The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion.

'To say of what is that is not, or of what is not that it is, is false; while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that is not, is true.' -Aristotle

'The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion.' -Samuel Johnson

'A man can get to love shit if his livelihood depends on it, if his happiness is involved.' -Henry Miller

'Free your mind.' -Morpheus


Just for giggles took a look at the Investment Company Institutes Long term Mutual Fund Flows Historical Data at http://www.ici.org/pdf/flows_data_2010.pdf

April 2009 through August 2009 : 55.832 billion in
September 2009 through December 2009 : 23.271 billion out
January 2010 through April 2010 : 39.131 billion in
May 2010 through September 2010 : 72.958 billion out

So since April 2009 we have net approx... 1 billion out. With the week ended 9/22/2010 being 1.9 billion out that means we broke even (from April 2009) a few days ago.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

You just have to hand it to 'em. When it was clear to many of us discerning folk that the wheels were going to come off hard, the silver lining perceived was that sobriety and propriety would return. In fact the exact opposite has occurred. The Federales turned the psych ops up to 11, the plutocracy expounding the Big Lie in a manner and scope that has truly beggared the imagination of us mere surplus eaters.

Lies of course have consequences. When this ends is known to no one. How it ends seems fairly clear. The denouement of the trusted, the sound of great applause lauding folly, and then a long period of silence.

In many ways it is the age old story of Emperors and Pirates, deflation being the Jolly Roger, and a headlong drive into oblivion with the argument that forcing the issue will resolve it. Rummy's chestnut of "If you can't solve a problem, make it bigger' is exemplified by replacing mojo with POMO and the fraudulent conveyance that is gubmint statistics.

But there are unknown unknowns.

What we do not know that we don't know is how the continuing liquidation of Main Street and bifurcation of America will interact with the bankrupt ideology of the rich that had greatly succeeded in drafting the inner monologue of regular folks so that they would vote against their self interests and are trying to do it again.

What we do not know we don't know is what the long finger of instability from the Hand will ultimately do to the markets and the economy that are still the home of the brave but alas are now a different land.

The Pump and Happenstance that is the bedrock of Nancy Capitalism is killin' Sam, the wafting asset values per debasement lubricating sovereign democrats that are hell bent to seek rent.

The elitist insouciance of thanking the heavens for the bank bailouts as Bernanke promises to monetize cows to increase the price of milk is manufacturing a chasm of contempt at recession's end... er scratch that... depression's bend.

Eventually something's got to give.

With arms extended, if it may please the court, I present the real unemployment rate in this country.

Over 30%.

Have been following (http://cwcs.ysu.edu/resources/cwcs-projects/defacto) for awhile ... kids say the damnedest things don't they?... and what is germane for historical purposes is that the defacto rate of 30% is actually 5 percentage points higher than the worse unemployment levels experienced in the Great Depression Volume 1. In addition, at least per this fella's research,the defacto rate is the most similar measurement to the metric used back then which was as follows: individuals who had at some time worked in an occupation in which they earned money or the equivalent, or in which they assisted in the production of marketable goods, whom were unemployed. The only caveat is that back then, in some instances, 14 and 15 year olds were included in the unemployment rate.

Let me tell you why you're here gentle reader. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

It is the splinter of our disconnect.

Free your mind.

Hey... do you think we can export to them? Does Mars need bonds? Bwahhahahahaha...

Guardian : Is the United Nations about to appoint Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman as the ambassador to extraterrestrial intelligences? Yesterday, the Sunday Times published an article claiming that Othman is expected to announce her proposed new role at a meeting of the Royal Society next week. According to the article, the plan to make Othman and the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs which she heads, the first point of contact will be debated by UN scientific advisors before heading to the general assembly. Turns out though that the newspaper, and dozens of other media outlets that rewrote the same story, may have jumped to some conclusions. Today, Othman emailed The Guardian, "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it."

'Until such time as planet Earth learns to export to Mars, every national surplus must be offset somewhere else with a matching deficit.'
-Jim Stanford

'And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.'
-Monty Python

'Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!'
-Marvin the Martian

'The US Airforce assures me that UFO's pose no threat to National Security.'
-President John F Kennedy

"I looked out the window and saw this white light.It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said,Have you ever seen anything like that? He was shocked and he said, "Nope." And I said to him: "Let's follow it!" We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light.We followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it."
-President Ronald Reagen (Describing his 1974 UFO encounter to veteran newsman Norman C. Miller, then Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.)

