especially when the heavens opened and God took pity upon me.

Monday I went to work, or as I call it, a mini-vacation from my wife's hellish spawn.

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If this is true, then I don't even know what to say

I'm sure everyone say this over at the Head Moron's but I must vent my rage. First, the supposed quote:

If, in fact, the President of the United States used the term teabag, then I'm done.  All the done.  President Obama must not be my President since it's clear that he does not believe that he is.  Don't try to tell me that he's not aware of the connotations and meaning of that term.  Do.  Not.  Even.  If he's not, then someone should have told him this.

You know what?  The Presidency of the United States of America is not Xbox Live.  The President of the United States should not slang and terminology that has its greatest parlance amongst 13 year old boys playing Halo.  This is not a game.  This is not a joke.  This is the Presidency of the greatest country on this planet.  If nothing else, the office is deserving of respect.  This?  This is indicative of a level of classlessness to which not even Bill Clinton would sink. 

It's pathetic.  It's reprehensible.  And if the President did not say this but it is the paraphrase of Rep. Blumenauer, then Rep. Blumenauer owes by the President and the public a massive apology.  If not?  Then President Obama needs to be asked, preferably by Jake Tapper, if he used that term and, if so, to provide a credible explanation for referring to his opponents using a gutter level sexual slur. 

Oh.  Look.  Jake Tapper just tweeted that he will not ask any questions using the word "teabag".  Well, so much for speaking truth to power there Mr. Tapper.  Yes, it's relevant.  Yes, it's important.  It is demonstrative of the manner in which the President of the entire United States views a substantial minority of the citizens. 

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Team Obama, Economic Geniuses

Thank you, Larry Summers, for this quote.

 

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Dear Plebian

more...

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And speaking of Iran...

I'm sure everyone has seen the headlines regarding the three hikers that strayed over the Iraq border into Iran.  Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal have been detained in Iraq since July 31, under speculation that they were spies.  The Iranian state newspaper recently announced that the three will be charged with espionage.  Sharia law dictates that espionage is punishable by death.  I wonder how that compares to the sentence Najibullah Zazi is going to receive for attempting to blow up a subway?

Sky News speculates that the three are held as hostages rather than spies.

The republic's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in September that the detainees' release might be linked to the release of Iranian diplomats he said were being held by US troops in Iraq.

And good old Hilly, all she's doing is crying "Can't we all just get along?"

Speaking in Berlin, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the news and appealed for their release.

"We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever," Mrs Clinton said.

She urged Tehran to free the group, calling on the authorities to "exercise compassion".

Shane Bauer is from Boulder, just a few miles up the road from here.  I've never met him, and although I don't agree with his politics I've been insanely jealous of his photography work for quite some time.  I can only hope that some of the bigwig Democratic fundraisers in Boulder are putting pressure on the Obama administration to bring these kids home.  But who am I kidding?  I'll be surprised if we see anything more than Hillary's brief statement.

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Major Al-Qaida Attacked On NY Subway Foiled?

 Wow. You mean that despite Obama's willingness to give in to Iran and Al-Qaida, they still want to kill us? Color me shocked.

The chemicals bought were similar to those used to make the 2005 London Tube and bus explosives which killed 52 people.

Zazi, from Denver, Colorado, is understood to have been given instructions by a senior member of al Qaeda in Pakistan over the internet.

US authorities allegedly found bomb-making instructions on his laptop and his fingerprints on batteries and measuring scales they seized.

A phone containing footage of New York's Grand Central Station, thought to have been made by him during a visit a week before his arrest, was also found along with explosive residue. Zazi was also said by informants to have attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.

The alleged plot was unmasked after an email address that was being monitored as part of the abortive Operation Pathway was suddenly reactivated.

Operation Pathway was investigating an alleged UK terrorist cell but went awry after the then Met Police counter-terrorism head Bob Quick was pictured walking into Downing Street displaying top secret documents.

Eleven Pakistani suspects were arrested immediately after the gaffe but later released without charge.

However, security staff continued to monitor the email address which eventually yielded results.

The British discovery also came at just the right time – the US had threatened to sever intelligence links over the release of Lockerbie bomber Al Megrahi.

A British security source told The Sun: "This was excellent work and highlights the fact we produce good information.

"(The US authorities) were delighted with the intelligence we gave them and believe it helped prevent a catastrophic attack."

 

 

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The Lizard King

And the winner of the Obamacare protest poster contest is...

... this guy:


h/t Amanda Carpenter

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Ah, nostalgia

Maybe I'm getting forgetful in my old age, but I don't seem to remember a whole bunch of people getting shot trying to cross over to your side of The Wall.

Dumbass.

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Ho Hum. Another Day, Another Round Of SEIU Thugs Beating Somebody Up

This time it was in California.

Ken Hamidi is a state worker at the California Franchise Tax Board. Last night he walked into a union hall in Sacramento for an SEIU local 1000 meeting.

"We had every right to be here, very simple; it wasn't anything private or anything exclusive," said Hamidi.

But Hamidi says the union members did not want him there.

"Three, four people jumped at me, wrestled with me, then did all that," said Hamidi. "I was covered in blood and then over to the emergency room."

Photos of Hamidi in the hospital show him bloodied from the brawl. So why did this happen? Besides being a state worker, Hamidi says he's an unpaid reporter for a cable access show and a vocal critic of the SEIU. He calls the state workers' union corrupt.

"This is a union hall that is leased and is being furnished and equipped and everything with our money," said Hamidi.

Hamidi says he came to the hall to expose how he says SEIU union leaders are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a political race, he claims, they have no right to do. After he and a photographer walked in to the meeting, it didn't take long for Hamidi to be right out the door and on his way to the hospital.

Something tells me that the beating in St. Louis earlier this year by SEIU thugs of an Obamacare opponent was not an isolated event.

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Henry Waxman To Stupak Supporters: "Thanks, But Go Away Now."

How fucking stupid were the Stupak Amendment Supporters? Did they really fucking believe that their anti-abortion measure would survive the goatse fucking and sausage making that is legislating? Good fucking grief, people! Even I could see this one coming, and to have The Nostrils of Fuckfacedness admitting that the Stupak Amendemnt will never see the light of day is extra aggravating.

“The bill, if it passes, will be up in conference with what the Senate passes, and then we will have to work there to resolve differences and to fashion one bill that we will then kick back to our respective chambers to get the president to sign after we pass it.”

In other words, the Stupak people were naive dupes and useful idiots for Pelosi. Bra-fucking-vo, assclowns! Bra-fucking-vo!

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Talk about unfounded fears

What's about the last thing in the world that's about to happen? Oh, maybe this...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the military and civil militias today to prepare for war as a deterrent to a U.S.-led attack after American troops gained access to military bases in neighboring Colombia.

Chavez said a recently signed agreement that gives American troops access to seven Colombian bases is a direct threat to his oil-exporting country. Colombia has handed over its sovereignty to the U.S. with the deal, he said.

I take that back. We might do something about Iran getting nukes before going to war with Hugo.

Hell. Blizzards. Etc.

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Twenty Years Ago Tomorrow

The Berlin Wall fell. Not surprisingly, Obama will not be there. Fucking leftists. They are probably upset that their ideology lost.

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Old and Busted - William Shatner "Rocket Man" New Hotness - Christopher Walken "Poker Face"

Christopher Walken does a dramatic reading of Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" on the BBC's "Friday Night with Jonathon Ross".



For once NY Magazine actually has a suggestion that makes sense:

If the whole acting thing doesn't work out, Walken already has an entire sideline in reading things. How great would "Christopher Walken Presents: The Bible" be, for example?

source

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