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Submitted by Dennis Miller via Casey Research,

A little skit ran through my head the other day…

The house lights dimmed and the bright American flag glistened in the background. The crowd hushed as a tall man in a strange costume strode confidently onto the stage. 

Curly turned to Larry and Moe and exclaimed, "Oh my, that's our favorite—Uncle Sam, our boyhood hero." Moe put his finger to his lips as if to say "Shhh!"

Uncle Sam rapped the microphone with his fingernail and the sound echoed throughout the hall. He then bellowed out, "Hello, my fellow Americans!" and the crowd cheered wildly.

He continued, "Today I want to announce the deal of a lifetime. We all know that IRAs and 401(k)s are tools greedy rich people use to save for retirement. I'm here to announce a new retirement program for everyday, ordinary people. Everyone should have the right to retire safely and with dignity, and that is what we are going to do for you."

Uncle Sam paused until the applause died down.

"Today we have introduced a new retirement program called myRA. It's pretty simple. Your employer can withdraw as little as $5 from your paycheck, and it will be invested in a new government bond that will earn the same variable-rate interest as those available through the government Thrift Saving Plan Government Securities Investment Fund (G fund). If you change jobs, it is totally portable. You can take it with you.

"While the final details are still being worked out, you can invest your money into safe, interest-bearing bonds and let it grow tax free. And the best part is: when you take your distribution out, you don't have to pay taxes on it either. 

"So, there you have it! You can have money taken out of your paycheck in small amounts. It will be invested in variable-interest government bonds paying a good return, and it will be there for your retirement along with Social Security, TAX FREE! Don't ever say Uncle Sam isn't looking out for you. 

"I know everyone is anxious to get started, but I will answer some questions now. Please raise your hand."

Curly raised his hand and Uncle Sam pointed in his direction. "You, baldy, what's your question?"

Curly cleared his throat and asked, "It looks to me like the government is acting like an insurance company. We give you our money and you look after it for our retirement. Is that correct?" 

"Exactly right," Uncle Sam responded. "Who else can keep money as safe as the US government?"

Curly, Larry, and Moe looked at each other quizzically. 

Moe raised his hand. Uncle Sam spotted him and said, "You, mop head, what is your question?"

Moe said, "The national debt clock shows the government already has over $128 trillion in unfunded promises to others. How will our money be invested? Will it be used to make good on promises already made to other people?"

Uncle Sam paused for a moment and said, "Those details will be worked out. While that may happen, younger people will take part in this program too, so they will help pay for your retirement when the time comes."

Moe could barely contain himself. "Isn't that a Ponzi scheme? I thought they were illegal?"

Uncle Sam paused and said, "Ponzi schemes are illegal, unless they are run by the government. What's your problem? I mean, come on! Doesn't everyone trust the government?"

51% of the audience cheered wildly while the other 49% remained silent.

Larry, not wanting to be outdone by his friends, raised his hand.

"You, half-bald mop-head, what's on your mind?"

Larry replied, "I have a two-part question. Why not use a Roth IRA instead? Aren't they available to everyone? Also, can't all self-directed retirement plans invest in government bonds now if they want to?"

Uncle Sam's face grew red as he responded, "Obviously, you don't get it. Nothing is safer than a retirement program totally invested with the government. You earn a decent yield without any worry."

Larry shouted, "Wait a minute! The government has already made over $128 trillion in promises it cannot keep. Now you want us to invest our money with you, at an interest rate that you control? What's the catch?"

Uncle Sam's face grew bright red as he exclaimed, "Everyone knows the government can do a better job of looking after your money than you can. You guys are just a bunch of stooges. This program is so good, but you dummies are too stupid to see that!"

Curly turned to Larry and Moe and said, "When Uncle Sam calls it an myRA he is right. 'My' means it is his. We may be dumb, but we are not that stupid. This is a terrible idea. They are just trying to grab our money so they can keep buying votes in the next election. I am not touching it."

"I heard that!" Uncle Sam screamed. "You are the kind of people who have torn America apart—greedy, selfish, and without compassion for the little guy. Audience, you heard them. Don't you agree?"

51% jumped to their feet screaming wildly while the other 49% sat silent. Once the noise died down, Larry uttered through the microphone, "It sounds to me like another money grab. We might be better off just leaving the country."

Uncle Sam realized this was an argument he had to win. "Look, you un-American radicals! We don't want your kind in this country. Those values have no place in a modern society. Go ahead! Get the hell out of here! Just leave your money behind. Audience, don't you agree it is time to tell those greedy buggers to hit the road? If they don't want to share, let them go elsewhere. I am sick of their selfish ways."