'I'm not at liberty to discuss the governments knowledge of extraterrestrial UFO's at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject"
-President Richard M. Nixon

"The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously."
-Mikhail Gorbachev

From the UK Telegraph:

Aliens have landed on earth, infiltrated British and American nuclear missile sites and sabotaged weapons, according to US Air Force officers.

The beings have repeated their efforts in the US and have been active since 1948, the men said, and accused the respective governments of trying to keep the information secret.

The unlikely claims were compiled by six former US airmen and another member of the military who interviewed or researched the evidence of 120 ex-military personnel.

The information they have collected suggests that aliens could have landed on Earth as recently as seven years ago.

The men's aim is to press the two governments to recognise the long-standing extra-terrestrial visits as fact.

They are to be presented on Monday 27 September at a meeting in Washington.

One of the men, Capt Robert Salas, said: "The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it."

He said said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana which housed Minuteman nuclear missiles.

Capt Salas continued: "I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site.

"The missiles shut down - 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There's a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they're not from planet Earth."

Others claim to have seen similar activity in the UK.

Col Charles Halt said he saw a UFO at the former military base RAF Bentwaters, near Ipswich, 30 years ago, during which he saw beams of light fired into the base then heard on the military radio that aliens had landed inside the nuclear storage area.

He said: "I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted - both then and now - to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practised methods of disinformation."

The site was then the base of the US 81st Tactical Fighter Wing.

Capt Bruce Fenstermacher, a former US Air Force officer, also claims he saw a cigar-shaped UFO hovering above a nuclear base in Wyoming in 1976.

Story #2

Six retired officers and one former non-commissioned officer claim to have gathered witness testimonies from more than 120 military personnel revealing the infiltration of nuclear sites by aliens as recently as 2003.

In some cases, nuclear missiles supposedly malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object hovered nearby.

Captain Robert Salas, a former Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launch officer, said he was on duty during one missile disruption incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 1967.

“An object came over and hovered directly over the site,” he said.

“The missiles shut down – 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There’s a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from.

“I personally think they’re not from planet Earth.”

He said he was ordered to never discuss it: “The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it.”

Colonel Charles Halt said he watched Unidentified Flying Objects directing beams of light into RAF Bentwaters airbase near Ipswich and heard on the radio that they landed in the nuclear weapons storage area.

Col Halt said: “I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted – both then and now – to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practised methods of disinformation.”

Story #3

The group of officers said they would distribute declassified government documents on Monday that would prove there had been alien interference at nuclear weapons sites stretching back to 1948.

Robert Hastings, a long-time UFO researcher, who collated the information, said at a press conference in Washington that “this planet is being visited by beings from another world who for whatever reason have taken an interest in the nuclear arms race”.

He claimed to have gathered witness testimony from more than 120 military personnel showing infiltration of nuclear sites. Six retired officers and one former NCO spoke of their personal experiences.

In some cases, nuclear missiles supposedly malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object hovered nearby. Although the officers produced fresh affidavits detailing their experiences, the incidents, many of them the 1960s, had previously been publicised by UFO enthusiasts. Some of them were first disclosed decades ago.

Mr Hastings stated that beings from UFOs had also tinkered with Soviet nuclear weapons and speculated that the aliens had been seeking to send “a sign to Washington and Moscow that we are playing with fire”.

Captain Robert Salas, a former US Air Force Inter-continental Ballistic Missile Launch officer, said he was on duty during one missile disruption incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 1967 when a “large glowing, pulsating red oval shaped object” hovered over the front gate.

He then noticed that the Minuteman missiles he was overseeing had shut down. “The indicators for all or nearly all 10 missiles showed as red-coloured ’fault’ lights, which meant that the missiles were disabled and could not be launched.”

He said he was ordered not to discuss the matter but was never given an explanation by his superior officers.

In another case in Britain, Colonel Charles Halt said that in 1980 he watched a UFO directing beams of light down into the RAF Bentwaters airbase near Ipswich.

His security team “observed a light that looked like a large eye, red in colour, moving through the trees”. After a few minutes “this object began dripping something that looked like molten metal. A short while later it broke into several smaller, white-coloured objects which flew away in all directions.”

