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Jive Talkin’

     And so in his valedictory, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke pulls one last dead rabbit out of his hat — it suffocated while the head-fake taper percolated in Ben’s brain lo these many months of jive talkin’. As the year turns, the central bank will supposedly monetize $10 billion less debt per month — $75 billion down from $85 billion — with $5 billion each deducted from the US Treasury stream and the rotten mortgage barrel. Was there a catch?

     You could say that. For instance, what to make of the curious report out of the American Enterprise Institute by John H. Makin saying that the Fed’s actual purchase of debt paper amounted to an average $94 billion a month through the year 2013, not $85 billion? I have averred often in this space to the Fed’s ability to conduct back-door buying operations of all kinds of janky financial crapola — and in a world where claims on promises to pay hugely exceed anyone’s ability to pay or re-pay, there’s as much of it out there as there are plastic grocery bags floating in the horse latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. The Fed can hose up bad paper all the live-long day and apparently get away with mis-reporting what it is doing, and is the country any the worse for it?

     At the end of that live-long day the American people are left in a matrix of lies so thick and sticky that all the de-greasing agents supposedly vested in freedom of the press will not avail to liberate them, and they are suspended like little morsels of winged prey to be sucked dry by the descending spiders of crony capital.

     Bottom line: the taper so far is just  $1 billion shy of being completely fake (so far as anyone knows), a magician’s mis-direction from the real action of the gag, which was removing the previous “threshold” of a 6.5 percent unemployment figure for raising interest rates — in other words, promising ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) forever! That would green light a never-ending continued carry trade (i.e. looting operation) of Too-Big-To-Fail-or-Jail primary dealer banks extracting “free” money from the Fed window for conversion, abracadabra, into, say, student loans at 5 percent, guaranteed to enslave the generation now coming into adult flower. (The catch there being that they might flower into revolutionaries eager to string up such bankers from every lamp post in the Hamptons.)

     I know there is a lot of confusion “out there” about what constitutes inflation — is it a so-called “monetary phenomenon” or just shit costing more? — but that’s probably too fine a distinction for “folks” (to use the president’s favorite term) who can’t pay five bucks for a jar of peanut butter. The price of everything except the yellow junk called gold, seems to be shooting up. Pretty soon, they’ll be using that worthless gold to solder the drain pipes on bathroom fixtures out where the housing starts roam.

     Which brings us to the interesting question: exactly what mysterious entities have been systematically pounding the price of the yellow stuff down in the PM markets like Tony Soprano’s crew “tuning up” some pathetic vic with thirty-inch lengths of re-bar and a fungo bat? And, per corollary, who are the anonymous agents yanking the equity indexes such as we saw on Wednesday, December 18, when a holy host of stock shorts was magically deployed in anticipation of Ben Bernanke’s taper announcement so as to inspire a short-covering mega-rally when he opened the hole in his beard? What I wonder: if we have so much fabulous surveillance technology, why doesn’t some enterprising nerd team find out who’s behind all these pushing-pullings, yanking-and-crankings? Where is the Snowden of the financial markets who will unmask these actors?

     Let’s cut to the chase. You heard it here: not only will the Fed eventually (i.e. soon) fail to taper in any meaningful sense; before this is over they will ramp up the purchases of worthless securities beyond $100 billion a month through every back door and trap door in the infamous Eccles Building, including perhaps Janet Yellen’s dainty fundament. The inflation — whatever that is — will sitting out there waiting behind the Hoover Dam of the Fed’s balance sheet. I wouldn’t want to be in Las Vegas when the first cracks appear on it. Merry Christmas everyone.


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James Howard Kunstler is the author of many books including (non-fiction) The Geography of Nowhere, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, Home from Nowhere, The Long Emergency and the four-book series of World Made By Hand novels, set in a post economic crash American future. His most recent book is Living in the Long Emergency; Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward. Jim lives on a homestead in Washington County, New. York, where he tends his garden and communes with his chickens.

232 Responses to “Jive Talkin’”

  1. djc December 23, 2013 at 8:56 am #

    Merry Christmas to Jim and all of CFN.

    I’ve reached the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter what The Fed, the corrupt media or even government at large says or does. The system is corrupt and will fail just as the Soviet Union failed. Its the nature of human society I think. At this point in time my wife and I have prepared ourselves as much as possible (mentally more than anything) for whatever comes but there comes a recognition that, quite frankly, it is what it is.

    On an aside I’d like to thank Jim for the many years of interesting columns and insights—it is appreciated.

    djc

  2. the Heretick December 23, 2013 at 9:12 am #

    inflation is milk at $4.88 a gallon, that’s what inflation is; but then in a financial system where artificial entities using proprietary algorithms running on super-computers to front run the market consisting of synthetic financial instruments, who knows what in the hell is going on?

    every society has had it’s high priests, gurus, and magic medicine men, usually selling snake oil, ours is no different; and what they sell, what they always sell, usually benefits the few at the expense of the many.

    until it stops working, then all bets are off, and the synthetic is separated from the real.

  3. ozone December 23, 2013 at 9:14 am #

    djc,
    I’m in agreement, and thank JHK for consistently trying to outline what our PTB are actually up to (shenanigan-wise). It has helped to “get my mind right” and focus on things I can affect. I feel that’s going to be key: not to be surprised by a coming clog-up of “the system”.

    Enjoy the Howling-days with family and friends everyone, and try not to get into any squabbles about what the definition of financial reality might be. (Let ’em have their illusions for a bit longer if they must, you can’t make ‘folks’ see what they steadfastly refuse to see…)

  4. CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 9:21 am #

    The yellow metal is in hibernation for now, while the Chinese and most of the rest of Asia are backing up the trucks and buying thousands of tons each year. They know a bargain when they see it, and are very glad to take advantage of the great flow from the coffers of the Western banks to the East.

    The day is coming when China will have had about enough of the dollar’s petro-supremacy. When they announce gold reserves greater than what (supposedly) is left in the US, the financial world will be Shocked, Shocked I tell you. And they all will turn and genuflect to the now almighty Renmibi.

    Then watch what happens to the ex-almighty dollar.

    • Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 11:26 am #

      and genuflect to the now almighty Renmibi.
      ============

      It’s renminbi. There’s an n before the b.

      • CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 12:56 pm #

        Well, Q,

        Renmibi, Renminbi . . . . . it’s all Yaun to me.

        • CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 1:02 pm #

          And before you reply . . . I know it’s not spelled Yaun

          it’s spelled . . .

          Yawn.

  5. Neon Vincent December 23, 2013 at 9:51 am #

    It may have been a dead rabbit, but he convinced the markets that it was still a great trick. The S&P 500 hit a new record and the Dow hit two of them. I noticed two other items he mentioned worthy of note; that loss of jobs in government was holding down the economy and that oil was actually getting cheaper. The next day, President Obama trumpeted that the U.S. was producing more oil than it was importing for the first time in decades. Yes, but for how long? Long enough for the next decline to not be their problems. Too bad neither of them connected the high price of energy with the loss of tax receipts causing the shrinking of government. That would have been a moment of truth-telling.

    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-thoughts-on-helicopter-bens-last.html

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  6. BackRowHeckler December 23, 2013 at 10:31 am #

    What about the hard working, thrifty older folks, who. over a lifetime saved money in Bank CDs with the hope the interest on these savings would help supplement their retirement, With interest rates at near zero, and with little hope of them rising, it looks like all that sacrifice and “saving for the future” was a waste of time.

    Jokes’ on them, I guess.

    –BRH

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 11:06 am #

      They are called ‘the ones who get left behind’.

  7. BackRowHeckler December 23, 2013 at 10:34 am #

    What about the hard working, thrifty older folks, who. over a lifetime saved money in Bank CDs with the hope the interest on these savings would help supplement their retirement? With interest rates at near zero, and with little hope of them rising, it looks like all that sacrifice and “saving for the future” was a waste of time.

    Jokes’ on them, I guess.

    –BRH

  8. Arn Varnold December 23, 2013 at 10:36 am #

    Bullshit! Nobody here understands the mechanics of the system.
    It will last as long as the elite deem it so.
    Ride the train, but know when to get off. Now there’s the trick!
    Good luck with that…

  9. K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 10:47 am #

    I know there is a lot of confusion “out there” about what constitutes inflation — is it a so-called “monetary phenomenon” or just shit costing more?

    I’ll go with shit costing more. An unemployment is dogs having no damn job. And hunger is having no food and not being able to get that five buck jar of peanut jam.

  10. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 23, 2013 at 10:47 am #

    The day is coming when China will have had about enough of the dollar’s petro-supremacy. When they announce gold reserves greater than what (supposedly) is left in the US, the financial world will be Shocked, Shocked I tell you.

    China, Schmina. What good is all that gold if you can’t even make out its trademark lustrous gleam through the toxic smog? China has its own issues like collecting what the U.S owes it. Thousands of nukes say that debt will never be collected. Although, it would be one way to finally cull the herd of that over-populated Asian shit hole.

    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/14/1358174513421/Severe-smog-and-air-pollu-010.jpg

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    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 11:04 am #

      And thousands of shipping containers will mean you have new neighbors. I’m sure they will take land instead. Oh silly me, they already are.

      • ozone December 23, 2013 at 5:23 pm #

        I just hope it’s understood that the Chinese are trading worthless paper promises of an ethereal future ‘growth’ in america for real american dirt. I would posit that they’re getting the far better end of the deal in this case.
        That’s the part that’s germane to this week’s essay: trust, or the lack thereof, in the paper promises that ARE the underwriting of our currency.

        Now, whether they can wave these [official, rock-solid, notarized] contracts in the face of the long-settled locals (or even desperate squatters for that matter) and have them honored is the critical question. “Contrac’ say lan’ mine; you go now, fine udda place.” Time will tell; ask your local sheriff’s department and you might get some surprising responses to the idea of enforcing the niceties of such legal documents. (Most contracts implicitly represent the threat of violence, imprisonment and destitution, should they be ‘violated’.)

  11. selaretus December 23, 2013 at 10:59 am #

    What the Fed, the US Government, the ‘Crock” Market and the presstitute financial media continue to push is the largest confidence game in the history of the world. As long as the sheeple continue to have confidence that they actually have a retirement or pension account somewhere, that their portfolios contain actual wealth in the amounts indicated and that the aforementioned organizations are telling them the truth, the ruse of lies, disinformation, swindles and financial alchemy will go on. Unfortunately, the systematic collapse being forced upon us by the pervasive influence of compressive contraction hasn’t the faintest interest in this confidence game. Rather, as James has talked about many times, reality is a cruel mistress if you wind up on the wrong side of destiny: If we do not shape destiny, destiny will most assuredly shape us.

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 12:06 pm #

      The stakes are high enough that if we do not shape destiny, everyone will wind up on the wrong side of destiny. No exceptions.

  12. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 23, 2013 at 11:17 am #

    And thousands of shipping containers will mean you have new neighbors. I’m sure they will take land instead. Oh silly me, they already are.

    My new neighbors will be your new neighbors. In fact, no doubt they’ll own the “fitness center” where you and your wife work out and you’ll continue your exercise routine in air-conditioned comfort without blinking an eye except now there will be an onsite acupuncturist and complimentary green tea.

    Speaking of neighbors, remember that bizarre movie Neighbors with Belushi and Aykroyd? It didn’t get the acclaim it deserved. It describes suburbia perfectly.

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 12:10 pm #

      Yes you know that fitness center well and about our dual membership there. Then you also know that from a personal point of view I like green tea and get along with everyone. I just care about people being left behind. Say hi next time.

  13. Greg Knepp December 23, 2013 at 12:08 pm #

    JHK,

    Great work, as usual. But I will take issue with a sub-theme that you’ve often repeated – that of a possible coming revolution by the young people of today against an irresponsible and clearly abusive corporate-fascist governing system.

    To our generation (I’m pushing seventy) revolution seemed logical. We grew up in a reasonably stable society and felt that our protests could produce positive results…in fact, they often did! In this respect we enjoyed an underlying presumption that nationalism worked; that there was something adventurous and even patriotic about our protests. Wrongs such as racism, environmental degradation and especially the Vietnam War were tangible – the moral issues crystal clear.

    Today’s young people are different. First, the so-called generation gap isn’t what it used to be. The dramatic experiential juxtaposition that divided our boomer generation from the Depression-WWII generation that spawned us has not been repeated. In fact, today’s young people tend to get along rather well with their elders, and are unlikely to hold us responsible en masse for society’s ills in the same impersonal way that we held our parent’s generation responsible.

    Secondly, the dilemmas of our current era are more difficult to bring into focus: draftees aren’t dying by the thousands in some far-off hell hole, blacks aren’t being attacked in the streets by police dogs and uniformed bullies, the Cuyahuga River isn’t ablaze with pollutants, and the President isn’t a common criminal. The problems we face now – terrifying though they may be – are so complex and abstract, their effects so gradual, that a solidified coherent opposition may be impossible to organize… Consider, for example, the candy-ass Occupy and Tea Party movements.

    Finally there is the problem of logistics. Young people are worried about the price of milk, rising crime, their livelihoods; they’ve little time or energy for protest rallies or leaflet distribution. And the internet is too diffused, yes, too democratic to be used to build the kind of heirarchal structures needed to foster organized protests on a grand scale. Local issues have taken the spotlight away from the fuzzy national mess. Local involvement has become more than just trendy – it has become necessary.

    As society unravels at the edges and sags in the center, the very idea of mass revolution becomes quaint – perhaps something of a luxury enjoyed by denizens of a romantic past.

