Monday, January 04, 2010

Is Obama Pulling The Wings Off a Butterfly?

Dan from New York connects the dots, asking "Is Obama Pulling The Wings Off a Butterfly -- the U.S.A?":

Take a random walk through these posts from respected bloggers here, here and here.

I'll tell you what I see. I see a country quickly being made over in the image of a man who has no affection for it.

Key graph from item 1 (Power Line: The Dove That Dare Not Speak Its Name):

The DoJ determination takes us back to the administration's treatment of Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a criminal defendant. No reason of law or justice, history or tradition, supports the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et al. in federal court. Indeed, as Thomas Sowell observed, it is something of an obscenity.

Cloaking Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et al. with the constitutional protections afforded American citizens comes at a steep price. In the case of Omar Abdulmutallab the cost is foregone intelligence regarding the planning of future attacks on American citizens.


From item 2 (Power Line: John Brennan's Disgraceful Performance):

Brennan attempted to defend the decision to treat Abdulmutallab like an ordinary criminal defendant through the normal Obama dodge: Bush did it too [but] it is dishonest in this instance. In response to questiioning by Chris Wallace about why Abdulmutallab was allowed to "lawyer up" as if he were an ordinary criminal defendant, Brennan responded: "There were people who were arrested during the previous administration -- Richard Reid, the shoe bomber; Zacarias Moussaoui; Padilla; Lyman Faris; others -- all were charged and tried in criminal court and sentenced, some cases to life imprisonment."

But Wallace wasn't raising the issue of how Abdulmutallab should be tried; rather the issue was how he should be interrogated. Padilla was removed from the ordinary criminal system, treated as an enemy combatant, and harshly interrogated. Abdulmutallab was not. Thus, Brennan was not being candid in pretending that Abdulmutallab's treatment is the same...

At the back end of the process, after foreign terrorists have been interrogated, It is a serious mistake and something of a travesty to try them in federal court (Padilla is not a foreigner, though). But it is close to criminal, at the front end, to give foreign terrorists rights enjoyed by ordinary defendants that make it more difficult for us to obtain information from them that might well prevent future attacks and save lives.

And, finally, from item 3 (RedState: Could this actually be the greatest and potentially the deadliest of Obama’s screw ups so far?):

The White House is subtly blaming the intelligence community for the failure to deduce the Delta/Northwest attack.

Why?

"Presidential aides are concerned that Obama will somehow be unfairly accused of dropping the ball on the fight against terrorist in Yemen "

Because the President is worried about being blamed, the White House is trying to blame the CIA while at the same time undermining the CIA through a rush to publicize the Afghan attack.

Either this White House is willfully trying to sabotage the intelligence community or they are rank amateurs. I pray to God in Heaven it is the latter.

The Democrat Party -- whose unflagging motto shall forever be "This war is lost!" -- never fails to put partisan hackery over national security. Never. And this is why the Party of Weakness must be summarily dismissed from office in 2010.


Larwyn's Linx: The Depths of Failure Become Clear

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Nation

The Depths of Failure Become Clear: Strata-Sphere
Getting Serious: Belmont Club
How is Obama doing on fighting terror?: NQ

Want to Stop Obama's Agenda? Meet Scott Brown: Atlas
Why is Coakley hiding out?: RWN
McCain for Brown Video: LegalIns

Rethinking the Congressional Honorific: Langbert
Berkeley's Unbearable Whiteness of Science: AT
Obama's approach to terrorism blows up: Kelly

America Rising: an Open Letter to Democrats: HillBuzz
America Rising... (backup copy): AmPow
S.F.: homegrown anarchic totalitarianism: Bookworm

Economy

Housing Numbers Paint Bleak Outlook for 2010: BMW
The States and the Stimulus: WSJ
Postal boss moonlights for cash from corporations: Times

Is There More to the "Louisiana Purchase"?: SIGIS

Climate & Energy

Once In A Generation Cold Snap: RWN
Report AGW federal funding fraud, win valuable prizes!: Moe Lane
Dr. Neil Frank: 'You should be steamed' about Climategate': Chron

Climategate: Michael Mann's very unhappy New Year: Telegraph (UK)

Media

Why Is the President Always the Last to Know?: AmDig
Analyze this body language: InstaPundit
Avatar: the war against humans: NeoNeocon

