Bubbles and Other Economic Bunglings

Having enjoyed the first Aftershock book, I am looking forward to its sequel.  The authors, David and Robert Wiedemer with Cindy Spitzer, state there’s an extra chapter in the sequel that could not be included in their first book. 

Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book that refers to their Aftershock book:

Wiedemer and co-authors list six bubbles:  The real estate bubble; the stock market bubble; the private debt bubble; the discretionary spending bubble; the developing dollar bubble; and the government debt bubble.

The latter two are, according to the authors, yet to fully develop while the first four are not over their downward adjustments. (Their last book was published in 2010.)

These three analysts wrote America’s Bubble Economy, published in 2006, which accurately predicted the popping of the housing bubble, the collapse of the private debt bubble, the fall of the stock market bubble, and the decline of consumer spending.

In that time, the great majority of the experts were saying “all is well, stocks will rise.” …

  Wiedemer’s accurate prediction of an economic downsizing (the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s) came not because of luck nor because of a perpetual bearish outlook; rather it came through seeing the fundamental underlying patterns.

The authors make a very important point about the difference between an economic bubble and fundamentals, which rest on solid ground.

They said the “facts on the ground did not match the bubbles in the sky.  Highflying asset growth that is not firmly anchored to an underlying real economic driver is not sustainable.” 

What do you think about all these economic bubbles?  What are you doing to prepare for the ones these authors, and other economists, are forecasting?  Share your ideas with us here for others to benefit.  Thank you.

Hidden Tax Payer $$ is Fraud--We're Not in Debt After All?

Did you see the headline about a suburb of Detroit, already with a high crime rate, not only turning off their city street lights because they "couldn't pay" their own electricity bill, they also had the lights physically removed out of the ground?  Many cities are cutting back services (fire, police, trash, road repairs, etc.), and states are threatening to cut pensions and social security while they wait for a federal bailout, such as what's happening in Rhode Island.

However, the media's not talking about the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) that all levels of government have--federal, state, local, and even municipalities--and have had since 1946.   It’s never reported on their “budget” or in any other form to the public.   Budgets are about the current year only, whereas CAFR is an accumulation over a period of many years, with institutional funds, enterprise or financial holdings, assets and total investment incomes, for both government and nongovernmental entities, each having their own budget and own account that never get mixed in with public records, and are collected from the tax payer through government fees.  

Wikipedia states, “While a budget may indicate that a specific government or agency has financial trouble and debt as a result of excess spending within the select grouping of "general fund" accounts, the CAFR may indicate that overall the same government entity has many facets possessing large holdings and income considerably greater than what is shown in a budget report or the ‘general fund’ alone.”  Within the government level, it’s considered as a “surplus” that they have already determined can never be refunded (or revealed) to the tax payers for any reason.  When asked about it, there’s denial to the public that it exists, but when presented with evidence that it does exist, then comes the hard-line refusal to refund it with a long line of blatant excuses that are not true.

• In 2010, Oregon Rep. Bruce Hanna during general session when the floor was discussing what to do about the state's 3.5 billion dollar budget shortfall (fire employees, cut back on services, close state parks), stood up with the cover page from the (Oregon) state CAFR in hand and stated that in less than a few minutes he found $3.5B to satisfy the state shortfall, therefore being no shortfall when comparing the state CAFR and the previous "selective" presentation of the State general purpose operating budget.

Lt. Col. Klatt accidentally learned about the CAFR’s in 1998 and exposed them by going public, including a website titled “The Truth About State and Local Governments Having Excess of Your Tax Dollars They Are Not Using” found here: http://cafrman.com/


What do you think about this well-kept "secret" from all of us, especially during these rough economic times?  Is it for "real" or somebody's mis-interpretation?  If it's for real, why isn't the mainstream media covering it so that the tax payer is protected from fraud?

 

More $$ If Cities/Businesses Delete Fluoride!