Again, 51% jumped to their feet screaming wildly, glaring at Larry, Curly, and Moe. The screaming would not stop. 49% quietly headed to the exits with the three stooges leading the way. Moe, speaking in almost a whisper, commented, "It seems the real stooges are the ones who fall for the scheme." The 49% nodded their heads in silent agreement.

Personally, I am a registered independent and have been for over 50 years. Both political parties have pushed the government to make $128 trillion worth of promises—with our money—that it cannot afford to pay. What a terrible burden to place on future generations!

Our national debt clock shows government liabilities of $1.1 million per taxpayer. They spend our money to buy votes to stay in power. The system is beyond repair.

Humor is a good outlet to help work through issues that might otherwise drive my blood pressure—and yours—to an all-time high. Here's the scary part we cannot laugh away: myRAs are real.

My advice: Just say no to myRA and open up a Roth IRA instead. You receive the same tax benefits but more options to invest your money ahead of inflation so you can actually enjoy retirement. Snake oil is snake oil, no matter how you try to package it.

As a person who has spent the last several years trying to help people understand investing so they may retire comfortably, I become more frustrated with the government every day. No one needs a myRA when they can invest in a Roth IRA with the same benefits but greater flexibility.

There are many ways for folks to save for retirement without turning to the government. After all, most realize it isn’t prudent to seek financial help from the most broke person (or entity, in this case) around. My weekly column, Miller’s Money Weekly, offers insights into alternative ways to protect and build your nest egg. Best of all, it’s free. Sign up today to receive articles like the one you just read and other actionable advice.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1lkhNOU Tyler Durden

Last August we presented the story of a very sad and misguided individual, one Athony Davian, who was then the first person charged with running a ponzi scheme off twitter. Specifically, we said:

Once upon a time there was a Twitter-based, pump-and-dumping daytrading bucket shop posing as a “successful hedge fund manager” also known as Davian Letter/Davian Capital Advisors run by an Ohio gentleman known as Anthony Davian, which for reasons unknown even managed to run outside capital (somehow raking up to $1.5 million in idiot AUM, mostly courtesy of his very aggressive self promotion on Twitter using the @hedgieguy handle), and which didn’t like Zero Hedge much.

(but that’s ok because the feeling was mutual – we had advised the SEC in late 2009 that the Davian operation was nothing but a ponzi scheme).

 

A few years later, said outside capital is gone (with losses that could have been prevented had the SEC moved earlier) and moments ago, following a four year delay since our notice, the SEC has finally acted and charged Anthony Davian with fraud.

Today, the sad story of Anthony “@Hedgieguy” Davian…

… comes to an end with his guilty plea to charges of fraud.

From Cleveland.com:

A Copley man today pleaded guilty to charges he operated a fraudulent investment scheme that caused his investors to lose about $1.8 million.

 

Anthony Davian, 34, was charged with 14 counts of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 2.

 

“This defendant deceived clients to line his own pockets,” said U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach. “We will continue to aggressively pursue cases in which investors are cheated out of their savings.”

 

Davian grew up in Parma and graduated from Holy Name High School in 1998. He attended the University of Akron but did not

graduate.

 

According to charging documents, from 2008 to 2013, Davian used his hedge fund, Davian Capital Advisers, LLC, to promote and sell securities to at least 20 investors across several states, resulting in $1.8 million in overall investor loss.

 

Davian purported to sell securities in the form of shares in the various funds he created and controlled, including Davian Capital, Rubber City Gravity, Rubber City Pure Alpha, Cleveland Precious Metals Fund, and others. 

 

Instead, he used the investors’ monies to pay back earlier investors, to enrich himself, and to pay off personal expenses, such as the purchase of an Audi Q7 Prestige, and the construction of a luxury home, according to the information.

 

The investigation revealed that Davian cajoled investors’ into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars by claiming to manage hundreds of millions of dollars to make himself appear more sophisticated than he really was, and by falsifying client account statements, according to the information.

 

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Davian and his Richfield-based hedge fund company with defrauding investors. The agency’s complaint characterized Davian Capital as “nothing more than Davian’s personal piggy bank,” and called Davian’s promise of returns on investments “figments of Davian’s imagination.”

