The Era Of No Respect
Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2014 Jun 20, 2014 - 10:53 AM GMTBy: Barry_M_Ferguson
The late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield once made the following joke. “Last week I told my psychiatrist, "I keep thinking about suicide." He told me from now on I have to pay in advance.” Rodney would tug on his necktie and repeat his catch phrase, “I tell ‘ya, I get no respect!”
While Rodney made a joke of it, we now find ourselves living in an era of no respect. One definition of respect is ‘to avoid violation of or interference with’. With the NSA listening to our phone conversations and reading our emails, the US regime has clearly descended into an attitude of disrespect for all citizens. Soon, drones will be buzzing around overhead keeping a watchful eye over our every move. Why? Because the government no longer respects the governed.
The framers of the US Constitution felt so strongly about setting boundaries of government control that they immediately amended their document to include ten more specific guidelines concerning individual freedom and liberty. These are known as the ‘Bill of Rights’. They included freedom of speech, gun rights, and judicial rights. The current regime is trying to erase them all one-by-one. Why? Because the government no longer respects the governed.
For instance, if someone were to ask us for some privacy, we would all remove ourselves from the area and allow the person to do whatever without us watching or listening. That is nothing more than common decency. It is basic human respect. Yet, the US regime is intent on ruling over us while watching our every move. Why? They are the elite. We are the subjects of their rule. The government no longer respects the governed.
Maybe this is why there is so much strife in the world today. Governments no longer respect basic human dignity of citizens. In return, citizens should extend the same respect, or lack of, to their governments. Again, maybe this is why so many regimes are ceding to rebellion.
Witness Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have been writing about the police and their murderous Gestapo tactics as they continue to gun down unarmed citizens in cold blood. The latest case to be adjudicated was the case of a mentally disturbed man who was gunned down in his own back yard by the police. The officers were fired and the city was sued for $6 million dollars. For the crime of murder, the city of Albuquerque will have to $6 million dollars for the behavior of these police officers. Where is the respect?
Witness Wells Fargo Bank. They have recently been fined some $10 billion dollars and then some for all of their crimes committed over the last decade. The CEO was just rewarded with a salary of $19 million per year. So I have to ask. If the proper restitution for murdering an unarmed citizen in cold blood is just $6 million, then indeed what kind of heinous act of criminality warrants a fine of $10 billion dollars? What did they do? Did they murder thousands of unarmed citizens in cold blood? No, but they, along with the other members of the big banker criminal network, no doubt ruined the lives of countless citizens around the world with their criminal activities. Of course, the banksters were all given trillions in Treasury money that came from the pockets of the individuals that were bilked and conned by the banksters. And of course, this was all sanctioned and orchestrated by the Federal Reserve Bank. On a criminality scale, where then does the Fed fall? Where is the respect?
The answer to the respect question is of course, ‘there is none’. Governments think they can do whatever they want to do. Banks think they can do whatever they want to do. Goldman Sachs, for instance, just inked a deal with Ecuador in which the two will swap gold for US currency. Goldman gets Ecuador’s gold and Ecuador gets Goldman’s money. Ecuador uses US dollars as its own currency because they are too stupid and callous with their own compunction to print money which results in the ‘Zimbabwefication’ of currency. It becomes confetti. Anyway, in three years, the two will swap assets so that Goldman will wind up with the money and Ecuador will wind up with their gold minus any price appreciation over the period. This tells us that the price of gold will not rise by the end of the next three years as Goldman Sachs would take a loss if that were the case. Clearly the US regime and the US Federal Reserve Bank will not allow for Goldman Sachs to lose money. Yes, Goldman bankrupted themselves a decade ago like all the other big US banks. But now, they have the Fed on their side. Goldman was given bailout money to restore the company to its parasitic state so it can again feed off the greed and stupidity of mankind. Ecuador is doing the deal because, like the US and every other sovereign nation, they are broke. Since Ecuador uses the US currency as their own, they can’t print any of it up. Now they are broke with an expanding deficit. Here comes the parasite. Where is the respect?
It then follows that as governments no longer extend respect to the governed, the same governments no longer extend respect to capitalism. The creator of wealth. The ladder of affluence. The opportunity of growth. No respect whatsoever. They spy on us. They regulate us to the point where we are bound and gagged. They lord over us with laws that prevent almost everything, unleash regulators with mandates of tyranny, and enforce and protect their kingdoms with para-military police. The governed no longer control the ‘elected’ governors. It is, the other way around.
Governments have in fact ceded all power to the central bankers. It is their intent to loot the treasuries of nations and wallets of the governed so that the elite banksters can have it all. Good for them. Meanwhile, revolution is either in the streets or brewing in hearts of the governed. Except of course, america. Maybe ignorance does not justify respect? America will soon find out where ignorance and apathy lead.
Investors, of course, still need to invest. Clearly the worst decision would be to ignore equities. Clearly the central bankers exist only to protect the very rich. They own stocks. Ergo, stock prices are going up. Witness the latest data. Housing permits are negative. Consumer spending is negative. Car production is negative. US Q1 GDP was negative. Yet, government data points like ‘leading economic indicators’ are now up (as of this writing) for the fourth straight month. The Federal Reserve just met and agreed that the US economy was indeed gaining strength. Stock prices are up so far this year so that proves the government to be right.
Let’s review. GDP is expected to regain its growth trajectory. Maybe. However, the IMF just lowered expected economic growth expectations for the US. The same body also joined the chorus calling for the US to raise minimum wages. Somehow, the IMF thinks that higher wages are the path of economic growth. These bankers do not understand that higher wages are an effect of better economic growth and not an instigator of such growth. But again, the real reason the elite are calling for higher minimum wages is that they know that higher wages in the hands of the lower end of wage earners will result in them squandering the extra money that will then wind up in the hands of the banksters. That’s what poor people do. They squander resources. But I digress.
The point is this. Every real world data point indicates a slower economy going forward. The Fed says things are picking up. Therefore the economy will pick up. The Fed says so. And, they are going to make sure we all know that things are getting better by virtue of a rising stock market. And, they will start writing the positive economic data to back their assertion.
So what do we buy? I have been urging investors to buy the most bankrupt asset they can find. In bubbles, the stinkiest garbage rises the most. Central bankers want to convince us all that there is no longer any risk whatsoever in stock indices. The volatility indexes will verify this but there is in fact no longer any risk in stocks. To prove it, garbage is rising faster than anything. I have been recommending Greece and so far in 2014, the Greek stock indices are besting US indices. Now I think we should turn our attention to Argentina. Not only are they broke but they are in the process of defaulting on their loans. Readers may not be believers so I included the chart below. So far this year, Argentina is besting the US indices as well. Where is the respect?
YTD (6/19/14) - ARGT
Chart courtesy StockCharts.com
Barry M. Ferguson, RFC
President, BMF Investments, Inc.
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Barry M. Ferguson, RFC is President and founder of BMF Investments, Inc. - a fee-based Investment Advisor in Charlotte, NC. He manages several different portfolios that are designed to be market driven and actively managed. Barry shares his unique perspective through his irreverent and very popular newsletter, Barry’s Bulls, authored the book, Navigating the Mind Fields of Investing Money, lectures on investing, and contributes investment articles to various professional publications. He is a member of the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants, the International Speakers Network, and was presented with the prestigious Cato Award for Distinguished Journalism in the Field of Financial Services in 2009.
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