Is The Media Reporting the Real News?

If you have read any of my previous posts, you will notice that
frequently I make mention of the fact that some of the stories I
write about are not being reported in the usual media outlets. Do we
really have a free press? Are they really reporting the true story or
are they supporting a particular viewpoint? That is a decision that
you alone will have to make. I've already come to my conclusions. I
read the local paper to see what the official story line looks like,
but I also read from several online sources. It is amazing how much
different the stories are on the Internet. It is also amazing the
types of stories covered by these alternative sites that never gets
reported in the U.S. mainstream news.

Try some of these sites out and see what you think. I believe that
it will open your eyes. I know it has mine.

The list below represents some of my regular net destinations.

http://www.urbansurvival.com - my first stop every morning. George
has some amazing stories to report. Just click on the free daily
update to get your latest news. He also has a very good subscription
newsletter that is well worth the $30 per year he charges.

http://www.lewrockwell.com - a place I visit every day, for the
intelligence of many of the articles. It also reflects my own
anarchist leanings.

http://www.mises.org/ - the home of Austiran Economics. The only
economic theory that makes sense of the current economic situation in
the world. Governments hate the Austrian model as it cuts them out
of the money and economy business.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/ - A freewheeling website for
libertarians. In the authors' own words, "we have opinions and we're
not afraid to use them."

http://www.freebuck.com/index.shtml - A great source of articles and
essays covering current economic and investment trends.

http://www.counterpunch.org - another daily visit, and although
this is a decidedly more left-wing site, I still find many
worthwhile articles.

http://www.strike-the-root.com - a hard-hitting source of freedom
and anarchist commentary.

http://theautonomist.com - some good essays to be found here, on
the themes of freedom. It has an Objectivist slant, but not to be
confused with some of the more rabid Objectivist sites.

http://www.escapeartist.com - a lot of interesting info here,
and as the name suggests, usually related to assisting those who
want to expatriate from the USA.

http://www.antiwar.com - this is perhaps the best anti-war site,
and as I believe war only ever serves the state, not the
individual, I find a lot of thought-provoking stuff here.

http://www.aldaily.com - Arts and Letters Daily has a good spread
of essays and news links. Always something worthy of reading.

http://www.kitco.com - for those with a keen interest in the
yellow, shiny metal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info - a place I visit from
time to time, as they manage to publish sometimes hard-to-find
essays.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com - where I often find a good rant.

http://www.tax-news.com - for those of you who like to be kept up
to date on the latest news regarding the crooks in government,
and what they intend to do with your tax dollars.

http://www.guardian.co.uk - a regular UK newspaper, and a left-
leaning one at that! Nevertheless, I find it a regular source
of interesting articles.

http://www.independent.co.uk - another left-leaning UK newspaper,
but like The Guardian, a much better source of thoughtful
articles than most other mainstream press.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk - if you like the occasional good
read from the "other" side of the political spectrum.

http://english.aljazeera.net - a worthwhile source of global news
if you like to remove yourself from the state-biased media in so
much of the western world.

Inflation Continues to Gorge Itself On Your Dollars

Inflation continues to grind along, chewing up ever more of our personal income, with no end in sight. In a previous post, I explained that the true definition of inflation is the increase in the supply of money, not the increase in prices. The increase in prices is a result of the increase in the money supply as you have more dollars chasing after goods and services.

The problem with inflation is that except in times of hyperinflation, like Argentina experienced in the 1990s, it creeps along slowly destroying purchasing power. Sometimes it is not even noticed until you look back and compare prices from several years back with prices today and you wonder what the heck happened.

A good example of this is a tool at the Freebuck.com website. If you enter $1 and the year 2001 (the most recent year in the calculator) and then enter the year 1990 and press calculate, you will find that your dollar has lost 26% of its buying power since 1990. By the way, Freebuck.com will tell you that while they use the U.S. Consumer Price Index for their calculator, which claims that, the inflation rate has averaged -4.71% since 1968, they prove that the true rate is closer to 6% annually. If you continue the calculation though 2006 you will find that your money will have lost half of its purchasing power.