You go to war with the TSA you have: Mullings
Your Tax Dollars at Work: NPR Mocks Tea Partiers: Riehl
Law & Order and Double Standards: PJM

The United States of Insanity: Charlie Daniels
Barack Obama - Another Failed Presidency: Maggie
Friedman's Bleat: "China’s Not Debating This At All": Driscoll

Obama and End-Stage Metastatic Liberalism: OneCos
'I think it is unfair and political to take pot shots at the president as we respond to this failure in our systems': Ace
Security we can believe in: Mirror

World

The Dove That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Power Line
John Kerry Denied Entry Into Iran: GWP
John Brennan's Disgraceful Performance: Power Line

Do we need a less aggressive force posture in Afghanistan?: CJ
Malmö: Airport bomb plot foiled: IIE
US Embassy in Yemen fails to get memo about 'human caused disasters', uses politically incorrect 'T' word: Ace

Obama to continue sending reinforcements to al Qaeda in Yemen: Prairie
Captain Awesome's Counter-Terrorism Honcho: Hey, Let's Offer Abdul a Sweet Deal if He Talks!: Ace
UK: Islamist radicals targeting snipers: IIE

SciTech

How to increase your vehicle fuel economy by 20% or more: BlogProf
The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality: TechPresident

Cornucopia

"Things I learned while watching Avatar": AmDig
Unemployed? Obama is Hiring: Cube
Daily Scoreboard: Surber

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Vintage Cartoon Fun



My New Sarah Palin Television Commercial

"I humbly prostrate myself and formally apologize for America's behavior during World War II, your highness."

DINGGG!

"Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war ... must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body."

DINGGG!

"Politics isn't just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good."

DINGGG!

Obama terror adviser: Nothing we can do until plane blows up

Dan from New York:

Attention: The System Worked As Well As Could Be Expected Dept.

Obama adviser: No smoking gun in airline bomb plot


WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. intelligence agencies did not miss a "smoking gun" that could have prevented an alleged attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday.

White House aide John Brennan cited "lapses" and errors in the sharing of intelligence and clues about the Nigerian man accused in the foiled attempt.

"There is no smoking gun," Brennan said. "There was no single piece of intelligence that said, 'this guy is going to get on a plane.'"

Brennan is leading a White House review of the incident. Obama has said there was a systemic failure to prevent the attack, which he said was instigated by an affiliate in Yemen of the al-Qaida terrorist network.

###

Geez, will someone please tell Sherlock Holmes here that a gun doesn't produce smoke until after the bullet is discharged. You know, as in "9/11 was the smoking gun that led U.S. intelligence (sic) agencies to conclude the al-Qaida terrorist network was behind the attack."


Possible "Smoking Gun"


Rabid Radicals Rage at Rasmussen Reports

Democrats are unhappy with one of the best pollsters in the business, asserting that Rasmussen Reports is biased -- and likening it to Fox News.

Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama’s popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.

The pointed attacks reflect a hardening conventional wisdom among prominent liberal bloggers and many Democrats that Rasmussen Reports polls are, at best, the result of a flawed polling model and, at worst, designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s national agenda.

That said, Politico goes on to report that Rasmussen is universally acknowledged -- even among progressive poll watchers -- as one of the best in the business.

Last year, the progressive website FiveThirtyEight.com’s pollster ratings, based on the 2008 presidential primaries, awarded Rasmussen the third-highest mark for its accuracy in predicting the outcome of the contests. And Rasmussen’s final poll of the 2008 general election — showing Obama defeating Arizona Sen. John McCain 52 percent to 46 percent — closely mirrored the election’s outcome.

Rasmussen, for his part, explained that his numbers are trending Republican simply because he is screening for only those voters most likely to head to the polls — a pool of respondents, he argues, that just so happens to bend more conservative this election cycle.

Indeed, the conservative trend is easy to explain, what with out-of-control Democrats in Washington greedily pushing for more taxes, more regulations and increased unemployment using vehicles like cap-n-trade, government-run health care, and full unionization of the workplace.

* * *

In related news, Democrats also blasted a long list of organizations for "biased and unfavorable reporting that hurts the administration's agenda". The list includes:

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics for continuing to report on double-digit unemployment and increased mass layoff events.

• USA Today for reporting that job losses during President Obama's rookie year exceeded the job losses in any single year since World War II.

