La Mesa Police Preppers Build Zombie Apocalypse Fortress

The City of La Mesa Police Department has built a zombie apocalypse fortress.  Elevated windows, layered stone walls and a gatehouse provide protection and multiple fields of fire against zombie hordes. When entering special polarized windows make the duty officers invisible from a distance. Additional access to the fire department and county library is available at the fortress rear.

The new police station will be a two story building with underground secured
parking.  The underground parking will hold our entire fleet of City owned
vehicles and allow for employees to park their personal vehicles as well.  The
underground parking structure is approximately 45,000 square feet. The two story building is approximately 40,000 square feet.

Any media inquires regarding the new building can be directed to Captain Ed Aceves 619-667-143  (Ground Breaking Ceremony for New La Mesa Police Station)

The gatehouse at 8083 University Avenue in La Mesa guards the larger complex from vehicle threats. The roof does not appear to include a helicopter landing pad, but it looks accessible to high-power-rifle armed defenders. Five towers may provide covered high ground, but may be simple architectural accents.  Backup power, water and food stores are assumed to be available in the large underground secured parking area.

I missed the open house on September 21, 2010 but from the announcement in East County Magazine:

In 2004, La Mesa residents passed the Proposition D bond measure in the amount of 25 million dollars to build the new Fire Station, remodel Fire Station 13, and build the new Police Department. With the opening of the new Police Department, all three projects have been completed.

Critics may say this is what happens when fourteen-year-old boys never grow up, but I disagree. If the zombie hordes come, there will be a $14,727,000 well-armed and defensible facility in La Mesa, California.  You can review the prepper paradise via google maps street view.





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Obama Lies About Creating 3 Million Jobs: Democrat Policy Since 2007

Once again President Obama and Media Matters have been inundating "popular culture" shows with propaganda that must be corrected. The old saying by the "first television politician" that "a lie repeated enough becomes the truth" has been the core progressive propaganda tactic since the 1930's. The current grand lie is that Obama created 3 million jobs, which we dismanted with raw facts from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We are adding to our previous discussion by stepping back to the larger economic situation behind the Great Recession. This is a subject that the mainstrem media will not touch.  Democrats took over congress in the November 2006 election. Any Keynesian economist will tell you that policy takes about a year to fully impact the economy, so lets look at how the Democrats crashed the economy to win the oval office and "pass the toxic baton to Barack Obama." Let us not forget that Barack Obama was one of the Democrat senators who passed these policies and killed 10.5 million jobs, destroyed housing, crashed the stock market and inflated gasoline and energy prices.

In November 2006, the Democrats swept congress despite a decent economy and progress in Iraq by villifying George W. Bush. Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House of Representatives. From January 2007 through January 2011, Democrats controlled every aspect of economic policy in America. Bush was a lame duck and politically powerless.

In January 2007, the price of gasoline averaged $2.11 per gallon in the U.S. On February 7, 2007, the Democrats and the 110th Congress began enacting policies. Upon implementation of Democrat economic and political policy the price of gasoline skyrocketed.

By July 2008, the price of gasoline had reached $4.12 and the economy collapsed.

• The stock market was 12,556.08 in January 2007. It peaked in May 2008 at 13,058.20 and fell to 6,626.94 on March 6, 2009.
• Unadjusted employment peaked in July 2007 (147.315 million) and seasonally adjusted employment peaked in November 2007 (146.595 million).
• Unadjusted employment continued at the same level until August 2008 (145.196 million).
• Housing prices had plateaued in 2005 but the market remained stable until mid 2007 when gas prices began relentlessly reducing disposable income.

After the tea party and Republicans took back the House of Representatives in January 2011, the economy stabilized and improved. At the depths of the recession in January 2010, unadjusted employment fell to 136.809 million.  Unadjusted employment in January 2011 remained down at 137.599 million. This means that Democrats and President Obama can, at best, be credited with the creation of 790 thousand jobs (unadjusted) after destroying nearly 10.5 million jobs (unadjusted) between mid 2007 to January 2010. In January 2012 unadjusted employment improved to 139.944 million. The bulk of jobs (2.3 million) created during the weak Obama recovery occured since Republicans and tea party members have retaken congress and established economic confidence.

