STATE OF THE UNION TIGER STYLE

Approaching the New Year we need to take a look at the real state of the union.  All charts in this post are extracted from SHADOW STATS.  You will notice they have no resemblance to the numbers the government pushes at us.  The reason for the difference is Shadow Stats uses the original formula for each not the adjusted ones used by the government.    So let's get started.
To view other charts click on the SHADOW STATS LINK ABOVE.  Extracting some of the numbers in my last post  and insert them into the effect on the below charts and you will probably come to the conclusion that things are not as good as we are told.  Again using the numbers from my last post , when look at what folks believe , you won't come away optimistic of our immediate future.  


UNEMPLOYMENT

.While we are told unemployment is 5 or 6%  this chart shows you that unemployment has been in  the 22 or 23 %  range all the way back to 2008.  On top of that many of the jobs that have been added are low wage service jobs.  Huge numbers of 18 to 34 year old are living with their parents out of necessity.  Without a return of manufacturing we will not have a sustainable ecoomy.

GDP

Official GDP this quarter is supposed to be 5 1/2 % but it actually has been in the -2%  range for years.  The resulting numbers as you can track one another but vary by a large amount.

INFLATION

50 NUMBERS YOU'LL FIND HARD TO BEIEVE

This piece written by other I am posting to give you a better picture of what your fellow citizens think.
Some you will find hard to believe and might even try to disprove,(If you do send me the link)

HERE'S THE STORY

A GAME OF CHANCE

The big bad US is mad at Russia and is stamping it's feet like a spoiled brat.  We are trying to surround Russia with enemies in our Shift to Asia, problem is Russia is responding and countering our moves with moves of their own.

First out of the barrel they make beg gas deals with China and Turkey.  Now China is stepping up an backing Russia all the way. We of course say we can counter the Chinese moves, somehow I can't believe that they can.  The bottom card is the threat of nuclear war.  Even our leaders as stupid as they appear to be cannot possibly believe the world can survive a nuclear war.

If you have been following my posts you know that all of the accusations we have flung at Russia are pure bullshit.  MH 17 shoot down and been without a doubt pinned to Ukraine itself. It was a bald faced attempt to get Russia a stupid move , but Putin is smarter than that.  The danger is that we now  are shipping weapons to the Nazi's in power in Ukraine.   Even crazies like them cannot possibly think they can beat Russia.  If you compare armaments of Nato and Russia for a land war Russia is better equipped.

When you look at the big picture and want to get a feel for how this could work out, just look at the Christmas presents as you unwrap them, whoops, made in China.  The populace would scream bloody murder when that supply chain was stopped.  Of course China would hurt like hell for awhile but nowhere as bad as we would.. It would take a large amount of time to rebuild our manufacturing base.

So far in this contest Putin in my estimate has made better moves than the Obama administration.
The BRIC alliance has the potential of knocking the dollar off the reserve podium which would be one hell of a curve ball to hit.

Just days after starting to normalizing relations with Cuba , saying that 50 years of sanctions against them have not worked , we put sanctions on Russia..  Take note that Cuba survived aided by the Venezuelan government just like China stepping up to back Russia.  It appears to me to be another fight we will loose.  Time will tell, so pay close attention.
HERE'S the story that bought this on.

AN EXAMPLE OF GOVERNMENT MANIFPUALTION

 

SILVER CONTRACTS

After all my talk of manipulation of markets by the government deserve a picture to show that most of what I have been talking about is actually happening.   This graph depicts how after the market closes shares are traded when lite volume exists to buy huge blocks of contracts to move the price up or down.  The drop between the black indicators shows government action to drive the price down.  This same action takes place in a lot of markets.   

HERE IS THE STORY BY ROBETS

CONTROL FREAKS

You and I sit here and wonder at the working of the modern world, not really knowing that what were watching is a giant shell game.  First you see it and then you don't.  What seems to be the problem here.
The simple answer is we are being presented horse shit instead of the truth.  Damn near all the info you are presented on the TV is straight bullcrap.

A present example in all the stories circulating about Russia.  An easy one to point out this theory is the story making it's rounds this week is that Russia is selling Gold because of the collapse of oil prices which is 50% of Russian income.  A look at what is going on is pretty easy to see.  Oil prices have tanked and gold has gone right along with it.  A little know fact is that the Ruble is backed by gold. Another fact is Russia is sitting on a pile of dollars because oil is traded in dollars.