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 12:25 pm #

      And during the Vietnam era you did not have an entire generation dumed down by television. Oh sure it had been around for a while. It certainly had some effect. But 13 blurry black and white channels did not cause the cognitive dissonance and reality confusion of today’s color high definition wonders. It did not cause the passive acceptance of whatever reality corporate movers and shakers wanted the public to consume and be. Moral issues could be crystal clear because people were smarter and more alive then. We are now well on the road to idiocracy. Of course that was satire and we will never get there. We’ll starve to death first.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 4:42 pm #

        The 60’s mentality was created by the Elite to destroy Western Civilization. The protestors entered the Establishment yet kept their “ideals”. A Contradiction, no? Thus they are now the Establishment. Protest against the West is now the norm in the West. A House divided cannot stand.

        It’s always Vietnam, the 68 Convention, and Wategate for these folks. They are the Righteous. Bill Clinton lying under Oath? So what? He’s on board. He’s one of Them, the Righteous. They can do no wrong you see. Obama is their Avatar, the ultimate essence and summation – the spirit where revolt and self indulgence, ideals and corruption, truth and lies all blend and become one.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 2:24 pm #

      Blacks aren’t being attacked on the streets, Whites are – by Blacks. Turn around is far play their philosophers will say. In which case, you Liberals are wrong and they aren’t assimilating. Or from another point of view, to WHAT do we expect Blacks and other minorities and immigrants to assimilate TO? We’ve given up everything we were in order to serve the growth of the System. But the System belongs to the owners not its servants. So we gave up everything in service of the Capitalist Class. So much for America.

      • hineshammer December 23, 2013 at 7:40 pm #

        Why yes, just yesterday my skinny, white, liberal ass was nearly assaulted by a raving gang of black folk. Luckily I was able to drop the bucket of fried chicken I was carrying and buy myself enough time to get away while they swarmed said bucket like a horde of zombies on a hapless human. So if you’re white and not living in Montana or North Dakota or some other god-forsaken place void of any coloreds, be careful and always have some fried chicken or malt liquor on hand. Peace be with you.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 8:43 pm #

          In other words, you wont believe it until it happens to you. Experience is a hard teacher but a fool will have no other.

          • hineshammer December 24, 2013 at 6:07 am #

            Uh, yeah, that’s exactly what I meant, Vlad.

    • Karah December 23, 2013 at 7:17 pm #

      Yes, I agree that the decade of protest has been romanticised. JHK tried to transfer a younger self or someone else from that era into the 21st century. Instead of burning draft cards and bras (both symbols of slavery and bondage), we burn Student Loan Contracts and Credit Cards.

      Being a little younger than 40 and a lot younger than Mr. Knepp, there’s a lot about my life and the way I feel that I have to do things that have been very much abstracted. However, they’re not completely unrecognizable to the elder generation and THAT is why we’re getting along. When everything finally gets to a point where it becomes completely non representational and unrecognisable to ME, is when the “young revolution” will have manifested. Bitcoin and all it’s possible manifestations might be an example of this. Labor as we have known it might completely disappear and then what will be considered compensation? Maybe people will stop working for food and apply themselves to “winning” some kind of privilege like….playing computer chess with a celebrity.

  14. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 23, 2013 at 12:30 pm #

    The deadline for Obamacare has arrived, unless it’s extended once again. It looks like many have not signed up and won’t sign up. Instead, they’ll just pay the small penalty this first year while remaining uninsured and continue to do so every year until the penalties reach a certain dollar level. In the meantime, even though these uninsured people will not be complying, insurance companies will use this law as cover to raise premiums on all those who are insured. Is that inflation? I suppose it depends on your misunderstood definition of inflation.

    • BackRowHeckler December 23, 2013 at 1:12 pm #

      The President of the United States is a sleazy insurance salesman.

  15. Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 1:04 pm #

    Fred’s latest, for all to enjoy…….especially Janos.

    http://www.fredoneverything.net/Maureen2.shtml

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  16. rube-i-con December 23, 2013 at 1:35 pm #

    Bullshit! Nobody here understands the mechanics of the system.
    It will last as long as the elite deem it so.

    rite on arn varnold. everybody says it just can’t go on, yet it does, in spite of seemingly catastrophic problems. they have things firmly in hand, can bend your perception at will and do, and will not let this sucker go down. they profit immensely more from everybody working towards their goals than by any chaos.

    remember how 2008 was the end?

    remember greece was europe beginning to go down in flames?

    remember fukushima was the end of japan?

    remember gold was the end of the dollar?

    they are managing the end of history well enough and don’t need your trite musings.

    all anyone needs to know is that everyone accepts dollars. if there’s any overarching strategy, that’s it, don’t allow anything to change that standard. you can literally print as much wealth as you want.

    peace peaceniks

    • CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 2:09 pm #

      [The elites] . . .have things firmly in hand . . . and will not let this sucker go down.

      ————————————————————————————–

      The elities of the Assyrian Empire had things “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Egyptian Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Babylonian Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Macedonian Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Roman Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Byzantine Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Carthaginian Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Mongol Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Ottoman Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Inca Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Aztec Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Mayan Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Spanish Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Napoleonic Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Japanese empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the British Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Nazi German Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      The elities of the Soviet Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.

      Oh Riiiigghhhttt . . . . . But This Time It Is Different . . .

      The American Empire elites are . . . Special

      and will Never Allow this system to go down.

  17. Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 1:46 pm #

    Jim, from today’s last paragraph, this:

    Let’s cut to the chase. You heard it here: not only will the Fed eventually (i.e. soon) fail to taper in any meaningful sense; before this is over they will ramp up the purchases of worthless securities beyond $100 billion a month through every back door and trap door in the infamous Eccles Building, including perhaps Janet Yellen’s dainty fundament.

    provides some clarity (I think) to what you meant by “un-taper” in the last paragraph of your Dec 9th essay.

    Correct me if I’m wrong…..what you’re saying is that the $10B reduction in “asset purchases” will soon be reversed and the asset purchases will in fact be increased, HOWEVER, they (the Fed) will not announce having done so but rather will accomplish it via “every back door and trap door” including perhaps Janet’s fundament. i.e. they will do it without admitting to have done it.

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 2:48 pm #

      asset purchases” to which fundament refers.

  18. K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 2:45 pm #

    “Before this is over they will ramp up the purchases of worthless securities beyond $100 billion”

    Tap tap tap. (dogs paw on calculator)

    $100 billion works out to near $300 a month per person going straight into the food bowl of rich dogs. I think this reverse Robin Hood approach to Wall Street malfeasance might seriously impact the ability of the average dog to get Bacon down the road and seriously unravel the moral fabric of America.

    Front paws are now on top of head.

    • liquid lennny December 23, 2013 at 3:20 pm #

      To the “Big Dog”; this pup has all four paws on his head these days when I see the absolutely brain-dead antics of our masters these days. I’m just happy to get a chance to run “leash-free” in the park from time to time.

      Oh, a couple of weeks ago when you questioned my math, so I did some checking. After letting my Commodor-64 crunch away using all it’s 64kB of memory in addition in to its 20kB of “flash” ROM the results are you’re probably right.
      Since 1lb. of fat contains around 16.19 btu’s and 1 gallon of gasoline contains 114,000 btu’s this means 1 lb. of gasoline contains approximately 18,095 btu’s. Bottom line is we’re going to need more fat sources. So to that end I will and I hope to encourage others out there also, to consume extra dog biscuits this holiday season.

      Finally, I like where your thought process was going on JMG’s site. I thought he was perhaps a bit too quick on the draw.

      • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 5:59 pm #

        Thanks, Perhaps a bit quick on the draw but then it pushed me to clarify the thought process a bit so it all worked out. I still burnt a candle Saturday to celebrate Winter Solstice and will bring the same candle out again on March 20 to celebrate the Vernal (Spring) Equinox.

        Yes gasoline is one energy dense hydrocarbon. I recall an interesting table from the CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics which demonstrates how much better it is than most energy sources but going to their online edition I find one needs a subscription to get to it. Have to settle for Wikipedia. Ignore Nuclear and Hydrogen at the top of the table since they are not portable, practical or safe.

        Gasoline has 1.24 times the energy content of fat (animal or vegetable). But I’d rather chew on a strip of bacon than lick up a bowl of gasoline any day of the week. Dog biscuits this Wednesday and lots of them!

        You have a Commodor-64 that still works. Totally awesome! I had a Vic-20 once that had memory expanded to full capacity. A rare animal indeed; but I used it during a lightning storm and zap that was the end of that.

  19. liquid lennny December 23, 2013 at 2:51 pm #

    Well, once again Jim you’re pretty much spot on. The FED only has one move left in the playbook and that is to hyper-inflate. The debt is insurmountable and TPTB are not going to relinquish control willingly, so it’s game on. Are people going to get hurt in the process?, no doubt. Will this lead to war?, good chance, it has in the past. Not necessarily directly, but when commodities are scarce or when the demand outstrips supplies then people get desperate and desperate, stressed out people don’t respond with clear and measured thinking.
    The good news is the boomers won’t be responsible for cleaning this mess up. After all wasn’t it Einstein who said “You can’t solve big problems with the same thinking that got you there in the first place.
    So to all you CF’ers keep stocking provisions in your lifeboat. But at this same time, at least to those of you who reside in the Westernized World enjoy these last days of the Empire.

    Finally, I’ll pose a question of sorts to you Architectural Critics out there (and Jim this should be right up you alley). Recently, I came across the work of Zaha Hadid and I have to admit to being more than a bit intrigued.

    So here’s the question, is this work the pinnacle of the dying gasp of civilization (the Industrial Age) or a breath of fresh air?
    My verdict is still out, judging by the “organic nature” I’m guessing it’s more transformational.
    Either way the work is genius.

    Here’s a link;

    http://www.zaha-hadid.com/archive

    Enjoy CF’ers…

  20. Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 3:13 pm #

    Christmas Present from AIPAC. We lose a big part of our alleged sovereignty: Israel can get us into a War with Iran. Do not pass Go or have to run it by the Senate.

    http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2013/12/20/another-aipac-bill-designed-to-get-us-into-a-war-with-iran/

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  21. rube-i-con December 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm #

    The elities of the Japanese empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.
    The elities of the British Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.
    The elities of the Nazi German Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.
    The elities of the Soviet Empire “firmly in hand” . . . until they didn’t.
    Oh Riiiigghhhttt . . . . . But This Time It Is Different . . .

    well let’s not waste time on the hittite and egyptian empires…

    regarding the above list of dynasties, the currency of all those empires were trash, except for Great Britain, which uniquely survived and prospered, albeit at a smaller scale, because of its reserve currency status.
    no one accepted rubles, or japanese yen back then, or german marks. they were junk outside of their own sphere of influence, and even within it, as attested to by the lively black market where dollars, pounds and commodities were worth scads more.

    since 1947, everyone accepts yanqui dollars no questions asked. yes there are some cracks here and there, nothing seriious though, more pipe dreams, and no one is going to bite the hand that feeds them. geopolitics are greatly about currency wars, i.e. whose money is actually worth something and what might backs that up. US americans are not going to relinquish any control over who accepts their greenbacks. that is the real war being waged. everyone’s hooked on dollars and the pusher is brutal, brutally nice to those that cooperate and brutally savage to those that don’t.

    we are firmly in control in that category. notice the dollar – which was allegedly going to bite the dust since 2008 – has even smashed down gold, the ultimate real currency in peoples minds. the dollar is stronger than shit. whether it should be is a fairly useless question.

    peace peaceniks

    • CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 5:40 pm #

      . notice the dollar – which was allegedly going to bite the dust since 2008 – has even smashed down gold,

      ———————————————————————————–

      Smashed down gold you say?

      Well now . . .

      85 years ago, when my grandfather purchased his fine, hand-stitched wedding suit, he paid for it with a one-ounce gold piece — Twenty US dollars worth of US paper currency at the time.

      Next month, my son will be getting married, and he has paid for his fine, hand-stitched wedding suit with the equivalent of a one-ounce gold piece.

      His twenty paper US dollars, on the other hand, will buy him a nice pair of socks to go with his suit.

      “The dollar is stronger than shit.”

      I think you are referring to the dollar’s stronger smell . . .

      redolent of a sickly, putrid, decayed excreta.

      Your lifetime must be a lot shorter than the rest of ours.

  22. rube-i-con December 23, 2013 at 4:02 pm #

    by the way, here in brazil they pay you 6% a year on savings accounts, with earnings tax free. govt bonds here pay around 10% i believe.

    peace peaceniks

  23. Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 5:20 pm #

    In the Koran, Allah promises the believer that at death, He shall ease him into ease. In contrast, these Rothschild bankers plan to ease us into hardship and slavery unto the 7the generation, nay unto the Ages of Ages. It shall not be.

  24. rube-i-con December 23, 2013 at 5:53 pm #

    Next month, my son will be getting married, and he has paid for his fine, hand-stitched wedding suit with the equivalent of a one-ounce gold piece.

    the old, hackneyed pitch about an ounce of gold could buy you a suit 100 years ago….and today, too! wow, i’m impressed. how quaint.

    look, i like gold, and have invested a lot in it, back when it was 350 an ounce and the storeowner smiled when i said i’d be back when it doubled to sell it. i bought a brick of silver at 21 and watched it go to 50.

    gold and real estate were wonderful appreciating places to put united states dollars for quite some time. now they stink. the dollar has been hands down the best performer for several months. i’ve watched it appreciate almost 50% against the brazilian real over the past year or two. and that goes for tons of currencies. how you going to argue with this success?

    you really need to stop falling in love with what youre invested in, it’s extremely dangeroüs. ignore a strong trend at your own peril.

    not pushing dollars, it’s just that you ride whatever’s going somewhere nice, which means up in value. common sense.

    the dollar has more support than you can fathom, by folks who have many trillions of reasons to boost its fortunes. other investments, especially upstart gold, do not.

    peace peaceniks

    • CancelMyCard December 23, 2013 at 7:40 pm #

      Next month, my son will be getting married, and he has paid for his fine, hand-stitched wedding suit with the equivalent of a one-ounce gold piece.

      the old, hackneyed pitch about an ounce of gold could buy you a suit 100 years ago….and today, too! wow, i’m impressed. how quaint.

      ———————————————————————————————————–

      I’m amused you find it “quaint”.