One down. Many more to come.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1lkdumB Tyler Durden

Pre-open gold dump, USDJPY pump, check. Opening dump in USDJPY and stocks led by Momos and Biotechs, check. European close marks the bottom, check. EURJPY takes over and ramps stocks back up to highs, check. Fade into close, check. Today was an almost perfect echo of yesterday's market action with blue-chips benefitting from the weakness in Nasdaq and Russell high-beta honeys. Bonds were quite with very modest steepening. Gold and silver bounced off earlier lows but their losses mirror Copper's 1.7% rise on the week. The USD lost ground as Draghi's failed jawboning sparked EUR strength. VIX fell 1 vol to its lowest close in 2 weeks as a late-day VIX -slam failed to get SPX green post-FOMC.

 

EURJPY running the show into and beyond the European close – just like yesterday…

 

The Dow and Trannies are 'winning' on the week, S&P around unch, but high-beta leaders are lagging notably…

 

Whle the Dow remains red YTD, the S&P almost made it almost down to unch YTD again today. However, Post-FOMC, The Dow is leading…

 

Post-FOMC, homebuilders remain the laggards and financials (ahead of the CCAR) the leaders…(for now)…

 

Momos remain in trouble post-FOMC…

 

And Biotechs didn't exactly bounce strongly off their 100DMA again today…

 

VIX and stocks were in sync all day but a very late try to slam VIX appeared to fail…

 

and a close up on the idiocy at the close…it seems 330RAMP CAPITAL is running out of power?

 

Copper regained (and then lost $300) in this morning's ramp and lcung to it all day. Gold and silver are losing on the week…

 

FX markets continue to play their calm-to-chaos game (though yesterday's spike in EUR is still a mystery) – todasy saw a drop in EUR as Draghi started then a big surge in EUR as the market continues to pressure him to do something instead of keep practicing open-mouth operations…

 

Treasuries are a mixed bag in a tight range today. 10Y and 2Y are unch on the week as 5s and 7s are higher and 30s lower in yield (though today saw modest steepening)…

 

Charts: Bloomberg

Bonus Chart: Today's miss on home sales just adds more problems for builders who have been underperforming post FOMC – but as @Not_Jim_Cramer notes, they have a long way to go if the data surprises are anything like reality…

 

Bonus Bonus Chart: PLUG +56% – that is all…

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/OWY49X Tyler Durden

The dismal list of financial executive deaths has recently increased to 11 in the last few months. Speculation has surrounded many of these deaths (and suicides) as to the reasoning; none more than the first – William Broeksmit, an executive who worked in Deutsche Bank's risk function and advised senior leadership who hanged himself in his South Kensington home in late January. However, as the WSJ reports, we now know why this poor man felt compelled to take his own life: he was "anxious about various authorities investigating areas of the bank where he worked" (and yes, we are well aware of the grammatical and temporal impossibilities suggested by this article's title).

Via WSJ,

While a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said Tuesday that "Bill was not under suspicion of wrongdoing in any matter," according to statements read at a coroner's inquest in London, the former senior executive at Deutsche Bank, who committed suicide in late January, was concerned about investigations into the German bank.

 

William Broeksmit, an executive who worked in the bank's risk function and advised the firm's senior leadership, was "anxious about various authorities investigating areas of the bank where he worked," according to written evidence from his psychologist, given Tuesday at an inquest at London's Royal Courts of Justice.

 

Mr. Broeksmit, an American born in Chicago who retired from Deutsche Bank in February 2013, hanged himself at his London home on Jan. 26, according to a statement read at the coroner's inquest.

 

…

 

A close colleague of Deutsche Bank co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain, Mr. Broeksmit was expected to be appointed the bank's chief risk officer in 2012, but the move was vetoed by BaFin, the German financial regulator, because of a lack of suitable experience, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
…

Ms. Wilcox, citing written medical evidence from Mr. Broeksmit's doctor and psychologist, said the executive was sleeping badly during the summer of 2013, and his "self-esteem had been greatly undermined." He was also trying to stop smoking cigars and his alcohol intake was high, according to a medical report.

Here are all the recent untimely financial professional deaths we have witnessed in recent months:

1 – William Broeksmit, 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, was found dead in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London, on January 26th.

 

2 – Karl Slym, 51 year old Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok on January 27th.

 

3 – Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London on January 27th.

 

4 – Mike Dueker, 50-year-old chief economist of a US investment bank was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State.

 

5 – Richard Talley, the 57 year old founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, was found dead earlier this month after apparently shooting himself with a nail gun.

 

6 – Tim Dickenson, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG, also died last month, however the circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown.

 

7 – Ryan Henry Crane, a 37 year old executive at JP Morgan died in an alleged suicide just a few weeks ago.  No details have been released about his death aside from this small obituary announcement at the Stamford Daily Voice.

