Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Mudflood and Tartaria Conspiracy Theory
There is another fascinating conspiracy theory I ran across. I don't really understand it, but it goes something like this: There was an advanced civilization that was spread across Russia and North America called Tartaria. Something happened to wipe out the people but their vast cities remained. This is sort of like Ancient Aliens, but not as old.
The main website is at StolenHistory.org. I don't believe the theory but I like history and there are lots of old pictures and information about mud floods and fires that seemed to occur in the 1860s. Also it is interesting that people in the 1800s had building techniques that are lost today. For example, at the world's fairs in Chicago in 1893, in Omaha in 1898, and in St Louis in 1904. There are also lots of Youtube videos promoting the theory. I may post some of them.
The main website is at StolenHistory.org. I don't believe the theory but I like history and there are lots of old pictures and information about mud floods and fires that seemed to occur in the 1860s. Also it is interesting that people in the 1800s had building techniques that are lost today. For example, at the world's fairs in Chicago in 1893, in Omaha in 1898, and in St Louis in 1904. There are also lots of Youtube videos promoting the theory. I may post some of them.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Another conspiracy theory
I like bizarre conspiracy theories and here is another one. That the Department of Defense has a secret alternate Central Bank that created $21 trillion in dark money that is hidden in a vast network of secretive off-shore companies and banks, and which pops up from time-to-time to buy U.S. treasury bonds.
First, as background, read these articles:
https://usawatchdog.com/massive-secret-money-printing-will-shoot-gold-higher-rob-kirby/
Rob Kirby has spoken about this quite a bit and there are dozens of articles that originate with him. Also search for Catherine Austin Fitts.
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/01/pentagon-budget-government-spending-military
I want to speculate on this for a few minutes. I don't have any inside information. I think that the $21 trillion number is vastly inflated and much of this is just very shoddy accounting by the DoD. But let's say the number is $2 trillion.
How is money created? I've speculated on this before and don't have a clear handle on it, but if a government entity is allowed to overdraft its accounts and have checks clear that should bounce then that surely creates money. The Treasury can't do this - it has to issue Treasury bonds to raise money. But suppose there is an alternate banking system that allows the DoD to do this. The DoD would issue IOUs (instead of bonds) which are really just bookkeeping entries. The money would be used to pay contractors and it would also go into slush funds. I imagine that each of the departments would have its own slush fund with hundreds of billions in it that it could use if its official funding ever got cut and to fund programs for which it doesn't have funding or authorization. For example, the Army supposedly received an extra $800 billion in 2015 to cover past year budget adjustments.
The genius of bankers is that they can create money out of thin air and they get paid the interest on the debt. So as long as interest is paid, the scheme can continue. If the secret debt is $2 trillion, then at 3%, the interest is $60 billion per year, a number that can easily be hid in the DoD budget.
The US is a sovereign nation and can issue its own currency to infinity. I have speculated that the state of California is in the same position to a much lesser extent. What about the Department of Defense? If Congress in a fit of insanity (or sanity) decided to abolish all funding for defense would the DoD cease to exist? Obviously not, national security can not depend on the whims of Congress. So obviously, the DoD is semi-sovereign, somewhat like the Federal Reserve. But since their activities are hidden (and because they have guns), it is only logical to assume they have greater powers.
So where all this secret dark money hidden? I speculate that it must be through special companies and banks in the Caribbean. What about in Belgium (population 11 million) which has the ability to purchase hundreds of billions in treasury bonds? What if NATO is in effect a country, with its parliament and ambassadors? And what about Euroclear, which is based in Belgium?
This would make a plot for a good science fiction book. I may post some videos from Rob Kirby and Catherine Fitts that explain this dark money more.
===============
Another Link:
https://usawatchdog.com/missing-21-trillion-means-federal-government-is-lawless-dr-mark-skidmore/
Dr Mark Skidmore is an economist at Michigan State University who discovered the $21 trillion missing. This was a cumulative number dating back to 1998.
First, as background, read these articles:
https://usawatchdog.com/massive-secret-money-printing-will-shoot-gold-higher-rob-kirby/
Rob Kirby has spoken about this quite a bit and there are dozens of articles that originate with him. Also search for Catherine Austin Fitts.
