So far the Velocity of Money has been to the downside with ever increasing accounts of debt destruction. When Debt = Money in a fiat economy, and debt/credit is being destroyed.....money is being destroyed as demand for cash to pay debts spirals upward. So far outpacing every attempt the government makes to stem the hemorrhaging Plus we now have a growing tide of political support for austerity. The next politician to say 'bail-out' or 'stimulous' is going to be hung up by their toe nails. Right now 'I' for incumbency is a red letter.
Even in a fiat society debt is not money, neither is credit. But J6P has been brainwashed to think that those items are money when they are not. Money is not being destroyed, but is still growing. While economists are closely watching declining velocity in the standard monetary aggregates, who is watching velocity in the various arms and programs of the shadow banking system? While J6P is aware of the hundreds of billions of dollars that were slushed out to anonymous players he is not aware of the trillions that have been handed out and guaranteed in the shadow financial system. The politicos and bankers have ways of stimulating and bailing out with raising even the slightest suspicions among its citizens. Appropriating money through Congress is the old way of doing business. That side-show is for the little people's benefit. Austerity on the surface may reign in budgets, new bills, and media rhetoric.
But behind the scenes $Trillions will continue to flow in ever greater numbers to pay off failing debt. And there are clear winners in those transactions.....and losers as well. Unfortunately the losers will tend to be J6P, pension funds, cities, state and Federal govts, and too-small-to-be-rescued banks and corporations. The trillions that the winners sock away has to go somewhere safe so that they can use it again once currencies implode or are devalued. Where would you stash your Trillions in ransom money so that it comes out whole on the other side?
If one had a Trillion: Diversify into the following Real Estate - land, apartments, commercial gold and silver Classic Cars Airplanes A golf course or 2 Casino - just to keep the cash flow strong
I cut a deal with a government entity in Vietnam ( I believe I was the first American Individual business owner to sign a free trade agreement in Vnam ). Even for my teeny tiny deal I was given 5 years of tax free status which was renewable for another 5 years.
I knew someone who cut deals that have him tax free status for 15 years, renewable for another 15 years in India and he was treated like a king when he was in country.
I know several people in China, one who was 28 years old when I met him thru his sister from Hong Kong, who was so successful with his import export business on the mainland he became a cash multi-millionaire and was given tax free status for 20 years.
Add the numbers up. Not just the senseless costs of having "troops" in some form or another in 100+ countries, a bloated military which is totally unecessary, gigantic social programs and the type of useless spending the makes even the most ardent communist blush and THEN add the costs of just simply doing business here. Between having to pay out so much higher costs from a standpoint of labor in the US, coupled with unreasonably high taxes, ( among the highest corporate taxes in the world ) and it should come as no suprise why this country has pissed away 8 million jobs "that ain't coming back mr springsteen " and probably lots more than that. Dumb the population down so they focus on sports and other mind numbing B/S and it's easy to see how this place has got a long way to go before this is all done.
An old friend of mine who publishes things like study guides for commodity traders , yes owns a heidelberg press, had his kids learing German ( they are of German ancestry ), and Mandarin. That's smart as this place is in so much trouble it's unreal.
“You can also add Brazil and Russia to that list as well...corruption, poverty and crime are daily staples of life.”
I suppose we do not have to worry about most large American cites falling into the, corruption, poverty and crime categories?
I think it will we interesting here when the riots begin, as they have in Greece. Can you just see 200 police with plastic shields and batons marching toward a crowd with GUNS?
It is no wonder that places like Chicago want total gun control.
<< <i>China and India are both polluted, dirty and overcrowed countries for the most part.
They have horrible corruption at all levels wether is business or goverment.
Try saying the wrong thing in China and see how that works...ask Google.
You can also add Brazil and Russia to that list as well...corruption, poverty and crime are daily staples of life. >>
When is last time you've been to China? When is the last time you've been to Chicago? Curious. MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there.
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there. >>
10 million plus Americans out of work. Attitudes like this is why! All mighty dollar traitors!!!
just slap a big import tax on any item headed back into the country (dont get me wrong, I hate taxes, but I hate those companies off-shoring production, support, etc even more)
yeah, yeah, it'll probably get passed to the consumer, but - if the price is too high - domestically produced items will sell first.
globalization is the biggest farce we've ever been sold.
One was a flower pots maker, the workers had to sit in a tiny stool for 12 hours a day and got paid around 6 dollars or so a day.
The dust from the clay was so thick that i could barely breathe.
The US is the only country where a regular blue collar person could have a semi luxurious life...a truck driver, a nurse and even a waiter can afford a nice vacation, 3 tv's, a decent car, AC, refrigerator etc.
"Women should be obscene and not heard. " Groucho Marx
It is simple math. The Nation has a growing population, but the number of jobs is shrinking. We would be short jobs even if the population was static. We invent a new technology and as soon as retail products are viable we offshore production. We lose our technical edge, we lose jobs and we lose taxes to run the Nation, State and city Governments.
How are these for ideas, tax breaks are only granted to companies that are 100% American designed, manufactured and assembled.
