Friday, March 4, 2011

The Truth About Money

1.Mary Meeker of Bloomberg - "Would You Invest In a Company that lost $2 trillion last year, and has a net worth of a negative $44 trillion? Imagine no Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp or Coast Guard, no federal courts or prisons, no national park service, no food and drug administration, no embassies, no salaries for Congress. That's what it would take to finance the budget by 2025 and still pay interest on America's debts, without either raising revenues or reducing entitlement growth. That's certainly not a recognizable America."

COMMENT: Looks Like the dollar is in for a rough ride.

2. Dennis Gartman - "Let's get this straight. We're going to be 'gifted' with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke!!

COMMENT: What could possibly go wrong?

3.Russia stands to lose $4 billion in arms deals due to unrest in Libya, the Interfax news agency cited Sergei Chemezov, head of the state holding company that controls arms exports, as saying on Thursday. (Reuters)

COMMENT:That explains the Russian reticence as regards Libya. They will be losing major money if the uprisings continue. Imagine if they spread to Syria?

4.World food prices rose 2.2% in February from the previous month to a record peak, the United Nations' food body said Thursday, as it warned that volatility in oil markets could push prices even higher. The Food and Agriculture Organization price index rose by 2.2%—the eighth consecutive rise since June—to an average of 236 points last month, the highest record in real and nominal terms since the agency started monitoring prices in 1990.

5. WSJ - China announced plans to increase its defense budget by 12.7% this year, a pickup from last year's sharply lower growth that comes amid fresh confrontations over territorial issues with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

COMMENT: Maybe this has more to do with internal strife created by that new adversary....The internet.

6. Protestors shouted "shame" in the chamber Wednesday as Ohio's State Senate narrowly passed a bill that limits collective bargaining rights for public workers. John Kasich (Governor of Ohio) brushed off any suggestion that the measure will negatively impact a potential bid for the presidency, saying "I was not elected to...make political decisions. I was elected to fix this state so families could be lifted, and we would have more opportunity and more hope in this state," he says. "And whatever happens in 2012, I don't really care, that's not my interest."

COMMENT: Thats the difference between a politician and a leader....He leads from the front.

Ho-ka hey! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear! - Crazy Horse (Sioux chief).

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