Proposition Voter Recommendations from California Tea Party Conservatives

The following voter proposition recommendations are from San Diego's North County Conservatives. A PDF file is enclosed in this post, and is available for download here.

Official NCC Ballot Positions

Prop 30 - OPPOSE
Prop 31 - OPPOSE
Prop 32 - SUPPORT
Prop 33 - (Lean) SUPPORT
Prop 34 - OPPOSE
Prop 35 - SUPPORT

Prop 36 - OPPOSE

Prop 37 - OPPOSE

Prop 38 - OPPOSE

Prop 39 - OPPOSE

Prop 40 - OPPOSE

NOTE: Props 32, 33 and 35 are the only ones that we SUPPORT with a YES vote. 

Other proposition recommendations are available from my friends at the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition and by citizen journalists at the San Diego Local Order of Bloggers.

Additional to the voter guides, Tea Parties are organizing to do Election Integrity Project training for poll workers and observers. Here are a few dates and locations.

Friday, Sept. 28 RANCHO S.D.
Rancho SD Library
11555 Via Rancho San Diego
El Cajon, CA 92020
9:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 29 ESCONDIDO
Mike’s Barbecue
1356 West Valley Parkway
12:00-3:30 p.m.
*PLEASE come at 11:00 and enjoy a Mike’s BBQ lunch!!

Redistribution of Wealth via Printing Money

I have been struggling to explain the extreme economic danger we face due to the Federal Reserve's Quantitative Easing 3 (QE3). The danger comes in three parts. We will end with a quick explanation of how printing money is redistribution of wealth.

First, European central bankers recently stated that they could print as much money as they wanted with no concern for inflation, just as our Federal Reserve (The Fed), because the money goes to banks.Banks hold the money for their required reserves or trade with other large financial institutions, but the money, supposedly, does not get into the general economy and cause inflation.

This is dangerously stupid, of course the money eventually trickles-down into the economy. Printing money is monetary trickle down economics. There is one key difference, instead of savers inventively using the money to invest in new ideas, banks are regulated in how they can distribute the money. It is regulatory picking of winners and losers.

Second, our Federal Reserve (The Fed) purchases government bonds in competition with the free market. This forces down the cost of selling bonds and keeps interest rates low.

If I need to borrow $100, you might lend it to me at 10% interest and collect $110. When the U.S. Government borrows money, The Fed steps in and loans the money at under 1%. This drives down the cost of U.S. Government borrowing which in-turn sets all interest rates low. You cannot loan me that money and earn $10, because the Fed crowded you out of the market. Other interest rates are linked to the U.S. Government's interest rate because it is considered the safest and thus the base interest rate.

Ask retirees on fixed incomes how this hurts them.

Because inflation is currently higher than interest rates, savers and retirees are forced into riskier assets in order to preserve wealth. If inflation is 2.5% and you only earn 1% on your savings, you are losing wealth. So, investors put their money into real estate, gold or the stock market to earn more than 2.5%, but at a higher risk level.

Also, investors run away from cash because the printing of money instills fear that dollars will lose value. America has suffered three credit rating downgrades since the Obama Administration's massive spending starting with the "shovel ready" stimulus in 2009. As people lose confidence in our government, they lose confidence in our currency.

Gold prices are inversely related to the value of money, as gold is purchased with money. Gold has not become more scarce, dollars have become less valuable.

Third, financial institutions and banks loan the newly printed money to people who want to buy homes. Congress, regulators, and disgraced lawyers like Barack Obama force banks into lending money even when it is not financially sound. The banks are given incentives and face penalties or take-over by the government if they do not comply. This has the net effect of inflating the price of housing.

Economically, this is justified by the belief that the inflated housing prices create paper equity which then increases the confidence people have in the economy (consumer confidence). Reported inflation has so far stayed low because housing prices have been going down while food, energy and other prices have increased. Housing prices are a large portion of the reported inflation statistics. As housing prices increase, inflation numbers will rise, which in-turn will force savers into investments with even greater risk. Further pushing investments in real estate and creating a new housing bubble, the very reason our economy exploded in the first place.

Redistribution of Wealth

ObamaCare includes many new taxes. One new tax is a 3.8% tax on the sale of real estate and other "investment income."

A 3.8% surtax on "investment income" when your adjusted gross income is more than $200,000 ($250,000 for joint-filers). What is "investment income?" Dividends, interest, rent, capital gains, annuities, house sales, partnerships, etc. Taxes on dividends will rise from 15% to 18.8%--if Congress extends the Bush tax cuts. If Congress does not extend the Bush tax cuts, taxes on dividends will rise from 15% to a shocking 43.8%.

As stated by Fox News:

The ObamaCare Surtax on Investment Income

Under current law, the capital gains tax rate for all Americans rises from 15 to 20 percent in 2013, while the top dividend rate rises from 15 to 39.6 percent. The new ObamaCare surtax takes the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and top dividend rate to 43.4 percent. The tax will take a minimum of $123 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years.

