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Immigration judge gave Guerrero six months to find an alternative to stay in the U.S.

The following chart shows the inverse of the 10-year treasury yield. Why the inverse? At 0%, one could borrow an infinite amount of money and still pay the interest payments in full (without even breaking a sweat). When seen this way, 0% isn't a floor. It's infinity!


Click to enlarge.

Note that there has been a trend change. As seen in the difference between the red and blue exponential trend channels, the inverse is growing even faster than it once was. What does this mean? Rising interest rate environment my @$$! That's what. Just an opinion of course. Your opinion can and probably does vary.

But before you disagree, consider this. Our modern financially innovative over-leveraged society *requires* an exponentially increasing amount of leverage, lest it seize up (again). If not, please provide evidence to the contrary. I'm all ears. Further, an economy seizing up tends to be disinflationary (compared to what it was before it began to seize).

If I am right, then we better start learning Japanese economics, because that's where we are headed apparently. Welcome to the era of perma-ZIRP. And when I say perma-ZIRP, I do not mean over the next 10,000 years. It could easily be a LOT longer than most people think though. For savers looking for a relatively safe return, I expect the beatings to continue until morale improves. It's one reason I have not been scared about locking in long-term interest rates whenever the opportunity presented itself.



This is not investment advice. It's just the opinion of a perma-bear. That said, who honestly believes that the hangover is passing? We're not just drinking a hair of the dog that bit us. We're attempting to drink the whole frickin' dog again. Good luck on that one long-term!

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

American Exceptionalism Diluted by Illegal Immigration
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************

Throughout history governments had lied to their constituents.  It is an indisputable fact of life. We Americans have been lied to, by our government, mercilessly, since our founding.  No matter where in the world you are reading this, rest assured your government has lied to you and may, even now, be lying to you… even as you peruse this article.

Today, in America, the Big Lie the government is peddling to Americans (I mean OTHER THAN OBAMACARE!) is two fold.  The first part of the lie is:  we can’t get rid of the 12 million, or so, illegal immigrants in this country.  The second part of the Big Lie is the current immigration reform bill proposed by the Congress is NOT an AMNESTY BILL.

I mean, come on folks, don’t tell me we can’t get rid of 12 million illegal aliens in this country!    Because we can! 

Prosecute the employers who have them on their payrolls.  Put an employer in jail for hiring them!  I mean mandatory jail time, not just a fine or a slap on the wrist. 

Repeal the “Anchor Baby” law.  (Any baby born in the US is automatically an American Citizen.)  It’s being used as a loophole to bring the families of those babies across the border and onto all the welfare programs offered to American citizens.  It’s draining the American taxpayer. As a matter of fact, if there were absolutely NO government benefits for illegals in this country the flow of illegals north, across the US/Mexico border, would be cut, overnight, by at least 2/3rds!

Plus, stop sending them back to Mexico only to have them return at the earliest opportunity.  Put them in jail.  I mean, put them to work on the roads, as we do chain gangs in the Southern United States.  I don’t mean for a few months, I mean for a decade or more.  

Put a bounty on all illegal immigrants within the borders of the US.  Allow private citizens to detain them and turn them in at police stations, anywhere, and collect the bounty on the spot.  Why, my own county would have the area football stadia filled by the end of the weekend!  I expect I could take a couple of dozen into custody within a mile, or two, of my own home!  Here in NC, Tar Heels would relish an opportunity to do something constructive for their state and their country… such as rounding up these criminals.  Already, some Tar Heel store owners are publicly wearing side arms to protect themselves and their businesses, as a result of high concentrations of Illegal aliens in their neighborhoods.

We have vast areas of uninhabited desert in the southwest of this country.  Why not locate “internment camps” in those deserts, away from civilization, and intern those breaking into our country… indefinitely!

But, you say, there are 12 MILLION of them!  Well, if that figure overwhelms you, consider that when the bill before Congress is signed into law, that 12 million will be able to bring over about 4 more, per head, and you are looking at a figure closer to 50 MILLION than 12 Million!  How does that grab you, huh? 

Dear reader we are looking down the barrel of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of America! 

… And build a damn WALL (not a flimsy fence) along the US/Mexico Border replete with machine gun emplacements, land mines, and electrified barbed wire, and anything else that will stop that illegal flow into our country!  I am way past tired of being preyed upon by our neighbors to the South!  If we can patrol the borders of Middle Eastern nations, then we can damn well patrol the borders of our own country!

