Friday, November 10, 2017

What Can Pot Teach Us About Economics and Government?

11/8/17

Whether for it or against it, we can all learn something from marijuana, or pot.

Specifically, we can see how government interferes with and impedes both the will of the citizens and the heart of economics - capitalism.

Point number one. In the US, we have seen a terrorist arm of the US government named ‘DEA’ attack state legal businesses that took a risk of capitalism to start a marijuana dispensary. The DEA has shown up at numerous dispensaries, decked out in full military gear, pointed military weapons at un-armed croc-wearing t-shirted employees, and then proceeded to ransack the dispensary and steal money and valuables. In almost all cases, no charges were filed. The US has something called a ‘Constitution’ that used to serve as a basis for the law of the land. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution specifically prohibits ‘search and seizure’ of assets without cause, charge, or fair trial. Yet, this happens all too frequently and the pathetic nation employees an attorney general, who is supposed to be the leading law enforcement person of the land, who thinks search and seizure is just wonderful. Well, it is if one professes a Nazi mentality. Thus, pot legalization has shown us that law enforcement ignores laws it does not like (the DEA confiscates assets to buy more military gear and give themselves raises much like any professional thief), despises liberty, and abhors state rights.

Point number two. Citizens have now voted in 29 US states to legalize marijuana either medically or recreationally. Hypocritically, pot is legal in the nation’s capital, DC. State legislatures draw the responsibility for implementation. That’s where everything goes bad.

In many cases, as in the case of Nevada voting to legalize, there was an immediate shortage of the product. Canada, voted in legalization beginning July, 2018, is already acknowledging that they will likely not meet demand. California is supposed to be recreationally legal beginning in 2018 and they too fear a shortage.

Now, I try to do my homework. I checked a few, what I would consider to be,  reliable sources on the ‘black market’ to try and confirm a marijuana shortage. There isn’t one. There appears to be more than ample supply of marijuana. Look, I said a checked some resources that I would think to be very reliable. There is no shortage. The problem is when governments get involved.

Aside from the legal aspect, a black market in anything is pure capitalism at work. If there is demand there will be people and businesses ready to step in and supply the demand. Capitalism seems to work.

Why does this happen?

First, government’s first reaction to anything that moves or breathes is to tax it. Since this is marijuana we are talking about, governments tax the ever-loving Obama out of the product. With the exception of Uruguay, every government legislature has taxed the product so high that it creates a black market. Given that New York state has tried to tax cigarettes out of existence by instituting a minimum price per pack of $13 dollars, it seems totally stupid that other government types would tax marijuana so aggressively. Are they trying to prohibit the product by over-taxing it? It is not uncommon to see tax rates over 25% on the end sale of the product. All that does is make the street value more economical and therefore the supply goes to the street and not the ‘legalized’ market. Thus, supply is short only for the highly taxed legal sellers regulated by government.

Second, governments’ second reaction is to regulate everything like a rear-naked choke hold. Regulations make the business of selling marijuana nearly impossible for most entrepreneurs. (For you college imbeciles majoring in communism and gay rights, entrepreneurs are those people that start businesses that generate the money to pay workers to make the signs you hold up professing your disdain for capitalism and its entrepreneurs.) For instance, in California I have counted 12 different licenses needed for different jobs in the business. If one grows pot they need a specific license for that. If one transports the product, that’s another license. Selling it at a retail level requires another license. None of these licenses or requirements necessary for a license are cheap. In Massachusetts a prospective business owner must have liquid assets of $500k and pay $30k for a license. In Nevada a prospective business owner must have liquid assets of $250k, spend $5k for an application, and pay $30k for a license (non-refundable). No wonder there is a ‘shortage’. And, beyond the money, there is a litany of regulations that must be followed to even stay in business.

Third point. Governments lie about everything. For instance, the US government maintains cannabis as a Schedule One drug as it is supposedly dangerous and void of medical application. Yet, the very same government maintains a patent on the plant’s medical chemical, cannabinoid. Perpetual presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein once said, “Marijuana is dangerous because it is illegal. It is not illegal because it is dangerous.” Well said! Marijuana has never killed anyone and is not addictive in a physical sense. The chemicals in the plant, THC and CBDs, have proven to be medically useful. Yet, governments choose to keep it illegal for two reasons.

One, it gives the law enforcement complex a job. If marijuana was federally legal, crime would drop, jails would empty, Mexican cartels would collapse, court rooms would sit idle, and fewer lives would be ruined. On the other side, jobs would be created, businesses would flourish, medical treatments would be more productive, opioid and alcohol abuse would wane (proven where legalization has occurred) and economies would grow.

Two, the other reason why marijuana is illegal is because the US legislature is bought and bribed by big pharma and big tobacco. Elected congresstitutes do what they are bribed to do. Where cannabis has been legalized, alcohol use and opioid use have declined and in some cases, dramatically. Legislatures in Ireland argued for legalization in their country in part because cannabis has been shown to reduce alcohol consumption.

Fourth point. Government never creates a productive job. Government kills jobs. Legal marijuana in Colorado created over 16k new jobs for the state according to estimates. The state has also raked in over a billion dollars in marijuana tax revenue since legalization. California expects to generate a cool billion dollars in tax revenue once the plant is legalized there. Jobs and businesses are waiting for the government to get out of the way. It seems to me to be even more idiotic when one considers that government supports big pharma who make most of their products outside of the US. Legal cannabis would be grown and processed almost entirely in the US.

When legitimate businesses try to operate in legal products (at least legal by state laws), why does the government try to impede them? Is it by design or just stupidity? Maybe pot is an example of how government is bad for business?