• John Mauldin of Frontline for pointedly noting that almost every government-issued statistic is becoming "more and more distorted" (i.e., bogus).

• Various California newspapers for predicting that the state's home values have yet to hit bottom.

• Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge for warning that the U.S. Treasury stands at risk, stating: "Brace for impact: in 2010, demand for U.S. [bonds] has to increase eleven-fold... or else."

• Wells Fargo for warning that commercial real estate remains dramatically overpriced.

• John Williams of ShadowStats for stating unequivocally that "[the] U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon."

• Vincent Fernando of Business Insider for noting that the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the level of international trade, "is collapsing."

• Real estate brokers in California for warning that a tidal wave of "shadow inventory" -- foreclosed properties -- has yet to resurface on the market, which would have "a substantial impact on the [local] housing supply if they were to come onto the market" by crushing home values.

• The New York Times for reporting that as many as 6 million Americans have no income other than food stamps.

Democrats do, however, concede that most of the "biased reporting" issues will fade in importance as the federal government institutes its regulations for bloggers and bails out the newspaper business.


Larwyn's Linx: They Have Awoken a Sleeping Giant

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Nation

They Have Awoken a Sleeping Giant: GWP
Love the Warriors: Doc Zero
Southers: less than forthcoming all around: Power Line

The Joke's On Us: Steyn
Why the Health Care Bills are Unconstitutional: AT
INTERPOL immunity: the story that won't go away: Examiner

History is Knocking for Obama: AT (Lewis)
The Fractured Fairy Tales of the Left: OneCos
Charlie Crist Flees Tallahassee: Tackett

Mission Accomplished: Wizbang
We're in the best of hands: Wizbang
White House briefed in October on undie bombs: Patterico

Economy

It's official: Obama is the unemployment champion: GWP
Michigan tries to force unionize-private babysitters: BlogProf
NH roofer wears down attackers: Diana Vice

More Americans Relying on Food Stamps: Patterico
Mortgage mods have done more harm than good: Insider
Scary Shadow Inventory Numbers: NakedCap

Democrats to poor kids in DC: screw you: Cold Fury

Climate & Energy

Atmospheric CO2 levels have not increased: Wizbang

Media

Comic Book Hate: a New Chapter in Anti-Israel Bias at the New York Time: Tobin
Shock: TSA Nominee Southers Lied to Congress in Signed Affidavit: GWP
Bacon-eating conservative blogger asks, "How long ago was that?": R&R

LA Times: Somalis Are The New Mexicans: Riehl
Are Democrats thieves?: Mitchell Langbert
Glenn Greenwald's Absolute Tyranny: AmPower

I’m Not Sure If I’d Give These Optics A B-Plus: Driscoll
The White House Speaks: The Left Obeys: Verum Serum
Violence How-to: Crittenden

I dreamed of a world without AARP: BMW
Congrats to Mark Levin: RedState
Funniest Press Release of the Season, Or, My Gratitude to The New York Times: PJM (Kimball)

World

The Third Jihad: Destroying Western Civilization from Within: New Zeal
“Youths” Torch 1,137 Cars in France This New Year’s Eve: GWP
The Ethics of Profiling: PJM

The Jihad Decade Cometh: AT (Geller)
Yemenis could make Gitmo North more dangerous: Marathon
Terrorists Ayers and Dohrn stir up trouble on Gaza border: Jawa

Muslim World: Iran--The End Is Not Nigh: Spyer
Changing America’s Legal System To Gain Foreign Approval: MoneyRunner
Iran issues 'ultimatum' to West on nuke talks: Maktoob

Where Does The Buck Stop In The Knickerbomber Intelligence Failure? NiceDeb

SciTech

We All Know Facebook Site Hosts Terrorists, But This Site Needs To Be Known: Jawa
Toyota's 1st in safety recalls for 1st time: Detroit Free Press
What's coming: Will 2010 be a good year for tech?: PJM

Your Printer is a Narc: RSM
2 Billion to Watch Opening of Burj Dabai: Maktoob

Cornucopia

Viral Video Legends Compilation: Ace
Sand artist Kseniya Simonova: GrandRants
An Urgent Message: Parkway Rest Stop

Battle Croc-Pot: Michelle's Mirror
...and the coolest dude of 2009 is:: Borepatch

Saturday, January 02, 2010

This is why Google rocks

Find a feature every day. A search for movie megasite rotten tomatoes along with a movie title yields some results...

