I decided to split off my postings of economic links from Jim's Thoughts, so that I can get that topic back to what it was intended to be, a place for me to post trading ideas and thoughts I had that I felt could be of interest to the readers.

This topic is where I will post links to various economic articles, for those that find them interesting. If you want to read (or post) articles about the unfolding debaucle, this is the place to look. If you are a short-term daytrader or swing trader and have zero interest in the economy, you can now just read Jim's Thoughts and not have to wade through this type of dicussion.

At best I think this material only has a direct effect on longer-term plays, the bigger swings that make up the major legs of the bull and bear markets. I follow this stuff for that reason, and because I want to have a handle on things, if that is even possible in this era of lies and deception, so that I can make decisions on life issues.

For example, as I posted in the commentary on the website and discussed with many people well in advance, this was something that wasn't hard to see coming. I saw many people who told me as late as Oct 2007 that 'this thing is about to 'break out' to the upside, and that Dow 20,000, and then much higher, was 'just around the corner' '. The type of articles I am posting discuss the type of information that helped me form the viewpoints I had back then.

If this is far from over, as I suspect, we are in a similar postion now as back then. With the rally that is unfolding right now the talk is the bull is back, the bottom is in, and we are set. I'm not so sure. So, I try to weigh up all the factors and not get too sucked in by the hype. To that end, I will post things here I find interesting.

No votes and no comments on this. Very, very telling...

Originally posted by jimkane

If you have a little time to kill and you want to see two guys who I think are spot on, here's two places to go have some fun.

Do all eight videos here (eight at the time of this posting, perhaps more by the time you read this):

http://www.xtranormal.com/profile/4426011/

And check out as many of this guy's artworks as you can stand. Start on the political satire page. Beware if you use his arrow keys, as they stop at some point and skip some of the great ones. I wound up clicking on each title on the left to be sure I didn't miss any. I found this guy from an image I saw which I thought was great, then I discovered he does book covers, and it was the cover of a recent book on the Fed. I'll give that link, and then you can just surf from there. I looked over every last thing on the site, it's that good.

http://www.sl-webs.com/deesillustration/artwork.asp?item=489&cat=satire

Give me some feedback as to whether you all find these two as good as I do.

jim- i did not respond because a thoughtful reply would take pages and might cause a ruckus at the forum....as an example i will address one picture, the picture of the zionists zapping reader...i have had the good fortune of talking at length with a prison camp survivor.... not at some organized propaganda event.. but because i was standing on his front lawn one day taking a break from doing his roof.he was wearing a shortsleeve shirt and i saw a number on his arm... i asked him what camp he had been in.... we talked the rest of the day.....he could recount the horrors of every hour of every day. the whole of history is the history of revisionists revising for their own agenda.for a thoughtful in depth view of what the revisionists are after read christopher hitchens ( certainly no left wing crackpot, in fact his favorite subject is left wing crackpots) work in LOVE,POVERTY, AND WAR. great essay also why americans dont study history.
no body addresses my hot point.. the destruction of the miidle class was two pronged.. not only were jobs outsourced; but the powers that be , nomatter what political persuasion, allowed this country to be flooded with illegals....20 years ago i was able to make 120k just roofing based on my labor alone.no cushy uninon benefits, no overtime, just hardcore brutal piecework roofing....now if i put on the same amount of piecework, i would make 25k.... that is how drastic the presence of the illegals has gutted the price structure.

Good post, roofer. I was really posting that for the illustrations about the economy, which I think are spot on. Ron Paul trying to resuscitate the Constitution, Uncle Sam getting the paddles, the firemen pouring money out of the firehoses at B of A, the Fed ones, he just hits it right on. I can't say I agree with everything he does, but having points I don't agree with (or even find offensive) doesn't change the value of the ones that I do agree with.

It's always been a dilemma for me when I hear the stories about musicians or actors, the crazy things they do, the attitudes and beliefs they hold, not to mention the absolutely obscene money they get while being that messed up, yet I want to listen to their music or watch their movies, which supports and pays them. I do not want to support people like that at all.

So, I boycotted them all for a period. And I found I couldn't listen to the radio, watch TV, go to movies, none of it. I couldn't find anyone who could make the grade (keeping in mind no movie or song is a one man show, I had to account for everyone in the production of that item). Eventually, in the interest of having a balanced life and not being totally socially isolated, I gave up on it.

