Gina Rinehart Is A Bubble

The article should have been called "Gina Rinehart is bigger than a goddamned planetoid and probably smells like a toxic waste dump," but the author has more class than I.  I pray for the day when we get to see this waste of humanity, depleted of her INHERITED wealth, working at McDonald's, cleaning toilets, foraging roadkill for food, something soooo beneath her station, harassed every day, every step of the way by those she used to harass simply by being "Gina Rinehart, Obnoxious Blimp and second generation mining mogul."  Please let me see that day..  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

Last week she said:


If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself — spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working.

Today she claimed that Australians should be willing to work for less than $2 a day:

Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart has criticised her country’s economic performance and said Africans willing to work for $2 a day should be an inspiration.

Ms Rinehart is said to make nearly A$600 (£393) a second.

The richest woman in the world is making an increasing number of public appearances, and speaking of increasingly controversial topics.

I wonder why.

It couldn’t be that she is becoming increasingly aggressive and controversial because her core business is in trouble, could it?

Marc Faber suggests so:
There have been four mega bubbles in the past 40 years. In the 1970s it was gold; in the 1980s it was the Nikkei, and in the 1990s it was the Nasdaq. Bigger than all of them, though, has been the iron ore bubble, a tenfold increase in prices in less than a decade.

Pop!  Motherfucker, Pop!  I wanna see her sweat!  And not her normal "my heart is beating, so you know I'm damp" kind of sweat, either.  You'd think with all that money she could pay for a less repulsive exterior to hide her repulsive interior.  The epitome of a horrible human..  Dis.

Gusting.

Journey To The Economic Center Of The World

Flawed economic model?  1980's?  Who did this?  Wait a minute; I know this one..  Zero Hedge:

The most recent decade of 2000 to 2010 has seen the fastest rate of change in the global economic balance in history. During this period, a recent McKinsey research article notes, the world's economic center of gravity has shifted by about 140km per year - about 30% faster than in the period after World War II when global GDP shifted from Europe to North America. The world’s center of economic gravity has changed over past centuries. But since the mid-1980s, the pace of that shift—from the United States and Europe toward Asia— has been increasing dramatically as China is urbanizing on 100 times the scale of Britain in the 18th century and at more than 10 times the speed. One has to wonder what the difference would be were it not for the flawed economic model adopted since the 1980s that relied on debt and asset price inflation to drive demand (as opposed to wage growth linked to productivity growth).



Final answer, Regis:  David Stockman.

Mike Krieger: Where Food Stamps Go to Die

We live in fun times.  Guest post from Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:


Nothing exemplifies the ghetto status of the U.S. economy more than the success of Wal-Mart in the face of the ongoing destruction of what was once a vibrant and strong middle class. In case you missed it, Marion Nestle, Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU, came out with some interesting tidbits regarding the food stamp program. One of them is extraordinarily disturbing. She shows that Wal-Mart’s gets as much as 25% to 40% of revenue at some stores from food stamp dollars. This says it all folks. Food stamps are or course the perfect business for Wal-Mart and JP Morgan, which as I pointed out previously makes a lot of money running the program and keeping the populace in perpetual serfdom. Meanwhile, guess what another of the best performing stocks this year is? Corrections Corp of America, ticker CXW, up 41% YTD! Guess what they do? Yep, you guessed it. They lock up the serfs that get out of line. This is the Bloomberg description of CXW.



Corrections Corporation of America provides detention and corrections services to governmental agencies. The Company owns correctional and detention facilities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Services include design, construction, ownership, renovation, and management of new or existing jails and prisons, as well as long distance inmate transportation services.
There you have it folks. What sectors are leading the American economy in the “recovery”: Food stamps and Prisons. They are actually perfectly complimentary. If the food stamps don’t work the prisons will.

Or hip hop.  Don't forget the hip hop..

Michael Krieger On The Rebirth Of Barter

From small Black Markets to organized governments, barter as exchange is here, and gaining momentum.  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

One of the most important articles I have read this week comes from Forbes contributor Gordon Chang. In it he states that China is preparing to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran by paying for oil with gold. Not only that but he also mentions that China has already been bartering with Iran to get a hold of petroleum. He states:

So how can Beijing keep both Iran’s ayatollahs and President Obama happy at the same time? Simple, the Chinese can avoid the U.S. sanctions through barter. China has already been trading its produce for Iran’s petroleum, but there is only so much gai lan and bok choy the Iranians can eat. That’s why Iran is also accepting, among other goods, Chinese washing machines, refrigerators, toys, clothes, cosmetics, and toiletries.
The barter trade works, but Iran needs cash too. As it is being cut off from the global financial system, the next best thing is gold. So we should not be surprised that in late February the Iranian central bank said it would accept that metal as payment for oil. Last year, China imported $21.7 billion in Iranian oil and exported $14.8 billion in goods and services. As the NDAA goes into effect, look for Beijing to ship gold to Iran to make up the difference.

