The federal reserve needs to do something about the falling value of the dollar. A less valuable dollar is causing our prices to rise.

Why is the value of the dollar falling? The long-run value of all paper currencies is zero, says Bill Bonner, goldbug and publisher of the Daily Reckoning, a contrarian financial newsletter. Read an interesting article on the subject at the following link:
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10208445.

"American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to household budgets as food prices increase at the fastest rate since 1990." That's according to the Boston Globe, which published a story about it on Sunday. Find the story at http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/03/09/surgi...

Stocks rallied on Tuesday, March 11, but the value of the dollar declined. I'm no economist, but I have a hunch that's partly because what prompted the stock rally is really a sympton of what ails the market- too much easy money.

According to Bloomberg.com, the dollar approached its all-time low against the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve's plan to provide funds to banks won't be enough to break the gridlock in money-market lending and stem credit losses.

An index tracking the dollar against six major currencies fell close to a record low as traders wagered the Fed will cut rates by as much as three quarters of a percentage point next week to avert a recession, while the European Central Bank keeps borrowing costs unchanged.

The dollar fell to $1.5473 per euro. That's the weakest level since the European single currency's debut in 1999.

Is anybody out there sick and tired of rising gasoline prices?

http://minnesotagasprices.com/

No, I love spending that extra money on gas that I used to spend on groceries *note sarcasm*

Maybe the rising gas prices are America's way of slimming down its obese population -- maybe we're all supposed to either (a) spend all our grocery money on gas or (b) walk everywhere we go. Either way, we slim down...

Rush to biofuels blamed for the rise in food prices. I've got a radical theory on what's driving all this.

"The new market for biofuels has raised grain prices. Corn is being used to produce energy and the market is anticipating hugely increased production in the coming decade. George Bush wants 15 per cent of American cars to run on biofuels by 2017, which will mean trebling maize production. Europe has a set a transport fuels target of 5.75 per cent from biofuels by 2010. As a result, the price of corn has begun to track that of oil quite closely."

This was reported in the Belfast Telegraph. Food prices around the globe have skyrocketed. This has affected wealthy nations and poor nations, moreso the people living in these nations. In wealthy nations, it affects the bottom line. In poor nations, it leads to starvation. Venezuelan leader Jugo Chavez is reported as calling the increasing prices "a masacre of the world's poor."

As easy as it is to ignore anything Chavez says, reading his claim, I started to think and put together some thoughts. I wonder if all this has been orchestrated by the world's elite. Is Chavez onto something?

It seems that the rush to use biofuels hinges on the notion that there is a need to develop a fuel that isn't as dependent on oil. Using food for fuel has led partially to the increase in food prices. World leaders say this is necessary to combat global climate change. This movement is driven by the elite. They claim burning biofuels results in fewer carbon emissions, which they say is better for the atmosphere.

However, in reality, there is no data proving that global climate temperatures and the amount of carbon in the atmosphere corresponds consistently. There have been times with high levels of carbon in the atmosphere when the temperatures have been extremely cold and vice cersa. Furthermore, information continues to come out daily showing the ice has reformed in the Arctic, the world's temperature hasn't increased since 1998, and so forth. Believe it or not, it's out there.

I've long been suspicious of the modern environmental movement, even if many well-intentioned people have been seduced into joining its ranks. I think the leaders of the movement are not well-intentioned. They're after power and control. Maybe it's just my bias, but I'm beginning to suspect that the global climate change movement is just a conspiracy to, as Chavez charges, masacre the world's poor, while at the same time creating a socio-economic model that gives bureaucrats more control over private businesses all over the world.

This movement is being driven by wealthty Caucasion evolutionists, Darwinists. Are they displaced members of the eugenics movement? Is "global warming" and fighting against it their vehicle to achieve the end result of an Aryan world governed by a socialist government?

The eugenice movement is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits. It has been regarded as a social responsibilit meant to create healthier and more intelligent people, to save resources, and lessen human suffering. However, eugenics has also been used as a justification for state-sponsored discrimination, forced sterilization of persons deemed genetically defective, and the killing of institutionalized populations. Eugenics was also used to rationalize certain aspects of the Holocaust.

