We Are All Going To Die From Inflation Says Bill Gross

pointsandfigures via Instapundit

Credit is now funneled increasingly into market speculation as opposed to productive innovation. Asset price appreciation as opposed to simple yield or “carry” is now critical to maintain the system’s momentum and longevity. Investment banking, which only a decade ago promoted small business development and transition to public markets, now is dominated by leveraged speculation and the Ponzi finance...When does money run out of time? The countdown begins when investable assets pose too much risk for too little return; when lenders desert credit markets for other alternatives such as cash or real assets.

Comments:

If there's a hyperinflation, it may happen pretty fast.

This article reads a lot like the book I reviewed:  Why things are falling apart.  A lot like it, but not exactly like it.  For example, it the economy can produce a "surplus", growth can resume.  Without it, then you have this scenario here.

My take is that you need a growth driver that can produce a surplus.  Hugh-Smith, the author of mentioned book, believes that we took all the low hanging fruit---this is what produced the surplus.  To contrast with Hugh-Smith, if you were to develop something like a aneutronic fusion device ( or something even more plausible, a molten salt reactor ), it could spark a boom in economic activity because of the new surplus.

Texas History

In the few years before the beginning of the Texas Revolution, there was a fact-finding trip made by the central government of Mexico.  If memory serves, it was called the Teran commission.  One recollection from that report was that the observation that the American colonists kept their "constitutions in their hip pockets."

What this meant was that the Texans were considered to be a bad influence upon their people.  Imagine that one.  If your bill of rights is a bad influence, what does that say about your own intentions and attitude towards your own people?

Anyway, the Teran report resulted in a number of measures that were meant to restrict the Texans.  This resulted in a number of protest conventions that eventually led to even greater hostility between the Mexican central government and the residents of Texas.

The uprising in Texas wasn't the only place in Mexico where there was opposition to the regime.  It was the only successful one, however.

Eventually, the government of Mexico decided that they wanted a cannon back from Gonzales.  By the way, Gonzales is just about an hour's drive from San Antonio.  The cannon was to be used a protection against the fierce Indian raids that were visited upon the area from time to time.  It was these fierce Indians that prevented the Mexican population from settling in Texas in the first place.  So, the Mexicans invited the Americans in, and now they were trying to disarm the Americans and leave them defenseless against the Indians.

The first shot of the Texas Revolution occurred in Gonzales when the Texans refused to give up the cannon.

It is reminiscent of what happened in the USA itself at Lexington and Concord.

It is also a reminder of what has happened in the past and could happen again.  Actually, it is happening again.  It has been said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.  Is anyone paying attention?

After watching this government video, I feel so, so safe.

Don't you? /sarc



What's the point in my being so critical?  The government doesn't trust you.  This should raise your antenna a bit.  If the government doesn't trust us, should we trust them?

Al Gore is in the news again

Two things:

1) He wants George Soros to have more say in American politics.  Yeah, right.  That's the ticket.
2) He wants Obama to go around Congress and implement climate change regulations unilaterally.  Oh, yeah.  That's the ticket too.  Just do away with Congress and proclaim Obama king.

What other evidence do you need that the left has dictatorial ambitions?   But there's more, if you've been paying attention.

Theory: Super Bowl was thrown by the refs

There some reports out there that there were several non-calls that went against the 49'ers.  It was a close enough game that the blown calls could have been decisive.  I've heard that the calls weren't even close.  They were flagrantly bad.

Now, why do you suppose that a game that was said to have been called flawlessly up to that point to have such a turn of events?

The game was ruined deliberately.  That was the idea.  Just a thought.

NFL and Boy Scouts

This one about the Boy Scouts threw me for a loop when I first noted it.  I was waiting in a reception area to make a pickup and they had CNN piped into the reception area.  Unbelievable.

So, under pressure from its sponsors, the Boy Scouts are considering allowing gays in.

What's next?  Pedophilia?  That's how it starts.  That's how priests start abusing boys.  The liberals have ruined this country enough already.  But they aren't satisfied even now.

Destroy the Boy Scouts.  Destroy the NFL.   Change you can believe in.

All you have to do is to say no to this.  If the sponsors want to pull funding, then screw them.  They are trying to buy you.  Don't allow yourself to be bought.

But everybody will let themselves be bought and they'll cave in.  They love money more than they love right and wrong.  They'll do anything for a buck.

Why the push for background checks?

You hear more and more about this today.  After reading this post from the Ace of Spades blog, it appears that the government can block the purchase of a weapon on many, many grounds.  Hence, the background check.  They want to prevent more people from owning guns.  Here are the grounds for denying a purchase:

(g) It shall be unlawful for any person—
(1) who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
(2) who is a fugitive from justice;
(3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802));
(4) who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution;
(5) who, being an alien—
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(26)));
(6) who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
(7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship;
(8) who is subject to a court order that—
(A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate;
(B) restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and
(C)
(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or
(ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or
(9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,


to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

Even Obama himself has violated this law, but nothing is done.  I think the point is clear.  YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ALLOWED TO OWN GUNS.

The $64K question is why the hell not?