Civil Liberties After Boston–My Take
Jim Harper
It’s to be expected that privacy will suffer a bear market after a terrorist attack or attempt. I’ve seen worse, of course, but was concerned this week to read a piece by Richard Epstein on the Hoover Institution web site that I think sounds needless anti-privacy notes. Professor Epstein is not only an important public intellectual, but a Cato adjunct scholar of which we’re proud, and a friendly professional colleague (to whose defense I’ll leap when he’s wronged).
The issue is what policies governments might adopt toward the end of terrorism prevention. Professor Epstein finds the statement of Massachusetts state senator Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) to be a bridge too far. Hedlund says:
It’s not surprising that you have law enforcement agencies rushing out to use [the Boston bombing and subsequent manhunt] as pretext to secure additional powers but I think we have to maintain perspective and realize that civil liberties and the protections we’re granted under the Constitution and our rights to privacy, to a degree, are nonnegotiable…
You don’t want to let a couple of young punks beat us and allow our civil liberties to be completely eroded. I don’t fall into the trap that, because of the hysteria, we need to kiss our civil liberties away.
Professor Epstein calls that “dead wrong,” saying, “the last thing needed in these difficult circumstances is a squeamishness about aggressive government action.” Given the importance of preventing terrorism, claims of right against increased surveillance and racial or other profiling should be “stoutly resisted,” he says.
I agree with Professor Epstein that flat claims about a “right to privacy” shouldn’t limit surveillance. “Concern” with racial or ethnic profiling is not a sound basis for desisting from the practice. But I don’t take Hedlund’s statement to be a product of squeamishness, and I think it is in the main correct.
Where I think Professor Epstein goes wrong insofar as he wants law enforcement to have its way is in setting aside “technical difficulties” and “means-ends” questions as peripheral. For me, the Fourth Amendment’s bar on unreasonable searches and seizures demands coordination between means and ends in light of the technological situation (both in terms of doing harm and discovering it). It is not a given that government action is reasonable, and no amount of priority given to a threat makes an incoherent response reasonable and constitutional.
An illustration ad absurdum may help: Say the United States is credibly threatened with the possibility that a North Korean agent has snuck a nuclear weapon into the country. In response, the government institutes a program of 100% crotch checks at street corners in major cities. There is essentially no relationship between checking crotches and finding a nuclear weapon (which at its smallest is something like the size of a steamer trunk) or evidence of its whereabouts. It is unreasonable, even given the huge threat, to look for a North Korean nuke where it can’t be found. Searching the crotches of innocents is unreasonable. Affecting the persons of individuals as it does, due to the Fourth Amendment, it is unconstitutional.
The issues in terrorism prevention and punishment are closer, obviously, but it is at least worth discussing whether greater surveillance–greater-than-Boston-Marathon surveillance–would deter terrorists or make them easier to apprehend. Many terrorists are not concerned with worldly justice, and we have in the recent example two brothers who walked right through one of Boston’s most watched and filmed events to deposit their bombs on the street. The possibility of apprehension seems not to have deterred them.
The question raised by the Boston bombing seems not to be whether there should be surveillance, but rather whether the government should supplant civil society’s image-collection–dozens of private actors collecting data for pleasure and (all of our) security–with its own, watchful government net.
One can imagine a network of government cameras so dense, with special surveillance drones scrambled for any large event, that every visage is captured a number of times. If the vagaries of light and angle can be overcome, perhaps the dragnet includes facial recognition software and target tracking that passably identifies the whereabouts of everyone at all times they are in public.
I think it takes not just millions, but billions of dollars to deploy this surveillance architecture everywhere a terrorist act might occur. And for all this spending and cost in obscurity lost to law-abiding people, apprehension of suspects might improve by a few hours.
Such a program fails cost-benefit analysis. It is bad policy on the merits—unreasonable, in a word. And to the extent it is a search of things protected by the Fourth Amendment (not a given, though I’ve been toying with privacy in public since August 2001), it is unconstitutional.
The latest attack makes no case for racial or ethnic profiling. It has added literal Caucasians to the list of ethnicities involved in U.S. terror attacks, according to public consciousness. What profile algorithm turns up two Kazakhs and an American as abettors after-the-fact? Of course, terrorists come in all hues, including some of the most pale.
Most recent terror attacks in the United States have come from people claiming Islam as their religion. This fact is as undeniable as it is unhelpful in discovering terrorists. Knowing the correlation narrows the search for (our current, most concerning) terrorists down to one-fifth of the world’s population.
Profiling based on ethnicity or religion is a rather obvious statistical error that wastes the time and resources of law enforcement while it invades the interests, and sometimes rights, of the law-abiding. Even without considering equal protection or the right to practice one’s religion, the unreasoned nature of racial or religious profiling makes it a candidate for unconstitutionality if it results in a constitutional search or seizure. Claims of religious motivation can complete the picture, of course, when they inform an otherwise well-founded investigation and prosecution.
The right to have means and ends matched up in at least a plausible way is a right under the Fourth Amendment when it affects Americans’ security from government in their persons, houses, papers, and effects. That’s just a different expression of the right against unreasonable searches and seizures. This right is nonnegotiable, I think, and it is not a product of timidity about addressing terrorism. The government should not act incoherently in reaction to threats against the public, and I don’t think Professor Epstein would want it to.
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Mourn For America: Whenever A Tragedy Happens They Take Even More Freedom From Us
What in the world is happening to America? Over the past couple of decades, the federal government has used just about every major national tragedy as an excuse to take even more liberty and freedom away from us. And without a doubt, the Boston Marathon bombing was a great national tragedy. I don’t think that any of us will forget the images that we have seen over the past week. All of those responsible for this attack should be exposed, hunted down, tried and punished. Unfortunately, what always seems to happen is that it is the American people that seem to get punished the most for these tragedies. Over the past couple of decades we have been told again and again that if we will just give up a little bit more freedom that the authorities will be able to keep us safe. But you know what? It is IMPOSSIBLE for them to keep us safe. There is no way in the world that the federal government can protect us from all of the bad guys in the world. We are a country that is absolutely teeming with “soft targets” – malls, churches, schools, concerts, sporting events, etc. No matter how much money we spend, there is no way that the federal government will ever be able to provide enough security for all of those soft targets. Even if our society morphed into something that resembled George Orwell’s “1984″, the government would still never be able to guarantee our safety. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of this attack there will inevitably be calls for “increased security” and “more anti-terror legislation”. The answer always seems to be to expand the emerging police state. But it is getting to the point where all of this “security” is becoming absolutely suffocating, and yet it doesn’t seem to be keeping us any safer. So where does all of this end? Are we going to completely throw out the entire U.S. Constitution in a desperate attempt to feel a little bit safer? Or are we going to choose to live our lives without fear no matter what others may try to do to us?