Off shore corporations that wish to sell in the USA, will be taxed to make up for the lost government income.
Majority foreign ownership of American Companies will be forbidden by law.
No bank chain will be allowed to grow beyond a certain size. They will be split up into separate companies just as Standard Oil was by Teddy Roosevelt.
All business accounting procedures will be standardized and reported in the same format.
Any person in Government service, shall upon leaving government service, be forbidden to work for, lobby or otherwise be employed in a manner that will tap into relationships with employees of the governmental or regulatory agency that they were employed with for a period of 10 calender years.Violation of the rule will be a Federal Crime.
Registered lobbyists will pay a yearly fee of 100,000 to the US Treasury to practice as lobbyists.Non Licensed persons working for a lobbyist firm and acting in the capacity of a lobbyist will be fined 100,000 dollars per each person per incident.
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there. >>
10 million? Plenty of places to safely hide out in Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Wyoming...etc.
Wow. $6 a day for 12 hours work. Are you sure? Was this a field trip or a business trip? If it was a business trip I would strongly suggest switching factories because that ain’t right and it sounds like exploitation. I've been in literally hundreds and hundreds of factories in China the past twenty seven years. What you mentioned was true in the past. Chinese workers are among the most prolific savers (at 30%) in the world. Most live where they work and get room and board included.They save their money and send it home. However, now with the advent of the internet many can work closer to home and are leaving the factories of the big cities and are returning home to their ancestrol towns and villages. Conditions and pay packages are improving everyday in big city factories to entice workers back.
Wages have been steadily rising in China. They have practically doubled the over the past two years and in my opinion it is warranted. Benefits have increases exponentially. Costs have skyrocketed. Lots of factories have closed or moved to Cambodia and Vietnam. The ones that have remained open are heavily subsidized by the China Gov. with a favorable Yuan exchange rate. These remaining factories are full and charging top dollar. The "easy" China gravy train is over. It's a lot harder to make money on both sides. This is good for the people of China. Probably not great for the US and Europe.
The reason I mentioned Chicago is that is one of the most dangerous inner cities on the planet and it's in the heartland of America. Over 120 murders in the 1st quarter of the year alone. Murders are up in 2010 in NYC, Philly and LA as well.source.
Some salient truths in my opinion......
a) there are poor people in China. There are poor people in America
b) China does many many polluted areas. It was done at the cost of growing quickly, catching up industrially to the rest of the world and they took many shortcuts. However, they are now in the process of reversing the trend in earnest and I see it firsthand everyday ( I live in China at least 18 weeks a year). They have a huge solar power initiative and have green cities on line. Their high speed "Bullet Train" magnetic levitation system is second to none in the world and is being built at a fanatic pace. Tracks and terminals are going down and up daily. Soon Guangzhou will be 100% linked. It would be like if NYC was connected by high speed (190mph) rail to Chicago or Atlanta to move goods and products. ( maybe those flower pots will be aboard) This was done in months, not years. With funding from the Chinese government’s economic stimulus program 11,000 mi of high-speed lines are now under construction, with plans for a total network of 31,000 miles by 2020. By 2012, the length of China's high speed rail (250 km/hour or above) network will reach 9,000 miles and is expected to be greater than the rest of the world combined. China’s high speed trains use a wide range of domestic and imported technologies from Germany, Canada, France, Japan and Sweden. Oh, I almost forgot we have coal burning locomotives and Amtrack to rely on.
c) Where there was once no roads and river crossings there is now state of the art roads, bridges and wiring. China's infrastructure will be the envy of the world shortly. It almost already is. The roads, bridges and infrastructure in American is crumbling at the seams. Soon we will be 50 years BEHIND the Chinese and not the other way around. This sickens me as an American. Just being a proud American doesn't cut it anymore.
d) The Chinese banking system has been notoriously corrupt for centuries. It probably still is. Riddle me this though--- Is the US banking system any less corrupt? Is Wall St any less ruthless and sinister? Did we don't just learn this recently and did it not almost bring the world to it's knees? Or is it that we are just more comfortable with the criminals we know rather than the ones we don't ?
For the record I am an American and I love my country. I love sleeping in my own bed albeit it's only about 57 nights a year. I'm in the Middle East , Russia and India on occasion. The balance of the time I'm in the EU, Asia, Canada, Brazil and NY and LA. It's been like this for years. I tend to see with my eyes and listen to the ground. I have to bite my tongue sometimes on this forum as I feel like I will only incite the Go GO USA members. However, what is so patriotic about waving a red, white and blue flag to your arms fall off while your nation crumbles around you? I refuse to see America through the nostalgic rose colored glasses of my father. I see it for it is. We are in major trouble and our standard of living in jeopardy and in certain decline.
There will be those that will tell you that we will pick ourselves up by our bootstraps like always and we will reinvent ourselves and not to worry. One can sleep better buying into this. Go USA! I say pull your heads out of you a$$ step up to the plate and face the music. That is very American to me.
