The Three Ring Circus Begins

10/25/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday, it appeared that the authorities had most of the problems that ail the world’s economy resolved.  All they needed was a little more time, money and cooperation to implement their plans and the good times would be rolling once again!  Today, instead of coordinated, determined action, it appears that a three ring circus of sorts is beginning.

In Ring 1, we have the European Clown Car:  Yesterday, Europe looked ready to announce a plan to simultaneously solve the sovereign debt, banking, and resultant currency crises in one fell swoop.  Today, it appears that Italy is balking at implementing a growth plan on moment’s notice and Germany and France will need a miracle to announce a credible Pan-European rescue package by tomorrow, their self imposed deadline.  What a difference a day makes!

It should be clear by now to most sober persons that regardless of what is announced tomorrow, the Euro as a currency in its present form is not viable.  It should also be clear that the countries who have adopted the Euro will give away what is left of their sovereignty in a vain attempt to preserve it.

Step Right up!  The Economic 3 Ring Circus Begins

In Ring 2, we have the American Elephants:  The US is quietly completing three Bond auctions that will cause the national debt higher than the national GDP.  The official total should eclipse GDP by the end of October.  100% of GDP is when the debt of a mere mortal nation (Greece, for example) has traditionally harkened national bankruptcy.

The only exception to this rule is in Ring 3, the Japanese Tight Rope Walker: Japan, where national debt is north of 200% of GDP.  How do they avoid bankruptcy?  Simple, they print money to pay the debt.  As if to prove our point, today, the Bank of Japan decided that they have seen enough Yen appreciation and announced another five trillion Yen currency printing campaign.

When money doesn’t exist, the sky is the limit, which is why commodities and certain equities are set to explode to the upside.  Bonds, while they may not fall in nominal value, will fall in relative value as they are repaid in severely depreciated currencies.

As if on cue, commodities took off today.  How high and far they will fly this time is anyone’s guess.

As the circus gets underway, the sober amongst us are beginning to wonder, sometimes aloud, “if the Governments, banks, and monetary authorities cannot solve these problems, then who can?”

The answer, fellow taxpayer, is right under our fingertips.  We, the People of the earth can solve it.  The tool we have been given is our own wit and ingenuity.  The only requirement is that we embrace True Capitalism, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, until death do us part.

What is True Capitalism?  It may be summed up as a deep, radical respect for life, liberty, and private property.  It is an understanding that mutual cooperation is more often than not in our rightly understood interests (to use a Mises term).  It is not simply a choice, it is the only choice.  More to come.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for October 25, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.41
Oil Price per Barrel:  $93.17

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.51  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.13%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,705 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,707  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

European Semi-Solution Extends the False Calm and indirect moratorium on Eurozone Investment

10/24/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

Today after the western stock markets closed, the German lawmakers announced yet another plan in an attempt to stem the Eurozone’s tandem sovereign debt and banking crisis, which is rapidly accelerating.  The plan, according to AP, would boost the European Financial Stabilization Fund from its current 440 billion Euros approximately one trillion Euros.   

 

The one trillion Euro figure is an estimate due to the nature of the plan which involves enticing capital to invest in the Sovereign debt issues from Euro member states by creating an insurance fund to partially back sovereign debt issues that would otherwise attract little investor interest.

 

Think of it as a partial Fannie Mae guaranty for European Governments.  

 

There is a reason that foreign capital is hesitant to invest in Euro sovereign debt, and it is not for lack of enticement.  Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian bonds all offer fixed income investors a decent premium over other sovereigns for their perceived risk.  The problem from the point of view of the investors is that the premiums are not high enough if considered against the likely event that they will not get their principal returned.  The problem from the perspective of the Euro sovereign issuers is that they cannot realistically pay even these reduced premiums.

 

Once it is generally perceived that a nation state will default on its obligations, it is very difficult to attract capital, whether it be the purchase of sovereign bonds or investments in businesses located in the troubled country.