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/01/pentagon-budget-government-spending-military
I want to speculate on this for a few minutes. I don't have any inside information. I think that the $21 trillion number is vastly inflated and much of this is just very shoddy accounting by the DoD. But let's say the number is $2 trillion.
How is money created? I've speculated on this before and don't have a clear handle on it, but if a government entity is allowed to overdraft its accounts and have checks clear that should bounce then that surely creates money. The Treasury can't do this - it has to issue Treasury bonds to raise money. But suppose there is an alternate banking system that allows the DoD to do this. The DoD would issue IOUs (instead of bonds) which are really just bookkeeping entries. The money would be used to pay contractors and it would also go into slush funds. I imagine that each of the departments would have its own slush fund with hundreds of billions in it that it could use if its official funding ever got cut and to fund programs for which it doesn't have funding or authorization. For example, the Army supposedly received an extra $800 billion in 2015 to cover past year budget adjustments.
The genius of bankers is that they can create money out of thin air and they get paid the interest on the debt. So as long as interest is paid, the scheme can continue. If the secret debt is $2 trillion, then at 3%, the interest is $60 billion per year, a number that can easily be hid in the DoD budget.
The US is a sovereign nation and can issue its own currency to infinity. I have speculated that the state of California is in the same position to a much lesser extent. What about the Department of Defense? If Congress in a fit of insanity (or sanity) decided to abolish all funding for defense would the DoD cease to exist? Obviously not, national security can not depend on the whims of Congress. So obviously, the DoD is semi-sovereign, somewhat like the Federal Reserve. But since their activities are hidden (and because they have guns), it is only logical to assume they have greater powers.
So where all this secret dark money hidden? I speculate that it must be through special companies and banks in the Caribbean. What about in Belgium (population 11 million) which has the ability to purchase hundreds of billions in treasury bonds? What if NATO is in effect a country, with its parliament and ambassadors? And what about Euroclear, which is based in Belgium?
This would make a plot for a good science fiction book. I may post some videos from Rob Kirby and Catherine Fitts that explain this dark money more.
===============
Another Link:
https://usawatchdog.com/missing-21-trillion-means-federal-government-is-lawless-dr-mark-skidmore/
Dr Mark Skidmore is an economist at Michigan State University who discovered the $21 trillion missing. This was a cumulative number dating back to 1998.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Friday, March 8, 2019
Fish diet part three
Today I had the Cajun Fish Combo at Popeye's. The cost was $8.67 with tax. This included 3 pieces of breaded fish and about 20 small breaded popcorn shrimp, biscuit, regular cole slaw, and sweet tea (22 oz) with a refill. The nutritional information shows 1087 calories, 42g of fat, 159g of carbs (4g of fiber), and 20g of protein.
If I would have left off the biscuit and had unsweetened tea, it would have had 520 calories, with 49g of carbs.
It was elegant and delicious but I can't recommend it, even on the slimmed down version, because it has entirely too many carbs.
Update: I am terminating the Fish Diet experiment since I was gaining weight on it. Kind of obvious in retrospect, but it was interesting to try for a few days.
If I would have left off the biscuit and had unsweetened tea, it would have had 520 calories, with 49g of carbs.
It was elegant and delicious but I can't recommend it, even on the slimmed down version, because it has entirely too many carbs.
Update: I am terminating the Fish Diet experiment since I was gaining weight on it. Kind of obvious in retrospect, but it was interesting to try for a few days.
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Fish diet part two
I'm reluctant to post this, but here goes. I ate a 12-inch tuna sandwich at Subway today. The cost, with tax, was $8.14. The nutritional information, according to their website with how I prepared it, is 1250 calories, with 81g of fat, 83g of carbs (6g of fiber), and 47g of protein.
This obviously can't be considered part of a healthy diet. I guess I could have ordered a tuna salad, which would have had 310 calories with 11g of carbs (not including the dressing), but it wouldn't have been nearly as filling and it would have cost more than 5 bucks. And I could have ordered a 6-inch sandwich, but it also would have been more than 5 bucks.
It was tasty but I can't recommend this.
