JP Morgan Manipulating Power Prices.....

Last week I posted about Goldman Sachs manipulating the aluminum market. 

This week I can tell you about JP Morgan manipulating the Electricity market. 

Manipulation and Fraud….The hallmarks of our new economy. An economy controlled by 3 companies. Those three companies should be busted up and their entire industry should be heavily regulated.

That is unless you approve of all the manipulation and fraud.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/29/us-agency-says-jpmorgan-manipulated-power-prices/2597623/

Tainted Vitamins....Thanks Deregulation.

Dangerous Steroids inside Vitamin B supplements. The FDA is telling everyone to be careful. 

Why doesn’t the FDA pull the product off the shelves? Well they can’t because in 1993 Bill Clinton deregulated the vitamin and supplement market.

Today the FDA has no authority whatsoever. The vitamins (and the other toxic brews) they sell at places like GNC are completely unregulated. Nobody knows what is in them, or if they do what they say.

The bottle might say it will make you healthier, or slimmer, or stronger, or shinier, but maybe they will only help you to grow a third ear. Nobody can say for sure.

Most of this stuff comes straight out of Red China and onto the store shelves. You may think it is beneficial to be consuming this stuff but you really might want to rethink that.

If you want Vitamins you could just eat an Apple….Unfortunately most of them are also now from China. So enjoy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/fda-warns-steroids-vitamin-b-supplement-6C10765769

$1.00 Coins for all.....

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/25/mccain-hopes-1-coin-leads-to-bigger-tips-for-strippers/

Right….Because what everyone is clamoring for is a bunch of large coins in their pocket.

“If Congress passes the COINS Act replacing the $1 paper bill for a coin, the U.S. government may be able to save billions in printing costs at the expense of a little more jangle in the average consumers' pockets”

Umm is congress aware that making a coin also costs money? I would think paper is cheaper then metal. Regardless nobody uses coins anymore and nobody is going to want to use a $1.00 coin. Just two years ago the $1.00 coin was universally rejected. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-mint-says-goodbye-1-presidential-coins-1C7101045#
But why learn from history when you can just repeat it.

Personally I don’t use cash or coins. Everything is on my debit card. My guess is that is true for most people.

Goldman Sachs Manipulation Continues.....

Last week I posted about Goldman Sachs increasing their profit by 50%. Here is some good insight into how they go about doing that.

When you take an economics class they will teach you about the free market system, and the law of supply and demand. It all sounds nice. But when you get out in the real world, companies like Goldman Sachs quickly show it is really about being politically connected, in order to achieve deregulation. Deregulation allows for lots of market manipulation and outright fraud.

As this article points out, if Goldman Sachs were doing this same type of behavior in the Stock Market (that they are currently doing in the Commodities Market) their people would be going to jail for insider trading. But because Goldman so successfully got Washington to deregulate the commodities market, now everything is legal no matter how shady and wrong. The result is prices artificially go up on everyone, while Goldman enriches themse...lves. They don’t achieve this money (the old fashion way) by selling something, or doing something. Nope all they need to do is manipulate an unregulated system. It is a beautiful thing…..For them.

We are at the point where the entire commodities market is controlled by just three companies. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley. These companies are too big to fail. They are politically connected. They are filthy rich and have the ability to control everything. And they are. Too bad they can’t be trusted.

This is one more example why deregulation should NEVER be allowed to happen. It wouldn’t happen if the politicians cared or paid attention…..But they don’t.

So when you buy beer or soda, or a car…..and wonder why the price went up…. well now you know. It is because Goldman Sachs wants more of your money in their bank account. They will get it too.

If Obama proposed raising taxes on Beer the Republicans would have a hissy fit. But when Goldman Sachs does the exact same thing (for the enrichment of a select few) the Republicans yawn and look away.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/a-shuffle-of-aluminum-but-to-banks-pure-gold.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&smid=tw-share&adxnnlx=1374757363-1k9%2FSLvIwR9Z1ui8StnPrQ

The Problem in Detroit....

To build on what I posted earlier today……(I feel like rambling more)

In 1955 General Motors employed 576,667 workers and sold more then half the cars in the United States. 

Add in all their suppliers and GM helped employ over 3 million people. They were the economic engine of the country. 

Then one day they decided they could do better by eliminating US jobs. Getting rid of high priced American workers would bring "efficiency", and make a more profitable company.

We were told outsourcing jobs would magically create new jobs. So off they all went by the tens of thousands.

The results were not growth or prosperity for GM. Shocking I know…..