With all due respect and admiration to those that have served and sacrificed and built this great nation, we have screwed to the pooch. Time to roll up the sleeves and restore this country to greatness......It starts at the grass root level...................No one loves their country more then I. MJ
edited for typos and reworked the first paragraph
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I am pretty sure that we cant beat China when it comes to cheap labor and thats fine.
A lot of those jobs we want back are barely a notch above slave work.
and while Americans as a whole are very hard working, you can also say the same of a lot of countries.
The source of the US's greatness comes from its can do atittute ...its drive for innovations is what has made this country great.
It sure doesnt hurt to have vast natural reserves and land, overwhelming military power and the reserve currency of the world.
The problem is not so much globalization ( which is basically unstopable at this point )
but rather how do we restore the ideals that have propelled so many people from all over the world to see the US as a lighting guide for their own dreams, wether they are searching for freedom, economic prosperity or their own personal goals.
"Women should be obscene and not heard. " Groucho Marx
<It sure doesnt hurt to have vast natural reserves and land, overwhelming military power and the reserve currency of the world>
Yes our geographical footprint is perfect. We control the seas and that is mightily important militarily. It fact it is probably the single biggest reason for our might. Our navy rules the waterways. It is also beyond expensive. As for the reserve currency of the world- those things have a habit of changing with time. Today it is true........MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in? Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl? Reversing the trend of pollution in China ...how many coal plants are they building in a year over there? Chicago has been a crappy city for a while now ...the US crime figures have shown overall declines for the last 3 years. >>
China has all kinds of problems. The US does not hold the monopoly on this.
The male/female imbalance is already creating one problem. Unhappy males. My guess is that you will see lots of women from Eastern Europe moving to China. I have lots of Chinese friends that have several children both boys and girls. They just pay more for the priveledge. The one child rule is not etched in stone.
They are building lots of coal plants. Lot's are with clean coal burning technology. They learned that from the US.
There are lots of dirty places in China. Think Gary, Indiana. There are also unspoiled green bastions that rival those of the US.
Chicago is a great city for those that have some means and access. I love it there. However, there are conclaves within that are just plain terrifying. US Crime figures are down the last three years perhaps. Murders however, are not. That is alarming.
MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
China deserves to have a higher quality of life and no doubt some of that will come at the expense of the US...things do change ...our excesses will be costly.
And I personally believe thats not a bad thing as the consequences of having one billion happy chinese versus one billion angry chinese could save the world of another war.
I was working for Costa Farms when i went to China ...big suppliers of flowers to Walmart, Ikea, lowes etc....when we asked for new models, they all said "we can make anything you tell us"
But not a single one offered anything new, creative...they can sure put together an iphone...but can they "think" of one.
"Women should be obscene and not heard. " Groucho Marx
<But not a single one offered anything new, creative...they can sure put together an iphone...but can they "think" of one>
There are more then germs of truth to that statement. MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Katz celebrates the 4th with an article on why gold and silver aren't falling back "large" anytime soon. He notes the NYTimes as one of the biggest conditioners of American consumer actions. He also describes the backdrops of the major depressions going back into the 1870's. I found it interesting that during the 1866-1896 period prices dropped by 2/3 and consumer buying power increased by 90%. As Katz sums up that era:
On the other hand, we had an exact opposite case here in America from 1866-1896. Over this period, prices declined by over 2/3. (A $3.00 item declined to $1.00, CPI.) During this time, the real wages of the average American increased by 90% (PPI). A host of great inventors emerged who created wonderful new products (the telephone, the radio, the automobile, etc.) which in turn were made available to almost the entire society. And a mass of foreigners immigrated to our shores to get the higher wages for which Americans had become famous. This was the time when the U.S. became the top economy in the world (surpassing Britain). (Note to our southern friends, this is the period when the South caught up with the North economically. The real reason we fought the Civil War was to make you guys as rich as we were.) In more than one sense, our streets were paved with gold.
Our economic establishment tells us that this period (1866-1896) saw a series of depressions. The media of the country repeatedly tell us that they are against the rich and on the side of the poor. This is a repugnant and deliberate lie. 1866-96 was a period of several money and credit contractions, but a money/credit contraction is not a depression. It is a period when wealth is transferred from the rich to the poor. The overwhelming majority of the people benefited in two ways during this period: a) from the general increase in wealth of the time and b) from the money being lost by the rich. The “depressions” of this period were depressions for the rich, and the media of the country (which is always on the side of the rich) reported them as depressions for the whole society.
Note that when Katz states that money supply has doubled in the past 2 years he is using M0 and M1 (corrected back to pre-1994 methodologies) and not the conflicted M2 or M3. Our media is designed to keep J6P guessing incorrectly. Massaged money supply stats are just one of the tools along with CPI, PPI, GDP, published interest rates, unemployment rates, jobs reports, housing sales, etc. Without any workable/accurate tools it's no wonder J6P zigs when he should zag.
I'd have liked to seen a conversation between Katz and Keynes.
I'd have liked to seen a conversion between Katz and Keynes
I think it would have been a brief conversation as both would have quickly dismissed each other as raving lunatics. The truth would/will be found between the 2 arguements.