Are the world's elite trying to kill off the world's poor by creating a crisis, working the world into a panic, and then creating solutions to that crisis which allow them to manipulate financial markets (bidding in the futures markets) thus driving up the prices of commodities, while at the same time bringing private business under the control of governments (i.e. cap and trade mandates)? It's quite a conspiracy theory, or is it? What do you think?

Inventory-building tempered housing sector weakness as the U.S. economy expanded at an 0.6 annual rate. Expanded... that means we're not in a recession. Remember, the rule for declaring a recession is back-to-back quarters of negative growth.

Take a look at some quotes from a book by former legislator and bank executive Larry Bates. It's titled The New Economic Disorder. It was published all the way back in 1994. Bates points his finger at international bankers, as well as politicians, for promoting a one-world government that they intend to create by creating chaos in world currencies through the spread of misinformation and manipulation.

"In the late 1800s a German banker by the name of Meyer Rothschild said, 'Give me control of a nation's monetary system and I care not who writes their laws.'... we have a system that is being designed to control the economic and social behavior of everybody... they are going to have to make it a world of disorder first so that people will come to them- crying out for satisfaction of immediate, temporal desires- under a system they control totally" (57).

"It is the goal of the new world order to control the economic and social behavior of everyone. Right here in the United States there is being established from among the party faithful a new and expanded ruling class to manage those who are not part of their enlightened ilk... these Democrats and Republicans alike are promoting socialism" (113).

"The eventual recognition that the mega-bankers' assets are worth much less than the dollar amount of their obligations to their depositors will recipitate a panic and cause the Federal Reserve to infllate the currency at an unprecedented rate. This will cause massive inflation, thus delaying the inevitable depression, the likes of which we have never seen before" (164).

"One simple fact remains: Governments can't print sliver and gold, and that speaks volumes... I believe in the not to distant future, many of us will be using the honest money of precious metals for our medium of exchange" (198).

U.S. Job Losses Not as Deep as Feared

U.S. employers cut 20,000 jobs in April, far fewer than the 80,000-job loss that economists had forecast.

This week the Treasury Department sent out 15.575 million economic stimulus payments to American households totaling $13.562 billion. So far, Treasury has sent out 45.463 million total economic stimulus payments totaling $40.793 billion. Information is from a Treasury Department media release.

Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal against the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade plan indicates the plan “would impose the most extensive government reorganization of the American economy since the 1930s,” including a huge tax increase, higher prices across-the-board, and significant losses to economic growth in the decades ahead.

Gov. Pawlenty, many Minnesota legislators, Sen. McCain, Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton, and many other U.S. legislators favor cap-and-trade. The Lieberman-Warner plan is set for debate in the U.S. Senate soon.

Fleecing American consumers

Max Whitmore is from MoneyNews.com. He makes a compelling point for sanity to return to the oil market and to how we think about the U.S. currency.

See excerprts below. "The most overused phrase today is the one that says “the dollar is declining fast and is in deep trouble.”

"It is finally on a near-level economic playing field in the world of commerce, and we are making fast and deep inroads into marketplaces all around the globe."

"This entire run-up of oil prices is a very carefully planned event by the oil suppliers, the Middle East producers being most prominent."

"Huge money pools are financing the buying of the futures contracts to run up the prices. Giant power centers are making sure that no one gets “out of line” in this incredible fleecing of the non-petroleum countries. The folks behind this push are the same ones that brought us the 1973-74 gas lines and changed the world’s financial power centers forever."

"The oil producers can see the handwriting on the wall. Oil will soon become just one of many power sources in the world. The so-called alternative fuel sources will force oil producers to reduce their price per barrel by a huge margin and for good in the next five to seven years. To “make hay while the sun shines” so to speak, the oil powers are using their huge money pools to run up prices that then translate into higher prices per barrel, even when nothing has changed, especially production costs. "

See the full story at http://moneynews.newsmax.com/max_whitmore/

Signs of Economic Strength Include Exports and Low Inflation

Exports: Strong global growth is boosting U.S. exports, which grew by 8.8 percent over the past 4 quarters. (Last updated: May 29, 2008)

Inflation: Core inflation remains contained. The consumer price index excluding food and energy rose 2.3 percent over the 12 months ending in April. (Last updated: May 14, 2008)

Treasury Economic Update June 6, 2008

A nationally published business story out of New York read: "Wall Street tumbled Wednesday as oil prices rebounded... The dollar slipped against other major currencies, while gold prices rose... Investors are worried that the spike in oil prices will dent consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and is crucial to some investors' hopes of seeing the U.S. economy rebound from a slowdown in the second half of the year."