 

8 – Li Junjie, 33-year-old banker in Hong Kong jumped from the JP Morgan HQ in Hong Kong this week.

 

9 – James Stuart Jr, Former National Bank of Commerce CEO, found dead in Scottsdale, Ariz., the morning of Feb. 19. A family spokesman did not say whatcaused the death

 

10 – Edmund (Eddie) Reilly, 47, a trader at Midtown’s Vertical Group, commited suicide by jumping in front of LIRR train

 

11 – Kenneth Bellando, 28, a trader at Levy Capital, formerly investment banking analyst at JPMorgan, jumped to his death from his 6th floor East Side apartment.

One can only wonder how many of these unfortunate deaths were due to the similar "investigation" concerns.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1nYhGdX Tyler Durden

Swimming with the Sharks

Being a Small Fish in a Big Pond

The Sovereignty Series

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

 

 

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Let’s suppose you’re charged with a crime, but you are innocent. Despite your innocence the court was able to ‘prove’ you were guilty and a jury of your ‘peers’ agreed with the evidence presented and unanimously returned a guilty verdict. Does the fact that the judicial system was able to win a conviction against you change the fact that you are innocent? Obviously the answer is ‘No’, though that does not alter the reality that you are now doing time.

Or let’s say you received an IRS notice that you owe $15,000 in back taxes. You and your accountant engage in a long running back and forth battle with the IRS where you repeatedly show the ‘agent’ that all your business and personal deductions are standard, reasonable and customary. In fact you refer to IRS publications, recent tax court decisions and tax ‘experts’ that all agree with your position, and yet the IRS agent does not back down.

After talking with an attorney you understand that to fight the IRS in court would cost more than the $15,000 they claim is owed, so you reluctantly ‘agree’ to settle the ‘overdue’ amount for $10,000. Does this change the fact that you are correct and what you just experienced was an IRS shakedown? Once again the obvious answer is ‘No’, though that doesn’t replenish your bank account now that you are lighter in the wallet by $10,000 plus substantial accountant and legal fees. 

Being a small fish in a big pond is nothing new to you and me. We all understand that there are limits to our ability to fight off those who are more powerful than us regardless of how ‘correct’ or ‘right’ we might be. While this knowledge may lead us to carefully consider which battles we engage in or under what circumstances we may consider legal action, it doesn’t materially change our view of who or what we are. Nor should it.

There are those who strenuously argue against the concept of personal sovereignty, saying among other things that since one cannot withstand the assaults of the much larger sharks, our sovereignty is never ‘perfected’ (my word, not theirs) and thus my supposition or premise of ‘personal sovereignty’ is invalid to begin with.

In other words, since I cannot hope to withstand even a relatively minor physical assault by a big dog ‘sovereign’ such as the USA, and are in fact surrounded by said ‘sovereign’, that I do not meet the defined conditions of sovereignty. Essentially I am being told that because I cannot ‘secure’ my borders, since I do not ‘control’ my sovereign territory, that I cannot claim myself sovereign.

 

 

On the surface this appears to be a valid argument provided I agree that the common usage and definition of ‘sovereignty’ is the ‘standard’ I am trying to meet. However, such is not the case as I put forth in my prior three articles on this subject. Since my sovereignty springs from within myself, and is solely mine to keep or give away as I choose, I would argue that even though I reject the reigning powers’ definition of sovereignty, in fact I still meet the ‘control of borders’ requirement.

Can my ‘borders’ be physically overrun by a hostile individual, political entity or an individual acting as the agent of the political entity? Of course it can occur, and regularly does, based upon what I see and read in the daily news. When this happens to nations that are invaded, Iraq for example, there is no doubt that the nation who was successfully attacked has lost its ability to control its borders and rule the roost, let alone self govern other than to the extent allowed by the invader/occupier.

Does that mean that Iraq never was a sovereign entity because it could be, and was, invaded and overrun? Of course not. The real question is if the same applies to my personal sovereignty simply because I have been robbed, beaten, detained or jailed. While my physical ‘being’ has been constrained, my mind and spirit remain completely free unless I decide this is not the case. No one can ‘make me’ think or say anything unless I decide to think or do so.

Something conveniently ignored or forgotten is that just as we (mere peon) sovereign individuals are electronically spied upon in all manner of ways and forms, so are the so called ‘true’ sovereign nations of the world. Commercial, political and military espionage, both electronic and physical ‘inside-the-border’ spying, occurs constantly among ‘friends’ and enemies. Since the sovereign nation’s ‘borders’ are routinely violated, are they actually secure? Once again the obvious answer is ‘No’, yet this doesn’t seem to violate any nation’s sense of sovereignty.