While I am at it, I am sick and tired of being told by the liberals to be compassionate!  Look, I’m on compassion overload! It tends to anger me when I offer a helping hand to someone only to have him, or her, lift my wallet!  So, don’t try to put a guilt trip on me about being compassionate to my fellowman!  I’m way past that!

If you are as fed up with this Bovine Scatology the politicians in Washington are trying to sell us then let them know.  And keep telling them until they understand that if they pass this legislation they will be out of a job!

Look, we all know what is behind this.  The two major political parties in this country see amnesty for the 12 million illegals, and their relatives, as 50 million new voters for the Democrats and 50 million cheap labor hands for the GOP! It’s as simply as that!  Frankly, they’re not considering what is good, or bad, for the country… they are seeing the advantage for them, and their political party, and nothing more! 

Never in my lifetime have I seen a national legislature of the US as totally disconnected from the citizens of this country as the current crop in DC.  From the White House, to the Congress, to the Supreme Court, they have managed to isolate themselves into some sort of cocoon in which they insulate themselves from contact with the Great Unwashed… you and I!  What we have… is a government out of control!  And that is totally unacceptable in America.

The latest iteration of the "AMNESTY Bill" must be stopped!  Otherwise, America, as we know it and have known it, will be no more!  This is one invasion America cannot survive. 

© J. D. Longstreet

Angelica D. Belen

Great praise! The weekend is finally upon us! I know everyone says they need a weekend to recharge, but I really need it. I have what you could call a lot of good problems - lots of work (wahoo and thank God), two big secret projects I can't share yet but they are mongo time suckers, and a new school who "encourages" a lot of participation from their Kindergarten parents. Oy people!

So because of all of that, I apologize for being patchy as of late. I might be that way for a few more weeks but hang in there with me, I promise it will be worth it.

And although all of that is true, it isn't the most exciting fess up. So I'll share another with you...


Bruce Willis was my first legit crush. And because of that crush, I was compelled to create this...work of art.

I ripped this page out of the TV Guide, (I couldn't be bothered to take the time to cut the page out - a sign of DIY sloppiness to come) and covered that horrible Cybil Shepard's face with my own. It appears that there was no tape in the house, as I made due with band-aids. (again, a sign of my future DIY prowess) And, I obviously pinned this on numerous bulletin boards by the pin marks in my nose and eye. This is me, 100%. As my husband says, "I love how shoddy your workmanship is."

A bulletin board was not its first spot though as I vividly remember taking Elmer's glue (again, I couldn't find tape) to GLUE this to my bedroom wall. Yes, you read that correctly.

So there you go. How is that for a confession? I heart Bruce Willis - circa 1986. He was a funny smart ass - what's not to love?!

It should be noted that I did move on to more legit crushes (for the time) - like a Johnny Depp, circa 21 Jump Street, life size poster and so on. I know, I do have good taste in men.

Now your turn. Who was your first crush? How did you share it? Wasn't Moonlighting a good show? And by the way, per the picture, I wonder what the 'special surprise' was!

Jakiyah McKoy

Senate MUST NOT Ratify UN Small Arms Treaty!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*********

We have warned our readers numerous times that the Obama Administration WILL make an effort, at some point in his term in office, to institute some form of gun control on Americans. He has made a number of attempts so far and he is not done yet -- not by a long shot.


There can be no question the "Obamatons" have little regard for the US Constitution.  It is but a speed bump in their drive toward establishment of a Socialist/Marxist America.  And they will use whatever method or means necessary to accomplish their goal. 

After their withering pressure on the Supreme Court produced a ruling in their favor on Obamacare they are convinced they now have the highest court in the land in their pocket and, therefore, only one thing stands in the way of their goal of that Socialist/Marxist America -- millions of guns in the hands of some pretty PO'ed Americans!

But, WAIT,  as they say on the TV commercials.  Obama has help coming from, where else -- the UN! 

Remember the UN Small Arms Treaty we have warned about for at least four years now?  Well, it's here.  John Kerry, the current US Secretary of State, just signed the accursed thing.  

The Washington Times said:  "The language of the draft agreement is so expansive it wouldn’t take an Obama-appointed judge very long to extend the treaty to cover the domestic firearms market as well. If American jurists continue to be enamored by the popular trend to consider international precedence when making U.S. rulings, you can kiss the Second Amendment goodbye."  SOURCE: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/5/the-un-is-coming-for-your-guns/

Back in October of 2009, the then US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, publicly announced that the US WOULD support UN negotiations of an Arms Trade Treaty to regulate international gun trafficking.  The Bush administration, you may remember, and, notably, former Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations, John Bolton, OPPOSED negotiations of this treaty for years.