Just received an email update from FAN>>Voters in Amesbury, Massachusetts ended fluoride forever on Nov. 8th last week!  The town of almost 17,000 residents had fluoride started 44 years ago.  And then in 2009 they quit adding it because the fluoride chemicals were clogging up their water plant equipment with "unknown insoluble residue."  Their local Board of Health worked and worked to get fluoride back and finally asked for it to be put on the ballot, giving their recommendation of "3 to 1" to have the public vote "yes" on the ballot.  Instead, the residents educated themselves, and instead of voting it back in, they voted it out completely after 44 years!

Here's another amazing phenomenon!  Retail business owners are now joining the anti-fluoride battle -- here's some success stories:

-In Austin, Texas the owner of Hopdoddy Burgers uses reverse osmosis filters to remove the fluoride from the water they serve to customers and use for cooking.  They advertise this fact locally, and have joined the residents of Austin calling for an end to fluoridation.

-In Watsonville, California Martinelli's apple juice publicly opposes water fluoridation, and uses well water in their juice rather than the local water which is fluoridated.  On their webpage discussing their position on fluoridation, they even urge customers to watch FAN's film, "Professional Perspectives".

-In Portland, Maine the owners of GRO Cafe and Bonobos kicked off a campaign to collect petition signatures to get a referendum vote on fluoridation.  Their motivation was originally a campaign to get restaurants to stop using bottled water, called "Take Back the Tap", but found that the only way to truly take back the tap was to increase the quality of the drinking water by removing fluoride.

Businesses can be very powerful allies in any campaign against fluoridation, and can often add a great deal of influence, media attention, and support for a campaign.  If you live in a fluoridated community, why not ask your favorite restaurant to join the fight.  When you go for a meal, be armed with a petition or official statement for them to sign, like this:

"I am a restaurant owner in Town X.  My customers are asking me to remove fluoride from the water I serve to them and use when cooking their food.  Removing the fluoride with a filtration system would cost my business a lot of money.  It would make more sense for everyone if the city was to stop adding fluoride chemicals to our drinking water. It is not necessary (fluoride works topically not from inside the body), and there are many health concerns. (www.fluoridealert.org)."

Urge the owner(s) to sign it, then put it in an envelope addressed to your city council.  If several restaurants send in these letters, your local council will almost certainly take notice. 

(Go to fluoridegoodorbad.com and download your FREE copy of my book "Fluoridation: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" -- a vet in a Washington State city looked at it, and said it was a fast read on fluoride facts that needed to be sent out to all vets statewide--this was done in their city, and they won!)

Call to Action in Utah!

It's amazing!  A little over 2.5 million people have stopped having fluoride added to their drinking water in 30 communities, and this was only during one year--October 2010 through October 2011!  It's past time for Utah to do the same -- what's YOUR thoughts about the dangers of fluoride in our tap water?  I'm starting the process of another mass mailing to all our State and Health Dept. Representatives, as well as the media, to inform them once again about the dangers of fluoridation in our Utah drinking water.  Some of the above 30 communities had hearings about it on the city level, and the facts convinced the individual city councils to vote it out.  Others in the 30 communities went through the process of getting it put on the ballot, as it was done in Tooele when residents voted it down for the 3rd time (or was it 4th time) in 2005?  What would YOU like to do?  What would YOU like to tell them in this mass mailing?  Please comment below or contact our Orem office, 801-765-1995.  Thank you. 
Ken Howard