In other words, the plan is to inflate your assets and then tax those inflated assets at an increased rate. The additional taxes are largely targeted for the new entitlement program known as ObamaCare. Even if ObamaCare is repealed, some of the new taxes are tied to the Bush Tax cuts which end in 2013. The income will not be spent to reduce the debt, so it will simply be redistributed.

The increased risk of investing required to keep up with inflation and taxes will cause some people to lose their life savings. Americans who sell homes at inflated prices, the gains will be taxed away without regard to inflation. Americans will be pushed into higher income tax brackets and 31 million Americans may face the Alternative Minimum Tax. New ObamaCare taxes will further drain our bank accounts. Property taxes will rise.

The increased tax money will not pay down the debt. All of this additional income will be redistributed by politicians in order to purchase dependency voters. Now, is printing money worse than you thought?

Vote for Mitt and help fight Doo Doo Economics!

Obama: "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam"

Barack Obama seems to be joining Muslim leaders in the United Nations as they pursue a ban on criticism of Islam worldwide. Excerpted from the full transcript of President Obama's speech at the UN today:

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support.

We use bold to put President Obama's comments in the actual context in which they will be received.

Does anyone think that appeasing words will be placed in a reasonable context as they are transmitted around the Islamic world? Of course not.

Islam is unlike western religions because it is a theocratic political system. Because it is a political system, war is one of it's tools. Right now Islamic leaders in the United Nations are defining the violent political doctrine of Islam as equivalent to the horrors of the Holocaust committed against Jews.

 “I am the prime minister of a nation, of which most are Muslims, that has declared anti-Semitism a crime against humanity. But the West hasn’t recognized Islamophobia as a crime against humanity. It has encouraged it,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters last week.

Turkey heads the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a body of 57 nations, which has long pushed for a U.N. resolution condemning the “defamation of religion.”

Anyone who appeases the idea that fear of political terrorism is "Islamophobia" is unthinking.

We have enclosed a transcript of President Obama speech and another version of the transcript is available online from National Journal.

Shocking Photos of President Obama Released

Questions about President Obama's past have resurfaced with the revelation of several leaked photos. The above photo is apparently a meeting with Karl Marx. How can this be?

Apparently, apparently famous painter, Isaak Israiljewitsch Brodsky caught this moment between President Obama and Soviet Communist Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) at Smolny, in 1930.

This could be Chinese communist Mao Zedong as a boy with Barack Obama. 

More recent photos are just as disturbing but for an entirely different reason. The woman in the photo was tracked to this website. Truly shocking...

Hat Tip: Karin

Obama Lying to Women About Rape

Enough. The entire "legitimate"/"forcible" rape discussion is a complete misrepresentation of the facts. That the media continues the lie is a disgustingly bias mutilation of the American system. The fact that this is now spun into a statement on women's health care is simply intolerable.

Allow me to set the record straight, then you can decide to continue reading or not.

Republicans are not against women's health, they are opposed to the government forcing Catholics and others into paying for abortions. The entire #WarOnWomen is a fantasy created to scare women into voting for Barack Obama.

Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin mistakenly used the term "legitimate" in place of "forcible" when discussing rape. Everyone in the news business understands the difference between statutory rape and "forcible rape." The difference is the lack of consent.

The term "forcible rape" is a legal definition used to distinguish between statutory rape and non-consensual rape. The term is used by legislators and law enforcement in the United States and in United Nations statistics.

Some types of rape are excluded from official reports altogether (the FBI's definition, for example, used to exclude all rapes except forcible rapes of females)

Statutory rapes are legally different and carry different criminal penalties than forcible rapes.

These definitions have important consequences to legislation. For example, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R)  recently removed the term "forcible" from legislation that may have harmed young victims of statutory rape, by forcing them to contact their rapist for child support before being able to qualify for state childcare assistance.

Lets look at the full context of the Todd Akin statement, in the event there is any doubt that his intention was to distinguish between statutory and forcible rape. His full comments during the Jaco Report interview is available here. The abortion and rape comments occurring in part two around the 1:56 mark:



After watching the entire context, it is clear that Rep. Akin

• Rep. Akin was very emotional at the moment he was speaking.
• Does not believe that it is impossible to get pregnant from a rape.
• He meant to distinguish between statutory rape and forcible rape. A point which he further explains here.

In addition to the Missouri Senatorial Candidate's recent comments, the media has attempted to tie Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan to the misstatement. The connection is attempted through the expressed legislative language "Forcible rape" within a recent proposed bill. A bill that neither Rep. Paul Ryan nor Rep. Todd Akin wrote, but both had supported as cosponsors in an effort to reduce public funding of abortion. The bill was titled: the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act."

In the original language, it also allowed exceptions in cases of "forcible rape." The term provoked an outcry from critics, who said that rape is by definition committed by force and that lawmakers were seeking to exclude from coverage certain kinds of rape by adding the modifier - for example, cases in which the victim was underage or unconscious.

The bill now would allow exceptions in all cases of rape.

A spokesman for Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), a chief sponsor of the bill, said Thursday that lawmakers decided to change the term because it was being "misconstrued."

