I don't have any idea whether or not we will lose reserve currency status. This much I do know, when you are the top of the heap someone always wants to bring you down. To ignore that fact, is  potentially aiding to said demise.
AKA "We don't have a spending problem we have a revenue problem"  Lots of marriages have ended because the husband had a revenue problem......

Meat is meat. Most people don't think that though.

Hell I ate rabbit shit from the inside of a freshly kiled rabbits intestines. My breath smelled like rabbit shit for a week, but I was glad to eat it.

Yes, I cooked it first.

I don't mind horsemeat and had some in Belgium.  Now, if they market it as horsemeat, I'd go and buy it.  Flicka FTW!

Already a chuck of Asia and a chunck of Russia and friends are no longer using the dollar to buy oil.

I would say we are just about there, yet you don't see it on the US news, but the effects are happening.

It's been happening for over a year now.  American news won't report it because the media is agenda driven.  It's not in their agenda for the Americans to know anything useful.  They put crap on TV like Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, and other things.  It's the "circus" that goes along with EBT cards. Frei Schiesse Armee occupies Amerika!

China and Russia aren't buying treasuries anymore, well not as much, but they are ramping up their purchases of gold.

Those poor desperate people, their EBT cards stopped working and they almost starved to death. Did you see how thin and emaciated they were? I doubt they could have survived another day if they didn't get some free food. Well at least they were grateful for all that they get and expressed their gratitude in such a touching way.

All part of Their Plan that has worked so brilliantly while we mezmerize in front of our flat screens letting the propaganda turn our brains to mush.

Don't blame these folks, they're only doing what we've allowed them to be conditioned to do, while we enjoy our temporary addictions and circuses.

It's slowly coming to an end, as we are funneled into totalitarianism by thousands of different strategies that almost no one recognizes.





Pls see my edit.  

Cloward Piven's theory has been applied to EVERYTHING, incl the .mil ----for their win.



What a brilliant incredible strategy [though easily predicted], that will likely never be analyzed/reported publicly, that has brought this Nation to its knees in 50 years.

TV has been the greatest propaganda machine ever used against a large population, we invented it and it is about to finish us.

The internet has been a weak counterbalance to the Left's super powerful media propaganda machine.

Though even here, the few of us who haven't lost our critical thinking skills, watch the Left's Fellow Travelers infiltrate, confuse, disrupt, demonize, in most every topic that highlights the Left's evil.

Most of us aren't even able to present a decent rebuttal to their disinformation attacks.

I see ourselves collectively as a dumb country bumpkin, sitting on a log with a rifle, having no understanding ---or interest, what's going on beyond a few trees away, about to be enslaved with no comprehesion by whom or what.

Had a 60-something man in my office last week:  he was retired, received benefits from the .gov for various things including social security - standard retiree basically.

Started complaining about the current political culture, lamenting on how "they don't care about us," and that the government has no interest in...  well, his best interests.  Usual stuff about healthcare costs, struggling to get by, his wife needs this or that, the Government is screwing them, etc.   Naturally, this evolves into a relatively broad discussion on budgets for healthcare and other services vs his individual care, social security  and what not.

I asked him:  if the Gov had not sold you on the promises of the "retirement supplement" of social security, and instead educated you that YOU'RE the only one who will care about your retirement and let you keep all that money instead - what would be the difference?   Instead of getting a few hundred bucks a month from the .gov (poorly indexed to inflation) with the principle spent and gone (which you admit is not enough to live on and you're getting "screwed"); if you took those same bimonthly payments and kept them for yourself, put them in a broad-indexed mutual fund and let them compound over the 40 years of your past career...

you'd have a 401(k) with no less than 6 decimal places in it, in your name, to do with as you please - in spite of the market correction from 2008!    Which would you rather have?

He looked at me, sneered, commented about "wall street" and said "now you're starting to sound like a Republican."   He meant it as a very personal and very sincere insult.    He added a few more comments about how I must have a lot of money to talk like that, etc.  

Short of it is, this conversation is repeated almost daily in this political climate as people like to rant to others whom they assume are like-minded.  This gentleman assumed that because I was there to offer him services and help him (healthcare), that in my duty to help him I surely must also want him to have more of other peoples' money?    But the average, normal person has a very limited, shallow understanding of how government affects their lives and the ripples from prior legislative changes to present-day.   They hear nothing but snippets and talking points, and will burn bridges at the drop of a hat because they believe it so strongly (but without any true justification as to why they believe it).

