Bet on War this Weekend?

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I am not expecting the stock market to end the week on a positive note.  In fact, I would not be surprised to see the past couple of days of gains evaporate before the closing bell because of the rising odds of war breaking out in Syria this weekend.  Worse?  I’m not the only one who sees it this way.  Reader Randy H sent this late last night:

A reporter with Israel’s most widely read newspaper has been told by defense establishment officials that a US-led attack on Syria will begin on Saturday and end when Barack Obama meets Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

I suppose you’d like to know why – by end of the day tomorrow – there could be a second vote by the British and a green light for an attack, right?

Well, one theory which is getting legs on internet conspiracy sites is that Saturday will mark the 16th anniversary of the death (conspiracy theory calls it “assassination”) of Princes Diana who died 16-years ago tomorrow.  With ugly questions and charges still flying, some attention diverting might be in order.

OK, it’s a far-out theory, I’ll grant you that.  But, as a note from Nostradamus researcher G.A. Stewart notes, tomorrow’s Diana anniversary would certainly fit well with a lot of prophecy on topic:

THE ARAB PRINCE OF WAR APPEARS ON SCENE

Nostradamus Quatrain V-25
The Arab prince of Mars [war], Sun, Venus, Lyon [ Leo/August].
The rule of the church will succumb at sea:
Towards Persia (Iran) very near a million men,
Byzantium (Turkey), Egypt, the true serpent will invade.
AUGUST 29, 2013

Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria
Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.

WHY BANDAR BIN SULTAN’S THREATS TO RUSSIA AND PUTIN WILL CAUSE SAUDI ARABIA TO BURN
AUGUST 29, 2013
… As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory’s direction without coordinating with us. These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria’s political future.”

Nostradamus Quatrain V-16
The Sabaean tear (Saba, Saudi Arabia) no longer at its high price,
Human flesh by death burned to ashes:
The isle of Pharos (Egypt) invaded by the Crusaders [NATO],
When at Rhodes (Greece) the harsh specter [of war] appears.

Since “Sabaean tear” is an allusion to the Saudi Arabian city Saba and their trade in frankincense, the predictions in lines one and two in Quatrain V-16 suggest that Saudi Arabia will be overrun. Perhaps “Sabaean tear” is a metaphor for oil. “Human flesh by death burned to ashes” implies nuclear weapons. Oil is “no longer at its high price” because of the nuclear radiation.
Kindest Regards,
Stu”

As we roll into the long holiday weekend, the least surprising development would be the kneeler Parliament being called back for another vote today, or tomorrow, and rocket’s red glare and all that before Sunday.

With the UK media (like this Telegraph story) calling it an “unprecedented defeat” how can the Brits possibly avoid a second vote…just as soon as some “startling new information” can be cobbled up to justify a change of position?

Or not.

But (we notice without a vote) the French have decided to go “all in” on Syria.  My, how timely.

Is the Obama administration playing it square with the ‘Merican public?  Not as long as there is no vote in Congress (launching missiles is war, which even sleeping sheep ought to be able to figure but it’s beyond the ken of your elected whatchamacallits). 

So (for show?) the Obama administration is busily generating consensus in a PR way but also (according to this story) ignoring the use of intelligence committees which are supposed to help sort out this kind of situation.  Oh, you mean like they’re really just there for show? Uh-huh, something like that.

What might be worth a nickel side bet is that when the US releases Syrian intel this morning, the Brits will find some “key information” in it and they will be called to revote…something like that would make sense in here.  They’d have time to put the intel screws to enough dissenters to swing things around.  Blacked consensus, sure, but we have empire to maintain.

Look, we’re going to have a war, so you might as well get used to it….or so the news flow feels this morning when read from an “I don’t care one way or the other” sort of way.”

Oh, and if you’re wondering where the US anti-war movement has gotten to, try on the explanation over here that the anti-war movement is basically broke because of economic realities.  Not sure I buy it, since electrons are net to free on the net, but worth thinking about as a possibility.

The more likely (and more easily proven) postulate is that ‘Merica is incredibly stoopid.

War for Golden Plunder?

Meantime, the conspiracy-minded types on the web keep coming up with more intrigue about the US motivation for invading Iraq which, if you look at the pictures on this site, might have something to do with Iraqi gold. 

To be sure, there was some media coverage in 2003 of gold being liberated from Iraq, but just how much?  If the report of 2000 bars is anywhere near right, and half a billion dollars, it would certainly have been a “thumb of the scales of Justice” weighting toward US involvement.  Toss in oil drilling deals and one could put together a war for profit picture.

But we’d just as soon live under the illusion that not Everything Is a Business Model.

More after this…

Beat Down Gold Friday

I bet you thought I was kidding a few days back when I told you “…end of the month beat down in gold…”  But here we are, after nibbling at the $1,430 range, jammed down to $1,396 pre-open and a drop down  as much as $40 or more wouldn’t surprise me as the session evolves.

Then we have our usual economic stew which looks more like fried entrails than stew.  Splash of Pick-a-peppa with that?

The latest Feral Reserve (sic) H.6 money stocks show the M2 print rate at 7% annualized and M1 is down to 4.1% which means the value of money will go up, so look for strengthenin bond yields (ergo, prices down) in the coming week or four, and that will cause the market to retreat and seek a lower trading range.

Laughable Income Data

So as long as we’re passing the crack pipe around, how about we dial in to the latest Bureau of Economic Analysis data on personal income and expense?  Some highlights:

Personal income increased $14.1 billion, or 0.1 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $21.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, in July, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $16.3 billion, or 0.1 percent. In June, personal income increased $38.2 billion, or 0.3 percent, DPI increased $27.3 billion, or 0.2 percent, and PCE increased $64.0 billion, or 0.6 percent, based on revised estimates. Real disposable income increased 0.1 percent in July, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in June. Real PCE increased less than 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent.

As you have come to expect, the figures show you should be enjoying a little more loose change since…

Personal current taxes decreased $7.8 billion in July, in contrast to an increase of $11.0 billion in June. Disposable personal income (DPI) — personal income less personal current taxes — increased $21.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, in July, compared with an increase of $27.3 billion, or 0.2 percent in June.

You either, huh?  Well, how about this knee-slapper?

Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — was $544.5 billion in July, compared with $541.2 billion in June. The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 4.4 percent in July, the same as in June.

Maybe in your house, but not ours.  Which gets us to wondering “Where’s all that money going, anyway?”  Edward Snowden has answers…

Spy Budgets

The CIA is top of the heap in spy spending, as Edward Snowden has leaked the US black ops budgets to the Washington Post this morning.  The further details are here.

But when you look at the budget, we need to ask is $56-billion plus all that big?  Well, just to keep things in perspective, the US Department of Agriculture ($155 billion plus or minus a Holstein)  is three-times the size, but the other consideration is they are public. 

And, it’s almost as much as the US Dept. of Education discretionary spending budget of $69.8 billion, so schools don’t get much more than spies. But that’s OK ‘cuz we can screw student loan borrowers and saddle ‘em with lifetimes of debt, even if the jobs they were learning for never materialized but that’s hardly legal breach, is it?  Ahem…

Legal Dept:  Up in Smoke IX

Once again we can see the outline of everything’s a business model as the Federal Government has decided not to stop recreational ganj use in Colorado or Washington.  Except, of course, they will still be enforcing the laws.

Confused?  Well…here’s (near as I can figure) what’s going on:

    • There’s no mercy, early release, or anything like that for the people already held and convicted under the old policies.  Maybe because of pressure from the pro-prison lobby that makes more money when people are in jail.
    • And, since the decision by the government involves keeping weed off federal property, we have to assume the three-engine DHS patrols on Puget Sound will still arrest recreational boaters during their invasive boarding parties, on the theory that government owns the ocean.

    Bottom line?  It’s a half-victory for sanity, but the schizophrenia/balancing act brought about by conflicting commercial interests isn’t going away and the Obama administration is taking only the smallest baby-steps to look like they’re open-minded. 

    But until marine enforcement changes and prison releases occur, it’s all just business as usual, near as I can figure. 

    No, I’m not suggesting that toking up and crashing a Cigarette boat around at 80-knots is a good idea.  But, sitting at anchor, watching the sun go down over the Olympics, the boat secured and lighting up (with maybe a glass of wine), I mean isn’t that pursuit of happiness? 

    Since the government basically has expanded its claim on federal waters to almost everywhere rain pools, we remain politely skeptical, thank you.  Field reports from readers are welcome, especially if you can talk to some of the marine “security”crews about what their orders are..

    “Look!  Up in the Sky!” Department

    A partial halo CME, associated with a C8.3 flare, was detected by LASCO C2 on August 30th around 02:48 UT. It has an angular width of around 1500 and an estimated speed of about 1000 km/s. With this speed, the estimated time of arrival at Earth is on August 31th around 21:00.

    Not exactly a planet-killer, though that might me some earthquake activity this weekend.  Quakes seem to like holidays (Good Friday and Boxing Day some to mind).  So we shall see…

    Kindergarten Congress: At Recess

    You’ll see a fair bit of news coverage about how members of Congress are avoiding the public in their town hall meetings, going more to preach rather than listen.

    We’ve even had a bit of that on Texas radio stations when congress-critters have “open lines’ with voters.  The same weasel-worded answers, but in the local case, people just kept call back wanting the hard answer…  So yep, no wonder they’re laying low.  Waking voters can be a bitch and about all the old-guard can do is cower when confronted.

    Cower is not a synonym for leadership.

    Which brings me to this morning’s Coping  section (click below)