(Update) Politifact has joined us in this fact finding mission:

For perspective, we checked the cosponsors of both the 2010 and 2011 introductions of the bill using THOMAS, the congressional database.

The version introduced July 29, 2010, included among its eventual 186 cosponsors all 20 Texas Republicans plus two Democrats -- Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi and Henry Cuellar of Laredo -- from the 32-member Texas delegation.
...
We looped back to Angle with our findings on the cosponsors and the intent of the bill. Angle told us that he believes the Texas Republicans showed by cosponsoring the bill that they supported making a legal distinction between rape and forcible rape.

Additionally, the bill had sparked a heated debate in which major far left abortion advocates became unhinged.

The "Protect Life Act" would prohibit federal funding of abortions under the national health care overhaul. It also would prevent funding from being withheld from institutions that are opposed to providing abortions.
...
The heated emotions surrounding the abortion debate were on display at Tuesday's Senate Democratic news conference. Lautenberg said the Pitts and Smith bills sound "like a third-world country that's requiring women to wear head shawls, cover their faces even if they don't want to do it."

The emotional nature of the debate made any mention of abortion a misconstrued mess in the minds of the far left. This is the entire genesis of the false narrative attempting to tie Paul Ryan and the distinction between statutory rape and forcible rape to a Missouri candidate who mistakenly used the term "legitimate."

Rep. Paul Ryan has since clarified the situation by making a public statement that the term "forcible rape" is stock language when writing laws.

Can the media and the Obama campaign now stop with the lies? No.

President Obama and his allies in the media are a bunch of liars who try to use scare tactics against women. It is simply DISGUSTING. The government controlled media and the Democrats are a disgrace.

The Obama States of America: A Sliding City Down A Hill

President Obama has officially desecrated the flag per the US Flag Code. His campaign is selling the above flag on a poster. This alteration is a violation of the following section of the US Flag Code.

4 USC CHAPTER 1 - THE FLAG
Sec. 10. Modification of rules and customs by President
-STATUTE-
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the
United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered,
modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may
be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the
United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable;
and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a
proclamation.

This blunder has raised questions and outrage. For instance why five stripes? Does it relate to the five pillars of Islam? Why does it look so similar to the images from the terrorist attack in Libya? An attack that occurred BEFORE any demonstrations per eyewitnesses.

On another front, it is now clear that the Secret Service prostitution scandal was a cover to protect White House staff.

“Three U.S. delegation members that stayed at the Hilton brought prostitutes back as overnight guests. One of them was ours (Secret Service) and the other two were White House staffers,” a high-ranking Secret Service official told FoxNews.com. “We knew very early that White House staffers were involved.” http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/prostitution-scandal-to-cite-white-house-staff/

Let us end with Fellow San Diego Local Order of Bloggers' author Beers with Demo who points out the creepiness of Jim Messina, the Obama 2012 campaign director, that blows my ObamaCare Bear out of the water...

QE3 Downgrades America's Credit Rating to AA-

QE stands for Quantitative Easing (QE).  Doo Doo Economics, and our fellow San Diego bloggers, have been dissecting this farce. In short, the Fed buys government bonds. This means the U.S. government buys its own debt with money that is created out of thin air. This has happened 3 times in the last 4 years and America has suffered three credit downgrades as a result. 

Temple of Mut has a nice overview of QE3 to help you get grounded on the subject.

The latest credit downgrade, from AA to AA-, occurred on September 14, 2012:

"(The) Fed's QE3 will stoke the stock market and commodity prices but in our opinion (it) will hurt the U.S. economy and, by extension, credit quality," Egan-Jones said in a statement about the latest quantitative easing program.

Moody's Investors Service currently rates the United States Aaa, Fitch rates the country AAA, and Standard & Poor's rates the country AA-plus. All three of those ratings have a negative outlook.

Fellow SLOBs author Leslie Eastman from Temple of Mut and yours truly will be on CANTO TALK  ( 7 pm Pacific Time, 9 pm Central Time — click HERE) tonight discussing the QE3. We will be discussing whether QE3 is the Answer to our economic problems.  

ETF Daily asks, "Who Will Really Benefit from QE3?"

Despite two previous rounds of quantitative easing, median household income has still fallen for four years in a row, the employment rate has not bounced back since the end of the last recession, and new home sales have remained near record lows.

Well, they have driven up the prices of financial assets.  Those that own stocks (INDEXSP:.INX) have done very well the past couple of years.  So who owns stocks?  The wealthy do.  In fact, 82 percent of all individually held stocks are owned by the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans.  Those that have invested in commodities have also done very nicely in recent years.  We have seen gold (NYSEARCA:GLD), silver (NYSEARCA:SLV), oil (NYSEARCA:USO) and agricultural commodities all do very well.

In short, ETF Daily reveals that the rich benefit from Quantitative Easing. This is in effect the Federal Reserve's version of trickle down economics with one difference. Monetary policy, the Fed's area of responsibility, is not suited to dealing with unemployment, the stated goal of the QE3.

Fellow SLOBs author W.C. Varones concurs, but with more succinctness:

Printing money doesn't create jobs. So Bernanke has just committed to giving us stagflation for as long as he can until inflation gets too out of control.