In other words, almost everything you purchase on a day-to-day basis will cost you double what it cost in 1990. Dont believe me? In 1990 I paid around $1.20 for gasoline. Today I am paying $2.88.

The reason that this information is so important to you is that in addition to never being able to get ahead, your retirement plans just don't take inflation seriously enough. Especially hard hit will be all of us who happen to have a defined benefit retirement plan. What may seem comfortable today will be woefully inadequate in 10 to 20 years. I know, I can hear you saying that your plan has a cost of living adjustment, but look at the figures being used for that adjustment. This year in Colorado, the official COLA (Cost of living allowance) was just 1.1%. All that does is slow down the inflation monster, and only slightly at that.

To find out how you can protect your retirement, reread some of my earlier posts from March and April. In a future post, I will have some additional information for you that I believe will be very helpful.

In other news, an oil industry insider from Texas, recently wrote that the current situation in the Gulf is much worse than the media is letting on. First we have dozens of oil platforms that are severely damaged or destroyed. Katrina took out the platforms, and Rita got the oil rigs. Several refineries shut down prior to the hurricanes and contrary to what the media says, it takes weeks, not days to restart a refinery. The real issue is that we have not invested in new wells and refineries for years. We may find ourselves swimming in crude oil, while suffering gasoline shortages. The situation could become grim this winter. $4 gas is not out of the question.

In other news, a story that appeared here http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050920234253162 claims that the British soldiers who were rescued from an Iraqi prison were dressed in Iraqi clothing when they pulled up to a police station and opened fire. For obvious reasons this story is not being given much time here in the states. For all of you conspiracy folks, this story has ominous implications.

The Fall of the American Empire

Empires come and empires go. Sometimes they fade away slowly; other times its more like a flashbulb...poof and its gone. Regardless of how the empire goes, it leaves a mess. The wealth of the empire is gone and with it all of the influence that the wealth help to establish. Many times chaos is the only thing left.

History paints a very clear picture of the life cycle of an empire. They grow by conquest, spreading their idea of society far and wide. As the empire expands, so do the administration and policing of the empire until the empire can no longer pay the bills. The policemen get restless and just a little disgruntled by the lack of a paycheck (or in the case of the US, a paycheck that buys less and less every month), and the whole thing collapses on itself.

Kind of like a dying star. And nothing remains except a black hole. (And a bunch of unpaid bills)

The U.S. is finding itself in the final throws of empire. Continually expanding, bringing our brand of democracy to the world, and running out of money to pay the bills. Actually, we ran out of money years ago, just dont tell the policemen. America has not done a very good job of collecting tribute from the captured vassal states either and that only exacerbates the problem.

What will the final result look like? It is very possible that America will become a third-world country. Picture Argentina in the 1990s.

So how do you as a loyal citizen survive the coming reduction in standard of living? Well, according to Bill Bonner of the Daily Reckoning, used cars are a bargain right now because automakers are doing everything they can to sell new ones. And rentals are cheap as well simply because its so easy to buy one these days.

So his suggestion, buy a good used car, and rent a nice house and sit back and watch the demise of the American Empire.