...and some suggestions.

And a search inside the site box.

Wow. That's new.

Papa B's Predictions for 2010

Need some cheering up after ShadowStats' description of an inescapable "financial Armageddon"? Well, Papa B's predictions for the new year definitely won't fit the bill. Go check out SondraK for uplifting frivolity.

1. The world and our economy is going to get uglier. The crushing debt will impact virtually every aspect of the economy. The market has been propped up but this will end. Stocks are a bad bet, SPY could hit 600 or lower. Cash is king and gold is good. Bonds are problematic. Hunker down, save all that you can; home repair and improvement is a good investment -- not for resale, but for your personal use and comfort.

2. Real estate will get worse. As leases expire, malls and commercial property will get darker. For example, I track the metro Atlanta area and it appears to have a 12- to 15-year supply of office property and 20% vacancy rates now. More stores will start to close after the January-February post-Christmas sales finish. Department store chains like Dillards and Macy's will start to consolidate stores believing that they can serve a metro area with six stores instead of twelve. In residential property, Fanny and Freddy are disasters and they will end up as government entities as will many banks. Residential remains ugly.

3. Health care will pass, at least in some form. And because the costs kick in immediately while benefits are delayed for four years, Democrats will suffer big losses in 2010. These, however, may still not be enough to shift control -- but the big trigger will be jobs. Another stimulus will not happen. All the state government jobs that were created will be eliminated since the states cannot afford to maintain them. Unemployment will worsen... but the government statistics will not reflect it. There are too many that are already not included in the metrics. Democrats will try to extend unemployment comp which is already at 99 weeks. That won't help. Democrats won't do what is needed to create jobs: suspend withholding, eliminate capital gains, etc. because the far left won't permit it. We will see at least 50% of the people not paying any taxes at all.

4. Lots of trade wars... and it will get ugly with China. On the plus side, we'll see a resurgence of small business manufacturing and entrepreneurship. It will be a great time to start a business. This will cause prices to rise but I don't see oil increasing much.

5. Terrorism is a real threat... the politics of Gitmo and Holder have had an impact on our entire security infrastructure. Terrorists think we are weak and our own citizens will ask, "what's the point?" If anything will truly impact the next presidential election, this and immigration will be the levers. Some jihadist will cross the border and commit a terrorist act and, all of a sudden, we'll realize we are vulnerable. Combine this with the fact that illegals are taking jobs... and you will see another backlash.

6. The issues with Iran... will be resolved either because they change internally (low probability) or the world steps in. Russia and China know out that if Israel goes to war, everyone gets involved. And we .....we do have 200,000 military close to the Iranian border.

With respect to politics, Papa B goes on to hope for some sort of "centrist consensus", but we all know that must be satire.


20 Funniest Sports Signs

Ray sent this one in.























Most reassuring headline of the year (so far)

Obama to scrutinize intel system for gapsDon't know about you folks, but I feel like I'm wrapped in a warm cocoon of safety now.


Larwyn's Linx: Democrats Officially Kill Successful DC Voucher Program

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Nation

Democrats Officially Kill Successful DC Voucher Program: BigGovt
Panicked Nelson backtracks on Medicaid bribe: TrueSlant
Don’t Worry, Honey, It’s Just Another 'Isolated Extremist': PJM

Preview of ObamaCare: Mayo stops admitting Medicare patients: Ace
Directions for Victory: 2010 GOP Roadmap: PJTV
Which would you choose to protect your daughter?: TAB

MA: Scott Brown's Campaign Starts Rolling: GWP
Pantybomber exposes naked bureaucracy: Steyn
More Americans live in segregation now than 40 years ago: BlogProf

Cone of Shame Nominees '09: Malkin
Is this the deadliest of Obama’s screw ups?: RedState

Economy

A housing bubble on the taxpayers’ dime: FlAces
Obama Gives Big Labor Another Gift in Final Days of 2009: BigGovt
Pet store must post sign 'We don't sell Human Slaves': BlogProf

Hijacking the Private Sector, the SEIU and Blago Way: BigGovt
Rare Tortoises Could Stand in Way of California Solar-Energy Complex: WBK