The 1% thank Zimbabwe Ben for jamming their stocks, gold, and silver higher.

In reality, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke understands this disconnect. Tax policy can entice a small business into hiring a new employee with tax breaks and credits, but monetary policy rewards financial asset investments and debt. So, the unstated goal of the money printing is to pay for the Obama administration's trillion-plus-dollars-per-year deficits.

Our national debt has been so inflamed and become so dangerous that we now face the fiscal cliff of sequestration. That is another topic for another day.  So, to wrap up, lets point out an article focusing on how QE3 will also benefit the seven safest banks in America. Enjoy!

Bonus video: The Show by Linka because it ends with, "I want my money back, I want my money back..."

Hate America Day

Today, Occupy Wall Street celebrates it's one year anniversary of opposing America's financial system. Also, Islamic radicals are calling for anti-American protests across the Arab world. Violence is likely, so we are calling today "Hate America Day."

It also happens to be Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

Kabul, Afghanistan is already under attack. An American children's school in Tunis, Tunisia was burnt down on Friday. Luckily, the 100 American children had been evacuated a few hours before.  Four Americans were killed in Zabul, Afghanistan. Morocco, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Kuwait, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq and Israel have also recently suffered attackes on American offices. We will be watching how Hate America Day plays out.

President Obama's administration continues to call the attacks in Libya "spontaneous" despite the military style assault and Libya's government stating that the attack was pre-planned. Further, threats had been identified three days prior to the attacks.

“The situation is frightening, it scares us,” Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, reportedly told U.S. envoys. He added that this was not the first time he had warned them and that he had repeatedly cautioned that security was deteriorating, advice which was apparently ignored.

All of this is the consequence of electing a supermassively incompetent, amateur who does not understand reality, finances or foreign policy. President Obama has set false expectations in the middle east and it has made the world a more dangerous place. He appropriately claims "no actionable intelligence."

At least, Rep. Michelle Bachmann is asking the right questions.

Obama Graphics For Fellow Bloggers, Fair News and Other Truth Tellers

In light of recent events, we are issuing the following graphics to assist fellow truth tellers. We ask only an attribution link for your use. If you are generous with your links, we are including links to some related merchandise. In short, feel free to use these graphics and it doesn't matter if you agree with me or want to use them against me.

During the last 24 hours, President Obama's Injustice Department has arrested a man for making a bad movie. He was taken for "voluntary questioning." Luckily for him, On September 12, 2012, Judge Katherine Forrest ruled that the so-called “indefinite detention” provision of the fiscal 2012 National Defense Authorization Act violates the Constitution and issued a permanent injunction against its use. (h/t fellow SLOBs: Beers with Demo, The Scratching Post, Temple of Mut, Beer with Demo )

Additionally, a CNN reporter tweeted an Obama Campaign donation link to his CNN followers. Before becoming aware of the CNN twitter story, stuck in a department store waiting area, CNN was viewed for about 2 minutes. CNN was running a story on "Why is Obama so Cool?" The vile campaign-ad-disguised-as-news included a segment explaining that Obama was cool in high school and adopted a Hawaiian slogan, "keep it cool" or some such thing. David Axelrod then touted the greatness of Obama's coolness. Next, President Obama pronounced in an interview that he didn't work in the evening because he was spending family time. He added that some people thought that he was disengaged from his duties, but it was actually due to the stage of life that his family is in.


The CNN reporter added that his daughters would be old enough to want their own space soon. The President confirmed that "they are already getting there" or some such thing. Most Americans work for a living, they are occassionally interrupted by work in their "off hours." Seemingly urgent items like Ambassadors being murdered and Navy Seals engaging in two-hour-long gun battles pop up at inconvenient times, even at 3 A.M. or prior to a Las Vegas trip. CNN disgusted me beyond my tolerance level.

So, in honor of the Obama campaign's #WarOn campaigns, lets end with some Halloween style graphics...

Small 66x66

Medium 384x384

Large 1075x1250

Not Animated Version

...have fun.

QE3 is Doo Doo Economics

The study of Economics is not genius. 

Macro economics is simply thinking about how a reasonable person would react to a particular economic policy in a free market. Thinking about this question leads to differences in opinion. Economics, the study of capitalism, is based upon reason and logic but tempered by insights into culture and human nature.

The Liberator Today has a nice summary as to why printing money, known as Quantitative Easing (QE) is Doo Doo Economics for America, just as it was in Japan during the 1990's. (italics ours):

• Low interest rates make it harder for retirement eligible to actually retire, they are getting little return for their money. (Less retirement leads to less hiring and fresh ideas.)

• Interest rates are a measure of the time value of money. By setting it at zero, there is no urgency about investment decisions.

• Because those who live on fixed savings, have less to spend, they spend less, harming the economic recovery.

• Investment isn't increasing at zero rates, because once rates fall below the rate of inflation, the only consideration is whether the principle can be paid back. If inflation is at 2.5%, then reducing interest rates from 2.5% to 1.5% or even zero percent will have no effect on investment, so there is no offset to the fact that savers have less to spend.

