Most days our serious reading begins with McMaster Online which unfortunately offers neither free content nor the occasional means to pilfer, as it is completely hidden away behind their paywall.

All three quotes below were offered within R.E. McMaster's daily newsletter.

We may well live to regret having said this, but McMaster Online is one of the three of four sites we take that we don't even ask how much it's costing us.

We would have probably stumbled across the other two quotes sooner or later anyway as we haunt both Zero Hedge and Casey's Daily Dispatch on a regular basis.

Anyway, the McMaster quote below links up to his homepage, the next two quotes will link you up to the specific piece from which it was taken.

The US is attempting to do financially to Switzerland what it did militarily to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and supported clandestinely in the Arab Spring countries by Clinton.

Most people are unaware that Switzerland is the only country in Western civilization that does not have the modern rendition of the "divine right of kings", which is Hegel's "the state is god walking on earth"  top-down form of government.  Instead, the Swiss have a constitutional confederation of 26 sovereign cantons, where the governmental power lies, not in the centralized government.

The Swiss balance of power is between the three distinct different languages and cultures of the German, French and Italian speaking cantons. Moreover, the Swiss can reverse anything their central government does through a referendum system.

For a nation without any natural resources, is it any accident that the Swiss consistently express the greatest satisfaction with their lives, as well as one of the world's highest per capita incomes? Not in the least. The best politics and economics are run at the local level, not at the parasitic bureaucratic federal level. And certainly not with an empire.  R.E. McMaster

"The specific path of our lives is very much in our control. Yet most people don't give the matter much thought at all, and therefore are blown here and there like dried leaves in the wind.

And even when people do take the time to reflect on the scripts of their lives, they tend to resist plot lines that move them outside of the rut of the status quo. For instance, provided you were looking to live an interesting and fulfilling life - and who doesn't want that? - it's only logical to look to the lives of others who have lived successfully to guide in your script-making. The examples of people who have lived truly fascinating and wonderful lives are abundant in the history books, and even among contemporaries who live life large and lively. Yet most people find it impossible to envision such a life for themselves. Instead, they dismiss such people as overachievers and exceptions while resolving themselves to hunkering down in a ditch of their own making, hoping against hope to muddle through until the passage of time fills the ditch in, with them in it...

Put another way, most people cast themselves as walk-on characters even in their own lives, and not as the lead."  David Galland, Casey's Daily Dispatch, 09-23-11

As previously disclosed, we really like Zero Hedge and especially like Tyler Durden who is really, probably 6-8 different guys all of whom would probably, really give up their left testicle to indeed look like Tyler Durden.

It is frequently a difficult read as it is not a jargon free zone.

It is also a colossal pain in the ass to subscribe to as they clearly, sincerely don't care if you subscribe or don't.

Having said that, someone from around here is hanging around there every day.

"...the transition of America from a government 'on behalf of the people' to one 'in control of the people' catalyzed, as Bill Buckler, put it simply, by one simple event: the confiscation of America's gold, and the ushering in of the welfare (or 'promise') state, the same welfare state that now is supported by a system that no matter how hard one denies, is nothing but a ponzi scheme.

...just like in the time of FDR, for whom the creation of a 'mild' inflation was a prime prerogative to offset the depressionary deflation gripping the land, the moment for a brazen gold revaluation by none other than the US government has arrived. Unfortunately, it likely also means that any scheme in which the government opens a buy/sell gold window at a substantially higher price point, will mean that very soon, either by guile or by force, the US government will once again be the prime and sole owner of all the gold.

As Coxe says, 'The gold bugs have long proclaimed their own version of the Golden Rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules." By that standard, Barack Obama could become the leader of the world overnight.'... in summary, Coxe's point is that the time for a government 'LBO' of the gold market, one in which every last ounce is extracted from the skittish public, in exchange for pseudo-equivalent assets such as gold-backed bonds, has arrived. The only question is what the acquisition price of the risk-free alternative to fiat would be, and hence how much higher will investors push the price in anticipation of the inevitable 25% take out premium. Once the public realizes that this is the endgame, and that the buyer of only resort will be none other than Uncle Sam... then look out above.

As for the context of Executive Order 6102.2, Coxe notes: 'When nearly all OECD economies are running huge deficits at a time of near-zero interest rates, and nearly all governments are looking for ways to raise revenues without imposing economy-unfriendly taxes, why don't the big holders revalue their gold to, say, $2,200 an ounce and declare themselves willing sellers at that price—in bars or in bonds backed by gold—and willing buyers at, say, $2,000? Roosevelt revalued gold from $20.67 an ounce to $35 and declared that the US was a buyer and seller at that price. He also made it illegal for US citizens to own gold. By the end of the Depression, most of the world's visible gold reserves were in Fort Knox.'

Most importantly, Coxe observes that 'now is a good time to lock in the gold bull market by monetizing the nation's holdings through various strategies and vehicles forty years after Nixon uncapped gold and 78 years after Roosevelt boosted it 70%. Why don't the governments bring out their gold and use it to back their bonds? Obama should, in our view, try to find one non-Keynesian economist who understands gold to advise him. We’re sure he could get an old-fashioned scholar from the University of Chicago to help him out if he made a few calls.'" - Tyler Durden, www.ZeroHedge.com, 09-22-11

Most people aren't aware of the fact that I used to look a great deal like Tyler Durden ... before the operation.

Click on the above quote for the entire piece.

Ever wonder what's the big deal about Ronnie Lane?

Founding member and key songwriter of/for both The Small Faces and the Faces, Ronnie  Lane was also one of the strongest basses in the history of popular music.

Gone far to soon from Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 51, he won hearts the world over with both his songs and his smile.

This is, I'm mostly sure, Ruan O'Lochlainn on the organ and backup vocals, Charlie Hart on accordian, Steve Simpson on mandoline, either Glen Lefluer or Jim Frank on drums, and somebody whose name I just can't match up with the face and it's really, really ticking me off on bass.

And of course the great Ronnie Lane on resonator guitar and vocals, featuring the sweetest smile in the history of Rock and Roll.

Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance.

Ooh La La

Sorry about the crappy ending, to quote any of my kids on most issues, "I didn't do it."

I was going to write this story myself, but then I stumbled across Rick Snider's site Monumental Thoughts.

Rick bills himself as a licensed tour guide, real estate guy and sports writer.

His site is definately designed to function as his calling card as he's definately wanting you to hire out his services as a guide the next time you happen to be wandering through Washington D.C.

Still, it's way diferent from much of what's out there and full of all kinds of fun but mostly useless information (exactly the kind of stuff we love around here) about the seemingly thousands of statues and monuments that fill our nations capital.

As always, click on the photo below for a nice story.

Recommended.

 I think I might just hire the guy.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Never follow the crowd.

When good news about the market hits the front page of the New York Times, sell.

The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.

Never pay the slightest attention to what a company president ever says about his stock.

Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing..

A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren't still there, he's no longer a political leader.

You can talk about capitalism and communism and all that sort of thing, but the important thing is the struggle everybody is engaged in to get better living conditions, and they are not interested too much in government.

If the history of the past fifty years teaches us anything, it is that peace does not follow disarmament - disarmament follows peace.

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before you go to bed.

Two things are bad for the heart - running up stairs and running down people. 

Always do one thing less than you think you can do.

We can't cross that bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead of time.

We did not all come over on the same ship, but we are all in the same boat.

We grow neither better or worse as we age, but rather more like ourselves.

To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.

During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.

If a speculator is correct half of the time, he is hitting a good average. Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he is wrong.

Don't attempt to buy at the bottom and sell at the top that can only be accomplished by a liar.

Learn how to take your losses quickly and cleanly. Don’t expect to be right all the time. If you have made a mistake, cut your losses as quickly as possible.

Don’t buy too many different securities. Better have only a few investments which can be watched.

Always keep a good part of your capital in a cash reserve. Never invest all your funds.

I made my money by selling too soon.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

The ability to express an idea is well nigh as important as the idea itself.

Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking.

From one of our favorite sites Space.com, or as we like to call it around here, Dobbs' Folly.

And again we remind you that not once has anyone around here ever claimed to be a real nice person.

As always the photo links you up to the entire article which as always at Space.com links you up to a raft of other interesting stuff.

Huge NASA Satellite Falling to Earth Is Largest in 30 Years

by Denise Chow,  21 September 2011 Time: 06:00 AM ET

 

 

 

A dead climate satellite that has been gradually falling toward Earth is expected to plummet down within days, making it the most massive NASA satellite to make an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in over three decades, agency officals say.

NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, is expected to plunge toward Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), based on the latest estimates by the agency's orbital debris experts.

The bus-size UARS satellite is one of the largest NASA satellites to plunge back to Earth uncontrolled in more than 30 years.

 

Outstanding.

 

Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.  Milton Friedman

It has been true in Western societies and it seems to be true elsewhere that you do not find democratic systems apart from capitalism, or apart from a market economy, if you prefer that term.  Peter L. Berger

Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it.  Thomas Sowell

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.  Bertrand Russell

Capitalism has socialized production. It has brought thousands of people together in the factory and involved them in new social relationships.  C. L. R. James

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.  John Maynard Keynes

Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.  Al Capone

Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.  Fidel Castro

For capitalism, war and peace are business and nothing but business.  Karl Liebknecht

I am going to fight capitalism even if it kills me. It is wrong that people like you should be comfortable and well fed while all around you people are starving.  Sylvia Pankhurst

If allowed to run free of the social system, capitalism will attempt to corrupt and undermine democracy, which is after all not a natural state.  John Ralston Saul

Fascism is capitalism plus murder.  Upton Sinclair

Fascism is capitalism in decay.  Vladimir Lenin

If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism, we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.  Vladimir Lenin

In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy.  Fran Lebowitz

The kind of capitalism I hate most is crony capitalism, the friends who decide. These are things which should be killed in Russia.  Anatoly Chubais

The cure for capitalism's failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone.  Robert Heilbroner

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.  Winston Churchill

The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system.   Milton Friedman

There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants.   Mao Tse-Tung

This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.   Al Capone

The ideology of capitalism makes us all into connoisseurs of liberty - of the indefinite expansion of possibility.   Susan Sontag

I believe totally in a Capitalist System, I only wish that someone would try it.  Frank Lloyd Wright

Under capitalism each individual engages in economic planning.   George Reisman

Under capitalism, man exploits man.  Under communism, just the opposite is true.   John Kenneth Galbraith or Polish Proverb ... take your pick

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden.  Orson Scott Card

The market is not an invention of capitalism.  It has existed for centuries.  It is an invention of civilization.   Mikhail Gorbachev

You can talk about capitalism and communism and all that sort of thing, but the important thing is the struggle everybody is engaged in to get better living conditions, and they are not interested too much in government.   Bernard Baruch

This one is a little tougher than most of our posts, but worth working at some as it identifies what I believe to be a major source of the world's problems.

Far too many resources in the hands of far, faarrr too few people.

If you just want to cut to the chase, simply scroll down to the list which is as you might expect.

The more interesting list to me would be that of the interelated major shareholders and directors.

As always click on the photo of the thingy below for the entire article.

I read the whole thing twice and am only sort of sure about what the thingy means.

Who Runs the World? 

Network Analysis Reveals ‘Super Entity’ of Global Corporate Control

Michael Ricciardi

August 28, 2011

In the first such analysis ever conducted, Swiss economic researchers have conducted a global network analysis of the most powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). Their results have revealed a core of 787 firms with control of 80% of this network, and a “super entity” comprised of 147 corporations that have a controlling interest in 40% of the network’s TNCs.

Strongly Connected Component (SCC); layout of the SCC (1318 nodes and 12,191 linksWhen we hear conspiracy theorist talk about this or that powerful group (or alliance of said groups) “pulling strings” behind the scenes, we tend to dismiss or minimize such claims, even though, deep down, we may suspect that there’s some degree of truth to it, however distorted by the theorists’ slightly paranoid perception of the world. But perhaps our tendency to dismiss such claims as exaggerations (at best) comes from our inability to get even a slight grip on the complexity of global corporate ownership; it’s all too vast and complicated to get any clear sense of the reality.

But now we have the results of a global network analysis (Vitali, Glattfelder, Battiston) that, for the first time, lays bare the “architecture” of the global ownership network. In the paper abstract, the authors state:

“We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure* and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic “super-entity” that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers.”

Rank , Economic actor name, Country, NACE code, Network Cumul. Network position, control (TM, %)

1 BARCLAYS PLC  GB 6512  SCC 4.05

2 CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES INC, THE  US  6713  IN  6.66

3 FMR CORP  US  6713  IN  8.94

4 AXA  FR  6712  SCC  11.21

5 STATE STREET CORPORATION US 6713 SCC 13.02

6 JP MORGAN CHASE & CO. US 6512 SCC 14.55

7 LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC GB 6603  SCC 16.02

8 VANGUARD GROUP, INC., THE  US 7415 IN 17.25

9 UBS AG  CH 6512  SCC 18.46

10 MERRILL LYNCH & CO., INC. US 6712  SCC 19.45

11 WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT CO. L.L.P. US 6713  IN 20.33

12 DEUTSCHE BANK AG DE 6512  SCC 21.17

13 FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC. US 6512  SCC 21.99

14 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP  CH 6512 SCC 22.81

15 WALTON ENTERPRISES LLC US 2923 T&T 23.56

16 BANK OF NEWYORKMELLON CORP. US 6512 IN 24.28

17 NATIXIS   FR 6512 SCC 24.98

18  GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC., THE US 6712 SCC 25.64

19 T. ROWEPRICE GROUP, INC. US 6713 SCC 26.29

20 LEGG MASON, INC. US 6712 SCC 26.92

21 MORGAN STANLEY US 6712 SCC 27.56

22 MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. JP 6512 SCC 28.16

23 NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION US 6512 SCC 28.72

24 SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE FR 6512 SCC 29.26

25 BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION US 6512 SCC 29.79

26 LLOYDS TSB GROUPPLCGB 6512 SCC 30.30

27 INVESCOPLCGB 6523 SCC 30.82

28 ALLIANZSE DE 7415 SCC 31.32

29 TIAA US 6601 IN 32.24

30 OLD MUTUAL PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY GB 6601 SCC 32.69

31 AVIVAPLC GB 6601 SCC 33.14

32 SCHRODERSPLC GB 6712 SCC 33.57

33 DODGE & COX US 7415 IN 34.00

34 LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS, INC. US 6712 SCC 34.43

35 SUN LIFE FINANCIAL, INC. CA 6601 SCC 34.82

36 STANDARDLIFEPLCGB 6601 SCC 35.2

37 CNCE FR 6512 SCC 35.57

38 NOMURA HOLDINGS, INC. JP 6512 SCC 35.92

39 THE DEPOSITORY TRUST COMPANY US 6512 IN 36.28

40 MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSUR. US 6601 IN 36.63

41 INGGROEP N.V.  NL 6603  SCC 36.96

42 BRANDES INVESTMENT PARTNERS, L.P. US 6713 IN 37.29

43 UNICREDITO ITALIANO SPA IT 6512 SCC 37.61

44 DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION OF JP JP 6511 IN 37.93

45 VERENIGING AEGON  NL 6512 IN 38.25

46 BNPPARIBAS  FR 6512 SCC 38.56

47 AFFILIATED MANAGERS GROUP, INC. US 6713  SCC 38.88

48 RESONA HOLDINGS, INC.  JP 6512  SCC 39.18

49 CAPITAL GROUP INTERNATIONAL, INC.  US 7414 IN 39.48

50 CHINA PETROCHEMICAL GROUP CO.  CN 6511 T&T 39.78