An article on Bloomberg reported that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
said, "The US unemployment rate may not peak until the second half of 2010,
even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement."
By "shows signs of improvement", I suppose he means things like another
extension in unemployment benefits, which he admits "is something that the
administration and Congress are going to look very carefully at as we get
closer to the end of this year".
Naturally, I take points off his grade and I note that "look very carefully at"
is a prepositional phrase, and he should have more correctly said that
extending unemployment benefits "is something at which the administration and
Congress are going to
look at very carefully" but either way it means that it is a "done deal" since
there is going to be almost US$3 trillion in deficit-spending money ($1.84
trillion in budgeted deficit and the usual $2 trillion in supplemental
appropriations that will appear in the next year), all seemingly just sitting
there! Hahaha!
The 5-Minute Forecast took a look at the specifics, and found that "Congress is
under pressure to extend benefits again. Emergency legislation has already
bumped unemployment programs to 79 weeks in half the states, about triple the
norm and the longest since its 1930 inception (the rest of the states have
programs ranging from 46-72 weeks)."
Yikes! We're already at records of unemployment never even seen before!
Nevertheless, they continue "Word on the street is that Congress will tack on
another 13 weeks for states with unemployment rates over 9% ... at a cost of
$70 billion", which seems like such chump change when next year's federal
budget deficit is, by itself, $2 trillion!
Blomberg says that Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic
Council, glossing over the fact that he has not been right about the economy or
raised a peep about the rampant "creating excess money and credit" crap that
Alan Greenspan and his loathsome Federal Reserve were doing for the last 15
years, says that he is now sure, sure, sure that the economy will resume growth
in the second half of the year, although the job picture "will be serious for
some time to come".
Naturally, one wonders how economic growth can resume when more and more people
are unemployed, with no viable options and staggering under the biggest debt
loads in the history of America, but even when you send him an e-mail asking
"What kind of stupid thing is that to say, you ignorant, loudmouth
neo-Keynesian halfwit lowlife?" he never explains!
Just in time, The 5-Minute Forecast sort of obliquely answers my question when
they reported that "both Larry Summers and Tim Geithner refused to rule out a
middle-class tax hike." Hahaha!
Oh! Growth in government taxation! Hahahaha!
Ignoring my rude laughter, Bloomberg continues with the insight that has Mr
Summers saying, "the Obama administration will work with Congress to 'do what's
necessary to make sure appropriate unemployment benefits are available'".
And working with Congress ought to be a snap, as Congressman Charles Rangel,
chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he "supports extending
unemployment insurance benefits for another 13 weeks" because there is "no
question" that the unemployed "deserve it", because the are the "the true
victims of this fiscal disaster." Hahahaha!
The truth is that everyone is a victim of the abject stupidity of government
morons like Congressman Rangel, who happily voted to deficit-spend monstrous
amounts of money year after year after year, plus pledging a hundred trillion
dollars in future benefits, and encouraged the Federal Reserve to create
massive amounts of excess money and credit so that people could go into
crushing debt by borrowing Too Much Money (TMM) to buy, among other things, the
gobs of new government debt, all of which cemented into place a bloated,
dysfunctional, corrupt, government-centric economy! Hahaha! We're freaking
doomed!
And now - unbelievably! - Congressman Rangel thinks that increasing federal
government deficit-spending, via expansions of the money supply by the Federal
Reserve to promise another 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to the victims, is
going to fix things? Hahahahahahackahackahaha!
The extended "Hahahahahahackahackahaha!" is to cleverly denote that I am
laughing and laughing until my sides are starting to hurt, and I am coughing
and hacking up what appears to be pieces of lung at such preposterously and
overwhelmingly funny Theater of the Absurd stupidity! Hahahaha!
In such a giddy state, I obviously cannot continue to the inevitable climax
where I demand that you buy gold, silver and oil immediately as protection
against the best intentions of government or suffer my contempt and scorn,
which admittedly seems so far away from my current fit of laughing and
coughing! Hahahahahackahackahaha!
Anyway, I could never say, "Buy gold, silver and oil because your own
government is destroying your money and you!" better than when Mr Rangel says
it for me with "Victims deserve more of what they got!"
Whee! This investing stuff is easy!
Richard Daughty is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group,
serving the financial and medical communities, and the editor of The Mogambo
Guru economic newsletter - an avocational exercise to heap disrespect on those
who desperately deserve it.
Republished with permission from
The Daily Reckoning. Copyright 2009, The Daily Reckoning.
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