Stop Obama Regime’s Wrecking Ball for Your Neighborhood

By

Steve Balich

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May 18, 2016

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Stop Obama Regime’s Wrecking Ball for Your Neighborhood

http://willcountynews.com/2016/05/13/obamas-to-force-suburbs-to-be-less-white-and-less-wealthy/ Video

If you live in a quiet, middle class suburb, your neighborhood has a target on it, and Obama and his apparatchiks are aiming right at you. Ask yourself if adding a high rise full of subsidized, Section 8 housing will help or hurt your property values. You can do something about it right now.

From https://swordattheready.wordpress.com/tag/affirmatively-furthering-fair-housing/

Do you want the federal government to impose racial quotas, based on its racialist “disparate impact” theory on every neighborhood in America?
We have been warning you since prior to the 2012 election that the Obama Regime (here, here, here, here, and here) is determined to destroy traditional suburbs, which leftists despise, characterizing them as bastions of “white privilege.” It’s called Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing, and it needs to be stopped.
I have urged you to pay attention because what these Marxist cockroaches have been doing hits you, LITERALLY, where you live. I’ll say it again: VOTING IS NOT ENOUGH. So take action now.
Go to this site, obamazone.org, and send a sample letter just like this one in under 30 seconds:
Senator Mike Lee has introduced an amendment to the Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill defunding implementation of the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule. Please support the Lee amendment to defund racial quotas in local zoning decisions, and I urge you to sign the attached pledge, “Defund HUD racial and income housing quotas” at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DefundHUDRacialHousingQuotasPledge.pdf .
Under the regulation, in October HUD will be empowered to condition eligibility for community development block grants on redrawing zoning maps to create evenly distributed neighborhoods based on racial composition and income. This has nothing to do with true housing discrimination based on race, which has been illegal since the 1960s. Zoning only determines what can be built, not who can live in a community, and it is disingenuous for the Obama administration to suggest otherwise with its overreaching rulemaking
In Westchester County, N.Y., a trial run for the rule has already occurred where HUD has attempted to rezone six cities, 19 towns and 20 villages as a condition for receiving $5 million of grants. Rather than submit to federal rule, County Executive Rob Astorino simply rejected the money from 2012, and Westchester lost out on some $7 million of grants from 2011 for the same reason.
This is just the beginning, and left unchecked, the impact of this regulation will be felt nationwide. In 2012, HUD dispersed about $3.8 billion of these grants to almost 1,200 municipalities. By virtue of accepting the grants, under the rule, each of these 1,200 municipalities will be forced to comply with HUD’s racial zoning edicts.
Under the Constitution and principles of federalism, local zoning decisions are left up to states, counties and municipalities to determine for themselves. At a time when the Supreme Court is roundly rejecting racial quotas as unconstitutional, there is no place for wasting taxpayer dollars on a radical agenda that will never withstand judicial scrutiny.
The House of Representatives has already acted, defunding implementation of the regulation two years in a row. Now, it is the Senate’s turn to act. Senator Mike Lee has introduced an amendment to the Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill defunding implementation of the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule. Americans for Limited Government strongly supports Lee’s amendment to defund racial quotas in local zoning decisions, and is urging senators to sign the attached pledge, “Defund HUD racial and income housing quotas.”
Every Senator should support the Lee amendment to preserve local decisions over community development, and to stop the Obama administration’s attempt to impose racial housing quotas on suburban neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Ms. Teri OBrien

– See more at: http://teriobrien.com/action-alert-stop-obama-regimes-wrecking-ball-neighborhood/#sthash.hlrk8JzU.dpuf

Are You Getting The Picture? They play Candy Crush at meetings

By

Steve Balich

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May 18, 2016

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Pat Hughes headshot 2014 WEB

Are You Getting The Picture?

By Pat Hughes

Heading into a general election that promises to be political blood sport, State Representatives Kate Cloonen (D-Kankakee) and Mike Smiddy (D-Port Byron) gave Illinoisans a clear understanding of what they have been getting for the past two years and what they will be getting if these two are re-elected in November.

In one picture, Cloonen and Smiddy demonstrated to the officeholders and newspapers who endorse them exactly what they’d have to explain and rationalize for another two years.

In one picture, they reminded families and businesses that they, in fact, do not share the view that the state is at a crisis point. They don’t feel your pain. And, they are not interested in advancing policy solutions to help make your life better.

In one picture, Cloonen and Smiddy made it clear that all of their supporters will be spending the next two years doing exactly what they have done for the past two years: defending failed ideas and incompetent politicians.

