Saturday, May 25, 2013

Ben Bernanke needs to consult with George Soros. There is no one on this planet that understands currency fluctuations more than he.

The last time that I remember the US Dollar was devalued was under Richard Nixon.

By Tom Luongo in Gold and Oil News
May 22, 2013 23:15 

...Bond prices rise (click here) on the idea that the Fed will continue to be a buyer, but the reality is that this is nothing more than currency debasement and because of that investors should demand higher returns from their bonds in order to offset inflation, because like it or not, some of this printed money is making it into circulation.  Go look at M1 if you don’t believe me.  Finally, after the Chairman was done with his soft-shoe two-step the bond market called his bluff and pushed yields on the 30 year bond back over 3.2% which the Fed had been actively defending for days.  Further weakness in the long end of the yield curve to end the week — especially above 3.26% — would be a bearish signal that the sell-off in bonds is gathering momentum after the Fed took a few weeks off from heavy bond buying to trash the price of gold....



By Dow Jones Business News,  May 21, 2013, 05:18:00 AM ED
By Jessica Mead
The South African rand tumbled (click here) to its weakest level in more than four years as the dollar pushed higher across the board Tuesday in the wake of slower-than-expected U.K. April inflation data. 
An initial decline in sterling against the dollar, after British inflation data, triggered a wave of dollar buying that saw the greenback trade above ZAR9.50 against the rand, its highest level since April 1, 2009.
At 0841 GMT, the dollar was trading at ZAR9.5131, having climbed as high as ZAR9.5162 against the rand.
The rand has been under severe selling pressure so far this month, hit by a combination of a stronger dollar, weaker commodity prices--notably gold--and concerns that a new wave of strikes at South African mines and manufacturers might widen....

May 25, 2013
The S&P 500 declined for a third day on Friday, with the three major US stock indexes posting their first negative week since mid-April on lingering concern that the Federal Reserve may scale back its stimulus measures to support the economy.
Overview of offshore trading:
  • SPI futures slipped 6 points to 4967
  • The Australian dollar was buying 96.52 US cents
  • The S&P500 closed slightly lower at 1649.6
  • London's FTSE and Frankfurt's DAX both fell 0.6%
  • Spot gold lost 0.4% to $US1386.60 an ounce
  • Brent crude oil inched up to $US102.64
The Dow Jones index outperformed the broader market, rising 8.60 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 15,303.10, buoyed by a 4 per cent gain in Procter & Gamble. The broad-based S&P 500 was down 0.91, or 0.06 per cent, at 1649.60 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.28, or 0.01 per cent, to 3459.14....

Charles Kadlec, Contributor
2/6/2013
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) (click here) has made it official:  After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years.  The debauch of the dollar will be even greater if the Fed exceeds its goal of a 2 percent per year increase in the price level....

When the US Post Office, mandated by the US Constitution, goes out of business what will mail delivery look like?

And the Republicans want to have the country believe Obamacare is a problem. I don't think so. Doesn't even come close.

This burgeoning disaster will put the Oklahoma horse slaughter out of business when the Pony Express starts back up.

Residential Delivery Charge (click here for FedEx rates)
For FedEx Express package and freight services and FedEx Ground services, a residential delivery charge applies to shipments to a home or private residence.
  • For FedEx Express U.S. package services, FedEx Ground service and FedEx International Ground service, the charge increased from $3 per package to $3.20 per package. For FedEx Home Delivery, the charge increased from $2.55 per package to $2.80 per package.
  • For shipments receiving FedEx Express Multiweight or FedEx Ground Multiweight pricing, the maximum charge increased from $26 per shipment to $27.70 per shipment.
  • For FedEx Express international package services to Canada and U.S. import-rated shipments from all origins, the charge increased from $3 per shipment to $3.20 per shipment.

Delivery Area Surcharge Package

– A surcharge applies to each package delivered to certain ZIP Codes within the 48 contiguous states.

For Alaska and Hawaii, refer to page 79 for the Remote Area Surcharge.

– Refer to the Area Surcharge Listing at ups.com/rates or call 1-800-PICK-UPS® for a listing of applicable

ZIP Codes.
Ground 
– Commercial $2.00 
– Residential $2.75
– Commercial - Extended $2.00 
– Residential - Extended $3.50

You might want to ask when was the late time you paid for a mail delivery vehicle fill up.

Notes:
Fuel surcharges apply to value-added services and other charges associated with pickup, transport and delivery. For current fuel surcharges, where applicable, visit ups.com for package, ups-scs.com/surcharges for Air Freight and ltl.upsfreight.com for UPS Freight®.

It is interesting how Americans are programmed to think about death.

Death by disease. We can do something to stop it. We are great.

Death by bombs. We were justified. We are great.

Death by drone. We were not justified because it could literally be me in my home. We are not great.

Death by storm. Act of god. We are innocent.

Death by the Climate Crisis. It doesn't exist. We are great at any cost.

What occurred with Moore, Oklahoma in reaction to the deaths in their TOWN, is more a mental health issue than if they literally fell apart and had to be put back together. 

The USA has a long way to go to actually confront what the country is great about and at and what it is not.

The USA killed a lot of people over the past decade, most in Iraq. Innocent people, estimate in the hundreds of thousands.

Do drones kill less civilians?
When it comes to the topic of Osama bin Laden, I wonder who received the $1 million reward from the FBI Most Wanted list. Not only that, but, do they rightfully receive interest on the reward because it took a decade for the USA to get the guy.
I never got the impression the President's Speech was a rebuttal of liberal journalists. It was the opposite, I thought. He stated there had to be an end to the perpetual war. ???????????? He is going to do everything in his power to remove people from Guantanamo. He moved the drone operation to the military where it would be a part of a military operation. It removes weaponized drones to where they belong. Was I hearing in a different language because all the opposition to his speech seems strangely removed from it's context.

In order to understand what President Obama stated, one has to first accept the USA had the right to retaliate against al Qaeda for the attacks of September 11, 2001. Was there to be no military engagement after we were attacked? Iraq is an atrocity. But, Afghanistan and the 'correct' war. We had a right to do that.

Now to say there are more Americans dead compared to those that perished because of drone attacks is questionable, but, limiting a comparison to 'civilian deaths in the USA' to 'civilian deaths in a war theater' can be a legitimate measure of the ? carefulness ? of the military sent to defend the USA and allies.

One has to first accept the fact President Obama took office following a President engaged in war for nearly a decade having refused the existence of the Geneva Conventions. President Obama has been mopping up the Bush/Cheney mess for over four years now. I am confident it was not easy. So to state there is actually a clear understanding of President Obama's policies regarding terrorists is hardly accurate, except, he did what Bush/Cheney could never do and that was kill Osama bin Laden. Bush/Cheney allowed bin Laden to exist and thrive and spread his prowess knowing the 'great USA' could never kill him. It served the Bush/Cheney Doctrine of fear and hate to allow bin Laden to exist. Give me a break, Pakistan isn't that big a place.

What good what have the culture of fear drummed up by the Bush White House done if bin Laden was dead within a month after the attacks happened? It is a foregone conclusion the first words out of Bush's mouth was, "This was Iraq, parroted by Rumsfeld and the rest of the cabal. 

For eight years the USA turned against decades of diplomacy to build a safer world and a safer country in order to kill the dictator that insulted "W"s daddy. Who was the real dictator? If anyone expects President Obama to unwind that corrupt reality overnight, I dare them to try. It was oddly interesting to watch him do it.

It must have been a more than interesting meeting for President Obama to finally know the USA knew where bin Laden's headquarters were. They were right there. Next to the Pakistan military college. How convenient.