Sceptics pointed out that there was a lighthouse nearby but Col Halt maintains that the objects were “extraterrestrial in origin” and that “the security services of both the US and the UK have attempted – both then and now – to subvert the significance” of what happened near Ipswich.

Sacred Profanities, Bonfire of the Banalities, Fiscal er Psych Op Insanities ... It's a madhouse.

'Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.'
-Adolph Hitler

'There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.'
-Donald Rumsfeld

'Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.'
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful.'
-George Orwell

'The first casualty of war is not truth, but perspective. Once that's gone, truth, like compassion, reason, and all the other virtues, wanders around like a wounded orphan.'
- Ente Grillenhaft

'The 1st panacea of a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the 2nd is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; a permanent ruin.'
-Ernest Hemingway

'I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.'
-George W. Bush

"We're not going to monetize the debt."
-Ben Bernanke

'We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.'
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Left the Cubs game at the earliest point, (fourth inning - they were being clubbed by the Cardinals), that this fella has ever remembered abdicating his first row seat. But stayed long enough to listen (covertly) to a group of VIPs discuss their plans on renovating Wrigley, how the ivy was loosely covered under the declarations of the National Registry, how any modifications would need to keep up the appearance that things really hadn't been changed much, and how perceptions needed to be handled both in Washington and Clark & Addison whilst maximizing revenue.

True profanity to the ears of a worshiper at the shrine of futility.

And also a fractal writ large of the daily Vaudevillian interplay of the comics (WSJ and FT). Verily, 'tis a war against the future.

The dividing lines have been drawn, on one side are the Naysaying Nabobs of Nancy Capitalism that, with beige books extended, are unwavering in their dogma that Chairman Ben will perpetually liquefy their chalice of confidence, and on the other side are the few the proud, the misfits... the Atticus Finchs that believe that reality is the tail risk. With arms extended they proclaim : We are not idealists to believe firmly in the integrity of our economic system. That’s no ideal to us. That is a living, working reality! Now we are confident that you Mr. Market will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and will uh, uh, well, uh ...

Then they stop and scratch their head and say ... the government is all in isn't it?

The Office of Economic Influence headed by the Oracle at Eccles like all progenitors of psych ops has to, by necessity, weigh whether the harm done through their deception offsets the good that same, purportedly, will accomplish.

Continual disinformation can result in damaging blowback, and most certainly the denouement of the trusted is a high-priority target to be avoided lest the surplus eaters start to believe their lyin' ojos and reject the Divine Might of Wizards.

As Napolean once opined : 'There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.' The horsehair splintering for the Federales cum Svengalis is to negate the cycles and learn from the historical chestnut that in 1929 the top 1% of households represented 44.2% of wealth and in 1933 they represented 33.3%.

Psychological operations are planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences in order to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately their behavior.

If inflation expectations are unanchored, then a severe recession can lead to a deflationary spiral. The logic is as follows: In the early stage of recession, the emergence of slack causes the inflation rate to dip. The resulting lower inflation rate prompts people to reduce their future inflation expectations. Continued economic slack causes the inflation rate to fall still further. If the recession is severe and long enough, this process eventually will cause prices to fall and then spiral lower and lower, resulting in ever-faster deflation rates.

And much like 'modifying' the ivy on the walls at Wrigley deflation is true profanity to the ears of a worshiper at the shrine of liquidity.

The struggle of virtue and vice is writ large as the debate between deflationistas and debasinistas. Ones' lens depends on what one means by ones' ends. The deflationistias mean that deflation is the midwife of hyperinflation. The debasinistas pray that familiarity breeds content and not contempt.

So tell me Morpheus how can they camouflage debasement in a no-stimulus zeitgeist?

Friday's King Report:

'The Fed did a major juicing of the system by adding $11.059B for the week ending on Wednesday. More importantly, the Fed’s balance lost only $361m of MBS. It’s inconceivable that the Fed received $10+B of interest or principal prepayments on its $1.09 trillion of MBS in one week.

