I was never a fan of Lindsey Graham.  I’m constantly amazed that in a very conservative state he gets elected time and time again.  I really hope his time is soon to run out for this politician that makes me sick to my stomach.

Southern Avenger: Lindsey Graham vs. Ron Paul

War Stuff:

• Top Troop Request Exceeds 60,000
• Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran? - This provoked a thought for me.  If our government thinks that war will get us out of the recession (actually depression) like we are all taught that WWII got us out of the Great Depression.  Then it seems more likely the government might start a war in Iran with this logic no matter how flawed I might think it is.  A country that hasn’t attacked anyone in centuries, who are following all the international laws (that I can tell), and spends around $6 billion on their military every year.  It is of my opinion we should be talking to them and not threating them.  I would encourage you to Google Robert Higgs for great papers about the Great Depression.

Dollar Stuff:

• The Demise of the Dollar – Glenn Beck
• Gerald Celente: The Death of the Dollar

• Picture from Titan’s moon – I remember when this was released and saw it again today and made me forget about things for a bit.

I thought government would help drive down the amount of denied claims in the health insurance industry.  Surprise!  They are the largest to deny claims.  I know it’s a shocker isn’t it?

Of the eight insurers listed, Medicare is most likely to reject a claim, sending away 6.85% of requests. This is more than any private insurer and double that of the private insurers’ average!

In short, the AMA is endorsing a plan whose closest existing example is the most frequent denier of claims. How the public option exemplifies “delivering care to patients” is unclear.

via Big Government

The Problem:

The demise of the dollar - This article requires a little bit of a discussion.  From the article.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar. (1)

How we got here:

If this report is true, to say this isn’t good for the dollar is an understatement.  If you haven’t read anything about dollar hegemony I would suggest that you do.  Also, if you haven’t read anything about the petro dollar and petro dollar warefare I would suggest that you do.  In a nutshell since our dollar is fiat money, meaning nothing is backing it’s actual value but the promise of the government, the only thing keeping the dollar’s value is the fact that oil is only sold in dollars.

What does all this mean?

I think that common sense would tell someone that since the Saudis are in control of the oil they would want a strong dollar and a dollar that retains its value.  However, with the spending spree that the US is on with an estimated nine trillion dollar deficit in the next ten years (2) the world is losing confidence in the dollar as seen by the following.

• UN is calling for new reserve currency saying, “The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the “privilege” of building a huge trade deficit.” (3)
• Dollar under scrutiny at G20 summit saying, “The embattled US dollar is expected to come under scrutiny at a summit of developing and industrialized nations following China-led calls to review its role as a reserve currency.” (4)
• China Urges New Money Reserve to Replace Dollar saying, “In a paper released Monday, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said a new currency reserve system controlled by the International Monetary Fund could prove more stable and economically viable.” (5)
• China backs talks on dollar as reserve -Russian source saying, “Russia has proposed the creation of a new reserve currency, to be issued by international financial institutions.” (6)
• Gold hits record at $1,045, gains on report of dollar’s demise - ”Gold futures hit a new high on Tuesday, lifted by weakness in the dollar after Australia hiked interest rates and after a report that Gulf-area oil producers, along with China, Russia, Japan and France, are planning to eventually end dollar-based oil pricing.” (7)

What does this all mean?  From the looks of it a new reserve currency that is controlled by the IMF, which would mean to me that we would outsource our monetary policy to the IMF.  The IMF would issue the currency and be controlled by a very small group of people.  This small group of people would hold a massive amount of power over the world economy.  I see it as the Federal Reserve on steroids on a world stage.

Any thing positive?

There is some good news.  We have time to change things if the world decides to create a new world currency without the consent of the US.

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting that it would take up to 30 years to create a new super-currency, suggesting there was no unity in Russia on the issue. (6)

…

While few analysts believe that the dollar will be replaced as the world’s dominant foreign exchange reserve anytime soon. (5)

…

But he [Richard Cooper] said there were no feasible alternatives to the US dollar as a widely used international currency, discounting even IMF’s synthetic SDR currency, comprising a basket of the dollar, euro, yen and the pound.”The dollar will remain the dominant world currency, thanks to the stability of our political system and the rule of law that isn’t a feature of many other economies,” said Irwin Stelzer, director of economic-policy studies at the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

Some groups, he said, were buying euros and other currencies from time to time, “but not in amounts that threaten the dollar’s primacy.”

“Even the Chinese are stuck with nearly a trillion dollars worth of US bonds and are not likely to drive down the value of that hoard by selling large amounts of dollar-denominated assets”, Stelzer said. (4)

For now the dollar is fairly safe.  However, with the recent moves by the international community and the continues policy by the US government of intervention, spending, and isolation of other countries, I’m one to think that the US is only digging itself into a deeper hole.  A drastic course correction is in call for the US.  The question is; is the US going to do it on its own or is it going to be forced to change due to the actions of the international community that it can not control.