 

VALUE OF THE DOLLAR

 

RUBLES TO BUY DOLLARS

So what would a smart Russian government be doing, simple eh what, use your oil based dollars to buy gold..  Since Russia is the number 2 oil producer in the world they have a lot dollars as a result of that.
Strangely you would think that Gold would be going up given all the shenanigans going on around the world but the exact opposite is true... Gold value is down.

  All of this action has been caused by the good ole USA jawboning the Saudi's to lower oil prices to bankrupt Russia and at the same time pushing the price of Gold down by flooding the market with naked short selling of the gold contracts.

The US has also placed sanctions on Russia in order to bring their economy down.   It could work if they put the right sanctions in place but so far all they have accomplished is to force Russia into making huge deals with China , India and Turkey.  Placing sanction on Russia and in the same breath remove some sanctions with Cuba saying that 50 years of sanctions of not had the required effect.  So if it don't work in one case we should try it again..Kinda like hitting your left finger with a hammer and then hitting the right one to get a different effect.

All this being just one facet of a multiple pronged attack to bust Russia so we can complete our goal of world hegemony.   The guiding forces behind this plot are desperate as they are running out of plays.  So desperate are that they are on record saying that a nuclear war is winnable.

So if you are confused about the world , don't worry , you have lots of company. 

“America uber alles.” or WATCH THE EAGLE FALL

This piece my Paul Craig Roberts a former republican official and now a good guy ( I guess) but that aside he has been putting info on line in sync with my thoughts of world events.   Read HIS ARTICLE.

The one piece of good news in this piece is among the final  thoughts, Economic Collapse is more survivable than a Nuclear War.+

His post is more an item list of the wrongs done to us over the last few decades by both parties, Items you have seen listed here over time.  The problem is the majority are deep asleep and could care less.  There seems  to be no organization or leader on the horizon to jerk the public awake.

The latest attack on Ukraine as been successfully linked to Putin which is a flat our lie orchestrated by the good ole US.  We want to reduce the power of Russia and China making our Pivot to Asia possible.

We are being told that the sanctions on Russia are really working and their economy is collapsing which is far from the truth.  While we have been busy putting the blame on Putin he has been out there making huge deals with China ,India and others not just in oil and gas, but also a new economic system to counter the IMF.  If the info I read today is correct , Putin is sitting there with a big grin on his face and a pocket book full of American that he will use to buy back his rubles at rock bottom prices.

So my take on this is Russia will come out just fine, but we will be short a bunch of expensive oil producers.  Of course you and I  will pay for this mess now that they have moved derivatives under FDIC.  One thing is certain and here I will hedge my bet , the world as we know it will be gone in a very few years.  What will replace it is unknown to at least me at this time.. Do you have a guess, let's here it.

ONE LINE SAYS IT ALL

Washington is prepared to defend this extortionist petrodollar recycling system to the end, even if it means nuclear war.

This one line lifted from a Mike Whitney post on Counterpunch today commenting on the fall in oil prices so quietly arranged by the US and Saudi to destroy Russia and bring down Syria and Iran too.
A stupid plan on the surface and disaster at best with the possible destruction of the world as a final outcome.  An outcome we are apparently ready to live with.

The real bitchy part of this scheme is that the best result we can hope for is a crashing of all the economies of the world.  The EU already in it's death throes will not survive this game and most likely nobody else will either.

Most oil producers need oil in the 80's or 90's to break even.  The US fracking companies need more than that and are leveraged with derivatives to the hilt.  Derivatives that when they go bad will be paid by us as the last budget bill put those instruments under the protection of the FDIC making us citizens responsible for that debt. (roughly 300 trillion dollars worth) an amount that will bring us to the bottom.

WHY BABY WHY? my brain has been screaming at me. Why would they do something this stupid,  POW, the answer hit me right between the eyes.  The POWERS THAT BE, have come to realize that American Hegemony is a dream that cannot be reached and therefore they are willing to risk a nuclear war (they think they can win) .  Just in case you think like them consider this.  If Russia fired no nukes in response to a US launch (which would probably be massive) the world would still come to an end.  4000 nukes are way more than enough to turn out all the lights.

I wish I could think of one positive thing to say on closing , but nothing comes to mind.  The end may be insight.    

THE EXCEPTIONAL NATION THAT HAS BECOME UNEXCEPTIONAL

READ THIS FIRST

If you like me have been scratching your head trying to figure out just what the hell our government is up too, you have been reluctant to call it for what it is , dangerous war mongering that has a final goal of a confrontation with
Russia as an end game.

Using Ukraine as a crutch to stir the fire, they tried to paint Putin into a box and bring about a confrontation with him.  Outfoxed on every front the US had to have another plan.  Surrounded by a bunch of warmongering staff none of which has any military experience and keep the president isolated from anybody with another opinion (like Hagel)  they put plans into play they have either not thought out or just not smart enough to carry out their end game.

So when Ukraine didn't work they hatched another plan.  In league with the Saudi's they lowered oil prices hoping to put Russia in a financial bind, through this and sanctions on them..  They claim all kinds of damage to the Russian economy and there probably has been some but the end result is something they hadn't planned on.  Putin has cut deals with other countries that make our messing around not count for much/(A side note here, oil producers hedge their oil bets in the derivative market to insulate them from a drop in price)

Putin put together the Bric nations to sidestep American intervention.  They have agreed to trade in their own currencies making the dollar irrelevant. He has made new gas deals with Germany and Turkey subverting US attempts to control the EU gas market.  In fact at every turn Putin has outfoxed us with our every move.

The problem is the American citizen has found it  easy to find Putin as a very bad man (in olden days he might have been) but in this go around the bad guy label is on us.

I am asking you to stop and consider our plight if Putin had been dumb enough to take the bait.   Here we sit a country that has not won a conflict since WW2 . Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and trillions of dollars down the drain and none of these contest did we win.  Yet the brains around Obama think think we can win a conflict with Russia including a first strike nuclear option that any thinking man knows is pure folly.

We are told we are the exceptional nation , but there are times in the past  when we might have said we were that but that was a long long time ago.  In my lifetime my thinking has changed on that fact.  I once believed we were not war mongers we were in a controlled standoff with the Soviets in a cold war. Both sides had enough operational nukes to blow the world away at the push of a single button..We both still do, the difference being we use to say we wouldn't launch first but now we think we have a first strike capability.  They use a missile defense system that at best is not 100% effective to believe we can shoot first.  To believe that you have to be willing to accept a level of losses probably in the millions at least.  In reality I believe that a first strike will bring about the end of people on the earth.. How many of the 4000 nukes Russian will make it through is anybodies guess and I am not willing to find out.. How about you.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHEAP OIL A BLESSING OR THE FINAL STRAW

Us peasants are rejoicing over cheap gasoline and going about our merry way thinking now I know where the money for Christmas is going to come from..Very true, those with much of a commute have a lot more bucks in our pocket.  Seldom does it cross their minds that this fall in oil is a bad thing but the truth is it could be.

Oil companies buy derivatives to protect against falling prices , so they buy derivatives to guarantee the future price of their oil  so they really don't care if the price of oil falls.  They are protected  , so the question is who eats the losses... In this case the big six banks and they hold enough of these contracts to force them into default and if that should happen the whole system goes down.

HERE'S THE STORY

UP SCOPE-TARGET 2016

Yeah I know , it's to early to start thinking about the next president, wrong, it's not to early to start.. You can easily see the republicans lining up to make a run for it and of course Hillary is already getting measured for her cape.  So it's not to early for a liberal to stand up and say no I don't want her as president, since in my opinion Bill Clinton was the worst president of my 77 years. Would Hillary be any different , I don't think so, she is associated with the same advisers that Bill used and we know what that got us.  So it's time to start considering some one else. Several have started showing interest and either of the two I have in mind individually would be a better choice, together they would be dynamite .  Yeah I mean Sanders and Warren.

Sanders is starting to work a little harder towards that goal and here's his 12 point plan to right a fallen country.   RIGHT HERE

It's probably a stretch to believe either Sanders or Warren can win but any other option is unthinkable.  All republicans and most other democrats will keep us on the same road we are currently on.  We know that don't work for the common man and someone other than the current frontrunners need to be encouraged.  The problem Warren and Sanders both have is they do not take corporate money.  Can they compete without that money.  Off the top of my head I would think not. Then I think of Howard Dean's grass roots organizing for Obama that was a 50 state strategy brought record numbers of liberals to the polls.  They might possibly (if they brought their wallets with them) could pull it off.

Quite possibly I have been smoking the wrong weed, and and overthrow of the money men is an impossible task.  But until we try we won't know.. Look at this , this way, If you back them , yet still loose what have you lost , a few bucks perhaps and a nasty outlook for the country , but yet it is possible.. Remember Hillary was the one  in 2008 and she lost to an unknown Obama.. Warren and Sanders are better known than Obama , yet he won.  It could happen again unless you pull your blanket over your head and don't get involved..