wilson96   Economy, Politics, and More…

Music video by The Midway State performing Change for You. (C) 2006 Remedy Music under exclusive license to Interscope Records

As you all know, I recently published an article that talked about the state of the U.S. economy and that it may be in the “beginning’ stage of an economic recovery.I talked about the valuable indicator of copper and why it leads the way and tells you that the economy will recover long before the “nightly news” or even analysts tell you.Today, another site that I highly regard, also talked about the importance of copper in leading the way to an economic recovery. Daily Wealth gave this checklist for an economic recovery.TheTrue WealthScript for Economic Recovery• Investment-grade corporate bonds rally first,• then stocks rally. Around the same time,• the price of copper recovers.• The CILI (aka “Silly”) Recession End-icator goes up for three months. This is a ratio of “coincident economic indicators” to “lagging economic indicators.” Dennis Gartman, one of my favorite newsletter writers, pointed out this indicator has called the end of recessions with remarkable accuracy for 40 years.• The recession ends.• Consumer confidence indexes rise.• Housing begins its recovery.So with all of that said, what does that mean for Main Street?It means that as the economy recovers, inflation will grow. This means that your purchasing power is about to erode some more. This is why it’s imperative to save more than you typically do.It also means that it’s time to invest in stocks for the long haul. Buy your ETFs and mutual funds with cash, no margin. But before you do this, make sure you have adequate savings set aside first. If that step is not done first, then if an emergency comes up, you are forced to sell the investments usually in a time when it’s not prudent to do so.Make no mistake about it. Inflation is coming. Gold is already pointing the way. Just as the Fed announced that it was buying up $300 billion of long term U.S. Treasuries, it shows that they are trying to push yields down artificially low and make money “cheap” in order to spur economic growth. This inflationary action boosted gold almost immediately from $880s up to the $920s and shortly thereafter it hit $950 an ounce.Not only is gold pointing to inflation but so is copper, oil, the CRB index (which is a basket of commodities). Remember, that commodities are things that you use every day on Main Street, whether you have one stock investment or not. Its things like wheat, sugar, gold, copper, oil, gasoline, etc. This is why the rise of commodities should matter to you on Main Street no matter whether you invest directly in a commodity contract or commodity ETF ever.Another sign that the purchasing power of Main Street is about to erode is that the “decline of the dollar”. When the Fed made that statement about the purchase of treasuries, it’s obvious that they will be printing more money “like a mad man”.This oversupply of dollars will only dilute the value of your dollar and boost the cost of goods that you buy and use in every day life.So, most importantly, what can you do about all of this to protect yourself?Beef up your savings like never before. With the employment situation still “touchy” and inflation coming, it’s only prudent to take this step NOW.Invest in stocks through ETFs or Mutual Funds for the long term. If your dollar is eroding and the Fed wants stocks to rise again, then you’d better align yourself with their wishes because they will eventually win this battle.Buy Commodity ETFs through your stock brokerage account. One way to fight inflation and to hold your purchasing power is by buying the things that are going to go up on you. There are ETFs on gold, silver, oil, natural gas, etc. All of these things will rise in value as inflation returns and as the dollar falls (which as begin already).Buy foreign currencies. Now for Americans, this may sound “foreign” and even difficult since we aren’t as familiar with the exchange of currencies as much of the rest of the world is. However, this is simple. You never have to “hold” or “physically exchange” any currency. You can open a forex (currency investing account) and buy foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar. As the dollar falls against these major currencies like the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, etc., your account will gain and help offset the erosion of the purchasing power of the money in your wallet.Get educated about these BEFORE you invest in them. Believe it or not, you can have a very good understanding of these areas in about a week’s time through an online course which you can take in your spare time. In this day and age we live in, I think you can see that Main Street has to “take charge” of their own financial future and not just entrust it to Wall Street. This is an inexpensive and convenient way that you can do this.Help someone else out. It’s always good for everyone to “give back”. You can do this by emailing this article to a friend, relative or co-worker, by buying them an online course so that they can also directly ask us their own financial questions which will allow us to directly help them. The people that are the most blessed generally are the ones that think of others and not just about themselves. This is a practice that I’ve held for over 30 years now and it’s served me well.I’d encourage you to print out these steps and post them somewhere where you can review them from time to time. This is the roadmap to help you in the coming days and years.Thanks for reading my articles. I value my readers and the insights that I’m able to pass along to you all.Feel free to post these articles on your, Facebook, MySpace, Digg them, Stumble Upon them, Twitter them, email them, send them You Tube links and IM the links to friends and family, etc. Help us to spread the word and therefore help others. As you can see by watching the nightly news, people are in dire need out there and you can bring them a solution.Sean HymanHead Course Instructor

Elizabeth Warren, Chair, The Congressional Oversight anel with Elizabeth Warren in Current Affairs on Thursday, March 4, 2010 RECOMMENDED resources: cop.senate.gov cop.senate.gov Full Interview on Charlie Rose: www.charlierose.com PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION urging the president to appoint Elizabeth Warren as the first director of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, created under the Wall Street reform legislation passed by Congress. This is Obama’s decision ALONE – he can’t pretend someone else made the choice. sanders.senate.gov

Jesse is the former governor of Minnesota, an ex Navy Seal Vietnam Veteran, Demolition Expert and an avid spokesperson for 911 Truth. In this video Jesse talks about: – The CIA implanted in State Government. – His interrogation by 23 members of the intelligence agency when he was the Governor of Minnesota. – Finally, he talks comically about how he was tailed by the CIA when being escorted around Cuba by Castros security guards. This is the edited version to fit YouTube, produced by SO OUT THERE. Check thestateoftruth.com For more. Check the other Jesse Ventura videos on YouTube.

In Full: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sat down with Katie Couric to discuss ousting CEOs and reviving the economy.

Simmons College Professor Sylvia Maxfield discusses the numerous factors that helped precipitate the current financial meltdown, and the effectiveness of various bailout plans. As the global economy changes daily, Professor Maxfield, who was recently featured on NPRs Tell Me More, will lead a fascinating dialogue about the current market and her theories for the future.

RT.com AND http Pulitzer Prize Winner Chris Hedges discusses what the recent Supreme Court decision on Corporate Campaign Sponsonsip means to America. The Supreme Court in essence streamlined what was already basically in place. This corporate ownership of America along with the war economy spells disaster for the US

That’s Obama for you. He’s says we’re out of money but promised $100 billion to the IMF this week (update: congress gave him $105 billion), which amounts to a bailout for European banks facing big losses in Central and Eastern Europe www.banking-business-review.com (original video at channel DolphinFilms)Join Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, the most promising group pushing for legislation that will lead to sound money and restore liberty. Create a free user account and they will email you editable action alerts they foward to your congressmen. Please also sign the petition to audit the Federal Reserve on their home page. www.campaignforliberty.com

Recent trends imply a disaster for the current state of the economy. What is fundamental task for the U.S. Free Market Economy? Are there new rules or laws to play the game?

The central economic task for a society, in relation to the free market economy, is to secure cooperation among people in using what is available (when scarcity & surpluses exists) to obtain what is wanted. The ‘Rules of the Game’, according to Heyne, Boettke, & Prychitko, help facilitate the economic process, in which the rule and law and property rights are components. For example, the resolution of the competition for use of a scarce resource depends on whether property rights are well defined, well enforced, and readily transferable. What does this have to do with banks failing, businesses going under, and major Government bailouts? This means that all management decisions in a free market economy should be lawful and ethical, or the economy will not function properly. Economically, the most important feature of the rules of the game is clearly defined property rights and a rule of law that recognizes them.

Property rights are essential features of the free market economy because they encourage market coordination, rather than chaos (when imposing extensive market control); and create opportunities for net (comparative) advantage when scarcity exists. In fact, “a market economy is based upon private property rights – rights associated to specific individuals in the form of legal ownership”. They define and specify who owns what. These rights can be voluntarily traded or exchanged for similar rights to other goods and services, which is part of the economizing process when scarcity imposes constraints. Essentially, private property rights form an important part of the rules of governing most of the social interactions in which people regularly engage, and provides members of society with incentives and dependable information. In the economic way of thinking, Heyne, Boettke, & Prychitko (2003) contend that “the emergence of clearly defined and enforced property rights does encourage the effective use of already existing scarce resources… and the discovery of new resources”.

How does the scope or role of Government shape the wealth of nations? Consider that some level of government spending is necessary to ensure that the basic structures of society function smoothly enough to facilitate economic activity.

According to Adam Smith, a successful economic system is developed in a well-governed society. Private property rights and the rule of law provide an infrastructure that allows and ensures the protection of people and: (1) their future investments, (2) organization of useful projects, or (3) the initiation of other costly undertakings. The freedom to exchange reasonably secure property rights are necessary conditions for the evolution of a successful commercial society, in which people cooperate effectively in creating and using resources to serve one another’s wants, so that economic growth occurs and prevents poverty. “A rule of law recognizes private property rights, which allows the freedom to exchange and provides incentives for individuals to specialize in the activities of their comparative advantage”. This is secured by the rule of law, which encourages wealth, and prevents the subjection of people to the tyranny and exploitation of others. Therefore, a commercial society can develop successfully when there is the rule of law.

 

Government computer rentals, together with short- and long-term leasing arrangements, are key components in governmental strategies that will lead to more efficient and greener delivery of government services. As both government and private industry increasingly focus their attention on the impact their operations have on the environment, federal, state and local governments are all focusing more attention on how they can deliver services in a manner that is equally or more efficient, while reducing energy consumption. Renting or leasing computer hardware to increase flexibility in delivering programs where demands for computer and technology resources fluctuate is an environmentally and fiscally responsible ‘green IT’ solution for governments at all levels.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for greening government, however, due to the size and multiplicity of government agencies and departments, each using separate applications and IT systems. “Federal agencies are rife with non-standardized and manually intensive processes supported by a patchwork of legacy IT applications performed in multiple geographies and remote locations,” according to consultants from Booz Allen, in McLean, Virginia. However, the size of the challenge in making government greener and more efficient only increases the scale of the energy and fiscal savings available. “The size of the cost savings opportunity available to the U.S. government is orders of magnitude larger than that available to even the largest corporation,” notes Booz Allen’s consultancy in their paper on How the U.S. Government Can Cut Overhead.
In a recent piece on greening government IT systems, Citrix Systems’ area vice-president of federal systems, Tom Simmons, discussed how governments can reduce power requirements and green their operations through ‘virtualization’ – moving government operating systems and software applications from desktops to more energy efficient data centers where arrays of data servers more efficiently store and process information. He cites estimates that calculate the federal government “can reduce power consumption by the equivalent of 1.3 million barrels of oil a year,” solely through the virtualization of its IT systems and more efficient use of its existing data centers. He notes that, “with the price of oil [north of] $125 barrel that’s a not-insignificant cost savings.”
Moreover, through virtualization governments can move away from using numerous redundant PCs each solely dedicated to one employee and hosting his or her operating systems, applications and data files. Having numerous dedicated desktop PCs, many of which are idled at any given time, is not only fiscally inefficient but leads to an environmentally precarious waste disposal problem when computer hardware becomes obsolete. “For a long time,” Simmons notes, “the federal government was on a three- or four-year life cycle for desktop PCs and a three-year life cycle for servers. Green IT extends those life cycles in a lot of cases and reduces the waste.” He estimates that turning to computing virtualization through the use of optimized servers at more efficient data centers will extend the life of the typical government desktop to the five- to seven-year range. Of course this means less surplus equipment in landfills across the country.
Virtualization, where operating systems, applications and data are stored offsite at more energy-efficient data centers also means that the desktops and laptops that access and run the stored systems and applications do so on an as-needed basis. Government departments and agencies can then acquire PCs and laptops on an as-required basis during peak seasons and for special programs.
With increasing virtualization, a process that is already a functioning business reality in the private sector, government computer rentals and short- and long-term leasing arrangements help streamline operations, reducing the need for permanent, dedicated computer resources. The cost-savings and reduced environmental impact achieved by extending the life cycle of existing computer hardware by filling peak periods of demand through rental or leasing arrangements can then make government computer rentals a key component in finding a ‘green IT’ solution for all levels of local, state and federal government.