Thus, the leadership in America in its infinite stupidity has actually accelerated the demise of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. (Author's emphasis)

Seems about right, doesn't it, considering the caliber of those exercising political control over economic matters..  And again, we return to the consideration of Unintended Consequences..  Seriously; doesn't this seem like the machinations of Universe "B," the "Murphy's Law" Universe?  Well, events are in motion;  Since we can't stop them, we might as well track 'em..

Silver Explodes As DJIA Closes Above 13,000, As Understood By A Dog

From Zero Hedge.  I'm trying to self educate on economic theory, but today, it Does Not Compute..  I imagine myself as a dog listening to someone speaking, straining to understand anything, comprehending nothing but all but the simplest sentences.  And my name, of course..  In my Fido Mind, the article reads..

"Blahblahblahblah blahblahblahblah, blah-blah, blah blah blah blah, b-blah..  Silver was the massive winner, now up an impressive 4.3% since Friday and 30% YTD..  blahblahblahblah, blah blah blah.."

I understand The Best Part.  Now give me Pupperoni!  And some more silver!

Zero Hedge Nails It..

Guest Post: When Debt Is More Important Than People, The System Is Evil  From Zero Hedge.  The excerpt is from the site, red emphasis theirs, light colored emphasis mine:



The ethics of debt, at least in the officially sanctioned media, boils down to: nobody made them borrow all those euros, and so their suffering is just desserts. What's lost in this subtext is the responsibility of the lender. Yes, nobody forced Greece to borrow 200 billion euros (or whatever the true total may be), but then nobody forced the lenders to extend the credit in the first place. Consider an individual who is a visibly poor credit risk. He would like to borrow money to blow on consumption and then stiff the lender, but since he cannot create credit, he has to live within his means. Now a lender comes along who can create credit out of thin air (via fractional reserve banking) and offers this poor credit risk $100,000 in collateral-free debt at low rates of interest. Who is responsible for the creation and extension of credit? The borrower or the lender? Answer: the lender. In other words, if the lender is foolish enough to extend huge quantities of credit to a poor credit risk, then it's the lender who should suffer the losses when the borrower defaults. This is the basis of bankruptcy laws--or used to be the basis. When an over-extended borrower defaults, the debt is cleared, the lender takes the loss/writedown, and the borrower loses whatever collateral was pledged. He is left with the basics to carry on: his auto, clothing, his job, and so on. His credit rating is impaired, and it is now his responsibility to earn back a credible credit rating....The potential for loss and actually bearing the consequences from irresponsible extensions of credit was unacceptable to the banking cartel, so they rewrote the laws. Now student loans in America cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court; they are permanent and must be carried and serviced until death. This is the acme of debt-serfdom.



Much more at the link.  Required reading. 

December, 2011 Browser Clean Up

Two from Zero Hedge:

It's Official: US Debt-To-GDP Passes 100%  Excerpts:

With precisely one year left for the world and all of its inhabitants, at least according to the Mayans, not to mention on the day of the Winter Solstice, it is only fitting that US debt, net of all settlements for all already completed bond auctions, is now at precisely $15,182,756,264,288.80. Why is this relevant? Because the latest annualized US GDP, according to the BEA, was $15,180,900,000.00. Which means that, as of today, total US debt to GDP is 100.012%. Congratulations America: you are now in the triple digit "debt to GDP" club!

Mark Faber: "I Am Convinced The Whole Derivatives Market Will Cease To Exist And Will Go To Zero"  Excerpts:

"I am convinced the whole derivatives market will cease to exit. Will become zero. And when it happens I don't know: you can postpone the problems with monetary measures for a long time but you can't solve them... Greece should have defaulted - it would have sent a message that not all derivatives are equal because it depends on the counterparty." And on the long-term future: "I am ultra bearish. I think most people will be lucky if they still have 50% of their money in 5 years time.."

Bárðarbunga: more seismic unrest at another one of Iceland’s large volcanoes  The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

During the night there was an small earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. The largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm was ML 3.04 in magnitude. It had the depth of 8.5 km. This might have been a dike intrusion. But it is hard to know that for sure at the moment. This earthquake swarm only lasted for an about 2 to 3 hours before it stopped.

..There are signs that magma is rising at great depth underneath the Bardarbunga volcanic centre.

Historic! HIV Vaccine Approved for Human Clinical Trials  Unicorn Booty.  Excerpts:

The vaccine, developed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start being tested in humans in January.



It is the first preventive HIV vaccine approved for clinical trials to use a whole HIV-1 virus, which has been both killed and genetically engineered, to activate immunity. In this way, the new vaccine is much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are successful against polio, rabies and influenza.

Gingrich: I’ll ‘ignore’ any Supreme Court ruling I disagree with  What a wonderful "democratic thinker!"  Idiot.  The Raw Story.  Excerpts:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is doubling down from Thursday’s Fox News debate on his vow to abolish federal courts if he disagreed with their decision.



According to The Hill, in a conference call with reporters, Gingrich indicated that it was in the president’s power as commander-in-chief to deem any Supreme Court ruling irrelevant if he or she in the White House disagreed.


The former House Speaker used the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Bush administration exceeding its constitutional authority in handling suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2008 as a basis for his extreme view.
 
“They just ignored it,” he said. “A commander-in-chief could simply issue instructions to ignore it, and say it’s null and void and I do not accept it because it infringes on my duties as commander-in-chief to protect the country.”
 
I love that Romney and Ron Paul are beating the shit out of this douchebag with negative, but all too true attack ads.  I've been waiting a loooong time to see Herr Gingrich(pronounced "Gin-greck") drown in the political cesspool of his own creation!  Merry Christmas to all!
 
“The FBI Estimates That 80 Percent Of All Mortgage Fraud Involves Collaboration Or Collusion By Industry Insiders”  Washington's Blog.  Excerpts:
 
Fraud By The Big Banks – More Than Anything Done By The Little Guy – Caused The Financial Crisis



The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision noted last year (page 7):


The FBI estimates that 80 percent of all mortgage fraud involves collaboration
or collusion by industry insiders.


This confirms what one of the country’s top fraud experts has said for years: that it was fraud by the big banks – more than anything done by the little guy – which caused the financial crisis:

Breaking News: Programmer of Fukushima confesses “Fukushima had a cyber attack”  Under-reported, huh?  Fukushima Diary.  Excerpts:

A computer engineer found out operating system of Fukushima plants have been attacked and those attacks were mostly from / via Russia.　This engineer is counted as one of the members of Fukushima 50.
..
Because the system was shut down after black out they could not operate the systems to control the pressure, water injecting, radiation shield etc. and that had to be done by him.



He managed to reboot the system and restart it in manual mode but he encountered series of troubles such as password entry screen did not come out or his password entering was disturbed by compute bug. He sorted it out by formatting the system but it was obvious that someone sent virus to the system.


He tried to send virus backward and it reached to Russia. Someone sent virus from or via Russia.

Every crazy CIA plot you’ve heard of originated with one man  IO9.  Excerpts:

There are stories that have come to light, over the years, that make the Central Intelligence Agency look like a collection of Looney Tunes shorts. The violence, the slapstick, and the over-the-top ridiculousness of the experiments that have been conducted over the years boggle the mind. They came from the (slightly-boggled) mind of one man: Sidney Gottlieb.

Medical Marijuana Laws Shown to Reduce Traffic Fatalities  Popular Science.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Marijuana;  Is there anything it can't do?  Excerpts:

..A new study out of University of Colorado Denver and Montana State University shows that legalizing medical marijuana sales in various states over the past two decades has led to a nearly 10 percent drop in traffic fatalities. What the study really shows--by way of causal chain--is a five percent drop in beer sales, and that has in turn led to fewer fatalities on the road. Put that in your pipe and smoke it (couldn’t resist just one).

Happy holidays, and enjoy this randomly sampled information!

Massive Wave Of Lawsuits To Be Filed By The US Against America's Biggest Banks As Soon As Tomorrow

War were declared.  From Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

In a move that could either send BAC stock limit down overnight or send it soaring (we are still trying to figure out just what is going on here), the NYT has broken major news that the US is preparing to go nuclear on more than a dozen big banks among which Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, in an attempt for Fannie and Freddie to recoup $30 billion if not much more. The lawsuit is expected to hit the docket in the next few days: "The suits stem from subpoenas the finance agency issued to banks a year ago. If the case is not filed Friday, they said, it will come Tuesday, shortly before a deadline expires for the housing agency to file claims." Now, taken at face value, this would mean that Bank of America can kiss its ass goodbye as unlike the Walnut Place litigation, this will take place in Federal Court where Article 77 is not applicable. Yet there is something that gives us pause: namely logic, captured by the following words: "While I believe that F.H.F.A. is acting responsibly in its role as conservator, I am afraid that we risk pushing these guys off of a cliff and we’re going to have to bail out the banks again,” said Tim Rood, who worked at Fannie Mae until 2006 and is now a partner at the Collingwood Group, which advises banks and servicers on housing-related issues." In other words: if the banks are sued, and if justice prevails, the end of the world is nigh and cue TARP 2 - XXX. Now where have we heard that argument over, and over, and over before.

And:

Bottom line: the gloves are coming off, and while we want to believe that this is the final nail in BAC's coffin (Quinn Emanuel is counsel for the FHFA), we do have a nagging feeling that the US will not purposefully do everything in its power to destroy its banking sector.

This feels like most of the real action here is currently and will continue to be Back-Channel, without fanfare, yet momentous, and then, finally, announced or disclosed, without further comment.

Long Term Silver Prices Can't Be Stopped, But The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Is Still Gonna Try, Baby..

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) raises margins on commodities again, Excerpts:

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is continuing its assault to stem the speculation on commodities that threaten to go parabolic due to the Fed's QE2 and subsequent inflation.

Last week, silver took a plunge immediately after the CME raised margin rates 30% from $5000.00 to $6500.00, and it is affecting other commodities such as copper as well.

Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge says:

Look for a second round of imminent margin hikes in cotton, sugar, coffee and wheat, as the exchanges are suddenly very concerned about what retail margin collapses may mean for the non-existent wealth effect.

Change is afoot, friends, and all sectors of our (and the world's) economy are fluid. Watching CNBC will be so much more exciting in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!