Nice discourse on China. Their impending problems combined with the current problems in the USA and Europe and lack of reliable infrastructure in countries such as India, Brazil, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia, ect, will ensure subdued global economic growth for many years to come.
A few weeks ago I posted a link to an article about a major contract manufacturer in China that had had a recent increase in suicides due to poor working conditions. Those workers have recently won a pay raise through their "union". A union that is controlled by the company's very own human resources department. Interesting to note that these pay increases were only given after Western media had picked up on the suicide stories. Question----How many of those suicides were not really suicides?
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in?
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl? >>
I read somewhere (so it must be true) that there are already some 30,000,000 more young adult males in China than there are females on the same generation, because of all the female foetuses/babies/children that were aborted/murdered/exported to other countries as adoptions.
Why do you think that the Japanese are perfecting lifelike female robots? They can see a developing market!!!
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in?
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl? >>
I read somewhere (so it must be true) that there are already some 30,000,000 more young adult males in China than there are females on the same generation, because of all the female foetuses/babies/children that were aborted/murdered/exported to other countries as adoptions.
Why do you think that the Japanese are perfecting lifelike female robots? They can see a developing market!!!
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
Of course, this just increases their demand for oil/gasoline and increases their already staggering pollution.
TD
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
TD- the 30 million inbalance sounds a little light as a total. 40 million is the current all in number. Your young adult number could be spot on. The total male/female population is projected at to close the gap at 28 million in 2055. China' current population is 1.321 billion people so you are roughly looking at 680,000,000 males and 641,000,000 females. I believe in most societies females have a 52/48 edge. Does that sound right? Anyways for those that care: Here is a link that shows the male/female gap by age
For the record the Chinese pretty much still bitterly hate the Japanese for slaughters commited in China by the invaders. When I arrive to my China office from Japan my colleagues their pretty more ignore me for two days as they know where I have been. Now that I think about it it happens to me a lot wherever I go. Scratch that...............
For what it's worth China is Japans largest trading partner. Hatred be damned I guess.
MJ
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
Re: Slabbed coins - There are some coins that LIVE within clear plastic and wear their labels with pride... while there are others that HIDE behind scratched plastic and are simply dragged along by a label. Then there are those coins that simply hang out, naked and free
The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.
I commented a few months ago on my trip to Canada and view of the housing market. At an average price of 6x income (10x in cities like Toronto and Vancouver), homes are now priced outside the abilities of the average Canadian. This is also true in Australia and New Zealand. To my dear northern brethren, you have my condolences.
Wow, that is a high average home price, although a national average has little meaning because real estate markets are fairly localized.
Here in Phoenix, the real estate market for homes under $150k is still very hot, even after the end of the tax credit, although I think there is a little bit less competition.
Average price at $177k for May (June numbers due out very soon), and Median price is $130k, and have been steadily increasing about $1000 or so per month for quite a while.
However, homes above 400k and 500k are sitting and sitting on the market, not many buyers in this price range.
ProofCollection, aren't those ~150K homes a vast majority short sales that take forever to close? i thought i also read that a huge amount of these were auctioned recently?
<< <i>Wow, that is a high average home price, although a national average has little meaning because real estate markets are fairly localized. >>
I agree with the national thing, but just for giggles the national average in the USA in 2006 was about $240k. Median income in Canada is very similar to the USA.
And in the USA it was only about 7% of the counties responsible for the "bubble". Unfortuantely when a dam breaks, it is not just the local vicinity that floods.
And just like in the USA, the bubble is concentrated in highly populated areas. The greater Toronto area holds 16% of Canada's population and Vancouver almost 7%. So these 2 cities are almost 25%. I believe a much greater percentage of Canada's population is exposed to a real estate bubble than were Americans.
<< <i>ProofCollection, aren't those ~150K homes a vast majority short sales that take forever to close? i thought i also read that a huge amount of these were auctioned recently? >>
Whether they are short sales or not, the sales volume (actual closed transactions) is actually very healthy and the number of listings is holding steady. So sales are keeping pace with the number of homes that are officially on the market (MLS).
RE auctions are common and are probably not reflected in the MLS numbers unless the auction company put them in there (which they often do). Any auction activity has either been constant or has otherwise not done anything to cause any "blips" in the data.
REO properties were about 68% of the market in Jan 2009, but declined rapidly and have gone from about 42% of the market in Jan 2010 to about 35% for May. I would estimate that short sales are another 30-40% of the market. The fact that short sales take forever to close really only affects the pending home sales numbers.
