Go and read in full both the Denninger piece and the embedded PIMCO link, from which the graph above was lifted.Then pass them on.
Key section from the PIMCO piece:
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...Our fiscal 2009 deficit totaled nearly 12% of GDP and required over $1.5 trillion of new debt to finance it. The Chinese bought a little ($100 billion) of that, other sovereign wealth funds bought some more, but as shown in [the chart above], foreign investors as a group bought only 20% of the total – perhaps $300 billion or so. The balance over the past 12 months was substantially purchased by the Federal Reserve. Of course they purchased more 30-year Agency mortgages than Treasuries, but PIMCO and others sold them those mortgages and bought – you guessed it – Treasuries with the proceeds.
The conclusion of this fairytale is that the government got to run up a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit, didn’t have to sell much of it to private investors, and lived happily ever – ever – well, not ever after, but certainly in 2009. Now, however, the Fed tells us that they’re “fed up,” or that they think the economy is strong enough for them to gracefully “exit,” or that they’re confident that private investors are capable of absorbing the balance.
Not likely...
***
Got tribes?
You're gonna need one when Uncle Sugar goes flatline.
"Got tribes?
ReplyDeleteYou're gonna need one when Uncle Sugar goes flatline."
It's not going to go flatline. Flatline would mean it is dead, inert, unable to act, unable to hurt people. Flatline would mean we could carry concealed weapons in DC, use them against muggers, and only the muggers' gangs would attempt reprisals. That's not going to happen. I think a better description is that we're currently suffering under the Godfather, but now he's going to catch rabies and go mad. Be prepared to run and hide.
"It's as though their oath was simply to kick ass on whoever the President and the generals say to kick ass on. That's it. Just attack dogs waiting for the signal."
ReplyDeleteBingo! Give this commenter a Kewpie doll. They might decide to restrain themselves from firebombing American cities...maybe, but they'll happily put you in prison for: growing and selling recreational drugs, to finance the manufacturing of modern militia weapons, in a factory that wasn't approved by smart growth zoning, and unionized, and inspected by OSHA, using energy that wasn't centrally produced, from privately mined coal, taking orders anonymously over the Internet, using money denominated in electronic ownership records of gold coins, which are deposited in unregulated banks, while keeping the sales records private, and delivering products privately on unsearched trucks, while ignoring product liability lawsuits alleging culpability because the products are inherently dangerous and some users will do bad things with them.
Don't you think that if the OK bothered to renew their oath to a government, they might take it seriously? The list of genocidal orders they won't obey is a red herring. There is no part of real freedom these or any other government employees will allow.
If you're into liberty, consider moving to New Hampshire and building a libertarian community with members of the Free State Project:
ReplyDeletehttp://freestateproject.org
It is more likely than you think. The only rational purpose behind the unlimited backing of Fannie and Freddie is to allow them to, wait for it, to buy the garbage mortgage loan packages that the Fed. bought from the banks. This way, the Fed replaces the junk holdings on its books with fully backed agency bonds, and the devaluation on the junk holdings is shifted Fannie and Freddie, where it originated, and more importantly to the shell game, shifted to the future. TA DA, the Fed is solvent and guaranteed a profit from uncle sucker, because the next default will be the responsibility of the taxpayers. The theory is that everything will work out if they can buy enough time and, if not, they will have gotten theirs and be gone before we start hanging people from the lampposts.
ReplyDeleteContinuing a major thread from GG's:
ReplyDelete(quote)I assume that almost everyone reading this blog is white; are you ready to put your theories into action and join Aryan Nations or similar white tribal organizations" (Sean Taylor)(unquote)
From what I know of AN or Klaverns, they depend too much on the existence of external threat to maintain cohesion during times of less than full-battle. Their meme is men-only, warriors and former-warriors only.
That's not an effective Tribe strategy, but it can work as a self-defense arm of a more inclusive group (secret society using violence while the "official" organization uses means-other-than-violence and attempts deniablity, like the IRA).
A Tribe I could live with would probably be organized along the lines of some of the 1970's "back to the land" groups without a cult-of-personality leader. It could be semi-democratic with rules or it could be consensus around the fire led. I would hope that a major priority would be securing non-fighters from outside danger and improving productivity of the land and whatever micro-industry exists. There might not be much money for distant abstracted "buying" but there would be plenty of work to be done and appreciation/status for those who are productive.
There would be no use of television (broadcast by "friendly" or opfor government/Tribes) as a mass-tranquilizer. There won't be leisure time for sitting around doing "nothing". Broadcast reception would be a source of intelligence along with other comm assets for the leadership to pass along during gatherings or to file for briefings.
Technology is important. Knowledge of what is possible to make/do locally is as important as knowledge of what was ever possible with the force of 20th Century nation-States. Just because your Tribe can't/doesn't make firearms (but has some stored and trained with) doesn't mean projectile weapons won't be effectively used. Perhaps skill in stalking with an English longbow made of local 3000'altitude yew, a highly organized watch and alarm system or a team with crossbows is enough force-projection to defend the women/children/old-folks?
Rural people already have family/neighbors/chores/money-making-job/garden/livestock/machine-repairs/volunteering that is just about what would be needed in a post-gov Tribal org. The problem is what to do with all of the city people who don't know how to do ANYTHING (they are masters of On-Line Gaming and ordering take-out, or are customer service at a stock broker, but failed at joining Boy Scouts/military/making-repairing job), including preserving their own lives from weather/hunger/predators and realizing that the good-old-days are not coming again.
There needs to be a sorting and training program for these people if they want to join the tribe. There needs to be a training program for everyone in the Tribe. Knowledge, skills, and productive capacity can not be allowed to slip away.
Feudalism and empire-building (over-expanding the Tribe to oppress others, or becoming a subject Tribe of a Great Leader) is something to avoid. Tribute is as bad for the recipient as it is for the sender, while voluntary trade is good for both.
Warning noted.
Cheers.
"implication: tribes only work if they are organized along skin color/ethnic appearance lines"
ReplyDeleteDisproven by the Open Source tribe: "The ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to be a function of which ethnic groups tend to seek and value education. Racial and ethnic prejudice is notably uncommon and tends to be met with freezing contempt."
http://catb.org/jargon/html/demographics.html
"There needs to be a sorting and training program for these people if they want to join the tribe."
A stress test will soon be supplied by the Bad People. Anyone who allows themselves to be sorted into the boxcars will be removed from the game.