      Would you like to match charts on how the US dollar has dropped in value over recent decades compared to, say. . .

      a pound of steak,
      a pound of butter,
      a dozen eggs,
      a gallon of milk,
      a 4-year college education,
      a bottle of 50 statin script medications,
      a day as an in-patient at your local hospital,
      a 1960 Ferrari GTS,
      a 100-acre-parcel of agricultural land in the Willamette Valley,
      a 1-bedroom studio condo in NY, LA, SF, or many other cities?

      Or Any Other valuable or necessary commodity that one can come up with?

      versus the performance of the USD over the last 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, years in time, compared to the same stated commodities?

      You are in severe denial.

      ————————————————————————————————————-
      you really need to stop falling in love with what youre invested in, it’s extremely dangeroüs. ignore a strong trend at your own peril.

      —————————————————————————————————————–

      Where exactly did you read that I had any investments of any sort at all?

      Please show links where I have stated that I have ANY investments (including gold) whatsoever.

      Please stop putting words in my mouth that I never stated at all.

      You are setting up a straw man, for which you have no data or facts whatsoever.

      You are in severe denial as to your own sociopathy.

      • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 12:15 pm #

        You are in severe denial as to your own sociopathy.

        An astute observation, but is it denial if he does not understand what you mean?

  25. Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 7:09 pm #

    “by the way, here in brazil they pay you 6% a year on savings accounts, with earnings tax free. govt bonds here pay around 10% i believe.”
    ===========

    The average annual Brazilian CPI growth over the past 10 months is 6.24%. One year in the ’80s (’89, I think) inflation was near 7,000%. In ’93 it was 5,000%. That’s right…thousand. Brazil has a bad record. That’s why they have to pay 10% on govt bonds to induce people to buy them. It’s all about risk.

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  26. Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 7:13 pm #

    Real compassion for a suffering White sister. Sure she’s an insufferable hypocrite, but she is still blood. And she doesn’t deserve to be destroyed for a dumb joke.

    http://www.amren.com/news/2013/12/an-open-letter-to-justine-sacco/

  27. ozone December 23, 2013 at 7:22 pm #

    Sooooo… okay… Happy Birth/Death-Day Federal Reserve!
    (Wonder why they got this lumbering leviathan into gear over the season of super-satiation, somnambulism and inattention?)

    From a zerohedge commenter:

    “Well, how can we celebrate the Fed’s Centennial B-day without a nice little quote from our 28th POTUS?”

    “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” — Woodrow Wilson 1919

    • K-Dog December 23, 2013 at 8:02 pm #

      Bernays, working for Woodrow Wilson during WW I in the Committee on Public Information(CPI, was influential in promoting that America’s war sacrifice was primarily aimed at “bringing democracy to all of Europe”. He attended the Paris Peace Conference with Woodrow Wilson in1919.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 23, 2013 at 8:42 pm #

        The Jews around Wilson seduced him telling the dupe he could become “President of the World”.

  28. Kutamun December 23, 2013 at 7:28 pm #

    Gday Mr Kunstler ,
    Greetings from the land down under , where conformity and apathy not only prevail, but are actively sought and worn as badges of honour . Sitting among this eerie primeval landscape, which is currently being strip mined // sold to the Chinese at a phenomenal rate , i cannot help but think what a funny bastard you are , and how we could use a few more like you here “on Gaia” ! Ha ha .
    There is more than a taste of the late Oscar Wilde about you , Sir –
    “A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”..
    World made by Hand was an excellent read by the way , just getting started on “the witch of Hebron”..
    Keeo up the good work
    Cheers Mate

    Kutamun ( Tortuga)

  29. Pucker December 23, 2013 at 8:23 pm #

    Merry Christmas!

    What do you think about Pork Chops?

    http://www.putporkonyourfork.com/

  30. bob December 23, 2013 at 8:43 pm #

    To attempt to operate a high energy techno industrial operation using an outmoded completely incompatible price money “system” is an illusion ,a non- reality ,a dream turning into a nightmare, from which we must awake .
    We keep trying the same things with different names expecting the holy grail of economic growth ,not realizing in any way we have reached the limits to growth. Something suggests a bit of insanity here ,some sort of disassociating reality syndrome.
    Until we wake up let’s carry on with the scheming ,manipulating , cheating , fixing ,bribing ,pressuring,waring and killing. Hallelujah,have a Merry Xmas and I’ll shed a little hope for 2014.

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  31. Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 9:13 pm #

    “Until we wake up let’s carry on with the scheming ,manipulating , cheating , fixing ,bribing ,pressuring,waring and killing.” – Bob
    =========

    I am unable to pay attention to the content of your post because the placement of your commas is so abominable.

    Your sentence above should look like this:

    Until we wake up let’s carry on with the scheming, manipulating, cheating, fixing, bribing, pressuring, waring and killing.

    P.S. Waring should be warring.

    • Arn Varnold December 24, 2013 at 8:16 am #

      You are so irrelevant; content means nothing, but pedantry is everything.
      Gods be good; how do you function in such an imperfect world?
      Please don’t answer that; it’s rhetorical.

  32. ajmuste December 23, 2013 at 10:20 pm #

    CancelMyCard asks: “Would you like to match charts on how the US dollar has dropped in value over recent decades compared to, say. . . a gallon of milk?”

    Why, thank you, I think I will.

    1960 federal minimum wage = $1.25
    1960 gallon of milk = $1.25

    One hour of work equals one gallon of milk in 1960.

    2013 federal minimum wage = $7.25
    2013 gallon of milk = $3.42

    Oh, look! Now you can buy two gallons of milk for one hour of work.

    The dollar just doubled in value over the last 53 years.

    In 2013 you only have to work one half the time to buy a gallon of milk.

    What inflation? What dollar devaluation? We are better off today.

    • hineshammer December 24, 2013 at 6:20 am #

      1. The minimum wage is artificially set, not set by the forces of supply and demand.

      2. The ability of the market to produce more milk through technology has shifted the supply curve sufficiently enough to push down prices while the introduction of milk alternatives such as soy, almond, coconut milk, (these alternatives did not exist in the ’60s) etc. has shifted the demand curve to the same effect.

      Any other nuggets of wisdom for us, Copernicus?

      • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 9:29 am #

        Must you insult Copernicus? Copernicus put the sun in the center of the solar system where it belongs. Ajmuste is a haruspex, who gets his knowledge from looking at entrails and intestines of dead animals.

  33. ajmuste December 23, 2013 at 10:30 pm #

    CORRECTION: The figures of $1.25 were for 1966, not 1960.

    My point remains: is anybody on CFN paying $7.25 for a gallon of milk.
    Does it take one hour of work today to buy a gallon of milk, like it did in 1966?

  34. Q. Shtik December 23, 2013 at 11:01 pm #

    “My point remains: is anybody on CFN paying $7.25 for a gallon of milk.” – the poster whose true handle must not be written
    ============

    No, your point is, all those low wage people fighting for a $15 minimum wage should go fuck themselves.

  35. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 23, 2013 at 11:38 pm #

    My point remains: is anybody on CFN paying $7.25 for a gallon of milk.

    I am. I purchase the Smart Balance lactose-free milk and the half gallon is $3.99. Those who aren’t lactose intolerant in my household prefer the Organic Valley fat free and it sells for $4.49 for a half gallon. I’m guessing that in 1966 and 1960 milk was BGH-free and the majority of it was grass-fed organic. The same can’t be said for that 2013 cheap-priced gallon you quoted.

    Today, one hour’s work at minimum wage will buy you approximately two gallons of gas whereas in 1966 one hour’s work at minimum wage would buy you four gallons @ 32 cents/gallon. Of course, automobiles these days, on average, get much better gas mileage so it’s not apples for apples and that’s really the lesson in all these comparisons across decades. It’s apples to oranges and kiwi. You really can’t compare. It’s a silly and useless exercise.

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  36. beantownbill. December 24, 2013 at 12:32 am #

    @Ozone:

    Re your 5:23 post, I think you hit the nail right on the head.

    If you look at the top of any denomination dollar bill, you’ll see the words Federal Reserve Note. This means the bill is a debt, which must be paid off upon demand. As long as the holders of those dollars (or any instrument denominated in dollars) believe the US will honor that debt, and if the holders don’t need payment of such, then the viability of the dollar is assured. But if any such person, corporation or foreign government should question our government’s intention or ability to pay them upon demand, then they would make that demand. If the Feds couldn’t honor that, then the dollar collapses.

    Thus China has a stranglehold on on us because should they demand payment of our debt we only have 2 courses of action, both of which would be very bad for our country: Either pay off our debt with other assets, mainly gold, real estate or natural resources; or tell China to go fuck itself, default on the demand and suffer the consequences.

    I think I know what decision our government would make. Do you?

    • Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 2:32 am #

      We have made them rich. And what we didn’t give them they stole or had their agents like Clinton steal. We tell them to take their case before the International Court and to go after the Banking Families who own the Federal Reserve and therefore who own America. They owe the Chinese – not us. As for the Debt we owe to these Banking Families – all affiliated with Rothschild – we should write them a check and let them find someplace to cash it. The damage they have done to us is incalculable. But at least we could put an end to it.

      Sorry, just fantasizing about justice and unity. We aren’t a unified people like the Germans were and we don’t have a fraction of their wisdom and intelligence so the exploitation will continue to worsen.

  37. beantownbill. December 24, 2013 at 12:56 am #

    Forget about dollar numbers. Ask yourself if life is worse than 30 years ago. Ask yourself if you now pay more In all taxes as a percentage of income than people did 30 years ago. Ask yourself if your debt to asset ratio is higher than persons 30 years ago. Ask yourself if you work longer and harder than people did 30 years ago.

    If the majority of people can answer no to these these questions, then we are probably living better lives than people did in 1983. Otherwise…

  38. ajmuste December 24, 2013 at 1:00 am #

    Blabby said: ” in 1966 one hour’s work at minimum wage would buy you four gallons @ 32 cents/gallon”

    This is the argument for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Gas at $3.75 in 2013 means 4 gallons would be $15.

    To keep up with 1966 wages (to be a living wage) the minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour. This gasoline example is a perfect illustration.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 2:23 am #

      Of course the minimum wage should keep up with inflation. What kind of barbarians would refuse to share the wealth of a Nation? Right is Right and Black is Wack.

  39. ajmuste December 24, 2013 at 1:13 am #

    BTB said: “we are probably living better lives than people did in 1983”

    Undoubtedly things are better now than in 1983.

    30 Year Fixed Mortgage rate

    1983: 13.24
    2013: 4.00

    Unemployment rate (source: BLS)

    1983: 9.6
    2013: 7

    In the Spring of 1983, thirty (30) states had double digit unemployment rates. In 2013 only fourteen (14) states have that kind of unemployment.

    Inflation rate

    Jan. 1, 1983: 3.71
    Jan. 1, 2013: 1.59

    • hineshammer December 24, 2013 at 6:29 am #

      You actually believe the government numbers on unemployment and inflation? True unemployment is way above 7% and true inflation is probably closer to 5%.

      • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 11:36 am #

        Don’t take him seriously hineshammer he is a sock puppet.

  40. Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 4:11 am #

    Solzhenitsyn said, “Live not by lies.” Did he mean this only for the Soviet Union? By no means. He felt we were in some ways even more corrupt. See the below by Theodore Dalyrmple.

    Theodore Dalrymple: Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.

    What obvious lies? Obviously the Lie of trickle down economics, the Lie of endless growth obviating the need for the Elite to share. In other words, you can go out and make your own pile and if you don’t, it’s all your own fault. Likewise with employment: No job? It’s your own damn fault even if they were the ones that sent the jobs offshore. And of course there is whole Lie of equality. Between individuals, cultures, and the biggest of all, between races. Blacks being the Lowest are elevated to the skies. If you don’t Believe, you better pretend to or else. Thus people are made into servants of evil and corrupted.

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    • hineshammer December 24, 2013 at 6:31 am #

      “Blacks being the Lowest are elevated to the skies.” – Vlad

      I’m sure that’s news to them.

      • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 11:38 am #

        And the news has them jumping for joy no doubt!

        • Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 1:51 pm #

          The Truth is the Truth. Live not by Lies Kdog. Without Affirmative Action, the Black Middle Class would vanish like the morning dew.

          • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 2:17 pm #

            And now not only are they jumping for joy they are doing cartwheels too! How you can betray your own kind is despicable.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 1:50 pm #

        Yeah as Chris Rock said, if you want to hide something from Blacks put it in a book.

  41. Arn Varnold December 24, 2013 at 8:31 am #

    @ rube-i-con
    December 23, 2013 at 1:35 pm
    rite on arn varnold. everybody says it just can’t go on, yet it does, in spite of seemingly catastrophic problems. they have things firmly in hand, can bend your perception at will and do, and will not let this sucker go down. they profit immensely more from everybody working towards their goals than by any chaos.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The echo chamber is deafening at times (here). Surprised my post got noticed.
    I spotted the housing bubble in the late ’80’s, early ’90’s; couldn’t figure out how it just kept going, but it did. At least until it couldn’t. But that was a long march down the road to hell.
    Adam Curtis has two very relevant documentaries about the inner workings of “the machine”; The Century of the Self and The Trap; I’d recommend watching in that order.
    They are readily available on Vimeo or Youtube.
    If one is interested, look it up; I’ll not include a link.
    They are BBC documentaries and well worth a watch.

  42. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 9:14 am #

    Thus China has a stranglehold on on us because should they demand payment of our debt we only have 2 courses of action, both of which would be very bad for our country: Either pay off our debt with other assets, mainly gold, real estate or natural resources; or tell China to go fuck itself, default on the demand and suffer the consequences.

    I think I know what decision our government would make. Do you?

    When has the U.S. not been for sale to the highest bidder? It’s always been an open invitation to the greatest gravy train on Earth. It’s no different with the Chinese, although I’ll say the Chinese have some amazing staying power. They’ve endured nearly a century and a half of unassimilated second-class citizenry before being granted passage to the upper echelon. BRH and Janos are correct. The older White generation’s been duped and sold out. Is there time and capacity to take it back? I believe there’s a small possibility, but you’re going to need to secure the nukes before they go to the highest bidder.

  43. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 9:21 am #

    This is the argument for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Gas at $3.75 in 2013 means 4 gallons would be $15.

    No, it’s an argument against obesity and all the lifestyle diseases that stem from it. At $15/hour people could, and would, purchase five gallons of BGH-infused milk laden with all manner of antibiotics and synthetic fertilizers. Raising the minimum wage, as you suggest, would lead to an early death for the poor. This is what elitist Liberals want. To depopulate the poor under the guise of reform. It’s a clever and pernicious form of eugenics.

  44. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 9:39 am #

    Q, that was an excellent article by Fred. Thanks for linking to it, but I’ll say he was too easy on that frigid bitch and her ilk. For example, he used the following disclaimer and I’m guessing he did it to maintain a positive relationship with his daughter. I understand the need to do that. I also have a daughter and you have to go easy with them, but still, we need to speak the truth about this matter and avoid the disclaimers, how ever well-intentioned said disclaimers are.

    I am perfectly happy in a world of female doctors and techs and what have you.

    It is the world he describes in this sentence that is on the verge of collapse, and there’s nothing happy about it. This world he alludes to never should have come about and it all started with Mary Tyler Moore. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that show, especially Ted Knight as the weatherman Ted Baxter, but it was designed to crack the mantel, the edifice even, of the glory of our former world; a world where men were men and women were women and each understood and respected their respective roles. Now nobody knows who they are and what they’re supposed to be and that’s just the way the controllers want it. Ditto for All In The Family. The Communists won. We’re all equal now. They never promised us a rose garden; just equality. Happiness is a capitalist luxury deftly hidden in Marx’s prodigious beard with a flock of seagulls.

  45. nsa December 24, 2013 at 10:06 am #

    JHK,
    Maybe you could explain why only yids are considered for some jobs……like Chairman of the Federal Reserve Politburo? Eyeshade Greenspan, Pastrami Bernanke, Matzo Ball Yellen, Volcker, Burns, etc etc. Isn’t it time these creeps get tossed from the temple…….

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    • beantownbill. December 24, 2013 at 12:58 pm #

      Are you saying that ONLY Jews are under consideration for the Board? There’re no Gentiles in the uppermost levels of the Fed? Gee, it must be something in the Christian religions that makes people unsuitable for high positions. After all, they are only a 90%+ majority in America.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 1:48 pm #

        Live not by Lies Bill. Jews favor their own. Everyone knows it but are afraid to say it. But it must be said so it can be Changed. I mean you folks aren’t going to stop on your own.

    • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 3:15 pm #

      Say nsa.

      This is fiction, from the T.V. Series The Newsroom. Perhaps might care to express an opinion on how far off the mark this video clip is.

      “You know that machine the Batman uses in the Dark Knight to find the Joker but when Morgan Freeman finds out about it he says, ‘I’m quitting because no man should have this much power?’”

      The NSA’s Operation Global Clarity

      Does it exist? And if so does it work better than Batman’s?

      And do you think new phones will have batteries built in which can’t be so easily removed soon? I’m thinking things will move in that direction myself but what do you think?

      • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 3:18 pm #

        Correction:

        Perhaps youmight care to express an opinion

  46. BackRowHeckler December 24, 2013 at 10:30 am #

    Sh-t, I’m listening to economic predictions for 2014 on various networks and news channels. Every one of them is rosy. 2014: the breakout year, 4-6% sustained growth!

    I have Fox Sports Radio or ESPN radio on a lot for background noise. The world they describe and discuss on a daily basis is one hard to understand. I’m a baseball fan, but a chinese outfielder I never heard of just got a $100 million contract from the Texas Rangers, an organization that filed bankruptcy just a few years ago. Robinson Cano will be making $150,000 per game with the Mainers for the next 10 years if he lasts that long. It all makes me wonder what professional sports is all about, and what its become. It doesn’t seem like athletics at all, just show biz combined with a highly specialized form of work.

    –BRH

    • beantownbill. December 24, 2013 at 12:46 pm #

      Professional sports has always meant to be a distraction for the masses from the problems of life, Marlin. Once, the pro athletes competed for the fun of it, only requiring enough money to feed their families. Like the rest of America, greed filtered down from the wealthy to the middle class, and now athletes demand a piece of the pie, which is quite large.

      Salaries are ridiculous, even taking into account the relatively short time period an athlete can perform at the max. It’s similar to having $648 million lottery jackpots. Who needs this unreal amount of money?

      Professional sports have become a metaphor for almost everything that’s wrong with this country. Yeah, I watch sport games, but really, I could very easily live without them.

  47. Q. Shtik December 24, 2013 at 11:25 am #

    “Raising the minimum wage, as you suggest,…” – Blaby
    ===========

    I never suggested the minimum wage be raised. In fact, I favor elimination of the minimum wage and I have stated this a few times at this blog over the years.

    I can understand how you might have misinterpreted my comment. I was just bustin’ the balls of the commenter whose original handle must not be spoken or written under threat of banning by our host.

    • Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 12:34 pm #

      Ummm…what? The quote I responded to was from ajmuste the pacifist, not you. Why would you think it was your quote? So, I didn’t misinterpret your comment because it wasn’t a comment made by you. Or was it?

  48. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 12:45 pm #

    JHK,
    Maybe you could explain why only yids are considered for some jobs……like Chairman of the Federal Reserve Politburo? Eyeshade Greenspan, Pastrami Bernanke, Matzo Ball Yellen, Volcker, Burns, etc etc. Isn’t it time these creeps get tossed from the temple…….

    No kidding. Where’s affirmative action for the Fed? In the least, how about a few descendents from the House of Medici. It’s time for another Renaissance. The Bagel Brigade’s grown stale and made a mess of things. Let’s give the Prosciutto Posse a chance. They couldn’t do any worse.

  49. Q. Shtik December 24, 2013 at 12:54 pm #

    “You are so irrelevant; content means nothing, but pedantry is everything.” – Arn V.
    ===========

    ^This^ is simply untrue. Go back through the thread and you’ll see that most of my posts deal with relevant content*. Only when someone’s grammar, spelling, punctuation and/or usage is soooooo friggin’ bad that I simply can’t stand it do I point it out. This site is attended for the most part by educated adults. I think educated adults owe a certain amount of respect to the other educated adults here with whom they are corresponding. We are not teenagers tweeting.

    * See, for example, my reply to Rube-i-con concerning Brazilian inflation, 12/23 @ 7:09pm. See also a comment to JHK concerning the “taper,” 12/23 @ 1:46pm. Why don’t YOU have something to say about those comments.

    • Q. Shtik December 24, 2013 at 12:58 pm #

      comments?!

  50. progress4what December 24, 2013 at 2:00 pm #

    “who are the anonymous agents yanking the equity indexes such as we saw on Wednesday, December 18, when a holy host of stock shorts was magically deployed in anticipation of Ben Bernanke’s taper announcement so as to inspire a short-covering mega-rally when he opened the hole in his beard?” …jhk…

    That’s a good point, JHK. In fact it’s a damn good point! And I had not noticed the correlation until you pointed it out.

    I used to pay more attention to the stock market, mainly because my worthwhile 401(k) options demanded that most of my money go there. But, now I’ve got a little more diversity, so I can pay a little less attention. Which is a better system – but almost impossible for a young working man to do.

    But yeah, thanks for pointing out that there are now more ways for The Elite to game the system – than the average investor can begin to understand, or even list.

    And thanks for the week’s work, JHK. And thanks for attempting to moderate this thread a little more tightly. I learned from and enjoyed your back-and-forth with Janos last week, for example.

    Q is correct that “the poster who must not be named” is, indeed, back with us. Those of us who are regulars will appreciate a clarification of the ground rules regarding that poster. Thanks.

    And Happy Hanukkah!

    More later – want to make sure this post sticks. 🙂

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  51. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 24, 2013 at 2:01 pm #

    This is a great country. You want to know what makes it great? Because you don’t have to be witty or clever as long as you can hire someone who is.

    ~ Ted Baxter

    Ted Baxter puts the Communists in their place.

  52. Q. Shtik December 24, 2013 at 2:47 pm #

    “The quote I responded to was from ajmuste the pacifist, not you. Why would you think it was your quote?” – Blaby
    =============

    Sorry, my bad. I could explain the source of the confusion (in my mind, at least) but it would take more key strokes than it’s worth.

  53. rube-i-con December 24, 2013 at 3:07 pm #

    Ajmuste is a haruspex, who gets his knowledge from looking at entrails and intestines of dead animals.

    you really are a little snot-nosed creep that most definitely got beat up lots on school, probably deservedly so.

    typical kdog ‘factual response’ to facts.

    …and on and on it goes, the 7th-grade kdog & his little band of supporting pricks out here can’t win on argument.

    i think most all the posters here feel the same, at least i’ve seen this comment about your juvenility multiple times. it’s a wonder jhk puts up with you.

    you really need to go out and ‘tweet’ to your audience milieu.

    regarding the anonymous forces yanking the financial indexes this way and that? you can go back to the beginning of financial markets and find the same thing. yes, even before computers arrived with front-running etc. remember the hunt brothers of yore? it’s the nature of markets to be cornered.

    to Q.Shtik and brazilian inflation being 7% annually and savings accounts paying 6%, why look at the united states, where inflation is probably 10% or higher in reality and savings accounts pay one-tenth of that.

    like there isn’t any risk in US paper? lol, you gotta be nuts to place $$ in 30-year bonds paying 3%, if that much, or short term paper paying 0.1%. sheesh.

    to those of you who can’t see that the dollar has performed stellarly over the past many months, good luck in your investments, you’ve missed yet another very, very nice ride up.

    like i said, i’ve watched it rise from 1.59:1 to 2.40:1 against the brazilian real. tell me that’s not spectacular, over 2 years?

    when it comes falling down, short it i will. you do know what shorting is, right? i know from experience that US ‘financial advisors’ don’t have the word in their vocabulary. i’ve had a CEO of a major mutual funds firm tell me “we need to be positive, rah rah rah”. those companies are nothing more than fee-swindling financial rackets where 80% of their money ‘managers’ can’t even match an index’ returns!

    got milk? got dollars?

    peace peaceniks

    • K-Dog December 24, 2013 at 3:43 pm #

      You quote me out of context and defend Ajmuste as if rube-i-con was being called a haruspex and not Ajmuste. I’m sure Ajmuste is able to defend himself without your help.

      Are you one in the same? Or are you working together.

      • Neon Vincent December 25, 2013 at 8:16 pm #

        Hey, K-dog, as one of your “little band of supporting pricks,” I’m saying that I like you; you’re a funny dog, just like I did here.

        http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/spygames-and-paranoia-1-thats-not.html

        • Neon Vincent December 25, 2013 at 8:30 pm #

          Speaking of “spygames and paranoia” K-Dog, in light of your demonstrated interest in what our host described in this week’s post as “so much fabulous surveillance technology” and its potential for abuse, one of the news items I came across last week described how researchers at the University of California, San Diego, were able to write software that could determine which social group one belongs to, where it’s hipster, surfer, or biker, just based on your photographs posted to social media. Discovery News was able to figure out the creepier implications of this technology. This inspired me to write “Welcome to the world of Minority Report, where technology scans you and costumizes ads for you, but also tracks you.” If that software determines that you might belong to a criminal or subversive subculture, then it might also introduce the idea of precrime from that Philip K. Dick story as well. Maybe that’s why Peak Everything is appealing; it might just be able to head off techno-dysopia when all else fails.

          http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/scifi-is-now-minority-report-edition.html

          • K-Dog December 26, 2013 at 1:08 pm #

            That was an interesting video “New Software Tells If You’re A Hipster.” I watched it on your website first and then followed the youtube link you posted on top of you video embed. It is notable that a dog food commercial played before the video started playing at youtube. I think my urban tribe has been identified.

            I recommend everybody watch the short video on your website, it asks a very important question. Are we entering an amazing new future where we can go about our days with media tailored to our interests or are we heading into a dark future where important things are hidden from us because of our preferences?

            My take is that we are going into a future where important things are hidden from us because of our own preferences. I go in that direction and see even further complications for it may not be simply computer algorithms feeding on our preferences. Targeted advertising algorithms could be modified or hijacked to terrorize and psychologically manipulate psychologically weak and suggestive targets.

            Belong to a criminal or subversive subculture and you could get training videos pushed at you on how to build backpack bombs along with reminders on a public freedom day events coming to a city near you. False flag events could be planned to manipulate the public at will. Suggest an excuse for government to further suppress freedom to ten thousand identified subversives and see who bites. Then cultivate the ones who take the bait with more targeting and a few men in black. A theme for a new novel or Hollywood movie perhaps? Minority Report and “Spygames and paranoia” indeed!

            Unaccountable power won’t be able to resist the temptation. Techno-narcissism knows no bounds, and any attempt to legislate controls on new, amazing and possibly dangerous technology is interference with the invisible hand of the free market and a restriction on tools vital for national security. Consumers will be sacrificed to the god of unregulated capitalism and not the other way around.

            “At the end of that live-long day the American people are left in a matrix of lies so thick and sticky that all the de-greasing agents supposedly vested in freedom of the press will not avail to liberate them, and they are suspended like little morsels of winged prey to be sucked dry by the descending spiders of crony capital.”

          • K-Dog December 26, 2013 at 1:11 pm #

            followed the youtube link you posted on top of your video embed.

            I shall not be ‘Q’ d!

          • K-Dog December 26, 2013 at 3:03 pm #

            on a public freedom day events

            Events should not be plural.

            I shall not be ‘Q’ d!

  54. budizwiser December 24, 2013 at 3:26 pm #

    My knowledge fails to provide the necessary language to express my profound sense of frustration surrounding my perceived sense of injustice surrounding most of the aspects of our so-called modern culture.

    Reading Mr. Kunstler’s essays relieves me.

    Having had the occasion to study the balance of global petroleum production – way back in the ’70s – makes me fell more than a little amazed that most of use SUV-type vehicles on a daily basis – for everything. 2014 is almost here. Batteries and solar cells are not included.

    I really, really realize – now – that I know so much less about the world than I thought I did.

    I do know that some eastern nations are reported to be buying more gold than their western counterparts. I also know that the weather seems to be extreme more often.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year or whatever you want. You too James – happy Jew holiday too.

  55. Janos Skorenzy December 24, 2013 at 5:51 pm #

    http://minutemennews.com/2013/12/white-house-just-inadvertently-confirm-obama-id-fraud/

    It’s all starting to unravel for the Liberal Liars. Two weeks ago they tried to deemphasize the Knockout Game by saying Black crime has always been high. That fact was considered outrageous racism three weeks ago.

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  56. Q. Shtik December 24, 2013 at 11:29 pm #

    Merry Christmas to all………regardless of whatever stupid religious beliefs you may hold or silly ignorant ideologies……..etc etc. ;o)

    • Janos Skorenzy December 25, 2013 at 12:24 am #

      A Blessing and Curse together. Well I guess they cancel each other out. Even Scrooge can repent. There is still hope up to the last breath – and beyond.

  57. rube-i-con December 26, 2013 at 9:54 am #

    Hi everyone, season’s greetings, Merry Christmas, Chappy Channukka…even a tinge of Happy Kwanzaa to those so inclined.

    Will be going to Greece to live for a few months, live with the local & learn the language & take it easy (which is becoming more and more attractive pitted against the inhuman(e) United States lifestyle of living your whole life ‘saving for retirement’, which is plugged incessantly by the media because they’re paid to do so by the ‘investment industry’ so the latter can live like parasites off of struggling mom ‘n pop. Man do I feel sorry for Anglo Saxons and their obsessive work ethic sometimes).

    The battered economy in Greece means it’s rather affordable to rent a place by the sea or in Athens. Would be interested in getting any pointers or info from anyone who’s lived there or spent an appreciable amount of time in Hellena.

    peace peaceniks

  58. Q. Shtik December 26, 2013 at 10:49 am #

    “Would be interested in getting any pointers or info from anyone who’s lived there or spent an appreciable amount of time in Hellena.” – Rube
    ===========

    Well, for starters, there’s only one l in Helena.

    My son and his girlfriend vacationed in Greece about a year or two ago. Paraphrasing son Thom, “Athens is filthy, trains and other services are inefficient and the people are lazy.” And Thom is a person who hates saying a bad word about anybody.

  59. rube-i-con December 26, 2013 at 12:18 pm #

    “Athens is filthy, trains and other services are inefficient and the people are lazy.”

    so whut. i live where its the same. you meet the people, interact with them socially and everything gets a whole lot better. it still gets on your nerves enough, but regular good times assuages the sichyation a lot.

    we’ll be roasting a nice big pig all crunchy and greasy like on dec 31, me and the natives down here. one guy shows up in the most battered yet still functioning care i have ever seen, wired ripped out everywhere, the seats barely a skeleton of their once glory. but he’s put a new homemade wooden shock absorber on the back, and the thing refuses to give up the ghost.

    yes i like modernity too.

    peace peaceniks

  60. Dave December 26, 2013 at 1:58 pm #

    @ Q. Shtik said: “Paraphrasing son Thom, ‘Athens is filthy, trains and other services are inefficient and the people are lazy.'”
    ____________

    Is this the son who dives in dumpsters for his daily sustenance? If so, was he attending a laziness seminar in Greece? Did his dumpster winnings help fund the trip? We know the other son is married with children, so it only leaves the dumpster diver. How is a dumpster diver a world traveler, and isn’t it audacious for a dumpster diver to call anyone else lazy especially when they’re generally not critical of others?

    ==============================================

    @ rube-i-con said: “Would be interested in getting any pointers or info from anyone who’s lived there or spent an appreciable amount of time in Hellena.
    _____________

    My advice, if you want to really fully absorb and appreciate your new climes, is to leave the lithium (I know, it’s a great example of modernity, but with modernity comes trade-offs that sometimes are just not worth it) at the door, so to speak. In otherwords, take a Lithium Holiday. It’s the only way to experience the greatness of Greece. Free and clear. Fuck the center. Oh, I almost forgot, make sure to hide your money clip up your ass. Even then it’s not completely secure especially if the local cuisine doesn’t set well with you and for some it doesn’t. Enjoy it, it’s a great place made even better by this slow-motion collapse. Things are always more exciting when you add a little, or a lot of, risk.

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  61. Q. Shtik December 26, 2013 at 2:49 pm #

    “Things are always more exciting when you add a little, or a lot of, risk.” – Dave
    ===========

    This is where the phrase “putting lipstick on a pig” originated.

    Yes, son Thom would be the dumpster diver…..was or still is, I’m not sure. Thom has a fulltime job for several years as a “standardized patient” but I don’t think it pays very well. Thom also does odd jobs, especially painting. His work is compulsively well done so he gets lots of word-of-mouth referrals. He and his girlfriend have a nice apartment in West Philly and seem to be doing OK. Every year they manage to take a great vacation. The last three were Greece, Alaska and Iceland. Thom is anything but lazy.

    Note: I was careful to state that I was paraphrasing Thom. Phrases like “the people are lazy” are what you get after you strip away all the goody two shoes liberal BS.

    • bob December 26, 2013 at 5:00 pm #

      Your writing is very sporadic in nature , you need to improve your skills so that what you are trying to express is clearer .

  62. Pucker December 26, 2013 at 6:29 pm #

    So “Halal” literally means “permissible” in Arabic?

    I thought that it means “Finger Lick’n Good!”?

  63. Pucker December 26, 2013 at 6:34 pm #

    Do Muslim people have a sense-of-humor?

    Does anyone know any Taliban jokes?

    How ’bout this one: “I saw my Infidel Mother-in-Law try’n to cook pork chops the other day in the pressure cooker that I bought her. The next thing that I knew I was eat’n off the ceiling!”

  64. rube-i-con December 26, 2013 at 7:25 pm #

    ok, so far i’m seeing the full monty of unenlightened US american ‘jokes’ about greece.

    i’m sure they do the same there.

    greece is likely a good place to be looking for some opportunities, you know, the old saw about buying when there’s blood in the streets. an unfortunate choice of words, tho’ things have quieted down there substantially.

    eirini eirinistes

  65. BackRowHeckler December 26, 2013 at 7:59 pm #

    One thing about Athens: Everything is covered with graffiti, everything, everywhere you look, buses, trains, bridges, ancient buildings, modern buildings, you name it … spray painted, vandalized, marked up … giving the place an aura of disorder and decay. Yes, Greece is a country of artists sure enough, the cradle of Western Civilization.

    The Kalishnikov Rifle, Spray Paint and the Automobile, banes of modern Cities!

    –BRH

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  66. rube-i-con December 26, 2013 at 8:56 pm #

    sounds like egypt: a once-great dynasty, now just a ramshackle semblance living off its former glory

    eirini eirinistes

  67. Pucker December 26, 2013 at 9:15 pm #

    Speaking of “Jive Talkin”, a friend sent me a rather strange publicized self-confession of a recent U.S. university and U.S. law school graduate who claims that he’s yoked with over US$200,000 in non-dischargable student loan debt. This bloke says that he’s worked out a “Re-payment Plan” with his creditors whereby after making payments over 30 years until he is in his mid-50’s he then gets hit with a huge tax bill over around US$150,000. He seems to think that this is a “smart option” because he thinks that will then be able to then declare bankruptcy and discharge the tax debt.

    I don’t know….

    One would think that this bloke might be better off threatening self-immolation in front of the Sallie-Mae office? Or fleeing the country? I think that in some countries he would be able to declare bankruptcy under their laws and escape debt servitude.

    It just seems rather odd to me that otherwise “smart” Americans are so willing to eat such huge piles of “shit”…..

  68. Pucker December 26, 2013 at 10:44 pm #

    When I was a kid I used to watch TV shows like “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”.

    My Life didn’t turn out anything like “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, except for all of the nuclear radiation…..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMCR63uwgkI

  69. progress4what December 26, 2013 at 11:22 pm #

    “Are you saying that ONLY Jews are under consideration for the Board? There’re no Gentiles in the uppermost levels of the Fed? Gee, it must be something in the Christian religions that makes people unsuitable for high positions. After all, they are only a 90%+ majority in America.” ….beantown bill….

    Well, bill, updated figures show that Christians now make up only 78.4% of US residents. Jews make up 1.3%.

    And I can’t answer your question about Fed Chairpersons, but something strange does seem to be going on.

    Meanwhile, 23.9% of the total 78.4% of US Christians are Catholic.

    Which, altogether, makes it strange that the Supreme Court of the United States is composes of 6 Catholics and 3 Jews.

    http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

    • Janos Skorenzy December 27, 2013 at 2:10 pm #

      Why? Catholics as a group are now very liberal. Do a similar study if possible about the Federal Reserve, Wall St, Advertising, Pornography, and Media. You will become a believer in the Conspiracy. Jews have instituted a soft coup from the top. Catholics are allies in this. There are lots of liberal Protestants but evidently, they want to make a point about how they have transformed America by excluding them. They are the Leaders of the Grievance Alliance.

      Incredible? Of course and that protects them. Incredible things happen all the time. Sometimes you have to believe (by reason or intuition) before you can know by hard data. Only believers search for the Truth in general.

  70. progress4what December 26, 2013 at 11:28 pm #

    In a logical world, it would be reasonable of me to extend the hope that 78.4% of Americans visiting this forum had a very Merry Christmas.

    I don’t think we have a logical world.

    But – as a nod to the 1.6% of US residents who are Atheist –

    I hope you had a Good Wednesday.

    “HUMP DAY!” ….GEICO camel….

    ====================

    and “composes” should have been “composed” above

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  71. progress4what December 26, 2013 at 11:34 pm #

    Pucker – I was doing a little research on non-dischargable student loans for you. And I’m opposed. It was an evil idea – passed into law by Congress in ’98.

    But anyway – somebody in the comments to a Huff Post article I was reading made reference to Kunstler’s treatise on the subject.

    http://kunstler.com/blog/2012/04/strange-jubilee-1.html

  72. ajmuste December 26, 2013 at 11:43 pm #

    OBAMA HAS REDUCED THE DEFICIT BY RECORD NUMBERS

    If you look at the deficit as a percent of the entire economy (measured as the Gross Domestic Product) in 2009, the first year of Obama’s presidency, after tax cuts and new spending, the deficit was 10.1 percent of GDP. In 2012, the deficit declined to 7 percent of GDP. So that’s a decline of 3.1 percentage points.

    You have to go back 63 years to the period between 1946 and 1949 to find a bigger four-year drop than what the country saw between 2009 and 2012. Right after World War II ended, the U.S. deficit stood at 7.2 percent of GDP. By 1949, America had a surplus of 0.2 percent. So that’s a decline of 7.4 percentage points.

    If you look at the deficit as a percent of GDP all the way back to 1930 and run the numbers, you’ll find you need to go back to 1946 to find a larger change; it’s proof Obama is a fiscally responsible Democrat.

  73. rube-i-con December 27, 2013 at 8:31 am #

    yes, obama, and the entire congress, are fiscally responsible. the last 50 years solidly backs this up.

    whew, glad US americans are out of the woods then.

    eirini eirinistes

  74. rube-i-con December 27, 2013 at 10:48 am #

    puru saxena: Over in Europe, it is notable that the majority of stock markets have broken out to multi-year highs and even Greece is now participating in the recovery. Interestingly, after declining by over 90% from its 2007-peak, the Athens General Share Index is now rallying and it has recently taken out its previous high. Therefore, aggressive traders can consider allocating some capital to this beaten down stock market.
    At this stage, it is difficult to know why the Greek stock market is advancing but we suspect that the worst has already been discounted. If this is correct, then we may witness a big rally.

    like i said, blood in the streets is a good time to invest. seems kunstler’s tirade of end of modernity predictions are one of the best contrarian barometers – in other words, do exactly the opposite of what he opines should be done.

    sorry jimmy, you’re wrong as usual. keep up the good work.

    eirini eirinistes

  75. progress4what December 27, 2013 at 11:47 am #

    I wonder to what extent modern Atheists are only anti-Christian.

    Certainly it means something, that Michael Dawkins is under attack from his fellow Atheists for saying unkind things about Muslims.

    At any rate, there is a nice attack on the Republican Party on religious grounds – to be found over at the Arch Druid Report. He says, among other things, that a critical mass of Republicans have morphed into Satanists.

    Enjoy. And Merry Christmas!

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  76. BackRowHeckler December 27, 2013 at 2:13 pm #

    Hitchens, Dawkins … those dudes are minor league atheists, mere pissants. Hitler, Stalin and Mao, that’s the Big Leagues, lunatic doctrinaire atheists with brutal armies of secret police to carry out their hatred and non-belief, burning down Synagogues, blowing up Churches after looting them of their Sacraments, and liquidating believers by the tens of millions.That’s real atheism, not faggot intellectual faculty lounge atheism, the kind you see around here. It gives you atheists something to aspire to: Mass Murder.