Today GM employs 204,000 workers but only 70,000 are in the United States. As a result today Toyota is the number 1 car company in the world. Congrats General Motors….. you screwed up. These days GM is down to 20% of all car sales and is fresh out of bankruptcy.

Outsourcing failed. Less US employees didn’t lead to greater successes, or sales, or profits.

Now the city of Detroit is officially bankrupt too. Yay…. strike up the band.

This story isn’t exclusive to General Motors either. I don’t have time to tell you what Ford and Chrysler did to Detroit as well.

You could plug this same story into hundreds of companies and the results are always the same. Everybody loses. The workers lose. The company loses. The country loses.

Yet the failed strategy continues on as companies try (as hard as they can) to get rid of US workers. Public enemy #1 (for all corporations) is US workers. They hate them. They want to get rid of them as fast as possible.

Even though this strategy (always) ends poorly they are too stupid to see the reality.

Republicans help perpetuate the lunacy, as do the Democrats.

The “experts” say we are in a global economy and eventually it will all work out. Yet it never does. Michael Moore made “Roger and Me” About the demise of GM (and Detroit) in 1989. It is now 24 years later and nothing has improved. It is much worse.

We were told it is just the Eb and Flow of how Capitalism works. Sometimes it is up and sometimes it is down.

If you really look at our economy, and you remove the Internet Bubble from 1995 to 1999. Remove the Housing bubble from 2000 to 2006 you realize the economy has been on steady deterioration for over 20 years. In 1992 it was “The Economy Stupid” and today it still is.

We were told tax breaks for the rich would create jobs. But they didn’t.
We were told interest rates at 0% would create jobs. But they didn’t.
We were told 800 Billion in Stimulus would create jobs. But it didn’t.
We were told $300.00 rebate checks would create jobs. But they didn’t.
We were told deregulation would create jobs. But it didn’t.
We were told Free trade would create US jobs. But it didn’t.
We were told Quantitative easing (all three rounds) would create jobs. But it hasn’t.
We were told green jobs would be the US jobs of the future. (Get ready to start building wind mills) But they weren’t.

The government went 16 trillion into debt and that also didn’t create jobs either.

In the old days war used to create jobs. Well we have had two of them (spent over trillion bucks) and still no jobs.

There really is nothing left to try. It has all failed (and will continue to fail) as long as every product (in every store) continues to say Made in China.

As long as the standard policy of all corporations is to get rid of their US employees then this will never get better.

People can admire the stock market at 15,500 (and think happy thoughts) but as soon as the government takes the nipple away down that will go too. It is all just a bunch of fiction.

Maybe now and again a bubble will give the illusion of improvement but the reality is the steady decline will continue.

As I said earlier.....Detroit is just the beginning.

Detroit Bailout?

A few years ago Wall Street Banks (who received the deregulation they demanded) proceeded to make the worlds dumbest decisions. The result was financial ruin. 

Washington came to the rescue with 787 Billion Dollars in Tarp Bailout money. It took them about 7 minutes to find the money. Republicans and Democrats (who agree on nothing) miraculously agreed Wall Street must be saved at all cost. So they started up the printing presses. They backed up the armored trucks and away the money went.

AIG was also in financial peril. AIG provided the insurance for the worlds dumbest decisions. They needed an additional 185 Billion dollars. For some reason we were told the planet would stop spinning if AIG no longer existed.

It was not even a problem. They start up the printing presses again. Backed up some more armored trucks and away the money went. Much of the bailout money was then used to pay corporate bonuses to the same genius executives who ran the company into the ground in the first place. We were told those bonuses had to be paid by law.

General Motors and Chrysler who bet they would make more money, with less American workers, ended up in bankruptcy. Their plan failed too. So they needed 80 Billion dollars (plus bankruptcy) to fix the mess they made. Not even a problem. Start up the printing presses. Back up the armored trucks and away they went.

Now Detroit is bankrupt and their workers (who did what they were told) were promised a pension but may lose everything. The tax base which was supposed to fund the pensions is now in China. The jobs are in China because our government allowed them to go there. They told everyone outsourcing US jobs would be good for our economy. They lied.

These Detroit pensions are supposed to be paid by law, but will they be? Of course not.

Now is Washington going to come to the rescue of Detroit with another bailout? Don’t be silly.

787 Billion for the banks was a yes. 185 Billion for AIG was a yes. 80 Billion for GM and Chrysler was a yes. 18 Billion for Detroit workers……Sorry there is no money for you…...