In my last post, I made reference to the sad situation that many of the poorer citizens found themselves in after Hurricane Katrina. While I still believe that our governments entitlement system is responsible for several generations of Americans who cannot and will not think or do for themselves, some disturbing news has been circulating about the situation in New Orleans. First, there was an eyewitness account by an EMT who was in New Orleans for a conference. He tells first of hiring, together with several foreign tourists, a tour bus to come take them out of the city. Between them, they raised $25,000 to hire the buses, but the buses never made it. They were stopped before they ever got downtown by the local law enforcement folks who commandeered them for their own use. Then he tells of getting kicked out of the hotel because the hotel ran out of food and water. They then asked local policemen where they should go and were told to go to the convention center. As they approached the convention center, they were told they should not go there, as it was too dangerous. When they asked where they should go, they were told, You are on your own.After setting up camp across the street from the police station, the police chief came out and told them that they should walk across a bridge that leads across the Mississippi River and that once there, buses would take them to safety. As this group walked across town, others joined them and as they crossed the bridge, sheriffs deputies fired over their heads and told them to turn around. According to the deputies, the area across the river was secure and no one was allowed over the bridge. Its a little hard for folks, both rich and poor alike, to walk out of harms way if the local law enforcement agencies will not let you leave the city. The original link for this story was at http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml, however, it has now been taken down. In a related story, eyewitnesses claim a government entity dynamited certain parts of the levee to prevent flooding of the uptown part of New Orleans. This happens to be the wealthier part of New Orleans with many larger homes. Of course as a result of the demolition, the poorer 9^th ward sections of town were completed flooded. Interestingly enough, after the story was reported on several Internet web sites, Bush supporters appeared out of nowhere adamantly denying the story. Whats unusual is that the eyewitnesses report hearing explosions and announcements over the local radio warning of imminent flooding. You can read more about this story here http://www.youthinkwhat.com/. All of this, along with the growing list of offers for help that FEMA turned down paint a disturbing picture of our government and just how unsafe we are in our own country even with all of the supposedly cautionary measures taken after 9-11. See the list here http://www.rense.com/general67/femwont.htm.

Why We Need A Libertarian Government

The government response to the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina has painted a very graphic image as to why we need a Libertarian form of government.

For those of you who do not know or have not heard, Libertarians believe that less government is the only way to run a country. Libertarians also believe that no one has the right to initiate force on or against any human being. Initiation of force does not simply refer to making war, but forcing people to behave in a certain way, or forcing someone to pay taxes that they do not want to pay. If you do not believe me, try not paying your taxes and see what happens.

So why do we need to get the government out of business in this country? Simply because the government is a huge bureaucracy and all of the various agencies that make up this bureaucracy have one very important thing in common. They are not real owners. They have no interest in profit or loss. They have no insurance companies to answer to as they plan and prepare projects. Because they have no ownership, they are overcome by inertia.

Look at the response of the various emergency agencies in what is turning out to be one of the worst national disasters in all of U.S. history. It took five days before anyone could get food and water into New Orleans. It took five days before they could get an adequate number of troops into the area to control the gangs. How can something like this be allowed to happen? In a word, inertia.

In addition to FEMA, we have the Department of Homeland Security. Both of these agencies have been running disaster drills in various cities for years. So why werent they ready for Katrina? We knew a full three days before Katrina hit that it would be bad, so why werent these agencies staged and ready to roll? Why was there no coordination of effort? Isnt that what all of these drills are about? You may have noticed that the news agencies had no problem getting into those areas hit the hardest by Katrina.

Here are a couple of quotes by top governmental officials.

Patrick Rhode, deputy director of FEMA, (commenting on his agency's performance after four days of steadily increasing urban warfare, deeply flawed coordination, and continuing inability to evacuate refugees)

"Probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."

Mike Brown, Director of FEMA, (referring to people who were stuck in New Orleans largely because they were too poor to afford the means to leave):

"...those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city..."

Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, (following widespread eyewitness reports of refugees living like animals at the Convention Center):

"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the Convention Center who don't have food and water."

George W. Bush, President of the United States, (six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina):

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

You see, these people are not owners of their respective organizations. There is no profit or loss motive for running an efficient operation. There is no competition.

This disaster is probably one of the best examples of why the government has no business being in business in this country. The government has proven over and over that it cannot run programs efficiently. Private industry could and would do a far better job of handling things that the government has convinced us that they have to do for us.