Gas is so darn expensive, and among the many reasons for this are politicians in Washington DC.

Democrats in a subcommittee recently voted basically to kill going to the outer continental shelf to drill for oil because there are 'other things we can do'.

AGAINST
Chair: Norman D. Dicks (WA)
James P. Moran (VA)
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY)
John W. Olver (MA)
Alan B. Mollohan (WV)
Tom Udall (NM)
Ben Chandler (KY)
Ed Pastor (AZ)
Dave Obey (WI), Ex Officio

FOR
Minority
Ranking Member:
Todd Tiahrt (KS)
John E. Peterson (PA)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (VA)
Ken Calvert (CA)
Jerry Lewis (CA), Ex Officio

Norm Dicks (D-WA), Chairman of the House Interior and the Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, made the following statement:

"With respect to the issue of energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf... the bil before the Members today carries the exact same provisions as in current law. This is exactly the same language requested by the president. I don't agree with this President on many things but I agree with him that opening up more of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling is unnecessary... Onshore, 72% of oil and 84% of natural gas resources are either fully accessible now, or will be accessible pending the completion of land-use planning and environmental reviews. Between 1999 and 2007, drilling permits for oil and gas development on public lands increased more than 361%."

On the other hand, former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, from Norway, writes today, June 13, in Family Security Matters (www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.359/pub_detail.asp) the following:

"The United States was a leader in the creation of the offshore drilling industry in the 1950s and early 1960s, but today it's countries like Norway that are leaders in the field."

"The Norwegian Model: Trust, Common Sense, and Green Conservatism... Norway has avoided the "everywhere versus nowhere" trap that has paralyzed U.S. offshore drilling through a common sense approach that is textbook Green Conservatism. In Norway, strong environmental protections were part of exploration, drilling and transportation of oil and natural gas from the outset. This initial environmental emphasis has built the sense of trust necessary to allow Norway to move to a cooperative, performance-based model rather than a regulation-based model like we have in the U.S."

"The result is a policy in which environmental concerns are carefully balanced with energy needs. Norwegians have put some areas off-limits to drilling. In some areas, drilling is carefully circumscribed. But the point is that drilling occurs. Environmental concerns have informed - not pre-empted-Norway's oil and gas industry."

"The American Model: Distrust, Stalemate and Energy Crisis.. Compare that to the United States, where a series of congressional prohibitions and presidential moratoria on offshore drilling - fed by public mistrust and largely unfounded environmental fears - have placed virtually all of the offshore United States off limits to drilling."

"The United States is the only country in the world that so dramatically limits the exploration and development of its offshore oil and gas deposits. The hysteria is so acute that both of our current presidential candidates even voted in 2005 in favor of willful ignorance about our domestic energy resources."

The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates a mean of 85.9 billion barrels of undiscovered recoverable oil and a mean of 419.9 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered recoverable natural gas are in the Federal Outer Continental Shelf of the United States.

McCain calls for more drilling

In a move aimed at subduing voter anger over rising prices at the gasoline pump, Sen. John McCain called for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling.

Not surprisingly, this immediately brought down criticism on McCain from environmental groups.

Congressional action would free states to open vast stretches of the country's coastline to oil exploration.

In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly 80 percent said soaring prices at the pump are causing them financial hardship, the highest in surveys this decade.

"We must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil," McCain told reporters yesterday. In a speech today, he plans to add that "we have untapped oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. . . . It is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions," the Washington Post reports.

Higher oil prices and warnings in key financial, automotive and high-tech industries sent the Dow to its lowest level in two years.