Personal responsibility IS dead to the majority of the population, and it boils down to "how much do I get - and who's going to give me more?"  

Yep, all part of Their Plan to cripple us

[by making ALL OF us [incl the States] dependent on the PTB in one way or another]

...before the kill.

Did you happen to ask the gentleman what his position was re O's wanting to steal our 2nd Amendment rights?

I waited two years to contribute to this thread, how did I miss the eat'n cats part?

I'm sure the feeling was mutual.

One of the biggest geopolitical pressure-cookers has been China's population problem, which drives much of the global demand for metals, energy, & food, especially as hundreds of millions of people in the coastal production and urbanized areas go from living in shanties to European-sized cracker box apartments.



China has been aware of this problem for centuries, and has adopted several policies to try to keep the population down, such as the single child mandate.  Chines strategists, who think in very long-term projections over 50,/75,/100 year plans, understand that there is one geographic region that is essential for the continued stability of their civilization:

North America, primarily the US Midwest farmland and infrastructure that connects that farmland to the sea lanes.  This is why they have been demanding farmland real estate in the Midwest to back the worthless government bonds that they have been buying, while loaning us money for our deficit-spending habits of the Progressive useful idiots in Congress and the WH.  Here's a chart showing the value increases of US farmland in the 3rd Quarter of 2012:



China is also funding the superhighway so they can get US food out down to their ports with open sea ccess:

China Funding NAFTA Superhighway



One thing I learned while studying this is that North America has been fundamental to solving China's population problem in the past, dating back to Ming and Qing Dynasties from 1368-1911:



Issues & Trends in China's Demographics



I talked with a guy recently who does a lot of business all over the world, and he related some details to me he gleaned from an experimental economist who works for a big think tank.  The guy said that China is currently stock-piling everything they can for a 120-day period that will sustain a critical segment of their population...oil, food, gold, assets, etc.

One of the contingencies the think tank ran (worst-case) was that China could pull the plug on exports to the US, creating empty shelves at China-Mart, Target, and every major retailer, which would trigger massive unemployment across the US and Europe.

It also would give China an opportunity to shed some of its population by taking strategic areas in the Pacific Rim nations who constrain it from projecting power beyond them, like Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, etc.-all of which it has significant territorial disputes with at the moment.

I also have been asking for the past several years, who had incentive to siphon $700 billion out of the normal laundering cycle of drug money in Mexico in 2007?  The cartels didn't gain anything by it, since the cash was taken from them as well.  The US certainly was the biggest loser, as it caused a massive credit crisis.  Who had anything to gain by seizing hundreds of billions in US cash while it was in-transit throughout the laundering cycle?  Where did it end up?

Then, a fratricide was triggered between the cartels, and a civil war of sorts began in Mexico, leading to over 60,000 cartel deaths from late 2007-1st QTR 2013.  Something big is brewing, and the few actors who know it are doing everything possible to disarm America before it happens.  It feels like a reading straight out of Sun Tzu:

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.


To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

"To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."


Well..

As my post a few above suggests, our mindless addiction to TV and the new voting block of the FSA ---who if asked if they knew what the Constitution was, would likely cite some Hollywood indoctrination movie...

Has pretty much played right into the hands of our enemy, although I believe our internal enemies will jealously resist sharing their spoils with external ones.

Should be interesting.

Our internal enemies are useful idiots for our external enemies.  While they tout Marxism and Leninism, it's all about pursuing your national interests first in the long run.

What the external enemies have pulled off successfully was creating a culture where it was cool and trendy to be treasonous to your own people, enter:

Jane Fonda
John Kerry
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham
Jimmuh Carter

Comrade Hussein is the quintessential useful idiot, who truly has no reason to love America in his mind, having been raised to hate everything the US stands for, and feels vindicated the more the US is made to suffer.  The Chicoms love him because they can pay for his campaigns (done), and collect favors in-return for bogus US Savings bonds, knowing that Hussein won't back up any of America's traditional allies in the Pacific Rim, like Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, etc. when they attack and reign-in the little dogs, while the big dog is pushed into economic collapse.

The Chicoms know the US's economic meltdown was inevitable with all the socialist policies implemented since the early 1900's, and they want to be ahead of and influential on the final collapse so that it benefits them.  They don't have any other choice, given the dire circumstances of their population problem.