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has said: "Conventional arms transfers are a crucial national security concern for the United States, and we have always supported effective action to control the international transfer of arms. The United States is prepared to work hard for a strong international standard in this area."

The US then joined a vote, which was almost unanimous; to adopt a resolution, which would set a schedule, a timetable, on the proposed Arms Trade Treaty.  Within that resolution was a proposal to finalize the accord in the year 2012.

It is now 2013 and the process has officially begun -- and our President supports it.

Do you begin to understand, just a bit maybe, why those little militia units continue to pop up in the woods across America?  Still think they are ALL completely crazy, huh?  Look.  There are times when paranoia can be your friend -- especially when someone is out to get you! 

It would be a mistake to think we have a "delusional" Commander-in-Chief.    You may think he SEEMS to believe he has dictatorial powers already. 

Take a deep breath.  You might want to sit down for this ...

The plain truth is -- HE DOES HAVE SUCH POWER -- and he is giving himself even more by issuing executive orders the American public knows nothing about -- but -- when enacted will have the force of LAW and will place every single American under the direct command of the President of the United States. 

Congress? Forget Congress. They will have zero power.  The ONLY person with power will be the President and he will be, IN FACT, the Dictator of America.

I've been taken to task a few times for my defense of "honor."  Maybe some of my critics will begin to see why I feel honor is so extremely important in our national leaders. 

I believe the Founders of this country, when they wrote the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,  just ASSUMED that the generations of Americans to come would instinctively elect "men of honor" to fill the important post of President.  As we now know -- they were mistaken.      

Of course, I have no way of knowing, for certain, what is in the minds of the people who would take America's freedom and make Americans slaves. but I must tell you, I took an oath, way back in the 1950's, as a soldier, and again in the 1960's as a law enforcement officer,  and for the life of me, I do not recall an expiration date on that oath.  All of us who raised our hands swore to uphold the constitution and to protect it. We swore to protect this country from all enemies foreign and domestic.

I am not unique.  Millions of Americans have taken the same oath.  It seems to me that I am bound by that oath to alert my fellow Americans to a threat I perceive aimed at this country and its citizens.
 

America has reached a tipping point.  Events over the next few weeks and months will determine if America holds on to her remaining freedom and liberty or slides into the septic tank of socialism and enslavement to the state.  We are already a far distance down that slippery slope.

I suggest that we all contact our Senators (while we still have that freedom) and insist that they resist ratification of the UN Small Arms Treaty when it comes before them.   

And finally, the powers of the President, I mentioned above, can only be brought under control by amending the constitution.  Since "honor" can no longer be assumed in our Presidents, or our presidential candidates, then I suggest we need to amend the constitution in order to protect the constitution, itself, and the freedom of the American people from a "rogue" President.

Yes.  Sadly, we HAVE come to this.

© J. D. Longstreet

Thomas P. Roszak and Amanda M. Luke

You earned it Teddy Baby!!!!

h/t Progressive Eruptions

Here's what we now know about monetary tapering policy:

1. The paper must be tapered. T'Paper!
2. The last attempt was a one hit wonder.



Give a little bit of heart and soul
Give a little bit of love to grow
Give a little bit of heart and soul
And don't you make me beg for more

Give a sign, I need to know
A little bit of heart and soul

Walking on the water, walking on the air
That was the heart of the love we shared
Do you keep secret left untold
Can't give love, heart or soul

I used to have a lover with a Midas touch
I turned to gold but he turned to dust
Left me for another, I turned to stone
Now give me love, heart and soul

Living in a fantasy
There's never any room to breathe
Hoping every waking hour
You'll turn around and say that we can start

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs Tyranny

Please excuse any misspellings or word salads as I've just returned from a Green Eggs and Han dinner (party).

We just witnessed the agonizing and self serving theatrics from Texas Republican Senator Ted the Green Eggs and Ham Man Cruz making a mockery of our system of government. With his monumental waste of time and money he put on full display the sad reality that the party he represents has nothing to offer the American people that would be better, and thus more cost effective than ObamaCare, aka the ACA.

There was a time, in the now rapidly fading past, that America actually had a opposition party that had principles, a vision, and a plan for the nation. Today this party (the party of Republicanism) has been overtaken by the most militant and willfully intransigent segment of our society. Our nation as a result has become more divisive and less reasoned than our wise and forward thinking forefathers most certainly would have envisioned and wished for their progeny.