Last week, Representatives Cloonen and Smiddy were caught on camera playing Candy Crush on the floor of the Illinois House during a budget debate. There are some who will claim that those of us who criticize Cloonen and Smiddy are just making political hay over a single moment of boredom on the House Floor. Before you count yourself among them, consider some of the events that have taken place on the House floor during the tenure of these two gamers:

Mike Madigan – a man who just 20 percent of Illinoisans view favorably – has been re-elected House Speaker twice on a straight party-line vote.
Irresponsible budgets – billions of dollars out of balance – have been sent to the Governor’s desk.
Numerous mandates have been placed on businesses, the costs of which are passed on to families and individuals in the form of price increases (HB 922, HB 923, HB 3619, HB 3655, HB 3761).
Educational Opportunity has been diminished and devalued (HB 3937, HB 5397, HB 397, HB 1369).
And, in perhaps the most honest demonstration of their values, Illinois Democrats voted to fund their own salaries in the event of a Government Shutdown. Meanwhile, state workers would see their own salaries slashed or experience layoffs (SB 274).

Vigilance is demanded. Critical thought is necessary. Courage and principle have never been more important. And, yet Cloonen and Smiddy could scarcely be bothered to look up from their I-Phones during debate.

The photo did not capture an “off-moment.” The photo captured the quintessential Illinois Democrat: uninterested, uninformed and out-of-touch. They don’t have to pay attention to debate in order to inform their vote. All they have to do is vote the way party bosses tell them to vote. For this, they will be guaranteed generous campaign funding from public sector unions, trial lawyers, and Speaker Madigan and his cronies.

That’s what they do. That’s who they are.

The people of Illinois are struggling. We have the highest unemployment rate in the Midwest. We have the second highest property taxes in the nation. Families are being driven out of their homes by a skyrocketing cost of living. We have an unfunded pension liability so large that it can never be funded. We have the lowest credit rating in the nation. Social service organizations have had to close their doors because Democrats would rather play games – literally – than pass a responsible balanced budget.

And if nothing changes by November, those who support Cloonen, Smiddy and their colleagues will have doomed Illinoisans to more of the same – or worse. However, we can break free. We can insist that politicians work for us. And we can reject them when they don’t.

That’s what we do. That’s who we are.

Democracy doesn’t thrive under the thumb of kept politicians, entrenched special interests and political monopolies. Democracy thrives on innovation, talent and competition. We have the power to end the reign of the Chicago Machine and cut ties with Speaker Madigan and his seat-warmers once and for all.

On November 8, let’s send Kate Cloonen and Mike Smiddy a message they will understand: Game Over.

Americans keep getting poorer

By

Steve Balich

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May 16, 2016

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Posted on May 12, 2016 by Personal Liberty News Desk

Americans keep getting poorer

Falling home prices and economic disaster

The number of middle class Americans declined in almost every metropolitan area throughout the nation over the past decade and a half.
That’s according to Pew Research Center, which recently reported that the share of middle class Americans dropped in 203 of the 229 metropolitan areas it analyzed. These include places that were once held up as hubs of manufacturing and industry, where an honest day of work was long accepted as the tradeoff for a comfortable American lifestyle.
The middle class has shrunk so rapidly in recent years, Pew reported, that “it may no longer be the economic majority in the U.S.”
But the news isn’t all terrible. Many Americans no longer defined as middle class made their way into higher earning brackets.
Via Pew:

With relatively fewer Americans in the middle-income tier, the economic tiers above and below have grown in significance over time. The share of adults in upper-income households increased in 172 of the 229 metropolitan areas, even as the share of adults in lower-income households rose in 160 metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2014. The shifting economic fortunes of localities were not an either/or proposition: Some 108 metropolitan areas experienced growth in both the lower- and upper-income tiers.

Still, the disappearance of a distinctly American middle class is a symptom of broader economic trouble.
Again from Pew:

Nationwide, the median income of U.S. households in 2014 stood at 8% less than in 1999, a reminder that the economy has yet to fully recover from the effects of the Great Recession of 2007-09. The decline was pervasive, with median incomes falling in 190 of 229 metropolitan areas examined.

Middle class or not, that means government mishandling of the economy is costing all American workers money.
pew
And with central bankers discussing insane monetary meddling like negative interest rates, things aren’t going to improve any time soon.

Merck, HuffPo, ‘Vaxxed’: The censorship connection

By

Steve Balich

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May 16, 2016

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Merck, HuffPo, ‘Vaxxed’: The censorship connection

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Jon Rappoport

Six steps to HuffPo blackout heaven.
One: Recently, long-time blogger/columnist for the Huffington Post, Lance Simmens, wrote an article in which he made positive comments about the film, “Vaxxed” (trailer).

Simmens didn’t state that the MMR vaccine causes autism. He pointed out that “Vaxxed” is about a CDC whistleblower who admits to giving the MMR a free pass, who admits that he and his colleagues hid data that would have shown a connection between the vaccine and autism.
So Simmens wrote that “Vaxxed” is an important film, and the issue it raises needs to be investigated.
Two: Huffington Post censored Simmens’ article. His account with Huff Po was blocked without explanation. He was shut out from posting more articles. Finally, someone named Stuart at Huff Po wrote him an absurd and irrelevant “explanation”:

Hi Lance, we’re going to have to pass on your latest post because it violates a long-standing policy we have against disseminating conspiracy theories and inaccurate medical information. In the case of your post specifically, it presents as credible a widely known and debunked hoax that vaccines cause autism. Please bear in mind that we reserve the right to remove any content from our site for any reason, and at any time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93G7mrsxkJg

Three: The Huffington Post is owned by Verizon.
Four: On the Board of Verizon sits a man named Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley.
Five: Kley was chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of Merck KGaA (*) until April 2016. (* see End Note below)
Six: Merck (*) manufactures the MMR vaccine, the subject of “Vaxxed.” (* see End Note below)
Got it?
But wait. There’s more.
In 2004, the CDC whistleblower featured in “Vaxxed,” Dr. William Thompson, alerted the head of the CDC, Julie Gerberding, that he had troubling and sensitive data in his hands about the MMR vaccine. Of course, Thompson was referring to the vaccine-autism connection.
Gerberding never replied to Thompson, who was about to make his findings public at a major conference. However, Thompson’s presentation was canceled.
Fast forward to 2009. Gerberding leaves the CDC. Later, she becomes the president of the vaccine division at Merck. Merck manufactures the MMR vaccine.
Nice work if she could get it, and she could.
*(End Note: Here is a more complete explanation of why the CEO of Merck KGaA, who sits on the board of Verizon, which in turns owns the Huffington Post, would be disturbed by a possible MMR vaccine scandal. Merck [U.S.] is a former subsidiary of Merck KGaA [Germany]. Merck — the MMR manufacturer — is an independent company — but how much stock in Merck does Merck KGaA still hold, and what other connections still exist? In fact, there is great sensitivity in both companies about the mutual use of the “Merck” name, and protracted legal battles have been fought to eliminate that overlap. It’s reasonable to assume that neither company is happy about scandals involving “the other Merck,” because of the public perception that the companies are one company. Read this, from FiercePharma: “An illustration of how confusing the names are to the outside world came in 2014 when a group showed up outside of the German company’s headquarters to protest Big Pharma’s lobbying against new generic drug rules in South Africa, designed to get cheap drugs to more patients. But German Merck [KGaA] was not involved in that effort. It was the U.S. company [Merck] that had supported it. But it has gotten trickier to keep the two companies separate as they vie for the Merck name in social media. A couple of years ago, Facebook got the companies confused and posted Merck & Co.’s new Facebook page at the same “Merck” location that had been used for Merck KGaA’s Facebook page. Eventually it was sorted out and now German Merck can be found at Facebook.com/Merck, while Merck & Co. now sits at Facebook.com/MerckBeWell.”)

— Jon Rappoport

Sessions: Choice between national self-interest and globalism

By

Steve Balich

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May 16, 2016

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Posted on May 16, 2016 by Personal Liberty News Desk

Sessions: Election 2016 offers a choice between national self-interest and globalism

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions is warning American voters to carefully consider their options when the presidential general election rolls around. The choice, he believes, has less to do with the candidates than it does the future of civilization in the United States.

Sessions says that members of his party who continue to doubt Trump’s conservative bona fides are missing the candidate’s “cautious approach to mass migration, transnational trade commissions and nation-building.”
The Alabama lawmaker says he believes President Trump will serve as a “forceful advocate” for America and implement policies that consider the best interests of U.S. citizens first.
If Hillary Clinton becomes president, Sessions says, Americans can expect the opposite.
“In Hillary Clinton, we have a committed globalist. Clinton was an ardent supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — which surrenders American sovereignty to an international union of 12 countries — and has clearly left the door wide open to enacting the pact if elected,” the lawmaker writes in a recent op-ed.
Sessions also takes umbrage at Clinton’s immigration platform, which he describes as “the most radical in our history.”
“Clinton’s extremist proposal economically targets our poor African-American and Hispanic communities whose wages and job prospects are being steadily eroded by the huge influx of new foreign workers,” Sessions notes.
What American voters have to decide, the lawmaker concludes, is whether they want to live in a country that “serves our people.” Because, Sessions says, how the nation votes in 2016 will determine “whether we remain a nation-state that serves its own people, or whether we slide irrevocably toward a soulless globalism that treats humans as interchangeable widgets in the world market.”

Signs You’re Successful—Even If It Doesn’t Feel Like It

Uncategorized

By

Steve Balich

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May 15, 2016

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Getty

Signs You’re Successful—Even If It Doesn’t Feel Like It

May 8, 2016

If you’re ambitious, you’re bound to feel like a failure from time to time. Lofty goals lead to inevitable moments when you aren’t yet living up to your expectations.
We live in a world that reinforces this feeling. Though most people won’t admit it—other than the guy with the ‘He who dies with the most toys wins’ bumper sticker—in the back of our minds, we equate material possessions with success.
It’s a shame we fall prey to materialistic thinking because we certainly know better. A study by Strayer University found that 90% of Americans believehappiness is a bigger indicator of success than power, possessions, or prestige. Digging a little deeper, 67% defined success as “good relationships with friends and family,” and 60% said it is loving what you do for a living. Only 20% stated that monetary wealth determines success.
But saying and doing are two very different things.
When it comes to success, our eyes often lead us astray. It’s hard not to feel like the most successful people are those with the biggest houses, the most expensive cars, and the most influential friends. Regardless of what you achieve, there’s always someone with more, and this can make you feel like you’re losing. The problem isn’t your lack of toys; it’s believing that toys indicate true success.
Real success is about who you are and how far you’ve come. If you ever worry that you’re not as successful as you should be, you may be evaluating yourself against the wrong criteria. Sometimes you just need a reminder as to what you’ve really accomplished in life. The success indicators that follow will help you do just that.
You’re no longer the center of the universe. We all know “successful” people who act like they’re the center of the universe. It’s their world and the rest of us just live in it…right? That’s not success. True success requires the ability to feel empathy—to realize that other people’s feelings and dreams are just as important as ours, and we cannot succeed without them.
You stay positive. Hope and optimism are essential components of a happy life. If you dwell on the things that go wrong, you become bitter and resentful. When that happens, you fail—no matter what you may have achieved. Real success means always seeing the bright side and believing you have the power to make even the worst situations better.
You know that failure isn’t forever. You’ve learned that the only people who never fail are those who don’t try. When you fail, you don’t automatically assume that you’re a failure. Instead, you embrace each failure as an opportunity to learn something—and then you move on. If you still struggle with this at times, know that you’ll never experience true success until you learn to embrace failure. Your mistakes pave the way for your success by revealing when you’re on the wrong path. The biggest breakthroughs typically come when you’re feeling the most frustrated and the most stuck. It’s this frustration that forces you to think differently, to look outside the box and see the solution you’ve been missing.
You keep things in perspective. Sometimes bad things happen. It’s part of life. For most of us, however, our very worst day would seem like a vacation to somebody who has real problems—like not having enough to eat, or trying to survive a civil war. Locking your keys in the car—or even getting passed over for a promotion—aren’t that bad once you learn to develop perspective. If you’ve mastered the ability to keep your problems in perspective, mark it down as a huge success.
You ask for help when you need it. Refusing to ask for help, no matter how much you’re struggling, is a sign of emotional immaturity. Asking for help means that you no longer feel like you have something to prove by being perfect. It shows you aren’t afraid of people discovering your weaknesses and you understand no one succeeds alone.
You realize that life isn’t a zero-sum game. It’s not a see-saw, either. Just because somebody else achieves a big success, that doesn’t mean you suffer a loss in equal proportion. You just didn’t win that particular time. One sure sign of success is the ability to celebrate others’ achievements with sincere enthusiasm.
You can tell the difference between drama and excitement.
Remember the days when stable relationships were boring, and you quickly got tired of anyone who treated you as they should? If that kind of “drama” is a thing of the past, congratulations. If you prefer stability and depth to drama, you’re succeeding.
You no longer care what other people think. You only worry about what other people think when you still feel like you have something to prove. Conversely, you know you’ve “made it” when you don’t worry about that anymore—when you’re true to yourself and your principles, and satisfied with your life. You know you’ve made it when you understand that other people’s opinions are just that—opinions. They have no effect on reality. They don’t change who or what you are.
You accept what you can’t change and change what you can.
There’s a difference between pessimism and practicality. If there’s a hurricane headed your way, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. But once you accept that the hurricane is coming, you can start working to mitigate its effects. If your company downsizes and you get laid off, every moment you spend in denial just delays whatever is waiting over the horizon. You’re able to move on only when you start exploring your options and making plans to change what you can. Taking responsibility for changing the things you don’t like about your life is one of the biggest indicators of success.

Bringing It All Together

There’s no sense in feeling like a failure just because you think you should have a better job, a bigger house, or a nicer car. Real success comes from the inside, and it’s completely independent of circumstance.
What are some other indicators of true success? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world’s leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, TIME, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.

ILLINOIS BUDGET PROPOSAL

By

Steve Balich

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May 15, 2016

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ILLINOIS BUDGET PROPOSAL WITH MULTI-BILLION TAX HIKES, CUTS SENT TO TOP OFFICIALS

KEVIN HOFFMAN

REBOOT STAFF

MAY 12, 2016 1473 2

rauner, illinois state budget, Illinois budget

With just more than two weeks remaining in the legislative session, a group of rank-and-file legislators Thursday sent a budget proposal to Gov. Bruce Rauner and the four legislative leaders that highlights ways the state can produce a balanced budget through a multi-billion-dollar mix of tax increases and spending cuts.

The plan — the first to surface in what is a historic 11-month budget stalemate — calls for a combination of $5.4 billion in tax hikes along with $2.5 billion in spending cuts.

Under the proposal, the Chicago Tribune reported, the state would bring in $5.4 billion in new revenue mostly through tax hikes, including raising the individual income tax rate to as high as 4.85 percent from the current 3.75 percent, expanding the sales tax base, likely to services and items not yet taxed, and eliminating some corporate tax breaks.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported the income tax rate proposed was between 4.5 and 4.75 percent.

The $2.5 billion in spending cuts would be achieved by ending pension-spiking costs, requiring schools and colleges to pick up pension costs for employees with annual salaries of more than $180,000, reducing health care spending for the poor and changing how the state purchases goods and services, the Tribune said. Another $450 million the state borrowed from special funds last year no longer would have to be repaid as part of the plan.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said he hasn’t seen what was submitted to the governor and the legislative leaders, but said calling it a proposal was “getting ahead of yourself.” Brown said there most likely was a list delivered of new revenue and spending cut items that came out of private budget negotiations between a bipartisan group of rank-and-file lawmakers over the past month.

Madigan was asked by a reporter Thursday about his goals for the remaining two weeks of the spring legislative session and he said, “My goal for the remainder of the session is to continue to do budget-making without references to changes in collective bargaining, workers’ compensation and prevailing wage. And my further goal is not to agree with the governor to use the government to bring down the wages and the standard of living of middle class families, to send injured workers to the emergency room or to welfare, or to continue to hurt the vulnerable in our society. Those are my goals.”

The bipartisan group of lawmakers, some of whom serve on the state’s appropriations committees have been meeting privately for several weeks. State Journal-Register Statehouse Bureau Chief Doug Finke reports:

A member of the negotiating team, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the plan would also borrow $5 billion to immediately pay down the state’s backlog of bills. The borrowing would be repaid over five years.

Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, told Finke he wouldn’t use the term “framework” to describe the proposal because it does not include any of the pro-business or labor union reforms on Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda,” some of which the governor says must be passed by the General Assembly before he will agree to any tax hikes.

Also from the Chicago Tribune:

But inside a Capitol stuck in the rut of a record-breaking 11-month impasse, many in the state’s political class eagerly welcome any emerging wrinkle, especially given that the budget framework talks were led by Rauner budget director Tim Nuding.
“There was no agreement in the sense that everybody said, ‘Yeah, I can sign onto things as is,’” said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat and top deputy to Madigan. “So there’s lots of internal discussions still to be had, but the idea is here’s a framework, and it was enough of a framework for Nuding to feel comfortable taking it to the governor.”

Japan Economic experiment an example of what not to do.

By

Steve Balich

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May 15, 2016

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Japan’s Carry Trade

By Geoffrey Pike
Written Friday, May 13, 2016

As Japan and other countries experiment with negative interest rates, the central bankers of the world may get more than they bargained for. Japan is the perfect experiment right now for Americans to watch. It should provide an example of what not to do.

Japan should be the dream of people like Paul Krugman, who think the answer to every problem is to create more money and run bigger deficits. Japan has plenty of that going on.
Japan’s debt-to-GDP far exceeds 200%, which makes Greece look like a fiscally responsible paradise in comparison. Japan has had its digital money-printing machine working overtime, while the central planners continue to push interest rates down.
The Bank of Japan has defied anything called a zero lower bound. Not only is the central bank imposing negative rates on banks, but it has managed to push the 10-year Japanese yield down to about -0.1%. You can turn your money over to the government in order to get less of it back in 10 years.
Negative interest rates only make sense up to the point of it acting as a storage fee. If you wanted to get a safety deposit box to store cash, the bank would charge you a fee for the safety deposit box. And speaking of safety deposit boxes, it is no surprise that sales are up in Japan for personal safes, as people would rather store their own money than pay a fee.
Only in a world of fiat currency and central banking would a negative interest rate exist. Most people would rather have a dollar today than a dollar next year.
Still, the Japanese people are not blameless in this. While the central bank has been buying a majority of the debt lately, Japanese investors have still been buyers of government debt over the years. With all of the monetary inflation and the ultra-low interest rates, it is amazing that anyone would keep buying.
I don’t know if some Japanese investors think it is their patriotic duty to buy their government’s debt, but how long will they keep this up? If the Bank of Japan doubles the money supply again, and if the debt-to-GDP goes to 300%, will that finally be enough for investors to sell? It seems the camel already has too many straws on its back, yet more keep being added.
Japanese Miracle Turns into Disaster
While the Japanese economy is a complete disaster right now, it is still a relatively wealthy country. Japan was considered a miracle in the 1950s and 1960s. After being devastated from World War II, the country recovered — and rather quickly — in becoming an economic powerhouse. If you recall, many people in the 1980s thought the Japanese were going to take over the world, at least economically speaking.
The miracle that happened after the war is called the free market. Japan and Germany both turned to relatively free market policies, which enabled savings and capital investment to quickly grow and create wealth.
Unfortunately, for the last couple of decades, Japan has largely turned against the policies that originally helped it become so rich. Of course, you could say the same thing about the U.S. and Germany as well.
Up until just a few years ago, the Bank of Japan actually maintained a relatively stable monetary policy without a lot of monetary inflation. Many people think Japan has been stuck in deflation for decades, but prices have been rather steady, with only short periods of mild price deflation. It is only deflationary by our standards.
Unfortunately, despite the somewhat sane monetary policy, the government has spent money like crazy. As I mentioned, Japanese investors were willing to buy debt at low rates. This enabled the government to run huge deficits, despite little buying from the central bank in the past.
Under Prime Minister Abe, things have gotten much worse. After taking office in late 2012, he declared that escaping deflation was the greatest and most urgent issue. He has been incredibly aggressive in implementing so-called government stimulus. This has meant even more government spending, along with massive monetary inflation.
For the central planners who think these are the answers to economic ills, we should ask them why the Japanese economy is not booming yet. Do they need to start doubling the money supply every six months? Do they need to implement interest rates further into negative territory?
What Goes Up
One of the consequences (we can’t say “unintended” anymore) of negative interest rates is the carry trade. This may turn out to be an exaggerated version of the carry trade.
A carry trade is when investors borrow money at low rates in order to invest in other assets for higher returns. This strategy is most common when dealing with currencies in the foreign exchange market.
The Japanese could borrow money and put it in stocks or other assets within Japan, and some certainly have. But if you think it is tough to find a good yield in the U.S., imagine what the Japanese people are facing. It would not exactly be a sound strategy to borrow money to buy stocks.
Interestingly, it was recently reported that Japanese investors are suspected of fueling a boom in Australian real estate investment trusts.
And why wouldn’t they? When the government and central bank have created an environment of virtually zero yield, people will get creative in order to find positive yield. Does anyone want to save money for 10 years only to have it earn nothing, or less, over that time?
While Australian REITs are one trend for Japanese investors, we can be sure they are pushing money in all different directions. It is almost surprising that we don’t hear more stories of Japanese putting money into American markets, whether in stocks or real estate.
This is what happens when you get massive monetary inflation, along with low (in this case negative) interest rates. Some people are naturally going to engage in the carry trade strategy.
There has been some volatility in the currency markets. The yen had not been doing well, but it recently had a period of gains with temporary weakness in the dollar.
It is not hard to imagine that the carry trade will build up more over time as rates stay in negative territory. This can be a major problem, as carry trades eventually unwind.
What goes up must come down. What gets wound must get unwound.
What happens when those Japanese investors have to pay back the loans they took out in yen? They will have to convert their assets back into yen. It makes for a more volatile currency market. If the Australian currency were to fall against the yen, this could mean major losses and defaults for some investors.
A Race to the Bottom
Of course, Japan is not the only country with negative interest rates, as this has become a widespread phenomenon across Western Europe as well. And most of the major central banks are engaging in monetary inflation. The one major exception right now is the Federal Reserve.
Still, while we compare currency exchange rates, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we are comparing all fiat currencies that can easily be created by typing digits into a computer. The U.S. dollar is strong right now, but compared to what?
We have been in an environment of low interest rates and low price inflation. Consumer prices have stayed down due to economic fear, as well as a lack of bank lending.
It is easy to get complacent and think things will always be this way. It becomes the new normal. But debt-to-GDP ratios over 200% (and increasing) are not sustainable. Just a small increase in interest rates can change things quickly and dramatically.
Luckily for Americans, despite the major problems in the U.S., Japan is worse in almost every way. The Japanese will face the same crisis with retirees and massive unfunded liabilities. The government debt there is far worse, which more than offsets any good saving habits by some individuals. And the distortions from the monetary policy have to be massive.
When Japan blows up, we can only hope that the economic central planners will be discredited to such a large degree that Americans refuse to go down the same path and put a halt to these insane policies.
Still, we can’t be certain of any of this, so I am not betting on higher interest rates yet. That will be a play for another time. It is a time to sit tight and preserve wealth. As always, this should include owning some gold and silver in case the Fed decides to follow the lead of the Bank of Japan with endless digital money printing.
Until next time,
Geoffrey Pike for Wealth Daily

