Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New National Inflation Association email

NIA Responds to Harvard Economics Professor About Inflation




Harvard economics professor Gregory Mankiw wrote an article that was published in the NY Times yesterday entitled, "It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due". In this article, Mankiw gave a hypothetical Presidential address the President of the U.S. might make in the year 2026 after a failed bond auction. Mankiw's hypothetical Presidential address takes place in a scenario where in the year 2026, the U.S. Treasury "tried to auction its most recent issue of government bonds" but "almost no one was buying." According to Mankiw's hypothetical speech, during this 2026 crisis the President will admit, "The private market will lend us no more."



Unfortunately, Professor Mankiw fails to understand that the U.S. has zero chance of surviving until the year 2026. What Mankiw predicts will happen 15 years from now is already happening today right under his nose, but somehow he fails to realize it.



The public today has already stopped buying U.S. treasuries. The Pimco Total Return Fund, which was the largest private holder of U.S. government bonds, has just reduced their holdings down to zero. The private sector was buying 30% of U.S. treasuries, but today is no longer buying at all. The Federal Reserve is currently buying 70% of U.S. treasuries. If it wasn't for the Federal Reserve buying U.S. treasuries, we would already be experiencing failed bond auctions today.



According to Mankiw, the President will say in 2026, "Today, most of the large baby-boom generation is retired. They are no longer working and paying taxes, but they are eligible for the many government benefits we offer the elderly." The fact is, the last baby-boomer turned 46 years old in 2010 and 46 is the age in which the average American reaches peak consumer spending. Therefore, even though most baby-boomers might not be retired, baby-boomer spending is now in free-fall while baby-boomers are simultaneously signing up for entitlement programs at record pace. This will begin to affect our economy today, not 15 years from now.



Mankiw's hypothetical speech has the President admitting in 2026 that we "have to cut Social Security immediately, especially for higher-income beneficiaries. Social Security will still keep the elderly out of poverty, but just barely" and we "have to limit Medicare and Medicaid. These programs will still provide basic health care, but they will no longer cover many expensive treatments. Individuals will have to pay for these treatments on their own or, sadly, do without." The truth is, if the U.S. government cut 100% of all spending except for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, we would still have a budget deficit from these entitlement programs and interest payments on our debt alone. If the U.S. wants to prevent hyperinflation and survive until 2026, we need to make major cuts to these programs today. By 2026, it will be over a decade too late and these programs will no longer exist at all.



Mankiw's hypothetical 2026 Presidential address goes on to say that "over the last several years" the U.S. has experienced a "vicious circle of rising budget deficits" and "as the ratio of our debt to gross domestic product reached ever-higher levels, investors started getting nervous". Does Mankiw realize that the U.S. just reported a budget deficit for the month of February 2011 of $222.5 billion, more than the entire fiscal year of 2007? In our opinion, our budget deficits can't rise much more viciously than what they already are today, without the U.S. experiencing an outbreak of hyperinflation. We need to begin sharply reducing our deficits immediately or else hyperinflation this decade is inevitable.



Our real debt to GDP ratio in the U.S. today is already north of 500% when you include unfunded liabilities for entitlement programs, as well as other commitments like the backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It will simply be impossible for this figure to rise much higher without the U.S. experiencing hyperinflation. NIA believes that unless the U.S. government completely eliminated Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, there is no way the U.S. government will be able to stay afloat for another 15 years with such an unprecedented level of debt.



In 2026, Mankiw believes the President will admit that, "Our efforts to control health care costs have failed." He suggests the President will proclaim that, "We must now acknowledge that rising costs are driven largely by technological advances in saving lives. These advances are welcome, but they are expensive nonetheless." Does Professor Mankiw own a laptop computer, plasma TV, or mobile phone? These technologies are improving by leaps and bounds yet prices are falling. Technological advances are not driving health care costs higher! It is the government's involvement in the health care sector and their failure to allow the free market to operate that is driving health care costs through the roof.



Professor Mankiw believes the President will continue by saying, "We have to cut health insurance subsidies to middle-income families." NIA believes it is the very same subsidies Mankiw is referring to that are driving health care costs sky high. It is just like in the college education industry. If the government didn't provide subsidies for students to learn voodoo Keynesian economic theories from professors like Mankiw, college tuitions would be a lot more affordable.



To solve this supposed 2026 crisis, Mankiw believes the President will announce, "We will raise taxes on all but the poorest Americans. We will do this primarily by broadening the tax base, eliminating deductions for mortgage interest and state and local taxes. Employer-provided health insurance will hereafter be taxable compensation." Although NIA believes employer-provided health insurance should be taxable compensation because it would end the employer based health insurance system and make health insurance cheaper for all Americans, we believe it will be impossible for the government to raise any additional revenues from tax increases. We are at a point where any additional taxes will drive economic activity overseas and result in less tax receipts. When hyperinflation soon arrives, taxes will become irrelevant. The government will fund over 99% of its spending by printing money and less than 1% from taxation.



Mankiw also believes the President in 2026 will, "increase the gasoline tax by $2 a gallon. This will not only increase revenue, but will also address various social ills, from global climate change to local traffic congestion." Come 2026, gasoline will probably cost $20,000 per gallon, if we are lucky. An additional $2 gasoline tax will be absolutely pointless and meaningless.



Mankiw suggests that the President in 2026 will, "secure from the I.M.F. a temporary line of credit to help us through this crisis." The I.M.F. recently sold a large percentage of its gold reserves and by 2026 will likely be broke. Even if the I.M.F. was still around 15 years from now and did provide the U.S. with a line of credit that helps it survive the crisis, the largest line of credit the I.M.F. could possibly financially provide would only support a U.S. government that is less than 1/10 of its size today. Therefore, NIA believes the U.S. government should begin dramatically reducing its size immediately, before it is in need of a line of credit from the I.M.F.



It would be nice to think that the U.S. will be able to borrow and print money for another 15 years to fund endless budget deficits and that 2026 is some magical year when all of our debts will come due. The economy does not work this way and it is disgraceful that our nation's most prestigious ivy league schools are teaching such dangerous economic principles. Considering that a large percentage of our highest ranking government officials graduated from Harvard, it really explains a lot when you look at who is teaching economics at Harvard. Mankiw is the same professor who in April of 2009 called for the Federal Reserve to implement negative interest rates. Mankiw called for savers to be punished and for all Americans with $100,000 in the bank to have only $98,000 one year later.



It is the destructive Keynesian theories of economists like Mankiw that have gotten the U.S. economy into the dire situation it is in today. Mankiw and other professors like him are brainwashing American students into believing that forcing people to spend is the key to a healthy economy and the way to solve all economic problems is to create a lot of inflation. All across America, students are graduating colleges with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, no jobs, and no idea of how the economy actually works. They will spend the rest of their lives paying off their debts and trying to get the false economic information they were taught out of their heads. The college education system in America is the single largest fraud that exists today, and NIA is going to expose the truth about the government's conspiracy to turn American students into debt slaves in our next feature documentary, coming in April.



It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

TEDxAustin Robyn O'Brien 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Eggs, Chickens, Gardening and Crafting....

Here are two eggs that our chicks laid.  The one on the right is large...

Here are the same two eggs showing how large they actually are against a dollar.

And here it is in the frying pan.  The larger ones seem to be more watery and not double yolkers.  We havent had any double yolkers in a while.

More egg pics. 

And here is the biggest one we have had yet.  Ouch that must have hurt coming out!

Here are our tomatoes and peppers under the grow light.  You're not supposed to look at the light and of course I kept looking at it so covered it with a couple of napkins.  Makes the dining room look kinda psychodelic....

This is Lettie!

This is DH with Lucy.  She likes to poke him in the bum and fly up on his shoulder.

This is a close up of Lucy.

This is the clothes basket I made from clothesline and 1" strips of cloth.  Didnt think I would ever get it done.  I used a little over 100 feet of clothesline and at least 6-7 yards of cloth.  It works really well.  It is much easier to carry out the back door since it is so flexible and you can actually reach the doorknob which was kind of hard before to do.

Here is another pic.  I used a lot of different colors.

Here is the bottom.  Not too pleased with it but it held quite a bit of wet laundry so it turned out OK.  Starting the basket was the hardest part and I just continued to weave it when I watched TV at night for a few hours.  All in all it was a good project and easy to do.  I had some left over clothesline and started another basket (really small one).  If I do another clothes basket I think I will use thicker cord because this was on the thin side and if it is thicker you wouldnt have to do so many rounds.  Thicker cording means thicker fabric strips as well.

Here is DH with the new and improved Chicken run and if you look real close you can see Lucy is on his back/shoulder.  We planted some of our garden.  You can see DH's experimental plots behind him.  He planted oats, alfalfa and clover for the chicks to graze on this summer.  Our garden (not for chickens) has potatoes, walking onions, garlic, beets, peas, cabbage, swiss chard, and collard greens.  Now we are wondering if we should have waited cause we have been having major rainstorms here.  Hoping the seed doesnt rot in the ground.  We had a bit of a heat wave a couple of weeks ago but since then it's been colder.  Even had to cover our blueberries, raspberries and grapes because we got a hard frost.  Luckily I have plenty of pieces of fabric for the job.  Told hubby he didnt know how lucky he was to have a wife with so much fabric LOL. 

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Sunday, March 27, 2011

New NIA email - 12 Warning Signs of US Hyperinflation

I know this is kind of depressing to read about.  What can you do?  If you dont have a garden, plant one.  Learn as much as you can about surviving and not just for the short term.  If you dont know how to do something, ask.  There are lots of people, including me, who will share their knowledge and get you on the right track.  There is always the internet and library, check them out.  There are lots of books on how to sew, can, garden, etc. and you can borrow books for FREE.  Dont wait for the government to save us...cause that's not what they are going to do.  But please, please think about it and dont hide your head in the sand.


Become proactive and feel better knowing that you can do things on your own and if you dont know how to do something and someone else can do that thing, barter for their services.  I dont think that money in the future is going to be worth much but our ancestors bartered for much of what they had so there is no reason why we cant do the same.  There is always hope, love and good ol' American ingenuity and those are the things that are going to get us through the coming tough times. 
 
Denise

12 Warning Signs of U.S. Hyperinflation


One of the most frequently asked questions we receive at the National Inflation Association (NIA) is what warning signs will there be when hyperinflation is imminent. In our opinion, the majority of the warning signs that hyperinflation is imminent are already here today, but most Americans are failing to properly recognize them. NIA believes that there is a serious risk of hyperinflation breaking out as soon as the second half of this calendar year and that hyperinflation is almost guaranteed to occur by the end of this decade.

In our estimation, the most likely time frame for a full-fledged outbreak of hyperinflation is between the years 2013 and 2015. Americans who wait until 2013 to prepare, will most likely see the majority of their purchasing power wiped out. It is essential that all Americans begin preparing for hyperinflation immediately.

Here are NIA's top 12 warning signs that hyperinflation is about to occur:

1) The Federal Reserve is Buying 70% of U.S. Treasuries. The Federal Reserve has been buying 70% of all new U.S. treasury debt. Up until this year, the U.S. has been successful at exporting most of its inflation to the rest of the world, which is hoarding huge amounts of U.S. dollar reserves due to the U.S. dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. In recent months, foreign central bank purchases of U.S. treasuries have declined from 50% down to 30%, and Federal Reserve purchases have increased from 10% up to 70%. This means U.S. government deficit spending is now directly leading to U.S. inflation that will destroy the standard of living for all Americans.

2) The Private Sector Has Stopped Purchasing U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. private sector was previously a buyer of 30% of U.S. government bonds sold. Today, the U.S. private sector has stopped buying U.S. treasuries and is dumping government debt. The Pimco Total Return Fund was recently the single largest private sector owner of U.S. government bonds, but has just reduced its U.S. treasury holdings down to zero. Although during the financial panic of 2008, investors purchased government bonds as a safe haven, during all future panics we believe precious metals will be the new safe haven.

3) China Moving Away from U.S. Dollar as Reserve Currency. The U.S. dollar became the world's reserve currency because it was backed by gold and the U.S. had the world's largest manufacturing base. Today, the U.S. dollar is no longer backed by gold and China has the world's largest manufacturing base. There is no reason for the world to continue to transact products and commodities in U.S. dollars, when most of everything the world consumes is now produced in China. China has been taking steps to position the yuan to be the world's new reserve currency.

The People's Bank of China stated earlier this month, in a story that went largely unreported by the mainstream media, that it would respond to overseas demand for the yuan to be used as a reserve currency and allow the yuan to flow back into China more easily. China hopes to allow all exporters and importers to settle their cross border transactions in yuan by the end of 2011, as part of their plan to increase the yuan's international role. NIA believes if China really wants to become the world's next superpower and see to it that the U.S. simultaneously becomes the world's next Zimbabwe, all China needs to do is use their $1.15 trillion in U.S. dollar reserves to accumulate gold and use that gold to back the yuan.

4) Japan to Begin Dumping U.S. Treasuries. Japan is the second largest holder of U.S. treasury securities with $885.9 billion in U.S. dollar reserves. Although China has reduced their U.S. treasury holdings for three straight months, Japan has increased their U.S. treasury holdings seven months in a row. Japan is the country that has been the most consistent at buying our debt for the past year, but that is about the change. Japan is likely going to have to spend $300 billion over the next year to rebuild parts of their country that were destroyed by the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, and NIA believes their U.S. dollar reserves will be the most likely source of this funding. This will come at the worst possible time for the U.S., which needs Japan to increase their purchases of U.S. treasuries in order to fund our record budget deficits.

5) The Fed Funds Rate Remains Near Zero. The Federal Reserve has held the Fed Funds Rate at 0.00-0.25% since December 16th, 2008, a period of over 27 months. This is unprecedented and NIA believes the world is now flooded with excess liquidity of U.S. dollars.

When the nuclear reactors in Japan began overheating two weeks ago after their cooling systems failed due to a lack of electricity, TEPCO was forced to open relief valves to release radioactive steam into the air in order to avoid an explosion. The U.S. stock market is currently acting as a relief valve for all of the excess liquidity of U.S. dollars. The U.S. economy for all intents and purposes should currently be in a massive and extremely steep recession, but because of the Fed's money printing, stock prices are rising because people don't know what else to do with their dollars.

NIA believes gold, and especially silver, are much better hedges against inflation than U.S. equities, which is why for the past couple of years we have been predicting large declines in both the Dow/Gold and Gold/Silver ratios. These two ratios have been in free fall exactly like NIA projected.

The Dow/Gold ratio is the single most important chart all investors need to closely follow, but way too few actually do. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) itself is meaningless because it averages together the dollar based movements of 30 U.S. stocks. With just the DJIA, it is impossible to determine whether stocks are rising due to improving fundamentals and real growing investor demand, or if prices are rising simply because the money supply is expanding.

The Dow/Gold ratio illustrates the cyclical nature of the battle between paper assets like stocks and real hard assets like gold. The Dow/Gold ratio trends upward when an economy sees real economic growth and begins to trend downward when the growth phase ends and everybody becomes concerned about preserving wealth. With interest rates at 0%, the U.S. economy is on life support and wealth preservation is the focus of most investors. NIA believes the Dow/Gold ratio will decline to 1 before the hyperinflationary crisis is over and until the Dow/Gold ratio does decline to 1, investors should keep buying precious metals.

6) Year-Over-Year CPI Growth Has Increased 92% in Three Months. In November of 2010, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS)'s consumer price index (CPI) grew by 1.1% over November of 2009. In February of 2011, the BLS's CPI grew by 2.11% over February of 2010, above the Fed's informal inflation target of 1.5% to 2%. An increase in year-over-year CPI growth from 1.1% in November of last year to 2.11% in February of this year means that the CPI's growth rate increased by approximately 92% over a period of just three months. Imagine if the year-over-year CPI growth rate continues to increase by 92% every three months. In 9 to 12 months from now we could be looking at a price inflation rate of over 15%. Even if the BLS manages to artificially hold the CPI down around 5% or 6%, NIA believes the real rate of price inflation will still rise into the double-digits within the next year.

7) Mainstream Media Denying Fed's Target Passed. You would think that year-over-year CPI growth rising from 1.1% to 2.11% over a period of three months for an increase of 92% would generate a lot of media attention, especially considering that it has now surpassed the Fed's informal inflation target of 1.5% to 2%. Instead of acknowledging that inflation is beginning to spiral out of control and encouraging Americans to prepare for hyperinflation like NIA has been doing for years, the media decided to conveniently change the way it defines the Fed's informal target.

The media is now claiming that the Fed's informal inflation target of 1.5% to 2% is based off of year-over-year changes in the BLS's core-CPI figures. Core-CPI, as most of you already know, is a meaningless number that excludes food and energy prices. Its sole purpose is to be used to mislead the public in situations like this. We guarantee that if core-CPI had just surpassed 2% and the normal CPI was still below 2%, the media would be focusing on the normal CPI number, claiming that it remains below the Fed's target and therefore inflation is low and not a problem.

The fact of the matter is, food and energy are the two most important things Americans need to live and survive. If the BLS was going to exclude something from the CPI, you would think they would exclude goods that Americans don't consume on a daily basis. The BLS claims food and energy prices are excluded because they are most volatile. However, by excluding food and energy, core-CPI numbers are primarily driven by rents. Considering that we just came out of the largest Real Estate bubble in world history, there is a glut of homes available to rent on the market. NIA has been saying for years that being a landlord will be the worst business to be in during hyperinflation, because it will be impossible for landlords to increase rents at the same rate as overall price inflation. Food and energy prices will always increase at a much faster rate than rents.

8) Record U.S. Budget Deficit in February of $222.5 Billion. The U.S. government just reported a record budget deficit for the month of February of $222.5 billion. February's budget deficit was more than the entire fiscal year of 2007. In fact, February's deficit on an annualized basis was $2.67 trillion. NIA believes this is just a preview of future annual budget deficits, and we will see annual budget deficits surpass $2.67 trillion within the next several years.

9) High Budget Deficit as Percentage of Expenditures. The projected U.S. budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 of $1.645 trillion is 43% of total projected government expenditures in 2011 of $3.819 trillion. That is almost exactly the same level of Brazil's budget deficit as a percentage of expenditures right before they experienced hyperinflation in 1993 and it is higher than Bolivia's budget deficit as a percentage of expenditures right before they experienced hyperinflation in 1985. The only way a country can survive with such a large deficit as a percentage of expenditures and not have hyperinflation, is if foreigners are lending enough money to pay for the bulk of their deficit spending. Hyperinflation broke out in Brazil and Bolivia when foreigners stopped lending and central banks began monetizing the bulk of their deficit spending, and that is exactly what is taking place today in the U.S.

10) Obama Lies About Foreign Policy. President Obama campaigned as an anti-war President who would get our troops out of Iraq. NIA believes that many Libertarian voters actually voted for Obama in 2008 over John McCain because they felt Obama was more likely to end our wars that are adding greatly to our budget deficits and making the U.S. a lot less safe as a result. Obama may have reduced troop levels in Iraq, but he increased troops levels in Afghanistan, and is now sending troops into Libya for no reason.

The U.S. is now beginning to occupy Libya, when Libya didn't do anything to the U.S. and they are no threat to the U.S. Obama has increased our overall overseas troop levels since becoming President and the U.S. is now spending $1 trillion annually on military expenses, which includes the costs to maintain over 700 military bases in 135 countries around the world. There is no way that we can continue on with our overseas military presence without seeing hyperinflation.

11) Obama Changes Definition of Balanced Budget. In the White House's budget projections for the next 10 years, they don't project that the U.S. will ever come close to achieving a real balanced budget. In fact, after projecting declining budget deficits up until the year 2015 (NIA believes we are unlikely to see any major dip in our budget deficits due to rising interest payments on our national debt), the White House projects our budget deficits to begin increasing again up until the year 2021. Obama recently signed an executive order to create the "National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform", with a mission to "propose recommendations designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015". Obama is redefining a balanced budget to exclude interest payments on our national debt, because he knows interest payments are about to explode and it will be impossible to truly balance the budget.

12) U.S. Faces Largest Ever Interest Payment Increases. With U.S. inflation beginning to spiral out of control, NIA believes it is 100% guaranteed that we will soon see a large spike in long-term bond yields. Not only that, but within the next couple of years, NIA believes the Federal Reserve will be forced to raise the Fed Funds Rate in a last-ditch effort to prevent hyperinflation. When both short and long-term interest rates start to rise, so will the interest payments on our national debt. With the public portion of our national debt now exceeding $10 trillion, we could see interest payments on our debt reach $500 billion within the next year or two, and over $1 trillion somewhere around mid-decade. When interest payments reach $1 trillion, they will likely be around 30% to 40% of government tax receipts, up from interest payments being only 9% of tax receipts today. No country has ever seen interest payments on their debt reach 40% of tax receipts without hyperinflation occurring in the years to come.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

Friday, March 25, 2011

Del Monte Fresh Recalls Cantaloupes

Del Monte Fresh Recalls Cantaloupes: FDA Links to Salmonella Outbreak


Linda Doell

Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc. recalled almost 60,000 cantaloupes sold through warehouse clubs in seven states because they may be linked to a 12-case outbreak of salmonella, the company said through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Del Monte Fresh said the recall came after the FDA notified it of a link between the cantaloupes and the salmonella outbreak. The Coral Gables, Fla.-based company put its production and distribution of the fruit -- grown on Del Monte Fresh's farm, Asuncion Mita in Guatemala -- on hold while it and the FDA investigate what caused the problem.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said the 12 consumers sickened in the salmonella outbreak ranged in age of less than a year old to 68 years old and were in four states -- Oregon with five cases, Washington with four cases, California with two and Maryland with a single case. Of those sickened between Feb. 5 and Feb. 23, two had to be hospitalized.

During the outbreak investigation, authorities found that 11 said they ate cantaloupe in the week before getting sick and 10 reported buying the fruit at warehouse club locations. The CDC used membership records to determine the cantaloupes came from the same farm. A source of the contamination has yet to be found.

A salmonella infection can cause serious and potentially life-threatening infections in young children, those with weakened immune systems and the elderly.

Normally healthy people can suffer diarrhea, nausea and stomach pain. The salmonella panama strain, which, as its name suggests, has been reported in several Latin American countries, has demonstrated resistance to antibiotic treatment.

Del Monte Fresh said the cantaloupes were distributed in 4,992 cases through warehouse clubs in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and sold between March 10 and Monday, March 21. The cantaloupes were packed in beige plastic mesh sleeves containing three cantaloupes and sealed with a plastic orange handle with the Del Monte logo. The fruit has the lot codes of 02-15-24-10, 02-15-25-10, 02-15-26-10 and 02-15-28-10.

The company made a similar recall of cantaloupes grown in Arizona and distributed in Detroit in October 2010.

Consumers who have any of the recalled fruit should return it to the store for a refund. Contact Del Monte Fresh at (800) 659-6500.

A few more recent salmonella outbreaks occurred in alfalfa sprouts, and at Taco Bell and Subway restaurants

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

DIY Dish

If you havent checked out the DIY Dish site, you really should.  They have great ideas and give you patterns to make the things that they have on their site on video.  This is the newest one - making a bird pin cushion.  They also have giveaways.  Enjoy!

http://www.thediydish.com/2011/03/joel-dewberry-joins-the-diy-dish-twins-make-a-bird-pin-cushion/

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Friday, March 11, 2011

My thoughts and prayers

go out to those affected by the earthquake and


tsunamis in Japan. I hope all of your family members are safe.

Newest NIA email

If you dont want to believe this, that's fine just go back to sleep, stick your head in the sand but if and when it happens, dont blame me if I said told you so....I'm not a pessimistic person, I just think you should have food on hand and have ways to survive just in case something happens.  I care what happens to all of you out in blogland and I pray that this wont happen but I'm really afraid that it will.  God helps them who helps themselves so dont depend on any government or person to help you.  Pull up your bootstraps and help yourself and get prepared.  Even if nothing happens at least you will know that you can survive and that's a real powerful thing to be proud of...

Denise

U.S. Dollar Collapse Could Occur at Any Time


China this morning reported 4.9% price inflation for the month of February, exceeding analyst expectations of 4.8%. With China now mimicking the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and taking steps to artificially manipulate their consumer price index (CPI) numbers as low as possible, it is likely that real price inflation in China is now closer to 10%. China was at least smart enough to raise interest rates last month by 25 basis points to 6.06%, while the Federal Reserve continues to leave interest rates near zero with there being absolutely no talk of the Federal Reserve ever raising interest rates again. China will be successful at containing inflation, as U.S. inflation spirals out of control and becomes the greatest economic crisis in American history.

China this week reported a $7.3 billion trade deficit for the month of February, its largest trade deficit in seven years, which surprised many global economists. NIA believes China's trade deficit is temporary and that China will quickly return to having a trade surplus. The Federal Reserve's QE2 along with China's destructive monetary policies, which artificially devalue the yuan, have led to a massive rise in China's raw material costs this year. NIA believes that in the upcoming months, Chinese manufacturers will raise the prices of their products that get exported to the U.S., to counteract rising commodity prices. With most products used by Americans today having been manufactured in China, this will mean Americans will soon see massive price inflation in just about all consumer goods they use. NIA projects that by the end of 2011, we will begin to see the U.S. CPI increase by 4.9% or higher on a year-over-year basis, with real U.S. price inflation rising north of 10%.

The mainstream media is proclaiming that China's trade deficit will silence calls for the Chinese to allow their currency to strengthen against the U.S. dollar. The fact is, China's government has for long been making the major mistake of printing too many yuan in order to artificially prop up the U.S. dollar. Their fear was, if the U.S. dollar was allowed to decline too rapidly, prices of Chinese goods would rise in terms of U.S. dollars and Americans would no longer afford to import them.

The truth is, if China allowed the yuan to strengthen, the Chinese would have enjoyed a much higher standard of living. Sure, prices would rise in dollars and Americans would import less, but the Chinese would have the ability to consume more of their own products. Now, as a result of China expanding its own money supply in order to keep the yuan pegged to the U.S. dollar, Americans will be forced to pay a much higher price for Chinese goods anyway. The same higher prices Americans were going to pay as a result of exchange rate appreciation, Americans will now pay as a result of inflation. For the Chinese, the exchange rate appreciation route would have been a much better route to take than the inflation route, because now the Chinese will also be forced to pay higher prices. In the very short-term, China might actually suffer more than the U.S. because they lack the social safety nets that have been implemented here in America.

The U.S. government has been successful at temporarily paying off Americans into not rioting in the streets like in Arab nations. It was just announced a few days ago that the number of Americans on food stamps in the month of December of 2010 was a record 44,082,324, up 13.1% from one year earlier and 1.1% from one month earlier. That is more than 14% of the total U.S. population! Combined with President Obama extending unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks, American citizens are too busy and distracted playing with their iPad 2s and gossiping on Twitter about Charlie Sheen, to have any time to protest in Washington, DC.

NIA believes the U.S. government's entitlement spending is currently having the unintended consequence of making Americans dependent on government. It is like when you take wild animals into captivity and you feed them, teach them to do tricks and take care of them for a period of many years; if you just dump them one day back into the wild, it will be very difficult for them to survive. Americans who have become dependent on unemployment checks and food stamps will likely soon abruptly find out that they must begin to fend for themselves without any help from the government. The result will be many Americans turning into wild animals and becoming so desperate that they will have to rob and burglarize their fellow neighbors who were smart enough to prepare, or else they will risk starving to death.

As a result of QE2, the Federal Reserve is now buying 70% of U.S. treasuries, up from previously only buying 10% of treasury bonds. Foreign central banks are now buying just 30% of U.S. treasuries, compared to previously buying 50% of treasury bonds. The U.S. budget deficit in the month of February reached a record $222.5 billion or $2.67 trillion on an annualized basis. With the Federal Reserve now monetizing our debt in full swing, a complete and total loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar could be imminent.

Just like how nobody in the mainstream media was calling for the collapse of Egypt's government a few months ago, almost nobody in the media believes a collapse of the U.S. dollar could possibly take place anytime soon. NIA members are educated enough to see that the writing is on the wall. The Federal Reserve can deny all it wants that the U.S. is experiencing inflation, but with the cost to print a single U.S. dollar paper note rising by 50% since 2008, massive inflation is here right under Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nose. Every day that goes by, China is quietly implementing more and more steps that expand the yuan's use in cross border trade, in order to position the yuan as the world's next reserve currency.

So few Americans are presently preparing for hyperinflation that if hyperinflation broke out today, approximately 90% of Americans won't have the means to put food on the table or put fuel in their automobiles. During the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis, food stamps will no longer have any value at all and all U.S. entitlement programs will come to a complete halt. Americans will take to the streets like the world has never seen before.

The biggest question NIA has today is, will the U.S. government resort to firing at its own citizens, if major riots take place in Washington, DC. On Thursday, police in Saudi Arabia shot and wounded three protesters. The price of oil rose by a few dollars per barrel as soon as this news hit the wire, which shows just how nervous the world's financial markets have become in recent weeks. The fact that the Dow Jones has declined significantly in recent days, in our opinion means that the odds of QE3 being launched as soon as QE2 is over, are now much higher than they were several weeks ago.

The other big question NIA has today is, if in the unlikely event there is no QE3, who will fill in for the artificial buying demand currently coming from the Federal Reserve. After all, with no QE3, the Federal Reserve will go from buying 70% of treasury bonds to being a seller of U.S. treasuries. NIA is 100% sure that foreign central banks aren't itching to jump back in to fill the hole. While in the past, the private sector may have picked up the slack, we believe individual investors will now be more reluctant to jump into government bonds, especially with bond king Bill Gross reducing the government bond holdings in his Pimco Total Return Fund down to zero. The bottom line is, no QE3 means interest rates will fly sky high and destroy the phony so-called "economic recovery".

From April to August of 2010, the last time the Federal Reserve allowed its balance sheet to shrink, the Dow Jones fell by over 1,000 points. If Bernanke doesn't soon begin to leak out the strong likelihood of QE3, we could see the stock market decline by 1,000 points or more, which will force Bernanke into launching QE3. If we see a major sell off in stocks, NIA doesn't necessarily think that precious metals prices will follow. In fact, we could see gold and silver rise along with the Dow Jones falling. NIA projects the Dow Jones to gold ratio to decline to 6.5 in 2011. This means even if the Dow Jones fell to below 11,000, we still believe gold is likely to rise to around $1,600 to $1,700 per ounce this year, with silver soaring to around $42 to $44 per ounce. NIA believes the worst decision any American can make is to sell their gold and silver and go long U.S. dollars, hoping to buy their precious metals back at a lower price in the future.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Creekstone Farms Recalls Ground Beef

Creekstone Farms Recalls Ground Beef in 10 States Over E.Coli Fears


Linda Doell
 
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef recalled 14,158 pounds of ground beef because it may be tainted with the e. coli bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said.


So far, there have been no reports of illnesses from people eating the beef, which was shipped in bulk packages to processing companies in Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington. The USDA said the bulk meat may have been repacked into smaller consumer-sized packages and sold under different retail brand names.

Creekstone Farms said it supplies meat to a number of groceries and restaurants nationwide as well as in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The USDA released a partial list of retailers that received the recalled beef including some Price Cutter, Price Cutter Plus, Country Mart and Ramey supermarkets in Missouri. Information on stores in other states wasn't yet available.

E. coli can cause a potentially life-threatening infection in young children, seniors or those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms include bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

The possible contamination was discovered when lab tests showed positive for e. coli, the USDA said.

In January, organic beef sold at some Harris Teeter, Costco and Price Chopper stores also was recalled for possible e.coli contamination.

Included in the Creekstone Farms recall are 40-pound cases of:

40-pound cases of Beef Fine Grind 81/19 Natural in 10-pound chubs with a product code of 80185

40-pound cases of Beef Chuck Fine Grind 81/19 Natural in 10-pound chubs with a product code of 80285

40-pound cases of Beef Sirloin Fine Grind 91/9 Natural in 10-pound chubs with a product code of 80495

40-pound cases of Beef Fine Grind 90/10 Natural in 5-pound chubs with a product code of 85165

60-pound cases of Beef Fine Ground 93/7 in 10-pound packages with the product code 86191.

The USDA said each case has the establishment number "EST 27" in the USDA inspection mark. The beef was produced on Feb. 22.

The USDA urged consumers to make sure they thoroughly cook their beef to a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit so harmful bacteria is killed. Consumers with questions can call Creekstone Farms marketing vice president Jim Rogers at (620) 741-3352.

Creekstone Farms has built a reputation selling Black Angus beef to upscale and trendy restaurants including Balthazar and Porterhouse New York in New York City, according to the New York Times. The Shake Shack burger chain also uses Creekstone Farms beef.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Owl pillow

I so want to make this!  I dont have any wool scraps but I think it would look good in calicos. What do you think?

Here is the link for the instructions:  http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/bags-pillows/wool-owl-pillow_1.html
OK today I got this email from Annie's.  You know they make the organic items in the grocery store...  Well I took the survey and they asked all sorts of questions about GMO's.  Makes me wonder if they are thinking about using GMO's in their products.  I have included the email below.  I dont know if you can do the survey too or not but you can try by cutting and pasting the link in your search box.  If it will let you take the survey, I would be very interested on what you thought of it...

Today, we have a special favor to ask of you. In cooperation with other natural foods companies, we are conducting a study to understand food-related issues and concerns among consumers like you.


This study is not specifically about Annie’s products. Instead, it’s about food in general, health and the environment. Results from this study will remain confidential; we will not share your personal information in any way.

If you are an Annie's "fan" on Facebook, you may see the link to this survey there as well. We apologize, but your opinion is important to us, and we don’t want to leave anyone out. Please only take the survey once.

The survey should take about 10 minutes. If you would like to participate, please click here.

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

All of us at Annie's

If you cannot click on the link above, please copy this url and paste it into your browser:


http://www.questresearchgroup.net/se.ashx?s=705E3EFC28596313&sid=102

Monday, March 7, 2011

Skippy peanut butter recall

Unilever United States Inc. is recalling certain lots of reduced-fat Skippy peanut butter because it could be contaminated with salmonella, the company said.




So far, no one has gotten sick from eating the peanut butter, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Included in the recall are Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk Peanut Butter Spread.



Salmonella can cause a potentially fatal infection in young children, the elderly or those with weakened immune systems. Normally healthy people can suffer with fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain.



The Skippy peanut butter was sold in 16 states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.



Included in the recall are 16.3-ounce plastic jars with the UPC codes of 048001006812 or 048001006782 -- consumers can find these numbers on the the side of the jar's label below the bar code. The recalled peanut butter has "best-if-used-by" dates of MAY1612LR1, MAY1712LR1, MAY1812LR1, MAY1912LR1, MAY2012LR1 and MAY2112LR1 -- stamped on the jar's lid.



The recall was started after company sampling showed the finished products may contain salmonella.



Consumers who bought the recalled peanut butter should discard it and call Unilever for a replacement coupon at (800) 453-3432. A consumer service representative is available weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern Time

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Media Misleading Americans About Inflation

New email I got from NIA:


The National Inflation Association (NIA) believes that every time the mainstream media focuses its attention on the weak Euro, it is trying to trick the world into going long the U.S. dollar, when the U.S. dollar will win its race with the Euro to zero. Not only were eurozone countries first to implement austerity measures (something the U.S. is still showing no signs of even considering), but it was just announced this weak that the European Central Bank (ECB), which just left interest rates unchanged this month at 1%, plans to raise interest rates next month in order to combat food and energy price inflation. NIA has been warning its members for two years that the policies of the Federal Reserve and ECB would lead to massive inflation in the prices of food, energy, and clothing, and that is exactly what we are beginning to see right now.



The ECB just dramatically raised its inflation expectations for 2011. The ECB has a sole mandate of price stability, but the Federal Reserve's mandate is not only price stability, but also maximum employment and moderate long-term interest rates. Printing money does not create jobs, except for temporary government jobs that act as a burden on the rest of the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been obsessing over the fact that the U.S. doesn't have any wage inflation, as a reason not to raise interest rates. As NIA has long been predicting for years, wages will be last to rise during the current inflationary crisis. If wages in the U.S. were rising at the same rate as energy, food, and clothing, price inflation wouldn't be a problem at all. The fact that wages aren't keeping up with rising prices should actually be a good reason to raise interest rates immediately.



China is so disturbed by the inflation being created by both the Federal Reserve and ECB, that they are looking to abandon both currencies and position the yuan as the next reserve currency. The biggest news of this past week, which conveniently got swept under the rug by the U.S. mainstream media, was news out of China that they will be allowing trades to settle in yuan instead of the U.S. dollar. China is simply responding to overseas demand from those who don't wish to hold on to large amounts of U.S. dollar reserves that are rapidly being debased by the Federal Reserve. By the end of 2011, Chinese exporters and importers will be able to settle cross border transactions in their own currency, instead of U.S. dollars. China is working to rapidly grow the yuan's role in international trade and NIA believes it will soon become the world's new reserve currency by default.



The fact is, if the Chinese abandoned the U.S. dollar, China would immediately have the world's largest economy as a result of the yuan strengthening in value. Over 70% of U.S. GDP is consumer spending and when Americans can no longer import cheap goods from China using money we borrow from them, consumer spending will fall off a cliff. Canada and other resource rich nations have nothing to worry about. Just as one small example, the U.S. for many years has been the largest importer of lumber from Canada. Shockingly, the U.S. share of lumber imports from Canada has fallen just about in half percentage wise in recent years from 70% to 36%. Now, it is expected that China will displace the U.S. as the largest importer of lumber from Canada by 2012.



Besides Canada, NIA has long said that one of our favorite places to emigrate to is Australia, because Australia's central bank was the first to raise interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia has interest rates at 4.75% compared to Australia's inflation rate of 2.7%. The Reserve Bank of Australia is the only major central bank with interest rates that are positive in real terms. Despite having the highest interest rate out of all major developed countries, Australia's GDP is still growing 2.7% on an annual basis.



The U.S. GDP is only growing due to artificially low interest rates of 0%-0.25%, where the Federal Reserve has held them for over two years. Artificially low interest rates of 0%-0.25% basically means that the U.S. economy is on life support. Any kind of economic growth during this period is phony and only due to inflation. Australia has a truly healthy economy, being that it is growing with modest interest rates. If the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to a modest level of 4.75% like Australia, there would immediately be a massive wave of debt defaults that sends the U.S. economy into a tailspin. We would experience a crash much worse than the Great Depression, which will likely be so bad that the median priced U.S. home will fall in half from $158,800 down to only $79,400.



Silver just reached a new 31-year high on Friday of $35.32 per ounce up 103% since NIA declared silver the best investment for the next decade on December 11th, 2009, at $17.40 per ounce. The short squeeze in silver that NIA first predicted on April 3rd, 2010, in its article entitled "Silver Short Squeeze Could Be Imminent", is now taking place as we speak. NIA was one of the first to connect the dots and expose to the world why the Federal Reserve was so eager to orchestrate a bailout of Bear Stearns, but didn't mind allowing Lehman Brothers to fail. Bear Stearns was the holder of a massive naked silver short position in silver that was being used to artificially hold silver prices down. As part of JP Morgan's takeover of Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve guaranteed to cover certain losses that would arise from the Bear Stearns portfolio, and this most likely included the silver short position.



Unfortunately, the average American family still has the bulk of their savings invested in Real Estate, when it should be invested in silver. In NIA's first ever documentary 'Hyperinflation Nation', in which we urged viewers to get out of Real Estate and invest into silver, the median U.S. home to silver ratio was 14,700. In NIA's second major documentary 'The Dollar Bubble', we once again discussed the median U.S. home to silver ratio, which was now down to 9,900, and predicted a further major decline. The median U.S. home to silver ratio is now down to 4,500. This means U.S. Real Estate has lost 69% of its value priced in silver in just the past 21 months alone. NIA is 100% sure that this ratio will decline to below 1,000 this decade and probably bottom around 500. Therefore, even if the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero, we are still looking at another 78%-89% decline in the price of Real Estate in terms of silver.



NIA has been warning the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates almost since the time they lowered them down to near zero. The longer they keep interest rates where they are now, the higher interest rates will need to rise later this decade to counteract the damage being done today. It is shocking to us how the financial mainstream media still uses the bond market to determine inflation expectations. Comparing U.S. treasury yields to Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) yields does not accurately determine inflation expectations. TIPS are a scam, because they are based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)'s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which the government does everything in its power to manipulate as low as possible in order to keep payment increases to Social Security recipients as low as possible. The bond bubble is the largest bubble in world history and during bubbles in the financial markets, assets always get mispriced.



NIA doesn't understand how the mainstream media allows Bernanke to get away with testifying in front of Congress this week, "the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to, at most, a temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation" and that rising gas prices “do not yet pose a significant risk either to the recovery or to the maintenance of overall stable inflation". NIA is one of the few organizations out there challenging Bernanke's belief that we have "overall stable inflation". We know this to be the exact opposite of the truth.





The new Apple iPad 2 being released this month is going to be 33% thinner than the original iPad, but it will be sold at the same price as the first version. NIA forecasts that the BLS will use hedonics to say that the iPad 2 is now 33% better than the first iPad, being that it is thinner. With the price being the same as the old thicker version, the BLS will consider the new version to be 33% cheaper once quality adjustments are factored in. This type of deception will help cancel out food and energy price inflation when the BLS reports the CPI in the upcoming months.



We are sure that the millions of sheep in America who will wait for ten hours across a dozen city blocks to be the first to purchase the new iPad 2 will agree with Bernanke that inflation in the U.S. is overall very stable. However, for the overwhelming majority of Americans who see food and gas prices spiraling out of control, they have nobody to thank more than Bernanke. NIA will not rest until we educate as much of the world as possible to the fact that inflation is the root of all evil.





It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Pat-Downs assault? See link...

http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/03/02/new-hampshire-legislators-propose-bill-to-make-pat-downs-a-crime/

FDA takes 500+ prescription cough, cold and allergy medicines off the market

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered more than 500 prescription cough, cold and allergy products off the market Wednesday, saying its office had not evaluated the medication for safety, effectiveness and quality.




"Removing these unapproved products from the market will reduce potential risks to consumers," said Deborah Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a news release from the agency.



The FDA said removing the products from the market poses no harm to consumers, but taking the unapproved drugs may put the health of people at risk.



"There are many FDA-approved prescription products, as well as appropriately marketed over-the-counter products, available to treat cough, cold, and allergy symptoms; so, we expect little or no negative impact on consumers from the removal of these unapproved products," Autor added.



Among the drugs listed by the FDA is Pediahist, a cold formula labeled for patients as young as 1 month old. FDA regulations do not recommend cold medicines for any children under age 2. Other drugs involved in the recall include Cardec, Lodrane and Organidin.



Many health-care providers are unaware that the drugs are unapproved and have continued to prescribe them to patients, the FDA said. Consumers who are taking an unapproved prescription cough, cold, or allergy product should contact their health-care provider to discuss alternatives.



The FDA said no serious side effects from the drugs have been reported, but some users have complained of drowsiness, sedation and irritability after taking them.



Companies that manufacture these medications must stop making them within 90 days and stop shipping the products within 180 days, the FDA said.


Here is the link to check to see if you have any of these drugs:


http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/EnforcementActivitiesbyFDA/SelectedEnforcementActionsonUnapprovedDrugs/ucm245106.htm