The Bernank lies to Americans about inflation

"I think what we're witnessing today is the end stages of a grand experiment."
-Dr. Ron Paul

Congressman Paul asks the Bernank if he does his own shopping...since the Bernank says that there is no inflation.
LMAO!

I am not endorsing Ron Paul, but I can't help but notice that the mainstream media is pretending like he isn't running a very successful national campaign.
I would love to see Dr. Paul, an anti-Wall Street, anti-war Republican, go head-to-head against Obama, a pro-Wall Street, pro-war, pro-martial law Democrat.
Heads would explode.
Literally.

World Revolution Update

While Obama and congressional leaders were playing out their puppet show at the White House, the Bernank told Congress that gold wasn't money this week, and gold reacted by shooting through the roof.
Meanwhile, the puppet show continues...

Weekly World Revolution Update

"Is this an act of war, gentlemen?"

So last week, Spanish police detained 3 alleged members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective. Then this weekend, someone hacked the IMF's website, and Operation Empire State Rebellion reiterated their demand that the Bernank resign with the release of this video.

This morning, LulzSec posted info on their website proving that they infiltrated the US Senate website.

A cursory investigation does not reveal the exposition of any sensitive data.... This time. Yet one thing LulzSec most certainly acquired was the user/pass combinations of all individuals affiliated with the Senate, and are likely currently actively downloading all their emails.
-Zero Hedge

Oh, and by the way, tomorrow is Flag day, and OpESR has been promising protests/actions nationwide to celebrate.

"Occupy a public space."

Stay tuned, if you can.

World Revolution Update

Inflation is real

Jeff Reeves of InvestorPlace reminds us of the dark side of inflation...yes, despite what the Bernank says, there is inflation...at least for us working people who live in the real world.

1. Beef
In a revised forecast Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said consumers will see higher price tags on ground beef and steak, projecting 6% to 7% increases year over year. That's up from a previous forecast of just 4.5% to 5.5% inflation for beef prices. Beef prices have surged in the last several months as supplies shrink, exports boom and grain costs soar.

2. Pork
Don't think you can just switch from cow to pig to avoid this trend — pork could see retail price increases of as much as 7.5% over 2010 levels according to the USDA.

3. Grains
Even going vegetarian is more expensive than it was a year ago. Corn prices have doubled, from $3.49 a bushel in July to well over $7.70 currently. Wheat prices have rolled back a bit in recent weeks, but topped 2008 highs in February to set a new record and remain very high currently.

4. Gasoline
The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped about 12 cents over the last two weeks to $3.88, with the highest average price for gas tallying $4.27 in Tucson, Ariz. This is with oil at $112 a barrel — if crude prices reach 2008 peak levels of $145, four bucks for gas may seem cheap.

5. Copper
The price of copper at the end of 2008 was just $1.30 per pound. Currently, copper is trading around $4.30 after setting a record of $4.60 in February. Unlike gold and silver, which are largely used in luxury goods or as investments, copper is used in a wide range of household items — from electrical wiring to air conditioners to water pipes.

6. Diapers
Consumer-products company Procter & Gamble PG (NYSE: PG - News) said this week that list prices for Pampers are up 7% on average over last year, with even Pampers wipes up 3%. To be clear, that's not a retail price hike, just a cost increase to stores. Retailers will decide how much of those price increases to pass along to shoppers. Kimberly-Clark KMB (NYSE: KMB - News), maker of Huggies, said Monday it plans to raise prices for similar reasons — rising costs for the petroleum products and paper pulp that go into the diapers. It will be the third such announcement for Kimberly-Clark since the middle of March.

7. Paper towels and toilet paper
If you don't have infants, you're not off the hook. P&G also said that Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels are both listing for 5% more now with retailers and distributors than they were a year ago. KMB's diaper price update will also be accompanied by a boost for its flagship Kleenex tissues.

8. Shipping surcharges
Freight shipper United Parcel Service UPS (NYSE: UPS - News) will be hiking its fuel surcharges from 7.5% to 8.5% as of May 2 for ground freight and from 13% to 15% for air freight. That really hurts small businesses. If you are a storekeeper simply trying to keep your shelves stocked, you have no choice but to pay more and endure smaller margins — or hike prices yourself and add to this inflationary mess.

9. Wages
Perhaps the most insidious factor of our current inflationary spiral is the fact that while all these other items are costing more, household purchasing power is shrinking because wages and salaries aren't keeping up. While the consumer price index rose 2.7% in March to clock the fastest 12-month pace since December 2009, a staggering 18.3% of personal income is now made up of food stamps while wages account for just 50.5%. That's the lowest since the government started keeping records in 1929.
-Marketwatch

The Con of the Millenium

So the basic outline of the Con is that private losses from the financialization of the U.S. economy were shifted to the public. Now to keep the Status Quo and Financial Plutocracy from imploding, the public is on the hook for $1.6 trillion in additional borrowing every year until Doomsday (around 2021 or so).
Having secured the backing of the Central Bank and Central State, the Plutocracy's only problem now is that it needs a risk-free source of high-yield income.
-Charles Hugh Smith

The US Teasury market is primarily dependent on one buyer: The Federal Reserve. If the Fed were to stop buying treasuries, rates would theoretically go up to try to induce anyone to buy them.
Well, then the Oligarchs would start buying up those suddenly higher-yield Teasuries...with all the money that they have been looting from the American people.
As rates increase, so will the demand for "austerity," (Would you care for some tea?) which should result in fewer bonds being issued, which should also result in a decline in rates, thereby boosting the value of the high-yield debt already purchased by the Oligarchs....with your tax money.


i.e. They're buying our country with our money, and we're getting nothing out of it but more and more debt.

This is the ultimate endgame of the financialization of the U.S. economy and the concentration of wealth and thus political power in the hands of those who skimmed the immense gains from that financialization.
-Charles Hugh Smith