• Zero rates allow otherwise worthless loans to appear to be performing, as the borrower can make nominal payments. But it delays the necessary economic unwinding necessary for real economic recovery. (Bad investments are not reallocated.)

Lets add to this pile:

• Older Americans traditionally own homes, but because of low fixed incomes they are being forced into "reverse mortgages." These Americans are selling their biggest asset at the currently depressed market value. This is a net destruction of wealth on main street. Wall Street buys up the homes at cheap prices and further concentrates wealth. Banks and financial professionals who benefited from TARP and other bailouts leverage tax money to beat main street.
• The fear of the fiscal cliff, uncertainty about regulations and future costs associated with ObamaCare are not addressed by printing money. 
• The new money is injected into banks in the hope that these banks will use the money to spur economic growth. This is logical, but has not panned out. It is the basis for the charge that "trickle down does not work."  Trickle down works when wealth is kept by individuals because they efficiently use the additional money to create new wealth. Large banks are regulated to ensure that they protect wealth. 

We want to add one more insight because we have not seen it anywhere. If you have seen a better explanation, please let us know!

Monetary Policy is not suited to dealing with unemployment.

The Fed has been tasked with lowering unemployment. This is a new development during the Obama administration. Traditionally the target of Fed policy is low inflation. Monetary policy is not suited to reducing unemployment.

Reaganomics was the supply side answer to the problems caused by demand site Keynesian policy that dominated economic theory through the great depression and the 1970's. The goal was to end "stagflation,"  high inflation and high unemployment. However, the success of Reaganomics included monetary policy focused upon lowering inflation and eventually lowering interest rates.

Keynesians believe that unemployment and inflation exist as an inverse relationship, IE The Phillips Curve. This belief worked during the post WWII era of American economic dominance and mostly full employment and moderate inflation. However, this idea meant that stagflation was impossible, yet it happened and is possibly starting again today.

The Fed can control inflation, but reasonable people looking for employment take into account inflation when considering wages. There is no employment trade-off in raising the rate of inflation except in the short run. It does not reduce the cost of employees. This is the reason that Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker dissented against this policy. The short run is over.

America has a shrinking labor force and high unemployment. A shrinking labor force puts pressure on employers to find qualified employees. Employees become more valuable and harder to replace. Employees become more scarce, unemployment should fall and wages should rise. We hear that there are over three million open jobs in America that lack qualified employees, so this holds during the Obama (Doo Doo) Economy.

However, the median income of Americans has fallen under President Obama, 1.5% just in 2011. 53% of college graduates are unemployed. Overall, 8% of Americans are unemployed and 17% are underemployed.

Workers take into account inflation when considering compensation. Government welfare programs act as an alternative to work and are adjusted for inflation. Crime is an increasingly viable alternative to work. When employment is high and interest rates are above inflation, additional money supplies can entice workers into participating to get a piece of the new wealth. When available workers cannot keep pace with inflation and fail to see wealth creation around themselves, there is no significant incentive.

It is my contention that because interest rates are below the level of inflation, there is a negative influence upon traditional asset investments, and worker's investment in their own skills. It is not reasonable to invest money in an asset that does not generating wealth. It is not reasonable to invest in an asset that is paid through welfare and cannot increase its generation of wealth. Money supply does not influence this.

Lets call this what it is, an excuse to devalue the dollar in order to deal with the massive Obama deficits. It is a hidden tax. It has little to do with employment, and Ben Bernanke knows it.

Give me liberty or give me debt.

FED Commits to Devalue the Dollar by $40 Billion Per Month: Updated

(9/13/2012 11:27 AM) Bloomberg has an excellent article on the subject HERE:

The Federal Reserve said it will expand its holdings of long-term securities with open-ended purchases of $40 billion of mortgage debt a month in a third round of quantitative easing as it seeks to boost growth and reduce unemployment.

Most people have seen this coming. It is the intersection of election year politics and monetary policy. The money printing is tied to the unemployment rate and assumes that the rate will eventually fall to an acceptable level. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker dissented and added that interest rates will need to be raised in 2013 in order to deal with inflation.

Standard Keynesian economics ties inflation and unemployment in an inverse relationship that has not existed since the 1970's. We will get the intentional inflation, but unemployment will remain stagnant. Yes, Lacker is being honest, we can't have that.

For those of us who invested in gold, a live AU chart is available here to watch your investment skyrocket.

For most Americans, the price of gold is not rising, the value of the dollar is falling. Thankfully for the Fed, most Americans have their eye on Libya...who's leader wanted to start accepting gold for oil instead of dollars just before we helped overthrow him.

From an investment point of view, you could rush to buy gold and silver or invest in other real assets like small companies, real estate, intellectual property, etc... Consider the "reverse mortgage" ads you see. These are companies trying to buy cheap real estate from people who are damaged by the artificially low interest rates. This example of movement from cash to real assets is known as leveraging.

Update (9/13/2012 10:51 PM): Detailed explanation of the policy. The $40 billion is in addition to current policy.