The Fed monetized $10.461B of Treasuries. The NY Fed has done $20.887B of POMOs, which are Treasury monetizations. There is a POMO scheduled for today as well as Tuesday and Thursday of next week. (http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/pomo/display/index.cfm?showmore=1&opertype=orig)

The size of POMOs has increased the past two weeks. So the Fed is on pace to monetize $30+B of Treasuries for September. This is almost a 34% yield on its $1.09 trillion MBS portfolio – less the amount of principal repayments, which we don’t know because the Fed won’t tell anyone.(http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/agency_agencymbs_faq.html)

The latest H.4.1 shows the Fed is monetizing Treasuries far in excess of the decline in MBS value. We’d love to see proof that principal repayments and interest in 1 year can be 34% of a MBS portfolio. Ergo, the Fed is monetizing Treasuries far in excess of its stated monetization of MBS interest and principal prepayments. The Fed has increased its QE 1.0 activity.

As we keep screaming, QE 1.0 has not ended despite official proclamation that it had. The bottom line is Bernanke and the Fed have been lying about the scope and nature of it - QE/debt monetization.'

Thanks for the Red pill Mr. King.

Damn dirty apes.

It's a madhouse.

The United States of America LLC

'Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures. They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities.'
- George Gerbner

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of equality and liberty. It promulgates reason as the primary source for legitimacy and authority. It stands in direct opposition to religion endorsed by the state, and plutocracy, the modern equivalent of absolute monarchy and the Divine Right of Kings.

The American Revolution (can you hear me Mr. Teabag?) promulgated liberal philosophy as their justification in rising up against the Crown.

Civil rights, individual liberties, the peaceful coexistence of different lifestyles and interests, where the common good can be achieved on the battlefield of dialogue, where power is not concentrated, and mutual respect and tolerance are exhorted... that's liberalism folks.

The antithesis of liberalism is elite theory where the windfall apples need be reserved for the more equal brain workers.

And what is conservatism?

As Robert Eccleshall once opined : 'It is the persistent image of society as a command structure in which the responsibilities of leadership can be exercised within the framework of a strong state manifested in divine-right royalism.'

Deference to authority, traditional institutions, an opposition to modernism, a yearning for the 'good old days', and advocacy of minimalistic change is the bedrock of conservative opinion.

British Psychologist Glenn Wilson stated per his book, 'The Psychology of Conservatism' (1973), that a general factor underlying conservative beliefs is "fear of uncertainty."

To apply these categories, ontologically, to today's conservative and liberal is challenging to say the least.

A conservative president embarking on nation building with the aplomb of a bong-addicted college liberal? Hey we didn't put up that Mission Accomplished sign, we have no idea how it got there. Democracy is on the march dude!

A liberal president advocating Potemkin health reform, approximately a third a trillion to the insurance industry over 10 years, decried by conservatives, whose last president prescribed 8 trillion in unfunded benefits, as socialism? The same president lauding nearly a hundred billion in weapons as a jobs creation program?

An ubiquitous bankster friendly policy, (although to be fair Bush just gave Paulson the keys, Barry Dunham actually had a stronger hand on the rudder) where trillions in rich folks' bad speculative bets were swept under the FASB? And a continuing national discourse squabbling about nickels as the banksters steal gold bars out the back?

The liberal welfare state? Who's zoomin' whom? Welfare is most certainly not just for liberals in the United States of America LLC.

And our popular uprising du jour, crying for NIMBY libertarianism, denouncing the welfare state, save of course for the payments they are entitled to receive, and sickened by the socialism er fascism er well whatever ism 'tis is ... don't get all high-falootin' on me ya book-reading left coast effete... all we know is we don't like it!

It is curious though that few if any of the Tea-baggin' crowd would describe themselves as liberal and yet they seem to be drawn from the well of classic liberalism, as were our Founding Fathers, opposing elitism which ironically the ideology of the rich have conflated for them as today's liberalism.

The end-game of their protestations, most probably, coalescing around the next American Demagogue, the Manchurian Mountain Mama who will, in this fella's humble opinion if she gets in, deliver the state to the elites in a fashion that will beggar credulity.

Now, a lot of folks don't think she has a chance and if the moment occurs when it appears that she does enough of a counter-movement will arise... but please, my progressive friends, keep this in mind, we elected Nixon to his first term right after the 'Summer of Love'.