This obviously can't be considered part of a healthy diet. I guess I could have ordered a tuna salad, which would have had 310 calories with 11g of carbs (not including the dressing), but it wouldn't have been nearly as filling and it would have cost more than 5 bucks. And I could have ordered a 6-inch sandwich, but it also would have been more than 5 bucks.
It was tasty but I can't recommend this.
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
History of the Magical Money Tree
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/02/modern-monetary-theory-isnt-helping
This is a very interesting article. MMT has roots in Chartalism, which was a word coined by Georg Friedrich Knapp (1842-1926). Knapp argues that money derives its value from being designated as legal tender and by requiring taxes to be paid in the currency.
Adam Smith made a chartalist observation in The Wealth of Nations: "A prince, who should enact that a certain proportion of his taxes should be paid in a paper money of a certain kind, might thereby give a certain value to this paper money".
In Magic Money Theory, the government doesn't need taxes as a source of revenue: taxes might be useful to tinker with the income distribution, or discourage vices, or to fight inflation by draining purchasing power from the economy. But governments don’t really need the revenue — they can just print the money.
However, proponents of the Marvelous Magnificent Truth don't have a good answer for inflation. Weimar Germany may be an extreme case, but since it’s often brought up by critics of MMT — “won’t all that keystroking lead to inflation, like Argentina or Weimar?” — it’s one for which they need to have a good answer. Wray’s reluctance to face head-on the risks of printing money makes you wonder how confident he really is of his own theory.
This is a very interesting article. MMT has roots in Chartalism, which was a word coined by Georg Friedrich Knapp (1842-1926). Knapp argues that money derives its value from being designated as legal tender and by requiring taxes to be paid in the currency.
Adam Smith made a chartalist observation in The Wealth of Nations: "A prince, who should enact that a certain proportion of his taxes should be paid in a paper money of a certain kind, might thereby give a certain value to this paper money".
In Magic Money Theory, the government doesn't need taxes as a source of revenue: taxes might be useful to tinker with the income distribution, or discourage vices, or to fight inflation by draining purchasing power from the economy. But governments don’t really need the revenue — they can just print the money.
However, proponents of the Marvelous Magnificent Truth don't have a good answer for inflation. Weimar Germany may be an extreme case, but since it’s often brought up by critics of MMT — “won’t all that keystroking lead to inflation, like Argentina or Weimar?” — it’s one for which they need to have a good answer. Wray’s reluctance to face head-on the risks of printing money makes you wonder how confident he really is of his own theory.
Fish Diet part one
I think that fish every day for lunch could be part of a health diet. Fish is filling and has lots of omega-3 oil in it. So I am going to to experiment with different options. This is what I ate today.
McDonald's Double Filet-o-Fish with side salad. The cost was $7.68 with tax. The regular filet-o-fish has 390 calories, with 38g of carbs. Adding another filet adds 120 calories and 9g carbs (from the breading). The side salad has 10 calories and 2g carbs. The ranch dressing added 170 calories and 9g carbs. Total was 690 calories and 58g of carbs.
I'm not concerned about calories, except for carbs. If I didn't eat the bun and didn't add the dressing, I would have saved 27g of carbs for the bun and 9g for the dressing, and reduced the calorie count by 150 for the bun and 170 calories for the dressing. The total would have been 370 calories and 22g carbs, but it wouldn't have been as filling.
It was very tasty and filling. Would order again.
McDonald's Double Filet-o-Fish with side salad. The cost was $7.68 with tax. The regular filet-o-fish has 390 calories, with 38g of carbs. Adding another filet adds 120 calories and 9g carbs (from the breading). The side salad has 10 calories and 2g carbs. The ranch dressing added 170 calories and 9g carbs. Total was 690 calories and 58g of carbs.
I'm not concerned about calories, except for carbs. If I didn't eat the bun and didn't add the dressing, I would have saved 27g of carbs for the bun and 9g for the dressing, and reduced the calorie count by 150 for the bun and 170 calories for the dressing. The total would have been 370 calories and 22g carbs, but it wouldn't have been as filling.