But, after all is aid and done it is the 21st century and as we are all aware this is the time of the special interests and corporate supremacy. Of course we all know the common working stiffs and conscience peons (aka the ones without health insurance because they don't earn enough to both support their families and still have enough left to afford to pay the $6,000 plus/year premiums that their company can't afford), are nothing more than lackeys and thus undeserving of government sponsored healthcare insurance. Of course we all know about those lazy individuals that can't find work because it is better for business to ship jobs offshore for lower wages than to spend time being concerned over the long term impact to our nation and it's security. Besides, we have insidious and invisible bogeymen to conquer.

But enough of this off the wall, illogical, unreasoned and outside the box thinking by a strong advocate for constitutionally sound as well as forward looking limited government patriot.

From the NEW REPUBLIC - Draw your conclusions as you will.

What the hell is John Boehner thinking? I don’t mean that strictly in a rhetorical sense, though it’s hard not to slap your head when you see the most powerful Republican in the country lurching from one cockamamie strategy to another. I mean it quite literally: What is Boehner’s personal calculation when it comes to navigating the various challenges—potential government shutdown, potential debt default, lunatic Republican caucus—he faces over the next few weeks?

The conventional wisdom is that Boehner cares most about avoiding a government shutdown, since he knows how damaging it would be to the Republican Party, which would take the overwhelming share of the blame. “[M]ake no mistake, the incentives are still heavily for Boehner to cut a deal and avoid a shutdown at all costs,” political scientist Jonathan Bernstein wrote last week in The Washington Post. Smart commentators on the right have echoed this analysis. “Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are just as convinced as ever that a partial government shutdown would not advance any conservative goal, and just as determined to avoid one,” wrote National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru a few days later.

But while it’s certainly the case that Boehner thinks a shutdown would be terrible for the party, and that he’d prefer to avoid one, it’s not at all clear it’s in his interest to do so. Why? Because there are two things Boehner presumably cares about more than avoiding a shutdown: not being ousted as Speaker, and raising the debt ceiling by mid-to-late October so as to avoid a debt default. The latter would be far more damaging to the economy than a shutdown, and therefore more devastating to the Republican brand. Unfortunately for Boehner, the only plausible way to both keep his job and avoid a debt default is … to shut down the government when the fiscal year ends next week.

Here’s why: Tea Party conservatives in the House, following the lead the distinguished non-filibusterer from Texas, are all keyed up for a confrontation with Obama in which they refuse to fund the government unless they can simultaneously defund (or rather, “defund”) ObamaCare. {Continue Reading}

PS: Check in with Thomas Paine and contemplate his views. All of them. Yes, the same Thomas Paine that penned Common Sense, the small publication that moved a group of colonists to fight for INDEPENDENCE and throw off the yoke of an unrepresentative government. A government that didn't give a s*it about the common man..

Via: Memeorandum

Some consumers have yet to be contacted by Medrano Express or its agents about undelivered packages abroad for over a year.

Click to enlarge.

Department store sales per employee and adjusted for inflation are going parabolic! Yay.

September 26, 2013
Fox Business News: JCP Shares Rebound; Retailer Pleased with Progress


The headline actually makes sense! Way to go Fox Business News!


The retailer must be very pleased indeed! Let's look closely at the rebound in shares too while we are at it. Shares fell a whopping 15% yesterday and are currently bouncing back up 3% today. Yes, indeed! Very pleasing!

September 24, 2013
Sears Canada CEO to leave amid clash over revamp


Boo! Hiss!


Boo! Hiss!

What about Macy's? No need to worry! That stock's been on fire lately! Just like it was in 1999 and 2007! What's the worst that could happen?


Click to enlarge.

Macy's stock has been flubbered! To infinity and beyond!


No more stress! No more pressure! From here on out, it's nothing but exponentially increasing corporate profits! Thanks to this new and improved Fed, recessions will never be tolerated again! Hurray!

Flubber trends were first discovered by Rob Dawg in the comments found here. Genius!

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
Yahoo Finance: Macy's Historical Prices
St. Louis Fed: CPI

Where's Ivan?
"Is This America?"
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************************

I watched with anger and dismay as the parent tried his best to put a question to a school board of some kind in a public meeting.  He vehemently protested to the other parents in the room -- "You are sitting here like cattle.”  Then he said, “Is this America?” as he was roughly escorted from the room.