USS Cole commander blasts transfer of Al Qaeda Gitmo detainees to Saudi Arabia

By

Steve Balich

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May 14, 2016

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USS Cole commander blasts transfer of Al Qaeda Gitmo detainees to Saudi Arabia

By Cristina Corbin
Published May 03, 2016

FoxNews.com

No longer a danger? ‘High risk’ Gitmo detainees released

The man at the helm of the USS Cole when it was attacked by an Al Qaeda cell in 2000 said last month’s release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee linked to the bombers denies justice to the 17 people killed aboard the ship.
Kirk Lippold, who was commanding officer of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer when suicide bombers aboard a small fishing boat blew a hole in the side of the ship, told FoxNews.com Mashur Abdallah Ahmed al Sabri’s release was a mistake.

“I would have liked to have seen him receive a military commission where he was tried, convicted and sentenced and then his suitability for release determined under the laws of armed conflict,” Lippold said.
“From the perspective of the American people and my crew, he’s never been held accountable,” Lippold added.
In addition to those killed, 37 service members were wounded in the Oct. 12, 2000 attack, which came as the Cole refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden, nearly a year before Al Qaeda would register its signature attack, on 9/11.

Al Sabri, a 38-year-old Yemeni citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia, was at one point believed to have been a member of the terror cell behind the attack, although a subsequent assessment at Gitmo, like many done on detainees who have since been released, downplayed his role.
The Obama administration has acclerated the release of Guantanamo detainees to fulfill a campaign pledge to critics who say the suspected combatants are being held indefinitely without due process.
There was never enough evidence to bring under a military commission in al Sabri’s case. But a September 2008 report by the Department of Defense assessed al Sabri as “high risk” and “likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies.”