It was very tasty and filling. Would order again.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
The California National Debt
The quasi nation-state of California has a national debt of $1.5 trillion as of June 30, 2017 according to the California Policy Center. This number is increasing about $200 billion per year. More than half of this number, $846 billion, is from unfunded pension liabilities. The state of California has a credit rating of AA- according to Fitch and Standard and Poor's. California has only $83 billion in general obligation bonds as of March 2018 and could easily sell more.
I think that the sovereign national debt of California is a ponzi scheme and will keep going up forever, just like the U.S. national debt. When a pension crisis hits, which is inevitable, the pension funds will be bailed out by the state or by the US, so the unfunded pension liabilities are in effect guaranteed. California can issue more bonds to pay interest on its debts, so there is no limit on how much debt it issues except for self-restraint but its radical socialist leaders will soon do away with that. The Fed could also purchase California G.O. bonds in a crisis.
If push comes to shove, California can just issue its own California dollars. It has done that before in 2009 by issuing "registered warrants".
I think that the sovereign national debt of California is a ponzi scheme and will keep going up forever, just like the U.S. national debt. When a pension crisis hits, which is inevitable, the pension funds will be bailed out by the state or by the US, so the unfunded pension liabilities are in effect guaranteed. California can issue more bonds to pay interest on its debts, so there is no limit on how much debt it issues except for self-restraint but its radical socialist leaders will soon do away with that. The Fed could also purchase California G.O. bonds in a crisis.
If push comes to shove, California can just issue its own California dollars. It has done that before in 2009 by issuing "registered warrants".
Friday, March 1, 2019
Magic Money Tool
You just push a button and it creates money out of thin air.
governments need not tax or borrow in order to spend — they can just create money out of thin air. A few computer keystrokes and everyone gets health insurance, student debt disappears, and we can save the climate too, without all that messy class conflict
https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/02/the-incredibly-rapid-and-dangerous.html
Do you believe in the MMT? It is the answer to all the world's problems, at least all the problems involving money. There is an infinite supply of dollars just waiting to be printed, what is stopping us?
Yes it will cause a little inflation, but that's a good thing since it makes it easier to pay back debts and it keeps people from hoarding money. And we know how to keep inflation under control, by jacking up the Fed Funds Rate. In a paper criticizing MMT, the left-Keynesian economist Thomas Palley says he’s heard a “leading” MMTer say inflation less than 40 percent is “costless.”
Seize the money relation! Enlist the aesthetic in money’s expansion! Hail money as the center of caretaking! Declare your dependence on care’s center! Relinquish attachments to thisness! Imagine a boundless public center! Never forsake abstraction for gravity’s attractions! Exalt abstraction as the locus of care! It goes on for over two hundred pages, as Ferguson summons Heidegger and the Eucharist to uncover in this new notion of money endless reservoirs and beauty and tenderness. This develops the utopian potential of MMT in ways that are outside the economist’s standard skillset, but it bears a tenuous relation with earthly reality.
governments need not tax or borrow in order to spend — they can just create money out of thin air. A few computer keystrokes and everyone gets health insurance, student debt disappears, and we can save the climate too, without all that messy class conflict
https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/02/the-incredibly-rapid-and-dangerous.html
Do you believe in the MMT? It is the answer to all the world's problems, at least all the problems involving money. There is an infinite supply of dollars just waiting to be printed, what is stopping us?
Yes it will cause a little inflation, but that's a good thing since it makes it easier to pay back debts and it keeps people from hoarding money. And we know how to keep inflation under control, by jacking up the Fed Funds Rate. In a paper criticizing MMT, the left-Keynesian economist Thomas Palley says he’s heard a “leading” MMTer say inflation less than 40 percent is “costless.”