So the facts of the matter are as follows:

• Democrats took control of Congress and the Senate in January 2007.
• The Housing Bubble, created by Democrats, began crashing in 2007 with the additional pressure from gasoline and energy prices.
• Democrat policies pushed up gas prices through July 2008.
• Employment peaked in July 2007 and crashed in September 2008.
• The stock market peaked in July 2008 and crashed in September 2008 when it became probable that Democrats would add the White House to their list of control.
• The toxic economy elected Barack Obama who took office in January 2009 and all confidence evaporated.
• February 2009, tea party protests began due to the economic outlook of adding taxes during a recession. This blog, Doo Doo Economics, began appealing to Democrats for rationality. "Raising taxes in a recession is Doo Doo Economics"
• While Democrats held the legistaltive and executive branches, the economy suffered the Great Recession.
• Keynesian economics, which has not worked in 40 years, was used as justification to waste $789 billion in stimulus for "not as shovel ready as we thought" jobs. The short term jobs evaporated by January 2011.
• The national debt grew by about 33% in 3 years as Chicago cronism made 7 of the 10 richest neighborhoods in America adjacent to Washington D.C.
• From 2009 through 2011, Democrat policies failed to improve the toxic economy from the loss of 10.5 million jobs.
• Republicans took back the House of Representatives in November 2010 and the economy began to recover at the new lower production frontier.
• More than two thirds of job recovery has occured since conservatives took back control of one third of federal government economic policy.

Profitable Silver Option Trading Strategy

Silver is a blue chip investment. Conservative long term investors looking to store wealth often turn to silver and gold. We are going to review one of Reed Canter's option trading strategy to make excellent returns through silver as a core holding in your portfolio. Did you know that you can make a 25% dividend from silver options by holding it as a core of your portfolio? For background information and definitions, please read our article on Gold trading.

We will be looking at iShares Silver Trust (ETF) SLV which is currently trading at $33.17/share. iShares Silver Trust Holdings has about 9.6 metric tons or 308.4 million troy ounces of silver.


Click to Enlarge

As you can see in the above weekly graph, silver has been trading in a sideways fashion. The upper trading limit is around $34/share and the lower range looks about $30.67/share. If the stock moves above $34 with any significant volume, we expect the stock to move into a new trading range.

The strategy to make money in a sideways market with options is known as a covered call. Our silver strategy will be:

1. Purchase shares of SLV at the current market price
2. Sell the call option for those shares with one week expiration @ $34
3. Place a buy stop order slightly above the call option execution price at $34.01 to $34.03

By selling the call option at about the breakout point $34 we collect a premium or dividend while retaining our shares. If SLV reaches the call option execution price by the end of the week, we will be obliged to sell our shares at a profit. Because we want to hold SLV in the new trading range, we place a buy stop order at $34. By placing a buy stop order at $34 we maintain our position in SLV as it moves into the new, higher trading range.

Due to the sideways movement of SLV over the last several weeks, multiple call options have sold. This sideways movement is referred to a handle. While the handle continues, we project an excellent annualized rate of return. Current Call options are selling at $.24 for the February 24 expiration strike price $34. Selling call options on SLV over the last 5 weeks averaged a premium of $.18 per week. Collecting $.18 per week for 52 week equates to a 28% annual return or dividend for holding SLV. Why hold silver hoping to make money only when it goes up when income can be made while it moves sideways?

We believe silver and gold are going to "break out" into a new higher trading range. The current buy order is $34.01 with limit of $34.03. This represents our buy stop recommendation which keeps us holding SLV after it "breaks out."  After SLV enters the new trading range, we continue this strategy with higher call option and buy stop prices.

For more tips on how to make money with conservative silver, gold and other blue chip core holding investments join our facebook group: Option Trading Strategies.