Oct. 31 -- Lakeshore, Ontario (33,000)
Oct. 25 -- Palmer, Alaska (8,400)
Oct. 18 -- Lawrenceburg, Tennessee (11,000)
Oct. 16 -- Churchill, Manitoba (1,000)
Oct. 13 -- New Plymouth, New Zealand (50,000)
Oct. 4 -- Pinellas County, Florida (700,000)
Sept. 30 -- Spencer, Indiana/ BPP Water (10,500)
Sept. 22 -- College Station, Texas (100,000)
Sept. 12 -- Slave Lake, Alberta (7,000)
Sept. 6 -- Hohenwald, Tennessee (4,000)
Aug. 16 -- Pottstown, Pennsylvania (15,500)
Aug. 15 -- Spring Hill, Tennessee (30,000)
Aug. 8 -- Philomath, Oregon (4,500)
July 20 -- Taber, Alberta (6,500)
July 4 -- Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan (5,000)
June 30 -- Taumarunui, New Zealand (5,000)
June 6 -- Fairbanks, Alaska (30,500)
May 18 -- Naples Village, New York (1,070)
May 16 -- Mount Clemons, Michigan (17,300)
April 21 -- Lago Vista, Texas (6,500)
Mar. 17 -- Marcellus, Michigan (1,100)
Feb. 16 -- Independence, Virginia (1,000)
Feb. 8 -- Calgary, Alberta (1,300,000)
Feb. 7 -- Yellow Springs, Ohio (3,200)
Feb. 7 -- Vercheres, Quebec (5,240)
Jan. 19 -- Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania (5,500)
Nov. 15, 2010 -- Sparta, North Carolina (2,000)
Nov. 4, 2010 -- Tellico, Tennessee (900)
Oct. 25, 2010 -- Waterloo, St. Jacobs, and Elmira, Ontario (103,000)
Total: 2,571,500 people (www.fluorideaction.net)

Who Do You Think Will Be the 2012 Presidential Winner?

Celente Picks 2012 Presidential WinnerBy Gerald Celente
10-4-11

http://www.trendsresearch.com/index.php

http://www.rense.com/general94/cele.htm

Gerald Celente, publisher for Trends Journal, forcasts the 2012 election to be a "Presidential Reality Show" with whoever does the best job on stage will win since it's not really politics but show business this time.


The CNN debate "...was a star-spangled, made-for-TV-spectacle appropriating the lowest common denominator elements of the World Wrestling Federation, the Miss America Pageant and American Idol.  The American Idol winner (a.k.a. The President of the United States) will be the best performer."Couldn't help but notice how much detail Celente put into describing how Obama matches his American Idol image!

Celente forcasts that Rick Perry has made too many mistakes, Mitt Romney's RomneyCare is worse than ObamaCare, plus nobody will want to vote for a Mormon, and Michelle Bachmann has lowered herself in the media to the ditzy image of Sarah Palin when she didn't know Elvis' birthday and many other likeable goofups. He doesn't even mention Herman Cain or any of the others in the Republican lineup.

Celente forcasts that if any of those win the GOP nomination, Obama will win in spite of his low approval ratings.  The only threat to his re-election, the same way Clinton was re-elected a second term in spite of his low approval ratings, would be if Jon Huntsman or Ron Paul move forward as the favorite dark horse.  

"Over the long haul in the run for the nomination, the attacks launched by the three current frontrunners could succeed in discrediting them all. Under such circumstances it is not impossible that one or the other of the dark horses could win the race. Should that be the case, either one would have a better chance of beating Obama than Romney, Perry or Bachmann."

What's your take on Celente's forcast?  If people won't want to vote for a Mormon, how does he explain the other Mormon being the dark horse favorite?  Maybe you're not old enough to remember, but the same was said about JFK, that "nobody will want to vote for a Catholic."

Sound off with what you think!

Is America Under Attack?

The Coming Church-State Wars

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Recently by Patrick J. Buchanan: The Conquest of the West

http://lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan193.html

Buchanan reports that it was a college professor who filed complaints, not the Muslim students, against the Catholic University for descrimination and wanting prayer rooms without Catholic symbols.  He asks what this means, which is, "...That there are anti-Catholic bigots whose stock-in-trade is exploiting civil rights laws to smear the church and her institutions, and drive wedges between Catholics and other faiths."

Is America Disintegrating?

by Patrick J. Buchanan

http://lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan191.html

Buchanan reports that, "What was morally repellent – promiscuity, homosexuality, abortion – is now seen by perhaps half the nation as natural, normal, healthy and progressive...There was a time not so long ago when the nation was united on a common faith, morality, history, heroes, holidays, holy days, language and literature. Now we fight over them all."   

These comments by Buchanan coincide with my latest book "The Dynamic Influence of Christianity" and my upcoming new book "America, Is it Under Attack?"

What's your thoughts?