    –BRH

    • Captain Swing December 29, 2013 at 5:52 am #

      As I recall, good ole’ Adolf was raised a Roman Catholic, and never renounced it – Although like most modern politicians, he apparently had no great attachment to it but found it “politically correct” to pay lip service to it. Herr Hitler’s henchmen, however, had plenty of whacky religious beliefs to keep them going. Then there were The Crusades, the Inquisitions, countless “Holy Wars” down through the ages, many of them continuing to this day – I’m sure you don’t need me to spell them all out… oh, and don’t forget spreading prejudice and hatred against gay people, unwed mothers, or anyone else they don’t like. Good old religion, continuing to make a misery of the lives of people everywhere.
      As you may have gathered, I am an atheist – AND DAMNED PROUD OF IT – But I am not suggesting for a moment that our ranks have not had their share of genocidal creeps. My point is that despots come in all sizes, colours and belief systems.
      Indeed, I have come to believe that religious belief – or lack of it – has precious little to do with good leadership. It sounds corny, but good people will do good things without excuses, and bad people do bad things – and use whatever belief system they profess to as their excuse.
      Given this is my first post on Mr Kunstler’s blog, I had better make a comment that is vaguely on topic – While Uncle Sam continues to beat up on gold like a piñata at a kid’s birthday party, our friends in China are buying it up hand over tit, and no doubt enjoying the bargain basement price… Perhaps they have also heard, as I’m sure Mr Kunstler has, the story of King’s New Clothes…

  77. beantownbill. December 27, 2013 at 2:32 pm #

    @Procon:

    Interesting that only 80% of Americans are Judeo-Christians. I would have thought higher.

    Thank you for bringing up the subject about over-representation by Jews. In the past, I’ve gotten pretty defensive about this, but no longer. The reason I’m not is because Jews are a very success-oriented culture. Education and getting ahead are important to them, so it is natural that they are over-represented at the top of their professions.

    Where I got defensive was that I sensed other posters felt it was wrong for Jews to have so much success, as if there was a conspiracy of sorts, another agenda. I can see where some people might think this, but I know it’s only because of a culturally-driven desire for success. So yes, many more Jews run things than their population might indicate – but not because of some organized plan or plot. Our success makes me proud.

    Strange as it may seem, professional football got me thinking about this subject. I’m a Patriots fan. They’ve been the most successful NFL team since the turn of the century. With some glaring exceptions, they are generally a bunch of over-achieving nice guys who help in the community. Yet they are hated. I would never have believed this if I didn’t read replies by some commenters in various websites. So I guess a lot of anti-Jewish beliefs must be the result of envy, too.

    Christmas has turned into a dual holiday: the religious part and the secular part. Many non-Christians celebrate the ideals of Christmas without the Jesus is the son of God aspect.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 27, 2013 at 6:43 pm #

      Jews conduct an unending war on Christmas and our Culture in general. Your favoritism to your own is well known. Surely no rational person will argue Elena Kagen or the one Bush tried to foist on us (Harriet Myers) were the most qualified for the job.

      But you have admitted that Jews do dominate many fields at least. Now you must take the disproportunate blame for the state of our society too. You can’t be proud and not ashamed. They come together. Are you proud of Hollywood? Banking? The Porn Industry?

  78. Q. Shtik December 27, 2013 at 3:30 pm #

    “It gives you atheists something to aspire to: Mass Murder.” – BRH
    ===========

    Funny post, BRH. It brings up an important point though. You know there must be something wrong with an ideology or, more accurately, with one who advocates an ideology if they think belief (or non-belief) by others can be achieved through force.

    I am comfortable in my atheism and feel no need to proselytize others to my belief, or lack thereof.

    The history of Christianity and Islam is ‘you better believe OR ELSE.’

    • Janos Skorenzy December 27, 2013 at 6:45 pm #

      Don’t hold that against Christ though. I doubt if He would have agreed with what was done in His name. You can hold it against Mohammad though.

  79. K-Dog December 27, 2013 at 4:20 pm #

    Where is the Snowden of the financial markets who will unmask these actors?”</i?

    Even Jim can suffer from wishful thinking. We live in a nation of idiots and the only hope to unmask the actors is gone.

    We still have people believing in a bright shiny future after the lab rats have eaten all the corn flakes and all that is left to eat is the box they came in. Americans believe in a future that will never be because the reality that it’s all over folks is too painful to believe. Tight oil may reach 6 million barrels per day but will peak before 2020 leaving; shock of shocks; a society unprepared for a future but drowning in belief of the absurd.

    Belief in technology that violates the laws of physics because if Hollywood can do it why can’t we all. Lets all fly up to a space station and live there with movie stars and swimming pools! What is life but one big action movie anyway. Belief that a clearly failing economic structure can be revived with QE snake oil and other slights of hand.

    The image of a sleeping octogenarian being shook awake and given the tonic comes to mind. He bolts upright and tap dances around the stage like a little cutie in a beauty pageant. All he needs is a baton. His feet are a blur. A great show but when the show’s over he’s still over 80 and falling asleep again.

    Not going to happen. The only thing that can save America is change and we have become a society incapable of change, and become more ossified every minute. Deviation from collective suicide is heresy (you are being watched you know) and it is your duty to go down with the ship. Don’t make waves.

    Be one with the illiterate innumerate masses and dream dreams of Christmas childhood plenty where nobody gets coal in their stocking but if they did it would be clean coal. Dream dreams of happy elves toiling away in non-existent factories at the top of the globe building your hearts desire. They don’t need sleep or food and all the wood, leather, transistors, and plastic they need to make all your stuff magically appears.

    Dream on and never wake up.

    • K-Dog December 27, 2013 at 4:22 pm #

      And once again I screw up:

      “Where is the Snowden of the financial markets who will unmask these actors?”?

      Even Jim can suffer from wishful thinking. We live in a nation of idiots and the only hope to unmask the actors is gone.

      We still have people believing in a bright shiny future after the lab rats have eaten all the corn flakes and all that is left to eat is the box they came in. Americans believe in a future that will never be because the reality that it’s all over folks is too painful to believe. Tight oil may reach 6 million barrels per day but will peak before 2020 leaving; shock of shocks; a society unprepared for a future but drowning in belief of the absurd.

      • K-Dog December 27, 2013 at 4:26 pm #

        I’m going to gamble and see if I post it without problems it starts a new page.

        A 1, a 2, a 3 ………

  80. K-Dog December 27, 2013 at 4:27 pm #

    Where is the Snowden of the financial markets who will unmask these actors?”

    Even Jim can suffer from wishful thinking. We live in a nation of idiots and the only hope to unmask the actors is gone.

    We still have people believing in a bright shiny future after the lab rats have eaten all the corn flakes and all that is left to eat is the box they came in. Americans believe in a future that will never be because the reality that it’s all over folks is too painful to believe. Tight oil may reach 6 million barrels per day but will peak before 2020 leaving; shock of shocks; a society unprepared for a future but drowning in belief of the absurd.

    Belief in technology that violates the laws of physics because if Holywood can do it why can’t we all do it. Lets all fly up to a space station and live there with movie stars and swimming pools! Belief that a clearly failing economic structure can be revived with QE snake oil and other slights of hand. The image of a sleeping octogenarian being shook awake and given the tonic comese to mind. He bolts upright and tap dances around the stage like a little cutie in a beauty pagent. All he needs is a baton. A great show but when the show is over he’s still over 80 and falling asleep again.

    Not going to happen. The only thing that can same America is change and we have become a society incapable of change, we become more ossified every minute. Deviation from collective suicide is heresy and it is your duty to go down with the ship. Don’t make waves.

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  81. rube-i-con December 27, 2013 at 5:58 pm #

    Belief in technology that violates the laws of physics because if Hollywood can do it why can’t we all. Lets all fly up to a space station and live there with movie stars and swimming pools!

    once again your violent ruminations are totally baseless. you constantly set up some grand nonsensical situation to `prove` something, viz the above quote from you.

    no one is talking space stations and swimming pools besides you.

    we are, though, living with mass instantaneous communication, REAL bionic limbs that FEEL and are just now coming onto the market, stem cell technology that is curing hitherto incurable maladies, plants and bacteria that can fabricate petroleum, etc.

    giant countries that get virtually all their electric power from clean, renewable hydroelectric/solar/geothermal sources, plus are demonstrating their ability to substitute ethanol for gasoline, and on and on.

    the sleeping octegenarian here is you, amigo, you who dwell on nonsense and live in the past, ever failing to see the wonderful present and future unfolding before your glasballs.

    peak oil will be laffable in hindsight, the world is solving it like it solves all other urgent problems.

    we salute you as we careen into the boundless, limitless future of true cornucopia made possible by human ingenuity.

    peace peaceniks

    • K-Dog December 27, 2013 at 6:49 pm #

      I’m not trying to prove anything. In your sociopathic world view you reduce everything to a game where you make the rules and assume everybody must play by them. I problem is that you think the entire universe is in your own head. You are a solipsist incapable of knowing normal human experience. I’ve pondered how something which lives and breathes in a human body can be so clueless assuming you do and are not some D.O.D. experiment in artificial intelligence sent here for shits and grins to stir the pot into useless swirlings instead. Shits and grins because you serve no useful purpose. A normal balanced human could never be as comfortable with lies and misdirection as you.

      “giant countries that get virtually all their electric power from clean, renewable hydroelectric/solar/geothermal sources”

      Name one. You can’t because you lie. There is not enough hydroelectric power to meet the needs of anything close to the needs of the population of any giant country. Solar development is repressed by big oil and geothermal is restricted to small geographical areas.

      You suffer from innumeracy but don’t despair. Innumeracy is common and you need not feel alone. Our entire culture suffers from it. You should not despair and can celebrate your exceptionalness for you are more clueless than most by far.

      You speak of a boundless, limitless future and that’s the problem. You are either too deranged or too dishonest to appreciate that such things as bounds and limits exist. Bionic limbs do exist but cannot feel. Just like you. You spew nonsense and can’t back up any of your claims. Two and two make four but you are so self absorbed in you own delusions you think that if you prefer it make the sum five than it must be so. You think you are the singularity and that none other than you exists.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 27, 2013 at 9:16 pm #

      At one point people thought that if a vehicle went over 25 mph, the occupants would suffocate.

      Some scientists thought that an atomic bomb would set the atmosphere on fire. The Politicians went ahead anyway. What the hell, right? Beware of such hubris.

      • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 12:46 am #

        Exactly right beware of your hubris. You have a double scoop with extra sprinkles on top.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 5:10 am #

          You aren’t the Mocking Jay much less the Pendragon. Learn your place. When the Man on the White Horse appears, be content to serve Him. Then we will be brothers in arms and find glory both in this world and the world to come.

          To put it another way: I am Her Majesty’s Dog at Q. Pray tell, whose dog are you?

  82. rube-i-con December 27, 2013 at 9:06 pm #

    There is not enough hydroelectric power to meet the needs of anything close to the needs of the population of any giant country.

    i previously mentioned brazil getting 84% of its electrical power from hydroelectric energy. there`s your giant country.

    Hydro power is currently the world’s largest renewable source of electricity, accounting for 6% of worldwide energy supply or about 15% of the world’s electricity. In Canada, hydroelectric power is abundant and supplies 60% of our electrical needs.

    theres a fairly large country. some 16% of the worlds electricity is produced by hydroelectric dams. is that not significant?

    and iceland has scads of unusued hydroelectric and geothermal energy waiting to be exploited and exported. of course you couldn`t bother to research that, either.

    you are a waste of space. it is useless trying to reason with you because you have blinders on.

    Bionic limbs do exist but cannot feel.

    if you took one second to research this you`d see the stupidity of your statement:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2521965/Afghanistan-soldier-given-bionic-arm-control-brain.html

    man will never fly is your motto. that is why your thinking never gets off the ground and you try to mire everyone in your defeatist attitude. the world leaves your behind.

    we salute you as we soar high above you into a future where the crippled walk and feel with their bionic limbs, clean energy powers self-piloting cars and humans explore limitless virtual and physical worlds undreamt of by their ancestors.

    peace peaceniks

    • Janos Skorenzy December 27, 2013 at 9:19 pm #

      When we were fish curiously trying to crawl up onto the land, the Kdogs condemned us as oxygen sniffers.

    • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 12:41 am #

      You got me when I asked you to name one country. I’ll admit when I’m wrong but your original statement was plural, you said countries. Brazil counts, but the population of Canada is only 1/10 th that of the United States so it really isn’t a giant country. Regarding Brazil the per capita consumption of electricity is only 1/4 that of the U.S. You remain trapped in a cornucopian delusion.

      Regarding feeling in artificial limbs I was already aware of bionic control in artificial limbs as I have an interest in the subject. That is not feeling any more than lust is love.

      Iceland is an island and not a giant country at all.

      My attitude is not defeatist but realistic something your exaggerating ass would not know about. In your world there is no pain suffering or injustice and nothing to fix and a in your mind that makes you the center of the universe. And dangerous.

    • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 1:08 am #

      Forgot to address this:

      16% of the worlds electricity is produced by hydroelectric dams. is that not significant?

      Yes it is.

  83. Pucker December 27, 2013 at 11:05 pm #

    Wait a minute…

    Is it: “The Public has a Right to KNOW”?;

    or is it: “The Public has a Right to NO”?

    Thank you.

  84. beantownbill. December 28, 2013 at 12:06 am #

    @Janos:

    I don’t condone bad things done by anyone, regardless of their religion. When Jewish bankers act greedily to the detriment of others, I get mad, but I don’t – and won’t – make the incorrect leap in logic that they acted badly because they are Jewish. They acted badly because they aren’t nice people. Just as some bad Christian bankers act greedily, too. The same goes for Hollywood. Are you forgetting the good things that Jews like Jonas Salk, have done, who undoubtably saved millions of lives over the last 60 years? Using your illogical logic, you’d have to say that since someJews are humanitarians, as a group Jews must be humanitarians.

    The syllogism you use is:

    Most Jews have the same character
    Some Jews are not good people
    Therefore most Jews are not good people.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 12:44 am #

      Jews as a People are dedicated to conquering the World. Thus they are willing to do all kinds of terrible things to this end. Think of it this way: there are two kinds of morality. Intra group and inter-group. Jews are very, very good people at the intra group level. And very bad people at the inter group level. Surely you’ve heard the Jewish criterion of good action: Is it good for the Jews?. The Protestants ask the opposite question. Which group has a future? The Christian morality of sacrifice for other groups is a disease.