A Global Tea Party and Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is now outlining how the Tea Party is going global. We San Diego Tea Party members, specifically the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition have been big supporters of the international Tea Party movement. We helped with the Italian and Hebrew "Don't Tread on Me" flags and Temple of Mut has visited Italy and interviewed Italian Tea Party organizers.

It is good to see Glenn Beck specifically mentioning our brothers and sisters in Italy.

Who is the Better President for the Zombie Apocalypse: Barack Obama

In honor of the return of AMC's The Walking Dead television series, lets mix presidential politics with the imminent Zombie Apocalypse!

GQ breached the subject in an piece entitled "Which Candidate Would Shane from The Walking Dead Recruit in a Zombie Apocalypse?" By Andrew Richdale.  Jon Bernthal, the actor who plays Shane, cited Barack Obama due to his:

"unbelievably inspirational speeches. Plus, he's an athlete."

Lets start our review there with Barack Obama as the first in this series.

Pros

Barry is an excellent talker and has plenty of thuggery and community organizing under his belt. He is underhanded, deceitful and used to killing which may play well in a zombie infested hell. If you recall the 2008 primary, Obama ran the dirtiest most vicious campaign in recent history against Hillary Clinton. Charges of racism were leveled against Bill Clinton and at one point Hillary was reduced to tears proclaiming "shame on you." In a zombie Apocalypse, Obama would definitely break knees to ensure his own survival.  As a dictator promising zombie protection, Obama has a cold, ruthless appeal.

Cons

On the Obama down side, there would be no wealth to redistribute. Scarcity would be extreme and, as the Jamestown settlers discovered, only individual incentive and ownership can lead to group prosperity.  To restate in Obama's leftist lingo: collective salvation is impossible without other people's resources. Cannibalizing and sacrificing the living, thus the future, would become policy.

How It Would All Play Out:

In a 2012 Barackalypse the first couple days would go well. Desperate masses would join the ranks of Obama followers, inspired by his ruthless yet "articulate" rhetoric and ability to adhere to Rule #1: Cardio. Shortly thereafter, groups of people being used as zombie bait would bring transparency to the cannibalistic hierarchy of his rule. Challengers would conveniently disappear along with the old, sick and injured. The policy of eliminating the undesirables would be given the politically correct name "interception". The implication, of course, being that the zombie chum had sacrificed themselves for the "greater good." Followers would report dissent to #zombiewatch.

In the end, Obama would be thrown to the zombie hordes by an angry mob. At that point he would become the zombie leader, Ozombie. Ozombie would be well suited to lead the mindless rotting hordes who depend upon sucking the life, blood and brains from the living. Unfortunately, the cannibalized human population would  pose another massive resource deficit for Ozombie's horde. Barry just can't catch a break.

The Republican Candidates:

Newt Gingrich (coming soon)

Rick Santorum (coming soon)

Ron Paul  (coming soon)

Mitt Romney  (coming soon)

Voodoo Environomics

H. Leighton Steward of the Washington Times has written an article outlining that "Fantasy replaces reality in Obama's green economy." The article is entitled Voodoo Environomics which has obvious synergy with this blog and much of my focus.

Here is a short except to help promote this endeavor:

At the very heart of voodoo environomics, of course, is the much-hyped theory linking man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) and climate change. Without the world’s policy focus on CO2 emissions, climate-change alarmists would be robbed of the ammunition they need to change and control human behavior via draconian energy policies. They also would be robbed of the substantial financial support needed to continue their biased research.

When adopted as official government policy, voodoo environomics can wreak havoc on the economy and represents a double whammy for working Americans. The admitted goal of CO2-slashing schemes such as “cap and trade” is to jack up the price of energies like gasoline and coal to make expensive alternative energies more competitive financially. Of course, their proponents hope you don’t realize that it’s ordinary Americans who are stuck paying higher prices for utilities and gasoline.

Spartacus - Andy Whitfield

Andy Whitfield played Starz's Spartacus in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The series is full of gratuitous sex and violence, but is about love and freedom. Andy Whitfield died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma after making season one. He was 39 years old.  Before his unexpected and tragic loss, he left his mark on the struggle for human freedom. In his portrayal of Spartacus, the gladiator who escaped slavery to die free, Andy left us with this speech.

In this clip, Spartacus has just slayed the evil slave master. Spartacus is now free and accompanied by a cohort of gladiators and former slaves. Freedom, which we take for granted in America, is hard won. The free men are now left to face the might of Rome:

I have done this thing because it is just. Blood demands blood.

We have lived and lost at the whims of our masters for too long. I would not have it so. I would not see the passing of a brother for the purpose of sport. I would not see another heart ripped from chest or breath forfeit for no cause. I know not all of you wish this, yet it is done. It is done. 

Your lives are your own, forge your own path or join with us and together we shall see Rome tremble!

We should not forget that liberty has always been won with the blood of patriots. Every person must stand up to the world and declare themselves free.

Americans are beset by unions, government, elitists, political indoctrination and the lie of sacrifice for the "common good." We were taught that the Ten Commandments include "thou shalt not kill." It is a lie. The commandment is "thou shalt not MURDER."  There is no just God or moral code that ties you to spend your life in servitude to others, no matter the cost.

You have been created for a purpose. A purpose that you must find on your own. It is a purpose that no other person can know or direct you toward. When another sets you to purpose, it can only be for their interests at sacrifice of your own life's purpose. This is true no matter their intentions.

This is why the wisdom of America's founders is so profound. We are supposed to be a society where people on their unique paths are free to join or separate in the pursuit of happiness. Even if you must work a dead end job, you have the opportunity to become your own boss through individual effort. Tyrants should not control the your fate, your property or your hopes and dreams.

We are here for a fleeting moment in time. Forge your own path or join with us who wish to ensure future liberty. Whatever you decide, do not give up, do not surrender, and do not lose your dreams. Andy Whitfield pursued his happiness and contributed to freedom, so can you.

Update:

The series third season, War of the Damned, is coming to a finale, and it holds the same message of freedom.

Obama Lies About $4 Trillion Budget Savings

President Obama lies again. This time he says that his fourth budget has $4+ trillion dollars in spending cuts over 10 years. His own numbers show otherwise. Net spending increases by $1.5 trillion with $1.9 trillion in net tax increases. So over 10 years, the Obama budget would only decrease baseline deficit spending by $400 billion or $40 billion per year on average. This is out of a $3.8+ trillion government budget.

To put this into personal perspective, the government is taking $22,000/year tax free and spending about $38,000/year. Obama proposes to reduce the deficit by $400/year. The proposed reduction comes from robbing the tax payers through additional harmful taxation while increasing spending.

The Obama budget adds $11.2 trillion to the national debt in 10 years. Meanwhile, Obama wants credit for Republican budget cuts from 2011 which he opposed. The President's budget counts war spending as "baseline" spending at current levels for 10 years. War spending is passed as supplemental spending by the congress. The executive branch has little power over such allocations unless it is Obama's intention to engage in new wars for the next 10 years.

TownHall.com has an excellent write up by Guy Benson if you want to pursue more information. They point out the excellent job Paul Ryan is doing fighting the Obama budget lies:

Three clips, each one as delicious as the next.  First, watch House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan systematically destroy the Obama budget "savings" farce, a process made even more enjoyable by acting White House Budget Director Jeffrey Zients' feeble attempts to push back:

Click to Enlarge

La Mesa Adds Sewer Utility to Property Tax Bill

The city of La Mesa, California has decided to add your sewer utility bill to your property taxes. Effective July 1, 2012:

If you own property in La Mesa you will be charged for sewer services on your annual property tax bill as a fixed charge special assessment. The charges will appear on your tax bill which comes from the County Assessor-Tax Collector's office.

This raises the question of how non-tax, non-bond items can be collected with property tax under threat of taking your home.  Will other utilities be added to the bill to provide government additional power to take your home?  It seems that your water bill would be the next obvious addition.