 

Default, while the most practical solution for any normal debtor, is apparently unacceptable for modern western nations.  For this reason, the Eurozone leadership is moving in slow, measured steps to appear to do just enough to preserve the credibility of the debt issued by the weaker, peripheral states such as Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

 

Will this latest Eurocrat concoction be enough?

 

For the moment, it may be.  The German Parliament must vote on their new obligations on Wednesday, just hours before the broader Eurozone working group is set to formally announce the plan, leaving no room for dissent, ala Slovenia earlier this month.  Once the political drama in Germany passes, it will be smooth sailing for the Euro and its sovereign debt markets…for about a week.  

The illusion of viability and solvency

At that point, it will again become clear that the banks and sovereigns will require additional funds (currently the estimate is north of 2 trillion Euros) in order to continue the illusion solvency.

 

The problem of Euro solvency is no secret.  This is why both banks and sovereign governments are having a great deal of difficulty getting credit from anyone other than other broke European governments, banks, the ECB, and the Federal Reserve.  This latter list of entities have two things in common.  First and foremost, they all have a vested interest in perpetuating the charade that the Euro is a viable currency.  Second, these entities, by virtue of their activities, can only destroy wealth and therefore must coerce the productive class into lending its resources.

 

To make matters worse, no one in their right mind can invest real capital in the Eurozone under these conditions.  With sovereign governments pushing austerity measures and increasing the confiscation of private assets via increased taxation, any further investment in the Eurozone must be properly seen as an act of charity.

 

Such is the paradox of solving debt problems by incurring more debt.  Once one believes that the debt cannot be repaid, this belief becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.  The Eurozone is becoming the world’s latest example of this inescapable truth.

 

Meanwhile, commodity prices, which reflect the fruits of productive activities, are on the verge of exploding to the upside, signaling a growing distaste for fiat currencies.   Will this be the final, violent blow off in commodities?

 

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

 

Stay Fresh!

 

David Mint

 

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

 

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at www.davidmint.com

 

Key Indicators for October 24, 2011

 

Copper Price per Lb: $3.46
Oil Price per Barrel:  $91.60

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.51  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.23%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,653 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,914  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part V – Final Catastrophe and Hope for the Future

10/21/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

As the western world braces for a full scale currency collapse, we have endeavored here at The Mint to offer an explanation as to why these events are taking place and, along the way, offering the obvious solution to the chief problem, mistaking credit for money. 

For those of you who have missed Part I, Part II, Part II, and/or Part IV, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part I

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part II - Irony

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part III – Money or Credit?

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part IV – The Catastrophe at Hand

If you require only a brief summary, Part IV above offers a relatively brief and comprehensive summary of the previous three.  Now where were we…

Ah yes, in the United States, circa 1968, a time not so unlike our own.  The Vietnam war was becoming increasingly unpopular and the social climate was ripe for protest.  The US had run up a large and increasing trade deficit with the rest of the world.  It was becoming clear that if foreign dollar holders were to redeem a significant amount of their Federal Reserve Notes, which we now understand to be banknotes and not money proper, for gold, which we now understand to be money proper, the Federal Reserve would not be able to deliver enough gold.

The solution, if it can be called that, was to gradually increase the amount of Federal Reserve Notes required to obtain an ounce of gold from $35 to $41 between 1968 and 1971.  Then, in 1971, with the US dollar collapsing in value and the Bretton Woods system falling apart at the seams, then President of the United States Richard Nixon announced that US dollars were no longer convertible into gold.  The event is now referred to as the Nixon Shock.

And a shock it was.  The US dollar, the benchmark of Central Bank currencies throughout the world, was now officially backed only by the faith that it would continue to be accepted in trade.  The Federal Reserve had defaulted.

Most of the world still lives by this faith today, and if anything, the delusion that a banknote issued by a Central Bank which has defaulted on its obligation to deliver real money on demand has only grown.

The reason that the large scale catastrophe of modern Central Banking lies before us is that over the last 40 years, the lack of gold and silver to back the banknotes in circulation has been replaced by the expectation that governments, and by extension their subjects (citizens), will produce enough goods and perform enough services to repay the obligations represented by the banknotes. As the unrestricted quantity of banknotes and obligations to deliver banknotes in existence will always tend to exceed the stock of goods and services, these obligations are impossible to repay.