Benjamin Franklin once made the following statement…
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Sadly, the way that the American people have responded to national tragedies over the past couple of decades would have made our founding fathers greatly ashamed. The American people have been way too willing to give up liberty in exchange for the promise of safety.
We have been told that the terrorists hate us because of our liberties and freedoms. But we have also been told that in order to be “safe” from those terrorists we have got to give up those liberties and freedoms.
So who is really winning?
We seem to have forgotten some of the most basic lessons in life.
If you cower in fear when a bully comes after you, what is the bully going to do?
The bully is just going to keep coming after you because his actions are being rewarded.
Those that are trying to create fear love it when you become fearful. It is exactly what they want.
The appropriate response to a great national tragedy is to reject fear and to continue to boldly live our lives as if nobody could ever shake us.
But instead, the atmosphere of fear in America continues to grow.
And yes, there are common sense things that our government should be doing to keep bad guys away from us.
For example, the number one thing that the federal government should be doing is to secure the border. Every single day, thousands upon thousands of people that we don’t know anything about pour into this country. And yet the federal government has absolutely refused to secure our borders for decades.
Until the federal government secures our borders, they should not ask any of us to sacrifice a single ounce of liberty or freedom in the name of “national security”.
But even as the Obama administration treats our border security like a joke and continues to import huge numbers of people from radical areas of the Middle East, they continue to tell us that “domestic terror” is the next great threat that we are facing.
Many of our other politicians are buying into this philosophy as well. Senator Lindsey Graham says that the attack in Boston is a perfect example of “why the homeland is the battlefield“.
So if “the homeland is the battlefield”, then who is the enemy?
Well, a U.S. Army Reserve training presentation recently identified evangelical Christians as “religious extremists“, and since Barack Obama entered the White House there have been numerous government reports that have identified Christians, “constitutionalists”, patriots, anti-abortion activists, conspiracy theorists and gun owners as “potential terrorists”.
So where does all of this end?
Are the American people rapidly becoming the enemy?
Will we be constantly scared to death of one another?
Will the entire nation exist in a never ending environment of fear?
Will we eventually have the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security patrolling every mall, every church, every school, every concert and every sporting event?
Unfortunately, the bad guys will always be able to find a soft target, and there will be more terror attacks in the future no matter how much security we pour on. Once upon a time this nation was greatly blessed with peace and security, but now that hedge of protection is gone. The federal government could give the Department of Homeland Security trillions of dollars a year and it would not make much of a difference. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable, and bad guys are going to do bad things.
Yes, there are some common sense things that we can do to make our nation more secure. At this point, the federal government is not doing most of those things.
But no matter how hard we try, bad things are going to happen. When those bad things happen, what we can control is how we respond to them.
That is why what just happened in Boston is so alarming. The entire city was put into a complete lockdown for nearly two days. It was a preview of what could happen nationwide if martial law was declared. It was an over the top display of force that clearly demonstrated to the rest of the world how incredibly frightened we are.
Some of the things we saw in Boston were absolutely disgraceful. For example, you can see video of an innocent Watertown family being ripped out of their home at gunpoint right here.
Do you know what this tells the rest of the world?
It tells them that terrorism works.
It tells them that one small incident is enough to send the entire nation into a full-blown panic attack.
You can see some more photos of martial law in Boston right here. Instead of making things better, this is just going to make the atmosphere of fear in this nation even worse.
And you know what? None of those heavily armed men even found the second suspect. He was actually found by a neighbor that had gone out to take a smoke.
Like most Americans, I absolutely hate terrorism in all the forms that it takes.
But we are not going to prevent future terrorism by treating the U.S. Constitution like a piece of trash. We have now shown the world that we are willing to throw out our most important constitutional rights the moment that a “threat” arises, and this is just going to encourage even more terrorism.
You see, those that engage in terrorism want attention and they want to create fear. When we give them attention and we allow them to create fear we give them exactly what they want.
Is there anyone out there that can defend what we just saw in Boston? I can’t imagine any American that still loves the Constitution being proud of what just happened. I think that Karl Denninger put it quite eloquently the other day…
By effectively occupying a part of the Boston metro area they made an utter mockery of the 4th Amendment. There was no “hot pursuit” and thus no argument available to them allowing searches of private property without consent or a warrant. Not only did they search without a warrant there were multiple reports through the day of seizure of firearms, among other things.
Sadly, most Americans seem to be more than willing to disregard the U.S. Constitution these days. Most of them are incredibly scared and they just want someone in a position of authority to assure them that they will be safe.
So I am sure that in the months ahead we will see “security” get even tighter in this country. With each subsequent tragedy, it will just get tighter and tighter until we can barely even breathe.
This is not the answer to any of our problems. In fact, it is just going to make many of the problems that we are facing as a nation far worse.
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This Is What It’s Like to Take on School Unions As a Democratic Leader in California
I know a number of people who align themselves generally with the Democratic Party who are very much in favor deep reform in public schools, and school choice. But the teachers unions roll all over these folks.
Many teachers are under the mistaken notion that schools exist for their employment. They like things the way they are. They like having summers off. And a week off at Christmas. And another at Easter. And snow days. They like state and county funded pensions. That the public school system has been failing in many parts of the country for decades (and it is certainly not due to lack of funds) is simply not as important to many teachers (but absolutely, definitely not all teachers) as getting a check.
Reforms are fought on all fronts by the unions, to the detriment of our young people.
(From Reason Magazine)
Reason: Describe what it’s like to try to challenge union control of the education system as a Democrat.
Romero: Where do I begin? When we talk about education and education reform, it automatically means change agents have to take on and confront the No. 1 political force in California, and that’s the [California Teacher’s Association]. Simply to talk about education reform, to enact legislation means you’re dealing with the power of money. Unfortunately we’d been stymied in many of our reform efforts because of the power of money. I still think we have to try. We have made progress. We’ve gone two steps forward, one step back. If we can’t get it through the ballot box or legislature, we have to go through the courts.
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Just leave him alone: Building inspectors try to take down survivalist “mountain man.”

I used to live at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains. Though where I lived was a little island of crunchy small town suburbia, when I looked out my bedroom window I saw the mountains stretching to the sky covered with forest.
Having grown up on suburban flat land, Virginia Beach, it wasn’t until I moved to Crozet that I learned to appreciate the country lifestyle.
When I was a kid it was exciting to see a cow when we took a road trip. It was a rare thing. In Crozet however one could hear cows off in the distance every day, and hawks, and the wind, and guys out in the woods shooting their rifles. I came to love it. It is a freer life than the traffic snarled expanse of Northern Virginia I know these days.
The fellow who is the subject of the attached article left for a much freer life. But the complicated life came to get him anyway. Why is it so wrong to want to just be left alone on one’s own property?
(From The Wall Street Journal)
Last fall, a team of health, construction and fire officials showed up for an unannounced inspection of the preserve, acting on an anonymous tip. Escorted by two sheriffs’ deputies, they executed what Mr. Conway describes as a “SWAT-team raid”—peering into outhouses, stomping around log cabins, and climbing hand-hewn ladders.
Their findings are compiled in a 78-page report with a bullet-point list of violations. Mr. Conway’s sawdust urinal and outhouses? Unpermitted, according to the officials. The wood he used to erect two dozen buildings? Built with lumber that isn’t “grade-marked,” meaning it doesn’t specify the mill where it was produced.
The post Just leave him alone: Building inspectors try to take down survivalist “mountain man.” appeared first on AgainstCronyCapitalism.org.
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Will Deadbeat USPS Take Saturday Off?
The hefty raises given to U.S. Postal Service bosses did not prevent losses of more than $15 billion last year. The postal bosses now want to reduce those massive losses by eliminating Saturday mail delivery, a congressional mandate dating from 1981. But since 2007 first-class mail volume has declined by 37 percent, giving way to email, online bill-pay, and other electronic conveniences. Roughly 70 percent of Americans now favor five-day delivery, also backed by the Obama administration.
Postmaster General Patrick R. Donohoe, whose pay rose from $384,229 in 2011 to $512,093 in 2012, said “this is too big of a cost savings for us to ignore.” Trouble is, allegedly cost-conscious postal bosses are running into furious opposition.
Some lawmakers claim the USPS can’t drop Saturday delivery without approval from Congress. Rep Jose Serrano, New York Democrat, called for a “restructuring and reform package” that boosts efficiency “while maintaining vital services like Saturday delivery.”
Some businesses want to continue Saturday delivery but the strongest objection to ending it comes from government employee union bosses. Fredric Roland of the National Association of Letter Carriers said ending Saturday delivery is a “disastrous idea” that would hurt business, the elderly and the disabled. Government employee unions wield considerable clout, and that kind of rhetoric targets Congress. So whatever the cost savings, ending Saturday delivery is far from a done deal, even with support from the president and the people.
The USPS has been closing post offices, reducing hours, cutting staff and raising the price of a first-class stamp, which drew no object from Congress. Yet the USPS remains a big-time loser and government finds it hard to let the deadbeat take Saturday off. That should tell embattled taxpayers that prospects for serious reform in all federal agencies remain dim.
Meanwhile, if legislators want to reform the postal service they should end both Saturday delivery and the USPS monopoly on first-class mail. That would be real change people could believe in.
View full post on MyGovCost | Government Cost Calculator
Enviromental News • Low Mississippi River may take money out of your pocket
Low Mississippi River may take money out of your pocket
Brett Wessler, Staff Writer | Updated: 02/01/2013
Lower water levels along the United States’ major inland river system affects food and feed costs which can add to the cost of many commodities already magnified by months of drought.
Low water levels in a major shipping corridor between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois has threatened to upset barge traffic since December. National Geographic reports Mississippi River water levels can drop about three feet from December to March as extra feed from the Missouri River is cut off when that river’s navigation season ends, but levels are even lower as rain and ice melt have failed to refill reservoirs.
For every six inches of depth the river loses, barges have to subtract about a hundred tons of capacity. National Geographic reports barges may sink as much as four feet less than usual to avoid bottoming out. The low water levels mean barges carrying corn, soybeans and crude oil are carrying lighter loads, and using more fuel to do so. Midwest farmers along the river are paying a dollar more to ship each bushel of crops than are farmers on the lower Mississippi.
Reuters reports between 55 and 65 percent of all U.S. grain and soybean exports are transported to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi River.
The costs add up as farmers are paying more for gas to fill equipment and grains to feed livestock. Those costs end up moving along the chain to consumers.
River issues were further complicated this week when a backup caused by a barge accident and oil spill decreased grain loads travelling along the river.
The closure has not yet made a major impact on grain exports.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-new … 77721.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:01 pm
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Firearms • Gun Owners Mad As Hell And Will Not Take It!
This is about far more than guns and who has them. This is about slavery to the state. Pure and simple
Gun Owners Mad As Hell And Will Not Take It!
- J.D. Longstreet Tuesday, January 1, 2013
There is a purge of Congress in the offing. It will be historic in its magnitude.
Allow me to be as clear as I possibly can about this because the disconnect between the people of America and their government has become so complete, the distance between the citizen and the government has become so broad, that Washington is hearing only a faint whisper (If they hear anything at all!) coming from those of us outside the beltway.
So let me say this clearly, loudly, and in a declarative manner: Attention Senators and US Representatives: If you vote for the new Assault Weapons Ban your political career in the US Congress is OVER. That is O V E R! Complete, finished, ended, kaput!
For the past few days I have been going over and over Senator Diane Feinstein’s proposal for a new Assault Weapons Ban and it reads like some sort of “edict” handed down from the politburo in old Soviet Socialist Russia. (The politburo is the chief executive and political committee of the Communist Party.)
It IS as bad as I had suspected— but it is much, much, worse!
If you have not read the proposed bill, there is a “Summary” of the bill in PDF format you must read. You will find it here:
The full text of the proposed bill has been taken down from the Senator’s website and, instead, we find the summary.
I am including a copy of the text of that summary below which was taken from the Senator’s website:
Summary of 2013 legislation
Following is a summary of the 2013 legislation:
Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of:
120 specifically-named firearms;
Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one or more military characteristics; and
Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds.
Strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and various state bans by:
Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test;
Eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test; and
Banning firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons” to address attempts to “work around” prior bans.
Bans large-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.
Protects legitimate hunters and the rights of existing gun owners by:
Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment;
Exempting over 900 specifically-named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes; and
Exempting antique, manually-operated, and permanently disabled weapons.
Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:
Background check of owner and any transferee;
Type and serial number of the firearm;
Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;
Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and
Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration.
A pdf of the bill summary is available here:
What we have here is a full-out, frontal assault on gun owners of America—not to mention a complete infringement of the rights of gun owners as spelled out, clearly, in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. It is as if the 2nd Amendment does not exist.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” … 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution
I keep wondering what part of “shall not be infringed” do they not understand??? The definition of “infringe” is:“to go against.” That, then, would mean, it seems to me, the entire proposed 2013 Assault Weapons Ban is unconstitutional from the git-go! It is clearly an “infringement” on the rights of US citizens as spelled out in the 2nd Amendment.
As we learn, by dribs and drabs, what’s in Feinstein’s bill it becomes even more disturbing.
In my family we have a long standing tradition of “handing-down” our guns to the next generation. I have been looking forward to the day I will hand-down my weapons to my grandson. Now I learn that should Feinstein’s bill pass into law, I will not be able to do that. Nor will you.
“According to the outline of Feinstein’s bill, it will grandfather in all legally owned weapons, but it will require they be registered and the owner fingerprinted. It will require a $200 per weapon tax be paid. The guns will not be transferable, meaning that upon the death of the owner the guns will become the property of the Federal government. It will allow the sale of 900 specifically named weapons, but none that can accept a detachable magazine that holds more than 10 rounds.” SOURCE:
All this is bad enough, but consider this: If the Congress refuses to pass Feinstein’s bill into law, isn’t it reasonable to expect that Obama will issue the necessary Executive Orders to do much the same thing by way of rules and regulations, which have the force of law, and those rules and regs will be executed by the alphabet agencies under his control such as BATFE and the DHS, and even the agency, or agencies, charged with the supervision of Obamacare.
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES! Losing our freedom, our liberty, and our COUNTRY is a consequence of the November 6th election. But to be honest, we have to admit the problem began when the American people turned to socialism and a strong central government. THIS is the price we pay.
But what the heck! It’s only freedom. It’s just our liberty. It’s just our birthright! And finally—it is just the soul of our country.
This is about far more than guns and who has them. This is about slavery to the state. Pure and simple. It’s not hard. It’s not difficult. It is easily understood—if you’re not afraid of the truth.
In the not too distant future there will come a call—a clarion call. Whether America lives—or dies—will depend upon who among her people answers that call. The faint-hearted need not bother themselves. Their services will not be required. When the call comes you can be sure the “Land of the free” is in need of rescue by those Americans from the “Home of the BRAVE.”
Mark my words: The call WILL come. The rapid rate at which America is spiraling downward is matched by the rapid rate at which patriotism is spiraling upward among freedom loving Americans. The men and women who have always stepped forward from the masses to save America will step forward again for they are the sons and daughters of heroes. They know the cost—and the price —of freedom for their families have paid it many times before. THEY will do the RIGHT thing—because IT IS THE RIGHT THING.
“Through the travail of the ages
Midst the pomp and toil of war
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
I have sinned and I have suffered
Played the hero and the knave
Fought for belly, shame or country
And for each have found a grave.
So as through a glass and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names – but always me.”
—- General George S Patton, Jr.
The poem above is from the pen of a man who, as a boy sat at the feet of, and rode with an aging Col. John Singleton Mosby, the “Gray Ghost” of Confederate Army fame. Gen. George Patton knew that the men and women I write of above are with us always and when called upon they unflinchingly step forward. And they will again. They only await the call.
Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.
He is a thirty-year veteran of the broadcasting business, as an “in the field” and “on-air” news reporter (contributing to radio, TV, and newspapers) and a conservative broadcast commentator.
Longstreet is a veteran of the US Army and US Army Reserve. He is a member of the American Legion and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A lifelong Christian, Longstreet subscribes to “old Lutheranism” to express and exercise his faith.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52104
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:43 am
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Police State • More than 400 new laws take effect Tuesday
More than 400 new laws take effect Tuesday
Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY11:10a.m. EST December 29, 20120 CommentsShare
Many deal with social media, health care, education, gay rights and child safety.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Some states made it illegal for employers to request social-media passwords
Sex offenders in Illinois will not be able to dress up as Santa
Same-sex couples in Maryland will be able to marry Jan. 1
In 2013 in Illinois, motorcyclists will be able to "proceed through a red light if the light fails to change." In Kentucky, releasing feral or wild hogs into the wild will be prohibited. And in Florida, swamp buggies will not legally be considered motor vehicles.
On Jan. 1, as crowds of people toast to a new year, more than 400 news laws across the country will take effect — and possibly improve life for some.
"The laws that state governments deal with are really the laws that impact people on a daily basis," said Jon Kuhl, a spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks the bills. "Whether amending or updating laws or enacting brand new legislation, it was an active year."
In addition to the new laws of 2013, more than 29,000 laws were passed by state legislatures this year, Kuhl said. Many dealt with health care, education, gay rights, child safety and the Internet.
In several states, including Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware, lawmakers made it illegal for employers to either require or request social-media passwords from job applicants or employees. Some of those laws are already in effect. However, similar bills passed in Illinois and California become law Tuesday.
"My legislation protects workers’ privacy," said Nora Campos, speaker pro tempore of the California State Assembly and lead author of her state’s social-media bill. "The legislation is necessary because there is a hole in existing law that prevents employers from intruding into an employee’s legal off-duty conduct."
She added that California could potentially be the new model for how other states deal with social media and the workplace.
Visitors tour the Sam Jones Camp area near Clewiston, Fla., aboard an elevated swamp buggy. Under a new law, buggies can use roads if the local government allows it.(Photo: J Pat Carter, AP)
Meanwhile, Alaska became the 31st state to require health insurance companies to cover the diagnosis, testing and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for people up to the age of 21. The legislation’s passage continues a trend among states that began in 2007, Kuhl said.
Other states could follow with similar bills, and a higher number of laws could take effect when the clock strikes midnight in 2014 because four state legislatures — Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas — were out of session in 2012.
Some new laws in 2013:
Same-sex couples in Maryland will be able to marry.
California clergy members will not have to perform same-sex marriages if they object.
Partial birth abortion by physicians and non-physicians will not be performed in New Hampshire except to save the life of the mother.
Sex offenders in Illinois will not be able to dress up as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or give out candy during Halloween.
Employers in Oregon will not be allowed to advertise a job opening if they won’t consider applicants who are unemployed.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati … 3/1797249/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:50 pm
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Gold and Silver • Recent gold price take down is like what happened before ..
Recent gold price take down is like what happened before the big take-off in the late 70s recalls Jim Sinclair
Posted on 27 December 2012
The recent falls in the gold price are absolutely nothing to worry about for long-term investors who have a gold price target way off the present scale, and is a repeat of the take down in gold that happened in the late 1970s just before the big price take-off, says the 70’s gold king who made it all happen then.
Jim Sinclair offers a unique perspective on gold from the position of an old-timer who made a fortune from great timing. Past success does not guarantee future success but choosing your market guides on this basis is surely better than not doing so.
Mr. Gold
‘I have seen this type of take down before,’ says Mr. Sinclair in his latest missive.’It was just prior to the major move in gold in the 70s wherein gold rose the most over the shortest period of time.
‘The operation of gold’s price is not for a short to profits as its market character speaks of deep pockets only governments can have. I suspect that battle for the survival of the euro might soon be reversed into the battle for dollar survival.
‘Euroland, Russia and Asia from central banks to connected financial entities have been buyers of gold. The tables have shifted. The signs of the new triumvirate being on the offensive sits right in front of us.
‘This is the transition that I believe is at hand. This operation is from some mega interest not seeking to profit on a short, but to obtain the most gold possible for this market event which will play into 2015 to 2017.’
Big macro picture
Take the longer view and do not concentrate on short-term price volatility. People said gold was a spent force as it battled to get above $1,000 and fell back three times. Look where it sits only three years later, and that after the current price take down.
You are playing a big macro economic game with gold, not making a trading investment. Silver is the same only saddle up for an even bumpier ride to even higher performance. The US dollar is going to be the next casualty in the global currency game, according to Mr. Sinclair…
‘The first signs are definitively in that the long war conducted by the US and GB against the euro has been lost. The euro is in a new birthing process, against all odds, as rising into the category of reserve demand. Euroland and all the BRICs have been buyers of gold for reasons not motivated by emotion, but based on events yet to occur.’
Gold of course is the ultimate insurance policy against a failing US dollar.
http://www.arabianmoney.net/gold-silver … -sinclair/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:11 am
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
Gold and Silver • Central Bank Gold Rehypothecation Scandal to Take Gold to $5
Central Bank Gold Rehypothecation Scandal to Take Gold to $5,000/oz
http://www.goldstockbull.com/articles/c … to-5000oz/
By Jason Hamlin, on November 24th, 2012
By Jim Willie
- The battle is on for delivery and verification for official gold accounts
– Evidence grows that much of it is gone, and when demanded, replaced with urgency
– It is soon to transform into a global gold war
– The German Govt gold demand to the London and NY City bankers represents a big escalation in the gold war
– The central bank coordinated QE to Infinity has brought questions of gold account location and integrity
– The Allocated Gold Account scandal is a natural event to follow the LIBOR banker scandal
– QE3 will assure a gold rise past the $2000 mark, but the new scandal will take the gold price to $5000
– The powerful gold factors are aligned and in place, led by permanent ZIRP and unlimited QE
A nasty Golden Harp could soon have its cords plucked, with the resonance working to shake loose the bankster cover of improper illicit duplicitous and probably highly illegal usage of Allocated Gold Accounts. When diverse scattered accounts are pilfered and depleted without authorization in Switzerland, resulting in several multi-$billion class action lawsuits in Zurich, all kept dutifully out of the news, that is one thing.
But when a few key official government gold accounts are ransacked in systematic fashion from established trusted locations, defying and betraying the trust of the German Govt and other national governments, that is quite another. To be sure, the system can tolerate ransacking and replacing with scurried harried efforts the Venezuelan gold account like in 2011. The media told the story with creativity and aplomb, avoiding the truth, inventing a tale, but finding a credible pile of dung to feed the public, which swallowed it whole.
The global monetary war has been raging for four years, ever since the Lehman Brothers firm was targeted and destroyed with planning and motivated execution, for the benefit of Goldman Sachs full CDS redemptions and exploit by JPMorgan in war chest reload under cover of bankruptcy court orders. The media prefers regularly to refer to the global financial crisis incorrectly and improperly. A crisis passes after a year or so. This war lingers like WWI and WW2 and Vietnam, with a clear emerging agenda to defend the USDollar regime from global isolation shun, to conceal the USTreasury Bond support mechanisms in derivatives, to avoid the US banking system from grotesque insolvency but kept afloat by grand money laundering channels, and to motivate an endless war to secure resource thefts and control that center on oil fields and the poppy fields. Witness the slow gradual inexorable collapse of the global monetary and financial system.
This is a global monetary war as last hurrah for the longest running fiat paper currency regime in modern history, which has run from 1971. The current dying regime has been held up by pressure to maintain USDollar support and not diversify away from it. It has been held up by amplified usage of derivative support in the form of Interest Rate Swap contracts, thereby keeping USTBond yields ultra-low in the face of chronic $1.3 trillion USGovt deficits, and creating an illusion of a flight to safe haven.
It has been held up diverse comical USFed support in the form of a cornucopia of liquidity programs, to supply the big US banks with never ending bond redemption and carry trade aid. The current dying USDollar regime has culminated in an admitted permanent monetary policy identified by a toxic 0% official rate and the emerging reality of limitless bond monetization. It has been held up profound distortion of economic statistics, which have become almost laughable in the abuse.
To call this a financial crisis is like calling Hurricane Sandy just a bad storm, or calling a devastating drought just a dry spell, or calling raging cancer just a growth aberration, or calling a rape violation just an unfortunate encounter, or calling a death sequence just a passing, or calling a business bankruptcy just a bad skein on its account, or calling a home foreclosure just an opportunity to clean house. The nation and the world are undergoing a death sequence for the USDollar regime, and a vigorous corrupt defense to extend its life, in order to maintain power, to continue gigantic thefts, to perpetuate gigantic bond frauds, and to enable foreign account thefts of the traditional type and related to gold. The hidden motive in the Libyan overthrow of Qaddafi was to steal his 144 tons of gold held in London. The banksters needed it. The action and the reporting of the events were typical distractions laced with fiction.
HORRENDOUS STORM DAMAGE
The nation is heavily distracted by the Hurricane Sandy, its wind, its water, the resulting floods, the resulting electrical power outage, and ruined businesses, the controversies over flood damage versus wind rain and storm damage for insurance coverage. Look for Sandy to surpass Katrina in its total storm damage, which was $105 billion in 2005. Basic research indicates Sandy and Katrina had much in common, as the mad scientists attempt to play god. The efforts to produce a mild winter a year ago might have had a sling shot effect of generating a potent drought. The path was open for a unique storm, called once in a century, for the NorthEast.
My memory is clear of the last hurricane to hit the region, which was Julia. The Jackass taped windows in the Boston area all for naught, since the 50-60 mph winds were nothing but a nuisance and cause for numerous downed trees on power lines. This storm is for the history books, perhaps retaliation by Mother Nature for messing in her kitchen, maybe worse. She always reaps her wrath and delivers her vengeance. The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program has a shady sinister tone, but it is beyond the scope of the Hat Trick Letter. What Mengele was to medicine, HAARP is to meteorology. What Fort Dietrich is to viral weaponry, it is to weather control and seismic generations. What Monsanto is to modified genetic foods, it is to weather developments. The public seems laughably ignorant of devices to produce earthquakes and to amplify then steer storms, with nuclear power packs. Tesla notes and dreams have indeed come to life. Some personal contacts have close colleagues who actually worked on the project for the Boyz.
The delusional dopey derelict US economists have surfaced with their errant vacant viewpoints of a reconstruction benefit boost to the USEconomy. If only all could break windows and direct garden hoses in living rooms, the national economy could recover quickly. The key news item is that finally the New York Stock Exchange was finally shut down for two days due to uncontrollable liquidity and its widespread damage, due to a Hurricane Sandy Weill margin call on systemic failure. No amount of high frequency flashes to dry out the systems could succeed. No amount of plunge protection teams could open the drains beneath the damage. No amount of derivative exercises could bring workers to the trading pits.
The storm damage is estimated at $20 to $25 billion, again in a process divorced from the real world. Recall the Fannie Mae bailout estimates for $50 to $100 billion at first. Recall that the Iraqi War costs were $200 to $400 billion at first. The Jackass cited cost forecasts multiples higher, all accurate. Quick footnote on storm aftermath. Think Desert Storm, or Desert Shield, or whatever mucky name they offer. The yellow painted bricks taken from the Iraqi central bank were really gold bricks, stolen, then covered by a lame news network story gobbled up by the incredibly braindead public. In a few weeks, some concocted story might emerge about how the New York Fed was without electrical power, its vault systems left unsecure.
The Hurricane Sandy storm damage will reach far past the $100 billion level, probably closer to $200 billion. The center of the impact was the NorthEast, the most densely populated area of the country. Already 20% of the entire US population has been affected, with almost 7 million homes without power. Insurance firms will be depleted, at a time when their income has been hampered by the ultra-low USTBond yields, coupled with mortgage bond losses. The USFed will receive a big boost in destroying final demand, as the central bank has conducted a hidden agenda to keep commodity prices down by harming the general economy and thus reducing final demand.
They will next enjoy hypocrisy of high order, as the economy pauses, then energizes with rebuilding and cleanup. The central bankers will talk of a boost and stimulus. The price of lumber and cement might become a problem later on. Time to fix the broken windows and mop up the flooded living rooms. It is all good, as people are back to work, the economic recovery enhanced.
GOLD WAR STAGE SET
Back to the topic today. The global monetary war has escalated. It began with a profound bond fraud backed by mortgages, often with duplicate usage of income streams. It extended to sovereign bond wreckage, from deep government deficits, from wasteful bank aid to ward off insolvency, and lost trust of heretofore sacrosanct bonds.
The war continues. It extended to the desperation by big Western banks to redeem their bonds by USFed and EuroCB largesse, even if illegal, even if unsterilized, even if the averted liquidations wreck the national economies, even if the actions directly result in a higher cost structure, even if bank runs are inevitable. It extended to destabilize further the fragile Middle East nations already beset by rising food prices, so that the departing leaders could either leave with gold wealth (see Tunisia) or have their foreign accounts stolen (see Libya). Tiny Ghana demanded its gold return from London, but suddenly its leader showed up dead. Syria does not have oil wealth, but it does possess valuable ports (see Russian naval port in Tartus). The global monetary war extended to collateral grabs and seizures, like in Greece, but with an entire table full of similar attachments being done in Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, and elsewhere, mostly in deep secrecy. It extended to exert extreme pressures on the European Commission to bend the rules, and to European Central Bank to bend the rules, and on the German High Court to bend the rules. The banker elite require rule changes in order to perpetuate the redemption of their busted portfolios at public expense from additional government deficits. One must be a billionaire to receive public aid, as the commoners need not apply.
THE GOLD WAR BEGINS
The absence of solutions offered has forced the major central banks into heretic caustic and destructive policies that are stuck in place. The nations involved are all uniformly subjected to the 0% corner, with their monetary spew reaching all corners of the world. The US Federal Reserve leads the way in justifying the highly destructive ZIRP and QE, the powerful 0% free money clarion call joined by endless bond monetization to pay for the wide stream of federal deficits. The Weimar America has produced a Pied Piper effect among the major central banks, coerced by a powerful Competing Currency War factor, where all must join or see their currencies rise to dangerous levels, sufficient to render deep economic damage in the vaunted export trade.
The USFed in effect attacks the successful coveted export trades by monetary recklessness. The impact from the Global QE to Infinity, which the Jackass made reference to in 2011 long before other analysts, is to cause a defense from currency debasement. Wealth is under heavy attack. The impact has caused an undercurrent by the US and UK bankers in pursuit of gold supply to satisfy demands, like from Venezuela. The principal sources of gold continue to be the Bank of England, the Bank For Intl Settlements, and the Roman catacombs. The elite are having their gold vaults raided, done as loans to the major central banks and bullion bank centers. Resentment builds.
Alternative supply sources have been urgently needed, thus the project in Libya. Thus the MFGlobal thefts. The list goes on, but the need is rising far faster than the channels can be supplied. Desperation has set in with the major bullion bankers and their clever craftsmen who manage markets with leverage, derivatives, and propaganda. The Gold War is escalating, as the insolvent bankrupt and desperate Western bankers are resorting to whatever means to locate gold assets.
They have a two-fold double whammy at work. They must find new gold supply in order to shore up their own insolvent systems based upon gigantic flawed paper structures built atop debt structures. They must also find new gold supply in order to satisfy gold demands within the LBMA and COMEX, or else face market defaults that expose the acute shortage of Gold & Silver. The MFGlobal theft of private accounts was a direct assault and crime scene designed to satisfy a Silver market demand delivery schedule. Investors awaiting silver delivery had their accounts stolen. While permitted by regulators and the courts, the warning was given for a call to arms to protect and preserve true wealth held in gold accounts. It must be located and secured before it is stolen by the London and New York bankers.
OFFICIAL GOLD REQUESTS AS ESCALATION
The bond fraud and gold market fraud and futures brokerage fraud and central bank bond monetizations, and desperate reactions to insolvent broken national banking systems, and continued flow of government red ink in deficits, all these activities have motivated nations to check their gold bank accounts. What they see scares them witless, but it pushes them into action. The demand by Chavez in Venezuela over a year ago served as a stark wakeup call. Imagine mature experienced savvy German bank officials observing a socialist backwater Latino renegade like Chavez leading the way in defense from Western banker corruption and colossal thefts.
Finally, the Germans are taking action. They tried in September to view their gold account in the New York Fed, but were turned away with insults and disdain. Word has come that the shun event in the Big Apple was probably the fifth time in the last few years that a German delegation has been turned away. The situation is as complex as it is dicey. The Germans under the Deutsche Bank flagship had been a principal accomplice and cooperative partner in the great gold game, where as a large collusive group they leased national gold, dumped it on the market, supported their paper currencies, while the banking elite speculated and profited in the $trillions on leveraged bets that were basic betrayals of their nation. The Jackass prefers the words financial treason. To use the metaphor, the Golden Harp will be busy causing deep damage to the global financial structures, from its broken bond foundation to its uncollateralized major currencies. The Golden Harp will act as a great destroyer from the financial tectonic plates that stand as the faulty bond foundation, to the stormy ether in which the baseless currencies float in infinite volumes.
Some historical research reveals that the infamous Brown Folly had a basis in aiding Deutsche Bank. The Bank of England was directed to sell a huge lot of its national gold treasure between 1999 and 2002 to mark the Gold market bottom. It was not sold, but rather handed to D-Bank in order to satisfy a big margin call. They aided both D-Bank and Goldman Sachs, each heavily short and at risk. The Gordon Brown action was done with two unusual signpost markings. The sale was announced in advance, thus permitting front running by London and New York bank buddies. It was done in auction, to assure the lowest possible price. The actions set the low. But the actions bailed out D-Bank secretly.
The aid to GSax was one of a string of ugly pearls, which the arrogant elite firm never seems to mind and never bothers to cover up too effectively. They benefited from the TARP Funds as #1 son in the family. They did work feverishly in 2009 to conceal their Unix box for tapping into the NYSE for peeking at trades, front running them, and skimming pennies on billions of trades. They enlisted the help of the FBI to arrest the Russian rogue, painting him as a villain, even prosecuting him, despite the clear legal violations from the GSax tool. He tried to show the world what scum GSax was, how they were common criminals in white collar crime. Back to Germany.
In the summer 2012 months, a significant sequence of events took place. The CEO Josef Ackerman was ousted finally. Few realized that his removal was a key event in the change of tide against the Western banker elite. The story went largely unreported. As leader of D-Bank during many years of solid cooperation with London and New York banker games and gimmicks, he knew too much. My best info source reported last spring that several Interpol agents and high level investigators occupied Ackerman’s office while he was present. They obtained files, downloaded documents, and had their way. The shocked CEO made a phone call to an attorney, and was frustrated at the lack of pull. He made another phone call to a ranking judge, but again was frustrated at the lack of pull. He was told that the raid was done from a higher level than the German Govt. The Jackass was told that the raid was the work of a powerful new sheriff in town, with Eastern entity connections, hell-bent on justice, with a no nonsense attitude, with staggering wealth at their disposal.
The global monetary war extended in March, April, May, and June to a profound powerful run of gold bullion by Eastern entities against London banks. Margin calls of unusual type prevailed, where cash cannot satisfy the margin calls, where wrecked leveraged bets on currencies and bonds demand action taken to fortify the margin. In all, approximately 6000 metric tons have departed London bank vaults since March, all headed East, in the biggest raids in modern history.
The US press, London press, and Western European press have been silent. The silent spring reminds one of the missing bird chatter from DDT decades ago, chronicled by Rachel Carson. The toxic paper has a chemical parallel. These London trades have been the object of Jackass study for a couple months. My firm belief, backed up by hints of confirmation from sources, indicates the Eastern pressures on London banks could involved enormous amounts of Official Gold Accounts and private Allocated Gold Accounts, improperly used (rifled, pilfered, stolen) for the original margin placement. Satisfy the margin call with like kind asset. Conceal the gold account seizures, but in the process the owners recall their gold bullion in huge volumes, with deals cut and secrecy maintained. The London bankers find their nether onions caught in a powerful vise, and the Easterners are hardly in the mood to relieve the pressure.
GERMAN AND DUTCH DEMANDS
The German Govt demands a full accounting of its official gold accounts held in foreign lands. They demand a careful accounting that involves inspections, weighing, assurance of gold proof, and examination of markings, perhaps even some testing of bar cores. They demand an accounting that cites locations and storage. They demand a full complete audit. The distrust is thick.
James Turk, founder of Gold Money, believes the German gold is all gone, used up in the two decades of gold games that defended the fiat paper currency regime. He lives and works in London, has ties there, and probably is privy to the grapevines. The order is part of a compromise between the German central bank and the Audit Court, which has called on the Bundesbank to take stock of its gold holdings outside Germany, saying it has never verified their existence. Apparently, no longer will the word of the New York Fed or the Bank of England be sufficient. They have been caught lying too often. They have been implicated in deep bank corruption too often. They are being depleted of their gold, in regular shipments to cover the demands, the evidence for which is detailed in the October Hat Trick Letter.
Call it backlash from the Quantitative Easing and infinite endless unlimited bond monetization that is an absolute guarantee of systemic currency ruin. Call it a backlash from the sequence of rogue bond redemption plans declared by King Draghi at the Euro Central Bank. The Western Governments are scurrying to locate their Gold reserves, realizing that Gold is the only wealth asset they possess, except for the buildings and edifices that house their depleted gutted central banks.
My firm belief is that the Gold Wars have reached a new level, where Germany will be disappointed when it learns the gold is gone. To be sure, big distractions and absurd excuses will be offered. The pressure is on. The Dutch have joined the movement in making demands on London and New York. The call to the corrupt fortress is plain: WHERE IS OUR GOLD??
Maybe like with Jericho, after several calls the walls will fall. The irony is thick, since for 20 years the Western leaders have proclaimed gold as a barbarous relic that pays no yield, a dead asset. So the Germans with Dutch echo want a full accounting of their prized so-called dead asset, which in the end will provide salvation when the new monetary system is put in place. That system is ready, with full trade settlement foundation. It awaits the monetary system full collapse.
The outcome will be shown soon enough. The London and New York bankers improperly used the German gold, and official gold from numerous accounts like from France and Spain, from Venezuela to Mexico, to enforce the Strong Dollar Policy and to defend against its collapse. The Mexicans this month performed a formal genuflection before the London Banker Kings, announcing no need to repatriate their gold, as full confidence was expressed. What lackeys, likely offered a bone somewhere. Allocated Gold Accounts have been pilfered with governments as the owners. They will be angry. They must walk a fine line to express outrage but to protect from revelations pointing to their own complicity and benign neglect.
The flagship bank of Germany which bears the national name has been deeply involved. In recent months, D-Bank has been cooperating with the Interpol and Intl Court of Hague in pursuing the banker corruption and high crimes against currency, wealth, savings, and humanity. Delicate deals have been struck with D-Bank. It will be interesting to observe how the German demands for gold account audit are met, and how the German Govt reacts to delays and coverup. My belief is that the D-Bank flip was key to the breaking of the LIBOR bank scandal.