This is an interesting take that I had not thought about it..........6) A further increase in the cost of put and call options on gold compared with those on the Standard & Poor's 500. Currently, Peter observes, it costs $2.70 per $100 to insure against a 10% or greater drop in the SPDR Gold Trust (ticker: GLD), versus $4.20 per $100 to insure against a comparable decline in the S&P 500. "
Comments
Even in a fiat society debt is not money, neither is credit. But J6P has been brainwashed to think that those items are money when they are not. Money is not being destroyed, but is still growing. While economists are closely watching declining velocity in the standard monetary aggregates, who is watching velocity in the various arms and programs of the shadow banking system? While J6P is aware of the hundreds of billions of dollars that were slushed out to anonymous players he is not aware of the trillions that have been handed out and guaranteed in the shadow financial system. The politicos and bankers have ways of stimulating and bailing out with raising even the slightest suspicions among its citizens. Appropriating money through Congress is the old way of doing business. That side-show is for the little people's benefit. Austerity on the surface may reign in budgets, new bills, and media rhetoric.
But behind the scenes $Trillions will continue to flow in ever greater numbers to pay off failing debt. And there are clear winners in those transactions.....and losers as well. Unfortunately the losers will tend to be J6P, pension funds, cities, state and Federal govts, and too-small-to-be-rescued banks and corporations. The trillions that the winners sock away has to go somewhere safe so that they can use it again once currencies implode or are devalued. Where would you stash your Trillions in ransom money so that it comes out whole on the other side?
roadrunner
If one had a Trillion: Diversify into the following
Real Estate - land, apartments, commercial
gold and silver
Classic Cars
Airplanes
A golf course or 2
Casino - just to keep the cash flow strong
and
one big fabulous vacation - priceless!
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
I knew someone who cut deals that have him tax free status for 15 years, renewable for another 15 years in India and he was treated like a king when he was in country.
I know several people in China, one who was 28 years old when I met him thru his sister from Hong Kong, who was so successful with his import export business on the mainland he became a cash multi-millionaire and was given tax free status for 20 years.
Add the numbers up. Not just the senseless costs of having "troops" in some form or another in 100+ countries, a bloated military which is totally unecessary, gigantic social programs and the type of useless spending the makes even the most ardent communist blush and THEN add the costs of just simply doing business here. Between having to pay out so much higher costs from a standpoint of labor in the US, coupled with unreasonably high taxes, ( among the highest corporate taxes in the world ) and it should come as no suprise why this country has pissed away 8 million jobs "that ain't coming back mr springsteen " and probably lots more than that. Dumb the population down so they focus on sports and other mind numbing B/S and it's easy to see how this place has got a long way to go before this is all done.
An old friend of mine who publishes things like study guides for commodity traders , yes owns a heidelberg press, had his kids learing German ( they are of German ancestry ), and Mandarin. That's smart as this place is in so much trouble it's unreal.
Quasi-rant done
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
They have horrible corruption at all levels wether is business or goverment.
Try saying the wrong thing in China and see how that works...ask Google.
You can also add Brazil and Russia to that list as well...corruption, poverty and crime are daily staples of life.
Groucho Marx
I suppose we do not have to worry about most large American cites falling into the, corruption, poverty and crime categories?
I think it will we interesting here when the riots begin, as they have in Greece. Can you just see 200 police with plastic shields and batons marching toward a crowd with GUNS?
It is no wonder that places like Chicago want total gun control.
<< <i>China and India are both polluted, dirty and overcrowed countries for the most part.
They have horrible corruption at all levels wether is business or goverment.
Try saying the wrong thing in China and see how that works...ask Google.
You can also add Brazil and Russia to that list as well...corruption, poverty and crime are daily staples of life. >>
When is last time you've been to China? When is the last time you've been to Chicago? Curious. MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China?
Groucho Marx
<< <i>2008.
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there.
<< <i>
<< <i>2008.
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there. >>
10 million plus Americans out of work. Attitudes like this is why! All mighty dollar
Nuff said~ Happy 4th of July
yeah, yeah, it'll probably get passed to the consumer, but - if the price is too high - domestically produced items will sell first.
globalization is the biggest farce we've ever been sold.
One was a flower pots maker, the workers had to sit in a tiny stool for 12 hours a day and got paid around 6 dollars or so a day.
The dust from the clay was so thick that i could barely breathe.
The US is the only country where a regular blue collar person could have a semi luxurious life...a truck driver, a nurse and even a waiter can afford a nice vacation, 3 tv's, a decent car, AC, refrigerator etc.
Groucho Marx
of jobs is shrinking. We would be short jobs even if the population was static.
We invent a new technology and as soon as retail products are viable we offshore
production. We lose our technical edge, we lose jobs and we lose taxes to run the Nation,
State and city Governments.
How are these for ideas, tax breaks are only granted to companies that are 100% American
designed, manufactured and assembled.
Off shore corporations that wish to sell in the USA, will be taxed to make up for the lost government
income.
Majority foreign ownership of American Companies will be forbidden by law.
No bank chain will be allowed to grow beyond a certain size. They will be split up into separate companies
just as Standard Oil was by Teddy Roosevelt.
All business accounting procedures will be standardized and reported in the same format.
Any person in Government service, shall upon leaving government service, be forbidden to work for, lobby or
otherwise be employed in a manner that will tap into relationships with employees of the governmental
or regulatory agency that they were employed with for a period of 10 calender years.Violation of the rule will
be a Federal Crime.