      To conquer the World for the Jews is the ultimate good for Jews. And the ultimate evil for us since it means our genocide – a genocide already well under way via open borders. None of the Jewish contributions to Science can make up for this.

      I’ve probed Jewish people I’ve known and I always find this desire, sometimes right up front and sometimes hidden under conventions – and sometime unknown even to the person. How is it transmitted – even among “Protestant” type Jews who believe and act the same as upper middle class Whites? It’s supernatural I believe and is transmitted via genetics. Believe it or not, I STILL have a Jewish friend who stood by me as I transformed into a White Nationalist. He has it too, but he rejects it unconsciously and now perhaps consciously since I pointed it out. He is good in a spiritual sense and I like and admire him. Yet still the desire to rule rears up in him out of the Jewish Collective Unconscious.

      What I’ve just given you is the result of many years of study. It will take you many years to absorb it – fighting yourself every step of the way.

      • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 12:58 am #

        You are so so so ………………………………. binary ! Everything is black and white to you but in reality few things are.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 5:17 am #

          Don’t pretend you don’t know about the Jews. Many Leftists do. Ozone does.

    • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 1:00 am #

      Most Jews have the same character
      Some Jews are not good people
      Therefore most Jews are not good people.

      And the end result of such logic (or lack thereof) is injustice.

  85. beantownbill. December 28, 2013 at 12:16 am #

    @Rubicon:

    I like K-Dog. Sometimes he gets so frustrated with those who don’t agree with him that he goes a little overboard. The point is that it’s extraordinarily difficult to get someone to change their beliefs. I have a foot in both camps: I see the same future you do, but I also see so many potentially fatal issues we have to deal with, that I also see the possibility of some very bad times. However, unlike K-Dog, I have no doubt about the ultimate outcome.

    Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

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    • K-Dog December 28, 2013 at 12:55 am #

      Sometimes he gets so frustrated with those who don’t agree with him that he goes a little overboard.

      No actually, I like disagreement and find it stimulating. What drives me crazy is ignorance. But today none of this is driving me crazy and I’m having fun with all of it.

      However, unlike K-Dog, I have no doubt about the ultimate outcome.

      I too see the possibility of some very bad times. In fact I’m more certain every day that bad time ahead are inevitable. Too many people invested in spinning false myths for it to be otherwise. The doubt I have of the outcome is small and healthy.

      Hope for the best and prepare for the worst!

    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 5:15 am #

      Mark Steyn was filling in for Rush today. Smart likeable guy, very funny. He and Snerdly were joking about Edward Snowden today. “Why is this guy still alive?” Not so funny and I think he was dead serious as are many of Elite, both Jew and White, about doing away with Mr Snowden. How horrible.

      Check out the latest unspeakable evil.

      http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/11-3

      • nsa December 28, 2013 at 11:40 am #

        Americans, being mostly of peasant stock, are impressed by any fraud with a Brit accent and immediately subservient. Hence, clapped out hacks like Stein and Hitchins easily find an audience in the new world……..

  86. Pucker December 28, 2013 at 8:49 am #

    In the “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” TV series about what America’s future was envisioned to be like in the early 1970s, the “Flying Sub” never made any sense to me.

    I mean, submarines aren’t supposed to fly. They’re supposed to travel under water. In fact, the “Flying Sub”, as far as I can remember, never traveled under water; it flew. So what’s the f..ck’n point of having a “Flying Sub”? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have an airplane?

    And the naivete about nuclear radiation in the TV show is disturbing.

    [Scene in the nuclear reactor room]

    Nuclear Technician One: “I feel dizzy.”

    Nuclear Technician Two: “You might have gotten a dose of radiation. You’d better go down to Sick Bay to have the Doc check you out.”

    Nuclear Technician One: “Naw…I’m O.K. Just give me a minute.”

    • Neon Vincent December 28, 2013 at 5:38 pm #

      “So what’s the f..ck’n point of having a “Flying Sub”? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have an airplane?”

      Three words for you: Rule of Cool.

      http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool

      The flying sub in “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” is specifically covered under “Cool Boat” and “Cool Plane” in the subcategories under Live Action TV. The moderation software will quarantine my comment if I included all three links, so you’ll have to find them yourself.

      Oh, and I have another phrase for you: TVTropes Will Ruin Your Life. You have been warned.

      • Pucker December 28, 2013 at 8:04 pm #

        Subconsciously, the submarine “Seaview” is a Penis, and the “Flying Sub” is a Vagina, right?

        • Pucker December 28, 2013 at 9:12 pm #

          The submarine “Seaview” was a Penis and metaphor for the American blind faith in Technology: The Big Dick penetrating the mysteries of the Deep vagina ocean, uncorking a glorious Future of abundance and cornucopia through the use of Technology, particularly limitless abundant nuclear energy.

          Subconsciously, the “Flying Sub” may have either been a Vagina, or some kind of weird homo thing in which the gays fly around for a while but eventually return to the conformity of living in-the-closet and underwater in the Seaview.

          • Neon Vincent December 30, 2013 at 3:36 am #

            Pucker, I think you got the first paragraph right, but the second one makes me think you pulled it out of a different orifice than any you mentioned. It looks like you never read the material at the link. It also looks like if you ever had an intestinal blockage, you’d run out of material.

  87. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 28, 2013 at 11:42 am #

    Speaking of inflation, have you checked out the price of light bulbs lately? It’s nuts. We’re now forced by law to purchase ridiculously priced light bulbs that don’t work as advertized and are also highly toxic. This isn’t inflation induced by more money in circulation, it’s inflation induced by artificial price fixing and it’s rampant in all sectors; energy, healthcare and food. Market forces have gone out the window. How much blood do they think they can draw from this rock? I didn’t think you could draw any blood from a rock, but they’ve found a way, so now the question is, how much blood can be drawn since rocks do indeed bleed?

  88. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 28, 2013 at 11:50 am #

    Steyn is Canadian-born now living in New Hampshire, although he was educated in the UK so it could explain his haughty Brit accent. Your point remains though, Liberals especially are impressed with Brit accents. I can’t stand the accent myself. Anytime I’m in earshot of it, I want to smack the mouth from which it emanates, male or female. Cockney’s the worst. Everyone with a Cockney accent should be placed before a firing squad immediately if we lived in a just world.

  89. rube-i-con December 28, 2013 at 11:57 am #

    China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. Paraguay produces 100% of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, and Norway 98–99%.

    do we really need to argue the plain as day fact that hydroelectricity is supplying ginormous amounts of energy that is virtually 100% clean and renewable?

    now we have

    brazil – 84% hydro
    china – 17% hydro
    canada – 60% hydro
    iceland – 98% hydro
    norway – 99% hydro
    paraguay – 100% hydro
    US – 6% hydro

    …and this is with the world only having developed 1/5 of its hydroelectric potential.

    i think the ignorance you refer to can be found in your nearest mirror.

    what are you going to do when the first space-based solar energy plant goes online? say we need new living arrangements?

    we are eons ahead of stuck in the mud thinking that only sees problems. the Western world is ineluctibly designed for progress and will drag the nonparticipants and naysayers along with it. all of the past 600 years of technological history bears this out.

    peace peaceniks

    • Neon Vincent December 28, 2013 at 5:45 pm #

      “the Western world is ineluctibly designed for progress and will drag the nonparticipants and naysayers along with it.”

      River of No Return, I recommend you take that sentiment over to The Archdruid Report and see how long you last. John Michael Greer will agree with you on the first point (western civilization is designed for progress) and laugh at you on the second (progress is inevitable, so don’t worry as “they’ll think of something”). He’s quite confident that western civilization will collapse because of the end of progress. As for me, I’m actually more on your side than not, but I don’t think progress is inevitable; it will have to be worked for very hard to be maintained.

      http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-conversation-with-archdruid-for.html

  90. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 28, 2013 at 12:16 pm #

    Hydroelectric power is not always a “greener” alternative. In fact, in some cases it’s actually more detrimental to the environment than burning fossil fuels.

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7046-hydroelectric-powers-dirty-secret-revealed.html#.Ur8DK_tr4UU

    From the article:

    In a study to be published in Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
    for Global Change, Fearnside estimates that in 1990 the greenhouse
    effect of emissions from the Curuá-Una dam in Pará, Brazil, was more
    than three-and-a-half times what would have been produced by generating the same amount of electricity from oil.

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  91. BackRowHeckler December 28, 2013 at 1:02 pm #

    Anybody else notice WTI Crude is back up ’round $100 per barrel again? I been hearing now for 2 or 3 years, even from the President himself, the we are now self sufficient in petroleum to the point where there will be enough oil to export pretty soon. Why hasn’t the price come down any? Does the law of supply and demand still hold, or are there other forces at work? The fact that oil is $100 per barrel again suggests the stuff isn’t as plentiful as they say it is.

    It seems like you need a PhD in economics to understand what is going on in the economy and how it ties in with energy, and then even that might not be enough. I know I can’t figure it out, and its harder still in the fog of all the happy talk on CNBC and Bloomberg about the bright future awaiting us in 2014 and beyond.

    Hey Rubicon, are you caught up in any of that flooding in Brazil? It looks pretty bad. Also, how about that tribal warfare breaking out in SSudan and Central African Republic. When you think of tribal warfare you think of spears and leopard skins, but these dudes are wearing camo and toting AK47s.

    –BRH

  92. rube-i-con December 28, 2013 at 1:02 pm #

    from oilprice.com now 82 percent of Venezuela’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources, primarily hydroelectric power.

    so, let’s add venezuela to the list for kdog:

    brazil – 84% hydro
    china – 17% hydro
    canada – 60% hydro
    iceland – 98% hydro
    norway – 99% hydro
    venezuela – ca. 80%
    paraguay – 100% hydro
    US – 6% hydro

    this just in…uruguay gets 55% of its electricity from renewables:

    from cleantechnica.com: About 45% of its electricity comes from hydro and 15% from biomass

    time to join modernity & admit renewable energy is making enormous strides in combating use of fossil fuels.

    just admit it. come over to the light.

    peace peaceniks

  93. Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 1:30 pm #

    “To put it another way: I am Her Majesty’s Dog at Q. Pray tell, whose dog are you?” – Janos to K-Dog
    ============

    What does this mean and does it have anything to do with me?

    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 2:24 pm #

      It means what I said it means, namely that we are not our own. Not only do “you” not own anything ultimately (since you can’t take it with you) you don’t own your own body either. But more: you don’t even own yourself. Did you create yourself? Buy yourself?

      But no, it has nothing to do with you. It’s a traditional ditty. I don’t know where Q is or how to spell it.

      • Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 2:53 pm #

        I googled this up but it still makes no sense to me in your post.

        “I am his Highness’ dog at Kew;
        Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”

        • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 3:12 pm #

          My dear Kew, it’s very simple. Whom does the Grail serve? As C.S Lewis said, there are two kinds of people. Those who say to God, “Thy will be done”. And those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.”

          I should have known it was spelled Kew. I’ve seen that before. My apologies.

          • Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 3:34 pm #

            You are piling more incomprehensible bullshit on top of previous incomprehensible bullshit.

            Over and out.

  94. Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 2:08 pm #

    “Hence, clapped out hacks like Stein and Hitchins easily find an audience in the new world……..” – NSA to Janos
    ============

    “Clapped out” is an expression I am unfamiliar with…..what does it mean?

    . Worn out?
    . Persons having suffered from the clap?
    . Persons whose hands hurt from excessive applause?

    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 2:19 pm #

      They’re just jumped up pantry boys.

  95. Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 2:31 pm #

    “They’re just jumped up pantry boys.” – Janos
    =========

    And what are “jumped up pantry boys?”

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    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 2:36 pm #

      You already know. It’s like reading Whitman. Don’t think about it. Just take the words at their common meaning and then ruminate; allow them to simmer inside of you.

      Jumped up pantry boys is a line from the singer Morrissey, a bard like Jim Morrison.

      • Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 3:19 pm #

        Googled this and STILL don’t know what a “jumped up pantry boy” is.

        As with many of Morrissey’s compositions, the song’s lyrics features dialog borrowed from a cult film. The line “A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place” is borrowed from the 1972 film adaptation of Anthony Shaffer’s 1970 homoerotic play Sleuth, in which Laurence Olivier plays a cuckolded author to Michael Caine’s ‘bit of rough’.[2][8]

        Can’t anyone just say what they mean anymore for Chrissake?

  96. Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 4:19 pm #

    After much research….this should help to clarify:

    Clapped-out

    Worn out

    Jumped-Up

    Refers to someone acting in a really pompous, overbearing way, arrogant without any reason to be so, acting a fool or a jerk; the implication is someone trying to act way above their “station” or “caste”, having “jumped-up” where they don’t belong.

    Pantry boy

    The lowest of household servant ranks.

    • Q. Shtik December 28, 2013 at 4:35 pm #

      Also, to further clarify…….from Urban Dictionary:

      hack

      a person who is a professional at doing some sort of service, but does crappy work.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 4:39 pm #

      Yes Kew. But as Homo, Morrissey’s lyrics take on Homoerotic meanings as well: the Pantry boy is a tart who stoops to conquer. Thus he is “jumped up” after being jumped. Zen Master Rama used to tell his female disciples that they would be “bumped up to a higher energy level” if they had sex with him. A kind of vaginal rolfing I dare say.

  97. Janos Skorenzy December 28, 2013 at 4:40 pm #

    Just when you think things can’t get any lower – they do.

    http://zionica.com/2013/12/28/bleeding-trayvon-martin-shows-nativity-scene/

  98. ajmuste December 29, 2013 at 12:04 am #

    rube-i-con, nice list of countries using renewables. There are many more you could add. And don’t forget the countries that are working overtime to develop renewable sources of energy, including ginormous countries like Russia.

    Russia is aiming for 4.5 percent of energy in renewables by 2020. They are planning to build 22 GW of new installed capacity and displace more than 36 million tons of CO2 per year, representing approximately $44 billion in capital investment. The more they invest, the more they learn, the more they embrace new technology, the faster renewables will come on line.

    Think all those countries see the writing on the wall? Countries don’t make billions of dollars in capital investment out of the goodness of their hearts. They know it is necessary to develop renewables… and they know renewables can and will increasingly substitute for SOME of our current fossil fuel use.

    Consuming LESS fossil fuel energy (and wasting less energy in general) will improve our quality of life and give us a chance at survival. If we actually used all the fossil fuels in the ground, we would destroy ourselves.

  99. Q. Shtik December 29, 2013 at 12:51 am #

    Americans, being mostly of peasant stock, are impressed by any fraud with a Brit accent and immediately subservient. Hence, clapped out hacks like Stein and Hitchins easily find an audience in the new world……..” – nsa
    =============

    I consider ^this^ an exceptionally artful insult…..and your misspelling of Steyn was a nice touch. I love “clapped out hacks” which surely must be a Britishism.

  100. rube-i-con December 29, 2013 at 9:29 am #

    thank you amjuste for being a rare voice of reason in this desolation of desolations

    peace peaceniks

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    • Q. Shtik December 29, 2013 at 12:47 pm #

      It’s ajmuste, Rube. Are you dyslexic?

      • K-Dog December 29, 2013 at 1:46 pm #

        And it’s con-i-rube and that’s not a river in Italy.

  101. K-Dog December 29, 2013 at 2:05 pm #

    “At the end of that live-long day the American people are left in a matrix of lies so thick and sticky that all the de-greasing agents supposedly vested in freedom of the press will not avail to liberate them, and they are suspended like little morsels of winged prey to be sucked dry by the descending spiders of crony capital.”

    Adam Curtis has two very relevant documentaries about the inner workings of “the machine”;

    The Century of the Self” and “The Trap“;

    They are available at the The Internet Archive and can be watched or downloaded there.

    There is also a third more recent one also there called “The Power of Nightmares

    This one has particular relevance to readers at CFN. Could those who wield power be spinning false myths to control the masses. Might the public be duped with a matrix of lies and distortions so thick and sticky our doom be sealed?

    Perhaps calling it ‘the web’ is an inside joke and we are considered no more substantial than and empty bug skin and when the time is right we shall all be swept up and thrown away.

    Oh say it ain’t so!

  102. progress4what December 29, 2013 at 2:09 pm #

    “Thank you for bringing up the subject about over-representation by Jews. In the past, I’ve gotten pretty defensive about this, but no longer. The reason I’m not is because Jews are a very success-oriented culture. Education and getting ahead are important to them,….”
    ….bean town bill….

    No need for defensiveness, it is what is is.

    Now, I’d argue that it’s a good thing that you said that thing about, “getting ahead,” being important to Jews – because, had I said it, someone would almost certainly accuse me of anti-Semitism.

    And I’ll guess, from your perspective, that 3 Jews on SCOTUS is understandable – therefore 4, 5, or all 9 is just as good, and just as based on merit.

    Which may be true IF all nine of them ALWAYS had the best interest of the citizens of the United States as their only criterion in all of their rulings.

    Would they? Will they? I don’t know. But I do know that anyone, Jew or Gentile, should be able to raise the question without being accused of anti Semitism.

    And I also know that a large percentage of Fed governors are Jewish, and that the US has not had a non-Jewish Fed Chairman since 1987. Is this good? Again, I don’t know.

    Mika always argued that Jews in the US are allowed? into high positions so that they can be there to be blamed when things go poorly. I’m not seeing that.

    JHK does a persuasive job of arguing that the Fed is pretty fouled-up. Maybe it would be good to get some more Gentiles in there – so we can spread the blame around.

    Just a suggestion – tendered in honesty and good humor.

    I’m out ’till Monday, assuming JHK posts on time. Although I will check this thread for answers and comments from anyone interested in these topics.

    • K-Dog December 29, 2013 at 4:07 pm #

      But is over-representation always bad?

      Top 30 Hottest Jewish Women Under 40

    • Janos Skorenzy December 29, 2013 at 4:13 pm #

      And no doubt you’re not sure that a few Jewish Billionaires owning Hollywood and the Media is bad either. I mean it doesn’t get in the way of having a diversity of viewpoints expressed does it? It’s normal right? When has it been any different? Not during your lifetime.

      Thus normalcy bias is inculcated in the hapless Kwas of Amerikwa. Hint: What’s classical is what’s worthy of being passed down from one generation to the next. It’s not just what you remember from your childhood when you were a little prog.

  103. rube-i-con December 29, 2013 at 2:22 pm #

    And it’s con-i-rube and that’s not a river in Italy.

    speaking of rivers and italy:

    ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM HYDROELECTRIC SOURCES (% OF TOTAL) IN ITALY
    The Electricity production from hydroelectric sources (% of total) in Italy was last reported at 17.15 in 2010, according to a World Bank report published in 2012.

    so, the list is now

    brazil – 84% hydro
    china – 17% hydro
    italy – 17% hydro
    canada – 60% hydro
    iceland – 98% hydro
    norway – 99% hydro
    venezuela – ca. 80%
    paraguay – 100% hydro
    uruguay – 45%
    US – 6% hydro

    numbers don’t lie or engage in empty jokes to make their point.

    so, another nail in jhk’s energy descent scenario. nations will only continue to further develop their hydro resources to take up the slack of declining petrol supplies.

    the above list is only hydropower, and does not include wind, biomass, solar and other renewables. wait til your own body starts powering your cellphone, laptop and other smaller devices. it’s right around the corner, folks, and will alleviate even more our declining dependence on petroleum.

    peace peaceniks

    • stelmosfire December 29, 2013 at 4:07 pm #

      So Ruby Tuesday, Paraguay is 100% hydro powered, Do they have nothing but electric autos and motorcooters?. I seriously doubt it. Norway 99%,what a joke. Canada 60% hahahahaha. Iceland has geothermal , they are lucky. Not to mention the blonds :o)

      Eat your hat and pardon the typos. My keyboard is having a major malfunction.

  104. K-Dog December 29, 2013 at 3:49 pm #

    “At the end of that live-long day the American people are left in a matrix of lies so thick and sticky that all the de-greasing agents supposedly vested in freedom of the press will not avail to liberate them, and they are suspended like little morsels of winged prey to be sucked dry by the descending spiders of crony capital.”

    The ‘freedom of the press’ may be greasing the skids of power and be doing no de-greasing at all.

    Glen Greenwald recently said:

    “The reason why we have a free press is because national security officials routinely lie to the population in order to shield their power and get their agenda advanced.”

    He said that in his Keynote Address before the thirtieth annual Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg last Friday. He said much more and you can here what he said here:

    Glen Greenwald on ‘Free Press’

    If you want to get the meat of the bone quickly start watching 24 minutes in and if you are really impatient 32 minutes in. I watched the whole thing and am left reminded of Lord Acton’s words. The the British historian, who said: “All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

    The goal of the surveillance state is control all communication. Not just the communication here with endless pointless diversion but all communications everywhere. It starts with surveillance but it does not end there. Surveillance is only the beginning of corruption from which the propagation of lies, false myths and absolute corruption flows as naturally as water flows through hydroelectric turbines.

    The state demands to see all and demands it without any transparency at all.

    • K-Dog December 29, 2013 at 3:53 pm #

      It is always something:

      you can hear what he said here

  105. BackRowHeckler December 29, 2013 at 3:55 pm #

    Sometimes this Comments section reads like Der Sturmer, which is a little surprising since you would think people interested in the topics JHK brings up would be more on the progressive side of the fence.

    P2C, before 1987 most of the Fed Chiefs were Episcopalian, which is what I am and what you might be. Question: in the market collapse of 1908, the deep recession of 1921, the great depression beginning in 1929, and other downturns in the late 40s and 50s, was anybody blaming it on Episcopalians, High Protestantism, the Church of England, Anglicans, or suggesting the protestant fed chiefs, altho American, had loyalties lying elsewhere, perhaps to the Masons or to Great Britain. Maybe some did, I’ll have to research it.

    See what I’m getting at?

    There was a gangland shootout in New Haven the other night, and the body of a young Puerto Rican was left dead on Hemingway Street. That reminded me. The Hemingways were part of Rev. Davenport’s Puritan Congregation in London, who packed up in 1639 and came as a group to found New Haven. These people were well off, and built fine homes straight away. Hemingways were prominent in New Haven for 2 centuries, until in the 1850s one of them, Ernest’s grandfather, moved to Chicago to represent a Connecticut clock company. New Haven is a ‘sanctuary city’. But what explains the level of murder and mayhem amongst its Hispanic and Black citizenry?

    ==BRH

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    • Janos Skorenzy December 29, 2013 at 4:08 pm #

      What explains it? Their own savage nature. Most PR’s have a lot of Black blood. The PR’s in West Side Story were too White and/or Mestizo looking for the most part. Very few look like Bernardo. Almost none look like Maria. Anita was more realistic looking with heavy features and voluptuous body. You’d like a piece of that no doubt. Refrain. As Mohammad said, You have a right to the first look but not the second. Retain custody of your I’s.

  106. BackRowHeckler December 29, 2013 at 4:45 pm #

    “You’d like a piece of that no doubt”? -Vlad

    Pretty funny line Vlad. And clever.

    –BRH

    • Janos Skorenzy December 29, 2013 at 6:57 pm #

      What’s witty about that? It’s a common phrase. The witty double entendre was the retain custody of your I’s. But to fully “get” that, you’d have to be an initiate or on the path thereto.

  107. rube-i-con December 29, 2013 at 4:56 pm #

    So Ruby Tuesday, Paraguay is 100% hydro powered, Do they have nothing but electric autos and motorcooters?. I seriously doubt it. Norway 99%,what a joke. Canada 60% hahahahaha. Iceland has geothermal , they are lucky.

    you conveniently left out china at 17% and counting. biggest country with huge hydro.

    typical shortsighted response. you only see limitations, while everyone surges ahead.

    only 20% of world hydro has been developed.

    everyone has geothermal under the ground. technology is already there to harness it. check out ground source heat pumps:

    http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/05/new-york-city-could-turn-to-geothermal-heating/

    we really do salute you as we soar high above you into a future of untold physical and mental riches.

    there will always those who wish to remain in a cave.

    peace peaceniks

  108. progress4what December 29, 2013 at 5:31 pm #

    OK, so one more post

    What’s with the “Der Sturmer” referece, brh? You are familiar with Godwin’s Law, right?

    But, yeah – somebody SHOULD have stopped the overrepresentation of all those Anglicans – because it led to the Fed in 1913, and to those economic events you named.

    It also led to US involvement in WWI, and the ruination of the League of Nations and Woodrow Wilson. It also led to the draconian reparations on the Germans after the war, which led to Hitler.

    US elites (of most all ethnic stripes) are very desirous of a US/Iran war in support of Israel. They are probably going to get it.

    And you say any discussion of these parties motivations takes us to the level of “Der Sturmer?”

    Jeeze.

    I guess we should just talk baseball.

    How ’bout that infield fly rule?

    • BackRowHeckler December 29, 2013 at 6:08 pm #

      P2C, not referring especially to your comment. Look back at this comments section for the whole week. That’s what I mean.

      –BRH

  109. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 8:14 pm #

    Is Circumcision a conspiracy of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Trilateral Commission?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision

  110. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 8:19 pm #

    I heard that Alex Jones is now selling his own label of coffee called “Wake Up America!” coffee. (I’m not kidding.)

    Apparently, the coffee comes from the Chiapas region of Mexico bordering on Guatamala.

    Coffee—-now there’s a crop that’s caused untold suffering to the people of Central and South America as the rich coffee plantation owners dispossessed the small farmers of their land and made them slaves.

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  111. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 8:27 pm #

    At what point in America’s history, did American males start to be forcibly Circumcised en masse? Thank you.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 29, 2013 at 9:12 pm #

      When the Jews began to dominate Medicine, whenever that was. Making us into 2nd class Jews and charging for it? Priceless. Apparently they get very vicious when parents try to decline. Enter our Super Hero. Everything you’re looking for is here Puck. Good luck on your quest for Knowledge, the Golden Fleece.

      http://foreskinman.com/

  112. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 9:31 pm #

    How did the ancient Aztecs perform Circumcisions?

  113. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 9:45 pm #

    I’m now reading Castillo’s diary about the Conquistadors’ conquest of Aztec Mexico.

    It was common for the Spaniards to come up a random stone temple and discover fresh human corpses with their guts ripped out and their heads, arms and legs cut off lying in pools of fresh, sticky blood on the temple alters with Aztec priests in black robes and long hair standing around.

    That was the Aztec people’s leadership, a bit like the U.S. Federal Reserve today, I suppose….

    • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 12:24 am #

      The Priests sometime skinned their victims (alive?) and then wore the skins. Nice! The Aztec Gods want to come back. One drug lord skinned a competitors face and then stiched it to a soccer ball. Also the Church suppress a Cult of “Saint Death”.

  114. Pucker December 29, 2013 at 9:55 pm #

    Is Circumcision a type of human sacrifice?

  115. Neon Vincent December 30, 2013 at 3:45 am #

    “there’s as much of it out there as there are plastic grocery bags floating in the horse latitudes of the Pacific Ocean.”

    Funny you should bring that up. San Diego is thinking of joining the jurisdictions that have either banned or decided to tax the plastic shopping bag. There is already a pushback from merchants and others who say it will harm their business and their poorer customers. As far as they’re concerned, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can keep growing.

    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/sustainability-of-banning-plastic-bags.html

    BTW, nice touch pointing out that the garbage patch is at the Horse Latitudes. That adds a literary flavor to the topic.

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  116. Arn Varnold December 30, 2013 at 6:34 am #

    Sawadee Pee Mai ya’all…

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