On September 13, 2012, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) directed the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to begin purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) at a pace of $40 billion per month.  The FOMC also directed the Desk to continue through the end of the year its program to extend the average maturity of its holdings of Treasury securities as announced in June and to maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from the Federal Reserve’s holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBS.

The FOMC noted that these actions, which together will increase the Committee’s holdings of longer-term securities by about $85 billion each month through the end of the year, should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative. 

 Fed Chairman Ben Benanke on how this will help: (italics ours)

We are trying to meet our maximum employment mandate. So that is the objective.

The tools we have involve affecting financial asset prices (contractual assets like bank deposits). Those are the tools of monetary policy. There are a number of different channels, mortgage rates, other interest rates, corporate bond rates, but also the prices of various assets, like for example the prices of homes. To the extent that homes prices begin to rise, consumer will begin to feel wealthier. They will feel more disposed to spend. If house prices are rising then people may be more willing to buy homes, because they think that they will make a better return on that purchase. So house prices is one vehicle.

Stock prices, many people own stocks directly or indirectly. The issue here is whether or not improving asset prices generally will make people more willing to spend. One of the main concerns that firms have is that there is not enough demand. There are not enough people coming and demanding their products. If people feel their financial situation is better because their 401k looks better or reason, their house is worth more, they are more willing to go out and spend. That's what is going to provide the demand that firms need in order to be willing to hire and to invest.

(We are inflating an asset bubble.)  

Bernanke on if this will cause the Fed to abandon their inflation targets:

Well our policy approach doesn't involve intentionally trying to raise inflation. That is not the objective. [...]

Well if inflation goes above our target level, as we talked about in our statement in January, we take a balanced approach. We bring inflation back to the target over time, but we do it in a way that takes into account the deviations of both of our objectives from their targets.

(No,but yes we want inflation)

Bernanke on specific economic conditions that will end the policy:

We haven't at this point come to a set of numbers, a set of data that we can put out.

What we are trying to convey here is that we are not going to be premature in removing policy accommodations. Even after the economy starts to recover more quickly, even after the unemployment rate begins to move down more decisively, we are not going to rush to begin to tighten policy. We are going to give it some time to make sure the recovery is well established.

(For the foreseeable future.) 

The issue as viewed by the other members of TheSlobs.org:

• Liberator Today: The Most Dangerous Easing Yet
• WC Varones: QE 3 ∞: Zimbabwe Ben goes Full Retard
• The Scratching Post: A Trillion Bottles of Beer on the Wall, a Trillion Bottles of Beer
• Temple of Mut: We know the post is imminent.

A Real President's Statement on Libya, and Egypt

According to Pew Research, Muslim countries have lost confidence in President Obama's foreign policy. Confidence has eroded from 34% in 2009 to 15% in 2012. Depending upon the statistic, this is lower than George W. Bush's foreign policy support within Muslim countries in 2008.

In America, we believe that President Obama has failed in his foreign policy. He has failed as an American leader on the economy, foreign policy and domestic policy. He is an appeaser, weak and does not use the power of America in a clear and consistent manner. The handling of the murder of our Libyan ambassador by a coordinated military-style, terrorist attack has been horrific. President Obama failed to post marine guards at our consulates and embassies or even with our ambassador despite expressed threats.

Further, President Obama disgustingly used the situation to injecting his Marxist campaign slogan as the close of his official statement:

[..]The brave Americans we lost represent the extraordinary service and sacrifices that our civilians make every day around the globe. As we stand united with their families, let us now redouble our own efforts to carry their work forward.

For detailed information on the events in Egypt and Libya, we refer you to fellow members of the San Diego Local Order of Bloggers:

• Temple of Mut: ARAB SPRING becomes WINTER of OBAMA’s DISCONTENT
• WORD WARRIOR: OBAMA MID-EAST POLICY COLLAPSING AS AMERICAN AMBASSADOR MURDERED: WHERE WAS MARINE GUARD?
• Scratching Post: Frankly, This Is All Your Fault
• Left Coast Rebel: Islamists Attack and Kill Libyan US Ambassador Christopher Stevens; U.S. Embassy in Cairo's Orwellian Anti-Free Speech Response
• Beers With Demo; Good News...
• The Liberator Today: Asymmetric Retaliation

It is clear that the attacks are not due to a movie trailer about the prophet Mohammad. Facts surrounding that film point to a false flag aimed at Israeli Jews. The movie existed on 9/10 and still exists, but the attacks  occurred on 9/11.

A strong American president would state something along these lines:

Our diplomatic facility in Benghazi has been attacked. The assault took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America's commitment to truth, justice, and freedom for individuals around the globe.

Assaults against ambassadors are considered acts of war and America assures you that those responsible will pay. America's fighting force is the best in the history of the world. As the Commander-in-Chief of this powerful force, it is my job to clearly state that this outrage will not stand and serves only to reinforce our resolve.

To America's allies in the middle east, consider this a request for your renewed support and a commitment to those who stand by our side. To the people of the world, America reaffirms our commitment to facilitate justice and freedom.