Registered lobbyists will pay a yearly fee of 100,000 to the US Treasury to practice as lobbyists.Non Licensed persons
working for a lobbyist firm and acting in the capacity of a lobbyist will be fined 100,000 dollars per each person per incident.
Camelot
<< <i>
<< <i>2008.
I saw little kids pee in the stree like it was the most normal thing on earth ...their clothes actually have a hole made just for that.
Tell me...if you had 10 million dollars ...where would you live?
The US or China? >>
Actually, I'd probably relocate to Panama or some other similar location. Things are getting bad in the US and only getting worse. If you stick around Obama will try to redistribute your wealth. With money like that, in those countries you can purchase all of the land, safety and security you could ever want... and be "more free" than you are in the US.
My compnay moved a factory to Malaysia, and they got a 15 year tax holiday for doing so. Not surprisingly, they are now building another factory there so they can close another US factory. This despite horrendous production issues and quality control issues, the savings are so massive that it doesn't matter. there are more executives in my company looking to shine, so I'm surprised the whole company hasn't moved over there. >>
10 million? Plenty of places to safely hide out in Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Wyoming...etc.
Free Trial
Wages have been steadily rising in China. They have practically doubled the over the past two years and in my opinion it is warranted. Benefits have increases exponentially.
Costs have skyrocketed. Lots of factories have closed or moved to Cambodia and Vietnam. The ones that have remained open are heavily subsidized by the China Gov. with a favorable Yuan exchange rate. These remaining factories are full and charging top dollar. The "easy" China gravy train is over. It's a lot harder to make money on both sides. This is good for the people of China. Probably not great for the US and Europe.
The reason I mentioned Chicago is that is one of the most dangerous inner cities on the planet and it's in the heartland of America. Over 120 murders in the 1st quarter of the year alone. Murders are up in 2010 in NYC, Philly and LA as well.source.
Some salient truths in my opinion......
a) there are poor people in China. There are poor people in America
b) China does many many polluted areas. It was done at the cost of growing quickly, catching up industrially to the rest of the world and they took many shortcuts.
However, they are now in the process of reversing the trend in earnest and I see it firsthand everyday ( I live in China at least 18 weeks a year).
They have a huge solar power initiative and have green cities on line. Their high speed "Bullet Train" magnetic levitation system is second to none in the world and is being built at a fanatic pace. Tracks and terminals are going down and up daily. Soon Guangzhou will be 100% linked. It would be like if NYC was connected by high speed (190mph) rail to Chicago or Atlanta to move goods and products. ( maybe those flower pots will be aboard) This was done in months, not years. With funding from the Chinese government’s economic stimulus program 11,000 mi of high-speed lines are now under construction, with plans for a total network of 31,000 miles by 2020. By 2012, the length of China's high speed rail (250 km/hour or above) network will reach 9,000 miles and is expected to be greater than the rest of the world combined. China’s high speed trains use a wide range of domestic and imported technologies from Germany, Canada, France, Japan and Sweden. Oh, I almost forgot we have coal burning locomotives and Amtrack to rely on.
c) Where there was once no roads and river crossings there is now state of the art roads, bridges and wiring. China's infrastructure will be the envy of the world shortly.
It almost already is. The roads, bridges and infrastructure in American is crumbling at the seams. Soon we will be 50 years BEHIND the Chinese and not the other way around. This sickens me as an American. Just being a proud American doesn't cut it anymore.
d) The Chinese banking system has been notoriously corrupt for centuries. It probably still is. Riddle me this though--- Is the US banking system any less corrupt? Is Wall St any less ruthless and sinister? Did we don't just learn this recently and did it not almost bring the world to it's knees? Or is it that we are just more comfortable with the criminals we know rather than the ones we don't ?
For the record I am an American and I love my country. I love sleeping in my own bed albeit it's only about 57 nights a year. I'm in the Middle East , Russia and India on occasion. The balance of the time I'm in the EU, Asia, Canada, Brazil and NY and LA. It's been like this for years. I tend to see with my eyes and listen to the ground. I have to bite my tongue sometimes on this forum as I feel like I will only incite the Go GO USA members. However, what is so patriotic about waving a red, white and blue flag to your arms fall off while your nation crumbles around you? I refuse to see America through the nostalgic rose colored glasses of my father. I see it for it is. We are in major trouble and our standard of living in jeopardy and in certain decline.
There will be those that will tell you that we will pick ourselves up by our bootstraps like always and we will reinvent ourselves and not to worry. One can sleep better buying into this. Go USA! I say pull your heads out of you a$$ step up to the plate and face the music. That is very American to me.
With all due respect and admiration to those that have served and sacrificed and built this great nation, we have screwed to the pooch. Time to roll up the sleeves and restore this country to greatness......It starts at the grass root level...................No one loves their country more then I. MJ
edited for typos and reworked the first paragraph
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
<< <i>regular blue collar person could have a semi luxurious life...a truck driver, a nurse >>
A nurse is 'still' considered a "blue collar worker"??? That just doesn't seem right to me...