Is Obama going to Fly Air Force 1 to Detroit and stand with the workers? Nope. Is he going to make lots of speeches and bang his fist on the podium demanding workers be treated fairly? Of course not. Just like he didn’t go to Wisconsin when Union workers there were under attack.

Sure during an election it is all about workers and protecting the middle class. Makes for a good speech. But when it is time to govern it is a whole other tune.

Last year on Labor Day Obama was in Detroit touting the great Detroit comeback. It was a nice speech. Unfortunately speeches are not reality. The reality is that great American city is now Bankrupt.

Detroit is just the beginning.

The Winter Hill Gang....Nice people

Brennan asked him about the ride to the house where, Flemmi told the court, Bulger looped a rope around her neck, tied a stick to the rope and twisted it until she choked to death. Then Flemmi got on his knees and pulled out her teeth to prevent her being identified.

Before that, Flemmi took her to the mall.

"I took her shopping,'' Flemmi told the court.

"You took her shopping knowing you were going to kill her?" Brennan asked.

"You are so negative about it,'' Flemmi testified. "Why don't you want to hear the positive side of it?"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/whitey-bulger-witness-delivered-stepdaughter-murdered/story?id=19746703

Steroids In Baseball

All these latest headlines (about Ryan Braun being suspended for using steroids) prove these sports leagues still aren’t serious about cleaning up the cheating. 

For years baseball didn’t test at all, and denied there was even an issue. Then Congress stepped in and embarrassed MLB in 2005. MLB grudgingly admitted that OK fine we have a problem, but we will institute testing and clean it all up. Don’t even worry.

There has been an illusion that…yes at the end of the 90’s (and the beginning of the 2000’s) there was a steroid era in baseball. But now it is over and everything you see is real. Trust us…..

But now we find out the Steroid era never went away at all. It has been here the whole time and is still here today. The worst part is we don’t find this out because of the MLB testing program (which was supposed to solve the problem).

As Lance Armstrong showed testing means nothing. You can pass hundreds of tests and still be a filthy cheater. We only know the latest revelations because the lab in Florida was raided, and all these MLB players are plastered all over their paperwork.

If they really want to get serious about cleaning up the cheating they need to start voiding contracts, and kicking players out completely. If you are caught it is Good Bye.

Players don’t see a price that is too high. So it is up to the leagues to raise the price even higher.

Humiliation of Sosa, McGuire, and Bonds was not enough. Ryan Braun saw that, shrugged and kept cheating. Maybe if his $34 million dollar contract was stamped “VOID” maybe that would make more of an impression.

They were serious about cleaning up betting on baseball, and Pete Rose was thrown out forever. You don’t hear any more stories about betting on baseball. Problem solved. Pete Rose was a stain and threatened the integrity of the game. So why is this cheating any different? Is the integrity not threatened when all the star players are cheating. Especially in a sport where stats and history are supposed to mean something.

They need to throw the bums out…..forever. All of them.

Lance Armstrong cheated and was stripped of all of his titles and banned. Why does Ryan Braun still get to keep his MVP award? Why does he get to come back next year and play again? They should pat him on the back…..point at the door and say “Get Out”!

I am not talking just about baseball either.

The NFL is FINALLY starting to get serious about HGH testing. That has more to do with the fact that today’s 345lb NFL player is more of a threat to cause concussions, then the 285 lb players of the 1980’s. The NFL is getting sued senseless from the older players who can’t remember where their bathroom is. So it is in the long term best interest of the NFL to get these players sizes to a more reasonable level.

Goldman Sachs Doubles Their Profit....Thanks Uncle Sam!

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/quarterly-profit-doubles-at-goldman-sachs/

Good news…. Goldman Sachs revenue is up 30% and their profit is up 50%. Isn’t that awesome. The government pumps 80 Billion a month into propping up Wall Street and Goldman Sachs is all too happy to fill their bank accounts. Then they boast about how well they are doing.

They tend to leave out the part about them ripping off their own clients.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/15/ex-goldman-sachs-trader-faces-ny-sec-civil-trial/2517111/

With Goldman doubling their profit you can understand why Wall Street has anxiety at the mere mention the Fed might shut off the Government tap.

It is funny how in the worst economy since the Great Depression, these corporations still manage to make record profits.

Not just profit…… but more profit then has ever been made in history. And they do it all while everyone else struggles.

Think about it………Start at Adam and Eve and come forward (through history) and at no time have Corporations made more profit then in the last 5 years.