Repost and Add-on : Destroy this invisible government ... dissolve the unholy alliance between business and corrupt politics ...wink

'Don't believe everything you breathe
Someone keeps sayin I'm insane to complain
Forces of evil in a bozo nightmare
'Cause one's got a weasel and the other's got a flag
You can't write if you can't relate
Trade the cash for the beef for the body for the hate.'
-Beck

You see I may be a Christian but I am also a capitalist. And I will defend our capitalist system against all enemies unless there's a way to profit from its' demise.'
-Stephen Colbert

'Your motto is God,guns,guts,and American.'-CNN interviewer

'Actually its' God, guns,guts,and American pick-up trucks.' -Missouri car dealer that is giving away free AK-47s with purchase of a truck

'Some might wonder why God is included in a motto that also includes guns.'-CNN interviewer

'You don't have a problem with God do you?'-Missouri car dealer

Originally posted December 17, 2009 with brief add-on:


Populism is best defined as the juxtaposition of "the people" with "the elites". Its' flag has been hoisted by the left and the right, the irrational and the rational, and its manifestation per the prevailing zeitgeist is often appropriated by a demagogue.

For Ben Tillman, African Americans were the scourge of white society; for James Michael Curley, Anglo-Saxons were the bane of the browbeaten Irish; and for Joseph McCarthy, liberal elites(commies) were an evil upon America. They all fought on behalf of and for the protection of the 'good way of life.' - they all fought against that which stood in opposition to a presumed American norm.

To borrow liberally from Sigmund Neumann's, 'The Steadfast Rules of the Demagogue', and Douglas Walton's,'One-Sided Arguments: A Dialectical Analysis of Bias' : the most recognizable traits of a demagogue are the simplicity of message content and an entirely unilateral point-of-view presentation - summarized as unidimensionality.

The demagogue appeals to the crowd and commonly adds the logical fallacies of appeals to pity, appeals to reverence and appeals to personality as well as other rhetorical devices such as omission not for literary elegance or brevity but rather for gain, influence and deception. The demagogue is anti-Aristotelian, in that rhetoric is not seen as the counterpart of the dialectic -instead, there is no desire to reconcile using opposing views but rather the demagogue presents a view in opposition to some Other. The Other is responsible for cultural and social upheaval, the Other is to blame for all current adverse conditions and "we" the true Americans, in opposition, need to uphold all that is good.

The demagogue capitalizes on vulnerabilities due to ignorance and fear.

The first Populist party in America called itself the Greenback Party. It opposed the shift from greenbacks, paper money issued after the American Civil War, to a bullion based standard. Its platform supported an income tax, an eight hour day, and called for allowing women to vote. After 1884 it was no longer a force in American politics.

The Populist party in the United States came about in the 1892 election. Its' platform called for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax, civil service reform, direct election of Senators, a working day of eight hours, and the nationalization of telegraphs, telephones and railroads. This party was gestated for economic reasons namely the desire to repeal the gold standard to counter high deflation in agricultural prices. The party was co-opted by the Democratic Party of 1896 and never recovered from its' defeat.

The platform of the Progressive Party of 1912, formed by Theodore Roosevelt, was 'to destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between business and corrupt politics [it]... is the first task of statesmanship of the day.' The platform called for women's suffrage, recall of judicial decisions, easier amendment of the U.S. Constitution, social welfare legislation for women and children, workers' compensation, limited injunctions in strikes, farm relief, revision of banking to assure an elastic currency, required health insurance in industry, new inheritance taxes and income taxes, improvement of inland waterways, and limitation of naval armaments. The Progressive Party did poorly in the 1914 elections and faded away.

The United States Progressive Party of 1924 was a continuation of the Progressive Party of 1912, after gaining only 17% of the popular vote in the 1924 elections it disbanded.

The last true populist party was Huey Long's 'Share our Wealth' movement begun during the Great Depression. Its' platform was:

'No person would be allowed to accumulate a personal net worth of more than 100 to 300 times the average family fortune, which would limit personal assets to between $1.5 million and $5 million. Income taxes would be levied to ensure this. Annual capital levy taxes would be assessed on all persons with a net worth exceeding $1 million.

Every family was to be furnished with a homestead allowance of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country. Every family was to be guaranteed an annual family income of at least $2,000 to $2,500, or not less than one-third of the average annual family income in the United States. Yearly income, however, cannot exceed more than 100 to 300 times the size of the average family income.