At that time, the reason for continued detention was listed as follows: “Detainee was a member of an Yememi Al Qaeda cell which was directly involved with the USS COLE attack. Detainee attended advanced training in Afghanistan after recruitment by a known Al Qaeda facilitator.”
A 2014 report, however, said al Sabri “may have” trained at a camp, was merely an Al Qaeda “associate” and “probably did not play a significant role in terrorist operations.”
Paul Rester, the former head of interrogations at Guantanamo, said the “language has softened” over the years in many terrorist detainee cases.
“The only thing that could have changed is someone’s perception that al Sabri or someone like him mellowed – that they don’t pose much of a threat anymore,” he said.
But, Rester noted, “we can’t run a jail indefinitely.”
“The problem with Guantanamo from Day One is the conflation of rule of law with law of war,” he said.
Al Sabri’s transfer April 16 to a Saudi rehabilitation program follows a long list of other detainee transfers since President Obama took office.
Obama promised during his presidential campaign to close the military prison, but lawmakers have so far blocked any plans to turn prisoners over to the U.S. penal system. Scores have been released over the last few years, typically sent to their homelands or to countries that have agreed to detain or monitor them, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Senegal and Uruguay.
The military prison once held more than 600 suspected terrorists, but there are now just 80, including 26 more who are expected to be sent to their homelands or to another country by the end of the summer.
Several detainees have returned to the fight against the U.S. once released, including Ibrahim al-Qosi, a Sudanese native who once served as Usama bin Laden’s cook, chauffeur and bookkeeper, and is now believed to be a senior Al Qaeda leader in Yemen. In March, a U.S. official told lawmakers that Americans have been killed by Guantanamo Bay detainees after they were released.
“What I can tell you is unfortunately there have been Americans that have died because of [Guantanamo] detainees,” Paul Lewis, the Pentagon’s special envoy for Guantanamo detention closure, said, though he declined to provide the GOP-led House Foreign Affairs Committee with details.
Maj. Gen. Jay Hood, who once oversaw operations at Guantanamo, said the Saudi rehabilitation program for militant Islamists is well-intended and should be applauded.
But, Hood said he has “little confidence in the Saudi authorities’ ability to monitor the movements of Yemeni GTMO detainees placed in their custody.”
“If history is a guide, we can expect to see some number of them back in the fight soon,” he said. “As a group, the Yemenis held at GTMO represented the most committed and violent of the Islamic extremist in US custody.”

For Lippold, a 41-year-old commander in October 2000, the memory of that morning is still fresh in his mind.
“We had pulled in on a beautiful, hot day for a brief stop for fuel,” the 57-year-old Lippold recalled, saying he expected to be in port for six to eight hours.
Forty-five minutes later, at 11:18 a.m., there was a “thunderous explosion” that violently thrust the ship up to the right, Lippold said.
“I knew instantly something had come along our left-hand side and exploded,” he said. “We were fighting for our lives to keep the ship afloat.”
“The crew responded as true heroes, exactly as they were trained.”

FBI won’t say whether it listens in through home automation systems

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By

Steve Balich

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May 14, 2016

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FBI won’t say whether it listens in through home automation systems

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Sam RolleyViews: 916

Alexa, tell me who’s listening.
Amazon recently came out with a nifty new home automation device called the Echo. The gadget is an innocuous looking speaker meant to sit in your home and listen for you to bark commands—things like “give me a recipe for borsht,” or “play back in the USSR”— at its integrated personal assistant, Alexa.
It’s always listening so that Alexa can cater to your every need. And in a perfect world, it would be the stuff of Jetsonian dreams—but in the modern big-government surveillance state, it’s simply a reminder of all the ways we’re willingly handing ourselves over to a dystopian future.
Back in March, Gizmodo editor Matt Novak filed a Freedom of Information request with the FBI to see if the agency had yet wiretapped an Echo to listen in on the private conversations of its owner.
He explained the reasoning behind his inquiry thusly:

In 2016, creepy perverts are hacking computer cameras and baby monitors all the time just to get their sick little rocks off. And we know that the NSA can still wiretap your phone even when it’s not turned on. So why wouldn’t law enforcement agencies or intelligence agencies hack your Echo (presumably with a court order) to catch the baddies?

The agency’s answer wasn’t very detailed— but, if you value your privacy, it says plenty. Here’s how the FBI responded:

Please be advised that, upon reviewing the substantive nature of your request, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records responsive to your request pursuant to FOIA exemption … The mere acknowledgement of whether the FBI has any such records in and of itself would disclose techniques, procedures, and/or guidelines that could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law. Thus, the FBI neither confirms nor denies the existence of any records.

Translation, they have or they are working on figuring out how to wiretap Echo and similar devices but they don’t want to get all those pesky privacy advocates asking questions about things like court orders and legality.
While the FBI’s answer to the Echo question is frustrating, it should be in no way surprising to anyone who’s been paying attention to the government’s privacy-violating antics in this technological age.
Way back in 2014, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the government has the ability to listen in through devices that most of us carry constantly without a second thought. The government spy agency can even remotely access a smartphone’s camera and microphone when the device is switched off.

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USS Cole commander blasts transfer of Al Qaeda Gitmo detainees to Saudi Arabia

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