Yes It maybe a recession for you and me but this is the gravy train for them. Choo Choo.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/03/news/economy/record-corporate-profits/index.html

Then when they are done making record profits they have the audacity to go to Washington and DEMAND lower tax rates. They insist they can’t compete in the current US tax structure. They proclaim this while piles and piles of money sit (stacked nicely) in their accounts (and unemployment remains above 7%).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49519419

When they are not complaining about taxes they are complaining about regulations. They have no problem taking the free government money…. but they don’t want any Government restrictions. Just hand over the money and go away.

When they do get what they want (and it blows up in their face) they are never shy about putting their hand back out .
The city of Detroit is about to go bankrupt. Is the Fed offering them any money? Nope!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/us-usa-detroit-analysts-bankrupt-idUSBRE95P1JB20130626

Detroit is bankrupt because the auto industry sent the US jobs to Mexico and China. That dried up the tax base. It also caused the same automakers (who created the unemployment problem) to fall into bankruptcy.

Turns out unemployed Americans didn’t buy $30,000 Oldsmobile’s. So again the government was only too happy to come bail them out.

The workers got a pink slip and a stroll to the exit. This was followed by a kick in the a**.

After the US Auto Industry laid off tens of thousands of workers (and went bankrupt) they then blamed the workers. The workers were too greedy.

When they employed hundreds of thousands of workers General Motors was the most successful company on the planet. When they got rid of most of them the result was disaster. Yet it was the workers fault.

So the remaining workers took less and now GM is doing great again. Great because bankruptcy wiped out all the debt and the workers took it on the chin. Wouldn’t everyone be doing better if they got to delete all their debt?

Corporations will tell you Capitalism is all about survival of the fittest. If you screw up then you go extinct. That is the deal. That is until THEY screw up and then they want a different deal.

Here is the Mansion of the CEO of Goldman Sachs. It was bought last year for 32 Million bucks. It is not the only one he owns.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244185/Inside-Goldman-Sachs-CEO-Lloyd-Blankfeins-32-5-million-Hamptons-estate.html

This is the kind of thing you get to buy when the government won’t let you fail. Isn’t it great. I am sure Lloyd would be happy to lecture you on the problems with Washington spending. Even though that same spending is what buys his Champaign wishes and Caviar Dreams.

So the Government pumps this money into Wall Street, except the US Government is broke. So that money gets tacked onto the US Debt (which is currently 16 Trillion dollars). Eventually the debt becomes so unbearable our leaders will tell us we need to cut Social Security and Medicare. Can’t afford those things.

Well If we can’t afford entitlements when corporate profits are breaking records then when exactly will we be able to?

The government can afford to prop up Goldman Sachs though. That is NEVER an issue.

But the average folks (who have seen their wages stagnate and diminish for 30 consecutive years) unfortunately you guys are on your own. So good luck.

Too many people want to live off the government, and there is only enough money for the rich people (and corporations) to do it. So everyone else should just step aside please.

The Republican Farm Bill.....No More Food Stamps....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/politics/house-bill-would-split-farm-and-food-stamp-programs.html?_r=0

Republicans want to cut all funding for food stamps going to the poor. 

The Republicans do this as they pass more corporate welfare (for huge corporate agro businesses) in the new farm bill. 

Poor people on food stamps do not contribute huge campaign donations to the Republican party.  Giant farming corporations (Like ADM) definitely do… so they are high priority for more free corporate welfare.

Everyone is concerned about the obesity epidemic hitting the United States.  Walk through the mall and notice the people walking towards you.  Count how many are overweight.  Get ready to count a lot. 

This is all thanks to the farm bill.  US taxpayers subsidize corn which drives down the price.  Corporations then find new ways of using the the corn in products like High Fructose Corn Syrup.

HFCS is a cheap plentiful (toxic) way to sweeten all foods.  Sugar is expensive.  HFCS is cheap.  HFCS is now used in everything helping make an entire population obese.

This is all good for corporate farmers.  It is good for Republicans reelections funds.  It is really bad for everyone else.

Another Dreamliner fire......

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2013/07/12/london-airport-runway/2512393/

Another fire on a Boeing Dreamliner….Unreal!!!!! 

If you haven’t been keeping track that makes 4 fire incidents since January. (5 overall)

If you don’t want to read this whole post..... the important take away is you (and your family) should never ever (ever) fly on a Dreamliner. Fly any other plane but never get on this flying death trap.

For those of you that don’t mind reading…. here is the background. 

The Dreamliner is Boeings state of the art new plane. It is suppose to be the lightest, most fuel efficient plane ever made. It is the first commercial airplane made completely out of composite materials. 

To save money Boeing outsourced the plane all over the world. Boeings plan was to save money by not hiring competent (high priced) American workers (with years of experience). Instead they hired people who worked for cheap….. but had no knowledge whatsoever regarding building planes.

The results have been a disaster for Boeing. The Plane is years and years and years behind schedule. Everything on the plane is screwed up. The wings delaminated. The tail needed to be reinforced. There were engine issues. Wiring issues. Fuel leak issues. 

Most of the outsourced work needed to be redone in Everett Washington. 

The delays have cost Boeing Billions and billions and billions in late fees and non delivery penalties. Not to mention all the rework.

The few planes that have been delivered keep catching on fire.

Fire has been a reoccurring theme on this airplane. If you don’t know much about aviation here is a good rule of thumb…..fire on a plane is an absolute no no. 

Flying at 38,000 feet (over the Atlantic Ocean) and having a fire onboard will ruin your day every time. You can call 911 but chances are a fire truck won’t make it to you.

In 2009 there was a fire onboard a Dreamliner (during testing) and caused months of delays. Boeing told everybody the issues were fixed. But fires keep happening. 

The last several were because of faulty batteries. The FAA took the unprecedented step of grounding the entire Dreamliner fleet. 

Boeing said they couldn’t fix the problem, but they could contain the fires (in steel boxes) and vent the gases outside the plane (no really…That is what they said). The FAA (being a bunch of sheep) said OK. As long as passengers didn’t know there was a raging inferno on the plane that was good enough for them.

Now a few weeks after the groundings ended and we have another fire. 

Investors are thrilled it looks like a new issue (not related to the batteries). Personally I am not seeing the good news. Fire is fire, and it is all bad news on an airplane. Especially a brand new state of the art airplane.

Luckily so far the Dreamliner issues haven’t killed anyone. But it is just a matter of time before people are killed. 

So again…Whatever you do…… never ever, ever, ever….. get on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 

If you do you should have your head examined.

Egypt.....

The people of Egypt are protesting again.

When Mubarak was their leader the people were unhappy and protested.

The military pushed Mubarak out and took control.

The people didn’t like the military either and protested again.

Then the people Democratically elected the Muslim Brotherhood candidate (Morsi).

After a year they are fed up with him too. Back to protesting.

Now the military is threatening to take over again.

The real problem Egypt has is the unrest has killed their tourism industry. Tourism is a huge part of the Egyptian economy and the US State Department is telling Americans not to go there.

That is because tourists who visit Egypt keep ending up dead.

An American was stabbed and killed. http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/411269/American-tourists-warned-against-Egypt-after-a-US-student-stabbed-to-death

6 Mexican tourists were killed in a bus “accident” http://news.yahoo.com/6-mexican-tourists-killed-egypt-bus-accident-144532427.html

19 tourists were killed in a balloon “accident” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/26/luxor-hot-air-balloon-crash-kills-tourists

Put that together with woman getting sexually assaulted http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/world/middleeast/egyptian-women-blamed-for-sexual-assaults.html?pagewanted=all and it is a huge problem.

Not only is it common practice to gang rape woman (in large crowds) but then the woman are blamed.

And they wonder why Western tourists would rather vacation in the Caribbean.

The result has obliterated their economy and fueled more unrest. If they can’t clean up the mess it won’t matter who the leader is. The downward spiral will continue.

Bangladesh Putrid Working Conditions......

In April a garment factory in Bangladesh (which made clothes sold in America) collapsed killing over 1200 workers.

As that story unfolded details emerged about the horrendous working conditions in Bangladesh factories. This caused public outrage.

Meanwhile the body count continued to rise and it seemed no good news would come from the story.

Then on day 17 (miracle of all miracles) they found a woman alive. Positive headlines were plaster on newspapers around the world.

Finally reporters weren’t asking about the putrid working conditions, but rather who this miracle survivor was.

Of course now we find out the entire episode was all make believe. It was staged for the cameras.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/bangladesh-factory-survivor-declared-hoax-article-1.1386360

Meanwhile workers continue to suffer in Bangladesh factories.

450 workers became ill just the other day http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/30/450-workers-fall-ill-at-bangladesh-garment-factory/

It has gotten so bad President Obama has now suspended all trade with Bangladesh.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/27/bangladesh-trade-suspension/2466051/

American retailers are going to have to scramble and find new slave laborers to exploit and fill the void.

So if you are at the mall and notice empty racks please be patient. You should know Corporate America is working hard to find replacement slave laborers. As soon as they find the new batch (of workers) who can sew (their overpriced clothing) things will be back to normal. Keep that credit card handy.