Seize the money relation! Enlist the aesthetic in money’s expansion! Hail money as the center of caretaking! Declare your dependence on care’s center! Relinquish attachments to thisness! Imagine a boundless public center! Never forsake abstraction for gravity’s attractions! Exalt abstraction as the locus of care! It goes on for over two hundred pages, as Ferguson summons Heidegger and the Eucharist to uncover in this new notion of money endless reservoirs and beauty and tenderness. This develops the utopian potential of MMT in ways that are outside the economist’s standard skillset, but it bears a tenuous relation with earthly reality.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Martin Armstrong predicts a global collapse in 2032
Western Civilization will collapse by 2032. There is a serious risk that after 2032, this will be very much like the
fall of Rome. Nonetheless, it is my personal hope that if we understand
that risk, we can avert it and move to a new type of wave formation and
learn from the past just once thereby advancing to the next level of
understanding.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/ecm-armstrongeconomics101/explaining-the-fall-of-western-society-as-we-know-it/
I'm not sure where he is getting the date from, but the Mayans had a cycle of 52 years. If you take the Great Depression of 1929 and add 104 years you get to 2033, which is pretty close. It is interesting that my last prediction was also for 2032, when Social Security will exhaust its trust funds, which will cause an anomaly in the system (benefits MUST be paid / benefits CAN'T be paid).
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/ecm-armstrongeconomics101/explaining-the-fall-of-western-society-as-we-know-it/
I'm not sure where he is getting the date from, but the Mayans had a cycle of 52 years. If you take the Great Depression of 1929 and add 104 years you get to 2033, which is pretty close. It is interesting that my last prediction was also for 2032, when Social Security will exhaust its trust funds, which will cause an anomaly in the system (benefits MUST be paid / benefits CAN'T be paid).
JPM Coin
JP Morgan just created their own digital currency. It differs from other cryptocurrencies because it is redeemable 1:1 to the US dollar, and it can't be converted into other cryptocurrencies. It is meant only for making transfers, not for holding. Wolf Richter reviewed it.
I think this is the next logical step. Probably every major bank will copy this. At some point the Federal Reserve may make its own FedCoin.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Lady
So lady Let me take a look at you now You're there on the dance floor Making me want you somehow Oh lady I think it's only fair I should say to you Don't be thinkin' that I don't want you 'Cause maybe I do
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
22 Trillion
If present trends continue, it will reach $44 trillion on about 2/28/2029.
Why are we celebrating again? Because we have discovered a way to create free money out of thin air, and it never needs to be paid back.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Student Loan Forgiveness Fiasco
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/student-debt-college-public-service-loan-forgiveness
The cost of education shifted from a societal investment — spread across the tax-paying public, in the name of a thriving society and economy — to an individual one. And no matter how astronomically priced that investment became, we continued to rationalize it as a worthwhile one. Even in a culture that idolizes high-profile college dropouts (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs), to refuse higher education in America has become tantamount to refusing to fulfill your potential. And if you refuse to fulfill your potential, any struggle can and will be blamed on you alone.
The cost of education shifted from a societal investment — spread across the tax-paying public, in the name of a thriving society and economy — to an individual one. And no matter how astronomically priced that investment became, we continued to rationalize it as a worthwhile one. Even in a culture that idolizes high-profile college dropouts (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs), to refuse higher education in America has become tantamount to refusing to fulfill your potential. And if you refuse to fulfill your potential, any struggle can and will be blamed on you alone.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Bizarre Antarctica Conspiracy Theory
November 16, 2016. An amazing (but nearly 90% censored) Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the Antarctica “guardians” swiftly retaliated against the United States this past week by “creating/unleashing” a massive earthquake after the Obama regime sent “without invitation or permission” its Secretary of State John Kerry to initiate contact with them in the “barrier zone” that’s forbidden by all “known protocols” in dealing with these “entities”.
According to this report, the Obama regime, in their knowing that the anti-globalist forces loyal to President-elect Donald Trump were poised for a victory over them, dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to Antarctica where he arrived on 11 November.
SVR analysts in this report note that Secretary Kerry’s attempt to persuade the “guardians” to interfere in a “temporal matter” was “quickly/immediately” rebuffed by these “entities” who then ordered him to leave the “barrier zone” and not to return.
Upon leaving the Antarctica “barrier zone”, this report continues, Secretary Kerry arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 12 November, where he stayed overnight before his traveling to Wellington the following day.
In the early morning hours (6:02 am local time) of 13 November while Secretary Kerry was sleeping in Christchurch, however, this report notes, this region was struck by a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake—and that SVR analysts state was a “predictable consequence” known to be used by these Antarctica “guardians” as a “warning message” not to interfere with their “mission/research”.
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