"When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe." … Frederic Bastiat


Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak. When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it. So it always has been. So it always will be. And America has no special immunity to becoming an enemy of its own founding beliefs about human freedom, human dignity, the limited power of the state, and the sovereignty of God. – Archbishop Chaput

Trader Dan's Work is NOW AVAILABLE AT WWW.TRADERDAN.NET



Sunday, June 9, 2013

Further Signs of Internal Weakening in the US

Most of you who have read this blog for any length of time are by now familiar with my common refrain that we are witnessing an America in decline. I believe the symptoms cut across the cultural, financial, political and educational aspects of the nation.

Vice is encouraged, commended or praised by elitists as traditional standards of righteousness or morality are ridiculed or even mocked. The monetary system is hopelessly corrupted as it is addicted to cheap credit. Economic "growth" depends upon various forms of stimulus and the creation of revolving bubbles moving from one sector to the next now seems to be a permanent fixture. The public education system has produced a generation which seems to have little if any understanding of history and practically no ability to deeply think (witness the proliferation of one reality TV show after another where instead of living their own lives, the viewers live the lives of others).

The thing that really troubles me however is the corruption of our political system, in particular the ever-increasing size and role of the federal government. I am watching in stunned disbelief that a government agency, the IRS, could target and harass American citizens merely because they happen to share an opposing view of government than the current administration. We watch reporters have their phones bugged and reporters doing their jobs to ferret out truth either being charged as criminals by the government or harassed in other manners. If that was not frightening enough, we now learn that phone calls and communications of our citizens are being monitored effectively destroying any privacy rights that we might have.

Additionally we have American citizens killed in Benghazi because apparently an election was upcoming and news of that nature was not conducive to the re-election efforts. We have regulatory agencies such as the EPA answering to no one who are running roughshod over the property rights of many law-abiding citizens as further evidence that the Administrative State, the 4th branch of government, no longer seems to have any constraints on its power.

I truly believe that Liberty itself is increasingly under assault in this nation and am fearful at times that it will be lost.

Take a look at the following story which gives me hope however. It comes out of northern Colorado. This is proof positive to me that liberty is alive and well in this nation, in spite of the onslaught being made against it.

Colorado counties mull forming new state, North Colorado



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/09/colorado-county-proposes-51st-state-north-colorado/#ixzz2Vk9BQXXZ

I wish these folks well in their endeavor. Quite honestly, I expect to see this becoming a trend. I used to see the division in this nation as between red states and blue states and to a certain extent that is still very true. However, more and more I am coming to the conclusion that it is not so much the former but rather a polarization between urban dwellers and rural dwellers. If you look at a map of the US broken down by county, it is almost a given that those counties comprising the big cities are predominantly blue while those counties that encompass rural areas are predominantly red. Perhaps this is how the nation will eventually rectify the deep and unbridgeable division that besets it.

15 comments:

  1. I wish I had a dime for every little itty bitty secessionist movement that popped up.

    Here's a partial list here, though you can be sure there have been many, many more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dan,

    I sold my house in Park County and my condo in Weld county. Colorado has sold its soul. While I too get excited about these types of developments, these well-meaning politicians will be bought and sold twice over. We can only pray God spares us from what is to come.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BTW, if we had a solid currency based on sound money, it would be harder to "buy out" politicians. Ed is a hero bc he could not be bought (so far), and he knew the consequences. THAT is what is encouraging.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hear Hear Dan!

    I live in Northern Colorado immediately adjacent to one of the counties mentioned.

    While many attempts have been made before, this kind of evolving trend will likely grow this time around in various forms and in multiple states..The bottom line is that the United States will in fact become the Divided States because of the types of concerns and discontent mentioned by Dan. As a result, citizens will migrate to areas considered safer and more in tune with the values expressed in the Constitution.

    Count on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "United States will in fact become the Divided States"

      That is the way it was supposed to be, a federation of states. If you didn't like something and couldn't get it changed, you could move to another state. Instead, the feds took over and the choice is to leave the states, or put up with it.

      I was encouraged to read the North Colorado split is being discussed by county commissioners, who can move things along if they so desire. Reading the article, it seems the dispute is over local control of regulations and some funding. They may be pounding the table a bit to shake those issues.

      Delete
  5. The current IRS scandal is a manufactured news event by the powers that be. It's to get people believing that there is real oversight and action by Congress and media. It is also designed to make people think the fake political parties are in opposition to each other when they have never been.

    Political ideology has been introduced into this world by the New World Order to give people the illusion that entities are in opposition to each other when they are not. This builds the illusory matrix. Political parties and ideologies are generally military intelligence operations of the NWO.

    The IRS, tax code and other agencies have been designed to minimize the wealth of the general population.