Climate & Energy

Dr. North's One Man Crusade To Expose Corruption: Wolf
No Increase of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years: Watts
Aussie Moonbats Call for Stonings of Climate Skeptics: CBullitt

Pachauri: friends of friends: EU Referendum
Pachauri: the enigma (Part II): EU Referendum
Pachauri: the enigma (Part III): EU Referendum

Climategate: Who's in denial now?: I Love CO2
The Gore Effect: Blizzard squelches global warming protest: StlTrib

Media

Its a Wrap: The Most Underreported Stories of 2009: BigGovt
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, except after 1-20-09: NewsBusters
NBC's Robach: 'Will [Palin] Ever Just Go Away?': NewsBusters

2009 Best Posts of the Year: InstaPundit
David Broder's love note to Janet Napolitano: MoneyRunner

World

America Retreats... Mullahs Advance: AT (Lewis)
Iran's Script to Get the Bomb: PJM
Suicide in Slow Motion: Seraphic Secret

Police Shoot Axe-Wielding Al-Qaeda Terrorist Entering Danish Cartoonist’s Home: GWP
Who's Giving?: iOwnTheWorld
Top Egypt clerics back Gaza tunnel block: Maktoob

SciTech

Never mind the Nexus One, how about a cheaper cell plan?: Macworld
Focus on Internet imams as Al Qaeda recruiters: CNet
Gadgets: iOTW

Cornucopia

The Year in Pictures: Pundette
Resolution 2010: Classic Liberal
Wizards teammates pulled guns on each other: Times

Best acceptance speech of all time: DPU (Language Warning)

QOTD:

"Moonbats would be a rich resource of entertainment if they weren't slowly killing us all." -- Bubba


Friday, January 01, 2010

'The U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon'

Tyler Durden points us to a fascinating take on the economy by John Williams of ShadowStats.com. ShadowStats attempts to reconstruct accurate versions of important metrics like the CPI (Consumer Price Index); the assumption is that the government's formulae have morphed over the years to help it minimize cost-of-living increases and other expenses.

I'll give ya a little warning up front. If you're looking for cheery news, click on over to Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. But if you're up for a cold bucket of reality doused in your face, read on.

The U.S. economic and systemic solvency crises of the last two years are just precursors to a Great Collapse: a hyperinflationary great depression. Such will reflect a complete collapse in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar, a collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity, a collapse in the U.S. financial system as we know it, and a likely realignment of the U.S. political environment.

Aside from that, expect the status quo.

The current U.S. financial markets, financial system and economy remain highly unstable and vulnerable to unexpected shocks. The Federal Reserve is dedicated to preventing deflation, to debasing the U.S. dollar. The results of those efforts are being seen in tentative selling pressures against the U.S. currency and in the rallying price of gold.

Put another way: have you ever seen the movie Road Warrior?

The crises have been generated out of and are centered on the United States financial system, triggered by the collapse of debt excesses actively encouraged by the Greenspan Federal Reserve. Recognizing that the U.S. economy was sagging under the weight of structural changes created by government trade, regulatory and social policies -- policies that limited real consumer income growth -- Mr. Greenspan played along with the political and banking systems. He made policy decisions to steal economic activity from the future [by encouraging borrowing], fueling economic growth of the last decade largely through debt expansion...

...As with consumers, the federal government could not make ends meet while appeasing that portion of the electorate that could be kept docile by ever-expanding government programs and increasing government spending. The solution was ever-expanding federal debt and deficits.

That's why federal spending above its revenues should be illegal, punishable by crucifixion (or perhaps something even more painful).

Purportedly, it was Arthur Burns, Fed Chairman under Richard Nixon, who first offered the advice that helped to guide Alan Greenspan and a number of Administrations. The gist of the wisdom imparted was that if you ran into problems, you could ignore the budget deficit and the dollar. Ignoring them did not matter, because doing so would not cost you any votes.

Back in 2005, I raised the issue of a then-inevitable U.S. hyperinflation with an advisor to both the Bush Administration and Fed Chairman Greenspan. I was told simply that "It's too far into the future to worry about."

Oops!

Indeed, pushing the big problems into the future appears to have been the working strategy for both the Fed and recent Administrations. Yet, the U.S. dollar and the budget deficit do matter, and the future is at hand. The day of ultimate financial reckoning has arrived, and it is playing out.

Skeptical? Need proof?

Effective financial impairments and at least partial nationalizations or orchestrated bailouts/takeovers resulted for institutions such as Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Washington Mutual, AIG, General Motors, Chrysler, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with a number of further troubled financial institutions. The Fed moved to provide whatever systemic liquidity would be needed, while the federal government moved to finance corporate bailouts and to introduce significant stimulus spending.

Curiously, though, the Fed and the Treasury let Lehman Brothers fail outright, which triggered a foreseeable run on the system and markedly intensified the systemic solvency crisis in September 2008. Whether someone was trying to play political games, with the public and Congress increasingly raising questions of moral hazard issues, or whether the U.S. financial wizards missed what would happen or simply moved to bring the crisis to a head, remains to be seen.

Knowing the brilliant minds in Congress, I suspect we could hazard a guess. Kids, can you spell "in-com-pe-tence"?

Before the systemic solvency crisis began to unfold in 2007, the U.S. government already had condemned the U.S. dollar to a hyperinflationary grave by taking on debt and obligations that never could be covered through raising taxes and/or by severely slashing government spending that had become politically untouchable. The U.S. economy also already had entered a severe structural downturn, which helped to trigger the systemic solvency crisis.

The intensifying economic and solvency crises, and the responses to both by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve in the last two years, have exacerbated the government's solvency issues and moved forward my timing estimation for the hyperinflation to the next five years, from the 2010 to 2018 timing range estimated in the prior report. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-moneyed special interests, gross mismanagement, and a deliberate and ongoing effort to debase the U.S. currency. Accordingly, risks are particularly high of the hyperinflation crisis breaking within the next year.

What the --- ? You mean the Stimulus isn't going to work?

The U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon. Bankrupt sovereign states most commonly use the currency printing press as a solution to not having enough money to cover obligations. The alternative would be for the U.S. to renege on its existing debt and obligations, a solution for modern sovereign states rarely seen outside of governments overthrown in revolution, and a solution with no happier ending than simply printing the needed money. With the creation of massive amounts of new fiat dollars (not backed by gold or silver) will come the eventual destruction of the value of the U.S. dollar and related dollar-denominated paper assets.

What lies ahead will be extremely difficult, painful and unhappy times for many in the United States. The functioning and adaptation of the U.S. economy and financial markets to a hyperinflation likely would be particularly disruptive. Trouble could range from turmoil in the food distribution chain to electronic cash and credit systems unable to handle rapidly changing circumstances. The situation quickly would devolve from a deepening depression, to an intensifying hyperinflationary great depression.

Does that mean Jim Cramer's Mad Money will finally get canceled?

While the economic difficulties would have global impact, the initial hyperinflation should be largely a U.S. problem, albeit with major implications for the global currency system. For those living in the United States, long-range strategies should look to assure safety and survival, which from a financial standpoint means preserving wealth and assets. Also directly impacted, of course, are those holding or dependent upon U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated assets, and those living in "dollarized" countries.

Just so you get the picture, Williams offers a case study: Mugabe's fascist utopia.

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, the former Rhodesia, was a quadrillion times worse than it was in Weimar Germany. Zimbabwe went through a number of years of high inflation, with an accelerating hyperinflation from 2006 to 2009, when the currency was abandoned. Through three devaluations, excess zeros repeatedly were lopped off notes as high as 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars.

The cumulative devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar was such that a stack of 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (26 zeros) two dollar bills (if they were printed) in the peak hyperinflation would have be needed to equal in value what a single original Zimbabwe two-dollar bill of 1978 had been worth. Such a pile of bills literally would be light years high, stretching from the Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy.

In early-2009, the governor of the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank indicated he felt his actions in printing money were vindicated by the recent actions of the U.S. Federal Reserve. If the U.S. went through a hyperinflation like that of Zimbabwe’s, total U.S. federal debt and obligations (roughly $75 trillion with unfunded liabilities) could be paid off for much less than a current penny.

What helped to enable the evolution of the Zimbabwe monetary excesses over the years, while still having something of a functioning economy, was the back-up of a well functioning black market in U.S. dollars. The United States has no such backup system, however, with implications for a more rapid and disruptive hyperinflation than seen in Zimbabwe, when it hits.

Cheered up yet? Well I, for one, have the utmost confidence in President Training Wheels.


Linked by: InstaPundit and Gateway Pundit. Thanks!