And how about those people who were too poor to leave the city? Our government convinced us back in the 1930s that we needed agencies to give aid to the poor. These entitlement programs have bred a whole population of people who cannot and will not think or do for themselves. When you listen to their complaints on TV, they want to know why no one has brought them food or water. If you or I were in a position where we could not leave in the face of such a devastating storm, we would have at the very least stored some water. With 36 hours before the hurricane was due to hit, if I didnt have the money to drive out of town, I would have walked or rode a bike. But most of these people didnt. Why? Because they have always waited for the government to take care of them. Its all they know. Our government helped to create these people.

What everyone needs to understand is that your government is not there for you. They are there for themselves. They make decisions based on what works best for them, not for you. Entitlement programs keep government officials elected and in office. It was easy enough to convince us that we needed entitlement programs because humans have always been suckers when it comes to getting something for nothing.

Think about this...if our government wasnt involved in controlling the currency, we would have money that retains its value. If the government wasnt involved in the mortgage business, we wouldnt have a huge housing bubble that is set to explode. If our government wasnt involved in the insurance business, we would not have houses in flood planes because insurance companies wouldnt take the risk. If the government wasnt involved in the mail business, we wouldnt have an agency that has never paid its own way and continues to run huge deficits year after year. If our government wasnt involve in using force against other people and countries, we wouldnt have terrorists attacking our country As you can imagine, the list goes on forever. The list of research grants and subsidies seems endless.

Instead of being a country that is building a world empire by force, we could be an example of how a truly free country can have a positive effect on the world. We could lead by example. Our first step is to become a truly free country, by freeing ourselves from our oppressive government. They really have no idea what is in our best interests.

The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina

Will we learn the lessons?

I have been watching, like most of you I’m sure, the unfolding tragedy along the gulf coast and particularly New Orleans. I have been shocked and disturbed by the images that keep repeating themselves on TV.

Now as the days drag on and people who are still stranded in New Orleans begin to die from lack of clean drinking water, food, and medicine, it almost seems hopeless. The darker side of humanity has reared its ugly head. It is amazing what people will do to survive when they have no hope of rescue. It is also amazing how quickly the gangs stepped up their activities following the destruction of Katrina.

Emerging from this story is a lesson for all us, not only in this country, but everywhere. If you live in Florida or California, I have no doubt that you have read and been told that you should have a disaster kit in your home always ready in case trouble strikes. If you live in other parts of the country, you may remember Mr. Ridge of Homeland Security telling us back at the turn of the century, that we should have three days of food and water on hand.

How many of you listened then? Here is my point. Disaster can strike anywhere and at anytime. As we are witnessing live on television, right before our eyes, the government cannot always respond quickly. It is vital that we are prepared to take care of our families and ourselves for several days while waiting for help to arrive.

Such a disaster kit should at a minimum include enough food and water for your entire family for 5 days. I know, everyone says three days but look at New Orleans. We are starting into day 5 this morning and still there are about 30,000 folks stranded at the convention center with nothing to eat or drink.

In addition to food and water, you should seriously think about any medications that your or your family needs on a daily basis, some type of emergency lighting, a way to heat food and water, cash and personal hygiene products.

Beyond your home disaster kit, many experts believe you should also build and maintain a bug out kit. A bug out kit is simply and smaller version of your disaster kit packed in such a way that you can throw it into the trunk and get the heck out of Dodge. A couple of can of gas might be a critical addition to your bug out kit.

I know that this blog deals primarily with helping you protect your investments and retirement accounts, but what good is money if you aren’t around to spend it. It would indeed be a shame if we watch this disaster unfold before our eyes and learn nothing from it that could help prevent the loss of life the next time it happens.

In other news this morning, I read where the Canadian government has offered to send personnel to help with the rescue operations but have been firmly refused by our own government. Additionally, a group of urban search and rescue specialists from Vancouver were not allowed to enter the country by Homeland Security. I hope that this story is not true, but I fear it is.