A Long Break

Hello again. I apologize for a long drought in writing. I’d like to be able to say “I was busy.” as a reasonable excuse and while i was, i was no more busy than before when i wrote consistently so don’t let me get off that easy. Instead i found myself trying to figure out what i wanted to write about and where i wanted this blog to go. I would like it to be as much of a learning experience for you as it is for me. I want there to be useful, current information and news about economics but at the same time i want the overall philosophy of liberty to shine through. As i learn and refine my own ideas I hope you bear with me and contribute along the way not just for my benefit but for your own. Learning is not a spectator sport.

Anyway… a lot has happened since my break began. We’re are in pretty much the same boat but there’s a little bit more water in the bilge. More or less what had been predicted by many others before myself has come true in that all the government intervention in the world cannot prevent a market from correcting itself from such artificial peaks. I have almost lost track of the amount of money being tossed around and so has the media. It seems trivial now to think that AIG just got another 40 BILLION dollars in light of the fact that the more common denomination used is trillions. The stock market has managed to effectively “boo” every move by this administration by shedding several percentage points every time a new ’stimulus’ is announced. Not that i particularly want to be anti-Obama… im sure he’s a fine guy in any other arena, but in terms of economic policy he and his administration are doing it all wrong. Just like Bush before him and Clinton before etc. etc. I’m not partisan, i’ll thoroughly hate on whoever is making the bad decisions liberal or conservative.

What i plan to do here starting soon is lay out a series of longer, more focused and comprehensive economic theory posts, more detailed and sourced. My plan is to then use those as the foundations to refer back to when making further arguments on current events.

Anyway, those of you who are still occasionally checking in hoping for an update, here it is. For those who are newly stumbling upon this site, please bookmark it as it’s not dead, just resting. Thanks!

A Man to Listen to…

Jim Rogers is a pretty smart fella. He is a wealth of information and along with Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, and several members of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute represent the bulk of my favorite people to listen to.

If you read one single article on the current and future situation as it pertains to the economy, this is an excellent overview published by Reuters, written about Rogers. It’s a brief history, summary of future prospects, and even a little investment advice, read it and use it.

The Fed’s Secret

A lawsuit was filed against the Federal Reserve by Bloomberg under the Freedom Of Information Act on Nov. 7th. The Fed has been stalling and citing internal memos and confidential documents as being the hang-ups.

Everyone is looking for transparency from the Fed because they realize now that it has unlimited power. The TARP program set-up under the Treasury by the Bailout Bill is peanuts in comparison. The Fed has no restrictions like the TARP program and has lent out over $2 trillion dollars and promised to lend out as much as necessary citing $8 trillion.

Now that people are wondering where that money is going… and more importantly where it’s coming from, transparencyis an issue. Secrecy is an issue. The Fed is one of the most secretive organizations on the planet. Nobody knows any of its actions unless the Fed publishes them. The real kicker is, truth be told, the Fed probably doesn’t have to comply to Freedom of Information Act requests as it’s not technically part of the government.

 But that is speculation and hopefully the current economic situation will rouse congress and the people into being more demanding when it comes to knowing how their money is being manipulated.

All Hail the Car Czar

Apparently everything is all hunky-dory now between Congressional democrats and the White House as far as the bailout goes and all that remains is some minor filibustering by a few republicans.

The bill allows for $15 billion dollars in loans and the implementation of a new position, that of a ‘car czar’. His job would be to dole out the loans and ensure that things are spent correctly (according to his judgement, not ours).

The problem inherent, besides spending tax-payer money on failing businesses, is the ‘car czar’ now just acts as one more apparatus to be abused by lobbying forces within Washington. Whoever controls the czar will control his abilities to do harm to competitors. Do not believe for a second that nobody will abuse that power, they are abusing you as a tax-payer and customer as we speak, what do you think they will do to a competitor?

Will Government Confiscate Gold?

Doubt it. Or so says an article from Europacific Capital.

The question is since the government took everyone’s gold in the 30’s, why wouldn’t it do it today since we are now entering the worst recession since that time?

There is a difference, says the article, and that is in those days the dollar was still backed by gold. Thus, gold was the restraint placed on governments that wanted to inflate. Because of the Keynesian economics of the day (not that things have changed) the government felt it needed to inflate it’s way out of the depression. Inflation of paper money would have been disastrous if paper money could still be traded for gold. So to eliminate that obstacle, the possession of gold by citizens was made illegal and the transition from a backed currency to one of government fiat was complete.

Today, there is no obstacle to government inflation and gold possession does not pose nearly the threat it did in those days.

Murder by Sale

Definitely losing faith in humanity after this story. A Wal-Mart worker who opened a door on Black Friday was trampled to death by thousands of shoppers in search for discounts on crappy electronics. The worst part is that police and EMTs were being knocked to the ground and ignored while trying to save the man by more shoppers. He lay dying on the floor and people still couldn’t give a shit. I have yet to find any confirmation but i was also told by a friend that shoppers became irate when told the store was closing because it was a crime scene. One good piece of information is that the pregnant woman reported on in the video is actually okay and did not lose her baby.

And i found this video as well just in my search… it is of a group of Wal-Mart shoppers fighting over some sale items. A sign of the Apocalypse no doubt. If we are willing to kill each other over such simple and insignificant things as this… what happens when the real pain comes?

An open letter to the world…

Much of what you know about economics and indeed life in general can be divided into two categories:

1.) The information that you have learned from various conventional, bias sources.

2.) The common sense which I hope and believe you posses.

I just want to open your eyes to other possibilities. Challenge authority, question dogma, ask yourself what you believe. The purpose of this blog is to inform not by static writing but by sparking curiosity to move you to learn more and better yourself.  Not every post is about economics but economics is about everything.

Oh, and why is it called snuffs?

I will, for this blogs one year aniversary, explain the reason… if it lasts that long.