I should probably reserve my thoughts on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and our isolation of ourselves to the rest of the world.  I should probably reserve my thoughts on Healthcare reform, Cap and Trade, and the Labor Union bills going through congress now.  However, I’m sure you can probably guess what my thoughts are so I’ll leave it at that.

UPDATE: Mike “Mish” Shedlock has a couple good blog posts with a different outlook for the dollar.  I would suggest taking a look at them.

• Ridiculous Hype Over Secret Oil Meetings
• Why Would Anyone Want To Hold Dollars?

External Sites:

• dollar hegemony
• petro dollar
• petro dollar warefare
• fiat money

Sources:

1. The demise of the dollar
2. Obama to raise 10-year deficit to $9 trillion
3. UN calls for new reserve currency
4. Dollar under scrutiny at G20 summit
   
5. China Urges New Money Reserve to Replace Dollar
6. China backs talks on dollar as reserve -Russian source
7. Gold hits record at $1,045, gains on report of dollar’s demise

Economic Stuff:

• CAUTION: Stock Market Crash /Collapse Dead Ahead Say Faber, Rogers, Dent and Celente
• China and Japan begin talks on building alliance
• Vegas Casinos Fold on Expansion Plans

Political Stuff:

• 10 Things You Should Know About Iran
• ElBaradei says nuclear Israel number one threat to Mideast - definitely something you won’t read in the media here in the States.

Awesome Stuff:

This picture is just awesome.  Taken from the Cassini space craft that is orbiting Saturn.  It was taken when Saturn was eclipsing the sun.  Via The Big Picture

At least Justice Scalia understands that we have way too many laws in America even if he doesn’t say it directly.

Scalia: ‘We Are Devoting Too Many of Our Best Minds to’ Lawyering

I mean there’d be a, you know, a defense or public defender from Podunk, you know, and this woman is really brilliant, you know. Why isn’t she out inventing the automobile or, you know, doing something productive for this society?

I mean lawyers, after all, don’t produce anything. They enable other people to produce and to go on with their lives efficiently and in an atmosphere of freedom. That’s important, but it doesn’t put food on the table and there have to be other people who are doing that. And I worry that we are devoting too many of our very best minds to this enterprise.

A few days ago I came across this article, Analysis: Why everyone is saying no to Obama.  I didn’t think much of it, but it did have some good points in it like how North Korea is saying no to talks.  China and Russia keep saying no to tougher sanctions on Iran.  The Palestinian Authority is saying no to meet with Isreal and vise versa with Isreal not meeting with the Palestinian Authority.  Don’t forget about the Saudi’s saying no to Isreal’s demands.  Then there’s also no to his healthcare plan, cap and trade, and his union bill he wants past.  Lastly, there’s the no vote to Olympics in Chicago, which in my opinion was a total waste of time and money to even go to basically beg to have it in Chicago.

I think it’s great that everyone is saying no to him.  I just hope that it keeps up.  However, to my surprise the media is finally starting to slowly catch on.  The blog-o-sphere is much faster to recognize these trends than the media.  Even comedy shows like SNL pick up on it quicker as seen from their skit below.

I’ve been waiting for Lew Rockwell to publish a new podcast to share with everyone.  I’m excited to say that he has finally done that!  I’ve listened to most of his podcasts and I find them very informative and very interesting as he usually has very intelligent guests and a point of view that you otherwise won’t hear anywhere else.  The podcasts are usually pretty short being anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes long and packed with tons of great discussion.  At any rate, enjoy!

139. Secession, Nullification, and Interposition

Here’s Peter Schiff’s podcast from last week!  Enjoy!

During my daily reading I found that Campaign for Liberty is the number one receiver of donations at Givv.org.  When I read this I was curious to know what Givv.org is because I had never heard of it.  So I go to their site to investigate.  

Come to find out it is a non-profit that makes it easy for you to donate to any cause that you would like to donate to.  You tell them how much you can donate a month and then you can choose what organizations get your donation.  You can split up the money between all of them.  They keep track of your total donations and who you have donated to.  

They use Paypal for their transactions so make sure you have an account there.  It looks to be a great way to contribute to the organizations that you feel strongly about.  I would highly encourage you to check it out!

From their site:

Givv.org is a new way to think about making your impact. Make one monthly donation. To as many nonprofits as you like. Automatic, one-click giving. You stay anonymous and stay in control!

External Links:

• Givv.org – FAQ
• Givv.org

Since our money becomes worth less ever day due to inflation, I thought that this was a good useful alternative for your money.

via My Love For You.