Do you know what a trial balloon is? It is when politicians will float an idea in the media to see what the reaction of the public will be. Well, right now one trial balloon that is being floated is the idea that we should tax Americans for the number of miles that they drive. This proposal showed up in a draft bill that was being circulated within the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget. You can view a copy of this draft bill here. Of course the Obama administration is denying that this proposal will be in the final draft of the legislation. The Obama administration is stressing that this was just “a draft” of the bill. But this is what happens very often with trial balloons. They are put out there and the politicians will say things like “this is being studied” or “this isn’t a serious proposal yet” and then one day we all wake up and it is suddenly being implemented. The fact that there is even draft legislation that would tax Americans based on the number of miles that they drive should be incredibly sobering for all of us. If the global warming alarmists have their way, there are going to be lots of these kinds of taxes in our future. (Read More...)
If It Is Time To Sell Gold Then Why Are Central Banks Hoarding Gold Like Crazy?
Has the time to sell gold now arrived? Before you start dumping all of your gold, you might want to check out what central banks all over the globe have been doing. There is some serious hoarding of gold that is going on. For most of the past two decades, central banks have been net sellers of gold, but now many of them are gobbling up gold as fast as they can. So why would they be doing this if gold was not a good investment? Yes, we did see gold, silver and oil all take a very serious tumble today. That is what happens sometimes – global financial markets are so unstable at this point that even a piece of relatively minor news can set off a bit of a panic in one direction or another. But the long-term trend for gold has been up, up, up and it look like the central banks around the world continue to expect the price of gold to soar over the long-term. (Read More...)
31 Interesting Questions
In a world where nobody seems to be telling the truth anymore we are often left with more questions than answers. Instead of just telling us the facts, everything seems to be about getting “the spin” right these days. For example, the Osama Bin Laden “death story” has already been changed by the White House multiple times. Fake Osama Bin Laden death photos (like the one above) have been flying all over the Internet. Massive amounts of radiation continues to pour out of the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan and yet all the authorities continue to insist that it is nothing to worry about. The global economy is teetering on the brink of disaster and yet it is being called “an economic recovery”. The U.S. government has essentially already reached the debt ceiling and yet now Timothy Geithner is claiming that it won’t be a problem until August. The world is becoming a more bizarre place with each passing week, and the lies just keep on getting bigger and bigger and bigger. (Read More...)
36 Statistics Which Prove That The American Dream Is Turning Into An Absolute Nightmare For The Middle Class
The U.S. middle class is being shredded, ripped apart and systematically wiped out. If you doubt this, just check out the statistics below. The American Dream is being transformed into an absolute nightmare. Once upon a time, the rest of the world knew that most Americans were able to live a middle class lifestyle. Most American families had nice homes, most American families had a car or two, most American families had nice clothes, most American families had an overabundance of food and most American families could even look forward to sending their children to college if that is what the kids wanted to do. There was an implicit promise that this was the way that it was always going to be. Most of us grew up believing that if we worked really hard in school and that if we stayed out of trouble and that if we did everything that “the system” told us to do that there would be a place for us in the middle class too. Well, it turns out that “the system” is breaking down. There aren’t enough good jobs for all of us anymore. In fact, there aren’t very many crappy jobs either. Millions are out of work, millions have lost their homes and nearly all of the long-term economic trends just keep getting worse and worse. So is there any hope for the U.S. middle class? (Read More...)
The Royal Wedding, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars And 7 Other Ways That The American People Are Being Distracted From Our Real Problems
Have you caught “royal wedding fever” yet? The union of Prince William and Kate Middleton is already being called “the wedding of the century” and it will almost certainly be the most watched event in the entire world this year. The mainstream media is spending endless hours covering every conceivable angle of this wedding. With all of the hype surrounding this wedding, you would almost be tempted to think that America has now officially adopted British royalty as our own. Worship and adoration of the royal family is at a fever pitch in the United States right now, which is kind of ironic considering the fact that we fought two wars against the tyranny of that monarchy. If only George Washington and the boys could see us now. Sadly, the American people love to be entertained and they are very easily distracted from the very real problems facing this nation. In past years, celebrities such as OJ Simpson, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears dominated the news. Today Americans are distracted by the royal wedding, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. In our entertainment-addicted society, the time for average Americans to set aside the distractions and focus on real issues never seems to come. (Read More...)
If You Are Against Raising The Debt Ceiling You Are Part Of Al-Qaeda?
Are you against raising the debt ceiling? If so, according to former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill you are actually part of al-Qaeda. Yes, seriously. During an interview on Bloomberg TV the other day, O’Neill actually made the following statement: “The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of al-Qaeda terrorists. Really. They’re really putting our whole society at risk by threatening to round up 50 percent of the members of the Congress, who are looney, who would put our credit at risk.” For a high ranking Bush administration official to equate Tea Party activists with al-Qaeda is extremely frightening. Just remember what the Bush administration did to anyone supposedly associated with al-Qaeda. They shipped them off to Guantanamo Bay and waterboarded them into oblivion. It also shows how out of touch the Bush administration really was with the conservative base of the Republican Party. The Bush administration ran up record setting deficit after record setting deficit and now any conservatives that dare to want some assurances that we are actually going to do something about our rampant debt problem are labeled as “al-Qaeda terrorists”. Of course the Obama administration is essentially doing the exact same thing. The current Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been running around frothing at the mouth and declaring that we are going to experience financial armageddon if the debt ceiling is not raised. This whole episode is yet another example that shows what a fraud the false left/right political paradigm in this country really is. (Read More...)
Why Investors Are Buying Silver As If There Is No Tomorrow
The price of silver has been absolutely exploding lately. It has reached heights not seen since the Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the silver market over three decades ago. But this time there are no Hunt Brothers to blame for the stunning rise in the price of silver. So exactly why are investors buying silver as if there is no tomorrow right now? Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons. Investors have been flocking to precious metals such as gold and silver as the value of paper currencies has declined. The euro is incredibly weak right now and the U.S. dollar appears to be on the verge of a major collapse. In fact, the entire financial system is highly unstable right now. In such an environment, investors seek some place safe to park their money, and right now gold and silver are seen as safe harbors. But gold and silver have not been going up in price at the same pace. So why is silver outperforming gold so significantly? (Read More...)
Tax The Rich? 14 Facts You May Want To Consider
Class warfare in the United States is heating up again. As the overall economic pie shrinks, the poor are being taught to go after the rich and the rich are being taught that the poor are a threat. Lately, the calls to “tax the rich” have grown louder than ever. As thousands more American families fall into poverty every single day, and as U.S. government debt continues to soar, many are touting higher taxes on the wealthy as the solution to all of our problems. But is that what we really want to do? Will it actually solve our economic and financial problems as a nation? If you don’t have much money, it can sound very appealing when politicians say that they want to “tax the rich”. But unfortunately, things are just not that simple. (Read More...)