... please excuse the digression. (I get your point)
A lot of those jobs we want back are barely a notch above slave work.
and while Americans as a whole are very hard working, you can also say the same of a lot of countries.
The source of the US's greatness comes from its can do atittute ...its drive for innovations is what has made this country great.
It sure doesnt hurt to have vast natural reserves and land, overwhelming military power and the reserve currency of the world.
The problem is not so much globalization ( which is basically unstopable at this point )
but rather how do we restore the ideals that have propelled so many people from all over the world to see the US as a lighting guide for their own dreams, wether they are searching for freedom, economic prosperity or their own personal goals.
Groucho Marx
<It sure doesnt hurt to have vast natural reserves and land, overwhelming military power and the reserve currency of the world>
Yes our geographical footprint is perfect. We control the seas and that is mightily important militarily. It fact it is probably the single biggest reason for our might. Our navy rules the waterways. It is also beyond expensive. As for the reserve currency of the world- those things have a habit of changing with time. Today it is true........MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl?
Reversing the trend of pollution in China ...how many coal plants are they building in a year over there?
Chicago has been a crappy city for a while now ...the US crime figures have shown overall declines for the last 3 years.
Groucho Marx
<< <i>"one child per family" >>
...
<< <i>Reversing the trend of pollution in China >>
There's a connection... so they say.
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in?
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl?
Reversing the trend of pollution in China ...how many coal plants are they building in a year over there?
Chicago has been a crappy city for a while now ...the US crime figures have shown overall declines for the last 3 years. >>
China has all kinds of problems. The US does not hold the monopoly on this.
The male/female imbalance is already creating one problem. Unhappy males. My guess is that you will see lots of women from Eastern Europe moving to China. I have lots of Chinese friends that have several children both boys and girls. They just pay more for the priveledge. The one child rule is not etched in stone.
They are building lots of coal plants. Lot's are with clean coal burning technology. They learned that from the US.
There are lots of dirty places in China. Think Gary, Indiana. There are also unspoiled green bastions that rival those of the US.
Chicago is a great city for those that have some means and access. I love it there. However, there are conclaves within that are just plain terrifying.
US Crime figures are down the last three years perhaps. Murders however, are not. That is alarming.
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
And I personally believe thats not a bad thing as the consequences of having one billion happy chinese versus one billion angry chinese could save the world of another war.
I was working for Costa Farms when i went to China ...big suppliers of flowers to Walmart, Ikea, lowes etc....when we asked for new models, they all said "we can make anything you tell us"
But not a single one offered anything new, creative...they can sure put together an iphone...but can they "think" of one.
Groucho Marx
There are more then germs of truth to that statement. MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
On the other hand, we had an exact opposite case here in America from 1866-1896. Over this period, prices declined by over 2/3. (A $3.00 item declined to $1.00, CPI.) During this time, the real wages of the average American increased by 90% (PPI). A host of great inventors emerged who created wonderful new products (the telephone, the radio, the automobile, etc.) which in turn were made available to almost the entire society. And a mass of foreigners immigrated to our shores to get the higher wages for which Americans had become famous. This was the time when the U.S. became the top economy in the world (surpassing Britain). (Note to our southern friends, this is the period when the South caught up with the North economically. The real reason we fought the Civil War was to make you guys as rich as we were.) In more than one sense, our streets were paved with gold.
Our economic establishment tells us that this period (1866-1896) saw a series of depressions. The media of the country repeatedly tell us that they are against the rich and on the side of the poor. This is a repugnant and deliberate lie. 1866-96 was a period of several money and credit contractions, but a money/credit contraction is not a depression. It is a period when wealth is transferred from the rich to the poor. The overwhelming majority of the people benefited in two ways during this period: a) from the general increase in wealth of the time and b) from the money being lost by the rich. The “depressions” of this period were depressions for the rich, and the media of the country (which is always on the side of the rich) reported them as depressions for the whole society.
Note that when Katz states that money supply has doubled in the past 2 years he is using M0 and M1 (corrected back to pre-1994 methodologies) and not the conflicted M2 or M3. Our media is designed to keep J6P guessing incorrectly. Massaged money supply stats are just one of the tools along with CPI, PPI, GDP, published interest rates, unemployment rates, jobs reports, housing sales, etc. Without any workable/accurate tools it's no wonder J6P zigs when he should zag.
I'd have liked to seen a conversation between Katz and Keynes.
Katz on economics & where silver/gold are headed
roadrunner
I think it would have been a brief conversation as both would have quickly dismissed each other as raving lunatics. The truth would/will be found between the 2 arguements.
Nice discourse on China. Their impending problems combined with the current problems in the USA and Europe and lack of reliable infrastructure in countries such as India, Brazil, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia, ect, will ensure subdued global economic growth for many years to come.
A few weeks ago I posted a link to an article about a major contract manufacturer in China that had had a recent increase in suicides due to poor working conditions. Those workers have recently won a pay raise through their "union". A union that is controlled by the company's very own human resources department. Interesting to note that these pay increases were only given after Western media had picked up on the suicide stories. Question----How many of those suicides were not really suicides?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
1989 massacre
How soon we forget! Has any thing "REALLY" changed
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in?
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl?
>>
I read somewhere (so it must be true) that there are already some 30,000,000 more young adult males in China than there are females on the same generation, because of all the female foetuses/babies/children that were aborted/murdered/exported to other countries as adoptions.
Why do you think that the Japanese are perfecting lifelike female robots? They can see a developing market!!!
<< <i>
<< <i>tell me ..what would happen to China once the full effects of the "one child per family" kick in?
Do you think there might be some male/females imbalances in China given their preference to have a male son rather than a girl?
>>
I read somewhere (so it must be true) that there are already some 30,000,000 more young adult males in China than there are females on the same generation, because of all the female foetuses/babies/children that were aborted/murdered/exported to other countries as adoptions.
Why do you think that the Japanese are perfecting lifelike female robots? They can see a developing market!!!
30 million extra young adult males could prove useful as cannon fodder if China's regime ever decides to revisit some old border disputes.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
TD
the bitter medicine to correct the excesses of their economic model.
Modern China has yet to come upon that medicine, but they surly will
in the passage of time. That time may be closer then the Chinese
Government is willing to admit. There are tremendous difference in
development throughout the various provinces.Too many of China's people
are poor. There is a rising anger of the masses of people that they do not
seem to be a part ,of the prosperity of the New China.
Camelot
link
Of course, this just increases their demand for oil/gasoline and increases their already staggering pollution.
TD
680,000,000 males and 641,000,000 females. I believe in most societies females have a 52/48 edge. Does that sound right? Anyways for those that care:
Here is a link that shows the male/female gap by age
For the record the Chinese pretty much still bitterly hate the Japanese for slaughters commited in China by the invaders.
When I arrive to my China office from Japan my colleagues their pretty more ignore me for two days as they know where I have been. Now that I think about it it happens to me a lot wherever I go. Scratch that...............
For what it's worth China is Japans largest trading partner. Hatred be damned I guess.
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
<< <i>Think the Japanese could sell this 30,000,000 of this robot to China???
She's hawt! Put me down for one.
<< <i>In periods of rapid economic growth, Nations eventually must face
the bitter medicine to correct the excesses of their economic model.
Modern China has yet to come upon that medicine, but they surly will
in the passage of time. That time may be closer then the Chinese
Government is willing to admit. There are tremendous difference in
development throughout the various provinces.Too many of China's people
are poor. There is a rising anger of the masses of people that they do not
seem to be a part ,of the prosperity of the New China. >>
Maybe they will revisit their own covered up history and deploy Mao-extermination to "balance" the population.
As US Collapses, Media Worships LeBron James
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Depression?
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Canadian existing home sales fell 8.2 percent in June ........The average price for a home in Canada was C$342,662 in June
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Here in Phoenix, the real estate market for homes under $150k is still very hot, even after the end of the tax credit, although I think there is a little bit less competition.
Average price at $177k for May (June numbers due out very soon), and Median price is $130k, and have been steadily increasing about $1000 or so per month for quite a while.
However, homes above 400k and 500k are sitting and sitting on the market, not many buyers in this price range.
AZ (metro Phoenix area) is abysmal, IMHO
<< <i>Wow, that is a high average home price, although a national average has little meaning because real estate markets are fairly localized. >>
I agree with the national thing, but just for giggles the national average in the USA in 2006 was about $240k. Median income in Canada is very similar to the USA.
And in the USA it was only about 7% of the counties responsible for the "bubble". Unfortuantely when a dam breaks, it is not just the local vicinity that floods.
And just like in the USA, the bubble is concentrated in highly populated areas. The greater Toronto area holds 16% of Canada's population and Vancouver almost 7%. So these 2 cities are almost 25%. I believe a much greater percentage of Canada's population is exposed to a real estate bubble than were Americans.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Canadians!
Groucho Marx
<< <i>ProofCollection, aren't those ~150K homes a vast majority short sales that take forever to close? i thought i also read that a huge amount of these were auctioned recently? >>
Whether they are short sales or not, the sales volume (actual closed transactions) is actually very healthy and the number of listings is holding steady. So sales are keeping pace with the number of homes that are officially on the market (MLS).
RE auctions are common and are probably not reflected in the MLS numbers unless the auction company put them in there (which they often do). Any auction activity has either been constant or has otherwise not done anything to cause any "blips" in the data.
REO properties were about 68% of the market in Jan 2009, but declined rapidly and have gone from about 42% of the market in Jan 2010 to about 35% for May. I would estimate that short sales are another 30-40% of the market. The fact that short sales take forever to close really only affects the pending home sales numbers.
These are MLS stats only...
This is an interesting take that I had not thought about it..........6) A further increase in the cost of put and call options on gold compared with those on the Standard & Poor's 500. Currently, Peter observes, it costs $2.70 per $100 to insure against a 10% or greater drop in the SPDR Gold Trust (ticker: GLD), versus $4.20 per $100 to insure against a comparable decline in the S&P 500. "
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
At what price to secure social peace?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear