In America’s Financial Apocalypse, a book that has been banned by the media, I discussed the many flaws in the calculation of poverty levels within the U.S. First, let’s have a look at some excerpts from the book. “In August 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a poverty rate of 12.7 percent. This was the rate used by government economists and politicians to determine expenditures for numerous government programs. However, the Census Bureau added that this rate cou...
Read moreLast month, I followed up on a discussion I began in over a year ago as to why hyperinflation would be a very unlikely scenario in the U.S. In summary, this devastating scenario is a virtual impossibility despite the printing frenzy by the Fed because the banks have held onto most of this newly printed currency, keeping it out of the hands of consumers. (1) I discussed this fact over a year ago when I first debunked the deflation myth. (2)
Read moreI ran across one of these "How to Make Tons of Money With No Money and Minimal Effort" BS propaganda pieces, so I thought I'd show you just how naive people are. The article is another one of those that basically states you can set up a blog and post ads from Google's Adsense, and be on your way to easy money.
Read moreUPDATE: article re-edited on September 30, 2010. Apparently, the use of scare tactics works well for a population whose minds have been hijacked by the corporate-controlled media establishment. For instance, a few years ago, President Bush and his neo-con clan used the WMD scare tactic in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. More scare tactics were used to pass the unconstitutional Patriot Act. (1) (2) A few years later, as the financial system got stuck in the game of musical chair...
Read moreEach month, the media lines up to read the results of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. This group of indices are generated and published by Standard & Poor's and Fiserv Inc. Keep in mind that these indices are maintained by the Index Committee members drawn from Standard & Poor's, Fiserv CSW, and so-called “leading industry experts.” The objective of these indices is to measure the growth in value of residential real estate regions across the U.S. The tot...
Read moreYou might recall an article I wrote a few month ago, discussing ridiculous terminology that has been embraced by every sheep on earth; double-dip recession. See here to refresh your memory. As part of my argument that the recession had not ended, I pointed to the fact that the NBER had not yet concluded that the recession had ended. Well, this has changed recently. I'm not going to say much here. The title says it all. Have a look here. It's clear to me that the NBER h...
Read moreJust a quick note, as I head back to some late-night work. I ran across this news story just now discussing another "victory" by a tea party candidate and I wanted to show you how the Associated Press is trying to manipulate people into believing that these candidates are any different than the others. Let's have a look.
Read moreI wanted to direct your attention to the latest trash from Bloomberg; a propaganda piece commissioned by the White House, featuring Warren Buffett's take on the economy. See here. First of all, as I previously discussed, there is no such thing as a double-dip unless you are talking about ice cream cones. Please refresh your memory on this analysis here. It should be clear to you that Buffett is either a bold-faced liar or senile, as it's quite obvious to anyone who has...
Read moreThe Health Insurance Mafia Strikes Again More Signs of America's Healthcare Crisis Nurses are Right about the Problem but Wrong about the Solution Killing You with Drugs: Legally Is US Health Really the Best in the World? ObamaCare: Soon to be the Worst Bill Passed in U.S. History (Part 1) ObamaCare: Soon to be the Worst Bill Passed in U.S. History (Part 2) Another Example of America's Highly Flawed Healthcare System Confessions of......
Read moreEarly last month, the Commerce Department released the latest GDP data. For Q2 of 2010 the GDP growth came in at 2.4%, missing the consensus estimate of 2.5%. The Commerce Department also released its latest revisions to 2007-2009 GDP data. As I had predicted, the economy shrank more than the previous estimate of 2.6% versus the 2.4% data recorded last year. That made it the largest drop in GDP since 1946. Moreover, the revisions in August indicated 0% economic growth for all of 2008 versus th...
Read moreYou may have heard of plans by a tiny Church in Florida to burn the Qur’an on the ninth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. The man in charge of this ridiculous spectacle, Reverend Terry Jones, continues to receive massive media exposure from America’s media monopoly. First, I want you to ask yourself how such a small group (the church has approximately 50 members) was able to obtain worldwide media exposure. Second, ask yourself what could possibly be gained by highlight...
Read moreI've discussed my own views on the SEC on many occasions, dating back to the 2006 original edition of America's Financial Apocalypse. First, I warned that the SEC would not be likely to act in a manner to prevent Fannie and Freddie from continuing massive fraud... “Lack of congressional oversight and transparency with the GSEs has already resulted in mismanagement, fraud, and abuse of power. Only in 2003 did Fannie Mae finally agree to register under the SEC Act...
Read moreThis evening, President Obama delivered a 20-minute address announcing the end of combat in Iraq. Caving into pressure from critics who have continued to criticize Obama's numerous failures since entering the White House, Obama announced the need to focus more on the U.S. economy. Remember, according to the White House, Washington hacks and the Federal Reserve, the economic recovery is still underway. So then, do you really think Obama's announcement is what it really seem...
Read moreSubscribers to the AVA Investment Analytics newsletter might recall a few months ago I criticized a nonpartisan think tank for its sudden departure from meaningful discussions related to America's insidious trade policy. Incidentally, abandonment of the organization's position on the detrimental effects of unfair trade coincided with the appointment of its head figure to a top advisory position in Washington. If I had not been sensitive to the...
Read moreTwo years ago when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were collapsing, former Goldman Sachs CEO and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeated the promise of “no more bailouts,” so as to calm ...
Read moreDid you get a raise in 2009? CEOs of the nation’s largest health insurers most certainly did; CIGNA, UnitedHealth, Humana and Wellpoint. In fact, as a reward for many years of excessive hikes to insurance premiums executed under his leadership, Edward Hanway, the former CEO of CIGNA was provided with a retirement package worth $110.9 million, paid for by the excessive and unnecessarily high insurance premiums billed to CIGNA’s policy holders. Excessive pre...
Read moreFor more than two years now, many Americans have heard warnings of hyperinflation from the large consensus of misguided individuals, whose agendas serve as the basis for their ridiculous claims. Much of this nonsense has come from the gold bugs and perma-bears, although it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. Sprouting from this group of fear-mongers is a larger number of naïve followers whose mission is to also be inducted into the media club, while they too profit from sell...
Read moreToday, up to 90% of investors want to change their broker. Can you blame them? Fortunately for brokers, investors really don’t have anywhere else to go because most of them are generally the same. They follow the generic perma-bull analysis the large Wall Street research departments churn out, or else they follow the doom and gloom herd. Both approaches are useless because they represent extremes. Neither approach focuses on risk management. But that hasn’t stopped investo...
Read moreI've been telling you that all of the alternatives to Wall Street, whether it's the online brokers like Charles Schwab or E-Trade, the financial pundits in the media, or the traditional investment newsletter guys - are all sleeping in the same bed together. Why might this be? because the best way to make the most money is to unite! Later on, you might want to refresh your memory how the media acts to screw you, by checking this list of media articles. Today, I provide ano...
Read moreI want to expand on a short discussion from the economic section of the July newsletter. And I am making it available I want to expand on a short discussion from the economic section of the July newsletter. And I am making it available for everyone because I want to show you how you are being fooled by the various clowns out there. Over the past several weeks, you may have heard the back and forth debates regarding the possibility of a double-dip recessio...
Read moreYou may have heard of one of the newer (marketing) "innovations" developed by the mutual fund industry called target-date funds. They were launched a few years ago as a way to ensure investors they had developed a better way to manage investment risk after many saw their retirement accounts vaporize during the dotcom collapse. The idea behind target-date funds is simple and seemingly useful. You select funds based on your target retirement year. Based on the year selected,...
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