An old-age pension would be made available for all persons over 60.

To balance agricultural production, the government will preserve/store surplus. This is made so no food is wasted.

Veterans are paid what they are owed.

Education and training for all children to be equal in opportunity in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life.

The raising of revenue and taxes for the support of this program was to come from the reduction of swollen fortunes from the top, as well as for the support of public works to give employment whenever there may be any slackening necessary in private enterprise.'

Huey Long's slogan was 'Every Man a King'. The movement died with his assassination.

Not every demagogue is a populist and not every populist is a demagogue, but when the two combine it is often combustible. The most salient example would be the conspiracist scapegoating in Germany promulgated as national socialist populism and articulated by a failed painter who did not become a German citizen until 1932.

Fast-forward to today( 12/17/09):

Rasmussen Reports : 'In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP. Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.'

And what is the platform of this nascent political movement?

Limited government, fiscal restraint, opposition to further stimulus spending and a determination to push back against "a federal government that is too big, too intrusive and all-too-eager to seize power from the states." Repeal the death tax, implement a flat tax, keep the internet tax-free, control the border, support free trade, personal accounts instead of social security, school choice, medicare reform, healthcare reform etc...

A populist movement with 21st century characteristics. It will most probably be co-opted by one of the established parties.

It may even marry up with a demagogue.

LA Times : Obama's new Gallup Poll job approval number is 47%. Last month it was 53%.

The new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows Palin now at 46% favorable.

Move along nothing to see here.

Wink.


Add-on (09/16/10)

Obviously the Manchurian Mountain Mama is continuing to gain steam. What seemed obvious to this fella is becoming more generally observed. Reading Heilemann and Halperin's 'Game Change' as well as other anecdotal accounts of Lady Palin suggest that we truly are about to live in even more 'interesting times'. At the risk of being cataloged at a future date let me add one final riposte to this once and future candidate, in the language that a regina pravus might understand:

'These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.'
- Proverbs 6:16-19

Electile dysfunction, Nancy Capitalists sans compunction, raconteuring with gumption...damn dirty apes.

Chris Whalen says that 'The income foregone by individual and corporate savers and transferred to the banks is something closer to $600 billion annually or nearly $1 trillion in total.'

You mean that the failure to liquidate the insolvent banksters, to dip rich folks' bad speculative bets into the acid bath of price discovery, has liquidated a large part of the productive economy?

Seriously hoocoodanode?

Just for the heck of it asked Senor Google how many hits on the intertubes come up for say QSPE and Wells Fargo over the last three months... answer? ... 7! And one was from me per ZH blog on 04/09/2010! My oh my Alice. If 1.7 trillion or so worth less than 50 cents on the dollar can vanish down the randomwalkers' rabbithole without even a gasp verily anything is possible.

Mark Pittman is convulsing in his tomb.

At no time do their hands leave their arms folks; the middle class for their next trick as the 'vanishing bird' smashed at the bottom of the now empty cage.

Just for chuckles, prithee what are the comics saying today?

Deutsche dilutes itself 30% cause Basel might make 'em not count the secret capital?

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän preparing for River Styx!

SEC reignites that 'investigation' into Lehman's fraudulent conveyance mimicry cause Dickie Fuld won't stop griping?

'The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am.'
- Duke (Repo Man)

Motorcycle Cop: Whatcha got in the trunk?
J. Frank Parnell: Oh... You don't wanna look in there.
(Repo Man)

In the GM IPO the carservatorship's (patent still pending) total equity of $23.9 billion includes $30.2 billion of goodwill? From Government Motors to Goodwill Motors?

My God...it's full of cars.

Equities drift up 'cause, after levering, the Federales hedge fund at Eccles spins about 50 billion from straw to maw this past week?

I couldn't do that. Could you do that? Why can they do it? Who are those guys?

BLS pulls a number out of their tailbone (why even fabricate an effort eh? gosh just one hour a week constitutes part-time employment dontchaknow), half of all youngsters are unemployed, deceleration widespread, plutocracy warns that the arsonists may burn again if the waterfall (tax cuts) are turned off, the repubs who chortled that when Obama was coming in that the subpoenas will fly (what? did somebody do something wrong?) are now threatening that, vuja de, if they get in the subpoenas will fly and Feddie Mac is introducing ... wait for it... minimal down payments, lower minimum credit stores, no appraisals and no mortgage insurance!!!