To confirm my thesis of a marijuana shortage, I ‘googled’ up the phrase ‘legal marijuana shortage’ and was greeted with over 22 million results. What could cause a shortage of pot? Since I confirmed through reliable sources that there is absolutely not a shortage of marijuana, I ‘googled’ up the phrase ‘idiotic legal marijuana regulation’ and received over 84 million results. I googled up the phrase ‘idiotic high fructose corn syrup regulation’ and received 23 million results. I ‘googled’ up ‘alcohol regulation’ and received not quite 3 million results. Clearly regulations have strangled the american economy and stymied economic growth without regard to the health or will of the people.

Let’s look at reality. According to the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, the US experiences 88,000 alcohol related deaths per year costing the economy some $250 billion dollars. Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of death. Tobacco is number one and poor dietary habits is number two. Poor diets can be due to sugar and a poison in the american diet known as high fructose corn syrup. Government legal products are killing hundreds of thousands of americans every year. Marijuana deaths? Zero.

So, to summarize we must understand that pot teaches us that:
A. Governments are stupid, evil, deceitful, and owned by big business
B. Government does not create jobs but rather government destroys jobs
C. Government is neither interested in the will of the citizenry nor the health of the citizenry
D. Government is about control and domination.
E. The black market for pot is more efficient than the legal market due to capitalism.

Let me close with this thought. Recollecting my years in Junior High School, I knew kids who were entrepreneurs in the illegal drug trade. They put forth capital, bought product in demand (pot), marked up the price to make a profit, and sold the product to those willing to pay for such product. These young kids figured out the capitalism of logistics, capital, distribution, and marketing. Their businesses flourished. Yet, when folks try to become entrepreneurs in legalized marijuana areas, they are thwarted by government regulations. In other words, young kids can make a business work but adults with advanced degrees have great difficulty making the same business work due to government regulation.

Pot teaches us that government is simply bad for business. Those so-called ‘progressives’ and those so-called ‘conservatives’ who all like big government should take a lesson from pot.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Is Bitcoin a Fraud?

9/14/17

Is bitcoin a fraud? Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Bank thinks so. That’s what he called bitcoin at a bankster meeting yesterday. Funny, if anyone should know fraud when they see it, it is Mr. Dimon.

Mr. Dimon’s bank deals in possibly the biggest fraud paper ever known - Federal Reserve Notes. Let’s compare federal reserve notes with bitcoin.

Federal reserve notes are printed at the whim of the Federal Reserve Bank. Of course, the Federal Reserve Bank is neither ‘federal’ nor a ‘reserve’ nor a ‘bank’. They are a banker cartel that robs money in the form of debt, interest and inflation from uninformed citizens, drains economic power from sovereign states, and disburses loans and cash (bailouts) to their bankster partners. The federal reserve notes they print are used as currency. This is the paper printed at the whim of the Federal Reserve Bank with infinite powers of unlimited printing. There is nothing behind the paper. Nothing. And, due to the Fed’s ceaseless printing, the currency continues to lose purchasing power due to the accompanying inflation. Mr. Dimon likes this form of currency.

Bitcoin is a concept and does not actually exist. Well, only in cyber-space. Bitcoin is known as a ‘cryptocurrency’ because it can be used a medium of exchange. That is, at least for now. I’m sure that most banksters would like to see any competition for their central bankster money outlawed. Yes, that includes gold and silver if defined as money.

Bitcoin can be purchased, or exchanged, for any other currency including US dollars. Bitcoin has several advantages over central bank currency.

One, bitcoin is not issued by central banks and its value is not directly controlled by those banks. Traded via the Internet, Bitcoin prices move with buyers and sellers.

Two, bitcoin is meant to be, and is theoretically, finite in supply. Therefore, its intrinsic value cannot be deflated due to constant supply increases.

Thus, we have common sense reasons to buy bitcoin. Even if we don’t view it as currency, it can be like anything that is finite in supply - a collector’s asset. Therefore, bitcoin will have a value and that value will be set by a market of buyers and sellers. What an incredible concept this is!!

So, can we answer our question, ‘Is bitcoin a fraud’? Mr. Dimon thinks so. He also went on to say that he would fire any of his traders if he caught them dabbling in bitcoin for being stupid. Keep in mind that JP Morgan was bankrupt ten years ago and only exists today due to the biggest fraud ever perpetrated - the Federal Reserve Bank coup de etat of the US and the subsequent bank bailouts of 2008.

In my opinion, nothing could be more fraudulent than federal reserve notes. Not even bitcoin. I don’t think Mr. Dimon should even go there.

But for fairness, let’s go to the charts. Charts tell us what people actually do with their money. Below is a one-year chart of JP Morgan Bank in red and a bitcoin ETF (GBTC) in black. The GBTC seems to track the value of bitcoin pretty well.








                                                                    1-year JPM in red, GBTC in black
                                                                    Chart courtesy Stockcharts.com

Yes, the red line shows us that JP Morgan stock price has appreciated some 40% in the last year. Great, Mr. Dimon! But had your traders been, well…, stupid and put money in the GBTC (bitcoin), their trade would so far have appreciated some 520%. Now, I’m not a smart bankster like Mr. Dimon but the black line is still beating the red line by a lot! Maybe Mr. Dimon is just a bit jealous?

The steep drop in GBTC leaving it only up 520% in the last year is likely due to one, the Chinese attempting to limit bitcoin trading in China and two, Mr. Dimon himself calling bitcoin a ‘fraud’.

Where will bitcoin go from here? It’s really anybody’s guess as banksters bad-mouth bitcoin and central banksters conspire to constipate bitcoin trading exchanges. But, like anything finite in supply, it will likely retain some kind of value.

On the other hand, the paper that Mr. Dimon likes and peddles will undoubtedly continue to lose value over time as long as there is a central bank creating supply out of thin air.