Of course, great pain can be inflicted upon my person in order to coerce and compel me to do what ‘they’ want. While I can be compelled to relinquish my sovereignty temporarily or permanently, either physically or mentally, this does not mean they have my consent. Once again, the comparison to a sovereign ‘nation’ applies. Iraq was invaded and ‘occupied’ for years and it was generally accepted that Iraq was not sovereign until it was ‘allowed’ once again to self determine, secure its borders, and thus resume being sovereign. Did Iraq consent to the invasion and occupation?

 

 

This is where the concept of personal sovereignty as I define it is lost upon many individuals who, while they may claim otherwise, maintain some sort of dependency and/or belief upon outside ‘forces’ to define who and what they are. A significant part of the psychological warfare inflicted upon us is the ingrained from birth ‘belief’ that true power and sovereignty is created and applied externally. This is an enabling lie proffered by our masters to allow us to live easier with the disturbing truth that we are essentially slaves and possess the slave mentality.

I do not claim to have achieved total and absolute ‘personal sovereignty’ nor would I be so arrogant as to think I will soon. To reach that goal requires of us to follow as much a process of subtraction as of addition. Without being insulting to myself and any other person reading this piece, the slave mentality conditioned into us and our ancestors for centuries will not be scrubbed clean in a few weeks, months or even years. Great time and effort must be invested into rooting out all thought threads, ‘beliefs’ (common and individual) and dependencies while replacing them with more centered sovereign orientated thinking.

This is more a process of removal, revitalization and rebuilding than an instant-on flip of a switch. At some point in the lives of all of us our mindset becomes quite static, lethargic, and even catatonic. The result is we rely more and more upon group think and preconceived notions of what and how things should be. Why should we think critically when group think is so accepted and comfortable? Because of this, portions of our worldview must be removed, often slowly in order to minimize disorientation, before new concepts and understandings can be adopted and incorporated into our everyday thinking.

Everything changes once we begin to think and act as sovereign individuals. We have all experienced similar mindset changes, where a decision or realization is made and suddenly the world looks and feels very different. Often it is because we wish to be more proactive in our lives, even if only on an inner psychological level. The key to this process is not to expect perfection, particularly in the early stages, but rather a much more reasonable and sustainable progress. We move the mountain one wheelbarrow at a time.

I would like to point out that sovereignty on a country or nation basis is also a learning process and not an instant-on event. In fact, many so called ‘second and third world’ countries (and several ‘first’ world countries as well) are little more than ‘democratic’ dictatorships barely hidden under the cover of self rule by the ‘citizens’ held hostage within its borders.

The idea that countries such as these would be considered sovereign is amazing to me. Then again, in the ‘scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ world of power and politics, and with the powerful supporting each other in order to support and ‘legitimize’ themselves, I really shouldn’t be surprised to witness hypocrisy at any and every level. While we Americans love to trumpet the belief that we were enlightened from the moment of the ‘birth’ of our nation, in fact this was hardly the case.

 

 

I suspect the reason the wealthy and powerful who currently control the financial mechanisms that essentially dominate the world will not admit that their sovereignty ultimately is derived from my/our sovereignty is because to do so is to admit they ‘need’ us to empower them. Interestingly they do so indirectly by creating laws that supposedly ‘empower’ us, but this is done solely in order to defraud us into shifting or sharing our sovereignty with them. This contradicts their claim to sovereign power by way of their superior intellect, business prowess, hereditary entitlement, military strength, political power, majority consensus or whatever cock and bull story they can pull out of their hat.  

My sovereignty is derived by right of birth as a human being which is the vessel of my consciousness. From this moment forward I choose to reclaim my sovereignty, however slow the process may be. It was fraudulently taken from me when I was too young and immature to understand the nature or implications of the implied consent ‘contract’ I supposedly agreed to.

Unlike so many others who ‘see’ (personal) sovereignty as the product or outcome of external force applied or repelled, and that this sovereignty is created or exchanged by way of the consent of the people, coerced or not, I am withdrawing my consent or agreement in order to reclaim my right to exercise my own sovereignty in the same manner that I am withdrawing my consent to the Ponzi and the financial control system. 

 

03-25-2014

Cognitive Dissonance

www.TwoIceFloes.com is unlike anything you will find on the web, a truly unique destination. There you will find distinctive Premium Members only articles as well as discussions on wellness and health, homesteading, spirituality & philosophy and most importantly ‘safe’ forums not found anywhere else. Come by for a peek and stay a while.

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/NPPWHA Cognitive Dissonance