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SOPA

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 06:07

 

The following is completely plagiarized from Wikipedia.

 

 

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.

 

The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.[2] Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.[3]

 

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.

 

The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.[4]

 

 

 

Think your IRA is safe? Better think again.

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 01/04/2012 - 06:47

 

From THE GOLDEN TRUTH and Dave in Denver, here's a bit of holiday cheer.

Click anywhere below for the entire piece ... recomended as it makes perfect sense.

At least to us.

 

Think Your IRA Is Safe?  Better Think Again

 

The MF Global bankruptcy is a blueprint for how the Government and wealthy bankers will begin to take everything that is kept within the confines of the financial system.

 

Ten years ago I tried to tell many friends and acquaintances that housing prices would collapse and this country was headed for disaster and that the only only way to protect themselves financially was to load up on gold and silver.   Almost everyone looked at me like I needed my own floor in the mental health wing at Belleview Hospital in NYC.  Of course, that was back when gold was around $300/oz. and housing prices were on average about 50% higher than they are now.

 

As I run into these folks these days, they compliment me for my ability to see into the future and immediately want to know what I think will happen next.   My only logical response is to say that they don't want to know what I think because, just like 10 years ago, they'll think I'm crazy.   I add that I hope I'm wrong this time about what I think is coming but that I doubt that I am.

 

I bring this up because one of the things that I believe will eventually happen is that the Government will find a way to confiscate all retirement assets (IRA's/401k's).   But rather than outright taking them, they'll substitute them with some kind of retirement "annuity" that is funded with good old Treasury bonds.   Of course, by that point in time, the Treasury bond printing press will be working overtime to print currency the Government can use to stay afloat.

 

 

The 2010 World Corruption Perceptions Index

Submitted by Roanman on Sat, 12/03/2011 - 10:59

 

Transparency International has released it's 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The results as always are interesting ... at least to us.

One must understand that this index is based on a methodology wherein the "perception" of a nations public sector corruption is measured, rather than some defined measure of corruption itself.

We read through the methodology section and have had very few quibbles and as a result are mostly buying it.

As always click on the map below for TI's complete list.

We would encourage you to spend a minute with Transparency International's fine site as we always find it to be well worth the time.

 

 

Tsk, Tsk, USA.

 

Since we're on the subject of slime, it's back to JP Morgan and MF Global.

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 11:39

 

The following is the punch line to a white paper by John Roe, and James L. Koutoulas, Esq. concerning the disposition of stolen assets trapped in the MF Global fiasco.

Click anywhere on the excerpt below for a very short and well written paper which also serves as a primer on the how, the what, the who and the why of commodities trading.

Way super double highly recommended. 

 

By subordinating customers with collateral in segregated funds to creditors of MF Global's estate, the Trustee is essentially making the creditors the beneficiary of a criminal act.  If MF Global comingled segregated funds with corporate assets, it was a criminal act.  Paying such a creditor's claim with a portion of those comingled funds would make them a beneficiary of that crime.  Paying JP Morgan with an Iowa farmer's money is not only morally and legally wrong, it risks the future of the American economic model.

 

Commodities accounts were reputed to be regulated by an entity of the federal government known as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

It's true mission however is to assist large Wall Street Banks in their theft of middle class America's wealth.

Click this little gear here for our recent piece concerning former Goldman Sachs great, Democratic Senator from New Jersey (is that better Robert?), Democratic Governor of New Jersey, well known Democratic and Obama fundraiser, and MF Global CEO John Corzine who famously lobbied the CFTC in order to prevent the instituition of rules associated with the Dodd-Frank legislation that would have prevented MF Global from commingling client's money with it's own and thus would have prevented this 630 million dollar theft.

 

What I keep sayin' ..... still

Submitted by Roanman on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 07:40

 

The following is taken directly from the Resource Center at the Treasury Department.

 

Who/What is the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC)?

 

The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee ("Borrowing Committee”) of The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) is an advisory committee governed by federal statute that meets quarterly with the Treasury Department. The Borrowing Committee’s membership is comprised of senior representatives from investment funds and banks. The Borrowing Committee presents their observations to the Treasury Department on the overall strength of the U.S. economy as well as providing recommendations on a variety of technical debt management issues. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association does not participate in the deliberations of the Borrowing Committee.

 

Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee Members

CHAIRMAN

Matthew E. Zames
Managing Director
JP Morgan Chase
383 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10179

VICE CHAIRMAN

Ashok Varadhan
Managing Director
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
200 West Street
New York, NY 10282

 

Curtis Arledge
Vice Chairman, CEO, Asset Mgmt.
BNY Mellon
One Wall Street
New York, NY 10286

Richard A. Axilrod
Managing Director
Moore Capital Management, Inc.
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Ian G. Banwell
CEO & CIO
Round Table IMC
214 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

Jason Cummins
Managing Director
Brevan Howard
1776 I Street NW
Washington, DC 20006

Dana Emery
Executive Vice President
Dodge & Cox
555 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94104

Paul Tudor Jones II
Co-Chairman & CIO
Tudor
1275 King Street
Greenwich, CT 06831

Walter J. Muller III
Chief Investment Officer
Bank of America
600 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30308

Jeffrey S. Phlegar
President
Alliance Bernstein
1345 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10105

Ruth Porat
Executive VP, CFO
Morgan Stanley
1585 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

Stephen Rodosky
Managing Director
PIMCO
840 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Stuart Spodek
Managing Director
BlackRock
55 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10055

Richard Tang
Head of Fixed Income Sales, Americas
RBS
600 Washington Boulevard
Stamford, CT 06901

Stephen A. Walsh
Chief Investment Officer
Western Asset Mgmt. Co.
385 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101

 

Now, here's the question you gotta ask yourself.

Who's interests are being discussed when the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee meets with the Borrowing Committee.

 

 

Which of course, is what I keep sayin' ..... still.

If anyone can figure out the signature on the cartoon, I'd like to link it to the source.

 

 

If it wasn't for football, we would not be watching football today.

Submitted by Roanman on Sat, 10/15/2011 - 06:22

 

As we have made a point of explaining in the past, we're guys around here and as such we like football.

And to paraphrase somebody, as nobody around here can remember who came up with the original schtick, "If it wasn't for football, we would not be watching football today." 

So anyway, we had an idea for a post having to do with our strongly held opinion that football is the single most competitive activity/endeavor/business within all of modern American life.

We pestered our friend Thunder who runs one of our two favorite Michigan football sites Touch the Banner and has forgotten more about football than most people are likely to know for some links/thoughts.

We did our homework and wrote, rewrote and wrote again 53 different posts without even sniffing a satisfying result.

Yesterday our other favorite Michigan site MGoBlog posted the following what we consider to be brilliant layman's analysis of the inside zone read play as run by the Oregon Ducks that was originally posted at FishDuck.com.

We just compile the stuff around here, we don't name it.

About which all we have to say is ..... "It is our strongly held opinion that football is the single most competitive activity/endeavor/business within all of modern American life."

That is all.

 

 

Elenin cometh...s still

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 09/06/2011 - 20:23

 

You may remember from some time ago our post discussing the coincidental or not alignment of the Earth, Sun, and Mercury along with the comet Elenin on the exact dates of the record breaking (among other things) earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand and Japan.

Good news, you don't have to remember it, just click here.

The bad news is that Elenin is about to make a new series of alignments, only this time it will be on our side of the solar system and very near Earth.

Despite the fact that it contains 6 to 8 minutes of discussion on the Hopi Indian prophecies concerning the Blue and Red Katchinas and the resultant destructions here on Earth following their passage through our solar system, the following video is the most serious scientific analysis I've been able to find concerning the possibilities regarding the passing of this comet.

Consider yourself warned.

 

 

Sometimes a list is all you need

Submitted by Roanman on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 06:22

 

Your government along with the Fed, which is not your government it merely owns your government, has been telling you that inflation is only about 3.5%

The following is from Greg Hunter at USAWatchdog.com, who links you up with  TheBurningPlatform.com for additional (slightly more analytical while at the same time significantly more pissed off) analysis.

 

Ben Bernanke announced his QE2 policy in August 2010.

Here are your results:

 

•Unleaded gas prices are up 45%.

•Heating oil prices are up 46%

•Corn prices are up 71%

•Soybean prices are up 26%

•Rice prices are up 13%.

•Pork prices are up 31%

•Beef prices are up 25%

•Coffee prices are up 38%

•Sugar prices are up 48%

•Cotton prices are up 13%.

•Gold prices are up 42%.

•Silver prices are up 115%.

•Copper prices are up 23%

 

Forget about that, you don't use most of that stuff anyway.

 

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