Wednesday, February 16, 2011

South Carolina to Secede Once Again? The World Bank Acknowledges Skyrocketing Food Costs

2/16/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…
Oh, fellow taxpayers, it as if some sort of dam has been breached and all sorts of mayhem and shenanigans are barreling down upon us.  What has happened?  What is the cause?  Why, out of nowhere, have governments fallen in the Middle East with the promise of more ousters to follow?  Why is the Italian Prime Minister still in office?  Why have the oppressed of the world begun to speak out, almost in unison, against perceived injustices?
Is it Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter?  Despite what we think, many of those who are rioting may scarcely be able to read or write, let alone operate a computer.  While this may help to facilitate, we doubt these tools in themselves have the power to agitate.
The one thing that tends to affect everyone all at once are rising food prices!  Even the World Bank seems to be getting it.  In a recent report, they state that global food prices have jumped a whopping 29% in one year.  The report goes on to blame export bans and weather disruptions as part of the problem.  What it doesn't state, but what is obvious now to Mint followers, is that dramatic increases in the global money supply, spewed into the banking system by every Central Bank on the planet, are now finding their way into basic commodity prices.
You see, the Central Banks of the world, through their actions, may have given the current insane monetary system a few more years to survive, but they have essentially stolen the wages of the masses.  This is why they are rioting.  People will tolerate shenanigans at all levels of government as long as they are fed and see better things on the horizon.
Now that the Central Banks have virtually assured that neither of those things will happen for at least 3 years and counting, the floodgates have opened for any sort of grievance to be publicly aired.  It is as if a season of Festivus for the rest of us has been declared!

The Egyptians tolerated Mubarak for 30 years until he could no longer feed them.  He fell in 18 days.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Obama’s Budget to be Nipped, Tucked, and Enhanced, Thoughts on True Freedom

2/15/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…
Yesterday President Obama presented his proposed budget, only five months late, not bad for government work.  The Federal Government rarely passes a budget on time and is accustomed to operating on autopilot for months at a time.  Since the FED is currently buying up all of Uncle Sam's freshly minted Treasury Debt, it should come as no surprise that they are not in a hurry to pass any kind of budget.
Yet at some point, the political theater demands the annual budget show, or showdown, as this year's version may be called.  Mr. Obama, the protagonist, appears to have alienated nearly everyone with this proposalApparently the overextended and inefficient governmental operation currently being run cannot be scaled back without ruffling a few feathers.   
After accelerating government spending into a realm which has never been seen before, the proposal promises to cut the annual Federal deficit in half by the end of his first term.   
We wouldn't hold our breath.  His budget optimistically assumes that GDP will grow BY 3.6% in 2012 and 4% thereafter.  GDP growth is easy to obtain when all you have to do is plug numbers in to a spreadsheet.  It is much harder to achieve in an economy bent on destroying itself.