At no time will Obama be on the defense for America's interests, because he sees America as the problem after a lifetime of indoctrination by his Communist Party USA grandparents, and their whore daughter, who abandoned him to their care as she did the bidding of USAID and the Ford Foundation (cover for status).

"Our internal enemies are useful idiots for our external enemies. While they tout Marxism and Leninism, it's all about pursuing your national interests first in the long run."



Sooooo...

The plot thickens...


[While WE are the useful idiots for our internal enemies]

I admit considering this but considering the military power at the disposal of our admin, sort of dismissed it.

Do you think our .mil will resist this?

I don't doubt our penchant for financing NOW, will be the downfall of our society.  Our culture has some monumental flaws.  We've built a huge government that has reached maximum density, financed with debt, and will eventually go critical.   As a culture we are incredibly shortsighted.  Our domestic and foreign policies tend to ignore "cause and effect", we actually seem shocked that we get stung when we poke hornet's nest around the world, and get involved in other peoples domestic affairs.  Neoconservatism and progressive government, both conservative and liberal "hands-on" domestic and foreign policy are killing us.  































































 

European Bank CEO Admits: "The Whole Thing Is Doomed"





Mario Draghi's Bearish Comments Push Euro Lower





My prediction:


Europe will begin to Copy America's QE, 5 years late, in attempt to artificially lower the Euros Value.


Free-Market forces will drive US Rates higher, strengthening OUR Dollar & bursting all commodity bubbles.


Home Prices will deflate once again to adjust to Higher Interest Rates, but for a very short period, similar outcome for Stock Markets.


This will force Congress to pass a Budget, forcing massive entitlement cuts, pushing Millions out of their 'Entitled early Retirement', and Back into the Workforce; Some tough, tough times over a 6-12 month period.


90% of Congress does not get re-elected, and the 'Virgin' Politicians return to Basic Economic Principles; Since they can't Decipher what was left behind.


Congress desperate for Growth, will embrace the Natural Gas/Energy Technological Evolution, thus starting a 10-15 Boom Cycle.





Once again, America Leads the Way to Prosperity...






 

 


























 

I can't believe I sound so Optimistic, but don't get confused, I'm still Pissed at the Political Pimps/Traitors to OUR Nation.
I just feel like something Positive is about to happen, to those not giving up & still Playing this Game.
I know I'm only an Internet 'Genius', but I'll be a Free-Market Capitalist till the Day I Die; It's what my Customers want, not always what I want.





Do WE want what OUR Politicians are Selling?





I keep answering No, and even though they all didn't show up this election cycle, I feel a vast majority are answering the same way.
eta


INFLATION NIGHTMARE:  Fears at Fed of rate payouts to banks...

What happens when ECB starts their attempt to 'level the playing field'?

The Dollar the Only Asset NOT in a Bubble...Yet
 
 

 
 

"LAST OFFICIAL THREAD"

Is it soon time to, "alarm and muster"?

This is why the very necessary sacrifices to fix our problems will not happen willingly.



They will be forced...



 

This

 

Because Sherrick13 joined us....   and Dave_A (Statist) was banned.  

Do monkeys fly out of my butt sometime in there?

Don't ruin my moment
WE need to start focusing more on the Positives in OUR Lives, and less on the Political Negatives.



These Political Pimps will never resolve a thing, so WE need to start Controlling OUR own destiny, instead of waiting for some Faux 'Savior'
I really believe Winners always Win!



WE have Winners around US everyday, and, somehow, WE end up focusing on the negative 'Losers', as if they can control US?



No matter how tough things get in OUR lives, eventually, everything always works out for the best; Whatever OUR sob stories might be.
Why do WE always have to assume only bad things await US, when in reality WE have nothing but Good things in front of US?
There comes a point when WE have look in the mirror and say "F'um, I'll be better tomorrow, than I was today"





Sorry, I got a little emotional

Now, there could be a lot of money made with your Flying Monkey idea
 
 
 

Like so many predictions, the ones above and my own are predicated on a few basic assumptions which may or may not come to pass.

For my predictions, I'm going to assume that the Congress is not able to make any meaningful reform. So, trillion+ dollars deficits continue and get larger, currency debasement must be stepped up, the Fed continues to buy the debt because no one else is willing to buy it at such low rates, and commodities prices climb steadily in proportion to the currency debasement. The deficit will start to grow, not shrink this year. The price of fuel going up will make the recession already underway much worse. The Beltway Hypoxia (TM) will continue to get worse with more of the typical libtards calling for the .gov to "do something". When the stock market finally begins its long overdue correction, the big banks will be in big trouble because they've been using the QE money to gamble in stocks (with over 20:1 leverage it would appear from the recent financial firms' post mortem analysis). It's also possible that if the Eurozone goes bust in the next two years, we'll be right behind.

I'm beginning to think that if there is going to be a systemic collapse of the US economy, it will be before the Ocommie-in-Thief leaves office. If the economy is really bad in the mid-terms, there is a <chance> that the Rebumblicans may retake the Senate. However, with King BoRock in the high-chair, that will simply result in complete gridlock since he won't be able to count on his willing cuckolds in the Senate to do his bidding anymore. In the mean time, he and his minions are opening the fireplug all the way to release as many pointless, intrusive, draconian, micromanaging regulations as possible. These will have the direct impact of virtually shutting down a huge portion of legitimate business in those industries which are the most highly regulated. Health care is likely to be one of those industries that becomes completely paralyzed by both the phasing of Oshittycare, the regulations, and the taxes, fees, and processes required. Their ultimate aim is for the government to take over the health care industry. Ocommiecare is just the mechanism to create enough of a monster that His Highness "must" step in to deal with "the crisis". So, there goes another 12% of the economy under .gov control just like 2/3 of the domestic auto manufacturers. Since only the Government can mismanage enterprises worse than the private sector, the already bloated and inefficient healthcare industry will proceed to bankrupt the US Gov't. (Well, really more like the log, not straw, that breaks the camel's back when it's thrown on top.) We already know the .gov is in for a parabolically increasing problem with SocSec and Mediscare since the baby boomers are starting to collect in parabolically increasing numbers.

I just don't see how the numbers will continue to work for another 4 years unless something drastic changes in our present direction. And, I don't hear any calls for anything other than rudder amidships.

They deserve better than that.  The dems have put these people into a dependency environment.  They would be so much better off working





 

Good point, but easier said than done.

In NY, Herr Cuomo has made a point that he does control us.  I wonder when they start jailing decent people instead of kiddie diddlers, rapists, and violent offenders?  

Crimes NY finds less offensive than owning a 30 round magazine

Absolutely true.
The problem is the damage is done. What are the chances that a 2nd - 3rd - 4th generation 30+ year old welfare recipient who never knew their father, never worked a day in their life and functions at a 3rd grade level in reading/writing skills will ever be able to function in society? There are millions in that category and short of a miracle they will never be rehabilitated to function as independent self sustaining individuals. That is the crime committed by LBJ and his kind and that crime is now visited on all of us.

No need to generalize - we don't want to forget the 40 million senior citizens who are equally dependent on various forms of welfare (but knew their father, were once productive members of the workforce and were highly contributory to society - AND who voted in the socialized welfare state as we know it).  You know, people who grew up during and immediately post-WWII, people who should know better; people who consume the vast majority of our healthcare resources...  people who on average probably thought healthcare reform would be a good idea.   No need to just blame the ghetto entitlement culture; if it were just them things would be easier to correct (they tend not to vote); but unfortunately that's not reality.

Dont forget about our seniors, because reality is...   they're the most dependable voting bloc in the country, and they're not going to voluntarily give up a dime of that sweet, sweet public assistance.   Whether they contributed into the treasury or not is irrelevant: the money is gone - spent by their favored lpoliticians - and all that's left is a pyramid scheme that needs young blood to survive.   You can bet your subsidized electric scooter that they'll gladly sell out the next 2 generations to pay for their healthcare and living expenses, all the while lamenting on how this country is going straight into the sh!tter.

I see your point RRA but to lump the seniors into the same category as the generational welfare recipients is just wrong. They were duped into paying into the system and now all they want is 'some' return on their investment. No different than negotiating a settlement with your creditors.



Question: How do the events in South Africa after apartheid was abolished compare to what is happening with the economy in this country - not the racial issues just the economic issues? Do they give any indicators of how our country's issues may play out over the next decade or so?

If that question is way off base let me know and I will erase it.

These two posts just completely summed up the hopelessness of it all to a T.  

Glad to see two people on here with their heads on their shoulders not screaming about the FSA this and FSA that.

LBJ's seed has born exactly the type of fruit he wanted.  It was a masterful plan and it worked just like he wanted.  

Damn, at first I thought I wrote that...  

In what way do you imagine its like South Africa's apartheid?   I just want to understand your question before I attempt an answer.