GOLD PRICE REACTION
The Allocated Gold Account scandal is at the doorstep. The German Govt demand for full accounting of its foreign gold account is the knock at the door. They were shown extreme disrespect by the New York Fed in September. The recent demand is the consequence, in a ramped up escalation of the conflict, better described as gold war. My best gold trader source has assured that the eruption of the Allocated Gold Account scandal will come in the wake of the LIBOR scandal. They are related links in the exposure of big bank corruption. The LIBOR scandal began the process of investigation, discovery, and action, if not prosecution. Word repeats from key sources that the biggest banker criminals will never see justice. They will just vanish. An important consequence of the LIBOR followup is the lack of trust between bankers. They are all under investigation for collusion, and therefore must be silent as each is subject to indictment and lawsuit damages. The discovery process is unique, as the investigations can legally pursue and request documents, conversations, emails, and testimony that was previously not available. The strong crowbar is being used widely by strong arms and hands, with formidable bodyguards behind them. The Allocated Gold Account scandal is at the doorstep, possibly to break open by German demands.
The official in major nations are catching on. Expect more national government officials to make demands of London and New York. They suspect their national accounts are stolen, replaced by gold paper certificates, kind of an IOU left behind by the thief with defiant signature. Now a new twist. Romania has joined, as they recently demanded a full audit of their national gold account held by the Kremlin. The irony and contrast is due next. Expect the Kremlin to comply with the request from Bucharest. Their responsible response will put additional pressure on the corrupt Anglo banking centers, the site which the Jackass has long described as the center of the financial crime syndicate. The contrast will be embarrassing to the Western financial centers and their leaders, the dons to syndicate power.
The Gold price is sure to respond to the realization that the London and New York bank vaults do not contain the official gold on account. Supply is not in existence, sure to have an effect on price, as demand escalates globally. The trust has been violated. The anger will be acute. The global reaction will be recognition that the Western Governments do not possess the gold they claim to reinforce the integrity and value of their entire monetary systems. What faith remains in the fiat paper system will vanish quickly. Not only are the various sovereign bonds nearly worthless, but the collateral understood to reinforce their value is gone. The monetary system deserves to be foreclosed upon. The global currency system with the US Dollar at its center deserves to be removed, replaced, and reconstructed.
Recall Jim Sinclair and his numerous calls between years 2005 and 2007 for a $1560 Gold price. Many called him crazy, but he was proved correct. The critics to the Gold Sound Money Movement still do not show respect. Rather they are loaded with contempt, clinging to failed Keynesian principles and empty beliefs that central banks can install solutions. They are best qualified to manage their gold thefts, manage the heavy narco money laundering, manage the multi-$trillion grants to banker colleagues, manage the bond shell games, and clean up after the mortgage bond frauds. Those are their best work accomplishments. The Gold bull market is entering an important second gear after a long year of consolidation. The feckless idiots who claim the Gold Bull is done seem the most ignorant in the financial classroom, the dumbest and most deficient in mental processes.
The Gold bull market has several primary cylinders.
1) Negative real rate of interest. With official interest rates stuck under 1% by all major central banks, the actual interest rate after subtracting price inflation is deeply negative. This factor has been and will continue to serve as the most important among many factors. It is the gigantic blind spot among gold critics. The long-term USTreasurys offer a mere 2% or 3% at most, far below the prevailing price inflation in the real world. Effective returns are thus negative. Investment in Gold as a hedge against the absent compensation for the erosion of money, it just makes sense.
2) Bond monetization. With unlimited bond purchases from QE1, then QE2, then Operation Twist, now QE3, and on and on until QE175, the debasement of currency is entrenched, absolute, and shocking. The movement is joined by the Euro Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of Japan. The debasement of money is powerful and without abatement. Investment in Gold as a hedge against the reckless production of bond supply, it just makes sense.
3) Unsterilized bond purchases. The QE3 admission of associated bond sales was a story not adequately told. In fact, it was a story told by omission. In the past, especially with the deceptive Operation Twist, the bond purchases were often made with funds derived from other bond sales. Like sell short-term USTBills in order to have funds to buy long-term USTBonds. The QE3 details indicate that Weimar Amerika has arrived, with extraordinary bond purchases using printed money. The debasement of money has turned nuclear. Investment in Gold as a hedge against the unchecked debasement of money, it just makes sense.
4) Permanence of QE. In the summer months of 2009, the Jackass was vocal and adamant, claiming that the Exit Strategy was a ruse, an impossible door to depart from the drastic desperate duplicitous central bank monetary policy. My stated forecast was that the ZIRP would remain and become permanent, and that QE would come in force. The buyers of USTBonds are long gone, except for other central banks playing the Competing Currency War games. The USFed under Bernanke announced last month that ZIRP would be extended until the end of year 2015. This is an admission that it is permanent. Every three to four months, they assure another year of permanence. The debasement of money has become a permanent fixture in a broken buggy. Investment in Gold as a hedge against the permanent debasement of money, it just makes sense.
5) The revaluation of gold as a Tier 1 asset for banks. (my addition, Jason Hamlin)
GOLD BULL BILLBOARDS
The Quantitative Easing coupled with Zero Percent Interest Policy are dual firing chambers of a central bank shotgun aimed at destroying money. They will destroy wealth. They will destroy economies. They will destroy banking systems. They have already destroyed the central bank franchise system and bank integrity. Their actions will lead to a global rebellion against the USDollar, a movement well along. They will assure a USDollar isolation. They will bring about a replacement trade settlement system, which is actually almost in place. When combined with flat-footed Iran sanctions, the movement has accelerated to find USDollar alternatives in trade, and to diversify away from US$-based assets held in reserve.
More importantly, the QE and ZIRP assure the Gold price will rise past the $2000 mark, and that the Silver price will rise past the $60 mark. That is the direct eventual unavoidable effect of QE & ZIRP, the signal flares of central bank failure and monetary system ruin. Their permanent monetary easing is incredibly bullish for the Gold price, a guarantee of an endless bull market. As long as the bond monetization continues with the 0% official rate, the Gold bull market will be equally enduring and endless. It is that simple!!
The QE & ZIRP assure the breakout to new highs. However, the Allocated Gold Account scandal will assure the Gold price reaches $5000 and the Silver price reaches $200. The scandal has begun. The stage is set. The official Gold Accounts from foreign nations have been taken. Choose your word: improperly used, illicitly seized, illegally stolen, desperately hypothecated. The point is that national gold treasures held in London and New York have vanished over the last 20 years, a process begun with the Clinton-Rubin Admin, continued with the Bush-Paulson Admin, defended by the Obama-Geithner Admin. The names of the administrations must include the Goldman Sachs representative in charge of the USDept Treasury, the guy with the stealing rights, as my friend in Reno colorfully calls it.
Source: GoldenJackass.com
Statistics: Posted by DIGGER DAN — Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:32 am
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