America has a motto, "In God We Trust." Because of this, the American people are kind and generous in peace. We destroy our enemies while protecting the innocent in war. Americans strive to be on the side of God, and Americans are prepared to stand against the forces of injustice, corruption and destruction.

While I am no speech-writer, this is the type of clear statement that presents America truthfully and as the nation we are meant to be. A statement like this is not about the President, it is about the people. A statement like this does not appease, it explains the terrible mistake embraced by our enemies. It honors our dead, but does not signal weakness. This statement does not assume God to be on our side, but that we strive to be on God's side.

Update: Examiner.com is reporting that the U.S. Ambassador was raped before being killed.

The Google Translation of the report follows:

-"The U.S. ambassador to Libya was raped sexually before killing by gunmen who stormed the embassy building in Benghazi last night to protest against the film is offensive to the Prophet Muhammad"

Further, President Obama has invited Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President to Meet Next Week – Refuses to Meet Netanyahu.

Temple of Mut has further pointed to President Obama's statement that Egypt is not an ally. The man should not be allowed off teleprompter!

Gun Bans Increase Crime in California

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a bill that made "open carry" of handguns illegal in California. When combined with the fact that "concealed carry" is effectively banned and the fact that California has no second amendment, the people are disarmed. A reminder from wise and studied men:

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms." (Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters from the Federal Farmer (1788) at 169)

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for few public officials." (George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 425-426)

"...to disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." (George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380)

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46 at 243-244)

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8)

"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -- (Thomas Jefferson)

"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence ... From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable . . . the very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that is good" (George Washington)

Earlier this year we entered the debate:

"when faced with mortal danger, it is our individual conscience, not the decision of government bureaucrats upon which we should and must rely. To be denied the ability to confront criminal force with righteous force in preservation of one's life and property is unjust." 

Since this decree upon the people, I have seen the brazenness of crime increase in both news reports and by personal witness. People devoid of prospects for jobs, entitled by society, lacking traditional parenting and miseducated by our failed and overburdened schools are now emboldened toward crime to take from the defenseless public. Crime is the only work available. Like zombie hordes they roam the streets in search of victims.

In San Diego, California during the past month:

• A family member was the victim of an attempted car-jacking on a busy street. 
• My house was broken into through a garage door during midday and I caught the man and woman in the act.
• The side gate of my house was broken and the property was trespassed upon.
• A woman stole my car keys while I was working in an office. I apprehended her as she used the alarm to determine which car to steal.

If that is not enough, here are some statistics: 

In the six-month period from October 2011 through March 2012 in Kern County, burglaries increased 20 percent and auto thefts and robberies were up 12 percent over the same period in the previous year, according to a recent probation report. Kern County was already one of the most crime-ridden counties in the state. 

In San Diego the crime rate has increased by 8 percent according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

The number of rapes increased by 26 percent, with 376 reported from January to June. 

Police do not deter crime when criminals are assured by statue that the public will not be capable of resistance.  It is understandable for police officers to want the public disarmed. Police are armed and dealing with people through superior power is simpler than dealing with equals. It is unimaginable that individual police officers may think professional and journeyman criminals fear a regulation that makes their skills easier to apply.

Moreover, police will eventually be disarmed in a society that vilifies lawful gun ownership. It may seem that people would be forced to depend upon police protection, but the public will grow to resent it. Police are not capable of protecting people from criminals because they are not present when crimes are committed. This will cause fear and insecurity toward both criminals and law enforcement. Inevitable calls to disarm police will begin and the legal grounds exist. We live in a county where citizens grant "God given" rights to the government. If we are relieved of a right, so is the government.

Consider how the public views the following story from Los Angeles on 9/11/2012:

Chase Suspect Shot by Police

A possible murder suspect was wounded in a gunbattle with police near downtown Los Angeles tonight after leading them on a chase in a stolen car for more than one hour.

The chase ended at Bixel and Seventh streets about 7:15 p.m., with the suspect apparently being shot after a collision.

The station (KCAL9) reported he pulled out an AK-47 and was shot several times. KCAL9 reported that the man was wanted for a carjacking this morning and a murder in July.

He was texting a friend saying he was not going to to come out of this alive.

The car was initially spotted at Sunset Boulevard and Rosemont Avenue in Echo Park about 6 p.m. by officers who recognized the white car as having been stolen earlier in the day in North Hollywood, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Rosario Herrera.

The suspect nearly hit several pedestrians, hit at least one car, ran red lights and occasionally drove on the wrong side of the street.

UPI.com adds:

He fired several shots at police before he was taken down by gunfire and subdued by the K-9.

This story debunks several anti-gun talking points. First, the "semi-automatic assault rifle" AK-47 was used by a criminal who also is accused of grand theft auto and murder. Not only did the handgun ban fail to dissuade the criminal, he used an "assault rifle" against police officers. The criminal was ready to die. Members of the public were not protected from this man through fear of lawful punishment. The only protection available is exactly what police relied upon: "a gunbattle," oh, and a big dog that is trained to attack people.