    ReplyDelete
  6. latest silver update by Clive Maund.
    Here is the link to it if anyone is interested.
    He presents his bullish case about the COT structure.
    Seems to be different to what Dan has been saying regarding the specs and the commercials** so it is all very confusing to somebody like me in the process of learning about these things, but never-the-less, see what you guys think.
    **"The retreat this year has given Big Money, the Commercials and the like, the opportunity to cover almost all of their shorts for a nice fat profit, and has left the dumb Large Specs smarting from huge losses. The COT chart shown below reveals that the Commercials have almost completed the process of unloading their short positions. The media driven Large and Small Specs, the “victims”, are totally discouraged and largely out." Clive Maund

    "I have said it here many times recently and will say it again - specs are looking to sell rallies in gold. They will do so until it can convincingly clear $1420. Those who keep talking "Bullish" on gold while the specs are in a selling mood, simply are not experienced traders. Specs drive markets; not commercials." Trader Dan

    link to Clive Maund's article;

    http://clivemaund.com/article.php?art_id=67

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SilverReport;

      Thanks for the comments. Here is the point I would make - to quote from Clive: "... and has left the DUMB large specs smarting from huge losses"....

      These DUMB LARGE SPECS have been building short positions from $1745 gold as I have detailed repeatedly in that chart of the long positions of the hedge funds versus their short positions. In other words, those DUMB large specs, who have been shorting gold have been doing so for a nearly $400 drop in the metal. Now, just who is the DUMB category here???

      When the specs are selling, the market will fall. When the specs are buying the market will rise. At some point the trade becomes unbalanced with too many of the specs leaning on the same side of the boat. Then the price reverses as these same specs either cover short positions (buy them back) or liquidate long positions (sell them).

      Specs drive markets - not commercials. In most of the markets I trade, with the exception of gold, the commercials are no match for the firepower of the hedge funds. At one time, the commercials were the 800 lb gorillas of the trading floor. Not any more....

      Dan

      Delete
  7. Dear Dan,

    Thank you very much for taking the time to reply and providing further clarification. Much appreciated.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Price is all that matters.

    Imagine the pure hell people are going through who took direct possession of their junior gold shares which are down 60% - 85%. Those guys could not sell to get out of harm's way.

    Then compare the joy of knowing your Fed-sponsored and government supported shares of Starbucks, Lululemom, Priceline, Whole Foods, etc. are up 500% - 800% the last few years and you didn't have to do anything but buy and hold and not trade at all.

    And at any time between now and the future, you can instantly hit the "Sell Now" button on your computer and have instant cash and profits transferred into your "Too Big To Fail" bank account.

    And not a worry in the world about currencies, sovereign debt crises, large specs vs. commercials, or any of that.

    A Cypress-style hair cut is possible, but that's a huge long shot, and will probably never happen.

    Lesson Learned:

    Never fight City Hall when investing for retirement or speculation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just the country I grew up in, where sound conservative values bound. You know where the Banks are going broke with BS paper, so they come up with a wonderful plan. Uh oh, 2008-2011, gold starts rattling the cages. Banks align with Big Gov and poof, lets get the taxpayers to pay for it. Yeah Mikey. Now we have to starve older conservative Americans and get the top 10% some yield in stocks, have the Big Banks conspire to short the options and paper markets. PURFECT...What a life these guys live. This does not end well.
    When my mother sends me an email showing how all her friends are pissed and they are after AARP, all the libertarians upset, and the poor start getting shafted because they cant get any asset to offset the raid. I thinks that this does not end real well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello Dan, I agree again with you 100%.

    It is my opinion that the end is going to be deadly. The only question is when but I don't even ask the question anymore. Not worth it. I just talk to my kids so they can be ready too but have stopped talking t my friends because they think I am crazy...

    History is on our side. There is nothing else we can do (except to prepare ourselves).

    In order to put a smile on your readers' face, I would like to make this comment. You said:

    "(witness the proliferation of one reality TV show after another where instead of living their own lives, the viewers live the lives of others)."

    It is my opinion (LOL) that you are for once wrong: The viewers of these reality shows are in fact well aware of what is going on and are trying to educate themselves by watching, for example "Survivor" and "The biggest loser". They are trying to learn, knowing what is coming, how to survive in the coming chaos and see how they can survive with just a little bit of food. This is why, in my opinion of course, these reality shows are becoming more and more popular.

    ReplyDelete
  12. everybody wants to talk about everything but the PRICE; before I start, do you think that if baseball did not have the bullshit anti-trust laws going for it that these clowns would be making millions, and I played,so do not think I do not appreciate sports; also, quit bellyaching about goldman and morgan because gold and silver are way, way too small of mkts for them to really make serious $. Derivatives are where it is really at and that is why they constantly create shit out of thin air; face it PMS, charts need LOTS of time to put themselves back together and I am talking YEARS, not next Wednesday; want to make money next 90 days or so, then sell into corn, beans, gasoline; steve from sparks, nv

    ReplyDelete
  13. hey Dan,

    i view your blog daily - tis how much i cherish your advice...but there's been no analysis of Monday or Tuesday. Im sure you're very busy, but i was wondering if you have any specific levels to watch on gold/silver (gold mainly for me). i noticed the shares got pretty smashed today, and a bit late too, i dont know why...anyhow im looking to buy in at some point this week, but it depends how low we go...i think the 1330 - 1350 level is a significant low level we could reach, but if this breaches towards 1321 then ill be in no hurry...do you think we can go to the 1260 - 1280 area or even lower? maybe im getting ahead of myself but i heard the chinese were on a holiday this week so if they are, lacking the physical bottom buyers that hold it up could give way for the financial thugs to whack gold to a new low...anyway, love your work, obviously you got sheisse to do, but i refuse to trade without your analysis haha...ive read all of KWN and zerohedge and other sources, but id love your no bs take basically!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.