https://ca.news.yahoo.com/locals-rescue-calf-fell-hole-170000726.html
What!?
How is it possible that Mueller did not get this!???
As noted here repeatedly in previous posts - this lady is key.
This ain't over!
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Hicks!
Hope Hicks is handing over Trump Campaign documents to the House of Representatives' investigation into the Trump Campaign.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/locals-rescue-calf-fell-hole-170000726.html
What!?
How is it possible that Mueller did not get this!???
As noted here repeatedly in previous posts - this lady is key.
This ain't over!
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/locals-rescue-calf-fell-hole-170000726.html
What!?
How is it possible that Mueller did not get this!???
As noted here repeatedly in previous posts - this lady is key.
This ain't over!
The USA's Lost Twenty Years
Let's look back at the dying days of the Clinton presidency.
It is 1999, and we are about to have President Bush, then Obama, then Trump. What did the USA look like then, and what does it look like now?
The Economy:
1999 - Gross Domestic Product growth in the USA in 1999 was 3.8%, following growth of 4.5% in both 1997 and 1998.
2019 - Gross Domestic Product growth will be about 1.3% in the second quarter of 2019.
The USA economy has not grown by more that 3% a year since 2005, in spite of literally trillions of dollars in stimulus funding courtesy of massive government borrowing and spending and historically low interest rates.
The Stock Market:
1999 - The S&P 500 was at about 1,425 at the end of 1999.
2019 - The S & P 500 is about 2,800 today.
If you bought the S&P 500 on January 1, 2000, you spent the next 13 years underwater, and did not see any net capital accumulation until 2013. You have only made money in the last 5 - 6 years.
Food Stamps:
1999 - There were about 15 million Americans on Food Stamps in 1999 - about 1 in 20 Americans. If you met 100 "average" Americans at that time, 5 were living on Food Stamps.
2019 - After peaking at about 46 million recipients in 2013, there are still about 39 million Food Stamp recipients in the USA - about 1 in 8.5 Americans. If you were to meet 100 "average" Americans today, 12 of them would be living on Food Stamps.
With a broad unemployment rate of about 7.5% (U6 - total unemployed and underemployed in one year), and a Food Stamps recipient rate of 12% of which about half (6%) are able-bodied people, the real rate of people out of a job in the USA is at least 14%. This is slightly better than the rate of unemployed persons on the dole in America in the better years of The Great Depression.
Debt and Deficits:
1999 - National debt was $5.65 Trillion.
2019 - National debt is about $22.7 Trillion.
The USA will soon have a higher debt to GDP ratio than it had during WW2, which was the peak. There is no actual political will to force the country to live within its means, instead, politicians act as if they think their country can keep relying on the Chinese and the US Fed to finance deficits. The political class in that country has never more obviously failed in its most basic responsibilities.
Income Distribution:
1999 - The top 1% of income earners had 17% of national income, while the poorest half of the population - the bottom 50% of income earners had just under 16% of national income.
2019 - The top 1% of income earners have over 20% of national income, while the poorest half of the population - the bottom 50% of income earners had approaching 12% of national income.
The USA is a country of the rich, by the poor, for the rich. The present trend cannot continue and that country continue to call itself a democracy.
Where would this country be if it had avoided relentless tax cuts for rich people, it balanced its budgets, and if it had fought fewer wars?
What a waste.
It is 1999, and we are about to have President Bush, then Obama, then Trump. What did the USA look like then, and what does it look like now?
The Economy:
1999 - Gross Domestic Product growth in the USA in 1999 was 3.8%, following growth of 4.5% in both 1997 and 1998.
2019 - Gross Domestic Product growth will be about 1.3% in the second quarter of 2019.
The USA economy has not grown by more that 3% a year since 2005, in spite of literally trillions of dollars in stimulus funding courtesy of massive government borrowing and spending and historically low interest rates.
The Stock Market:
1999 - The S&P 500 was at about 1,425 at the end of 1999.
2019 - The S & P 500 is about 2,800 today.
If you bought the S&P 500 on January 1, 2000, you spent the next 13 years underwater, and did not see any net capital accumulation until 2013. You have only made money in the last 5 - 6 years.
Food Stamps:
1999 - There were about 15 million Americans on Food Stamps in 1999 - about 1 in 20 Americans. If you met 100 "average" Americans at that time, 5 were living on Food Stamps.
2019 - After peaking at about 46 million recipients in 2013, there are still about 39 million Food Stamp recipients in the USA - about 1 in 8.5 Americans. If you were to meet 100 "average" Americans today, 12 of them would be living on Food Stamps.
With a broad unemployment rate of about 7.5% (U6 - total unemployed and underemployed in one year), and a Food Stamps recipient rate of 12% of which about half (6%) are able-bodied people, the real rate of people out of a job in the USA is at least 14%. This is slightly better than the rate of unemployed persons on the dole in America in the better years of The Great Depression.
Debt and Deficits:
1999 - National debt was $5.65 Trillion.
2019 - National debt is about $22.7 Trillion.
The USA will soon have a higher debt to GDP ratio than it had during WW2, which was the peak. There is no actual political will to force the country to live within its means, instead, politicians act as if they think their country can keep relying on the Chinese and the US Fed to finance deficits. The political class in that country has never more obviously failed in its most basic responsibilities.
Income Distribution:
1999 - The top 1% of income earners had 17% of national income, while the poorest half of the population - the bottom 50% of income earners had just under 16% of national income.
2019 - The top 1% of income earners have over 20% of national income, while the poorest half of the population - the bottom 50% of income earners had approaching 12% of national income.
The USA is a country of the rich, by the poor, for the rich. The present trend cannot continue and that country continue to call itself a democracy.
Where would this country be if it had avoided relentless tax cuts for rich people, it balanced its budgets, and if it had fought fewer wars?
What a waste.
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
Hundreds of Prosecutors and Obstruction
See here...
A total of 417 former prosecutor and justice officials have written to the Attorney General and have claimed that, based on the evidence revealed in the Mueller Report, they would have charged Trump with Obstruction of Justice if he were not the President of the United States. Mueller himself said that he could not charge him because of a Department of Justice policy - it seems pretty clear that the case can be made out that the president committed a criminal act.
As noted here before, it doesn't matter. Mueller could not show that the Trump Campaign worked with the Russians to secure Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, so the show is over. Obstruction of Justice is normally important, but these are not normal times, and that is not what the investigation was all about - no conspiracy = "nothing to see here." The Democrats may talk about impeachment - it means nothing.
Biden is ahead of Trump by about 10% in most public opinion polls. That is how Trump will be removed from office, to start his life as a defendant in many a criminal trial.
Note - Trump may have to reveal his tax returns soon.
If so, they will reveal that he was bankrupt in the early 1990's, then he staged a miraculous financial recovery by the end of the decade. I think observers will conclude that he must have received cash from someone to avoid total ruin....to avoid being a "loser".
Further, I think it will quickly become obvious that the support came from the Russians, who made a strategic investment in the 1990's and bought a powerful American as a wiling stooge.
In short, the release of his tax returns will mean showing that the man has been owned by Putin for 20 years.
Tuesday, 21 May 2019
Sitting Vlad Jr.
Comment on Sportsnet after the Blue Jays front office decided to sit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the Victoria Day Monday matinee...
"This bizarre management duo is acting like they think they are the smartest people in baseball; that players are mere cogs in an algorithm; that money is irrelevant - both revenues foregone and cash spent to send players away; and like the fans are not especially necessary. The human element is missing. They tore this team down to build the farm system - absent any depth at the starting pitching position. Trust the process!!! OK, but if the Jays are not at least in the conversation for the playoffs in 2 years, "fan-alytics" suggests they need to go. There is a time table for that as well, isn't there?"
"This bizarre management duo is acting like they think they are the smartest people in baseball; that players are mere cogs in an algorithm; that money is irrelevant - both revenues foregone and cash spent to send players away; and like the fans are not especially necessary. The human element is missing. They tore this team down to build the farm system - absent any depth at the starting pitching position. Trust the process!!! OK, but if the Jays are not at least in the conversation for the playoffs in 2 years, "fan-alytics" suggests they need to go. There is a time table for that as well, isn't there?"
Sunday, 19 May 2019
House Prices Canada
Eight months with no rise in house prices in Canada - no price rise in April is the first time this has happened in the 21 year history ofthis market measure...
https://housepriceindex.ca/2019/05/april2019/
What goes up too fast always comes down with a crash.
Absurdly low interest rates in Canada since 2008 have driven a bubble and have prebuilt an impending real estate market catastrophe.
Blame the Bank of Canada when it happens.
https://housepriceindex.ca/2019/05/april2019/
What goes up too fast always comes down with a crash.
Absurdly low interest rates in Canada since 2008 have driven a bubble and have prebuilt an impending real estate market catastrophe.
Blame the Bank of Canada when it happens.
Steele Dossier
The Right-Wing media and commentators in the USA, fresh from their victory in the Mueller Report (i.e. the witch hunt that didn't find a witch...almost as if it was a legitimate investigation!) are up in arms again about the dossier about Trump and the Russians that was crafted by Christopher Steele, who is a former member of Britain's MI-6.
The allegation of the shameless shills for Trump is that this dossier was the purported rationale for the start of an FBI investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, including what became surveillance into the activities of Trump himself and his campaign in the 2016 election.
This is a bold faced lie.
From the Mueller Report..."...within a week of the release (of DNC documents on Wikileaks), a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and the individuals associated with the Trump Campaign."
The Steele dossier was written starting in June and ending in December, 2016. The investigation of the FBI into possible links between Trump and the Russians began only two months after Steele even started writing his dossier, and four months before he was finished.
There are serious questions about the involvement of Clinton and her hacks in creating this dossier, and how it was released and used during the campaign. This issue, as well as how Obama may have used his White House to gain a political advange over Trump - and especially the botched investigation into Clinton's use of an illegal e-mail server while she was Secretary of State - needs to be investigated.
Nonetheless, the suggestion that the investigation of Trump started with the Steel Dossier is a total fabrication.
The allegation of the shameless shills for Trump is that this dossier was the purported rationale for the start of an FBI investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, including what became surveillance into the activities of Trump himself and his campaign in the 2016 election.
This is a bold faced lie.
From the Mueller Report..."...within a week of the release (of DNC documents on Wikileaks), a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and the individuals associated with the Trump Campaign."
The Steele dossier was written starting in June and ending in December, 2016. The investigation of the FBI into possible links between Trump and the Russians began only two months after Steele even started writing his dossier, and four months before he was finished.
There are serious questions about the involvement of Clinton and her hacks in creating this dossier, and how it was released and used during the campaign. This issue, as well as how Obama may have used his White House to gain a political advange over Trump - and especially the botched investigation into Clinton's use of an illegal e-mail server while she was Secretary of State - needs to be investigated.
Nonetheless, the suggestion that the investigation of Trump started with the Steel Dossier is a total fabrication.
Saturday, 11 May 2019
Buy Back Binge
This is very good...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEH0w1sEZw
The stock market is where it is because of corporate buy backs. Those buy backs are designed to pump the earnings of the people managing these companies, not the companies themselves. The debt that has been incurred to finance this outrageous behaviour is increasingly bad.
When this slows or stops, the market will pull back very sharply.
It will happen. When it does, don't get caught in this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEH0w1sEZw
The stock market is where it is because of corporate buy backs. Those buy backs are designed to pump the earnings of the people managing these companies, not the companies themselves. The debt that has been incurred to finance this outrageous behaviour is increasingly bad.
When this slows or stops, the market will pull back very sharply.
It will happen. When it does, don't get caught in this...
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