The public was endangered by a car chase that lasted for more than an hour. The "gunbattle with police" adds to a recent story within another disarmed public that NYPD Gunfire Wounded All 9 People Injured In Empire State Building Shootout. Hopefully, my friends in law enforcement will start to see my point. Public sentiment will turn on you when it cannot relate to, fails to understand and becomes more fearful of guns. Look at the United Kingdom where guns are only issued to special units sometimes compared to SWAT teams.

Lastly, police have a more dangerous job than economists or computer programmers. However, the world we live in is the same. The same threats and dangerous situations surround us. Police seek out these dangerous situations and work to be prepared for the encounters. A disarmed public is increasingly the target of these dangerous situations that now seek us out because we are legally required to be unprepared for the encounter.

Maybe increasing the sanctimonious title "victim" is the goal of these idiotic laws. Advertising that citizens are no longer allowed to carry firearms is an invitation to increased criminal activity. It works with food stamps.

Economic Report: Tea Party Congress Job Creation

Two days ago, we reviewed Bill Clinton's Spitting Lies about Barack Obama's leadership. Today, America's jobs numbers were updated. We updated portions of our report to keep you armed with the best data available.

The DNC convention speeches were full of lies, but here is one very important lie that we can review with official numbers.

Bill Clinton: "So here is another jobs score. President Obama: plus four and a half million. Congressional Republicans: zero."

President Clinton credited President Obama with creating jobs and preyed upon the ignorance of most Americans by failing to credit the tea party congress with any job creation.

Enter the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We will be using the number of employed Americans. These are not seasonally adjusted employment numbers because those adjustments are just guesses. Consider that as the population of adults grows, more people should be employed. This is decidedly different than using unemployment numbers.

History: Job growth 2002 to 2007 under President George W. Bush

During the 107th Congress, Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2003, the budget controlling House of Representatives was Republican controlled while the Senate was Democrat controlled. The 108th Congress and 109th Congress, Jan. 2003 to Jan. 2007, were completely under Republican Control. Through this period, 10.098 million jobs were created.

Job growth 2007 to 2011 under Senator/President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats

In January 2007 the Democrat party took control of both houses of the 110th Congress. The 111th Congress continued absolute Democrat control, but added the Presidency of Barack Obama. It takes between 6 months and one year for fiscal policy to affect the economy. The Congress controls fiscal policy with the president holding only veto power. The "Impeach Bush" congress began to pursue economically destructive policies. The result was the loss of 10.506 million jobs from peak to trough (bottom).

Let's bend over backwards to be fair to Senator Obama after he became President Obama. Let's excuse his contribution to Democrat economic legislation for a moment. In that case, President Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress lost 2.837 million jobs between Jan. 2009 and Jan. 2011.

The economy hit rock bottom in January 2010. It was an election year, which typically is a positive for the economy. Tea parties formed and started calling for economic sanity. Restrictions were requested for crony capitalist programs, including the bankruptcy of GM in which unions were given stolen money from thousands of bond holders. There was an economic bounce of 3.3 million jobs as Americans gained confidence due to tea party activism on top of standard economic cyclical factors.

The bounce ended on March 23, 2010 as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed without any Republican support. Over the next two months, Americans learned how destructive the law would be for economic and personal freedom and 2.525 million jobs evaporated. It was clear that the Senate would likely remain Democrat controlled in the November 2010 elections, fading hope for an immediate repeal.

The Democrats and President Barack Obama can rightfully claim .79 million new jobs from the absolute bottom of the recession. The tea party was not in congress and it is only fair to point out that some job growth occurred. If not for the Affordable Care Act, the economy may have launched upon a typical recovery path.

Job growth 2011 to present under Congressional Tea Party Republicans

Once the tea party Republicans gained control of the 112th Congress in January 2011, confidence began to return. Occupy Wall Street and other Democrat attacks demonized the calls for responsibility as "racist." Despite the constant legal and media attacks against the tea party, the majority of Americans heard the tea party economic solutions through alternative media like The San Diego Local Order of Bloggers.

The tea party congress "saved or created" 4.959 million jobs through August 2012 using President Obama's math. Much of that growth is due to opposing damaging Democrat policies. Another economic factor is simply restored confidence that grownups are in control of the House budget committee under Chairman Paul Ryan. The House of Representatives controls the federal budget and passed the Paul Ryan budget in April 2011.

The Democrat party had not pass a legally required federal budget for three years while in complete control of the government. The Democrat controlled United States Senate said no to the Paul Ryan budget and has left many jobs bills stalled. There is hope that some recent jobs bills will be approved in the Senate because Democrat control is up for vote during this year's election.

In response to Bill Clinton, the score on the economy is:
Congressional Republicans (2011-2012): 4.959 million 
President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats (2009-2011): -2.837 million
Congressional Democrats (2007-2011): -9.716 million

Despite being hamstrung by the Democrat controlled Senate and President Obama, America's faith in the tea party congress has paid off. Much of the sensible economic policy is attributed to Rep. Paul Ryan and the House of Representatives budget committee. Congress will be hard pressed to replace the leadership of Rep. Paul Ryan.

P.S.

One final graph detailing how the economy may have performed if not for the Affordable Care Act known as ObamaCare.