THE FINAL PHASE OF MANIPULATION, CORRUPTION, AND IDIOCY
Andrew Hoffman
MilesFranklin.com
March 18th, 2015
With each passing day, a greater share of the world’s 7.3 billion denizens are succumbing to the political, economic, financial, monetary, and social horrors of history’s largest fiat Ponzi scheme. After 44 years, it has enveloped all aspects of our existence, leaving a handful of sociopaths controlling our collective fate – and making it significantly worse with each disastrous decision. Everywhere one looks – from Asia, to Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas – living standards are weakening for all but the “1%” benefiting from said disastrous decisions. In this weekend’s “Death of the BRICS” Audioblog, we discussed how the five countries supposedly “leading” the global economy are collectively imploding; and as for the rest, the situation is far worse.
Currencies, commodities, and economic activity are plunging at “falling knife” speed; and yet the “evil Troika” of Washington, Wall Street, and the MSM continues to pretend otherwise. Not that anyone’s listening – as signified by CNBC’s ratings plunging to 1992 levels (i.e, when the station went on air); and this, amidst “record stock prices.” However, seeing Yahoo! Finance’s “top story” this morning espousing “Obama claims the upper hand in budget fight with Congress” – with a tagline starting with “bolstered by a spate of upbeat economic news…,” it’s hard for me to maintain my breath, let alone my sanity. A “spate of upbeat economic news?” I mean, what part of the U.S. economy having its worst start to a year in the 15 years the Bloomberg Marco Surprise Index has been calculated rings of “upbeat?” And this, following the worst holiday shopping season since 2009? Or the Fed’s own tracking model assuming roughly ZERO 1Q GDP growth? Or leading propagandist Goldman Sachs’ global tracking model reading recession? Or the CRB commodity index plunging to within 2% of its 2008 lows? Or this (Tuesday) morning’s oil plunge to $42.60/bbl – per the massive “supply response” I discussed last month; with the hideous “Frack-Log,” discussed yesterday, overhanging it – as well as, potentially, a removal of Iranian oil export sanctions? Or heck, the horrifying housing starts number that just printed as I’m writing, plummeting from 1,065,000 in January to 897,000 in February (i.e, the biggest monthly plunge in four years), versus “expectations” of barely budging? Perhaps the analysts creating such “expectations” should consult freefalling lumber prices for a better indication how the so-called “housing recovery” is doing.
Yes, the world over, global economic activity is not just grinding to a halt, but moving in reverse. And care of the massive industrial overcapacity created by four decades of unabashed money printing and market manipulation – aided by hideous, predatory financial engineering – there’s not a chance of the current, horrifying trends reversing; likely, for years to come. Which is probably why political tensions have reached a post-World War II high – as in the Ukraine, where with each passing day, the outlook for massive military confrontation dramatically increases. And why governments from the world’s four corners are becoming more draconian – and dangerous – on a daily basis. Heck, we just learned yesterday that the White House, by “Executive Order,” is exempting itself from the Freedom of Information Act, making an Administration that took office on a “transparency” platform the least “transparent” in the nation’s 238-year history. Not that they ever disseminated any material information in the first place. However, the fact that they’re making a point to overtly exempt themselves should tell you just how dangerous the direction America is taking has become.
The Rest…HERE