Human beings are fallible.  It is normal and should be expected that they will not be able to deliver on certain obligations.  The natural beauty of banknotes redeemable in gold and silver was that, if it was suspected or observed that a person or entity would be unable to pay their obligations, the creditor would move to seize the gold, silver, or other assets that the debtor had pledged as collateral.

The seizure of collateral or the threat of seizure was often enough to correct the failed human action or decisions that were leading to the net loss of wealth incurred by the activity which was undertaken.  In economic parlance, we would call this the correction of the malinvestment of resources.

Without gold and silver to act as a natural limitation on the supply of banknotes and other forms of credit, the bad decisions that lead to the malinvestment and the activities that lead to the destruction of wealth and resources can continue for a very long time.

The use of gold and silver as money had another, more important function that is often overlooked.  Gold and silver are inert, non-consumable objects.  Their hoarding and use as money will not generally cause starvation or want.  In fact, the hoarding of gold and silver of money would have the effect of lowering general prices as productivity increased, naturally creating an incentive to decrease production which in turn would raise prices, making the expenditure of more silver and gold necessary and in turn raise prices, creating a natural  incentive to produce.

Gold and silver allow the economy to naturally regulate itself and, by virtue of the difficulty in extracting them, cause the rest of the earth’s resources to be used in harmony with each other.

Finally, gold and silver are inanimate objects.  Their recognition and possible seizure as collateral does not threaten the liberty or life of a person.  However, because modern central banking has replaced money proper and placed credit in its place, it will become increasingly common to entire societies held as security for a debt that many of them had no direct hand in creating. This is the logical end of using credit as money.

It is the truth that will bring tragedy to the earth.

Without the natural counterbalance to trade and growth which gold and silver money had provided for over 9,000 years, man’s activities, whether productive or destructive, have continued nearly unchecked for the past 40 years.  It is staggering to think of the catastrophe that awaits if man is truly on the path to destruction.
Man, by nature, is always on the path of destruction, but the use of gold and silver as money served to correct him before he strayed too far down it.

Most people alive today have been trained to believe that using Gold and Silver as money is an unnecessary and environmentally harmful process.  Even Adam Smith believed that if the effort expended to mine metals to create money could be directed to other, more useful activities, that humanity would be better off.

What Smith did not realize was that man would not always direct its energies to useful activities.  Like modern Socialists, he underestimated the power of self interest inherent in all human action.  Today we are preparing to reap the consequences of 40 years of unrestricted and more often misguided human actions.

While it may be too late to avoid the catastrophe that Modern Central Banking may bring upon us, it is comforting to know that a return to the understanding and use of gold and silver as money offers hope for a future of truly infinite possibilities.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for October 21, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.23
Oil Price per Barrel:  $87.40

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.49  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.20%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,642 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,809  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastropche - Part IV – The Catastrophe at Hand

10/20/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

For those of you who have missed Part I, Part II, and/or Part III, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part I

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part II - Irony

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part III – Money or Credit?

Again, for those of you who are too lazy to click the links, here we offer a brief summary to get you up to speed:

Central Banking is the physical expression of Man’s need to safeguard his wealth and to increase trade.  A Central Bank’s usefulness and scope were greatly increased when dual entry accounting could be employed to manage a Central Bank’s accounts.

The Central Bank’s role as a storehouse of wealth has generally attracted the attention of the Government, which is the physical expression of Man’s need to protect his life.  The Government, in this capacity, does not generate wealth and must maintain itself either by taxing its subjects or borrowing funds.

The Central Bank, as the repository of wealth and facilitator of trade, by default creates a majority of the banknotes which circulate in a society.  As such, the Central Bank becomes the natural creditor of the Government.  Whether it lends funds directly to the Government or indirectly, the result is the same.  That result is that the use of its subject’s wealth by the Government is greatly facilitated by the existence of a Central Bank.