The bottom line is this. Whether or not bitcoin is fraud matters not. Our global economy is based on fraud. Fraud is all we have. So go with it!


Disclaimer: The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the writer and have been presented for educational purposes. They are not meant to serve as individual investment advice and should not be taken as such. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell anything. Readers should consult their registered financial representative to determine the suitability of any investment strategies undertaken or implemented. BMF Investments, Inc. assumes no liability nor credit for any actions taken based on this article.

Friday, September 1, 2017

Signs Of Terminal Stupidity

08/31/17

Simply witnessing american behavior over recent months, one must ask a simple question. How did americans become so stupid? Then, can america survive what appears to be terminal stupidity?

Most US education is a waste of time. However, I do remember my sixth grade math teacher, Ms. Duke. Every single day of school, there were math problems neatly chalked on every blackboard. Students were required to immediately begin solving these problems. We had to work fast because Ms. Duke would begin erasing the problems so she could add more to our work. Over, and over, and over we solved basic math problems. But Ms. Duke was not satisfied if we could correctly solve a math problem. No. We had to show our work and then prove that our answer was correct. How? By confirming our work with a calculator? Please! Calculators weren’t even invented when I was in school. We had to use our brains and not just our fingers by using inverse operations. Addition could be proven by using its inverse of subtraction and multiplication could be proven by using its inverse of division. With Ms. Duke, an answer was not sufficient. We had to prove our answer was correct by using an opposite operation. Thank you, Ms. Duke!

A few years later, I encountered the best teacher I ever had - Ms. Tyson. One subject Ms. Tyson introduced to us was the process of a debate. Again, as in math, there is a pro-side and a con-side. A postulation, either pro or con, had to be weighed against its opposite. This is logic. This is how we decide what is right and what is wrong. We listen to both sides. We listen to dissenting views.

Both Ms. Duke and Ms. Tyson had one thing in common. Neither teacher put up with any excuse. We came to class on time, we shut our mouths, we went straight to work. Neither teacher cared whether or not we all failed or excelled. The grade we received was the grade we earned. Neither teacher cared for excuses as to why we lost our pencil or why we forgot our book or why we were late from our latest sex change operation. 

As I took my knowledge and perspective to college, some of my friends and I would debate the issue of Albert Einstein being the smartest man to ever live. Indeed his intellect was nothing short of extraordinary. But, if we could point to Albert Einstein as the smartest man ever, then someone had to be the stupidest man, or woman, ever! Who could that be?

We are all witness to the current events in america. Personally, I really get a kick out of the so-called ‘antifa’ people. The, well, for lack of any words to describe them, the ‘media’ describe the antifa people as ‘peaceful’ protestors exercising their rights. Of course, we can all see the video of the antifa people peacefully swinging their peaceful baseball bats in peaceful Babe Ruth like swings at other people and cars. We can see them peacefully lighting other people on fire or peacefully igniting home-made flame throwers toward other people. The antifa people carry signs with words like ‘Fascists’ and ‘Nazis’ and ‘KKK’ but they clearly don’t understand what those words mean. Finally, a week or so ago the cops in Berkeley (Yeah, I know - I’ll give readers a chance to stop laughing. Every time I see or hear ‘Berkeley’ I start laughing at the idiocy that goes on there.) arrested about a dozen of the antifa people and posted their photos. All I can say is ‘thank you’. I saw the photos. I laughed and I laughed. I laughed until tears were streaming down my cheeks. We have found them! I felt the need to call my college buddies. We have found the single most stupid humans ever to knuckle-drag across the Earth’s surface. So we must ask - how did any human become this stupid?

First, let me explain. There is a good reason for antifa and I will reveal that at the end of this article. Second, the stupidity is these people chant slogans against ‘fascism’. However, what they are calling for IS fascism. They chant slogans about the ‘KKK’ and they want to destroy all monuments erected over time depicting images of men who represented the South in the Civil War period because they represent white supremacy and the KKK. I’ve lived in the South all my life and I have rarely ever seen any display of the KKK. Their representation is both minuscule in membership and diverse in geographic location.

As a short digression, I can report the only time I have ever witnessed a KKK assembly. When my son was young, I took him to a small town to a hobby store. As we arrived, the KKK were assembling across the street in full regalia. There was one police car. Everyone it seems went about their business. The KKK members gave a short speech, got back in their cars, and went home. As the late, great God-father of soul, James Brown once sang, ‘Static - don’t cause none, won’t be none’. Amen. It was a non-event. Yet, every american who understands what liberty means knows that even hateful people have a right to assemble and speak. This is one of the things that used to define america’s greatness.

Antifa people chant about ‘racism’ and ‘white supremacy’. Yet, because of them and spineless media types, a man named ‘Robert Lee’ was denied work a week ago as a college football broadcaster because his name was the same as the former Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Is this not the quintessential example of racism?

It seems to me that any person of even modest intellect would realize that the notion of racism does not really exist unless both parties accept it. Jesus commands us to love all of our neighbors and yes, even those who do not love us back. To accept racism is to validate the premise that one person is superior to another based on skin tone. For example, Dylan Roof killed nine worshippers inside a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The family members of those killed could have called for revenge for such a evil act perpetrated against their loved ones but they didn’t. They did not validate racism. Many of them actually publicly forgave Roof for his actions. Taking down flags and statues simply confirms, validates, and promotes the same racism. Rather, a better answer would be to erect a statue of those beautiful nine souls who are now no doubt resting in Heaven.

The notion of ‘white supremacy’ is the same. It only exists if this supremacy is bestowed. If one thinks of oneself as an equal, the actions of another person should not matter.

Antifa exists for a good reason. Yes, they are some of the stupidest humans on Earth and I’ll get to the reason for existence in a moment. But how did they get so stupid? How do humans in this modern era of information overload and accessibility get so stupid? 

Clearly the modern american education system is an abysmal failure from elementary school through college. We can start with all the anti-Trump people that did not know that america was a democratic republic governed by a president elected through an ‘electoral college’ system. Many decades ago when I attended public schools, we were taught these things in civics class. This was maybe fourth grade. Maybe civics has been replaced by ‘transgender sensitivity’ classes or ‘re-writing history’ classes to indoctrinate young minds to a thoughtless, mind-controlled, completely void of all logic state of existence. Sadly, we see a lot of teachers publish statements that seem illogical in that they contradict their heart-felt beliefs.

Witness the following. 

Did you read about the Trinity College professor Johnny Eric Williams? A redumblican congress-titute was shot at softball practice by a dumbocrat supporter. Several other people were wounded as well. Professor Williams tweeted that we should let these people die without giving them medical attention. Aren’t the people like Professor Williams supporters of free health care for everyone? Well, only in their illogical, irrational rhetoric they say one thing and mean another. Clearly they don’t really support medical care for all. Stupid can’t even be measured in this thought process. What moron would waste money taking a class taught by someone so mixed up in their own logic? However, suffice to say that anyone wasting money at Trinity College attending a single class or lecture from someone with completely incoherent thoughts like Professor Williams might just enjoy being stupid. Aren’t people like this espousing rhetoric like inclusiveness and tolerance and acceptance of differences? God created all of us but He must be shaking His head in disbelief and disgust right about now.

Danielle Fuentes Morgan, assistant professor at Santa Clara University, recently penned an article titled, “Stop telling me to get over slavery...when you can't get over monuments to slavers”. She begins by opining that all statues of southern men should be removed from current locales. Concerning Robert E. Lee, Ms. Morgan paints him as “everyone’s favorite separatist”. Actually General Lee served in the US army before his home states secession. Concerning a monument in Durham, NC dedicated to simply to the ‘men who wore grey’, Ms. Morgan writes, “I am thinking today of the bravery of Takiyah Thompson, the young woman who was arrested in Durham for her role in bringing down the Confederate monument.”
Ms. Morgan says she can’t get over slavery because she is always reminded by a ‘white-supremacist’ nation of her ‘second class citizenship’.  This seems a bit weak coming from a person who has no doubt worked hard to become an assistant professor at a well respected college institution. How has the institution of slavery which was long ago made illegal held her back?

Then there is Iowa. University of Iowa Assistant Professor Linley wants to expose students to their ‘whiteness’ and privilege. I won’t even get into that stupidity but shouldn’t university professors be teaching something useful to their students? How about teaching them that the Federal Reserve Bank is a mechanism for the elite to destroy america? How about teaching students that Andrew Jackson, the greatest leader in world history, exterminated the central bank in his presidency which led to the greatest period of economic growth and prosperity ever witnessed on the Earth? When President Jackson exterminated the central bank, he wrote that a central bank would be used by the elite to unfairly manipulate the economy so that the rich get much richer and the poor get poorer. And what has happened, Professor Dopey?

Then there was another Iowa professor that proclaims that sculptors that used white marble did so because they were racist and therefore promoted ‘white supremacy’. Could there possibly be a bigger waste of money than taking classes under idiots like this? How did humans get this stupid?

The stupidity gets worse. At Federal Reserve Chair Yellen’s congress-titute testimony a few months ago, Congress-titute Elizabeth Warren put her cognitive skills on display. Instead of asking anything of real meaning, Ms. Warren attempted to coerce Ms. Yellen into agreeing that the Dodd-Frank act was a real benefit for the average american. Ms. Warren, of course, is a big believer in big government and an avid supporter of Dodd-Frank. Let’s see…

Dodd-Frank is 5,000 pages of banking and financial regulation that is supposed to make the system fairer and more secure. Really? I would like to ask Ms. Warren a few questions.

Are banks now bigger or smaller than pre-Dodd-Frank?

Answer: Bigger.

Are derivatives, the instruments that crashed the system last decade, more pervasive now or less?

Answer: Just as pervasive and just as potentially cataclysmic.

Are banks safer now?

Answer: No.

Did the average american benefit from Dodd-Frank?

Answer: No. Given that banks now steal depositors’ money through fees and charges for everything from ‘inactivity’ to ‘not meeting minimal deposit requirements’ to charging 20% on credit card balances, it would seem that banks have even more of an advantage. Let’s not even consider the fraudulent institution of Wells Fargo.

Then there was Congress-titute Schatz from Hawaii. Holy cow! All he did with his time was grill Ms. Yellen on ‘climate change’. After a question on climate change, Ms. Yellen paused for a moment and then informed Mr. Schatz that she was a banker and not a meteorologist. Yet he continued. Ms. Yellen paused and paused and looked at the congress-titute as if she were thinking, ‘Is he drunk?’ I was thinking the same thing.

Just a note on ‘climate change’. Since Al Gore ‘invented’ global warming, the Earth has been, statistically, cooling. In addition, volcanic activity underneath Antarctica has been discovered to be a culprit in melting Antarctic ice shelves and not global warming. By my own thinking as well, we should consider the effects of atmospheric engineering on melting ice. Governments around the world have been using heavy metal spraying of the atmosphere in a attempt to cool down temperatures. Metals are, I believe, basically salts. Salts are used in cold climates to reduce ice formation on streets. Maybe they are now speeding the melting ice shelves in the Antarctic. Let’s move on.

When the subject of stupidity arises, we must mention the institution of the University of California, Berkeley. A U. Cal Berkeley study claimed that increased minimum wage levels did not hurt jobs or wages. A Washington Post study just out said the opposite and what we all know as fact and truth. Artificially raising minimum wages kills jobs. The Post study even reported that minimum wage earners actually made less money because their employers cut their hours. Now, if readers are like me, they just start laughing when they see University of California at Berkeley. Exemplified by student and faculty behavior over the past few years, this is an institution of morons and idiots. Thus, I think it would be fair to say we could simply dismiss anything whatsoever or anyone whatsoever that comes from this institution of mind pollution. We all know the truth. To further the trench of stupidity, Seattle’s mayor conspired with U. Cal, uh, ‘researchers’, to produce a study on the subject that they all knew was bogus so the Seattle mayor could push through his belief that higher government dictated minimum wages was a good thing. The truth is thus. The Federal Reserve Bank purposely instigates inflation through unfettered money printing which destroys the currency value. Until another Andrew Jackson comes along and destroys the Fed, raising wages without commensurate productivity is pointless. 

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier resigned from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council due to his perception that President Trump did not denounce white supremacists in strong enough language following the race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. Mr. Frazier said it was a matter of ’personal conscience’. Everybody these days is such a crusader of morals. Strange though, that Mr. Frazier’s conscience is not bothered by Merck’s $350 a month price tag of their leading seller, Januvia. Januvia is insulin for diabetics. Of course there are cheaper alternatives but that fact prompted Merck to send a letter to CVS Pharmacy imploring them to convince doctors to prescribe Januvia over the cheaper alternatives. Since Mr. Frazier’s ‘personal conscience’ is so offended, why isn’t he offended at the primary cause of diabetes - sugar? Why doesn’t he crusade against soda makers and food companies for putting so much sugar in the american diet? The reason is simple. Diabetes and other diseases are good for Merck as Mr. Frazier earns in excess of $25 million per year peddling dope to mostly poor people and people of color. Where is his ‘personal conscience’? Why is Mr. Frazier’s ‘personal conscience’ not bothered by the fact that Merck, and other big pharma companies, manufacture much of their dope in India - a country with an estimated 15 million slaves?

As Einstein once postulated, stupidity knows no limitation. James Damore was fired from Google for writing an article opining that men were better at technology than women. He says he does not support the ‘alt-right’. Mr. Damore does not understand that the ‘alt-right’ is what gave him the freedom to express his opinion. Obviously the other side would not allow him to express an opinion counter to their belief. Mr. Damore should learn to appreciate freedom while he, and the rest of us, still have a shred of it.

So why are extremists and college professors so adamant about eliminating free speech? As in Ms. Duke’s math class, postulations and debates can be affirmed by using opposite functions. If antifa, college professors, or anyone shouting down any person or group with a view point of disagreement should know, the validity of any idea must be measured against its opposite. If one believes the government should be socialist or communist, they should be the first to embrace a debate from the opposite view point. If one believes the government should be capitalistic, they too should be the first to embrace a debate from the opposite view. Simply shutting down the other side is one, an elitist attitude that one’s own views are correct and two, illogical, stupid, and fraught with fear that one could be in fact wrong. Free people should never fear real debate. We should all show our work and prove its validity through inverse consideration. Math always works.

Let’s get a definition from the online dictionary.

Fascism - a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Isn’t the antifa movement the definition of fascism?

Oh, and the real reason for antifa in the first place? George Soros is short stocks. He only cares about his portfolio. Rip apart america, take down stocks, book profits from shorting. The idiots yelling and screaming in the streets? Merely profoundly, profanely, ignorant pawns hired to do the work of a multi-billionaire capitalist. 

Now, looking at the faces of antifa members we must ask, can america survive terminal stupidity?


Disclaimer: The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the writer and have been presented for educational purposes. They are not meant to serve as individual investment advice and should not be taken as such. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell anything. Readers should consult their registered financial representative to determine the suitability of any investment strategies undertaken or implemented. BMF Investments, Inc. assumes no liability nor credit for any actions taken based on this article.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

The Yoke Of Stupidity Is Strangling America

01/24/17

California Governor Brown says the state budget deficit is growing and one of the reasons is the minimum wage increase that state voters just approved. Duh! State government worker pay is tied to minimum wages and as minimum wages go up, so too do government wages. That means the state government has to increase expenses and that calls for even higher taxes. Those extra taxes might be hard to raise as survey out revealed that in states and municipalities that elected to raise minimum wages, 75% of business respondents reported they were cutting back on hours and employees as a result. Duh! Can humans get any stupider? From my last post, the governor and the voters should have listened to the smartest man in California, Simon Salazar.

Well, unfortunately, Einstein himself once mused that human stupidity was probably infinitesimal. Witness the anti-Trump movement.

Trump is Racist

One issue these people have with President Trump is they believe he is racist because he wants to ‘build a wall’ on the US - Mexican border. Ignorance is a limitation of access to knowledge. Stupidity is an inability to comprehend knowledge.

The truth is thus. The US - Mexican border is almost 2,000 miles long. It may come as a shock to the anti-Trump people but there is already some 650 miles of wall or fence currently erected on the border. The ‘wall’ is about one-third built already. How did it get there?

The Secure Fence Act 2006 made it so. Signed into law by President Bush, the legislation approving the wall passed the Senate by a vote of 80 - 19. While the anti-Trump people vehemently denounce Trump as a racist for pledging to complete the wall, there were two Senators who voted in favor of the wall who these same anti-Trump people support. These two senators were then-Senator Obama and then Senator Clinton. Of course when both of these senators ran for higher office, they adopted the strategy of pandering to their electorate and told them another story. Their electorate, being of simple mind, bought their line. And, fake news sources like CNN and all other media shills never brought up the original vote for a wall. Remember, this was 10 years before Donald Trump decided to run for the presidency!

Okay, so now Mr. Trump has been elected to the Presidency. The anti-Trump movement rooted in complete ignorance and cognitive oblivion continues.

Trump Approves of the KKK

Yes, the Ku Klux Klan backed Mr. Trump but he publicly disavowed that support numerous times. There is even a video of a pre-election speech in which a person standing behind Mr. Trump sports a shirt that says, ‘KKK Supports Trump’. This caused a bit of a disruption. Mr. Trump stopped his speech, walked over to the person wearing this shirt, stared at him with disgust for a few moments, and returned to the microphone to say, “You know in the old days law enforcement would respond to such things much quicker.” Mr. Trump wanted this person expelled. What more does anyone need? Saying the KKK supported Trump is the same as saying the Black Panthers supported Mr. Obama. To say either man is racist because of this is foolish. In a free country, citizens can support whom they choose.

Trump the Misogynist

The anti-Trump women are protesting and marching because they put the label of misogynist on Mr. Trump. The word actually means a ‘hatred of women’. By Mr. Trump’s actions over the years, it would seem to the observer that Mr. Trump would be more of a ‘playboy’ than misogynist. That term does not fit. Further, Trump haters clearly backed Ms. Clinton in the presidential election. Have they ever heard of Ms. Clinton’s husband, Bill? Not only did Bill do everything Mr. Trump supposedly did, Bill left evidence behind. Yet, it would seem that as long as one belongs to the right political party, one can act as they please and not be subject to the same criticism. While we are in the gutter, Hillary Clinton’s treatment of her husband’s accusers (and there have been many) would hardly qualify as a defense of women who have been groped, molested, or even perhaps raped. As an attorney, Ms. Clinton even successfully defended a man accused of raping a 12-year old girl that she at least suspected was guilty. Her client passed a lie detector test after which Ms. Clinton reported a loss a faith in lie detector tests. 

Marchers put on a good showing in the days following President Trump’s inauguration. They donned pink hats (that were no doubt knitted from yarn made by slave women or women working in near slave-like conditions in poor nations), shouted slogans, and left a pile of trash for the tax-payers to clean up. One of the speakers so offended by Mr. Trump’s treatment of women was the stripper/tramp/singer Madonna. While uttering expletives at Trump supporters, maybe Ms. Madonna should have sang one of her songs from which she made lots of money. I would suggest the following:

From  the song ‘Hanky Panky’ -

‘Some girls, they like candy, and others, they like to grind,
I'll settle for the back of your hand somewhere on my behind.
Treat me like I'm a bad girl, even when I'm being good to you,
I don't want you to thank me, you can just spank me. Mmm.’

…and another verse -

‘Please don't call a doctor, 'cause there's nothing wrong with me,
I just like things a little rough and you better not disagree.
'Cause I don't like a big softie, (no), I like someone mean and bossy,
Let me speak to you frankly, you better…’

Gee, it sounds like the last verse kind of glorifies the kind of person they accuse President Trump of being.

But in the end, it is Ms. Madonna I feel most sorry for. Being the vulgar person that she is, she had offered to, well…, perform a ‘Monica Lewinsky’ act on any person (males in particular I think) who voted for Ms. Clinton. Maybe this is why Ms. Madonna is so mad now. She was rejected in mass!

The Pelosi

No discussion of stupidity can be complete without a mention of the Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi attended the inauguration of Mr. Trump sporting a lapel button that read something to the effect of ‘save our healthcare’. I have comfort for Ms. Pelosi and all the dumbocrats. Obamacare will be changed. But fear not. A few selected redumblicans will convene in secret behind closed doors, emerge with a healthcare bill, and it will be passed completely by redumblicans without a single dumbocrat vote. And don’t worry. No one needs to read the new bill. It will have to be passed first so we can see what’s in it. But most of all, it will be affordable. It will be affordable. It’s affordable. Affordable, affordable, affordable - your eyes are getting heavy. You are getting very sleepy. You will now fall for anything I say and you will be completely subservient so that one day you will march in protest of issues you don’t understand with signs displaying your stupidity…

Oh, wait a minute! I thought I was part of a political party movement there and I was falling for the brainwashing. As readers know, I am my own political party and I am my party’s proverbial presidential nominee. I am the only nominee who has all the solutions for the country. Firstly, the Federal Reserve Bank must be terminated and if I had been elected, that would would have been accomplished on the afternoon of my inauguration.

But let’s get back to our question. Why is there a yoke of stupidity strangling america? Is it human intellectual de-evolution at work? It would seem so when groups allow cognitively constricted people like Madonna and Ashley Judd to speak for them.

But let’s not insert opinion for fact.

Complete stupidity is holding true to two diametrically opposed thoughts on the same subject.

The Anti-Christ

Many Trump protestors believe Mr. Trump to be both the anti-Christ and a war monger. The Bible tells us the anti-Christ will be perceived at his/her/its emergence as a peace maker. Mr. Trump cannot be both a peace maker and a war monger.

Peace and Diversity

While protesting and marching with signs reading ‘Love Trumps Hate’, the demonstrators smashed the windows of businesses, burned cars, and even set a pro-Trump supporters hair on fire. What happened to love and inclusion and peace that these people supposedly support? How can you proclaim to embrace inclusion and then set someone on fire who disagrees with you?

Trump the Dictator

Trump protestors rail against Mr. Trump acting as a dictator or tyrant. Yet, for eight years they supported a president who acted as such. These people were obviously okay with Mr. Obama exercising extraordinary powers of the presidency but when someone else does so, they get mad. Mr. Obama set a precedence. Mr. Trump will thank him later. And does anybody remember 2012? Of course not. Humans have lost the ability to accurately recall anything in the past. Since I resigned from the species years ago, I somehow retained my ability to recall memories. Dr. Ron Paul said something in the 2012 debate for the presidency that was so profound it went over the heads of humans. Dr. Paul said basically, ‘I’m the only person on this stage that is arguing for the President to have less power and not more.’ God bless Dr. Paul! That’s the way the US Constitution framed the presidential powers as well. Yet, those who oppose Mr. Trump and his new almost limitless presidential powers gave him that power by supporting Mr. Obama’s efforts over the last eight years. What goes around comes around. These people should have voted for Dr. Paul when they had a chance!

Immigration

Mr. Trump’s protestors rail against his stance concerning immigration. Yet, the protestors don’t seem to realize that Mr. Obama deported, returned, refused more immigrants than any president in US history and Ms. Clinton supported all that. Within that argument, the government under Mr. Obama continued to obfuscate the issue by changing definitions and changing terms in dealing with immigration. Statistics therefore became fungible and Mr. Obama ruled in a regime of secrecy and deceit. Oh, in case any of the dumbocrats are interested, tens of thousands of the people deported by Mr. Obama were of Muslim faith.

Feeling safe.

Trump opponents claim they no longer feel ‘safe’. What makes anyone in the US ‘safe’ is the foundation of law - the Constitution. It was written and implemented to empower citizens and visitors alike to feel safe from governmental assault.

A review of Mr. Obama’s constitutional abominations follow:

The first amendment gives us the right of expression and free speech.

The fact that Obama doubled the national debt in his term is now considered a racist statement as is any criticism of his policies. Check college campuses for free speech. It no longer exists.

The second amendment gives us the right to own and brandish weaponry for our protection.

Through false flag operations and CIA ‘Manchurian operatives’ the Obama team tried relentlessly to confiscate guns.

The third amendment prohibits the military from occupying our homes.

The military has been given extraordinary powers to the point where it would not be a stretch for any of us to realize that they could invade our homes in the name of fighting ‘terrorism’.

The fourth amendment prohibits the government from confiscating privately owned property without justification.

The government now sanctions ‘search and seizure’ operations on the part of law enforcement and the terrorist organization known as the DEA even though Obama’s own Attorney General said it was illegal. Yet, under the guise of fighting the drug war, the government can seize personal property for ‘suspicion’ of illegal activities without presenting charges, arrest, or trial. Billions of dollars of assets have been seized from citizens over the past eight years without charge or trial.

The fifth amendment gives citizens the right to due process of law in cases of legal infractions.

By signing the NDA into law, Obama gave the military the right to kill US citizens, capture them, take them anywhere in the world, hold them captive forever, deny them legal representation, and even torture them.

And so on and so on. Yet, Mr. Obama tried valiantly during his eight years of reign to erase every word of the Constitution. This is why none of us are safe anymore.

A nation cannot survive such ignorance and stupidity. President Trump has a lot of work to do and we should all wish him success. However, the populace is profoundly ignorant and sadly content with the yoke of stupidity draped over their necks. The country seems ideologically divided but worse, it seems divided by stupidity. If we remain divided, we will all fail. Maybe I am doing my part by bringing out the truth. 
 
Finally, for those who refuse to acknowledge the truth about global geo-engineering and the effect the constant aerosol spraying of heavy metals into our atmosphere by the ‘global force for good’ is having, below is a link to an article by Dane Wigington with a couple of photos we should all see. Go to the article and scroll down a bit to see a satellite photo of Earth in 1972 and another NASA photo from 2015. The difference is clear. At least, the Earth was more clear in 1972 and today the same photos look like there is a cataract around the planet. The link:

geoengineeringwatch.org/climate-engineering-atmospheric-aerosols-are-blocking-the-sky-from-astronomers/

After reading this article, feel free to educate our dumbocrat and redumblican friends. Peace to brothers and sisters of truth!


Disclaimer: The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the writer and have been presented for educational purposes. They are not meant to serve as individual investment advice and should not be taken as such. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell anything. Readers should consult their registered financial representative to determine the suitability of any investment strategies undertaken or implemented. BMF Investments, Inc. assumes no liability nor credit for any actions taken based on this article.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Obama Leaves, Hope Arrives, Will Stupid Stay?

01/15/17

Obama’s presidential term will mercifully expire on 1/19/17. Hallelujah! He can quickly descend to his correct historical position as the second worst leader in american history beside the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. Why is Wilson the worst leader ever? A brief synopsis follows.

1 - Wilson ceded power to the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 (an un-Constitutional act)
2 - Wilson gave us the 16th Constitutional Amendment giving the federal government power and authority to seize taxation from payrolls (another un-Constitutional act)
3 - Wilson injected the US into WWI at the delight of the central bankers who were kind enough to loan money for the butchery of humans around the globe.
4 - Wilson showed the first film in the White House. It promoted the good work of the KKK.

I could go on.

Obama’s list of acts deleterious to the well-being of a free people is just as long and nearly as damning.

1 - Obama delighted his central banker masters by doubling the national debt to the current $20 trillion.
2 - Obama continued his Richard Nixon impersonation by cloaking government operations in a veil of secrecy, deceit, and despotism.
3 - Obama surrounded himself with appointed government officials whose level of corruption and criminal behavior would make Al Capone blush. See Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State for example.
4 - Worst of all, Obama promoted the expansion of a New World Order as he tirelessly worked to denigrate the american work ethic, sign trade deals that did not benefit americans, redistribute wealth to the top 1% (mostly his rich banker friends), and nationalize the country’s health care system.
5 - Obama’s international efforts speak for themselves - see Syria, Libya, etc.
6 - And as he leaves office, Mr. Obama seems intent on picking a fight with Russia and China. Like Wilson, Obama likes war. His two terms have been dominated with constant war.
7 - Like his twin brother, George Bush, Mr. Obama has continued to foment trouble around the globe by developing, equipping, and funding ‘terrorist’ so the populace becomes so afraid they surrender all rights and liberties to the Illuminati.
8 - The NDA. This government agency is exactly what the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution sought to prohibit.

Again, I could go on.

Now President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Like a gasp of oxygen to a drowning man, hope has returned to at least half of america (the half that works at a business). Upon Mr. Trump’s victory, consumer confidence rose, small business confidence rose, stock index prices rose dramatically, and hope for something better than the last 20 years of idiocy is abounding. Of course, those voters who prefer to have a government bureaucrat pin up their diapers and heat their pabulum do not share the same hope.

True liberty can be scary. True stupidity is even scarier. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump was so right when during a debate he said that america was run by “…very, very, stupid people.”

It wasn’t easy but I found a smart person. His name is Simon Salazar. Mr. Salazar is not just smart. He is brilliant. He should be our president. At least, he should be the head of Mr. Trump’s economic team.

Simon Salazar was born in California. He is currently 40-years old and is easily the smartest person I have ever read about residing in that state. Yet, he works on a raisin farm as a mechanic in the central agricultural valley. I read about him in the December 2016 edition of Smithsonian magazine. Dale Maharidge wrote an excellent article titled ‘American Ballad’ in which he described the lives of the working poor in america. This is how I learned of California’s smartest man - Simon Salazar.

How do I assess Mr. Salazar’s intellect?

First, the author asked Mr. Salazar if he was poor. Mr. Salazar thoughtfully explained the relative nature of the word ‘poor’. He explained that while a lot of other people seemed to have more possessions, those people borrowed money for those possessions and therefore didn’t really own them. In contrast, what little Mr. Salazar had, he owned. He had no debt.

Second, I thought the Earth itself would wobble when I read Mr. Salazar’s next musing. The article’s author had interviewed different people from coast to coast who were members of the working poor. He offered a ray of hope to Mr. Salazar that his state, California, had just voted to increase the minimum wage in the state. Mr. Salazar shrugged his shoulders. The author inquired as to why there was no joy. Then Mr. Salazar shared his genius. His reply to the increased minimum wages? “The cost of everything will just go up.” Simon Salazar did not expect higher minimum wages to put any additional dollars in his pocket. Wow!

Why is it that a poor, undereducated, raisin farm mechanic knows more about economics than anyone else in the state of California or Washington, DC? Because he lives economics. He likely has grease under his finger nails and callouses on his hands. In other words, Mr. Salazar works for a living. He doesn’t sit in an ivory tower of idiocy on some college campus espousing foolish politics and erroneous economic theories. Nor is he a corrupt politician. How did Mr. Salazar become so smart? Why is this man working on a raisin farm while his intellectually inferior citizens run governments and schools? Why aren’t the imbeciles teaching at indoctrination centers like UCal-Berkeley not taking notes on every utterance of Mr. Salazar? As I pointed out in a previous post, raising minimum wages is pointless in an economy in which the central bank perpetually tries to boost inflation by at least 2% per year. At that rate, even a doubling of minimum wages would be completely inconsequential in less than a generation.

Of course federally mandated and state mandated minimum wage increases don’t really help the poor people make more money. Increased wages without a commensurate increase in productivity is useless. Mandated wage increases are designed to do two things.

1 - It is a way for government elected officials to pander to the ignorant progressives (sorry for the oxymoron).
2 - It is a way to deceitfully raise taxes on business, employers, and employees (higher pay results in higher taxes).

This issue is an example of stupid people leading other stupid people. Yes, Mr. Obama is finally leaving but will he take stupid with him? Mr. Trump is arriving but will hope lead to prosperity? Stock indexes can rally on hope for quite a while before succumbing to reality. Unless Mr. Trump appoints Mr. Salazar to his economic team, I suspect hope will eventually fade.

The chart below graphically shows investor despair mounting back in November as it was widely believed that Hillary Clinton would be elected president. Stock indices were beginning to roll over. Twelve of the fifteen trading days leading up to the election were negative days for stocks. Then, as soon as it was apparent that Mr. Trump had secured enough non-Californian votes to win the presidency, stocks took off. In my opinion, this happened partly because of the hope presented by a Trump presidency but also because of the seasonality effect. The chart is the S&P 500.

Again, from a previous post, over the past few decades almost all stock gains occur in the final quarter of the year. Again, as Mr. Trump has said, the system is rigged. Nevertheless, enjoy the rally until it is no more. Eventually we will all have to deal with reality and the embarrassing legacy of an Obama attempt to make america a third world nation. See the chart for the truth.


6-month SPX
Chart courtesy stockcharts.com

And now, for the stupidest human of the week, I offer Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia. To fight obesity, he helped pass a ‘soda tax’ of 1.5 cents per ounce of soda effective 1/1/2017. He expected wholesalers and retailers to bear the brunt of the tax increase. They did not. They raised prices. Mr. Kenney was surprised. Mr. Kenney said it was "wrong" and "misleading" for businesses to pass the tax on to their customers in the form of higher soda prices. Don’t all businesses pass on expenses to the customer so the business can make a profit and continue to pay employees? Yet another liberal ‘progressive’ has shown their profound misunderstanding of business. How can humans get this stupid? Is it de-evolution at work? This is another example of why writer H.L. Mencken said democracies eventually fail. It is the stupidity of the electorate that puts people like this in office. Mr. Mencken’s quote is: “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” Mission accomplished!!

Yes, Obama might be gone and Trump might be arriving, but it looks like stupid is with us forever as there appears to be no cure.


Disclaimer: The views discussed in this article are solely the opinion of the writer and have been presented for educational purposes. They are not meant to serve as individual investment advice and should not be taken as such. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell anything. Readers should consult their registered financial representative to determine the suitability of any investment strategies undertaken or implemented. BMF Investments, Inc. assumes no liability nor credit for any actions taken based on this article.