Have you left no sense of decency?

Electile dysfunction, Nancy Capitalists sans compunction, raconteuring with gumption.

Damn dirty apes...

The hardest button to button, meatballs for nuttin, fiscal mcguffins versus a contrarian somethin'

When Timmy G went to Euroland to pitch stress tests for what ailed 'em was it a set-up? After all, it is not so much a race to the bottom as it is a pace to a bottom. QE2 can't sail until Euroland hits the rocks again. We can't let their upcoming crisis go to waste.

If the U.S. stress tests were I.Q. tests, the EU tests were, in comparison, measuring sanity... as in over the long term only the insane would believe them.

For example did you know that part of most all big German banks balance sheets' consists of 'secret capital' (seriously that is what it is called) - loans from the state with non-disclosed terms. You didn't? Why, cause it's secret folks!

An example of German efficiency , they don't have to fight transparency all the way to the Supremes.

Sniffing down the banksters' rathole has already started on the Continent and believe you me, our national security apparatus, scratch that, the rating agencies, will step in whenever the planners and thinkers cast the 'appropriate' runes.

Ha! Mr .Money, one might say, the Federales could never plan so well. Certainly though they do plan, everyone does, as they paint themselves into the corner of the round-roomed recovery, fervently they beseech the Rhyming Gods to let the second easing mouse get the cheese. 'Tis but the matter of timing the trap.

Be that as it may ...let me interrupt this rant for something completely different.

It seems all the rage now to talk about depression, exhort the birth death model, and parse the cornucopia of fraudulence conveyance that is government statistics, with the only positive spin imaginable being some version of ' I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe. but at least I'm enjoying the ride.'

Yes, surprise, surprise, the demand restoration project is not working yet. And?

Let me spin a contrarian tale, the silver in the clouds of this approaching storm.

If you're going through hell, verily 'tis only one option, keep going.

When change is afoot you have two choices, you can either grab the surfboard and ride the wave or you can let it crash over you.

Do not count on government to save you, look in the mirror for your salvation.

I assure you that the majority of citizens on this planet do not have such an advantage.

As horrible as this will feel, in hindsight something wonderful is about to happen.

America needs to get its' mojo back, one citizen at a time.

Don't be afraid.

Let's face it, as Americans we collectively think history does not apply to us or at least we have mastered it- we have grown up as the dominant power, we have basked in the fruits of that glory.

As such we, the citizenry, although troubled still ache to believe that this is temporary, a transient blip, happy days soon will be here again...policies flowing from on high will mimic that optimism and in doing so will underestimate (at least 'officially') the dilemma and prolong the process.

My entire life have always rallied against the tyranny of petty knowledge. Folks that wield their 'secrets' like a club have always generated intense vitriol from this fella. Knowledge is nothing more than an acquired thing. You can learn anything if you put your mind to it. How? Just do it. Why? Because you can.

Now, more than ever in my generation's lifetime,a broad intelligence is critical. We have stuffed the pig on the scales of fate. Through our desire to be prophets we have ceased to be makers of our own fate. On a macro level but not for the individual.

Despite all the digital ink spent on the failings of America, especially in light of the ‘I Can’t Believe it’s not Capitalism’ Plan generated in response to the ‘What Just Happened Crisis’… hope is not dead, progress has not been outlawed, justice is not forbidden, and evolution is not off the table.

The fire of liberty exists, the embers of truth still glow. As long as one voice stands to speak truth to power,the dream of this country lives and can be expressed by each and every one of us.

We are Americans dammit, and that word, yes, still has noble meaning.

There is one blessing fostered upon Americans that can't be denied. We can reinvent ourselves. We are not beholden to anything other than our imagination, we can make out of clay what our minds and our hands desire. They can only take from us what we abrogate; they can only lie to us if we refuse to put in the work to know the truth.

It is not a question of being part of the solution or part of the problem. Change does not have to be consistent with someone else’s plan. Change comes from within. To make a difference outwardly one must first find that difference within.

Get off your ass America, over the long-term if you will it to be, your future is so bright, we'll all be shorting shades.

The hardest button to button, meatballs for nuttin, fiscal mcguffins versus a contrarian somethin'

Believe it and you will be it.