Having established the fact that some form of both a Government and a Central Bank will naturally, in some form, come into existence and become increasingly interdependent, the only question is one of the size and scope of such entities.

Today, that the scale of modern Central Banking is excessive and that the potential for catastrophe is unprecedented.

The reason for the unprecedented scope of Central Banking is that money, as it is widely understood today, does not really exist.  Rather, banknotes issued by Central Banks, which are by definition credit instruments, are misunderstood to be money proper by a majority of the people in the developed and semi-developed world.

This misunderstanding flies in the face of 9,000 years of human history, in which Gold and Silver in bar and coin form have been tacitly used as money proper.  It is this misunderstanding which has set the stage for the greatest catastrophe in history to occur.

Federal Reserve Notes Begin to Replace Gold and Silver as the concept of Money for a Generation

 The misunderstanding of money and credit began, like many experiments, in Northern Europe with the establishment of the Bank of Amsterdam.  Established in 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam is widely recognized as at least a precursor to modern central banks.  For over 400 years since it was established, the use of banknotes issued by a Central Bank which are not directly convertible to coin has slowly but steadily increased.

Modern Central banks issuing banknotes were subsequently formed in Europe, England, and Japan.  As these Central banks and their successors began to slowly absorb the true money supply and issue banknotes in their place, man began to slowly transfer the concept of money proper from Gold and Silver and attribute the qualities of money to the banknotes issued by the Central Bank.

This process of wealth absorption greatly accelerated in 1913 when the United States of America granted a 100 year charter to its third Central Bank, the Federal Reserve.  The FED, as it is commonly known, was to act primarily as a reserve and to create "money" (read banknotes) as necessary.  At the advent of World War I, the FED stepped in and issued bonds to finance the war and after the war the FED was granted exclusive control of the money supply in the United States.

In 1933, in the midst of what was to be the great depression in the US, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 which required citizens to deliver all but a small amount of gold coin and bullion held by them to the FED in exchange for $20.67 worth of Federal Reserve notes (the banknotes issued by the FED) per ounce.

Naturally, most citizens with large quantities of gold at the time had it transferred to Switzerland.
Then, by decree, the Government raised the price of redeeming gold from the FED to $35 per ounce.  Redemption could only be made by Foreign parties as, naturally, it was now illegal for US Citizens to own gold.

Federal Reserve notes were now the only form of "money" that an entire generation of Americans were likely to handle.  However, foreigners could still redeem the Federal Reserve notes for gold, though they rarely did, at $35 per ounce.

After World War II, the US emerged as the most powerful nation on earth.  It was only natural that the western governments would peg their currencies at a fixed exchange rate to the US dollar (Federal Reserve Note) which was redeemable in gold at $35 per ounce.  This is commonly known as the Bretton Woods system.

The system held together for around 20 years, accepting that $35 US Dollars were as good as gold until 1968, when things began to get dangerous...

Stay tuned and  Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for October 20, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.06
Oil Price per Barrel:  $86.34

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.50  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.18%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,622 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,542 

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part III – Money or Credit?

10/19/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

For those of you who have missed Part I and/or Part II, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part I

Dual Entry Accounting - Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe - Part II - Irony

For those of you who are too lazy to click the links, we do not blame you.  Below we offer a brief summary to get you up to speed:

Central Banking is the physical expression of Man’s need to safeguard his wealth and to increase trade.  A Central Bank’s usefulness and scope were greatly increased when dual entry accounting could be employed to manage a Central Bank’s accounts.

The Central Bank’s role as a storehouse of wealth has generally attracted the attention of the Government, which is the physical expression of Man’s need to protect his life.  The Government, in this capacity, does not generate wealth and must maintain itself either by taxing its subjects or borrowing funds.

The Central Bank, as the repository of wealth and facilitator of trade, by default creates a majority of the banknotes which circulate in a society.  As such, the Central Bank becomes the natural creditor of the Government.  Whether it lends funds directly to the Government or indirectly, the result is the same.  That result is that the use of its subject’s wealth by the Government is greatly facilitated by the existence of a Central Bank.

Having established the fact that some form of both a Government and a Central Bank will come into existence and become increasingly interdependent, the only question is one of the size and scope of such entities.
Central Banking, like alcohol and socialism, may be a good idea when used in moderation.  However, each one of these also represents a catastrophe waiting to happen.  For if the circumstances under which they are created or used take an unfavorable turn, they wealth and lives of many may be lost in a very short period of time.

It is clear today that the scale of modern Central Banking is excessive and that the potential for catastrophe is unprecedented.

How, when, and most importantly why will this catastrophe take place?  As mere mortals, we can only answer the why and speculate as to the how and when.

Why, then, will the current system of Central Banking come to an end which will cause wealth destruction on a scale which will make the weapons of war seem like child’s play in comparison?

The answer, fellow taxpayer, is that money as it is widely understood today does not really exist.

You read correctly.  What a majority of the developed and semi-developed world uses as a store of wealth, unit of account, and medium of exchange, is a figment of the collective imagination.

Allow us to explain.  It is generally understood today that the value of money is not necessarily in money proper, rather the value of money is found in the ability of the bearer to exchange said money for goods and services.  What is often overlooked in this observation is that, for money to be exchanged for something of value between willing participants of a transaction, what is used as money in the transaction must be universally perceived to have value that is easily transferable between parties.

Following this logic, what society uses as money is, by definition, simply another good which is widely recognizable as useful in exchange and therefore carries a price premium (we will call it the monetary  premium) of a certain amount usually far above what some economists would incorrectly* call the good’s “intrinsic” value.

* We say incorrectly because value judgments, while often influenced by what are known as “market” or “intrinsic” values, are by definition made by the individuals who willingly enter into a transaction, not disinterested observers.  It is for this reason that it is more accurate to appraise value by observing price points of transactions on “the margin” (i.e. transactions that are actually taking place) as opposed to appraising value based on past transactions or transactions imagined to take place in the future.  Many are the hypothetical gains and losses of those who refuse to enter into transactions because they are waiting for and offer at “market prices” or the “intrinsic value” of an item.

Regardless of the monetary premium that a good may carry, whatever is used as money, by definition, must be a tangible good.  Otherwise, we are dealing with credit, which is a promise to pay in money at a future date. Credit may be given in exchange in the place of money and is often traded at a discount to money delivered immediately. 

The distinction between money and credit is common knowledge to but it is important to make a clear distinction in order to properly understand what happens next.

In roughly 9.000 years of human history, it has been tacitly agreed upon that silver and gold, usually in coin or bar form, are the highest and most widely recognized goods used as money and that the accumulation of silver and gold represent wealth. 

Examples of Money Proper - Courtesy of Mark Herpel - www.dgcmagazine.com

As you recall, the concept of a Central Banking arose in response to the need for man to protect his wealth.  You will further recall that in order to both protect wealth and facilitate trade, a Central Bank creates banknotes which represent a claim on the wealth being protected by the Central Bank. 

These banknotes which the Central Bank creates are, by definition, credit and not money.  They are generally the highest, least discounted, form of credit which is traded, but this does not change the fact that the banknotes are credit and thus carry an implied risk of default.  This risk of default places the ultimate limit on the circulation and acceptance of the banknotes in trade.

From time to time, when a Central Bank’s ability to protect the wealth entrusted to it came into question, banknotes would be presented to the Central Bank to be redeemed for the amount of silver and gold which they represented.  If the Central Bank could not produce the amount of silver and gold that was being redeemed, the Central Bank was considered to be in default and, as word of the default spread, the banknotes in circulation would trade at an ever increasing discount to real goods.

This logic further supports the fact that banknotes are credit, subject to default risk, and not money proper.

Can you now smell the impending catastrophe?  Or, to put the question more directly:

What’s in your wallet?  More tomorrow,

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for October 19, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.25
Oil Price per Barrel:  $86.11

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.38  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.16%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,671 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,505  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,201,800,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,554,000,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!