Read more on this story at:  http://michellemalkin.com/2013/09/20/parents-you-need-to-question-these-people-shock-video-of-dad-arrested-at-school-meeting-after-challenging-common-core/

Many decades ago there was a joke circulated the world over that, I think, shows this incident in the light it deserves.  I will relate that story as best I remember it for you now:

There was a gathering in Red Square in Moscow.  Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was addressing the gathered crowd.  He was regaling them in glowing terms about the success of socialism/communism in the USSR when he decided to emphasize the current prosperity of the soviet people.  He shouted proudly: "Everyone in Russia has washing machine!  If you don't have washing machine ... raise your hand." 

Way back in the crowd a hand shot up.  Khrushchev saw it and asked:  "What's your name?"  "Ivan," the man answered.  Khrushchev asked:  "What's your problem?"  Ivan answered, "I don't have a washing machine."  Khrushchev replied with "... not to worry, problem WILL be fixed." 

The very next week another gathering of the faithful was held in Red Square and Khrushchev was again singing the praises of socialism/communism.  Again, he noted proudly how everyone in Russia had a washing machine.  A hand shot up way back in the crowd.  Khrushchev, somewhat irritated, asked what was his question, whereupon the man asked:  "Where's Ivan?"

That story popped into my mind as I watched the Maryland parent being denied his constitutional rights -- right there in public for everyone to see and hear.

THAT, gentle reader, is the "New Normal" in America.   The abused citizen's question haunted me all night that evening and still stalks my every waking moment.  "Is this America?"  he asked in desperate frustration as he was involuntarily "escorted" toward the door of the meeting room.

I submit to you that those words should be the battle cry of the new freedom movement in America.  "Is THIS America?"  Most assuredly it is NOT America.  I don't know what our beloved country has become, but it is not the America our Founders and fore bearers handed off to us.  

That father, concerned for his child's education, issued the admonition "You're sitting here like cattle"  to the other parents sitting quietly allowing the violation of his, heck -- THEIR, constitutional rights to go unchallenged -- right in front of them. 

It hasn't been that long ago in America when a brawl would have ensured.  Red-blooded Americans would not have allowed that man to be treated as if he were a citizen in a communist totalitarian country, a banana republic, or some third world socialist dung heap ruled over by a narcissistic tin pot dictator.

But that was THEN -- you know, back when America truly WAS the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Today America is neither. 

The fearless American government is assaulting America's freedom and liberty in ways that the old leaders of the USSR, of Communist China, and, yes, even the old Third Reich of Adolf Hitler did not have the temerity to try on their own citizens and slaves.

Uncle Sam has gone from "uncle" to "big brother."  America is now a "police state."  No.  We are not BECOMING a police state.  We ARE a police state.
The US Constitution is nothing more than a ceremonial artifact locked away in a display case.  It is ignored.  The Bill of Rights has been so eroded that many of them no longer have any power, at all! 

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave ... don't make me laugh! (or cry, actually.)

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force.  Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.  Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."  George Washington, the very first President of the United States (under the constitution) said that, and that was at the very beginning of our existence as a country. But like so much else about the "whys" and "wherefores" of the founding of this nation, it, too, has been either forgotten or -- even worse -- forsaken.

As of the day of this writing over 2/3rds of the country believes the US is on the wrong course.  A Bloomberg National Poll reports that "Americans also are pessimistic about the course of the country, with 68 percent saying it’s headed in the wrong direction, the most in two years, according to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted Sept. 20-23."  SOURCE:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-25/americans-turn-on-washington-68-say-wrong-track-in-poll.html

So.  What are we going to do about it? 

Unfortunately, I can't say that we are going to gather ourselves, clean the house in Washington, and set this country back on course.  Because, you see, I am convinced we are too deeply divided now to ever be whole again.

Maybe it is time to consider this:  When something is so broken it cannot be repaired, often one is compelled to discard it and replace it with a new one.  If America has not yet reached that point, then she is certainly approaching it at a furious pace.
Where is Ivan, indeed?  When one reflects that Ivan can disappear in America these days, just as he could in the old USSR, the story becomes far less funnier.
Many decades ago Elmer Davis, former CBS journalist, reminded us:  “This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

The fact that America is no longer free indicates our parallel lack of bravery, as well.

© J. D. Longstreet

Click to enlarge.



Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Nonfinancial Corporations Sector: Hours Worked

Click to enlarge.

What pessimists see:

1. We're in a long-term linear trend channel heading to zero.
2. We're at the top of the trend channel again (last seen in 2006:Q1 and 2000:Q1).

What optimists see:

3. Yes, but net worth can't fall below zero. The downward trend is therefore guaranteed to fail someday!

It's nice to see both camps in complete agreement here, lol. Sigh.

See Also:
Sarcasm Disclaimer

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart