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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
Saturday, February 26, 2011
OliveNation.com
http://www.olivenation.com/
They carry spices, cheeses, etc. I just ordered some vanilla beans from them and their prices are very reasonable and they are having free shipping on their vanilla beans right now.
I'm going to be making my own vanilla extract. More later...
They carry spices, cheeses, etc. I just ordered some vanilla beans from them and their prices are very reasonable and they are having free shipping on their vanilla beans right now.
I'm going to be making my own vanilla extract. More later...
What have I been up to lately...
Well on Thursday I decided to go to the Joann Fabric Store grand opening in Huntsville. DH decided to go with me and after I was done spending the big bucks there we were going to go to EarthFare which is in the same mini-mall. I wanted to get there early as they were going to be giving away 100 $10 gift certificates. Instead of waiting in the car, DH decided to wait in line with me until the store opened. We had gotten there 1/2 hour early and there was a line...crazy. But when they opened the doors since we were in the first 100 we got gift certificates and since DH was with me he got one too! He handed it to me...isnt he sweet? So the next time I get a chance to go I can use them and get $20 off....Woohoo! Oh by the way I only spent $22 not the big bucks you had in mind huh?
We then went over to EarthFare. I had gotten on the computer before we left the house and got on their site. I signed up for emails from them and got a free meal coupon plus some others. The free meal coupon was for a whole fresh chicken, 1# bag of baby carrots and some potatoes from the deli. Total for all of them would have been close to $16 and we got it all for free! Let me tell you we ate the potatoes and they were GREAT! Yummy, just so yummy. The chicken we froze to eat later and the carrots are in the fridge. We have decided to go there more often because it didnt cost as much as we thought it would and they werent that busy that early in the morning. We got some milk there too which was just pasturized and not homogenized and it was under $6 a gallon which wasnt bad and it was local milk too!
On Friday I was sick...why oh why did I make a pig of myself on the peanuts, cranberry, dark chocolate mixture. Felt a lot better after I threw up later that day but we wont go there...:)
Today we had eggs, pancakes and some yummy applewood smoked bacon again from EarthFare. DH had off and took down some of the fencing from our old chicken run. He is going to rototill the earth there and plant some clover for the chicks. We decided to plant some things just for them so that our feed bill wont be so high. On some of the other blogs I read I see that the prices have gone up on the feed. We buy two 25 lb bags at a time usually and supplement with sunflower seeds, scratch and alfalfa cubes that DH crushes up for them at least for this past winter and we try to buy greens in the store for them. This summer they should have clover galore and I'm going to plant sunflowers so we will have seeds for them this winter. Anything to keep the cost down since they are only going to go up because of what is happening overseas. Do you do anything like this for your chickens or other livestock that you would want to share with any readers here? I think we should share information as much as possible just to get through these difficult times and I know I appreciate any information you can give.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
We then went over to EarthFare. I had gotten on the computer before we left the house and got on their site. I signed up for emails from them and got a free meal coupon plus some others. The free meal coupon was for a whole fresh chicken, 1# bag of baby carrots and some potatoes from the deli. Total for all of them would have been close to $16 and we got it all for free! Let me tell you we ate the potatoes and they were GREAT! Yummy, just so yummy. The chicken we froze to eat later and the carrots are in the fridge. We have decided to go there more often because it didnt cost as much as we thought it would and they werent that busy that early in the morning. We got some milk there too which was just pasturized and not homogenized and it was under $6 a gallon which wasnt bad and it was local milk too!
On Friday I was sick...why oh why did I make a pig of myself on the peanuts, cranberry, dark chocolate mixture. Felt a lot better after I threw up later that day but we wont go there...:)
Today we had eggs, pancakes and some yummy applewood smoked bacon again from EarthFare. DH had off and took down some of the fencing from our old chicken run. He is going to rototill the earth there and plant some clover for the chicks. We decided to plant some things just for them so that our feed bill wont be so high. On some of the other blogs I read I see that the prices have gone up on the feed. We buy two 25 lb bags at a time usually and supplement with sunflower seeds, scratch and alfalfa cubes that DH crushes up for them at least for this past winter and we try to buy greens in the store for them. This summer they should have clover galore and I'm going to plant sunflowers so we will have seeds for them this winter. Anything to keep the cost down since they are only going to go up because of what is happening overseas. Do you do anything like this for your chickens or other livestock that you would want to share with any readers here? I think we should share information as much as possible just to get through these difficult times and I know I appreciate any information you can give.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Monday, February 21, 2011
Mavis' blog
http://100dollarsamonth.blogspot.com/
Mavis is great. She has all the bargains on her site. Stop over and see for yourself. She is feeding her family on $25 a week.
Mavis is great. She has all the bargains on her site. Stop over and see for yourself. She is feeding her family on $25 a week.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
An actual written post!
Thursday I went out with my friend, Kathy, her daughter and granddaughter for lunch. We went to 88 Buffet on University Drive. We got there at 11 which was great because just a half an hour later there was a line all the way outside to get in! It was a very good buffet with lots of different dishes and the price was really good. For the three of us (the granddaughter is under 2) it was only $22 and I had gotten a sweet tea so it would have only been $21 plus tax. No wonder there were so many people there. After we were done we went over to the new Joann's Fabric store. It's been open only for two weeks. Of course we said we werent going to get anything. You know how that went...we each bought something. Going out to lunch with friends can be very expensive sometimes LOL. No I really didnt spend that much. I just got a few small items and a magazine. When I got home I signed up for Joanns flyer so should be receiving the sales flyers regularly now.
On Friday evening, hubby and I went to Publix. I've been coupon cutting lately and actually with all their buy one get one free things plus my coupons we got out of there under $120 which was pretty good. I saved about $30 with my coupons. I would love to be one of those coupon cutters who can go in and get a carload of groceries and only pay the tax. I wanted to go to CVS but hubby was tired and cranky (he worked 8 hours and shopping is not his favorite thing to do) and he just wanted to go home and eat his sandwich.
Today I went to CVS. Most of the things I was going to get were sold out. So next time if there is something I really want I need to get my butt in there the first of the week when the sale starts. I used my extrabucks up though and only spent $4 for my bag of stuff. I was pleased anyway. I also stopped at a new thrift store that just opened a couple of months ago. I got a little crock for $5. It was cute and who couldnt find a use for a crock? Tonight we are going to eat leftover sandwiches for supper. We always get a full hoagie and then half it and eat one half the first night and either eat the remaining sandwich for lunch the next day or for supper.
I'll have to take a pic of my crock so you can see it.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
On Friday evening, hubby and I went to Publix. I've been coupon cutting lately and actually with all their buy one get one free things plus my coupons we got out of there under $120 which was pretty good. I saved about $30 with my coupons. I would love to be one of those coupon cutters who can go in and get a carload of groceries and only pay the tax. I wanted to go to CVS but hubby was tired and cranky (he worked 8 hours and shopping is not his favorite thing to do) and he just wanted to go home and eat his sandwich.
Today I went to CVS. Most of the things I was going to get were sold out. So next time if there is something I really want I need to get my butt in there the first of the week when the sale starts. I used my extrabucks up though and only spent $4 for my bag of stuff. I was pleased anyway. I also stopped at a new thrift store that just opened a couple of months ago. I got a little crock for $5. It was cute and who couldnt find a use for a crock? Tonight we are going to eat leftover sandwiches for supper. We always get a full hoagie and then half it and eat one half the first night and either eat the remaining sandwich for lunch the next day or for supper.
I'll have to take a pic of my crock so you can see it.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
New Warning on shatter resistant bulbs from McMurray Hatchery
Shatter Resistant Bulbs: A Potential Danger to Your Chickens
Posted on February 18, 2011 by McMurray Staff
Shatter resistant or safety coated light bulbs are a potential source for toxic fumes that can be dangerous to your chickens and other poultry. There are a number of shatter resistant light bulbs on the market today. These include heat lamp bulbs, work lamp bulbs, and appliance bulbs. These bulbs have or may have a coating made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which makes them shatter resistant.
When these bulbs are used, they heat up, and if the glass wall of the bulb becomes hot enough the coating can release toxic fumes. Birds (such as chickens or other poultry) are very sensitive to airborne toxins and can die from the exposure to such fumes. This can happen quickly.
We were recently contacted by a small flock owner whom this happened to. She went out to her chicken coop to find all of her chickens dead. The cause? She had recently purchased a shatter resistant light bulb and used it in her chicken coop. The bulb’s packaging contained no information on the potential dangers and did not tell the composition of the shatterproof coating. The deeply saddened flock owner had her chickens examined by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service’s Veterinarian, a pathological specialist. The veterinarian examined the chickens, and could find no disease. The only thing that had changed in the management of the chickens was the installation of this light bulb. The veterinarian researched the light bulb and found that it has a PTFE coating. The conclusion was that the coating heated up during the use of the bulb, and in the enclosed coop produced high enough concentrations of toxic fumes to kill the chickens.
Something similar occurred on a larger scale in 1999 in a poultry research facility in Missouri, where many birds in a 2400 bird broiler flock died over the course of several days. According to clinical results, the death of the broiler chickens was due to exposure to noxious gas. No change had been made to the management of the birds other than the installation of 48 PTFE-coated heat lamp bulbs.
PTFE is a synthetic polymer that was developed in 1938. Besides the coating in shatter resistant light bulbs, it is used in a number of other household products, some of which include portable heaters, irons and ironing board covers, hair curling irons, stain resistant coatings on carpet, stove top burners, drip pans, self-cleaning ovens, non-stick cooking pans, slow cookers, waffle makers, bread makers, and tortilla presses. Not all such products contain PTFE, but some do. PTFE is also associated with the brand names Teflon®, Rulon®, Chemfluor®, and possibly others.
PTFE is relatively stable and chemical and heat resistant at room temperature, but at high temperature it can release toxic fumes. These fumes can be dangerous to humans, causing flu-like symptoms, but are even more harmful to birds because of their small size, efficient lungs, and high metabolic rate.
We do not recommend using shatter proof bulbs or any products containing PTFE in your chicken coops or in brooders for baby chicks. If you have any doubts as to the safety of a particular product, please research it as thoroughly as possible before using it with your poultry. The heat lamp bulbs that we carry on our website and in our catalog are free of PTFE and are safe to use with your poultry.
Other types of fumes that can also be harmful or fatal to chickens or other birds include include aerosols, fumes from paint, paint thinners, gasoline, certain glues, or other heated plastics, tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, pesticides (such as foggers or bug bombs), and moth balls.
Posted on February 18, 2011 by McMurray Staff
Shatter resistant or safety coated light bulbs are a potential source for toxic fumes that can be dangerous to your chickens and other poultry. There are a number of shatter resistant light bulbs on the market today. These include heat lamp bulbs, work lamp bulbs, and appliance bulbs. These bulbs have or may have a coating made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which makes them shatter resistant.
When these bulbs are used, they heat up, and if the glass wall of the bulb becomes hot enough the coating can release toxic fumes. Birds (such as chickens or other poultry) are very sensitive to airborne toxins and can die from the exposure to such fumes. This can happen quickly.
We were recently contacted by a small flock owner whom this happened to. She went out to her chicken coop to find all of her chickens dead. The cause? She had recently purchased a shatter resistant light bulb and used it in her chicken coop. The bulb’s packaging contained no information on the potential dangers and did not tell the composition of the shatterproof coating. The deeply saddened flock owner had her chickens examined by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service’s Veterinarian, a pathological specialist. The veterinarian examined the chickens, and could find no disease. The only thing that had changed in the management of the chickens was the installation of this light bulb. The veterinarian researched the light bulb and found that it has a PTFE coating. The conclusion was that the coating heated up during the use of the bulb, and in the enclosed coop produced high enough concentrations of toxic fumes to kill the chickens.
Something similar occurred on a larger scale in 1999 in a poultry research facility in Missouri, where many birds in a 2400 bird broiler flock died over the course of several days. According to clinical results, the death of the broiler chickens was due to exposure to noxious gas. No change had been made to the management of the birds other than the installation of 48 PTFE-coated heat lamp bulbs.
PTFE is a synthetic polymer that was developed in 1938. Besides the coating in shatter resistant light bulbs, it is used in a number of other household products, some of which include portable heaters, irons and ironing board covers, hair curling irons, stain resistant coatings on carpet, stove top burners, drip pans, self-cleaning ovens, non-stick cooking pans, slow cookers, waffle makers, bread makers, and tortilla presses. Not all such products contain PTFE, but some do. PTFE is also associated with the brand names Teflon®, Rulon®, Chemfluor®, and possibly others.
PTFE is relatively stable and chemical and heat resistant at room temperature, but at high temperature it can release toxic fumes. These fumes can be dangerous to humans, causing flu-like symptoms, but are even more harmful to birds because of their small size, efficient lungs, and high metabolic rate.
We do not recommend using shatter proof bulbs or any products containing PTFE in your chicken coops or in brooders for baby chicks. If you have any doubts as to the safety of a particular product, please research it as thoroughly as possible before using it with your poultry. The heat lamp bulbs that we carry on our website and in our catalog are free of PTFE and are safe to use with your poultry.
Other types of fumes that can also be harmful or fatal to chickens or other birds include include aerosols, fumes from paint, paint thinners, gasoline, certain glues, or other heated plastics, tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, pesticides (such as foggers or bug bombs), and moth balls.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Obama creates the worlds first superstate
http://www.freestatevoice.com.au/politics/item/609-obama-creates-the-worlds-first-superstate-with-us-canada-merger
After Kelle's comment on the last post, I looked up the first one. If you want to see that one, the link doesnt work because it was too long but if you just go to the above shortcut and go to their site, they have lots of articles and the one she mentioned was under the politics tab. It is further down than the one I have posted above. This paper is from Australia. It is very interesting to see what other countries know about our own country that we dont. Now we all need to ask ourselves why is our media not covering these things?
And before I forget, Thanks Kelle for the info!!!
After Kelle's comment on the last post, I looked up the first one. If you want to see that one, the link doesnt work because it was too long but if you just go to the above shortcut and go to their site, they have lots of articles and the one she mentioned was under the politics tab. It is further down than the one I have posted above. This paper is from Australia. It is very interesting to see what other countries know about our own country that we dont. Now we all need to ask ourselves why is our media not covering these things?
And before I forget, Thanks Kelle for the info!!!
U.S. Budget Deficit
I keep posting these articles. I dont know if anyone reads them but you really should. I know it is a lot to comprehend but the economy does affect everyone. My food bill has gone up and I'm sure that yours has as well. If we dont cut the deficit, we will not be able to pay the interest. Who do we owe the interest to? China and other countries but mainly China. If you dont pay your loan payment on your house what happens? That's right the bank forcloses so if we arent able to pay even the interest rate what do you think happens? Do you think China will just let it ride? They will say no problem just pay us later? Maybe to pay them we will have to give them some national forests or other government owned buildings, land, etc. Its scary and it has been going on for a long time. And we just cant keep printing money with nothing to back it up with such as gold or silver. You can print all the money you want to - it just isnt worth anything. And the more money that they print the less it is worth which affects everyone's buying power.
NIA Projects Multi-Trillion Dollar U.S. Budget Deficits
Earlier this week, President Obama released the White House's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 along with their budget projections for the following 10 years. The White House projects a record budget deficit in 2011 of $1.645 trillion, but for the deficit to be reduced to $1.101 trillion in 2012, $768 billion in 2013, $645 billion in 2014, and a low of $607 billion in 2015, before rising back up to $774 billion in 2021. We give Obama credit for being honest and admitting that he has no intention of making any attempt to balance the budget. However, NIA believes the White House is making ridiculous assumptions and deceiving the public about future budget deficits.
In our opinion, the White House will be right about the U.S. having a record budget deficit in 2011. Unfortunately, we believe this is the only thing they will be right about. Any proposed spending cuts coming out of Washington today are so small that they are a waste of time even discussing. The truth is, the total cost of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory programs alone will be $2.2 trillion in 2011. Then when you add in the projected $205 billion in interest payments on our national debt in 2011, we will have a budget deficit of $235 billion right there without including any of the government's $891 billion in security and $496 billion in non-security discretionary spending.
Obama's proposed freeze on non-security discretionary spending will only save $406 billion over the next 10 years, which is absolutely nothing. If Obama didn't just freeze discretionary spending, but he cut all discretionary spending down to zero, we would still have a budget deficit. Nobody in the mainstream media is educating the American public about just how dire our country's fiscal situation is. We get called fear-mongers for preparing Americans for hyperinflation, but we speak the truth while the mainstream media ignores our country's financial problems. We wouldn't have to spend close to a million dollars per year producing documentaries and writing articles about the hyperinflationary crisis ahead if the mainstream media did their job.
NIA believes that after our record budget deficit this year, there is a 99% chance that we will continue to see more record budget deficits in the years ahead. Even if 2012 or 2013 saw a minor dip in our budget deficit, we could see budget deficits that are double or triple their current level within the next few years. In fact, NIA doesn't think our nation will survive until 2021 based on the path we are currently on. The U.S. won't be able to continue printing money to monetize the debt and deficits, without seeing an outbreak of massive inflation and perhaps hyperinflation at some point this decade.
To reach the White House's projected reductions in the budget deficit after a record budget deficit in 2011, the White House is projecting that annual price inflation in the U.S. will rise from just 1.3% in 2011, to just 1.8% in 2012, 1.9% in 2013, 2% in 2014, and 2.1% per year from 2016 through 2021. NIA believes these numbers are unrealistic and that real price inflation in the U.S. is already north of 5%. NIA believes real price inflation is likely to rise above 10% in either the second half of 2011 or early 2012. The Federal Reserve has held interest rates at artificially low levels of 0% to 0.25% for over two years. Artificially low interest rates are very inflationary. In order to contain price inflation and keep it under control, the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates to above the real rate of price inflation. The Fed won't do this because it would destroy our phony economic recovery.
If the Federal Reserve never lowered interest rates and kept them at 5.25% where they were in 2006, instead of having 5% price inflation today, we would likely have at least 5% price deflation. This means inflation is now conservatively 10% higher than where it would have been without the Federal Reserve's destructive actions. To put this into perspective, with three years of 5% price inflation, a product becomes 35% more expensive than it would have been with three years of 5% price deflation.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported yesterday that year-over-year price inflation in the month of January was 1.63%, compared to 1.5% in December. Even based on the phony BLS numbers, it is obvious to all that price inflation in the U.S. is accelerating. NIA estimates that real price inflation is now closing in on 6%.
Not only is the White House budget using deceptive inflation numbers, but it is also misleading Americans about GDP growth. The White House budget is projecting 5% annual nominal GDP growth over the next 10 years. Over the past decade, the U.S. has seen an average annual nominal GDP growth rate of 3.95% and if you go back to the years 2001-2005 during the Real Estate bubble, we saw annual nominal GDP growth during those five years of 4.86%.
It is absolutely insane for the White House to be projecting nominal 5% GDP growth per year, with inflation of only 2% per year. There is absolutely no chance of the U.S. economy seeing real GDP growth of 3% per year, which would be higher than our average real GDP growth during the biggest artificial boom in U.S. history. In our opinion, any GDP growth the U.S. sees this decade will be created entirely by inflation. Considering that the White House expects there to be a lot of GDP growth in the years ahead, they are clearly putting a lot of pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to create as much monetary inflation as possible.
As part of the White House's budget projections, they also project unemployment in the U.S. to decline from an average of 9.6% in 2011 to a low of 5.3% in years 2016 through 2021. Real unemployment in the U.S. today, after accounting for both short and long-term discouraged workers, is now approximately 22%. Between federal, state, and local government workers, government employees now make up 16% of all U.S. payrolls. Over the past 60 years, government employment growth has just about doubled the rate of U.S. population growth. During the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis, we could very easily see the number of government employees cut in half, which would send the official U.S. unemployment rate up to 16% and the real unemployment rate up to 29%.
The biggest problem NIA has with the White House budget is their projections for interest payments on our national debt. Historically, going back the past 50 years, yields on the 10-year bond have averaged about 7.2%. The 10-year bond yield has been skyrocketing in recent months and is currently 3.57%, up from being 2.381% on October 8th of last year. With the 10-year bond yield surging 50% over the past four months, there is no reason the yield can't surge another 50% over the next six to twelve months up to 5.36%. Yet, the White House is projecting the bond yield to average 3% in 2011 and to rise to only 3.6% in 2012, 4.2% in 2013, and up to a high of 5.3% for years 2017 to 2021. Trust us, if interest rates on the 10-year bond don't rise to 5.3% within the next six to twelve months, we guarantee they will still do so a lot closer to six months than six years.
With treasury yields having been held at artificially low levels for so long, we expect them to rise above historically average levels and remain there for many years. There is no doubt that we will see bond yields back above 7.2% in the years ahead. As inflation begins to spiral out of control, we expect to see bond yields rise to above 10% and beyond. The White House doesn't expect interest payments on our national debt to rise above $500 billion until the year 2015. They're projecting net interest payments in 2015 of $505 billion with our public debt averaging the year around $13.9 trillion. In order words, they expect us to pay only 3.6% interest on our debt that year.
To summarize, Obama expects our budget deficit to decline from $1.645 trillion this year down to a low of $607 billion in 2015 by having 5% per year GDP growth, only 2% per year inflation, unemployment in 2015 of only 5.9%, and an overall interest rate that is only 1/2 of historical 10-year treasury yields. NIA projects that the U.S. will see zero GDP growth adjusted for inflation and if we are right, and we also see the U-3 unemployment rate rise back above 10% along with our overall interest rate on our debt rising back to historical levels of 7.2%, our actual deficit in 2015 could very easily surpass $3 trillion.
In early 2008, the Bush Administration was projecting the U.S. budget deficit to decline to $160 billion in 2010, $96 billion in 2011, and for the U.S. to have a $48 billion surplus in 2012. Look how easily a $96 billion projected deficit turned into a $1.645 trillion deficit, 17 times higher than projected. It is nearly impossible to reduce budget deficits once they begin spiraling out of control, unless the government acted to dramatically slash spending by 50% or more in all areas of the budget including the so-called untouchable areas like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Obama pledged while running for President to cut the budget deficit in half during his first term, but it has so far increased by 262%. If we have just a few more years of trillion dollar plus budget deficits, interest payments on our national debt will begin to approach half of U.S. government tax receipts and at that point, hyperinflation will be all but guaranteed.
NIA Projects Multi-Trillion Dollar U.S. Budget Deficits
Earlier this week, President Obama released the White House's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 along with their budget projections for the following 10 years. The White House projects a record budget deficit in 2011 of $1.645 trillion, but for the deficit to be reduced to $1.101 trillion in 2012, $768 billion in 2013, $645 billion in 2014, and a low of $607 billion in 2015, before rising back up to $774 billion in 2021. We give Obama credit for being honest and admitting that he has no intention of making any attempt to balance the budget. However, NIA believes the White House is making ridiculous assumptions and deceiving the public about future budget deficits.
In our opinion, the White House will be right about the U.S. having a record budget deficit in 2011. Unfortunately, we believe this is the only thing they will be right about. Any proposed spending cuts coming out of Washington today are so small that they are a waste of time even discussing. The truth is, the total cost of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory programs alone will be $2.2 trillion in 2011. Then when you add in the projected $205 billion in interest payments on our national debt in 2011, we will have a budget deficit of $235 billion right there without including any of the government's $891 billion in security and $496 billion in non-security discretionary spending.
Obama's proposed freeze on non-security discretionary spending will only save $406 billion over the next 10 years, which is absolutely nothing. If Obama didn't just freeze discretionary spending, but he cut all discretionary spending down to zero, we would still have a budget deficit. Nobody in the mainstream media is educating the American public about just how dire our country's fiscal situation is. We get called fear-mongers for preparing Americans for hyperinflation, but we speak the truth while the mainstream media ignores our country's financial problems. We wouldn't have to spend close to a million dollars per year producing documentaries and writing articles about the hyperinflationary crisis ahead if the mainstream media did their job.
NIA believes that after our record budget deficit this year, there is a 99% chance that we will continue to see more record budget deficits in the years ahead. Even if 2012 or 2013 saw a minor dip in our budget deficit, we could see budget deficits that are double or triple their current level within the next few years. In fact, NIA doesn't think our nation will survive until 2021 based on the path we are currently on. The U.S. won't be able to continue printing money to monetize the debt and deficits, without seeing an outbreak of massive inflation and perhaps hyperinflation at some point this decade.
To reach the White House's projected reductions in the budget deficit after a record budget deficit in 2011, the White House is projecting that annual price inflation in the U.S. will rise from just 1.3% in 2011, to just 1.8% in 2012, 1.9% in 2013, 2% in 2014, and 2.1% per year from 2016 through 2021. NIA believes these numbers are unrealistic and that real price inflation in the U.S. is already north of 5%. NIA believes real price inflation is likely to rise above 10% in either the second half of 2011 or early 2012. The Federal Reserve has held interest rates at artificially low levels of 0% to 0.25% for over two years. Artificially low interest rates are very inflationary. In order to contain price inflation and keep it under control, the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates to above the real rate of price inflation. The Fed won't do this because it would destroy our phony economic recovery.
If the Federal Reserve never lowered interest rates and kept them at 5.25% where they were in 2006, instead of having 5% price inflation today, we would likely have at least 5% price deflation. This means inflation is now conservatively 10% higher than where it would have been without the Federal Reserve's destructive actions. To put this into perspective, with three years of 5% price inflation, a product becomes 35% more expensive than it would have been with three years of 5% price deflation.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported yesterday that year-over-year price inflation in the month of January was 1.63%, compared to 1.5% in December. Even based on the phony BLS numbers, it is obvious to all that price inflation in the U.S. is accelerating. NIA estimates that real price inflation is now closing in on 6%.
Not only is the White House budget using deceptive inflation numbers, but it is also misleading Americans about GDP growth. The White House budget is projecting 5% annual nominal GDP growth over the next 10 years. Over the past decade, the U.S. has seen an average annual nominal GDP growth rate of 3.95% and if you go back to the years 2001-2005 during the Real Estate bubble, we saw annual nominal GDP growth during those five years of 4.86%.
It is absolutely insane for the White House to be projecting nominal 5% GDP growth per year, with inflation of only 2% per year. There is absolutely no chance of the U.S. economy seeing real GDP growth of 3% per year, which would be higher than our average real GDP growth during the biggest artificial boom in U.S. history. In our opinion, any GDP growth the U.S. sees this decade will be created entirely by inflation. Considering that the White House expects there to be a lot of GDP growth in the years ahead, they are clearly putting a lot of pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to create as much monetary inflation as possible.
As part of the White House's budget projections, they also project unemployment in the U.S. to decline from an average of 9.6% in 2011 to a low of 5.3% in years 2016 through 2021. Real unemployment in the U.S. today, after accounting for both short and long-term discouraged workers, is now approximately 22%. Between federal, state, and local government workers, government employees now make up 16% of all U.S. payrolls. Over the past 60 years, government employment growth has just about doubled the rate of U.S. population growth. During the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis, we could very easily see the number of government employees cut in half, which would send the official U.S. unemployment rate up to 16% and the real unemployment rate up to 29%.
The biggest problem NIA has with the White House budget is their projections for interest payments on our national debt. Historically, going back the past 50 years, yields on the 10-year bond have averaged about 7.2%. The 10-year bond yield has been skyrocketing in recent months and is currently 3.57%, up from being 2.381% on October 8th of last year. With the 10-year bond yield surging 50% over the past four months, there is no reason the yield can't surge another 50% over the next six to twelve months up to 5.36%. Yet, the White House is projecting the bond yield to average 3% in 2011 and to rise to only 3.6% in 2012, 4.2% in 2013, and up to a high of 5.3% for years 2017 to 2021. Trust us, if interest rates on the 10-year bond don't rise to 5.3% within the next six to twelve months, we guarantee they will still do so a lot closer to six months than six years.
With treasury yields having been held at artificially low levels for so long, we expect them to rise above historically average levels and remain there for many years. There is no doubt that we will see bond yields back above 7.2% in the years ahead. As inflation begins to spiral out of control, we expect to see bond yields rise to above 10% and beyond. The White House doesn't expect interest payments on our national debt to rise above $500 billion until the year 2015. They're projecting net interest payments in 2015 of $505 billion with our public debt averaging the year around $13.9 trillion. In order words, they expect us to pay only 3.6% interest on our debt that year.
To summarize, Obama expects our budget deficit to decline from $1.645 trillion this year down to a low of $607 billion in 2015 by having 5% per year GDP growth, only 2% per year inflation, unemployment in 2015 of only 5.9%, and an overall interest rate that is only 1/2 of historical 10-year treasury yields. NIA projects that the U.S. will see zero GDP growth adjusted for inflation and if we are right, and we also see the U-3 unemployment rate rise back above 10% along with our overall interest rate on our debt rising back to historical levels of 7.2%, our actual deficit in 2015 could very easily surpass $3 trillion.
In early 2008, the Bush Administration was projecting the U.S. budget deficit to decline to $160 billion in 2010, $96 billion in 2011, and for the U.S. to have a $48 billion surplus in 2012. Look how easily a $96 billion projected deficit turned into a $1.645 trillion deficit, 17 times higher than projected. It is nearly impossible to reduce budget deficits once they begin spiraling out of control, unless the government acted to dramatically slash spending by 50% or more in all areas of the budget including the so-called untouchable areas like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Obama pledged while running for President to cut the budget deficit in half during his first term, but it has so far increased by 262%. If we have just a few more years of trillion dollar plus budget deficits, interest payments on our national debt will begin to approach half of U.S. government tax receipts and at that point, hyperinflation will be all but guaranteed.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Couldnt resist posting this one...
TEXTING FOR SENIORS
Since more and more Seniors are texting and tweeting there appears to be a
need for a STC (Senior Texting Code).
Pass this on to your Children and Grandchildren so they can understand your
texts.
ATD: At The Doctor's
BFF: Best Friend Farted
BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth
CBM: Covered By Medicare
CGU: Can't get up
CGIP: Can't get IT up
CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
DWI: Driving While Incontinent
FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
FYI: Found Your Insulin
GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!
GHA: Got Heartburn Again
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?
LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
LOL: Living On Lipitor
LWO: Lawrence Welk's On
OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
PIMP: Pooped in my pants
ROFL... CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing... And Can't Get Up
SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop
TTYL: Talk To You Louder
WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again
WTP: Where's The Prunes?
WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil
GLKI (Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking In)
Since more and more Seniors are texting and tweeting there appears to be a
need for a STC (Senior Texting Code).
Pass this on to your Children and Grandchildren so they can understand your
texts.
ATD: At The Doctor's
BFF: Best Friend Farted
BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth
CBM: Covered By Medicare
CGU: Can't get up
CGIP: Can't get IT up
CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
DWI: Driving While Incontinent
FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
FYI: Found Your Insulin
GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!
GHA: Got Heartburn Again
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?
LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
LOL: Living On Lipitor
LWO: Lawrence Welk's On
OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
PIMP: Pooped in my pants
ROFL... CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing... And Can't Get Up
SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop
TTYL: Talk To You Louder
WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again
WTP: Where's The Prunes?
WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil
GLKI (Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking In)
Friday, February 11, 2011
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Reserves Overstated by 40%
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Reserves Overstated by 40%
Many people including CNBC’s Steve Liesman have been criticizing NIA’s recent food inflation report, claiming that agricultural commodity prices only make up a small portion of the price of a finished food product in the supermarket. The truth is, when you see a 50% surge in nearly all agricultural commodities in six months, it will translate into much higher prices in the supermarket. At first, wholesalers and retailers will take a hit on their profit margins hoping that commodity prices will come back down, but after what NIA estimates to be a six month lag time, the full effects of rising agricultural commodities will be seen at your local supermarket and NIA conservatively estimates that the U.S. will see 10% food price inflation in the first half of 2011.
Besides the cost of agricultural commodities, the second largest cost that makes up food prices is oil. Oil is used not only for the farming of agricultural commodities and the production and packaging of food, but also shipping food to your supermarket. Oil prices have lagged behind agricultural commodities in recent months, but oil’s inevitable spike back above $100 per barrel that NIA predicted (and was wrong) would occur in 2010, could be just around the corner.
Major news is out today that cables from WikiLeaks show that a senior Saudi government oil executive claims that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves have been overstated by 300 billion barrels or nearly 40%. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and according to the WikiLeaks cables, the U.S. fears that Saudi Arabia does not have enough oil reserves to prevent oil prices from skyrocketing.
Apparently, it was said by an executive at Aramco that they couldn’t reach a 12.5 million barrel per day capacity to keep a lid on oil prices, but could only possibly reach a 12 million barrel per day capacity in 10 years. This same executive also said that “peak oil” production could be reached as early as year 2012.
This may be the catalyst needed to drive oil permanently above $100 per barrel and gas prices to $5 per gallon. NIA remains very bullish on oil stocks for the long-term. They have been out of favor since late-2008, but could be back in play very soon.
NIA previously suggested on April 23rd, 2009, the ETF “DIG” at $22.65 as the best way to play oil stocks and it has since risen by 141% to $54.61. However, DIG is still way off of its high seen in May of 2008 of $131.08 and therefore still has much more upside potential.
Many people including CNBC’s Steve Liesman have been criticizing NIA’s recent food inflation report, claiming that agricultural commodity prices only make up a small portion of the price of a finished food product in the supermarket. The truth is, when you see a 50% surge in nearly all agricultural commodities in six months, it will translate into much higher prices in the supermarket. At first, wholesalers and retailers will take a hit on their profit margins hoping that commodity prices will come back down, but after what NIA estimates to be a six month lag time, the full effects of rising agricultural commodities will be seen at your local supermarket and NIA conservatively estimates that the U.S. will see 10% food price inflation in the first half of 2011.
Besides the cost of agricultural commodities, the second largest cost that makes up food prices is oil. Oil is used not only for the farming of agricultural commodities and the production and packaging of food, but also shipping food to your supermarket. Oil prices have lagged behind agricultural commodities in recent months, but oil’s inevitable spike back above $100 per barrel that NIA predicted (and was wrong) would occur in 2010, could be just around the corner.
Major news is out today that cables from WikiLeaks show that a senior Saudi government oil executive claims that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves have been overstated by 300 billion barrels or nearly 40%. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and according to the WikiLeaks cables, the U.S. fears that Saudi Arabia does not have enough oil reserves to prevent oil prices from skyrocketing.
Apparently, it was said by an executive at Aramco that they couldn’t reach a 12.5 million barrel per day capacity to keep a lid on oil prices, but could only possibly reach a 12 million barrel per day capacity in 10 years. This same executive also said that “peak oil” production could be reached as early as year 2012.
This may be the catalyst needed to drive oil permanently above $100 per barrel and gas prices to $5 per gallon. NIA remains very bullish on oil stocks for the long-term. They have been out of favor since late-2008, but could be back in play very soon.
NIA previously suggested on April 23rd, 2009, the ETF “DIG” at $22.65 as the best way to play oil stocks and it has since risen by 141% to $54.61. However, DIG is still way off of its high seen in May of 2008 of $131.08 and therefore still has much more upside potential.
Egypt: Preview of America in 2015
Egypt: Preview of America in 2015
The rioting and looting currently taking place in Egypt is primarily a result of massive food inflation and shows what all major cities in the United States will likely look like come year 2015 due to the Federal Reserve’s zero percent interest rates and quantitative easing to infinity. On December 16th, 2009, NIA named Time Magazine’s 2009 ‘Person of the Year’ Ben Bernanke our ‘Villain of the Year’, saying he created “unprecedented amounts of inflation in unprecedented ways” and “When it costs $20 for a gallon of milk in a few years, Americans will have nobody to thank more than Bernanke.”
What started out a few weeks ago as protests in Algeria with citizens chanting “Bring Us Sugar!” and five citizens being killed, quickly spread to civil unrest in Tunisia which saw 14 more civilian deaths, and has now spread to riots in Egypt where 300 Egyptian citizens have been killed. Food inflation in Egypt has reached 20% and citizens in the nation already spend about 40% of their monthly expenditures on food. Americans for decades have been blessed with cheap food, spending only 13% of their expenditures on food, but this is about to change.
NIA was the first to predict the recent explosion in agricultural commodity prices in our October 30th, 2009, article entitled, “U.S. Inflation to Appear Next in Food and Agriculture”, which said we have a “perfect storm for an explosion in agriculture prices”. A couple of months later in ‘NIA’s Top 10 Predictions for 2010′ we predicted “Major Food Shortages” and said, “Inventories of agricultural products are the lowest they have been in decades yet the prices of many agricultural commodities are down 70% to 80% from their all time highs adjusted for real inflation”. Over the past year, agricultural commodities as a whole have outperformed almost every other type of asset, with silver being one of only a few other assets keeping pace with agriculture. (On December 11th, 2009, NIA declared silver the best investment for the next decade at $17.40 per ounce and it has so far risen 64% to its current price of $28.39 per ounce).
The world is at the beginning stages of an all out inflationary panic. Wheat, which NIA previously called on ‘NIAnswers’ its favorite investment besides gold and silver, is now up to a new 30-month high of $8.63 per bushel and has doubled in price since June of last year. Algeria bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat this past week, bringing their total purchases for the month of January up to 1.8 million tonnes, which was quadruple expectations. Saudi Arabia is also beginning to stockpile their inventories of wheat. Rice futures have gained 8% during the past few days with Bangladesh and Indonesia placing extraordinary large orders. Indonesia’s latest rice order was quadruple its normal allotment and Bangladesh plans to double rice purchases this year. Meanwhile, the U.S., which is the world’s third largest exporter of rice, is expected to cut production by 25% in 2011.
NIA considers rice to be one of the world’s most undervalued agricultural commodities at its current price of $15.96 per 100 pounds and forecasts a move back to its 2008 high of $24 per 100 pounds as soon as the end of 2011. NIA believes cotton, at its current price of $1.80 per pound, may have gotten a bit ahead of itself in the short-term. In NIA’s first ever article about agriculture on February 17th, 2009, we said that cotton’s “upside potential is astronomical” at its then price of $0.44 per pound. NIA pointed to increasing sales to textile companies in China and the fact that cotton was down 70% from its all time high as reasons to be very bullish on cotton at $0.44 per pound. Early NIA members could have made 309% on cotton, but today we see much bigger potential in rice. The recent spike in cotton reminds us of the 2008 spike in oil. Although we believe cotton will ultimately rise above $3 per pound later this decade, we coul d possibly see a dip to below $1.40 per pound first.
Many people in the mainstream media have been criticizing NIA’s recent food inflation report, claiming that agricultural commodity prices have very little to do with prices of food in the supermarket. CNBC’s Steve Liesman, in particular, claims that “rising commodity prices won’t cause inflation”. Liesman has it backwards. NIA has never claimed that rising commodity prices cause inflation. Soaring budget deficits that the U.S. government can’t possibly pay for through taxation causes inflation when the Fed is forced to monetize the debt by printing money.
Rising commodity prices are only a symptom of inflation. The reason NIA was so bullish on agricultural commodities going back two years ago when we produced our first documentary ‘Hyperinflation Nation’, is because while gold is the best gauge of inflation and is often the best tool for predicting future money printing, agriculture is where the majority of the monetary inflation ends up going after the Fed’s newly printed money trickles down to the middle-class and poor. With gold prices already surging two years ago when we produced ‘Hyperinflation Nation’, NIA said in the documentary “food prices have the potential to surge most during hyperinflation”.
One thing NIA is almost 100% sure of is that come year 2015, middle-class Americans will be spending at least 30% to 40% of their income on food, similar to Egyptians today. As NIA warned in its latest documentary ‘End of Liberty’, if you don’t have enough money to accumulate physical gold and silver, it is important to begin establishing your own food storage, and store enough food to feed you and your family for at least six months during hyperinflation. Many store shelves in Egypt are now empty after recent panic buying, with shortages of nearly all major staple items throughout the country.
The U.S. Treasury is getting ready to sell $72 billion in new long-term bonds next week, as the U.S. rapidly approaches its $14.29 trillion debt limit. The debt limit is now expected to be reached by April 5th and Treasury Secretary Geithner warned the U.S. will see “catastrophic damage” if it isn’t raised. With the Federal Reserve now surpassing China and Japan as the largest holder of U.S. treasuries, the real “catastrophic damage” ahead will be hyperinflation as a result of the U.S. government doing absolutely nothing to dramatically reduce spending. It is an absolute joke that Obama during his State of the Union address announced $400 billion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, but then the very next day, the Congressional Budget Office increased its 2011 budget deficit projection by $400 billion to $1.48 trillion.
Not raising the debt limit would be a good thing, as it would force Washington to live within its means. Sure, the stock market would collapse and the U.S. economy would enter into its next Great Depression, but at least it would save the U.S. dollar from losing all of its purchasing power. In fact, the standard of living for middle class Americans might actually improve if the government allowed the free market to put our economy into a depression, because goods and services would get cheaper.
The U.S. economy has become a drug addict that is dependent on cheap and easy money from the Federal Reserve. While Wall Street bankers took home a record $135 billion in total compensation in 2010, up 5.7% from $128 billion in 2009, this money was stolen from middle-class and poor Americans through inflation. The more monetary inflation (heroin) the Federal Reserve creates in order to satisfy the (in the words of Gerald Celente) “money junkies” on Wall Street, the more middle-class and poor Americans become dependent on unemployment checks and food stamps just to survive. Millions of American students are graduating college with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt but no jobs. Luckily for them (but not holders of U.S. dollars), NIA is hearing reports from both unemployed and underemployed college graduates with student loans that the government is reducing their required monthly payments by sometimes 90% or more based on their current incomes.
China and Japan recently saw their credit ratings downgraded, while the U.S. credit rating remains at “AAA”. NIA believes it would make far more sense for the world’s largest debtor nation to be downgraded instead of the world’s two largest creditor nations. The Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing has yet to even reach the halfway point and the Fed already holds about $1.11 trillion in U.S. treasuries. By the time QE2 is over at the end of June, the Fed will own $1.6 trillion in U.S. treasuries, about what China and Japan own combined. Shockingly, Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig is already dropping hints about QE3. According to Hoenig, the Fed may consider extending treasury purchases beyond June 30th, 2011, (the scheduled completion date for QE2) if U.S. economic data looks disappointing.
With the Fed taking over as the largest holder of U.S. treasuries, China is beginning to rapidly move away from the U.S. dollar and into gold. In just the first 10 months of 2010, China imported 209 metric tons of gold compared to 45 metric tons in all of 2009, a stunning five-fold increase. While the western world is downplaying the threat of inflation as much as possible, Asian countries understand that hyperinflation is the most devastating thing that can possibly happen to any economy. The demand for gold in Asia right now is the most intense it has ever been, as they look to tackle rising inflation before it becomes hyperinflation.
The Chinese are so smart that families are now giving each other gold bullion as gifts instead of traditional red envelopes filled with cash. China is now on track to soon surpass India as the world’s largest consumer of gold. The China Securities Regulatory Commission recently gave Beijing-based Lion Fund Management Co. approval to create a fund that will invest into foreign gold ETFs.
U.S. stock mutual funds saw $6.7 billion in net inflows during the past two weeks, the most in any two week period since May of 2009. The rioting, looting, and civil unrest in Egypt is now making the U.S. look like the safe haven of the world, even though it should be considered the riskiest place to invest. From the Dow’s low in August until now, about $38 billion was actually removed from U.S. stock mutual funds, despite the stock market rising 20%. The Dow Jones has been rising from September until now solely due to the Federal Reserve printing around $350 billion out of thin air. When central banks print money, stock markets often act as a relief valve due to there being too much inflation going into the hands of financial institutions.
The U.S. M2 money supply surged by $46.6 billion during the week ending January 17th to a record $8.8623 trillion, following a rise during the previous week of $7.6 billion. The rise in the M2 money supply over the past two weeks of $54.2 billion equals an annualized increase of 16%. The M2 multiplier now stands at 4.218 compared to a long-term average of 10. When QE2 is complete, the Fed’s monetary base will likely stand at $2.59 trillion. A return to the long-term average M2 multiplier of 10 means we are due to see a 192% increase in the M2 money supply and that is not even including a possible QE3 and QE4.
The U.S. economic ponzi scheme could unravel very quickly in the years ahead, with the velocity of money increasing much faster than anybody expects. As more Americans learn about NIA and become educated to the truth about the U.S. economy and inflation, a complete loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar could occur very suddenly. It is important for all Americans to prepare as if hyperinflation will be here tomorrow. At least in Egypt, their currency still has purchasing power and their citizens are trying to implement a regime change before it is too late. By 2015 in America, it will already be too late and the civil unrest here has the potential to be many times worse.
The rioting and looting currently taking place in Egypt is primarily a result of massive food inflation and shows what all major cities in the United States will likely look like come year 2015 due to the Federal Reserve’s zero percent interest rates and quantitative easing to infinity. On December 16th, 2009, NIA named Time Magazine’s 2009 ‘Person of the Year’ Ben Bernanke our ‘Villain of the Year’, saying he created “unprecedented amounts of inflation in unprecedented ways” and “When it costs $20 for a gallon of milk in a few years, Americans will have nobody to thank more than Bernanke.”
What started out a few weeks ago as protests in Algeria with citizens chanting “Bring Us Sugar!” and five citizens being killed, quickly spread to civil unrest in Tunisia which saw 14 more civilian deaths, and has now spread to riots in Egypt where 300 Egyptian citizens have been killed. Food inflation in Egypt has reached 20% and citizens in the nation already spend about 40% of their monthly expenditures on food. Americans for decades have been blessed with cheap food, spending only 13% of their expenditures on food, but this is about to change.
NIA was the first to predict the recent explosion in agricultural commodity prices in our October 30th, 2009, article entitled, “U.S. Inflation to Appear Next in Food and Agriculture”, which said we have a “perfect storm for an explosion in agriculture prices”. A couple of months later in ‘NIA’s Top 10 Predictions for 2010′ we predicted “Major Food Shortages” and said, “Inventories of agricultural products are the lowest they have been in decades yet the prices of many agricultural commodities are down 70% to 80% from their all time highs adjusted for real inflation”. Over the past year, agricultural commodities as a whole have outperformed almost every other type of asset, with silver being one of only a few other assets keeping pace with agriculture. (On December 11th, 2009, NIA declared silver the best investment for the next decade at $17.40 per ounce and it has so far risen 64% to its current price of $28.39 per ounce).
The world is at the beginning stages of an all out inflationary panic. Wheat, which NIA previously called on ‘NIAnswers’ its favorite investment besides gold and silver, is now up to a new 30-month high of $8.63 per bushel and has doubled in price since June of last year. Algeria bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat this past week, bringing their total purchases for the month of January up to 1.8 million tonnes, which was quadruple expectations. Saudi Arabia is also beginning to stockpile their inventories of wheat. Rice futures have gained 8% during the past few days with Bangladesh and Indonesia placing extraordinary large orders. Indonesia’s latest rice order was quadruple its normal allotment and Bangladesh plans to double rice purchases this year. Meanwhile, the U.S., which is the world’s third largest exporter of rice, is expected to cut production by 25% in 2011.
NIA considers rice to be one of the world’s most undervalued agricultural commodities at its current price of $15.96 per 100 pounds and forecasts a move back to its 2008 high of $24 per 100 pounds as soon as the end of 2011. NIA believes cotton, at its current price of $1.80 per pound, may have gotten a bit ahead of itself in the short-term. In NIA’s first ever article about agriculture on February 17th, 2009, we said that cotton’s “upside potential is astronomical” at its then price of $0.44 per pound. NIA pointed to increasing sales to textile companies in China and the fact that cotton was down 70% from its all time high as reasons to be very bullish on cotton at $0.44 per pound. Early NIA members could have made 309% on cotton, but today we see much bigger potential in rice. The recent spike in cotton reminds us of the 2008 spike in oil. Although we believe cotton will ultimately rise above $3 per pound later this decade, we coul d possibly see a dip to below $1.40 per pound first.
Many people in the mainstream media have been criticizing NIA’s recent food inflation report, claiming that agricultural commodity prices have very little to do with prices of food in the supermarket. CNBC’s Steve Liesman, in particular, claims that “rising commodity prices won’t cause inflation”. Liesman has it backwards. NIA has never claimed that rising commodity prices cause inflation. Soaring budget deficits that the U.S. government can’t possibly pay for through taxation causes inflation when the Fed is forced to monetize the debt by printing money.
Rising commodity prices are only a symptom of inflation. The reason NIA was so bullish on agricultural commodities going back two years ago when we produced our first documentary ‘Hyperinflation Nation’, is because while gold is the best gauge of inflation and is often the best tool for predicting future money printing, agriculture is where the majority of the monetary inflation ends up going after the Fed’s newly printed money trickles down to the middle-class and poor. With gold prices already surging two years ago when we produced ‘Hyperinflation Nation’, NIA said in the documentary “food prices have the potential to surge most during hyperinflation”.
One thing NIA is almost 100% sure of is that come year 2015, middle-class Americans will be spending at least 30% to 40% of their income on food, similar to Egyptians today. As NIA warned in its latest documentary ‘End of Liberty’, if you don’t have enough money to accumulate physical gold and silver, it is important to begin establishing your own food storage, and store enough food to feed you and your family for at least six months during hyperinflation. Many store shelves in Egypt are now empty after recent panic buying, with shortages of nearly all major staple items throughout the country.
The U.S. Treasury is getting ready to sell $72 billion in new long-term bonds next week, as the U.S. rapidly approaches its $14.29 trillion debt limit. The debt limit is now expected to be reached by April 5th and Treasury Secretary Geithner warned the U.S. will see “catastrophic damage” if it isn’t raised. With the Federal Reserve now surpassing China and Japan as the largest holder of U.S. treasuries, the real “catastrophic damage” ahead will be hyperinflation as a result of the U.S. government doing absolutely nothing to dramatically reduce spending. It is an absolute joke that Obama during his State of the Union address announced $400 billion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, but then the very next day, the Congressional Budget Office increased its 2011 budget deficit projection by $400 billion to $1.48 trillion.
Not raising the debt limit would be a good thing, as it would force Washington to live within its means. Sure, the stock market would collapse and the U.S. economy would enter into its next Great Depression, but at least it would save the U.S. dollar from losing all of its purchasing power. In fact, the standard of living for middle class Americans might actually improve if the government allowed the free market to put our economy into a depression, because goods and services would get cheaper.
The U.S. economy has become a drug addict that is dependent on cheap and easy money from the Federal Reserve. While Wall Street bankers took home a record $135 billion in total compensation in 2010, up 5.7% from $128 billion in 2009, this money was stolen from middle-class and poor Americans through inflation. The more monetary inflation (heroin) the Federal Reserve creates in order to satisfy the (in the words of Gerald Celente) “money junkies” on Wall Street, the more middle-class and poor Americans become dependent on unemployment checks and food stamps just to survive. Millions of American students are graduating college with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt but no jobs. Luckily for them (but not holders of U.S. dollars), NIA is hearing reports from both unemployed and underemployed college graduates with student loans that the government is reducing their required monthly payments by sometimes 90% or more based on their current incomes.
China and Japan recently saw their credit ratings downgraded, while the U.S. credit rating remains at “AAA”. NIA believes it would make far more sense for the world’s largest debtor nation to be downgraded instead of the world’s two largest creditor nations. The Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing has yet to even reach the halfway point and the Fed already holds about $1.11 trillion in U.S. treasuries. By the time QE2 is over at the end of June, the Fed will own $1.6 trillion in U.S. treasuries, about what China and Japan own combined. Shockingly, Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig is already dropping hints about QE3. According to Hoenig, the Fed may consider extending treasury purchases beyond June 30th, 2011, (the scheduled completion date for QE2) if U.S. economic data looks disappointing.
With the Fed taking over as the largest holder of U.S. treasuries, China is beginning to rapidly move away from the U.S. dollar and into gold. In just the first 10 months of 2010, China imported 209 metric tons of gold compared to 45 metric tons in all of 2009, a stunning five-fold increase. While the western world is downplaying the threat of inflation as much as possible, Asian countries understand that hyperinflation is the most devastating thing that can possibly happen to any economy. The demand for gold in Asia right now is the most intense it has ever been, as they look to tackle rising inflation before it becomes hyperinflation.
The Chinese are so smart that families are now giving each other gold bullion as gifts instead of traditional red envelopes filled with cash. China is now on track to soon surpass India as the world’s largest consumer of gold. The China Securities Regulatory Commission recently gave Beijing-based Lion Fund Management Co. approval to create a fund that will invest into foreign gold ETFs.
U.S. stock mutual funds saw $6.7 billion in net inflows during the past two weeks, the most in any two week period since May of 2009. The rioting, looting, and civil unrest in Egypt is now making the U.S. look like the safe haven of the world, even though it should be considered the riskiest place to invest. From the Dow’s low in August until now, about $38 billion was actually removed from U.S. stock mutual funds, despite the stock market rising 20%. The Dow Jones has been rising from September until now solely due to the Federal Reserve printing around $350 billion out of thin air. When central banks print money, stock markets often act as a relief valve due to there being too much inflation going into the hands of financial institutions.
The U.S. M2 money supply surged by $46.6 billion during the week ending January 17th to a record $8.8623 trillion, following a rise during the previous week of $7.6 billion. The rise in the M2 money supply over the past two weeks of $54.2 billion equals an annualized increase of 16%. The M2 multiplier now stands at 4.218 compared to a long-term average of 10. When QE2 is complete, the Fed’s monetary base will likely stand at $2.59 trillion. A return to the long-term average M2 multiplier of 10 means we are due to see a 192% increase in the M2 money supply and that is not even including a possible QE3 and QE4.
The U.S. economic ponzi scheme could unravel very quickly in the years ahead, with the velocity of money increasing much faster than anybody expects. As more Americans learn about NIA and become educated to the truth about the U.S. economy and inflation, a complete loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar could occur very suddenly. It is important for all Americans to prepare as if hyperinflation will be here tomorrow. At least in Egypt, their currency still has purchasing power and their citizens are trying to implement a regime change before it is too late. By 2015 in America, it will already be too late and the civil unrest here has the potential to be many times worse.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Well here's a new one...
Hubby went to get some grease for his grease gun at Harbor Freight on Monday. They asked him for his birthday. Seems they cant sell grease to anyone under 21. I wonder what they do with it...ohh the things that run through your mind LOL.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Talk to ya later!
Denise
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