I do not live in La Mesa but this is a very disturbing move by our government overlords. Here is an image of the entire notice: (click to enlarge)

Anti Obama Swag for CPAC 2012

Lipstick Underground, a fellow member of the San Diego Local Order of Bloggers recently reviewed the CafePress...Candidate Swag Sales Barometer. That was enough to get my creative juices flowing for a late night graphics jam for freedom. The goal is to reduce the 67.3 million Americans on federal assistance at a cost of  $2.5 trillion annually per the Heritage Foundation. We need the Candidate Swag Sales Barometer to better reflect the fact that Americans treasure freedom and do not want to be enslaved to heartless government. The swag barometer currently sits at 47% "Pro Obama" and 53% "Anti Obama" as Lipstick Underground reports.

For the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2012 weekend, I want to launch a design for the "Anti Obama" side of the swag barometer. This graphic is a little tongue in cheek, and is not meant to compare Barack Obama to the devil. It does "blame Obama" for his policies that destroy individual freedom, self reliance, hope, charity, happiness and other things that Americans traditionally see as good. The ability to start your own business without undue regulation, licensing, taxing and other barriers to entry are key to individual happiness. Even if you do not start your own business, the fact that you CAN provides a relief valve for the despair of a dead end job. We each need our dreams and they do not match up to the dreams of Obama's radical father or Obama's policies of dependence.

What are we grateful for today? Most of us are not grateful for consequences that we are suffering due to the policies of Barack Obama and the radical left. These policies have made many more of us dependent but none of us are grateful. The poor are hopeless and the rich are punished.  I am grateful to God for the blessings He has bestowed upon my mind, heart and soul. Hopefully, some of you will find this graphic amusing enough to help us tip the Swag Barometer back in favor of freedom. All proceeds will be used to promote www.theSLOBs.org to help spread the message of freedom.

Click Here for our Anti Obama SWAG!

GOLD To Breakout After Classic Double Bottom

Gold has been volatile but overall increasing in price for years now. The question is whether gold will continue to increase in value or if it will slide down. At various price points, $1000, $1200 and $1500 analysts have decreed the end of the gold bull market.  All of these prognostications have not panned out as gold has risen to $1800. The spot commodity price of gold currently sits around $1710 per ounce.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). GLD is priced around 1/10th the spot commodity price of gold. As such, you can purchase GLD at about $170 when gold's commodity price per ounce is $1700. GLD appears to be making a classic Double Bottom Base, discussed below. If the price of GLD goes above $175 with above average trading volume, a high probability exists that GLD is headed for new highs!

Reed Cantor is a conservative trader who specializes in using options to augment income from blue chip investments. I met with Reed last week and we reviewed the GLD market.  He outlined a money making strategy when dealing with investments that you believe in.

To explain this strategy, I need to define a few key "trader" terms:

• Double Bottom Base - The "W" shaped price pattern of a stock or investment in a volatile market that shakes out weak investors.
• Handle - The short term sideways or slightly downward movement of a stock price that occurs after reaching a high.
• Buy Stop Limit - An order to buy a security which is entered at a price above the current trading price with a limit to the price you are willing to pay. When the stop price is hit, you buy the stock at your limit price.
• Call - The right (but not the obligation) to buy a stock, bond, commodity, or other instrument at a specified price within a specific time period.
• Put - An option contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a specified price within a specified time period.

A "double bottom bases" often precedes a breakout to a new high. Handles are also often seen prior to a breakout.  The above GLD graph from Friday, February 3, 2012 shows a classic "W" shape. If it breaks the $175 previous high, point 4, with significant volume there is a high probability of a breakout to new highs.

So how can we make some money with this information?

• Buy shares of GLD at the current market price.
• Sell a "call" option at $175 for one week.
• Place a "Buy Stop Limit Order." Place your buy slightly above $175 with a limit order $.03 above your stop.

We choose $175, point 4 on the graph, because it is the previous high. In this scenario, you sell the call option and capture some premium (aka take some capital gain or make some money). If the price of GLD does not rise above $175 within the call option's one week time frame, you do not have to sell your stocks and the option expires. If GLD does reach $175, you are obliged to sell your GLD, but the buy stop protects you from missing out on any large price swings to the upside. Again, a buy stop is an order to purchase shares. In this case $175.03 is a good buy stop price.

By following this strategy, an investor can continually capture premium by selling one week call options. This is commonly referred to as a covered call because the investor owns enough shares to satisfy (or cover) the call option sold. If the call option is not executed, you still own the underlying stock and can sell another call option and capture additional premium.

Reed's strategy is conservative because he only trades investments which he believes in and wants to own. This protects the investor from the worry of downside risk. Further, capturing premium through covered calls reduces any potential financial loss. If the investment does not move up or down in price (aka moves sideways) covered calls will generate steady income.

In short, this strategy builds capital in both an up or sideways market and limits losses if the investment price dips. This is a strategy that you can do in your own portfolio. It took a few days to write up this post, and gold has moved to about $1749 since Friday.  Regardless, you can use this as an example. Further, I urge you to review the silver market as an example of a handle.


For more tips on how to make money with conservative silver, gold and other blue chip core holding investments join our facebook group: Option Trading Strategies.

All Protestors Painted As Occupiers

Be forewarned:
The establishment wants us to despise the occupy movement. The goal is to paint everyone who opposes big government control as like Occupiers. I am not an avid Occupy Movement supporter. I do fully support the Tea Party Movement. This is an important distinction but one that is fundamentally at risk.

The Occupy Movement has two distinct goals as the left-wing political establishment founded it and funded it. First, change the media narrative away from the Constitutionalist Tea Party movement. Second, and more importantly, to villify all opposition to government. Opposition is painted with the broad brush of radicalism and lawlessness. Some say this is to facilitate a call for more government intervention.

In an example of, "for evil to prevail requires good men to do nothing," the occupy movement will be used to dissuade good people from doing what must be done. This will occur because "average" Americans do not want to be seen as unreasonable or radical. Painting all protestors as Occupiers is an intimidating tactic just as political correctness is intimidation against free speech.

Listen closely as the Obama administration and their comrades make anti-Occupy statements. This chorus will intone the "they are all radicals, unlike 'us'" message. This message will increase with the summer Tea Parties being compared to Occupy. The message will cresendo as election fraud and other anti-constitutional news raises opposition to big government to a new decible level. All activism will be painted with the precedent of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

"You don't want to join 'them' do you? They are radical and we use our PBS voices."

We should refer to this idea as the The Occupy Precedent.

Bernanke Warns House Budget Committee about U.S. Debt

Fed Chairmen Ben Bernanke's testified to Paul Ryan's House Budget Committee this morning. The overall message of the testimony was that the sluggish economy is very vulnerable and massive government debt is leading to serious consequences for the future of our country. We note that Barack Obama will have increased the national debt by more than $6 trillion, greater than $20,000 per American, by the end of his 4 year term.

Some highlights:

• "higher interest rates, bigger deficits, bigger debt" 
• "Slow growth in some European countries"
• "massive fiscal contraction in 2013 will disrupt the economy"
• Cut spending
• Cut the deficit
• 2017 until "normalized" economy with 5% to 6% unemployment
• "Inflation goal is 2%"
• 2011 1.7% GDP growth, the Fed had estimated 3.4 to 3.9% GDP growth
• 2012 GDP growth Fed estimate was 3.5% to 4.4% has been revised down to 2% GDP growth
• Bernanke is "not concerned" about inflation because the fed can "simply sell assets" or "raise interest rates" 
• "the question is whether we tighten (interest rates) too early or too late"
• "small businesses cannot access bank credit."
• We need sound energy policy:  "companies want clarity about what energy sources are going to be used. The main issues there are environmental."
• Households face significant headwinds in the economy
• America currently has "under utilization of capital and labor"
• We need to fix the housing market
• We "gotta have a creditable plan in place...into the next decade"
• Revenue increases and government discretionary spending restraint are not enough to deal with long term structural deficit.
• "You could cut discretionary spending to zero and not solve the problem in the long term."
• "changing the taxes on higher income individuals, but that by itself is not going to close the budget deficit either."
• "I don't know of another comprehensive plan (other than the Ryan plan)."
• "The elephant in the room is health care costs. We are heading toward 9 or 10% of GDP just from federal spending on health care and another 8 or 9% in private health care spending."
• "...the things we are spending on, are they going to help our economy? ...Will they help our economy grow in the long run?... on the tax side, are we moving towards a more efficient more effective tax code? Simpler, fairer and light... the way the money is spent, they way the money is collected makes a difference in terms of jobs and growth."
• Capital Gains: "Tax consumption rather than saving or investment. That is the rational for lower rates on capital gains and capital income. There is some effect on the rate of after tax rate of return on investment decisions but there is disagreement about how strong it is."
• "for innovative industries, I think we generally agree that the private sector is better. China is an example (of a communist state)...they allow the private sector a large roll in the development of new industries."
• "The private sector, because of the profit motive and so on, is often better at innovating (than government.)...government investments in the space program and the internet have paid off."
• Taxes reductions would have created a better economic outcome than stimulus: "the private sector, clearly, is where the decisions about what industries and products should take place."
• European Central Banking (ECB) system is under capitalized.
• ECB money swap agreements: "3 or 4% increase in the high powered money supply."
• "the question is not that if tax cuts fully pay for themselves." Bernanke assumes they do not immediately pay for themselves, but "The question is whether they increase efficiency and growth but not whether they fully pay for themselves."
• Why Canada's economy is better off: because "banks did not get involved in sub prime mortgages."
• Rep. Diane Black, Republican from Tennessee, summarizes Ben Bernanke's testimony on the national debt as "debt crowds out private capital, reduces productivity growth which results in more borrowing and increases our future income devoted to interest payments which increases the amount of debt. (National debt) impairs the ability of policymakers to respond effectively to future shocks or adverse events. Unsustainable deficits increase the possibility of sudden fiscal crisis."

While the Fed chairman testified the stock market was slightly up as oil prices were down slightly. The interesting aspect of the market during the testimony was in gold and silver prices. The long term threats of inflation and interest rates due to the massive national deficit are pushing up gold and silver. Gold has been up as much as 14 points this morning at $1763.50/ounce and silver was up as much as .50 cents at $34.51. 

"Bull" markets in gold and silver commodities traditionally coincide with a "bear" stock market. The fact that these commodity prices are up and the stock market is not in free fall is significant. It could point to a devaluation of the dollar in real terms which would inflate prices of all assets including stocks.

Several Democrats cites Obama's lie about creating 3 million jobs which we outlined on January 24th. The CBO recently estimated that the stimulus only reduced unemployment by 1.8% at its peak. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its revised unemployment numbers, Current Population Survey (CPS), on February 3, 2012. Changes to data collected on unemployment duration in BLS statistics will be included in this new release.

Gallup Predicts Big Obama 2012 Presidential Election Loss

www.270toWin.com Interactive Map

Gallup's 2011 annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers are out and they agree with Timothy Geithner's assessment of the 2012 election. If President Obama wins states where he held a net positive approval rating for 2011, Obama will lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee by 323 to 215 electoral votes.

Overall, Obama averaged 44% job approval in his third year in office, down from 47% in his second year. His approval rating declined from 2010 to 2011 in most states, with Wyoming, Connecticut, and Maine showing a marginal increase, and Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia showing declines of less than a full percentage point. The greatest declines were in Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Gallup provides additional information via the Presidential Approval Center. According to this resource, Barack Obama currently, Jan. 23-29, 2012, holds 53% approval of the 18-29 age group. This approval number declines through the age groups until reaching 37% for the 65+ crowd.

Post Script

Traditionally, grandparents are the wise, teachers for the young. In human history, the advent of longer lives has allowed the oldest and wisest of our society to pass on wisdom to the newest members. These Gallup numbers may be reflecting a disconnect in the traditional family structure.