I partake of many useful things that come from people who have some behavior or belief that I object to. I understand that there is a line for that, but based on what I see out of Hollywood and the music industry, I've yet to meet a single person whose line isn't in a pretty distant place.

For example, we all love kids and hate pedophiles like crazy, but when it seemed clear to most that Michael Jackson was likely messing with kids in a very unhealthy way (I understand he was never convicted of anything, and I'm in no way stating as fact that he actually did anything), they still listened to his music and hence financially supported him.

Point is, they'd tell me they thought he did it and just paid the parents to get out of it, yet they said they still listened to him. I suspect if it was their neighbor they'd have been in a lynch mob to hunt him down. I'm not saying I agree with this approach of supporting criminal/messed up/immoral entertainers, only that it seems to be human nature.

I was unable to find a single person, for example, that stopped watching Martha Stewart when she was convicted of screwing people just like those very same viewers. They'd said 'I like the stuff she makes'. So, I like the illustrations this guy makes that have to do with the economy. Maybe that's good, maybe not.

But boy, if we had to approve of all the behaviors of everyone we support, imagine trying to find a mechanic, a doctor, a landscaper, and so on. So, we generally focus on if they can do the service we want them for, and leave it at that. But, what do we do if we find out that our doctor commits fraud, or our mechanic is a racist, and so on? How many of us immediately drop them, as we probably should?

Just some Jim thoughts.

points well taken jim.... i have dozens of examples of people i really like that have said the most god awful things that make you want to puke.the only one i can share is this...i have never had a problem with gay people... yet in the roofing world where the majority of today's roofers have been in jail or prison, even a joking comment about another's sexual orientation is cause for fisticuffs.and a barrage of homophobic rants...for some reason, the younger generation of roofers still like the music i grew up on and at times they will all sing along...recently, when they were singing along with an elton john song,i said you know that he wrote that song during the six years that by his own admission he retreated to his estate and watched gay porn all day...... dead silence..............

Yes, roofer, my point exactly. If one didn't listen to music because of musicians lifestyles, we'd have a lot quieter world... So, I relate to the political illustrations of someone who has some ideas I may disagree with, or even dislike. We all seem to do it. I'm not sure if it's okay or not so okay, but it does seem to be the norm.

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-27-2010-spectre-still-haunts.html

Scroll down to '10 Reasons to be Cautious for the 2011 Market Outlook
by David Rosenberg - Gluskin Sheff'.

No wait, I'm confused. The stock market is on fire, the pundits say corporate earnings are just, well, too great to even comprehend, the run up in crude, copper, cotton, etc. is a confirming sign the economic recovery is, how should we put it, historic in its depth and scope, the sky isn't even the limit for stocks next year, it just coudn't really be any better. All day long on TV, it's all I hear. And this is with a permanent boycott of CNBC. But then you read this:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-working-poor

Keep in mind those stats are from 2009. Things are a lot worse since that data was collected. Then you wonder, which one is a better representation of the truth??? The one stat that got me was that half of working Americans make $505 a week or less. Wow. Recall roofers post about how roofing would make $120K per year, and now the illegal competition brings it down to $25K. There's your $505/week.

Meanwhile I was watching a movie the other day (one which is now filming the fifth in the series), and I looked up the salaries of the actors, and all the top ones are getting $12.5 million each plus 2.5% of the proceeds. Per film. And half of all working Americans are getting $505/week or less. And those actors are paupers compared to Wall Street's robber barons. Unreal.

This is one of the best (simple) articles I have ever read on this topic. There have been a lot of posts lately that I thought were great, but didn't bother to post them. This one I just had to:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-why-world-financially-doomed-four-charts

It does lean towards the 'we are completely and utterly screwed' viewpoint, which is my own viewpoint, too.

So many great articles I wish I could have posted over the past few weeks...

As I mull over Meridith Whitney's comments on how the municipalities are toast this year, a knucklehead on TV is talking about how states and municipalities are in fine shape, and revenues are increasing, I read this:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/austerity-america-22-signs-it-already-here-and-it-going-be-very-painful

We are so toast.

And as I said, then millions die, and they do nothing to stop it...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22948

I forgot, I do have another hero to go with Ron Paul and David Stockman, and that's Nigel Farage. Here's his latest:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-17/farage-unleashed-you-are-common-criminals